All Things 2026 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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The Twins let Matt Bowman opt out to keep 39 year old Luis Garcia and his 9 ERA. What are we doing?
 





howeda7 said:
The Twins let Matt Bowman opt out to keep 39 year old Luis Garcia and his 9 ERA. What are we doing?
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Bowman opted out in spring training, right?

I was wrong - my bad. I conflated him with some other pitcher from spring training.
 
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Great to see Shelton get Gomez back out today after his tough outing last night and he responded😃
 

Twins Win!
 



Ope3 said:
The list will grow by 1 with the Mets calling up Zach Thornton, born in Winona.

www.mlb.com

Mets calling up lefty prospect Thornton to pitch Wednesday

WASHINGTON -- Needing a rotation fill-in for injured starter Clay Holmes, the Mets will turn to one of the most polished strike-throwers in their farm system. The Mets plan to call up 13th-ranked prospect Zach Thornton to pitch in a bulk role Wednesday against the Nationals, either as a starter
www.mlb.com www.mlb.com

He grew up in Northfield while his father (Paul) was an Assistant Track & Field Coach with the Gophers. He's now at Kansas University.
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The story of Paul checking himself out of a hospital yesterday to make the trip from Chicago to DC to see his son Zach Thornton pitch for the Mets tonight is pretty Amazin' in its own right.

www.sportingnews.com

Zach Thornton's dad is re-learning how to walk, but he wouldn't miss son's MLB debut for Mets | Sporting News

This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment for the Thornton family.
www.sportingnews.com www.sportingnews.com

Let's Go Mets!
 






Jim Rich made it sound like Royce wasn't in the Saints lineup last night because he hasn't reported to the team yet. Something about he has 72 hours to report per the CBA. Guess we'll see if he shows up today. That's a real bad look for him.
 

www.mlb.com

Revolving door of Twins' closers may halt with Morris dealing

MINNEAPOLIS – Through eight weeks of the season, the Twins have gotten saves from nine different pitchers. With the way Andrew Morris handled his chance on Wednesday, that number may stop climbing soon.
www.mlb.com www.mlb.com

Great article about Morris’ progress. Pretty cool to see him, Rojas and Prielipp all shine in their rookie seasons; great building blocks for future success😃

MINNEAPOLIS – Through eight weeks of the season, the Twins have gotten saves from nine different pitchers. With the way Andrew Morris handled his chance on Wednesday, that number may stop climbing soon.

Morris, a starter throughout his career until this season, pitched a perfect ninth inning against the heart of the Astros order to close out a 4-1 win at Target Field. Minnesota has cycled through late-inning options as manager Derek Shelton has admitted that the team is looking for pitchers to take late-inning opportunities and run with them.

As Morris’ role has shifted from Minor League starter to Major League long reliever to higher and higher leverage appearances on the big club, he’s one pitcher who’s doing just that. Over his last nine outings, Morris has allowed two earned runs in 11 innings (1.64 ERA), striking out seven against three walks and never looking rattled as the moment has gotten bigger and bigger.

It wasn’t officially Morris’ first save opportunity, but it was his first time closing in a classic sense. It was the first time a game was set up for him to pitch the ninth inning with a lead – and it started with superstar slugger Yordan Alvarez, no less.

“I was trying to tell myself that’s what I’ve been working towards,” Morris said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to work towards. I want to be the guy in those spots. I think I can be really good at it. I appreciate the trust and the experience that I’ve been building.”

When Morris first came up, it was purely a matter of need. He competed for a starting job in Spring Training and began the season in the rotation for Triple-A St. Paul. He was recalled when Cody Laweryson went on the injured list, and in his first game he pitched three innings after entering with a seven-run lead.

Subsequent outings were mostly of the longer variety, but in the past couple of weeks Morris has started to be used more like a typical late-inning reliever. He followed Joe Ryan in a tie game in the seventh in Cleveland, and took a tough loss after entering with a one-run lead in the eighth on Friday against the Brewers.

Morris recorded holds against Milwaukee on Sunday and Houston on Monday, meaning that not only was this his first time pitching as a conventional closer, but he was also pitching for the third time in four days.

“I wanted to see what the velo is,” Shelton said. “I normally don’t pay attention to velo, but it’s the first time in his career that he’s been three of four. When he threw the first pitch and it was 96, I was like, all right, we’re in a good spot.”

The Twins will likely continue to mix and match to some degree in the late innings. Against more lefty-heavy lineups, Anthony Banda and Taylor Rogers will play big roles. Eric Orze and Luis Garcia also have gained some trust from Shelton, and Yoendrys Gomez was brilliant in front of Morris on Wednesday.

It’s definitely not as cut and dried as Morris being The Closer now, and it’s entirely possible the Twins won’t get to a point this year where they’re funneling the bulk of save chances to any one pitcher. But Morris has shown that he can handle intense situations, and he earns more trust with every outing.

Asked what he likes about Morris beyond mere effectiveness, Shelton paid the rookie a hearty compliment.

“Lack of heartbeat, and I mean that in such a beautiful way,” Shelton said. “You talk to him and it’s like, ‘Hey, all right, it’s the ninth.’ You love that about him that he doesn’t get too high or too low. Nothing has really affected him. The transition to the bullpen, the transition then to a smaller role, then transition to leverage, he’s handled everything about as well as a young kid could.”
 

Will be interesting to see what happens when some of the pitchers come off the IL. I think with Abel, Bradley and Zeb’s efforts thus far, Festa is destined for the pen. I hope we keep Acton, as he’s showed ability to throw strikes and get outs.

Feel bad for Funderburk, going down - but maybe with his wife just giving birth and battling cancer, he gets to spend more time with them, and has more flexibility with a Saints schedule.

Taj Bradley Injury: Could rejoin rotation Saturday | RotoWire

Bradley (pectoral) could rejoin the Twins' rotation as soon as Saturday in Boston, Matthew Leach of MLB.com reports.
www.rotowire.com www.rotowire.com



Bradley (pectoral) could rejoin the Twins' rotation as soon as Saturday in Boston, Matthew Leach of MLB.com reports.

Coming back from right pectoral inflammation, Bradley threw around 65 pitches Sunday between a rehab start and a post-start bullpen session. He threw off the mound again Wednesday, and if he recovers well he might slot back into the rotation Saturday. Bradley was excellent before getting hurt, holding a 2.87 ERA and 52:17 K:BB over 47 innings covering eight starts. If Bradley does start Saturday, he would be somewhat limited from a workload perspective.
 









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