Doctor Gast

The problem isn't with Archer or Bundy if they can give you good innings. The problem is Baldelli uses 5 short RPs even when Ryan, Ober, Winder, Smeltzer or Gray are pitching. If you have 1 long RP to pitch 3-4 innings that replace 3-4 short RPs.

Excellent review Nate! Very happy for Kepler, he's really coming around, his grand slam was hugh in winning this game. Detroit played us tough by throwing out their best BP arms. Wish Archer could have gone 5 but Wes knows best, Archer influences a lot our pitchers, he's a leader and adds a lot to the chemistry of this club. Patience will pay high dividends come around the play-off time, with his stuff & expertise. Wish more fans had more patience and insight. Also like to recognize Pagan's solid performance & win together with Urshela's clutch hitting.

I've always been high on Celestino but the time from potential to reality is always a big question mark. As you know CF depth is a big deal with me and where we have been hurting for a long time. So I'm overjoyed to see that potential realized and our need met.

I've been sceptical with Popkins because he'd been advertized as a HR guru with LAD. We don't need a HR guru we need a pure hitting coach to overcome the past MoonBlast mentality and confront the "dead ball" reality that they've had problems with the last few years and Sano' still seems to have problems with it. I'm happy if possibly I've been misled to think that Popkins is other than indeed a pure hitting coach that he can help any hitter to improve their hitting.

Love what the young players are doing. Royce is surpassing our most generous expectations; Celestino is finally giving us a viable Buxton back-up, playing great D everywhere and is a OB machine; Larnach has shown he can hit; really like Gordon; Just waiting for Kiriloff to get pass his wrist problem. Pitching- Ryan and Duran has been great, Ober and Winder are steady and are pretty good when healthy. Buxton has been fantastic when 100%, Correa, Polanco and Kepler are heating up. Arraez always have good ABs and I agree with what Karbo stated that Arraez has found a home at 1B. He's more relaxed, he's playing better overall. Last year it pained me to see Arraez run the bases, he never took an extra base and hardly stole any bases, now he's one of our SB leaders. I liked the Gray trade but I didn't like trading away Garver or Rogers. Urshela & Sanchez have worked out OK. I really like our Correa, Smith and Archer signing but have been a little hesitant about our 1st Bundy signing. It doesn't surprise me that many outside of MN underrate them or that many MN fans are pessimistic due to lack of vision. But I'm very optimistic about our players, there's a special chemistry there. I see them only get better with more time to work together, gain more experience and get 100%. My only reservation is Baldelli's total reliance on the short RPing and giving rest to most of our main players at one time thus greatly increasing the difficulty of winning that game. Yes they're not ready to compete against NYY or LAD but I believe they will be.

Very good job by Ober. Great come back! When all looked lost. And great closing by Duran! Great job Twins! Keep going!

I don't like any of these. Bell would take away playing time from Arraez. We need an established closer that has control not another Pagan. I don't see Eovaldi as much better than what we have. If we are going for a SP, I'd go after some one like Montas. I'd like things to settle 1st before we actually start thinking about trade options. But you can't go wrong with a Montas or a Rogers when we start thinking about competing in the post season.

Maybe I'm not a typicle Twins fan but I'm very excited about this team. With this easy schedule, it'll give offense plenty of opportunities to really break out and gain momentum to carry though the season. It'll also give our pitchers opportunity to arrive at 100% and then they'll be awsome. My only concern is managerial. My hope is Baldelli get out of the mindset of over using the short relief corp. Therefore blowing up both short relif & rotation.

Lewis has that spark that ignites this team, on & off the field. That goes beyond the analytics.

FO said we are in a win now mode, I'm all in with that, we have the core to do that. But we traded away our only legit closer (that's paying big dididends for SD) for a broken pitcher and a iffy reliever. Both of these pitchers could eventually work out but when? we need them now not 2 or 3 yrs. down the line if ever. I was against this trade from the beginning and for extending Taylor.

Very disappointed in the managerial decision of sending Smeltzer down when he has the defense to back him up and gives us the opportunities to win. Smeltzer has been steady all through the season why send him down when we others who are less worthy to be on the 26 active list. Our rotation is full of young, injured, just reabilitated and not 100% pitchers. Our roster is crying out for more long relievers so why didn't they keep Smeltzer up? My guess is Baldelli's mindset of playing chess by relying so heavily on his short relievers, it's dfficult for him to recognize long relief as a valuable arsenal. Which is a pity which could very likely burn out our short relief and then in turn our rotation. IMO short relief is our greatest weakness right now, we need as much help as we can there. We need more long relief and an experienced closer would be very nice to shore up short relief.

We haven't been so deep in the OF for many years, now. LF I consider as a strength especially defensively. Celestino has been great both offensively & defensively, Gordon does a good job out there, he's up and down offensively but alright against RHPing, Larnach will be back and he can be a hitter although his glove isn't as good as the other 2. And then there is Kiriloff there's a chance he'll return. I also don't see 1B as a clear weakness, yes we don't have an all star there but do we need one there? The big question is where do we put Arraez? 1B is his best option if we find some one different, where do we put Arraez? He's not that good anywhere else. We will still have that problem when Kiriloff comes back. Arraez isn't a typical 1B but he doesn't need to be. 1B is the least critical position on the field where we don't need to worry about. We do need some depth there, Miranda isn't working out. Lewis has proven he can hit up here, Arraez has been able to learn 1B on the fly, Lewis has the make up and athleticism to learn it faster and better. Miranda should get better with some more time in AAA. Rotation? For the post season we will need a veteran ace (my definition is a SP that can give you 7+ quality innings) PS experience if possible, but right now I'd like to see where our SPs are in another month. They'll need as much time as we can give them right now. My greatest worry is short relief (closer), the way Baldelli is prioritize them, I'm afraid he'll burn them out along with the rotation. Then we'll need both short RPs & SPs. Catching which was a strength, I now see as a weakness. Jeffers isn't getting it done hitting and Sanchez isn't that great defensively, not very good platooning option. IDK really what to do for a solution. P.S. I wouldn't trust Maeda to make an impact even if he starts to pitch towards the post season. He'll need a lot of time to get his stuff back for any amount of time.

