Channing1964

I wouldn't be too worried about him...he never seems like a guy that isn't open to suggestions and with Nelson Cruz around(Baldelli and the hitting coaches too) Im sure he be Aight. I for one am more impressed with his defense so far this year....man. It's obvious guys like Polanco, Arraez,Gonzalez, and Rosario have really made being better defenders a priority. The pitching statistics for sure reflect it.

I got a couple takes on the week and mostly that I myself have been ultra critical of the team and at the end of the day we are 19-10 and like percentage points involved with the best record in the league. The injuries are a little...i dont know troubling, but it seems like in a year like this everybody is dealing with that. We aren't immune to it, that's why thinking about your depth in the off season is so important. I was listening to Gleeman&TheGeek, (maybe it should be Bonnes&TheGeek), and I thought their take on Sano was right on. This is prolly the Sano we're going to get, one who takes awhile to get going and when he does WATCH OUT. That homer he hit....watching the pitcher's head snap back to see how far it was gonna go was classic! and he's taking it up the middle and hitting doubles too. He is what he is, a real power threat, good teammate, and just a pretty darn good baseball player. This is a big series coming up but what's not to like about a 5-2 week and now we're done with both of those teams. Royals and Brew Crew seem to give us fits like nobody else ever does.

That Eddie Rosario is such a slug...man i wish we could get somebody to take him off our hands....JUST KIDDING

Well here is the thing. I think Francona started this a couple years ago when they had Cody Allen AND Andrew Miller. The trend in the league now is leaning towards using your absolute best relievers in the later and highest leverage situations. I am all for that. The save category used to be important I guess but I never really cared about it. Is 45 saves more important on a 110 win team than 30 is on a 70 win team? Hell no. All the other statistics bear that out. The players wanna get more in arbitration because they saved more games. The owners wanna drive the number down because of lack of saves I don't GAF how much they get paid, I want my team to win. All you have to do from the say 6th inning on is see who's coming up, what the matchup is, and use your three or four top relievers accordingly. Baldelli has been a little puzzling so far in doing that but if you use sense then why not bring Rogers in the 7th to face a teams best lefties? It doesn't mean he has to finish the damn game. Nobody has "closers" anymore anyway. When you have Duffey, May, Romo, and Clippard behind him what's the issue? Get the toughest lefties out and get his ass out of there. Let the other guys do their job. Trust me none of them cares who the designated closer is. Rogers does NOT have to finish every single game he appears in. And thats the issue...he will be fine. The staff just has to embrace the concept

AND THEN SOME MFING MORE

LMMFAO

without looking up all the babip uzr and other alphabets i dont fully understand anyway, I just think the bullpen management has been sort of erratic all year. I know the game situations dictate that, but some of Baldelli's decisions leave me scratching my head. Tonight for example, they had Littel warming up in the pen and i mean Hot. Then Odorizzi got literally knocked out of the game and I watched Baldelli yell Alcala...Alcala....well ok Rocco ...Bremer didn't wanna say it was Baldelli saying it but we all saw him. Okay fine...then what the hell did you have Littel getting ready for? He even jumped out the pen and had to be called back by the bullpen staff. Kinda made us look like idiots. (well not me, but our team)

and jeeze for 23 million this is all we get from JD. I realize there may not be much to say but Damn. Cant someone give me some details about this injury? Frankly Im sick of all the ticky tack hush hush injuries. If its not a covid positive test then tell us WTF is going on with these guys. It is a calf injury or it isnt. It is the same one as 2018 or isn't it. Put him on the damn 45 day and forget about him. I mean its only like 10.2 million we have to pay him anyway right? Come on already.

Lets be honest here. Lynn is never coming back to Minnesota ok. There was something wrong between Falvey versus Molitor versus Lynn that was never ever going to work. We all know what really happened. Molitor was never supposed to succeed like he did in 2017 and then to top it all off he won Manager of the Year AND made the playoffs. All of that despite the FO doing everything possible to thwart their success. (see Brandon Kintzler trade, Jaime Garcia trade etcetera) I am sure the Pohlads told them that they had to give Molitor at least one more year and I bet it infuriated them when he succeeded in 2017 like he did. Ok. Now we have seen what they can do in a bigger sample size and the product is very successful. Back then I was so pissed off because basically they did tank the entire 2018 season as soon as a couple things went wrong. Im not saying they did it on purpose. But....how you not gonna notice Sano is so out of shape you send him down to A ball on June first. There were other little things that were so obviously skewed...real fans remember, the whole Ervin Santana situation for example. They screwed Molitor over that year royally. We are over it now. Lance Lynn was caught up in that mess and I guarantee he would never play for the Twins again because of that 2018 circus. Nobody can with a right mind say Lance is not a damn good pitcher. Things just go down that way sometimes and that was the way it was. I can't wait to hear what Molitor thinks about it all. He has way too much class to chirp about it this soon.

