Twins

[Gunner55]

  That's how they both got it done in Texas & Cleveland too, IMO. Don't have what you need in the farm system, or they're not ready yet, better see if you can make a trade.

[Gunner55]

  Duran sure kept it interesting last night. Probably a little TOO AMPED up, hope he learns how to harness that , as we're going to need him in October.

[dutchboy]

I tuned out at the end of 7. I would love to see what Kirilloff could do if he was healthy for a full season.

Noonish game today followed by the Rodents struggling with Northwestern at 6:30 I think.

[glenn57]

I tuned out at the end of 7. I would love to see what Kirilloff could do if he was healthy for a full season.

Noonish game today followed by the Rodents struggling with Northwestern at 6:30 I think.

think i seen where the "Rodents"  are on the big10 network?????????

[LPS]

    That is funny Dutch. 

[Steve-o]

Duran sure kept it interesting last night. Probably a little TOO AMPED up, hope he learns how to harness that , as we're going to need him in October.

Maybe it's just my MN lunch-pail sensibilities taking over, but I'd like to see them get rid of all that hype when Duran comes in the game.  WAY too much production - and he certainly doesn't need the added pressure.  It would have been one thing if he'd have stuck out the side in 13 pitches, but he didn't.  He had a hard time FINDING the strike zone.

[Gunner55]

Bremer talked to him after the game & he said he had more than few extra butterflies.

[Gunner55]

Glad to see Stewart pitch last night as he was big for the bullpen in June & July.  Hope Paddack & him are available when the playoffs start.

[Steve-o]

No lie!!! 

These seem to have been their preferred late inning guys:  Duran, Pagan, and Thielbar.

But they've added a lot since then:  Varland, Stewart, and now Paddack.

And they still have other guys who have also had mixed success:  Jax, Funderburk, and they can even pitch Keuchel out of the pen in the right circumstances.

They have lots of options, and not all of them are bad.   

In the remaining days I'll bet they focus on figuring out what they have in Varland, Stewart and Paddack, while giving Jax, Funderburk, and Keuchel a chance to fine tune things and re-prove themselves.

Why haven't we seen Pagan lately? 

[Gunner55]

He followed Gray in the 1-0 loss to the LAA on Saturday. He has been in 63 games & has pitched 66.1 innings this season. So, they probably want to give him a little rest before they start the WCS, IMO. Besides, these games since they clinched don't mean a lot.

[Steve-o]

Pagan got a bit of work last night.  It was a fun game to watch.  Granted, the A's aren't very good, but they put up a fight and the Twinks played hard and got a "dubya."  The players were still working hard to earn a spot on the play-off roster.  I'm thinking of Stevenson waiting half way to 2nd for that fly ball to bounce off the wall before taking off and running hard to score.     Vasques gunning down that base sealing rookie was a very cool play - a perfect throw.     Polanco continues to prove his worth anywhere they put him.   

I haven't ever loved Baldelli, I have to agree with the broadcasters, that he seems to be pushing all the right buttons right now.  Easy when you have your play-off spot locked up and everyone is playing pretty well.  We'll see if he makes all the right moves when he fills out that first (and hopefully second) playoff roster.

I thought I heard them say there'd be a bullpen game at the end of the season.  I really like that with their now seemingly deep bullpen - giving these guys one more shot to solidify their spot on the roster.

[Gunner55]

Bullpen game looks to be Saturday, as Ryan goes tomorrow & Ober has Sunday.

[Steve-o]

Rather than wasting time speculating about whether or not Buxton and/or Lewis will make the play-off roster...

Here is a name to watch for in the Twins future...

Yunior Severino - Twins Minor League Hitter of the Year - 2023

Severino was a high-profile international signing by the Atlanta Braves in 2016. When the Braves were found to have violated rules, Severino and others were deemed free agents. The Twins swooped in and signed him to a second seven-digit signing bonus. He has been moved up consistently by the Twins since the lost 2020 season. It has been a consistent improvement from year to year. In 2021, he hit eight homers. He hit 19 homers in 2022 between High-A and Double-A. This year, he tied for the minor-league lead with 35 home runs.

