Kepler/Baldelli tension?

[mnfireman]

Don't know if there's much to this or not...

https://puckettspond.com/posts/twins-max-kepler-responds-rocco-badelli-calling-him-out-loss-rays-01h2ec1ap5ey

[LA VIkes Fan]

I have to agree with Baldelli on this one. I watched the game and Kepler absolutely should have been on second on that play. They gave him the base by not aggressively covering it. I also wonder of Baldelli isn't also trying to light a fire under this underachieving group by calling out someone publicly. The team isn't playing well, isn't doing the little things or playing smart,  and Kepler leads the pack on that score. He's the right guy to call out. 

It really seems like Kepler isn't "into it" this year. He's kind of going through the motions. Maybe it's because this is his last year with the Twins? He said he went to Paris over the winter to get completely away from baseball and get a mental reset. That suggests he's struggling a little with what he was doing. He may not have gotten the reset he needed. This is complete speculation with no real foundation, but I really wonder if he's kind of checked out mentally right now. He may need some time away.  

[In My La Z boy]

3 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

I have to agree with Baldelli on this one. I watched the game and Kepler absolutely should have been on second on that play. They gave him the base by not aggressively covering it. I also wonder of Baldelli isn't also trying to light a fire under this underachieving group by calling out someone publicly. The team isn't playing well, isn't doing the little things or playing smart,  and Kepler leads the pack on that score. He's the right guy to call out. 

It really seems like Kepler isn't "into it" this year. He's kind of going through the motions. Maybe it's because this is his last year with the Twins? He said he went to Paris over the winter to get completely away from baseball and get a mental reset. That suggests he's struggling a little with what he was doing. He may not have gotten the reset he needed. This is complete speculation with no real foundation, but I really wonder if he's kind of checked out mentally right now. He may need some time away.  

Interesting Rocco did that just 2 days after he said he would never call out a player in public in a post game interview. Rocco is the one feeling the heat here in my opinion - it is also my opinion that Rocco was right, and it is my opinion that we should give Wallner RF. The Kepler situation is different, but similar to the Polanco situation. 2 core long time members of this team that pre-date Falvey and Rocco, that they stuck with, they traded away Arraez rather than give him 2B - and now in hindsight, what a mess. Neither has helped us much since 2019 when they both rocked it big. 

[LA VIkes Fan]

I agree. My only quibble is that I think Polanco can help us this year and next once he gets healthy. I don't think Kepler can, at least not with the twins. He needs to be somewhere else for both his sake and for the team.  

[gunnarthor]

Kepler is 30. He never took that step that we all thought he could make, not sure why. His babip is unusually low but that's what it's been for his career. You would have thought some coach could have figured it out. 2019 looks like the outlier because he hit 36 HR, the rest of his stats were, more or less, in line with what we'd have expected. At this point, I think the Twins should move on. Put Wallner or Larnich or Kiriloff in the corner and let them play and make him a bench bat and release him after the year. 

[Mike Sixel]

I mean, let's hope so, because it might be the only way the FO finally cuts Kepler free......one can hope, anyway. 

[stringer bell]

15 minutes ago, In My La Z boy said:

Neither has helped us much since 2019 when they both rocked it big. 

While the team was a disappointing in 2021, Polanco was an excellent player. He had a 4.9 WAR, far and away the best on the team.

[Riverbrian]

My guess was that Rocco was asked a question about it and he answered the question. We ask for transparency... We got it.

If asked the question... Is Rocco supposed to say... No comment to avoid us making it into a huge thing because we would make that a thing. Is he supposed to say... No... It was fine when it wasn't fine. We probably wouldn't have like that either.

He was asked a question and he answered it.  

Kepler has responded to it by saying... "Yep... It was on me".

After a discussion after the game... Kepler was back in the lineup. 

I think managers are supposed to have these discussions when these things happen and these things happen because they are human beings. The manager of a trucking company is going to have a discussion with a driver who lost focus and ripped a trailer door off. The manager of a trucking company doesn't have the press asking about the trailer door. It doesn't mean that manager now hates the driver forever and it doesn't mean that the driver thinks he has been treated unfairly.  

I've made mistakes, we have all made mistakes. 

Does it have to be anything more than that? Do we have to take these molehills of information and make them into mountains? We keep asking for the truth but keep demonstrating that we can't handle the truth if we get it. This is why information is hard to get. 

Now... What about his hitting? Is he allowed to keep hitting like he has? That's a more serious question.

What are they going to do about that?   

 

 

[davidborton]

1 hour ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

I agree. My only quibble is that I think Polanco can help us this year and next once he gets healthy. 

