BOS 3, MIN 0: Fenway Free Fall Continues

I know long relief stats are suspect, but:

When this start was still "to be determined", I thought they might use Mejia so they could use Berrios against Cleveland tomorrow. Maybe they should have... (It did seem weird to give Berrios so much rest before his first start coming out of the break, then carry 6 starters but not give him an extra day before his second start.)

So Morris's Hall of Fame induction ceremony was today (Sunday).

Why did Molitor have to miss Saturday's game too?

For that matter, why did he have to miss any? They played against each other in Legion ball as teenagers, and with each other during Morris's dreadful penultimate season of 1993. Not really seeing the personal connection worth missing two games as manager right before the trade deadline, and during a potential pennant race. (And before anyone cracks wise about the Twins current place in the standings, it was apparently announced some time ago that Molitor would miss these games.) Was it just for a photo op? Boston is only an hour away from Cooperstown by plane, they could have done that Saturday and gotten Molitor back in plenty of time for the 7 PM EST game. If he wants to talk at the ceremony on Sunday, he could Skype.

I actually think more managers/coaches/players should probably miss games for certain family activities, but this struck me as unnecessary.

Edit to add: But maybe I'm just in a bad mood about the 2018 season...

We're blaming losses on the trades now? Anyone remember Kansas City? The FO absolutely did the right thing. The Twins are not even .500!

Was .500 the required threshold? We were 13-8 and gained 2 games on Cleveland since Polanco came back (and that's not too cherry-picked, since we lost the first 3 games of that sample and fell 3 games further back, before making up 5).

If the front office required us to go 18-3 over that stretch to avoid selling... well, maybe we should have started selling sooner. (I guess many here will agree with that statement anyway but a lot us did want to see how the team responded once Polanco came back in the weeks leading up to the deadline, and the response from the team so far had been good. Erv too. Not perfect, but arguably enough to stave off selling.)

the real question is why hasn't the fire sale continued? at this point, probably another half dozen guys that either need to or should be traded.

It is the same all over the league. The best guys have pretty much all been dealt, and buyers can afford to wait it out with the remains until the deadline or into August.

Well, you'll have to get the presses ready for the other Surrender shirts for GMs. The Cardinals are above .500 and they're selling, I guess I'll make a Mike Girsch I Surrender t-shirt as well.

Cardinals aren't really selling, at least not like the Twins. They traded away one reliever (with a below league average K rate) in one deal, and acquired a MLB reliever (and another MLB-ready one) in another trade. They also DFA'd two veteran relievers and promoted a couple top pitching prospects. Seems to be a reload/reorganization.

San Fran and Pittsburgh haven't sold yet either, and have been rumored to be buyers.

The Twins were pretty much the closest contenders to really sell, so far.

How anyone thinks we are contending 6-8 games under .500 is fooling themselves.

To be fair, we were only 5 games under when we traded Escobar. I think the further back we are, the easier it becomes, which is why it hurt a bit to do it at that exact point, after we had gained since Polanco's return.

I wonder what players Arizona and Houston were ready to move on to, because it would have been nice to take it up to the actual deadline, finishing the Boston challenge and getting one crack at Cleveland. Although if the FO was going to sell anyway, it may have hurt then even more.

I guess I have a hard time seeing a team as a contender if they can't win more games than they lose over 100 games.

 

It's tricky for Twins fans, because they do remember 2017, 2009, and 2003. All 3 of those years, the Twins made the postseason after failing win more than they lost through 100 games. So it seems a bit more complicated than that.

And if you're not a contender....why act like one?

Also, there are degrees of acting like a contender. Personally, I wasn't advocating buying at this point, unless perhaps there was a real bargain to be had upgrading a weak spot like Morrison. Mostly just the lowest form of "acting like a contender": making some internal moves (Polanco and Ervin?) and keeping the roster together.