PREVIOUS WINNERS...
2012 - Oswaldo Arcia
2013 - Miguel Sano
2014 - Mitch Garver
2015 - Max Kepler
2016 - Daniel Palka
2017 - Mitch Garver
2018 - Alex Kirilloff
2019 - Trevor Larnach
2021 - Jose Miranda
2022 - Matt Wallner

[Gunner55]

  Well, we know who is in the AL playoffs but we still don't know which team we'll be playing on Tuesday. Houston may still win their division so then we could play Texas. There's a scenario where the Twins might play the Blue Jays yet too. 

[KEN W]

"The Twins cannot face the Rangers due to tiebreakers that would put the Astros or Blue Jays in the third Wild Card spot."

Finished 4-2 against Houston

Finished 3-3 against the Jayes

[Steve-o]

What was the deal with Farmer "managing" the other night with Polanco?

[KEN W]

Twins vs Toronto on Tuesday at 3:38.

[Steve-o]

What was the deal with Farmer "managing" the other night with Polanco?

Twins manager for a day: Rocco Baldelli turns over reins to Kyle Farmer, Jorge Polanco

DENVER — Kyle Farmer and Jorge Polanco learned they would be unofficially managing the Twins on Saturday at around 3:30 p.m. Twenty minutes later, they were already fulfilling one of Rocco Baldelli’s daily pregame duties: meeting with the media.

On the second-to-last day of the regular season, Baldelli handed over the reins to the two veteran infielders. It’s something Baldelli did one other time, too — on the final day of the 2019 season, utilityman Ehire Adrianza managed the Twins.

“I think it’s an awesome experience for guys that actually have interest in other parts of the game, which both of these guys do,” Baldelli said. “But we’re also going to treat it as though it’s a Major League Baseball game, because it is.”

Though Baldelli wrote out the lineup and the Twins had a number of relievers that needed to get their work in in the planned bullpen game, Baldelli said he planned to talk through all of moves with the two co-managers. As one of their duties, the pair exchanged the lineup card at home plate before the game.
...

Though neither were in the starting lineup on Saturday, Farmer said if he saw a lefty getting warming up, he would tell Polanco to go get loose.

“How about this? If a lefty comes in, I’m putting you in,” Polanco retorted, to which Farmer responded that Polanco was a switch hitter, so he could come in at any point.

[Gunner55]

Bremer & Morneau have been griping about the start times that the Twins always get for the playoffs since before they clinched. If it's a sunny day the shadows between home plate & the mound will likely make scoring many runs late pretty difficult. Best hope for some cloudy days or that they score a bunch early.

[KEN W]

Yup.....so why does the National league get the night games?
 

[Gunner55]

 Like everything else Ken, it's all about $.   Bigger markets, everybody's done work, so more viewers, which means they can charge more for the commercials.  

[dutchboy]

From the Athletic:

What type of person are you?

The type who hears about the Twins’ record-setting postseason losing streak — 0-18 since Oct. 5, 2004 — and thinks: Boy, wouldn’t it be cool to see them get that monkey off their back?

Or are you some sort of schadenfreude-fueled sicko?

YES … HA HA HA … YES!

Either way, we’re about to learn a lot more about these Twins. They breezed to first place in the American League Central, the easiest path for any division winner this season, but also had the second-best record in the AL in the second half. Their three-true-outcomes lineup led the AL in homers and strikeouts while coming in second in walks. Their starting rotation was one of the best in the big leagues, with an AL-best 3.82 ERA, and the bullpen pumps gas. The Twins pitching staff, like their lineup, leads the majors in strikeouts. Now, can they win their first playoff game since the Stewart-Hunter-Jones Era?

