Don Walcott

Clippard (elbow) played catch Tuesday and could be available to pitch in the team's game against Cleveland, Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. Spin: Clippard was hit by a line drive on his elbow in Sunday's win, but initial imaging came back clean. His throwing session Tuesday apparently went well, and manager Rocco Baldelli said that he'll be available out of the bullpen if needed. The right-hander has been effective for the Twins this season, carrying a 1.42 ERA and 0.79 WHIP over 12.2 innings during 12 appearances (two starts). From ESPN.

He was available last night, according to Rocco.

They also have to play the 7th and 8th. We have a lot of relievers. Alcala was the only one qualified to pitch in the 9th? How about Clippard? Just seems like we were conceding this game. Maybe was the prudent thing to do in the long run. But I don't have to like it.

I wasn't aware of the rule that Alcala had to face the top of the order at some point.

Interesting. After that terrible ball call on his curveball that was right down the middle, Hill was upset with the ump. But he was also looking upset with the pitch calls, and backed off the rubber in frustration a few times. My thought at that time was that he was frustrated with his rookie catcher. Was surprised to see Hill pulled after striking out the last 4 batters. Looked like he was finally getting in a good rhythm and spotting all of his pitches well. Also agree with TodderHarmon and bringing in Duffey to face the top of their order in the 6th. I think we could have stolen this one. But it's also true, as pointed out above, that we didn't really expect to beat Bieber, and have a chance to win the series today. Just need to see Berrios continue his form from last game.

Just read that we're sending Luke Raley to the Dodgers. No identification of what minor leaguer might be heading our way.

I hope they stand firm. This aggression will not stand, man. New shyte has not come to light. You want a toe, I'll get you a toe. . . .

Good point. The potential buyer in this scenario then asks for monetary concessions.

I'm beginning to agree with you. It seems like someone who gets cold feet when buying a house using the inspection report to withdraw their offer. The process is legit, and the opt out excuse can be legit, but sometimes the process is just used to get out of a deal you wish you hadn't made.

Initially, I liked the trade because I like Maeda, and thought he would be more valuable to us for this year and the next year or two. However, the longer this drags on, the more I like the idea of getting Brusdar back and supporting him in becoming a dominant pitcher -- whether he ultimately starts or not. I think it's fine to let Boras do the dirty work of calling out Boston for shenanigans (if that's what happened). Not sure why they wanted to back out or renegotiate the deal, but that's what they did. And FSG, as a company have done this before in Europe, where Liverpool backed out of a deal for Nabil Fekir due to concerns about his medical. That ultimately turned a potentially 50 million Euro player into a 20 million Euro player. The player still insists that it was untrue that there is any medical concerns about his knee, and there are rumors that the deal was stopped because Liverpool had concerns about his personality. So Boras may have a point to pursue here with the Red Sox. And I hope this results in Graterol pitching with a chip on his shoulder Yeah, they come to snuff the Brusdar, but you know he ain't gonna die!!

You working for the Red Sox, now Chief? In other news, everyone around me seems to have a Boston accent today. They're everywhere!!

I'd be careful about ballpark statistics as well. The main reason why there are less hits in Dodger Stadium over the past 4 years than in Target Field is because the Dodgers pitching staff have given up less hits than any other team over those four years. In 2016, the Twins gave up 127 more hits than any other team, and have been bottom third in that stat each of the last three seasons. Additionally, the Twins have had more hits over those four years than the Dodgers. So if you just swap these two teams, Target Field would probably look like more of a pitcher's park. And every game in Target Field over the past four years has had a DH hitting, compared with a pitcher hitting in Dodger Stadium 2-3 times per game. Certainly, ballparks are a factor. But the teams that play in them are more of a factor.

One interesting thing to me is that it appears that the only reason this trade needed to go three ways was that the Twins wanted Maeda more than Price. Obviously, Boston was willing to swap Price for Graterol. So why didn't the Twins just do that trade with Boston? I would guess that such an offer was on the table, and the Twins wanted Maeda more than Price. It will be interesting to see if Maeda out-performs Price over the next four years. I wouldn't bet against it. And I would definitely bet that Maeda will be the better value for the Price. I suspect the Dodgers had to pay the Price to get Betts (probably knowing they can sign him long term). I'm trusting the FO on this call. This is not to say that I don't like Price. I've always liked him as a pitcher, and he's a really interesting guy. But it concerns me that he's a big into video games and has had arm problems in recent years. One final response regarding whether Maeda should start a playoff game. Our main competition in the playoffs will likely be heavily right-handed. Maeda is devastating against righties.

