Rays 2, Twins 1: López Is Brilliant, but the Offense Remains Cold

53 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

I know that my opinion flies in the face of "modern" thinking, but I would prefer to see a return to fundamental, team baseball.  By this I mean:

Hustling at all times

Hitting the cutoff man

Being aware of what's going on around you (such as Kepler not advancing on Taylor's steal of third)

Attempting to hit (not obliterate) a baseball

Putting the team goals ahead of personal goals

Allowing healthy players to play every day (not have scheduled days off)

To accomplish at least some of the above goals, a whole new mindset is necessary.  And that means changes not only to the roster, but also to the front office, the manager, and the coaching staff.  I have always been a strong proponent of the current front office and of Rocco Baldelli, but I will admit the error of my ways.  The season may still be salvageable but changes need to happen fast.  Otherwise, the next off-season better be a thorough cleansing.

Well put ,,, it will be a lost season  If they don't act fast  ...

9 hours ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

According to Gleeman, Kepler informed the Twins he is not willing to play CF anymore.

Is this for real?  If so, why is Kepler still on this team?  

Players deciding where they want to play.  One player anointing himself GM and deciding Buxton's a full time DH now.  This organization is broken.  

I continue to be extremely concerned that the longer we hang on to this FO and manager, the longer it is going to take to repair the damage done.  

Kepler cost them the game last night. Taylor steals third in the ninth and Kepler is inexplicably frozen on first. He would have tied on the subsequent single even he had merely walked to second on the back end of the steal. Instead, the Twins only score one run. 

He should be DFA'd. The only arguments to keep him are bad: the FO should have moved him in the off-season and didn't ; and/or they don't want to eat the remaining $3 or $4 million in compensation due him.

Wallner and Larnach are fully capable of stepping in. At 25 and 26, there are expiration dates on them too. 

Is Falvey really willing to let their pride decide his actions?  

1 hour ago, terrydactyls said:

I know that my opinion flies in the face of "modern" thinking, but I would prefer to see a return to fundamental, team baseball.  By this I mean:

Hustling at all times

Hitting the cutoff man

Being aware of what's going on around you (such as Kepler not advancing on Taylor's steal of third)

Attempting to hit (not obliterate) a baseball

Putting the team goals ahead of personal goals

Allowing healthy players to play every day (not have scheduled days off)

To accomplish at least some of the above goals, a whole new mindset is necessary.  And that means changes not only to the roster, but also to the front office, the manager, and the coaching staff.  I have always been a strong proponent of the current front office and of Rocco Baldelli, but I will admit the error of my ways.  The season may still be salvageable but changes need to happen fast.  Otherwise, the next off-season better be a thorough cleansing.

Trevor in the booth was practically begging for the Twins to be bunting on that Castro AB, correctly pointing out how difficult a play in general for the 3B it was. In the game that I grew up with, a left handed light hitting speed guy was essentially assumed to be doing that; it made all the sense in the world given the context of the 9th inning last night.

But no evidence of that level of thinking in the Twins dugout. Besides, Trevor said it was "unpopular". 

1 hour ago, terrydactyls said:

I know that my opinion flies in the face of "modern" thinking, but I would prefer to see a return to fundamental, team baseball.  

The thing is, there are no analytics that tell you not to hustle or play fundamentals.  The "modern" thinking is based on fundamental misunderstanding of statistics.  Just because the numbers tell you bunting is not the best way to score piles of runs over the long haul doesn't mean you should never bunt (sometimes 1 run is all you need!).  Just because the numbers tell you home runs are the most efficient way to score doesn't mean you should ignore all other baseball skills (defense, contact, baserunning) and only focus on power.  Just because double plays are unfortunate doesn't mean that strikeouts are totally fine.  Just because process is important doesn't make process more important than results.  It's just so frustrating to watch game after game of "it aint working" and seeing literally nothing change.  

26 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Duran, gray, both Lopezes, Ryan all gone under your scenario.. Who are your starting pitchers with three of them gone? 

How predictable you come to Falvine defense Mike.  We have Chase Petty ( or someone else drafted) back for Gray.  Would have had Presley and Escobar in place of Duran.  Considering we would have 6 yrs of redrafting and international signings I am betting we could have produced more pitchers than Ober and Varland - but that is just my thoughts.  

38 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

I'd like to see them all fired before the draft if the rumors are true that they're looking at passing on one of the top 5 guys. 

I don't think I've heard this rumor, can you expand on this?  Why would they do that?  

Intentionally took a night off from Twins "Baseball" last evening and instead enjoyed some NBA Basketball background to vinyl on the turntable. After reading thru the posts it sounds like a wise decision in terms of blood pressure, karma, psyche....The post by "Beast" probable would sum up my frustration best had I chosen otherwise. Except that he forgot Brent Rooker. 

One question no one has asked is who would you vote to the Allstar game? I don't see a single position player on this roster. I think only Gray,Ryan,or Duran will get any chance. That should tell everyone all we need to know. This team is done and will sink like a stone from here just like last year. I will be interested in the Vikings from here. Been a Twins fan since 1961 and see the hand writing on the wall. 

51 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

How does 20 year old, high A ball Chase Petty help the current Twins situation? It's not even about defending Falvine, it's about this exercise you're attempting to do not really being useful. Which international signings would've been made with your "intern GM" in place? Why is MLB's scouting rankings the decision maker and not Baseball America, Keith Law, Fangraphs, etc. etc. etc., and what would those picks actually have been? To Mike's question, who would the rotation have been this year? If you're going to do the exercise do the whole exercise, and don't just pick out the bad moves and say "if these had never happened they'd be much better now." What would this team look like based on your "intern GM" theory?

Go through every move they made and neutralize it with your "intern GM" idea and tell us what the 2023 MN Twins 26 Man roster would look like. Then we can see how improved it'd be.

Use whatever draft ranking service you want.  I am not going to analyze 6 yrs of moves and redraft the entire 6 yrs (Joe Pohlad should ask for this analysis though).  International signings could be done as simply take the money and sign the highest rated players possible - with what the money allows. The point is the duo have added virtually nothing during their 6+ yr tenure and having a very inexperienced person would not have produced any fewer playoff wins (zero thus far).  The straw argument that there would be no pitching does not fly.  If we don’t sign players to extensions then we would have fielded trade proposals which would have netted something back.  Are those assets pitching, don’t know as it is theoretical, but may have been.  Bottom line is Falvine have done virtually nothing since they arrived that a majority of the people on this website could not have accomplished - with the possibility that  a few could have done more.

As far as the argument of laying out a plan what I or someone else would have done over the last 6 yrs, give me 1/10 of what those two have earned thus far and I would be happy to spend the time to do so.

I just had to laugh at the headline.  Saying our offense is cold is like saying the South Pole is a tad bit chilly.

1 hour ago, Johnny Ringo said:

Kepler cost them the game last night. Taylor steals third in the ninth and Kepler is inexplicably frozen on first. He would have tied on the subsequent single even he had merely walked to second on the back end of the steal. Instead, the Twins only score one run. 

Disagree here. He can’t get thrown out at 2nd and be the second out. They need that runner on third with one out to keep the sac fly in order. No way the Rays let him walk to second.