The Blue Jays, meanwhile, survived a wild ride in the AL East, coming in a distant third behind the Orioles and Rays. This is Toronto’s fifth postseason appearance in the past decade, but they’re still waiting for their first World Series trip since 1993. The Blue Jays have gotten outstanding production from their rotation this season, with their 3.85 ERA coming in second to the Twins in the AL, but have struggled to get their star-studded lineup — headlined by Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer, Matt Chapman and … the red-hot Brandon Belt?! — running on all cylinders.

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In a best-of-three series, sometimes all it takes to tilt things is one big swing. Both these teams have the bats to do that. And everyone — softies and sickos alike — digs the long ball.

AL Wild Card Series Game 1: Toronto Blue Jays at Minnesota Twins
Start time: 4:38 p.m. ET on ESPN

Pitching matchup: Kevin Gausman vs. Pablo López



Game 1 pitching matchup
Blue Jays: RHP Kevin Gausman
2023 stats: 12-9, 3.16 ERA, 185 innings, 237 strikeouts, 1.18 WHIP

Gausman won’t win a Cy Young Award this season, but he’ll receive votes for the third consecutive year because that’s just who he’s become: an ace. He’ll dice you up with splitters and catch you snoozing with a 95 mph heater at the top of the strike zone.


But here are two worries. First, the Blue Jays have failed Gausman in the run-support department this season, scoring just 3.55 runs per nine innings behind him. (That number was 5.53 for Yusei Kikuchi, 5.13 for Chris Bassitt and 3.99 for José Berríos). And then there’s the other worry: The Twins might have his number. Gausman beat them May 26 but walked five in 5 1/3 innings — which can happen against a patient lineup like theirs. Then, on June 11, they teed off on him for six runs (seven hits, four walks) and chased him in the fifth inning. You can be sure Gausman will be guarding against free passes and against tipping his pitches in Game 1.

Twins: RHP Pablo López
2023 stats: 11-8, 3.66 ERA, 194 innings, 234 strikeouts, 1.12 WHIP

The Twins so badly wanted to add a front-line starter this past offseason that they traded away a batting champ (who then pulled a Benny Kauff) to get López. It worked out for both sides. López averaged just over six innings per start this season, and he allowed three earned runs or fewer in 22 of 32 outings. He has always had impeccable command, and, like Gausman, he has the composure and the putaway pitches to get himself out of jams with strikeouts.

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I mean, look at all that red. López added almost a mile-and-a-half of velocity on his fastball this season, up from 93.5 mph to 94.9 mph. Four of his five pitches graded out as above-average this season: The four-seamer, sweeper and sinker each rated at plus-6 in Run Value, and the changeup was plus-4. López is particularly tough on right-handed hitters (.597 OPS), who see the full five-pitch mix and are completely lost against López’s sweeper, batting a collective .173 against that pitch.


Game 1 X-factor
Twins 2B Edouard Julien

There’s no doubt the Twins lineup can do damage. They can slug, all right, but are considerably more middle of the pack in on-base percentage. Enter Julien. The rookie was billed as an on-base machine, and he has delivered: a .381 OBP to go with a 130 OPS+. He took over the leadoff spot in early August and has mostly stayed there since. In the last month of the season, Aaron Judge led the majors in walks with 26. Julien was next with 25, then Bryce Harper with 24.

Julien has faced Gausman six times. He doubled once and walked three times. That’s the kind of impact the Twins will hope for in Game 1 as they try to stress Gausman in the early innings.

Notable quotable
Twins shortstop Carlos Correa, who played in the Wild Card Game (used to be one game, not a series, long story) as a rookie way back in 2015, said this Twins team reminds him of the 2015 Astros.

“You’ve got some veteran guys in there already who have success in the past,” Correa said, “and then you bring in young guys who have success right away. You talk about Royce (Lewis). You talk about (Matt) Wallner. You talk about Julien. Even the bullpen arms we have, some young guys out there throwing 100. It reminds me a lot of that (Astros) team.

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“The win in the wild card that year made that team believe we could beat anyone. I feel like with the guys we have right now and the way the roster is constructed, a good win out of the gate would give everybody the confidence to know we have a great team and can compete against anyone.”

