Tom Froemming

I found time to gather some video on the benches-clearing incident and the Cave out call at the plate. The article has been updated. Crazy stuff, what a wild game. Cash should get fined/suspended, he incited the whole thing, not Escobar, and the video reviewer in New York should be fired. I don't understand how they couldn't get that call right on replay. Even the Rays catcher when he was watching on the video board seemed to acknowledge that the call was more than likely going to be overturned.

The really funny thing is there was mostly support of that move to use Rodney early, a lot of people were impressed with the uncharacteristic creativity. From Judd Zulgad on Twitter: "Earlier today the baseball world loved what Molitor did when he brought in Rodney to get two huge outs in the fifth. So what was the thinking in this genius strategical decision? Molitor: Fernando had an immigration hearing in Miami and had to leave just after 3 p.m." Obviously, Hildy didn't do his job, but then again, your guy MOY probably left him in too long. Meanwhile, Matt Magill heads into the All-Star beak with five days of rest.

There was an entire season’s worth of moments in just this one game Sunday afternoon at Target Field. A run scored on a balk, there were two instances in which the benches cleared, the lead changed hands multiple times late and Brian Dozier hit a walk-off grand slam in extra innings. How’s that for a way to finish the first half?Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Fernando Romero: 35 Game Score, 4.1 IP, 4 ER, 1 K, 0 BB, 65.4% strikes Bullpen: 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 6 K, 4 BB Lineup: 6-for-12 w/RISP, 9 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Dozier .550, Rosario .293, Busenitz .254, Mauer .210, Polanco .134, Rogers .111 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Hildenberger -.800, Romero -.235, Garver -.196 Download attachment: WinEx715.png First thing’s first, here’s the Dozier grand slam to end it: Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen715.png AL Central Standings CLE 52-43 MIN 44-50 (-7.5) DET 41-57 (-12.5) CHW 33-62 (-19) KC 27-68 (-25) Last Three Games TB 19, MIN 6: This Never Happened MIN 11, TB 8: Twins Get a Scare on Friday the 13th, Prevail over Pesky Rays MIN 5, TB 1: Who’s the Snub? Click here to view the article