if they are gonna totally dump him I'd say take him. Without being really familiar with his make up and the way he would fit in with our current group, I'd be cautious about it. On the surface I would say we need another lefty reliever or a damn good starter if we are going to make any deal at all. Whoever we do deal with is going to have their eyes on our corner outfield bats or Alcala and thats not going to go over well. Especially if whoever we get is not going to take us over the playoff hump. I dont see anybody in that category being available in a year like this one.

I am sure I will get the business for this but Lance Lynn is a damn good pitcher and a damn good baseball player. In 2018 he had almost zero spring training and who knows why nobody signed him all off season but i suspect our FO felt some pressure from people like Jim Pohlad, Dave St.Peter, and even Molitor to do something, Anything to bolster our club after the 2017 wild card season. There was pressure to win and I certainly expected it. This dude came from a winning tradition (the Cards) and he had been solid for his entire career. Without looking it all up I am positive he played for Tony LaRussa and most likely he has at least one ring Whatever his demeanor was when he got here it was probably bad because of the contract situation(i.e. collusion by the owners) If you remember right we spent months trying to get Darvish when they could have had Lynn way earlier. I would like to see both of their career stats compared. Lynn was always a durable starter on a damn good title contending team and trading him for Tyler Austin made me think Falvey had his head up his A$$(as did some of the other 2018 moves but i am over it now). I remember the day they traded Escobar. They were in Fenway and Lynn just beat the Sox like 2-1 or 3-2. That was Boston's championship year. He was at least six weeks behind because i think he signed like a week before Spring Training ended but he is now what he has always been. A damn good #2 or #3 starter on a contending team. On the rangers he is sort of out of place. I heard about all the surliness but if you really paid attention that year you would know that dude is a Gamer for damn sure. He was pitching increasingly better every single start. I for one wish him the best. Unless he's pitching against us.

I hate to always do this(no I don't) but somebody has to. First of all, I know they are playing good against the Pirates, Tigers and White Sox, but IMHO Cleveland is a soon to be train wreck. As soon as they left town they ran off some wins against the weaklings in their schedule. I would argue that Milwaukee and Kansas City will give them major problems when they see them. And they will. Also the stunts that Plesac and Clevinger pulled just reinforces my belief that those guys think they are so good that they dont have to follow simple team protocols. I dont care how good you are or you think you are being a great teammate is a requirement. Francona may be able to hold it together but I am sure i just heard he had some kind of intestinal surgery. Brad Mills, his bench coach opted out so that to me leaves their leadership in a huge question mark. I don't need to quote on their lineup or Lindor's situation. Last time I checked the Royals were running two recently AA guys out there (Bubic & Singer) that may get you a few wins at first but with everyone playing only each other in this Central Division brotherhood they will get exposed. Although their lineup looks good to even me lets not forget they lost like 103 games with the same dudes except for Franco, and Perez who was injured. Their pen was hot when we faced them the first time but it was a different story the second series. The pen cant help you if you dont have a lead. As far as Chicago, well they are what I knew they were. A pretty good offensive team that loses their focus too much and two mediocre veteran starters with a bunch of question marks in the other 3 slots. I dont think their defense is worth mentioning except for the fact that it does cost them. Yes. I am saying that Giolito is not all that. He is the White Sox Berrios. Great sometimes but most of the time who the hell knows? I still think they need a new manager over there because those dudes hit one home run and celebrate like its the 7th game of the World Series. Its a culture thing. Detroit, well it is a great story that they have had a great start but really? Its a 60 game season not 25 and if they go .500 I swear I will eat my Max Kepler powder blue jersey. Cj Cron just went down for the year and he was a big reason for their success anyways. God Bless you Gardenhire. Billy Martin would be in jail if he ever got handed a crew like that. Bottom line is....and we all know it too, is make sure everyone is 100% healthy for the tournament, and stay the course. There is no way we dont make the playoffs and once we do, if everyone is healthy I like our chances. If we were 17-9 in a 162 game season you wouldn't be that excited but you would sure take it. The difference is that the teams that are under .500 are going oh $h-t we are running out of time. By next week we will be half way to the Tournament of Champions and I like where we are.

and to be honest is it fair to say that either one of them is a bust? If I were Falvey i would consider both of them diamonds in the rough because he had nothing to with drafting or really developing them. The fact that they both are on a major league roster is better than a lot of teams can say about their top draft picks. For reals. Once this core is long gone the blame is all on the Falvines. There will be no more excuses. I bet they are elated to get a wildcard and a division title out of this group.

