How a bout a quick game of Rock Paper Scissors. But this time in the form of Players, Coaches, Front Office.

With an historic collapse liek the Twins had there is never just 1 reason for it. There are always multiple reasons. So how about a game of PCF?

Where would apply the primary Failures?

Not I am not including injuries in the game because a 4th option just does not fit the game. Plus depending on the injury it could fall into any of the current 3.

1) Offense:

Down the stretch our offense completely disappeared. Truth be told, we were never TRULY that good of an offense.  During our stretches of being the "explosive offense" the Twins pretended to be tended to come against stretches against bad to mediocre teams, when we moved onto better teams we tended to revert back to an underperforming offense. but we are focusing here on the collapse portion of the season, and while were were a top 10 run scoring offense overall, during this stretch of futility we were only better than the White Sox and Angels. who COMBINED for 102 wins.

Players: You could say the Twins were "tired"  or injured, btu that is an excuse, Lewis MASSIVE slump to end the year you could tell he was just all upper arm swing which indicates tiredness, But overall just didnt produce. Correa and Buxton were missing for a portion of the collapse, and both it well when they returned but we still struggled. How much of a collective struggle is "team approach" I.E. coaching? and how much is on players not performing? There was just too much bad baserunning, bad situational hitting, and bad approaches down the stretch that must go on the players on the field.

Coaches: This could just be philisophical differences, as opposed to perceived incompetence, but I HATE the amount of early pinch hitting Baldelli does. And while I have never coached above College ball  (ok never above high school or even T ball... but the "never above College" still is technically accurate) I think you have to give your players the opportunities to hit same side pitching. take opportunities during the year with games not on the line. leave them in sometimes. Do SOMETHING to make yourself not so reliable on having to switch out hitters. I cna recal a MINIMUM of at least 5 games wher Baldelli pinch hit for LH hitters in the 5th inning against teams that had only ONE LH pitcher in the bullpen. this means if you left your LH in the game in the 5th inning, you know for a fact they will face oly RH hitters the rest of the game. If my memory is correct we ended losing them all. Not that we were guaranteed to win them, but that is not putting your team in the best position to win.

Front Office: While our offense was not the big priority, it was clear it was not the overall strength they sold it to be going into the season. Everyone had to know Correa and Buxton would be missing time again. While you couldn't anticipate the early injury to Lewis, he had never put together a full healthy season. While we had an abundance of "potential" we went into season with unproven over a full season Larnach, Miranda, Wallner, Kirilloff. Julien was coming off a good year but how many players repeat succesful rookie campaigns?  Farmer is what he is (hint not a major league regular). Would Kepler be the 2nd half Kepler from last year? or what he had been for most of his career? oh yeah and Kepler, Wallner, Larnach all seem to have something I just cant put my finger on when it comes to building out a roster... Oh yeah ALL LH hitting OF.  What is a coach supposed to do there? especially one who relies on analytics to mix and match?  Margot was not a win, Santans though you have to give FO credit. But overall what else would a FO do here? you have to trust/hope in who you had. and where were realistic better options position wise?

RESULT:  ROCK... PAPER.. SCISORS... PLAYERS!!     with coaching a close 2nd.  and I could actually go coaching... after all can you blame players for simply playing to who the level they actually are? 

2) PITCHING

I am lumping the entirety of pitching into one group as starters and relievers impact each other.

Players: Joe Ryan's injury here obviously had an impact. It does not seem to be an injury that coudl have been easily predicted (which would put on Front Office) or through the result of poor handling (which would have been put on coaching) so it comes in here.  Ober was solid, Lopez was not spectacular but solid, and better down the stretch than early. Beyond those two in the roation, SWR performed admirably but tired down teh stretch, we relied on too many young starters who did not have the experience and who were approaching or exceeding historical innings maxes. the Bullpen had some inconsistency especially with Duran, most other failures were just relievers who were not very good overall.  I cannot place the blame on young pitchers with no experience hitting their innigns maxes, or poor performances from players who simply arent that great,  so hint... we may not have a winner here.

Coaches: Now it gets juicier. AT least in my opinion. Personally I believe Baldelli did a HORRIBLE job of managing the staff. From pulling pitchers way too soon who were cruising, to using Duran in a number of situations where he had proven himself to struggle (yes any good pitcher shoudl be able to pitch in any situation, but if you as coach know they struggle more in certain situations you just do not put them in those situations). Weirdly the Twins are middle of the pack (14th) in innings pitched by pitchers, so does it just FEEL like he pulls pitchers early??? and maybe the horrible blow ups just shine more light than it deserves. but it FEELS like Baldelli horribly mismanaged this staff. so I am sticking with it.

Front Office: SO going into the offseason we let Sonny Gray go, we let Maeda go. and we replaced with... ???  Again I wouldnt have anticipated Joe Ryan's injury but we went into the season with Ryan, Ober, Lopez as a top 3. with little other experience filling out the back end.  So to START the season we had either inexperience or known injury history in the back end,  SWR, PAddack, Disclafina, Varland.  and ended up relying on inexpereinced youngsters hitting their innigns maxes in Fest and Matthews. SO we did not set up the rotation for success out the gate (which has an impact on the collapse we are specifically grading). At the deadline we did virtaully nothing and almost LITERALLY nothing.  Total pitching moves by this Front Office:  6 total external moves. spending a total of $9M resulting in 4 DFA  and 2 DNP.

RESULT: ROCK... PAPER... SCISSORS... FRONT OFFICE!!  (again with pitching a close second)

To paraphrase a well used saying...  "It takes teamwork to make the dream nightmare work"  and if you average the scores... at least mine you get:

Players: 1 offense and 3 pitching == 2 average

Coaches 2 offense and 2 pitching = 2 average

Front Office   3 offense and 1 pitching = 2 average.

Overall though I would put the blame game as   #1 Front Office  #2 (close) coaching  and #3 Players.

Thoughts? and who comes out in your "Rock Paper Scissors"?