All Things 2022 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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Twins are really playing sloppy ball down the stretch. 3 errors in the 1st inning on Sunday.
their runs scored on an error, three walks and a sac fly............

Woods-Richardson had a shaky start and the Twins' defense didn't help him. But SWR settled down after the 1st inning, started hitting his spots, and looked a lot better. finished with
5 IP, 3 R, 2ER, 3H, 2BB, 3K, 1 HR allowed - threw 1 WP in the 1st inning that allowed a run to score

not overpowering - fast ball topping out in low 90's. showed a decent breaking ball. the HR was hit off a changeup that he left over the middle of the plate. 27 foul balls hit off him on 91 pitches.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Twins are really playing sloppy ball down the stretch. 3 errors in the 1st inning on Sunday.
their runs scored on an error, three walks and a sac fly............

Woods-Richardson had a shaky start and the Twins' defense didn't help him. But SWR settled down after the 1st inning, started hitting his spots, and looked a lot better. finished with
5 IP, 3 R, 2ER, 3H, 2BB, 3K, 1 HR allowed - threw 1 WP in the 1st inning that allowed a run to score

not overpowering - fast ball topping out in low 90's. showed a decent breaking ball. the HR was hit off a changeup that he left over the middle of the plate. 27 foul balls hit off him on 91 pitches.
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They said he's lost some velocity off his fastball, due to an injury (?), and he said it's made him a better "pitcher" rather than a thrower; article said they're hopeful it will climb back up a bit more as well.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
Not an epic loss for me as long as they spend that $35M some place else if not then let’s breakthrough our the pitchforks
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Their biggest need if Correa is gone will then be SS. So they either pay that much on him, another guy or get someone much worse.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Their biggest need if Correa is gone will then be SS. So they either pay that much on him, another guy or get someone much worse.
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Lewis will be back ~July 1st. Until then, there is an easy solution if they will take it. Arreaz at 2B and Polanco at SS. I don't know why that is suddenly untenable when it was fine for all of 2019 and 2020. The narrative that Polanco somehow hit better or stayed healthier playing 2B is dead. And Arreaz playing 1B displaces either Miranda, Urshella or a DH. I know neither is great defensively in that alignment, but it's adequate and the Twins don't exactly hang their hat on great defense or fundamentals these days either way.

I'd much rather spend that $ on a solid #2 catcher, a RH hitting OF'er who can play CF and at least one high-end bullpen arm.
 

howeda7 said:
Lewis will be back ~July 1st. Until then, there is an easy solution if they will take it. Arreaz at 2B and Polanco at SS. I don't know why that is suddenly untenable when it was fine for all of 2019 and 2020. The narrative that Polanco somehow hit better or stayed healthier playing 2B is dead. And Arreaz playing 1B displaces either Miranda, Urshella or a DH. I know neither is great defensively in that alignment, but it's adequate and the Twins don't exactly hang their hat on great defense or fundamentals these days either way.

I'd much rather spend that $ on a solid #2 catcher, a RH hitting OF'er who can play CF and at least one high-end bullpen arm.
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Couple of issues with that plan.

Based on this teams history with rehabbing and getting players work there is no way he’s ready in July.

Polonco does not have the range or the arm strength to play short. Both of those will become valuable again given the shift is outlawed.

Arreaz is not a great 2nd basemen he is much better at first / DH.

If you were to play Polonco at SS and Arreaz at 2nd it would be one of the worst defense teams up the middle in the league.

Plus they ain’t gonna spend the saved money on bullpen help as that is not what they do. They are never gonna sign someone like Laim Henrdricks to that kind of contact.
 



I wonder if Urshela could play SS as a stop-gap measure for a couple of months.
So, first part of season, go with Arraez at 1B, Polanco 2B, Urshela at SS and Miranda at 3B.

