Dodecahedron

Dobnak started the year in the bullpen after having a nice preseason as a starter. If the Twins wanted him to be a set up guy or in the closer rotation, they should have worked on that at the proper time. When that predictably failed, they moved him to start some games after he was no longer stretched out and treated him like rubbish. Yes, I agree the old-timers being in the clubhouse made the Twins play with more fire. It was fun watching the old timers being interviewed on TV. Many of the pitchers had some great stories about how the manager treated them fairly and gave them consistency. Some also talked about how having a good pitcher in the wrong role was a real thing. As I said, I don't think they talked about this by coincidence.

Dobnak probably plays better when put on a team that treats him like a human being. He proved himself to be competent in the preseason (and heck in previous years, too), then they have in pitch in the 8th and the 9th, roles he has never done and is not suited for, and then tossed him aside. Dobnak will probably be back, but mostly because, as you say, at the moment he has been backed into a spot where he has no other options. The Twins are in a similar pinch. I always thought the Shoemaker signing was a joke, but I believe him when he said the Twins tried to make him be someone he wasn't. He wasn't around too long after he spoke up about that. On the topic of treating people like cattle, the Twins recently publicly aired their grievances with Buxton's contract. This should help the "roster crunch" -- but not help in any way the fans want. During the 1991 reunion tour last week, the old timers were all pushing a consistent message -- unity. Unity with the front office, with management, with the players. I think they talked about this for a reason, and note the difference with the way the Twins played while the old team was around. Unity starts from the top. The only face we see behind these decisions is Baldelli's. If these are his decisions, he has lost his mind. He should either be fired or have his medication adjusted. If this is Baldelli following marching orders, he should step into his given role and take charge. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you let others make bad decisions for you, none of that matters.

The Twins have 39 players on the roster now. Things to remember: The number of players the Twins have signed to long term deals is in the single digits. The number of players in this article is in the single digits. The number of players who won't be back next year, especially on the pitching side, is higher than either of the above.

Barnes is a burner pitcher. If the Twins thought he had any chance of having a future on this team, he would not be in the pitching in the majors yet. His minor league numbers are not good. I agree with what others are saying, it really looks sometimes like Baldelli gives up on some games before they even start. He increasingly seems like a participation medal kind of guy in a professional sport.

The gist of the plan since this FO came in is "Build a team that can beat Cleveland." They're still doing that, I guess, but it was time for a new plan nearly a year ago.

In the 00s, there was a strong David v. Goliath narrative in mainstream sports media between the Twins and Yankees. Could this scrappy, cheap team go toe-to-toe with the Yankees? Honestly, I think the Yankees took this to heart and had a chip on their shoulders that the Twins just didn't have at the time. The Yanks did NOT want to lose to the Twins, but the Twins seemed to be treating the Yanks as any other opponent. Those Yankees teams were running circles around the Twins. Bad umpiring then came to a head later, at the tail end of the Twins dynasty. The Statcast era has helped make that better. Of course, a lot has happened since then, and all of those Yankees players are gone. It's hard to say what the problem is now. It's worth bringing this up as a reminder ... there was a 1954 book, 1995 Broadway musical, and 1958 film addressing this franchise's futility v. the Yankees. This goes way back.

It must suck to have "no clue of the current reality" and not know that Eddie has been terrible since 2018. Those MVP votes he got in two of those three years and solid metrics you might see when you look him up -- it's just not reality, man. It's worth reminding everyone that some people always hated Rosario. It's probably not worth engaging with them.

The only player on this team with a higher dWAR than Arraez is Simmons. Carew had 3 years with a better dWAR than what Arraez has this year. Carew was a worse defender in 15 of his 19 years. Tony Gwynn had a higher dWAR in 2 of his 20 seasons. Gwynn's dWAR was negative in 12 seasons. Arraez was a poor defender in 2019, his rookie year. It seems like sometimes we make opinions on something and forget that things change.

Always loved Albers. It's nice to see him on the field again.

Ah, good to know. Thanks.

Not at all. We are talking about the Eddie that is on a rehab assignment. His health is beginning to improve judging by the fact that he hit a grand slam home run a couple of days ago. In any case, Larnach did not appear to be Plan A or B this year. Regarding the original topic, I'm not sure a lesson was learned. We certainly learned that the Twins have no depth, which is a crazy thing to discover as it should have been obvious all along. Maybe that's the lesson....

Thanks for the picture. I never noticed what a brutalist eyesore that new stadium is. When I lived in the Twin Cities, the 694 portion of the loop was mostly devoid of, well, anything. I'm guessing things have built up since then, though I'm not sure which is more depressing -- urban sprawl or a freeway in the middle of nowhere.

