I'm still shocked that Cleveland is playing as well as they are. I keep waiting for them to fall back to the pack, but it might just be one of those years.

21 hours ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

I'm still shocked that Cleveland is playing as well as they are. I keep waiting for them to fall back to the pack, but it might just be one of those years.

Their margin for error is high with the early success (same for Royals). We are using ours up with crappy offensive play. Have to play nearly perfect for the rest of the season to reach the playoffs this year. 

As far as standing pat, that goes for trading away Polanco. Please forgive me but as a Polanco fan, I need to get this off my chest. Polanco has been the heart & soul of this team because he gave his heart & soul to this team. He signed for nothing to play here. He played hurt for most of his career and played out of position for the team affecting his numbers. When the team was hurting he always reached down & gave it all he had. In '21 when we were so bad, Polanco put forth his best season with a ton of walk-offs,    https://blogs.fangraphs.com/jorge-polanco-walk-off-king/

We always like it when our players give their heart when they play & are great clubhouse guys. Polanco played 14 years of pro ball for the Twins nearly half his life of shedding his blood, sweat & tears for this team. Being part of this core for such a long time it's bound to affect him when he was traded.  It's hard for him to give his all to SEA when his heart is still in MN. You may say he needs to be professional. We all do in whatever we do. But who can say after spending nearly half your life, giving everything you have into a company, then they say we don't need you & give you the boot & have it not affect you?

Polanco could have been selfish knowing his potential, signed with Scott Boras, not sign an extension,  enter into FA earlier and make a lot of money. Not play hurt or play out of position to keep his numbers up. Not play hard during the season & showboat during the postseason. But that's not who he is. A part of me wished that he had. That he'd go to SEA & tear it up there, & rub our noses into the fact that we traded him. But instead, seeing him playing w/o any fire & (supposedly) wishing that he was part of what we had going. That's what hangs heavy on me.

 I know eventually Polanco will shake himself loose & contribute much more in SEA's divisional championship battle & advance into the postseason. That what is done is done & that eventually Polanco would've been pushed out of 2B. But IMO this was not the year & as a Twin he'd have thrived, given his heart & come across with clutch hits. That is what the Twins sorely need right now.

9 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

As far as standing pat, that goes for trading away Polanco. Please forgive me but as a Polanco fan, I need to get this off my chest. Polanco has been the heart & soul of this team because he gave his heart & soul to this team. He signed for nothing to play here. He played hurt for most of his career and played out of position for the team affecting his numbers. When the team was hurting he always reached down & gave it all he had. In '21 when we were so bad, Polanco put forth his best season with a ton of walk-offs,    https://blogs.fangraphs.com/jorge-polanco-walk-off-king/

We always like it when our players give their heart when they play & are great clubhouse guys. Polanco played 14 years of pro ball for the Twins nearly half his life of shedding his blood, sweat & tears for this team. Being part of this core for such a long time it's bound to affect him when he was traded.  It's hard for him to give his all to SEA when his heart is still in MN. You may say he needs to be professional. We all do in whatever we do. But who can say after spending nearly half your life, giving everything you have into a company, then they say we don't need you & give you the boot & have it not affect you?

Polanco could have been selfish knowing his potential, signed with Scott Boras, not sign an extension,  enter into FA earlier and make a lot of money. Not play hurt or play out of position to keep his numbers up. Not play hard during the season & showboat during the postseason. But that's not who he is. A part of me wished that he had. That he'd go to SEA & tear it up there, & rub our noses into the fact that we traded him. But instead, seeing him playing w/o any fire & (supposedly) wishing that he was part of what we had going. That's what hangs heavy on me.

 I know eventually Polanco will shake himself loose & contribute much more in SEA's divisional championship battle & advance into the postseason. That what is done is done & that eventually Polanco would've been pushed out of 2B. But IMO this was not the year & as a Twin he'd have thrived, given his heart & come across with clutch hits. That is what the Twins sorely need right now.

I get your sentimentality with Jorge. I wish him the best of success.

Last week he was hitting .192 and needed to sit due to hamstring tightness…….at the time his 53 strikeouts were highest in the League.

He was pushed out of 2B - no other way to look at it IMO. He played 104 games & then 80 games over past 2 seasons. It would have been poor judgement to think he would be healthy and productive going forward……no matter how much one likes him & respects his previous contributions.

You can rationalize his results in Seattle to date and say it’s because his heart is in Minneapolis. It’s professional sports - guys not performing at high levels get traded or released. It can seem cold but it’s reality.

