Rays 4, Twins 1: Simeon Woods Richardson Dominates, No Other Good Things Happen

[mikelink45]

14 hours ago, Dave Borton said:

I follow the box scores and was curious how the Twins stack up with team hitting.

29th at .192, with only Cleveland below them.

We jump all the way to 21 in OBP, and 27 in Slugging.  

[mikelink45]

Now we get the Tigers, Blue Jays and Red Sox.  Everyone struggles in the early season so we can wake up against good teams or drift to our natural position in the standings.  By the way, where is Tom Pohlad?

[David Maro]

This team is beyond bad at this point and totally unwatchable. Wallner looks uninterested in the box swinging at pitches feet out of the zone. But he isn't the only one,pick a name they all are doing the same. Their SP pitched great and got zero support from his team mate's. They are now were they belong in last place as I said they would be weeks ago.

[BrokenCompass]

Listless, lifeless, uninteresting and uninspiring. 

This has to be the worst team to watch in baseball, I can't imagine there's anything worse on TV than the Twins at this point. 

[Woof Bronzer]

 

15 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Wallner with only one RBI again. Totally his fault. 

Is it his fault that he struck out in the 9th as the game winning run?   

46%Ks, -0.1 WAR so far.  Oh and I checked, his wRC+ is 97.   Are any of these things his fault?

Matt Wallner breaks brains.  

[Woof Bronzer]

13 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Way too early to get down. April is tough for baseball and we all should be aware of the squad's limitations. I'm not seeing anyone give up. That is something. 

You know I respect you greatly...but I feel like you have much higher standards than crediting the team for not giving up on the season by April 6.  

[tony&rodney]

4 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

You know I respect you greatly...but I feel like you have much higher standards than crediting the team for not giving up on the season by April 6.  

The talent level is a step low. It isn't one guy or one thing. We see it in ground balls, on throws from infielders, on balls 30 feet hit from the foul line rolling by the outfielders, and so forth. For three years, since October of 2023 I made crazy suggestions for trades in attempts to find a way for the club to upgrade the athleticism. Pitching is the key to winning and offense is needed or you lose 0-1, but if the defense is decrepit the pitchers are constantly trying to do more like going for strikeouts. All I'm saying is that it is going to take time. There isn't much to hang our fandom on right now. The roster construction is among the worst we have seen. My one comment to the coaches is a hope that the team can vastly reduce mental errors. This is most often seen on fielding plays or on the bases, but the batters can be more tuned into what they should do at the plate as well. Baseball always has another game, so there is room to improve. As far as standards I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, Woof Bronzer said:

 

Is it his fault that he struck out in the 9th as the game winning run?   

46%Ks, -0.1 WAR so far.  Oh and I checked, his wRC+ is 97.   Are any of these things his fault?

Matt Wallner breaks brains.  

None of that is good. None of that makes him awful either. If you expect him to get a hit all the time, good luck. He's not hitting well though right now, but the criticism is over the top. People here say he only hits one run homers.... It's hard to do better if there is rarely anyone on base in front of him. Yes, he was truly bad last year in late and close situations, but he's given the Twins the lead twice this year, iirc. It's not his fault no one else hit yesterday. 

[JD-TWINS]

17 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

Some people don't like Wallner but without him right now, we have multiple shutouts. Does anyone else hit for power? We didn't like so many strikeouts, me included, but a team that doesn't hit for power (or much of anything) and strikes out a lot is even harder to watch (or listen to).

Maybe if they aren’t all trying to imitate Killebrew and put the ball in play, strikeouts would drop, hits would come and they may score some runs………..Wallner had two hits and Martin had a swinging bunt for a hit - that’s it for the group.

Buxton had 2 good games to open the season and since he’s had 1 hit over his next 6 games …….. his OPS+ is 19…….. Lee’s OPS+ is 23. He literally looks like a guy that played in the 80’s/90’s at an “old timers game” when he’s in the box, left handed. Hits THE softest ground balls to 2B I’ve witnessed at MLB level.

7 of 13 guys hitting .194 or below.

Keaschall & Martin are bright spots hitting around .230 with .235 Slug %. If things don’t change v. Detroit, some roster action has to take place!

Outman DFA’d & Lee to AAA. That’s a start.

I live in Cincinnati and watched Martinez pitch last two seasons - he can occasionally hold teams to a run or two through 7 innings (once or twice per year) BUT NOT one hit! Pathetic!!!

[JD-TWINS]

I look at many comments daily here as many do………. not bitching, just pointing out what I see as obvious, the comments often discuss defense and bullpen & I get it, everything matters to get wins …….. through 9 games both Abel & Ober appear to be on the edge of not being able to be used in the rotation, without significant turnarounds. The OFFENSE is hapless……. that is the ROOT problem. Having picked up a FA reliever of note, for $10M or whatever, does this Club very little good because they cannot score, because as a group, they cannot hit!

