All Things 2026 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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GophersInIowa said:
I don't understand the need in todays world to send scouts to watch a MLB guy play. Especially a veteran like Jeffers.
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I’m guessing it’s because of the injury and the scouts trying to to mage sure he’s “seaworthy”; an AL EAst bidding war would be fun😊
 

Injury Update
Per Hayes’ column Able & Festa are, as already knew, fine for 2026.

Now for the rest of the story -

Connor Prielipp (blister) struck out three over three scoreless innings at Triple-A St. Paul in a promising tuneup Sunday. Prielipp, who went on the 15-day IL on July 9, is scheduled to throw a bullpen before the Twins determine his next step. He could slot into the team’s rotation at some point in the upcoming homestand.



• Cole Sands is closer to returning after striking out three over two scoreless innings Friday for St. Paul. Out since May 2 with a right forearm strain, Sands still needs to appear in games on two out of three days before he is eligible to return.

“He’s been down for a while,” Zoll said. “We’re trying to get him fully built back, workload-wise, and check off a number of boxes.”

• Marco Raya (right shoulder impingement) is scheduled for a two-inning, 35-pitch outing Tuesday after pitching an inning for St. Paul on Saturday. Raya’s velocity this weekend was in line with his season average.
 











Twins by all appearances were in good shape after winning the opener against the Cubs with Bradley and Ryan starting two of the next three games. Need to suck it up from the kishkes and win the bullpen game tomorrow and even the series.
 


howeda7 said:
Extra long break for Joe Ryan was a mistake. Should have just pitched him Friday or Saturday.
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FWIW -

He pitched 6 innings in his regular start against the Angels in 7/11.

He pitched 1 inning in the AS game on 7/14.

He commented in Hayes’ column today that because of the above he missed his regular bullpen day.
 
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kg21 said:
I'd be in sell mode
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With series against the A’s and Royals coming up, they may be able to get back in the WC picture. But unless they win two of the next three at Cleveland, it appears another fire sale would be likely (and appropriate).
 

Unless they completely bomb the next 10 days, I still think they will do a bit of both (buying and selling). They'll certainly entertain moving Jeffers if they get a good offer. Larnach maybe as well. But may also try to add another bullpen arm or two. Won't be super exciting however.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Unless they completely bomb the next 10 days, I still think they will do a bit of both (buying and selling). They'll certainly entertain moving Jeffers if they get a good offer. Larnach maybe as well. But may also try to add another bullpen arm or two. Won't be super exciting however.
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The Twins thus far in July have the 10th best team bullpen ERA, per Mike Pertello of Baseball Savant. The radio broadcast has some good hardcore info in their pregame show🙂
 
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https://x.com/UnderdogMLB/status/2079425557142679671?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^2079425557142679671|twgr^dc3b976fcde036c8faa0faf775e415ba949c707e|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7462089/2026/07/21/athletics-diamondbacks-joshua-kuroda-grauer-surgery/


Video of an As hitter who took a direct shot to the nards, played another inning and then had surgery for a ruptured nard - the video isn’t pretty.

www.nytimes.com

Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, A’s hottest hitter, undergoes emergency surgery for ruptured testicle

In just 16 games with the Athletics, Joshua Kuroda-Grauer posted a 175 OPS+ and 0.6 bWAR, making his absence particularly unfortunate.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
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GophersInIowa said:
The odds of turning two 5-4-3 triple plays in the same game have to be insanely low so I tried figuring it out the best I could. There have been 740 recorded triple plays since 1876, only 95 of which were 5-4-3. I've seen different numbers as far as games played since 1876 so for fun will just go with a rough estimate of 220,000.

So based on history, the chances of a 5-4-3 triple play occurring is 95 divided by 220,000. That comes to 0.043%. The chances of it happening twice in a game using that number is 0.000018% or about 1 in 5.55 million. So should only happen once every 5 1/2 million games played.

Edit: I realized afterwards that I should have used 94 as the number instead of 95 as it's actually only happened in 94 games, but whatever. Close enough.
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Well how about that…
 


GophersInIowa said:
The Twins have competition for the worst baserunning

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Amazing those guys don’t know the rules better than that🤷‍♂️.

I’d say that actually worse than our Rag-a-Muffins as the action is all in front of you on the infield, vs. starting in the outfield.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
Amazing those guys don’t know the rules better than that🤷‍♂️.

I’d say that actually worse than our Rag-a-Muffins as the action is all in front of you on the infield, vs. starting in the outfield.
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There was bad base running earlier in the game by the Dodgers too. Runner on 2nd base, Ohtani gets a hit and tries to stretch it to a double. The runner on 2nd wasn't running hard home and Ohtani was tagged out just before the runner touched home plate.
 

