Doctor Gast

SF went big in weird analytics through the president of operations, Farhan Zaidi & failed to qualify for the postseason for those years. They had to shake things up; they didn't tear everything down. FA Snell left & they signed FA Adames; otherwise, it was the same roster. They just replaced Zaidi for baseball smart Buster Posey. Instead of taking years to turn things around, instantly, they have seen the difference. Many are calling for a fire sale of the core. The core isn't the problem, it's the weird analytical philosophy & rejecting fundamental baseball. Clean house in management, top to bottom & replace it with smart baseball from personnel who know baseball, not nerds. I'm not against analytics as a tool, but not the driving force to justify your faulty philosophy.

I'll say it again, to win games we need good pitching, good defense, good baserunning, clutch hitting & chemistry. We got some offense, but not much clutch hitting or anything else. Get more big bats? Because of the hype on big bats, big bats are expensive. Getting a bunch HRs when we don't need them, doesn't win games if the other attributes are ignored. If we had swept the ROX, I'd think nice. If we won the series, it's to be expected; you have to win those games, But lose a series to the worst team in baseball, Twins would have to do a lot of soul searching.

IMO, it's not so confusing. He went through 2 ACL rehabs & returned almost 100% & late in '23, he showed what he's capable of. As to be expected, he has had problems with soft tissue injuries early in '24 & '25. Overcoming them in '24, he ran out of gas due to being on the IL & little time to be conditioned. '25 he was rushed back & was reinjured, then rushed back w/o time to really get ramped up sufficiently. Eventually, he'll hit on all cylinders & be a dynamo & then my concern is him running out of gas. Everybody was very negative on Buxton, But I believe he'd be a big impact on this team. This surgery he had last year solved his knee problem & he's been great. I have more confidence in Lewis's comeback & impact on the team.

It has been said that he's had wrist problems, which explains his poor swing (some days worse than others, depending maybe the pain). I remember that Nellie Cruz also had wrist problems; he kept at it until something went pop & he was fine (I don't understand it). Maybe this is what they are expecting from Correa? If it is. I hope it works.

Thank you Matt for bringing this to our attention. Kyle is a great person & teammate, devoted to the Twins, always willing to sacrifice himself to help others, which caused him to get sick on a missionary trip, in his prime. That really hurt him in '19. He was more of a pitcher than a fireballer. Late being picked up, he wasn't provided time to ramp up this season, unfortunately, he didn't do well. He was able to ramp up at TB AAA and was doing pretty well before leaving there to sell his services. Again, unfortunately, weeks went by & no one wanted his services. Those weeks of not competitively pitching put him behind the eight-ball. IMO, he didn't retire because he couldn't pitch, but because his avenue to pitch was taken away from him. IMO, Gibson would have provided the Twins with many veteran-quality innings, a great veteran & clubhouse presence after Lopez went down. It'd have been nice for him to retire as a Twin. God bless you, Kyle! Have a great retirement with your family.

Yeah, you are a prospect sicko, I mean that in a good way :) . Quality ABs are essential. Jenkins has dropped in the ranking but I'm not worried. Ober wasn't bad, Martin got on base 3 out of 5 PAs. Hoping that Funderburg can flip that switch to MLB.

Wake up, Twins! Losing to the worst team in baseball! Starting in a 5-0 hole. Top of the order was great, if Paddack wasn't so bad we could have won the game. Starting Paddack, especially at Coors, wasn't a good idea. Way to go Twins, we made the Rox look good.

Twins' organization loves to paint itself into a corner. Earlier in the season, Twins shorted themselves in the INF, where they had to depend on Julien at 2B, who was a liability. When Lopez went down, Twins never filled that void so they could have more flexibility. IMO, it's obvious that it's time for Paddack to go to the BP, he has reached his limit being a SP. But because the Twins are short in the rotation, Paddack will become a liability instead of being an asset in the BP where he can give us some quality innings. He has given us some quality innings as a SP but now is the time for him to be a long RP,

IMO, we have a very good chance to have a very good 2nd half, My main concern is some players running out of gas. IMO, rotation & catching need to be shored up.

