Latest / Twin Cities Territory / Royce Lewis sent to Triple-A, and Ryan Jeffers breaks a bone

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Royce Lewis sent to Triple-A, and Ryan Jeffers breaks a bone · Twin Cities Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: Royce Lewis is headed to Triple A. Ryan Jeffers has
0:04
Speaker 1: a broken bone in his wrist. Byron Buxton is coming
0:08
Speaker 1: back to the lineup. An eventful Tuesday in twins Land.
0:12
Speaker 1: This is Twins Territory. You are Minnesota Twins podcast on
0:16
Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network. I am Zach Pearce of the Athletic,
0:19
Speaker 1: joined as always by Dan Hayes, the Athletics Minnesota Twins
0:23
Speaker 1: beat writer, and Tyler Duffy, a resident Major leaguer currently
0:27
Speaker 1: plying his trade in Mexico. Guys, we usually would release
0:33
Speaker 1: this episode and even tape it on Wednesday, but just
0:35
Speaker 1: too much going on today to sit back on this one.
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Speaker 1: The biggest news We'll start with that Royce Lewis, the Twins'
0:42
Speaker 1: former number one draft pick in twenty seventeen, face of
0:46
Speaker 1: the franchise's future. All these years, one of the stars
0:50
Speaker 1: of the twenty twenty three playoff team has regressed to
0:52
Speaker 1: the point that the Twins have decided to send him
0:55
Speaker 1: back to Triple A to get a little bit of
0:57
Speaker 1: a reset and work on his his game. Obviously, we
1:01
Speaker 1: have talked a lot about the hitting struggles, some fielding
1:05
Speaker 1: struggles in there, as well, But I don't think that
1:08
Speaker 1: why is not the question. The why is pretty obvious Dan,
1:11
Speaker 1: But nevertheless, it's a shocking move. How are the twins
1:15
Speaker 1: framing it? And where do we go from here?
1:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're looking at as a complete reset for him
1:21
Speaker 2: and just getting right. They just they're seeing too many
1:24
Speaker 2: things that are not going right right now and when
1:28
Speaker 2: your guy is They didn't say it, but we can
1:30
Speaker 2: say it for them. You know, he got in his
1:32
Speaker 2: own way. We saw it impact him in the field.
1:35
Speaker 2: We saw a hyper aggressive guy, whereas at Star the
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Speaker 2: ear he was walking more than he'd ever He had
1:41
Speaker 2: just become aggressive and was swinging out of his shoes
1:45
Speaker 2: when you know the picture was struggling and just clearly
1:49
Speaker 2: was not in a good spot to be competitive at
1:52
Speaker 2: the plate. And I think that combination with Orlando Arcia
1:58
Speaker 2: playing well at at TRIPLEA, you know, was a reason
2:04
Speaker 2: to move on here for now and get him attempt
2:06
Speaker 2: to get him right. And I think it's funny when
2:10
Speaker 2: I look at comments on the story, there's a lot
2:12
Speaker 2: of fans that assume that he's gone forever, and I
2:14
Speaker 2: don't see that is the case here at all. Look,
2:17
Speaker 2: Miguel Snow went through the same thing in twenty eighteen.
2:19
Speaker 2: I know we talked about this on the show Monday.
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Speaker 2: It was an attempt to get Miguel snow right, and
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Speaker 2: he came back in twenty nineteen and had a monster season.
2:29
Speaker 2: We've seen Matt Walner have this reset before. Matt Walner
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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four got sent down in May because
2:35
Speaker 2: he was or maybe even April because he was struggling
2:37
Speaker 2: so much at the start of the season, and came
2:39
Speaker 2: back and had a final like two and a half
2:41
Speaker 2: months of the season that were great. So the Twins
2:44
Speaker 2: have done this before. I know it seems very extreme.
2:47
Speaker 2: It is. I mean, Royce Lewis has been the face
2:48
Speaker 2: of a lot of big moments over the last couple
2:51
Speaker 2: of years of this team. But also we're getting to
2:53
Speaker 2: the point where Royce Lewis has not been a great
2:55
Speaker 2: hitter for going on two years in the major leagues.
2:59
Speaker 2: Last time he was really successful was in June of
3:02
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, and the last couple months in that
3:04
Speaker 2: season he struggled. Last year, he had some moments where
3:07
Speaker 2: he was competitive in the second half, but even then
3:10
Speaker 2: it was like a seven twenty five oks and some
3:13
Speaker 2: stolen bases and good defense, which was way better than
3:16
Speaker 2: trending in the right direction. But we just haven't seen
3:19
Speaker 2: that since he came back off the IL, and I think,
3:22
Speaker 2: you know, this was just a let's get him going,
3:25
Speaker 2: do whatever we can, And it takes a big move
3:28
Speaker 2: sometimes to get a guy back on that right track.
3:30
Speaker 2: And you know, going to Triple A where the competition
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Speaker 2: isn't as strong as it is here, should give him
3:36
Speaker 2: some chance to focus on the work and not be
3:39
Speaker 2: worried about that one sixty batting average.
3:43
Speaker 1: Tyler Lewis was the superstar prospect Scott Boris client, like
3:48
Speaker 1: just the Twins obviously put so much into him. Nine
3:52
Speaker 1: years later, now back to Triple A. How for a
3:56
Speaker 1: player of his promise and stature, like, how do you you?
4:00
Speaker 1: How do you deal with that? How do you how
4:01
Speaker 1: do you take that reset for what it's supposed to
4:04
Speaker 1: be and try to get right?
