Latest / Twin Cities Territory / Problems all around as Twins get swept, and a Mets series preview
Transcript
- 0:08Speaker 1: All right, Hello and welcome to the latest episode of
- 0:12Speaker 1: Twins Cities Territory, our Minnesota Twins podcast here on the
- 0:17Speaker 1: Foul Territory Network. I am Zach Pierce, editor for The Athletic,
- 0:21Speaker 1: joined as always by Dan Hayes, the Athletics, Minnesota Twins
- 0:25Speaker 1: beat writer, and Tyler Duffy, longtime Major leaguer and Minnesota Twin.
- 0:31Speaker 2: Guys.
- 0:32Speaker 1: It's a tough day to be a four point three percenter.
- 0:35Speaker 1: We are wounded, but we are not We are not
- 0:38Speaker 1: giving up. It is Monday, April twentieth. The Twins have
- 0:42Speaker 1: just been swept by the Cincinnati Reds at home, bringing
- 0:46Speaker 1: an end to a streak of three straight series victories
- 0:50Speaker 1: and a stretch of good vibes to start the season. Obviously,
- 0:53Speaker 1: long season stuff like this is going to happen. Plenty
- 0:56Speaker 1: of things to talk about from the game, and I
- 0:59Speaker 1: think we can start with On Friday show, we talked
- 1:03Speaker 1: about all the things that could help them keep this up,
- 1:09Speaker 1: this great start that they had, or potentially slow them
- 1:11Speaker 1: down as it went. Tyler, you made the point that
- 1:14Speaker 1: you think they tracked to be sort of a five
- 1:17Speaker 1: hundred team, and here we are. They're now eleven and eleven.
- 1:19Speaker 1: After that game, Dan, you were very concerned about the
- 1:22Speaker 1: infield defense, and boy was that an accurate thing to
- 1:27Speaker 1: be concerned about. This weekend, I was concerned about the
- 1:29Speaker 1: batting average with runners in scoring position being three fourteen
- 1:32Speaker 1: and whether that could keep up. It did not this weekend.
- 1:35Speaker 1: Small sample size, of course, guys, But I think Dan, like,
- 1:39Speaker 1: this weekend sort of showed everything that people have feared
- 1:42Speaker 1: about this team.
- 1:44Speaker 2: Yeah, and by the way, Happy Earth Day to all.
- 1:46Speaker 2: The Twins got smoked this weekend. The Twins got smoked
- 1:49Speaker 2: this weekend. Hey, look, this is a team that had
- 1:55Speaker 2: benefited from playing and not close games so far. That's
- 1:59Speaker 2: why they were winning. They were with bigger leads going
- 2:02Speaker 2: up against a team with an elite bullpen, the Reds. Man.
- 2:05Speaker 2: I mean, I just it felt like everybody that came
- 2:07Speaker 2: in from the sixth name and on could shut a
- 2:09Speaker 2: game down, and it kept it close, and it kept
- 2:12Speaker 2: it to a point where the Reds could come back
- 2:14Speaker 2: and steal each of these steal the last two. Obviously
- 2:18Speaker 2: they led two to one and shut it down on Friday.
- 2:20Speaker 2: But this is gonna be a challenge for the Twins
- 2:23Speaker 2: all year. These types of games where they're facing teams
- 2:25Speaker 2: that have multiple guys that they can roll out of
- 2:27Speaker 2: the bullpen and keep it tight. I mean, look, I
- 2:30Speaker 2: know that's gonna be the same for every team, but
- 2:33Speaker 2: the Twins are susceptible to this with their bullpen built
- 2:36Speaker 2: the way it is. The Reds are some ridiculous record,
- 2:40Speaker 2: Like I think they're ten to zero in two games
- 2:43Speaker 2: decided by two runs or less so far two or
- 2:46Speaker 2: fewer runs. Sorry, it's been an incredible start, Twins. Fel
- 2:52Speaker 2: victim to it all weekend. Every little thing that could
- 2:54Speaker 2: go wrong got magnified, and here they are eleven and
- 2:57Speaker 2: eleven when they very easily could be thirteen and nine.
- 3:01Speaker 1: Yeah, Tyler, it felt, you know, during that wind streak
- 3:05Speaker 1: or that stretch of series victories, a lot of games
- 3:08Speaker 1: where the Twins were scoring a bunch of runs early,
- 3:11Speaker 1: handing over a huge lead to their bullpen, and I
- 3:13Speaker 1: think some of this stuff was still kind of happening
- 3:15Speaker 1: in those games. It's just a little harder to notice
- 3:17Speaker 1: it when you're up by yeah versus someone run game.
- 3:20Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not as glaring, you know, in the moment,
- 3:22Speaker 3: but I saw the one on I kind of sometimes
- 3:25Speaker 3: will flip broadcast and the Reds were talking about their
- 3:27Speaker 3: bullpen and their back end. I believe this year has
- 3:31Speaker 3: a combined one one two or something like that. Like
- 3:34Speaker 3: three guys that they've been using for seven eight nine
- 3:36Speaker 3: have a combined like one to two or whatever it is.
- 3:40Speaker 3: That's what you want, you know, you want to get
- 3:43Speaker 3: to the sixth with a little bit of a lead,
- 3:45Speaker 3: maybe the fifth, and then have some guys that you
- 3:47Speaker 3: can hand it off to.