Im not really disappointed by either one of them because neither one has impressed me consistently enough to expect elite performances. If Buxton can stay healthy he can be an impact player, but i doubt a superstar. Sano seems like maturity could help him develop into the threat we hope he can be. This year the evaluations are skewed for both because of the freaky situations but as i saw one person post "i always knew Sano would test positive" I thought having Cruz around would help keep Sano's head in the right place but that still is a work in progress. In Buxton's case i think he is guarded against taking any suggestions because basically the old coaching staff screwed his head up and then the new FO...in one of the few mistakes they made basically screwed him over in 2018. I guess we're stuck with the good and the bad with Sano cuz he signed that extension. Im not sure Buxton will ever forget 2018. It would be nice to see that whole core stick together but the chances of that are slim and none. Somebody will pay Berrios way more than he is worth and Rosario would prolly stay for less money. Buxton I'm afraid, is gone as soon as he can be. The only thing that could hold it together is maybe Baldelli.

im not sure Im That concerned with either one of them really. One of them can be ran out there every fifth day on a short leash. The other one can and should be given the opportunity to get himself back on track in lower leverage situations. No need to panic.

Im not sure they need to make a corresponding roster move because i think i heard they left a spot open in anticipation of the roster limits being reduced to 28 instead of 30.

Excited to be sure....if the young man stays on the right path and listens to the coaches and veterans I feel the sky is the limit for him. Last night was the highest of high leverage situations and he impressed the hell out of this particular Twins fan. That was Awesome!

And i didnt mention the outfield because everybody thats not a Rosario hater knows there is no reason to worry about that.

Im not so sure they were as bad as everybody thought last year, nor as good as it seems like this year. Polanco was never gonna be a gold glover at short but how do you make the all star team if you're a slug? I'm not informed well enough about Arraez but I do know this....Gonzalez is at least mlb average no matter where you put him. I bet that dude could put on a mask and pads and catch if we asked him to. He is just a damn good baseball player. You lose more on offense than you do on defense when you throw Adrianza out there. The flexibility this team has is incredible and I know it makes Baldelli's job way easier. To me I thought the defense was fine last year. Not many losses could you point a finger at the "D" and say that's why. The defense wouldn't have beat the Yankees but I don't think it lost to them either. Sano is perfectly suited for 1b. Imagine corking throws at an agile Andre the Giant over there. If/when Donaldson comes back he is a way better defender over there than he ever gets credit for because of his impact bat. I have followed that dudes career and let me tell you...he is a f--king stud when he's healthy. This team could easily be the next dynasty in the making if the young dudes listen and learn.

Yeah true that to every comment. The guy that gets the ball for game one of the playoffs is that guy TBD. And even Rocco doesn't know who that is yet. It's for sure gonna be whoever has the hot hand and after what i saw tonight against Milwaukee, thats prolly gonna be Maeda.

How you gonna expect a young dude like Tatis jr. to throttle it back? Man hes gonna mash it all he can. If you don't like it then don't fall behind by umpteen runs and expect everybody to give you a chance to toss your damn #15 reliever in there. I've seen the Rangers AND the Royals a lot in spring training(they share the complex in Surprise, Az) and there are no two bigger whining teams in the MLB. Maybe it's time Nolan Ryan calls Woodward into his office and tells him to STFU.

Absolutely you are right....I hope he comes back and I am sure he wants to....Please pay him to stay for at least one more FULL season!

True all of the above....nobody is gonna trade any potential impactful players, especially when nobody will actually be out of it at the deadline. I like where we are in terms of the now and of the when. I wonder if we will find a way to get Nelson for at least one more ride. I would love to see him end his career as a Minnesota Twin. In these two short years he has re-energized this team. God Bless you Nelson Cruz.

I totally agree he would be a great fit for us. Just like one of the previous posters above noted, the time to get him was last off season when he was available. That was before we ended with Hill, Bailey, and Maeda. At this point, with Pineda set to come back, I just dont see where he fits in to the team. Especially at the price the Angels would require anybody to pay. Those guys have to be all in as buyers not just this year but every year. And their division is shaping up to be Brutal.

I guess after today's game they decided there isn't a whole lot to say.....lol