Aerodeliria

They've been brutal in all aspects of the game: pitching, opportune hitting, fielding and base-running and in-game management is also suspect...so that just about covers everything I think.

New sparkling look ?...same old Twins...?

They could actually pull this off: RULE 7.10, Approved Ruling (2) ". . . When the ball is dead, no runner may return to touch a missed base or one he has left...upon appeal he shall be called out."

Considering you've ranked them by trust. How about if we grade them ourselves: 1. Taylor Rogers: D (He has got the one save but he has been lit up like the 4th of July ever since. He's not durable and for some reason Baldelli forgets this every two weeks or so.) 2. Hansel Robles: B- (He's actually performed adequately. I don't think that Baldelli has marked him as his second most trusted; rather. I think he is trusted only slightly more than Alcala.) 3. Tyler Duffey: D (He showed signs of snapping out of it only to get hammered once again.) 4. Cody Stashak: F+ (I've always thought he was "living on a prayer" to be honest. He seems to be a mediocre pitcher with one decent season. The "+" has been given in the cases when he has some control over his pitches, which is only half the time nowadays.) 5. Jorge Alcala: C- (He hasn't been trusted at all and should be ranked last on the trust meter. He is rarely brought in during high leverage situations, which means he is rarely brought in because the Twins are perpetually in the process of being in high-leverage situations or converting comfortable leads into high-leverage situations. I'd like to see him more often if he is supposed to be the future. The lack of trust may actually have an effect on his confidence.) 6. Caleb Thielbar: D+ (He has good movement on his pitches, but everything I saw (granted it was limited) was up--not by design so hitters were swinging from their heels at his pitches. He certainly didn't look very effective to me.) 7. St. Paul Train WRECK (Derek Law, Luke Farrell, Devin Smeltzer): I'm not sure where Dobnak is in all of this, but I'll grade him as well. Farrell, Law: F (I do have some sympathy however. Oddly, they were both put into very difficult circumstances. I'm not trying to make excuses for them but they were both put into tie ball games in the extra frame just because there were some lefties coming to the plate? That's rough.) Smeltzer: C (We haven't really seen that much of Smeltzer so it is a little hard to grade him with confidence. I feel he is about a "C" meaning he can handle some situations well but not others. He's in the same category as Dobnak.) Dobnak: C- (I was tempted to grad Dobnak more harshly but I really think he wasn't used in the way I would expect. Because Dobnak is really not a strikeout pitcher, coming into games with men on base is not really going to help him IMHO. I'd like him to come into games at the start of an inning.) 8. Alexander Colomé: D+ (Colomé was a complete disaster when he was the MAN; however, since that time, he has pitched surprisingly well. Since the season is sinking faster than the Lusitania, I'd be willing to try him as the closer once more.)

Today was just another indicator of this truthful statement.

Spiffy and ?!

"Speaking of injuries, at what point do we start question what the training and strength/conditioning staff is doing? NFL teams don’t see this many injuries and they’re openly trying to maim each other on the field." ...instead of their fan base....well, I guess the Vikings and T-Wolves fail on that count too.

There is something I simply cannot understand. When do you give Alcala some real opportunities? Presently, he just comes in to mop up the vomit. At least he seems to be able to get through an inning without giving up three or four runs. Who cares about the lefty-right matchups.

'Stop seeing this ad' will be history? I will miss larger, more intrusive ads covering up TD content! ;-)

Thanks everyone. I really enjoy reading these minor league magic posts especially when the Twins are playing so bad.

We used to joke about this when the Twins brought in Mike Marshall or Ron Davis in for save opportunities. We were always out in the left field cheap seats.

Nice and thanks as always....

Considering the fact that Alcala is apparently still not trusted, how about Robles as the closer? At least he can bring the heat and he seems to be bit more durable than Rogers.

It's kind of ironic that Rocco wants to be a guy who lives by the stats, but acts like any other manager when it comes to pitching. He has his formulaic responses just like Molitor and just like Gardy. I was saying to myself don't bring Rogers out for the 9th, but he's now the closer, so that is apparently a non-decision...just like Colome was the closer until there was simply no possible defense for bringing him into any game with fewer than a five-run lead. If tomorrow is a tight game, I am sure Rogers will be trotted out in the 9th because he is the closer until further notice. Could it be Alcala? I'd like to see Rocco at least try that instead of crowning Rogers as the closer. (No complaints against Rogers here at all, but we know his limits. He is great with enough rest but falters when pushed.)

I could not agree anymore with this post. For submitting to the so-called data-driven approach, well, we all know already that Rogers get tagged when he goes consecutive nights. That being said, bringing in Waddell in the 10th with Alcala available is really beyond my understanding. I said, "No!" twice in this game. Rogers to start the 9th and Waddell to start the 10th.

This 'loss' is completely on the so-called data-driven approach of Baldelli. I cannot understand how you bring Rogers out for the 9th. He needs rest in between appearances. When he is brought in for two consecutive appearances the data show that he gets raked. I thought we knew that already, and then he brings in the fresh from the minors Waddell for the 10th? Why? So he can demote him after the game and justify the move? Where is Alcala in all of this? Boy, this particular game really irritates me to no end...

Yay!

