Tom Froemming

Twins pitching. Strikeouts. This appears to be a thing now. Temperature at first pitch was 34 degrees but there was no cooling off Jake Odorizzi. He struck out a career-high 11 batters over six innings. This is the second time since 1893 a team has opened the season with back-to-back double-digit strikeout games from its starting pitchers.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Odorizzi: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 11 K, 62.0% strikes Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: None WPA of 0.1 or higher: Odorizzi .235, Buxton .206, Rogers .111 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Kepler -.237, Parker -.289, Cron -.472 Download attachment: WinChart330.png Despite Odorizzi’s excellent effort, the Twins entered the bottom of the ninth trailing 2-1. Byron Buxton lifted what appeared to be a routine flyball out to lead off the inning, but it was misplayed and he ended up at second base. Max Kepler struck out and Jorge Polanco lined out to center field, allowing Buxton to advance to third base. Nelson Cruz was intentionally walked to bring up Eddie Rosario, creating a left-on-left matchup with Brand Hand on the mound. He worked a walk to load the bases, bringing C.J. Cron to the box. Cron took a massive hack at the first pitch, a fastball over the heart of the plate, but whiffed. He popped the next pitch up to short right. Game over. On Odorizzi Through the first three innings, Odorizzi was completely overwhelming Cleveland. He had a no-hitter going and six strikeouts already in his ledger. With two outs in the fourth inning, Odorizzi fell behind 3-0 to Hanley Ramirez, missed his spot and left a ball right over the middle of the plate. Ramirez did exactly what you’d expect a major league hitter to do, depositing the ball 416 feet away in the seats. Last season, there were plenty of instances where Odorizzi got off to a brilliant start but ended up watching it all fall to pieces as his outing progressed. Not today. Odorizzi was at 80 pitches through the first five innings, but he went out for the sixth, which also was the start of his third trip through the Cleveland lineup. That’s spelled doom for him in the past, but he got a bunt popout, then struck out both Jose Ramirez and Tyler Naquin to end his outing with an exclamation point. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen330.png Next Three Games Sun vs. CLE, 1:10 pm CT Tue at KC, 7:15 pm CT Wed at KC, 12:15 pm CT Last Game MIN 2, CLE 0: Berrios Dominates, Sets Twins Opening Day Record for Ks More from Twins Daily Twins Daily 2019 Season Preview: The Minefield What to Expect From the Twins Newcomers to Start the Season Beginner's Luck? How Rookie Managers Typically Perform Click here to view the article

Nope.

My thoughts and some good visuals in regard to Castro's performance yesterday:

Jose Berrios made his first Opening Day start for the Twins this afternoon. It most certainly won’t be his last. The Twins’ ace set a new team record for Opening Day by striking out 10 Cleveland batters. He got 18 swinging strikes on 96 pitches and allowed just three batters to reach base in 7 2/3 innings pitched.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Berrios: 7.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, 69.8% strikes Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: None WPA of 0.1 or higher: Berrios .497, Gonzalez .253, Rogers .115 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Kepler -.102, Rosario -.109 Download attachment: Chart328.png It’s worth mentioning that this was a reunion of Berrios and catcher Jason Castro. The veteran catcher called for an unusual amount of off-speed pitches from Jose today. Berrios threw 37 curveballs (38.5 percent) and 12 changeups (12.5 percent). Last season, he only went to those offerings 30.4 and 9.1 percent of the time, respectively. It turned out to be a very good game plan. This was the first time the Twins shutout their opponent on Opening Day since 1970. Click here to view the article

I'm sure Twins fans will be very understanding if Cron gets off to his usual slow start ...

This is pretty amazing if you think about it. It seems like the trend is these brand spankin' new managers are being given the keys to some really solid teams, some with even World Series aspirations, while rebuilding clubs are the ones scooping up the retreads. An interesting development.

My guesses: How will the bullpen be used? Blake Parker will be used as a traditional closer. I just think that would make a lot of sense. Can the young core take the next step? Yes, to some degree. Rosie will be Rosie, Berrios will find consistency, Max will find better luck and Polanco will keep doing his thing. Buxton and Sano won't ascend to superstar status but they'll be solid. With Joe Mauer gone, who takes over as the face of the franchise? Eddie Rosario. Do the Twins have enough pitching? Nope.

It's almost all gone! Highs have been in the 50s most days and it even hit 64 here yesterday.

I followed Rocco's playing career from afar even back when he was just a prospect, but I didn't know anything about his personality. I was thinking maybe we'd be getting a Kapler type. He's a little, I dunno, high strung? He's what my wife would call extra. Instead, Baldelli seems like a super chill dude. I think it's beneficial to have a steady hand in the dugout to help keep things even over the long season. The guy he's replacing seemed pretty even-keeled too, I guess.

