tony&rodney

Real bad. He must have lost the ball for couple seconds.

Nevermind. stringer bell answered. Rocco does not think the Twins can score two more runs.

4th inning ... why is the infield in?

No, it was leaked nonsense. Happens.

Yes, I did. I watch too much milb. I'm in favor of using the ABS system full time. The reason I dislike the two challenges system is because we see a pile of bad calls after a team runs out of challenges. Last night McCusker had two bad calls against him in the same at bat. My suggestion if the ABS is not used at all is to grade the umpires and have a system of rewards in place for the best umpires and retrain or demote those umpires not doing a decent job. FWIW, I believe challenges calling for video reviews should be changed as well. I would allow 10 seconds for a challenge and allow 30 seconds for the review once the guys in New York have the video up. The 3-5 minute reviews are tedious.

Sad to say, but Miranda has looked bad thus far. Hopefully he hits starting today.

Everyone loves a good rumor. I'm going to call b.s., however, on the $1.5 B offer for the Twins rumor and wonder how serious or at what price the Ishbia's were even interested in the Twins. The Twins market is tough and going to get much tougher in this economy. People might have to wait four years before the team sells. Now someone buying the White Sox. That has promise; big city that loves sports. I can buy that idea.

Whenever I watch the Twins play, I must confess that I never think about the Pohlads. Yesterday, I was watching both the Saints and the Twins (mostly the Saints during their innings 1-7) and never thought about who owns the Saints. Sometimes I wonder how the Twins roster was configured but I'm pretty sure the owners are out of the loop on that. I do hope the Twins ownership quandary is resolved in the best interest of many people's mental health.

Morris looked pretty good. He seemed like he was working on cutters and a few other pitches. The clippers couldn't do anything with his fastball, which was at 97 several times. Austin and Emmanuel seemed like they were trying too hard; over-swinging. Too many batters left on base and empty at bats. McCusker hit a couple very hard. I'm not liking the ABS challenge system at all. Either use it all the time or dump it altogether. I know ... 3 games in is a quick call.

60s. Hope the Twins don't expect that tropical weather in Minnesota.

Agree that Cartaya needs to work on his swing. He does seem to be improving on recognizing pitches compared to when I watched him a few times last season. Time will tell with his bat. On the other hand, Cartaya looks pretty good behind the plate. He is quick blocking the ball. Cartaya is still young and if he can improve just a bit he has an MLB future.

Austin Martin had a couple of highlight plays in leftfield. Keaschall looked fine at second base considering the time off from field play in games. He did get hit on his hand but there wasn't a report during the game. Matthews looked really good and it seemed like he was using a few pitches to work on getting swings out of the zone. Much like Festa last week, Matthews could have gone 8 innings. It makes some sense to pull him early in consideration of a promotion by May. Tough to judge Adams because there was such a significant difference in stuff compared to Zebby, but Adams pitched well.

The composition of the team is awkward at best. The general consensus is that the Twins plan on bashing the ball around the park for extra base hits and winning with power and good pitching. The pitching, despite a couple of fails early, should be good. The bats look weak thus far, something that can change today. The defense and team speed is deplorable though and will cost the Twins in more than just a few games. Looking at the roster position by position one must be openly biased to find more than a few positives. My love for how consistently Correa manages to make perfect throws to first base does not mean he is in the running as a top shortstop. He is good, not excellent. Buxton has lost his aggressiveness in centerfield. He no longer rates among the top centerfielders, but he is still good. Bader has been pretty good as a centerfielder in the past. I'm not ready to comment on his play in the corners, having seen nothing to date which qualifies as noteworthy. The remaining 10 position players are all below average on their good days. This is a fair synopsis of the team. What should be done? Can change occur without a change in front office and management? Based strictly on the record of the current group, the answer is no. The pile needs to be moved out. Now can people change? Yes, we always look positively for hope in the future. The air was putrid in Pittsburgh and Lake Erie was dead. Pittsburgh is clean now and Lake Erie is famous for walleye fishing. But then again, there are renewed calls that coal is best and polluted waters are necessary for industry. Things can and do change. What are the odds that our front office and management adopt a Kevin Cash or Terry Francona style of player/play? In October of 2023 the Twins had just won a short playoff series, a number of their players were overrated, and the time to trade was ripe. Instead everyone became saturated with talk about the Pohlads and payroll while opportunities were passed by in favor of rolling it back. 2024 came and went with a decline in value to several formerly coveted players. The team made a decision to roll it back. So here we are, hoping for 84 wins after a rough start to the season. Change happens. It cannot be stopped. Will Falvey and Baldelli change? I hope so, but I'm keeping my money in my pocket.

Understood and understandable. The team needs to sell and a clean sweep follows. In the meantime, Festa was fun to watch last week. Tampa Bay plays some real baseball. Every aspect of the game is possible within any one of their games. Also, the Rockies have great gloves at 1B, 3B, SS, and CF with average or better guys at all other positions. They are decided underdogs but were fun to watch. That is how I'm biding my time.

The Pohlad family, from Carl to now, have not often been active in any functions related to the team. There are exceptions: signings of Puckett, Mauer, Buxton, and Correa. These were Pohlad specific. A couple of changes in the front office ... the move from Ryan to Falvey was a Pohlad thing. The front office guy is tasked with hiring and firing managers. The Pohlads are almost always just guys who sign the checks. Some view this as a curse and others as a blessing. When the team sells, which could be in months or years, there will be sweeping change. Falvey and Baldelli will be former Twins employees and a new set of people will take their chairs. Until then, let us hope the players perform better reducing the manager and front office to non-entities in the games and comment section.

