Twins Out of Sync

[DocBauer]

You will not find a greater optimist than me when it comes to life, my Huskers, my Vikings or my beloved Twins. But right now, I am frustrated and basically pi**ed off in regard to the Twins.

 

Can I be "DocObvious" for a moment? This team is just too good, too talented, to be playing this poorly right now. And there is no singular reason for their struggles, which might be the most frustrating part of this. When the SP does well, the BP implodes. Or vice versa. When both click, the defense or offense fails. There is no singular rhyme or reason, it just seems the whole team is out of sync right now. They take 2 out of 3 from Houston, have a nice and interesting split with the Indians, and then just collapse. Is is the horrible early season weather and missed games, combined with jet-lag and a lack of continuity? Is it poor luck? Or something else?

 

You can bash Molitor if you want, but he lead a surprise team before in 2015 and a WC winning team in 2017. You can blame the FO, in only their 2nd season on the job, but they were a part of the success in 2017, at the very least partially, for moves they made. And made some very aggressive moves...moves most of us didn't see coming...to augment the roster for 2018. Is it the players? Let's take a moment for a deep breath and look at the players and the moves the FO made, shall we?

 

1] Odorizzi and Lynn were added after we lost out on Darvish and Santana was going to be out. We're either of these guys costly or dumpster diving acquisitions? Absolutely not. Have they performed as hoped for and expected? Absolutely not. At least thus far. Why? (Shrug)

 

2] Reed, Rodney and Duke are ALL proven commodities. Reed has been as advertised. Duke has a very good track record, has SO guys in bunches, but been surprisingly wild at the same time. Say what you want to about Rodney, but the best years of his career have been the past 3-4 season's with a hiccup most years, including April of last year. Did the FO really swing and miss here? Or is this just an early season aberration?

 

3] Morisson was a great signing. Even if he didnt/doesn't duplicate his 2017 season, he brings a quality bat to DH and 1B. But he has looked horrible so far.

 

Some want to blame Molitor. Some want to blame the FO from everything from each and every move to something as "simple" as not getting a quality 4th OF. And some want a roster overhaul.

 

My prediction when the season began was the team would struggle through the first month playing around .500 ball and then take off. I believed this due to youth of so many key players, as well as the addition of several players, and the recovery of Sano and the suspension of Polanco. Just too many moving pieces to expect it all to coalise in to a finite and smooth operating machine. But truth be told, I didn't expect April to end with this kind of a poor stretch.

 

If you take an honest look at this roster, and the guys on it, and look at potential and past performance, and put away the emotional pitchforks for a moment, I believe we can all agree this is a pretty interesting team and pretty well built. You can complain about the weather and such, but we lost a lot of early season games, DID play in lousy conditions, DID have a weird travel schedule, DO have several new faces involved. We've seen a lot of good performances, and glimpses of what this team could and should be.

 

Reasonable heads being reasonable, do we just need a little more patience for things to settle down and get to normal? There has been a boat-load of weird plays and weird bounces. Do we need better luck along with patience? Or is this really a roster that just isn't built right?

 

Honestly, I believe in the former 2 and don't buy in to the latter. Your honest thoughts?