Game Thread: Twins @ White Sox, 7/6/22 @ 1:10PM CT

[IndyTwinsFan]

3 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

I’ve been all over rocco a lot but he made decent enough bullpen moves today. We’re just god awful in that department. Honestly need like 4 new guys minimum if we’re going to do ANYTHING in October. And I don’t mean maeda

Hard to do a competent bullpen with a lot of guys who are mostly hit or miss types, and usually more miss than hit.  We need a LOT more talent out there than we've showed most of the season thus far.

[USAFChief]

1 minute ago, nicksaviking said:

I’ve seen the Twins give long leashes to catchers who are good defensively but struggle with the bat. We be seen the Twins give long leashes to catchers who have a good bat but struggle defensively.

I’ve never seen them give a leash this long to a catcher who’s as poor at all aspects of the games as Jeffers.

They kind of backed themselves into a corner. Sanchez is pretty much the nr 1 catcher now, and after that, what? Godoy?

[Tlaker]

7 minutes ago, LVTwinsfan said:

Gave this one away. Giving Correa a day off is more important than winning this game

Wait…. whut? Didn’t think you believe in Rocco believing in giving games away ?

[Cap'n Piranha]

2 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I’ve seen the Twins give long leashes to catchers who are good defensively but struggle with the bat. We be seen the Twins give long leashes to catchers who have a good bat but struggle defensively.

I’ve never seen them give a leash this long to a catcher who’s as poor at all aspects of the games as Jeffers.

To be totally fair, who are you going to put at catcher?  I agree Sanchez is better at this point, but I don't exactly want him playing 150 games.  Catcher is shaping up to be the one glaring weakness in next year's lineup (potentially shortstop as well), and something is going to have to be done.

[nicksaviking]

6 minutes ago, umterp23 said:

5 losses in extras were avoidable except Rocco has no idea how to truly manage a game.  

Yeah, if only Duran went 5 innings.

[IndyTwinsFan]

8 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

I mean, I was hopeful that jax wouldn’t turn back into a pumpkin if given late inning work but he’s been kind of shaky. Maybe thielbar can step up but we’ve been down that road before. Everyone else is just a heap of nothingness. Literally need a minimum of 4 new guys. Good luck 

Spot on viewpoint. 

[Montdak]

Sox could have pushed down so far they might have never recovered.  Can you imagine how it could help their morale?  Thanks manager.

[Irishman]

8 minutes ago, umterp23 said:

5 losses in extras were avoidable except Rocco has no idea how to truly manage a game.  

Agreed.   

[sampleSizeOfOne]

11 minutes ago, wavedog said:

Send in the clowns

"They're already here."

 

(3 shall be the number of smiles, and the number of smiles shall be 3)

[Danchat]

2 minutes ago, h2oface said:

Baldelli had the Ace in Hand in the 8th for a SAVE! Could have, and should have, given Duran the ball with the 2 run lead for a 6 out save. I see no excuse with a day off tomorrow. 

The problem is that the bullpen is so bad that Duran needs to go 2 innings in every close game - his arm's going to wear out at some point. He's already on pace for around 80 innings this year and will probably go 90+ if he's consistently told to go 2. 

[wabene]

Duran pitched 16 innings last year, 16. Personally, again knock on wood, I'm surprised and thrilled with what we've got so far. 

[h2oface]

Hell, Baldelli could have even brought Duran in for a 4 out save!!!!!~

[mrtwinsfan]

4 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

They kind of backed themselves into a corner. Sanchez is pretty much the nr 1 catcher now, and after that, what? Godoy?

Jeffers was the big surprise pick of that draft,  Not one other scout had him even close to where he was taken, They Scared to cut the cord on high draft picks,  Cant blame Jeffers $$$$$$$$

[Irishman]

Bullpen are terrible.   Please send Pagan to St. Paul tonight.   

[USAFChief]

10 minutes ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

Sure.  Gotta save him for tomorrow's day off.

 

He threw 20 pitches Monday night. Again, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume he wasn't available for 2.

I doubt Rocco purposely chose Megill over Duran.

As I said earlier, if Duran came out for the 10th, I'd be pissed. But he didn't. Once again I doubt Rocco chose Moran over Duran if he didn't have to.

 

Personally I have big problems with resting players all the GD time, like Correa today, and don't get me started on letting Jeffers bat in the 10th, but I can't blame Rocco for not.wanting to injure Duran. 

[Cap'n Piranha]

2 minutes ago, Danchat said:

The problem is that the bullpen is so bad that Duran needs to go 2 innings in every close game - his arm's going to wear out at some point. He's already on pace for around 80 innings this year and will probably go 90+ if he's consistently told to go 2. 

Duran couldn't go 2 innings in a 2 run game today, but he could pitch an inning in a 4 run game Monday?  I get you can't overwork him, but that makes it all the more important to use him when his impact is greatest.  Were it me, I would have thrown him 2 today, and then simply accepted that I would only have him available for one game in the Rangers series

[IndyTwinsFan]

2 minutes ago, Irishman said:

Bullpen are terrible.   Please send Pagan to St. Paul tonight.   

Not sure if that's possible, however, I believe a DFA is certainly in order.

[Tlaker]

14 minutes ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

This makes no sense, of course they could.  They have the $35M man on the bench, who was brought in to help the Twins win big games.  You still have your second catcher on the bench.  That was one of the biggest no-brainer pinch hit spots of all time, so the fact that Rocco didn't...

