LastOnePicked

There’s a great scene in the first season of Ted Lasso. Coach Lasso is sitting and mulling over end of season strategy with his assistant, Coach Beard. Lasso realizes that his approach with his players might not give the team the best shot at winning, but smiles and reassures Coach Beard that “winning ain’t how we measure success.” Coach Beard turns red. He slams his fist on the table and hollers, “DAMN IT, IT IS!” Winning matters. Which brings us, ironically enough, back to the Minnesota Twins. In the last 18 years of baseball, only two MLB teams have failed to win a postseason game. One of those teams, the Seattle Mariners, are a virtual lock to win a Wild Card spot. That may soon leave the Twins alone at the bottom of the postseason winning heap for this stretch. Last in success, out of all 30 major league teams. “C’mon,” you’ll argue. “Stop blowing this out of proportion. Just look at those division pennants waving atop Target Field. One of them is even as recent as 2020. That’s success.” Sure, I know they’re there. I just can’t shake the feeling that they just don’t matter all that much. Sure, the Twins have had some success in a weak division - the children’s table of baseball - building up midseason leads and slipping ahead of marginal competition. But when the heat is on, when the top teams are in town, when the playoff bunting flies, the Twins aren’t much of a ballclub. They don’t win when it really counts, when it would generate excitement, when it would really bring the state together. They are a professional organization run and staffed by what seem to be genuinely decent and otherwise competent people. But they don’t win … and that matters. In 1986, I fell head over heels for the Minnesota Twins. They were a bad ballclub, but I loved the game and I loved the team and I loved the Metrodome (yeah, I know). My dad took me to ten games or so that year, taking time from a very busy work schedule to indulge me. He even took me to Fan Appreciation Night, where Bert Blyleven apologized to the crowd for a disappointing season, adding that he saw the core of a talented club that could bring a World Series to Minnesota in 1987. My father audibly groaned. “It’ll never happen,” he said. “What if it does,” I asked. “Look, if the Twins go to the World Series next year, I’ll buy us both tickets. But it won’t happen, kid.” You know the rest. Like magic, it did happen. And we were there. And my father, a serious man, hooted and cheered and waved like a kid. He loved the Twins more than I had realized, and he’d waited his life for this. When they won Game 7, he paraded me through the streets of Minneapolis on his shoulders. We hugged and high-fived strangers and police officers. We celebrated the success of our local team, a scrappy small market underdog. “Enjoy it” he told me. “Because it’ll never happen again.” We did not buy tickets to the 1991 series. We watched all the drama from the comfort of home. But I grew up with an embarrassment of baseball riches. More than that, I have memories of my father - the stoic US Navy veteran and successful man of business - that are priceless. I got to see my father become a kid, just like me, bursting with joy over the game of baseball. The years are wearing on him now, and it's hard to know how much time we have left together. We don’t talk Twins much anymore, my father and me. He never watches games and rarely reads the box scores. I tried to sit him down to watch the 2019 Twins take on the Marlins on TV. I hyped him up for the “Bomba Squad” and chose an opponent I was sure the Twins could beat. I wanted him back on the bandwagon with me. I thought a special season was coming together again. Newly acquired Sam Dyson blew the lead. Buxton injured his shoulder. The Twins lost 5-4 in extras. But my dad didn’t see it end - he had gone to the garage to tinker with the lawn mower engine. Somehow, he knew that team wasn’t anything special. “Wake me up when they look like a winner again,” he told me. So here we are, three years removed from the 2019 season which ended in another postseason whimper. The consolation at the time was that the Twins appeared on the cusp of a breakout - a potential string of AL Central dominance that might lead them deep into the playoffs. Instead, we’ve just witnessed an absolutely epic late-season collapse that will leave them in third place and likely below .500 for the second straight year. Worst to third in the AL Central, particularly after signing the #1 free agent in baseball in the offseason, hardly inspires much hope. It’s not that these things don’t happen in baseball, or in all professional sports. It would be foolish to expect the Twins - a mid-market team - to