All Things 2023 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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Ope3 said:
I was looking at Baseball Reference and these were the Twins Opening Day Starters in the MetroDome era until Viola established himself:

1982 - Pete Redfern
1983 - Brad Havens
1984 - Albert Williams

Uffffda.
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They are before my time, but I would still nominate the Vanimal Vance Worley as the Twins worst Opening Day stater. It looks like Brad Havens is close though.
 



Ope3 said:
I was looking at Baseball Reference and these were the Twins Opening Day Starters in the MetroDome era until Viola established himself:

1982 - Pete Redfern
1983 - Brad Havens
1984 - Albert Williams

Uffffda.
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Ah. The gory dayz
 

howeda7 said:
They are before my time, but I would still nominate the Vanimal Vance Worley as the Twins worst Opening Day stater. It looks like Brad Havens is close though.
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I could have saved myself some time, because there is a wiki article for Twins starters. It does have to be among Worley & Havens with Redfern not far behind.

en.wikipedia.org

List of Minnesota Twins Opening Day starting pitchers - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

I wonder why Tewksbury started in 1998? Must have wanted to save Radke for the Dome Opener.

In my early youth (70s) the Twins weren't great but at least had a decent guy to take the bump in Game 1 (Goltz & Koosman).
 

Ope3 said:
I could have saved myself some time, because there is a wiki article for Twins starters. It does have to be among Worley & Havens with Redfern not far behind.

en.wikipedia.org

List of Minnesota Twins Opening Day starting pitchers - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

I wonder why Tewksbury started in 1998? Must have wanted to save Radke for the Dome Opener.

In my early youth (70s) the Twins weren't great but at least had a decent guy to take the bump in Game 1 (Goltz & Koosman).
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I believe you're correct on 1998. That was their last attempt to be competitive before they waived the white flag. Molitor, Steinbach, Otis Nixon, Bob Tewksbury, Greg Swindell. So much veteran presence.
 

howeda7 said:
I believe you're correct on 1998. That was their last attempt to be competitive before they waived the white flag. Molitor, Steinbach, Otis Nixon, Bob Tewksbury, Greg Swindell. So much veteran presence.
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Makes sense. I think they were optimistic after hanging in for the Wild Card in 1997 even without Puckett that year. Didn't quite work out.
 






Well that clears up the plans at least to start the season. My guess is Ober will be back up very quickly.

 



based on the cuts and players with ongoing injury issues, looks like Cole Sands will be the 'long' man in the bullpen. apparently they don't want Ober in the pen - they want him starting.

so - pitching staff looks like this:
Starters - P. Lopez, Gray, Ryan, Mahle and Maeda
Bullpen - Duran, J. Lopez, Jax, Alcala, Thielbar, Moran, Sands and everyone's favorite, Pagan.

also appears that Willi Castro could wind up making the opening day roster.

position players as of now -
OF: Larnach, Taylor, Kepler, Gallo, Buxton
INF: Miranda, Correa, Farmer, Solano, Gordon,
C: Vazquez, Jeffers

that's 12 - with Garlick going down, my bet on the 13th position player is Castro because he can play multiple positions.

injured/rehabbing: Polanco, Kirilloff

if and when Polo and Kirilloff return, Castro goes to AAA and the other spot gets interesting.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
based on the cuts and players with ongoing injury issues, looks like Cole Sands will be the 'long' man in the bullpen. apparently they don't want Ober in the pen - they want him starting.

so - pitching staff looks like this:
Starters - P. Lopez, Gray, Ryan, Mahle and Maeda
Bullpen - Duran, J. Lopez, Jax, Alcala, Thielbar, Moran, Sands and everyone's favorite, Pagan.

also appears that Willi Castro could wind up making the opening day roster.

position players as of now -
OF: Larnach, Taylor, Kepler, Gallo, Buxton
INF: Miranda, Correa, Farmer, Solano, Gordon,
C: Vazquez, Jeffers

that's 12 - with Garlick going down, my bet on the 13th position player is Castro because he can play multiple positions.

injured/rehabbing: Polanco, Kirilloff

if and when Polo and Kirilloff return, Castro goes to AAA and the other spot gets interesting.
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It has to be a real bummer if you are a young pitcher having a good spring and you get sent down to the minors, while Pagan is still on the team. I mean, it’s gotta make your head explode. Like, how do you tell yourself to keep working hard and good things will happen? ……F-ing Pagan!!
 