4:06
Speaker 3: Like I said the other day, it's kind of one
4:08
Speaker 3: of those it's you have to take it as an opportunity, like, yeah,
4:12
Speaker 3: you're going to be pissed. You know, they may even
4:14
Speaker 3: give him a day when it gets there. I granted
4:16
Speaker 3: it's across the streets, so it's a little different scenario.
4:18
Speaker 3: But you know a lot of times it's like you've
4:21
Speaker 3: been in your apartment, whatever it's, you pack up, you
4:23
Speaker 3: got to go somewhere, and just like we keep saying
4:26
Speaker 3: the word reset, like you just got to kind of
4:28
Speaker 3: switch off whatever you thought happened yesterday and.
4:31
Speaker 4: You start fresh.
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Speaker 3: You know, he'll technically, he'll he'll go down there, have
4:35
Speaker 3: a zero you know, batting average and and all that,
4:38
Speaker 3: and you know it's a clean slate. You know, the
4:40
Speaker 3: game move a little slower. You know, it's just it's
4:44
Speaker 3: part of it. And unfortunately it's it's happening in a
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Speaker 3: moment where they need him to be Royce. I think
4:49
Speaker 3: that's the issue is there isn't there's no one else
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Speaker 3: that can kind of carry that weight and be that
4:54
Speaker 3: guy right now.
4:54
Speaker 4: You know it's Byron's coming back tonight.
4:57
Speaker 3: You know, he's the soft spoken leader that gets excited
5:00
Speaker 3: and everyone's.
5:01
Speaker 4: Happy for Uh, do you lose me? No, you're back.
5:05
Speaker 4: You're a goad They do well.
5:08
Speaker 3: But it's you know, it's unfortunate, but at the same time,
5:11
Speaker 3: it's it's a free ride to go and work on
5:15
Speaker 3: things that you would never be able to do otherwise.
5:17
Speaker 3: You know, a guy comes to mind, like Christian Walker
5:19
Speaker 3: with the Astros. He was a mega prospect with the
5:22
Speaker 3: Orioles all coming up through the minor leagues with him,
5:25
Speaker 3: I played against him all that and there was like
5:28
Speaker 3: wasn't always smooth. And then fast forward now like he's
5:31
Speaker 3: a guy who's a perennial thirty home run guy. You know,
5:33
Speaker 3: there's there's little things that have to happen at times
5:37
Speaker 3: that just work out. And you know, I think Royce
5:40
Speaker 3: is he's a number one pick. You know, he's got
5:43
Speaker 3: the tools, he's got the the untangibles that you can't teach.
5:47
Speaker 3: You know, it's just going and getting his feet under him,
5:50
Speaker 3: and I think he'll be just fine.
5:52
Speaker 1: Dan mentioned Walner, mentioned mcgilsono. Obviously we talked about them
5:56
Speaker 1: on the last show as well. Is this tyle or
6:00
Speaker 1: is this like a concerning trend at this point, both
6:02
Speaker 1: Walner and Royce Lewis young players who had had shown
6:06
Speaker 1: a lot of good stuff a couple of years ago,
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Speaker 1: now both in triple A.
6:10
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's a sign of the times.
6:13
Speaker 3: You know, Baseball post COVID got fast, We got rid
6:18
Speaker 3: of some teams, you know what one hundred and some
6:20
Speaker 3: odd players that used to be carried extra are now
6:24
Speaker 3: just gone, you know, And honestly it squeezed guys like
6:26
Speaker 3: myself out trying to continue their careers, and it ramped
6:30
Speaker 3: up the pace on all these younger guys who you know,
6:32
Speaker 3: you take a high school kid especially, they need some polishing.
6:36
Speaker 4: Like I don't care what school they.
6:37
Speaker 3: Went to, how good they were, played perfect game or teamsa.
6:41
Speaker 3: It's just not the same baseball. And you know, college
6:44
Speaker 3: kids come out and they're a little more polished at times, and.
6:47
Speaker 4: Sometimes they aren't either.
6:48
Speaker 3: It's it's become a throat to the radar, hit the
6:51
Speaker 3: ball as far as you can game, and you know,
6:54
Speaker 3: these guys sometimes need a little bit more seasoning, whether
6:58
Speaker 3: it's that full year when you think you're getting screwed
7:01
Speaker 3: and high you know, it's like why am I still here?
7:02
Speaker 3: And it's like, well, because you actually aren't as good
7:05
Speaker 3: as you think at this moment. Like a guy not
7:08
Speaker 3: in the same vein. But Jose Barrios was a guy
7:11
Speaker 3: I came up with my whole career and we're in
7:14
Speaker 3: Tria together and he was striking out the world and
7:17
Speaker 3: I got called up and it was one of those
7:19
Speaker 3: I was like, you know, why me kind of thing,
7:21
Speaker 3: And then I went back down and was watching games,
7:24
Speaker 3: and you realize quickly, like guys were swinging all his
7:26
Speaker 3: stuff out of his own they don't do that in
7:28
Speaker 3: the big leagues. And that's the thing that had to
7:31
Speaker 3: get polished. We just didn't even understand it yet. So
7:33
Speaker 3: it's just getting into those games, get exposed, learned the
7:36
Speaker 3: hard way, and in Royce's situation, it's, you know, learn
7:40
Speaker 3: to dial back on some swing, shoot stuff the other way,
7:43
Speaker 3: get yourself going, you know, whatever it is. You know,
7:46
Speaker 3: I'm sure they've already got a plan in place, but
7:48
Speaker 3: it's it's not the end of the world.