Then, assuming Lewis comes back, go with Miranda at 1B, Polanco 2B, Lewis SS and Urshela at 3B, with Arraez mainly at DH. Gordon available as a back-up at 2B or SS in a pinch.

the problem with going out and signing a SS as a free agent is this - what do you do with Lewis when he's ready to play? Not going to put him in the OF again.

So, you basically need someone to play SS for half the season.
 

From the Parkinglot said:
Couple of issues with that plan.

Based on this teams history with rehabbing and getting players work there is no way he’s ready in July.

Polonco does not have the range or the arm strength to play short. Both of those will become valuable again given the shift is outlawed.

Arreaz is not a great 2nd basemen he is much better at first / DH.

If you were to play Polonco at SS and Arreaz at 2nd it would be one of the worst defense teams up the middle in the league.

Plus they ain’t gonna spend the saved money on bullpen help as that is not what they do. They are never gonna sign someone like Laim Henrdricks to that kind of contact.
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Strong point on the shift change. Polonco, more of a liability at short with that rule. Plus, he's shown signs of breaking down now, after being one of their more durable players.
 

howeda7 said:
Lewis will be back ~July 1st. Until then, there is an easy solution if they will take it. Arreaz at 2B and Polanco at SS. I don't know why that is suddenly untenable when it was fine for all of 2019 and 2020. The narrative that Polanco somehow hit better or stayed healthier playing 2B is dead. And Arreaz playing 1B displaces either Miranda, Urshella or a DH. I know neither is great defensively in that alignment, but it's adequate and the Twins don't exactly hang their hat on great defense or fundamentals these days either way.

I'd much rather spend that $ on a solid #2 catcher, a RH hitting OF'er who can play CF and at least one high-end bullpen arm.
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The best RH bat free agent that can play CF is Pillar who would cost very little. They can easily do all 3 of those things with the money freed up from Sanchez, Fulmer, Sano and hopefully Kepler off the books. That would be about $34M.
 



GophersInIowa said:
The best RH bat free agent that can play CF is Pillar who would cost very little. They can easily do all 3 of those things with the money freed up from Sanchez, Fulmer, Sano and hopefully Kepler off the books. That would be about $34M.
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If Correa returns, there's not much $ for anything else unless they push the payroll up to around $150 million, which I doubt.

Buxton's salary goes up by about $6 million, Arreaz hits arbitration (~$3 million), they have to pay for full seasons of Mahle (about a $4.8 million increase) and Lopez (~$1 million) and Kepler and Polanco have fairly big increases as well. About $19 million in total from those. That pretty much offsets savings from Sano, Sanchez, Bundy and Archer. Trading Kepler would help, but I don't know if there are going to be any takers.
 
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From the Parkinglot said:
Couple of issues with that plan.

Based on this teams history with rehabbing and getting players work there is no way he’s ready in July.
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No argument there.

From the Parkinglot said:
Polonco does not have the range or the arm strength to play short. Both of those will become valuable again given the shift is outlawed.
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I admit he's below average at SS but he's not terrible. And with the shift, he was playing on that side of 2B a fair amount anyway.

From the Parkinglot said:
Arreaz is not a great 2nd basemen he is much better at first / DH.
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Arreaz at 2B is exactly 0 defensive runs saved per year according to baseball reference. So I'd say he's dead average. Polanco is -11 at SS.

From the Parkinglot said:
If you were to play Polonco at SS and Arreaz at 2nd it would be one of the worst defense teams up the middle in the league.
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Perhaps, I have not analyzed the rest of the league. But we did it for two years and won the division both times.

From the Parkinglot said:
Plus they ain’t gonna spend the saved money on bullpen help as that is not what they do. They are never gonna sign someone like Laim Henrdricks to that kind of contact.
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I'm OK Correa back if he will come back. But I'm very much against paying an Andrelton Simmons type $8-10 million to hit .200 and play SS for half a season which is what I fear they will do.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
I wonder if Urshela could play SS as a stop-gap measure for a couple of months.
So, first part of season, go with Arraez at 1B, Polanco 2B, Urshela at SS and Miranda at 3B.

