Kirilloff

[Parfigliano]

AK never reported to St Paul so his assignment there has been revoked. He showed up at the clubhouse today claiming a back injury.  He has been placed on the 10 day IL retroactive to I'm not sure when.

I have a feeling this is going to get ugly.

[wabene]

Per Dan Hayes he said "he needs to communicate better, he's been dealing with nerve and back issues, but didn't want to leave the field." He had an MRI May 26th.

[Linus]

Why wasn’t this reported by the local media?  I noticed he wasn’t playing but knew they had some set amount of time to report. This is not a good look for AK. There are all kinds of possible explanations and none are going to be flattering to him. 

[ashbury]

Guys are lauded as "gamers" as long as they still produce.

[jorgenswest]

I don’t care about the look. I hope he gets healthy and starts hitting again.

I saw the article on MLB. I don’t think there will be any lasting tension between Kirilloff and the team. 

[Linus]

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

I don’t care about the look. I hope he gets healthy and starts hitting again.

I saw the article on MLB. I don’t think there will be any lasting tension between Kirilloff and the team. 

There should be. He is putting his judgment in place of being up front with the club. Perhaps he could have gotten healthy earlier or they could have brought up a player that wasn’t compromised. Or it’s just an excuse cuz he sucked. 

[jaimedude]

You could tell something was not right with him the way he was swinging. He Kirloff should have been up front with the trainers and staff that his back was bothering him. 

[Trov]

He very well may have been having back issues, the kid has hit when fully healthy, which is not often.  Normally when he hits terrible we learn he was battling some injury, wrist, shoulder, and now back.  The issue is, he does not tell the team early enough to either address it, or to relay why he is having issues.  

Like with CC last year he played most games, did not do amazing but we knew he was hurt the whole time and the team would manage best they could.  I get AK is not established, and there are many trying to take his playing time, but to hit poorly for weeks then come out and say it was my back all along either is a poor excuse or poor communication to the team.  It is generally shellfish of him, and he may have been trying to power through but at times he was hurting the team. 

[FlyingFinn]

Kirilloff should have told the Twins about his back. But so should Joe Ryan have told the Twins about his injury last year. So many athletes try this and do nothing but look terrible, both with their injured play and telling the team weeks later.

[CRF]

Not sure what to make of this, but it's not a real good look for Kirilloff no matter what. Just kind of an odd development. I honestly would have no problem moving on from him...he's either not producing or hurt. At some point, the team has to fish or cut bait on a few of these guys. 

[stringer bell]

39 minutes ago, CRF said:

Not sure what to make of this, but it's not a real good look for Kirilloff no matter what. Just kind of an odd development. I honestly would have no problem moving on from him...he's either not producing or hurt. At some point, the team has to fish or cut bait on a few of these guys. 

Listen to the latest (free) Gleeman and the Geek, they discuss this at length, but before the revelation of an injury. Decision time for AK could come after this season, but the leash is shorter for him than Miranda, Wallner or even Larnach. Much like all three of these guys, he really has to be a much better than average hitter to establish himself. 

[stringer bell]

I'll say it again, I've been a huge Kirilloff fan since he broke in. I certainly think his previous injuries figure in with trying to tough it out with an injury. Further, I wonder how much he thinks the organization is really in his corner.

I read somewhere that he had an MRI in May. Did the club know? I do know that this is the fourth time (wrist twice, shoulder and now back) where he's performed poorly and then gone on the IL. As others have said, it is not a good look.

[Road trip]

38 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

I'll say it again, I've been a huge Kirilloff fan since he broke in. I certainly think his previous injuries figure in with trying to tough it out with an injury. Further, I wonder how much he thinks the organization is really in his corner.

I read somewhere that he had an MRI in May. Did the club know? I do know that this is the fourth time (wrist twice, shoulder and now back) where he's performed poorly and then gone on the IL. As others have said, it is not a good look.

Surely the club knew?!?  If not.... well I don't know what to say, but that's a problem.

Back injuries can be tricky. Feel fine one day, bad the next.  Rinse and repeat.  Knowing he's injured at least gives me some explanation for why he stopped hitting.

[jorgenswest]

13 hours ago, Linus said:

There should be. He is putting his judgment in place of being up front with the club. Perhaps he could have gotten healthy earlier or they could have brought up a player that wasn’t compromised. Or it’s just an excuse cuz he sucked. 

How would it help? It sounded very similar to the quotes about Ryan last year. I suppose if they come down harder on Ryan in the press or in front of his teammates then maybe Kirilloff is up front earlier. They also may have burned some bridges with Ryan in doing so.

[tony&rodney]

A healthy Alex Kirillof crushing like he did for St. Paul eliminates doubts and he is welcomed back and appreciated. If AK continues to lurch and be just a decent batsman he will not be back next year. 

I wonder if Kirilloff is in top physical condition. He looks bigger, more muscled than the last few years. However, I don't have any idea whether this is true. A little injury can make a player slower at the plate and more serious ones can block success. We already saw this with the wrist injury, which was fixed. There is such a fine line for MLB success.

[Shaitan]

20 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

How would it help? It sounded very similar to the quotes about Ryan last year. I suppose if they come down harder on Ryan in the press or in front of his teammates then maybe Kirilloff is up front earlier. They also may have burned some bridges with Ryan in doing so.

Because Twins Daily needs TWINS DRAMA!

[Shaitan]

This story is definitely super weird (mostly the timeline). But anything talked about here is pure speculation. It's possibly selfishness on AK's end. It's more likely naivety.

 

[Craig Arko]

18 minutes ago, Shaitan said:

Because Twins Daily needs TWINS DRAMA!

Waiting for the ads selling soap now.

[Linus]

2 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

How would it help? It sounded very similar to the quotes about Ryan last year. I suppose if they come down harder on Ryan in the press or in front of his teammates then maybe Kirilloff is up front earlier. They also may have burned some bridges with Ryan in doing so.

My concern is that these guys need to understand they don’t get to make those decisions.  AK or Ryan can’t hurt their team for a month because they think they know best. The players obligation is to play as hard as possible but to be upfront about their physical condition. Then the manager, trainer and FO can make the best decision for all involved. That decision might be to ask the player to play through the problem or it might be to IL him and get an uncompromised player to take his place. 

[Riverbrian]

Alex needed a big year this year so he could be part of 2025 plans. 

He is not having a big year and I'm not sure how he can be a part of 2025 plans.

Due to not burning that last option with an IL stint instead of a minor league assignment... this may have bought him an extra year but he may have to do some major leap frogging with that extra year. 

I understand the pressure and temptation to stay quiet through injury but players who try to play through injury and struggle don't get hero status from me for toughing it out. 

They get a pile of non-flattering stats added to their career totals... that's what they get.

They hurt the team with their hurtness.  

 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

On 6/19/2024 at 1:26 PM, Linus said:

My concern is that these guys need to understand they don’t get to make those decisions.  AK or Ryan can’t hurt their team for a month because they think they know best. The players obligation is to play as hard as possible but to be upfront about their physical condition. Then the manager, trainer and FO can make the best decision for all involved. That decision might be to ask the player to play through the problem or it might be to IL him and get an uncompromised player to take his place. 

Agreed, but we don’t really know how this worked. MLB players getting through a 162 game schedule without aches and pains, and hurts is impossible, but the players play through them.

how many of the playing through aches and pains are off nights at the plate, or 5 and fly start?

It’s sometimes hard to tell where the threshold is.