Mark G

I know exactly how you feel. I wanted a great pickup too, but I had to settle for a Corolla. Oh well........🫠

On paper that makes me very confident that we are going to make up some ground before the big series with the Guardians. But part of me is really leery about the White Sox coming up. They have lost, what is it now, their last 16 games in a row? They have to win at some point; can we avoid being the one? Although they do have the A's after us..........let's hope they hold off until then. Or beat the Royals today. But it still makes me nervous. 😳

True. But close to a week? 3 of our best? We can't find an inning here or there to keep them sharp? Maybe it is just me, but I just don't get it.

Funny as in strange, or funny as in ha ha? 🤭

I agree with the posts about the bullpen usage, and how it means we need a good start today. What I really don't get is why our 3 best bullpen arms combined haven't thrown a pitch in at least 5 days? I wonder if that has been wise.

I am not aware of any ownership comments either, and I doubt the would make a public one, But over the years I have heard Falvine, in interviews, brag about how the ownership gives them a certain leeway when they ask for it to give extensions or sign free agents. When it comes to adding to payroll beyond a guideline they have been given, which is what a lot of folks think is a form of a soft cap, they have said themselves plenty of times they have to go to ownership and consult them. I fear that this is what is happening now, and it has caused us (possibly) to miss out on something that we might have done if given the flexibility. The average fan will never see behind the curtain there, so we will always debate was it Falvine, or was it JP? But, as Tony&Rodney said, we will know more in 8 hours (7 now).

What Chpettit said. 🤭

Hmmmm.........the Twins have been to the playoffs 10 times since the turn of the century, and we have caught lightning in a bottle.........once? And that being a 2/3 playoff series last year. Maybe it is just me, I get that, but I would like to do better than that. If "going all in" means trying harder to go further in October..........I thought it over, and I want to go all in. I get the impression Joe doesn't agree with me, so I guess I am over ruled, but it is still worth dreaming about. And if trading Duran would be heavily in the Twins favor, why not do it tomorrow? Ah, just kidding...........sort of......😉

This has been very interesting to delve into; thanks for the thoughts on this. There must be a reason the Twins have only had 2 ownerships going back to the days in Washington. The team may lose money some years, and make money in others, but it is an asset that can be borrowed against, and in the end, sold for a profit. It is a business worth having, and worth passing on to future generations. If it wasn't, this particular ownership wouldn't keep it through (now) 3 generations. But I do get your point; it is a valid one. This may or may not be a dumb analogy, but pretend the team is a vintage classic car. To purchase said car you must put down a cash investment for what the car is presently worth. As the years go by, you must put money into the car to keep its value not only current, but increasing as the years go by. Until the day you sell it, it is purely an expense; you will only see your money back or a profit if and when you sell it. So why do people do it? Because it is their hobby, maybe a passion, maybe a side business, or maybe something to pass on to their kids. Regardless, it will cost money to buy and maintain, but still goes up in value as long as it is maintained. Is it all that much different with a sports franchise? It costs to buy, and costs to maintain; you will never recoup that money until it is sold. But it is a passion, and a sound business investment for the majority of owners, or they wouldn't spend the money and time, and take the criticism that comes with the territory. Individual year losses are not nearly as important as the long term, or ownership would change hands pretty often. Again, I do get your point, and if the losses get severe enough over a long enough period of time, things will eventually get ugly. I just don't see that happening currently, and the cash losses haven't deterred this ownership from doing business as usual for over 40 years. Problem is, to a lot of their fan base, business as usual is getting old; 33 years between WS is more than my 29 and 30 year old sons lifetime. Probably why they really don't care about the Twins. Their generation wants something in their lifetime to remember. The ownership might be wise to go all in once in a while to keep multiple generations tuning in, temporary losses not withstanding. Thanks for making me think hard enough to write this much. 😉