GophersInIowa said:
There was bad base running earlier in the game by the Dodgers too. Runner on 2nd base, Ohtani gets a hit and tries to stretch it to a double. The runner on 2nd wasn't running hard home and Ohtani was tagged out just before the runner touched home plate.
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Fine time.

In the good ole days thst lacklusterness would result in an immediate benching🥰
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
Fine time.

In the good ole days thst lacklusterness would result in an immediate benching🥰
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With inflated pitching staffs taking up roster spots, teams only have essentially 4 man benches and one of those is a backup catcher (the Twins currently 2).

Everyone has to play.
 

Ope3 said:
With inflated pitching staffs taking up roster spots, teams only have essentially 4 man benches and one of those is a backup catcher (the Twins currently 2).

Everyone has to play.
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I was referring to the conversation at hand, my friend, which was the Dodgers base running blunders, the post I responded to didn’t mention the Twins/nor did I in my reply 😗.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
I was referring to the conversation at hand, my friend, which was the Dodgers base running blunders, the post I responded to didn’t mention the Twins/nor did I in my reply 😗.
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Sometimes replies can be just be furthering the conversation instead of an affront or any minimal way to discredit/disagree with any information/thoughts provided.

I assume readers are smart enough to figure out which is which.
 
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Ope3 said:
Sometimes
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Yeah sometimes😊
Ope3 said:
replies can be just be furthering the conversation instead
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Interesting that you didn’t reply in the posts where the Twins were mentioned🤔
Ope3 said:
of an affront or any minimal way to discredit/disagree with any information/thoughts provided.

I assume readers are smart enough to figure out which is which.
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What a cute insult😎

And silly me🤦‍♂️, I apparently once again overestimated someone’s willingness to simply type the words, “My bad.”

Ironically, “My bad!”
 
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Matthew Leach’s take on the trade deadline.
I had no clue that Larmach wasn’t eligible for FA until 2028; he’ll definitely get a bump in arbitration for next season. I think he’s the on piece on the chess board whose gone regardless of what happens before the deadline.

Agree with his takes on Jeffers and Ryan. Hunter Goodman is on the block, and we all got to see how good he is, apparently Boston covets him
Immensely.


Trevor Larnach
The skinny: You could move him and still be a buyer

You read that right. There’s interest in Larnach, who’s having the best season of his career and is still a year and a half from free agency. And he’d be missed; Larnach has been a key part of the Twins’ offensive attack this year.

But in order to get something, you have to give something. And the Twins are in dire need of pitching, especially in the bullpen. They could also trade for a starter and move someone to the bullpen. Either of those could conceivably be accomplished by trading Larnach -- either straight up in a Major League for Major League trade, or in a three-way deal in which Larnach goes to a contender and another club sends a pitcher to Minnesota.

Importantly, the Twins have options if they move Larnach. Walker Jenkins keeps hitting at Triple-A, and Matt Wallner has been productive as well. The team's No. 4 prospectEmmanuel Rodriguez is getting closer to returning. Corner outfield is probably the one position where the Twins could trade a big leaguer and feel the least short-term pain.
Ryan Jeffers​
Ryan Jeffers
The skinny: Probably can’t move him and call yourself a buyer, but it wouldn’t necessarily be an indicator of a full-on sale

The Jeffers question is easily the Twins’ most complicated at the Deadline, with the most compelling factors in both directions.

Argument for keeping him? For one thing, catching depth. Victor Caratini has had a decent year, but he hasn’t caught more than 100 games in a season since 2021. It might be a big ask for him to be the primary man for the last two months. Then there’s the simple fact that Jeffers has been one of, if not the best Twins’ hitter this year. Removing your starting catcher, who’s also an extremely productive hitter, is a gutting blow to a team.

But still … he’s a free agent at the end of the year. And if he hasn’t re-signed by now, he’s going to hit the market. There’s immense demand for him, with the Yankees in particular extremely interested. The return could be huge, potentially including Major Leaguers or players very close to The Show.

If the Twins are going for it, they’re not dealing Jeffers. But there’s definitely a path where they don’t come anywhere close to a 2025-style selloff but still move him.
Joe Ryan​
Joe Ryan
The skinny: If you move him, you’re definitely selling

Ryan is one of the best pitchers in the American League. He’d instantly be one of the hottest commodities in baseball if he were available, a starting pitcher who a contender would absolutely start in a postseason series.

You could make a franchise-changing move with a trade of Ryan. However, there’s simply no obvious replacement. And moving him now means taking a big chunk out of the Twins’ 2027 chances as well, and chairman Tom Pohlad has explicitly said he has no appetite for a full rebuild. Ryan could get traded in the next two weeks, but it would very likely only happen in the context of a bigger sell.
 

I would think it would be beneficial for the Twins if Goodman is traded first. Then Jeffers is likely the only above average catcher left on the market, and could result in a nice return.
 


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