I can finally comment as we saw the game here in Japan. (This was my first complete game watched.) Maeken struggled a little with his control--especially the slider, but he had very good movement on his pitches. I told my wife before the game that I thought he would pitch much better in the game. It is great to have Simmons, Buxton and Donaldson in the field. Polanco is still an incredible liability in the field and is the reason Simmons got the error. Polanco was slow to cover the bag so Simmons had to rush to the bag and throw it off balance. He also dropped the pop-up. Arraez may be slower but personally, I'd feel more comfortable with him at second. Rogers looked fine to me. His fastball had 'pop,' which was something that was missing last year. Sure he gave up a homerun to Gallo, but it was actually a pretty good pitch (not even a strike). Long is the list of those who have coughed up a homer to Gallo. Sometimes you just have to bow and say 'Well done.' On the other hand, Thielbar and Stashak were not impressive to me at all. I never felt safe with either of them in the game. Thielbar had decent movement, but he left many pitches up in the strike zone. Stashak just looks like a mediocre pitcher with decent control. (I withhold my comments on Waddell. It looked like he had decent stuff. The pitch to Garcia was in exactly the same place as the previous pitch. I don't know if this was the catcher's call or his poor location.) The Rangers have a very slow outfield and the Twins took advantage of their sloppy play. Kirilloff looked great at the plate (just as comfortable against southpaws as righties) and Polanco/Kepler seem to be swinging the bat better as well. It's good to watch a win. I never doubted after the Twins tacked on an insurance run.

Greetings from Japan. Thank you for that very accurate ranking (I think). Since you ranked some Twins, I will also throw my impressions into the mix. I just watched my first Twins game in its entirety here in Japan, so I finally have a chance to give some thoughts concerning what I saw with the caveat that you guys (for the most part) can see many more games than I can, so please take these observations with a grain of salt. 1) The Rangers have a terrible outfield. They are slow and took poor routes on batted balls. 2) Buxton looked very comfortable at the plate. I can honestly say this without hesitation and without hyperbole. 3) It's great to have Donaldson, Buxton and Simmons in the field. It has to give pitchers confidence. 4) Polanco is finding his stride at the plate but he is still a terrible infielder with poor instincts. He failed to cover second base quickly enough on two separate occasions (this resulted in Simmons' throwing error because he was ready to toss it to Polanco who started for second too late) and of course, the dropped pop-fly. Arraez may be slower but I'd feel more comfortable with him at second. 5) Maeken pitched well. He had a little trouble corralling that slider, but he had good movement on every pitch. I think he'll pitch better as the temperature warms. 6) I'd like to give Waddell another chance. It looked like he had good stuff. The homer to Garcia was a fastball in exactly the same place as the previous pitch. That was either a bad call by Rortvedt or a poor pitch regarding location (perhaps it was supposed to be up and in). In any case, it would be nice if he wasn't shuffled off to the minors immediately. 7) Duffy was the hero and he looked like he was in command despite the double. Cave took a poor route on that hit. 8) Gallo is incredibly strong. That wasn't a terrible pitch to Gallo, but if he can get the bat-head out in front, he can probably drive a pitch from anyone out of the park. I think Rogers looked fine (with good pop on that fastball--unlike last year when I saw him). 9) Thielbar had good movement but many pitches were left upstairs. I never felt safe with him in the game. Stashak made it through his inning, but I was still unimpressed with his stuff. Both looked incredibly shaky. 10) I was going to criticize Kepler because he looked so bad at the plate in his first appearance, but he looked much better in every AB after the first one. 11) Kirilloff has the demeanor of an outstanding hitter and also played well in the field. Let's keep him in the lineup!! His approach at the plate equates with hitting southpaws just as easily as righties. 12) Sano didn't strikeout ;-). Actually, he has been taking BBs lately and I think this will serve him well. His main problem now is named Alex.

I also flinched. He definitely landed on first base awkwardly. I really thought he would grab his hamstring or something after the play.

You actually have to trust him first...

2-13...2-13!! Maeda can't throw first pitch strikes and Stashak can't throw strikes when he needs to? They're supposedly control pitchers. We keep using Colomé in close games? Our 'closer' now has an ERA of +8.00. Why not try something different instead of continuing to bang the same broken drum? We had Civale on the ropes a number of times but couldn't get it done again? This is like a scratched record for this iteration of the Twins. I know this is rant-like, but come on. That is some very pathetic baseball being played and I'm not seeing any glimmers of shimmering samite from the players or staff to lift our spirits based on the games we've played recently. This team is very bad; it is being managed badly, and it doesn't seem to display any sort of grit. Can it be turned around? Maybe, but as Yogi Berra once said, "It's getting late early." ****Ranting now finished***** (at least until tomorrow)

At the moment, he's a mediocre pitcher that throws strikes (or at least he did at one time), so if he is brought into games with little or no pressure, he excels. He has yet to convince me that he is nothing more than AAA pitcher. Maybe that would change with an additional pitch--let's hope it is something interesting like a knuckleball.

For all of this talk of bullpen by committee, Baldelli more-or-less uses the same basic patterns for games. Irrespective of your feelings about this, it does not exactly jive with the outward posturing. This has resulted in a record of 2-6 in one-run games (0-3 in 'overtime'--my new preferred term) and 1-3 in two-run games. The good news is that, in general, the starters have exited the games in fairly good shape; the bad news is 'the system' hasn't really worked at all when turning games over to the bullpen. The first-place Royals, who really do practice bullpen by committee FYI, are 5-0 in one-run games and 2-1 in two run games, and their system seems to be working. Should the Twins adopt a real bullpen by committee? The season is long to be sure, but the farther a team is adrift, the harder it is to make up ground.

Thank you. I actually did LOL...