Twins 3, Tigers 6: Twins Home Runs Not Enough to Stop Tigers from Roaring

7 hours ago, h2oface said:

Scripted in advance again by the genius manager.

Look, I don't want to see Noah Davis out there either, because he doesn't look like he belongs on a major-league roster. But let's not pretend that there are a lot of options in the bullpen right now. Who exactly was supposed to come in and throw? They wiped out the bullpen and the most competent remaining arms all threw the night before, so where exactly were they going to (hopefully) get some length? Rocco's getting fired along with everyone else if the team is sold, so maybe skip the gratuitous insults.

Adams actually looked like a prospect. He's got a lot of pitches that he can throw for strikes, just not sure that he has enough quality on any of them to consistently get guys out. But it was a pretty good outing, and he was fun to watch the first 4 innings and battled through the 5th.

Happy as I am to see some big flies going out, it would be nice to get some guys on base in front of them. Need to get more baserunners, draw some walks to go along with the hits, but when 5 guys have an OBP under .300 it's going to be hard.

Roden looking like a Quad-A player right now; 1-13 with 6 K's and zero walks since joining the Twins. Oof.

11 hours ago, Linus said:

Julien with another shaky game in the field. I am looking forward to Keaschall taking over at 2nd. 

Yes.  I've had enough of Julien for some time now.

We started this last spring training with a very strong OF, deep defensively & offensively. INF was fragile, with injury-prone Lewis, Correa & Lee & insistence of keeping starting Julien at 2B, who is a liability both defensively & offensively. The keystone position is very valuable where you need a good glove, quick reactions, range & smooth DPs. Martin is our best defensive player to play 2B, but he was placed in our deep outfield, where he wasn't needed. Keirsey is always an asset at defense & baserunning & he was having a pretty good ST, offensively. I was fine with Twins breaking camp with him. But most baseball people know a prerequisite for bringing up a MiLB player is that you have to give him regular ABs. As of yet, they haven't, which is a great disservice to him.

 Our BP was also strong & deep. Our rotation also looked strong on paper with Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Paddack, Sims, Festa & Matthews. Each having their concerns except Lopez. But the undertones were fragile, which became evident when AAA hopefuls weren't producing & Ober started the season sicker than a dog & a hip impingement. What really showed our fallibility was when our bedrock Lopez went down. It could have been easily remedied by getting a veteran inning-eater. That wasn't done.

Catching has been solid but will wear down because there is no support & if there is a prolonged injury, we are cooked. I will start my Outlook with catching. Next season, Vazquez will be gone, Twins are slashing payroll; are they going to extend Jeffers to an expensive Boras extension? No, if they are smart, they'll try to get something for him (instead of nothing) & trade him. Then who will be the primary catcher? Who'll be the backup? IMO, it'll be disastrous to plug anyone in our organization there. It'll be at least 3 years before Tait can be ready for a backup role, if ever. The great majority of prep catchers (even highly drafted) ever make it. We have nobody. What is the solution? It looks like a complete sell-off. So Pablo, Ryan, maybe Ober (if they didn't spare Varland), they'll even try to trade Buxton again. Hopefully, Falvey will not be part of this. Then we have the difficult task to find not one but two promising young MLB-ready catchers & maybe re-sign Vazquez on the cheap, to mentor them.

All our areas are fragile now except OF, where we have a tremendous glut. This sell-off so far has flooded our system with redundant, hit-or-miss prospects. If Falvey is still at the helm, the completed sell-off will continue to bloat our farm with these players. These types of prospects are hard to trade for anything significant. So they'll rot & regress there until we lose anyone good in the rule 5 draft. So that's it, our INF, catching, rotation & BP will be determined by these hit-or-miss players hoping somebody sticks.

I'm sorry for this elaborate explanation for a MLB game. I'm trying to find relevance from what led to this & the outlook.

1 hour ago, laloesch said:

Yes.  I've had enough of Julien for some time now.

Ed Julien isn't one of the top 20 things wrong with this team right now. At least he got a freakin' hit last night. And as "shaky" as he supposedly was, he was still part of turning 3 DP's.

