Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Thats insane. Also completely unhittable.
Twins combined no hitter start of the 9th
Good postInjuries 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.
Yep I'm done after last weekendGards 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.
They almost were .500?!?!So the Twins traded away some of their
top prospects for this? Huh.
To be fair, hindsight is 20/20. And I’m still bitter about the trades.They almost were .500?!?!
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.To be fair, hindsight is 20/20. And I’m still bitter about the trades.
"And we'll see you tomorrow night!!!"
UnrealI know it's not 2022 anymore, but this sucks.
I agree.I think it’s a good deal for the Twins.
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
Starting to come around on this.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.