Riverbrian

The offense was a huge problem in June. It got better It didn't get better enough Some of that improvement was through subtraction. You can address needs simultaneously but offense would have to be #1 if I were to rank needs according to my opinion. Bringing that K rate down is a good place to start.

Assuming the list on Fangraphs Roster Resource is correct: Who do the Twins absolutely need to protect from the following list of rule 5 eligible players. Camargo Williams Severino - 28th ranked prospect Bechtold Martin - 6th ranked Keirsay Helman Prato Luna Peguero - 31st ranked prospect Laweryson - 32nd ranked prospect Schulfer Scherff McMahon Taylor Banuelos Isola Schmidt Sabato Soularie Gray Fajardo Holland Garry Jr Mooney Floyd - 36th ranked prospect Bentley Grace Phillips Miguel Rodriquez Cavaco Salas - 9th ranked prospect Emmanuel Rodriquez - 4th ranked prospect Urbina Morales Hidalgo Stankiewicz Swain Yanez Olivar - 25th Ranked Prospect Cespedes Martinez Aria Perez Castro Pena Medina

I've heard that the other 29 teams are not going to participate in free agency this off-season. 😄 The Twins should be able to sign whoever they want.

Thanks for bringing this up. It's a huge point. Framing skills would no longer be necessary. Maybe catchers that can actually hit becomes more important in the search for a backstop.

This is how it ends. 11 teams will end their season this way. 29 teams will have to wait until next year. It's not going to damper my overall feeling. Every season... I ask for baseball to mean something in September. I got that. Every Season... I hope for a good result in September in those meaningful games in order to qualify for the playoffs. I got that. I have been asking for many years for depth and competition for playing time... 26 players who can play who can play at all times on the roster. I came pretty dang close to getting that. The team certainly had sufficient depth. I have been asking for many years for a superstar to rise from our farm. Royce Lewis gave me that, Superstar is lofty for Julien but he's a major league hitter in my opinion. I have been asking for many years for capable young pitchers to fill the rotation and bullpen so we don't have to fill the slots with Bundy types. I got that. I've had my criticisms over the course of the season and those criticisms remain but I fully support this front office.

I wasn't sure about the move, the plan but... regardless of my opinion. Houston only produced 3 runs. If given the option of choosing 3 runs for Houston before the game. I would have taken it. The bullpen game worked in my opinion.

Varland

An unexpected injury should be expected. We've all been here before. You never know what you need until you need it. Depth is important... it's nice to have a Solano and a Buxton lying around to fill in.

I'm just hoping to fix baseball. I have no hope fixing the human condition. 😉

200 Wins between the Orioles and Rays taken down 32-12 total runs. 200 Wins taken down by a team that lost the west title by finishing the season with three losses to the Mariners. 200 Wins taken down by a team with Jacob DeGrom, Max Scherzer and Jonathan Gray on the Disabled list.

You are right... I didn't recall the 2nd pitch of Dozier's AB... because it didn't hurt me. I'm sure I loved it at the time after being concerned with the first pitch being called a strike when it was high out of the strike zone. You are right... Fans will always tend to be happy when a call goes your way and upset when it goes the other way. You and I have been watching all sports for a long time now and singing the same song. However, pitch number two to Dozier made the count 1-1. It didn't end the AB. Which is what should have happened to Didi. You are right... we can do this all day. And that's the point. It takes a lot of moments to do this all day and that's the problem. Some missed calls have very little influence on the outcome and some do massive damage and that's why I bring up Didi... A crooked number is massive damage. Yes... I understand that Ervin just has to overcome these things but it's still better to get the call right. I am not skilled enough to assess the current technology. Very few things in life work perfectly right out of the box. Most things that are implemented will require adjustment shortly. Sometimes the lane assist radar in your car has to be adjusted because it pulls you to the left when you are plenty distance off the white line. That doesn't mean the idea of lane assist should be dismissed. You fix it. Improve it... make it better... In the meantime... there are less people drifting out of their lane heading toward an 80 year old guy with slow reflexes. 😎

I got a thumbs down for this. From RpR who tends to do that. It happened. I remember it clearly. For the record... I think umps do an exceptional job but the job is impossible to perfect. For those who are against automation... that's fine if you like your baseball that way. However... I really see no difference between the random missed ump call and purposely leaving big rocks on the field for the crazy hop that will randomly happen.

