Royals 2, Twins 1: Twins Plead No Defense in Kansas City

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

RE Rocco...

2019 was a lot of fun. Yankees obliterated the Twins in October but really will that ever change?

2020 was a weird season for every team - can't put much stock into it.

2021, a dud.

2022 started off well and then completely fizzled out. Injuries played a part.

2023 was a lot of fun but the Twins were also the beneficiaries of a really bad division.

2024 featured an epic collapse.

Nothing on his resume justifies Rocco keeping his job. 6 years for a manager is a relatively long time and the Twins need a new voice. It may not change the end result but we already know what the result is with Rocco's teams.

[thelanges5]

Offense is so bad it magnifies all of the other errors. Pitching and defense have to be perfect since we cannot score runs.

2nd worst team in MLB since Aug18 and showing no signs of life. Rough to say the least. 

[thelanges5]

8 minutes ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

Any updates on Pablo?

Scheduled for MRI today is most updated thing I could find. 

[Althebum82]

Rocco Baldelli on Pablo López's injury, 2-1 loss | 04/08/2025 | Minnesota Twins

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

2 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Scheduled for MRI today is most updated thing I could find. 

Thanks. Figured an MRI would be needed. Hopefully he doesn't miss extended time but if its a hammy, that can be tricky.

[thelanges5]

Zebby pitched last night and is in same rotation as Pablo. Went 5 innings, allowed 2 runs with 9 Ks. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" vs. "Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, You're only a day away!" . We fans can choose our attitude. We can turn off the tv or leave the game early. We can complain or encourage. The players, coaches, manager and staff have much more invested than we fans will ever realize.  So come on TD Family. Let's join in in a joint cheer. Baseball is here. Spring is here. LET'S GO TWINS. Lets go Twins. let's go twins......let's go............................ I don't hear you. 

[David Maro]

Can't score runs when you strike out 12 times. We were told they were going to change their hitting philosophy. I guess that change was don't get the ball in play,just strike out. Correa finally gets a hit and ends up not even moved to 3rd base. The game is called baseball when will this team learn that if ever. The only good thing from last night was because of where I live I couldn't see the game.

[thelanges5]

Tigers look legit. We could be as many as 8 games back by the end of the weekend. Then we still have Mets and ATL before a day off 🤮

[LambchoP]

Twins look like a little league team out there. We already have a pathetic offense that can't score runs, but then when you combine it with a horrible defense that routinely gives the other team extra outs and runs, we have no chance at all. France can't hit, but he's at least looked serviceable at first. 2nd base is a black hole. Both Julien and Gasper have cost us runs with their errors and have no business being out there. Hopefully Lee is back soon, but I don't have confidence in his bat. If we're going to compete next year we're going to need new MLB caliber first and second baseman.

[thelanges5]

Like what Royals do with Salvy playing C and 1B. Maybe  Jeffers could learn and we could keep his bat in the lineup more often? He’s also tall 🤣

[Riverbrian]

I knew that Gasper was going to be taken to task this morning on Twinsdaily... and... well... rightfully so. 

He hasn't impressed thus far. Not really close to impressing actually. No hard contact that I've noticed at the plate thus far. It's early yet but he really hasn't come close to impressing thus far.  

However... Perspective is necessary. Gasper has only had 15 Plate Appearances. 15 PA's is not the reason we are struggling right now.

Let's be clear... Buxton, Correa, France and Larnach lead the team in plate appearances. Those 4 total 168 plate appearances.

Those 168 plate appearances have produced 29 hits and 9 walks. That's a collective .182 average. That's a collective .226 OBP. 10 Extra base hits and only 1 home run. The highest batting average of the group is .229 (Larnach). The highest OBP of that group is .300 (Larnach). The highest slug of the group is .293 (Buxton). 

Right now Harrison Bader is the only player who looks like he was ready to start the season and he is in a rotation of sorts. 

Wallner and Castro have been decent. Everybody else... Not so much. It's been a bad group slump to start this season. 

Anyway... I'm not looking at Gasper right now.

