alexlegge

The Twins really could've used that grand slam tonight 😑

On the bright side, we all know where to look for real-life proof of Murphy's Law on 157 more days in 2026.

He should be encouraged to take deep breaths for 3-5 seconds before deciding whether to challenge. If he follows that advice, it kills multiple birds with one stone.

If this is the case, he should know that they are the eyes of a man who looks at strike three more often than not.

The Road to the Metrodome Juan Carlos ("J.C.") Romero was born in the Río Piedras district of San Juan, Puerto Rico. He grew up in San Juan before attending the University of Mobile in Alabama. There, he pitched for the Mobile Rams, making both starting and relieving appearances. When the Twins drafted him in the 21st round of the 1997 draft, he was seen as little more than a lottery ticket. As a young prospect in the Twins system, he was used almost exclusively out of the bullpen, and excelled in this role, quickly climbing the organizational ranks. He was a September call-up to the Twins in 1999, just his second full season of pro ball, and he made his major league debut on September 15 of that year. Dominance as a Twins Setup Man Romero's performance in the bullpen was strong enough that the Twins attempted to transition him to starting pitching after the 1999 season. However, he struggled as a starter during the 2000 and 2001 seasons, prompting the Twins to move him back to a full-time relief role for the 2002 season. To call this a "good" move would be an egregious understatement. Romero was dominant right out of the gate, logging 18 strikeouts in 14 consecutive scoreless innings over 13 dominant appearances to begin the 2002 season. It would be the best campaign of his career, one of the best seasons by any reliever in Twins history, and among the best seasons by any Twins southpaw regardless of role. Romero went 9-2, leading all Twins pitchers in bWAR (3.9), ERA (1.89), ERA+ (237), and games (81). He performed especially well in high leverage spots, amassing a WPA of 4.4, easily the best on the team and second only to A's closer Billy Koch in the American League. Stylistically, he had a four-pitch mix which included an elite sinker in the low 90s, a quality fastball in the low 90s, and two serviceable off-speed pitches (a slider and a changeup). He had an imposing presence on the mound, often wearing his his cap with a curved and low brim that made a shadow over his eyes. While many lefties of the day were used as one-out specialists, Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire quickly learned that Romero was effective enough against right-handed hitters to trust him in longer high leverage appearances. This gave the early 2000s Twins a formidable setup man from either side in Romero and RHP Latroy Hawkins. During the stretch of three consecutive division titles from 2002-2004, the two of them combined for over 12 WPA total and more than 6 WPA each. While Romero never recaptured his unprecedented dominance of 2002, he had several impactful seasons as a quality Twins setup man. Post-Twins and Post-Career Romero was eventually traded to the Angels for Alexi Casilla in the 2005-2006 offseason. He went on to win the World Series in 2008 as a member of the Phillies. His stint with the Phillies also included the most controversial point of his career - a 50-game PED suspension - though it should be noted that this stemmed from taking a legal over-the-counter supplement purchased at GNC, a type of purchase which MLBPA had errantly reassured players about. After returning, Romero pitched well for the Phillies for parts of multiple seasons, but was in his mid-30s and showing signs of decline by the early 2010s. He bounced around a handful of franchises at the end of his career and remained active as a pitcher for several years even after his last MLB appearance in 2012. This included multiple WBC appearances for Puerto Rico, including in 2013, when they finished second-place in the competition after knocking out the United States in the semi-final. In his post-playing days, Romero has made appearances as a Phillies color commentator and Twins fantasy camp instructor. He was at Target Field in 2018 for Johan Santana's team hall of fame induction ceremony. In more recent years, he returned to the University of Mobile as a coach. View full player

I do appreciate your point about the lack of a rulebook definition. Isn’t the “plane of the plate” standard *by far* the most commonly recognized though? I certainly haven’t heard another one. Sure, maybe it wouldn’t have to apply to certain crazy swings, like the batter offering way up high on an eephus pitch. But there is room for ambiguity in many replay review already… Feels kind of akin to the period before a new word is in the dictionary but after it becomes commonplace in speech and text…

The rule book *does* say what a swing is defined as, however. Sure, even that definition is purposefully vague….but there is room for ambiguity even in the formalized replay review process. Though I do tend to agree that they should go ahead and formalize what a check is as part of a rule change; everyone uses the same definition already anyway, so there wouldn’t be any real mental adjustment…

Whether or not they have it typed out, I’ve always heard it defined as whether the bat crosses the plane of the plate. That can be assessed fairly easily with video. Probably wouldn’t be challenged often if it were reviewable since many times it *is* truly borderline - far more frequently than is the case for calls on the bases given that sometimes only a portion of the bat crosses. But in some instances it’s very clear.

Yep. The first base umpire screwed the Twins, then the Twins screwed the Twins. Mediocre teams aren’t immune from bad luck.

I find it silly that checked swing calls aren’t reviewable in that situation. They have nothing to do with the strike zone, just something which is clearly defined for which we have good video available, And it’s not like a fair/foul calls on ground balls, where subsequent elements unfold in the play and make a replay reversal more complicated.

There are certainly more reasons than not to be very optimistic about Buxton's ability to stay on the field going forward. His knee surgery successfully eliminated his most frustrating injury risk, his consummate professionalism and dedication have helped him develop a much keener sense of when an explosive/wall-crashing effort is warranted, eliminating another injury risk that often plagued him early in his career. And his conditioning has remained as elite as any Twins CF legend I've ever seen (which is saying a lot - Torii maintained exceptional conditioning throughout his career too).

Why not promote Julien right now and send one of them down? Julien has been putting together better at-bats with the Saints for weeks now. Even before he was demoted, his bat played more than Jonah Bride's or DaShawn Kiersey's.... If there's actually a roster crunch by the time both Lewis and Keaschall return, it means Julien is doing well and nobody else has been hurt - i.e. a good problem to have

At this point, there's no reason to keep both Keirsey and Bride on the active MLB roster. Frankly, I see little reason to keep either for much longer. Even summing their OPSs together yields a number barely above league average (.735). Pathetic. Julien deserves another shot, and he allows Castro to be a much more flexible super-utility man. No need for an extra utility man who can't hit. This team functions better when there's a core group of position players sharing starting time collectively rather than a dividing line between regulars and bench-warmers.

Falvey: We're not focused on selling. Translation: We're not focused on trading.