July 4, 2018

With losses mounting, Twins are expected to deal at deadline

The Twins lost again on Tuesday. They are now 12 games under .500, 11 games out of first place, 4-15 in one-run games, 1-7 on their current road trip, and if that wasn’t enough, they have nine walk-off losses this season.

And now the fire sale is about to begin.

MLB.com, citing unnamed sources, says the Twins are open to trading pending free agents and shortstop Eduardo Escobar, pitcher Lance Lynn, second baseman Brian Dozier and reliever Zach Duke. Another source says the Twins are “open to discussing nearly every player on the roster.”

Wow. But that’s what happens when you raise the bar of expectations (the Twins made the playoffs last season) and then fail to meet them.Yes, the Twins have been hurt by injuries, but they’ve also been inconsistent on the mound and at the plate all season.

Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers is a good example. After scoring 25 runs against the Chicago Cubs over the weekend, the bats have largely fallen silent again. Twins pitching struck out 16 batters on Tuesday, but it doesn’t matter when your offense generates two measly hits.

Jose Berrios gets the ball Wednesday.

Extra innings..

-How did the Twins get 16 strikeouts? Starter Jake Odorizzi had nine, reliever Ryan Pressly struck out the side, and reliever Gabriel Moya struck out four in two innings.

-The Twins also made history Tuesday after Joe Mauer, who played first base, did not record a putout or assist. Mauer is the first MLB first baseman to go unused since Edwin Encarnacion for the Blue Jays in Baltimore on Aug. 25, 2012, according to MLB.com.

-Who had the two hits on Tuesday? Eddie Rosario (no surprise) and Jorge Polanco, who just rejoined the team after serving an 80-game suspension for performance enhancing drugs.

 

COMMENTS

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone, Twins fan.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.