Then, assuming Lewis comes back, go with Miranda at 1B, Polanco 2B, Lewis SS and Urshela at 3B, with Arraez mainly at DH. Gordon available as a back-up at 2B or SS in a pinch.

the problem with going out and signing a SS as a free agent is this - what do you do with Lewis when he's ready to play? Not going to put him in the OF again.

So, you basically need someone to play SS for half the season.
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Urshella's #'s at SS are roughly the same as Polanco's but with a much smaller sample size. I'm not really against it, but I don't think that alignment is better overall. Miranda is below average at both 3B and 1B, so you'd be average/below average at every spot. With Arreaz and 2B and Polanco at SS, at least you have a plus defender at 3B with Urshella and an average one at 2B with Arreaz.
 

I just can’t do an infield of Urshela / Polanco / Arreaz / Miranda in 2022 even if it’s only for 80 games until Lewis is “back”.

Arreaz’s numbers at 2nd have been helped by the shift which will be gone.

And yes Howie you should be very afraid at who they sign cause a guy like Simons is exactly who they are gonna target for that dollar amount knowing they can sign him for a 1 year contract.

So many people are excited about next year and I just can’t see it. They may have lots of “quality” starters, but they have proven to be unreliable and break down early. I have no faith that Buxton can play and if he doesn’t play center field he loses so much of his value. Their corner outfield positions are a mess as Kepler can’t hit and the other two are hurt all the time. This was really the year to go “all in” to win but so it goes.
 



Is Arraez really hurt? Or are they attempting to get him a batting title in a very cowardly manner?
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Is Arraez really hurt? Or are they attempting to get him a batting title in a very cowardly manner?
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It depends who you follow on Twitter.

They had a chance to win the game last night by pitch hitting him in the 8th with the bases loaded. Per Rocco he just couldn’t get his hamstring ready to go. Kirk Gibson he ain’t.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
They said he's lost some velocity off his fastball, due to an injury (?), and he said it's made him a better "pitcher" rather than a thrower; article said they're hopeful it will climb back up a bit more as well.
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Not close to well versed on pitching. My impression, correct or not, is that in the current environment a starting pitcher better have outstanding location, mastery of multiple pitches and mastery of pitch selection, if his best stuff is low 90's. Joe Ryan's top velocity is currently low 90's and it looks like his ceiling is pretty good to good because he has some of the other attributes. I don't think he will dominate.

It looks to me like velocity sets up everything else and if you don't have it, you don't have it.
 

jamiche said:
Not close to well versed on pitching. My impression, correct or not, is that in the current environment a starting pitcher better have outstanding location, mastery of multiple pitches and mastery of pitch selection, if his best stuff is low 90's. Joe Ryan's top velocity is currently low 90's and it looks like his ceiling is pretty good to good because he has some of the other attributes. I don't think he will dominate.

It looks to me like velocity sets up everything else and if you don't have it, you don't have it.
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Pitching philosophy has changed. What's the accepted method today is what's called pitching backwards. Breaking pitches are used more often, and they're used to set up the fastball.

The slider has become the most important pitch in baseball. High 80's to low 90's with a high spin rate that causes a sharp break.

You still need 3 pitches of average or better quality to make it as a starter. Those three pitches are most likely going to be a slider, fastball, and something that will give the opposing handedness hitters a tough time.
 


From the Parkinglot said:
I just can’t do an infield of Urshela / Polanco / Arreaz / Miranda in 2022 even if it’s only for 80 games until Lewis is “back”.

Arreaz’s numbers at 2nd have been helped by the shift which will be gone.

And yes Howie you should be very afraid at who they sign cause a guy like Simons is exactly who they are gonna target for that dollar amount knowing they can sign him for a 1 year contract.

