The Indians' chances to win the AL Central assessed at 99.6%: https://t.co/aW7oAjgFzc— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 22, 2018
All together now: So you're telling me there's a chance.
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Let us not dwell on a weekend in which the Twins received few breaks and deserved fewer. Let us move on to a process item rather than results. The Twins are beginning to experiment with Tampa Bay's "opener" tactic in the minor leagues. On Sunday, for example, Trevor May -- remember him? -- pitched the first inning for Rochester, and Zach Littell followed with 5.6 innings.
Thad Levine, the Twins' No. 2 in baseball ops, said on the radio pregame show that the front office has been following the Tampa Bay experiment and sees the advantage of having a "reliever" deal with the top of the opposing order in the first inning, allowing the pitcher who is expected to work the bulk of the game to get more outs before seeing the opposition's best bats a third time. (Levine also said Littell profiles as the type of pitcher the opener would probably benefit.)
I now take the risk of parsing Levine's comments too closely. Levine said the tactic has been discussed with manager Paul Molitor and pitching coach Gavin Alston. I infer that Molitor and Alston are cool to the idea of employing the opener in the majors.
Today's game would really be a good opportunity for it. Aldaberto Mejia, today's scheduled starter, is not an innings eater. (He appears to eat pretty much everything else, but that's another matter.) The hefty lefty made 21 starts last year for the Twins and got more than 15 outs (five innings) six times. He can use the help in getting deep into games.
Plus Toronto -- at least off a spot check of recent box scores -- load the top of the their lineup against lefty starters with righties and switch hitters.
It would make sense to have someone like Alan Busenitz pitch the first inning, then give way to Mejia for the middle and bottom of the order. Say Busenitz faces four batters, than Mejia faces the fifth man to start the second. That would also be the first guy to face him a third time, and he's got a better chance to work another inning than if he were facing the top of the order for the third time.
Of course, if Molitor and Alston were interested in trying the opener today, it wouldn't be Busenitz; he got sent back to Triple A after his inning Sunday to make room for Mejia. I really do not understand the organizational fascination with keeping Matt Belisle around to be a mopup man, but that's another problem.
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Ex-Twin watch: The Twins drafted Dereck Rodriguez, the son of Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez, in the sixth round of the 2011 draft. He was an outfielder, but he didn't hit, and the Twins converted him to pitching in 2014.
He had his ups and downs on the mound in the Twins organization, and never made it on the 40-man roster. He left as a minor-league free agent after last season and signed with the San Francisco Giants.
And he's now in their major league rotation with a 5-1, 2.72 ERA after 10 appearances, eight starts.
San Francisco and the National League are a different environment than Minnesota and the American League, but I'd sure take that.
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