2018 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

STrib: Byron Buxton has setback; Miguel Sano makes progress

The Twins have been patient waiting for Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano to work their way back after both were demoted to the minors in the past month.

Now they have to deal with another potential injury concern. Buxton, playing in his 18th game at Class AAA Rochester since being sent down to complete his rehab from a fractured left big toe — and to rediscover his swing — left Thursday’s game against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre because of a sore left wrist.

Buxton was 0-for-1 in the game when he batted in the third inning. The center fielder fouled off two pitches, reacting as if something was wrong with his left hand after the second foul ball.

He fouled off a 1-2 pitch and, apparently, was in pain. He tried to wave off a trainer who came onto the field, but he was taken out of the game.

Twins manager Paul Molitor confirmed that Buxton will have an X-Ray and other tests Friday.

"It is somewhat concerning," Molitor said.

The Twins have been told by the Red Wings staff that the injury is minor. Still, it is potentially another setback for a player who has had a number of them this season. Buxton has been healthy for some time, but the Twins announced last week that they were leaving him at Rochester to refine his hitting approach.

While Buxton has had his issues, Sano — who a year ago at this time was coming off a runner-up finish to Aaron Judge at the Home Run Derby and his first All-Star Game appearance — homered for Class A Fort Myers on Wednesday, went 1-for-2 with two walks Thursday and is batting .328 with two homers and 10 RBI in 17 games.

He has been on a schedule during which he plays two games and then spends the third day focusing on conditioning and drills. Twins manager Paul Molitor said Sano is getting close to playing more frequently.

“I don’t know how long the Fort Myers chapter will go on,” Molitor said before Thursday night’s series opener with Tampa Bay at Target Field was delayed two hours by rain.

“We’ve mapped it out down the road, not only looking at what he’s doing in the gym but also how many games he’s going to be playing. Increasing the third base games, going with the DH games and some of those type of things.”

http://www.startribune.com/byron-buxton-has-setback-miguel-sano-makes-progress/488075111/

Win Twins!!
 

In a perfect world, sure. In reality, this rarely happens. The Twins did it with Aggie, but have never done it since in 23 years, IIRC. The reality is that if you trade him, there's probably a 95% chance he's not on your team next year. They already have tradeable assets in Dozier, Lynn, Rodney, Duke and possibly Mauer and Morrison. They can get plenty of prospects without trading Escobar.

But does that have anything to do with the trade? Or are they players that would have signed somewhere else regardless?
 

Over the last 28 days, Mitch Garver has an OPS of .922 yet he has only started 8 of the last 18 games. There's 3 catchers on the roster now, there's no reason he shouldn't be able to DH some as well. He should never sit two games in a row. Ridiculous.
 

Over the last 28 days, Mitch Garver has an OPS of .922 yet he has only started 8 of the last 18 games. There's 3 catchers on the roster now, there's no reason he shouldn't be able to DH some as well. He should never sit two games in a row. Ridiculous.

Astudillo will not catch in a game unless both of the other catchers have their legs bitten off by a killer rabbit.

Apparently, if you read between the lines on LaVelle E. Neal III's articles and tweets, the pitchers prefer throwing to Wilson. Your point is valid that Garver can still DH against certain pitchers, but at this point in his career, Garver is seen by some as a defensive liability.
 

Astudillo will not catch in a game unless both of the other catchers have their legs bitten off by a killer rabbit.

Apparently, if you read between the lines on LaVelle E. Neal III's articles and tweets, the pitchers prefer throwing to Wilson. Your point is valid that Garver can still DH against certain pitchers, but at this point in his career, Garver is seen by some as a defensive liability.

My point about Astudillo is he could be used at catcher in an emergency. So not a big risk if you DH Garver and Wilson gets hurt. Could plug him in for a few innings instead of losing the DH. I know that’s always a concern when you have both catchers in the game at the same time.

If they’re sellers at the deadline, they should get Garver more time behind the plate. Only way he gets better.
 



My point about Astudillo is he could be used at catcher in an emergency. So not a big risk if you DH Garver and Wilson gets hurt. Could plug him in for a few innings instead of losing the DH. I know that’s always a concern when you have both catchers in the game at the same time.

If they’re sellers at the deadline, they should get Garver more time behind the plate. Only way he gets better.

Monday, Garver was the DH and Wilson hit a double. They pinch ran for Wilson, Garver moved to catcher and the the pitcher was put in the lineup.
 

Pressley warms up, comes in, faces one batter, strikes him out, and then is taken out. Belisle comes in and gives up 5 runs. Handling of the bullpen continues to be stupid.
 