October 4th, 2017 Yankee Stadium. The Twins jumped out to 3-0 lead in the 1st inning behind Dozier and Rosario home runs. Ervin Santana takes the mound. He is struggling a bit. He walks Brett Gardner and gives up a single to Judge before getting Sanchez to pop out for the first out of the inning. With one out, runners on 1st and 3rd. Didi Gregorius steps to the plate. Foul, Ball, Ball, Foul for a 2-2 count. Pitch number 5 was a strike. The ump calls it a ball for a full count. Pitch 6... 3 run home run. Tie game. When he should have struck out for out number two. That missed call was huge. If that missed call can be prevented... it needs to be prevented. No it didn't decide the game. There were 8 innings left to play... but it was a 3 run blown call. I have been an advocate for automation ever since. If you'd like to walk down memory lane. Here ya go. https://www.espn.com/mlb/playbyplay/_/gameId/371003110

Backs are against the wall for our Twins. It's got me a little feisty today. 😁

Every year without fail. We are surprised by playoff results and every year in July we act like we know what is going to happen in the upcoming playoffs despite being consistently surprised. We never learn despite baseball consistently trying to teach us year after year. We hopelessly believe that that the best team is going to win even though no consensus amongst the fan base on who is actually the best team. This 101 win team has no pitching and 84 win team has no experience, this 90 win team backed into the playoffs. There was really no point in anybody playing in the playoffs this year because the Braves were just going to steamroll through it. The team with the best record in the playoffs won 64% of their games. The team with the worst record in the playoffs won 51% of their games. Why would anyone be shocked that a 13% winning percentage over 162 games difference can be erased? Why would anyone be shocked if a .620 OPS hitter goes 4 for 10 and a .900 OPS hitter goes 1 for 12. It happens all the time. 30 foot singles along with 110 MPH Exit Velo balls caught by the shortstop are a part of this game. Umpires missing balls and strikes in key moments happen all the time. Those types of things tend to even out over 162 games but over 1 game at the right the moment... it just might not even out because there isn't enough time to even it out. Clayton Kershaw getting one out and giving up 6 runs is a part of this game. Left hander extraordinaire Framber Valdez getting thumped by players that many have stuck into a box labeled bench is a part of this game. Sonny Gray with a 2.79 ERA being out-dueled by Cristian Javier with a 4.56 ERA is a part of this game. It's happened before and it will happen again. Mitch Garver and Bryson Stott driving in 7 runs is a part of this game, Tommy Pham getting 7 hits is a part of this game. Christian Walker stealing two bases is a part of this game. Kirilloff going hitless is youth. Cedric Mullins going hitless is ??? Adam Kennedy of all people beat us silly in 2002, David Eckstein was the MAN for the Angels in 2006. Eddie Rosario went nuts in 2021, Scott Brosius in 1998. We remember that an injured Kirk Gibson hit that clutch home run in 1988 but we forget that Mickey Hatcher was huge as his replacement in that series. Edgar Renteria was a hero in 2010, Rick Dempsey in 1983 for the Orioles, Bucky Dent in 1978, Howie Kendrick in 2019, Pat Borders in 1992, Steve (who am I) Pearce was the World Series MVP in 2018. How about David Freese in 2011! We are surprised when things like this happen every single year in the playoffs and we quickly forget as we minimize contention the very next July. Make the playoffs... you can't do anything if you don't make the playoffs. If you make the playoffs don't take it for granted, don't minimize it. get behind it, feel it. Don't hand anyone a PAPER ADVANTAGE. Give 1,000 percent. Get that big hit when needed, get that big strikeout when needed, make that great catch when needed. The margins are incredibly thin. I guarantee this post will be forgotten about by the time players arrive in Ft. Myers if it isn't dismissed immediately. 😉

Extremely true statement.

I didn't take it literally. 😎 I took it as... he doesn't believe in Willi Castro. The post was a very nice backhanded compliment. I just struggle with declarative statements like that. Player X will never be something goes into the same bucket as Weak division so Team X will never win in the playoffs. Manager X is the worst manager in the history of the game type statements, player X got lucky and player Y will turn it around comments.

I appreciate the overall positive sentiment of your post. Even if it was backhanded. Never? You may be right... However... coaches will continue to work with players with the goal of improving players. If players are set in stone at age 26... there isn't much sense in employing coaches, analysts and the people who are in place to help players play better. They are just going to be who they are going to be.

