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Otaknam

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Everything posted by Otaknam

  1. Otaknam
    Every time Buxton runs the bases, slides, or goes after a fly ball I cringe, expecting another injury. He is clearly a difference maker when in the lineup but he can’t be counted on. Having him DH to prevent more injuries would help, but he might need a designated runner like in senior softball to prevent pulled a calf or hamstring.
  2. Otaknam
    Why would a top of the rotation starter sign with the Twins? Rocco doesn’t trust his starters to pitch more than five innings unless they have a big lead, and then six is max. Agree about dumpster diving to fill out the rotation, except Bundy would be an acceptable number five starter, even on a competitive team. He may win tens games this year, not bad for back of the rotation.
  3. Otaknam
    Only if Rocco’s computer give him the OK. Heaven forbid he uses his instincts and intuition with pitching changes.
  4. Otaknam
    I doubt Correa will be back to a team that is in free fall and has no top of the rotation starters, just a stable of often injured number 3-5 starters. That’s not a prescription for making a WS run. If Correa can’t find a long term contract elsewhere he can find another team that gives him a contract similar to the Twins with opt out clauses. On another subject remind me of why they gave Dobnak a multi year contract.
  5. Otaknam
    I’ve become skeptical of the team’s future starters, given the mounting injuries. Also, as noted by a previous posting, hardly anyone on this list has averaged more than five innings. How is that developing a workhorse pitcher, especially when Rocco doesn’t trust his starting pitchers to go through the lineup a third time? No workhorse free agent pitcher would ever sign here with that philosophy. So count me skeptical that this management and coaching staff can develop top flight starters.
  6. Otaknam
    There is hope for next season for the reasons you have outlined. Somehow the Injury issues need to be addressed. It makes me wonder about the medical/training staff, but perhaps it was just a run of bad luck. Also Rocco’s inability to trust his starting pitchers to go more than five innings is a head scratcher and irritates me to no end, especially with a poor bullpen. Maeda will certainly be limited in his comeback from TJ surgery. Who knows about Mahle and whether the rookie starters can stay healthy and make a jump. And they don’t have a legit # 1 or 2 starter. Finally Rocco needs to accept responsibility for the poor base running, especially this late in the season. A team with a AAA lineup that has minimal power should try to steal a base, hit and run, etc. Baldelli clings to advanced metrics when they don’t work, and that’s on him.
  7. Otaknam
    Tanking in baseball is a crap shoot because top talent is harder to project than it is in other sports. Of course there are occasionally a Ken Griffey Jr. or Carlos Correa available who are viewed as can’t miss prospects.
  8. Otaknam
    It does give you hope. The key is for the starters to remain starters and hopefully one of them can become at least a number two starter. The team will go nowhere without high end starting pitchers. Five number 3, 4, or 5 starters won’t get you to the World Series.
  9. Otaknam
    With minor league starters dropping like flies I have to wonder about their approach to developing pitchers. In fact given the mountain of injuries on the big league club, resulting in a majority minor league lineup in a series they had to win, it makes you wonder about the entire medical staff’s handling of injuries.
  10. Otaknam
    Another season of moving on from baseball once the NFL starts. The predictable Buxton injury was especially frustrating. Trades for broken down pitchers Paddock and Mahle that didn’t help this year were especially aggravating and a black mark on the FO. Lost a lot of minor league arms for 7 starts total.
  11. Otaknam
    I was baffled as to why the front office decided to sign Dobnak to an extended contract when he was mediocre at best. Another mistake by the FO, along with the Mahle and Paddack and Emilio Pagan. Has any Twins reliever since Ron Davis blown as many saves as Pagan?
  12. Otaknam
    Rocco doesn’t rub me the wrong way. But his insistence on starters pitching 4-5 innings continues to be a head scratcher when the bullpen is so mediocre. Sometimes you have to go with your instincts instead of a computer program telling you how to manage. The other issue is injuries to Larnach, Polanco, Jeffers, Kiroloff, and of course the always injured Buxton. The lineup is populated with minor leaguers and backups. No wonder the offense is so anemic.
