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LastOnePicked

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Everything posted by LastOnePicked

  1. LastOnePicked
    "I'm counting on it." Okay, but please don't bet on it.
  2. LastOnePicked
    A little late to make these changes now. 7-8 wins have already been left on the table. However, better late than never. But I can't see it happening. Falvey/Levine seem to see their coaches as a direct extension of everything they've built. Popkins is "cutting edge." I think they think that's it's just a matter of time until everything clicks and they're revealed as the baseball geniuses they believe themselves to be.. Only, it hasn't clicked and won't click. And then the pressure mounts on the other players. And then injuries are more common. And then the FO can just blame another lost season on bad luck and fluke injuries. Lather, rinse, repeat.
  3. LastOnePicked
    I don't hate on Rocco, certainly not for being professional or thoughtful. I merely hate having him as the Twins manager. He's not a leader of men. Go back and watch the "egg toss" episode of the Twins spring promotional videos. Rocco is a college student activities coordinator. He's not big league coach material. You can tell that the players are barely listening to him when he talks. And he says a lot, but very little with clarity or emphasis.
  4. LastOnePicked
    No, I think he merely let them have a "players only" meeting. Besides, does this sound like Rocco? I can't even imagine him tearing into a bag of chips.
  5. LastOnePicked
    Not. Reading his postgame rambling, it's clear he doesn't even have a clue about what to do next. It's almost as though he doesn't even realize he's the manager. Whoever could be responsible for a team "doing the same stuff over and over again" - possibly a manager who perpetually praises the prescribed process over actual results? Nah. And the word "maybe" in the fourth sentence borders on hilarity. Reads like a Randball's Stu article. Good gracious, this team is in trouble. “This is a challenge. This is an ultimatum for our team. We’re here. These guys work their freakin’ (tails) off every day, but maybe we’ve got to work our (tails) off in a different way and have a different approach and a different mindset when we step out on the field 'cause really what we’re doing right now is frustrating because that’s madness going out there and doing the same stuff over and over and over again when we have guys that have shown either for periods of time or for their whole careers to be productive players to be falling flat as a group right now."
  6. LastOnePicked
    Systems are more likely to change people than people are likely to change systems. You nailed it. Signs continue to point to something rotten here in terms of culture, philosophy and execution.
  7. LastOnePicked
    I value this ethos, but mostly for everyday working folks. MLB managerial and coaching slots should be for the best of the best of the best. Yes, results are the ultimate performance evaluation in this line of work. Or so you'd think.
  8. LastOnePicked
    Well, their place in the standings is about to change tonight.
  9. LastOnePicked
    Agreed. They constantly appear overmatched for the decision at hand. They have way too much patience with gaps, then realize they're in some sort of hole and then make panicked moves that backfire.
  10. LastOnePicked
    Here's what's scary - trades 1, 3 and 5 have the potential of looking considerably worse than they do right now. If Arraez wins MVP trophies and leads Miami deep into the playoffs, this is a trade that can (and should) break a front office.
  11. LastOnePicked
    I appreciate what you're doing here, but this just seems like Minnesota Nice on steroids. Sorry, PEDs - Politeness Enhancing Delusions. Bless the man's heart, but he has no business being on the Twins. He cost the Padres a season in 2021. He cost the Twins a season in 2022. He has the worst current case of yips in professional sports. This FO has made many errors, but keeping Pagan is one of their worst.
  12. LastOnePicked
    This is EXACTLY how I feel. I want to see this team remolded into a winner, not to limp backwards into a playoff berth - a playoff berth that would only solidify and vindicate the faulty regime currently in place. There's no reason the Twins couldn't become the Reds, Orioles, D-backs or Marlins in 2026 or 2027. Rebuild. Restructure. Or keep crawling around the AL Central. To me, the choice is clear.
  13. LastOnePicked
    This is such a damning quote: "what I said to (hitting coach David Popkins) is, ‘I’m going to turn into (Luis) Arraez today, just touch the ball. There’s a lot of grass out there.' " Hitting coaches should be trying to convince hitters like Lewis to become like Arraez, not the other way around. The hiring of Popkins is another example of this FO thinking that they are on the "cutting edge," but instead are lightyears behind the philosophy and execution of top teams. But to fire him now would require them to admit this mistake, so they'd apparently rather let the team suffer. Twins 2023: so much wasted opportunity, it boggles the mind.
  14. LastOnePicked
    Agreed. On paper, they're not that far from contending. On the field, it seems like they're light years away from a team like Atlanta. There's just no there there. A .500-ish team in baseball's worst division. That's not a team on the cusp of glory.