But get used to seeing him: he's going to be playing for the rest of the season (which absolutely should happen, regardless of when Keaschall comes up). 

Hell, the way people treat young players around here I'm guessing people will be ready to dump Keaschall after he boots a couple grounders, wings a throw over someone's head, or has a 3 K day at the plate. Suddenly, there will be a clamor for Eeles or DeBarge...

Send a scout out to parks around town I'm sure they can find a softball pitcher with a better fastball than Davis.

We now see Rocco has an excuse for losing because he has no BP.

4 hours ago, Bodie said:

Let me be the first person to ever say this... bring back Ron Davis!!!

#givemeheartburn

I kind of wish now that they had given Noah Davis jersey number 39.

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

Hell, the way people treat young players around here I'm guessing people will be ready to dump Keaschall after he boots a couple grounders, wings a throw over someone's head, or has a 3 K day at the plate. Suddenly, there will be a clamor for Eeles or DeBarge...

According to posters here, every minor league player should get promoted every time they have a 2-hit game and demoted every time they make a mistake.

10 minutes ago, David Maro said:

Send a scout out to parks around town I'm sure they can find a softball pitcher with a better fastball than Davis.

We now see Rocco has an excuse for losing because he has no BP.

Sure, blame the manager for this roster. That's logical.

Try and relax: if the team gets sold you'll have a new manager that you can complain about soon enough.

21 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Whether or not the team is sold should have zero effect on retaining a poor manager. 

Sheesh. 

Be realistic. If the Pohlads keep the team, they're not going to eat Rocco's contract no matter how bad you think he is, because everything they're doing right now is about maximizing their own profit. If the Pohlads sell the team, the new ownership is almost certainly going to clean house, starting with the manager.

beyond that, the criticism of Rocco in this game thread for putting in a crappy reliever when he got nothing else to work with is damn silly thinking. 

Jorge Alcala is out on waivers if anyone wants a second chance

10 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

Can’t resist - DeShawn Kiersey is not a MLB level player………defending a guy that has failed miserably, miserably 3 different times when asked to sacrifice bunt in key situations is hard for me to understand. If one cannot put the ball on the ground in play, there’s no chance he’s going to swing and make good contact………..he’s had enough opportunities to have had 3-4 high points but they do not off-set the 55-60 times he’s looked absolutely terrible at the plate…….he’s 9-82 on the season…….this isn’t Y ball - one needs to earn AB’s you don’t just “get 250 AB’s” to see how you do……….-1.2 WAR …….projects to -4.0 with any sort of regularity in playing time……he’s brutal.

I agree & never said that Keirsey is offensively a MLB level player, practically no one is, until they are given a ton of regular ABs. Those 3-4 high points where he had clutch hits were at times when he was given some semblance of regular ABs. Any good manager knows if you bring up a raw player, you have to give them plenty of regular ABs or it's better not to bring them up, because they have to have constant regular ABs. This has not been done with Keirsey. Baldelli is probably going by analytics that tell you that if you are a late bloomer, you'll never make it offensively as a MLBer. Clemens broke into MLB at 26, because of his name he was given a ton of regular ABs over 3 yrs. & his stats were very unimpressive. Now on his 29 year old season, he began horrid & was released again. Twins picked him up (again maybe because of his name), & they caught lightning in a bottle & now he's a fan darling. Baldelli hasn't given Keirsey any chance offensively, let him hit now & then with long periods in between & rarely given 4 ABs in a game, just when a raw player become comfortable at the plate, he's taken out. IMO, it's a wonder what he's done under these conditions. IMO, the idea that Baldelli has given Keirsey a chance is a joke. Baldelli is doing him a great disservice by taking advantage of his presence in the dugout, defensive & baserunning abilities; while ret**ding his hitting. While constantly playing Julien at 2B where he's a liability, not hitting & not a good baserunner. I have clamored from the beginning of the season, give Keirsey a ton of regular ABs or send him down. I understand where you are coming from, JD, a place where many are. Totally wrapped up in stats & missing the underlying situations. Keirsey has been with the Twins for a while & he did very well in AAA, he deserves a legit chance, not what he's been getting.