We're also going to have Arraez for the full year instead of Schoop. That needs to be counted in to any calculation (even though I think the WAR calculation is not very useful).

Grateful Dead, "Cold Rain and Sano" -- a twofer.

I was joking. I wouldn't think you meant anything bad about our players.

I think Polanco is a very professional young baseball player who will work hard to improve on his defense, as are Arraez and Sano. While all three of them have inherent limitations, I think we'll be pleasantly surprised by their improvement on defense this year. And Adrianza and Gonzalez won't hurt us when they come into the lineup as well.

Is it worse to refer to players as coming from a dumpster or as bed crappers? Either way, I'm not sure I'd refer to the human beings who used to play for our team as bed crappers.

Here's the lineup I'd like to see: Polanco Donaldson Cruz Kepler Sano Rosario Garver Arraez Buxton

I'm really excited about this signing. It didn't look like we really needed to upgrade our hitting at any position. However, looking at the numbers, we've significantly upgraded 1B and 3B as a result of this move. Believe it or not, over 162 games, 1B was our worst OPS by position, and 3B was our 4th worst: 1B .309 OBP .451 SLG .744 OPS 27HR 3B .326 OBP .484 SLG .810 OPS 40 HR Last year, Donaldson and Sano did this: Rain 155 games .379 OBP .521 SLG .900 OPS 37 HR Sano 105 games .346 OBP .576 SLG .923 OPS 34 HR I expect we'll get about 140-145 games from each of them at these positions, with each of them getting a few games at DH as well. So we will likely see OBP, SLG and OPS go up significantly at both positions. We'll probably see similar HR numbers at 3B, but add about 20 HR at 1B. I think this is a conservative estimate, as Donaldson got off to a slow start last year, hitting 30 of his 37 HR from June forward. And Sano also started slow, worked on mechanics, and then was brilliant the rest of the year. Add to this, a full season of Arraez instead of Schoop which will likely improve OBP at 2B (with less HRs). Despite losing about 15-20 HR, I view as an improvement at 2B. And if Buxton can stay healthy (fingers crossed), we should improve our overall numbers at CF and RF. With a full spring training to work on defense, I'd expect Sano to be at least as good at 1B as we had last year, and 3B defense will be significantly better. I also believe that with another year of experience at their positions, Polanco and Arraez will improve at SS and 2B. And, of course our outfield defense should improve significantly if Buxton stays healthy (fingers crossed). Kudos to the FO for getting a high end free agent. That was the only way we were going to significantly improve on offense, while also improving on defense.

I believe “muchas bombas” is the preferred nomenclature.

The penalties are harsh, and possibly a good deterrent. However, as long as we allow technology in the dugouts when the game starts, there will be people who will find ways to push the envelope, and occasionally cross the line. The rules against using technology to steal signs have been in place for 20 years, with periodic reinforcement of the rules since. And teams were still stealing signs with technology. In a discussion on MLB last night, Verducci, Costas and Rosenthal all advocated no technology in the dugout at all once the game starts. I think this is a good idea, if we're serious about eliminating this type of cheating.

I sure wish we had Greinke right now. I wish he was available. Corbin, too, for that matter.

What's great about this article is that we should all just be happy and stop pre-judging the FO until after the season. Then, if things don't work out, we'll be using 20/20 hindsight if we criticize the FO (which is very appropriate for the 2020 season). And based on the Rabelo article, we shouldn't be critical of anything the FO has ever done up to this point either (we WON the Escobar and Pressly trades, everybody!!).. Twins Daily articles are becoming the new xanax for avid Twins fans!

I've been a big defender of Sano on this site for years. It's so nice to see a positive off-season piece about him, and positive comments to boot. I agree that his plate discipline last season was a key. I also hope that he starts getting the benefit of the doubt from home plate umpires this season. I may be biased, but I often felt like he got punished for his patience by bad strike calls. Maybe a bit more experience and some more respect from the umps will push those BB numbers cut down some on Ks, and give him more balls in the zone for him to square up. When he barrels a ball, it's like nobody else on this team. I also think he could improve on defense, but his mobility will always be limited to what it is now. He's a big guy with a rod in his leg. That won't change much.