Pressley warms up, comes in, faces one batter, strikes him out, and then is taken out. Belisle comes in and gives up 5 runs. Handling of the bullpen continues to be stupid.
Yep. Number one issue with Molly.
 




It's all about the matchups. I'm sure that Molitor and the pitching coach have a 25-page report from the analytics department for every series, detailing which pitchers should be used in which situations against which batters.

Analytics have become the perfect excuse for every decision that goes bad. "but, the analytics said it was the right move to make......."

I was at an American Legion baseball playoff game the other night, and one team put the freakin' shift on against the other team's left-handed batters - with three infielders to the right of second base. FOR A FREAKIN' AMERICAN LEGION GAME!!!!! If I could, I would take the person who invented the shift and throw them in a vat of piranhas.
 

5 hour game today. 20 pitching changes, 20 mound visits, 20 full counts, 2 bench clearing brawls, one 10th inning walk-off grand slam by Dozier.

Great last 11 games - 9-2.

Dozier’s trade value has skyrocketed in the past three weeks. What say you - trade him or keep him?
 

5 hour game today. 20 pitching changes, 20 mound visits, 20 full counts, 2 bench clearing brawls, one 10th inning walk-off grand slam by Dozier.

Great last 11 games - 9-2.

Dozier’s trade value has skyrocketed in the past three weeks. What say you - trade him or keep him?

Trade him, 100%, if they can get any reasonable value for him! Let's hope his value keeps going up in the coming weeks!

Still somewhat of a "new regime" in Fulvey and company; Dozier may not be one of "their guys", maybe more likely 2 b moved.

I'm sure a lot depends on how ready they think Gordon is.
 



5 hour game today. 20 pitching changes, 20 mound visits, 20 full counts, 2 bench clearing brawls, one 10th inning walk-off grand slam by Dozier.

Great last 11 games - 9-2.

Dozier’s trade value has skyrocketed in the past three weeks. What say you - trade him or keep him?

I say see where they’re at after the 10 game road trip.
 

I'm sure a lot depends on how ready they think Gordon is.
At AAA Rochester he’s at .242/.260/.353 in 49 games. Compare that to his 42 games to start the season at AA Chattanooga: .333/.381/.525.

Last 10 games at Rochester: .214/.214/.333.

Based solely on these hitting stats after he made the jump (to Rochester), maybe not ready?

Wow! He weighs 160. Hmmm.

http://m.milb.com/milb/player/624503
 


5 hour game today. 20 pitching changes, 20 mound visits, 20 full counts, 2 bench clearing brawls, one 10th inning walk-off grand slam by Dozier.

Great last 11 games - 9-2.

Dozier’s trade value has skyrocketed in the past three weeks. What say you - trade him or keep him?

Dozier needs to go no matter what happens. It's clear he is not in the team's plans for the future. Unless they have plans to offer him a qualifying offer, he needs to be dealt.
 

Souhan: Try for playoffs or move on to 2019? Twins can do both

oday’s vexing question: Following a 9-2 homestand entering the All-Star break, and a walkoff grand slam by Brian Dozier on Sunday, should the Twins try to win the division, or make trades for the future?

Today’s definitive answer: Absolutely.

The Twins’ new bosses became momentary pariahs last July for trading closer Brandon Kintzler and starter Jaime Garcia in the 48 hours before the trade deadline.

This July, will they recognize that their team is a long shot to make the playoffs, and trade veterans? Will they try to improve this year’s team, knowing that Ervin Santana, Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton could be back soon?

Strangely, they might be able to do both. They could trade away a member of their rotation for prospects without damaging the team’s shot at the playoffs.

Last year the bosses tried to weaken the team at the deadline … and failed. The Twins were 50-53 before the deadline and 34-24 after.

This year, the Twins could trade Lance Lynn for prospects and not give up on chasing Cleveland for the AL Central title. Lynn has been a disappointment, but after posting an 8.37 ERA in April, his ERA was 3.76 in May and 2.83 in June. (It’s 7.82 through three starts in July.)

Lynn has enough of a track record and a strong enough résumé in the NL to attract interest. The Twins could contend with this rotation: Santana, Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, Kyle Gibson and either Fernando Romero, Adalberto Mejia or Stephen Gonsalves.

If the Twins don’t think Gibson’s strong performance this season is sustainable, they might be able to trade him for more value than they would get for Lynn, because Gibson is under team control for another year.