People apparently need to put labels on things and stuff them into boxes. So let's pull out that youth box and start shoving players into it. Let's create this youth narrative and hand it to people... let them pass it around to others so all young players in the future come with this youth stigma. Over in Houston, Kyle Tucker and Michael Brantley haven't done that much. In Toronto... Brandon Belt didn't take his vet status to the bank and cash it in. . In Atlanta... Acuna and Ozuna are hitless. In Arizona... Youngsters Carroll, Moreno and Thomas have hit 6 dingers combined. In Dodgerland... Betts, Muncy, Kike, Heyward, Taylor and Freeman have managed to go 3 for 43 thus far. In Texas... Evan Carter is 6 for 14 and Josh Jung is 8 for 20 while the vet Semien hasn't done much.

He's a special hitter. There isn't much more to be said. His home run yesterday off of Ober would have been a ball. It was 6 inches North of the normal strike zone coming across the letters on his jersey. The Home Run off a Brock Stewart was a cookie. Not every cookie gets eaten... he ate that one. That home run off Thielbar (who hadn't allowed a home run to a lefty all year) was almost a perfect pitch. It was a sweeper that caught the bottom corner of the zone low and away. Alvarez was able to PULL that pitch down the Right Field line for a home run off the foul pole. He didn't go the other way with it. He PULLED a slider low and away for a dinger... Who else is able to do that? His first home run of the series was a changeup center cut. He was ready for the change of pace apparently. That's 4 home runs against 4 different pitches, a high fastball out of the zone, Cutter dead center, Nearly Perfect Slider and an 84 MPH changeup. What do you want to throw him? Who from the Twins do you want to blame? He hit .295 with an .892 OPS against left handers this year. He hit .292 with an 1.044 OPS against right handers this year. He has 4 home runs in 12 AB's this post season. That equates to 136 home runs using the 410 AB's that he had during the regular season. You have to hope that he can't continue that pace and has to slow down sometime soon... However, in case he can keep it up... Keep changing speeds, move the ball in and out on the EDGES... if you walk him... you walk him but stay away from the middle. I'm not blaming our pitchers for what he is doing. The team you are playing is part of the equation. It hurts but we are watching a pretty special player playing special at a special time.

I think the batting order should be fluid. Managers tend to keep them somewhat static. I am reasonably sure that data is going to be very fluid (batter vs pitcher, hitters performance against fastball pitchers, slider guys, hot and cold streaks so I am reasonably sure that data is ignored to keep the lineups static. I don't know why.

I have been a frequent critic of the strict usage of the platoon throughout the season. The main reason for my criticism's was the pulling of young left handers against left handed pitchers early in the game during the regular season. They were being pulled in 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th inning in low leverage when a lefty came out of the bullpen. Those AB's that they lost were opportunities for exposure to lefties which will prep them for exposure to lefties in the playoffs if they need to face them in October. The front office doesn't know in May, June or July if they will need to face them in October because they don't know who will be injured and not available for the playoffs. For example... If Correa, Lewis and Buxton were all not able to go for the playoffs... which came close to happening. They would not have been able to shield all 3 young lefties against left handers forcing them to do something IN THE PLAYOFFS they haven't been asked to do the regular season. Now that the playoffs are here and the roster is healthy enough to make the platoon functional... By all means... platoon. Next year... I'd rather they don't do that again (they probably will) during the regular season. Let them get those looks against lefties in the middle innings. Pick your spots for pinch hitting opportunities... Just don't make it automatic.

Game Two has just concluded... And now I'll say he is worth every penny.

Health is the only concern... Normally I'd say let's give it some time before making this type of extension decision. This isn't normal. The guy is a superstar so I'd say go for it but... that health thing is lingering. I'll trust the front office to make the right move here.

Let them step between the lines and let's see what happens. I fear no one and I fear everyone. This should be as close to a set it and forget it series as they come. For pre-planning... The Houston Offense: Rocco will have to have some lefties available out of the pen for Alvarez and Tucker who usually bat back to back and Brantley who isn't too far from them in the order to create a 3 out of 4 left handed hitter stretch in the middle of the order. We will need Thielbar to get some key outs and we will probably need to utilize Funderburk after Thielbar gets used. I don't anticipate many pinch hit moves from Baker. Maybe a Diaz for Maldonado switch if they find themselves needing something. The Houston Pitching: Framber Valdez is a the lone lefthander. They have another left hander in the bullpen but I don't anticipate Baker to throw him just to throw him when he has better right handed options. Valdez will cause Rocco to deploy the right handed hitting crew and once he is removed from the game... Our young lefty hitters can enter the game and finish it off. This means Julien may not have a defensive replacement in the late innings. Apart from Valdez... Rocco can set it and forget it. Baker will probably do the same. Get your popcorn ready... Let's go Twins.