TwinsDr2021

With Winder's injury and the teams handling of starting pitchers, I don't think really think they have to worry about him getting to much more than 100. Unless of course they make a deep run in the playoffs, but that is something that can be worried about later. IMO pitchers 25 and older should be able to do more without worry of injury, unless of course they are injury prone, which seems to be a lot of the Twins prospects.

If the plan by the FO and/manager is to continue to start Archer, they better have a guy ready to pitch the 5th, 6th and 7th, because using the bullpen to get the last 5 innings is problematic and will overuse the pen.

Not sure why you replied to my message, did I gripe about Baldelli? NOPE! I gave valid reason somebody might have that opinion, you do understand it is OK for people to have differing opinions? Not sure why you used quotes around lots of people think it, you actually quoted it and then misquoted it. I know quite a few people that love Rocco, quite a few that can't stand him, and quite a few that are still giving him the benefit of the doubt, All of those are perfectly fine opinions to have. Also when replying to my messages, please try to be respectful.

based on one game, one series, one month this is a bizarre take, I 100% agree, basing it on the whole of his time here isn't bizarre, might not be the same take as others, but it isn't completely off the wall since quite a few people have the same take.

I said they needed to end the month 14 -6, if they win today it will be 13 - 7, which is decent enough, and doing it with hand or two tied behind their back (injuries/covid) is good. If they can go 11 - 10 in the next 21 days and get healthier that IMO should be considered a success, and set them up for a good end of season run. As for the game did anybody really think the Twins were going to win this game with Sands pitching and lineup that included Miranda, Jeffers, Palacios, Gordon, and Garlick? I didn't!

Completely agree, but so far he has went 77, 74, 80, so I would assume 83 would be enough, but fingers crossed they push him further.

the last start was the bottom of the order averaging less pitches and inning against guys with similiar batting averages. Just questioning how Rocco justifies it.

I agree he should, but how does he justify starting an inning at 83, but not the last start at 80?

The Twins have one of the best long relievers in the game, but they choose to start him everything 6th or 7th day. (Archer)

So you are comparing doing something illegal and against the rules of MLB to not getting a vaccination, which isn't illegal not to get or required by MLB, that is a ridiculous argument and you are better than that. Detroit has never been in Canada so I am not sure it should be considered lucky? The Twins also are not in the AL East and again never have been to the best of my knowledge, so again I am not really sure we can use the word lucky. But if Detroit magically got moved to Canada or the Twins were moved to the AL East, I would assume the Twins FO would have to look much closer into which FA they signed, players they drafted and would even have to look into trading certain players because they haven't gotten the Covid vaccination. I will also point out that each team in the East play the other team 19 times, and only half of those games are on the road, so 9 or 10 which is a bunch for a position player, possibly a relief pitcher, but not so much for a starter, and that should be able to be worked around. Also, I did mention that playoffs could be an issue, but that was a bridge to cross later. Finally, thank you very much for your service!!!!!!

It is always difficult to miss players for games there is no denying that. If a player and his wife decided they want to start a family and have a child during the season (which probably means missing multiple games), can we/should we blame them for their choice? Because that could set the team behind as well, correct? I guess I look at this different, this is a personal choice for everybody and it isn't my place to judge. I hope they have done the research and made an educated decision, that is a far as I go. These are 5 players making an individual choice not a collective group trying to hurt an organization (at least I hope so). I also assume the team new of their choice so they were given a chance to prepare, so I hope the team has done all it due diligence and figured out the rules and how to best take advantage of the situation, meaning they can use non 26/40 man players to fill in and see what they got, this could turn into a positive for the team and some prospects, and maybe it costs one of the 5 their jobs going forward. To be honest there a many other things I worry about currently with the twins then these 5 guys not playing in 3 games. And if it truly is 4 pitchers and 1 position player it really shouldn't be very difficult to work around. Finally fans and journalists (I use the word very loosely) pitting people against each other does nothing to help a game that really can't afford alienating anymore people.

