Doctor Gast
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Everything posted by Doctor Gast
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Great job, Seth. IMO, maybe C Lewis needed to go to development instead. Wallner's 2 HRs were very encouraging. Saints scored 3 runs in both games, the difference was a good outing by Simmy & finally great to see Miranda at 1B. We need a verified long RP (quit using Alcala as a pseudo one). Bring up Simmy & figure out who that should be. Impressive defensive play by Olivar. Is he finally being developed as a catcher?
- 42 replies
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- matt wallner
- emmanuel rodriguez
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The goal after the '23 postseason success should have been to put together a group that could improve the team to be better for '24 & beyond. They spent relatively a lot of money on DeSclavani, Margot & Santana. To evaluate these moves, we need to look at whether they meet those goals or not. Did we improve on our '23 postseason success? No, we didn't, we dropped down to 4th place & missed the postseason. Did it benefit our team this year? No, it didn't. It only helped Santana's pay day. Miranda, & Kiriloff practically got no experience at 1B to better our team & hurt their arms while playing 3B & OF while recovering. Keirsey could have vastly improved our OF in '24 & could have adapted to the MLB pitching going into '25. I was in favor of signing France as a backup 1Bman & get plenty of time to focus on his hitting at DH. Miranda was passed up 2x as the starting 1Bman, when it was expected that he would start there. Miranda is a great hitter as he demonstrated when healthy. His poor performance, IMO, is because he's physically & or his feelings are hurting. Yes, he's a professional but anyone of us who'd be passed up on a promotion when it was expected that you'd get it, not once but twice & have to suck it up & not have it affect you? How many years has it been since we haven't had a steady 1Bman? We drafted plenty of 1Bmen, but we haven't developed any. We'll never get better at 1B & LF if we keep on bringing in 1 yr. rentals. & our in-house players' trade value plummets. France has many years at 1B, he's not getting any better, while Miranda has a lot of room for improvement. In '23 if we'd kept Urshela & have Miranda at 1B. Miranda would have been a healthy, pretty decent 1Bman by now. I'm not criticizing France (he's worth what we paid for him), I'm criticizing Baldelli's judgement.
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Santana walked, it's walks that hurt us tonight.
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- chris paddack
- willi castro
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Always knew Varland would be good as a RP & if they'd keep Duran at closer, he'd pull through. Duran, Jax, Varland, Sands, Stewart & Alcala (when used properly) are a very impressive group that can get bigger & better
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- jhoan duran
- griffin jax
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The lack of long RP is always a sore spot with the Twins. The person they using as such now, they shouldn't, is Alcala because he doesn't have the arm, hardly been used in '22 &'23 due to being on the IL with arm problems. "24 Twins started to use him in the role of multiple & consecutive day innings. When pitched 1 inning every other day, he's been pitching well. When not he's not & landed on the IL. Varland, Jax & Sands have arms for it, but they don't fit into their mindset. They need a long RP & Alcala isn't it.
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- jhoan duran
- griffin jax
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The Twins clearly lost on Polanco. 1st, they broke the potential MVP by keep playing him at SS when he didn't have the ankles to play there. He kept having surgery on them after every season he played there. Although he often got hurt in his long career, he didn't land on the IL until '22 when he hurt his back & quickly bounced back. Later that year, he injured his knee; they kept playing him for weeks until he could no longer take the field. This mismanagement has plagued Polanco until now. Just to get a glimpse of what we lost out on, let us look at '19. He became an All-Star & was the favorite for the MVP in the 1st half. 2nd half, he battled with sore ankles but still ended with 4.6 bWAR & MVP votes. In '21, he had 5 bWAR. Although playing hurt, that hurt his defensive stats, but when he played w/o hurting, he'd make the MLB highlights & fill his seasonal highlights with defensive plays. He was often referred to as the heart & soul of the team & Mr Clutch, which indicates the intangibles he brought to the team. 2nd- TOR shortly after they obtained Berrios, they extended him, meaning they tore up the old contract & he signed a new one. Just because SEA tore up Polanco's contract & re-signed him through FA, doesn't change anything. They wanted him back (Twins didn't try to resign DeSclavani). '24 Polanco was hurt & was a big disappointment, but he still managed 1.4 WAR. How much WAR did we get back from the players we received combined? ZERO. Polanco has practically carried the SEA team offensively while playing hurt this season. Plus, all the intangibles he brings to the table. Topa is a middle RP, Gonzalez is a liability at defense, a free swinger bat that will never profile at any position. He'll never deserve the right to make the MLB with the Twins (unless they are bound & determined to justify that trade) or IMO anywhere else. So, who would I prefer? No question, POLANCO!