[JD-TWINS]

25 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

None of that is good. None of that makes him awful either. If you expect him to get a hit all the time, good luck. He's not hitting well though right now, but the criticism is over the top. People here say he only hits one run homers.... It's hard to do better if there is rarely anyone on base in front of him. Yes, he was truly bad last year in late and close situations, but he's given the Twins the lead twice this year, iirc. It's not his fault no one else hit yesterday. 

Your facts are correct & it’s not ALL his fault BUT he’s hitting .194 this year & last year he hit .202……….regardless of who or how many guys are on base. That is not a MLB level player.

His two successful seasons (‘23 & ‘24) he spent big chunks of time at AAA working on himself - I know he is theoretically past that stage - practically, I don’t think that he is. I wish him the best but have little to no confidence he can get on track at the MLB level, without a trip to St Paul

[Woof Bronzer]

2 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

None of that is good. None of that makes him awful either. If you expect him to get a hit all the time, good luck. He's not hitting well though right now, but the criticism is over the top. People here say he only hits one run homers.... It's hard to do better if there is rarely anyone on base in front of him. Yes, he was truly bad last year in late and close situations, but he's given the Twins the lead twice this year, iirc. It's not his fault no one else hit yesterday. 

I think Wallner is fine, a one tool player but it's a valuable tool, especially given his contract.  Teams like the Twins are never going to compete for the big free agent sluggers, so they need to identify and leverage cost-effective alternatives. 

I also think his absolute ceiling is, what, 3 WAR?  And his floor is AAA?  I mean, it just seems weird to get worked up one way or the other about guys like Matt Wallner.  It really must be the Forest Lake thing.  

[Mike Sixel]

1 minute ago, Woof Bronzer said:

I think Wallner is fine, a one tool player but it's a valuable tool, especially given his contract.  Teams like the Twins are never going to compete for the big free agent sluggers, so they need to identify and leverage cost-effective alternatives. 

I also think his absolute ceiling is, what, 3 WAR?  And his floor is AAA?  I mean, it just seems weird to get worked up one way or the other about guys like Matt Wallner.  It really must be the Forest Lake thing.  

For me, it is a response to the hate (and it is hate) he gets on this site......I'm fairly indifferent to him long term. Short term? He should be on this team to see if he can hit like he did a couple years ago (since they aren't winning anything this year, and he's cheap). 

[KirbyDome89]

2 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

None of that is good. None of that makes him awful either. If you expect him to get a hit all the time, good luck. He's not hitting well though right now, but the criticism is over the top. People here say he only hits one run homers.... It's hard to do better if there is rarely anyone on base in front of him. Yes, he was truly bad last year in late and close situations, but he's given the Twins the lead twice this year, iirc. It's not his fault no one else hit yesterday. 

Wallner isn't getting on base either (.256 OBP) and the K% is abysmal. Being mad that teammates aren't filling the bases in front of him feel like deflection given how rough Wallner has looked to start the year. 

[Mike Sixel]

19 minutes ago, KirbyDome89 said:

Wallner isn't getting on base either (.256 OBP) and the K% is abysmal. Being mad that teammates aren't filling the bases in front of him feel like deflection given how rough Wallner has looked to start the year. 

I'm not mad at any of them. It's sports. I'm annoyed with the commentary on this site over "empty" home runs early in games....

[bean5302]

From the game.

[KirbyDome89]

48 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

I'm not mad at any of them. It's sports. I'm annoyed with the commentary on this site over "empty" home runs early in games....

Ok, but I think that's a pretty small part of the Wallner criticism, and tbh Idk if "emptiness," is the right word but you said it yourself, he was bad in close games and late situations. 

If we're listing complains I'd love for people (not saying you're doing this) to stop equating the view of Wallner as a flawed player with "hate." 

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

I'm not mad at any of them. It's sports. I'm annoyed with the commentary on this site over "empty" home runs early in games....

I don't see many people complaining  about "empty HRs." 

Plenty of people look past the occasional long ball and see how little he has been adding outside those rare dingers. 

Others look at the decent SLG, and ignore everything else.

Meanwhile, the Twins struggle to score runs. SOMEbody shares some responsibility. 

[Hashim]

20 hours ago, DarrenPS said:

Maannn Sim looked good today, that homerun he gave up was a wild swing from Caminero, no clue how he got all of that. Don't blame the bullpen for the deficiency of the bats right now. Need Keaschall and Buxton to get out of their slumps or nothing else really matters. Baseball is a game of momentum and really only those two & Royce create their own (maybe Wallner too). Gotta get it back

Caminero is a beast. 45 home runs last year. Why can’t we have nice things/players like him 😢😢