Doctor Gast

Pure humiliation

The fact that teams are going towards SPs going fewer innings, makes perfect sense to me to evolve more to long relief. Long relief helps take the pressure off of short relief & SPs. Putting Varland in a long relief/ spot starting doesn't eliminate him as a future SP. Paddack was in the pen last year, now he's starting.

I know but IMO Varland's problem is more esteem than anything else. If brought to the MLB BP, he'd settle right in.

The Twins are again in a slump, what's up? Julien is still having trouble hitting that outside pitch & he doesn't want to change his swing, Other assumptions; maybe players like Kiriloff, Miranda, Martin & Castro are being overstretched in their defensive limits & it's affecting them offensively. Kiriloff & Miranda are better suited at 1B & they have been asked to play 3B & OF on almost a full-time basis with past arm problems that can cause extra strain both physically & emotionally that can affect their swing. & maybe Father Time is catching up to Santana.

As far as standing pat, that goes for trading away Polanco. Please forgive me but as a Polanco fan, I need to get this off my chest. Polanco has been the heart & soul of this team because he gave his heart & soul to this team. He signed for nothing to play here. He played hurt for most of his career and played out of position for the team affecting his numbers. When the team was hurting he always reached down & gave it all he had. In '21 when we were so bad, Polanco put forth his best season with a ton of walk-offs, https://blogs.fangraphs.com/jorge-polanco-walk-off-king/ We always like it when our players give their heart when they play & are great clubhouse guys. Polanco played 14 years of pro ball for the Twins nearly half his life of shedding his blood, sweat & tears for this team. Being part of this core for such a long time it's bound to affect him when he was traded. It's hard for him to give his all to SEA when his heart is still in MN. You may say he needs to be professional. We all do in whatever we do. But who can say after spending nearly half your life, giving everything you have into a company, then they say we don't need you & give you the boot & have it not affect you? Polanco could have been selfish knowing his potential, signed with Scott Boras, not sign an extension, enter into FA earlier and make a lot of money. Not play hurt or play out of position to keep his numbers up. Not play hard during the season & showboat during the postseason. But that's not who he is. A part of me wished that he had. That he'd go to SEA & tear it up there, & rub our noses into the fact that we traded him. But instead, seeing him playing w/o any fire & (supposedly) wishing that he was part of what we had going. That's what hangs heavy on me. I know eventually Polanco will shake himself loose & contribute much more in SEA's divisional championship battle & advance into the postseason. That what is done is done & that eventually Polanco would've been pushed out of 2B. But IMO this was not the year & as a Twin he'd have thrived, given his heart & come across with clutch hits. That is what the Twins sorely need right now.

Wittgren is a nothing burger. Quit fooling around & bring up Varland & Alcala.

I'm all for having the best defense & most athletic players on the field. Here you've stated 2 of our more athletic players as the worst defensive players. The injuries of Lewis, Correa & Buxton have really taxed our defense over the last few weeks. Where we had to depend on bench player Castro & rookie Martin who have played very little OF, way too much. They are not players that are ready to be looked upon as being key full-time players at key positions at this time. The fact that they were, shows the lapse of their defense. They are normally very good defensive players & majority of others players who would have been put in their situation would have been lot worse. We have been hurting all over the field with the absence of Correa, Buxton & Lewis whether the stats show it or not. Miranda & Kiriloff lack slightly defensive ability & should be playing 1B. Playing 3B & OF respectively they are stretched especially due to their past arm problems. I think it's unfair to rate part-time players or out-of-position players forced to play at full-time capacity over an extended time. Margot, there is no excuse for him.

It's time for the Twins to trip the plow.

Margot batting 3rd. Maybe we have a chance.

Nats have their own losing streak going.

Paddack has come through for us. He has been very efficient, therefore giving us much-needed innings. My main concern is him overdoing it & getting burnt out early or injured.

I disliked the trade not because of Rooker, I actually liked that aspect of the trade because there was a huge glut of big bat/no-glove types that this FO targeted. But it was because of letting Rogers go (I'd prefer signing Rogers to an extension). We had a shaky BP even with Rogers & w/o him having Pagan & Duffy as designated closers would be disastrous. Paddack was damaged goods (if they had their hearts on Paddack all they needed was to wait a short time when he'd blow out his arm & have SD pay us for taking him) but because they didn't wait we got almost 2 wasted years from Paddack & a nightmare year from Pagan. I also question this FO quirk of signing damaged goods. Trading Rooker made total sense for both the team & Rooker. He wouldn't have gotten the time needed to prove himself if he stayed here. OAK had the luxury of being more patient with him & I'm glad they did.

It doesn't hurt to fine tune. But basically he's just started his season. Don't you think that maybe he can still increase his FB velo?

Except for Ober's blimp, the rotation has been good. It's great Buxton is back, Castro sure needed a break. Not that it would help that much offensively, but Keirsey could have been brought up for a short stint. It's about time to bring up & keep up (basically) Varland & Alcala in the BP. It seems like whatever the hitters changed during that winning streak they reverted back to their old ways. But what the team lacks most is heart, they aren't getting it done against teams that we need to win. After CWS losing 7 out of 7 to MN they turned around & beat CLE 3 out of 4 & then we got swept by CLE. Lewis has been the heart & soul of the team & Polanco had been. Nats hasn't been that bad now with our old buddy Rosario & we had problems with them last year. But they have been on a losing streak. We need to shake ourselves off & clean up on them & TX. Hopefully, Lewis will be here before we know it.

Hats off to Paddack for pitching a great game & pitching into the 8th. He was pretty efficient,

I watch everything but I agree we need to get rid umps calling strikes. Most of the time they get it right but when they don't it really affects the game. We don't need that.

Smart pitching

At least Paddack doesn't get the loss

one more

We'll take it

WOW Buxton!

Buxton PH? That's how he hurts himself.

Now we have our work cut out for us

yes

Paddack indeed deserves to win this game