Tom Froemming

The biggest problem Kinley has created is he's taking up space on the 25-man and 40-man rosters. Sure, the last guy in your bullpen is only going to pitch in super low-leverage situations, so it doesn't matter all that much who that guy is ... unless he can pitch his way out of that role. I don't think Kinley has any chance of doing that. I certainly think Busenitz/Moya/Curtiss or even some guys not on the 40 man like Jake Reed/Mason Melotakis/D.J. Baxendale/Nick Anderson would have a better chance of getting their footing than Kinley.

Jose Berrios on the mound, but it still didn’t matter. The Twins continue to have some kind of a Bronx bugaboo and it doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. The Yankees forced Berrios out of the game after just four innings and ended up swatting four homers in another depressing Twins loss in New York.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Download attachment: Snapshot424.png Download attachment: WinEx424.png Berrios had his good stuff working, and it’s not like he had control issues. Seven of the 12 outs he recorded were on strikeouts, he only walked two batters and 57 o his 93 pitches were strikes. The Yankees still managed to drive up Berrios’ pitch count and managed five runs on six hits against him. The Twins only managed to get eight runners on base all game, half of that production coming form Eduardo Escobar, who was 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and a walk. Other positive performances came from Ryan Pressly, who struck out the only three men he faced, and Taylor Rogers, who pitched a perfect inning with a pair of strikeouts. Tyler Duffey had a rough first game back with the Twins. He gave up three runs on four hits and a walk over two innings. Brian Dozier went 0-for-4, snapping his 27-game hit streak. New York committed four errors, but it didn’t cost them much. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen424.png Next Three Games Wed at NYY, 5:35 pm CT Thu at NYY, 12:05 pm CT Fri vs. CIN, 7:10 pm CT Last Three Games NYY 14, MIN 1: What Did We Expect? TB 8, MIN 6: Twins Swept on Gomez Walk-off Homer TB 10, MIN 1: Snell Stifles Twins Bats More From Twins Daily Is it Time for a Roster Reshuffle? 2018 Minnesota Twins Extended Spring Training Roster Click here to view the article

The Twins played the Yankees. Should I even go on? Yes? Alright, Ryan LaMarre pitched for the Twins. Stop there? OK then.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Download attachment: Snapshot423.png Download attachment: WinEx423.png The Twins got crushed, fell below .500 and have three more games to play at Yankee Stadium. At least Brian Dozier extended his season-opening hitting streak, I guess. The Yankees hit four homers and scored eight runs off the long ball. The Twins had six hits and eight total bases. The Yankees' No. 3 hitter, Didi Gregorius, drove in four runs on one swing. The Twins' No. 3 hitter, Miguel Sano, was 0-for-4. Jake Odorizzi gave up five runs on five hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings. But, the game wasn't completely out of hand when he exited, as the score was "only" 5-1 at that point. Alan Busenitz and Tyler Kinley had rough nights. Busenitz allowed a runner he inherited from Trevor Hildenberger to score and even gave up a pair of his own runs while recording just two outs. Kinley was clobbered for five runs and he only got one out. His ERA is up to 24.30. That set the scene for LaMarre to pitch. He topped out at 75.4 mph and gave up a home run over his 2/3 of an inning. Not quite Chris Gimenez yet, but the way the bullpen has performed of late, LaMarre may have some additional opportunities on the mound in his future. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen423.png Next Three Games Tue at NYY, 5:35 pm CT Wed at NYY, 5:35 pm CT Thu at NYY, 12:05 pm CT Last Three Games TB 8, MIN 6: Twins Swept on Gomez Walk-off Homer TB 10, MIN 1: Snell Stifles Twins Bats TB 8, MIN 7: Playing The Wrong Notes More From Twins Daily Twins Minor League Report (4/23): Hunters Star In Cedar Rapids On Busy Night Twins at Yankees Series Preview The Art of Streaking: Analyzing Brian Dozier’s Hitting Streak Click here to view the article

