Twins 6, Mets 3: Twins Survive the Battle of Attrition Against the Mets

[Riverbrian]

I get why a bunt was attempted. The offense is scuffling and you gotta produce a run while you can when the offense has struggled to produce them.  

I assume Rocco made the call to bunt in that situation. I guess it's possible that Kiersay made the decision to give it a shot. 

Either way... I do wish that Keirsay would have taken a shot at swinging away.  

Oh Well

[NYCTK]

7 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Who is making up what? Why do you go out your way to lie to try to make me look bad, to support your narrative? This is his 1st year, his 1st 123 ABs. Fact!

That neither contradicts what I said, nor back up what you said. Dude was a great prospect and played pretty good as a rookie. And like I said, break those 150 PAs by thirds and that middle third he had an OPS of 1.300. You think Twins fans wouldn't be thrilled if Jenkins came up and hit like an MVP for a month? The peripherals were all there and results were sporadic but the promise was clear. 

10 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Many players are late bloomers

You're comparing a 19 year old to a 28 year old. This is completely nonsensical and like I said, makes you sound completely unserious. 

11 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

You never directly answered my question, "Are you cheering for the Twins or the Mets?" Your answer appeared to indicate that you preferred the Mets from the '24 deadline. I'm very curious that at this time you have become active at TD yet when you were more of a Twins' fan you weren't.

Why the hell do you give a ****? 

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Again, I'm not remotely comparing Keirsey to Trout. But we can safely say that Cave was a much worse fielder than Keirsey, yet Cave was given every opportunity to look bad in CF.

I get your angle but remember Cave played “regularly” when everyone else was hurt and there were no other options - Wallner is hurt - Kiersey is getting opportunities.

By the way, he failed with another sacrifice bunt attempt again this afternoon v. the Mets. 3rd baseman on edge of grass - SS 3 steps from 2B with a guy on Second. Gotta get the ball on the ground (fair) to make the 3B play the ball. Simple stuff in the game of baseball.

[Doctor Gast]

2 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

I get your angle but remember Cave played “regularly” when everyone else was hurt and there were no other options - Wallner is hurt - Kiersey is getting opportunities.

By the way, he failed with another sacrifice bunt attempt again this afternoon v. the Mets. 3rd baseman on edge of grass - SS 3 steps from 2B with a guy on Second. Gotta get the ball on the ground (fair) to make the 3B play the ball. Simple stuff in the game of baseball.

IMO, we agree more than we disagree here. Twins hand-picked Cave because they liked his bat & they wanted to showcase him. IMO, he was a good cOFer, but he wasn't a true CFer (& that was what we needed most). IMO, Wade was a better CFer than Cave, though he wasn't a very good CFer either. 

Twins have very few bunters,& I'm a big supporter of bunting. Keirsey has been a slugger, IMO he hasn't shown any indication he is one or has much training to be so. IMO everyone should be able to execute a bunt (I wrote a blog about that)

[Doctor Gast]

4 hours ago, NYCTK said:

That neither contradicts what I said, nor back up what you said. Dude was a great prospect and played pretty good as a rookie. And like I said, break those 150 PAs by thirds and that middle third he had an OPS of 1.300. You think Twins fans wouldn't be thrilled if Jenkins came up and hit like an MVP for a month? The peripherals were all there and results were sporadic but the promise was clear. 

To repeat, I'm not comparing Keirsey's potential to Trout's. The point I'm making is you can't judge Keirsey's beginning & his sporadic ABs because a super star like Trout, (The info I found, that you omitted, showed that he was unimpressive in his 1st regular 123 ABs. You said that he had a monster performance in the middle of that. If that is the case, then that further proves my point, because that means Trout really stunk in his 1st regular 50 ABs.) who in his 1st regular 50 ABs stunk. Again, which proves you can't judge Keirsey until he gets quite a few regular ABs under his belt. Which makes it very tough with very few opportunities given & a small window.

Quote

You're comparing a 19 year old to a 28 year old. This is completely nonsensical and like I said, makes you sound completely unserious. 

Again I'm not comparing Keirsey's potential to Trout's. I only stated that many impactful MLBer are late bloomers which is a fact. That's what I see in Keirsey

Quote

Why the hell do you give a ****? 

I'll pass on that. But I'll ask you a rhetorical question. To what level of baseball have you played? Independent? College? If you played higher ball, I'd think you'd understand the challenges & underlying conditions that go into being a ballplayer.

[stringer bell]

5 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Again, I'm not remotely comparing Keirsey to Trout. But we can safely say that Cave was a much worse fielder than Keirsey, yet Cave was given every opportunity to look bad in CF.

Keirsey will be 28 in less than a month. By the time Trout was Keirsey's current age, he already had a leg up for the Hall of Fame. Yeah, there's not much comparison. The manager and coaches see these guys all through spring training and in BP. If a guy can play, they will play or the coach/manager will lose their job. Rocco and his staff may well lose their job, but I don't think it is for the way they handled (specifically) Keirsey, Miranda and Alex Kirilloff. 

[NYCTK]

6 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

To what level of baseball have you played? Independent? College? If you played higher ball, I'd think you'd understand the challenges & underlying conditions that go into being a ballplayer.

Again, why do you give a ****? 

As many times as you compare player A to player B, and then claim you're not comparing them, the reality is you're comparing them. 

There's no evidence to suggest Keirsey is some late bloomer that just needs a real chance. And pointing at a 20 year old superstar doesn't help your case man. 

[stringer bell]

6 hours ago, Jeff K said:

I've been extremely critical of Julien.  I am thrilled that he is hitting but remain unconvinced that he can play 2B.  That said, he's certainly our best bet now with all the injuries.  Gasper can NOT play 2nd.