- 3:48Speaker 4: And you know that it's going to.
- 3:50Speaker 3: Show itself in a one run game over and over again.
- 3:52Speaker 3: You know it's going to get dicey. Sometimes you're going
- 3:55Speaker 3: to walk the tight rope and survive, and then other
- 3:57Speaker 3: times it's you know, one miss mishap here, you know,
- 4:01Speaker 3: or one single away and then the game's blown open
- 4:04Speaker 3: and it's you know, can change quick. And like we
- 4:07Speaker 3: already hit on, like the things we said that can
- 4:11Speaker 3: maybe be sustainable or maybe not be showed.
- 4:14Speaker 4: Themselves in three, you know, all three.
- 4:16Speaker 3: Games, and here we already took a took one on
- 4:19Speaker 3: the chin.
- 4:19Speaker 4: But you know, still five hundred, still.
- 4:22Speaker 1: Five hundred, still still waving the flag for the four
- 4:26Speaker 1: point three percenters. We we uh did see one. I
- 4:31Speaker 1: would say bright spot overall, and the starting pitching across
- 4:34Speaker 1: the board was great. It was a shame to have
- 4:36Speaker 1: wasted UH to three great starts. Joe Ryan, todj Bradley,
- 4:41Speaker 1: Bailey overall went six innings, over went six and a
- 4:44Speaker 1: third total of four and runs allowed throughout the weekend
- 4:48Speaker 1: H one nine six era a uh DAN That was
- 4:51Speaker 1: part of the formulas since before the season started as
- 4:54Speaker 1: strong starting pitching, and I would say it's probably the
- 4:57Speaker 1: one positive to take away from this weekend.
- 4:59Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, and it's again it's gonna keep you in
- 5:02Speaker 2: every game. You gotta figure out a way to win them.
- 5:05Speaker 2: This next series we see the Mets. The Twins go
- 5:08Speaker 2: to the Mets, who are really, you know, right now terrible,
- 5:12Speaker 2: but twins to have Mick Gabel and Joe Ryan in
- 5:15Speaker 2: that series, and again, you have a shot anytime you
- 5:20Speaker 2: go into a series where those two are taking them out.
- 5:22Speaker 2: Same and Wood Richardson on the other day, has been
- 5:25Speaker 2: really like it's been a weird year so far, but
- 5:27Speaker 2: it's got the stuff to do it too. This is
- 5:29Speaker 2: a good starting rotation and it continues to show itself.
- 5:32Speaker 2: And look, Bailey over is gonna I have a feeling
- 5:34Speaker 2: we're gonna see him fluctuate all season. He definitely benefited
- 5:39Speaker 2: from some a generous wide strike zone on Sunday. I
- 5:43Speaker 2: think there were probably I think I saw three or
- 5:46Speaker 2: four pitches. There were a couple of inches off the edge.
- 5:49Speaker 2: Hunter wendelstat zone was very friendly, but I mean it
- 5:53Speaker 2: definitely was something where that was a great outing from him.
- 5:57Speaker 2: You gotta capitalize on it. They didn't. They didn't capitalize
- 5:59Speaker 2: on O Ryan's two runs a loud, they didn't capitalize
- 6:02Speaker 2: on Toads Bradley leaving with a four to two lead
- 6:04Speaker 2: on on Saturday. So that's, uh, that's tough. But I
- 6:10Speaker 2: have a feeling we're going to see a lot of
- 6:11Speaker 2: this with their starting pitching all year as far as
- 6:14Speaker 2: being in games. Just it's such a good group.
- 6:18Speaker 1: Yeah, in all three games, the Twins scored first, I believe,
- 6:21Speaker 1: and then and then watched the Reds come back, and
- 6:25Speaker 1: uh when the game the the Joe Ryan game was
- 6:28Speaker 1: a two to one loss. I think the runs came
- 6:32Speaker 1: off of Ryan. Yeah, one was earned one not Yeah,
- 6:36Speaker 1: so that was just the bats. The bats couldn't get
- 6:39Speaker 1: him back in the game late Saturday and Sunday bullpen
- 6:42Speaker 1: issues and Sunday, in particular, was a wild one Twins
- 6:46Speaker 1: leading three to one in the ninth inning. Uh Andrew Morris,
- 6:49Speaker 1: who is this a second game pitching appearance. Shelton decided
- 6:56Speaker 1: to roll with it in the ninth inning, even as
- 6:58Speaker 1: he was getting into a little bit of a jam,
- 6:59Speaker 1: and the I had scored three runs to take the lead.
- 7:03Speaker 1: Twins tied in the ninth and then came the tenth inning, guys,
- 7:06Speaker 1: which was was an adventure and a half and three
- 7:10Speaker 1: more reds runs clinched that one.
- 7:12Speaker 2: But do you have any thoughts on the tenth ina.
- 7:15Speaker 1: I was, I was waiting for somebody to team me up.