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- jorge polanco
- anthony desclafani
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Guardians (Allen) vs Twins (Ober): 5/19/25, 6:40pm
Doctor Gast replied to Brock Beauchamp's topic in Archived Game Threads
The team looks very different than what it was when we were on our streak. -
Week in Review: Streaking Through Setbacks
Doctor Gast replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
This last week was mainly the continuation of the week before. The completion of the core & the chemistry that fueled the 13 game winning streak. Even after the injury of Correa, Buxton, Castro & Coulume with Bader playing hurt, the momentum carried them to their 13th win only losing the following game. Zebby blew the socks off the top of a very capable top of the MIL order (as well mine). MIL came in with a game plan of swinging at Zebby's pitches figuring that he'd be throwing strikes but he had other plans of having them chase outside the zone. Perfect, but MIL quickly adapted & Zebby had difficulty reining his pitches back in. Many were happy that SWR was sent down because the bum couldn't go more than 5 innings. I stated that don't expect Zebby to go over 5 either. I was happy that Zebby was given the chance to come up but was sad that SWR was sent down. IMO, SWR had things to work on but I think he had the ability to do so while in MLB. He had a less than spectacular outing his last game but so did Ober. We have been winning with SWR & I didn't think it was wise to further disrupt the group that was winning especially after losing a big chunk. SWR has the extra experience & maturity to adapt to the changing condition of the game which IMO Zebby could not. Because of the lack of chemistry hitters weren't capitalizing on opportunities especially with the bases loaded as before plus other situations that contributed to the loss. We have very important interdivision series coming up with CLE & KC. We have to have top pitching & defense & do a better job of clutch hitting to win both series. Prior I felt if we were behind we'd come back & win, With this group I'm not so sure. Hope my gut is wrong.- 15 replies
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- byron buxton
- carlos correa
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A lot of contributions from the least expected players. Great chemistry, hope these players continue to step up & try to keep the momentum going with key players Buxton, Correa, & Castro out with Bader hurt. It's a lot to ask, but we have a lot of important inter-division games coming up.
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- dashawn keirsey jr
- kody clemens
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Although I respect your opinion, I humbly disagree with you & your premise. I was taught that if A=B & B=C, then A=C. If a player is playing well under normal conditions, then he hurts his arm & or he's still recuperating & he plays badly. You can't tell me that his poor performance has nothing to do his hurt arm. & that it doesn't affect how I handle this player, & that he's just a bad player. Twins no doubt believe the same analytical premise, at least for some players.
- 45 replies
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- zebby matthews
- royce lewis
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Why does his control suck? Why does he get injured? You have noted the symptom but ignored the cause. To solve the problem, you need to deal with the cause, not just focus on the symptom. I'm aware he's vulnerable to control problems. With the 2020 Minnesota Twins, Alcalá appeared in 16 games, compiling a 2–1 record with 2.63 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 24.0 innings pitched. In 2021, Alcalá appeared in 59 games for the Twins. He ended the year with a 3–6 record, a 3.92 ERA, and 61 strikeouts across 59.2 innings.[10] Alcala had a great shortened '20 season but was overextended in '21 where his performance declined over the season. He hardly pitched in '22 (elbow) & '23 stress fracture forearm. Since '24, returning from a very long period of being on ILs. Baldelli too often used him in multiple innings & consecutive days. What I observed is that when Alcala pitched on enough rest, his 1st inning was great, but quite often on his 2nd or on consecutive day innings were not. IMO, Alcala does not have the arm, especially now, to take that kind of punishment. Taylor, when healthy, couldn't pitch quality innings on consecutive days.
