Rangers 6, Twins 5: No Sweep in Texas as Twins Leave Victory on the Basepaths

[wabene]

44 minutes ago, saviking said:

If DeSawn Keirsey wasn't lefthanded I bring him up to replace Luplow. He stolen 36 bases bases and can play centerfold so I'm not sure we shouldn't do it anyway. Would make a much better punch runner than Gallo. 

I'm getting excited about Keirsey, but don't want to witness him in that role.😂 I am sceptical he could out punch the mammoth Gallo 😂

[MMMordabito]

Cleveland has to play better than .600 baseball with a harder schedule while the Twins play worse than .440 baseball with an easier schedule for this to fall apart. 

[JD-TWINS]

14 hours ago, darwin22 said:

 A few thoughts after a frustrating loss today:

1. Thinking back to consecutive road losses at MIL (8-22/23) with the prospect of 7 games against TX, I was HOPING for a home split and 1 road W.  Now that we've completed those 7 games, I would say like most fans, I'm extremely happy winning 5 of those 7 games.

2.  What is the MLB record for most GIDP in 1 season?  Correa has to be getting close to that dubious achievement.

3.   How long of a rope does Kuechel have moving forward as a member of rotation?

I think he's earned another start despite getting lit up in his last start.  Keuchel has alternated very good starts (Game 1 vs. AZ and game 3 vs. PIT) with 2 horrible outings (starts at PHI and the other night vs. TX).  In between those starts, he entered in relief of a very ineffective Ober and tossed 5 shutout innings in a game the Twins came back to win.

His upcoming start against the White Sox is make or break, imo, with Ober sitting ready at SP.  From what I've seen, Ober has NOT pitched at all for SP.  Hopefully the rest will get him the reset he needed.

Finally...

4.  Are there others that are sick and tired of seeing Vazquez continue to fail on a daily basis when he's in lineup?  I know he hit a key solo HR last night, but his performance today was BRUTAL.  It was really "Gallo-esque" in terms of futility. 0-5 this afternoon with 2 Ks--both in key spots--runners on 1st and 2nd in 4th and with bases loaded in 5th.

At the time of his signing, I was "ok" with it, especially after watching Sanchez's mercurial performance last season.  I was surprised with the $$ amount (3yrs/ $30m), but understood it as management expected a rebound from him.  Furthermore, Jeffers had done nothing BEFORE this season to establish himself as the bona fide #1 catcher.  

Now that Jeffers has done that, my question is---Does the front office have the guts to ADMIT THEIR MISTAKE and release him in the off season?  Considering our FO has failed to admit their OBVIOUS ERROR in signing Gallo, I doubt seeing ownership eating the remaining $20m owed to Vazquez.

Saying that---should Vazquez get released, I believe 2 catchers in our system warrant the opportunity to serve as Jeffers backup next season:

Prospect #1:  Jair Camargo/ Age 24. Acquired with Maeda in 2020 trade from Dodgers.  RH bat that, I believe has spent the entire season at SP with the following numbers:  AVG: .247, HR- 18, RBI-56, OBP- .315.  

No idea of his defensive abilities--strengths or weaknesses.

Prospect #2:   Alex Isola/ Age 25.  Rd. 29 pick in 2019 amateur draft.  RH bat.  Played all season at AA Wichita with the following offensive stats:  .271 avg, 18 HR, 54 RBI with a .361 OBP.

I know my last point isn't a concern to many at this point in the year, but I'm beyond ready to jettison Vazquez off this team for 2024.

 

 

Vazquez is a veteran, a career .270 BA guy, a winner, good chemistry guy & his high energy all matter. Solid defense - not supreme but solid. On the statistics side, Camargo’s .247 BA in St. Paul doesn’t translate to any better than Vazquez’ .226 BA in the Show. He’s overpaid at his current level of offense, no doubt, but he would be considered an excellent back-up/2nd catcher in the game. Other than Texas, I don’t know of any other team with two good offensive catchers? Can’t release a solid guy & pay him $10M a year at a position where depth is king. Knock on wood, we’re lucky neither catcher has been out more than a couple days this season!

Gallo had a terrible history & we took a shot - a failure in the big picture - couple cool highlights, that’s it. Vazquez had a solid history and we were a bit desperate for depth so we grabbed a guy at the end of his productive years.

Farmer - Vazquez - Solano - Taylor………all part of a plan to have experienced depth when needed. Been working - not perfect but effective.

[karcherd]

14 hours ago, Alex Wilde said:

It’ll end up being around a 60/40 split next year between Jeffers and Vasquez. There is still plenty of value to have a solid veteran catcher on the roster even if he is being overpaid.

Honest question, what makes you think based on the history of this front office that it will be a 60/40 split next year.  Why wouldn't they have done it already this year when Jeffers has earned the additional playing time.  This front office values veterans regardless of production over younger better producing players i.e. Gallo over Wallner earlier this year.  I believe this should be the split at a minimum but will believe it when I see it.

[karcherd]

1 hour ago, MMMordabito said:

Cleveland has to play better than .600 baseball with a harder schedule while the Twins play worse than .440 baseball with an easier schedule for this to fall apart. 

Yes the Twins have the easier schedule but this year's team has had a tendency to play down to their opponents.  Remember the KC sweep and losing 3 of 4 to Detroit.  So I don't think it's a given based on the schedule.  We need to put these teams away.

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, saviking said:

If DeSawn Keirsey wasn't lefthanded I bring him up to replace Luplow. He stolen 36 bases bases and can play centerfold

Does he know Freeze Frame?

[big dog]

18 hours ago, SotaSports said:

Correa and his GIDPs have cost us multiple games at this point. That's aside from the fact that he basically just uses a whiffle ball bat at the plate whenever there are runners in scoring position. Dude just really doesn't have it together when it matters. How non-clutch can he be (I know, I know - he did drive in one earlier in the game...)??

Winder served up a delicious meatball with imported Italian meat to Garcia. He falls behind in the count too often and then forces pitches (of course you can say that about many pitchers, though the Twins employ too many of them). Nonetheless, I think Winder is a much safer bet than Sands assuming we do make it to October.

Ok, I'm going to leave my mini-rant at that. On the plus side, Gallo didn't strike out! Not even once!

I'm seriously ready to have Correa bunt with two runners on, even with one out. This is getting ridiculous.

[Swing Batter-Batter]

14 hours ago, DJL44 said:

You left out getting caught stealing twice as a pinch runner. His splits are interesting that he's hit much better in Twins wins (,880 OPS) than in losses (.564). I'd say that he's directly to blame for many of those losses because of his lack of production.

His fault or Rocco for playing him?

[Rod Carews Birthday]

21 hours ago, darwin22 said:

2.  What is the MLB record for most GIDP in 1 season?  Correa has to be getting close to that dubious achievement.

I believe the Twins record was held by some guy named Killebrew.  Obviously his career didn't last long. . .

[Craig Arko]

6 hours ago, Swing Batter-Batter said:

His fault or Rocco for playing him?

Or his parents for having him? Or the asteroid for wiping out the dinosaurs and enabling mammals to eventually evolve into humans? Could be many possibilities.