I'm looking squarely at Correa and Buxton.

Those two need to get it going before 3 wins and 8 losses turns to 4 wins and 12 losses.  

  

      

[DJL44]

6 hours ago, JADBP said:

2.  The team is hideously, deeply in dept.  Obviously whoever has been running the organization has little to no business skills.  Whoever buys the team is going to have to pay off and estimated $450 million in debt--meaning the value and the price is reduced by $450 mill.  Too bad the Pohlad's are holding out for top $$.

I would be shocked if they owed that debt to someone other than themselves.

Quote

Northmarq’s solid foundation and entrepreneurial approach have built a loan servicing portfolio of more than $76 billion and a two-year transaction volume of $52 billion.

 

[Old Crow]

10 hours ago, 1985Fan said:

Four K’s for Buxton. He looks totally overmatched at the plate. 3 of 4 AB’s were not competitive either. 4 pitches each. No fouls in his AB’s, so he must not be seeing the ball at all. Not good. Take a day off to reset. 
 

Might as well finally give Jr. a shot as there wouldnt be any loss defensevely.  

 

 

[LastOnePicked]

11 hours ago, gregens said:

Here is something positive about the 2025 Twins.   Humans have a propensity to complain, and the Twins provide countless ways to fulfill that need.

Agreed, though I would appreciate some new things to complain about. Seems like we've been complaining about lethargic, fundamentally weak baseball for a long time.

[USAFChief]

2 hours ago, Twinsoholic said:

Hey BrokenCompass, your point that it is hard to blame “pitching or Rocco” does not actually address Chief’s complaint, which you quoted. Chief’s point is a good one: why on earth would the manager think it was a good idea to pitch to Vinnie rather than walk him to set up the possibility of a double play to get out of the inning, leaving Witt stranded at 3rd? Vinnie bats left-handed while Perez bats right-handed, and Perez is a slow runner. Your pitcher is right-handed. As Chief notes, 100+ years of baseball managing says the manager has the pitcher walk Vinnie rather than pitch to him in such a situation. Witt should never have been at 3rd—that is all on Jax. But, given the error by Jax, Rocco compounds it by not having Jax intentionally walk Vinnie. 

And i don't really know what could have been done to change Jax's throw. More PFP in spring, perhaps?

But once that awful throw happened, I ABSOLUTELY know the manager's response could have been different. 

Maybe it would have turned out different,  maybe not. But at least try the smart thing, ferpetesakes.

[Mike Sixel]

2 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

FYI, Keaschall has been playing 2B every other game to start the season for the Saints. He's playing the field.

I meant more..... Not being a bad fielder, not that he can throw again. But maybe his defense will get better!

[USAFChief]

29 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I would be shocked if they owed that debt to someone other than themselves.

 

That's also how they "contributed" to building Target Field. They actually .made money through the interest they paid themselves.

[Mike Sixel]

40 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

I knew that Gasper was going to be taken to task this morning on Twinsdaily... and... well... rightfully so. 

He hasn't impressed thus far. Not really close to impressing actually. No hard contact that I've noticed at the plate thus far. It's early yet but he really hasn't come close to impressing thus far.  

However... Perspective is necessary. Gasper has only had 15 Plate Appearances. 15 PA's is not the reason we are struggling right now.

Let's be clear... Buxton, Correa, France and Larnach lead the team in plate appearances. Those 4 total 168 plate appearances.

Those 168 plate appearances have produced 29 hits and 9 walks. That's a collective .182 average. That's a collective .226 OBP. 10 Extra base hits and only 1 home run. The highest batting average of the group is .229 (Larnach). The highest OBP of that group is .300 (Larnach). The highest slug of the group is .293 (Buxton). 

Right now Harrison Bader is the only player who looks like he was ready to start the season and he is in a rotation of sorts. 

Wallner and Castro have been decent. Everybody else... Not so much. It's been a bad group slump to start this season. 

Anyway... I'm not looking at Gasper right now.

I'm looking squarely at Correa and Buxton.