This works too: Former Rays Swept by Former Twins

The Twins were haunted by a couple of their old friends this weekend. Denard Span wore out the Twins all weekend, and Carlos Gomez finished the sweep with a walk-off home run on Sunday afternoon. Phil Hughes made his first start of the season and gave up a two-run homer in the first inning. The Twins kept coming back, but the bullpen kept letting this one slip away. Addison Reed is human after all.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Download attachment: Snapshot422.png Download attachment: WinEx422.png Hughes was making his first MLB appearance of the year after a couple rehab outings in Fort Myers. He took Gabriel Moya’s spot on the 25-man roster. Per Baseball Savant, Hughes’ four-seam fastball averaged 90.1 mph and topped out at 91.7. He got six swinging strikes on his 70 pitches, (8.6 percent). For context, Hughes averaged 90.3 mph on the fourseamer and and a 6.9 percent whiff rate last season. Hughes lasted just 3 1/3 innings and gave up two runs on five hits and two walks. He exited the game with runners on the corners, but Ryan Pressly was able to work out of the jam. Pressly was perfect over 1 2/3 innings and struck out four batters. The rest of the bullpen didn’t perform as well. Taylor Rogers gave up a run and left runners at second and third with two outs. Alan Busenitz came in and gave up a three-run homer to the first batter he faced. Trevor Hildenberger recorded the last out of the seventh before Reed took over. The eighth inning started with a single and then a hit by pitch, but Reed got a massive strikeout before inducing an inning-ending double play. Things didn’t work out so well in the ninth. Reed gave up a leadoff single and then Gomez ended in on a pitch he absolutely destroyed. That gave the Rays a walk-off win to sweep the series and set the Twins down to .500. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen422.png Next Three Games Mon at NYY, 6:05 pm CT Tue at NYY 5:35 pm CT Wed at NYY 5:35 pm CT Last Three Games TB 10, MIN 1: Snell Stifles Twins Bats TB 8, MIN 7: Playing The Wrong Notes MIN 2, CLE 1: Berrios Stars, LaMarre Plays Hero as Twins Survive 16-Inning Duel More From Twins Daily Twins Minor League Report (4/22): Romero Strikes Out 10, Buxton Rehabs The Twins Almanac for April 22–29 Max Kepler Improving His Approach in 2018 Click here to view the article

Here are the current MLB leaders in exit velocity against (min. 50 results) 80.4 mph Brent Suter 80.9 mph Jose Berrios 82.1 mph Kyle Hendricks 84.0 mph Jacob deGrom 84.9 mph Clayton Kershaw 85.1 mph Aaron Nola I believe league average is something like 88 mph.

Now that the dust has settled a little bit on this one, yes, that is definitely a big takeaway. Flip the perspective and just think how Cleveland must feel today. They had to endure a 16-inning game AND lost. All the frustration from the Twins in not being able to scratch across more runs is somewhat lifted by the fact they still won. Yes, it's just one game, and that Cleveland team and manager are a bunch of pros, but this is the kind of loss that you could see potentially having a carryover effect. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking.

We know Jose Berrios can pass any physical test you put in front of him, but Wednesday night he passed an emotional test with flying colors. Berrios was in control and fellow Puerto Rico native Eddie Rosario scored the game-winning run in the 16th inning on a walk-off hit by Ryan LaMarre.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)Download attachment: Snapshot418.png Download attachment: WinEx418.png That’s right, the Sire of Fort Myers became the Hero of Puerto Rico tonight. LaMarre came off the bench and delivered three hits, including the game winner. Alan Busenitz managed to keep Cleveland off the board for two more innings, giving the bats another opportunity to strike. Rosario led off the 16th with a single, Logan Morrison delivered a base hit of his own and Eduardo Escobar was intentionally walked. That brought up LaMarre, who had one career RBI prior to collecting his first walk-off hit. Byron Buxton, who sat last night due to migraines, was placed on the 10-day DL earlier today and Max Kepler left the game in the 10th inning with a sore right knee. Rosario was looked over by the training staff after his single in the 16th inning, but appeared to be fine as he advanced from first to third on Morrison’s single. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen418.png Next Three Games Fri at TB, 6:10 pm CT Sat at TB 5:10 pm CT Sun at TB 12:10 pm CT Last Three Games CLE 6, MIN 1: Kluber, Lindor Outshine Twins in Puerto Rico MIN 4, CHW 0: Mauer Reaches 2,000 Hits, Leads Twins to Victory MIN 9, HOU 8: Max to the Rescue! More From Twins Daily Twins Minor League Report (4/18): Wiel, Gordon Stay Hot as Lookouts Sweep Doubleheader Click here to view the article

I believe the overall run expectancy based on the data from 2010-15 says your expected runs that inning jumps from .319 to .429. Here's a link to the Run Expectancy Matrix. With 2-outs and a runner on 2B, average number of runs: .319 With 2-outs and runners on 1B and 2B, average number of runs is .429. As far as walks go, I'll take one in pretty much any situation from any batter. If his teammates get out and no runs score, that's their fault. Don't blame it on the guy who reached safely. The only way an inning ends is by recording three outs. A hitter's ability to simply not get out is still an underrated skill. Joe Mauer is a very good hitter, but his career BABIP is .342, meaning he gets out 65.8 percent of the time he puts the ball in play. Gimme a walk all day, every day.

