I have an easier time understanding the league-wide reluctance to sign Craig Kimbrel than the reluctance to sign Keuchel, but Kimbrel got the richer multi-year deal, Neither, I'm sure, is exactly happy with the outcome.
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A beat writer opines:
Sidenote: Taylor Rogers will not be nasty if he is required to record 34-pitch saves several times a week. #MNTwins need more high-leverage arms.— Dan Hayes (@DanHayesMLB) June 7, 2019
The conclusion is correct: The Twins do need more high-leverage arms.
But if Rogers gets a couple days off after each of those 34-pitch outings, so that he's doing it twice a week -- and doing nothing else -- it's doable. The problem will be if the Twins decide they just have to use him again tonight for a couple batters. And one issue with Rogers is that he is the sole lefty in the bullpen.
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A former bullpen ace opines:
Blake Parker has been struggling a bit since before tonite but i’m just gonna throw it out there that maybe, just maybe, throwing guys out there for random innings is easier on paper than it is in actual game situations.— Glen Perkins (@glenperkins) June 6, 2019
That came after Parker's Wednesday outing, when he entered in the seventh with a two-run lead and gave up three runs on two homers.
Parker is not exactly being used in random innings, of course. He's being used in high-leverage innings in the final third of games, rather than being held back for the ninth only, a la Joe Nathan. The same is true of Rogers.
The underlying problem, as the Hayes tweet notes, is that the Twins lack sufficient high-leverage arms -- guys Rocco Baldelli and Wes Johnson can trust in game situations. Parker was pitching in the seventh on Wednesday because it was a high-leverage situation. It was a high leverage situation becaue Martin Perez didn't pitch effectively enough long enough, and Trevor May had to get him out of a sixth-inning jam. And Baldelli was using Parker then in hopes that he'd hold the fort in the seventh and the hitters would widen the lead and allow the less-trusted arms to finish.
The Twins had four leverage arms at the start of the season. Trevor Hildenberger is back in the minors trying to figure it out. May has fought his command all year. Baldelli is down to Parker and Rogers, and that's not enough.
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Side note: It has been more than a week since Mike Morin last pitched (May 30). Something's odd about that.
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One more tweet. this one from a different beat writer:
After going 5-4 against the Brewers, Rays and Indians, and with their AL Central lead back in double digits, the Twins now embark on nine straight games against sub-.400 opposition: Tigers, Mariners, Royals.— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) June 7, 2019
And the Twins still have not lost more than two in a row this year. It's not like this team is broken, folks.
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