All Things 2024 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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Gopher_In_NYC said:
Off Day From With Numbers!!


Twins O (MLB Rankings) through 6/16-

Avg. (14) W/.243
HRs (6) W/83
OPS (8) W/.728
Runs (9) W/334
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Pretty amazing how our offense continues to improve; the above bolded numbers are from two weeks ago and we continue to soar up the charts, like a great summer jam.

In looking for this post, I came across one where our team BA was .196 before playing the Mighty Whities in April, when we swept them.

Twins O (MLB Rankings) through 6/27

Avg. (10) W/.249
HRs (6) W/96
OPS (5) W/.744
Runs (6) W/392

Great to see Buck’s swing rounding into form and his ability to carry us offensively still exists (I was worried). And watching him fly around the bases is a thing of beauty.
Gopher_In_NYC said:
A couple of musings FWIW

Casto was an incredible addition and provides much needed speed to the team, in addition to plus fielding/defensive flexibility. That play he made in the first game to nail Soderstrom at second was a good a play as you’ll see a LF make; he’s probably the only Twin makes the play - as he’s got a frickin howitzer in that right arm.

Santana has proven to be a great addition and a much better player than my choice Adam Duvall would have been; he’s been the Right had power stick we needed. He’s on pace for ~30 HRs based on hitting 1 every 20 ABs and 600 PA. Times like these remind me why I’m a fan and not working in the FO - I ain’t that smart 🤓

EDIT -
Duvall - .171 6 HRs
MAT. - .201. 1 HRs
Santana - .235. 11 HRs

Stautmont looks like the real deal and another weapon in the pen; great pickup!

We have a chance to compete and make some noise and assets to grab a SP at the deadline. Gleeman and Hayes both listed that as our biggest need in separate columns. Much more important than another RH batter or a lefty in the bullpen at this juncture, obviously.
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Just because Correa is likely going to be OK, I don't think that means Brooks Lee doesn't need to hop on a plane. He went 3-4 last night, moved up to .361 on the season. It's way past time to tell the Farmer to head out to pasture.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Just because Correa is likely going to be OK, I don't think that means Brooks Lee doesn't need to hop on a plane. He went 3-4 last night, moved up to .361 on the season. It's way past time to tell the Farmer to head out to pasture.
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They could easily do it too. You'd have essentially 9 guys to play 8 positions (when facing a right hander). With the flexibility of Castro, it's fairly easy to rotate around who gets a night off.

Castro, Buxton, Kepler, Larnach, Lewis, Miranda, Correa, Lee, Santana would be regular starters, just at least one would have to be off each game.

Julien is also hitting well again in St Paul.
 

Twins are 2nd in MLB in how often their batters are hit by pitches. Per-game rate of .70.
only team with higher rate is Cleveland at .71. Twins have been HBP 57 times, Cleveland 56 times, but Twins have played 2 more games. Reds in 3rd place with 46.

according to Twins Daily, the Twins (and Cleveland) are on pace to challenge the MLB record for most HBP by a team in one season.

The Twins have been the recipients of 57 plunkings over the first half of the season—one ahead of their rivals, the Cleveland Guardians. That’s on pace for over 114 hit by pitches (HBPs), eight more than the record set by Buck Showalter’s Mets in 2022.

that article included a break-down of how close each hitter stands to the plate when they are hit by a pitch. as I read the data, Wallner stands the closest this season, followed by Margot and Correa. Castro stands closer as a LH Hitter - and has been hit 10 times from that side. He stands further away as a RH hitter, and has been hit once from that side.

but if we're talking HBP, I have to bow to the master - Ron Hunt. Hunt played for 5 teams from 1963 to 1974. His career HBP total was 243 - most by any player since the dead-ball era. He owns the modern single-season record, being HBP 50 times in 1971 with the Expos. (Hughie Jennings was hit 51 times in 1896.)
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Twins are 2nd in MLB in how often their batters are hit by pitches. Per-game rate of .70.
only team with higher rate is Cleveland at .71. Twins have been HBP 57 times, Cleveland 56 times, but Twins have played 2 more games. Reds in 3rd place with 46.

according to Twins Daily, the Twins (and Cleveland) are on pace to challenge the MLB record for most HBP by a team in one season.

The Twins have been the recipients of 57 plunkings over the first half of the season—one ahead of their rivals, the Cleveland Guardians. That’s on pace for over 114 hit by pitches (HBPs), eight more than the record set by Buck Showalter’s Mets in 2022.

that article included a break-down of how close each hitter stands to the plate when they are hit by a pitch. as I read the data, Wallner stands the closest this season, followed by Margot and Correa. Castro stands closer as a LH Hitter - and has been hit 10 times from that side. He stands further away as a RH hitter, and has been hit once from that side.

but if we're talking HBP, I have to bow to the master - Ron Hunt. Hunt played for 5 teams from 1963 to 1974. His career HBP total was 243 - most by any player since the dead-ball era. He owns the modern single-season record, being HBP 50 times in 1971 with the Expos. (Hughie Jennings was hit 51 times in 1896.)
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Certainly players stand closer to the plate now than they used to. Add in the fact that pitchers throw harder now, it's not a surprise more guys are getting hit. Unfortunately that also means more injuries.
 