There has been more than a few thoughts directed toward Rocco Baldelli and his use of the roster over the last few years. I'm finding it difficult to manage a defense of his maneuvers. The first games are often not too reflective of a season but the style of play seems consistent with past practices. Baseball has a long season which makes it possible to hold off until quarter, third, or half games played markers reports are collected. For at least the last three years I have been less than enamored with the Twins front office. The direction, ability to judge talent, reticence to trade, and affinity for less than stellar veterans has resulted in a roster that seems unbalanced to me. If Falvey is the boss and architect, he has put together the players and roster depth he sees as fit for a winning team. The team, then, is as much a reflection of Falvey as it is of Baldelli. A counter argument has been to point out the young up and coming prospects as the legacy of the front office (Falvey). Here is where I believe there is a separation. While the specific employees in place may be in position directly due to Falvey, the work of drafting and developing is a largely apart from the work of building the MLB team. If Falvey hired the entirety of those below the MLB level it would point to this as his strength and credit should be given. I'm not privy to who is the prime mover or decision-maker for the MLB roster but something doesn't fit in how these plans evolve. The Twins should win somewhere in the vicinity of 84 games with their current roster and wins are a prime consideration for most people. My growing concern is that the Twins are unwatchable to all but baseball fanatics. There were times in the 1970s and 1980s and in many other years where the Twins were a fun team to watch even as they were not division winners. I wonder how the general casual sports fan views the current Twins product even as I hope the Twins manage to string together a winning season.

Has his swing plane increased in angle and/or gotten longer? Right now, Miranda looks overmatched at the plate.

A prime example of the MLBPA fighting for the stars while ignoring the grunts.

The Twins minor league system is ranked anywhere from #10-22. Overall it is fair to state the system is in the middle of the 30 MLB clubs. The issue for the Twins is that there is simply not a record of this front office/ manager sticking a rookie in the lineup and letting them play. This means, the roster now is the team.

I'm confused by this response. You had the only negative comment thus far in this thread. Everyone else has posited hopeful or speculative comments that all suggested it is too early to make a conclusion on Winokur. Earlier you made an attempt at a comparison between Winokur and Cavaco but didn't explain your thoughts. Generally you are quite complete in using numerical evidence of one sort or another to support your points and it seems to me that those posts are not usually refuted too much. There are moments of toxicity evident in many threads by pretty much all posters but I am not understanding this particular placement. On a side note-keep up the comparisons and numerical arguments. I think many find those interesting at times.

He has already earned his money. The MLBPA needs to seek a fix to how the current rules allow teams to DFA pitchers.

Generally I prefer to stay away from comparisons, but if one is interested in similar players read what chpettit19 wrote above (again). If you don't know those 3 guys, try to tune in to a Nationals, Pirates, or Reds game when you get a chance. Brandon Winokur has at least 2 years of experiences to gather before we can know where he is headed as a baseball player. Right now he is the most exciting prospect in the Twins system. Jenkins, Rodriguez, and Keaschall are better bets at this time though. On the pitching side we can identify Festa, Matthews, and Morris as the best bets while looking at Connor Prielipp as the most exciting pitching prospect. Festa was very efficient and induced weak contact in his first outing. It is going to be fun to follow a few of the Twins minor league players.

It is a good idea to watch a guy play at least 25-50 games before making statements about them. I have watched Winokur a ton. Here is what I have said .... Winokur has a ways to go with learning to pick up spin and off speed. He came a long, long way last year in that specific area. Winokur was easily beat early in the year and I wondered if he had an ability to adjust. There were things he did that kept me coming back over the summer though. He is tall, but his athleticism sticks out in every game. I didn't see a single game where there was a better athlete on the field. Someone mentioned power like Wallner. Winokur has that. He is also very fast and has an absolute cannon. He has made some throws from centerfield and shortstop that you just don't see. He is not a 5 tool player yet because he still needs to improve the hit tool. For a 19 year old last year he was surprisingly fluid in the field, runs extremely well, hits the ball hard, and throws about as well as anyone. If he makes the same progress this year as he did last year, Winokur will get pushed to Wichita. Jenkins and Winokur are totally different players. It is worthless to compare them. I would encourage people to watch Winokur at bats. One can just tune in when he is due up or watch parts of games to see his fielding, throwing, and base running. It isn't necessary to watch the entire games. I promise you, the numbers are a waste of your time - watch the guy play.

Agree. Rough start, so I cannot disagree. Binged watched a ton of baseball since Thursday. No reason to make proclamations this early. I will say that it was fun watching some of the other teams. Rays-Rockies series was filled with great defense and exciting base running. Cleveland-Kansas City showed quite a bit of talent. Can't say I was overly impressed by St. Louis because the Twins looked like they were in a fog. Baldelli's decisions? Oof. I'm hoping the fresh 40 degree air in Chicago and the views from the Southside fire up the Twins.

Martin has not played much at second base. The Twins will not play Martin there. That reality is pretty much in stone. Opinions contrary to the Twins beliefs are futile. Personally I wish the Twins would trade Martin or release him. The Twins do not love Julien at all. Three games versus RH pitching and zero at bats should make that clear. Julien is another player the Twins should trade or release. Falvey and Baldelli have their ideas of what kind of player and team they want. When Lee returns, Julien will be sent down unless there is another injury. When a team plays Mickey Gasper above Julien it is clear what they think. Some will wonder, who takes Julien's place? It doesn't matter if the Twins don't have confidence in him. Someone like Prato or Morales would make Baldelli happier. Falvey is afraid to move players, so Julien and Martin have to wait. While neither Gasper or Julien are good second baseman, it should be fairly noted that neither Castro nor Lee are good at the position either. Castro has a double and a home run thus far, so Willi is the second baseman for the foreseeable future. It is what it is.