rv78

Seriously, comparing Rocco to past Managers is an exercise in foolishness. I see absolutely no correlation of managerial ability between Kelly, Gardenhire and Molitor to Rocco based on their W/L records. No one should. Different eras, different budgets, different players. We can agree the Twins played better the 2nd half of the season, due to what? A weaker schedule. Not necessarily better play. All Managers have to have good players to win. Rocco got those players this year. Does that make him a better Manager than he was when he didn't have the better players? Not likely. Would Kelly, Gardenhire. and Molitor have as good of a record as Rocco had they been given the same teams as Rocco? My guess it would have been better. The true test of how good a Manager is, is how he does with less, not more. Rocco has only lost when he has had less. Was Mike Krzyzewski a great basketball coach because he was good or because he had a stable full of All-Americans every year? The only thing Rocco has proven to this point is that he can win some games if he gets the right players. That doesn't automatically make him a "good manager". The bigger question is, did Rocco win as many games as he should have with what he was given. 87 wins in 2023. 78 wins in 2022. Was this team, with so much better health, an Ace pitcher, way more depth, a weaker division, a better team by only 9 games? Doesn't seem like it was enough of an improvement to me, Maybe throwing games away is not good managing.

The FO has to seriously look at the production they are getting from their veteran hitters. Or I should say "lack of production". Gallo and his $11M is gone. If not, the FO needs their heads examined and their behinds booted to the door. Let's all hope they learned their lesson signing a hitter that can't hit. Kepler is due a $10M option. I say save the money and give the job to any of the following, Castro, Larnach, Wallner, Kirilloff, Martin, Gordon. There's a savings of $20+M and you have 6 guys to pick from that will provide just as much run production or more for very little money. Let Polanco walk as well. His option is $10,5M and a combination, or one of Julien, Lewis, Lee can handle 2B. Unfortunately the Twins are tied to Buxton $15.1M and Correa $33.3M. Both mistakes by the FO as both are over-paid for what they provide offensively. Maybe they can be talked into waiving their no trade clauses but I doubt any other team would want them at the cost they are tied to. Sonny Gray got $12.7M so there's a chunk that is going away as well. The rest of the Twins roster is made up of relatively cheap players not named Pablo Lopez. Yes, some are due raises and they should also start to look at extending some of them with reasonable contracts as well. Jeffers for example. It's time to turn the page and start to lean on the youngsters. They're the main reason why the Twins made the playoffs in the first place.

I would say the biggest question is..... Are they going to get different hitting coaches or change their approach to hitting? If not, then it won't matter who plays where. Strikeouts in the lineup can come from any player regardless of which position they play. They've already proven that. Start with fixing the elephant in the room.

That's what separates the good Managers from the Rocco's. Rocco presumes failure based on analytics and he lets that be the basis for his decisions. Managers like Baker base decisions on actual game play that is occuring. Rocco can't even set a lineup using his best players without having lefty/righty splits influence the process. Showing and giving confidence in your players counts for something, but if your Manager says you're not playing because you can't hit leftys then the opportunity to prove him wrong never happens so the narrative never changes. Assuming Ryan was going to implode in the 3rd inning and at least 1 of the next 4, 5 or 6 pitchers you were going to use isn't, is foolish, especially when they are locked into facing 3 hitters and you can't make a change if they implode. Which is exactly what happened.

Vazquez had his worst year since 2018. Did his approach at the plate change? Was he asked to become a different hitter than he was in the past? Did he just have an off-year? His strikeout rate definitely went up. Maybe he was told to swing for the fences. We don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me. Seems like every other hitter on the Twins does just that with reckless abandon at the risk of striking out to the tune of another major league record. Is the Twins philosophy, hitting HR's aka 2019? Did the hitting coaches, Rudy Hernandez and David Popkins mess him up? Whatever the reason he didn't earn playing time over Jeffers, no matter how bad Jeffers played in the playoffs. There were off days for Jeffers to get a break. That is one platoon that didn't need to happen, unlike many that Rocco overdoes by not playing his best players as much as he should, throwing games away, somehow thinking that is best for the team. I don't care what anyone here thinks about throwing games away. It's wrong, it sends the wrong message to your players and your fans, that each game is NOT important, that it is alright to lose. If you send that message that a game isn't important then it doesn't take long for players to sense that 1 at bat here or there isn't important and all of the sudden players don't play up to their potential. They flail away at pitches they shouldn't be swinging at, they don't bother to foul off pitches to keep an at bat alive, They stand there and watch strike 3 go right down the middle. They just give in thinking, I'll get 'em the next time. Here we are as fans thinking, there's always next year. Same difference. Next year has been a long time since 1991. How many next years will it take? Many of you think this team is on the right course to win a Championship. But a lot has to change starting with the HR philosophy that has lead this team into being strikeout kings. The FO needs to stop wasting money on players that can't hit anything but HRs. Players that are always injured should be replaced permanently. You can't count on them when you need them. Veterans that are worse than the new young guys coming up need to be replaced permanently. They had their chance to produce and they continue to fail. Why keep giving them chances they don't deserve. A total youth movement needs to take place in 2024 to see what they've got. Otherwise it's likely they will just be spinning their wheels again come playoff time depending on guys like Kepler, Buxton, Polanco, Taylor, Correa, Farmer, Solano, Vazquez, Gallo, that either aren't even available to play or just simply can't get the job done.

