Rocco's take after the game today

[CRF]

Interesting read:

https://sports.yahoo.com/twins-manager-baldelli-closes-clubhouse-210133297.html?src=rss

 

[Mike Sixel]

We can only hope that his hint at changes coming comes true. In a big way, not nibbling at the edges. Even Seth is ready to DFA Gallo and Kepler!

 

 

[Cory Engelhardt]

10 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

We can only hope that his hint at changes coming comes true. In a big way, not nibbling at the edges. Even Seth is ready to DFA Gallo and Kepler!

 

 

Some things have to change. They just do. Can't keep going with the same lineup when there is zero production.

[jkcarew]

Out with the old, in with the new…and SELL, SELL, SELL

[purplesoldier4u]

I'm pretty sure I heard Scotty Ullger screaming "swing like a man!" earlier this season. I'm glad it's resonating with the ballclub!

[wabene]

Is Team Inertia gonna break the spell!?

[Parfigliano]

Watching Mets game right now and they talkin about Rocco talking about Twins approach at plate and overall sub MLB level ABs.

Talk is cheap. Show some action.  Ditch Kepler (alleged seasoned vet) now.  IL useless roster spot Buxton.  Get Larnach or Wallner or both up

[LastOnePicked]

Rocco is all talk. Coaches are lost. They have no clue how to improve the at-bats or the team culture. None.

[stringer bell]

I tend to support the manager and coaching staff when the team underperforms. These guys know basebal land they know what helps being a winning baseball team. The manager puts out lineups to reward players that deserve at-bats. Coaches, as a group, work to make their players better and most of it is on the players. 

The cost of hitting for relative plus power has been so many strikeouts. The continued inability to get big hits is a virus for the entire team, but especially for the few "proven" players--Buxton, Correa and Vázquez, who also are the three players with contracts through this year and two more years--all have dreadful clutch stats. Kepler shouldn't be a starting outfielder with his hitting stats and Gallo an accentuation of what is wrong with the slugging-heavy hitting approach. The team has played much better when Polanco is in the lineup.

Perkins said on the broadcast today that they should improve by regression to the mean, which makes sense, but there have been too many just plain awful plate appearances. If any of the management staff is in trouble, I would imagine it would be the hitting coach(es). With Kepler and Gallo being in the final year of their contracts, I could see one of them being shown the door. I do have confidence that Buxton can be an asset even as a full-time DH, but the long periods of empty at-bats shouldn't be happening with a guy with his skills.

 

[NotAboutWinning]

5 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

…The manager puts out lineups to reward players that deserve at-bats…

 

I think we have found one of the many the problems! How many times have we seen the hottest hitter out of the lineup to preserve Baldelli’s fascination with leftie-rightie matchups?

[FlyingFinn]

7 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Buxton can be an asset even as a full-time DH, but the long periods of empty at-bats shouldn't be happening with a guy with his skills.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this. I believe when he is playing hurt he becomes mostly a HR or out type of batter. Since running into the White Sox second baseman earlier this year, he has appeared more and more like this. The biggest problem is he blocks others from the DH and when Taylor is in one of his long slumps it hurts (they are either then stuck in the minors like Wallner or forced to play bad D in the field like Julien).

[Riverbrian]

OK... You've said it out loud.

“I mean if I’m rolling that up and trying to portray it any other way I’m lying, so we have to make some really, really legitimate adjustments to what we’re doing right now if we’re going to go out there and compete and win games against that team or really any other team,”

Let me just say... welcome to the party... we have all been waiting for you to join us. Now that you've said it... you are going to have show you are serious and that means actually making some really, really legitimate adjustments to immediately back up what you've said out loud. 

Hopefully taken as constructive criticism... here is what I suggest to fix things as quickly as possible in steps. 

1. Look in the mirror. Before you start identifying the players not getting it done and making the decisions that frankly should have been done many weeks ago... you have to look in the mirror first. You have to look in the mirror and so does Falvey, Lavine, their assistants, your scouts, your coaches, your analysts. All must look in the mirror and take responsibility... come to the conclusion that it was THIS operation... THIS group of people who chose the players who are not getting it done... it was THIS group of people who stuck with the players who are not getting it done. Take responsibility for this... come to the conclusion that is obvious... you were WRONG about a lot of players and you are going to be wrong again in the future... next time you are wrong... don't be so freaking stubborn and ignore the wrong right off the cliff... like time was going to cure your wrongness. 

2. You've said it out loud... you have to do something significant right now. The 26 man roster that arrives in Baltimore HAS TO be different than the one you arrived in Atlanta with. I'm not talking about a young player with options that is part of the St. Paul shuffle. It needs to be significant... so when you are huddling with your coaches and talking with the front office -- Kepler at the very least can't show up in Baltimore.  

