yarnivek1972

He has a career .580ish OPS vs LHB. That's pretty good. Really good, even. If he were perfect against them it would be .000. Point being finding a guy who is substantially better vs LHB is not likely. Andrew Miller has obviously had a much longer career, but his career OPS vs LHB is in the mid .600 range. Jesse Orrosco's career OPS vs LHB was .588, and he's considered one of the best ever.

It's worth pointing out that when (if?) Miguel Sano comes back this year, he will likely be limited to DH duty. I believe there was even something on the official site that alluded to that possibility. Of course, that may not be what you mean by "fully healthy". Of course, there could be different players on the roster next year. Grossman is certainly not a sure thing. Personally, I like Dozier in the lead off spot. There's something to be said about the comfort level of a particular hitter in a particular spot. A wisened sage once reportedly said that 90% of the game is half mental. I've always felt Mauer was a perfect # 2 hitter, because he does a good job making contact and it isn't afraid to take pitches (to allow base stealers to steal). Sano, for all his faults, is still the Twins best all around hitter and that's usually who you put third. Then you need protection. The Twins really don't have a PROVEN guy for that role at this time. Rosario fits the bill best at this time. If we ignore Polanco's horrendous June and July (or at least chalk it up to the grieving process), it's hard to ignore what he does from both sides of the plate and his ability to make contact plays in the middle of the lineup sandwiched between some guys that can struggle with contact from time to time. Buxton has been inconsistent (in case anyone hadn't noticed), but his numbers are still worthy of an important lineup spot. Kepler has been up and down as well. He needs to hit lower IMO mainly because he has not figured out LHP yet. At this point, Escobar probably should be playing third, assuming Sano won't when he does come back, with Adrianza spelling him. So far, Ehire has done slightly better vs RHP (although those numbers will change after today's HR off Snell) but Eduardo has been considerably better vs LHP. Someone has to catch. It's in the rules somewhere I think. It certainly isn't going to change much at this point. So, to condense, I would go: 2b Dozier 1b Mauer dh Sano lf Rosario ss Polanco cf Buxton rf Kepler 3b Escobar/Adrianza c Castro/Giminez

Given Snell's drastic splits, I don't think I would have done anything different with the lineup. Maybe Garver instead of Goodrum or Vargas. The pitching is what it is at this point. The newer guys for the most part are doing better than the veterans. The only guys that haven't been in AAA this year are Duffey, Rogers and Belisle. I really don't think that there is any dispute that the top 4 guys in the pen are Belisle, Rogers, Hildenberger and Busenitz. After that, it gets dicey. Boshers gave up a HR today, but he has been very effective vs LHB his entire career. Clearly Molitor has some faith in Pressly and a little less in Duffey. And that's kinda where they are at. They can be good. Or not. No consistency, which is disappointing at this point in their careers - especially Pressly. It doesn't appear that Molitor has any confidence to use anyone else in a winnable game. I'd say that's a pretty accurate assessment. Blame Falvine for not supplying better relievers, but I honestly don't feel I would have made any substantial moves differently given the game circumstances. And the fact that it did work, matters IMO.

Well, you had the numbers pretty close. Reversed, but close.

I'm not sure they can. Adding impactful pitchers isn't easy to do. It either takes loads of cash or loads of high quality players/prospects a team is willing to trade. If the general consensus is that the Twins need to add 2 quality starters and 2 quality relievers, I don't see the combination of cash and trade pieces to make it happen. Not yet anyway.

Just curious what you think the Twins can get for Rosario. Because if you can't get a guy that will impact the rotation inside of 12 months, what's the point in making the trade? Maybe they can, maybe they can't. They couldn't for Dozier. And he plays a position with lower offensive expectations than left field.

As I mentioned in the opening, Snell destroys LHB, but has been very average vs RHB. I suspect this lineup is designed to generate offense. After all, has that not been the biggest issue in the 3 game skid?

If someone sees the lineups, go ahead and post them. I have my "honey do" list and may not be done by game time. Thanks!

Exactly. If fans can easily see the shortcomings of Rosario's game, so can professional baseball scouts and player personnel people. Contrary to an earlier post, those decision makers are not dumb. Sure you listen. You ALWAYS listen. But one has to weigh the return vs the loss. Realistically, what are the Twins going to get for a corner OFer who has posted basically league average numbers for the first three years of his career? Might get one close to MLB ready pitcher. I doubt two. Pitching is still the far more valuable asset. Those who have it get what THEY want. Not the other way around.

No, he did not. The Rays second run was in the 6th inning on a double by Duda plating Longoria. Rogers came in with two on, two out in the 7th and got a groundout to end the inning. IMO, Rogers has EASILY been the most reliable reliever the Twins have had this year. He's only allowed 4 of 28 inherited runners to score all season. Compare to Ryan Pressly, who has allowed 10 of 31 to score. Or even Trevor Hildenberger, who has allowed 5 of 18 inherited runners to score. Wanting to get rid of Rogers (ahead of ANYONE else no less) makes zero sense to me.