Not sure you can give credit to Falvine for the "good coaches" just yet. If Rocco was so good why does he throw so many games away, costing the Twins wins and possibly a better post season position. How is The Hitting coach doing? Pretty lousy I'd say. Is Tingler really that good or did San Diego get rid of him because he wasn't good enough.Pretty sure the reason was they wanted something better. I would venture there are a lot better coaches, and Managers out there but they don't fit Falvines philosophy, which is obvious by now. All or nothing Hitting and spreadsheet Pitching, which means no feel for the game or the player. Just ask Joe Ryan and Sonny Gray.

If Maki is the reason for the better pitching then they need to find a different hitting coach, ASAP.

Another article to try to make Rocco look good. If pulling Ryan early because of his penchant to give up HR and the fear that the Astros would score too many runs against him, then why use Thielbar? His HR rate is worse than Joe Ryans. I can't justify the praise for one move and then not being critical of the other. Rocco isn't as good as you think he is.

You list 4 things but in all reality the only one that matters is the Twins couldn't get hits much less score when they needed to and that was due to their biggest flaw this season. Strikeouts. A couple of bad pitches wouldn't be impossible to over-come if the hitters could put the bat on the ball, get a hit, and score some runs.

Wow, let's pick on the rookie. How about Kepler who is making a ton more money than Lewis, has a ton more experience than Lewis and was worse? He ALSO had 7 K's and didn't account for a run in any way shape or form. NO HR, NO RUNS SCORED, NO RBI'S. Sure, Lewis had some bad at bats in critical situations but there were other guys in the lineup, like Kepler that contributed nothing in the way of run production.

That will take a totally different approach to what they have been doing offensively. The only way Rocco knows how to manage is when his players hit enough Home Runs to win. Manufacturing runs is not in his DNA. Good Luck hoping for a reduction in whiffs. The FO and Rocco see no problem with it.

So we are to believe the start of something good has happened. Only time will tell. WE could say the start of a new losing streak has happened too. That this team played beyond its potential this year and made the playoffs despite Rocco throwing games away. Can we be sure the Detroits, KCs. Clevelands and Chicagos will concede division crowns every year going forward or will the Twins have to eventually put their BEST foot forward each and every game to sustain success? Will the FO start using money efficiently and effectively to build a better team or will they continue to throw money away for Gallo type players or Buxton part-timers that arent there when you need them most? A lot has to change for the Twins to become a big-boy and the current "process" won't get them there.

Taylors career batting average is .239. Buxtons career batting average is .239. This year Taylor hit ,220. Buxton hit .207. Taylor had 21 HRs in 388 PA, Buxton had 17 HRs in 347 PA. I fail to see the better hitter being Buxton. An argument can be made they are pretty much equal. So why bring in a guy who hasn't faced a major league pitcher since August 1 ? So MAT was 2 for 13. That's 2 more hits than Buxton had. Bringing in a "cold" player for a crucial at bat, which most all at bats in the playoffs are, especially in a tight 1 run ballgame, is pure stupidity.

This is a prime example of why this team won't ever win under this regime and Rocco. If MAT isn't good enough to take a crucial at bat then he shouldn't be on the team. Period. You play your best players in the playoffs. Pinch hitting Buxton in that situation was exactly that, A 100-1 shot. They would have had a better chance of scoring a run if MAT would have tried to bunt for a base hit to get on and then steal 2nd. No can do, that's not the way they play. Buxton swinging for the fences is the best option, even if MAT doing the same thing wasn't good enough. The glaring problem with this team has been there all season. They take poor at bats. Well, if the players aren't going to change their approach then you need to change the players. Doubt that is going to happen anytime soon. The FO will probably doubledown on the same stupid approach and sign another poor hitter that strikes out a ton again, just like they did with Gallo last off-season. No, they are NOT the smartest people in the room. And it shows.