7:50
Speaker 4: He'll be back. He's a number one pick. They give
7:52
Speaker 4: a lot of money to he ain't going anywhere.
7:55
Speaker 1: What happened post COVID What was the squeeze out.
7:58
Speaker 4: They got rid of? The names were rookie ball teams?
8:01
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, sure.
8:03
Speaker 2: Like the twenty two minor league teams were cut.
8:05
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah.
8:06
Speaker 3: So the GCL like the true rookie league, Like you
8:10
Speaker 3: used to get drafted and there would be one hundred
8:12
Speaker 3: plus guys in Florida and they could just plug in
8:15
Speaker 3: the rosters, you know, all different ages at that point too,
8:19
Speaker 3: and that got weaned out and so now there's no
8:21
Speaker 3: you know, there's like two d L spots and sure
8:24
Speaker 3: it has to be a legit injury to get a
8:26
Speaker 3: roster spot like that.
8:27
Speaker 4: They cut it weight down crazy.
8:31
Speaker 2: No, that's one thing I want to make a point
8:34
Speaker 2: on that. A lot of fans kind of wanted to
8:36
Speaker 2: see Kayln Culpepper here be the guy that the Twins called,
8:41
Speaker 2: and they went to Orlando Arcia instead. And one thing,
8:44
Speaker 2: I think exactly your point, people are being rushed. I
8:49
Speaker 2: think the Twins saw this and said, look, we took
8:51
Speaker 2: Kayln Culpeper twenty first overall pick in the twenty twenty
8:54
Speaker 2: four draft, so we're not even we're twenty three months,
8:58
Speaker 2: twenty two months from when he got drafted, and he's
9:00
Speaker 2: flown through the system. He looks like a good player.
9:04
Speaker 4: But they he's had a end. Yeah, he is.
9:07
Speaker 2: He has had a great May even I mean his
9:10
Speaker 2: numbers in May. I think he's got nine to eighty
9:12
Speaker 2: five ops in May. He's got eight to fifteen ops
9:14
Speaker 2: for this season. But the thing they were the Twins
9:17
Speaker 2: have said, and I remember asking early on when brooks
9:19
Speaker 2: Lee was struggling because everybody was clamoring for Hey, is
9:22
Speaker 2: Culpepper ready, He's like no, And the Twins said, look,
9:27
Speaker 2: we want to let him like figure out shortstop because
9:31
Speaker 2: he's got a lot of work to do it shortstop defensively.
9:33
Speaker 2: And they said also they thought that he could probably
9:36
Speaker 2: survive hidden wise at the major league level, but the
9:39
Speaker 2: consistency wasn't going to be there and it was gonna
9:41
Speaker 2: be a big struggle at times for him. And it's
9:44
Speaker 2: okay to take your time. And Orlandosi has been here.
9:47
Speaker 2: He knows what he's doing. He's not been a very
9:50
Speaker 2: good offensive player the last couple of years. He did
9:52
Speaker 2: make some swing changes. I saw a tweet earlier today
9:56
Speaker 2: that showed he's quicker to the ball, he's hitting the ball.
9:59
Speaker 4: Well.
9:59
Speaker 2: It may make sense because one if you if you
10:02
Speaker 2: bring up Culpepper, part of this, I think is the
10:05
Speaker 2: messaging that you want to send to Royce Lewis, and
10:08
Speaker 2: that goes into the idea that you're not done. And
10:11
Speaker 2: if you bring up Kaalen Culpeper right now, you're telling
10:14
Speaker 2: royce Lewis all that stuff he was talking about, that
10:17
Speaker 2: prospect looking to take his job, the stuff that it
10:20
Speaker 2: feeds into that and it might not have been. You know,
10:23
Speaker 2: it's already gonna be a difficult enough thing for him
10:25
Speaker 2: to go to the minor leagues. You know, he is
10:28
Speaker 2: being replaced by a thirty plus ure old veteran who's
10:31
Speaker 2: thrilled to be back in the majors and and his like,
10:35
Speaker 2: you know, worked hard to get here and had you know,
10:38
Speaker 2: fought for the last spot and the roster throughout spring training,
10:41
Speaker 2: but eventually a lock out. But it's not the same
10:45
Speaker 2: thing as if Kaylen Culpeper is coming up and it
10:47
Speaker 2: allows Kaalen Culpepper. I think this is a move that
10:50
Speaker 2: is really smart for both guys as far as you know,
10:54
Speaker 2: their futures, because it doesn't send the wrong message to
10:57
Speaker 2: Royce and it doesn't rush Kaalen Culpeper. And I know
11:01
Speaker 2: fans are disappointed. I want to see Klen Culpepper two.
11:03
Speaker 2: I absolutely do. He looks like he could be a
11:05
Speaker 2: twenty twenty guy. He's fun, he's a smart kid.
11:08
Speaker 1: It's just a good name too, It's a great name.
11:10
Speaker 3: Yeah.
11:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh, Casey, let's gonna be like in the clubhouse.
11:15
Speaker 2: You know he's going by.
11:16
Speaker 1: Fans are going to do this thing every time he
11:18
Speaker 1: hits a home run in celebration of the Dante Culpepper.
11:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, no relation, Like we want to no, no, but
11:27
Speaker 2: we want to see him. But also like sometimes it's
11:31
Speaker 2: possible that some of these guys have been rushed like
11:34
Speaker 2: you were saying, and didn't have development time. Royce Lewis
11:37
Speaker 2: missed two full years because of torn acls. I mean,
11:41
Speaker 2: he's twenty seven and the amount of time he's missed functionally,
11:45
Speaker 2: he's like a twenty four year old in games played,
11:48
Speaker 2: you know, and he like it's I wonder if that's
11:52
Speaker 2: been part of this? Is that a lot of it?
