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Doctor Gast

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  1. Doctor Gast
    I'd like to give some amendments. My computer crashed on my original writing & I forgot to include Jeffers on the list of hitters who started this winning streak. Jeffers last year had swerved from the "all or nothing" approach which took his hitting to another & more sustainable level. Also a clipping I saw later I'd like to include. Hitting offspeed pitches On April 21, the Twins were 7-13, and there was no secret as to why. The Twins were hitting a collective .195 at that point, having scored 67 runs in 20 games, an average of 3.35 runs per game. They’d been held to four or fewer runs in 17 of those games. It seemed the book was out on them: Just throw them non-fastballs. Before this streak, the Twins were seeing more offspeed and breaking pitches than anyone else in baseball (49.7%) and had the third-worst wOBA -- an all-encompassing offensive statistic -- on those pitches. Only the Oakland A’s were whiffing more often on those than the Twins, who were swinging through 39.6% of those pitches. “Sometimes, just putting the ball in play and just trying to put as good of a swing as you can on the ball may be the most productive thing you can do,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. 1:27 Rocco Baldelli on Twins' 3-1 win over Red SoxSince the start of the streak, the Twins lead baseball in wOBA on non-fastballs. If anything, they’re seeing even more of them (52.9%) but have cut their whiff rate all the way down to 29.7%.They’ve scored five or more runs in all but two games amid this streak.
  2. Doctor Gast
    Great game! Keep it rolling! We can do it!
  3. Doctor Gast
    How long have you waited to say that?
  4. Doctor Gast
    Is Twins' sausage magical? Short answer, No. So why the Twins' turnaround? Let's look at what led up to the winning streak. Shortly after the '23 season, Falvey credited the "all or nothing" approach for the team's success. BTW it has been the Twins' hitting approach since '19. During the off-season, Baldelli was questioned about their hitters' SO record. He responded with "SOs are not important and they weren't changing anything". Spring training, "all or nothing" was implemented again with poor results. Twins started '24 with 2 wins against a promising KC team, Lewis's injury, later followed by Correa's. Without Lewis & Correa (archetype to Twins hitting philosophy & best hitters) & the league adjusting; the losses & SOs started to pile up w/o the HRs. The turnaround started with the revelation that the "all or nothing" wasn't working. Baldelli stated that they had changed to a more balanced approach. Kiriloff, Martin & Miranda were hitting, Larnach & Kepler returned from the IL with a revamped swing, one by one they started to hit. In the middle of all that the winning streak started before the rally sausage appeared. Does the rally sausage have anything to do with the streak? Yes, because even with the right approach the pressure to hit was still there. The sausage joke brought levity to the dugout, being more relaxed the hitter could execute. As heart-breaking it was to lose Lewis, it turned out to be a blessing disguised because the following slump opened the eyes of management. IMO we have a great lineup & see no need to try to go outside to change it. Our problem at the beginning of the season wasn't the lineup but the approach & we can't get distracted from that fact with the rally sausage. While I encourage to ride the rally sausage as long as we can, IMO using it as a HR trophy is in bad taste.
  5. Doctor Gast
    I was a big fan of this FO. IMO they have handled pitching pretty well. The pipeline although has been slow to develop & so far the top product has been Ober & they have tweaked quite a few outside pitchers to benefit us. The usage is trending the right way. A couple of things I dislike the most. 1st thing is that they are tight-lipped when you don't want them to be & open their mouth when they shouldn't (ex: shifting Graterol to pen before trading him). 2nd is they never admit to their mistakes & always double down. IMO a good FO says the buck stops here. MN has always maintained a good culture even before Falvey. This is the main reason that separates MN from the rest of the teams. This FO has been pretty lucky in other teams approaching them w/ decent trades. What makes me nervous is when nobody is offering any good trades, this FO is terrible in initiating trades & seems to be a target if a team wants to unload (a) player(s). Analytics are a good thing but if your philosophy is off (all or nothing high priority- defense & small baseball not important) analytics won't help you (poor player evaluations & development go hand in hand with this). You also have to know when to go with your gut. I have been patient w/ them & if you don't care about competing at the top level they are fine. But if you want a World Series team we need to go elsewhere.
  6. Doctor Gast
    Impressive win. Paddack outshined Houck & the line-up showed up. Lets keep the ball rolling & sweep BOS.
  7. Doctor Gast
    It shouldn't have taken Lewis to get hurt for Miranda to get his chance. Miranda should have been given the opportunity to play 1B instead of signing Santana. Miranda should stay up with the Twins all year. When Lewis comes back Miranda will probably be sent down because there's no place at 1B.
  8. Doctor Gast
    Martin has a great attitude, he hasn't let this demotion get him down. IMO he doesn't have anything more to learn at the AAA level. He needs playing time on the MLB level to become more relaxed & confident. I could be wrong but to me Martin's production since the sausage has dipped not raised. We still need him on the main team.