- 7:17Speaker 1: The key play of the of the entire game, I
- 7:20Speaker 1: guess was now I forget who was batting, but Oh
- 7:24Speaker 1: Suarez against Garrett Acton tempting of course, starts with the
- 7:30Speaker 1: runner on second base. There was one out at the
- 7:32Speaker 1: time he hit it to third base. It was it
- 7:35Speaker 1: took a late hop, maybe a little bit of a
- 7:38Speaker 1: tricky play, but Tristan Gray charged with an error and
- 7:41Speaker 1: booted the ball in the left field. And what happened
- 7:45Speaker 1: after that was what really sort of made I think
- 7:49Speaker 1: was a microcosm of all the things we worry about
- 7:51Speaker 1: with this team. Like the ball trickles in the left field,
- 7:55Speaker 1: Austin Martin, who had come in in the seventh, I think,
- 7:58Speaker 1: to pinch from for Lauren Ran. Yeah, approaches the ball
- 8:02Speaker 1: and tries tries to bare hand it, and he of
- 8:05Speaker 1: course booted the ball and that allowed it was a
- 8:08Speaker 1: second er on the play and allowed Ellie de la
- 8:10Speaker 1: Cruz to score and Suarez to get the second base.
- 8:14Speaker 1: The physical errors are bad, and they are going to happen,
- 8:20Speaker 1: but it's the mental ones that that like really seem
- 8:23Speaker 1: to be extra killer for me. Martin did not need
- 8:27Speaker 1: to bare hand that ball. There was no play to
- 8:30Speaker 1: be made. Dela Cruz was going to be at third
- 8:32Speaker 1: base whether he picked it up with his barehand or
- 8:34Speaker 1: gloved it. He you know, he was looking up at
- 8:38Speaker 1: the time that he booted the ball, and then when
- 8:41Speaker 1: he recovered the ball, he threw it into the cutoff man,
- 8:44Speaker 1: which I think, and again Tyler, feel free to shout
- 8:47Speaker 1: here my highest level of baseball experience as junior varsity
- 8:50Speaker 1: high school. But the throw to the cutoff man is
- 8:53Speaker 1: the right play if you feel it cleanly. But after
- 8:55Speaker 1: you boot it, I think you need to be able
- 8:59Speaker 1: to go, hey, that runner who's at third base might
- 9:01Speaker 1: be trying to score in addition to that, and I
- 9:04Speaker 1: don't know that Martin would have gotten him anyway, but
- 9:07Speaker 1: but it was a problem. In addition to that, Tristan
- 9:09Speaker 1: Gray kind of just hung out and no man's land
- 9:11Speaker 1: didn't get to the bag, so Dela Cruz had no
- 9:13Speaker 1: reason to stay close to the bag as the ball
- 9:15Speaker 1: was booted. So it was just there are two physical
- 9:18Speaker 1: errors charged on the play, but there's also more going
- 9:20Speaker 1: on there that that is problematic with with with you know,
- 9:25Speaker 1: the mental side of it. And then this is not
- 9:28Speaker 1: has nothing to do with the tenth inning, but the
- 9:29Speaker 1: brooks Lee double steel was was ill conceived. Whoever conceived
- 9:36Speaker 1: so nitpicks. Things are going to happen like that. But
- 9:39Speaker 1: you know, it's just that's the side. There's always the
- 9:43Speaker 1: possibility you'll make a bad thrill, you'll boot a ball,
- 9:45Speaker 1: but like knowing what to do situationally is for a
- 9:48Speaker 1: team that has no margin for error. We've talked about
- 9:51Speaker 1: many times. Just it was a tough It was a
- 9:53Speaker 1: tough look.
- 9:54Speaker 3: Yeah, that's uh, that's you know, especially back to that play,
- 9:57Speaker 3: like in the moment, you know, the saying goes.
- 10:01Speaker 4: It's you know, ball comes you, what are you doing
- 10:03Speaker 4: with it?
- 10:03Speaker 3: You know, if I've heard it a million times in
- 10:05Speaker 3: my life, even as a pitcher, as soon as that
- 10:07Speaker 3: ball leaves your hand, you're a fielder. You got somewhere
- 10:09Speaker 3: to be, you know, so that point you, yeah, Elie
- 10:13Speaker 3: de la Cruz is fast, you know, in the moment,
- 10:17Speaker 3: like you said, it's you can't compound the air with
- 10:19Speaker 3: another air and then a mental air and then you're
- 10:23Speaker 3: just like stuff, the wheels are falling off, you know,
- 10:26Speaker 3: kind of scenario. And it's one that I know it
- 10:29Speaker 3: was probably addressed kind of like the the Keishol air
- 10:32Speaker 3: last week, where it's like, hey, look just take the one,
- 10:35Speaker 3: you pick it up, throw it in, you know, just
- 10:38Speaker 3: do it the right way.
- 10:40Speaker 4: You know.
- 10:40Speaker 3: It's it's where all those mental reps, it's spring come
- 10:43Speaker 3: into play sometimes. And we were talking, you know a
- 10:46Speaker 3: couple of years back where the Tigers when they were
- 10:49Speaker 3: not the Tigers yet, and you know, every series, for
- 10:54Speaker 3: even home games, it was full squad on the field
- 10:56Speaker 3: taking reps and things like that, and sometimes it's just.
- 11:00Speaker 4: That has to be the way it is. You know,
- 11:02Speaker 4: you're not.
- 11:02Speaker 3: As good as you think you are sometimes especially you
- 11:05Speaker 3: guys bounce around positions left and right day to day
- 11:08Speaker 3: like those extra reps are valuable.
- 11:11Speaker 4: And you know that's something I'm sure as season we've.
