Twins 2024 Thread

Very rare appearance for me at Target Field today. But my kids are 8 and 12 and never been to a game before so figured they were due. Walked in to see 2 homers in the first, fun way to start!

Lindy was that you waving the Naz Reid towel

I only caught a few innings and now watching game 2. I don’t watch other teams but all I got to say is Royce Lewis has to be close to untouchable. Corea is white hot and anyone batting in front of those two is going to get some great pitches to hit just like Larnach today.
If only they could get some better starting pitching but this guy with the perm keeps serving up meatballs

Ha- great idea to bring a Naz towel!

Glad to see they came back and got the 2nd game yesterday too. But it was the A’s…

Heard today that Royce has played a total of 81 games and has 24 dongs. 7 this year in like 12 games. How soon before they stop pitching to him? Other guys better plan on stepping up.

Would be nice if our supposed “ace” start pitching like one too. He was slow to start last season and his numbers are just trash so far. Almost halfway way through the season too.

Twins prospects are knocking on the door right now. Brooks Lee is hitting .342 over the last month, Emmanuel Rodriguez is crushing AAA and David Festa is going to be the next pitching call up. From the Athletic:

Festa has a 3.50 ERA with 81 strikeouts over 54 innings at Triple-A St. Paul, including double-digit strikeouts in three of his last eight starts in spite of a pitch count capped around 90. Festa leads all Triple-A starters by striking out 36 percent of batters faced, an average of 13.5 per nine innings, and he’s allowed two runs or fewer in 11 of 13 starts this season.

That’s not even mentioning Wallner who is hitting like 350 with 11 HRs over the last month also.

“Festa has a 3.50 ERA with 81 strikeouts over 54 innings at Triple-A St. Paul, including double-digit strikeouts in three of his last eight starts in spite of a pitch count capped around 90. Festa leads all Triple-A starters by striking out 36 percent of batters faced, an average of 13.5 per nine innings, and he’s allowed two runs or fewer in 11 of 13 starts this season.”

I had mentioned on a previous post I attended the top MLB prospects game between the Rays and Twins this Spring. Saw about a dozen pitchers from both sides and the two that popped the catchers mitt like nobody’s business were Festa and Charlie Soto. A scout at the game was saying Festa has a great fastball and a fairly good but inconsistent slider. His mission in St. Paul this year is to develop 3+ strong pitches so he can make it through the batting order 2-3 times. His ceiling is high though ~

man I just flipped the game on and our fraud for an ace has already got em in a 3 run hole

maybe he needs to take a few starts off and figure out how not to suck so much? hey Mahto, if Lee is called up that means your boy scrub will have to wait his turn. heard Lee has been playing 2nd in STP.

good thing we got pros like slick willy to bail out Pablo. what a luxury to have a guy like him who can play any position any time asked of him. If Larnach and Miranda step up all year, this is a really solid linup. Martin seems to be adjusting to the big leagues pretty good so far too and man can he fly

There must be something wrong with Pablo. He has been getting hit hard this year. Luckily are bats have warmed up. Correa is batting .317!!

It sure would be a different team if they had paid Sonny Gray to stay !!!

He is 8-4 in 13 starts. Averaging almost 6 innings per start. 2.95 ERA and 1.022 WHIP.

Pablo, Ryan, and Ober all move down one spot in the rotation.

Ryan sure is fun to watch right now.

Sonny got 3 years and like 75 million so can’t blame him for leaving. Maybe the ownership would have been able to beat that had they not given that bum in center 100 mill? We will never know but guys like Sonny are proven commodities.

Royce Lewis creating his legend-status with the home run that knocks out the scoreboard. Might have to start calling him Roy (Hobbs) Lewis pretty soon..

https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/royce-lewis-homer-breaks-scoreboard-in-twins-loss-to-rays

Did Hobbs have an error in the 10th?

Kepler out with neck spasms in the 1st inning, head first dive into 1st base trying to beat out a bunt. Who coaches these guys? Diving versus running through the base is a losing proposition from time and injury perspectives.

JEREMY wrote:

Did Hobbs have an error in the 10th?

No, but Roy did receive a gunshot to the lower oblique area I believe lol…

Yeah Julien and Lee are basically playing in AAA for the second base job with the big club. Right now Lee is definitely winning. He has always had a bigger ceiling than Julien, who kind of came out of nowhere. I think Julien will find his swing again, but it might be too late if Lee comes up and sticks. I have heard that he is playing first base in St Paul, so if he does start hitting he can play first base.

mahtofire14 wrote:

I have heard that he is playing first base in St Paul, so if he does start hitting he can play first base.

Maybe the question becomes who plays first base best between Julien and Kiriloff?

Lee will be called up for 2B, Julien will eventually hit, but he is a hack in the field. DH, 1b, or trade bait IMO ~

FryDog62 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mahtofire14 wrote:</div>
I have heard that he is playing first base in St Paul, so if he does start hitting he can play first base.

Maybe the question becomes who plays first base best between Julien and Kiriloff?

Lee will be called up for 2B, Julien will eventually hit, but he is a hack in the field. DH, 1b, or trade bait IMO ~

Kirilloff is a hack in the field as well. Julien was actually playing above average second base this season according to the stat guys.

I think Kirilloff is done with the Twins. After this latest injury and downfall I think they don’t want to deal with him anymore.

And I think they are going to use Wallner as trade bait because he is absolutely torching AAA at the perfect time to trade him for somebody that can actually hold a lead in the pen.

We all know the team does not trade players at the their peak value around here!

I agree Kiriloff is likely done here unless he gets another crack due to injuries? If Jeffers has a career year, I would like to see him at first possibly? Thielbar, Sands and this Jackson fella are not good enough for anything but mop up duty either so its time to try other options.

Brock Stewart is on rehab. Jackson will be gone when Stewart returns. Topa is on the 60 day IL.

Sands is safe for the time being I believe. Duran took another L last night.

With the injury history and inconsistency, they will get nothing in return for Kirillof. Might as well stash him in AAA as a back up option when others get hurt, he’s not going anywhere.

Ober goes 9 innings in a beatdown of Oakland. Rocco must have been out sick.

Dutchboy wrote:

Ober goes 9 innings in a beatdown of Oakland.

Did hell freeze over??
I heard Ober put Super Glue on Rocco’s chair!!

Twins win 3-0, go 9-4 against weak teams. Now 8 games over .500 for any bandwagon jumpers ready to hop on.

Arizona is next.

Varland got lit up for 11 or 12 runs and 5 homeruns today. 2+ innings.

Dutchboy wrote:

Varland got lit up for 11 or 12 runs and 5 homeruns today. 2+ innings.

And Paddock to the IL… can’t have enough quality arms – emphasis on Quality.

Any trades this team considers should be for top tier arms only, especially if they have to give up young talent.

There isn’t a top tier arm available. The arms race for 100 mph has them all on the IL.

Sounds like a dude is coming up from the Saints and another guy might be close to a call up both for pitching. One is a starter the other is BP.

Dutchboy wrote:

There isn’t a top tier arm available.

Trevor Bauer is available, just takes cash too.