11:54
Speaker 2: He was coming up and he was such a great athlete,
11:56
Speaker 2: he was able to do things and not necessarily be
12:00
Speaker 2: an approach based guy, but just be a great athlete
12:02
Speaker 2: that can get to pitches. I mean, we saw him
12:04
Speaker 2: hit Kevin Gosman twice for home runs on pitches that
12:07
Speaker 2: most dudes don't get in that playoff game in Game
12:09
Speaker 2: one victory over Toronto in twenty twenty three. Royce Lewis
12:13
Speaker 2: is a like a superb athlete. I just think, you know,
12:17
Speaker 2: he knew it going into the offseason that he needed
12:19
Speaker 2: to work on his swing, and he was uncomfortable in
12:22
Speaker 2: spring training, but also encouraged. And now this is a
12:26
Speaker 2: chance to say, here's what we've learned, let's make some adjustments,
12:29
Speaker 2: let's make tweaks and not do it facing major league pitching.
12:34
Speaker 1: Dan has more on Royce Lewis and the Twins decision
12:38
Speaker 1: right now on the Athletic probably more to come tonight
12:41
Speaker 1: after tonight's game against Houston. I'm going to put you
12:43
Speaker 1: on the hook for that, Dan, don't worry about that.
12:46
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Speaker 1: to help us out, and we will be right back.
13:02
Speaker 1: We'll have more on Royce Lewis. We will have more
13:05
Speaker 1: on Ryan Jeffers's injury, Byron Buckston's return, Orlando Arcia right
13:09
Speaker 1: after this.
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14:14
Speaker 1: Dan, you were in the clubhouse today with Jeremy zol
14:19
Speaker 1: and I'm guessing other people as well, but Royce Lewis
14:23
Speaker 1: down a triple A. Orlando R. Lewis was hitting one
14:27
Speaker 1: sixty three at the time of the at the time
14:29
Speaker 1: of the news today, five point thirty nine ops. Orlando
14:32
Speaker 1: Arcia comes in, and there's certainly people of less established
14:39
Speaker 1: reputation that you could call up to fill devoid of
14:41
Speaker 1: Royce Lewis. He was an All Star in twenty twenty
14:44
Speaker 1: three and a World Series champion in twenty twenty one
14:47
Speaker 1: with Atlanta, even though he didn't play a whole lot
14:50
Speaker 1: in that postseason. So what are they saying in the clubhouse? Dan,
14:54
Speaker 1: How are the twins feeling about Rcia coming in?
14:58
Speaker 2: You know, I think that they know they got someone
15:00
Speaker 2: that will knows their way around the league and they're
15:04
Speaker 2: not bringing in a fresh kid. And you know, like
15:08
Speaker 2: you think about what Royce Lewis has brought them production
15:11
Speaker 2: wise right now, it's he's really not done a lot.
15:16
Speaker 2: It's not going to be kind of hard to replace
15:18
Speaker 2: this bat at this point, just because the inconsistency and
15:21
Speaker 2: the striking out more than ever, I think they feel
15:25
Speaker 2: like Arecia, it's a guy that you know, I watched
15:28
Speaker 2: him walk up to half a dozen guys and everybody
15:31
Speaker 2: was excited to see him. He was thrilled to be
15:33
Speaker 2: back Alex Jackson. They did some good job, a good
15:38
Speaker 2: job of getting these guys kind of you know, in
15:44
Speaker 2: the clubhouse and part of the group, knowing that they
15:47
Speaker 2: were going to be here at some point this year.
15:49
Speaker 2: I thought they did a good job of like it
15:51
Speaker 2: felt like guys who have been playing. And the funny
15:53
Speaker 2: part is there's a lot of Triple A guys already
15:55
Speaker 2: here that have been their teammates at some point this season,
15:58
Speaker 2: so it felt like a little bit of a a reunion.
16:01
Speaker 2: Guys were there was an upbeat energy and it's weird
16:04
Speaker 2: because Royce Lewis got sent down. I actually think the
16:08
Speaker 2: bigger loss by far today is Ryan Jeffers. I mean,
16:12
Speaker 2: that's a huge loss for this lineup. He's been batting
16:15
Speaker 2: third and fourth all season, so replacing that's gonna be difficult.
16:21
Speaker 2: But Alex Jackson's the guy that they signed or traded
16:24
Speaker 2: for in the offseason felt good about and wanted depth,
16:28
Speaker 2: and it felt like in years past that they've been
16:31
Speaker 2: hamstrung by not having good catching depth to replace. So
16:35
Speaker 2: it was it was interesting to see because there's that
16:37
Speaker 2: mix of oh Man, popular guy like Royce goes out,
16:41
Speaker 2: very popular guy like Justin Topa goes out, he got
16:44
Speaker 2: DFAD and with it, you know, he had a nine
16:47
Speaker 2: to eighty two e RA over his last fourteen innings.
16:52
Speaker 1: To make a room for Rcia on the forty man Ross.
16:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, and and Garrett Acton got moved from the ten
17:00
Speaker 2: day IL to the sixty day IL to make room
17:03
Speaker 2: for Alex Jackson who had to be added back to
17:07
Speaker 2: the forty man. So it was interesting just to see
17:10
Speaker 2: the energy in there. I think that you know, the
17:13
Speaker 2: guys are probably excited to see These guys are hungry
17:17
Speaker 2: and getting up here. And Arcia certainly is not taking
17:20
Speaker 2: this for granted. You could tell. And even one guy
17:22
Speaker 2: as a as Tyler mentioned, Andy Fade cut across the
17:27
Speaker 2: hall and there's a there's the same guy's been cutting
17:31
Speaker 2: hair for the twins for how long, Tyler, since you've
17:35
Speaker 2: been here?
17:36
Speaker 3: To my knowledge is when ESK was in Rochester, I
17:40
Speaker 3: think was when he came about. And now he is
17:42
Speaker 3: a he's a fixture in the Minnesota Tunnels to those
17:47
Speaker 3: who have been down there, he's he's pretty much cut
17:50
Speaker 3: anyone hair you've ever seen in that building.
17:53
Speaker 2: So so popular, this is no joke, so popular that
17:57
Speaker 2: Eddie Rosario brought him to the World Series in twenty
17:59
Speaker 2: two one. I saw Andy on the field in the celebration,
18:03
Speaker 2: the postgame celebration and messaged him afterwards because Eddie flew
18:08
Speaker 2: him in to be there for the World Series.
18:11
Speaker 4: Everybody loves him celebrity.
18:13
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah.
18:15
Speaker 1: As we were processing the Royce Lewis news on Tuesday,
18:19
Speaker 1: we got an update on Ryan Jeffers, as we have
18:22
Speaker 1: teased in this show, left the game Monday night with
18:26
Speaker 1: apparent injury, and Twins got some bad news about one
18:30
Speaker 1: of their best hitters. He's going to miss it. Sounds
18:33
Speaker 1: like six to eight weeks Stan with a broken bone
18:36
Speaker 1: in his wrist. And I have a pop quiz, Doude,
18:38
Speaker 1: Tyler and Dan, do you know how to pronounce the
18:41
Speaker 1: name of the bone that he broke?
18:43
Speaker 2: Handmate? Handmade?
18:46
Speaker 1: Haymate is what I saw? I think it should be
18:49
Speaker 1: I think it should be Hamday. That would be a
18:51
Speaker 1: much cooler sounding.
18:54
Speaker 2: Hamt.
18:54
Speaker 4: It's the HAMMT. I didn't know. You didn't know it
18:59
Speaker 4: at all?
19:01
Speaker 2: Yes, Wow, the Yale guy, I'm sorry, the Princeton guy
19:05
Speaker 2: did not know.
19:07
Speaker 4: Wow.
19:07
Speaker 6: Sorry the Princeton guy. Hook shaped didn't know shaped kind
19:12
Speaker 6: of like this is that right? Yes, really and just
19:16
Speaker 6: and this little piece just breaks off and then.
19:23
Speaker 2: This yeah, there was there was Look, it's it's really
19:31
Speaker 2: jumped up the last fifteen years.
19:32
Speaker 4: It feels like it's just swinging.
19:35
Speaker 2: I remember when there was a yeah, and here's the thing.
19:40
Speaker 2: Last night, you could tell them there was some real concern. Now,
19:44
Speaker 2: Derek Shelton didn't show it as much as Ryan Jeffers did,
19:49
Speaker 2: but asked Shelton about it today and he said.
19:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was.
19:51
Speaker 2: I was worried, just because we've seen these and anytime
19:55
Speaker 2: a guy goes through what Jeffers did, which was foul
19:57
Speaker 2: the pitch off, then take you know, broke his bat,
20:02
Speaker 2: got a new bat, stood in for two pitches, and
20:04
Speaker 2: then decided he couldn't keep going. And I think when
20:09
Speaker 2: they saw him exit for that, that was a very
20:11
Speaker 2: big concern. And after the game, Jeffers is usually pretty upbeat,
20:16
Speaker 2: even when he's had a bad day. He's someone that
20:21
Speaker 2: is still open to talking, and he briefly talked and
20:25
Speaker 2: you could tell that he's concerned. I mean, he's in
20:27
Speaker 2: a walk year as a free agent to be having
20:29
Speaker 2: a fantastic season. We just talked about it yesterday. How
20:32
Speaker 2: good of a year he's having doubled again last night.
20:36
Speaker 2: And I mean he's been hitting third and fourth in
20:39
Speaker 2: this lineup the whole season and has been a consistent
20:42
Speaker 2: run producer. And asked Derek Shelton about today and how
20:45
Speaker 2: do you replace me? Said it's gonna be I don't
20:46
Speaker 2: know that we can replace his production.
20:49
Speaker 4: So this is a public necessarily.
20:53
Speaker 2: Right. Jackson had a good year last year coming in
20:56
Speaker 2: Jackson in his best offensive season. This is this is
21:00
Speaker 2: eighth organization. He is a first round pick in twenty fourteen,
21:04
Speaker 2: and he had to you know, maybe I can't remember
21:07
Speaker 2: if it was nine home runs last year, but he
21:08
Speaker 2: had an OPS plus that was well above one hundred
21:11
Speaker 2: for the first time his career after being just not
21:14
Speaker 2: a very good hitter at all. And he's hit for
21:16
Speaker 2: power at triple A. He's got seven home runs, a
21:19
Speaker 2: lot of hard hit in his profile. But you're talking
21:22
Speaker 2: about that's you know, he's still striking a lot. Vic
21:26
Speaker 2: Carratini has struggled to plate. This is a huge drop
21:30
Speaker 2: off for them, without.