10 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

Their margin for error is high with the early success (same for Royals). We are using ours up with crappy offensive play. Have to play nearly perfect for the rest of the season to reach the playoffs this year. 

Haven’t played 50 games yet……last year the Team that won in first round of playoffs was 58-57 in mid August. Guardians and Royals aren’t playing .653 & .612 ball for next 4 plus months. If Twins are similar to now - 3 games over .500 in 3-4 weeks and Lewis comes back fresh 40% into the season, I like our chances a bunch.

32-30 after next 14 games & then we play the remaining 100 games at .560 clip …..that’s 88 wins. I think we’re in the play offs. If we get to 91 wins we have a great shot at Division Title. All just opinions & guesswork at this point…….we’ll see.

I think roster management and player development strategy is based on the teams competitive window. Cleveland did not think this year would be a title contending situation, based on last year’s decisions to sell at the deadline. Twins are thinking that this year is their year to make a deep run in the playoff’s based on last seasons results. Two different scenarios that affect roster management. 
When you think you have a chance to go deep in the playoffs, you’re not in position to give young guys a long leash to see what they can do, you need reliable production. That’s why championship teams usually go with veterans. 
Argument can be made that the FO has misjudged the competitive window. There have been injuries that have derailed some of the veterans brought in. Falvine thinks this is the chance to go for the brass ring, so they don’t have the patience to let young players get their feet wet. Even though the young guys they have counted on aren’t producing either (Julien, Kiriloff). Nor are the veterans to this point (Santana, Margot). 

Should add that the competitive window judgement by the FO takes into account the competition. Based on Cleveland throwing in the towel last year, the Twins underestimated Central division landscape. Everyone thought Cleveland wasn’t going to be in the running for playoffs this year. Credit to them for bringing in a new manager that is getting great results. Not sure if KC will be there at the end of the year. Twins thought they could take the Central with reduced payroll and basically standing pat. Could be that is a fatal mistake. 

19 minutes ago, 1985Fan said:

Should add that the competitive window judgement by the FO takes into account the competition. Based on Cleveland throwing in the towel last year, the Twins underestimated Central division landscape. Everyone thought Cleveland wasn’t going to be in the running for playoffs this year. Credit to them for bringing in a new manager that is getting great results. Not sure if KC will be there at the end of the year. Twins thought they could take the Central with reduced payroll and basically standing pat. Could be that is a fatal mistake. 

Thanks 1985. Everybody looked downed on the Central Division. Most picked MN, some picked DET to take the division & gave credence to KC because they were the most active in the off-season, CLE was ignored because they did nothing. The Central especially CLE surprised everyone & now teams have to respect us. IMO being busy in the off-season doesn't make you a better team if you don't address your weakness. We didn't. We added where we were adequately covered & we gave up more than what we gained. IMO FO felt they needed to do something to have a successful off-season  that bad transactions are better than no transactions.

IMO we had a great team. Great clutch hitters in Lewis & Polanco. Great veterans in Correa, Buxton & Kepler offensively & defensively. Pretty darn good rotation, a very balanced catching tandem & a very good young supportive group that needed playing time. We lacked nothing to win the division but lacked a high-end postseason SP that could be picked up at the trade deadline along with maybe some rental player to cover a need due to injury or ineffectiveness.

Right now we need Royce Lewis to return, Buxton to be more productive to help Correa lead the rest of the team to be more productive, Varland & Alcala be brought up to the BP. Return of Steward & Canterino. We'd be very competitive then & when the deadline come we can assess our needs.

I thought very highly of Francona (CLE), I thought his absense would demoralize this team. I've been amazed that I was very wrong. Also some have poo-pooed this team saying yes, they have a great RISP BA but are due to regression, Yet MN has a very poor RISP BA & is due for a rebound. It'll all average out. Team that have high RISP BA signifies "clutch" hitting, a desirable characteristic. A characteristic that a team has or doesn't have. CLE may have some regression but still they are clutch hitting team. Just like you have a great HR hitting team may have regression yet they are still a HR hitting team. CLE focuses on clutch hitting, MN have focused on HRs. I prefer clutch hitting. & prefer the Twins did too.

There has been a lot of hope in "Mr. Clutch" Lewis. The gut punch from NYY has taken the wind from our sails. It's not going to be as easy as most anticipated but IMO we can still overcome the deficit & win the division.