[Gunner55]

Lewis is expected to be on the WCS roster according to a reporter from The Athletic & Buxton was a non- participant in ydays workout the Pioneer Press is reporting. So, he may not be on the roster IMO.

[Steve-o]

Minnesota Twins playoff roster 2023: AL Wild Card lineup and rotation set

Alex Kirilloff  1B
Edouard Julien  2B
Jorge Polanco  2B
Carlos Correa  SS
Kyle Farmer  3B
Donovan Solano  INF
Ryan Jeffers  C
Christian Vazquez  C
Matt Wallner  OF
Michael A. Taylor  OF
Max Kepler  OF
Willi Castro  OF
Andrew Stevenson  OF
Royce Lewis  DH

Pablo Lopez  SP
Sonny Gray  SP
Joe Ryan  SP
Kenta Maeda  RP
Louie Varland  RP
Griffin Jax  RP
Chris Paddack  RP
Caleb Thielbar  RP
Emilio Pagan  RP
Kody Funderburk  RP
Brock Stewart  RP
Jhon Duran  RP

[Steve-o]

No Buxton, no surprise there.

No Dallas Keuchel.  If he's on, he can have a couple of innings of swing-n-miss in his game.  But if he's off...  He can be really bad out of the chute.  You can't afford that in a short series.

No Bailey Ober.  This just doesn't seem like Bailey's season, or at least 'his' first round playoff series.  He took "his turn on in the barrel" on Sunday so the other starting pitchers could rest.  And with a short series and all the other starters rested in front of him, they don't need him.  Maybe he'll be back if there is a second round.

Certainly with Keuchel and Ober sitting, that opened up spots for Varland, Paddack, and Stewart.  I hope it plays to their advantage that there isn't a lot of film on these guys this season and they can catch batters off guard.

I like this team.   

[glenn57]

Now that the playoffs have started, are they gonna be televised on a normal channel for a change?!

[Steve-o]

The article, below, has all of the times, but I'll just list just the Wild Card Series here.

It looks like ABC/ESPN for the first round and Fox/FS1 or TBS the rest of the way.

2023 MLB playoffs: TV schedule, times, dates, live stream, watch postseason baseball online

Wild Card Series

Tuesday, Oct. 3
Game 1: No. 4 Rays vs. No. 5 Rangers, 3:08 p.m. ET, ABC
Game 1: No. 3 Twins vs. No. 6 Blue Jays, 4:38 p.m. ET, ESPN
Game 1: No. 3 Brewers vs. No. 6 Diamondbacks, 7:08 p.m., ESPN2
Game 1: No. 4 Phillies vs. No. 5 Marlins, 8:08 p.m., ESPN

Wednesday, Oct. 4
Game 2: No. 4 Rays vs. No. 5 Rangers, 3:08 p.m. ET, ABC
Game 2: No. 3 Twins vs. No. 6 Blue Jays, 4:38 p.m. ET, ESPN
Game 2: No. 3 Brewers vs. No. 6 Diamondbacks, 7:08 p.m., ESPN2
Game 2: No. 4 Phillies vs. No. 5 Marlins, 8:08 p.m., ESPN

Thursday, Oct. 5
Game 3*: No. 4 Rays vs. No. 5 Rangers, 3:08 p.m. ET, ABC
Game 3*: No. 3 Twins vs. No. 6 Blue Jays, 4:38 p.m. ET, ESPN
Game 3*: No. 3 Brewers vs. No. 6 Diamondbacks, 7:08 p.m., ESPN2
Game 3*: No. 4 Phillies vs. No. 5 Marlins, 8:08 p.m., ESPN

[glenn57]

Sweet!!! If I got time. Maybe I won't watch, better chance of them winning.

[LPS]

    That will be a good excuse to do nothing whilst I watch the game.      

[Steve-o]

Sweet!!! If I got time. Maybe I won't watch, better chance of them winning.

If it was ANYONE else, I'd say to go ahead and enjoy the game.  But since you are the K.O.D. (Kiss of Death ) for MN sports teams, we'd appreciate it if you found something else better to do.