*****Official MN Twins 2022 season thread*****
- Thread starter Chishawk1425
- Start date
We have a tough road ahead. We really need to sweep the red sox. Then we have a tough 10 game stretch that will decide the season in my opinion.
3 with the White Sox
4 with Yankees
3 with the Gaurdians
If we can get out of that gauntlet close or tied to the lead in the division I like our chances. Otherwise we could be 4 or more games out of contention which will be tough to make up.
3 with the White Sox
4 with Yankees
3 with the Gaurdians
If we can get out of that gauntlet close or tied to the lead in the division I like our chances. Otherwise we could be 4 or more games out of contention which will be tough to make up.
Injuries are an unavoidable and inevitable part of any season, and accordingly, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli and his club have never used attrition as an excuse in the four years I’ve covered this team. It does them no good to rue the injuries; that energy is much better directed toward making the best decisions they can with the roster that they have on any given day.
But still, the juxtaposition between the Guardians and Twins this last weekend was rather… jarring.
On Sunday, when the Twins wrapped up arguably their most important series of the season to this point, the Guardians had three players on the IL. The Twins had 17, with Chris Archer as the latest to end up on the shelf with a right pectoral issue. And if it feels like things have been worse than usual on that front this season for the Twins, testing their depth to an extreme extent, you’re right.
Entering Tuesday, the Twins’ 31 placements this season on the IL matched the Cubs for second in the league, behind only the Reds. Their 1,963 cumulative days missed to injury ranked third, behind the Reds and Rays.
"I don't even think I even have to say how it feels right now,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I think we can just look and see what the facts say. The facts say that we've been hurt, but we're a .500 club, I guess, at the moment, I'm told. We're still in the middle of a playoff run. So we have the ability to still, at this point, I've said we kind of control things.”
That’s why the Twins have had to turn to Jake Cave, Kyle Garlick and Gilberto Celestino in the outfield almost every day -- especially now, with Max Kepler banged up, too -- and ended up in a situation late in Sunday’s game where they were picking between Caleb Hamilton, Billy Hamilton and Jermaine Palacios to pinch-hit in the biggest plate appearance of the game.
That stands in contrast to all the big names the Twins currently have on the IL, and as noted in a post I saw going around social media the other day, they can almost field an entire team (and a good one, too) with the players they’re currently missing.
C: Ryan Jeffers
1B: Miguel Sanó
2B: Jorge Polanco
SS: Royce Lewis
3B: N/A
LF: Alex Kirilloff
CF: Byron Buxton
RF: Trevor Larnach
SP: Tyler Mahle, Kenta Maeda, Chris Paddack, Bailey Ober, Chris Archer
This doesn’t explain away everything, of course. Just look above, where I mentioned that the Rays have had more days missed to injury than the Twins this year -- and Tampa Bay currently holds a Wild Card berth and has pushed the Yankees for first place in the AL East far more than anybody could have expected. The Twins’ issues in the starting rotation, bullpen and in situational hitting at various points this season have contributed to this predicament a good deal, too, and there’s no getting around that.
But still, the juxtaposition between the Guardians and Twins this last weekend was rather… jarring.
On Sunday, when the Twins wrapped up arguably their most important series of the season to this point, the Guardians had three players on the IL. The Twins had 17, with Chris Archer as the latest to end up on the shelf with a right pectoral issue. And if it feels like things have been worse than usual on that front this season for the Twins, testing their depth to an extreme extent, you’re right.
Entering Tuesday, the Twins’ 31 placements this season on the IL matched the Cubs for second in the league, behind only the Reds. Their 1,963 cumulative days missed to injury ranked third, behind the Reds and Rays.
"I don't even think I even have to say how it feels right now,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I think we can just look and see what the facts say. The facts say that we've been hurt, but we're a .500 club, I guess, at the moment, I'm told. We're still in the middle of a playoff run. So we have the ability to still, at this point, I've said we kind of control things.”
That’s why the Twins have had to turn to Jake Cave, Kyle Garlick and Gilberto Celestino in the outfield almost every day -- especially now, with Max Kepler banged up, too -- and ended up in a situation late in Sunday’s game where they were picking between Caleb Hamilton, Billy Hamilton and Jermaine Palacios to pinch-hit in the biggest plate appearance of the game.
That stands in contrast to all the big names the Twins currently have on the IL, and as noted in a post I saw going around social media the other day, they can almost field an entire team (and a good one, too) with the players they’re currently missing.
