Rays 7, Twins 1: Rays Run Wild Over Abel and the Twins

[LambchoP]

Outman needs to go. He would probably even clear waivers at this point. Bring up Roden. Then, if Wallner can't learn to hit by the end of April send him down for a reset and call up Rodriguez. Give Lee a month or two to figure it out. If he can't, give Culpeper a shot.

[Hunter4848]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

Look hard enough on the internet and you can find just about any opinion. There are few people who believe this Twins team is built for contending. Most of the people attending games don’t believe that.

Tons of people believe Tom's comments when he said they were going to compete thos year 

[bean5302]

Personally, I believe the Twins should have torn it down, traded Lopez, Ryan, and Buxton for sure and built a beast of a farm system.

I also posted a true reconstruction to be competitive after Tom fired Falvey. A legitimate, lets be competitive in 2026 plan. It would have thinned the farm a bit, bumped the payroll a bit, and it would have resulted in higher payrolls in 2027+ as more players would have been arb eligible, but it was a legit plan IMHO.

Then there's what the Twins did. Juuuuuust about nothing. There is a high ceiling on the team, but it requires so many things to go right, and already a couple major things have gone sideways (Lopez, Matthews). Oh well. It is what it is.

Anyway, it's MLB through April 4th. These are the players the front office wanted so it's time to stick by them and see what they can do for at least a full month, probably until mid-May before advocating for demotions, etc. IMHO, there are few things which hurt inexperienced player performance more than a quick hook. The belief every single pitch or swing has to be perfect or you're going to AAA is a horrible thing. In the office world, nothing creates an environment which is more hostile, distracting and dysfunctional than feeling like you're under a microscope.

It's also 35* out there...

[ashbury]

12 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

The belief every single pitch or swing has to be perfect or you're going to AAA is a horrible thing. In the office world, nothing creates an environment which is more hostile, distracting and dysfunctional than feeling like you're under a microscope.

Guess what, the microscopes come out anyway in October.  You risk molding a team that will fall apart under the bright lights.

[AceWrigley]

26 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

In the office world, nothing creates an environment which is more hostile, distracting and dysfunctional than feeling like you're under a microscope.

One place I worked had such a bad performance/job loss ratio we handed out "Salesman of the Minute" awards.

[AceWrigley]

30 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Personally, I believe the Twins should have torn it down, traded Lopez, Ryan, and Buxton for sure and built a beast of a farm system.

I was convinced this was going to be the plan this off season, but then they held, kept Outman, signed Larnach and Caratini and a clown car of dubious relievers. I wonder if Falvey would have been let go if he had torn it down.

[HarmonK03]

For those who keep saying Buxton should be traded, most of you know he can't be traded without his permission.  Why keep banging this drum.  He has to realistically know the odds of this team winning and at least his public comments indicate he wants to be here.  And to some degree I believe him, he does seem like the type of person that does want to play on one team and does value loyalty.

We already have prospects that we could call up, but can this field staff develop them better than the previous staff.  To keep trading for more prospects is not going to work if you won't play and develop them.

[ashbury]

29 minutes ago, AceWrigley said:

One place I worked had such a bad performance/job loss ratio we handed out "Salesman of the Minute" awards.

"Always Be Closin- whoops goodbye."

[TheLeviathan]

You know what the worst part of all of this is?

The team isn't even young.  They're closer by average age to the oldest team in the league than they are the youngest.

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

Abel got 2 strikes often but doesn't seem to have a pitch to put away hitters MLB yet. Too often they worked the count full and got on base. He only has around 50 innings pitched in the majors. Still plenty of time for him to figure it out. 

This ABS challenge needs to go. Just do the electronic strike zone and get it over with. 

Unfortunately, I feel like the league figured out Outman and he isn't going to adjust. The team has already moved on from Julien and Miranda, and they had far more success in the majors than Outman has. His defense isn't even good.

Larnach and Bell in the field is about as ugly as it gets. Yikes! 

[stringer bell]

4 hours ago, RpR said:

Right now Caratini's caught stealing rate is 37.5 percent, 0 wild pitches, 0 passed balls; Jeffers' caught stealing rate is 0 percent, 0 wild pitches, 4 passed balls.

Are you inventing these numbers? I don’t remember Jeffers being charged with a single passed ball. 

[USAFChief]

43 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Are you inventing these numbers? I don’t remember Jeffers being charged with a single passed ball. 

@RpRhas it backwards.

Jeffers has zero passed balls in 2026. Four wild pitches while he's been behind the plate.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jeffery01.shtml#all_players_standard_fielding

 

[RpR]

6 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Are you inventing these numbers? I don’t remember Jeffers being charged with a single passed ball. 

Jeffers

Cartini

 

 

[USAFChief]

6 minutes ago, RpR said:

Jeffers

Cartini

 

 

As posted, Jeffers has 0 passed balls, 4 wild pitches so far in 2026.

 

I gave a link to the appropriate BBR page 

[Woof Bronzer]

21 hours ago, bean5302 said:

. The belief every single pitch or swing has to be perfect or you're going to AAA is a horrible thing. In the office world, nothing creates an environment which is more hostile, distracting and dysfunctional than feeling like you're under a microscope.

It's professional sports.  You ARE under a microscope, always.  Literally every single thing every player does on the field is recorded, viewed, analyzed.  Baseball statistics are robust and easily available.  Teams know every single detail about a player's approach, off the field training, diet/nutrition, etc.  If an MLB player isn't good enough there are 10,000 players ready to take their place.  If you don't feel like you're under a microscope you're probably not going to last very long in the league.  Brooks Lee should feel like he is playing for his career as an MLB starter right now.  Royce Lewis should feel the same. 

Baseball is not an office job.  

Accountability is good. 

[bean5302]

3 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

It's professional sports.  You ARE under a microscope, always.  Literally every single thing every player does on the field is recorded, viewed, analyzed.  Baseball statistics are robust and easily available.  Teams know every single detail about a player's approach, off the field training, diet/nutrition, etc.  If an MLB player isn't good enough there are 10,000 players ready to take their place.  If you don't feel like you're under a microscope you're probably not going to last very long in the league.  Brooks Lee should feel like he is playing for his career as an MLB starter right now.  Royce Lewis should feel the same. 

Baseball is not an office job.  

Accountability is good. 

There's a huge difference from knowing everything you do is watched and tracked vs. if you strike out at this plate appearance, you'll probably get demoted.

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

There's a huge difference from knowing everything you do is watched and tracked vs. if you strike out at this plate appearance, you'll probably get demoted.

There's not a single player in MLB history whose career is determined by one PA.

Conversely, every single PA is, and should be, part of determining that career. A player should put maximum effort and concentration into everything he does on the field. All game. Every game. 

Edited April 6 by USAFChief

[Woof Bronzer]

4 hours ago, bean5302 said:

There's a huge difference from knowing everything you do is watched and tracked vs. if you strike out at this plate appearance, you'll probably get demoted.

Is there evidence that the Twins are telling guys if they strike out they'll get demoted?  I agree, that would be ill advised.