Doctor Gast

How Paddack has been pitching maybe all he needed was a good INF.

Only what everybody else has heard, that Wes Johnson can add add a few ticks on the FB, can improve a certain slider, refine pitch selection and they have the analytic machines. What's your point? because this is an obvious answer? Again, Paddack specialty is the cutter I believe. I don't know what's in the Twins head in how to fix his problems.

I've heard that San Diego doesn't know how to develop pitching. There's a chance that Pagan & Paddack could improve with MN but the time to do that is before ST not after. So now they have to try to do it on the fly.

Mark, the main point that I wanted to stress is not relying so much on short relief, having 5 guys pitching 1 inning or less. If we have Winder, Smeltzer or some else who's hot pitch around 3 innings after each starter that'd take a lot burden off the short RPs, with the short RPs that are not burdened we don't have to rely on over extending our SPs, they can pitch the # innings they are comfortable with. I think I'd love to have 5 SPs to pitch 6+ innings as much as you do, to watch a Johan Santana pitch a complete game. But what I'd love more is to see us advance in the post season. We had Berrios who could pitch well into a game but we don't have him any longer. I had hopes that Gray would step up and give us some good innings but now I have some doubts, Bundy is pitching well and in a short season he has pitched well but in a full season he hasn't been able to maintain his stuff, Ryan & Ober are rookies so I don't expect them to be able maintain their stuff throughout the season. Archer has pitched regularly 200 innings/ season in the past butt now he's still building up his endurance. Paddock is a big question mark. With stress today for pitchers to pitch 100 mph and high spinn rate, pitchers can't maintain that stuff 6+ innings throughout the season. Santana should have been in the HOF but he blew out his arm because NYM over extended him. I'd love to be a romantic but with todays standards and my passion for the Twins to advance in the post season, I have to be a realist.

Ditto Glunn those plus burning 5 short RPs every game, he going burn out whatever high leverage RPs we have and sending Sanchez home w/ nobody out was a bad coaching. Duffy needs to be removed from any high leverage situation until he finds himself and not doubled down like he did w/ Colume. Gordon should've been left in the game especially since he hit that triple. Any possible slight advantage that Baldelli thinks that Garlick had over Gordon is lost and then some when you look at the disadvantage of Garlick's defense. Bright spots were that Arraez looked seviceable at 1B, Smith was spectacular. Also this was like a ST game for Archer to improved his slider. He had some problems w/ his control but was able to get some extra SOs with his slider besides adding velo to his FB. His endurance will reach 5 innings soon enough. We need Buxton bat.

Duffy has shown some decline prior to this season but was showing some signs this season to be serviceable. But now he looks like a guy who just lost his best friend but wait he did. I'd place Duffy on low leverage until he works himself out of this downer. BP was looking pretty good leaving ST, led by Rogers. Why did FO unstablize everything by trading him? for a SP that needed to be fixed after ST ended, that makes no sense. Rogers is a very likeable, talented and reasonable to be able to come up with a reasonable extention. I was very encouraged by the talk of using extensively the piggy-back system because that means we be depending more on our long relief. But Baldelli likes to think of himself as a master chessman, moving around 5 short RPs to counter each circumstance. In theory it's great but in reality it won't work because you're using so many RPs and tend to favor those who are effective. The end result is the short RPs blow up because they're overextended, consquently we over extend our rotation in which they blow up. In the beginning of the 2019 season we had the best rotation and BP. Here they over extended their main high leverage BP and they blew up, so they over extended some SPs (Gibson, who was sick all season and Perez who was just brought up from the BP) and they blew up and the Twins limped acrossed the finish line doomed in the post season. I'm advocating again, Baldelli quit your mindset of depending solely relying on short relief and shift your priority on long relief. Bring up Smeltzer and use Winder & others extensively in every game, rotate in AAA pitchers who are hot. This will keep our SPs and short RPs fresh and strong throughout the season, into the PS. Plus giving our pitching prospects a chance to get their feet wet.

