Why I want to see the Twins win in Sept 2016

[goulik]

Many voices have encouraged the Twins to just go ahead and lose so we can get the first pick in the draft. The Common Man has his tongue firmly in his cheek as he campaigns for the Twins to be epically bad but some buy into that philosophy as a good one. I disagree. I want wins now and I don't mind dropping in the draft order.

 

Why don't I care about the draft pick? It's simple really, it will mean some young guys are making progress and there will be hope for the near future. I would rather see that we are actually building something than wait 4-6 years for another rookie debut. I want to see Gibson, Berrios, and Santiago strike out 9+ batters in a game and go 7-8 innings. I want Wimmers, Chargios, O'Rourke, May, Rogers, and the rest of the pen used properly in their respective areas of strength and shutting down games. I want to see Polanco, Kepler, Buxton, Rosario, and Sano look like major leaguers, gain confidence and build something for next year. I want to see hope in these guys.

 

Then there are the veterans. Mauer is going to be here next year. I want to see him driving the ball for doubles and homers, refinding his .300+ BA swing, and being a part of a near future turn around. Dozier is going to be here and I'm enjoying the homers. I want Santana to see all of this and be excited to be ready for next year.

 

Finally, since Molitor is promised to us to be here, I want to see him and the rest of the coaches running this team in a way that gives me hope I won't be watching a garbage team next year. Yeah I want wins now! If all that happened, no one would care who we drafted next year. I don't want to wait for the next Sano, Buxton, Mauer, or Morneau. I want to watch good baseball now and in the near future. I'm done caring about draft position.

[bluechipper]

I for sure want to see the young guys play well, and if that results in wins, that's fine I guess. Even if the Twins play well, they're going to have a hard time getting past the 2nd worst record anyway.

[theBOMisthebomb]

There's no guarantee we will take that potential #1 pick and do anything productive with it.

[Rosterman]

They have a tough inter-division schedule in September and ALL the teams are hungry, the least being the White Sox who want to show they are far better than the Twins.

 

In the end, I doubt that the Twins could play a lineup full of non-rookies that would be more devastating to their divisional foes than jsut playing a lot of the youth. Especially Twins pitching being what Twins pitching is.

 

At least, I hope, they give Ervin a solid line-up the last 4-5 times he goes on the mound!

[diehardtwinsfan]

seems like the younger guys (for the most part) are doing well with the stick... Problem is pitching and defense.  That has fallen off a cliff.

[Doomtints]

Though it ultimately doesn't matter, I would prefer the 2016 Twins NOT have the worst record since being in MN.  For that they need 61 wins.

 

Unfortunately that's a long shot after their abysmal finish of August. 

[Thrylos]

There not a single game that I want the Twins to lose.

 

That said, my wants and their doings have not been on the same page lately...

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'd rather see the young players currently on the roster do well than get excited at the prospect of looking forward to 2020 and the emergence of super-prospect X.

[DocBauer]

I believe winning can help winning in the future. It helps build confidence. And it sure is more fun than losing!

 

But what's most important right now is playing the youngsters, getting them experience to be more prepared for next season. That's more important than the wins themselves at this point.

 

But, if we could do that and still finish with the top pick, we'll, that's just a nice little reward for having to suffer through this season.

[Vanimal46]

Would I like to see more Twins wins this month? Of course. Do I believe winning now = winning in the future? Not one bit. 

I was on a very bad high school baseball team. We got lucky in the playoffs by upsetting a team or two at the beginning before getting knocked out. We should have been tested and ready to make an improvement next season! Nope. We were still a very bad baseball team. 

[jimmer]

 

Would I like to see more Twins wins this month? Of course. Do I believe winning now = winning in the future? Not one bit. 

I was on a very bad high school baseball team. We got lucky in the playoffs by upsetting a team or two at the beginning before getting knocked out. We should have been tested and ready to make an improvement next season! Nope. We were still a very bad baseball team. 

Well, wow, does every team make it to the playoffs, even the bad ones?

