Tribe bullpen leads the league in runners left stranded! Pretty darn important stat - it's what they are paid to do.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx? ... &sort=12,d

I expect to see Allen up Bradley down after Sunday's game, unless Bradley has a killer weekend in Cinci.

Uncle Dennis wrote:I expect to see Allen up Bradley down after Sunday's game, unless Bradley has a killer weekend in Cinci.

Just realized that sounds like an electrical supplier!

Another stat - the Tribe ranks 3rd in the baserunning metric. So things like this that you might overlook explain a lot.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx? ... &sort=17,d

Twins lose again.

So while we cut 6 games in the past month (ish) can we cut another 6 over the balance of the year????

Bradley had an OK weekend, Allen had a better one. I think Allen will be the winner for that roster spot next weekend, but expect back and forth like that handle the back of the bullpen.

Paul Hoynes votes for Roberto Perez as pre ASG team MVP.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic said Monday that he expects the Indians to be "aggressive listeners" on Trevor Bauer leading up to the trade deadline.

Cleveland has won six in a row and is back in the thick of the playoff hunt, so trading a marquee starter might be a tough sell. However, as Rosenthal notes, Bauer is fully expected to leave as a free agent after 2020, so dealing him now -- particularly if you can get offensive help for 2019 -- might make sense.

The Indians are expected to get Corey Kluber (arm) and Danny Salazar (shoulder) back in the second half and hopefully Carlos Carrasco (illness), as well. Rosenthal added that the Yankees sent their top scout to watch Bauer pitch Sunday in Cincinnati.

Rosenthal also has the Red Sox doing the same - rotation help. Then again, the Yankees farm is exploding and Red Sox not so much.

Would you guys trade Bauer for, say, a package highlighted by Clint Frazier coming back?

Scott Mitchell of The Sports Network reports that the Yankees and Twins have inquired with the Blue Jays about a trade involving both Marcus Stroman and Ken Giles.

I know Cody Anderson had major season+ending surgery. I forget what ails Jefry Rodriguez and whether he could return this season? Haven't seen his name on the injury reports.

Personally wouldn't be surprised if Civale opens the 2nd half as the 5th starter, at least until he disproves he belongs there.

So taking a look at Twins pitching stats to see how they compare, the secret of their success becomes obvious: their 5 starters have started all but 5 of the games; 2 with 17 starts, 2 with 18 and one with 15. The performance stats are fine with Berrios at 3.00 1.11 WHIP and Odorizzi 3.15 1.12 as the class of the rotation. Perez, Gibson and Pineda all have ERAs between 4.09 and 4.56. Very good control throughout with K/BB ratios for the 5 being: 5.2/1; 4.5/1; 3.4/1; 3.2/1; and 2.1/1.

If our 5 starters had been able to carry that much of our load, we'd be out front.

Good health and good luck always makes a difference.

I can't remember the guy's name but their pitching coach came over from Milwaukee and is credited with working with the starting pitchers. The results so far are really good.

Remember Pineda is coming off Tommy John and missed all of last year. He seems to keep getting better this season as he works further away from the surgery.

Berrios - everyone has seen him coming on as a young stud.

Gibson - actually had a very good 2018.

So Odorizzi's resurgence (a highly touted prospect) and Martin Perez's improvement, and Pineda's recovery from TJ are big factors.

Last year really only Berrios and Gibson did anything at starting pitcher.

Yeah civ - they have the health luck so far and also improvement from their lower starters.

The other thing on the Twins - Rosario has been on the IL. So their offense has also slowed down. Still good but Rosario is their best overall hitter and batted cleanup.

Stroman has been pitching OK, but for some reason he doesn't scare me. We've hit him before, including in '16 ALCS. Plus he's only 5'7" so not much scary about him. But Giles on the other hand, he's been lights out. I'd like to get in on that myself. I'd really like to add a righty set up guy. Wittgren has been good, but would hate to pin my hopes on him down the stretch.

If the Twins don't win this year it will have to be very disappointing for them. They have a bunch of guys in the last year of their deal who will be gone next year. This might be their only chance for a bit, so I can see them really going for it.