1979 Edina graduate Greg Olson made his MLB debut with the Twins at the Metrodome on this date in 1989.

The Minnesota connections here are cool: He entered the game at catcher in the top of the eighth, taking Bloomington Kennedy grad Kent Hrbek's spot in the batting order. Park Center grad Tim Laudner moved from catcher to replace Hrbek at first base. Like a Minnesota high school-grad triangle!

But wait, there's more: When Olson made his first major league plate appearance leading off the bottom of the eighth, New Ulm graduate Terry Steinbach would have been there behind the plate for the A's to greet him, but Steiny moved to third base in the bottom of the eighth.

The C-3B angle is interesting in and of itself: Greg Olson was converted to catcher at the University of Minnesota to make room for the incoming third baseman Steinbach, who was in turn converted to catcher in the A's farm system to make room for up-and-coming third baseman Mark McGwire.

That's a lot of notes for a local guy's otherwise uneventful major league debut, huh?
 

TRF Guy said:
1979 Edina graduate Greg Olson made his MLB debut with the Twins at the Metrodome on this date in 1989.

The Minnesota connections here are cool: He entered the game at catcher in the top of the eighth, taking Bloomington Kennedy grad Kent Hrbek's spot in the batting order. Park Center grad Tim Laudner moved from catcher to replace Hrbek at first base. Like a Minnesota high school-grad triangle!

But wait, there's more: When Olson made his first major league plate appearance leading off the bottom of the eighth, New Ulm graduate Terry Steinbach would have been there behind the plate for the A's to greet him, but Steiny moved to third base in the bottom of the eighth.

The C-3B angle is interesting in and of itself: Greg Olson was converted to catcher at the University of Minnesota to make room for the incoming third baseman Steinbach, who was in turn converted to catcher in the A's farm system to make room for up-and-coming third baseman Mark McGwire.

That's a lot of notes for a local guy's otherwise uneventful major league debut, huh?
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Crazy all those twists and turns and how many good players MN produced at that time.

My town team played in New Ulm for a tourney - what a great park and fun town.
 


GophersInIowa said:
They could easily do it too. You'd have essentially 9 guys to play 8 positions (when facing a right hander). With the flexibility of Castro, it's fairly easy to rotate around who gets a night off.

Castro, Buxton, Kepler, Larnach, Lewis, Miranda, Correa, Lee, Santana would be regular starters, just at least one would have to be off each game.

Julien is also hitting well again in St Paul.
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This. And poor Kyle Farmer needs to be put out of his misery. I'd almost feel bad for him if he wasn't being paid $6 million.
 



TRF Guy said:
1979 Edina graduate Greg Olson made his MLB debut with the Twins at the Metrodome on this date in 1989.

The Minnesota connections here are cool: He entered the game at catcher in the top of the eighth, taking Bloomington Kennedy grad Kent Hrbek's spot in the batting order. Park Center grad Tim Laudner moved from catcher to replace Hrbek at first base. Like a Minnesota high school-grad triangle!

But wait, there's more: When Olson made his first major league plate appearance leading off the bottom of the eighth, New Ulm graduate Terry Steinbach would have been there behind the plate for the A's to greet him, but Steiny moved to third base in the bottom of the eighth.

The C-3B angle is interesting in and of itself: Greg Olson was converted to catcher at the University of Minnesota to make room for the incoming third baseman Steinbach, who was in turn converted to catcher in the A's farm system to make room for up-and-coming third baseman Mark McGwire.

That's a lot of notes for a local guy's otherwise uneventful major league debut, huh?
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Huh, I did not know Olson had briefly played for the Twins.
 

howeda7 said:
This. And poor Kyle Farmer needs to be put out of his misery. I'd almost feel bad for him if he wasn't being paid $6 million.
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I like Farmer and it sucks to see him play so poorly. It's just time.

His reason for being on the team is flexibility around the infield and hitting against lefties. With Castro's flexibility and potentially Lee's as well, you still have multiple guys that can play 2B, SS and 3B even without him. And he's not hitting lefties.

Maybe they can phantom IL him for awhile although the would need the 40 man roster spot to add Lee.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I like Farmer and it sucks to see him play so poorly. It's just time.

His reason for being on the team is flexibility around the infield and hitting against lefties. With Castro's flexibility and potentially Lee's as well, you still have multiple guys that can play 2B, SS and 3B even without him. And he's not hitting lefties.