- 11:14Speaker 2: Seen it so far. We no, no, we have seen that.
- 11:16Speaker 2: To be fair, we have seen I've seen the Twins
- 11:18Speaker 2: take a lot of infield before batting practice. It is
- 11:21Speaker 2: a hard working team. It needs they need to do
- 11:24Speaker 2: more because and we'll see some I guarantee we'll see
- 11:27Speaker 2: it in New York. But you know, the home games,
- 11:30Speaker 2: we haven't been around as much for the before batting
- 11:33Speaker 2: practice because we're not down in the clubhouse and walking
- 11:37Speaker 2: out to the field when the team leaves the clubhouse. So, uh,
- 11:41Speaker 2: there's a lot of work in that rep that realm.
- 11:43Speaker 2: I think they'll continue it. There's no question. This is
- 11:47Speaker 2: the worst.
- 11:47Speaker 1: Uh it sounds like a bird, Dan, is there a bird.
- 11:50Speaker 2: Out in your house? I you know, you know we
- 11:54Speaker 2: were talking about the cat chat last week. I opened
- 11:57Speaker 2: the back patio so the cats can look at the birds.
- 12:02Speaker 1: All right?
- 12:03Speaker 2: With that, you like me to shut it.
- 12:05Speaker 1: We will will take a quick break while Dan deals
- 12:08Speaker 1: with the birds, and we'll be right back after a
- 12:10Speaker 1: word from our discuss.
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- 13:19Speaker 1: All right, we're back Dan. Dan did something with the
- 13:23Speaker 1: animals during his during our time.
- 13:26Speaker 2: We shut the door. Okay, shut the door and then
- 13:28Speaker 2: went and opened the other door so that they Okay,
- 13:31Speaker 2: so good, the Cats can watch the birds there.
- 13:38Speaker 1: Before we move on. To be fair to Austin Martin,
- 13:41Speaker 1: he's the only reason they were even in the tenth
- 13:43Speaker 1: thinning to begin with.
- 13:44Speaker 2: Because he had the RBS.
- 13:46Speaker 1: Yeah, credit credit where credit is due, sitting on the
- 13:49Speaker 1: bench all game and coming in and getting that hit.
- 13:51Speaker 2: So truly, he's having a really good season. He is, like,
- 13:57Speaker 2: I think he's second in player War right now with
- 14:00Speaker 2: the bat three eleven for eighty four on base percentage
- 14:05Speaker 2: so far. But there have been a couple of defensive plays.
- 14:08Speaker 2: That's not the first one. He like, you gotta be
- 14:12Speaker 2: on both ends. It's got to be, you know, a
- 14:13Speaker 2: two way player. And he's got the skills. There's no
- 14:15Speaker 2: question he made that great catch. That was that one
- 14:18Speaker 2: hundred nine line drive where you leap.
- 14:21Speaker 1: It was right right before the play I was talking about.
- 14:23Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, So.
- 14:26Speaker 1: Show us what we're saying.
- 14:28Speaker 2: No, hey, hey, look look you mentioned Brooksley on that
- 14:32Speaker 2: on the the double steel. Brooks Lee had a ground
- 14:35Speaker 2: ball to short on Saturday in the ninth inning, and
- 14:37Speaker 2: brooks Lee right now, the Twins statistically are the worst
- 14:42Speaker 2: team defensive run saves at shortstop, they're minus six runs.
- 14:46Speaker 2: This is this is something that has to get cleaned up.
- 14:49Speaker 2: And brooks Lee was a second or third baseman before
- 14:52Speaker 2: the Carlos Correa trade last year, going back and forth
- 14:56Speaker 2: between those positions, and he's got to shows more than
- 15:00Speaker 2: at short They need more from him. He's proven he
- 15:04Speaker 2: can be a little bit of a hitter, but these
- 15:06Speaker 2: kind of players all around need to get cleaned up
- 15:09Speaker 2: for this team to succeed.
- 15:13Speaker 1: We may have mentioned these stats. I don't think we did.
- 15:15Speaker 1: But the starting pitching in total this weekend for the
- 15:18Speaker 1: Twins eighteen and a third innings pitched eleven hits, four
- 15:22Speaker 1: earned runs, a one to nine to six e er.
- 15:25Speaker 1: They'll take that any day of the week for sure.
- 15:28Speaker 1: But the difference was the bats were not there this
- 15:30Speaker 1: time like they have been in during the during the
- 15:32Speaker 1: nice win streak, six for thirty five only with runners
- 15:35Speaker 1: in scoring position on the weekend. That's a one seventy
- 15:38Speaker 1: one average.
- 15:39Speaker 2: Again, and that was six for thirty one over those
- 15:42Speaker 2: two games Saturday and Sunday.
- 15:44Speaker 1: Yes, they were over three for fifteen on Friday.
- 15:46Speaker 2: Yep, yep, right, three for fifteen Saturday and three for
- 15:50Speaker 2: sixteen Sunday. In a game where any of those hits
- 15:54Speaker 2: come through and change the complexion of the game with
- 15:56Speaker 2: that question.
- 15:57Speaker 1: Yep, Friday, there weren't any chances. Saturday and Sunday there were,
- 16:01Speaker 1: they didn't come through. Again, I will try my best
- 16:04Speaker 1: not to overreact when I talk about baseball three times
- 16:07Speaker 1: a week. But we move on now to this week.
