Doctor Gast

Even before the deadline, the way that CWS is operating (putting importance on promising young catchers; obtaining Cory Lee, especially later Quero & Teel, developing promising young SPs with other promising young players) & the way this Falvey Co.'s lackadaisical weak attempt to put together & manage a competitive team. I stated that we'd be competing with CWS for the cellar. But after the deadline it's been unbearable.

Why don't you apply to be a coach for Baldelli? You'd fit right in. I'm for the way MIL's way of evaluating & developing their players. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QETdzLaXjVM

I'm not comparing. I'm saying most everyone has to have a ton of regular ABs to adapt to MLB pitching. 82 ABs spread out a whole season won't cut it. Even for Jenkins.

I'm just for giving everyone a fair shake. I don't expect someone like you will understand. But players especially a MLB green player, HAVE TO HAVE regular ABs to do anything. Most managers, if they can't give regular ABs to such a player they leave them at AAA to get needed regular ABs, if they have any interest in developing that player. What Baldelli has shown, he has no interest in developing Keirsey's hitting on the MLB level. Keirsey's glove, baserunning, AAA record & MLB walk-offs when given some semblance of regular ABs has shown he deserves that chance. Analytics don't tell the whole story; that's a big problem with the Twins & those who don't understand the game. It's not about luck, it's about getting a ton of regular ABs for an average MiLBer to adapt to MLB pitchers.

You throw a MiLB into MLB with no regular ABs, what do you expect? A couple of ABs here, a couple there, a rarity of 4 ABs per game, quickly pull him out of a game before he can get any rhythm. This just proves that stat lines are worthless, lies & a joke if taken w/o looking at the underlying conditions. If Baldelli threw Jenkins into the same situation, give him a couple of ABs here, a couple there with long periods in between, with the rarity of 4 ABs per game. I'd guarantee he'd have close to the same results. Let's not be biased here.

Does he have a crystal ball? Because he definitely hasn't given him a chance. He probably goes by analytics that says 28-year-old rookies don't make the MLB. That is sooooooooooooo lame. Who are you to judge this injustice? Give him the same chance as Julien & others that don't deserve it & keep on giving them chances, then we can judge him as far as his hitting. That's all I'm asking. What he has done in the field, on the basepaths & at AAA justifies that chance.

With Buxton raking like he has these last 2 years, add to the disappointment of Falvey's not being able to add to our great '23 core. Instead, he chipped away at it & did nothing to replace the lost value. With minor essential additions, we could have really gone far in the post-season the last 2 years for Buxton, despite Baldelli.

You can win games with just pitching. W/o pitching to hold you up, it's difficult to maintain any hitting & momentum.

IMO, Rocco doesn't care about the development of the players. Why does he have Keirsey up only to PR & defensive replacement? Is he more concerned about establishing his self-imposed image of a chessmaster than Keirsey getting his much-needed regular ABs to establish his hitting prowess he had in AAA? Baldelli's focus should be to develop every single one of our players to the fullest during the season, especially now when nothing matters..

Tinler probably reminded him to PH Wallner with Outman.

Times have changed, and the genie is out of the bottle. The effects of extra velo & spin in generating Ks & wins, pitchers & coaches aren't going to go back to old school. So is it a developmental problem? IMO, no. Now I'm going to get a lot of thumbs down & flak, but IMO, it's a managerial problem. I have advocated for years for better management of the balance between rotation, long & short relief. Better evaluation of the limits of each SP. The last 2 years, I have campaigned that we have a fragile rotation after we lost veteran Gray & Maeda. That we needed at least a veteran inning-eater. On paper, we probably looked pretty good with Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Paddack, SWR, Festa, Matthews & a slew of promising arms in the minors. I laughed at Falvey's blind hope that Desclavani was ever going to amount to anything for us in '24. As I predicted the 2nd half, Paddack went down with arm & forearm problems, Ryan went down, SWR, Festa & Matthews ran out of gas. Lopez & Ober weren't as good as we hoped. IMO, this was greatest factor in our cratering in the 2nd half. In '25, we still look good on paper. But to start the season, Ober was sicker than a dog & was suffering from hip soreness (which he kept on pitching), Ryan had came back from the IL that had sidelined him the year before, Paddack, with his arm history, still young arms, SWR, Matthews & Festa (all 3 were suffering from ineffeciency & injury) plus all our promising MiLB arms weren't looking all that promising. Lopez was our greatest stability in the rotation. Yet he was our 1st big casuality. From the beginning of the 24/25 offseason, I again advocated obtaining at least 1 veteran inning-eater & establishing a core of long RPs to supplement the rotation. Festa pretty much started the season with a fatigued arm (WOW), which is a sure-fire red flag. But nothing was done. IMO, if Festa (& others) were placed on a more limited pitching regimen starting in '24 we wouldn't be in this predicament & probably would have been in this & last post-season.