21:31
Speaker 1: Question, Ops best on the team among regular players. Second
21:39
Speaker 1: in RBIs with twenty six. We've talked about it a
21:43
Speaker 1: lot about the season that if everything goes right, Dan
21:46
Speaker 1: or however however you phrased it in that season preview article.
21:49
Speaker 1: And boy, there's been a lot of not going right
21:53
Speaker 1: lately for the Twins, and with Walder going down, Ben Royce, Lewis,
21:57
Speaker 1: Buxton's missed some time. Although it's coming back. We'll get
22:00
Speaker 1: to in a second. And now Jeffers, Tyler, Howny hits.
22:03
Speaker 1: Can a team take before it's just too much?
22:06
Speaker 3: It's yeah, at this point, I guess you have to
22:09
Speaker 3: be thankful that someone's coming back. You know, Byron, you
22:13
Speaker 3: know he's gonna be played, hopefully not out of necessity tonight.
22:17
Speaker 3: You know, I'm sure it was already happening, but it's
22:19
Speaker 3: where you hope the RCIA that showed up today is
22:23
Speaker 3: flashes that all star version of himself. Like that's that's
22:27
Speaker 3: what you hope for. I think that's why you pick
22:29
Speaker 3: him versus the rookie. You know, the rookie comes up,
22:32
Speaker 3: it doesn't go well, You crush his confidence, you send
22:36
Speaker 3: it back down, and then it keeps that door moving
22:38
Speaker 3: and then it's just like, oh god, everybody's on fire.
22:40
Speaker 3: In this case, it's like you're plugging in a veteran
22:43
Speaker 3: You can put him anywhere in that lineup. He's a
22:45
Speaker 3: great defensive player, at least as far as I know him.
22:48
Speaker 3: You know, he's just starting shortstop with the Brewers for.
22:50
Speaker 4: A few years. You know, it's you.
22:52
Speaker 3: Plug in a guy like that, Like Dan said, there's
22:54
Speaker 3: some energy, and today's a weird day, like guys get hurt,
22:57
Speaker 3: guys get defaid, guys get optioned. The all once, it's
23:01
Speaker 3: like there's guys who don't really check social media a
23:03
Speaker 3: whole lot. They're showing up to the locker room going,
23:05
Speaker 3: you know, what the hell happened, you know, overnight, and
23:08
Speaker 3: so it's you know, there's various nations within all of that,
23:11
Speaker 3: and you know it's it is one that's tough. But
23:14
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, like once that lineup
23:16
Speaker 3: cards put up on the board and you're in there,
23:18
Speaker 3: it's like, all right, we got to go play baseball.
23:19
Speaker 3: And I think that's what's great about the game is
23:23
Speaker 3: there are so many games that there's no time to
23:25
Speaker 3: like lull and rest. It's all right, we got to
23:27
Speaker 3: go play. You know, it's you talk about it for
23:29
Speaker 3: a minute, all right, I gotta go hit, you know,
23:31
Speaker 3: or whatever.
23:32
Speaker 4: It may be. And so I know Shelty.
23:34
Speaker 3: You know, I'm not saying you call a team meeting,
23:37
Speaker 3: but like he talks to the guys. He checks in
23:39
Speaker 3: every day with people, and like, I'm sure conversations are
23:42
Speaker 3: being had you if guys are concerned or whatever. Hey,
23:45
Speaker 3: you're going to slide into this role now. You know,
23:47
Speaker 3: this is your spot off the bench. You know, things
23:49
Speaker 3: like that are happening, you know right now as we speak,
23:52
Speaker 3: and everybody be in the right mindset, and you know,
23:55
Speaker 3: when your name's called, you just got to go. You know,
23:57
Speaker 3: it's it's it's not fun, but it's part of it.
24:01
Speaker 2: That could you're saying that that Joe, Ryan and Taylor
24:04
Speaker 2: Rogers didn't get on top of the table and go
24:06
Speaker 2: we got no jobs, we got no food, our pets.
24:10
Speaker 2: Heads are going off. There's nothing like that going Onluhouse.
24:15
Speaker 4: Somewhere.
24:17
Speaker 2: There's gotta be something social media.
24:21
Speaker 1: There's got to be something freeing about you know not
24:24
Speaker 1: they didn't have very big expectations to begin with this season,
24:27
Speaker 1: but then when you add all this in, it's like, guys,
24:28
Speaker 1: just go play like no one's expecting it.
24:32
Speaker 3: Let's go play ball. You know, it's like dancing. There's
24:35
Speaker 3: some guys from triple A that are already there. So
24:37
Speaker 3: now that comfortability level is happening where guys get called
24:41
Speaker 3: up and it's not faces they haven't seen since spring
24:44
Speaker 3: or never for that matter, like guys who signed it
24:46
Speaker 3: signed late or came in late.
24:49
Speaker 4: You know, it is a.
24:49
Speaker 3: Weird you come up to a clubhouse where you haven't
24:51
Speaker 3: technically been yet. It's like that first day of school
24:54
Speaker 3: vibe over again and you're learning clubhouse staff or whatever
24:58
Speaker 3: it may be, and so it's it's definitely awkward, but
25:01
Speaker 3: you know, I guess that's what part of what we
25:04
Speaker 3: do that we get so used to. And it's just
25:06
Speaker 3: like you show up and there's new faces around every
25:08
Speaker 3: day and you just gotta get comfy quick.
25:12
Speaker 1: Hamate bone. I'm sticking with hamate bone.
