Doctor Gast

Unfortunately, I haven't really watch the Twins, I have to depend on Gameday & radio. So I can't really say that Urshela is great or he's average. They call 3B, "the hot corner" for a reason. On the video the rocket that was just to the right of him where he had to try to back hand it, is very difficult. Many can't make that play, a few get lucky but very few can make that play regularly. I'm not up on analytics but I imagine -17 OAA is not good.I can't trust this stat because this is the best & deepest defensive team we've had for a very long time. I agree with you that many make routine out look spectacular while Buxton makes spectacular plays look routine. The only weak link we have is Arraez but he's at a position where range isn't that important. If I can't trust this stat on a team basis, I can't trust it on an individual basis either.

Perez is Perez. A long RP who wants to be a SP. He's a very good pitcher much like Rodon (I can put a lot in this boat) but doesn't have the arm to give you 5+ quality innings through out the season, w/o going dead or get injured. Perez had a super season w/ the Twins until the BP blew up and was asked to pitch extra innings then everything went south. I think Perez could do very well in MN with our much improved defense if they limit his innings. But I see our BP is going down that same old path and will ask more innings from all their SPs. Therefore it won't pay to bring Perez here.

Sano' is our biggest disappointment, he's not able to change to take advantage of his strength & quickness. He's a lost cause. I agree with your list Ted and add to it, Jeffers, Duffy and Bundy. Contrary to Sano', I still have hope in the others to bounce back. Duffy, Pagan & Bundy if they are dial back, maybe.

Sanchez has been a pleasant surprise especially his bat. One thing I don't understand is how does spraying the ball all over the field effect your SO rate? Although Sanchez has a better bat & arm, Jeffers is quicker, better framer, glove and calls a much better game. I've been following Archer closely, I haven't liked the way Sanchez has handled him. I heard the announcer give the stat that Archer with Jeffers his ERA is around 2,22 with Sanchez it's around 6.5. Grant there could be some variables like Sanchez caught him against a hot HOU but Jeffers caught him against LAD. Although I like Sanchez's bat and I'm not crazy with Jeffers behind the plate, I like Sanchez less there.

With Celestino & Gordon playing so well offensively & defensively, we can consider giving Buxton a time on the IL (which was a far cry prior years). The best time to consider this was when we played poorer KC & DET teams and not now when we coming against #1 NYY. Yet if he's only playing 75 % even against NYY it might still be wise to put him on the IL for his & the teams sake.

Prior my 1st thought is put him as LH hitting 1B. But 1B has agreed with Arraez, he has been hitting better and even his base running has improved. Arraez doesn't look that good anywhere else so that'll cut back Kiriloff time at 1B. DH Kiriloff is by far a better hitter than Sanchez but Sanchez has been good in the clutch. I say Kiriloff could get the lion's share there. OF might be a little trickier since we have 4 LH hitting corner OFers Kepler, Larnach, Gordon and now Kiriloff. That'll leave Gordon to mainly sub at CF with RHPs and rotate Kiriloff with Larnach & Kepler on the corners. IMO they'll ease Kiriloff in yet giving him plenty of ABs playing primarily DH when he does play and ready fill in when some one gets hurt in those positions. It's great that we're that deep.

IMO there might be some decisions that are out of Baldelli's hands like pitchers (Coloume', Happ, Shoemaker, Pagan) that have been obtained and FO wants Baldelli put these pitcher in a place where they look good. So he doubles, triples, quadruples or more down on a player that should have been demoted a long time ago. But there other times where the FO is right and Baldelli bucks them. Example, FO stated that they wanted to adapt an piggy-back system because of the shortening of spring training, young rookie SPs, SPs obtained that don't have arms to go 5+ innings through out the season. Piggy-backing you depend on long relief to get you through, I'm 100% behind this strategy. But Baldelli is so stubborn about depending so highly on short relief that he quickly over uses & burns them out, that could cause injuries. To spare the short relief he then over uses the rotation causes them to get burned out and injured. We need long relief and for Baldelli use them the way that long relief should be used, sparing the rotation & short relief so they'll be healthy, fresh & strong for the post season. If he's able to change his mindset on this, I'd deem a hero.

I vote for Buxton he excels in everything. I like Arraez, Larnach, Kepler, Correa, Ryan and many of the secondary playere have stepped up but Buxton is a game changer,

As I said before, when Baldelli risked Lewis in CF and he got hurt and Correa got on the IL. As bad as that was, one good thing that could come out of it is we get to see what Palacios can do because I believed that he could play SS and eventually figure out MLB pitching. Palacios hasn't disapponted me at all. We finally have that depth at SS & CF since I can't remember when. Smeltzer gave us a chance to win too bad he couldn't go 5 innings. After a very disappointing DET series, the offense is finally show some life, especially with some of lesser stars on the team. Winning a series against red hot TOR is very gratifing. Baseball is indeed a crazy sport, maybe we can sweep the Yankees like PIT did to LAD. Go Twins.

Was tough to see our team lose but Berrios look good as ever against us. Was happy for him

I didn't get a chance to follow the game. What surprised me was to see Contreras in CF, to me he isn't a CF. Am I wrong? I'd prefer Gordon or Celestino there.

I don't like the fact that Polanco is increasing his launch angle, together with his ankles are bothering him a little. I agree with Baul that Polanco is gamer and will play thru any injury. You can't trust him to let you know when he's hurting so you have to give him a planned rest thru out the season. He's always on the field much more than anyone, even when he's hurt.