Totally agree w/ you, I'm very impressed w/ Archer. Hardly pitching for 2 1/2 years w/ only 3 innings pitched in ST in which after he was pretty tired, and being able constantly pitch 4 strong innings is admirable. He has added velo to his FB, since basiclly missing ST, last night was more ST for him to work on his slider, which is improving to get more SOs. Realistically I didn't expect him to pitch more than 4 innings but inwardly hoping he could qualify to win the game, while facing the bottom of the order. But after getting the 1st out it was quite obvious he ran out gass. There's nothing wrong w/ running out of gas, I expect Maeda to take a long time to pitch 5 quality innings when he comes back. It was understood that they'd piggy-back Archer as much as possible until he could build up his innings. Talk about putting Archer in the BP is ridiculous. He has been a SP all his career, he gets pumped up before he pitches, changing that would be very disadvantagious. Archer is and will increasingly be a game changer, I don't like this negativism towards him it's very counter productive.

I think the correlation of stats that stands out is # HRs/ # SO / lack of offense. There's no doubt that the Twins are on top in HRs because this is what this team focuses on. But unfortunely this results in more SOs and less hits in crucial times. Twins needs to get back to basics and teach basic hitting,. Yes, that means less moonblasts but will produce less SOs and more hits that produce more runs

Thank you Cody for reporting this article and my remark isn't pointed towards you. I've heard a lot idiotic Twins ideas written but this absolutely takes the cake for all the reasons that my friends have stated. Besides this our OF absolutely sucks w/o Buxton. His recent injuries were not defense related and could have happened to anybody. Buxton is the best CF, not having him out there for any amount of time is a crime against the sport.

All away around the Twins played great ball. Great finishing this tough 3 team series. I hope this momentum leads us into great series against KC, DET and CWS and we'll be sitting pretty well. Wishing Buxton well so he can quickly grace us w/ his presence. Go Twins!

Buxton is the spark plug that we need to keep this offense going.

I wasn't really counting on Stashak but I really don't understand how bad Thielbar has been. I wouldn't doubt that trading Rogers made an impact on distrubting the BP. Rogers has been a stablizing effect on the BP, letting him go throws everything in the air, which we didn't need. I've been pleasingly surprised by this rotation, the only doubt is Gray's physical condition and fixing Pallack. As Archer has more time to get stretched out, his off pitches will get sharper which will produce more SOs not only poor contact. The rotation's success is dependent on the BP. We are relying too much on short relief and they are struggling. The usual outcome is we over extend the rotation and they get burned out. We are using 4 short RPs / game, we need to get out of this routine. We need to send down some short relievers to get their heads straight and bring up at least Smeltzer. Smeltzer has produced in ST and AAA, he deserves to be called up. I'd like to see Winder, Smeltzer & Co. to pitch around 3 innings every game and not be so reliant on short relief. I've stated all year we have a very weak OF besides Buxton and Kepler.Upton isn't the answer, I'm surprized that he was even considered. Garlick is definitely not the answer. I like Gordon but he's still learning to be an OFer. Larnach & Celestino need more time in AAA, although they're very promising, it'd be unprudent to depend on them. Any injury but especially to Buxton our team takes a heavy hit. What we need is a MLB ready, RH hitting CF that can viably sub Buxton and play all OF positions. We should've addressed this problem before the market had been picked clean but the need is still there.

Although I agree that I don't understand the Pallack trade but I disagree w/ the assessment of the core rotation. Although I've had caution about Bundy, I've also had hope, he has proved that right now he's our strongest SP with hope he can maintain it throughout the season. Ryan & Ober are promising but haven't been proven yet, Gray had a decent debut but from the beginning I have doubts about his durability. Again with hope that Gray can gain strength to be able to pitch up to his expectations. I don't see Archer as a project, he's a proven SP with a lot of upside. With PIT and injuries behind him and when he gets properly stretched out, I see him as the Twins ace, Face value I don't get the Pallack trade. A proven closer for a broken SP. Paddack doesn't seem to be a MN fit. And if they think they could fix him why obtain him after ST? They think they can fix him on the fly? Good luck with that!

