Dodecahedron

I make no assumptions when I ask questions. Counterpoint, if you are not asking questions, you are assuming.

I am happy we have a rover on Mars, but we have to stop calling it science. This is theater. We recently celebrated the rover creating 10 minutes of breathable oxygen. That's great, but we knew it could do that before it left the laboratory on our humble planet. At the same moment in time, one of our largest countries faces an oxygen shortage due to a pandemic. Golf clap. The purported purpose of the mission is to search for water (which we already know is there in very small amounts) and to search for signs of life. Okay. So then we land the rover in the middle of a desert? If you were to search for water and life on earth, would you drive out to Death Valley? If the goal is to search for life, there is a zone just due south of the polar ice caps which is the only place it would be. The Martian atmosphere, which is almost pure carbon dioxide, can't support life anywhere else. If the goal is to find life, why wouldn't we look where life could be, even if just microbial?

OK, but I would argue that the problem isn't dingers or catcher strikeouts. The issue is bullpen management with a dash of pandemic.

Baldelli needs some help, yes. Whether that's a bench coach or some other position, I wouldn't pretend to know the answer. But when it feels like most of the people on a forum could do a better job managing games, it's time to do something.

Garver did not play a good chunk of 2020; he has almost as many at bats in 2021 as he had in 2020. When it comes to offensive performance in 2021 so far, Garver is near the middle of the pack in the AL. When it comes to defensive performance, Garver is again ranked near the middle. I get it -- going back to the Pierzynski days, many Twins fans expect a lot from catchers. Nothing wrong with that. However, Garver deserves time to figure things out. If he is still struggling in another two months, then I'm sure no one will object to the "let's run him out of town" narrative. Note that "He's not what he was in 2019" is a completely different set of words than "He should not be playing." We should consider that. There was once a time when Twins fans adored Henry Blanco. If Garver finds his bat or finds his defense, I would hope people stop with these threads.

So the story is ... For all the blustering we did over Kiriloff not being called up on day 1, all we had to do was wait 21 days for the service time rule to kick in. A good lesson on only pushing the panic button as a last resort.

Regarding the St. Paul Saints hat, I would certainly make a big deal about it had there been a link to it instead of just a picture. I don't see the hat on the team store.

Ah, that's too bad. Doctors seem particularly bad at alleviating that sort of thing. I was 50 years old before a doctor decided to prescribe Bentyl, which slows down gut muscles. Problem solved, but that's a lot of years of unnecessary suffering while being prescribed pointless fiber supplements.

Some things go unnoticed for far too long.

Minnesota was once the epicenter of "professional" wrestling. Heck, maybe it still is, I guess I wouldn't know. Maybe we just have to admit that all professional sports in Minnesota are just theater. The Vikings in particular had a lot of pretenders over the years.

Berrios is not doing anything out of character, it's fan perception that was off.

Used to have a high opinion. Gordon is no longer on any of those lists. Hasn't been for 3 years.

The Twins are not going to win many games playing defense like that, that's for sure. This is the same terrible defense we saw in 2016. They have to tighten that up immediately, there are no excuses. It does not matter how well they hit or how well they pitch if they can't execute basic things defensively. Leave the choking at the end of tough games to the Vikings. Snap out of it, Twinkies.

Here is my mouth, and here is you putting words in it. The point I was making was in my last sentence.

We may want to note that the A's are on a 10-game winning streak and allowed 2 runs in the past 5 games with 4 shutouts. Sometimes the story is not just about the Twins.

OK, some of the players on this team have a 6-game playoff losing streak, or 2 years. Sounds fair, I can take your word on that.

There may not be anyone in the dugout from the Tom Kelly/Andy MacPhail era anymore, but there also isn't anyone in the dugout from the Gardenhire era either. Besides, the topic is the 6-10 start, not the playoffs. I should have added a disclaimer to my comment, because I knew someone would respond with a quip about performance in the playoffs. Anyway, I suppose we could start dismantling the team as many are suggesting, but I'm not sure how swapping out major league players with prospects improves the team's chances of turning things around. If "spring training stats don't mean anything" then one would think any early-season small sample size doesn't mean anything either.