- 16:12Speaker 1: Twins head back out on the road once again. The
- 16:14Speaker 1: weather's getting beautiful starting today and in the Twin Cities.
- 16:18Speaker 2: After so crazy Trio of forty when you see guys
- 16:22Speaker 2: wearing like the face masks all weekend, Ryan Jeffers, Ellie
- 16:26Speaker 2: Da La Cruz. You could see his eyes. That was it.
- 16:29Speaker 4: You could see his eyes only like Mortal Kombat.
- 16:35Speaker 1: They head to New York and then Tampa Bay this
- 16:37Speaker 1: at the end of this week. The Mets, as we mentioned,
- 16:40Speaker 1: are are reeling. We'll get to that in just a second.
- 16:42Speaker 1: But Dan also they made some personnel moves after the
- 16:47Speaker 1: game on Sunday, Kendri Rojas has joined the team. Who
- 16:52Speaker 1: is that, Dan tell.
- 16:52Speaker 2: Us, yeah, this will be the first The second player
- 16:57Speaker 2: from the Louis Varland trade to surface. Allan road last
- 17:00Speaker 2: year and Alan Roden, who They're like, when you look
- 17:03Speaker 2: at the outfield defense, you wonder why he's not here
- 17:05Speaker 2: At times. Alan Roden was the first guy that showed up.
- 17:08Speaker 2: But Kendrick Rojas is the twenty three year old flame
- 17:11Speaker 2: throwing left hander. And look, the Twins looked at this
- 17:15Speaker 2: and said, we know we're giving up a lot in
- 17:18Speaker 2: Louis Varland. Lou Varland's now twenty eight. He was twenty
- 17:20Speaker 2: seven at the time, but they knew Louis Arland was
- 17:23Speaker 2: at that point could be a relief pitcher. Kendry Rojas
- 17:25Speaker 2: has the potential to be a number three starting pitcher
- 17:29Speaker 2: in the rotation. He throws ninety eight to ninety nine.
- 17:31Speaker 2: He's got outstanding off speed stuff. We saw it his
- 17:34Speaker 2: first appearance of the spring. He struck out Kunya Albi's
- 17:40Speaker 2: and one other major leaguer from the Braves. But this
- 17:43Speaker 2: is a guy that when he came over last year
- 17:45Speaker 2: and Tyler in a minute, maybe he can get you
- 17:47Speaker 2: to speak to this. He struggled with the difference in
- 17:50Speaker 2: the baseball from Double A to Triple A. He didn't
- 17:54Speaker 2: he couldn't grip that ball at all. The triple A
- 17:56Speaker 2: ball He had disastrous stats at Triple A after Cup
- 18:00Speaker 2: just been promoted to Triple A by Toronto right before
- 18:03Speaker 2: the trade he got to Saint Paul. He had like
- 18:05Speaker 2: a seven ERA in about twenty seven innings, still twenty
- 18:08Speaker 2: eight strikeouts, but he really struggled with the grip and
- 18:13Speaker 2: worked on that this offseason. Felt a lot more comfortable
- 18:15Speaker 2: and you could tell he's confident and young. Johan Santana
- 18:18Speaker 2: had some really good things to say about him in
- 18:20Speaker 2: spring training. Asked him specifically about him, and he said,
- 18:24Speaker 2: he really wants to learn. He's not a guy that's
- 18:26Speaker 2: coming up here and going I throw ninety eight to
- 18:28Speaker 2: ninety nine and just being a thrower. He's trying to
- 18:31Speaker 2: learn how to be a pitcher early on. So we
- 18:33Speaker 2: get a little look at him. We don't know what
- 18:35Speaker 2: role it's going to be in as of right now.
- 18:39Speaker 2: Cody Funderberg is going on the paternity list. His wife
- 18:41Speaker 2: is being induced today, so the Twins expect to be
- 18:45Speaker 2: without him for a couple of days so he could
- 18:48Speaker 2: be with his family. So Rojas is coming up most
- 18:51Speaker 2: likely in the bullpen. Connor Prelip is also Rojas is
- 18:54Speaker 2: the number nine prospecting the system. According to Aaron Glehman's
- 18:59Speaker 2: athletic rankings going into the season, which is extremely accurate
- 19:04Speaker 2: a lot of times. The Twins think that that list
- 19:07Speaker 2: is very close and so so Rojas is the number
- 19:12Speaker 2: nine prospect. Connor Prelip is also coming. He's going to
- 19:16Speaker 2: the taxi squad, though the Twins have said we'll learn
- 19:19Speaker 2: more as to why that is. I don't know. If
- 19:21Speaker 2: there's somebody hurt, potentially they're trying to give that person
- 19:24Speaker 2: an extra day that we'll find out more on that.
- 19:29Speaker 2: And then along with those two, we expect to see
- 19:32Speaker 2: Royce Lewis back on Tuesday as well. He had two
- 19:35Speaker 2: home runs over the weekend at Saint Paul. But really
- 19:38Speaker 2: excited to see what Kendrick Rojas can do at the
- 19:40Speaker 2: major league level. He just came back. I think he
- 19:42Speaker 2: had no bleak or some kind of non arm issue
- 19:47Speaker 2: in spring training. Just came off minor league where you have.
