TheLeviathan

Ouch, Pace and Turner? That hurts. As for the running thing....there are too many rules that make passing advantageous. Not to mention the benefits of athletes in space. We're never going back to ground and pound, but I think many coaches are realizing that they need more balance. Though I'd argue that has more to do with the effectiveness it provides your play action than anything else.

Absolutely roasted. Well done. And evidence number 6 billion and one that the gripe-squad has no interest in discussion. Or sanity. Or reality. None.

Whether I agree or not....I appreciate your effort here to be a fair and reasonable person. Kudos sir, appreciate the insights!

In fairness, blind Rocco hate has never been a high-stress cognitive exercise.

Rocco'd again. Has this guy not figured out that he should just replace this paltry lineup with the juicy options all over his bench? Or just, you know, stop telling them to strikeout? Moron.

There is almost zero chance they lose...even in that awful prevent....if they just hand the ball to Saquan. Or run an option play with Hurts as an alternate ball carrier. I never would've thought Sirianni was a coach on the chopping block this soon, but here we are. The dude may not make it to midseason at this rate.

RSNs are doomed. Trusting the Twins to find a viable solution is also doomed as evidenced by over a decade of backward-thinking incompetence. They need MLB to swoop in and save them with another option. Even then, expect them to further cut payroll as a result.

Watching Carr light his defense up was a pretty delicious piece of schadenfreude.

The Carolina Panthers are right there with the Oakland A's for worst franchise in sports.

Yup, we won't see Chicago for awhile, but this Texans team isn't impressing me either.

Houston looks beatable to me. Our defensive line is going to eat that OL for dinner.

This is such a well coached football team. Damn.

We win this game if Rocco hadn't waited until Sunday to inform his team that winning means you need more runs than the other team.

I feel for Tua. That slide is going to get me chopped in two guillotine leagues too.

You are 100% right sir. Unfortunately, your take is fair, reasonable, and part of reality. That's three strikes and you're out when Rocco is the topic!

Pfft, a win you say? That just means Rocco stayed home. It's a little known fact that we're 78-0 when he's not in the dugout and 0-68 when he shows up to manage. The hippie should just stay out there devouring people's pets or something. Don't worry, we'll get Rocco'd again soon by such terrible decisions as *checks notes* Pitching his closer.

I saw @gunnarthorpost this, but I'll put it here too: That Harrison Phillips signing is really good. He's the perfect lunch-pail DE for Flores scheme. If they can draft another one, or get a true nose, it will really help this defense go to another level. My number one desire in next year's draft is a DT. Nic Scourton. Walter Nolen, or perhaps my favorite: Deone Walker. I wanted T'Vondre Sweat really badly last year but I'd take Walker. Imagine that guy eating up opposing offensive lines while the rest of the front seven creates havoc.

Good sir...we won. Therefore Rocco had absolutely no impact whatsoever. None. Impossible. This is how logic works my fine fellow!

Rocco'd again. When will this guy figure out that we'd go 162-0 if we'd just average as many runs per game as there are daily, whiney ass, gripefest threads about Rocco on Twins Daily?

This is the specious reasoning that is thriving right now. There is not a single ounce of this that is plausible or makes sense even though it sounds like it when you type it. Let me illustrate: 1) The Twins have been platooning and moving lineup positions from Day 1. For several years. This is not a new thing that just started as the team slumped. 2) In fact, they were doing the very same thing when the Twins were scoring 6+ runs a game during the heat of the summer and performing like one of baseball's best offenses. 3) To put it simply - Rocco hasn't changed anything he has been doing one bit, for better or worse. (Whatever your perspective is) His managerial approach is unchanged. Unchanged from the slump early. Unchanged from the binge in the June and July. Unchanged during this two week nightmre. 4) So the only rational thing to do is wonder.....what IS different. It seems rather obvious: no Buxton. No Correa. No Kepler. Lewis looks hurt. The book is out on Lee. Julien hasn't hit all year. Castro is out of gas. The lineup is devastated. He's fielding AA players at times. This isn't a slump because of lineup switching from the manager. This is a slump because his lineup no longer exists and the guys who are left aren't carrying the scraps of the team they can field. 5) To hammer the point even more about how unfair this analysis is: The accusation is that Rocco is overthinking it by using data to craft the best lineups he can with the few pieces he has....but we're to assume from your argument that Royce Lewis is coming to the plate and thinking "My god...I'm hitting 5th instead of 3rd....stupid Rocco....how am I supposed to hit now!" And ROCCO is overthinking things? Hit 8th. Hit 2nd. Hit anywhere and approach the at-bat like a professional. Or...maybe....just maybe.....this team that was thinned out by ownership penny pinching is out of horses.