The leverage stuff is based on hard numbers. Here's some more info from B-Ref on win expectancy and leverage index. I believe they define a high-leverage situation as anytime the leverage index is 1.5 or higher. Only 19.2 percent of Mauer's career plate appearances fall into that high leverage bucket, so it's not like they're casting a very wide net.

I thought that was pretty silly. Obviously they couldn't have seen this many postponements, but you had to figure there was going to be at least one.

Jake Odorizzi’s night changed in a hurry, Corey Kluber was doing his thing and a Puerto Rican native had a special moment … but, sadly, it wasn’t one of our guys. The Twins dropped the opening game of the Puerto Rico Series, but tomorrow is La MaKina night!Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)Download attachment: Snapshot417.png Download attachment: WinEx417.png Odorizzi was really good … until he wasn’t. He held Cleveland scoreless through 4 2/3 innings and had six strikeouts, then he gave up a double and a home run before recording the final out of the fifth. He came back out for the sixth and served up homers to the first two batters he faced. It went from pitcher’s duel to slugfest in the blink of an eye. The first of those home runs was hit by Puerto Rico product Francisco Lindor. It was a pretty cool moment, I guess. If you’re into that sorta thing. I dunno, probably would’ve been a lot cooler if it had been Eddie Rosario. Unfortunately, the Twins had to face Corey Kluber, the best pitcher in baseball, tonight. Over his last 26 starts entering this game, Kluber had a 1.62 ERA and 0.74 WHIP over 189 1/3 innings while holding opponents to a .171/.209/.277 line. His 2.10 FIP over that span is the best in baseball by a wide margin. KluBot was excellent yet again, holding the Twins to one run over 6 2/3 innings. Brian Dozier knocked him out of the game with an RBI double. It didn’t get any easier for the Twins from there, as Andrew Miller entered the game and was followed by Cody Allen. Max Kepler had a double, a walk and scored the Twins’ only run. Joe Mauer drew a pair of walks. Tyler Kinley threw a scoreless ninth inning. Byron Buxton was out due to migraines. Max slid over to center and Robbie Grossman played right. He was 0-for-4 with a strikeout and looked out of place in the outfield, though it’s not like he badly misplayed anything. Grossman is 2-for-18 with no walks to start 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: Bullpen417.png Next Three Games Weds vs. CLE, 6:10 pm CT (Puerto Rico Series) Fri at TB, 6:10 pm CT Sat at TB, 5:10 pm CT Last Three Games MIN 4, CHW 0: Mauer Reaches 2,000 Hits, Leads Twins to Victory MIN 9, HOU 8: Max to the Rescue! MIN 4, HOU 1: Odorizzi, Twins Battle Their Way to Victory More From Twins Daily Twins Minor League Report (4/17): Wiel Walks it Off to Back Littell Twins vs. Indians Series Preview Puerto Rico Series Comes With Added Importance Click here to view the article

Here are the top 10 pitchers drafted that year: Mark Prior (16.6 bWAR) Dewon Brazelton (-3.1 bWAR) Gavin Floyd (15.6 bWAR) Josh Karp (0 MLB innings) Chris Smith (0 MLB innings) John Van Benschoten (-3.6 bWAR) Colt Griffin (0 MLB innings) Kenny Baugh (0 MLB innings) Mike Jones (0 MLB innings) Kris Honel (0 MLB innings) Ouch.

Love seeing the bullpens side-by-side here. Let's hope tonight's game goes 23 innings, then we'll have Cleveland right where we want them with that nine-man pen

It seems to me that Joe's biggest enemy is going to be the limit. He's going to need a lot of guys to get elected or drop off the ballot between now and when he appears. BBWAA members can only vote for 10 players. Here are the 10 guys who came the closest to election this year: Edgar Martinez Mike Mussina Roger Clemens Barry Bonds Curt Schilling Omar Vizquel Larry Walker Fred McGriff Manny Ramirez Jeff Kent Some of those guys are going to get in, but there will be more players added to the ballot. This is one of the many problems I have with the HoF. The question isn't going to be is Joe Mauer a Hall of Famer, it's going to be is he one of the 10 best players on the ballot?

We could put in links to their MiLB.com profiles, would that be helpful?

