Doctor Gast

Our core is so badly fractured & flawed plan (that wasn't spoken of). This is not a player problem although the roster was gutted; the return did practically nothing to help the team NOW. Cody you seem more optimistic about this fractured core than I. What is the plan? Just wing it? The plan has been flawed. Hit a bunch of solo HRs when we don't need them & SO when we do. Forget about fundamentals like defense, baserunning & bunting. I give Baldelli credit for trying to get away from this flawed plan. You can get the best manager there is, nothing will change. But because these problems are FO-based, nothing will change until you change who is in charge.

I like to focus on just this point. IMO, like was stated there are so many personalities & styles, that it makes so much sense for coaches focus on each player & work with each individual's strengths, instead of forcing everyone in one mold. What made coaches Rowson, Swanson & Wes Johnson so effective was that they worked individually so well with each player. That should be what Twins look for as a requirement in selecting a coach & policy.

Yeah, it's crazy. The managers that are worth having, will never agree to these terms. IMO, part of the selection process filter may have them agree with the terms of him having a say with coaching selections. So, I doubt Maki will leave & the hitting coach will probably stay. The firing of Baldelli is just another one of his cosmetic moves (only appearance but does nothing to help the Twins). He will only hire another Baldelli.

Twins were well known for developing hitters & having surplus. Which made a lot of sense that teams like MIA, which is well known for developing pitchers & having surplus to make a trade. Now Twins hitters aren't being developed like before. We don't have SPs to trade. We had a strong BP & traded them all away. This year, our pipeline of Ober, Matthews, Festa & MiLB pitchers have been disappointing. Hopefully, our pipeline will improve & step up to stabilize the rotation & fill out the BP. It made me happy when I watched a STL podcast with Kyle Gibson. While commenting on the new young SPs to start out in the MLB in long relief & spot starting, instead of wasting their bullets in AAA. Much like I've advocate here. Once they get their feet wet, develop their pitches & endurance they get established in the rotation, then we can think about trading from our surplus. like CLE. Falvey was hired to establish a CLE-type piching pipeline. It has been 9 years & IMO, leaves something to be desired.

I love a thinking mind, thank you. IMO, the running game would have vastly improved the Twins chances if it had begun earlier. But how the team was structured with a fragile rotation & INF; they were doomed to collapse even w/o the sell-off. IMO, if the Twins had picked up a veteran inning-eater & replaced Julien with Martin at 2B, change strategy like running more in the beginning. IMO, with the team in a better position to win, the player would rise to the occasion & be the best team in the AL. & who knows after that. IMO, little things that some miss can make a big difference.

I don't contribute to Falvey any success that the Twins have had. I contribute players falling into his lap. For example, Cruz fell into our lap due to Schoop's recommendations. TB came to us with the Cruz/ Ryan trade (they wanted Cruz when we got him). Correa had nowhere else to go, MIA came to us with the Lopez/ Arraez trade. The juiced ball came at the right time in '19. Luck plays a lot in baseball success. But now that the league has the book out on Falvey. His luck has run out. Other FOs had less to work with & still competed. All we needed was an essential trade & better managing.

Twins had some good coaches in '19 that were justifiably & greatly praised by the players. Instead of being deservingly promoted, they were allowed to walk. They were replaced with incompetent, yes men who were promptly promoted. When I saw Conger as a candidate, I was struck with horror. Many former catchers are great field generals & make great mentors & leaders, but Conger isn't one of them. He has done nothing to help develop MN catching. I don't trust anyone who has sat under Falvey, least of all Conger. Conger should be fired, not undeservingly promoted again. I was impressed with Skip Schumacher as the MIA manager. He's studied under STL managers like LaRussa & Mike Matheny (former catcher), as a player. He's young but has a lot of baseball smarts. He's my 1st choice. MN needs a leader & Hunter is a good one for MN. He has a lot of connections with players that can be good coaches. These 2 would make excellent managers but Falvey wants yes men & a say in everything so I doubt that he'd hire either or either would want the job. I'd like very much if Twins could lure Nestor Corridor from MIL in some capacity.