win back-to-back championships every decade, or to be angered by occasional rough seasons or disappointing endings. It’s not so much that the Twins lose, but how they lose - and that they lose when it matters most and even when they seemingly have what they need to succeed - that is so hard to stomach. It’s a culture of losing that has essentially destroyed fan morale and widespread interest in the game here in Minnesota. Here’s what I’m trying to say: It’s not just that the Twins lose, it’s how losing no longer seems to be a problem for the organization. No one who represents the Twins really seems disappointed or upset by what's happened this season. There’s no visible sense of urgency or frustration. The club’s director of communication admonishes critics for any negativity and tells fans to “ride with us,” without acknowledging that the club’s trainwreck bullpen failures made getting back in the fandom car seem like a death wish. “We played our game, we played hard,” is Baldelli’s general mantra after bitter losses, as though professionals being paid hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars shouldn’t be expected to “play hard” as a basic condition of their employment. Instead of playoff wins, we’ve gotten endless strings of excuses: injuries, payroll limitations, called strikes that only seem to pinch our batters, and platitudes about being “almost there” and busy “reloading.” What’s that old saying? Sound and fury, signifying nothing. Though scratch that - what I wouldn’t give for even a little well-placed fury from this club. They endlessly preach process, but seem to have no real interest in results. Meanwhile, there is an entire generation of young people who have never once seen a Twins playoff victory. They’ve never seen their friends or family members turn giddy at the prospect of coming out on top, of beating the big boys of baseball in late autumn.They’ve never seen the way a playoff run can pull people together and shake up the routine of life. Winning inspires chatter and energy. It changes dull small talk about the weather into tales of late-inning heroics. The perfect throw to the plate to preserve a close lead. The seeing-eye single that brought in the tying run. The walk-off home run that electrifies a city. Minnesota is a beautiful state. The Twin Cities represent two vibrant metropolitan centers within a short cross-river drive. Greater Minnesota features majestic beauty and kind-hearted communities. At times, we become two very different kinds of people living in the same state. We sometimes lose a common worldview and a common cause. On top of that, we’ve weathered a pandemic, civil unrest, extreme political division and economic instability. Any of the top professional teams in this state that actually commits to winning - and actually does win when it counts - will find that, beyond their own satisfaction, they’ve added a stitch or two to a sense of unity and pride in the state. Winning gives people relief and hope - even in small ways - and it gives them moments and stories with those they love. Yes, baseball is only a sport and maybe even a dying one, but winning is symbolic. Winning inspires. I know I’m cranky. There will soon be any number of articles coming from people who are less cranky about how the Twins had some positive developments this year, and that the FO gave their trades and signings their best shot, and that some prospects took major steps forward, and that winning at the professional level isn’t the only thing that matters. I’m going to shake my head when I read those stories. I may even pound my fist on the table. Because damn it, it is. Winning is how you measure success in MLB. Winning is the only thing that matters at this level (and please don’t counter with “playing the game fairly is more important,” because that, too, is a basic professional expectation that should go without saying). And the Twins don’t win when it counts. And that matters. And anyone who does not make this the top priority for this team should no longer be involved with this organization. Find out why injuries keep derailing promising prospects. Find out why high-leverage situations at the plate and on the mound keep resulting in failure. Find out why the team looks like roadkill when the Yankees come to town. Find out why the team lacks fundamental skills on the bases and in the field. Focus less on mundane processes and more on getting situational results. Put the team through high-stress drills. Get the players ready for battle, rather than stocked with excuses when they fail. Because Coach Beard is right. Winning matters. And it’s been far, far, far too long since the Twins have won anything when it counts.

