2019 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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I watched parts of two games this weekend and the Twins bullpen isn't going to dominate anybody. I hope that they can find a way to bring in some live arms. They aren't going to play Baltimore 162 times this year.
 

On the home runs, I read an article from Baseball Prospectus, and they flat out said that MLB is juicing the baseballs. The article, as I recall it, did not say specifically what was being done, but it clearly stated that MLB was doing something to make the balls more lively. They included a lot of stats showing HR rates this year, compared to previous years, and they are off the charts. The Twins are on pace to shatter the team's all-time record for most HR's in a season.

The article also said that Triple-A baseball teams are using the same baseball, and their HR rates are also way up.

So, it's great the Twins are hitting home runs, but let's try to keep this in perspective. Everybody is hitting more runs. It's not like the Twins are the only team on a HR surge. I love Rosario as a player, but I don't think he turned into Harmon Killebrew during the off-season. Unless he paid a visit to Barry Bonds' clinic........
 

howeda7 said:
Rosario's always been streaky. He's hit 5 in 3 days, but he'll probably go 3 weeks without hitting one now. Still it's impressive.

I didn't think we'd miss Sano much, but Gonzalez isn't impressing me, at least at the plate. I'd rather have Escobar back for 40% less.
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Escobar hasn't been that much better since the trade either. Gonzalez being able to play so many positions helps a lot. I think Sano takes Adrianza's spot once he is back.

Dozier continues to be terrible too. Some Twins fans will still never admit it, but trading him was absolutely the right move. I think his career is close to being over unfortunately.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
On the home runs, I read an article from Baseball Prospectus, and they flat out said that MLB is juicing the baseballs. The article, as I recall it, did not say specifically what was being done, but it clearly stated that MLB was doing something to make the balls more lively. They included a lot of stats showing HR rates this year, compared to previous years, and they are off the charts. The Twins are on pace to shatter the team's all-time record for most HR's in a season.

The article also said that Triple-A baseball teams are using the same baseball, and their HR rates are also way up.

So, it's great the Twins are hitting home runs, but let's try to keep this in perspective. Everybody is hitting more runs. It's not like the Twins are the only team on a HR surge. I love Rosario as a player, but I don't think he turned into Harmon Killebrew during the off-season. Unless he paid a visit to Barry Bonds' clinic........
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They are 5th in all of baseball in HR per game though. And that is after hitting barely any the first week and a half or so. I don't think they will continue at this pace but they will hit a lot of HR this year with this lineup.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Escobar hasn't been that much better since the trade either. Gonzalez being able to play so many positions helps a lot. I think Sano takes Adrianza's spot once he is back.

Dozier continues to be terrible too. Some Twins fans will still never admit it, but trading him was absolutely the right move. I think his career is close to being over unfortunately.
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No issue trading Dozier. I didn't really mind trading Escobar either because I thought they'd have a good chance to re-sign him. But he took a low-ball offer from Arizona almost immediately when FA began. If he'd have taken that deal from the Twins last July I'd rather have kept him.
 


howeda7 said:
No issue trading Dozier. I didn't really mind trading Escobar either because I thought they'd have a good chance to re-sign him. But he took a low-ball offer from Arizona almost immediately when FA began. If he'd have taken that deal from the Twins last July I'd rather have kept him.
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Escobar and Pressly are the guys that I mourn their loss every day. Both trades seemed to make sense at the time, but... I don't subscribe to the notion that, once you get to a certain point of the season, you're required to be either a buyer or a seller. I think a team can hold their cards, too; that's a legit option.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Escobar and Pressly are the guys that I mourn their loss every day. Both trades seemed to make sense at the time, but... I don't subscribe to the notion that, once you get to a certain point of the season, you're required to be either a buyer or a seller. I think a team can hold their cards, too; that's a legit option.
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Pressly's the only one I wasn't as happy with. The other trades involved guys with expiring contracts.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Pressly's the only one I wasn't as happy with. The other trades involved guys with expiring contracts.
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Understandable.

Pressly chose not to return in part--perhaps in large part--because he recognized he got superior coaching in Houston. The Twins made a field management move at least one year too late.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Understandable.

Pressly chose not to return in part--perhaps in large part--because he recognized he got superior coaching in Houston. The Twins made a field management move at least one year too late.
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Pressly wasn't a Free Agent.
 










GopherJake said:
Buxton caught stealing last night. Party's over.......... :rolleyes:
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What's crazy is he got a terrible jump and it still took a near perfect throw to get him.

What's most encouraging to me is how much less he's striking out so far this year. He's laying off a lot more pitches out of the strike zone. So far he's striking out less than once per 4 plate appearances. It was close to once every 3 PA prior to this year. It's still early of course but I really like what I've seen so far.
 

I was curious to find out what the highest SB % of all-time was. According to baseball reference (80 min SB attempts), it's the one and only Alexi Casilla at 87.912%. Buxton's currently at 89.286% but doesn't have 80 attempts yet.

A lot of the players near the top of this list are current players. It makes sense considering how selective teams are now days when it comes to stolen base attempts.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/stolen_base_perc_career.shtml
 

GophersInIowa said:
He's laying off a lot more pitches out of the strike zone.
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It's not like I've watched every pitch this year, but this is exactly what I said to my wife during last night's game, when he laid off a nasty splitter. 2-1 is a whole lot different from 1-2. 3-1 is a whole lot different from 2-2.
 


Bad Gopher said:
I saw that live and was shocked. I think my mouth was hanging open. It was like watching La Tortuga strike out!
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FIFY.

Also, they should have challenged it. It was very close. Has Rocco had a single challenge yet?
 

howeda7 said:
FIFY.

Also, they should have challenged it. It was very close. Has Rocco had a single challenge yet?
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Haha. Not sure about your question. I know he's considered it, but i don't know if he's pulled the trigger yet. I do think Buxton was out, though.
 

Stopped scoring tonight and the Twins pitching is not where it needs to be yet. Hopefully the guys in charge see that this lineup can play defense and hit and add an arm or two.
 

This line-up is so good. Not going after one of Kuchel or Kimberal is a crime.
 

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Win Twins!!
 


Didn't see the Cave demotion but it makes sense with so few days off coming up.
 

So, the Twins sold out of "La Tortuga Night" ticket packages, where all fans that bought this ticket got a special Willians Astudillo t-shirt. You'd think that they'd have enough sense to put him in the lineup tonight. I get that they're trying to win games, but it's not like the guy is just a novelty and hasn't been a part of the regular lineup rotations up to this point. And from a PR standpoint, this doesn't look real good.
 

Wondering if they will move the start time of tomorrow's game. 90% chance of rain at 1 PM last I looked but clear by 6. Making fans sit through a rain delay or playing a double-header Sunday would be dumb.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
So, the Twins sold out of "La Tortuga Night" ticket packages, where all fans that bought this ticket got a special Willians Astudillo t-shirt. You'd think that they'd have enough sense to put him in the lineup tonight. I get that they're trying to win games, but it's not like the guy is just a novelty and hasn't been a part of the regular lineup rotations up to this point. And from a PR standpoint, this doesn't look real good.
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I couldn't believe this so I just pulled up the gamecast and he isn't listed as a starter. That seems insanely stupid and that it will make a lot of fans mad. I know a few people that bought the la tortuga package and they were legit going just because they love that guy. Now they don't even get to see him play.
 

Dumb not to start him. Especially since Gonzalez is hitting .180 at 3B.
 

Maybe the fans will forget after watching 3 guys in a row go yard! When was the last time that happened?
 

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