All Things 2023 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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How hot has Max been (through 9/9) -

Kepler’s had plenty to celebrate the past three months, a stretch in which he’s hit .280/.346/.533 with 15 home runs and 41 RBIs in 272 plate appearances.

He also leads the team in WAR with 2.3.

I can’t wait for the playoffs!!
 

Well, if Jose Miranda is having shoulder surgery, that pretty much takes him out of the running for next year- at least the first half of the year.

but as noted, the Twins have some decisions to make very soon

3B - Lewis, Severino
SS - Correa, Farmer
2B - Polanco, Julien, Lee, Severino, Solano, Farmer
1B - Kirilloff, Solano

and that does not include Castro or Nick Gordon

which gets back to the $64,000 question - does Buxton play next year? If he does play, can he play CF or is he strictly a DH again?

best outcome is Buxton in CF - because if he's the DH, that takes AB's away from potentially better options.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
Well, if Jose Miranda is having shoulder surgery, that pretty much takes him out of the running for next year- at least the first half of the year.

but as noted, the Twins have some decisions to make very soon

3B - Lewis, Severino
SS - Correa, Farmer
2B - Polanco, Julien, Lee, Severino, Solano, Farmer
1B - Kirilloff, Solano

and that does not include Castro or Nick Gordon

which gets back to the $64,000 question - does Buxton play next year? If he does play, can he play CF or is he strictly a DH again?

best outcome is Buxton in CF - because if he's the DH, that takes AB's away from potentially better options.
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Good list - thanks.

Was omitting Lee on purpose? Or accidental ?

Brooks is our 2nd ranked prospect (Jenkins is#1) and 18th overall in MLB: I think he gets first chance before Severino, who started at Elizabethtown last year and I think Lee is probably a better defender(?)
 
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howeda7 said:
Pagan should not be brought back in 2024 under any circumstances. I'm glad he's not awful for now, but let's not press our luck.
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Yeah if we wants to come back I would take him back. He just needs to be the 4th or 5th option and stay in that spot. It can’t be wells he’s the 5th option normally, but everyone else is tired so here he is in the 8th inning of a 1 run game. The twins need depth so the same 4 guys in the pen are not asked to carry all the water.
 





GophersInIowa said:
There's been hints at it for a few days. Just bumping everyone back a day, getting them an extra day of rest. May just go with 6 starters the last few weeks?
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They should...and in addition they should set up their playoff rotation planning.
 

tmvander said:
They should...and in addition they should set up their playoff rotation planning.
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Yep. Gray and Lopez should get the first two games. Who gets Game 3? I'm thinking Maeda at this point but Ryan certainly is a possibility.
 



Strib has an article basically speculating on the makeup of the playoff roster.

They are assuming 14 position players and 12 pitchers for the opening series. a 3-game series, so only need 3 starters - Pablo, Sonny and - I think - Ryan. In that scenario, you could move Maeda and Ober to the bullpen. what you do with Keuchel, I have no idea.

but, IF you put Maeda and Ober in the Pen, then the bullpen lines up as Duran, Jax, Varland, Pagan, Thielbar, Maeda, Ober, Stewart (if healthy) and choose one of Winder, Keuchel, Funderburk, Floro, Paddack, Sands, Headrick.....?

getting Stewart back healthy could be really important in how it makes the 'pen line up.

on the position players, the big IF is Buxton - can he play, and how does that impact other players?
 

From the Parkinglot said:
Yeah if we wants to come back I would take him back. He just needs to be the 4th or 5th option and stay in that spot. It can’t be wells he’s the 5th option normally, but everyone else is tired so here he is in the 8th inning of a 1 run game. The twins need depth so the same 4 guys in the pen are not asked to carry all the water.
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Relievers of his caliber tend to have large fluctuations between season and even now I trust him basically zero in a big spot. Hard pass on paying him $4-6 million to come back.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Yep. Gray and Lopez should get the first two games. Who gets Game 3? I'm thinking Maeda at this point but Ryan certainly is a possibility.
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Ryan gets game 3 IMO. I don't think that's even a tough call. Maeda was great last night but has been pretty rough for the last month.