25:17
Speaker 3: Dan.
25:18
Speaker 4: Uh.
25:18
Speaker 1: Let's move on to the good news. Uh, Byron Bucks
25:20
Speaker 1: in his back in the lineup today. He missed was
25:23
Speaker 1: a four games that he was out.
25:25
Speaker 2: Five games, five games, five games?
25:27
Speaker 1: Tell tell Twins Territory why they should breathe a sigh
25:32
Speaker 1: of relief about Buxton today.
25:34
Speaker 2: We're not doing the daily danger today, so I can't
25:37
Speaker 2: put him.
25:37
Speaker 4: Well.
25:38
Speaker 1: Our streak is over. Thanks thanks to you. Yeah, thanks
25:41
Speaker 1: to day, picking an injured player, uh.
25:44
Speaker 2: Huh uh huh. Nobody picked the guy that hadn't hit
25:47
Speaker 2: a home run since April ninth and hit two.
25:50
Speaker 1: I kind of forgot about it. That's that's a miss.
25:54
Speaker 2: He's he's had a he's a rough run. Yeah, there's
25:58
Speaker 2: one hundred twenty nine plate appearances for him without home runs.
26:01
Speaker 2: But yeah, having Byron buckson back is great. DH only
26:05
Speaker 2: on Tuesday, and I think they are just still trying
26:09
Speaker 2: to be as careful as they can, although Byron said
26:12
Speaker 2: running is where this has got him the most so far,
26:15
Speaker 2: and that stinks. He's like, because I love to run.
26:18
Speaker 2: He's like, it's my favorite thing to do, and it's
26:21
Speaker 2: the area where he feels it the most. So he's
26:23
Speaker 2: definitely still kind of being eased back in as much
26:28
Speaker 2: as they can. But after five days, you know, I
26:30
Speaker 2: know he wants to get out there and they need
26:32
Speaker 2: him frankly, his bat, his energy in there, you know. Again,
26:37
Speaker 2: Shelton said that there's no replacing what Jeffers has done offensively.
26:42
Speaker 2: We're gonna have to do it in the collective, and
26:44
Speaker 2: Byron adding him to this helps a ton. If Josh
26:48
Speaker 2: Bell can heat up right now, that'd be a very
26:50
Speaker 2: good timing for the Twins.
26:51
Speaker 4: They need him.
26:52
Speaker 2: He really struggled. There were at one point way more
26:55
Speaker 2: strikeouts than he was accustomed to. He talked about that
26:58
Speaker 2: last night and he said once he he kind of
27:00
Speaker 2: figured out how to cut down the strikeouts and get
27:03
Speaker 2: the ball back and play. He thought it was gonna
27:05
Speaker 2: be only a matter of time. And the two home
27:07
Speaker 2: runs and Monday Night's victory were huge for him. That's
27:11
Speaker 2: just how they're gonna have to do this right now,
27:13
Speaker 2: because you just can't take the like you said, the
27:15
Speaker 2: highest ops out but probably the second best hitter in
27:19
Speaker 2: this lineup. It's just been so good and Royce Lewis
27:23
Speaker 2: never lived up to what they had hoped he would
27:26
Speaker 2: be and being a top three to four offensive guy.
27:29
Speaker 2: So it's not as hard to replace that production. But
27:32
Speaker 2: it's got to come from somewhere. And man, there's you know,
27:36
Speaker 2: we've seen guys struggling across the board. Cody Clemens is
27:39
Speaker 2: hot right now. That's good, but it has been trying
27:43
Speaker 2: for a lot of guys. So it was good to
27:44
Speaker 2: see Josh Bell get going to.
27:47
Speaker 1: Byron Buckston if he just hits two three homers a game,
27:50
Speaker 1: that should take care of it all, right there, Yeah,
27:52
Speaker 1: that's all.
27:53
Speaker 2: That's the game plan if Shelton, If Shelton was a
27:57
Speaker 2: good manager, he would say, exactly, put the home run
28:01
Speaker 2: play every time's right?
28:03
Speaker 1: Just yes, what's like.
28:04
Speaker 2: I don't know. My managers don't call the home run
28:06
Speaker 2: play for every at that but they don't.
28:10
Speaker 4: It's weird.
28:11
Speaker 1: It's signs we've alluded to it. There was a game
28:15
Speaker 1: since we last talked to you, the Twins one Monday night,
28:17
Speaker 1: in the series opener against the Astros Josh Bell's breakout
28:22
Speaker 1: party after the one and twenty nine. Was it played
28:25
Speaker 1: appearance or at bat streak? Yeah, plate appearances, two home
28:29
Speaker 1: runs in the game. Twins won six' three and a.
28:33
Speaker 4: Two rogers got the. Save that's, Right Taylor.
28:35
Speaker 2: Rogers roger came in and looked. Great became the age
28:38
Speaker 2: that Was twins picture to. Save, yeah that was you
28:43
Speaker 2: look the. Way it's. Nothing that was nothing Against, taylor
28:46
Speaker 2: but it was like when when he came in AND
28:50
Speaker 2: i was, like, Oh lefty being brought in to Face.
28:52
Speaker 2: Jordon jordon owns The. Twins it is not a fun,
28:57
Speaker 2: matchup and it's, like, oh here comes the here Comes
29:02
Speaker 2: Taylor rogers against AN mvp candidate And Is taylor owned.
