caulfield12

And Donaldson was something like 4/5 or 4/6 at that point in the game...after just recently coming off the DL for a leg injury. The reason they subbed a runner is Josh has been out for the first 2-3 weeks battling that issue from the first couple of days of the season. They didn't want to put him a position to re-injure himself really pushing to score on a single...tag up, etc. Lose the battle, win the war, etc. You have to keep Buxton/Cruz/Donaldson healthy if the Twins are going anywhere this season. Obviously, it came back to bite them on defense, removing a Gold Glover and playing a utility player at a position he's not 100% comfortable at.

Oak Park Ray sounds like a caller into the Cubs' post-game show on The Score...

Padres haven't been able to buy a hit with RISP starting with their series at Pitt last week. Had bases loaded, down 4-2, no outs in the bottom of the 8th and didn't score a run. 2-7 stretch, and now @ LAD to face the heart of the Dodgers' pitching rotation, with May/Urias the undecided option for the fourth game. Burnes, Woodruff and Houser are going to do that to a lot of teams...especially first two guys. Avi Garcia entered red hot and went something like 0 for the series with 8 strikeouts and the Golden Sombrero. Omar Narvaez is a very strong candidate for NL Player of the Week. On an absolute tear. Brewers hit something like 8 or 9 homers in the series. Something like the third game already this year the bullpen had to cover 7+ innings because of an early starter exit...maybe even four times, would have to look at the box scores again.

Fathom's favorite player Arraez was the goat, well, along with Colome...insane offensive numbers from this boxscore. Still think Buxton is the player we should be targeting in FA, if we're not going to spend it on pitching/Gio/Lynn. Can you imagine an outfield of both Robert and Buxton? The White Sox could move the fences back and create even more of a competitive advantage with their outfield defense, ala the Royals from 2013-2016.

But you can also make the argument that he will hitting a lot more doubles and a few triples in the warmer months...and running better. He's used to playing the majority of his games in California/Pac-12 weather, let's not forget.

TLR? Madrigal? Grandal? Doppler Radar/the weather channel forecasts?

Yes, mostly, his first year (compared to expectations, which were so much higher for those other three you listed)...but huge sophomore slump. Not quite like Beckham's first 4+ months, but it was solid, comparable to Eloy his rookie year.

It seems like one of those games Dunning potentially gets too amped up, overthrows...and only lasts 2-3 innings. We shall see.

I thought this was going to be Jerksticks until I looked up and saw poster’s name. Brooks Boyer and Merkin will be strongly disappointed. Actually, it should be Minoso, Pierce or Aparicio/Fox.

Nelson Cruz is just unreal...when he’s able to be in the lineup. That prediction didn’t age well. 10-7 Twins now. Collision of two teams trending in opposite directions.

Right forearm tightness. Another likely surgery candidate. He joins the startling list of Clevinger, Morejon, Baez in the last 12 months. Strahm had knee surgery, too, another guy who used to be capable of starting. They currently have Weathers spot starting, Paddack scuffling since last season but holding on due to attrition and Gore probably the next man up. Likely still a wild card team, but few teams could survive the loss of three starters and then another Top 75 guy.

Can we get Ben Badler to answer some FS questions,...particularly the reasons for our seeming reluctance to sign the youngest Latin American prospects? Risk mitigation? More projectability closer to 18? Morals/ethics/birth certificate manipulation? Is this philosophy coming from JR or Paddy/front office?

So God is on his side, too? Doesn’t always work for Notre Dame in big games...but Jesus, definitely a HoF type quality person, that’s for sure.

No different than a rain shortened one, like Melido Perez pulled off back in the day...

Maeda getting bombed, A’s really taking it to the Twins and now likely to win their 11th in a row. First time in a while that Donaldson, Cruz are together in the same line-up.

And, in all fairness, Bohm is also now up and not exactly lighting the world on fire, either.

Probably also a financial decision as much as anything...get a much bigger crowd in around Memorial Day rather than freezing one’s butt off near the lake in April.

So now we have DHer against KC on May 14th and another one 2 1/2 weeks later. Still better with minor starting in first week of May to get more looks at options like Lambert and Stiever. Also, the minor league season extending to the end of September and playoffs into early October will be interesting to keep an eye on...what impact, if any, that has on teams/rosters.

If you have an entire lineup built with this mentality (get em on, over and in), like the 2014-15 Royals, it can work. But it has to be the entire team’s mindset, like the 2005 White Sox with Pods and Iguchi setting the table for the 3-4-5 hitters. Right now, it’s a blend, but still more free swinging, high K hitters. Mercedes has been really good at making contact. Eaton’s a huge step up from Mazara. Madrigal. Even Robert is a much improved pure hitter, just lacking the homers to show for it.

The difference is huge, though, between spending $170-200 million and being in the White Sox and Twins’ current midrange (literally #15/16) in terms of Opening Day payrolls. You can look at it as we’re $80 million ahead of the very bottom (Indians) or $42 million behind the small market Padres. That’s also $68 million behind the Yankees and $116 million behind LAD. The Yankees and Astros are ahead of the Mets, and then also you have the Phillies, Angels and Red Sox. So you could describe only the Dodgers as truly unfettered spenders. It’s just the odds of making the postseason and especially advancing decrease by roughly one standard deviation for teams 11-20 and then again for 21-30.

Stiever...

Avi's around a mid 700's OPS and Omar Narvaez suddenly looks like a world-beater on offense again. Narvaez is at almost at a 1.000 OPS and hitting .386 with a couple of homers and 8 RBI's.

I love how the ad/banner in this thread is cotton face masks...many designs and choices, affordable, 100% cotton, haha.

At it again, this time @ SD. Padres will only be 1 game over .500, and 4 1/2 GB of LAD. That said, many teams would have a tough time facing Woodruff and Burnes back to back. That NL Central will be a helluva dogfight.

Still incredible there was a SECOND catcher's interference that almost led to Crochet's inning completely blowing up. They escaped this game, but they can't count on that happening against teams with better offenses/higher than $50 million payrolls, 30th in the majors. Would argue that Hahn really needs to go out...and find a veteran reliever with playoff experience to stabilize the bullpen a bit more. Hendriks is the only really "been there, done that" guy on the roster. Bummer, but he's struggled and gotten inconsistent results compared to his normal standard prior to this season.