1) It's just one game, but Julien had a flawless game at second, with the heads up double play. I think he showed good judgment on a grounder up the middle by the Mets catcher. Julien fielded the ball cleanly, set himself and made a good strong throw. I've seen him rush when there's no reason and then things unravel--not this time. Maybe he's making some progress.

2) I know Gasper made a really bad error in one of his few appearances at second base, but I've seen two platinum glove shortstops (Correa and Lindor) make equally bad errors in this series. I don't think we should make judgments on one or even a couple of mistakes. I see that Gasper's preliminary sprint speed is in the average range, so he shouldn't be considered an extremely slow guy (like France and Miranda) so maybe he might have okay range. I am not saying this disproves that he should never play second, just that the jury should or could still be out.

[RpR]

39 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

1) It's just one game, but Julien had a flawless game at second, with the heads up double play. I think he showed good judgment on a grounder up the middle by the Mets catcher. Julien fielded the ball cleanly, set himself and made a good strong throw. I've seen him rush when there's no reason and then things unravel--not this time. Maybe he's making some progress.

2) I know Gasper made a really bad error in one of his few appearances at second base, but I've seen two platinum glove shortstops (Correa and Lindor) make equally bad errors in this series. I don't think we should make judgments on one or even a couple of mistakes. I see that Gasper's preliminary sprint speed is in the average range, so he shouldn't be considered an extremely slow guy (like France and Miranda) so maybe he might have okay range. I am not saying this disproves that he should never play second, just that the jury should or could still be out.

The game served Julien well, especially in the field; time will tell if is a fluke or change.

His head is what is holding him back; if he fixed it up there he has a future.

I am sure his odd double play will make some shows; I will try to check a few to see what they saw.

[Doctor Gast]

4 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Keirsey will be 28 in less than a month. By the time Trout was Keirsey's current age, he already had a leg up for the Hall of Fame. Yeah, there's not much comparison. The manager and coaches see these guys all through spring training and in BP. If a guy can play, they will play or the coach/manager will lose their job. Rocco and his staff may well lose their job, but I don't think it is for the way they handled (specifically) Keirsey, Miranda and Alex Kirilloff. 

 My only point is if super star Trout had a terrible 1st  regular 50 ABs, how can we judge Keirsey's sporadic 23 ABs? The manager & coaches could lose their jobs because of their failure to capitalize on what fell into their laps & advance even further into the postseason. I think Falvey had the greatest blame in not seeing our real needs & make the necessary trades in '24, plus many other things. '25 is just the continuation of that mess. IMO the way they handled Miranda, Kirloff, Keirsey, Margot & others contributed to that mess (but I respect your opinion). But IMO nobody is going anywhere unless the reins are taken away from Falvey. Then they are gone.

[Doctor Gast]

48 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Again, why do you give a ****? 

As many times as you compare player A to player B, and then claim you're not comparing them, the reality is you're comparing them. 

There's no evidence to suggest Keirsey is some late bloomer that just needs a real chance. And pointing at a 20 year old superstar doesn't help your case man. 

When I'm comparing player A to player B, I won't deny it, I'm comparing. But in this case, again, I'll repeat I'm not comparing Keirsey's potential to what Trout has done or using him as a comp. I'm just pointing out that if Trout had a terrible 1st regular 50 ABs, how can we judge Keirsey's 1st sporadic 23 ABs. Why can't you understand I'm only using Trout as an example?

You can't predict late bloomers, you just look at their character & something just clicks,

[NYCTK]

27 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

When I'm comparing player A to player B, I won't deny it, I'm comparing. But in this case, again, I'll repeat I'm not comparing Keirsey's potential to what Trout has done or using him as a comp. I'm just pointing out that if Trout had a terrible 1st regular 50 ABs, how can we judge Keirsey's 1st sporadic 23 ABs. Why can't you understand I'm only using Trout as an example?

You can't predict late bloomers, you just look at their character & something just clicks,

...because they're not at all comparable. Yet here you are comparing them again. 

[laloesch]

20 hours ago, RpR said:

Gasper is a far, far better 2nd base fielder than Julien.

Gasper has a 2nd base fielding average in the Minors of .991 vs Juliens .963

 

That much is certain.  Both have serious flaws in their games and I'm getting impatient with the Twins, just call up Luke Keaschall already and plug him into 2nd.  Luke will do better than Gasper and Julien.

[Jeff K]

14 hours ago, stringer bell said:

1) It's just one game, but Julien had a flawless game at second, with the heads up double play. I think he showed good judgment on a grounder up the middle by the Mets catcher. Julien fielded the ball cleanly, set himself and made a good strong throw. I've seen him rush when there's no reason and then things unravel--not this time. Maybe he's making some progress.

2) I know Gasper made a really bad error in one of his few appearances at second base, but I've seen two platinum glove shortstops (Correa and Lindor) make equally bad errors in this series. I don't think we should make judgments on one or even a couple of mistakes. I see that Gasper's preliminary sprint speed is in the average range, so he shouldn't be considered an extremely slow guy (like France and Miranda) so maybe he might have okay range. I am not saying this disproves that he should never play second, just that the jury should or could still be out.

Julien is showing serious progress!  But I'm not with you on Gasper.  I just don't see it.  I can see him backing up first base and as an emergency catcher.

[stringer bell]

1 hour ago, Jeff K said:

Julien is showing serious progress!  But I'm not with you on Gasper.  I just don't see it.  I can see him backing up first base and as an emergency catcher.

Gasper hasn’t done a single thing in the regular season to show he belongs in the majors. I reacted to the absolute the he can’t play second base.