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Road trip

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Everything posted by Road trip

  1. Road trip
    Great article. I actually think the Pohlad's word vomit statement and their operation of the team is worse. Calvin's parsimonious ways were not unusual in his era, and he was arguably a spendthrift compared to Charley O Finley. There were many long time owners who didn't immediately come to terms with the new free agency era 1970s. Griffith was a baseball man to his core, unlike the current generation of Pohlads. Plus, the Griffiths had no other wealth beyond the MLB franchise, so he kind of had to keep the Twins profitable. He was severely undercapitalized compared MLB's new generation of baseball owners like Steinbrenner, The Pohlads, at best moderately knowledgeable baseball people, will die wealthy no matter how badly they run the Twins... and yet are still only interested in gaining more money because the payroll absolutely has to be "right-sized". Greed is a horrible disease...
  2. Road trip
    I suppose so. I'm not certain it matters much. A different GM, a different manager, maybe they would create a roster that would be more interesting to watch. But in the end, the Pohlads won't invest in the team, don't care about winning, and are just playing their customers (us) for suckers. After the Trade Deadline Massacre I thought "Maybe this will work out and the Twins will be good in 2028". That's no longer a realistic hope. This was a much darker day.
  3. Road trip
    Maybe Red Green? The team will be held together with duct tape going forward. This certainly was Black Wednesday..
  4. Road trip
    Used to be a Target. More like a Dollar General these days, at least on Bullpen Games. And yet I hope we win today too. D*** Yankees.
  5. Road trip
    I'd expect at least 3 BP pitchers next year who aren't currently in the organization. Signing very low level free agents and NRI's is a rite of winter. The past few years there have been some successful signings (Stewart, Coulombe), as well as more unsuccessful ones than I care to remember... but as recently as April 2024 the Twins opening day bullpen included luminaries such as Steve Okert, Jay Jackson, and Daniel Duarte.... and that was just the start of the bullpen churn.
  6. Road trip
    Yeah, Goltz seems kind of an obvious next pick. Minnesota native... possibly still living in MN? Had a great run with the late 70's Twins. Might want to get it done before he gets any older.
  7. Road trip
    Well, after a couple of decades of voting most of the obvious candidates are in. Now it'll be a bit contentious, choosing players like Koskie and Gladden (even more questionable vs Smalley in my mind) vs guys such as Smalley, Wynegar, Goltz, and Perkins. You can make a case for or against any of them being Twins HOF worthy, just like in the big hall in Cooperstown. Having said that, it does seem like the 70s to mid 80s era is a bit under-represented.
  8. Road trip
    I'd be content if reality can just wait until Thursday. Beat the D*** Yankees.
  9. Road trip
    Right. I mean, it's extraordinarily unlikely that either Gasper or Pereda is part of the long term catching plan. Might as well see Gasper attempt to catch a few MLB games. There is a 1% chance he'll become the next Brian Harper catcher conversion success story. No...probably less than 1%, but the season is lost anyway.
  10. Road trip
    I really don't see the comp. Gallo with the Twins OPS+ was a measly 100. Gallo career, OPS+ of 106. Wallner is far surpassing those numbers so far. Gallo surpassed Wallner's current career OPS+ in only one season. Gallo struck out and walked at a significantly higher rate.... he was simply a far more patient/passive hitter. It worked for a time, but by age 28 the league apparently figured Gallo out and he never was able to adjust his passive approach. In his time with the Twins in seemed like Gallo took more strikes down the middle than any hitter I can think of. That really isn't Wallner's approach. Of course, Gallo was also good on defense... Wallner we can only hope will get better, with the obvious caveat that he will never be the defender that Gallo was.
  11. Road trip
    I don't like losing Varland because he was local, but I do understand that a good GM has to trade current players for potential excess value when opportunities arise. A lefty starter, yes that would be useful (a somewhat redundant lefty corner outfielder, not so much). It was a strange trade. I do fear Falvey unnecessarily sacrificed future value. IF Varland became the Twins closer for the next year (very likely), and IF Varland was successful in that role (possible to likely), what would Varland's value have been in July 2026? A good proven closer with 4 years of control... that would truly have brought back a big haul a year from now, much bigger than what the Twins got for Varland this year. I will be shocked if the Twins contend next year, which means they will likely be sellers next July as well. If the Twins FO truly believes relievers are fungible assets to be traded, using the next year to build Varland's trade value would have been a very good investment to make.
  12. Road trip
    Sorry, but nowhere near atrocious, even though that is a recurring theme here. Baseball Savant/Statcast has Wallner at 48 out of 100 for fielding value. For the year he is at -1 runs. Last year he was -2. That's below average, not atrocious. If you want atrocious you could take a look at our other large left handed corner outfielder who is at -6 on the year, which nearly matches Wallner's career total. Ideally, Wallner DH's about 100 games and fills in at RF for 40 or so. And yes, streakiness is built into his hitting style.
