Tag: Pablo Lopez

Twins fun facts from Twins 3/24 & 3/25 ST notes

SPRING FLING: Today the Twins will play the 28th and 29th of 32 scheduled Grapefruit League games as the Twins and Braves will play a pair of split squad at Hammond Stadium and CoolToday Park in North Port. After today, one more game will be played at Hammond Stadium and two more games will be played on the road. The Twins will complete the exhibition season with a 1:05 pm (ET) game in Bradenton against the Pirates on Tuesday, March 28. After the game, they will fly to Kansas City, hold an optional team workout on March 29 then begin a three-game, four-day series at Kauffman Stadium from March 30-April 2. Rocco Baldelli announced to the media how the starting five will open the season: for the Kansas City series – RHP Pablo López on Thursday, March 30 , RHP Sonny Gray on Saturday, April 1, RHP Joe Ryan on Sunday, April 2. For the Miami series – RHP Tyler Mahle
on Monday, April 3, RHP Kenta Maeda on Tuesday, April 4.

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Below is a look at Baseball America’s top ten Twins prospects entering the 2023 season: 1 Royce Lewis, 2 Brooks Lee, 3 Emmanuel Rodriguez, 4 Edouard Julien, 5 Connor Prielipp, 6, Matt Wallner, 7 Marco Raya, 8 Louie Varland, 9 David Festa, 10 Simeon Woods Richardson.

Below is a look at MLB’s top ten Twins prospects entering the 2023 season: 1. Brooks Lee, 2 Royce Lewis, 3. Emmanuel Rodriguez, 4. Connor Prelipp, 5 Matt Wallner, 6 Simeon Woods Richardson, 7 Marco Raya, 8 Misael Urbina, 9 Matt Canterino, 10 Louie Varland.

PROSPECT SHOWCASE IN TAMPA: The Twins beat the Yankees yesterday afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field by a score of 6-4. Pablo López was the starter in his final tuneup of the spring, allowing two runs on two hits in 3 innings pitched. Kenta Maeda made his final official spring appearance in relief, allowing two runs on three hits in 5 innings pitched, with five strikeouts. Twins prospects Edouard Julien and Emmanuel Rodriguez both went 2-for-4 with a home run, as Rodriguez’s three-run jimmy jack gave the Twins a ninth inning lead and eventual victory.

Tomorrow’s pitchers: Minnesota: Sonny Gray (R), Cole Sands (R), Jorge Alcala (R), Jhoan Duran (R)
Boston: Chris Sale (L), Kaleb Ort (R), Richard Bleier (L), John Schreiber (R)

Twins fun facts from Twins 3/21 ST notes

SUNDAY’S RECAP: The Twins were shut out by the Atlanta Braves, 5-0, on Sunday at Hammond Stadium. Kenta Maeda was the starter and took the loss after yielding five runs on four hits (2 HR), with two walks and five strikeouts in 4 innings of work. Pablo López made his first appearance with the Twins after rejoining the team following the 2023 World Baseball Classic, tossing a scoreless frame in the top of the ninth. Minnesota was held to just two hits, singles by Kyle Garlick (1-for-3) and Ryan LaMarre (1-for-2). The Twins were off on Monday.

THE KNUTSON CUP: The Twins and Rays are facing off today for the finale of five scheduled exhibition games. The Twins took the first meeting, 8-4, February 25 at Hammond Stadium and the second meeting, 4-2, March 2 at Tropicana Field; the Rays won the third, 7-4, March 14 at The Trop and the fourth, 2-0, March 16 at The Trop. Since 2006 the Twins hold the exhibition edge 44-34-3 (13-5-1 under Baldelli). The Twins and Rays will play six times during the 2023 regular season, playing three in St. Petersburg from June 6-8 and three in Minneapolis from September 11-13. Byron Buxton is in the Twins’ starting lineup for the first time this spring, batting leadoff as the designated hitter. Carlos Correa is scheduled to make his seventh start of spring tonight….. Hope the boys aren’t too tired to make a road trip to JetBlue Park across town to play the Red Sox tomorrow night.

FORT MYERS IS TWINS TERRITORY: The Twins are celebrating their 33rd spring training in Fort Myers this year. With four home games remaining (including tonight), the club has drawn 74,040 fans in 12 games, good for a 6,170 average crowd that ranks sixth in the Grapefruit League.

Since March 13 the Twins are 2-5-1. No one cares about Spring Training exhibition games, but in those 8 games they have averaged 4.6 hits and 2.4 runs per game. Pretty dismal hitting just 9 days away from Opening Day. What are the chances the Twins Opening Day line-up plays a game or two together before Opening Day?

Arraez traded

So after we get home from a local Urgent Care I see on Twitter that the Miami Marlins have traded right-hander Pablo Lopez, top infield prospect Jose Salas and outfield prospect Byron Chourio to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for reigning AL batting champion and Silver Slugger winner Luis Arraez, per announcements from both clubs.

It has been evident of late that the Twins and Marlins were talking about a trade of Pablo Lopez so this is not a shocker by any means but to be honest I was hoping that the Twins center-piece of the trade would be Max Kepler versus Luis Arraez. I know that Kepler alone for Lopez would not probably be enough but I think the Twins could have sweetened the pot a bit.

Luis Arraez

I really like Luis Arraez and I will miss watching him play. He enjoys the game and for me no Twins player is as much fun to watch in the batters box as he was. I really think that the Twins will miss him more than they know, they need his kind of bat in the lead-off spot even though he is not the prototypical lead-off hitter. I think the ban of the shift will also benefit Arraez more than the average hitter. Arraez has his flaws of course like every player, he does not walk as much as you would like but then again how many regulars in the big leagues get more walks than strikeouts? My biggest concern with Arraez has always been is how long his knees will hold up? Defense is also not his strength but he played some pretty nice first base for Minnesota considering it was a new position for him. Maybe the Twins didn’t trade Arraez at peak value but it is always smarter to trade someone a year or two too early versus a year or two too late.

Continue reading Arraez traded