Their rotation is incredible. Their top four starters area all being drafted above Jose Berrios on average in fantasy leagues this year. Their fifth guy, Shane Bieber, had a 3.23 FIP and 5.13 K:BB ratio in his rookie season last year (Berrios was at 3.90 FIP and 3.31 K:BB). The rumors that they were shopping a starter this offseason makes me hope that if they stumble to a slow start the front office/ownership will be anxious to sell. Otherwise, it's tough to see a team with this good of a staff win fewer than 90 games in this division. Their lineup isn't great, but there's a lot of bad pitching in the AL Central I think they'll squeeze out enough runs more often than not.

This team is dangerous. Not saying they're going to compete, their record will be bad, but I'd bet there will be points at which they'll be a very difficult team to deal with. Colome/Herrera/Nate Jones/Jace Fry could be a very solid bullpen. The rotation is projected to be very bad, but it's young so who knows? If Moncada and Eloy Jimenez hit the ground running they could be a huge pain to deal with at points. Still difficult to see them maintain any kind of sustained success.

We are inching closer to Opening Day 2019 and, don’t look now but, current forecasts make it seem plausible that the Twins will be hosting the defending American League (AL) Central Division Champions Cleveland Indians on March 28 at 3:10 pm. The Thursday, Saturday, Sunday series will be the only three games of the homestand before they start their first road trip traveling to Kansas City, the new look Phillies, and the Mets of New York.April (12 home, 13 away, 5 off) Outside of three games versus the Phillies and five games versus the Houston Astros, the Twins have the opportunity to take advantage of an easy schedule in the first full month of the season. This includes a seven-game homestand versus the Tigers and Blue Jays in mid-April and six total games versus the Baltimore Orioles. May (13 home, 15 away, 3 off) Things get a little tougher in May as their first five games are versus Houston at home (2) and New York Yankees at Yankees Stadium (3). They will face a solid, but not great Angels (6) and Rays (2) team eight times throughout the month and will host the Brewers for two games toward the end of the month. The Blue Jays, Tigers, Mariners, and White Sox are also on the docket and will all be series the Twins really need to win. June (12 home, 15 away, 3 off) The third month of the year could be a pivotal month for the Twins as 16 of their 27 games come against division foes, and only three of those games are versus the Indians in Cleveland. That said, five games against the Rays and three games against the Red Sox at Target Field will be a challenge and, specifically with the Rays, could have Wild Card tiebreaker implications down the road. July (12 home, 12 away, 7 off) July will be another important month for the Twins as 13 of their games will be against teams who will likely be in the thick of the developing playoff race. Ten of those aforementioned games will be immediately following the All-Star break in Cleveland for three games and hosting the A’s and Yankees for seven games. If they struggle during that stretch, they then have the opportunity of playing the White Sox and Marlins to end the month. August (16 home, 12 away, 3 off) The “dog days of summer” will be something the Twins look forward to this season...kind of (see below). They have a tough 10 game homestand where they will face the Braves (3) and Indians (4) followed by two games in Milwaukee. Outside of those nine games, the other 19 will be against teams who are currently projected for 74 wins or less according to Vegas. September (13 home, 14 away, 3 off) Uf-dah (why does my Grammarly recognize this as a word?). In the season's final month, the Twins will have twelve consecutive games against teams who will likely be battling for a playoff spot, including six critical games against the Indians. The other six will be at Fenway and versus the Nationals at home. Unfortunately, these games occur earlier in the month which makes it less likely these teams have clinched anything at that point. This is by far the toughest stretch of the season and it comes during the most important time of the season. I should mention that they end the season with 13 games versus the bottom three teams in the division. Notes of Interest -The longest homestand of the season is ten games versus Aug. 2 through Aug. 11 versus the Royals, Braves, and Indians. -The longest road trip of the season is 10 games and 12 days, including a day of travel, starting May 29 and going through June 9 versus the Rays, Indians, and Tigers. -There must be some labor law I’m unaware of that teams will have at least one off day in a two-week period as the Twins play on 13 consecutive games at a few different points throughout the season. -That said, the Twins do have three different stretches of 26 games in 27 days including two such stretches that occur at the beginning and very end of August. -The most difficult stretch of the season was mentioned above, but what should be the easiest stretch of the seasons occurs in the 17 games leading up to the trip to Fenway. Those 17 games will be against the Rangers, White Sox, and Tigers. Notable Promotions - follow the link for full list March 28 (Opening Day) v. Cleveland - Twins Puffer Vest April 27 v. Orioles - Twins Plaid Flap Cap May 24 v. White Sox - Joe Mauer Bobblehead #1 June 15 v. Royals - Joe Mauer Day & No. 7 Baseball Cap July 19 v. Athletics - Joe Mauer Bobblehead #2 Aug. 3 v. Royals - Joe Nathan Hall of Fame Bobblehead Aug. 4 v. Royals - Joe Nathan and Jerry Bell Hall of Fame Pins Aug. 24 v. Tigers - Joe Mauer Bobblehead #3 Sept. 7 v. Indians - Joe Mauer Bobblehead #4 Breaking down a schedule is an interesting exercise. Not that you’re ever going to feel bad for someone making millions of dollars, but you can definitely appreciate how grueling the Major League Baseball season is. What are you looking forward to this upcoming Twins season? Any games or series you have your eye on right away? Let me know if the comments! Click here to view the article