  13. Road trip
    I'm trying to figure out a scenario where the Twins would actually want Walker for the next 2 years. He's 34. He's expensive for the production (20 million a year for a -.5 WAR this year and the next two). Why would an obviously retooling franchise want an old and likely declining player who is expensive? Just to maintain "appearances"? By next year that contract could look worse than the one the Twins gave Vazquez. I'm tepid on Clemens as any kind of long term solution at 1B, but I'm pretty sure I'd rather give Clemens a chance for pennies than Walker for $20 million next year.
  14. Road trip
    I guarantee you, the '87 Twins were plenty of fun, and they hadn't sniffed a 90 win regular season for over a decade. You can ask anyone old enough to remember. Of course you'd rather win 90+. I suspect we will wait a while for that, new owner or not.
  15. Road trip
    I hear what you are saying, and yes everyone wants a deep run, but you can't have a deep run without getting in. And sometimes pretty mediocre teams win it all. The 2023 Rangers, the 2006 Cardinals... heck even the '87 Twins. It happens if a team gets hot in October, which is really unpredictable. I don't really object to a partial tear down. I'd have tried to keep Varland and one of Jax or Duran though so next year at least had a little hope? I think attendance is going to be dreadful for a while now. That doesn't bode well for increasing the payroll, which is going to be necessary to keep the next generation of veterans around.
  16. Road trip
    It's a tear down. Prior to July 31, it was fairly easy to project the possibility that the Twins would compete for a playoff spot in 2026. Sure, some things had to go right, but with better health and some shrewd off season moves (following a team sale) it was likely that the Twins would have been listed among the contenders for a playoff spot next year. 80+ losses seems almost certain for 2026 now. In fact, barring a minor miracle this looks like a 90+ loss team next year. There are more holes now than any GM can fill in one year.
  17. Road trip
    Clemens is a very good writer. The whole thing is worth a read, but that's one hell of a closing paragaph: "Who cares? What’s the point? The social contract between teams and fans – we’ll sell a little bit today because we want to be more entertaining tomorrow – feels broken when the club offloads everything, everywhere, all at once. That’s especially true for the Twins, who were expected to contend for a playoff spot this season. Instead, they tore it all down, and getting rid of Correa was the fatal blow. Was it a good trade from a business perspective? It’s surely neither all that good, nor all that bad. But the better question is, who cares if it’s good or bad when the message it sends is objectively terrible? You don’t execute this kind of sell-off if you’re planning to turn around and compete next year. I grimaced as the deals kept flowing in, and I’m morbidly curious to watch the atmosphere at Twins games the rest of the way. We haven’t seen a complete capitulation like this in a long time."
  18. Road trip
    ..and able to get to Cleveland tonight. Some of the guys like Taj Bradley that we traded for would have found out yesterday afternoon. Their lives are also in a state of chaos. Expecting them to drop everything, hop a plane, and get to Cleveland with no notice may not be realistic. I'd guess we will see Bradley with the Twins before too long.
  19. Road trip
    So, about the level of chaos we expected, looking over the current active roster... At least the equipment manager had enough respect for the recently departed not to reissue any of the new guys number 4 or 22 or 59 or any of the other familiar numbers from 2025. Roden got 19, Kirilloff's old number. Hopefully it doesn't come with Kirilloff's health problems.
  20. Road trip
    Huh... day off for Larnach against a rhp. Maybe he got traded or released or lost in the airport and I missed it in the flurry of moves. Or maybe Rocco planned this as a day off for him back in March.
  21. Road trip
    Roden played a lot of 1b in college. I doubt he's totally forgotten how, but there is likely going to be some rust if he's used there.
  22. Road trip
    I really have no interest in how any of the games go the rest of the season. Win 'em, lose 'em, it doesn't really matter. But I'm kind of morbidly fascinated to see how they are going to pull together 25 guys as a functioning roster for the game tonight in Cleveland. Beyond the obvious bullpen needs their infield is a mess. We need a backup SS for Lee, among other holes. I guess Fitzgerald gets another cup of coffee? Otherwise the backup SS is.... Royce? Austin Martin? Clemens???
  23. Road trip
    A tradesman friend of mine often says "You can have a project done fast, you can have it done inexpensively, and you can have it done well, but you can't have all three, and often you have to choose just one." Well, we know the Twins FO acted very fast yesterday afternoon... And we know they cut a lot of money off of payroll... Hm, wonder what they left out?
  24. Road trip
  25. Road trip
    The mid 70s A's? That was really about Charlie Finley refusing to pay players with advent of free agency though, and it didn't happen in one day. (and the A's were actually good)
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