I hate to break it to you, but that's exactly what I've been alluding to. Cave's early arrival to camp for training and conditioning, then soft bats during ST all aids him in AAA and propaganda to bring him back. That's what I mean by proping him up. Together with bring up Garlick, I don't see that ending well. Which leaves the fans crying for Caves return.

For sure April is tough but we have been hanging with the competition. All our SPs have keep us in the games, except the game we conceded to LAD. We can definitely compete but management is making it more dificult. I don't know what to do with Pallack, I wasn't in favor of that trade. We trade our legit closer for a broken SP. We no longer have spring training to fix him, how are we going to fix him on fly? He doesn't fit our mold, do we have some one lined up to trade to ? Our OF is pretty thin, we have Buxton & Kepler but after that we have ailing Kiriloff, then Celestino and Larnach who needs more ABs at AAA. I really like Gordon who tries hard and his hitting is coming along but his arm is weak. Then we have, heaven save us, Garlick. We have a predicament. Almost all teams have been adding quality depth at CF throughout the off season MN has NOT. CF depth is something that MN tends to forget about, after Buxton there is a hugh drop off. We need an answer and no that answer isn't Cave, no matter how much they try to prop him up. We don't need a no glove corner OF that may or may not hit, we need a RH hitting CF who can play all fields. We have a great team! But right now we have more questions than we had started, in closing, catching, CF subbing/ 4th OF, log jams at corner fielders/ DH, what to do w/ Pallack and a front line SP would be nice. Most of those ?s could have been solved before the lock out if they had the vision to do so. I remain positive because we have a lot of talent to work with and these problems are minor they only need to be adressed.

The Twins glorifies Sano "moonblasts", encourages him to increase his launch angle, pull, put a hugh swing on the ball etc.. It seems like some time after ST, when San unlearns what he's taught, then he starts to hit. Why not forget all this "moonblast" crap and teach Sano how to hit. Level off his swing, make it compact and train him to keep his eye on the ball. He'll strike out less, get more hits and with his strength he could have more line drive HRs. I don't fault Sano, I fault management. As long as they prioritizes those "moonblasts" he will continue to SO until he unlearns what he's taught. "Moonblasts" don't turn me on and his SO really turns me off. His "moonblasts" aren't worth all those SOs. So management wake up!

It surprises me that how the Twins who had one of the worst MLB finishes last year has by far the toughest 3 team series by far of all MLB to begin the season! The face of the Twins has vastly changed from last season at key postions and had very little or no time to adjust, prepare and get ready to their new team. Seatle that should have made the play offs and vastly improved their team this off season. The fact that we split with them is a big positive. The Dodgers are a very formiable team, one of the favorites to compete in this season WS. Yet we should have won the 1st game. IMO we lost it because of managerial BP mistakes. In the last Seatle game Winder should have been allowed to finish off the blow out to get his feet wet and save Duran & co. for the Dodger opener, This would keep Winder from facing the intimidating Dodger line-up. You barely mentioned the brightest spot of the whole series. It's Archer's performance against the Dodger's line-up. Archer that has hardly pitched for 2 1/2 years and pitched only 3 innings in ST, shut out the Dodgers w/ 2 hit in 4 innings, IMO Duran & co. IMO would have risen up to the occasion and gain us the win, Another bright spot was Correa's hitting that accompanied his spectacular defense. The 2nd game it looked like the Twins conceded to the Dodger even before the game started, We were very much mismatched, our # 6 SP and downgraded defense against their ace. So I'm very much encouraged by the performances of our players against such stiff competition! I expect them get even better as they are still workng out the rust and adjusting to each other. Boston will be tough but IMO we'll give them a good run. P.S. IDK what they are going to do w/ Paddack and how to fix him but that's another matter.