3. Cull from the bottom and keep going until there is no bottom. It's really more than Kepler. A scapegoat isn't enough. You are going to need 40 man space and 26 man space to shake things up. Any player that are BOTH NOT helping this year and won't be back next year need to be cleared to open up space for someone else. You eat the money that Kepler and Gallo are owed.

IMO Solano and Taylor can hang for a bit but give them some different players to compete with for playing time. If they lose... clear them. Quit giving Vets the free pass to be sub par without consequence.  

4. Get serious about Byron Buxton. If he can't play CF... HE'S HURT!!! If he isn't physically able to play CF, then he probably isn't physically able to swing the bat like he could and it's showing. HE's HURT!!! Place him on the DL and rehab him until he can play CF. I don't want to hear any stories about how hard he is working and how he is playing through pain... I'm glad to hear that because I'm a Buxton fan...  but it's not justifiable to let an injury produce poor results. If he can't play CF... HE"S HURT!!! In the meantime, while Buck is on the DL... you can use the DH spot to look at some players who might actually hit the ball. 

5. Go back to what you learned in Step 1. If you were wrong about Kepler and Gallo... maybe you were wrong about Wallner, Stevenson or Chris Williams. Stevenson and Williams can get the 26 and 40 man spots of Kepler and Gallo. Wallner can take Bucks 26 man spot. It may fail... Stevenson, Wallner and WIlliams may be no better but maybe one of them keeps hitting and then you have gotten one player better. You were wrong about Kepler and Gallo... maybe you were wrong about them... Let's find out. It certainly can't be worse so what do you have to lose. 

6. Let hot players stay hot. If you have a Wallner going 8 for 8... let him try for 12 for 12. If a player is hitting get out of the way... if a player isn't hitting... get in the way. Let the players tell you what to do.  

6. Let the players honestly compete. Correa and Buxton have not been good and have not been threatened. Correa and Buxton have remained at the top of the order. I know you don't have a bunch of obvious replacements for top of the order duty but you are just letting all of your players know that Correa and Buxton can play bad and stay entrenched while a player that is hitting will stay entrenched at the bottom of the order. If I was a player... I'd start to question if performance matters in the decision making process. I'm sure it does but I'll be honest... I can't see if from my chair. 

7. Get off the script. You are not going to finesse your way through this with the information that your analysts are bringing you. A .200 Right Handed hitter against a left handed pitcher isn't going to help you. You need to find hitters... period. 

OK... You've said it out loud... Now do something... finally... Please do something. 

[Dave Borton]

Quote

that they should improve by regression to the mean

Nonsense. They HAVE regressed to their abilities. What, they are 21-30 since May IIRC. Perkins isn't using stats correctly. It's like suggesting that the Oakland A's will win the AL West and teams will all end up 8l-81.

[insagt1]

This season began to unravel when they decided to offload their batting champion and the one guy still around that didn't strike out every other AB, for a pitcher who had yet to be an impact 1st or 2nd starter. It was a huge gamble and to date it hasn't worked. Arraez didn't have to hit .400 or even .330 to still have a positive impact on the lineup, with staggering holes. Those who still try to defend this trade by making it sound like Arraez can't play 'd'; is slow afoot, has no power,

and wouldn't have a place to play has to admit, there are probably several places in the Twins woeful lineup where he would be a massive upgrade...and lets start at DH, where Buxton is striking out at frightful regularity.

At the very least, would Twins fans enjoy watching Arraez hit every day less than seeing Lopez pitch 5 or 6 innings maybe 4 or 5 times a month? Lopez may turn out eventually to be what the Twins thought they were getting, but they gave up too much to roll those dice.

But thats water under the bridge. Right now Twins need a flush...a royal flush. They don't need a power hitter. They need guys who can get on base and guys who can make contact to get them home. It would help if some of the key guys would stop having terrible season's too. But all of this has been stated and re-stated.

Next up are the Orioles. They are pretty good, but they have huge holes in their pitching, as we just saw in the 3 game series against the surprising Reds. Can the Twins find their bats against the O's; or will the O's struggling pitchers feast on the weak Twins hitters? We'll soon see.

[bighat]

27 minutes ago, insagt1 said:

Next up are the Orioles. They are pretty good, but they have huge holes in their pitching, as we just saw in the 3 game series against the surprising Reds. Can the Twins find their bats against the O's; or will the O's struggling pitchers feast on the weak Twins hitters? We'll soon see.

Psssst: It's not "good pitching" that's keeping the Twins from scoring runs. Rather, the Twins are the perfect remedy for the Orioles pitching woes. Dean Kremer and Kyle Bradish are solid MLB pitchers, there's not much hope for the Twins to break out against those guys. 

The only chance they have is against Cole Irvin and his 7.18 ERA on Sunday. But things are going terribly, and I'm afraid this could be the game that completely breaks what's left of any remaining fan support for this team. 