The Red Wings, Lookouts, Miracle and GCL Twins combined to score three runs. Meanwhile, both the Kernels and E-Twins scored in double-digits thanks to big games from Jose Miranda, Ryan Jeffers and many others. Also, Royce Lewis made his debut in Fort Myers and Nick Gordon left the Lookouts' game with an injury. Check out what else happened across the system, here’s Saturday night’s Twins Minor League Report.TRANSACTIONS This was announced last night, but the promotion of Royce Lewis become official today. To take his spot in Cedar Rapids, Michael Davis, the team’s 24th-round pick from this year’s draft, was promoted up from Elizabethton. Also, Byron Buxton was placed on the seven-day DL in Rochester. The good news on Buxton is that he is suffering from a left wrist strain and not something more serious. Lewis Thorpe (Chattanooga) and Alex Kirilloff (Ft. Myers) were placed on the Temporary Inactive Lists of their teams. Both will be participating in the Futures Game on Sunday. RED WINGS REPORT Scranton/WB 4, Rochester 0 Box Score SP: Kohl Stewart (6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: None The Red Wings trailed 1-0 until Tyler Duffey gave up three runs in the eighth inning. Rochester had only four hits: a Jordan Pacheco double and singles from Taylor Motter, Gregorio Petit and Kennys Vargas. The big news out of this one is that Nick Gordon left early due to an apparent hand injury after fouling off a pitch. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Montgomery 5, Chattanooga 2 Box Score SP: Omar Bencomo (4.2 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K) HR: Mitchell Kranson (1) Multi-hit games: None Mitchell Kranson hit his first homer of the season, and that was the only extra-base hit for the Lookouts. Ryan Walker was 1-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base. Brent Rooker committed two errors in left field. Andrew Vasquez pitched two perfect innings out of the bullpen and struck out four batters. MIRACLE MATTERS Lakeland 3, Fort Myers 1 Box Score SP: Brusdar Graterol (5.0 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Taylor Grzelakowski Royce Lewis was 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout in his Florida State League debut. In his four trips to the plate, Miguel Sano struck out in two and walked in the other two. Taylor Grzelakowski was 2-for-4 with the lone Miracle RBI and Aaron Whitefield was 1-for-5 with a stolen base and the lone run scored. Brusdar Graterol gave up two runs on eight hits and a walk. Over five innings, he had just two strikeouts. Tom Hackimer gave up another run over his two frames before Adam Bray pitched a scoreless eighth. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids Box Score W: Jordan Balazovic (5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K) HR: Jose Miranda (10) Multi-hit games: Jose Miranda, Andrew Bechtold, Robby Rinn, Jacob Pearson, Akil Baddoo, Ben Rodriguez Ben Rortvedt, Alex Kirilloff, Brusdar Graterol and now Royce Lewis are all gone, so that means Cedar Rapids just isn’t worth watching anymore, right? HA! Jose Mirada was the star of this one, going 4-for-5 with a homer, a double and five RBIs. Miranda has now hit 21 homers in 138 games over the past two seasons. Andrew Bechtold also collected four hits and Robby Rinn had three hits and a walk. Akil Baddoo was 2-for-4 with a walk and Jacob Pearson filled up the stat sheet with a single, a double, two RBIs and two runs. Jordan Balazovic, 19, improved to 5-1 and has a 2.37 ERA in 38 innings pitched for the Kernels. Calvin Faucher gave up a run over his two innings, racking up three strikeouts, before Kevin Marnon finished things out with two scoreless frames and three strikeouts of his own. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 15, Kingsport 5 Box Score W: Austin Schulfer (5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K) SP: Brian Rapp (4.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K) HR: Ryan Jeffers (3) Multi-hit games: Chris Williams, Alex Robles, Ryan Jeffers, Trevor Casanova, DaShawn Keirsey, Michael Helman Ryan Jeffers hit the ground running as a pro, but through his first 18 games he hadn’t hit a homer. Well, Saturday he hit his third homer in the past five games. Jeffers went 2-for-4 with a double, a homer and two walks. He drove in a pair and scored three runs. Both Chris Williams and Alex Robles had three hits, a walk and scored three runs. Robles also had three RBIs. The E-Twins lead the Appy League West division with a 15-8 record. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Red Sox 1, GCL Twins 0 Box Score SP: Tyler Benninghoff (4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4K) HR: None Multi-hit games: None Tyler Benninghoff and six relievers combined to give up just one run, but the Twins could muster only three singles. Their hits came from catcher Kidany Salva, 2018 draftee Charles Mack and Agustin Marte. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Tyler Benninghoff, GCL Twins Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Jose Miranda, Cedar Rapids TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed. Please note that this Prospect Summary has been updated. 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 0-for-3, BB, K 2. Alex Kirilloff (FM): Did not play. 3. Brusdar Graterol (FM): 5.0 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, BB, 2 K 4. Nick Gordon (ROC): 0-for-2, left with an injury 5. Stephen Gonsalves (ROC): Did not play. 6. Trevor Larnach (ET): Did not play. 7. Brent Rooker (CHAT): 1-for-4, 2 K 8. Akil Baddoo (CR): 2-for-4, BB, 2 R 9. Wander Javier: Out of for the season 10. Zack Littell (ROC): Did not play. 11. Blayne Enlow (CR): Did not play. 12. LaMonte Wade (ROC): 0-for-3, BB, K 13. Travis Blankenhorn (FM): 1-for-3, BB 14. Lewis Thorpe (CHAT): Did not play. 15. Ben Rortvedt (FM): 1-for-4 16. Yunior Severino (ET): 0-for-5, BB, R, K 17. Lewin Diaz (FM): 0-for-4, K 18. Ryan Jeffers (ET): 2-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 BB, 2 RBI, 3 R 19. Jacob Pearson (CR): 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R 20. Luis Arraez (CHAT): 1-for-4 SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Scranton/WB, 12:05 pm CT: Ervin Santana Chattanooga vs. Montgomery, 1:15 pm CT: Sean Poppen Fort Myers at Lakeland, 12:00 pm CT: Andro Cutura Cedar Rapids vs. Lake County, 2:05 pm CT: Bryan Sammons Elizabethton at Kingsport, 3:00 pm CT: Kody Funderburk GCL Twins OFF Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

And this is a pitcher who averaged just 10.2 pitchers per appearance last season that we're talking about. I've been impressed with how Duke has handled his usage this season -- the Cardinals really babied him and the Twins are basically letting it rip -- but everybody has a breaking point. This was too much to ask.