FO said they saw something in Paddack. But I wouldn't be surprised if LAD had their eyes on Paddock and believed they could transform Paddack into someone they could use but they figured SD wouldn't trade him to them. So they contacted their old friend Falvey to make that transaction for them. Maybe they're waiting for the dust to settle before they work things out. This actually makes more sense than our FO trading away our established closer for a struggling SP that doesn't really fit in this organization and try to fix him on the fly w/o any ST with us.

Angels weren't even considering him in OF more of a 1B/ DH type, just what we need to continue to hoard these type and his hitting is pretty bad. Absolutely No Thanks! Our present OF depth is pretty thin especially CF although I love Gordon's hustle and Celestino's glove. I'd still like to see Celestino have more ABs in AAA and I'm not sure if Larnach's bat is ready and his glove is not great. Kiriloff is down heaven forbid if Buxton or even Kepler would go down even for a short time. I've been advocating for 3 years for quality depth in CF while yet having some respectability on the corners. I'd like to see a MLB ready CF who can hit LHP. I know some are tired of my harping but I'll continue to do so until something is done or Celestino is completely ready (which I hope is soon).

I think most pitchers would like to pitch longer. I believe Archer would want to pitch 9 even if his arm was falling off. As the 2020 season shows that Bundy is a good pitcher and the 2021 season also shows us that he doesn't have the arm to sustain a full season of pitching much more than 5 innings. Archer has proved that he can pitch 200 innings/ season but not pitching much the last 2 1/2 seasons plus starting late for ST, I'd use caution not to over extend him too soon. For Ryan and Ober hasn't pitched a lot yet, I'd also be cautious not over using them. At the same I don't like to see Baldelli over use our short relief because this tends them to blow up and creates injury. Again I'm advocating the increase in use of a rotating long relief corp. I know many don't like this philosophy, but I believe this is the recipe of bringing up more pitching pospects for evalution and have the rotation & short relief strong, healthy and rested for the post season.

As was discussed about the last Seatle game, that IMO Winder should have been allowed to debut and let him pitch as long as he could in that game. Allowing Duran and other RPs available to pitch in last night game. Dodgers are a formiable team and is intimitating for a rookie to debut. IMO Duran would have been more likely to rise up to the occasion.

Hope Correa isn't hurt but that's the only reason I see for not playing him. Playing LAD is like a PS game and Correa is the only one who get's up for those games. Not playing Correa and playing Polanco at SS and Arraez at 2B is like telling LAD "I'm giving you this one".

Arraez most definitely deserves to play every day with his bat. If Sanchez hadn't came to MN, I'd say Arraez would be our main DH. Arraez would be a very good 1B if he was a little taller but yet I've advocated for him to play there and was happy that Baldelli said he was willing to give a shot there. The problem is we have an over abundance of MLB ready and soon to be players that plays the postions he plays. Right now being a LH hitter he should get the lion share at 3B, IMO he should spent more at DH and given a shot at 1B if he had more time at ST. Arraez shouldn't play 2B, there more than enough players that play there better than him. I'm afraid that with his knee problems and promising prospects coming up, I see him playing less and not more unless they trade Sanchez and or Urshela,

I'm an advocate for fairness so I'm an advocate for computerized strike calling. With covid 2020 people were very careful and went great lengths for social distancing yet people fought against robo umps and won (even though for health reasons it made sense to distant home umps from the catchers) because there were players & teams who benefit from the old way. I like computerized strike zone because it standarizes the zone so pitchers and hitters know exactly what to expect, eliminates human error & bias and promotes fairness.

I was hoping to see Winder pitch before now. But today would be an excellent day to have Winder piggy-back Archer. I expect Archer to pitch 3 innings and Winder to pitch at least 4 innings. Pitching against the Dodgers will be a challenge but the Dodgers are more vunerable early in the season and the colder MN weather could tip it in our favor.