- 19:51Speaker 2: He's been at Triple A twice two three Indian outings,
- 19:54Speaker 2: five strikeouts, no runs allowed, no walks. He's starting gas.
- 19:59Speaker 2: It should be good. This needs it. I looked it up.
- 20:02Speaker 2: The starters on the season have a three four to
- 20:04Speaker 2: one ERA. The bullpen is I think five oh seven,
- 20:08Speaker 2: and the key there is the starters have more stuff.
- 20:11Speaker 2: The bullpen is a three forty two babbit right now.
- 20:14Speaker 2: They don't have the stuff that stars do. They're averaging
- 20:17Speaker 2: seven point nine strikeouts per nine. Starters are averaging eight
- 20:20Speaker 2: point eight strikeouts per nine more balls in play. The
- 20:25Speaker 2: relievers have eight unearned runs already accounted for, the starters
- 20:29Speaker 2: only have four. Clearly, the defense is impacting the bullpen
- 20:33Speaker 2: more than it's impacting starters, which drives fans nuts, and
- 20:38Speaker 2: so Kendrick Rojas going into that bullpen could be a
- 20:41Speaker 2: very big thing for the Twins.
- 20:43Speaker 1: Since Dan mentioned babbit and we want to be an
- 20:47Speaker 1: inclusive podcast all fans. That's batting average on balls in play,
- 20:53Speaker 1: which is.
- 20:54Speaker 4: The worst friend or best friend?
- 20:56Speaker 2: Yeah?
- 20:57Speaker 1: Right, that's what's the intention of that den like measures
- 21:01Speaker 1: like your luck when hitting the ball.
- 21:02Speaker 2: Basically it does measure luck when the ball is doesn't
- 21:05Speaker 2: go over the fence and it's not a strikeout, so
- 21:09Speaker 2: home runs don't count. So anything that where it's a
- 21:12Speaker 2: ground ball, a fly ball, everything is accounted for. And
- 21:16Speaker 2: it's intended to say if Tyler, Tyler's babbitt is four
- 21:21Speaker 2: hundred and Griffin Jackson was a guy that had a
- 21:23Speaker 2: high babbitt the last year and early this year means
- 21:27Speaker 2: balls aren't finding gloves. That's gonna happen kind of frequently.
- 21:32Speaker 2: I think with this infield, they need more stuff in
- 21:35Speaker 2: that bullpen. And that's why the Babbitt is like fifty
- 21:38Speaker 2: points higher. It's not a good.
- 21:39Speaker 1: Stat Why do you say, Tyler, it's either your best
- 21:42Speaker 1: friend or your worst.
- 21:44Speaker 4: Because you can give up. I used to call them
- 21:46Speaker 4: the Adam balls.
- 21:47Speaker 3: You know it, balls hit a billion miles an hour
- 21:49Speaker 3: right at somebody for an out, you know, and you
- 21:53Speaker 3: give up one hundred of those, that's you're doing great.
- 21:56Speaker 3: But then you give up the forty five mile an
- 21:58Speaker 3: hour ball that just the way through every time, and
- 22:01Speaker 3: you're just like what, Like, I'm like, you know, the
- 22:04Speaker 3: guy comes to mind. It's like a Zach Britton type
- 22:07Speaker 3: where it's like you beat guys so badly they can't
- 22:09Speaker 3: hit the ball hard enough to get it to be
- 22:11Speaker 3: an out, you know, and like, so that's the other
- 22:13Speaker 3: side of that coin.
- 22:14Speaker 4: You know.
- 22:14Speaker 3: You can give up rockets all over the field and
- 22:16Speaker 3: get three outs, and you can give up three balls
- 22:18Speaker 3: that don't leave the infield for hits. And that's why
- 22:21Speaker 3: it's it can be your best friend or your worst
- 22:24Speaker 3: enemy pretty quickly. And you know, there's it happens everybody.
- 22:28Speaker 3: You know, it's you know, I feel like Press before
- 22:31Speaker 3: he left Minnesota kind of had it, like give me
- 22:33Speaker 3: for a while, like I had it.
- 22:34Speaker 4: You know everybody does. You go through a stretch where
- 22:36Speaker 4: you're like, just hit.
- 22:37Speaker 3: It at somebody, please, you know, it's you're not giving
- 22:40Speaker 3: up anything hard, it's just not at people, and next thing,
- 22:44Speaker 3: you know, give up two runs.
- 22:47Speaker 1: Daniel correct five point oh seven e ra a for
- 22:49Speaker 1: the Twins bullpen twenty third in baseball. So we'll see
- 22:55Speaker 1: how Rojas fits into that and when there he brings
- 22:58Speaker 1: some help. There was I chuckle that they showed a
- 23:02Speaker 1: graphic during the broadcast yesterday that it was Twins save
- 23:07Speaker 1: leaders on the season, and it's just five guys with
- 23:09Speaker 1: one save each. So so there's still some roles to
- 23:14Speaker 1: sort of.
- 23:14Speaker 2: That's not what you want.
- 23:18Speaker 1: So we move on this week. Twins are off today Monday,
- 23:21Speaker 1: and then a three game set in New York against
- 23:26Speaker 1: the Mets. Who boy, it's uh if you're mad about
- 23:30Speaker 1: that sweep this weekend, at least you're not a Mets fan.
