rv78

Where's the Bomba Squad when you need them Mr Baldelli? Easy MOY award for Baldelli when the team sets a record for HR. Not so easy when they don't. FYI Mr Baldelli, you actually have to manage games now. How's your "Plan" going? Good Managers make adjustments to "Plans" to win games. Poor Managers don't. I could point to mistakes made in almost every game this year with the most obvious ones being setting lineups to managing the pitching staff. Both have been laughable. April and May the Twins were lucky, it has caught up to them in June, July and August. I'm pretty sure the games in September won't mean much unless the "Plan" changes within the next week or two and that will be the only way there will be playoff games in October. Just looking at Sunday's game I believe it was the first time all year that both Arraez and Correa hit in front of Buxton. Polanco should have been there too with Buxton batting 4th. How many times has Buck hit leadoff with no one on base ahead of him? Lots. Result = Solo HR. Yesterday with 1 guy on ahead of him = 2 runs. DOUBLE the run production. Amazing how simple it is. Yes they still lost but the "Plan" used for most of the season would have been 1 run scored for the game. How many games is Archer going to be allowed to start when he will only go 4 innings? Evidently the answer is, all of them. How about moving him to the bullpen and make him a 2-3 inning reliever, DFA Pagan and promote Aaron Sanchez to start in his spot in the rotation. At least TRY something different to fix the current problem. They say doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results is insanity. Before it becomes insanity, it's stupidity. Anyone here able to figure out why they lost the game Saturday when the bullpen imploded? 95% of you can but the Manager can't or just refuses to believe it. How many times does he have to see, even his best relievers blow games, because he uses them on back to back days. Anyone can tell you that using a pitcher on two consecutive days is a recipe for disaster but he refuses to look at those numbers. Very few pitchers are capable of being as effective the 2nd day as they were the day before. And like so many others here have said, the more pitchers you use the better chance you have of having at least one of them going out there and NOT being effective. It's just simple odds... and again numbers that Rocco ignores. Friday could and should have been Mahle for 7, Fulmer in the 8th and Duran in the 9th. Saturday could and should have been Bundy for 6, Theilbar in the 7th, Jax in the 8th and Lopez in the 9th. Sunday could and should have been Sanchez for 5, Megill and Archer for the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th. If they would have gotten the lead back then he would have had a fresh Duran for the 9th. The constant underuse of the starters and overuse of the bullpen maybe worked to some extent in April and May when the bullpen pitchers weren't gassed from overuse but it's more than obvious that it has caught up with them and with 2 new arms acquired at the deadline, Rocco will burn them out as well.

Kudos to Bundy. Should have went 6 or 7 and quite possibly even more. Will never get the chance with the current Manager who's in love with his imploding bullpen. Offense is what it is, pathetic. Can't get more than 2 guys to hit in the same game when it counts. Archer for 4 innings today and 6 relievers. Use the get-away lineup today and rest Buxton, Correa and Arraez. Gotta stick to the "Plan".

And lost in there is that up 3-0 in the seventh was a perfect time to get Fulmer back on the horse after a loss on Wednesday night. Using this ideology, you could argue that he should have all of his worst pitchers throw as soon as possible after losing a game or a poor performance. I wonder how many more games Pagan and Duffey would have been used in? Mahle is a workhorse. His stats show he is better third time thru the lineup than 2nd time thru. At 86 pitches, 1 more inning would have been Adell, Walsh and Stassi. who hadn't gotten a hit off of him previously. At the very least Rocco should have sent him out to start the 7th.

Being as efficient as possible with your pitchers is very important, especially when you only have a limited number of bullpen guys you can count on over a 2 or 3 day span. Which is how it is. Saving even just 1 inning from your bullpen whenever possible should be important. Sure they were rested. But just like us, Rocco doesn't know what tomorrow or the next day will bring. Instead he chooses not to look/plan ahead and use pitchers, especially starters, to their fullest. That's probably the #1 reason why the bullpen has been in shambles this entire season. He had been relying on one of the teams weakest assets to carry them almost every game up to the trade deadline. That is poor managing. Now overusing the better assests he has in Fulmer, Duran and Lopez for the rest of the season, will also be poor managing.