IMO, none of those suggestions will help. The only thing that will help if you're not selling the team is to dismantle Falvey's rule with it's weird analytic philosophies, void of any baseball intelligence & inability to initiate essential trades. #1) If Falvey can't build off a proven '23 core how can he put together a competitive team from a fractured one? So keeping the existing core won't help us to win. #2) The dismantling of our beloved core to save money was very painful. How can you turn around & throw money away at FAs? IMO, that'd be a slap in the face. #3) Bringing up prospects like Jenkins, just to bring them up can backfire if they aren't ready. #4) One thing that Falvey likes to do is talk, pretending he knows what needs to be done. Twins fandom is sick & tired of his BS. Getting fans drunk with free beer won't help. Again, 1st step is to clean house, From Falvey on down, effective immediately. 2nd step is to hire Andy MacPhail, who is baseball smart, as the interim President of baseball operations so he can mentor his son Drew as the FO. I trust them to be able to put together a team like MIL, picking a coaching staff that develops our players the right way & a baseball-smart manager who puts winning above his preferences. Then we can think about keeping our remaining core & trade for essential players to fill it out (NO FAs). Once we get someone in that knows what he's doing & has a clear path to succeed, then that'd be easy to sell to the fan base. Get the past Twins' heroes back to support the team. Then fans will want to come & promotions will help to fill out Target Field.

The ABS can't wait for that to happen. Long overdue.

Kyler has found the secret. Go for it.

I was encouraged by SWR battling back from his illness.

Agreed Nash. These kids come through the MiLB, unprepared. They have no idea how to run the bases, bunt, or fundamentals in general. In the MiLB, they hardly play a position & when they come up to MLB, they are thrown in that position & expected to play there on a MLB level. Even when they come up, I question the quality of coaching they receive.

Why don't we get this right! I stated that many had thought that Jeffers was a primary catcher; I never said that I shared those views. If you actually read my posts, you'd know that I view him as a tandem catcher. My focus was on Rutschman; I only used Jeffers as a reference.

My text is about his 1st 3 yrs, being overextended. That is my opinion. This affected this year, being injured & production.

Where did you get 120 games catching is the average for a #1 catcher now? Because that's what we are talking about, not 50 years ago. Cal Raleigh is a freak, he should get AL MVP hands down. Much like Clemens, nobody can pitch like he did & not have their arms fall off. Times have changed, Chief, conditions have changed. It's time for you to except it. The idea that a player cannot be pushed too far, is pure poppycock & too idealistic. I'd like to share an observation with you, Chief. I grew up working hard on a dairy farm starting as a young boy. As a young man I worked for a 65 yrs. old brick-layer & he could out work me & he said that he knew a 70 something stone-cutter that could out work him. When I was 40, I worked in shipping & receiving. Before I left for Brazil, I had to train in 3 young men to do what I did. My observation is our father's generation was stronger than our generation & our generation is stronger than the following generation, on average. I'd like our generation to be as strong as our father's generation & the following generation be as strong as our generation. But on the average I don't see it. We all have physical limitations & everyone's are different. I'm all for stretching those limits but not to exceed them to maximize the results.

Fabrication? How about delusional on your part that you have no idea how much work it takes to be a MLB catcher (neither do I, but it seems that I have a much better understanding than you). In Rutschman's 1st 3 years in the MLB, he caught 329 games, (not including DHing), you don't see even veterans catch that many games these days. (They don't because too many catchers wear down & land on the IL). For reference, many have said that Jeffers is a primary catcher. In his 6 yrs he has caught 420 games.

I wouldn't doubt that they'll try to sell this hope. Expectations are high for Jenkins, but is it enough to overcome the negativity that surrounds the team? Is Jenkins the leader who will lead us to a World Series run? Was Mauer, 1st ballot HoF, able to do that for us? Correa was such a player. Not that he had incredible regular-season games, but he had that personality of a leader. Correa led us to our 1st playoff series win in many years. We just needed to build off that core via trade (because Pohlads didn't have the $), but no, instead they kept chipping away at it & failed to shore up fragile areas. As a result, produced toxicity in the team. If Falvey couldn't build off a proven core, how can he rebuild from scratch? This sell-off return left much to be desired. IMO, only the Jax/ Bradley last-minute trade was an acceptable seller's return. No matter how Jenkins turns out, I have no hope that Falvey can make this team into a competitive one.

Absolutely, TB & MIA had surplus pitching, they came to us & offered for our offense that they needed.

This FO is incapable of initiating & closing on trades. Only good deals we get, are those that fall into our laps, Falvey shouldn't get any credit for. I wonder sometimes how many good deals he passes up because of his love for certain redundant prospects & players.

I'm hoping that Baldelli will finally give Keirsey the same opportunity as he has given other players they brought outside the organization by giving him regular ABs. The only time he has given him any semblance of regular ABs was a short while Wallner was down during their 13-game winning streak, when he came through with a couple of walk-offs. If not they should leave him in AAA, so he'd get more regular ABs in, even though he an asset defensively & base-running. Other than that, nothing.