This is what I posted before Baldelli got fired. "Small market teams like MIL & CLE have shown us the way to operate as a small/ mid-sized market. Which of . Falvey's weird analytical philosophies are the complete opposite. Philosophies that are ignorant of what is going on in the league, focusing on cold, hard data. Void of any human considerations like character, heart, & instincts. Void of any human underlying conditions like injuries or if the league hasn't or has adjusted to you. Void of fundamentals like defense, baserunning & bunting. Void of proper coaching instructions. Player evaluations that is based on if you hit their way or you are acquired by Falvey, then you have unlimited opportunities & none if you aren't. Beyond this, Falvey doesn't have the ability to initiate & close on an essential trade. IMO, Falvey doesn't really listen to anyone (including players) if they don't fit into his scheme of things. All this takes the heart & soul out of the team. Which became more & more obvious after Falvey failed to add to the '23 successful playoff core." Falvey loves Baldelli, that's why he extended him. But delusional Falvey & Pohlads got together because, to their surprise, the seasonal tickets aren't being sold. Fans weren't buying their Kool-Aid that they solved the problem by selling off the core which was (in their opinion) the problem. Falvey & the Pohlads are our saviors so the problem wasn't them, so they had to pick another scapegoat. Baldelli was their last sacrificial lamb. I'd like to point to SF. They had a baseball President of Baseball Opps. much like Falvey, which prioritizes analytics far above everything else. Their owner rightfully listened to their loyal fans & former players & canned this guy & set in Buster Posey. The team took off this season but could not sustain it because Posey failed to clean house below him & gave Bob Melvin a chance to redeem himself. He could not & was rightfully fired. Baldelli was fired due to poor ticket sales. I ask the Baldelli haters not to succumb to purchasing their season tickets yet because Falvey will hire another Baldelli or even worse. I assume that Bob Melvin is one of the top candidates others are Falvey's yes men, that'll be worse. IF we hold out my hope is they'll wake up & Pohlads sells or at least replace Falvey for a baseball smart head of opps. If this doesn't change, nothing will change.

True, but if Falvey goes, everybody goes when the new guy takes over. That is my point. Basically, not taking personal responsibility (in deed not talk) & setting up scapegoats is a bad look.

“This game is ultimately measured by results, and over the past two seasons, we did not reach the goals we set,” Falvey said. “I take personal responsibility for that. IMO, it's poppycock. If he were serious about taking personal responsibility for the past failures (which he should), he would have resigned, not fire anyone.

On Skors North Twins, Falvey said that he'll help out the manager to select the coaching staff. So I don't expect much of a change. Bummer.

Twins need a leader, Hunter would be a good leader; he knows baseball & good baseball people to help with coaching. I also like Skip Schumaker. Will Falvey hire these guys & give them free rein? Probably not.

Very funny & we need to laugh as not to cry, but it's not a laughing matter. Since Falvey wasn't the 1st axe to fall, Baldelli became another sacrificial lamb to Falvey's incompetent regime. While Falvey is in charge nothing will change, just like the many sacrificial lambs before. I absolutely don't want Falvey leading this mess that he has created. I expect a manager worse than Baldelli if Falvey is the one choosing. I am not celebrating.

Kirby was fantastic at mentoring. He helped a lot Tori, then in turn he help out Span & Span mentored Revere. Twins traded both Span & Revere, leaving Hicks w/o a mentor. IMO, that hindered Hick, Hicks was given away & Buck was w/o a mentor. Fortunately, Buck was instinctively a great CFer. IMO, Buck's best years are ahead of him. At least, offensively.

I'll root temporarily for any team playing the Yanks. So I'll root for BOS even though they have already let me down. My long list is topped off with teams I admire in how they are run, CLE & MIL. Following that are teams with ex-Twins so SEA, TOR & PHI are my top 3, I'll be cheering for every ex-Twin to do well. My sentimental favorite is SEA because of Polanco, Garver & Raleigh. I'm rooting him to get the MVP, he's the most deserving. SEA has yet to go to the WS, it be nice to see that. Go Polanco!

