A Sentence You Never Thought You'd See...
The Twins are red hot, and they're being carried by Delmon Young.
I know Garza just threw a no-no the other night, but right now I don't think I'd want him back if it meant having to give up Delmon.
How crazy is that?
6 Comments:
Not that crazy. DYoung looks fearless and just comfy up at the plate. Imagine a healthy Morneau in that lineup now with Baby Jesus on the upswing too? DYoung batted cleanup yesterday and produced. Cuddy relegated to the 6-hole which is starting to feel about right.
July 29, 2010 at 7:58 AM
Here is the game log from the Top of the 9th yesterday. If Cuddy was batting 4th, I don't think this would have happened.
Minnesota Top 9th
- Joakim Soria starts the inning for the Royals.
- Alexi Casilla flied out to right. None on with one out and Joe Mauer due up.
- Joe Mauer walked. Runner on first with one out and Delmon Young due up.
- Joe Mauer advanced to second on a wild pitch. Runner on second with one out and Delmon Young at the plate.
- Delmon Young singled to center. Runners on first and third with one out and Jason Kubel due up.
- Jason Kubel sacrifice fly to center scored Joe Mauer with two out. Runner on first and Michael Cuddyer due up.
- Michael Cuddyer grounded into a fielder`s choice, short to second to end the inning.
July 29, 2010 at 8:03 AM
Right on, Jan, on two separate counts: first, Cuddy g's idp on the first pitch he sees from Soria. And second, even if he miraculously doesn't, Soria's probably not afraid enough of him (as he was Delmon) to uncork a wild pitch. He just trusts his stuff against a guy like Cuddyer and throws heat over the plate, knowing it's not likely to get hit hard. Delmon, on the other hand, is squaring up everything.
We need people to get healthy. I'm pretty confident a lineup of Span, Hudson, Joe, Justin, Delmon, Cuddy, Kubel, Valencia, Hardy is good enough to win this division down the stretch, and give people some problems in the playoffs. But Repko and Thome/Butera/Morales on a daily basis is less than ideal.
July 29, 2010 at 9:22 AM
any chance of getting pitching at the deadline? don't see the twins mentioned much (per the usual) but it seems like they could use the help even at the back end of the rotation. thoughts?
July 29, 2010 at 2:29 PM
There was desire on the fan base's part to try to work something for Cliff. Some interest in Oswalt was reported early on, but never any serious contention there, which isn't surprising given the money involved with him. Now there's been some chatter about working with your former team to move Lilly over. He's got a no-trade that includes the Twins, which I find odd. I'm not sure he'd be much of an upgrade moving to the A.L., but he would allow Duensing to go back to the 'pen, where he's been the brightest spot. Him moving to the rotation has left the bullpen a little weak, so there's also been talk of looking at Matt Capps and a couple of other arms in Toronto.
Tough to decide what I want personally. On some level, I think Baker and Slowey (and even Liriano, actually) are due for better results; all three of them have been victims of abnormally high BABIP, and their xFIPs show they're significantly outperforming their ERA's right now. So part of me doesn't want to spend much to get what may not be an upgrade. If we could have gotten an ace, great, but Lilly's no better than 4 in this rotation.
On the other hand, why not do something? This recent hot streak has been against crap teams, so I don't want them to get complacent coming off the road trip, thinking the ship's been righted.
I think in the end I'd rather go after a power arm who can get you a K or two in a high leverage late-game situation. Guerrier, Mijares and Rauch have been, uhm, underwhelming the last 8 weeks, and none of them are K artists, anyway.
July 29, 2010 at 6:01 PM
Capps it is!! Nice to see us make a move, especially for a closer, since Rauch has been (in Jan's words), shakier than a big girl in heels. Not sure if he's a rent-a-closer or if he's got another year on his deal (which would be sweet, given the Nathan situation).
July 29, 2010 at 11:34 PM
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