Word came out of Twins camp today that Ryne Harper, Tyler Austin and Willians Astudillo will all be on the team's Opening Day roster. With that, the entire 25-man roster appears to be set. The only question mark seems to be whether Jorge Polanco will be healthy. He's nursing a sore shoulder.What a ride it's been for Harper this spring. If you've been following the Sire of Fort Myers race this year, you know his story by now. He turns 30 on Wednesday and has never pitched in the majors. Talk about a big week. Speaking of big, the Twins bench is going to be huge. A five-man bench!? Wow. As of right now, it's expected to be Mitch Garver, Jake Cave, Ehire Adrianza, Astudillo and Austin. Dan Hayes of The Athletic reported that Polanco "looks to be on track" to make the Opening Day roster, but if he's not available Ronald Torreyes will take his spot. Addison Reed, Matt Magill, Gabriel Moya and, of course, Miguel Sano are all already expected to open the year on the Injured List. We also learned how the rotation is going to shake out. After Jose Berrios it'll be Jake Odorizzi and Michael Pineda with Kyle Gibson starting Tuesday in Kansas City. He was slightly behind schedule due to that battle with e. coli over the winter. Martin Perez will open the season pitching out of the bullpen. So here's what appears to be the full Opening Day roster: Rotation: Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, Michael Pineda, Kyle Gibson Bullpen: Martin Perez, Trevor May, Blake Parker, Taylor Rogers, Trevor Hildenberger, Adalberto Mejia, Ryne Harper Catchers: Jason Castro, Mitch Garver, Willians Astudillo Infield: C.J. Cron, Jonathan Schoop, Marwin Gonzalez, Polanco, Ehire Adrianza, Tyler Austin Outfield: Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Jake Cave DH: Nelson Cruz Click here to view the article

It’s not really supposed to be like this. The Sire of Fort Myers is intended to be all about shining a light on an unheralded player who realistically has no shot at actually cracking the Opening Day roster. Lucky for us, baseball has a knack for somehow circumventing reality. A year after Ryan LaMarre played his way onto the Twins, it appears Ryne Harper may be on the verge of doing the same.UPDATE: The polls are officially open. Last we checked in, Harper and 35-year-old infielder Adam Rosales had established themselves as the favorites. Well, Rosales cooled off and was released Friday evening. Still, his .278/.350/.694 batting line, a 1.044 OPS, makes him a finalist regardless. He was by far the most impressive hitter among those who qualified for the title. Among the other five names listed in the last update, Lucas Duda was let go and has since signed with the Royals, Tim Collins was also just released Friday night and LaMonte Wade was reassigned to minor league camp. A month ago, I didn’t even list Harper among the top 10 candidates for Sire of Fort Myers. Though most of his competition is no longer in big league camp with the Twins, there are still a few other candidates lingering. They’re also right-handed relief pitchers. Mike Morin has also had a strong spring. While Harper’s big, slow curveball has dazzled, Morin has really turned heads with his changeup. He’s given up four runs on nine hits and two walks over 9 ⅔ innings, striking out nine batters in the process. Preston Guilmet is also still in big league camp with the Twins. He’s given up four earned in 8 ⅔ innings but has an eye-popping 14 strikeouts, which leads the team. Prospect Ryan Eades has also shined. He's only yielded one earned run in seven innings while striking out nine batters. But you can’t get lower than a 0.00 ERA. Harper hasn’t given up an earned run in 10 innings, he’s only surrendered seven hits and hasn’t walked a single batter. He’s also racked up 13 strikeouts. Here’s his outing from Friday night: Harper is now the clear favorite for Sire of Fort Myers, but what about those odds of making the Opening Day roster? Well, it would certainly make for an amazing story. Harper has pitched in more than 300 games in his professional career. He was called up to the Mariners for a couple days in 2017 but did not make his major league debut. He turns 30 on Wednesday. Opening Day is Thursday. Can you imagine what it would mean to him to hear his name announced during intros at Target Field? I’m getting chills just thinking about it! Fernando Romero has already been optioned to the minor leagues. Addison Reed and Matt Magill haven’t pitched in well over a week. A path has been cleared. I’m rooting hard for Harper to break camp with the Twins, but it’s undeniable that those 186 career MLB appearances look really good on Morin’s resume. The final vote for Sire of Fort Myers will take place in the forums section here at Twins Daily on starting on Monday. Make sure your voice is heard. Click here to view the article