I will pick up after you did ……

BECAUSE he has no clue… I would have said something much worse but I have already been in the dog house for saying a no no or two about this guy who has no clue how to use a roster full of great talent.

 I get he’s a player’s manager but I think they are playing him…. 

[Cap'n Piranha]

1 minute ago, USAFChief said:

He threw 20 pitches Monday night. Again, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume he wasn't available for 2.

I doubt Rocco purposely chose Megill over Duran.

As I said earlier, if Duran came out for the 10th, I'd be pissed. But he didn't. Once again I doubt Rocco chose Moran over Duran if he didn't have to.

Well therein lies the problem--why did they pitch him with a 4 run lead on Monday?  If the comeback is that there was no one else Rocco trusted to give up 3 or fewer runs (2 earned), then I would say if we have pitchers on the staff that can't be trusted to keep their ERAs below 18, those pitchers should be DFAd immediately.  Rocco chose a bad spot for Duran on Monday, and it bit him today.  You can't do that when your pen is this bad.

[Montdak]

No Duran for a second inning though he threw just a few pitches.  No PH for Jeffers when you have great options on the beach. Come on!  If Rocco has some long game reasoning (I’ll go with this stuff a lot assuming he knows better than me) but there is no way this wasn’t just plain dumb.  Sometimes you gotta realize how big this one game was.

[USAFChief]

6 minutes ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

Well therein lies the problem--why did they pitch him with a 4 run lead on Monday?  If the comeback is that there was no one else Rocco trusted to give up 3 or fewer runs (2 earned), then I would say if we have pitchers on the staff that can't be trusted to keep their ERAs below 18, those pitchers should be DFAd immediately.  Rocco chose a bad spot for Duran on Monday, and it bit him today.  You can't do that when your pen is this bad.

Cmon. Monday was in the 10th. The decision to pitch him was not made when they had a 4 run lead. 

I certainly agree the pen is weak. I was one of the few who was screaming for pen help all winter. 

But I don't think that's Rocco's fault, and I don't think today's bullpen follies are all on him either. 

[Cap'n Piranha]

1 minute ago, USAFChief said:

Cmon. Monday was in the 10th. The decision to pitch him was not made when they had a 4 run lead. 

So you're saying that after Kiriloff hit his 2 RBI single, giving the Twins their 4 run lead, they couldn't have sat Duran down?  I'm sure he continued to warm while the White Sox changed their pitcher, and Garlick struck out.  I'm sure he threw pitches from the mound in between innings.  He then threw 20 live pitches.  I'm saying all of that was completely unnecessary, and had it not happened, maybe he can go 2 innings today.

 

If you're saying that because they had already decided to use him, they were going to use him no matter what happened in the top of the 10th, then we have a much larger issue with Rocco's (in)ability to make decisions in the moment.

[mrtwinsfan]

10 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Cmon. Monday was in the 10th. The decision to pitch him was not made when they had a 4 run lead. 

I certainly agree the pen is weak. I was one of the few who was screaming for pen help all winter. 

But I don't think that's Rocco's fault, and I don't think today's bullpen follies are all on him either. 

How about who called for a hanging curveball,   when the guy has 98+

[Irishman]

No set up pitcher.  No closer..   that’s not good for Twins!  

[rwilfong86]

Haven't watched much baseball in the past week but the box score shows the Twins had the lead 5 times and lost. Disappointing. 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

18 minutes ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

So you're saying that after Kiriloff hit his 2 RBI single, giving the Twins their 4 run lead, they couldn't have sat Duran down?  I'm sure he continued to warm while the White Sox changed their pitcher, and Garlick struck out.  I'm sure he threw pitches from the mound in between innings.  He then threw 20 live pitches.  I'm saying all of that was completely unnecessary, and had it not happened, maybe he can go 2 innings today.

 

If you're saying that because they had already decided to use him, they were going to use him no matter what happened in the top of the 10th, then we have a much larger issue with Rocco's (in)ability to make decisions in the moment.

Dry humping Duran because it’s not a save anymore is the solution to the bullpen only having 1.5 viable options?

[Cap'n Piranha]

59 minutes ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

Dry humping Duran because it’s not a save anymore is the solution to the bullpen only having 1.5 viable options?

Dry humping Duran instead of fully exhausting Duran is the solution to Duran being able to go 2 innings today.  I don't know why this is so hard for people to understand--when the pen has only 1 good option, how that option is managed is far and away the most important thing the manager does.  I wouldn't care at all how Rocco handles Duran if we also had Rogers, 2019 Duffey, 2020 Wisler, 2019 May, and 2020 Romo.  When Griffin Jax is your 6th or 7th best option, management of your best bullpen option is pretty unimportant.  When Grifin Jax is your 2nd best option, management of your best bullpen option is all-important.  Rocco continually fails at that task.

[tony&rodney]

2 hours ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

Catcher is shaping up to be the one glaring weakness in next year's lineup (potentially shortstop as well), and something is going to have to be done.

My take has been much the same since Spring Training and the trades - the Twins are quite weak at catcher, now and going forward. This is somewhat helped by the situation on many other teams being pretty similar.

Jermains Palacios can cover shortstop and bat in the 8 or 9 hole. He has a terrific glove and is actually making gains as a hitter.

Twins need two relief pitchers asap though.

[Tlaker]

Oh Earl Battey....we could use now?

[Tlaker]

3 hours ago, rwilfong86 said:

Haven't watched much baseball in the past week but the box score shows the Twins had the lead 5 times and lost. Disappointing. 

Exactly!  TK never lets that happen.... and pretty much any other MLB manager