You ever have a day so bad you’d just like to permanently erase it from your memory? Saturday’s game off to a great start. Jose Berrios had a no-hitter going through three innings. Even when he slipped, the bats stormed back. Minnesota held a 6-4 advantage after six innings. Then things really went sour.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Jose Berrios: 45 Game Score, 6.0 IP, 6 ER, 5 K, 3 BB, 62.8% strikes Bullpen: 3.0 IP, 13 ER, 2 K, 1 BB Lineup: 4-for-11 w/RISP, 11 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Rosario .303, Wilson .169 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Duke -.537, Berrios -.309, Dozier -.104 Download attachment: WinEx714.png What do you really need to know about this game? Well, for starters Willians Astudillo pitched (and he topped out at 86.2 mph, by the way). He gave up five runs on five hits, two of them homers, in the ninth inning. That may sound real bad, but two actual major league pitchers got rocked just as badly for the Twins. Zach Duke, pitching for the fourth time in five days, took over for for Berrios in the seventh after Jose walked the leadoff man and then gave up a single. Duke gave up consecutive RBI singles and a go-ahead sacrifice fly. He intentionally walked a batter to load the bases, then Joey Wendle cleared them with a triple. That adds up to a five-run seventh for the Rays. Tampa Bay added another five spot in the eighth against Matt Belisle, who’s now given up 13 earned runs in 12 1/3 innings with the Twins. Eddie Rosario was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Max Kepler hit his 11th home run. Both Eduardo Escobar and Bobby Wilson collected two hits. Astudillo has now made two appearances at third base, two at second base, one in left field, one in center and another on the mound. He has yet to catch for the Twins. Paul Molitor announced in his postgame interview that Aaron Slegers will be placed on the DL and Fernando Romero will start tomorrow's game. Postgame With Molitor Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen714.png AL Central Standings CLE 51-42 MIN 43-50 (-8) DET 40-57 (-13) CHW 32-62 (-19.5) KC 27-67 (-24.5) Next Three Games Sun vs. TB, 1:10 pm CT: Fernando Romero vs. TBD All-Star Break Last Three Games MIN 11, TB 8: Twins Get a Scare on Friday the 13th, Prevail over Pesky Rays MIN 5, TB 1: Who’s the Snub? MIN 8, KC 5: Twins Recover from Rough Start Click here to view the article

The Twins aren’t dead yet, but they’ve given themselves very little room for error. They can’t afford to do things like, for example, blow seven-run leads. Well, it’s a good thing they didn’t do exactly that Friday, but things were pretty hairy there for a second.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Jake Odorizzi: 27 Game Score, 4.1 IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 K, 1 BB, 58.4% strikes Bullpen: 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 7 K, 1 BB Lineup: 6-for-13 w/RISP, 7 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Grossman .125, Cave .124, Mauer .100 WPA of -0.1 or lower: None Download attachment: WinEx713.png Things got off to such a wonderful start. The Twins scored four runs on six hits in the first inning. They added four more runs in the third, with the big blow coming in the form of a Joe Mauer three-run homer. You build an 8-1 lead in the third and it should be easy sailing from there, right? The Rays did not go down quietly. Not. Even. Close. They added a run in the fourth before putting together a four-run inning of their own in the fifth. Another run in the sixth brought them back within a run. The Twins’ lineup just kept on rolling, however, as Brian Dozier hit a leadoff double, was driven in on an Eduardo Escobar single and then Esky scored on a Robbie Grossman double to give Minnesota a three-run cushion. Then, Trevor Hildenberger delivered what the Twins really needed: A clean inning. After Tampa Bay had scored in four consecutive frames, Hildy came in and struck out the side. Obviously this was a night where the offense shined, but Trevor coming in and slamming the door like that really seemed to represent the stomping out of any comeback the Rays were going to mount. Zach Duke followed with a clean eighth. These last three games have reminded me a lot of the 2017 second half Twins. Tons of crooked numbers coming from the bats. They’re not stringing together single runs in innings or just scoring on homers, they’re stringing things together and delivering with runners on. There were a ton of contributors, as you’d expect from a game in which 11 runs are scored on 15 hits, but Jake Cave was particularly impressive. He hit an RBI single over the shortstop in the first, a double to the left-center gap that plated another run in the third and then led off the seventh with a triple he pulled into the right-center gap. He’s now hitting .324 with a .928 OPS. Mauer drove in four and Grossman reached base safely four times, going 3-for-3 with a walk. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen713.png AL Central Standings CLE 51-42 MIN 43-49 (-7.5) DET 40-56 (-12.5) CHW 31-61 (-19.5) KC 26-66 (-24.5) Next Three Games Sat vs. TB, 1:10 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Chris Archer Sun vs. TB, 1:10 pm CT: TBD All-Star Break Fri, July 20 at KC Last Three Games MIN 5, TB 1: Who’s the Snub? MIN 8, KC 5: Twins Recover from Rough Start KC 9, MIN 4: Slegers Slayed by Royals Click here to view the article

