Royals 8, Twins 2: Bobby Witt Jr. Ignites Royals Against Sparkless Twins

[The Great Hambino]

That sure didn't look like a team that was pumped up with a shot in the arm on the heels of their trade deadline activity.  Wasn't that supposed to be a factor in the equation in buying while facing long playoff odds as opposed to maximizing value?

I think the value of morale or whatever you want to call it that is supposed to be generated by their trade deadline direction gets greatly overstated.  It's just one game, but they're on notice

That's three lackluster starts in a row now for Joe

[TheLeviathan]

1 minute ago, The Great Hambino said:

That sure didn't look like a team that was pumped up with a shot in the arm on the heels of their trade deadline activity.  Wasn't that supposed to be a factor in the equation in buying while facing long playoff odds as opposed to maximizing value?

I think the value of morale or whatever you want to call it that is supposed to be generated by their trade deadline direction gets greatly overstated.  It's just one game, but they're on notice

That's three lackluster starts in a row now for Joe

It feels like whatever fan goodwill is supposedly created by this "buy" is going to be evaporated really, really quickly if this team buries itself before September.

[Ricky Vaughn]

It pains me to say this but I see a 4-11 record in the next 15 games.

[umterp23]

7 hours ago, Sampson5 said:

Alright man time to wake up and call up someone who can provide value no reason gray or Jackson should be on the roster pretty wild they didn't move Jackson the moment they decided to keep Jeffers really stupid roster Management to roster 3 catchers while your top 2 catchers are healthy . Bullpen being improved won't matter if your scoring only a few runs a game . 

Move gray, Martin to AAA. Hell DFA Gray. We have redundancy with Martin & Keaschall, so Martin hasn’t played well in a couple months and Keaschall is your OF who isn’t really and OF. Clemens is core utility guy. If you don’t want a rookie, bring up Wallner for OF. He is in purgatory hell at moment. 
 

‘Work the phones after you DFA Jackson when Buxton is ready which may not be for awhile and see if you can get something for nothing. No serious team chasing playoffs uses 3 catchers on 26 man. 

[laloesch]

1 hour ago, Coach said:

Maybe it's time to wake up and let Jenkins and Culpepper smell a cup of coffee.

THIS.

[Saxophone Joe]

Joe’s postgame presser didn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Q: Are you confident arm fatigue isn’t an issue? A: (long pause)…Um…yeah…I…uh…guess…just frustrating.

Very cool! 

[DJL44]

Based on the majority of comments, this loss is clearly all Tristan Gray’s fault.

[bean5302]

7 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Based on the majority of comments, this loss is clearly all Tristan Gray’s fault.

I have it on good authority this is Joe Mauer's fault.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

Wallner and Sabato are each displaying the same talent. 

Where would you use Wallner? Sabato? 

wait... what? Since June 1st. I trust I don't have to add the names, lol

.292/.393/.661 OPS 1.054, .368 ISO, 10.9% BB, 26.4% K. wRC+ 159
vs
.281/.339/.544 OPS .883, .263 ISO, 7.3% BB, 22.0% K, wRC+ 118

That is not remotely close to similar.

[thelanges5]

57 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

It feels like whatever fan goodwill is supposedly created by this "buy" is going to be evaporated really, really quickly if this team buries itself before September.

Agreed - Tom said it himself, they need to “f****** win” 

[HarmonK03]

53 minutes ago, umterp23 said:

Move gray, Martin to AAA. Hell DFA Gray. We have redundancy with Martin & Keaschall, so Martin hasn’t played well in a couple months and Keaschall is your OF who isn’t really and OF. Clemens is core utility guy. If you don’t want a rookie, bring up Wallner for OF. He is in purgatory hell at moment. 
 

‘Work the phones after you DFA Jackson when Buxton is ready which may not be for awhile and see if you can get something for nothing. No serious team chasing playoffs uses 3 catchers on 26 man. 

I commented on another post about Martin.  Martin actually had a good month of July when he went to more of a role player again.  He had an OPS of .766 and ave of .250.

I am not sure who we have that would perform better than Martin currently.

[mikelink45]

Wow does this loss feel bad - 8 - 9 after the break and getting ready for Atlanta and Phillie!  Joe Ryan needs a week off - send him to Cancun.  When Randy Dobnak looks like a star pitcher you know you are bad.  Sorry Randy I am delighted to see you succeeding, but...

Now as for the Offense - thanks Lewis and Bell for giving us something.  Roden is not the answer - yes I am repeating and repeating myself.  214 BA 514 OPS is not good enough that is 49 OPS+

And Martin is not the answer nor is Gray, Kriedler or Caratini.  I am not sure they would be the answer but Culpepper, Jenkins, Gonzales, Wallner, Mendez could be.  Let's find out.

And, as for the improved BP.  Adams 5.67 era, Taylor Rogers 5.09 era, are not the answers.  And I wait to see if Kremer can turn some corner.

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, umterp23 said:

Move gray, Martin to AAA. Hell DFA Gray. We have redundancy with Martin & Keaschall, so Martin hasn’t played well in a couple months and Keaschall is your OF who isn’t really and OF. Clemens is core utility guy. If you don’t want a rookie, bring up Wallner for OF. He is in purgatory hell at moment. 
 

‘Work the phones after you DFA Jackson when Buxton is ready which may not be for awhile and see if you can get something for nothing. No serious team chasing playoffs uses 3 catchers on 26 man. 

I don't believe there is anymore "working the phones" on DFA'd players after the deadline. I believe they did away with that rule. There's no getting something for Jackson anymore this season.

[Patzky]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

I have it on good authority this is Joe Mauer's fault.

It's gotta be Barack Obama's fault 

[DJL44]

38 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

And, as for the improved BP.  Adams 5.67 era, Taylor Rogers 5.09 era, are not the answers.  And I wait to see if Kremer can turn some corner.