29:07
Speaker 2: It it was, great like that was a nice. Moment
29:11
Speaker 2: he's had a good. Run, yeah, yeah it. Was it
29:15
Speaker 2: was and it was. Effishing he Got walker out In
29:17
Speaker 2: mexican out of the, game and, yeah that was a
29:21
Speaker 2: that was a good. Win the two hour, DELAY i
29:23
Speaker 2: could have gone without the hour not only did not
29:28
Speaker 2: only was it a two hour. DELAY i got destroyed at.
29:32
Speaker 2: Trivia one of our one of our, Freelancers Pat, donnelly
29:36
Speaker 2: is a trivia, host and he came over and did
29:39
Speaker 2: some trivia questions and it was me And Aaron gleam
29:41
Speaker 2: And betsy hell, Fan Matthew, leach one of the TWINS pr,
29:45
Speaker 2: People Nina zimmerman was in and it was Like Matthew leach,
29:49
Speaker 2: Eight betsy got. THREE i think me And gleaming got.
29:53
Speaker 2: Two we got just. Crushed so two hours sitting around
29:57
Speaker 2: waiting for a rain. Delay we Asked Josh, bell that
29:59
Speaker 2: was kind of. Funny Josh bell, said they were watching
30:02
Speaker 2: everybody's prospect videos in the. Clubhouse they put on, it
30:06
Speaker 2: so they're, seeing they're. Putting they're all sitting around the
30:08
Speaker 2: couches waiting And Byron buckston eighteen year Old Byron buxton
30:12
Speaker 2: prospect played on The, yeah so that's how the twins
30:16
Speaker 2: filled their time in. Between but there was a lot
30:19
Speaker 2: of sitting. Around and it's unfortunate too Because topa came
30:23
Speaker 2: in after the break gave up three. Runs that was
30:25
Speaker 2: his last appearance before he GETS. Dfa Ryan jeffers broke
30:29
Speaker 2: the hammett. Bone, yes after the, break and, YEAH i.
30:37
Speaker 2: Was it was a little bit of a rough post,
30:40
Speaker 2: game but they they did pull it off and it
30:42
Speaker 2: was a good win and they need to keep it
30:44
Speaker 2: going Because houston Is houston struggling right.
30:47
Speaker 1: Now tonight is well first day AND i gotta ask,
30:51
Speaker 1: you should they put a roof on it the?
30:53
Speaker 4: Stadium, No, TYLER i, mean so it should be.
31:03
Speaker 1: The houston native would like you to know that the
31:06
Speaker 1: baseball Field.
31:07
Speaker 2: Minnesota, yes retractable. Roof, YES i just love this place
31:12
Speaker 2: in summer so. Much, yeah retractable, Roof YEAH i. DO i.
31:18
Speaker 2: Do April april is pretty miserable till now that we're
31:24
Speaker 2: It's may. Nineteenth it was the feels like degree temperature
31:28
Speaker 2: all woke up today was thirty. Seven it's fifty five.
31:31
Speaker 2: Now but what miserable conditions there are a lot of
31:35
Speaker 2: the season for.
31:35
Speaker 1: These, unfortunately in sixteen seasons of this, place we still
31:39
Speaker 1: haven't found out how miserable it might be in Late october.
31:42
Speaker 1: Either so, imagine imagine a snowy game five or six.
31:48
Speaker 2: Ydy wasn't the ninety One World series Weren't, like wasn't
31:51
Speaker 2: there a? Blizzard? Yeah game?
31:53
Speaker 1: Seven, yes everyone loves to tell tall tales of that,
31:57
Speaker 1: blizzard but, yes it was somewhere around there in ninety.
32:01
Speaker 1: One that was a fun trick retreating experience AS i. Recall,
32:04
Speaker 1: Anyway Zebbie matthews tonight Against Jason, alexander Not George. Costanza
32:13
Speaker 1: lance mccullors was supposed to, start wasn't?
32:15
Speaker 2: He was?
32:15
Speaker 3: He?
32:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, Yeah i've.
32:19
Speaker 1: Not heard that's changed since the last.
32:21
Speaker 2: Time. Distracted, yeah we've. Been we've been distracted.
32:24
Speaker 1: Today you're not covering The astros, Too, dan come, on it's.
32:28
Speaker 1: Possible and Then Joe ryan Against Mike Burrows wednesday afternoon
32:33
Speaker 1: in the finale of the. Series we will be BACK
32:35
Speaker 1: i think On, thursday since The twins are off and
32:38
Speaker 1: because we're doing this On, tuesday we'll tee up a
32:41
Speaker 1: ten game road trip starting With boston this. Weekend another
32:45
Speaker 1: team that how are? They how have they been? Doing
32:47
Speaker 1: they started off? Terrible are they better twenty and twenty
32:52
Speaker 1: Seven i'll answer my own, question don't. Worry twenty and
32:54
Speaker 1: twenty seven last place in The Al, east so we'll
32:59
Speaker 1: see how that looks On. Thursday one more, time quick
33:03
Speaker 1: little shout out to our YouTube. Promo if you're watching,
33:07
Speaker 1: here if you like what you, hear if you're still with,
33:09
Speaker 1: US i hope you're liking what you, hear because it's
33:11
Speaker 1: been us talking for thirty three. Minutes toss Us ali
33:14
Speaker 1: like a. Subscribe there's A qr code on the screen
33:16
Speaker 1: there to make it nice and easy for, you and
33:20
Speaker 1: we would love to have you follow in our. Show
33:22
Speaker 1: thanks everybody for listening. Again back with you On thursday
33:25
Speaker 1: On Twin Cities. Territory have a good couple of days
33:27
Speaker 1: and we'll see you then