jkcarew

Sac relig!! Mauer would NOT have...he would not have swung at the first pitch.

Gallo’s OPS higher than anyone else’s in the lineup except for Julien.

Petrified to throw a strike as soon as he gives up a little hard contact. Always been his MO.

And Buxton put a good swing on that pitch. More of that, and less swinging at pitches out of the zone please.

So a ton of BB

Unless a left handed pitcher enters the game in…say, the 2nd inning. Then you really have no choice but to bring in Castro or Farmer.

Funny how that type of info gets out there when a player that you’ve signed to a long term deal is slumping. It’s BS until they IL him.

So, as Buxton’s and MAT’s OPS’s merge somewhere in the high 600’s…should we no longer care that Buxton isn’t playing CF??

Our back up catcher is having a good year.

I say the second half starts tonight. The schedule is soft for a while, but not Oakland soft…not close. A’s and KC in a league of their own…sad, really.

Buxton’s as healthy as he’s ever going to be. If you don’t play him now, you’re never going to play him. I wouldn’t mind him coming off the bench some days, though. Like give Wallner DH today?

Fwiw… they’re lineup is extremely young…youngest in baseball. They are not producing (overall) currently. But there may be several of them that they still believe in…that they would want to give another year, etc. In other words, they would FIGURE to be desperate for a bat or two based on to-date 2023 results, but it’s possible due to the youth, they may not be as desperate as it might seem. With regard to Civale, specifically, I don’t know. I will say that Cleveland seems to know pitching. So, if they were to sell Civale, with that remaining control…I’d say buyer beware.

How again would trading Gray to enhance talent for the longer-term be 'panicking'?? It would be the opposite. It would be giving up a perceived chance at immediate gratification for a longer-term benefit. Now, tell me again how keeping Gray (and/or buying) in the face of complete mediocrity would be 'sending the right message'?? The message it sends is "this is what Twins success looks line"...we're in the race!...we're "trying"! But, in reality, all it does is lower the bar for what fans should expect going forward. Now...depending upon what offers are...sure, maybe the smartest decision is to keep him and go with the QO. We don't know and never will, probably. But they should be shopping him. And I call it smart, not panic.

When Meatloaf sang it, he had not yet seen the 2023 Oakland A’s. Two out of three against Oakland IS bad. Nothing to see here beyond serve held.

Not ho-hum…not for STARTING pitchers, like Ryan. About zero starting pitchers throwing 100 MPH more than a handful of pitches (maybe) per outing, even today. Agree there is more max efforting going on to bump the velocity…but pitchers also throw more pitches per batter, as well. In any regard, if the great pitchers of previous generations were pacing themselves, their results in terms of ERA are even more impressive.

Less innings…a ton less innings, in fact means… they’re not comparable at all.

I assume 2-3 starts to justify the signing…him being bad…and released. He’s the 2023 version of 1987 Steve Carlton. Could those innings Carlton ate (and losses he contributed to)…have been the true key to the WS run???

I want prospects (if more than lottery). One hitter doesn’t guarantee anything. And the core needs to be turned over.

But team-wise doesn’t 0 - 18 suggest to you that teams that are clearly weaker than the playoff opponent almost never win one series…let alone two? Never once were the Twins on par with the opponent going in…way weaker…not really close, including 2019 where the substandard ALC allowed them to win 100+ games, while still somehow being 5 games under 500 against winning teams. You don’t have to be dominant, you don’t even have to be as good…but you better be within shouting distance. This club can win the division, with or without help, IMO. But, I don’t see them being within shouting distance…even with a rental or two…of any of the prospective opponents.

I fear there’s an implied assumption here that may not hold up for all of ‘us’. On behalf of THAT ‘us’, I’d like to say that we sincerely apologize. We didn’t realize the harmful impact we could have on the AL postseason (and…um…loved ones, or whatever). And if not for it being way too late to matter, we would do whatever we could to make it right.

I see a lot of “but the 87 Twins” or “but the 91 Braves”….not just in this thread, but everywhere. But, anything before the format change really isn’t analogous. Aside from the fact that you had to win one of only two divisions (more likely that you have at least one legit team to outpace)…but more importantly, you only had to win one series to get to the WS. It’s now basically twice as hard to get to the WS…and that’s if you’re NOT the underdog. For the 2023 Twins, that’d be beating two teams back-to-back that are around 10 games better than you…actually probably more adjusted for strength of schedule. (The schedules are still unbalanced, just not as much as in past). More recently, the Phillies won ‘only’ 87 games. But they played in a great division…38 games against 100-win teams in their own division. 87 was a strong number. 87 in the 2023 ALC, isn’t at all similar. Agree that the 2015 Mets are probably as good an analogy as any. A once-in-a-decade occurrence, that relied on a lot of luck in term of match-ups. But they were 43-30 in the second half…even in a relatively week division, decent momentum. So…I’d trade Gray, depending upon the get…it wouldn’t necessarily cost us this division. There’s about a zero chance that’s going to happen. So, I’ll live with keeping him and doing the QO (if he stays good/healthy). Just please don’t go nuts on rentals with anything more than lottery tickets. This is not the year. Twins should be focusing on the happy opportunity to compete for a division while simultaneously moving to a new core…or at least not further delaying that move.

“Still, based on track record, you can have some hope that Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, and Jorge Polanco will gravitate to that 120 OPS+ level,” Polanco has a 111 career OPS+. Buxton 106. They’re 29 and apparently not fully healthy. The Mets got to 90 wins and played a team with 92 wins in the first round…and played the 3rd place team in the NLC for the pennant (the Cubs when they were still the Cubs). Could a bunch of veterans suddenly over perform? Could a bunch of rookies suddenly get it? Could the Twins do a once-in-a-decade tap dance through the AL playoffs? Yes to all. Highly unlikely…and not something you should spend a legit prospect on. Meanwhile, winning the division doesn’t require anything beyond marginal improvement.

Really like this pick. Does anyone have a take on signability issues?

Yeah. But I still don’t think he ranks high on the list of issues (at least longer-term) with this club. Admittedly, that’s based on a belief that the hitting will come back close to career norms, which is no guarantee. Fwiw, BABiP is way below career norms…and it matches the eye test, IMO.

For how long? Forever isn’t acceptable, IMO.