Twins

[KEN W]

Twins home opener postponed from tomorrow till Friday.

[dutchboy]

They should be fun to watch this year. They can hit and I believe will be able to catch the ball also. Pitching? Not so much. I've noticed a lot of football scores around the spring training teams this year. That will be the Twinks. They will need to win 10-9 & 14-12 games to do anything.

The Chicago Sux should win the central again but I see a dog fight for second with the rest of the teams including Detroit. They are really getting built up.

[KEN W]

Twins starting pitching will tell the tale. Only Ober pitched for them last season. And that was only 20 games. Not a good sign when you turn over pretty much your whole starting pitching staff.

[dutchboy]

Ryan, Bundy, Grey, Ober and ?  Yep this group wouldn't make AAA guys tremble. But you never know. Maybe Buxton stays healthy. Maybe Kepler reverts back to when he could hit. Maybe the fat kid doesn't strike out 50% of the time. Maybe Sanchez hits .200.  There is a legit core of hitters. However mashing yourself to a title is hard.

[Steve-o]

Twins starting pitching will tell the tale. Only Ober pitched for them last season. And that was only 20 games. Not a good sign when you turn over pretty much your whole starting pitching staff.

I guess it is time to start paying some attention to the Twinks again.

We can continue to blame the Pollads for being cheap, or rip Falvey and Levine for making bad moves, but what is up with this organizations seeming inability to develop their own pitching?   

[dutchboy]

It's like that all across baseball. Some teams like the Twins develop hitters, some like Cleveland develop pitchers. Some like the Dodgers and Cardinals can do both. Others like the Yankees & Angles buy what they need. It is a weird thing though.

[Steve-o]

I heard Frank Viola do a couple of interviews on KFAN.  Since 2009 he has put a lot of time into minor league pitcher coaching.  He expressed interest in re-joining the Twins organization, but the Twins never requited.  I don't remember how long ago that was - maybe after Rick Anderson was let go?

I'm not saying Frankie "Sweet Music" was or is the answer, but the Twins always seem to be the last one on the block to try something new.

Now that I think about it, bringing Viola back would have been a VERY "Twins" thing to do.     Maybe that's why they didn't do it.  OR maybe Frank ain't that good of a coach.   

[dutchboy]

With the staff the Twins have run out the last few years Frankie ought to be stretching out his arm. He could probably grab a rotation spot. 

[Gunner55]

The Twins' best young pitchers usually are the product of a trade.

[KEN W]

Their drafting of pitchers has been a joke the past 10 years. Where are they all??? Need new management.

[Gunner55]

  I wonder why they struggle to recognize good young pitchers in the draft but seem better than most at finding them a short time later when a trade is involved.  It goes back further than that IMO, Ken, maybe even back to the Liriano, Johan Santanna days & that was nearly 20 years ago.

[KEN W]

Twins trade Taylor Rogers to San Diego. Along with Brent Rooker another wasted first round pick from 2017. For San Diego righthanded starter Chris Paddock and
right-handed reliever Emilio Pagan.

[Steve-o]

Twins trading pitchers is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. 

It has been a long time since the Twins have had a starter I wanted to go to the ballpark to see.

[KEN W]

Yeah same here. But I have never been to Target Field. So would like to go to see the field.

[dutchboy]

Rooker can't play so he isn't much of a loss. Rodgers will be a free agent so he was destine to go at the trade deadline anyway. I don't know what Paddock will turn out to be but his contract is controllable so that explains getting him.

Ken, you gotta go to Target Field. It's beautiful. Make a weekend of it and take in a game at CHS Field in St. Paul while you are in town.

[Gunner55]

I read where they wanted to trade Rogers last year, but he got hurt. Paddock's signed for 3 & the other guy is tied up for 2. The proverbial "player to be named later" comin our way but $6.6 mil goin their way & that's ~ 90% of Rodger's salary this year. The pc I read thought this would push Ober to the pen doing some of the middle inning work.

[Steve-o]

I read a couple of bloggers who flagged this as a typical Twins move. 

Why to they always HAVE to deal a good pitcher who they don't want to sign?  Why not sign him and get ANOTHER good pitcher?     I thought they were "all in" THIS year. 

But in the case, they got players back they can use now and Paddock has some up side.

If Paddock doesn't blossom again, the Twins will be justifiably ripped again for another reclamation project that fell flat.  If he does turn out to be good, let's see if they are willing to resign HIM or deal him for the next project pitcher.     But we have to get to that point first.

[dutchboy]

This potential rotation of Grey, Archer, Paddock, Bundy just screams of deadline deals. Along with Ryan it has potential of being ok but it's still not anything to scare anybody I don't think. As MLB keeps adding play-off teams to keep interest high among the also rans I guess they have as good a chance of anybody of reaching the play-offs, but I don't see them winning much beyond that. As I said earlier they will need to mash their way through. If Kepler hits like he is capable of that offense should be pretty good.

Can you imagine having Clevelands pitching with this offense?

[dutchboy]

0-1

Pitching was great.

Offense stunk.

[glenn57]

0-1

Pitching was great.

Offense stunk.

looks like they lost the opener.........cant drink beer................

[KEN W]

Where was all this hitting they were supposed to have now. 2 best hitters....Buxton and Correa both up with 2 guys on twice and can't get 1 run across.

[dutchboy]

Buxton was 0 for
Correa 1 for
Urshela HR for Twinks only run.

[roony]

I thought that last pitch was going over the fence, a little excitement at the end anyway.

[Gunner55]

I thought that last pitch was going over the fence, a little excitement at the end anyway.

If he had gotten another inch of it, it probably would have. Our young starter struggled with his control so his pitch count got pretty high early. He still kept us in the game against Ray who was last year's AL Cy Young winner when he was with the Blue Jays. Just Arreaz in his only AB & Jeffers from last season's team got a hit, that won't cut it. The bullpen looked good though, especially Duran & Coloumbe. A 1:10 start today, Gray gets the ball.

[dutchboy]

0-2

Arreaz HR in the 1st.

Buxton bomb bottom of 8.

Duffy blows the save.

Good starting pitching, no hitting again.

[KEN W]

Nice job Duffy. Can't even get 3 outs.

 

[roony]

Bummer

[dutchboy]

6 homeruns so far today. Ober was so,so as the starter.

[KEN W]

Lots of smiles when the bats are working. 

[Gunner55]

6 homeruns so far today. Ober was so,so as the starter.

Good enough to get the 1st W of his mlb career though. A real nice play at the plate early to give 'em a lift. Glad to see Polanco's & Kepler's bat wake up but there's still a couple everyday guys doing the O'fer. More good bullpen work too.