  15. LastOnePicked
    You raise good points on the lack of a communication strategy. Fans have been listening and watching, but none of the answers have been clear. It's probably because the team is trying to do three things simultaneously: 1) Keep fans coming to Target Field with the hope of seeing "prime Buxton" while avoiding the crushing, sinking feeling that they've signed a perennially-injured player to a long-term contract. 2) Keep Buxton from having to face additional questions on specific issues that are still unclear, probably even to him. 3) Keep Buxton up with the team for as long as possible, in the hopes that something clicks and he has at least sporadic good games. Sadly, this isn't sustainable. He isn't better. He isn't ever going to get better. We've seen the best of Buxton. What remains of his ability may still be useful as a very expensive platoon DH for a year or two, but that's all he's going to be. That's a hard thing to admit internally, and a very hard thing to sell to fans. They're in a tough spot, but they should probably just admit their own frustration and confusion, rather than spread false hope - or worse, to admonish fans for just wanting to know what's going on.
  16. LastOnePicked
    Sadly, we know exactly how a Goldschmidt trade would go, though. He'd get his ankle crushed by a freak collision at 1B in his first inning in the field. The prospects the Twins lost would go on to become stud rookie All-Star candidates in 2024. No thank you. This FO has angered the gods - we've already gotten too much proof.
  17. LastOnePicked
    "He made his Saints debut on Sunday, starting and pitching four innings of four-run ball on 54 pitches." Wasn't in one-run ball? I thought it went a little better than this.
  18. LastOnePicked
    This is going to be a fascinating week. If the Twins go 4-2 or better, then perhaps a corner has been turned and this team is ready to contend. 3-3 is promising but keeps us in roughly the same .500 limbo. 2-4 or worse will likely see them drop out of first place for the first time this season. It's only six games, but it feels like a very big six games ahead.
  19. LastOnePicked
    I'm unhappy for me - I thought that Arraez might have already given his best season, and that his injuries would flare up again. I liked the trade. Should have known better. I'm unhappy for the team. He's exactly what the team needs now. Lopez is still important, but not nearly so. Not even close. But ... I'm happy for Arraez. Great player. He deserves the accolades and the fun he's having in Miami.
  20. LastOnePicked
    I submit Rocco's postgame comments as the final and crystal-clear evidence of his inability to manage a major-league ballclub. My goodness, what an incredible load of absolute nothing and word-mush. Can you imagine being motivated, led, corrected or inspired by anything he's saying or doing? And "nothing is actionable" is what he lands on. "You've got to forget it." You know what else we can forget? A division title. A playoff push. Building a winner in this window of contention. I know for a fact that I'll forget to buy Twins tickets for a long time to come, too. I would have fired him after the lifeless 2020 postseason loss to the Astros, and he's done nothing to prove me wrong since then. Yes, we have a major FO problem as well (these issues are related), but he's absolutely the worst possible coach I can imagine for this club. A decent man, but absolutely and unequivocally unfit for service.
  21. LastOnePicked
    Fair point. Though perhaps the quality was thought (or is thought) to be better than what we've seen.
  22. LastOnePicked
    Odd that a FO that is otherwise fairly conservative is so willing to gamble on players with questionable track records and unclear health. None of these have panned out - might be wiser to avoid these trades and signings. An untested healthy prospect probably has more value to the team than another veteran performance question mark.
  23. LastOnePicked
    Here's the potential problem, though - these things are very likely related. One of the goofy things I learned in college was that "rhetoric is epistemic." Basically, the words you use can often reveal your underlying mindset or meaning-making system. Or, simply, how you talk reveals how you think. There's very much a mushy weakness in how Rocco talks in postgames, and a distant corporate robotic-ness in how Falvey and Levine talk in press events. I think the ongoing concern is that these ways of speaking reveal some of the flaws in the manner of managing, developing and coaching for this club. But what do I know? I'm not there, and there's much I'm not privy to. Oh well. We can only guess as fans. But we can also make our displeasure clear, too.
  24. LastOnePicked
    Yeah, it may yet be a bit early, but I haven't seen much from Lopez to indicate that he'll be anything other than a #4-#5 starter with a 4.50 ERA. That kind of arm should have been very easy to develop, and shouldn't have cost you the best hitter in MLB or a large extended contract. That seems foolish now, and might look downright idiotic soon. What does this team need to win? A great contact bat (Arraez), a lockdown bullpen arm (Cano), a solid corner outfielder (Steer) and a top prospect starter knocking on the door (Povich). In other words, all of the things this FO gave away because they were sure about Solano/Julien, Lopez, Larnach/Wallner and Balazovic. An error of judgement at every spot. Let's put it this way: you wouldn't walk into a casino with Falvey or Levine. Their instincts - or their luck - are absolutely terrible and seemingly contagious.
  25. LastOnePicked
    Absolutely. Rocco has had more opportunities and more leeway than perhaps he's deserved. We're at the end, now. Or we should be. But, the same is true of this FO. Once again, their signings have fallen flat and their trades have backfired. They've had their shot at a rebuild, and they're no closer to being a winner than they were when this FO started.
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