  13. Otaknam
    Since the Twins won’t pay big money for a top of the rotation free agent starter, the FO took a measured risk with mid rotation starters with injury concerns. And ir hasn’t turned out well. The larger problem is the inability to develop potential number one and two starters, which are essential to making a strong playoff run. The current team will not be positioned for any playoff run until that happens. Also the injury problems of their highly regarded minor league starters is a concern, especially since the organizational theory of four to five innings that Rocco dogmatically follows, using a computer algorithm instead of actually managing on a game to game basis, is also applied in the minors. Pretty disappointing about how this team is managed.
  14. Otaknam
    Good luck to Varland making his debut in the Bronx. It will be a start to remember. It is some good starting pitching news for the team after so many of their promising starters have been injured, non productive, or traded, which doesn’t bode well for the team going forward. They still don’t have a legit ace or number two starter.
  15. Otaknam
    Just a suggestion. Show their their position and height/weight and age next to their names?
  16. Otaknam
    That’s a mediocre batch of starters. Three solid number 3s and fill ins, an indictment of the FO for its inability to develop front end starters. The team has no chance to make a run until that happens.
  17. Otaknam
    An excellent summary of how I view Rocco. The injuries aren’t his fault and neither is the acquisition of Pagan. But I agree that he doesn’t seem to have a feel for using his pitching staff. Analytics can take you only so far.
  18. Otaknam
    I agree with you on Perkins. He needs to come up for air once in awhile. He can be nonstop chatter. However I have no problem with Morneau. Both former players are knowledgeable and articulate but need to tone it down a bit when they are on the air together. At least they don’t butcher the English language like Gladden does.
  19. Otaknam
    The Twins shouldn’t and won’t pay Bundy an $11 million option to give them 4-5 innings as a number 5. Of course every starter is a number five to Rocco and thus they, can’t be trusted to pitch to the lineup a third time. No highly regarded free agent pitcher would ever sign here if the manager has no trust in them to pitch past the sixth inning or a COMPLETE GAME, whatever that is.
  20. Otaknam
    I agree with others that Rocco is not in jeopardy unless the FO wants to deflect blame for the poor second half on Rocco instead of themselves. In Rocco’s favor is the significant number of injuries (Maeda, Ober, Dobnak, the Buxton injury of the month, Jeffers, Kiriloff, Larnach). The lack of outfield depth, especially in theBP, and using infielders in the outfield, is a FO issue. However Rocco's unwillingness to let some starters pitch more than 4-5 innings, with a BP that is poor, is on him. The team has no chance to lure a top free agent starting pitcher with Baldelli as the manager, since the chance of winning even 12 games as a starter limited to 5-6 innings is not good.
  21. Otaknam
    Wallner has more speed than Gallo so that should help his on base percentage. He is considered a better defensive outfielder and has a great arm and likely profiles as a right fielder. His strikeouts will be high but hopefully he learns to drive the ball to all fields and doesn’t frustrate like Sano, who failed to adjust and never became a big league hitter. One home run or nothing player is enough!
  22. Otaknam
    Good point! Having to convert infielders to outfielders on the fly is an indictment of the FO. And having half your lineup be minor leaguers who can’t hit is a prescription for disaster. That’s on the FO. Then mix in Baldelli’s poor handling of the starters and the injury problems….
  23. Otaknam
    I’m so frustrated with Rocco’s mishandling of his starting rotation. Bundy is solid for five innings with a low pitch count and the computer algorithm tells Rocco to take him out. Giving the starters a longer leash with the still leaky BP makes sense to any baseball fan except Baldelli. How can that be worse than what they are doing? Rocco has no intuition for baseball.
  24. Otaknam
    So if Rocco bats Arraez sixth against lefties it’s the same issue, only now he has the meat of the lineup possibly on base. Arraez is an on base machine who best fits in lead off IMO regardless of who is pitching. He will make the starter work to get him out and run the pitch count up early in the game.
  25. Otaknam
    Done with Rocco. Starters who pitch five strong innings, one run and 70 pitches and are removed in favor of a disastrous bullpen. How does that make sense? The team has trouble scoring but on the rare occasion they get a base runner with speed they seldom hit and run or try to steal a base to try to make something happen. I cannot understand his slavish dedication to analytics when it isn’t working.
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