Yeah, nothing speaks like confidence knowing your Manager will let you pitch as long as you are capable of doing the job. All good pitchers get out of jams all the time. Issuing a leadoff walk followed by 2 outs and then a double and the 3rd out of the inning does not constitute struggling. It shows the ability to get out of trouble. Using 1 less pitcher from the bullpen when you had the chance NOT to, only makes the bullpen stronger the next couple days. His head would be in an even better place if his Manager showed the confidence in him to go 7 innings, not 6. So if the Saturday and Sunday games are close in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings and Fulmer, Duran and Lopez all get used again Saturday they likely won't be available for Sunday. If they end up losing Sunday because Rocco didn't have even 1 them available, remind me it wasn't Rocco's fault.

Unfortunately Urshela is blocking Miranda. Although we really don't have a true 1st baseman anymore with the departure of Sano who really wasn't a 1st baseman either. Maybe the answer is to let Miranda just take over 1st, learn the position on the fly and keep/extend Urshela to play 3rd. If some of these guys could actually get regular playing time everyday at one position they could maybe, just maybe, become consistantly good at the one position.

My thoughts exactly. Why try? Over at mlb.com/twins the headline is "Rocco sticks with Mahle". Yeah, for 1 whole inning more than the usual. He still only threw 86 pitches. No reason for him not to go out for the 7th. I can just imagine... the 6th inning must have felt like caffeine overload to Rocco, shaking in his boots, with the overwhelming feeling that he was going to soil his pants. I'm sure he couldn't bear the pressure to have him pitch the 7th inning.

Baldelli, LaRussa or Francona. Which Manager would you put your money on to do what it takes to get his team to the Division title. My money is on Francona. Has anyone else noticed how bad the pitching has become after Wes Johnson left?

I'm excited to see how many different lineups Rocco can come up with in the last 52 games. If anyone can do it 53 times, he can! How many times he'll bat Kepler in the cleanup spot and he won't get a hit. How many more times he'll rest Correa, Buxton or Arraez on the same day. Or how many games will Buxton miss because of his knee or play and still be unproductive. How many more times he'll play his worst players like Beckham at DH while Urshela sits the bench. How many more games will they lose because they can't bunt a player into scoring position. How many times will he fail to pinch run for a slow runner after a leadoff double in the late innings of a close game and they fail to score. How many strikeouts Jake Cave can accumulate before he gets sent back down to AAA. How many more games Pagan will blow before he is DFA'd. How many games will Archer pitch more than 4 innings. How many games behind Cleveland and Chicago will they finish by. Yes, I'm so excited for Rocco to continue to botch up chances to win. Maybe if we are all lucky, they'll miss the playoffs due to his "Plan" and it will be the last time we see him in a Twins uniform.

When he is playing, running the bases or chasing a fly ball he doesn't appear to be in pain. No grimacing, no limping. Yes, he is being coddled, however if he isn't going to be productive he should just go on the IL and heal. Since the All-Star break he has been a liability, not an asset.

In 3rd place. Team got off to a hot start but has settled into mediocrity. Both June and July were losing months and August has not changed that yet. Too bad a different picture couldn't have been used for this article since Sano is gone, Larnach is IL for probably the rest of the season and Buxton should be IL as well.. The only one in the picture doing anything anymore is Arraez. The picture should have Gordon, Miranda and the bat boy with Arraez.

Listing 15 pitchers that will need to be on the 40 man roster next season, I think will create an opportunity, not a problem. Outside of the big 3 you list, I'm adding Maeda to Gray, Ryan, and Mahle. That leaves 11 guys to fill 1 spot. That also means that the Twins don't extend Bundy or Archer, both of them have options for 2023. Everyone else in my book becomes trade bait. Even with Gray, Ryan, Mahle and Maeda, there is significant room for improvement. I'd be making moves early in the off-season to get a return on 4 or 5 of these guys instead of taking a chance you lose them in the Rule 5 and get nothing.