7Gopher7 said:
It has to be a real bummer if you are a young pitcher having a good spring and you get sent down to the minors, while Pagan is still on the team. I mean, it’s gotta make your head explode. Like, how do you tell yourself to keep working hard and good things will happen? ……F-ing Pagan!!
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as I said, from all accounts, the Twins do not want Ober in the pen - they want him starting in AAA so that he can replace a starter for the Twins if there are injury issues.

So it's not a case of Ober vs Pagan. It's a case of Hoffman or Megill vs Pagan for the last spot in the pen.
actually, I wouldn't mind seeing them keep Coulombe as a 3rd lefty in the pen and send Pagan packing, but Coulombe is coming off a fairly serious injury, so they might want to see him log some more innings.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
as I said, from all accounts, the Twins do not want Ober in the pen - they want him starting in AAA so that he can replace a starter for the Twins if there are injury issues.

So it's not a case of Ober vs Pagan. It's a case of Hoffman or Megill vs Pagan for the last spot in the pen.
actually, I wouldn't mind seeing them keep Coulombe as a 3rd lefty in the pen and send Pagan packing, but Coulombe is coming off a fairly serious injury, so they might want to see him log some more innings.
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I didn’t mean Ober at all. I realize he will stay as a starter and that’s why he has been sent down. I meant any pitcher with a pulse and a slight hope of making the roster.
 





GopherWeatherGuy said:
Archer and Bundy were the first to come to my mind. I think that is also partially due to how they were managed, but I could see both being happy with giving a good 4 or 5 innings each outing.
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I like that Sonny is putting him on notice, so to speak
Will be interesting to see if they go longer this year - they better, as these guts aren’t oldsters trying to hang on for another season
 

Chris Archer remains unsigned. Dylan Bundy signed a minor league deal 2 days ago. The 2022 Twins gave them a combine 54 starts...
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
I like that Sonny is putting him on notice, so to speak
Will be interesting to see if they go longer this year - they better, as these guts aren’t oldsters trying to hang on for another season
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Chances Sonny Gray signs an extension with the Twins: 5%. Chances he's traded before May 1st for an intriguing pitcher with a frayed ligament: 10%.
 

howeda7 said:
Chances Sonny Gray signs an extension with the Twins: 5%. Chances he's traded before May 1st for an intriguing pitcher with a frayed ligament: 10%.
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Never miss a chance to rain 🌧️ on any parade -so noble, right before Opening Day.
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The bow on the tail is a nice touch BTW
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
This is the best pitching staff, and maybe best overall roster the Twins have had in years, and you're still complaining about last year.
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The starting rotation is better than it's been in a long time, yes. The lineup certainly isn't. Hopefully they get Polanco and Kiriloff back soon. If so I like their chances in the division.

None of that means we have to pretend the staff ace taking shots at the manager / front office a couple days before opening day is a good thing.
 

With how fast games are going to be, I wish they moved the start times back to 7:00. With kids bedtime, I’ll miss the first 5-6 innings many night, LOL.
 

GophersInIowa said:
With how fast games are going to be, I wish they moved the start times back to 7:00. With kids bedtime, I’ll miss the first 5-6 innings many night, LOL.
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I agree. I usually DVR them so I don't care when they start, but now that they won't take 3.5 hours, it would be nice to watch live. I wonder if they will adjust that next year.
 

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