So many people are excited about next year and I just can’t see it. They may have lots of “quality” starters, but they have proven to be unreliable and break down early. I have no faith that Buxton can play and if he doesn’t play center field he loses so much of his value. Their corner outfield positions are a mess as Kepler can’t hit and the other two are hurt all the time. This was really the year to go “all in” to win but so it goes.
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They could also play Gordon at SS but I'm not sure that's any better defensively. I just can't see having to sit one of Arreaz/Miranda/Urshella every day to run some .200 hitter out there. The slight improvement in defense isn't worth it.
 

From the Parkinglot said:
It depends who you follow on Twitter.

They had a chance to win the game last night by pitch hitting him in the 8th with the bases loaded. Per Rocco he just couldn’t get his hamstring ready to go. Kirk Gibson he ain’t.
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It's a meaningless game between 2 teams waiting for the season to end. I realize aggravating a hamstring injury isn't career threatening but I don't think they're under some obligation to run him out there. If Judge doesn't get enough hits to win the Triple Crown, that's on him.
 



when you look at actual numbers -
Arraez is tied with Urshela for most games played this season. He leads the team in plate appearances and hits.

so people are criticizing one of the team's most durable - or least most available - players for sitting out.

Can the Twins be over-protective of their players? absolutely. But, I honestly believe that if Arraez felt like he was OK to play, he would be in the lineup - at least as the DH.

the legs are really important in hitting. If you don't have your legs and your base under you, it's a lot harder to hit.
 

Louis has a fie point bulge over Judge heading into the last 2 games -

.315 to .310
 

jamiche said:
Not close to well versed on pitching. My impression, correct or not, is that in the current environment a starting pitcher better have outstanding location, mastery of multiple pitches and mastery of pitch selection, if his best stuff is low 90's. Joe Ryan's top velocity is currently low 90's and it looks like his ceiling is pretty good to good because he has some of the other attributes. I don't think he will dominate.

It looks to me like velocity sets up everything else and if you don't have it, you don't have it.
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To clarify. My points were the following-

He shows leadership attributes by not worrying that his velocity and making the needed adjustments, as it is lower this year, as it’s forced him to become more of a pitcher, i.e., throwing to said spots vs. overpowering hitters.

His non- fastball stuff is uber legit as he has a sub 3 ERA thus year in 22 starts, over 2 levels; dominant stuff.

The Twins feel that he can get his fastball back to the 93-95 range where it was previously, when he was the 66th ranked prospect in all of MLB in 2021, vs. the 90-91 it was this year.

He didn’t get shook when three errors occurred in the first inning of his first big league start- all it above is impressive stuff IMO and portends for a stellar career moving forward.

P.S. he was the youngest pitcher to make their debut this year, he just turned 22 last Tuesday.
 


Under last year's MLB Playoff system the Mariners and Rays would be fighting it out to the finish for the 2nd AL Wild Card, including a potential Game 163. Now with both teams automatically in, nothing to compete for except seeding, so they are resting their best pitchers.

Stupid.

Wild Card will be played over the weekend when the majority of sports watchers will be focused on football.

Stupid.
 

Ope3 said:
Under last year's MLB Playoff system the Mariners and Rays would be fighting it out to the finish for the 2nd AL Wild Card, including a potential Game 163. Now with both teams automatically in, nothing to compete for except seeding, so they are resting their best pitchers.

Stupid.

Wild Card will be played over the weekend when the majority of sports watchers will be focused on football.

Stupid.
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All they wanted was more play-off games for TV. They could have just made the WC round 5 and/or the Divisional round 7. There was no need to add teams. Dumb indeed.

The timing this year is impacted by the lock-out. The season was supposed to have ended on Sunday.
 

howeda7 said:
All they wanted was more play-off games for TV. They could have just made the WC round 5 and/or the Divisional round 7. There was no need to add teams. Dumb indeed.

The timing this year is impacted by the lock-out. The season was supposed to have ended on Sunday.
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Yes, on labor issues impacting the timing of the WC Round. Also, sooner or later they were going to have to go head-to-head with NCAA/NFL football in some round.

I will say, at least off days have been reduced. That move, I support.
 


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