Those two need to get it going before 3 wins and 8 losses turns to 4 wins and 12 losses.  

  

      

Are you suggesting we have to point out everything wrong in every post? I think people are smart enough to know fixing Gasper doesn't fix the team. But they aren't replacing Buxton or Correa.... But they can replace Gasper. 

[jmlease1]

56 minutes ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

RE Rocco...

2019 was a lot of fun. Yankees obliterated the Twins in October but really will that ever change?

2020 was a weird season for every team - can't put much stock into it.

2021, a dud.

2022 started off well and then completely fizzled out. Injuries played a part.

2023 was a lot of fun but the Twins were also the beneficiaries of a really bad division.

2024 featured an epic collapse.

Nothing on his resume justifies Rocco keeping his job. 6 years for a manager is a relatively long time and the Twins need a new voice. It may not change the end result but we already know what the result is with Rocco's teams.

2020 was a weird season but the Twins did make the playoffs. It was weird for everyone and we were one of the better teams in the AL.

2022 was going great and injuries utterly ruined the season. that's not on Rocco. It's totally underplaying just how bad the injury situation was to say "injuries played a part". we were signing outfielders off the street, and even with a patchwork rotation (Ober hadn't overcome his injury troubles yet, so it was Ryan, Gray, and Pray) the Twins were somehow tied for 1st on Sept 4th.

2023 also was an improvement over 2019 in playoff results; we beat a Toronto team that had 5 all-stars, 2 gold glove winners, and the league leader in strikeouts (Gausman was a really good pitcher that year!)

I generally think that Rocco has been fine, and I frequently think managers are assigned too much blame credit when a team wins and too much blame when they do poorly. That said, this season very little has gone right: his moves mostly haven't worked, both in the ones he's made and the ones he hasn't.

But what happens if they can Rocco at this point? Are things going to change significantly with Jayce Tingler as the interim? Are they really going to pull someone off the street to run the team with someone else's coaching staff?

Last night's game was unbelievably frustrating, because seeing pitchers not able to throw to 1B is crazy. Hawk was definitely trying to cover for the pitchers a bit on the broadcast, talking about how hard it is to go from throwing a pitch and being all amped up to tossing a ball gentle to 1B. but Jax wasn't even close. France doesn't get to that with a ladder. Was Jax just gripping it too tight because he knows he's been crap so far this season?

Ragans is a really good pitcher, and had a generous strike zone at times, so the fact that the Twins ran up his pitch count and saw the backside of him after 6 with the game tied wasn't terrible. Pablo looked like he was matching him, so it stunk to see him go out with an injury. but Maki not apparently knowing what was going on, seems very odd. It's not like there's a language barrier.

I don't really understand putting Gasper out at 2B. Julien is sitting right there, and while he's not a great defensive player, he's far more experienced at 2B. Either he can play it or he can't. Julien was already starting, so you had a LH hitter in the lineup against the LHP pitcher anyways. These kinds of decisions are starting to pile up on Rocco, though, and they have to start working or it's going to be someone else's turn.

[Doctor Gast]

11 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Gasper was one of Falvey's big moves this offseason. Because he doesn't make $3M or more, it is possible that the experiment ends soon.

I wouldn't bet on it.

[USAFChief]

Just now, Mike Sixel said:

Are you suggesting we have to point out everything wrong in every post? I think people are smart enough to know fixing Gasper doesn't fix the team. But they aren't replacing Buxton or Correa.... But they can replace Gasper. 

Precisely. 

 

[Mike Sixel]

Just now, USAFChief said:

Precisely. 

 

Good golly. Chief and I strongly agree?

[Riverbrian]

3 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Are you suggesting we have to point out everything wrong in every post? I think people are smart enough to know fixing Gasper doesn't fix the team. But they aren't replacing Buxton or Correa.... But they can replace Gasper. 

No I'm not suggesting that. 

I'm simply posting. 

What are you suggesting? 

[USAFChief]

9 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

No I'm not suggesting that. 

I'm simply posting. 

What are you suggesting? 