"Falvey and Levine have done a great job keeping us competitive with what they have to work with" So did Ryan and Gardy, for as long as Falvine have been here, until the last 4 years when the bottom fell out. We moved on to the new age, and have done.............well, about the same as before. I'm sorry if this sound critical, because it is not meant to, but you have far more faith in this FO and field management than I, or a lot of others, do. I have watched the team since the '65 world series, and I see the eras come and go. We haven't been to the world series in, what, 33 years? We have won one playoff series in what seems like a lifetime, and when we are in that window we stand pat? As long as we have the mindset that we are a mid size market organization, we are going to be a middle of the pack organization; winning just often enough to keep an amount of interest needed to survive. Most fans want more than that out of their teams, or why stay tuned? I am not going to pretend to tell the team who to trade for, or who to trade out; a lot of factors we don't see go into that beyond payroll. But I do believe that if we look to the future too long, it passes us by, as it has done for longer than I care to remember. Don't sacrifice the future sounds smart, and it usually is, but sometimes the window closes before the future arrives. The window is open, but right now all I hear is crickets.........I sure would like to hear something else. 🙄

"making the play-offs on a pretty consistent basis is a decent product, which is what the mid-market Twins have done of late". I seem to remember Gardy doing just that; we made the playoffs quite often, but never went far. Being consistent and competitive is great, but it is still 2nd tier (better than the bottom feeders, yes), and once in a while it would gin up the base if we could go toe to toe with the 1st tier when the opportunity arises. I don't want to be the Mets, for crying out loud, spending just to spend and never really getting anywhere, but there are windows, as we call them, that open every once in a while and this just might be ours. If we don't try, we better win this October, because if we don't try AND don't win, the fan base will be less than forgiving. That is when the vicious cycle begins, as Eric so eloquently said.

I know I am spitting into the wind here, so to speak, but I just can't shake the thought of Ober having a one hit shutout going with only 98 pitches. The pitcher hasn't been born yet that wouldn't want to finish that shutout; would it have been so dangerous to let him go out there and see how it goes? I might be able to see it if we were trying to get Jax or Alcala or Duran an inning just to keep them in rhythm, or some sort of bullpen rotation plan, but Thielbar getting in a mop up inning? For a so called players manager, he manages the company line far more than he manages his players. I don't know, maybe the game really has passed me by because I don't recognize that mindset at all.

I agree that Joe deserved better. But I think the discussion is more a micro vs macro thing. On the micro level, each start by any pitcher can be analyzed and picked apart, like the ones where a pitcher gives up 6 runs, but only 3 are earned because the 3rd out of the 6th inning was booted, but then he gives up a walk and a 3 run dinger. The 3 are unearned, technically, but he should have been able to stop the bleeding. And then there are the ones like Joe yesterday, where, again, he deserved the stat. On the macro end, the concept of a stat known as a "quality" start is in the eye of the beholder, and some have a point that a 4.50 ERA falls short of "quality" overall. I have a tendency to come down on that end, but the discussion is always interesting.

Not only do I tend to agree across the board, but I truly believe we will stand pat. The FO believes we are in a window to win that extends beyond this season, and won't move low cost controlled players or truly promising prospects for rentals. And we don't have any room to take on a higher end contract, which is what we would have to do if we did deal for a high end pitcher. Having said all of that, I wouldn't be totally shocked if we sell a part or two to give 40 man flexibility down the road. Or even DFA one or two, for the same reason. I just don't see us adding, as that would cost, in either talent or money and we don't want to pay either way. But don't stop speculating; some of us still love to dream. 🫠

I was thinking the same thing. We used the better part of the pen tonight, so I assume they will be pretty limited in a day game after a night game. That leaves us with the bottom part of the pen pitching the majority of the innings, or at least that would be a logical guess. Stay tuned........🫣

Those are going to be some fun series, and they are going to tell us a lot about how we stack up against the playoff caliber teams (which will be important, because that 0-14 record still sticks in our collective craw). But I am not all that worried about any of the remaining games except the Guardians, because the Guardians have series left with the Phillies, Orioles, Brewers, Yankees, Dodgers, and Astros, not to mention the 8 against us, and 7 with the Royals, too. That is almost exactly half their remaining games. I think we will win or lose the division based on the 8 games we play head to head, but if we can so much as split them, I think we win the division based on the toughness of their schedule. If we lose 6 out of 8........hmmm.......🙄 I love the challenge ahead with these 5 series, but I really think it will all boil down to the 8 against the Guardians.