This basically is the same core that adanced in '23, Lost some key pieces but others have stepped up. So the chemistry should still be there. I like the players too but something is missing. It's like an untuned engine. Sometimes it runs OK, other times it's lousy. Sometimes there's chemistry most often not. Twins are missing Lopez, they are trying to perform w/o him. I have a feeling everybody will get hot when Lopez returns in Sept. if some of the players don't run out of gas towards the end, & that's a big IF.

I've always said, we have a very good core. Big market teams have always salivated over our roster & think they have the right to take them off our hands (preferably for their rejects). They've wanted Buxton for years & create hype to persuade us that it's a good idea to trade him. There have been many redundant players in our system that we could have traded at their peak value, but we didn't & now they are tanking. IMO, if we correctly find areas that are fragile in the offseason & shore them up, plus give our promising young players a chance to prove themselves, the deadline wouldn't be an issue. I pointed out that our INF, catching & rotation were very good, but fragile & needed to be shored up. IMO, we have suffered because of this, & we should be leading the wild card race. When Lopez went down, we needed to react to fill that void pre-deadline but nothing until now has been done. As I've said we have a very good core so we don't have to go big time at the deadline. We can shore up our INF internally, w/o resorting to Julien at 2B, we can shore up our rotation cheaply with an inning-eating veteran until Lopez comes back. We can shore our catching with one of a couple of young 3rd string catchers from solid catching corps (C Salazar or H Feduccia) cheaply. Can we sell off all of our expiring contracts? IMO, not if we want to make & compete in the postseason. We probably need all of them to make it to the postseason. Once Lewis & Correa start heating up, hopefully Wallner find himself to join Buxton & supporting crew; SWR, Festa, Paddack, Matthew & Ober stabilize to join Ryan & Lopez return in time for the postseason. Play the defense that we are capable of, stay the course on fundamentals & clutch hitting. IMO, the chemistry will return & we can be a force in the postseason. Should we sell off the core? No, our problem isn't the core. If we do everything right next year, our core can make a good run next year. Hopefully with a different Twins organization.

We got Davis, so that'll open the door to trade a Ryan, Duran or Jax. WOW.

You are comparing this trade to the Joe Ryan trade? TB never thought of DFAing Ryan, he was never a project. He was a surplus of TB's MLB-ready SPs. They needed offense that they lacked & we had Cruz, who led the Twins' offense for years. Davis is nothing like Ryan! Who told you that Miller was going to start for the Dodgers? I sure didn't. I did say that they'll probably use him in a strategic trade to a team that needs a GG SS., Evaluators say that he's MLB caliber GG now, Miller had a .700 OPS at AA before being promoted to the LAD organization's AAA. He's predicted to be MLB-ready sometime next year, How have Margot & Doncon fared? Margot had impacted the team negatively & Doncon was never going to stick at SS or be able to hit enough to make it at any position he's capable of playing. If you can play SS like Miller you'll always find a home, any hitting he'll be able to recover is only icing.

I don't know why the Twins think that they can fix a player that LAD has given up on. IMO, LAD has one of the best development programs. IMO, if LAD can't do anything with a player, nobody can. Let's see, how have they done in the past with Margot, Carmargo & Cartaya? If they think they can improve on a Rox reject, then I'd understand. Falvey is LAD's favorite dumping site. If they want to unload a player, they'll call him up & give him some analytical spiel & he bites. Why DFA a player for nothing when you have Falvey who'll pay for them. I suppose they think that qualifies for a deadline acquisition & say we're good, we tried.