(A year ago, I was asking for Gibson to be placed on a slow submarine to Atlantis. I was wrong. He has re-established himself as a quality big-league pitcher.)

Dozier is at the heart of the most vexing of these questions. He is an important personality in the clubhouse and helped rally the team last year. He has swung better of late and is capable of carrying the team down the stretch.

The Twins clearly don’t intend to sign Dozier to a lucrative long-term contract. That leaves them with three choices: Let him leave in free agency and get nothing; make a qualifying offer so they get a draft pick if he leaves or makes about $18 million for one year if he accepts; or trade him now.

If the Twins aren’t willing or able to trade him for value and if he recognizes that free agency is no longer a free-spending jamboree, he might take the qualifying offer. If the Twins are intent on Nick Gordon being their second baseman next season, they won’t want to pay Dozier $18 million to block Gordon, who is hitting .242 at Class AAA Rochester.

I’d keep Dozier and give him a qualifying offer. There is no guarantee Gordon will be ready to hit in the big leagues next year, and this year’s team won’t have a chance to catch Cleveland without Dozier.

“This team is capable of doing something special down the stretch,” Dozier said. “We did it last year.”

I asked Twins Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey if last July’s decisions will inform this year’s.

“Year to year, you look at it differently,” he said. “Last year, we felt like there were unique ups and downs. By July 31 you’ve got to make some calls. I looked at it the other day, and 80 percent of the trades that are made in July are made the last four or five days. So we all talk about it for about 45 days, and the reality is that everything gets done the last four or five days.

“We certainly learn more week to week as we go. We haven’t played the way we had hoped to start the year. We’ve played better of late. … There’s lots of things we can continue to learn about our club, but at the same time we have to be open minded about what helps us in the future, to make sure that we’re always thinking about building the right kind of base moving forward.

“I don’t think last year necessarily informs anything about this year other than that we’re always staying open-minded about short-term and long-term decisions.”

Falvey and GM Thad Levine were hired to modernize the baseball department, deepen the farm system, develop pitching and set the franchise up for a decade-long run of success.

This month, Falvey and Levine might be able to do all of that without hurting this team’s chances. The idea is almost as strange as Sunday’s brawling, balking, walking-off victory.

http://www.startribune.com/try-for-playoffs-or-move-on-to-2019-twins-can-do-both/488237641/

Win Twins!!
 

per STrib:

Rodney in the fifth?

When Molitor relieved Fernando Romero in the fifth inning Sunday with runners on second and third, he chose an unexpected pitcher: Closer Fernando Rodney, who had not appeared before the sixth inning since 2005. It felt like an extreme move, to use his best pitcher in a critical situation, or perhaps a chance to showcase the 41-year-old for scouts from teams considering a trade.

And the move was brilliant: Rodney threw a 95-mph fastball, struck out Carlos Gomez on an 83-mph changeup, and ended the inning on a harmless grounder.

Molitor had a confession after the game, however.

“To be honest with you, it wasn’t about [strategy]. He needs to be in Miami for an immigration hearing [Monday] morning” that he couldn’t reschedule, the manager said.

So Rodney had to leave by 3:30 to catch a flight.

“It worked out pretty well because he got a couple of really big outs.”

Romero, who gave up 10 hits and four runs, was sent back to Class AAA Rochester after the game.

http://www.startribune.com/twins-rays-get-a-bit-overheated-in-seventh-inning/488243971/

Win Twins!!
 

per Shooter:

It’ll be interesting how the Twins handle 2019 contracts for Miguel Sano, dispatched to Class A Fort Myers to get in shape and reduce strikeouts, and Byron Buxton, still at Class AAA Rochester rehabbing.

Sano, 25, becomes eligible for salary arbitration for the first time this winter. He’s making $602,500 this season. But because he has hit 78 home runs with a batting average of .248 the past four years, it’s not inconceivable that he could win arbitration for about $2 million for 2019.

Buxton, 24, being paid $580,000 this season despite playing in just 28 major league games, is also eligible for arbitration and could become a million-dollar player next year.

https://www.twincities.com/2018/07/14/charley-walters-glen-taylor-says-his-wolves-are-getting-along/

Win Twins!!
 

I read that the Twins challenged that the catcher was blocking the plate and not that Cave was safe in the 8th inning yesterday. I guess you can only challenge one or the other. And the umps can't reverse the call even if they see that Cave touched the plate first, could only reverse it if they determined the catcher was blocking the plate. That makes a little more sense. The rule is incredibly stupid but explains a little more why they didn't call him safe after the review.
 