🤔 Good question.

So was this post. I love it when you post, you have a good track record, but I am not sure what you are trying to say this time. Not a criticism, just curious. 🙃

I can only quote the great philosopher, and all around man of the world........Billy Joel: "You may be wrong for all I know, but you may be right". 🤔 I think the point of the article was this may be the moment in time we find out.

I stand educated. 🤭 (But he does this a lot, Camargo or no Camargo......I have just always wondered why)

Just one of those nights you get in a 162 game season. Move on. But I sure do hate to see Staumont's streak end. One thing does stick in my craw a little, and it is something I have never understood. What if Jeffers had been hurt in the bottom of the 7th or 8th; who catches from that point on? I somewhat understand when he puts Jeffers into the DH spot when Vasquez catches, because you have a potential big bat. But why do we DH a .197 hitter and take an unnecessary risk with Jeffers going down? Just because it hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it isn't a risky move; and an unnecessary one at that. But, as always, I can be educated. 😉

I concur completely. I know this is a generalization, but I believe the single biggest complaint I read on this site is how Rocco handles his pitchers. Whether it be how short the starts are, or how the pen has been used for years now, it seems to be the most often read critique of his management I see year in and year out. So it struck me as odd that this article panned Molitor and beamed with pride about how great the manager and coaches are with pitchers here, and what a great reason for Pressly to come back to MN. I wonder if Pressly concurs. 😏

My entire life I have been told that if a pitcher spots his pitch, and, as such, you hit it where he wanted you to hit it all along, it really doesn't matter how hard you hit it, you are just as out. As an old(er) guy, I remember watching Carew as a kid and watch Arraez now, and it never seems to matter how hard they hit it, they hit it where they want, not where the pitcher wants. Yes, there always has been luck in baseball, and there always will be. But I guess I am just one of the few remaining folks that don't pay attention to all the fancy computer numbers; I just watch someone hit. And when I see someone who hits the pitcher's pitch somewhere the pitcher did not want him to hit it, I just smile, I don't marvel at the exit velocity (or lack of). When I see someone who needs luck to hit, or complains about bad luck when he doesn't, I just move on. That doesn't mean Matthew didn't write a great article; he did! I enjoyed reading it, and I understand why a lot of people think this way now. I guess I just like to watch players hit, and at the end of the year, the results will speak for themselves; I don't need a computer to help me. ☺️ But, as always, I can be educated. 😉

I think the FO has every single player that could possibly be moved on a spread sheet. After all, the computer is the FO, isn't it? 😉 But in the end, it will be determined by where we are come the deadline. Have we caught up with Cleveland? Has KC kept pace? Have we had any injuries between now and then? I could go on, but........ At the end of the day, it will depend on all of those things, and more, but also whether or not the seller is willing to pay part of the contract for whoever we want. For the right prospect, there are teams that will pay off a part of the contract of someone who doesn't fit into their long range plans, or is a free agent at the end of the year. Or, do we care enough to go that route? We are going to make the playoffs, that is almost a given, but how far do we want to go, and how far are we willing to go to improve our chances? Personally, I can't wait to see how it plays out; because I have no clue. This should be good. 😏

Cmon, my point was that when we play the elite teams you know we will probably lose, and when we play the bottom feeders we will very likely win. The rest of the league is the part that we have to pay attention to. 😏