The longer we wait to start a rebuild, the more it's going to hurt. Cleveland and the White Sox both figured this out - we have to do the same. Take lumps for 5 years or so, and restructure. Tear this team down. Completely. New FO, new manager, new coaches, put in a plan for fundamental baseball and pitching development. Hire the up-and-comers from successful franchises. This FO has proven it can't "reload." Baldelli has proven he can't change. Our franchise star can't stay on the field. Rebuild. Now.

Evidence suggests this is true. Not sure how long Jim Pohlad can keep letting them make the wrong call.

Agreed. I should have clarified that I meant the length of the contract. I think there's reason to wonder if the hip/knee issues are going to cut his career very short. It's tragic, and I'm not pointing fingers here. I wanted the FO to re-sign Buxton. But I'm thinking the folks who argued against signing him long-term were seeing things a bit more clearly.

Both of these things were true in the 2021 offseason. How'd that turn out? I mean, if the same people are in charge, what will change? Also, hard to imagine the division getting more winnable than this year, And the Twins have more holes than most teams. But, what the heck - if some of you still think there's a path for winning in 2023, good for you.

Great article. The Twins FO approach to this offseason reminded me of those kids in high school who slack off for 90% of the term and then start doing extra credit like crazy in the final week. In their haste, they made a number of faulty assumptions: 1) Buxton will remain relatively healthy. 2) The farm system pitching pipeline was ready to flow. 3) Correa's glove and bat would patch any defensive/offensive holes in the infield and lineup. 4) Bullpens are easy to cobble together on the fly. None of those assumptions were true. They let Pagan completely sink the season, acting on the idea that any additional moves they would make at the deadline would carry the team through to a division title in the weak AL Central - or at least a WC spot in an expanded playoff field. Nope. Buxton's detractors were sadly right - he isn't durable enough to warrant the new contract. The pitching pipeline completely dried up, reminding us all what national baseball writers had said in the offseason: Twins pitching scouting and development is nothing special. Correa is a player who feeds on intensity, and he found nothing after May here to build upon in terms of energy. And the bullpen implosions continued, straight out of 2021. Somehow, this organization turned once-strong relievers and closers like Colome, Pagan and Lopez into new versions of Ron Davis. I gotta say, 2021 was far easier to stomach than 2022. This division was wide open for the taking this year. Instead, the Twins experienced another total system failure, bouncing them from first to third when everything mattered most. The FO seems to think they did their best with a reload this year. If so, I'd hate to see their worst attempt.

Sadly, I'm gloomy. Talent is potential. Potential is not results. The results just aren't there. The sad reality is this: the Falvey era began with a loaded farm system and highly-touted talents like Buxton, Sano, Berrios, Polanco, Kepler and Rosario on the field. There was a window of contention there, capped with this year's hail-mary Correa contract. That window is now closed, and this new era begins with one of the most depleted farm systems in baseball, a severely hobbled Buxton and a whole lotta question marks, particularly at SP, SS, C and OF. In short, any talk of contention next year seems extremely silly. Time again to take a rebuild seriously.

Take my advice: Just don't do it. Don't imagine this team better than they are. Make this organization earn your hope.

Funny. Rocco's problem certainly isn't likability. Heck, I like him (what I've seen/heard) as a person. I've just come to hate seeing him as a manager here. Very much hoping this dismal finish marks the end of his Twins tenure.

This is my biggest problem with the Twins. They have become a totally lifeless, gutless organization. They wither in the face of tough opponents. They shrink from challenges. When the heat is on, they slink back into the dugout. There has to be a large-scale organizational shake-up here, because I can't imagine any player coming here and not being infected by this dead culture. There's no energy here. And sadly, we fans can't bring this enthusiasm back for them - they have to rise up and earn it. Personally, I feel like I'm about ready to be totally done with the Twins again, like I was from '94 to '02. There's just nothing here to keep up your spirits.

We've been given the answer to this question repeatedly this season: No. This is not the type of team that can rise to a challenge. Cleveland will take 4 of 5 and finally put an end to this soul-crushing season.

This is the part of the article I question: "The Twins have won the division twice during his four-year tenure, and they should be seen as a candidate to do so again in 2023." Say what? A team with no SS, no closer, chronic health issues, a spent farm system and a shaky rotation? I doubt the Twins will be contending anytime soon.

We've hashed this through on another thread. Personally, I'm pretty sour on Rocco's performance over the last two years, and I'm ready for the club to take on new leadership in the dugout. However, the team is turning it on again, and it's possible that he's doing something to help extend meaningful games into September. I've said it before, but I'm happy to be wrong. But, it's this line of thinking that pushes my buttons: "Correa has provided leadership, but his on-field performance has been below his typical level, which isn’t something Baldelli can control." That strikes me as a strawman argument. No one thinks that a manager can "control" a player's performance. But can a manager influence performance, inspire, motivate and set players up for success? Absolutely. Rocco's team had the chance to nearly put the Guardians away for good in the mid-summer. They faltered. Rocco's teams often stumble in late innings. They wither against teams like the Yankees and Dodgers. When the pressure is on, I typically see more fear than fight in this club. Gleeman often plays this card, too. "What do people think, that Rocco tells the players not to get a hit with runners in scoring position?" It's such a dumb argument - no one critical of Rocco thinks this. What we get concerned about are long stretches of sloppy play and a weak resolve from players at the plate and in the field when the going gets tough. Is it the roster? Maybe. If so, why isn't Rocco more vocal about what he needs? And why does he keep returning to the same reliever when it's clear they're busted? He doesn't seem to be able to outsmart an opponent or steal wins. I've come to agree with other posters - he's probably safe for 2023. But barring some great swing in the team's overall performance next year, it really should be his last - at least as a manager here.

Every major league manager faces these exact challenges, and often in much tougher divisions with much tougher schedules. Some help their players rise to the challenge, and some don't. This excuse for Rocco is getting very, very tired by this point.

A last-place finish from a team that was coming off an AL Central title, followed by an epic mid-season collapse that dropped the team from solidly in first down to third place and missing the playoffs (hasn't happened yet, I know, but we're well on the way). I can't imagine how they could possibly keep him. His players consistently underperform and wither under the pressure. If this team wants to have any credibility, he can't stay. The FO has to realize this, don't they?

