TheLeviathan

I think that's a real possibility. The Vikings have set up next year's draft pick allocation about as perfectly as you can, leverage any QB in demand to get yourself another pick in the second/early third.

If one of the higher ranked safeties is there, I'd be good with that. Wonder if the Cine debacle squashes that though.....

This is it for me. Tampa always seems to have a couple speedy young players on the horizon. Or position players with huge upsides. Milwaukee is always churning out good defensive players. Cleveland has a lot of well rounded players. We're trying to win a beer league softball game it feels like.

I considered both of those, but I think they need a third tight end. Mundt was on the field a lot and Hockenson isn't exactly reliable. TE class is pretty good, LB class is pretty bad. Safety you're probably right, I may have neglected that. But something tells me Jay Ward is the new Theo Jackson.

With a week left I think the Vikings trade back to the early 2nd and end up making at least 5 selections with these positions being most likely: DT, RB, OL, TE, and WR. I think a record number of front seven players go in the first round.

One thing that makes the QB predictions difficult is that next year's QB class doesn't look great either. So....if you fall enough in love with Dart or even Shough.....do you overdraft them? I'm not with you on the bold take, but I dig it, :)

Agreed, the FO is where I point my finger - are you drafting the right players? Why aren't you developing them?

Fire the manager, don't fire the manager - it's irrelevant. Managers mostly make Ty France level wages, that shows you the impact they make to the game. Shake it up, do whatever makes you feel better from the couch - I'm going to focus on talent: The idea that the Twins have blocked Larnach and Julien and Miranda and whomever else just doesn't pass the smell test. Wallner? 100% yes....bad roster management. Larnach was up getting plenty of run and managing a high of .231 and 8 hrs. He just didn't deliver enough to stay in the lineup. Eddie Julian can't field and last year his at-bats were nothing short of painful. Miranda got a long run, hit like a beast, and then completely cratered. The problem isn't opportunities....the problem is development. We are not developing our hitters to handle the big league level with the bat or the glove. Feel however you want about Rocco, but the fact he has to keep running out a lineup of stone-handed, plodding oafs in the field is not his fault. The fact that these hitters - on their 81st hitting coach - can't hit isn't on Rocco. This is pure organizational failure to develop every day players. We aren't drafting athletes. We're not training those we draft to master a position and field it well. We aren't training them for the adjustments and challenges of the big leagues. We're going on 5-7 years now without a true impact player being developed. You want to point fingers - start there.

You know it's bad when a castoff from the Oakland As is on our radar as a beacon of hope.

There is absolutely no evidence that the ownership is changing, so we shouldn't plan on adding anything in free agency until it does. This team has to get better at drafting and developing hitters. They seem to be in a good place on the pitching side, but the offensive side has been bad for awhile now.

What a stunning indictment of how unseriously we should take BaseballTradeValues.

Sure, but they won't play at this pace all year either. They'll likely end up a 75ish win team. The only way that was going to be different is if the Twins got leaps out of Wallner, Julien, Larnach, Lee, etc. That doesn't appear to be the case, or certainly isn't so far. It's a disaster but the biggest culprits were there to be seen a month ago: shoddy infield defense and a lineup that leaves a lot to be desired.

So far that's fair, but I see a good pitching staff. It's weird 15 games in...but they feel like they're pressing knowing tht more than 2 runs equals a loss.

I mean....I don't know why we aren't drawing that conclusion? Our everyday regulars are not good. Buxton should be a 6 hitter. France, Julien, Miranda, and Bader (some of whom have been ok) should be backups, not regulars. Wallner and Correa are starting slow. No one is hitting the ball for power. Most teams fielding this feeble of a lineup will at least have them be good defenders. Or athletic. These guys are slow, softball types but hit like garbage. The bullpen has had some hilarious collapses to add three losses, but their margin is low because our regulars are just not that talented. I'm glad the pitching looks good, but our offense is equally as feeble as our pitching is formidable.

Welp....guy with a pulse it is.

Drew Lock has always been my favorite of the available options.

I think the Twins are changing this mentality.....but they don't have the personality to stress people on the basepaths. I'll continue to say it: their everyday players don't have an identity. They aren't good at anything with any consistency.

To put it simply: Fans are as invested as ownership.

100% this. The people who claim this never came anyway. This explains exactly zero of the decline.

That sure feels like the game here. It certainly makes more sense than this half-wits having an actual plan to help the country.

Prior to yesterday Paredes was 0-1, Alvarez 0-2, and Walker had never faced Jax. Alvarez was 0-4 and Paredes 0-2 against Duran. So, yeah, I'm not sure what the impetus for that decision was. It would seem that keeping them in their natural roles would've been supported by the data as well.

The manager discussion on this site is not worth having. It might be worth having on a larger scale and I respect how people ultimately feel on the issue. I think MLB managers are mostly irrelevant and I don't see Baldelli as even 20% of the issue. Others feel different....fine. As the last season or so has indicated, rationality has left that conversation here at TD. I don't see why anyone continues to grouse or pick a fight that no one wants to have in any kind of an interesting, insightful, or conversational way. Let that horse die. However, I don't know how anyone - feelings on Rocco aside - can look at the available guys we have to play in the field every day and think we have a chance. This is simply not a contending group of position players. They don't hit well enough to offset their mediocre defense and plodding foot speed. They don't do anything particularly well with any consistency. Who's to blame? I think the FO definitely has some blame there considering the degree to which they've failed to develop well-rounded guys. Draft picks haven't resulted in dynamic players. But.....man, it's hard to do anything other than put this on ownership. They squeezed the payroll to Ty France levels and we're getting what we paid for. Until they go, my optimism is just sapped.

I wish I could give this ten upvotes.

I always thought Jason Kubel had it right with "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys. "List of Demands" by Saul Williams would be good too.

Love how much more aggressive our running game is this year.