Trade him, 100%, if they can get any reasonable value for him! Let's hope his value keeps going up in the coming weeks!

Still somewhat of a "new regime" in Fulvey and company; Dozier may not be one of "their guys", maybe more likely 2 b moved.

I'm sure a lot depends on how ready they think Gordon is.
Yep too far back to catch the Yanks or Mariners for the wild card, same with the tribe for the central. He's gonna walk anyways in free agency because the front office doesn't want him. Made that perfectly clear by not extending him last year or in the off season.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 

My guess is, if we are < 8 games out on July 30, we keep Dozier and make a qualifying offer. Otherwise they look aggressively to deal him.

Upcoming schedule:

@KC x 3
@TOR x 3
@BOS x 4

July 30:
vs CLE x 3
vs KC x 3
@ CLE x 4
 

Twins' past says it's too soon to give up on 2018 - Strib

In trying to determine if the Twins should be in full-on sell mode as they hit the All-Star break, I stumbled into an interesting fact: In each of the past six times the Twins made the playoffs, they trailed at the break. Here is the breakdown:

• 2003: Twins were 7½ games out of first place at the break and ended up winning the division by four games.

• 2004: Twins were a half-game out of first at the break and ended up winning the division by nine games (and leading by as much as 13½ games in September).

• 2006: Twins were 11 games out of first place at the break and ended up winning the division by one game (and in dramatic fashion by overtaking Detroit on the final day).

• 2009: Twins were four games out of first place at the break and ended up rallying to tie Detroit at the end before winning in a memorable Game 163 to take the division.

• 2010: Twins were 3½ games out of first place at the break and ended up winning the division by six games.

• 2017: Twins were 2½ games out of first place and 1½ games out of a wild-card spot at the break. They ended up losing the division race by 17 games to Cleveland but won the AL’s second wild-card berth...


http://www.startribune.com/twins-past-says-it-s-too-soon-to-give-up-on-2018/488248791/
 

My guess is, if we are < 8 games out on July 30, we keep Dozier and make a qualifying offer. Otherwise they look aggressively to deal him.

Upcoming schedule:

@KC x 3
@TOR x 3
@BOS x 4

July 30:
vs CLE x 3
vs KC x 3
@ CLE x 4

The division is not good, no doubt about it. If they can win a few more against Cleveland and take care of business against the dregs of Central and a few others, they just might surprise a few people.

Unknowns the rest of the way;

- How effective Santana is when he returns
- If Buxton and/or Sano make any meaningful contribution this year (I doubt it?)
- Trade deadline moves
- Does Pineda come back to make any kind of contribution? I’ve only heard that he could pitch in Aug/Sept and it would likely be just bullpen work but I haven’t seen an update on his progress in over a month

I haven’t thrown in the towel yet but it’s in my throwing hand
 

I think they need to let Buxton figure it out up here, his defense is way to good, he can still help us. Maybe Sano can help in September

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 

I think they need to let Buxton figure it out up here, his defense is way to good, he can still help us. Maybe Sano can help in September

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
Jake Cave is batting .312/.346/.558 in 26 games. And his defense is just fine. Buxton will figure it out in AAA, until that changes.
 

The division is not good, no doubt about it. If they can win a few more against Cleveland and take care of business against the dregs of Central and a few others, they just might surprise a few people.

Unknowns the rest of the way;

- How effective Santana is when he returns
- If Buxton and/or Sano make any meaningful contribution this year (I doubt it?)
- Trade deadline moves
- Does Pineda come back to make any kind of contribution? I’ve only heard that he could pitch in Aug/Sept and it would likely be just bullpen work but I haven’t seen an update on his progress in over a month

I haven’t thrown in the towel yet but it’s in my throwing hand

I say blow it up.
 

I say blow it up.

Exactly. What's the point of hanging on to these expiring contracts because you have a minuscule chance of sneaking into the playoffs where you would have no shot at a championship. The goal is to win a championship, and every action you take needs to be part of a long-term strategy to achieve that goal.
 

Exactly. What's the point of hanging on to these expiring contracts because you have a minuscule chance of sneaking into the playoffs where you would have no shot at a championship. The goal is to win a championship, and every action you take needs to be part of a long-term strategy to achieve that goal.

Agreed. This team literally has zero blue chippers. Berrios and Rosario are super close, but need more refinement. The only other player I love is Escobar, even though hes faded recently. In todays game, the way its played, you need to be uber talented to win a series. Trade the expiring contracts, and maybe even Jake O and get some more assets.
 




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