  9. Doctor Gast
    Very true. My point is I'd rather have them stick to the system that landed Steward & they can control so high quality arms aren't blocked & that the focus could be better used somewhere else. But I don't want to get too far off topic.
  10. Doctor Gast
    Good job TopGun, Anyone coming out of the Dodgers system is worthy to take a 2nd look. Steward was well worth the chance.
  11. Doctor Gast
    I want to take the time to thank TD for having an open forum where I can express my opinions & read the insight from other members. Hope it never becomes solely a platform for Twins to spread their narrative.
  12. Doctor Gast
    Steward is a great find, a diamond in the rough, a great high-leverage RP to go along with Duran, Jax & Thielbar. We started this off-season with one of the top BP in baseball. Yet FO had to show that they did something by adding more. With a set BP & a great recipe to find & create BP arms, it wasn't necessary. Now we have a glut with very capable Alcala & Varland wasting their bullets in AAA.
  13. Doctor Gast
    I know Polanco (not personally) The person you're talking about isn't Polanco. The Polanco I know will help lead SEA to the postseason & help them advance.
  14. Doctor Gast
    The rally sausage can't take credit for the entire winning streak because he appeared only in LA. Rally Sausage is great to help to make light things when they are intense to help the players relax more. I'm all in for that but I think it a reward for a HR is in bad taste (pun intended)
  15. Doctor Gast
    I think we got a shot at taking the series, IMO we have a better shot with Varland tearing it up in the pen as long relief. I think some of our SPs could be dialed back a bit so long relief could go a long way. If Buxton needs some time off, we could use a spark plug in Martin. Go Twins! See what you can do now w/o Lewis against better teams.. IMO BOS think they know us. Let's fool them.
  16. Doctor Gast
    They have complained about the lack of offense overall. But in the pitching duel with the best team in baseball (Braves) Polanco was a big reason they won the series just now through clutch hitting. Keeping SEA in 1st place over TX & HOU. It seems like he's just starting to heat up to help SEA get to & advance in the postseason.
  17. Doctor Gast
    WOW 5HRs, thank you FlyingFinn for that update. One of the 1st games he hit a walk-off & his best talent is getting OB. I've always said that this was a big mistake. Not only being the best SS, that he'll turn it around hitting once coached right. But what do I know?
  18. Doctor Gast
    None of them have been available to play there except Julien & now Farmer again. Unfortunately with Satana at 1B they aren't moving Julien to 1B & have Farmer full-time at 2B. That has been my point. If they are open to have Martin at 2B & move Julien to 1B I'd be 100% behind that. But IMO that'd weaken us in the OF.
  19. Doctor Gast
    I was talking about our better options at 1B, Basically, Julien is the only available 2Bman. Because of that unfortunately he's no longer an option at 1B. I wasn't comparing him to Polanco.
  20. Doctor Gast
    I wouldn't do any of the main trades that were done or the signing of Santana those acquisitions held back our own players more worthy but the damage has been done and we are a weaker team because of it. Twins double down on their mistake so I expect they'll hang unto them as long as possible. We still have Martin so Margot is expendable but he's not going anywhere soon. In the beginning of the off-season we had Julien, Miranda & Kiriloff to play 1B a heck of a lot better options than Santana. But the Twins wanted Santana to be our every day 1Bman. Trading Polanco limited our options because basically Julien is stuck at 2B. Like Gallo, Santana isn't going anywhere. Jay Jackson, although has contributed, is the most likely to be let go because the Twin like to rotate arms & he's less flexible. Castro & Farmer are valuable bench players that'll bounce back nicely now that Correa is back. They shouldn't be going anywhere.
  21. Doctor Gast
    I'd like to echo Dman's comments. Although I don't always agree with the rants of some people, I believe this is the place for Twins' fans to vent their ideas even though I don't agree with them. Many times I just ignore them. They should be able to do so as long as they respect the other members.
  22. Doctor Gast
    CWS played us tough, some close games & games we had to win from behind in the last inning but the Twins showed no mercy. Flexen had the Twins number & threw a lot slop that the Twins could hardly touch. Again the Twins superiority in the BP prevailed. Castro has been hot to silence doubters & now that Farmer back in his familiar routine has shown life. Miranda also has shown who he is, which is good to see. A good game all way around, IMO we can stretch out this streak against BOS even w/o Lewis & Buxton. Martin should be back.
  23. Doctor Gast
    IMO Martin squares up Flexin
  24. Doctor Gast
    That the game plan against the Twin throw mainly off speed
  25. Doctor Gast
    Great to see that triple by Castro, & Vazquez putting it in play to score him.
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