He has had almost 9 months off those legs. He has been a steady workhorse; his wheels may be finished.

[In My La Z boy]

1 hour ago, stringer bell said:

While the team was a disappointing in 2021, Polanco was an excellent player. He had a 4.9 WAR, far and away the best on the team.

I'm still a little sore about trading Arraez. He had a bat and a heart, and the only place we could have given him was 2B. 

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

I have to agree with Baldelli on this one. I watched the game and Kepler absolutely should have been on second on that play. They gave him the base by not aggressively covering it. I also wonder of Baldelli isn't also trying to light a fire under this underachieving group by calling out someone publicly. The team isn't playing well, isn't doing the little things or playing smart,  and Kepler leads the pack on that score. He's the right guy to call out. 

It really seems like Kepler isn't "into it" this year. He's kind of going through the motions. Maybe it's because this is his last year with the Twins? He said he went to Paris over the winter to get completely away from baseball and get a mental reset. That suggests he's struggling a little with what he was doing. He may not have gotten the reset he needed. This is complete speculation with no real foundation, but I really wonder if he's kind of checked out mentally right now. He may need some time away.  

Worst batted ball BA in the game - not performing…….can only pop out to third or hit weak flies into Left Center so many times per week before everyone checks out on you mentally!! 

[JD-TWINS]

Just now, JD-TWINS said:

Worst batted ball BA in the game - not performing…….can only pop out to third or hit weak flies into Left Center so many times per week before everyone checks out on you mentally!! 

Forgot, slow rollers to 1B!

[gman]

Past time to make Kepler the 4th outfielder on the team. He can play a little center and give MT a little time off. I don't think he starts  automatically for many teams in baseball. I am also not sure he can get much in trade value Best bet is what the team could get in return for benching him and starting someone else in the outfield.

[ashbury]

It's a stretch to read "tension," as the subject line of this thread suggests, into the reporting.  Those who believed Kepler should have taken second base are confirmed, both manager and player agree about that at least for public purposes, and that's about the substance of it.

When someone is known for not throwing his players under the bus, it can have extra impact when he does speak in a negative way about that player's performance in a particular game.  It's possible to read more into it than that, but risky.

[NotAboutWinning]

Tension? Hard to imagine enough passion from either Baldelli or Kepler to ceate tension 😐

[FlyingFinn]

8 hours ago, davidborton said:

He has had almost 9 months off those legs. He has been a steady workhorse; his wheels may be finished.

I love Polanco but the wear and tear of playing every day for many years is going to continue to see him on and off the IL. They should have traded him at his peak last summer (which is what Tampa does, trade players just before their performance or health starts going down). Most people on TD disagreed with me. I can see why as he is such a great player when healthy, gives an A+ effort every game and is on the field if at all possible. Even at 2B, he looks like a shell of himself (still better out there on D than Julien though).

As for Kepler, time to move on.

[Mike Sixel]

5 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

I love Polanco but the wear and tear of playing every day for many years is going to continue to see him on and off the IL. They should have traded him at his peak last summer (which is what Tampa does, trade players just before their performance or health starts going down). Most people on TD disagreed with me. I can see why as he is such a great player when healthy, gives an A+ effort every game and is on the field if at all possible. Even at 2B, he looks like a shell of himself (still better out there on D than Julien though).

As for Kepler, time to move on.

Tampa doesn't trade their best players while in a pennant race. Come on. 

[Parfigliano]

22 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

Forgot, slow rollers to 1B!

And 2nd.  He needs to go somewhere else then they can see what Wallner has or doesnt have.

[Linus]

I for one hope there was tension there. The Twins are fundamentally poor and nothing seems to be done about it.  I think I like Rocco but he has to be part of the blame for the Twins playing like rock heads most of the time especially on the base. 

[Tlaker]

Kepler is in a gots to go situation and he needs to do all he can to hang on to an extremely tenuous position for him….but we need to move on without him. See ya…. Max

[sun]

Even if Max scored, it doesn't mean that the Twins would have won the game.  

[August J Gloop]

On 6/11/2023 at 2:15 AM, sun said:

Even if Max scored, it doesn't mean that the Twins would have won the game.  

If Max scores, Duran is protecting a lead. The Rays need two good outcomes in one inning to beat him. Teams rarely get one against him. Arozarena wouldn't close his eyes and swing guess, he'd be trying to make sure he got on base. That's how Duran beats players so easily usually.

It seems very likely that they do win if Max scores. It also seems likely that if Max scores, they score more runs as well.