Thanks, Nick, for your weekly reviews. Buck had a great year & so did Ryan. Ryan kinda petered out towards the end but he stayed healthy. SWR has proven to be an established SP, who adjusts quickly & keeps us in games. I see him as the 4th SP if Ryan or Lopez aren't traded. The last starts from Bradley, Zebby & even Able were promising. Small market teams like MIL & CLE have shown us the way to operate as a small/ mid-sized market. Which of .Falvey's weird analytical philosophies are the complete opposite. Philosophies that are ignorant of what is going on in the league, focusing on cold, hard data. Void of any human considerations like character, heart, & instincts. Void of any human underlying conditions like injuries or if the league hasn't or has adjusted to you. Void of fundamentals like defense, baserunning & bunting. Void of proper coaching instructions. Player evaluations that is based on if you hit their way or you are acquired by Falvey, then you have unlimited opportunities & none if you aren't. Beyond this, Falvey doesn't have the ability to initiate & close on an essential trade. IMO, Falvey doesn't really listen to anyone (including players) if they don't fit into his scheme of things. All this takes the heart & soul out of the team. Which became more & more obvious after Falvey failed to add to the '23 successful playoff core. Nick you said that " the sell-off was getting ahead of it". Ahead of what????? Year after year, Falvey has made lame excuses for not competing & come up with sacrificial lambs. The last has been the core, so he got rid of a huge chunk of the remaining core & probably isn't done. At the same time, making the Pohlads happy by cutting payroll. The core had been playing w/o any heart, which I don't blame them for with a FO that don't give you an opportunity to go anywhere. The players haven't been the problem. Prospects come up & have to relearn everything that they were taught & the coaches don't seem to help much. I'm more optimistic about the pitching but it seems like they overvalue the pitching where they come up short. If we want to succeed like MIL, we'll have to tear management down from top to bottom & bring in someone who can copy MIL. Until that happens, it's impossible for me to get excited about this team.

SWR is pitching another quality game. If only we can drive in a run or 2.

Back when Buck was about to enter FA, social media was full of the rumor that Buck was leaving the Twins. He didn't want to play for the Twins because the Twins screwed him over. Truth was that he wanted to stay & the big hang-up wasn't even money, it was his no-trade clause. IMO, many FOs value Buck more than Falvey & that they are offering him what Falvey considers a good offer. Therefore, Falvey doesn't like a no-trade clause. For me it'd be hard to see Buck in a different uniform, as more fans will not come to games & I don't trust Falvey to make a trade worthy of losing Buck. Of course, Buck wants to win, that's how he's wired. He will give his all to win no matter if he's playing for the ROX. Twins' young players still need Buck as a mentor & `compass. Buck is very loyal to his fans & I wouldn't blame Buck if he doesn't want to play for Falvey but I won't believe it until I hear it from his mouth.

Pohlads have made a ton of mistakes, the greatest is letting Falvey take over & keeping him on. The problem was never the core; it was management. I hate to rain on your parade, but nothing will change until there is change at the top.

I like to check out the competition to find trade options. I followed fish on 1st podsites sometimes when I was combing for SPs from MIA. I've also came across the others' podcasts but not their website.

I only knew about Brewers & Cubs but I haven't checked it out yet. Maybe I should.

I had the same problem! I thought I was being targeted. :)

For years, I hear that "Oh, there are no trades out there". Yet I see serious FOs making trades I like. I won't waste my time giving my ideas to someone who'll say "Oh, that'll never happen." If Falvey is serious, he can make stuff happen. If I feel you are serious, I'd be happy to share my ideas. If you really want to know, you can check my past posts or go to Baseball Trade Values, they are plastered there.

There are a few & most would be reasonable but I don't trust Falvey to actually go out & initiate trade on any.

Both the '24 DET team & the '25 CLE team have relied heavily on the young players that they developed & stayed with. MN have trouble developing & usually don't stay with young promising players & let them improve, they like to go with temporary outside veteran players. For MN to stay steadfast until the end, they have to see their fragile areas & bolster them so they don't falter & collapse. When they lack support, there can not be any comeback. The last 2 years, we looked good on paper. Our rotation depth of Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Paddack, SWR, Zebby, Festa & MiLB prospects we looked analytically, pretty good. But if you looked under the hood to begin the season, one by one, you could see cracks. IMO, the only one that I really trusted was Lopez, and he was the 1st real casualty. Once he went down, our rotation unraveled. The last 2 years, I've advocated for at least 1 veteran inning-eater. Just to throw out there, today I listened to a STL podcast with Kyle Gibson. He advocates the same as I that he'd like to break in young pitchers into MLB in the BP., They get their feet wet, conserve their arms, help save the rotation & not waste their bullets in AAA. That's how Johan Santana got started. Another fragile area the last 2 years was INF, Correa, Lewis & Lee always hurt, plus healthy Julien, a liability at 2B. Julien should have been sent down & Martin should have been established at 2B. IMO, these 2 minor differences could have kept the Twins from collapsing & should have been in the postseason both years, But the way it stood there was no rebounding, only continued collapsing. Even w/o the devastating sell-off.