Article: Halfway Home and Hanging Onto Hope

[Nick Nelson]

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php/3175-Halfway-Home-and-Hanging-Onto-Hope

[Dave T]

The Twins are too inconsistent to go anywhere in the wild card race, and I don't see that changing until more young arms and bats get up here. I will be sorry to see Polanco go.

[SockNet]

The Twins will probably not make the playoffs. And if they do can't be expected to do much. I read Meyer is struggling. Why not call him up and see if he's worth his salt. He is 24 years old. Isn't is "s**t or get off the pot" time? If he doesn't do well, at least then we know.

[Winston Smith]

At this point they would need to finish at a .585 clip the rest of the way to finish with 85 wins and even a chance to sniff the playoffs. Right now there are only 2 teams that have that good of record.

This team needs to decide where it is going and either give the kids some playing time see what they can do and move forward with the best of them or continue with this group that is mostly mediocre veterans at best and continue going nowhere, imo.

[jorgenswest]

It will take the best second half record in baseball to get them to the playoffs. If they start looking like the best team in baseball over the next 20 games and put up a 16-4 type record then go for it and buy at the deadline.

 

If the best they can do is show glimpses of a team that might get to .500, sell off the decline phase assets for the best return offered.

[Mike Sixel]

Hope is not a strategy, though that has clearly been their strategy for a couple of years now. At some point, they will finally acknowledge that they are in rebuild mode, and move one.

 

edit: I'm going to say, it appears to have been their strategy, obviously I don't know (but banking on Hicks, Willingham, KC, Pelfrey, Bartlett, Kubel.....that all had to be hope, right?). Like I said, I don't know, though.....

[ltwedt]

A little negative, eh Nick - ?

 

Playoffs??? Even the mention of playoffs with this team is laughable

[SportsFriendsMN]

It's mission mediocrity. Going into 4th of July last season was when the wheels fell off. How long can they remain average this year? http://www.sportsfriendsmn.com/2014/06/they-say-that-basketball-is-game-of.html

[birddog]

Good article. Brutally honest, which Twins fans need. Center field is truly an enigma, and how can that happen? Tough to find SP, but OF should be a piece of cake. Hicks is struggling at AA and more than likely would struggle at Elizabethton as he has absolutely no confidence. Parmelee is not your prototypical CF, but he catches balls he can get to and we have to see if he can play at this level. He can't cover the ground that Fuld can, but there is a reason Fuld was a backup OF and then cut. I have to believe we will be sellers at the deadline, and rightfully so. I hope TR can get the final pieces to allow us to contend for many years to come. Question is, will Gardy be the manager to take us there? Not much talent lately, but he's mostly shooting blanks.

[DocBauer]

I'm having fun watching this version of the Twins. There have actually been some very pleasant surprises this season. In fact, I think overall, there's been much more positive, in the way of said surprises, than bad surprises. There have certainly been inconsistencies which have hurt. Way too much streaky play.

 

To me, this season, a "hope" factor might be more about just hoping to get healthy and stay healthy. Not saying our team is a true playoff challenger this season. But there is no question to Willingham, Arcia, Plouffe, Santana, and to a lesser degree Nunez, Hicks and Fuld have had an impact on the overall day to day play of the team. So I am definitely clinging to hope of health.

[Old Twins Cap]

Funniest, or really, saddest thing about Parmelee and the Twins: he was actually left for other teams to claim after Spring Training so that the Twins could keep.... wait for it.... Jason Bartlett on their roster -- a guy who hit less than .100 in Florida, had been out of the league for two years, and who lasted all of, what, three weeks? It's not just that the Twins are out of options, it's that they have made incredibly poor decisions up and down the roster this year.

 

Alas, the fourth year in a row, and yes, we will forget by the end of the season that they ever had a chance because they never really did.

[Jerr]

"We've still got half a season left, but with the All-Star Game (and, subsequently, the trade deadline) approaching, the Twins are going to need to figure out their identity. In that respect, it could be said that the next couple weeks will be the defining point in their season."

 

I love your optimism in your last paragraph, but I think the first half has defined this team, for 2014.

They will be sellers/traders and finish, maybe slightly better than last year