Maybe they can phantom IL him for awhile although the would need the 40 man roster spot to add Lee.
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I get that they're not going to do it, especially after Correa's scare yesterday, but even when he was on the IL earlier, Castro started at SS almost every day, not Farmer. Between Castro, Lee and Julien, they are more than covered at 2B/SS without Farmer.
 

howeda7 said:
I get that they're not going to do it, especially after Correa's scare yesterday, but even when he was on the IL earlier, Castro started at SS almost every day, not Farmer. Between Castro, Lee and Julien, they are more than covered at 2B/SS without Farmer.
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I had a thought. (I actually do every now and then)

last year the Twins brought up a lot of younger guys including Wallner, Julien. Kirilloff and Lewis.
this year, they've had to send Wallner and Julien back to the minors, while Kirilloff is injured again and Lewis missed a chunk of time due to injuries.

so, I think/suspect that the Twins brain trust may be more reluctant to bring up younger guys to the majors before they're absolutely sure that those kids are ready - both physically and mentally.

given the odds, I still think Lee makes his Twins' debut this season. sooner or later, someone is likely to get hurt. but if the Twins stay healthy, I could absolutely see Lee spending most if not all of the season at AAA.
 



Correa is in the lineup tonight. Buxton is not. Margot is in CF. The spreadsheet loves BvP. I'd probably defer to the guy hitting .407 over the last week.
 









This loss is 100% on Rocco's stubbornness with the catching rotation and Swingin' Vazquez. He's one of the three worst hitters in baseball with over 150 PA's. There's no reason for him to start two games in this series and he makes a terrible defensive play and comes up empty with runners in scoring position over and over. Not PH'ing for him in the 10th inning is just laughable.
 



Slim Tubby said:
The good news is we have him locked down with a guaranteed $10M contract for next year, too! 😐

Expect a ton of future ABs to really squeeze that lemon.
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I hear all of you. so what do the Twins do?

The guy has no trade value - if they could find someone willing to take him in a trade, the Twins would probably have to pick up a big chunk of his '25 salary.

if they can't trade him and just DFA him, they could get stuck with the entire '25 salary - unless some other team wanted to claim him and assume the contract. Or if no team claims him and he becomes a free agent, then another team could pick him up, pay him the MLB minimum, and the Twins have to honor the remaining portion of the contract.

either way, the Twins are likely going to have to pay Vazquez for the remainder of the contract. This is a team that cut its payroll by $30-million going into the season. I just don't see them agreeing to eat $10-million and get nothing in return.

the Twins would be better off if Vazquez sustained a season-ending or career-ending injury. then at least they could replace him on the 40-man roster. not that I'm rooting for him to get injured - just saying that's the best-case scenario for the Twins. unless some other team sees value in Vazquez and is willing to assume the contract.
 

for the heck of it.....
Vazquez hitting .183 with a .465 OPS.

1987 World Series Champion Twins
starting C Tim Laudner hit .191 with a .640 OPS, but did have 16 HR and 43 RBI.
backup C's: Sal Butera hit .171 with a .460 OPS. Tom Nieto hit .200 with a .590 OPS.

1991 World Series Champion Twins
Starting C Brian Harper hit .311 with a .783 OPS
the backup - Junior Ortiz hit .209 with a .555 OPS.

you can live with a low-hitting backup C IF he's solid defensively. Vazquez isn't hitting and he's having issues on defense.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
I hear all of you. so what do the Twins do?

The guy has no trade value - if they could find someone willing to take him in a trade, the Twins would probably have to pick up a big chunk of his '25 salary.

if they can't trade him and just DFA him, they could get stuck with the entire '25 salary - unless some other team wanted to claim him and assume the contract. Or if no team claims him and he becomes a free agent, then another team could pick him up, pay him the MLB minimum, and the Twins have to honor the remaining portion of the contract.

either way, the Twins are likely going to have to pay Vazquez for the remainder of the contract. This is a team that cut its payroll by $30-million going into the season. I just don't see them agreeing to eat $10-million and get nothing in return.

the Twins would be better off if Vazquez sustained a season-ending or career-ending injury. then at least they could replace him on the 40-man roster. not that I'm rooting for him to get injured - just saying that's the best-case scenario for the Twins. unless some other team sees value in Vazquez and is willing to assume the contract.
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I agree with all of this, SON. I just can't get past the vibe that our decisions are being made based on money spent rather than having the best chance of winning every day.

You and NYC are far more rational about this than I'm capable of being, especially after we slashed $30M in payroll.
 

Slim Tubby said:
I agree with all of this, SON. I just can't get past the vibe that our decisions are being made based on money spent rather than having the best chance of winning every day.

You and NYC are far more rational about this than I'm capable of being, especially after we slashed $30M in payroll.
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in one sense, most of the teams in MLB make decisions based on money. the financial imbalance between large-revenue and smaller-revenue clubs has never been greater. and then you add the uncertainty created by the collapse of the RSN system and the Diamond Sports bankruptcy - with 12 of the 30 MLB teams - 40% of all MLB teams - not knowing what their local TV revenue will be next season. the Rangers won the World Series last year and they cut $20-million from their payroll.

a team like the Twins has to be almost perfect in its personnel decisions. if the Yankees or Dodgers whiff on a player, they just shrug their shoulders and write it off. if the Twins whiff on a player, it has a much bigger impact on the overall budget and payroll.

how many companies could afford to pay people to not show up for work?

(I had some co-workers over the years who I wished the company would pay not to show up, but that's a different situation....)
 

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