I may reveal my top 50 on YouTube and then share it in the forums here at some point, maybe not. I don't really feel like it needs its own post here since I feel really good a bout how this series went and, to be honest, I always look back at the consolidated lists and think they're actually better than my own. But for now I will give you the names on my personal top 50 that did not make the cut on the consolidated list: 37. Jovani Moran 38. Zander Wiel 39. Charlie Barnes 42. Tyler Benninghoff 44. Andrew Vasquez 45. Carlos Aguiar 46. David Banuelos 47. Michael Montero 48. Tom Hackimer 49. Alberoni Nunez 50. Trey Cabbage Misael Urbina hadn't signed when I compiled these rankings. I think I'd have felt comfortable putting him at No. 16.

I try to keep in mind that the higher up a player goes, the more and better information we have on them, and that also means there are more opportunities to poke holes in their game. When you take a look at some of the guys who've made it as high as Triple A, you see players who've already had their biggest weaknesses start to get exposed. That just doesn't happen yet while they're at the lower levels. But it's not like anything done below Double A should be ignored, or that the guys at the higher levels are never going to get over those issues that have arisen, so it's difficult to weight those kinds of things.

Tampa Bay’s Blake Snell was considered one of the bigger All-Star snubs this season. Well, if I didn’t know any better, I’d have definitely guessed Kyle Gibson was the starting pitcher in Thursday night’s matchup who was among the best pitchers in the American League this season who was snubbed for the All-Star Game. The Twins got to Snell, knocking him out after just three innings, while Gibby was dynamite, completing eight frames.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Kyle Gibson: 84 Game Score, 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 9 K, 0 BB, 63.7% strikes Bullpen: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 K, 1 BB Lineup: 2-for-7 w/RISP, 5 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Gibson .370 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Astudillo -.111 Download attachment: WinEx712.png Gibson has been remarkably consistent, and entered this start having posted a 3.66 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 8.5 K/9 over the last 365 days. Still, we haven’t seen Kyle flatout dominate a team too often. He had held the Rays scoreless for seven innings and was over 100 pitches, but still went back out for the eighth. Gibson ended up surrendering a run in the eighth inning, but he also had his longest outing since Sept. 13, 2016. He gave up just five hits and struck out nine batters, but perhaps most impressive was the fact he did not walk a single batter over eight innings. This game didn’t get underway until after 9:00 pm thanks to a rainstorm, but once things got going Snell looked like he’d already been pitching for two hours. He managed to leave the bases loaded in the first inning, but then gave up a run in the second and two more in the third inning. That would be it for Snell, who was lifted after just 75 pitches. Eddie Rosario won’t be an All-Star, well unless he’s named as an injury replacement, but he played like one tonight. He was 2-for-4 with a two-run home run, his 19th of the season. The Twins’ bullpen made this one way too interesting at the end. Ryan Pressly came in for the ninth and promptly gave up a single and a walk. He struck out the next batter, but then gave up a single to load the bases. That resulted in Fernando Rodney being summoned from the bullpen. He managed to get the next two batters out, recording his 21st save of the season. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen713.png AL Central Standings CLE 50-42 MIN 42-49 (-7.5) DET 40-55 (-11.5) CHW 31-61 (-19) KC 26-66 (-24) Next Three Games Fri vs. TB, 7:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Nathan Eovaldi Sat vs. TB, 1:10 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Chris Archer Sun vs. TB, 1:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 8, KC 5: Twins Recover from Rough Start KC 9, MIN 4: Slegers Slayed by Royals MIN 3, KC 1: Minnesota’s All-Star Shines Click here to view the article

I asked because you said "If your recent second round draft pick is 18th in your system, your system is either crazy loaded, or he is underrated, or he is a bad pick." So it sounded like you were trying to say that typically a recent second-round pick should expected to be ranked higher than 18th.