Taylor Rogers does not look like he belongs in a contender’s bullpen.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/taylor-rogers-573124?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb

He is has been easy to hit, but difficult to hit hard. He is very dependent on his defense.

[h2oface]

9 hours ago, knothole61 said:

I'm not a sports psychologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Ryan, I think, is a very unusual fellow. I'm guessing, of course, but I feel that he needs lots of positive California vibes, and I also suspect that he's not too happy to be stuck with a team that he may feel is beneath his dignity. Attitude rules in pro sports, and if Ryan had been dealt to the Cubs at the deadline I believe that his performance would have improved dramatically as a result. C'est la vie! 

This is one of the most assumptive and misguided posts I have ever read on this site. No basis for any of your assertions on his state of mind, or any other 20 something on this or any other team. Trash a performance, dislike a player, have an opinion on a player’s  hustle or effort or talent or any other behavior, fine. All fair game. To assume or suggest you know what they are thinking is embarrassing for you. 

[jkcarew]

There’s 2nd-half Joe…and then there’s this. Getting knocked around by the 2026 Royals with AND without Witt Jr. Something’s wrong with the arm, right?

[1985Fan]

3 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Wallner and Sabato are each displaying the same talent. 

Where would you use Wallner? Sabato? 

That’s the problem, Wallner is strictly a DH, so Bell would have to be DFA’d to make room. When it seems like he’s cooked, he hits a home run like last night. He does just enough to keep himself in the lineup. They like his veteran presence in the club house, so I don’t see a DFA happening, unless they keep playing like they are and completely fall out of contention. 
Sabato should be given a chance at 1B to see if he can add RH power. Then the problem is where to play Lewis. Unless they keep losing, I don’t see either Wallner or Sabato given a chance. It would be great if they were to play and at least create some trade value for the offseason. 

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

wait... what? Since June 1st. I trust I don't have to add the names, lol

.292/.393/.661 OPS 1.054, .368 ISO, 10.9% BB, 26.4% K. wRC+ 159
vs
.281/.339/.544 OPS .883, .263 ISO, 7.3% BB, 22.0% K, wRC+ 118

That is not remotely close to similar.

You can also compare Sabato and Wallner to Ryan Kreidler, or if AAA is your thing, use Kaelen Culpepper as an example. The numbers work for you. They absolutely do not work for the Twins.

[tony&rodney]

2 minutes ago, 1985Fan said:

That’s the problem, Wallner is strictly a DH, so Bell would have to be DFA’d to make room. When it seems like he’s cooked, he hits a home run like last night. He does just enough to keep himself in the lineup. They like his veteran presence in the club house, so I don’t see a DFA happening, unless they keep playing like they are and completely fall out of contention. 
Sabato should be given a chance at 1B to see if he can add RH power. Then the problem is where to play Lewis. Unless they keep losing, I don’t see either Wallner or Sabato given a chance. It would be great if they were to play and at least create some trade value for the offseason. 

Which is the obvious reasons we have what we have. 

There are some who wanted expanded rosters and multiple DH guys in the lineup at the same time. Doesn't seem like a plan.

[Saxophone Joe]

Reading Dan Hayes’ report, I would bet on Joe going on the IL before his next start.

[David Maro]

DFA this guy or that guy isn't going to help a team that can't hit pitches in the bottom of the zone. Every team is now pitching this team at the bottom of zone. The other thing is with the stacked RH lineup against LH starting pitching Clemens is the best hitter. 

The SP has been terrible since the break giving up runs in the 1st and 2nd inning game after game. Hard to win when you have to come back from a deficit again and again. Really tired of the booth saying Taj this and Joe that when you see they are at 40 pitches after 2 innings. Hopefully the new SP with a 6+ ERA can get passed the first 2 innings tonight.

I turned last nights game off after the 3rd inning because I saw the hand writing on the wall. This team can't keep Witt off the bases and a single or a walk is the same as a double. The time is now to show up or look to next year.

[saviking]

6 hours ago, CRF said:

Disgusting. Yeah, we put a few more arms on the pitching staff, but this team still can't hit a lick when they need to. Dobnak looks like a Cy Young candidate against us. 

Dobnak epitomizes the Twins futility. Outbuilding Ryan two games in a row adds salt to the wounds 

[Andy MacPhail]

8 hours ago, jkcarew said:

There’s 2nd-half Joe…and then there’s this. Getting knocked around by the 2026 Royals with AND without Witt Jr. Something’s wrong with the arm, right?

IMO, Joe needs some time off to regain his strength & edge back. Keep pitching will not do so. He's not pitching well, the way the light KCs bats were hitting him, proves that. The avid anti-Dobnok fan can't believe that he ever had & still have any value. He is proving them wrong.

[knothole61]

12 hours ago, h2oface said:

This is one of the most assumptive and misguided posts I have ever read on this site. No basis for any of your assertions on his state of mind, or any other 20 something on this or any other team. Trash a performance, dislike a player, have an opinion on a player’s  hustle or effort or talent or any other behavior, fine. All fair game. To assume or suggest you know what they are thinking is embarrassing for you. 

It's called conjecture wateface, fodder for respectful responses rather than your vicious takedown.

You sir are misguided to assume that players are not prone to psychological motivations and that at times these may become predominant. There's no reason to be embarrassed about wondering what makes these skilled and very intense people tick. Who are you to presume to tell anyone what factors regarding a players performance are legitimate fields of inquiry ...who indeed?

Having said that, I'm certainly willing to admit that Joe may be happy as a Twin and happy within himself...although I can't help wondering sometimes. What I am sure of is that you need to calm down. Your frequent fits of vituperation are "embarrassing for you."