Better question would be who gets game 4 if they make the 2nd round. It's between Maeda and Ober. I don't think you can start Keuechel in a play-off game.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Well, if Jose Miranda is having shoulder surgery, that pretty much takes him out of the running for next year- at least the first half of the year.

but as noted, the Twins have some decisions to make very soon

3B - Lewis, Severino
SS - Correa, Farmer
2B - Polanco, Julien, Lee, Severino, Solano, Farmer
1B - Kirilloff, Solano

and that does not include Castro or Nick Gordon

which gets back to the $64,000 question - does Buxton play next year? If he does play, can he play CF or is he strictly a DH again?

best outcome is Buxton in CF - because if he's the DH, that takes AB's away from potentially better options.
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Unfortunately you have to treat Buxton like he's your 4th OF'er and then take anything else as a bonus.
 

GophersInIowa said:
There's been hints at it for a few days. Just bumping everyone back a day, getting them an extra day of rest. May just go with 6 starters the last few weeks?
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They have off days on 9/21 and 9/25 plus I suspect they will want to give Paddock a start sometime. I would just move Keuchel to the bullpen. That will be his role if he's on the post season roster.
 

howeda7 said:
Ryan gets game 3 IMO. I don't think that's even a tough call. Maeda was great last night but has been pretty rough for the last month.

Better question would be who gets game 4 if they make the 2nd round. It's between Maeda and Ober. I don't think you can start Keuechel in a play-off game.
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It'll be interesting to see what they do. Maeda has the experience, but Ryan has been pretty good too.
 

GophersInIowa said:
It'll be interesting to see what they do. Maeda has the experience, but Ryan has been pretty good too.
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Certainly time to make changes here but it seems like they already have it set the way they would want to.....5 days of rest between all starts for the likely top three starters during the rest of the regular season and likely a short start for each in the last week. Or maybe move up the last start one day each on normal rest and give five days before the playoff round (as shown below).

Sept. 16 Lopez
Sept. 17 Gray
Sept. 18 Ryan
Sept. 19 Other
Sept. 20 Other
Sept. 21 (off day)
Sept. 22 Lopez
Sept. 23 Gray
Sept. 24 Ryan
Sept. 25 (off day)
Sept. 26 Other
Sept. 27 Lopez
Sept. 28 Gray
Sept. 29 Ryan
Sept. 30 Other
Oct. 1 Other
Oct. 2 (off day)
Oct. 3 Lopez -- Game One
Oct. 4 Gray -- Game Two
Oct. 5 Ryan -- Game Three
 

GophersInIowa said:
It'll be interesting to see what they do. Maeda has the experience, but Ryan has been pretty good too.
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I like Maeda overall, but I don't really want to send out a guy topping out at 90 against Seattle, Texas or Toronto's line-up if there's another option.
 

howeda7 said:
I like Maeda overall, but I don't really want to send out a guy topping out at 90 against Seattle, Texas or Toronto's line-up if there's another option.
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Ryan starting game 3 is a no brainer…..,..then again…. Joey Gallo continued to get at bats.
 





I’ve started making plans to go see Royce get inducted into the Hall of Fame in about 20 years.
 


For some perspective, the MLB record for most in a season is 6 - held by Don Mattingly (1987) &Travis Hafner (2006) and Royce is now tied for the third most all time with 18 others with 4.

Included in the aforementioned 18 are-
Lou Gehrig (whose 23 grand slams rank second all-time), Babe Ruth (who hit four slams in 1919 while also winning nine games in his last season as a regular pitcher), Ralph Kiner, Mike Piazza and Edgar Martinez.

www.mlb.com

Hafner, Mattingly hold single-year grand slam record

Hitting one grand slam in a season is hard enough. But hitting a large handful of them? That takes an incredibly rare combination of both skill and a little luck. From 1901 -- the season the American League began play -- through 2024, a total of 163 different players have
www.mlb.com www.mlb.com
 
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