This is a fun game to look back through the play log over at FanGraphs. After that Salvy homer, the Twins' win expectancy was just 25.9%. Then, despite holding a 5-4 lead at the time, they had just a 39.9% win expectancy before Pressly worked his magic to get out of that jam. Dozier's two-run blast swung the Twins' win expectancy all the way up to 89.8%. Such a huge sing there in the sixth inning.

The Royals scored three runs in the first thanks to a Twins blunder and a Sal Perez blast, but Lance Lynn righted the ship, the bats got rolling and the bullpen had an outstanding game. Minnesota pulled out the victory, tying its biggest comeback of the season, and also sealed the series win over Kansas City. The heroes were Ryan Pressly, Brian Dozier and Bobby Wilson. Believe it.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Lance Lynn: 36 Game Score, 5.0 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 6 K, 3 BB, 57.9% strikes Bullpen: 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 K, 0 BB Lineup: 3-for-7 w/RISP, 9 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: Dozier .399, Pressly .227, Wilson .208, Cave .144 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Lynn -.275, Escobar -.107 Download attachment: WinEx711.png Credit to Lynn, he got back on track despite the awful start to the game. He struck out the leadoff man, gave up a single, but then appeared to induce a potential inning-ending double play. Instead, Jorge Polanco couldn’t handle the feed at second and everybody was safe. Perez went down and launched a three-run homer on a ball that was below the zone. From there, Lynn gave up just one more run through five innings. Lynn went back out for the sixth inning and opened things up with a hit-by-pitch followed by a walk. Ryan Pressly came in and hit a batter of his own to load the bases with nobody out and the Twins holding just a one-run lead. Pressly retired the next three batters he faced to keep things clean in the top of the sixth. The bats provided some breathing room in the bottom of that inning, as Brian Dozier hit a two-run homer and Logan Morrison added a solo shot. Wilson had a great day at the plate. For real! He hit an RBI single with two outs in the second inning, added a run-scoring double in the fourth frame and then singled in the seventh. Altogether, the Twins had 15 hits with three from each of Wilson, Dozier and Joe Mauer. Jake Cave was 2-for-4 with a triple. After Pressly’s impressive Houdini act in the sixth, Zach Duke followed with a scoreless seventh and Alan Busenitz, who was activated as Addison Reed hit the DL, handled the final two frames. Busenitz gave up a solo homer with two down in the ninth. Next up for the Twins is a four-game series against the Rays at Target Field to close out the first half. After getting off to a bit of a sluggish start, Tampa Bay has gone 20-10 over its last 30 games. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen711.png AL Central Standings CLE 49-41 MIN 41-49 (-8) DET 40-55 (-11.5) CHW 30-61 (-19.5) KC 26-66 (-24) Next Three Games Thu vs. TB, 7:10 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. Blake Snell Fri vs. TB, 7:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Nathan Eovaldi Sat vs. TB, 1:10 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Chris Archer Last Three Games KC 9, MIN 4: Slegers Slayed by Royals MIN 3, KC 1: Minnesota’s All-Star Shines MIN 10, BAL 1: Twins Pick Up First Sweep of 2018 Click here to view the article

The big challenge he'll face is there are just a ton of 1B/corner OF types in the system right now. One thing he's got in his favor is a lot of those other guys hit left-handed. Either way, I like Zander, he's a fun player. Much more athletic than you'd expect for a guy his size (listed at 6-3, 232 on MiLB). He's 20-for-25 on stolen base attempts for his career and last night he picked up his 16th career triple. That means Wiel has a better stolen base rate than speedsters like Zack Granite and Aaron Whitefield, plus he hits triples at nearly the same rate as Granite and far more often than Whitefield. That's a rally silly and mostly meaningless stat, I know, but it's a fun one.