- 23:33Speaker 1: Eleven straight losses? There at in what borough? Are they playing? Queens? Queens?
- 23:39Speaker 4: Is that right?
- 23:39Speaker 2: Yes?
- 23:41Speaker 1: Tyler, coming off a tough series, how do you feel
- 23:45Speaker 1: about playing a team that is clearly due and probably
- 23:48Speaker 1: pretty pissed off and ready to win a game.
- 23:50Speaker 3: Yeah, it's another It's kind of like that Toronto series.
- 23:54Speaker 3: You know, you're going to New York. You know, anytime
- 23:56Speaker 3: you go there, there's just an extra buzz. You know,
- 23:59Speaker 3: the guys get a little juice. You know, you're playing
- 24:02Speaker 3: a team that is scuffling. You know, I don't know
- 24:06Speaker 3: that they're necessarily going to pull themselves from the depths overnight.
- 24:09Speaker 4: You know, I think there's more. They're just having some
- 24:11Speaker 4: general issues across the board.
- 24:14Speaker 3: So I think, you know, like you said, our rotation
- 24:16Speaker 3: matches up well for them. You know, they've they've got
- 24:19Speaker 3: some guys hurt. Things like that. You know, it's it's
- 24:23Speaker 3: one too. Maybe it's a little reality check. You know,
- 24:25Speaker 3: twins are riding high and now they got woken up again.
- 24:28Speaker 3: It's like, hey, like we need to lock in a
- 24:30Speaker 3: little bit. You know, made some mental airs, you know,
- 24:32Speaker 3: things like that, and you know, I think it'll be
- 24:35Speaker 3: a good you know, next step, you know, move forward,
- 24:38Speaker 3: because it's you know, you get swept that especially on
- 24:42Speaker 3: that day game. You kind of sit in a locker
- 24:43Speaker 3: for an extra minute or two post game and you're
- 24:45Speaker 3: just like, man, like, what just happened? You know, You're like,
- 24:48Speaker 3: we should have taken any of those three games, if
- 24:50Speaker 3: not a couple of them. And now you hear you
- 24:52Speaker 3: lose three and you're going to a team who's trying
- 24:56Speaker 3: to win really badly. But you know, it's it's one.
- 25:00Speaker 3: It's such an up and down game and a roller
- 25:02Speaker 3: coaster of a season that you know, these guys are
- 25:04Speaker 3: gonna shake this one off. They probably left last night,
- 25:08Speaker 3: you know, maybe got time in time for dinner. You
- 25:10Speaker 3: know they you know it's it's you're in New York.
- 25:13Speaker 3: There's a little lecture energy. You know, the vibes are
- 25:15Speaker 3: always going to be a little higher. It's a nice
- 25:16Speaker 3: stadium to go play in. You know, it's a I
- 25:18Speaker 3: think they'll urns Lewis actically, huh.
- 25:22Speaker 2: Royce Lewis to bring some of those vibes back to that's.
- 25:25Speaker 4: Ah, there you go, there's some more energy.
- 25:28Speaker 2: Look great stat that again. I love the internet. I
- 25:32Speaker 2: think CODEIFI is the one that uh put this out
- 25:36Speaker 2: before this year. The Mets last ten game losing streak
- 25:39Speaker 2: was two thousand and four. The Twins last ten game
- 25:42Speaker 2: losing streak was twenty sixteen. I'm gonna guess you saw
- 25:46Speaker 2: part of that, Tyler, that one hundred and three lost team.
- 25:49Speaker 2: They did. Everybody's last ten game losing streak, and the
- 25:53Speaker 2: three I specifically remember are the Toronto Blue Jays was
- 25:56Speaker 2: nineteen ninety four. Saint Louis Cardinals have not lost ten
- 26:00Speaker 2: in a row since nineteen eighty. The New York Yankees
- 26:03Speaker 2: have not lost ten in a row since nineteen thirteen.
- 26:07Speaker 2: Nineteen thirteen, every other team was two thousand and four forward,
- 26:12Speaker 2: and the Yankees are somewhere around one hundred and twenty
- 26:15Speaker 2: two year streak of not losing ten games in a row,
- 26:19Speaker 2: which is just that. Lets you know, even when they
- 26:22Speaker 2: sucked before, they didn't suck that much. Because the money is.
- 26:26Speaker 4: King, baby, you weren't gonna get them.
- 26:29Speaker 2: Yeah, that's crazy, But yeah, the Mets are wearing it
- 26:33Speaker 2: pretty hard. And I looked it up. We were talking
- 26:35Speaker 2: about it off air. One Soto could return during this series,
- 26:39Speaker 2: that would be a huge boost for them. Obviously to
- 26:41Speaker 2: get back the highest paid player baseball. There's so much
- 26:45Speaker 2: talent over there. They've been scuffling. Soto's been out I
- 26:49Speaker 2: think since April second or April third, maybe even end
- 26:52Speaker 2: of March. They miss him. They were just in Chicago
- 26:55Speaker 2: over the weekend. They had a one nothing lead against
- 26:58Speaker 2: the Cubs going to the ninth blue to say of
- 27:00Speaker 2: lost in ten. Just the kind of games that keep
- 27:03Speaker 2: pounding up. It is going to get ugly. It's going
- 27:05Speaker 2: to be very I'm excited to see, just because you
- 27:08Speaker 2: walk into a place and Mets fans are mad. There's
- 27:11Speaker 2: such high expectations, and Steve Cohen spends a ton of
- 27:15Speaker 2: money on that team and wants to win. He's the
- 27:17Speaker 2: biggest fan of them all, so it should be.
