Minnesotans Looking for Answers After Front Office Competency

[RandBalls Stu]

“This feels like a thing that New York and Boston teams do while the rest of us trade for Sidney Ponson. Something isn’t right.”

 

Minnesota shored up its rotation and battered bullpen in front of the 2022 MLB trade deadline to near-universal acclaim from local and national media. With the team’s obvious needs met at the cost of a handful of good prospects, local fans are left wondering what happened.

“That’s not how this works, that’s not how any of this works,” said Bruce Johnstone, a retired teacher from Alexandria. “You need to be like (former Vikings GM) Rick Spielman and draft quarterbacks who can’t throw or just forget to sign offensive linemen. Then you keep the job for 15 years. There are rules.”

The Twins acquired frontline starter Tyler Mahle from the Reds, closer Jorge Lopez from the Orioles, and setup man Michael Fulmer from the Tigers. The troubling display of attention to roster shortcomings makes Johnstone wonder when the next shoe will drop.

“When you’re the Twins, you sign the deflated shell of Bret Boone or pretend Matt Shoemaker just needs a few adjustments,” said the 66-year-old. “Getting the right people at a manageable cost feels like a thing that the Yankees or Red Sox do while we trade for Sidney Ponson. Something isn’t right. I want some answers.”

Brenda Perkins, a diehard Twins and Minnesota Wild fan, agrees.

“If you’re a GM, the thing you do is sign veterans to these giant [REDACTED] millstone contracts,” said the 35-year-old Plymouth native. “Put them on the payroll until they’re 58, watch their skills degrade in real-time, and destroy your salary cap for a couple decades. Reasonable moves made to help bolster a pennant run without mortgaging the future? What are we even doing here?”

It’s not just fans. Aaron Gleeman, Twins beat writer for The Athletic and celebrity spokesperson for Scribe’s Choice Neck Fan Solutions, LLC, says he is as surprised as anyone.

“This is out of the ordinary, to say the least,” said Gleeman. “It’s usually tweaks or sell-offs. I think a lot of us are using code SURPRISE to get 30% off a 1-year subscription to The Athletic. It’s remarkable.”

For his part, Johnstone is keeping it all in perspective.

“Two of those guys will need Tommy John before Labor Day. A piano will fall on Byron Buxton. Spencer Steer is the next Mike Trout. The alternative is too bizarre to contemplate: a Minnesota team made a series of shrewd acquisitions to improve their playoff chances. Yeah, right.”

 

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[Brazilian Twins Fan]

I'm really frustrated about this FO. We needed BP guys and they DIDN'T EVEN TRY to get Astudillo.

Can't be serious about contending. This FO is a joke.

[dxpavelka]

So wrong.  Seems like only a year ago we traded away our best starter for a couple of AA guys who remain AA guys to this day.  Somebody's gotta get fired for this week.

[Avardan]

LOL - well, as long as us fans are entertained, that's what really matters.  I'm happy for the Twins and hope that they can finish strong and beat those dang Yanks!

[rv78]

I understand there's only so much you can do. Unfortunately 2 of the worst bullpen pitchers remain on the roster as evidenced last night. What I don't understand is the reluctance to DFA players that just aren't worth keeping. Dumping Sanchez and Cotton, who just pitched reasonably well instead of Pagan and Duffey shows a lack of fortitude and IMO brains by the FO. Fulmer, Duran, Jax and Lopez can't pitch every game so the moves made will have limited effect.

Mahle pitches tonight so we'll see if the FO is as smart as they think they are since he is the guy they supposedly had been targeting from the get go. If he's your Game 1 starter in the playoffs we'll see how he does against the playoff caliber lineup of Toronto.

[wsnydes]

2 hours ago, Brazilian Twins Fan said:

I'm really frustrated about this FO. We needed BP guys and they DIDN'T EVEN TRY to get Astudillo.

Can't be serious about contending. This FO is a joke.

I heard that the asking price was absurd.  Maybe it's a small blessing!

[wsnydes]

I'm just waiting to hear that all of these deals have a hidden PTBNL clause in them somewhere that requires that player to be plucked from the major league roster and has all-star appearance minimum requirements.

[USAFChief]

Spoiler alert: code SURPRISE doesn't seem to work. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Free Anthony Slama !

[wsnydes]

31 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Spoiler alert: code SURPRISE doesn't seem to work. 

I bet you missed the promo window.