All 3 are correct but I think you should add the Manager as #4. Doesn't use his Starters efectively which causes him to overuse the bullpen. Sticks with an ineffective pitcher too long in high leverage situations like Colome last year and Duffey and Pagan this year. Refuses to play small ball when it could win a game. Rests his better players like he did with Correa and Buxton on Sunday, the same day, when they already have Monday and Thursday off this week. Puts non-productive hitters like Sano and Kepler in the middle of the lineup, which changes daily so there is no consistancy. Has had Buxton leading off and Arraez hitting behind him, which is the exact opposite of what it should be since Arraez gets on base and Buxton hits HR. Puts a player like Garlick in the lineup against lefty pitchers yet doesn't pinch hit for him when the other team brings in a righty from the bullpen. His inconsistancy is a reflection on the team and the way they play, inconsistant.

There are a lot of variables in that play from Beckhams extra bunny hop to Sanchez initally setting up in foul territory then moving back into fair territory to Merrifield not sliding to the backside of the plate. First of all, Beckham shouldn't be playing in the outfield. If Rocco doesn't rest Correa, Gordon is probably in the outfield or he ends up being the pinch hitter for Cave, which would be a good move and then just stays in the game at LF. Seriously does Correa really need 3 days off this week? That's Stupid #1. Even with the way Rocco had his lineup, the better move would have been to move Gordon to the outfield and keep Correa in at SS with Beckham going back to the bench. Putting Beckham out there instead of Gordon was Stupid #2. Sanchez did what he was suppose to do. He moved out of foul territory and opened up the lane. After catching the ball he dropped to block the plate like he was suppose to. Merrifield could have slid towards the back of the plate but chose not to. In that situation he isn't going to know if the ball is on target, if Sanchez will catch it, or if it gets to home plate in time for Sanchez to make a play. Not sliding to the back of the plate was a mistake, I think he knew it and after he was called out he did the only thing left that he could do, ask for a replay. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain. What player wouldn't do the same thing? As far as I'm concerned, that rule should be eliminated. If you have an opportunity to keep a run from scoring it shouldn't be taken away from you for any reason. I miss the days of seeing Pete Rose barrel over catchers to score a run. That was baseball!

Lewis wasn't expected to be a main piece of the puzzle this year like Larnach and Kirilloff. That is why I didn't mention him.

The loss of Kirilloff is devastating. Hope it doesn't derail his career. Also not very hopeful that Laranch will make it back this year. Losing 2 main pieces that were expected to make major contributions is tough to over-come. Kudos to Miranda for coming up big so far. If we had all 3 of them playing in combo with a productive and healthy Buxton and Jeffers alongside Polanco and Correa we'd have a good offensive machine. Do we have to say, "wait 'till next year" again?

Agree. They improved the pitching at the deadline but nothing to help the offense. Praise be to Rocco for showing some emotion, yet.... again he rests Buxton and Correa on the same day. Maybe it's time for Buxton to go on the IL if he can't play everyday. He's been resembling K-Sano a lot so if he can't play at a normal level of himself maybe it's time to remove him from the lineup completely for a while. Maybe his bonus hasn't kicked in yet for making the required number of plate appearances? How many days off does Mr. Superstar $35M dollar man Correa need? Hail be to Kepler for coming back from his injured toe so quickly, his 0 for 9 at the plate since his return has helped this team immensely and Rocco's insistance on batting him in the middle of the lineup does wonders to sustain rallys in almost every game he plays. Glad they called up Mr Clutch Jake Cave. In his 5 games played to date he's managed to account for 2 runs, 1 of them a meaningless late HR in a 9-3 blowout and he's only left 13 runners on base. Only a matter of time, short in fact, that he'll be hitting below the mendosa line. Hopefully he'll be back in St. Paul where he belongs sooner rather than later.