 

How many seniors graduated? :-)

[DaveW]

Honestly, what I hope for is the following:

Sano+Dozier+Buxton+Kepler+Rosasrio+Mauer+Vargas+Murphy all hitting well in Sept.

 

Guys with futures here:
Santana+Gibson+Berrios all pitching well as well.

 

But the rest of the guys that have no future here or are replacement level players? I hope they fail, and fail big time. It's nothing personal, just the more losses the Twins have at the end of the year, the more likely it is that they actually go out and change the status quo completely, by that I mean:

 

No more Molitor

No more Bruno

No more Allen

No more Dave St Peter playing puppet master or having ANY say on the on field product/front office team.

 

Basically, I want Buxton, Sano, Dozier to hit 5 HR a game, Berrios/Santana/Gibson giving us quality starts, but having the bullpen blow it each game and the Twins lose every game 13-12, and they finish with the number 1 draft pick by a good 5 or 6 games.

 

The absolute worst thing that could happen is the Twins win 15 of their last 20 or something somehow convincing the current ownership group to keep their demand of "keeping Molly on board" on.

 

[Vanimal46]

 

Well, wow, does every team make it to the playoffs, even the bad ones?

 

How many seniors graduated? :-)

Yep every team made the playoffs, it wasn't a big enough conference to eliminate any potential teams  

[jimmer]

When did Gibson fall under the pitching well category?  Comparing to just starters or starters across the league. :-)

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Why don't I care about the draft pick? It's simple really, it will mean some young guys are making progress and there will be hope for the near future. I would rather see that we are actually building something than wait 4-6 years for another rookie debut. I want to see Gibson, Berrios, and Santiago strike out 9+ batters in a game and go 7-8 innings. I want Wimmers, Chargios, O'Rourke, May, Rogers, and the rest of the pen used properly in their respective areas of strength and shutting down games. I want to see Polanco, Kepler, Buxton, Rosario, and Sano look like major leaguers, gain confidence and build something for next year. I want to see hope in these guys.

Then there are the veterans. Mauer is going to be here next year. I want to see him driving the ball for doubles and homers, refinding his .300+ BA swing, and being a part of a near future turn around. Dozier is going to be here and I'm enjoying the homers. I want Santana to see all of this and be excited to be ready for next year.

But here, you're not cheering for September 2016 wins.  You are cheering for individual player performances that will give you more confidence in 2017 and beyond.  Everyone wants that.

 

More likely, though, a good September 2016 record would be driven in part by that, but also in large part by performances (and timing) that would be unlikely to shift future projections/expectations.  That's the stuff that most of us would rather do without, if it drops us down the 2017 waiver/draft/international budget lists.

 

Yeah, it would be great if Mauer could start pulling HR every game like Dozier, but that is incredibly unlikely (and he's almost certainly not even experimenting that much with his approach at this point).  More likely, most wins would be added by guys like him, Plouffe, Gibson, Santiago, etc. performing within their expected ranges.

[wsnydes]

As long as the young guys are playing and playing well, I'm happy win or lose.  I just want signs of progress and the overall outcome of the game means less to me at this point.  That doesn't mean that I don't care or that I want them to lose, it's just not the most important thing to me at this point of this season.  Part of the process of growing as a player is to figure out how and what it takes to win at this level, regardless of what the season record is.

[alarp33]

Why I don't want to see the Twins win in Sept 2016 - the higher the loss total, the tougher it is to justify bringing back Molitor in 2017.  

 

Wanting to see Buxton, Polanco, Berrios, Kepler, Sano, etc. perform well should go without saying.  We all want that.  

[jimmer]

 

Why I don't want to see the Twins win in Sept 2016 - the higher the loss total, the tougher it is to justify bringing back Molitor in 2017.  

 

Wanting to see Buxton, Polanco, Berrios, Kepler, Sano, etc. perform well should go without saying.  We all want that.  

Ryan and Molitor should have been a package dump.