Can't speak for Mike but I'm suggesting pointing fingers at Buxton, Larnach, Correa and France is sort of pointless.

Yes, they have to produce. They're more important than Gasper. Way more.

But there is nothing to be done about Larnach, Correa or Buxton. They're not coming out of the lineup, nor should they. 

However, something like Gasper is a self inflicted wound. He doesn't have to be part of the problem. 

France is a quandary, I'll concede. But he was always going to be the everyday 1st baseman from the minute he signed, and I don't know what available options are actually better. 

 

[Mike Sixel]

4 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Can't speak for Mike but I'm suggesting pointing fingers at Buxton, Larnach, Correa and France is sort of pointless.

Yes, they have to produce. They're more important than Gasper. Way more.

But there is nothing to be done about Larnach, Correa or Buxton. They're not coming out of the lineup, not should they. 

However, something like Gasper is a self inflicted wound. He doesn't have to be part of the problem. 

France is a quandary, I'll concede. But he was always going to be the everyday 1st baseman from the minute he signed, and I don't know what available options are actually better. 

 

I'd give Keaschell a first base glove right now. Or Larnach. They have two great OF prospects ...... But yes, you hit the nail on the head. 

[USAFChief]

Just now, Mike Sixel said:

I'd give Keaschell a first base glove right now. Or Larnach. They have two great OF prospects ...... But yes, you hit the nail on the head. 

Concur, although I'd go Larnach. 

Larnach's OF spot is tenuous anyway. 

[JD-TWINS]

12 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

About the "Calling Brooks Lee". I think the Twins will. He played 2B tonight and made a nice play. At the plate, Lee grounded out to shortstop, blooped a hit into right center, and hit a slow roller to first. He looked like he was hitting off his front foot and he is so slow, but the Twins are counting on him, so expect it.

Witt Jr. is fun to watch. He hits one back to the pitcher (routine) and easily makes it to third hustling all the way right from his first step out of the box.

The Twins are rostering a large pile of DH batters so it is hard to escape balls falling, slipping through the infield, errors, or throwing it around. It is possible to hide two or sometimes three guys but the ball keeps eluding or finding the weak spots. Is that 4 losses to defense? These guys better figure it out. There really isn't anyone to call up that will step in, field, and hit though. Tomorrow should be better. Right?

It’s really tough to hide your pitchers from making routine plays! 🤞

[JD-TWINS]

10 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Can't speak for Mike but I'm suggesting pointing fingers at Buxton, Larnach, Correa and France is sort of pointless.

Yes, they have to produce. They're more important than Gasper. Way more.

But there is nothing to be done about Larnach, Correa or Buxton. They're not coming out of the lineup, nor should they. 

However, something like Gasper is a self inflicted wound. He doesn't have to be part of the problem. 

France is a quandary, I'll concede. But he was always going to be the everyday 1st baseman from the minute he signed, and I don't know what available options are actually better. 

 

Lewis or Keaschall at 1B sooner than later, at least as an option, may be considerably better.

[LA Vikes Fan]

10 hours ago, Althebum82 said:

So we are hoping for the expedited return of Brooks Lee who had an OPS in the 550s last season, 600s in 40+ spring training plate appearances and went 1 for 6 in two minor league games.  Maybe he makes the play at 2B not made by Gaspar tonight.  However, I sure hope no one believes he is the spark to ignite an uncompetitive offense.

Agreed. There is NO track record so far that suggest Lee will help energize the offense. In fact, his track record suggest we need to hide him at the #9 spot if we want to take advantage of his defense. The idea that Lee coming back will help the offense is ludicrous. 

We have a much better (so far) 2B candidate in AAA in Keaschall. Let's get him up now and give him a 2 week run while Lee gets back into hitting shape at AAA, assuming that's even possible for Lee. Let's find out if Keaschall can hit. If he can, it's a great shot in the arm. If not, Lee will be ready to take his roster spot. Gaspar goes. Keaschall simply can't be any worse than Gaspar and there is a good chance that he'll be better.