This team needs to find a way to play Julien, Wallner, Larnach, Kirilloff, and Lewis every day. Trade Sonny Gray and find a way to get Balazovic and Woods Richardson in the rotation for the rest of the year. 

I'd rather watch rookies lose 3-0 and 4-1 as opposed to watching the current group do the same. It's AWFUL and it's been awful for months. Unwatchable baseball. 

[notoriousgod71]

Unfortunately I am no more excited to watch wallner, Julien, woods Richardson than any of their current players.

[MABB1959]

On 6/28/2023 at 5:58 AM, Squirrel said:

You do realize that the body is all connected and that one has an effect on the other. I’ll use myself as an example. I have arthritis in my right foot. When it flares it’s painful. I don’t always realize how I’m walking then all of a sudden have knee, hip or back pain. A weakness in one area usually is over-compensated for in another creating new problems that seem unrelated but aren’t.. It’s all connected and leads to all these different statements of physical woes which leads to all our confusion of just what is happening..

That said,, as a fan I’m frustrated by the situation. And I have no clue what the real answer is or if there even is a long-term satisfactory answer for us, the team or especially for Buxton himself. And I don’t think anyone really knows, tbh, Can’t communicate what you don’t know. It’s frustrating and will be frustrating until there is some kind of finality to the situation, which likely won’t be a good one,

 

9 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this. I believe when he is playing hurt he becomes mostly a HR or out type of batter. Since running into the White Sox second baseman earlier this year, he has appeared more and more like this. The biggest problem is he blocks others from the DH and when Taylor is in one of his long slumps it hurts (they are either then stuck in the minors like Wallner or forced to play bad D in the field like Julien).

He is more than hurt IMO.  He got back spasms just from swinging, I don't know enough to see if his swing has changed or if he is trying to avoid pain when swinging.  Sad to see him called out at home and by a mile.  I continue to point out he needs to do something to preserve or protect his body not just for baseball but for the rest of his life.  Money won't be worth the long term effects of trying to play I would say with injuries but I would say in general he should not play baseball.

[MABB1959]

9 hours ago, NotAboutWinning said:

I think we have found one of the many the problems! How many times have we seen the hottest hitter out of the lineup to preserve Baldelli’s fascination with leftie-rightie matchups?

He has to play to win and not give random days off especially when playing teams like Atlanta.  Some of their "top" hitters sat during this series.  The theory about preserving them for September/October is not going to mean much if they are out of the play-offs. They have today off and maybe "rest" them during the KC series.  I don't think resting them is what they need especially if they are hot,  

[TwinsDr2021]

2 hours ago, insagt1 said:

This season began to unravel when they decided to offload their batting champion and the one guy still around that didn't strike out every other AB,

 

This team has been playing like crap for 2 plus year, this didn't start this offseason trading Arreaz. I would even say this is has been how they been playing since 2019, and the reason I have been calling for firing Rocco since.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Rocco's not a good manager. He's just not. Some guys have great in-game instincts and they always seem to push the right buttons. Others are great tacticians but have those intangible leadership qualities that seem to bring the best out in a roster. From 2019 through current day, I don't think Rocco has show that he has either of those qualities. With that said, he's also been put behind the 8 ball with poor roster construction and bizarre personnel decisions - i.e., the handling of Buxton, Kepler still being on the roster, Pagan still being on the roster, etc.. I think those decisions are above his pay grade until either Falvey / Levine make the changes or ownership forces their hand, we're going to see more of the same.

One thing I am curious about is Popkins. Does Baldelli pick his coaching staff? If he has the green light there and if he continues to keep Popkins - especially after yesterday's comments - than the woeful offense lands at Rocco's feet.

[wabene]

There have gotta be some moves today, right? 

[TwinsDr2021]

6 minutes ago, wabene said:

There have gotta be some moves today, right? 

You can't say what he said and then do nothing (I mean you can)

It is going to be interesting to see how the attendance is when they get back from Baltimore.

[TwinsDr2021]

15 hours ago, jkcarew said:

Out with the old, in with the new…and SELL, SELL, SELL

It scares me to say that because I don't want this front office here for another rebuild/reload, I also don't want them to go for it either because I don't want them trading away assets. What I am saying is I want whatever needs to happen for them to be gone after this year or before.

[umterp23]

Can't imagine there will be any moves on off day that are published.  They have until late tomorrow afternoon to report the transactions, but doesn't mean parts aren't moving.  

Gallo, Kepler need to be jettisoned but $19.5MM combined isn't something mgmt has been willing to eat and DFA off the table.  They should but no in their DNA to admit we don't know what we are doing.  So many options but they chose to sign Gallo.  April huge surprise, rest of the year, we are getting what we knew we were paying for.