- 27:20Speaker 1: Mets fans were mad before this just in general and
- 27:23Speaker 1: now yeah right, this needs.
- 27:30Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah exactly, so that that'll be a good
- 27:34Speaker 2: storyline to kind of follow. Because the Twins they need
- 27:37Speaker 2: to turn it around. Two after losing four in a row,
- 27:38Speaker 2: they won those three start series. Here they are they
- 27:41Speaker 2: finally have, like you said, are a little reality check
- 27:43Speaker 2: and it's a They definitely need to find that winning
- 27:48Speaker 2: formula again before they fall into a big kind of spell.
- 27:54Speaker 1: Uh just I just had to check. The Mets ranked
- 27:59Speaker 1: tenth in the MLB Opameter with eighty three point eight
- 28:02Speaker 1: percent optimism, so they're they're definitely going through it right now.
- 28:07Speaker 1: They're starting pitching, and that was to start the year, yes, yep, yep,
- 28:12Speaker 1: and was coming off you know, terrible showing for an
- 28:16Speaker 1: expensive team too, so they weren't deterred now and now
- 28:20Speaker 1: this start, I imagine that number would be a little
- 28:22Speaker 1: bit lower at this point. Mick Abel starts the opener
- 28:27Speaker 1: Tuesday night, coming off that fantastic start that he had
- 28:31Speaker 1: against Boston earlier this week. Simian Woods richardson on Wednesday,
- 28:35Speaker 1: Joe Ryan on Thursday, and they're all night games, uh six'
- 28:40Speaker 1: ten local time In Minnesota central time, zone and then
- 28:44Speaker 1: they're off To Tampa bay after. That we will be
- 28:49Speaker 1: back with you On wednesday after The tuesday, game ahead
- 28:54Speaker 1: of the second game of that. Series so we'll talk
- 28:56Speaker 1: more then and see if The twins can snap what
- 28:59Speaker 1: IS i guess it's their second losing streak of the,
- 29:02Speaker 1: season lost three straight early, on but they've lost four
- 29:06Speaker 1: in a row now to fall back to five. Hundred
- 29:10Speaker 1: we will at some, POINT i just want to prepare you.
- 29:12Speaker 1: Guys we will at some point try and name that twin.
- 29:14Speaker 1: Again BUT i discussed a tweak to the. RULES i
- 29:18Speaker 1: do think it was a little. Bit it's a little
- 29:20Speaker 1: hard to remember who was on what. Team So i'm
- 29:23Speaker 1: going to show you, guys whatever YEAR i, Pick i'll
- 29:25Speaker 1: show you the roster on the. Screen but no stats of,
- 29:28Speaker 1: course so at least you know who we're talking, like
- 29:31Speaker 1: who is on the. Team at least gives you that
- 29:33Speaker 1: context because it can be tough to remember obviously who
- 29:36Speaker 1: was all those. Teams, frank just go With Frank, viola no.
- 29:42Speaker 4: Matter, what no matter.
- 29:43Speaker 2: What but with The biders Show, Wednesday, hey send us your.
- 29:46Speaker 2: Questions we'd love to answer a few. Questions we only
- 29:50Speaker 2: have the one, game so if you if you got,
- 29:52Speaker 2: something please DO.
- 29:54Speaker 3: I was ready for, That, DAN i had any context,
- 29:57Speaker 3: too not even baseball could be.
- 29:59Speaker 4: Live that's.
- 30:00Speaker 1: Right if you're watching on, YouTube you can just leave
- 30:03Speaker 1: a comment and put the question right. There you can
- 30:05Speaker 1: find all of us on x if if that's your. Jam,
- 30:10Speaker 1: otherwise maybe if you see us on the street and
- 30:13Speaker 1: you can just shout a question to us. Too but
- 30:15Speaker 1: we'd love to answer your questions on the next.
- 30:17Speaker 2: Show or real quick. Question correction Because The New York
- 30:22Speaker 2: times always liked today is Not Earth. Day apologies on
- 30:26Speaker 2: The Earth day Is. WEDNESDAY i thought you, KNOW i
- 30:29Speaker 2: four twenty to Be Earth. Day it's got smoked twins
- 30:34Speaker 2: still gets smoked over the weekend though that is not a. Correction,
- 30:36Speaker 2: Anyways The New York times i'd like to apologize for
- 30:39Speaker 2: or regrets its.
- 30:40Speaker 1: Mistakes, well you gave people the chance to prepare For Earth,
- 30:44Speaker 1: day so there's. That that's good, right all, Right so
- 30:47Speaker 1: we will see you next on the Real Earth. Day
- 30:50Speaker 1: and until, then thanks very much for. Listening if you
- 30:53Speaker 1: like what you, hear please. Subscribe please leave us any
- 30:56Speaker 1: feedback as well in the. Comments we'd love to hear from,
- 30:58Speaker 1: you and we will talk to you next time On
- 31:01Speaker 1: Twin Cities. Territory bye, bye