IMO, our evaluation team does a fine job, especially in the draft. They have switched their focus to more athletic players. IMO, the problem with player evaluation comes when management steps in & makes choices based on their standards. There were many players that I thought were replaceable & we could have sold high on them but management chose to keep them & they have tanked. They often make choices depending on their analytics & overlooking physical concerns & underlying problems. Their analytics put more focus on HR development than fundamentals like defense, baserunning, bunting, etc. IMO, they are starting to see their problem but it's hard to change their mindset that they have used for years & it's too easy to fall back on their old ways. Plus a lot of their players they have developed are based on the old mindset & are not able to transition very well to the new. IMO, selling is lot easier than buying & is less tricky. The Ryan/ Cruz trade, IMO, was not a bad trade: TB had pitchers & they needed a slugger, Cruz fit the bill. Cruz was comfortable here in MN, with his nap room, & he produced. Cruz just did not adjusted well to the trade.

Falvey & Baldelli have copied CLE & TB in how they handled their pitching. But everything else, regretfully, they have copied NYY. Ideally, if they had copied the FO of their mother club, they'd have better-developed overall players to trade & to substitute those who are substituted. But I agree that MN should change who they copy themselves after & be more like their mother clubs. Their mother clubs would make small trades to fill their needs, no matter where they are in the season. I agree our rotation is fragile, so when Lopez went down, why didn't the Twins trade for Aaron Civale or obtain Kyle Gibson to fill that void? & stop that June swoon by shoring up our rotation. We could have turned around & made a profit by trading them at the deadline if they weren't needed. The trade deadline can be profitable if you are selling. Can we trade a Duran at the deadline & or some expiring contracts & still compete? IMO, we can if we can locate our real needs & fill them. IMO, if we trade Duran, hopefully Raya & Prielipp can step up in the MLB BP. Should the Twins sell at the deadline? IMO, no & I don't think we will because Falvey isn't good at it. Unless a creative sweetheart deal is dropped in his lap, that includes a young & promising MLB-ready catcher who will help us now & in the future, regretfully, we should stand pat.

I did misunderstand in what you said in my 1st response, & I'm sorry. That's why I made my 2nd. I'm saying if I see something that's off, I'm going to say so. I'm not blaming players for petering out; players do & there's no shame in that. I defend many players whom I think are being unjustly criticized or mismanaged. I do what I do because I want the Twins to win. Even though we might not agree on the state of affairs. I'll be rooting for the Twins right beside you. P.S. - So there is no misunderstanding. By petering out, I mean being worn down due to to a long season.

IMO, clutch hitting is just as dependable as hitting HRs. No stats are 100% they vary. You have sluggers, you have clutch hitters and you have those in between who can vary a lot in their HRs & hitting clutch. Sluggers' power stats vary, should we throw them out the window? Slugging stats advocates want to minimize clutch hitting. Clutch hitting is very important, IMO, more important than hitting HRs. That said, France's clutch hitting should not be overlooked. I'm OK with Clemens having more time at 1B against RHPs & sit France (I stated this at the beginning of the year). And not be shy to PH France if the situation calls for it.

OK, I get it. Even though I pick for them to lose, I still root for them to win, I still want them to win, but if you overlook what's wrong & pretend everything is fine, nothing changes. If nothing changes, we can't win. It might be more fun to pretend everything is fine but I can't.

You stated that this core was able to advance in the postseason in '23. I must add, despite not really adding at the deadline & faulty philosophy. '24 they brought their faulty philosophy front & center, lost from the core & didn't attempt to fix it or build off the chemistry. '25, they still failed to correct our weaknesses. You can believe the hype that Falvey is a genius & our problem is the core. Of course, our problem can't be Falvey, so our only solution is to tear down the core, fill our farm with redundant prospects we'll never trade & look to Falvey & Jenkins to be our saviors 5 years down the road, only to be disappointed again. I agree, Correa has been a disappointment & a mystery this season. He is too good to be this bad with no real explanation why or how they plan to fix it. Normally, Correa starts slow but by Sept & Oct, he flips the switch. He is the key to our postseason success. This uncertainty that hangs over Correa makes it hard to envision him to be that wonder. But Buxton, Ryan & Castro have been excelling. Lewis will leave his injury bug behind him & rake. Our BP can be great, Lopez will be back. Ober, Matthews, SWR & Festa will figure it out. The goal of this FO should be to get this team to the postseason, have the players rested & injury free, trade off high on players who are not needed for players who'll shore up our weaknesses & step out the way & let the core do their thing. This FO has failed on each account.

