Doctor Gast

IMO depth is extremely important. We can't expect our starters play 162 games without getting hurt, need a rest or not having slumps through out the season. That means many games will have to be played with subs and those games will determine if we go to and even compete in the PS.

As far as hitting we are very long on potential, but very short on defense. In 2019 with the juiced ball we could out hit any defense deficiency. Hitting can be fickle, how many hitters need to be hot for us to overcome our defensive deficiency? While good defense tends to be more stable. In the past we over focused on defense and nibble away offensively while neglecting the long ball. Now we're at the other extreme, focusing on hitting especially HRs, while ignoring defense. We need to strike a balance, focusing on player's defense depth especially at SS and CF but also can hit and those that can hit HRs in less important positions. Defense can also improve the pitching. So this is where we need to be deep

The best thing on the night was to see Astudillo hit that high pitch for an HR. Looks like someone lit a fire under Cave, maybe he could see himself out the door. I don't understand why so many fans are so down on Astudillo? He's one of the better hitters and adequately covers the holes. He plays 1B pretty well for only being 5'9''. I don't want to be a wet blanket but I'm still not that impressed with Happ. The best thing he did was keeping the ball in the field and was fortunate to have the ball hit right at players. I was more impressed with Brubaker. I'm super happy that we were fortunate to have won this one.

Good article, Cody. I'm hoping that he can find his command and feel for the ball, to become more effective. We need him.

Wish both Kiriloff and Gordon well! I'd preferred if we had minor league games so they'd come up with more confidence and in game experience.

Savior? Absolutely not. Future cog in a highly oiled hitting club machine? Definitely yes. Buxton in what he brings to the table on all levels, isn't saving the team. Together with hitting prowess of Donaldson, Cruz, Arraez and Polanco wasn't enough to save last game. Defense is what mostly lacking, good defense will help with our pitching problems. And Kiriloff won't be able to help us there. Kiriloff has a lot of hitting potential, he'll come around. Like what was said, there's a lot of pressure on him. Rosario was eliminated so that he'd have a clear shot at LF. When Buxton came up we had a gaping hole in CF and was to be our savior. Also Trout has done it all for LAA but have very little to show in PS. Buxton and Trout are not saviors how can Kiriloff? He can't, all this expectation will only delay his development IMO.

I have always thought Berrios as the top of our rotation. My hope from Maeda is that he can give us 5 good innings until the league become accustomed to him. Berrios hasn't yet reached his full potential. He works hard and is driven, so I believe he'll get there preferably sooner rather than later. His durability will play into his performance.

I didn't like the way he had used Dobnak in the beginning of the season but I hope he has came to his senses. His Donaldson substitution, I can understand, he wanted to spare him any risky situation. If he knew that Buxton was going to hit an HR, he'd never do it. The Colome decision, what other option did he have? Do we have an impact fireballer to strike out the side? With this present defense, that's what we needed. I can't really fault Baldelli with what he has to work with.

I'll to state again that trading is good. Many players are looking for a key to transform their careers and can't find it with the teams that drafted them. Some get traded a few times until they finally find the team that has the key they are looking for. The League is full of examples, one that comes to mind is Luis Castillo. He was traded around several times (2x with MIA) until he landed with the Reds. Hanging onto nice guys aren't doing them any favors, let alone the team. We shouldn't feel bad about trading a player and they do well (they just found the key that wasn't available here). Scouting is essential to find needed players to fill our needs that we have the keys to unlock their potential.

Our defense is really terrible right now,except Buck. They have terrible range where not getting to playable balls and making easy routine plays look difficult. Although our 1st line of defense is pretty darn good, our 2nd is downright terrible. Our 40 man roster is full of poor gloves so that we can't fit better players. How many players have to be hot to overcome our defense liabilities. We need to change our priority and greatly improve our defensive depth. Obtaining Simmons greatly improved our team but it's not enough. Broxton is our 2nd best OFer and he's not even on the roster. Even if he hits average, which would put him better than the others (except Buck) that would be an improvement more so defensively we would greatly improve.

It was tough to see Cruz, Donaldson and Buxton not capitalizing on LHP, let alone Sano. I wondering if Buxton is 100%. Again I think we really missed it not bringing Broxton up when we broke camp. It's hard to predict how well his bat would respond (it couldn't be any worse than Cave's) but one thing is for sure is that we could use his glove and speed. With him in CF we wouldn't need to rush Buxton in the lineup.