Let's change that. All aboard the hype train! I'll start this off by saying I don't think anybody would have thought Brian Dozier would hit 40 home runs or Eduardo Escobar would potentially threaten to break the single-season doubles record. Jose Altuve is one of the best players in baseball, Max Muncy is going to be in the home run derby ... none of us know anything But seriously, Rortvedt is the only catcher in all of High A right now who's not old enough to legally drink and he's still managing to post a slightly above league average slash line. The whole thing about the FSL being a tough place to hit has been a message that's been really well delivered throughout the list so far, but it's also worth noting that it's been scientifically proven that the minor league ball doesn't travel as far as the version they use in MLB. It's really stupid that's the case, but it's something to keep in mind. Blankenhorn's numbers may not jump off the page, but he's slugging .406 in a league where .368 is the average. He's been a really streaky hitter throughout his career so far. He needs to learn how to hit lefties and be more consistent, but if it all clicks he's going to be a lot of fun. Wade and Thorpe's numbers speak for themselves. I compiled my list almost a month ago, and as I said earlier there wasn't much that separated my 7-15 range of guys. If I re-ranked everybody today, those two may have ended up a few spots higher. Looking at Wade through Twins-colored glasses, it certainly does appear that his future here is that of a bench player. There's a lot of competition for corner OF spots, but this is a career .293/.403/.439 hitter we're talking about who has 35 more walks than strikeouts over his career. Enlow is nearly three years younger than league average for the MWL and has not faced a single batter who's younger than he is. The results aren't outstanding, but he's being challenged and is at the very least surviving. In summary, it's clear that all five of these guys are future Hall of Famers

Aaron Slegers faced 11 Kansas City hitters Tuesday night, seven of them recorded hits. He lasted just 1 1/3 innings and gave up five runs. That doesn’t give a team much of a chance to win a ballgame. The Twins’ bullpen did a nice job getting things pointed in the right direction until Addison Reed had yet another bad outing in the ninth. It was a bad loss to a bad team, but Cleveland may have had an even worse night.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Aaron Slegers: 13 Game Score, 1.1 IP, 5 ER, 0 K, 0 BB, 65.9% strikes Bullpen: 7.2 IP, 4 ER, 8 K, 4 BB Lineup: 2-for-7 w/RISP, 6 LOB WPA of 0.1 or higher: None WPA of -0.1 or lower: Slegers -.381 Download attachment: WinEx710.png Logan Morrison made one of the worst baseball plays you’ll see all year. Down 5-1 in the bottom of the second inning, he hit what appeared to be a leadoff double. Nice, right? Well, LoMo decided he’d try to stretch it into a triple and was thrown out. You just can’t do that. A rookie wouldn’t get a free pass for that kind of a mental error, let alone a veteran like Morrison. You’re down 5-1, there are no outs … honestly, dude what are you doing? Something has to be wrong with Addison Reed. He gave up three runs on three hits; a single, a triple and a home run. Since the start of June, Reed has surrendered 13 earned runs in 12 1/3 innings pitched. Reed’s average velocity on his four-seamer has been holding pretty steady over the past few years. He was right around 93 mph from 2014-2017, but he started out this season sitting more like 92 mph and things have continued to dip. Tonight, he topped out at 91.6 mph per Baseball Savant, but averaged 90.3 mph. Maybe Morrison and Reed need to go down to Single A too. On the plus side, Taylor Rogers was great in an extended appearance. He threw a season-high 37 pitches over 2 1/3 no-hit innings. He struck out two and walked one. Also, Brian Dozier hit his 14th home run. Not a great night for the Twins, but things aren’t exactly going swimmingly for Cleveland either. The led 4-0 heading into the ninth inning of their game tonight. Closer Cody Allen gave up three runs, and then a miscommunication played a part in the Reds scoring four more runs en route to victory. From Cleveland’s reporter from The Athletic: Uff da. That bullpen is a nightmare. Gotta love the AL Central. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen710.png AL Central Standings CLE 49-41 MIN 40-49 (-8.5) DET 40-54 (-11) CHW 30-61 (19.5) KC 26-65 (-23.5) Next Three Games Wed vs. KC, 12:10 pm CT: Lance Lynn vs. Burch Smith Thu vs. TB, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Fri vs. TB, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 3, KC 1: Minnesota’s All-Star Shines MIN 10, BAL 1: Twins Pick Up First Sweep of 2018 MIN 5, BAL 4: More Baltimore, Please Click here to view the article

Here's where the lines really started to blur for me. I felt like not a ton differentiated my personal No. 15 guy from my No. 7 guy in the system.

I am always ready to spend somebody else's money But seriously, the Twins have so little on the books and this team should continue to be carried by young, cost-controlled players for the next few seasons, so overpaying for a few players via free agency shouldn't be an issue. Plus, free agency was really strange this past season. Maybe we're seeing prices go down, who knows.