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- zebby matthews
- royce lewis
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MIL outpitched MN, MN had plenty of opportunities offensively, but didn't come through, yet Courio stole a game-tying HR from Lewis. I applauded Baldelli for limiting Alcala to 1 inning in yesterday's game, but he must have gotten another iPad & pitched Alcala in consecutive days. We lost the game anyway, but it's still bad BP management.
- 45 replies
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- zebby matthews
- royce lewis
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Season Team LG G AB R H TB 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS GO/AO 2022 DET AL 57 117 13 17 36 4 0 5 17 8 0 33 1 0 .145 .197 .308 .505 0.7 This is Clemens's 1st season with DET. Not impressive. Each year, he was given more regular ABs with some improvement, but still not impressive. It took him 440 PA in 171 games, 4 yrs., 3 teams & more regular ABs with MN to finally become a pretty good MLBer. Keirsey has a career 62 PAs in 42 games spread out over 2 years. I confess that Keirsey often looks overwhelmed at the plate, but almost any hitter would with sparse ABs, especially somebody who's green. This season, every time Keirsey was given regular ABs (at least 2 games in a row), Keirsey has gotten timely hits. I hope he's able get more adjusted due to this opportunity
- 47 replies
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- pablo lopez
- kody clemens
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The formula for winning: good pitching, good defense, good managing (Somebody must have broken Baldelli's iPad, he pitched Alcala for only 1 inning & he was great. There might be hope for him yet) & scrape through enough timely hits to win. & they did more than that. Hitting a bunch of HR when you don't need them isn't a good one. The only negative thing I have is Watkins sending Lee home with nobody out. Until recently, Watkins only duty was to slap the players on the butt after they hit a HR. Watkins needs to know each player's running proficiency & when to send players. He seems lost out there.
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- pablo lopez
- kody clemens
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It's crazy that all those years of great draft picks, not one of them was a pitcher. They traded for Burns, but unlike LAD, who traded for Glasnow, they didn't make sure they had him locked up before. They had a lot of trade bait to trade for good SPs, but they love to hug their prospects as long as they can. If their problem were only pitching, all their games would be high-scoring games because they have a powerful lineup that most would envy. Yes, Falvey has finally gotten the pitching pipeline flowing, but it also helps to have Ryan & Lopez dropped into your lap into his rotation as well as Correa in our lineup. These 3 help form the nucleus of our veteran core. IMO, BAL lacks quality veteran leadership. One of the 1st things I heard coming out of social media during the Twins' slump was, Fire sale, we need to get rid of our core because they are our problem. Funny thing was when the Lewis & Castro returned, that was when the core was complete & the Twins started to win, even though they didn't contribute much offensively. IMO, that was because of chemistry & fire that was ignited.
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The bottom of the order out hit the top. MIL love to run, you have to keep them off the bases. Twins eeked out some runs, pitching & defense was able to secure the lead for the win. Great formula. Go Twins! W/O main players Correa, Buxton, Baders & now Castro, the reinforcements are holding down the fort.
- 34 replies
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- ryan fitzgerald
- joe ryan
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New Twin Catching Prospect Signed.
Doctor Gast commented on tarheeltwinsfan's blog entry in Blog tarheeltwinsfan
I'll be looking out for him, Tarheel. Thanks. Hope he's a fast riser because we surely need him. Our catching depth is very bad. -
I agree, they sent down SWR so he can work on some things. None of the SPs who will come up will give you over 5 innings. SWR will be back up at some point.
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- simeon woods richardson
- david festa
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