C: Ryan Jeffers
1B: Miguel Sanó
2B: Jorge Polanco
SS: Royce Lewis
3B: N/A
LF: Alex Kirilloff
CF: Byron Buxton
RF: Trevor Larnach
SP: Tyler Mahle, Kenta Maeda, Chris Paddack, Bailey Ober, Chris Archer
This doesn’t explain away everything, of course. Just look above, where I mentioned that the Rays have had more days missed to injury than the Twins this year -- and Tampa Bay currently holds a Wild Card berth and has pushed the Yankees for first place in the AL East far more than anybody could have expected. The Twins’ issues in the starting rotation, bullpen and in situational hitting at various points this season have contributed to this predicament a good deal, too, and there’s no getting around that.
Twins can't even beat a bottom feeder in KC when they need to. Team fell apart after the all start break.
Gards are clearly the class of the ALCentral this year. Sox now joining the twins in folding and making those last 6 games vs each other meaningless.
To be fair, hindsight is 20/20. And I’m still bitter about the trades.
Trades were fine. Buxton missed the 2nd half of the year again after having 28 homers in 90 games and Baldelli loves to pull starting pitchers early when they are rolling. He needs to go.
What went wrong in Twins' 2022 campaign
SEASON IN REVIEW
The Twins stunned the baseball world by signing Carlos Correa. They led the American League Central for the vast majority of the season. They were among the most aggressive teams in baseball at the Trade Deadline.
And still, an injury-decimated roster collapsed down the stretch and limped to the finish line, turning a Sept. 4 tie atop the division into a 14-game deficit by the time the curtain dropped on a second straight losing campaign.
“I'm frustrated. I'm disappointed,” president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. “You want to enter Labor Day and September playing meaningful games, and you've got a shot to get there so that the next three to four weeks are enjoyable, and you get there. We didn't do that.”
Defining moment: Losing four of five in Cleveland in September
The Twins still had one final chance to swing the narrative of their season in mid-September, when they carried a four-game deficit into a five-game series against the division-leading Guardians.
Instead, the bullpen collapsed again in the opener -- and the Twins’ fate was all but sealed in an ensuing doubleheader sweep that culminated in a heartbreaking loss on a walk-off error in the 15th inning. The competitive portion of the Twins’ season ended with a position player on the mound to cede a blowout loss in the finale.
What we learned: The front office can be quite active
Remember that flurry of activity during Spring Training when the front office went into overdrive in trades with the Rangers, Yankees, Reds and Padres to drastically change the makeup of the roster? Don’t forget that all that wheeling and dealing also encompassed -- oh, right -- an agreement with Correa, and that’s not to mention the four players they brought in at the Trade Deadline.
It’s fair to criticize the quality of the deals, particularly on the injury front, but they certainly tried to take advantage of an opportunity instead of sitting idle.
Best development: Pitching depth
If there’s any silver lining to be gleaned from all the injuries, it’s that several young pitchers got valuable experience at the big league level, giving the Twins the kind of depth that they usually have to fill out on the free-agent market.
In addition to Kenta Maeda, Sonny Gray, Tyler Mahle, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober, the Twins will also have Josh Winder, Louie Varland, Simeon Woods Richardson, Ronny Henriquez and Cole Sands in the mix for rotation or length roles entering 2023.
Area for improvement: Injuries
Some of this was out of the Twins’ control, but still, the organization parted ways with head athletic trainer Michael Salazar following a season in which it was second in MLB with 2,363 player-days lost to the injured list. Put it this way: The Twins’ outfield on Opening Day consisted of Alex Kirilloff, Byron Buxton and Max Kepler. During that critical Cleveland series in September, that outfield was Jake Cave, Gilberto Celestino and Matt Wallner.
On the rise: Back end of the bullpen
Jhoan Duran surpassed all expectations in his first big league season (and first in the bullpen), contributing one of the greatest seasons from a rookie reliever in team history and setting up to be one of the best relievers in baseball for years to come. The Twins hope that Griffin Jax, Caleb Thielbar, Jovani Moran, Jorge Alcala and Jorge López can also help form one of the better bullpen groups in the team’s recent history.
Team MVP: Carlos Correa
Correa proved every bit worth the $35.1 million he was paid for his services in what could be his only season in the Twin Cities, posting a team-leading 5.4 WAR, per Baseball Reference, with his best average (.291) and on-base percentage (.366) since 2017 to go with his incredible clubhouse presence that was the focal point of a young, developing group. Can the Twins bring him back on a long-term extension?
MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
Not only did a pair of Minnesota’s own sons earn the organization’s Minor League Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year awards in ‘22 – but both Wallner and Varland rose from Double-A all the way to the Majors over the course of the year to finish out the season with the big league squad, with the chance to play in front of their family and friends for the team they grew up watching as kids.
Now, come Spring Training, they’ll both be looking to establish footholds in the Majors for good -- and with their big league debuts out of the way, they’re much better equipped to draw upon that experience and go full-bore into the offseason.