[Johnny Ringo]

This fit of measured competency and commitment is surely a sign of the apocalypse. If next, Dick Bremer stops making excuses for every Twins out or opponent's home run and/or the self-named "Dazzle Man" actually allows for a few blessed seconds of silence on a call, I would suggest that you gather loved ones and canned goods. Then seek shelter.  You have been warned. Good luck.  

[Sean.h]

3 hours ago, rv78 said:

I understand there's only so much you can do. Unfortunately 2 of the worst bullpen pitchers remain on the roster as evidenced last night. What I don't understand is the reluctance to DFA players that just aren't worth keeping. Dumping Sanchez and Cotton, who just pitched reasonably well instead of Pagan and Duffey shows a lack of fortitude and IMO brains by the FO. Fulmer, Duran, Jax and Lopez can't pitch every game so the moves made will have limited effect.

Mahle pitches tonight so we'll see if the FO is as smart as they think they are since he is the guy they supposedly had been targeting from the get go. If he's your Game 1 starter in the playoffs we'll see how he does against the playoff caliber lineup of Toronto.

To be fair, they did DFA Smith

[Karbo]

Rocco had to pull Gray. But if he had let Ryan go another inning the previous day he probably could have better options. Let the starters go as long as they can!

[MABB1959]

My theory is the good players do not want to play here.  How hard they tried to keep Berrios is unknown but I don't think it was about money.  He wanted to try out free-agency so they panicked and got 2 prospects that don't appear to be that good, do they know how to evaluate prospects?  It has been a while since any of our first round prospect amounted to much.  What player in the prime of their career would want to go to a team that historically won't go for the big names to get to a WS?  The team cannot win in the play-offs.  We are mostly known as a team that is always in the "get by" mode and not the Win Now mode. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

1 hour ago, Sean.h said:

To be fair, they did DFA Smith

Which means he’ll be available when we need him again soon! ?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

5 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

So wrong.  Seems like only a year ago we traded away our best starter for a couple of AA guys who remain AA guys to this day.  Somebody's gotta get fired for this week.

Whether they are trading for a good starter with a year and a half team control, or trading away a good starter with a year and a half team control, the Twins are usually doing the smart thing either way.  

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Honestly I wanted to see another Jake Odorizzi -for - Jermaine Palacios trade happen. It was there for the taking! 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

And what’s with trading for Michael Fulmer? Aren’t the Twins and Tigers in the same division? I fully expect Sawyer Gipson-Long to be closing games and knocking the Twins out of contention for Detroit in 2025

[MABB1959]

Fans want to have a solid, somewhat consistent line-up.  Seeing Buxton bat a few times is not good enough.  He needs to be in the field making spectacular plays that the average fans love.  We paid over $300 for 3 lower level tickets where  Buxton did not play and Correa was out injured.  It was horrible before the rainout the Twins didn't even have a hit.  That makes for boring baseball and makes fans less likely to shell out that much money for a baseball game.  If they could sign and willing to pay for highly sought after players they would sell more tickets.  They got Correa but for what 1 year? Not good enough.  It has been the same forever and doesn't appear to ever change.

[jimbo92107]

I threw some old chicken bones on the floor. You know what happened? The dog found 'em, that's what. Snapped 'em up before I could get a decent read, and now, I'm all out of chicken bones! That's a bad sign. There isn't a decent chicken-bone store in town, and it takes weeks for the DIY bones to dry out. I feel like I'm going blind! 

Oh, we were talking about baseball? Heckuva sport. Twins are looking so good, they must be getting ready to sell the team to a billionaire car dealer. Do they have cars in the Tennessee Tri-State? Watch for what they did to the "North Stars." My dad spilled it to me when they dropped "North" from the logo. See if the Twins new logo is just a couple giggling babies. Then you'll know.

[Stew]

Would have been nice to get another good hitter. But we can only give up so much of prospects.

[dxpavelka]

6 hours ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

Whether they are trading for a good starter with a year and a half team control, or trading away a good starter with a year and a half team control, the Twins are usually doing the smart thing either way.  

Unless the starter with a year and a half of team control that you traded away for two guys stuck in AA signs a contract that he would have jumped at had YOU offered it to him.......

[bean5302]

I heard it was part of the Season Ticket Holder rewards program. One fan got chosen to be GM for a day! Falvey and Levine were furious it was legally binding and when the fan called Jim Pohlad for permission on the moves Jim agreed because Jim refuses to do that modern "zoom" meeting crap and it's not like he ever wanted to memorize Falvey or Levine's voice. They're "little people" to Jim.

[MGM4706]

No Ace = No deep playoff run! History proves that!