Seeing a lot of confirmation bias going on here. Don't forget, the 1991 Twins started the season at 2-9 and later at 4-10. They were under .500 on June 1st. With the unbalanced schedule, the Twins just need to win against teams in the division to make the playoffs. This will happen. This isn't the first Twins team to struggle against the AL East and AL West. In other words, breathe.

I can only go by where I am. Here, we only exited Phase 1A (healthcare workers) the last week of February. Phase 1B (elderly and high risk) was nowhere near done before the federal government opened it up to everyone on the 16th. My county was going as fast as it could, but they were having trouble getting enough doses. As of this week, it's available everywhere around here because pharmacies are offering it to everyone over 16. My appointment is on Friday. My mother-in-law, who is 77 and has severe lung problems, only got a dose after I called to complain a few weeks ago. Granted, if you know Illinois, you know that Chicago gets first dibs on every resource the state has, and I'm in a neighboring county.

Ron Davis had 14 blown saves and 11 losses in 1984, including two blown saves in the last week of the season, and the Twins finished 3 games short of the division crown. Granted, they were not likely to get past Detroit in the playoffs. Billy Gardner was the manager in '84, and he did not know how to use his bullpen. Davis was often called up to close the game in the 8th, even when he was not playing well. '84 isn't 100% on Davis, but 50% is bad enough. Davis put up worse numbers in 1986, though he was not "the closer" for long. He had a high profile meltdown very early in the season during a television interview, where he fought back tears while saying he had never pitched worse in his life, and from then on he did not appear in high-leverage situations. By the time Tom Kelly took over the team near the end of '86, Davis had been traded. Davis was under a lot of pressure as he was always expected by the media to be elite. By all accounts, he was a good guy who had too much on his shoulders. He did not perform well in high pressure situations, and the Twins managers of the era (Gardner and Mauch) were just not good at reading that sort of thing. If Gardenhire had kept Hawkins as the closer for five years longer than he did, the results would have been similar. The Twins got a lot of prospects when they traded Davis, which shows that people thought he could pitch in spite of his results. Reardon came on in '87. He struggled most of the year, but down the stretch he was suddenly able to throw Blyleven's magical curveball, and the rest his history. Reardon's performance did not come back down to earth for another five years.

How? The vaccine was only available when the season started. All teams are following the same protocols as defined by the MLB. The Twins had an anti-vaxxer (or something) and an outbreak started almost immediately. People who are anti-vaccine are also usually anti-mask, etc., thus they tend to engage in riskier behaviors. This was a predictable outcome. Inexcusable? Maybe, but it's difficult to pin the blame on the Twins organization. The Twins were doing everything they could, and even made the vaccine available before the general public had access to vaccine. No word on how the MLB or the team were able to jump ahead in line. Maybe that's inexcusable too.

Until the Twins feel their outbreak is under control, they should not call up anyone who is a part of their future. No Kiriloff, etc. Call up the riffraff to fill in and take the losses for a couple of weeks, don't mess with the team's future plans just to win 1 or 2 more games in April. As for Dobnak, we all know he's not a bullpen guy. Dobnak's problem is the manager putting him in the wrong role. If he needs to be in the minors to start games, they should put him in the minors until a starting spot opens up with the club. As for Garlick, his role is the #4 outfielder and he's doing fine in that role. He can pinch run, pinch hit, start games, end games, and otherwise fill in when required.

I always felt that if Nick Gordon ever plays regularly for the Twins, it's a catastrophic sign. He has never been a good defender nor a good hitter. I think the only reason the Twins keep him in the middle infield is his whiffle-bat won't play anywhere else, but his middle infield defense will never be good enough to start in the MLB. Gordon has played plenty of reps at both SS and 2B and the results have always been what the OP witnessed. In fact, most of his games have been at SS. His defensive metrics at both positions are very similar.

I was looking at the roster a few days ago, and I was surprised at how many players came via free agency or trade. Most of them did not cost more than home-grown talent at the same caliber would have cost, and many of the players fill significant voids on the roster. I am happy the narrative of spending a dollar in free agency is nothing more than being one dollar closer to bankruptcy died a quiet death.

Only 18 hitters in baseball history have achieved the triple crown and only 1 since 1967. Buxton is more likely to be struck by lightning.