IMO our biggest problem for awhile is below average defense overall.

Simmons has performed much better than projected, I wouldn't mind signing him to another year. His importance to the team is glaring when he's not in the lineup. I'd rate his signing very high. Others I'm not impressed yet

I too like Doc, am hopeful that Gordon will eventually gain his strength and show improvement at SS. But IMO Gordon doesn't have a real future with the Twins even before he got covid. Was hoping for more news relating to Broxton, Lin and others.

Winning the Triple Crown everything has to fall into place. Buxton has the tools and could attain that illusive award but how things are going for the team I doubt it.

I think too Thorpe too was a victim of bad defense.

I didn't watch the game (got too late in Brazil). Had great hopes for Dobnak but it appears he's broken. I don't know all that contributed to it, I don't know if I can hang the blame on one person. All I know he's broken and needs to be fixed. But again if Dobnak got beat because of infield singles. He had done his job, it's infield not doing theirs. Astudillo seemed to do pretty good as a reliever, maybe we found an answer when facing NL teams. ppl

Ranabanena, love your article and was impressed by your ability and courage to do the interview in Mandarin. Lin is one of the invitees that I've been cheering for. Great to know some of his history and can't wait to see the Tsunami impact the Twins

I like to think it's the curse on Cal Griffin soaking in the baby blues and the absence of anointed pinstripes. The record shows.

I'm really looking forward to the minors finally giving us some action and you reporting it

Good job Ted! Concur with AZTwin Minnesota fans tend to be too negative, to the extent sometimes border on toxic. I'm happy with Arraez's new found power. Not because of the extra base hits but because it makes the fielders more honest. A soft hitting Arraez, the OFers play in; a nonfast Arraez, INFers play back. A low velo contact combined with a good dense Arraez doesn't get a hit.

I think he's using that slider far too much. They are laying off of it and they aren't going for strikes. I agree that he should go back to his old routine and slide in that slider only in opportune times.

Thanks Cody for a great article! By help support the fact that Dobnak is a starter and not a reliever. As I stated before a starter focus is to win games and a reliever is to save games (preserve wins), from very high leverage to mop up. Dobnak pitched in both relieving extremes in his 1st 2 games which IMO has been detrimental to his starter psyche, rythym and confidence . When he's placed in games, he needs to be given the opportunity to win the game not save it. It's too bad that he was used this way especially when we lost opportunities to win games we lost especially while he was still hot from ST. I believe right now he needs to pitch only in games where he can win, maybe only for a couple of innings to regain his rythym, confidence and sharpness. Again I'm advocating the need for an extra long reliever (rotating AAA starters)to bridge the gap to short relief. Dobnak is a valuable weapon that we need to utilize properly to advance.

I definitely wouldn't go to a BP game, we have enough problems with them. In 2019 they over used some of their key relievers that they heavily dependent on. It went well until they folded and fell apart. That put a lot of pressure on the rotation, especially Gibson and Perez, to extend beyond what they were capable of. Gibson was battling colitis and Perez was transitioning from the BP, although they were terrific before this BP melt down, they tanked afterwards. I see this happening already this year. This year they need transition from the short season. Starters need to be limited, especially Happ and Shoemaker in which they have extended them too long too soon. Solution is what I'd advocated from the beginning. Bridge this gap with long relievers like Dobnak and Thorpe (at least until the minors start). IMO this is very important so the rotation and short relievers are not over taxed and falter. I think Thorpe can be used as such to get extra MLB innings in and rotate AAA with others MLB ready prospects and still get stretched out in the minors. Dobnak should have been used in this compacity from the beginning not the way they did. Dobnak was coming off a hot ST if used as suggested he'd continue to be hot. Instead he was thrown under the bus in situations where he should not have pitched, thus destroying his rythym and confidence. It was sad to see him finally pitch in a situation where he could thrive but didn't. My hope is they don't lose confidence in Dobnak and he'll quickly snap out of it and use a second long relief schedule as long as needed.

Polanco will come out of his slump and still get his share of walks but I agree with you that he should hit at the bottom of the line up until he does. Sano' is more of a concern and should sit more often and bat 9th when he doesn't until he comes around. I think he needs to be shaken up a bit.