Varland, 24, was named Minor League Pitcher of the Year for a second consecutive season after posting a 3.06 ERA in 24 appearances across the Double-A and Triple-A levels, with 146 strikeouts in 126 1/3 frames. He joins José Berríos as the only consecutive two-time winners of the honor. Varland finished out his successful campaign with five scoreless innings against the White Sox for his first career win.
“It helps a lot,” Varland said. “I know exactly what I need to work on. Going into Spring Training, I have a couple starts under my belt, so that debut pressure is off me and I can just focus on competing to try to make the roster in spring.”
Wallner, 24, represented the Twins at the All-Star Futures Game -- during which he homered -- and also debuted with Minnesota in September after hitting .277/.412/.541 with 27 homers across 128 games in Double-A and Triple-A. He went 13-for-57 (.228) in 18 MLB games and hopes to continue working on his coverage of the top of the strike zone this offseason.
“I think it’s been great just kind of seeing how it is up here a little bit, just getting a little taste of it,” Wallner said. “I think that's been really beneficial for me, so I have an idea, as opposed to if I didn’t and ended in Triple-A, just kind of wouldn’t have any background knowledge or whatever, kind of a taste of this. So yeah, I think it’s been huge for me.”
QUOTABLE
“I'm disappointed in myself. I'm disappointed in our group. And I feel like we've got to now find a way to make that better. I don't think it was a -- for those of you who were around every day -- it wasn't a lack of effort. It wasn't a lack of trying in [the clubhouse] to get going. Oftentimes, people will point to a record like that and say that team must have quit, must have just shut down.
"To a man in this room, I can tell you I never saw that. I never saw anyone shutting it down. Showing up early, doing their work, preparing, getting ready. We just didn't quite have the horses down the stretch, I think, to do what we needed to do to get there.” -- Falvey on the Twins' disappointing finish
SEASON IN REVIEW
The Twins stunned the baseball world by signing Carlos Correa. They led the American League Central for the vast majority of the season. They were among the most aggressive teams in baseball at the Trade Deadline.
And still, an injury-decimated roster collapsed down the stretch and limped to the finish line, turning a Sept. 4 tie atop the division into a 14-game deficit by the time the curtain dropped on a second straight losing campaign.
“I'm frustrated. I'm disappointed,” president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. “You want to enter Labor Day and September playing meaningful games, and you've got a shot to get there so that the next three to four weeks are enjoyable, and you get there. We didn't do that.”
Defining moment: Losing four of five in Cleveland in September
The Twins still had one final chance to swing the narrative of their season in mid-September, when they carried a four-game deficit into a five-game series against the division-leading Guardians.
Instead, the bullpen collapsed again in the opener -- and the Twins’ fate was all but sealed in an ensuing doubleheader sweep that culminated in a heartbreaking loss on a walk-off error in the 15th inning. The competitive portion of the Twins’ season ended with a position player on the mound to cede a blowout loss in the finale.
What we learned: The front office can be quite active
Remember that flurry of activity during Spring Training when the front office went into overdrive in trades with the Rangers, Yankees, Reds and Padres to drastically change the makeup of the roster? Don’t forget that all that wheeling and dealing also encompassed -- oh, right -- an agreement with Correa, and that’s not to mention the four players they brought in at the Trade Deadline.
It’s fair to criticize the quality of the deals, particularly on the injury front, but they certainly tried to take advantage of an opportunity instead of sitting idle.
Best development: Pitching depth
If there’s any silver lining to be gleaned from all the injuries, it’s that several young pitchers got valuable experience at the big league level, giving the Twins the kind of depth that they usually have to fill out on the free-agent market.
In addition to Kenta Maeda, Sonny Gray, Tyler Mahle, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober, the Twins will also have Josh Winder, Louie Varland, Simeon Woods Richardson, Ronny Henriquez and Cole Sands in the mix for rotation or length roles entering 2023.
Area for improvement: Injuries
Some of this was out of the Twins’ control, but still, the organization parted ways with head athletic trainer Michael Salazar following a season in which it was second in MLB with 2,363 player-days lost to the injured list. Put it this way: The Twins’ outfield on Opening Day consisted of Alex Kirilloff, Byron Buxton and Max Kepler. During that critical Cleveland series in September, that outfield was Jake Cave, Gilberto Celestino and Matt Wallner.
On the rise: Back end of the bullpen
Jhoan Duran surpassed all expectations in his first big league season (and first in the bullpen), contributing one of the greatest seasons from a rookie reliever in team history and setting up to be one of the best relievers in baseball for years to come. The Twins hope that Griffin Jax, Caleb Thielbar, Jovani Moran, Jorge Alcala and Jorge López can also help form one of the better bullpen groups in the team’s recent history.