Thanks for the feedback. This is what I call the Saturday Speed Round edition of the minors reports. Hopefully it still has all the stuff you'd expect from the regular format, but it shaves a little bit of time off writing it. Saturday's can be tough, especially once the short season leagues start. A left groin strain. At least it's not an arm injury.

The three Twins affiliates who played Saturday all won close ballgames. LaMonte Wade and Nick Gordon delivered in the clutch for the Lookouts. Aaron Slegers, Adalberto Mejia and Phil Hughes were all in action. Ryan Mason was with a new team, but still doing big things out of the bullpen.TRANSACTIONS Ryan LaMarre was optioned to Rochester (but you'll be happy to know that he just keeps hitting). Brady Anderson was sent back to Fort Myers from Rochester. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 4, Gwinnett 2 Box Score W: Aaron Slegers (6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K) SV: Matt Magill (1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) HR: Brock Stassi (1) Multi-hit games: Ryan Lamarre (2-for-3, BB, RBI) Gregorio Petit (2-for-4, 3B, 2 R) It took the Red Wings’ offense some time to get rolling, so it was good Aaron Slegers brought his A game. He pitched six shutout innings in a game that was tied at 0-0 through five innings. Rochester built a 4-0 lead, but Adalberto Mejia ran into some trouble in his relief appearance. He pitched clean innings in the seventh and eighth frames, but things got interesting in the ninth. Mejia issued a leadoff walk, the next batter reached on an error which was followed with an RBI single. Mejia was charged with one earned run on a hit, two walks and a hit batter over his two innings, but he also struck out four batters. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 3, Pensacola 2 Box Score W: Todd Van Steensel (2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) SV: Omar Bencomo (2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K) SP: Lewis Thorpe (4 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: LaMonte Wade (2-for-4, 2 RBI) Nick Gordon (2-for-4, RBI, SB) The Lookouts entered the fifth inning trailing 2-0 but rallied to take the lead. T.J White led off the frame with a single and Brent Rooker followed suit. Brian Navarreto advanced them both on a sac bunt, then Ryan Walker lived up to his name and drew a base on balls to load ‘em up. Tanner English went down swinging, bringing LaMonte Wade up with the bases juiced and two outs. He delivered a two-run, game-tying single and Nick Gordon capped the inning by driving in the go-ahead run on a single of his own. Lewis Thorpe gave up two runs over four innings, one of them unearned due to his own throwing error. The bullpen shut out the Blue Wahoos from there, with Todd Van Steensel (two innings) Anthony McIver (one inning) and Omar Bencomo (two innings) protecting the one-run lead. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 5, Tampa 4 Box Score W: Phil Hughes (5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K) SV: Ryan Mason (2 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Aaron Whitefield (2-for-4, 2B, R, SB) Jimmy Kerrigan (2-for-4, 2B, 2 R) Phil Hughes pitched five shutout innings and 44 of his 61 pitches were for strikes (72.1 percent). Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press passed along on Twitter that this lines Hughes up to return April 24 at Yankee Stadium. Similar to the Rochester game, the Miracle also jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Colton Davis, the first man out of the bullpen ran into some trouble, but Ryan Mason righted the ship. Mason, making his first appearance since being called up from Cedar Rapids, entered the game with the Miracle clinging to a one-run lead. There were two men on base and two outs in the seventh inning. Mason struck out the next batter swinging to end the threat. It was Mason’s game from there, as he closed things out to earn his third save already in this young season (he had two with the Kernels). KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids vs. Clinton Postponed (rain) STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Ryan Mason Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: LaMonte Wade TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Prospects performed: #3 Nick Gordon: 2-for-4, RBI, SB #7 Brent Rooker: 1-for-4, R, K #12 Lewis Thorpe: 4 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K #13 Lewin Diaz: 0-for-4, K #14 LaMonte Wade: 2-for-4, 2 RBI, K #17 Travis Blankenhorn: 0-for-3, BB, RBI SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Gwinnett (12:05 pm CT), Fernando Romero Chattanooga at Pensacola (1:05 pm CT), Kohl Stewart Fort Myers vs. Tampa (3:00 pm CT), Clark Beeker Cedar Rapids vs. Clinton (2:05 pm CT), Blayne Enlow Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

This is an updated version of a post that originally appeared in the blog section over the offseason. We felt like the discussion was worth revisiting this afternoon in the wake of Joe collecting his 2,000th hit. Another Twins Daily piece from the offseason that's worthy of mention is John's Report from the Fort that made it sound like Mr. Mauer intended to stick around awhile longer. Also, Andrew put together a nice overview on some things that need to happen for Mauer to return to the Twins in 2019.