Concur with you, playing 1B is a waste of Lewis talent but if that was the difference of them keeping Miranda and sending down Lewis that is asinine, If Arraez can learn 1B on the fly, so can Lewis and he'd excel. If you can play at SS, switching to 3B & 2B is easy, if you can play CF switching to LF or RF is easy (yet they think that a corner OF can play CF with NPs, really!), They have asked a few players, who weren't as athletic or didn't have the make up of Lewis, to make more of an transition on the fly, Lewis can learn much more being near Correa than what he can in AAA. He doesn't need to get his feet wet, they've been wet. He's the type of guy that if you throw him in the middle of the lake he'll swim (almost all rookies I would not say that). We need our best players on the 26 man, Lewis belong there. There is no excuse.

Another thing is one of Garlic's role is PHing and I believe (I could be wrong) what I've seen is Garlick's BA with RISP is .000. He might hit when it doesn't matter, he doesn't when it does matter.

Winder is a good young pitcher. He's a SP who has done well in long relief. All SPs in the HOU series were put through the wringer and were totally drained. Winder had the most difficulty bouncing back but he'll bounce back, there's no doubt. Winder was out of gass very quickly and Baldelli should have pulled him right away instead of trying to save his short relief but he has put himself in this situation by depending so much on them.

To me thinking to sign Correa is not a good reason to send Lewis down. The question is can Lewis play in the MLB or not? To me he has answered the question it's unequivocally yes. Miranda needs time in AAA, they kept Kiriloff up quite awhile when wrist was clearly not adjusting so why are they so quick to send Lewis down, while he has been doing so well? Unlike last year when they rushed players before their time and have some of them learn positions w/o any experience on the fly while adapting to the MLB. Lewis has experiences playing other positions and he has the make up and athleticism to excel anywhere he plays. So he can have plenty of playing time. The only unspoken reason is playing time, they think that they have the players to cover the positions which he can play. But Lewis is our best back up at SS, 3B & 2B so why send him down really?

In reality it's not a good idea. Correa is the best player and we need him to advance to and in the post season, his trade value isn't that great and if some one wants him for the post season they aren't going to trade away their ace, Anyone who is willing to trade away their ace will not want Correa, they'll want prospects

Sorry, my bad, but Urshela hasn't play 1B because he plays 3B so much better and anyone else that can back him up is better off playing 1B. But for LHPs we might be better off getting Lewis's bat in the line up with him playing at 3B and Urshela at 1B. I believe Urshela can play 1B

Great to see that small ball executed, I miss that. Lewis was great again. Miranda needs some more time in AAA. Pitchers from that HOU series tried to find that extra gear and got beat up pretty bad. Glad to see the're bouncing back. Archer gave us a chance to win. Archer said he liked the way that Sanchez called the game, I did not. Archer had his change up working, he got some SOs with it. But many times where a change up was a perfect set up for a SO but was never called and had negative results. If change up was called more often in those situations IMO Archer could have gone 5 innings. Ideally I wanted Archer to start off in the BP as long relief but he hasn't fared as well there previously because of his mindset. In his last interview he stated he'd do anything for the team maybe he'd be open to try long relief until he's 100%. I'd be fine with this if Baldelli would change his mindset of practically totally ignoring long relief. The BP has also bounced back from that HOU series, so I'm hopeful.

Great posting! Love that scene! But 1B is the easiest position to play, that's where most older players go when they no longer play anywhere else besides DH. There is some adjusting to be done but adjusting from INF to OF is much more difficult and if he could do that with ease how much more he could do this. Yet Arraez & Urshela are doing a good job there in Kiriloff's absence or Sano's. So I wouldn't waste his talent there.

Lewis can learn more from Correa on a daily basis than he could ever learn at AAA. Even after Correa comes back he'll need some time off as needed. Plus he's our best back up at 3B and 2B to give Urshela and Polanco rest with very little or any downgrade or when Urshela plays 1B. He also could play OF in a pinch. After Correa is 100% maybe then we can start thinking to send Lewis back down to AAA if he's not gettiing enough playing time. But then again we have to think how he'd react to be demoted if he's getting the job done.

Finally some one who can see this, too. I posted a thread "Twins are a great team! But..........?" https://twinsdaily.com/forums/topic/56261-twins-are-a-great-team-but/#comment-1129395 and nobody commented on it and it went throw the system like diarrhea. Using 4+ short RPs/ game is working great now but will that philosophy work throughout the season into the post season? As far as I can see overusing certain short RPs hasn't worked yet, the BP blows up and in turn the rotation and the team does. This is where I'd like Baldelli to adjust

Although I haven't been impressed with Tingler yet. But he has freed up Baldelli to better manage the team by taking care of the small stuff. I did really like the way he manage the team last night for all the reasons that you stated, Nick. There is some things I'd do differently like not batting Garlick 3rd but that those things are minor which really wouldn't factor into this game. There are some things that I don't like about Baldelli which some people agree with and vise versa. Although there are better managers out there but how many are available?

It's understandable that Pagan would have some control problem while developing a new totally different pitch. He hadn't had control problems before, his new pitch will make him more effective. He might still have an off day but he's on the right track, in time he could become a very good closer. Should he be trusted at high leverage situations? I sincerely hope so.

Arraez stole 2B and then scored on a hit, Has he sprouted wings or something? It's a 1st for me.