Team MVP: Carlos Correa
Correa proved every bit worth the $35.1 million he was paid for his services in what could be his only season in the Twin Cities, posting a team-leading 5.4 WAR, per Baseball Reference, with his best average (.291) and on-base percentage (.366) since 2017 to go with his incredible clubhouse presence that was the focal point of a young, developing group. Can the Twins bring him back on a long-term extension?
MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
Not only did a pair of Minnesota’s own sons earn the organization’s Minor League Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year awards in ‘22 – but both Wallner and Varland rose from Double-A all the way to the Majors over the course of the year to finish out the season with the big league squad, with the chance to play in front of their family and friends for the team they grew up watching as kids.
Now, come Spring Training, they’ll both be looking to establish footholds in the Majors for good -- and with their big league debuts out of the way, they’re much better equipped to draw upon that experience and go full-bore into the offseason.
Varland, 24, was named Minor League Pitcher of the Year for a second consecutive season after posting a 3.06 ERA in 24 appearances across the Double-A and Triple-A levels, with 146 strikeouts in 126 1/3 frames. He joins José Berríos as the only consecutive two-time winners of the honor. Varland finished out his successful campaign with five scoreless innings against the White Sox for his first career win.
“It helps a lot,” Varland said. “I know exactly what I need to work on. Going into Spring Training, I have a couple starts under my belt, so that debut pressure is off me and I can just focus on competing to try to make the roster in spring.”
Wallner, 24, represented the Twins at the All-Star Futures Game -- during which he homered -- and also debuted with Minnesota in September after hitting .277/.412/.541 with 27 homers across 128 games in Double-A and Triple-A. He went 13-for-57 (.228) in 18 MLB games and hopes to continue working on his coverage of the top of the strike zone this offseason.
“I think it’s been great just kind of seeing how it is up here a little bit, just getting a little taste of it,” Wallner said. “I think that's been really beneficial for me, so I have an idea, as opposed to if I didn’t and ended in Triple-A, just kind of wouldn’t have any background knowledge or whatever, kind of a taste of this. So yeah, I think it’s been huge for me.”
QUOTABLE
“I'm disappointed in myself. I'm disappointed in our group. And I feel like we've got to now find a way to make that better. I don't think it was a -- for those of you who were around every day -- it wasn't a lack of effort. It wasn't a lack of trying in [the clubhouse] to get going. Oftentimes, people will point to a record like that and say that team must have quit, must have just shut down.
"To a man in this room, I can tell you I never saw that. I never saw anyone shutting it down. Showing up early, doing their work, preparing, getting ready. We just didn't quite have the horses down the stretch, I think, to do what we needed to do to get there.” -- Falvey on the Twins' disappointing finish
"And we'll see you tomorrow night!!!"
Played ball with Gene Larkin and Tom Kelly’s son. TKs son died in his hotel room at a bachelor party a couple years ago in Florida. Also sat right next to Kent Hrbek at the Chris Stapleton show few weeks ago. Herby not in too good of shape these days.
Is Lopez a top end starter or average like the 7-8 they already have? They aren’t short on starting pitching. IF they can stay healthy.
I feel they could have found a better clip of a strikeout than from a game he gave up 5 runs by the 5th inning
Lopez had a 3.1 ERA if you remove the Mets. I think he is easily a #2 pitcher for the Twins. Of which the Twins will have 3, Lopez Mahle and Gray. Joe Ryan is a fringe 2 to 3 and then you have Maeda. Let alone the younger pitcher. This is the most depth I have seen for the Twins. Not top end talent, but I have never seen the twins have #5 as good as Maeda, then have Ober Winder, Varland, Paddack, SWR in the wings.
Plus it seems like they have a glut of pretty good SS prospects in the minors. Will probably trade one or two of them for additional pitching. Bit of a backlog at corner outfield too. I don't think they are done making moves.
We have a very similar player to Arraez that will likely be in AAA. Julien had a .440 OBP in AA last year. Good average lots of walks takes lots of pitches, mediocre to poor defensive second baseman. Add in Lee Martin and we have some highly skilled bat to ball skill guys coming up. If we were to keep Arraez at first we were losing most of his value, that should be a premium bat position. Loved Arraez, but loved the move.
As a note the other trade for a Michael Taylor, best defensive outfielder. All it cost us was a couple reliever prospects, oh by the the twins have picked up a couple lottery SP/RP off the waiver in the last couple weeks that may not have quite the velocity but actually have pretty good stuff. The Twins are improving on the margins. They have gradually improved the entire organization. We are in such a better position than 6 years ago. Now need to see if Kepler is moved or if we have elite depth.