MAT, nice get for back up role only, but they chose to bubble wrap Buxton and MAT has to play almost everyday.  OUCH

Solano, 35 year old vet, once a week starter that has proven some worth even though he is playing way too much

Polanco, injury prone lake Buxton as of late, doesn't help anyone but Julien has stepped up show some bat skills and isn't the worst thing defensively.  solid stat line, 114 AB's .263 avg and 12 of 30 hits are extra base hits.  (44K's though but he is like most of our hitters in that category).  Defensively only 2 errors in 77 chances with 47 assists, so not sold he can't play Defense yet.  Only played in 28 games in the field. let's not crucify him yet.

Vazquez - $10MM on calls a great game an has 2 championship rings.  $30MM contract at starting at age 32 year.  Twins jettisoned Garver prior to age 32 (proved to be right choice) but Vazquez getting 3 year deal to catch?  Doesn't make sense. Jeffers has been very solid and has been a good all-around catcher this year.  

Buxton - DH... body is broken and if he can run the bases when he actually hits the ball, should be playing anywhere in the OF.  He isn't an elite player and that we are paying $15MM for.  DH isn't it and not what we should be accepting.  Trickle down effect has watching MAT and Castro man the position and while admirable, aren't the guys for the future.

Larnach and Kiriloff, not sold on them being stalwarts in the lineup. 

Team is a wreck.  By all-star break we will be 2nd or 3rd place at best and at that point.  I'd be in sell/dfa mode and build for '24

[Peter]

Loved how Rocco went off on twins!!! This was needed. With players only meeting-hopefully this will finally be the spark twins need. Atlanta is great World Series contenders. No shame in losing but it’s how they lost. Rocco is right about this-it’s unacceptable and they owe themselves/the team/and the fans. I wouldn’t be to hard on Rocco-I think the FO manages the team and Rocco is yes man. I do agree popkins needs to go. This can’t continue. Hopefully we can finish on high note before all star break. Schedule does get easier 2nd half. I’m not giving up on this team or the season. 

[MisstheBomba]

Luckily the Twins got rid of that Luis Arraez guy in Miami….. he’s only leading the league in hitting….smart move. Top Mgmt is the problem.

[USAFChief]

I'll echo RB: start by looking in the mirror, Rocco.

Management tends to get the workforce they allow.

Stop coddling.

Stop the "load management" BS.

Stop allowing less than max effort. You have fricken' BACKUPS jogging to first on ground balls. Even players striving for playing time don't feel any urgency to earn it, ferpetesakes.

Your team reflects you, Rocco. Start demanding more. Immediately. And institute some immediate and consequential penalties for non compliance.

MLB is a zero sum game. There are winners and losers. Start acting like it. 

 

[Woof Bronzer]

21 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

I'll echo RB: start by looking in the mirror, Rocco.

If I'm signing Rocco's checks I look at his comments and say, "What would you say you DO here, Rocco?"  

 

[Woof Bronzer]

10 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

If I'm signing Rocco's checks I look at his comments and say, "What would you say you DO here, Rocco?"  

 

To be fair, plenty of folks here have been begging the club to at least acknowledge there's a problem.  Still waiting for the FO to do so (I remain unconvinced they think there is; to them process is far more important than results, and I believe they've deluded themselves into believing the process is so legendarily solid that this is all just bad luck and things'll turn around soon).  But at least Rocco was willing to acknowledge it and call out some folks (in his own vague way of course).  So credit where credit's due, I guess.   

[Mike Sixel]

4 hours ago, insagt1 said:

This season began to unravel when they decided to offload their batting champion and the one guy still around that didn't strike out every other AB, for a pitcher who had yet to be an impact 1st or 2nd starter. It was a huge gamble and to date it hasn't worked. Arraez didn't have to hit .400 or even .330 to still have a positive impact on the lineup, with staggering holes. Those who still try to defend this trade by making it sound like Arraez can't play 'd'; is slow afoot, has no power,

and wouldn't have a place to play has to admit, there are probably several places in the Twins woeful lineup where he would be a massive upgrade...and lets start at DH, where Buxton is striking out at frightful regularity.

At the very least, would Twins fans enjoy watching Arraez hit every day less than seeing Lopez pitch 5 or 6 innings maybe 4 or 5 times a month? Lopez may turn out eventually to be what the Twins thought they were getting, but they gave up too much to roll those dice.

But thats water under the bridge. Right now Twins need a flush...a royal flush. They don't need a power hitter. They need guys who can get on base and guys who can make contact to get them home. It would help if some of the key guys would stop having terrible season's too. But all of this has been stated and re-stated.

Next up are the Orioles. They are pretty good, but they have huge holes in their pitching, as we just saw in the 3 game series against the surprising Reds. Can the Twins find their bats against the O's; or will the O's struggling pitchers feast on the weak Twins hitters? We'll soon see.

How many games did they win last year with Arraez on the roster?