Did not watch the 10th inning. After seeing Rocco ignore 2 chances to score in the 7th and 8th innings with leadoff doubles I figured they were going to lose. It's beyond me, that any big league Manager, especially Rocco, doesn't value sacrifice bunts especially with zero outs and runners on 2nd. It only takes a fly ball to score a run if you get that runner to third, but it's not in the playbook. Maybe if Rocco lifts Leon in the 7th for a pinch runner, like Buxton who was available, he scores on Correa's single, but no it's not in the playbook. Maybe if Rocco has Theilbar warming up in the 9th in case Lopez faulters he's able to bring him in to face the lefty Tapia but, that's not in the playbook. The Twins were lucky to win this game, despite no help from the Manager.

Never been a fan of Duff. If it would have been me he'd have been gone after the 2018 season. Still remember him serving up the grand slam gopher ball to Didi Gregorius of the Yankees in Game 2 of the 2019 playoffs. Seems like he was lights out those couple years except when it really counted. As Black Jack Morris would say, you gotta bring your "A" game when it matters. I think his downfall was that he couldn't or wouldn't throw 3 strikes in a row. Can't count the times he would get 2 strikes on a batter then throw junk off the plate trying to get them to swing at it instead of just attacking the hitter. Sorry, I won't miss him.

Let's face the facts. Getting Mahle, who can pitch only once every 5 games will help but won't be a difference maker. Remember, he is theoretically replacing Winder/Smeltzer/Ober. Mahle has a 5-7 record and an ERA of 4.40 pitching for the Reds. Winder/Smeltzer/Ober combined this year were 9-7 with an ERA of 3.95. I hardly see that as an upgrade. In additon, getting Fulmer, and Lopez will help but they can't pitch every day, and we all know that Rocco has a plan of only using his starters for 5 innings max. Which means he will need at least 4 guys out of the pen every game, which also means guys like Pagan, Megill, and Duffey will still have to pitch in half the games. Meanwhile the offense continues to be hit or miss on any given night. Arraez has done his part but Correa, Polanco, and Buxton had better start carrying this team offensively or the pitching additions won't matter.

This. Excellent post. Not only does it tell how bad this team really is but also how bad the manager is.

I understand there's only so much you can do. Unfortunately 2 of the worst bullpen pitchers remain on the roster as evidenced last night. What I don't understand is the reluctance to DFA players that just aren't worth keeping. Dumping Sanchez and Cotton, who just pitched reasonably well instead of Pagan and Duffey shows a lack of fortitude and IMO brains by the FO. Fulmer, Duran, Jax and Lopez can't pitch every game so the moves made will have limited effect. Mahle pitches tonight so we'll see if the FO is as smart as they think they are since he is the guy they supposedly had been targeting from the get go. If he's your Game 1 starter in the playoffs we'll see how he does against the playoff caliber lineup of Toronto.

I am more excited for 2023 than I am for 2022. Having Mahle and Lopez for more than just the rest of this year is huge. If the injury bug ever goes away and they can field their best players for an entire season this could be a really good team. It'd be nice to have a lineup with a healthy Buxton, and Larnach in the outfield. Jeffers/Leon, Kirilloff/Arraez, Polanco, Correa/Lewis, Miranda in the Infield. A rotation of Gray, Mahle, Maeda, Ryan, and 1 of Ober/Paddock/Winder/Smeltzer. Add Alcala to the pen with Lopez, Duran, Jax. Extend Fulmer. Trade Kepler, Urshela and Sanchez for another/better outfielder and 2 or 3 more good bullpen arms. If they can't get what they want thru trade be aggressive for them during Free Agency. 2023 has the possibility of being the best year of this organization in a long time despite Rocco mismanaging the team. Just think how much better they could be with a good manager.

Which brings up the question........ What happened to Buxton? Did not play in the first 2 games against Detroit. Did I missed something?

Twins seem to love Catchers that can't hit. Mauer has become a distant memory.