Really? Now we Know? You didn't see that before? Which Twins team have you been watching all season? The all or nothing approach didn't work in 2019, last year, this year, and it never will. Why are they still trying to make it happen? The philosphy of this FO and Manager to swing for the fences will never win a Championship. They got past Toronto due to pitching, not hitting. It takes BOTH to win Championships. Urquidy had an ERA over 5 and the Twins got 1 hit today against him in 5 2/3 innings that wasn't a HR. That "all or nothing" has been "nothing" almost all the time. The great Rocco managed his team into the playoffs and Yes they ended the losing streak, only to be embarrassed at home by striking out 28 times in the last 2 games scoring a grand total of 3 runs on 6 hits against the other teams #3 and #4 pitchers. Even in Game 3 when Rocco had 7 walks to go with the 3 hits he managed to sacrifice zero times, steal zero bases, and manufacture zero runs. Thats great managing there folks. And then he pulls his Game 4 starter after 2 innings and 26 pitches where 18 of them were strikes. Hardly a vote of confidence there going forward. It's no wonder these young players play with their tails between their legs. Even their Manager doesn't believe in them.

I hate Rocco. Terrible Manager. He's a bum. Want them to lose so he gets fired. Unfortunately just getting them to the playoffs and winning the first round will probably make his job secure for another season where he can fumble his way through another season. FO isn't much better. Signing guys like Gallo and wasting money on the likes of an always injured Buxton and an over-rated Correa hurts the team more than any of you Kool-Aid drinking fans will ever see.

Not sure why some of you are so disappointed. Todays game was in all reality the Twins of 2023. You should be used to it by now. 59 Strikeouts in 5 games. 16 runs total. That's normal for this team. Looks like Gray gave Rocco a going away present he'll remember. A turd of a performance. I wonder if Falvine is happy now that they went out and got Gallo instead of going after a guy like Abreu. (Gallo WHO? Where is Gallo and his .177 batting average?) How's that extension to Buxton working out? Oh never mind, he's a game changer just being in the dugout. This team is laughable. Mr. HomeRun (Ryan) pitches tomorrow. Houston got 4 today. I can hardly wait.

For the sake of the fans I really hope Lewis is able to play at his full potential. Correa's defense would be good to have but offensively he hasn't made a difference to this team, not that a hot bat from him wouldn't help. As for Buxton I see him as probably more of a detriment than being able to help this team. His struggles this year offensively and inability to play defense, his most valuable attribute, make him a non-factor. His spot needs to be taken by someone who has been and is able to contribute at a complete and healthy level.

We all know it isn't an ideal world and what looks good on paper rarely happens. It's a nice dream though. I'd be willing to bet that the nightmare of a 2 and out scenario is just as likely. I envision Rocco making at least 1 move that will cost them 1 of the games and the other game they'll struggle to score enough runs to win.... Probably the game that Gray pitches, which is the norm for this team when he's on the mound. In that case, the arms of Lopez, Gray and the bullpen won't matter.

Starters are only 1/3 of the picture. Gray and Lopez can match up with anyone if they are on their game. The hitters must come through and that means the youngsters that fueled the offense the 2nd half of the season must be allowed to play and not choke due to the pressure.The bullpen also must perform at its highest level and they have been hit or miss at best. All 3 need to click if they want to advance to round 2.

Before the Saturday games the Twins were 82-72 and Texas was 85-68. Texas had a 3.5 game lead for the 2nd seed with Minnesota having 8 games to play. That was hardly "out of reach". Now it's a 4.5 game lead. You are right, it isn't happening. But the only reason why there isn't/wasn't a chance is because Rocco is at the helm.

That is where you are wrong. 2nd seed verses 3rd seed is meaningful. Enough to play for. I understand the importance of resting players IF they need it but you don't have to rest all of them in the same game. Rocco doesn't know how to manage to win as many games as possible or to entertain fans AT HOME with the best lineup possible. Along with that he has done nothing the last 2 years that Gray would or should be happy with. He's terrible.

Sure, they clinched the division but it wasn't much of a bet when they play in the weakest division in baseball. Was that their goal? The roster got it done on their own? There are no expectations for the playoffs? How do you know that the Twins didn't put their best foot forward when making moves could have made the team better improving their chances in the playoffs. Rocco throws a game away on Saturday maybe because he has the same goal as you. They made the playoffs, Mission accomplished. The season is over. With that kind of attitude and thinking this team will be out in the first round.

Another loss at the hands of Rocco. And you say managers don't lose games? Evidently the 2nd seed in the playoffs isn't worth going for.

I agree. It'll be over in 2 games. See ya next year.