A couple comments have made reference to deceiving the umpire. While that would be an incredible skill to be able to hone, framing is much more about simply making sure strikes are called as such. Here's a good quote on framing from Jason Castro from February 2017: "The goal at the end of the day is to try to help your pitcher keep as many strikes as possible," Castro said. "And to not do anything to take away from presenting pitches that are in the strike zone to the umpires that would lead them to believe that any given pitch is not a strike." So it's more about keeping strikes than stealing them. This data from an April 24 game Mitch Garver caught shows what an area of improvement that is for him. These were all called balls:

This was a joint announcement from the MLB and MLBPA, they've already agreed to the new rules. It is unfortunate for relief specialists, but there will be 30 more players collecting a big league check starting in 2020, a huge victory for the players.

There’s no place in today’s game for a weak-side platoon bat who offers little defensive value. It’s really difficult for me to see the value in the Twins keeping Tyler Austin on the active roster. That all changes in 2020. The MLB announced a series of rule changes that will dramatically change a player like Austin’s future outlook. He’s exactly the type of player who will benefit most from these updates.One of the challenges the Twins face in retaining Austin will be trying to fit him on the roster, which will more than likely feature a three-man bench for the majority of the season. He’s out of options, and power is typically very expensive. If the Twins place him on waivers, I have little doubt the majority of rebuilding teams would be salivating over the thought of bringing him in. We learned today that an extra roster spot will be added next season, making it much easier for a team to carry a bat-only type player. That’s huge for a guy like Austin. One of the other significant changes coming is the three-batter minimum for pitchers. But there’s a twist. Starting in 2020, a pitcher must either face three batters or pitch to the end of a half-inning. So it’s not a strict three-batter minimum rule, but it will make it more difficult for teams to deploy specialist pitchers. Austin has been phenomenal against left-handed pitching over his young career (.937 OPS), but right-handers have mostly had their way with him (.664 OPS, 39.0 K%). As it stands right now, it’s not always easy to take advantage of that platoon split, but it will become much easier with these new restrictions. A lot of the focus on this rule change has revolved around how it impacts bullpen usage. While that’s certainly the most obvious element to the rule and the thing it aims to adjust, I believe this change (in addition to the extra roster spot) means pinch hitters suddenly become a great deal more valuable than they’ve been in the era of the 13-man pitching staff. These tweaks have the potential to change a slugging pinch hitter from a luxury most teams cannot afford to shoehorn onto their rosters to a potential integral part of the makeup of each team’s bench. While Austin’s potential value is boosted by these changes, there were already some good reasons for the Twins to try to keep him in the org. Nelson Cruz has been arguably the best power hitter in baseball over the past few years, but nobody escapes Father Time. He does an incredible job at taking care of himself but you never know when a dropoff or significant injury may come. C.J. Cron had a breakout year last season and is a much more established player than Austin, but what if he can’t replicate that success? What if he's LoMo 2.0? The Twins are only committed to Cruz and Cron for this upcoming season, though both can be brought back in 2020 if the team so chooses – Cruz has a $12 million option and Cron has one more year of arbitration eligibility. Austin, meanwhile, isn’t set to become a free agent until 2024. The Twins also have some nice bats down on the farm who figure to be factoring into the 1B/DH conversation before too long. Brent Rooker also seems to be a big beneficiary of these rule changes, but a bat in the hand is worth two in the rack. I have not been a big supporter of Tyler Austin in the past because it’s difficult to see much value in a player of his profile the way the game is being played today. With a tweak in the rules must also come a reevaluations of how we value certain players. While these rule changes aren’t so dramatic to cause any kind of a seismic shift, I do believe they have a significant impact on players of Austin’s specific profile. The only question is can they find room for Austin throughout the entire 2019 season? Full Rule Changes Here’s a link to the full press release. For 2019: -Inning breaks reduced to two minutes. They were previously 2:05 for local games and 2:25 for national broadcasts. -There will be a single July 31 trade deadline. No more separate wavier trade deadline. -Updates to All-Star Game voting and a $1 million bonus to the Home Run Derby winner. For 2020: -Active roster to expand one spot to 26. -Rosters will only expand to 28 in September instead of 40. -Undetermined cap on the number of pitchers on an active roster. This will be determined by a joint committee. -Pitchers will need to either face three batters or pitch to the end of a half-inning. -Injured list goes back up to 15 days instead of 10. Click here to view the article