Goooooood morning Twins Territory!!!! For the last two days, we’ve been treated to the Gameday thread starter’s stories of experiences in the Tampa area. I too have an amusing Tampa tale. This took place just after Christmas, 2010. Mr. and Mrs. Yarnivek were taking their honeymoon on a cruise that departed from Tampa Bay. If you recall, a major blizzard was hitting the east coast at that time. Naturally, our early afternoon flight from MSP was scheduled to connect in Philadelphia. By the time we woke up (5 am or so), the flight from Philadelphia to Tampa was already cancelled. It was another couple hours before the flight to Philly was officially cancelled. I went online and actually quickly found another flight plan that would work. Of course, nothing is that simple. I was not allowed to change my itinerary online, even under those circumstances. I had to call. Yeah. It was roughly 2 hours on hold to get through. If it had gone much longer, we were about to start driving to Tampa. Our cruise did not depart until noon the following day, so we had just barely enough time and the weather was fine most of the way, as long as we headed south and then east. Our original plan was to stay overnight in Tampa and then take a shuttle back to the airport where we were to catch the shuttle to the ship. The new plan had us flying to Charlotte, North Carolina, where we would stay overnight. Then an early morning flight to Sarasota - that was as close to Tampa as we could get. So, after finalizing the flight, I quickly changed our hotel reservation (conveniently there was a vacancy at the same chain) and reserved a rental car to make the hour long trip from the Sarasota airport to Tampa’s. After that, our travel plans went pretty smoothly. Almost. After our cruise, we were again scheduled to route through Philly and then stay overnight in the Twin Cities before returning to Winona. No weather problems this time. A technical issue arose. Apparently, the plane’s computer was getting a reading that the smoke detector in one of the lavatories was going off. This was New Year’s Day, so it took a while to find someone to fix it. The delay caused us to miss our connection, literally by minutes. So, we spent the night in Philadelphia, courtesy of the airline. There were some issues the following morning that caused our flight to be delayed several hours. So, we ended up getting to MSP almost 24 hours after we were originally scheduled. I did get one souvenir while at the Tampa airport. A shirt. The design of which is the picture I hopefully attached to this thread. On to today’s action. The Twins will try to salvage the final game of the series against the Rays this afternoon. It has been a tough go for the offense as of late. Since erupting for 17 runs on Saturday, the Twins have scored just 9 runs on 14 hits over the last three games. Aaron Slegers (0-0, 2.84) is scheduled to make his second MLB start. Slegers made his big league debut on August 17, in game two of the Indians double header. He allowed just 2 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks in 6 plus innings. Since then, he’s made 3 starts for AAA Rochester. One went poorly. The last two were pretty good, as Aaron recorded 10 strikeouts in each and picked up important wins for the Red Wings. His mound opponent is scheduled to be 24 year old lefty Blake Snell (3-6, 4.02). Snell has a so-so 7.5 per 9 K rate and a pretty lousy 4.3 per 9 BB rate. Clearly, the game plan for Twins hitters has to be patience. Make Snell throw strikes, work the count and get a pitch that you can handle. Snell has held LHB to a .518 OPS and RHB are hitting him at a .765 OPS clip, so expect many of the Twins lefties to be held out of the lineup. Snell has pitched well of late. He picked up his 3 wins in his 5 most recent starts. In those games, his combined line is 33 IP, 23 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 9 BB, 24 K. Need a win to keep pace with the rest of the pack. Need the offense to get back on track. Need Slegers some innings to (up) rack . Then, time to get out of Florida, Jack.

Probably should put Gee back on the bullpen usage chart.

Wow. I hate shifts.

Not often you would see double barreled action in a bullpen with one's closer on the mound.

You have to run for Mauer, not? Adrianza I would guess, since Granite has already been used.

And the sting rays in there, minding their own business, all of a sudden saying "wtf was that?"

A splash smash!

Just a guess that there were more fans in attendance for the Astros games played in Tropicana Stadium last week. I think they said 6500 tickets sold and 3000-4000 actually at the game.

The people I feel for in a game like this are the vendors going up and down the aisles hawking their products to basically no one.

Still 4 weeks to play. I think he'll be back.

It depends on your definition of body of water. If you are refering to the entire Mississippi, I would put it's volume of water over the course of over 2000 miles up against the relatively shallow Tampa Bay covering just 400 square miles. But, if you are merely talking about the space between the cities, then yes. Although, I'm sure you are aware that the Mississippi isn't an absolute boundary between Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

Oh yeah. I seem to remember seeing that was a likely scenario. I believe Adrianza is far better vs rhp and Escobar better vs lhp. I guess I would go straight platoon the rest of the way.

It will be interesting to see where the Twins decide to slot Sano in the lineup when he returns. He's hit 3rd or 4th pretty much all year. Dozier Mauer Polanco Sano Rosario Buxton Kepler DH Castro/Giminez/Garver Perhaps?

The Twins DH has hit in the 9 spot two of the last three games. But adding a bat wasn't neccessary.

Sure, a team with a strong, deep rotation can. Not convinced that describes the Twins.