You know what else doesn't? Spamming a message board with griping.

At some point, I'm just going to assume this is satire and ask you to continue to perform your act in your head. Then again, this is what the troll horde has wrought.

Making sense is an ineffective strategy on this topic.

Observations: 1. We have so many of these threads going right now. How many places do people who are irrationally upset with Rocco do we need? 2. Yes....it is irrational. A rational person could disagree with Rocco at times (perhaps even most of the time), but also appreciate what he does well. Clearly he isn't always right any more than he is always wrong. Yet the prominent posters we have here (and in the other eleventy threads like this) are never posting about good moves made. No recognition that perhaps Jax is this good because of his usage. Or a successful pinch hit. Or the fact that this team had a sterling record for months when leading late. Do we see any of that acknowledged? Do we even see thoughtful criticism? The answer is quite plainly...no. It's just the same tripe shoveled out again and again. Irrational hate is the only apt description at this point. 3. Yet these folks who have completely abandoned reason want (demand) others engage with their completely ridiculous arguments. When those brave souls do try to point out facts about real-time meltdowns, manager-front office synergy, or reasonable ideas why the decision was made....there is no thoughtful discussion. When @ashbury does a frame by frame breakdown to refute an asinine suggestion for Royce Lewis...is there acknowledgement? Nope. Just banging the same drum. This toxic bunch of trolls wants nothing to do with discussion. They want to spew venom, get some thumbs up, and then rally and harass any counterpoints. @chpettit19is doing a fantastic job in the other thread. @Brock Beauchamphere. What are they getting for their efforts? Good discussion? Nope. 4. Contrary to the beliefs of these trolls...it is possible to disagree with Rocco while also doing so fairly. I would've left Ober in the other night. At the same time...we're talking a pitcher that didn't even start in the rotation last year for workload concerns. And he was taken out for the closer. I'm sorry, but I can never blame the manager when the closer comes in and melts down. Would I have done it differently? Probably. Does it make Rocco's choice worthy of meltdowns? Absolutely not. He went from his best starter to a plan for his two best relievers to come in. If that plan results in a loss...it ain't on the manager even if I would've gone a different route. At the very least, it isn't an unjustifiable path. 5. Rocco has a thinned out roster with exactly two good starters and two (ish?) relievers and a precipitous drop off after them. Including many of the other spots going to rookies. He has a lineup full of guys we either weren't counting on to be starters, abandoned at some point, or are here by sheer desperation. The only regulars in the lineup at this point are Santana, Lewis, and Jeffers. That's it. Yet we're leading in the wildcard. He may have cost us games, but he clearly is doing some things right to weather that kind of a storm and still have us in contention. 6. Constant focus on Rocco detracts from the real villains of this year: the Pohlads. 7. To pretend that he's a terrible manager of the clubhouse despite direct evidence to the contrary is the definition of trolling. You have zero evidence for your suggestion, yet you claim it as if it's true. It isn't possible to engage rationally with opinions that possess no rationality and attempt none. You are griping. Not discussing. Not criticizing. Griping.

This thread has exactly the kind of nuanced, insightful, factual discourse you'd expect. TD has been taken over by trolls.