Rays 7, Twins 5: More Harrison Bader Heroics Not Enough to Overcome Bullpen's Inability to Field Position

[JD-TWINS]

DJL44 - what’s there to disagree about?

Wallner is brutal. He’s from Forest Lake and that’s great for fan interest but that’s about his sole contribution lately……..

He’s got 160 AB’s 55% of the way through the season and he’s produced .1 WAR. His OBP is under .300.

He has ability for sure - if one can’t put it to use it doesn’t help. Royce Lewis has ability as well. No doubt, the two biggest disappointments of the year, to date.

Kody Clemens was a DFA claim and in 138 AB’s he’s produced .8 WAR…….to me, there’s no defending Wallner. I like him, and wish him the absolute best but he’s been not very good for some time!

 

[DJL44]

6 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Guys with lower OPS than Wallner since he has been back from his pulled leg muscle? ….. ZERO. He’s somewhere between ,195 - .205 BA, & there is no defense for that!

Player OPS last 28 Days

Lee .780 (and trending down, he had a brutal last week)

Larnach .759

Lewis .732

Correa .708

Jeffers .626

Clemens .616

France .579

Wallner .573

Keirsey .250

Vazquez .200 (with an .054 batting average)

Wallner is bad recently, but he's about equally bad as France and Clemens. Christian Vazquez has a .200 OPS (not batting average, OPS) over that time period and one poster here wants to give him a 2-year contract extension.

[JD-TWINS]

16 hours ago, Western SD Fan said:

This game is like some we see throughout the season.  Had you asked us to go into the series that we won the first two games and had a chance to sweep with Joe Ryan on the mound, we would have been ecstatic with the result.  It's unfortunate the way the game turned out, but I'm going to keep my expectations in check and be happy with the weekend's result.  

As for the game, I'm happy to see that the offense got up off the mat and fought back and not roll over like we have in so many of these games this year and lose 2-1 and saddle Ryan with the hard-luck loss.  We have constantly made the point on TD in the comments and in articles that the lack of focus, fundamentals, and attention to detail will eventually haunt us.  Looks like another refresher in INF fielding practice with PFP is in order.  The Rays are fast as a team, but the Cubs aren't exactly that much slower than the Rays.  I also liked the aggressive send by Watkins for Larnach to score and Wallner attempting to steal another base.  Even though Wallner was ruled out, it's at least shows that someone wants to show initiative and recognize that station to station baserunning isn't working, whether that is just Wallner or a directive from the coaching staff.

I’m assuming that unless the pitcher mistakingly throws out of the Wind-up with Wallner on base, everyone knows Wallner (and most of the rest of the Club) does not have a green light to steal on his own. 

[JD-TWINS]

1 minute ago, DJL44 said:

Player OPS last 28 Days

Lee .780 (and trending down, he had a brutal last week)

Larnach .759

Lewis .732

Correa .708

Jeffers .626

Clemens .616

France .579

Wallner .573

Keirsey .250

Vazquez .200 (with an .054 batting average)

Wallner is bad recently, but he's about equally bad as France and Clemens. Christian Vazquez has a .200 OPS (not batting average, OPS) over that time period and one poster here wants to give him a 2-year contract extension.

Kiersey hardly counts - if anybody is stacking him up in an offensive debate, there is no real debate……..Vazquez has to play because of the scheme the Team uses at catcher, defensively. That said, France has tailed off as well & the formerly DFA’d Clemens has never been expected to be an offensive cog……seems tend on to plug a hole.

Wallner was supposed to be one of the Top 3-4 performers in the line-up going into the season, offensively…….he’s got 28 more AB’s than Clemens and 8 less RBI. It’s tough to have 8 HR & only 14 total RBI……bad ”recently” has been well over a month.

[DJL44]

12 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

DJL44 - what’s there to disagree about?

Wallner is brutal. He’s from Forest Lake and that’s great for fan interest but that’s about his sole contribution lately……..

He’s got 160 AB’s 55% of the way through the season and he’s produced .1 WAR. His OBP is under .300.

He has ability for sure - if one can’t put it to use it doesn’t help. Royce Lewis has ability as well. No doubt, the two biggest disappointments of the year, to date.

Kody Clemens was a DFA claim and in 138 AB’s he’s produced .8 WAR…….to me, there’s no defending Wallner. I like him, and wish him the absolute best but he’s been not very good for some time!

I don't think the past month is a good representation of Wallner's expected performance the rest of the season. I don't know why Wallner is getting singled out when there are 6 other players who have been just as bad, if not worse. It's especially weird to single him out in a game thread where he got a hit.

Actually, I do know why - he strikes out. People would rather watch someone hit weak infield grounders that turn into singles 25% of the time than watch someone who hits HR and strikes out. Wallner is going to be a boom-and-bust player.

[JD-TWINS]

Just now, DJL44 said:

I don't think the past month is a good representation of Wallner's expected performance the rest of the season. I don't know why Wallner is getting singled out when there are 6 other players who have been just as bad, if not worse. It's especially weird to single him out in a game thread where he got a hit.

Actually, I do know why - he strikes out. People would rather watch someone hit weak infield grounders that turn into singles 25% of the time than watch someone who hits HR and strikes out. Wallner is going to be a boom-and-bust player.

I didn’t read any thread about Wallner other than your arguments that he doesn’t deserve criticism. Not jumping on some bandwagon nor blaming him for Sunday’s outcome.  I don’t care about yesterday’s game or Thursday’s game or any other single game ……… he’s been very disappointing nearly every game!

Sunday Jax gave up a couple hits and then got snake bit with 3 consecutive toppers/rollers in front of or adjacent to the mound - Topa failed to make many good pitches and blew up on a routine play to 1B. Between them they gave up 5 runs. Wallner isn’t anywhere near the blame for Sunday, IMO……. He’s 50 points below his OPS+ for last year - he’s been disappointing, routinely since his return from IL………after a handful of decent games immediately upon his return. I don’t get the serious defense of his performance?

I understand he strikes out (love his power) - still, Clemens has 2 more HR in 28 less AB’s - he’s a waiver pick-up, so not an extremely high bar.

[purplesoldier4u]

18 hours ago, Wedman13 said:

More embarrassing is the year by Wallner.  If he wasn't 'from here' he'd be gone.  There has to be someone in AAA or AA that can make contact with a baseball?  A below average fielding corner outfielder, 27 yrs old,(almost 28) , hitting .200 isn't an MLB player.  But I know many in this forum think otherwise.

Not the biggest TK homer, but he would never play him.

The bigger elephant in the room is Correa! At the plate, he looks like he just came up from rookie ball, and his defense no longer outpaces his ineptitude at the plate.

[RpR]

6 minutes ago, purplesoldier4u said:

The bigger elephant in the room is Correa! At the plate, he looks like he just came up from rookie ball, and his defense no longer outpaces his ineptitude at the plate.

His defense is still far, far above any one else in the Twins system.

[Wedman13]

5 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I don't think the past month is a good representation of Wallner's expected performance the rest of the season. I don't know why Wallner is getting singled out when there are 6 other players who have been just as bad, if not worse. It's especially weird to single him out in a game thread where he got a hit.

Actually, I do know why - he strikes out. People would rather watch someone hit weak infield grounders that turn into singles 25% of the time than watch someone who hits HR and strikes out. Wallner is going to be a boom-and-bust player.

Because he is 27.5 yrs old and supposed to be a foundational player.  No different than Correa and Lewis.  Folks can complain about Kiersey, France, etc.

MW was counted on and has failed miserably 

[nddan67]

PFP???!!!!