As I've predicted the last 2 seasons, the Twins will not make the postseason. Because of how the rotation & catching are constructed, they will peter out, along with some young players. & that's not including any unplanned injuries. The Twins will falter again down the stretch, unfortunately. Not because of the core per se, but how the team has been constructed around the core, to make the team stronger. That said, should we trade any of the RPs mentioned? If any trade blows my sox off & makes our weak areas stronger w/o compromising our BP; then I'd say yes. But as of now, I haven't seen any trades that come close. IMO, this core is our best chance to advance. We have wasted 2 years of our window, so let's make a change next season.

I'd really like to see what this core can do with a FO with a different philosophy that is baseball smart, able to see teams' needs, correctly evaluate players, develop them & give them a chance to prove themselves & initiate critical trades to supplement the core.

I'm also very concerned with our poor defense, poor baserunning, some players like Correa, not producing, plus a lack of chemistry most of the time. We need to do some changes to compete. Twins have been solid in pitching since '19. But have limped to the finish line every year except '23. '23, where we had a strong veteran rotation- Lopez, Gray, Ryan, Ober, Maeda & Paddack, BP- Duran, Jax, Thielbar, Stewart, Winder, Sands, Pagan with Paddack & Varland came on strong. That was able to support Baldelli's 1-inning RP philosophy & not get burned out. '24 & '25 we have holes in our pitching & they are not being filled properly. That's what kept us from the '24 postseason & will keep us out of the '25 postseason.

Although I like Debarge, high A doesn't make me excited. We are in desperate need of long relief. IMO, Raya could be our answer. He should be put in long relief to get familiar with that role & be called up as soon as possible. I'm in the camp of developing catchers. We have to draft pure catchers & then have them devote themselves only to catching. Catching is very demanding & intricate; if they don't have the heart & talent to progress, you cut them. You don't throw a player at RF, 1B, DH & catching for years & hope they miraculously stick at catching.

IMO, we started the season with a fragile rotation. Ober, sick & sore hip, Festa, young & fatigued arm (early in the season is concerning), Matthew & SWR, young & trying to find themselves, Paddack, arm history, Ryan, injured last season. The only one that I thought we didn't have to worry about was Lopez & he became our 1st casualty. Soon to follow Matthews & Ober, who should have been shut down to begin the season to have him totally recover from his hip. After Lopez went down in early June, the rotation unraveled, which led to our disastrous June. FO should have been proactive, & picked up Kyle Gibson right away. But again they let things slide. Gibson was performing well, ramping up with TB. He was ready, a veteran presence, great in the clubhouse, has an excellent history with the Twins & can eat innings. I'm not sure but I think BAL was on the hook for his salary. A month & a half later, I agree it's not as ideal. Kyle Gibson has been idle for a couple of weeks, Festa & SWR have found their footing, Ryan has been our anchor, Yes, Ober & Matthews are on their way back but It'll take a while for them to be 100% & get their mechanics back on track. Lopez won't be back until Sept. & what condition will he be? We are still fragile. How long can Paddack keep it it up? When will Festa's arm wear down? Ryan isn't immune to the injury bug. We have no one in AAA who can contribute. IMO, if we had Gibson from the time Lopez went down we could have stayed off the June plunge & be leading the wild card race not trying to keep our head above water. We still could use him, Paddack could be moved to long relief or even move Gibson there later on. For us to make it to the postseason, we need a strong rotation & BP. We are not there. The way things are right now, our pitching will peter out again.