The past couple of years KC and DET have played us very tough. CLE owns CWS and we own CLE. We are back & forth w/ CWS. This KC/ DET series has been especially disappointing but now we're past it and TOR, NYY and TB will be tough but we'll get past it. We have an excellent core with the best defensive depth that we haven't had for a very long time. Recently that core has been down or sputtering but our secondary players are beginning to step up. The team is heading in the right direction. Hopefully mindsets will be changed, the core will get hot again, the young players will continue to develop, necessary trades will be made, hurt players will get 100% and everything will gel together by the time the season ends, going into the post season with a lot of momentum.

We have heard a lot of negativity recently, do you think we need anymore? Especially now with this big upset. Yeah the Twins have warts, every team does. We have an excellent core with the best defensive depth that we haven't had for a very long time. Recently that core has been down or sputtering but our secondary players are beginning to step up. The team is heading in the right direction. Hopefully mindsets will be changed, the core will get hot again, the young players will continue to develop, necessary trades will be made, hurt players will get 100% and everything will gel together by the time the season ends, going into the post season with a lot of momentum. I criticize the team but it's a positive criticism usually offering a solution. Because I want the team to succeed.

Love your optimism Melissa! Go Twins!

Many pronounced doom on the Twins for the rest of the season. The odds of Twins (who got slaughtered by the lowly Tigers & Royals) to win against the hottest team in baseball, must have been astronomical. Baseball is a crazy sport, the Pirates swept the Dodgers, anybody can beat anybody on any given day. I tuned in late with the Twins and was so happy that we were leading and was able to cheer them onto a win. I'm so glad that this team did not give up. Can we sweep the Blue Jays? Maybe.

2 players that many have written off Gordon & Archer kept us in the ballgame, along with another splendid outing by Duran. While the top 6, which we count on went 1 for 26. Pretty sad.

There hasn't been any doubt that Larnach was going to hit like this yet to my pleasure what impressed me the most is his defense, With Buxton, Celestino & Gordon able to play CF plus Kepler & Larnach focused at the corners, has given us great depth in the OF. I was hoping to spare Lewis of the risks of playing OF but what I hear from Baldelli is he is determined to continue to play Lewis there.

Love it to see E Rod doing well, I've also got an eye on our catchers, so it's nice to see Godoy w/ 2hits & Isola hiting a HR. Also good to hear that Alcala is up & starting to pitch. Wish him a speedy revamp.

Yeah, his doubling, tripling, quadrupling or more down on bad moves is super frustrating

IMO Baldelli thinks of himself as a chess master. Where he likes to mix in 3-5 short RPs to fit the situation and mix up the line-up accordingly to analytics. Lot of good can be said about analytics but last minute whims prevents players to mentally prepare. Lot of good can be attributed to having a player settled in a routine and not to rely so much on short relief and figuring in reliable long relief in almost every game and use short relief only when need be. And put a little nonbias human element in the game.

You can't blame Archer's poor showing in PIT any more you can blame Glasnow, Cole, Musgrove etc. with their less than spectacular showing while in PIT. Most pitchers that leave there complain how terrible the pitching coaching is. Archer will never complain. Archer's time in PIT, injury & surgery has set Archer way back and he's just coming back. Archer had a bad game in HOU but so did Ryan and Winder, he also had a bad game in Detroit but so did Winder and Ober. Yet nobody has claimed that they are a liability. Yet the other 7 games Archer has given the Twins opportunities to win. I'd love to see Archer go 5 but he's not there yet. To value Archer only on the basis of not being able to go 5 IMO is ridiculous because he has the 3rd most innings pitched of all the Twins. Before he was hurt he was a work horse regularly pitching 200 innings/ yr., IDK when or if he can ever acheive that level again but he could. I would love if Archer could pitch in long relief, then he could qualify for some wins that he deserves. But it's a bad idea #1 he's been a SP his entire career he's accustom to take a long time to get ready for the game. #2 Baldelli totally ignores long relief. If they both can overcome their mindset, I'd be OK w/ it. Many when they look at Archer they only see the negative hype from PIT and the mindset that if a pitcher can't pitch 5 innings he's a terrible pitcher. Both are wrong. Archer only pitching 4 innings is not a problem, Baldelli solely relying on short relief is where the problem lies. Archer adding 1+ more innings to his outings isn't going to solve that problem. Since the coaching staff has been working closer with Archer his control has gotten worse (which drive me crazy) but that'll come around a long with the length of his outings. He's not a 2 pitch pitcher he has 5 (FB, curve, slider, change up and sinker). But Archer's greatest asset to the team is his chemistry and mentorship that he adds, that's invaluable for a young pitching core. If we hadn't signed Archer we'd be a worse team with a much worse record. He'll be well worth our patience

I am really impressed with Celestino in how he has bounced back from a very difficult situation. And I'm really, really,really happy that he's filling that black hole that have been so evident for so long (legit CF sub). He's one of the main reasons why we're doing so well. He's much better than a big bat no glove. Although Gordon is doing OK in CF, I'm wishing Celestino a speedy return.

I thought it strange when Palacios left the Twins as a pretty good hitting defensive SS. But with TB across the street same league his avg. dipped and never advanced in TB and after he returned to the Twins his #s started to rise. To me it shows we have a more advanced hitting system. I value Palacios as our #3 SS. I value depth, deeper the better at key positions. I also value Gordon as our #3 CF. More they are exposed to MLB better they will become. I value flexibility so I'd keep them both.

Thanks Matthew, I'm interested in all of them, it's nice to see them doing well. Perez & Gibson both did very well when they were with us in 2019 until our BP blew up and they had to over-extend a sick Gibson and a glorified BP arm, wanna be SP Perez. The only player of all of these we really need is Rogers. A trade that never should have happened. Now we are in desperate need of a veteran closer.