Let me try to phrase this positively ... I don't think there will be much of a difference in attendance from the Spring to the Summer to the Fall next year with this club.

Rocco wants the team to give "zero f-cks" - how inspiring. The main problem with this is that's exactly how the team has been playing for two months already. Now that attitude is spreading to the fans. Rocco is so clearly in over his head. I've doubted him before, but this season has revealed all of the qualities that make him unfit to manage a playoff-caliber MLB team. He cannot be allowed to manage the Twins in 2023. If I were Falvey/Levine, I would fire him this morning and make it clear that the organization cares more about winning than "playing hard" (that's to be expected from professionals, period).

The Twins are the 2021 Padres. The Jayce Tingler effect is real. And Rocco looks like a buffoon in that clip - this has to also be his last year with the Twins.

Jose Miranda would like a word. C'mon, there's no question that the Twins have struggled and continue to struggle to develop pitching. This was supposed to be the year of the "pipeline," but there are still no standouts and no one you'd put much stock in for 2023 beyond Duran. That's a big problem - and it's not a problem every team has.

I think the biggest leadership problem with the Twins is that there is no player leader, and there hasn't been for awhile. Going into this season, there was so much emphasis placed on this being "Buxton's Team." Even Correa deferred his leadership role to Buxton. The problem with that is that Buxton can't lead this team, and he doesn't even want to. You can't have a team leader miss two games a week with nagging injuries. Team leaders have to be durable, and Buxton isn't and never has been. And he doesn't have to be. He's an immensely talented platoon player, and was signed for a fair rate considering his injury history. Buxton has said repeatedly that he does not want to lead. With his history, he's wise enough to know that he can't be. Battlefield leaders cannot be injury liabilities. Correa knew he was only going to be here for a year, so he couldn't take on the mantle of team leader. The Cruz trade left a huge leadership vacuum that this team then simply did not know how to fill. And for all of Rocco's positives, he is not tough and he does not project confidence. Most of the time he has a look on his face that he's just been punched or he's just about to be. His one big ejection outburst after the Toronto call at the plate made him look like an amateur - he ended up screaming at the on-field crew who had made the right call. So, despite the interpersonal dimension being dismissed so often, this team is lacking the guy who can rise up and say "get on my back." There's no one with big shoulders to ride with this team. They can't hold the line, and Cleveland has known it since June. It was only a matter of time that team led by a competent veteran manager would chip away and take advantage.

Gleeman and Bonnes talk often about 60/40 decisions for the Twins. Simply, a lot of the decisions that Rocco and the FO make are entirely defendable decisions. They would seem - theoretically, at least - to be wise decisions. BUT ... a 60/40 decision still has a 40% crash rate, and that 40% has hit this team consistently. Add in the unexpected disasters - Wes Johnsons resigns, Royce Lewis tears ACL again, pipeline arms falling off - and it's just a snakebit organization living under the curse of some uprooted spruce. And sadly, this has all happened at exactly the wrong time. After an 0-18 run in playoff misery and a crash-and-burn year in 2021, there is simply not much charity or grace or optimism left in the fanbase. We're only 1.5 games out with plenty of games left against key rivals, but most posters here (myself included) are declaring the season dead. So, it seems like there are only two options left. 1) Set aside disappointment and just root like hell for this club over the final stretch. Our beleaguered losers need a boost that only a loyal fanbase can provide. Or 2) Pack it in, watch it burn, and push very hard for a total organizational rebuild starting in 2023. No Rocco. No Falvine. New coaches. Start fresh, and let a 5-7 year rebuild play itself out. I haven't made up my mind yet which option I prefer, so don't feel bad if you haven't either.

This. 2022 was supposed to be the make-or-break year for this FO's ability to deliver on the pipeline. It hasn't happened, and there are no promising arms on the horizon. Time to move on.

I don't even have that confidence. I've never seen a season with a division so ripe for the taking, and this team still seemingly can't rise to this low challenge in 2022. Look, a lot of bad things have happened to this team this year, but the good-to-great teams rise and overcome and the average-to-bad teams make excuses and sink.

When you have very talented players and they persistently underperform, it may actually be the fault of coaching. We've been making this tired excuse for Rocco for too long.

Yes they are. Sometimes I think this is terribly-run organization, and other times I think their luck is just flat-out lousy. As a fan, neither is comforting. But, I had my rage response earlier this week. I've taken a deep breath. Now I'm just pulling for these guys to give it their best and make a run. This isn't our year, but they can take advantage of a weak division and at least go down throwing punches to division rivals.