I always thought it was Terry Ryan who used the Twin farm system to spend resources on prospects, having the MLB team work through the players growing pains, jettisoning the player as they should be entering their prime years, and then bringing them back to the team for another year before retirement. I guess it's a Twins thing, not a Ryan thing. Sorry, Terry.

Not only did I not forget that, but I never knew that in the first place.

I agree. I have always been a huge Polanco fan, but I thought he was cooked this year. I'm glad I was wrong.

Yeah. Arraez should be leading off. Honestly, picking the leadoff hitter is the easiest spot to fill in the lineup. Not sure why the Twins struggle with this one year after year. Sure, Baldelli says he makes choices based on what he thinks gives them their best chance to win.

Thorpe's "shoulder soreness" certainly did not start yesterday given his decrease in velocity. I would imagine he was trying to put on a brave face since he is on the cusp of the majors, and somehow the Twins were not able to see past that. A failure on both sides, but frankly it's amazing to me that the Twins would measure a significant drop in velocity and not deeply examine the guy's arm. Of course we don't know what happens behind the scenes, but it seems likely that his arm has not been healthy for a long time.

I'm not sure where the $280M is coming from (yes, I know someone else threw this number out there first). He's not going to get that from anybody and I doubt he or his agent asked for anything like that. This seems to be an emerging pattern, as we threw around an irrational number for Rosario last year, too. The crazy thing is, we are sticking to that number for Rosario even after it was proven to be inaccurate. Anyway, Berrios is a good comp for Radke, and I think Berrios will make about what Radke made, adjusted for the new salary norms in the MLB. Although Radke was a good pitcher, we all know he wasn't ever quite an ace at his peak, and in most years he was more of a mid-rotation guy, leaning toward being a #2. Like Radke, Berrios is dependable and solid, and I wish he could have stayed too, but I think the Twins got a good return. Sure, they probably did not get an ace, but they got 2 promising guys and at least one of them should be able to slot into the middle of the rotation. Personally, I feel like both of them will "pan out" in that they will both be able to pitch for the Twins in the future and do reasonably well. This isn't the May/Meyer trades of a decade ago which sunk the team for a long time, where it was obvious to everyone except journalists sympathetic to the Twins or Twins fans that it was not going to end well. Twins fans did a lot of selective reading on those two guys when they were prospects. May of course ended up doing well in the bullpen, eventually, but that's not what the Twins traded for. This team made a lot of mistakes this year, but I think you can feel OK about this trade. Worry about the other stuff.

Jim Morrison wrote something about how people are strange. There are many who will blue in the face argue that errors don't matter, which I think proves his point. If runs matter, unearned runs matter, and unearned runs only happen because of errors. An error is the single worst event a fielder can do. Anecdotally, at least with the Twins over the past ten years or so, it seems like unearned runs are more painful and conducive to losses than earned runs.

Amazing how a simple pivot to managing the pitchers in a way that makes sense can create a positive snowball effect. "We're clicking in all phases of the game right now." Indeed. Success builds on success. I'm wondering, is someone else making in-game pitching decisions now?

I'm a Vargas fan for sure. I felt if the Twins were going to roll with Sano, they may as well just have kept Vargas. After his first year, Vargas's "chances" felt like a lot of small sample sizes resulting in him being sent back to the minors once he seemed to be getting into a groove.

Right. I'm not sure what the Twins are waiting for with Sano. Sano has been blocking people since he first put on a Twins uniform. He has played in the outfield, at 3B, 1B, and DH. The only one of those positions that ever made sense was DH. Sure he will be good again, but he is no hall of famer. The Twins could get the same hitting production from someone else, and this was always the case. Even if he goes elsewhere and turns into David Ortiz, so what? The Twins just don't need him. If anyone chooses to blame the Twins front office or management for Sano's shaky performance as a Twin, let them. We all know better.

If what you are saying is true, he simply shouldn't be with this team.

Sure. But if I were running a team, I would care about a player's value over the course of a full season, if I were using WAR as the measurement. It would not matter to me how that number was come up with, as WAR is a measure of value not of performance. If we want to change to OPS+ to look at performance, I'd be all for it. 2017 - 126 2018 - 83 2019 - 140 2020 - 105 2021 - 107 2018 was not good, but is a forgivable anomaly in an injured year. 2020-2021 are not good enough for a first baseman, even if Joe Mauer got the Twins accustomed to such performances.

I want to like Pineda. I really do. In spite of him being here for 3 years, I feel like I still have no idea who he is as a pitcher.