And we won't know until the games are played, correct? So if the Twins go 0 - 3 and miss the wild card game by less than 3. Is it solely on the players that couldn't travel? Because we will never how the series would have played out. But I can tell you now at least 3 games that a player or manager hasn't come though and cost the twins 3 games already this year. And what happens if the Twins go 3 - 0 or even 2 - 1 are we going to thank them for not going? I know the answer it is no. So the real part of the topic to be discussed is what has the FO been doing to prepare for this, they have known all season this is coming, and withthe free use of the 40 man this should be a perfect time for them to get a few more prospects checked out

Well I think this message hasn't been followed, Most (not all) of the messages on here are exactly what you said they should NOT be.

Correct me if I am wrong this is just three games correct? This series will not decide the Twins season. (that could be different if they are playing Tor in the playoffs and bridge to cross later) Maybe we give whoever the players are the benefit of the doubt that they have done their research and made a decision that is best for them and their family, even if we disagree with them. Players made decision every day that we don't know about that may affect the team.

Will he do a rehab assignment? if so can it be done before he is off the 60 day? It would have been nice if he could have been back for this stretch against KC and Det because he has been lights out against them and not so much against the other teams, hopefully that changes.

I assume this really isn't a problem because this is how baseball is played by all teams. Short starts, over using pitchers that aren't that good, and light rail ride between CHS and Target field?

One could argue, he has been one of the worst Twins relief pitchers this year. A guy that can't pitch 5 innings shouldn't ever be considered a starter. (He can start games, but when the guy starting has no chance of getting the win, he is IMO a relief pitcher, and sadly one of the worst on this Twins this year)

Well he was back to pitching in October and had a healthy off season so sure they may be injury concerns or limits, but they let him go 77 pitches two starts ago, so I would expect part of the stretching out means pitching a bit more each start? Not sure how 77 pitches in start 6 of the season, means you don't let him start a fresh inning at 8. 100% agree with you are Smith should have came in with Duffy struggling.

He had pitched 77 and 74 the two prior starts, so 104 is might a stretch, but he was at 80 averaging 11 pitches an inning against the bottom of the order. If now isn't the time to push him further when is? when he is not having a great game and has a high pitch count in the 4th or 5th? The context is this was his 8th start this year and the three guys coming up were hitting .160 , .224, .201 and he was pitching amazing and every fan knew the pitcher coming in was worse, The other starter in the game is 25 and hasn't pitched a game with less than 81 pitches, it is lazy for people to say this is how baseball is these days because it just isn't true. Hunter Green is 22 and has had 2 starts less than 80, Nestor cortes, pitched 109 pitches last night and has been above 99 his last 4 starts, German Marquez has pitched less than 90 pitches in his last 2 of his 7 seven starts. Tarkik Skubal is 25 and has pitched 90 plus in 6 of his last 8. Konnor Pilkington has pitched at least 83 in his last two starts and has been terrible. Eric Lauer hasn't pitched less than 83 in any of his 8 starts, Ohtani has pitched over 90 in his last 4 starts, and only once less than 80 in his 8 starts, Kyle Wright's only start this year less than 86 was his first and that one was 76. This was just pitchers in last night games, and doesn't include vets like Montas, Perez, Nola, Wainwright (all went over 96) or pitchers that were terrible or Ryu. I went back to few games all this week, and 80 pitches is closer to the low end of pitchers that were pitching good. IMO the decision to pull Smelter was more about they got way more than expected out of him and Rocco thought it is best to pull him before the house of cards fell, instead of trusting the starting pitcher that was pitching awesome. If that was the case they should have brought in Duran for 2 innings, again IMO.

I would say they are not in the top 2 that is NNY and Houston. But are somewhere in the Rays, Jays, Angles and White So group. The next tier is probably Boston, Cleveland and Texas, the rest are glorified AAA teams (at best)

Sorry this is just writers kissing the organizations butt (or just be lazy one of the two) trying to stay in good graces with the team. Smeltzer had 77 pitches in his first start up and 74 in the second and had made 5 AAA starts if a pitcher can't make 90 pitches in his 8th start that is terrible Do you know what a real writer would say? The Twins will tell us Smeltzer was taken out because of pitch count but guess what all but 3 starting pitchers last night pitched more than him. No analytic should every justify pulling a pitcher averaging 11 pitches(80 total) with a 2 hit shut out for an inferior pitcher.

I like both guys, Ryan seems like he will end up a better pitcher. Ober has gone 6 innings in 3 of his career 25 starts. He seems like the perfect guy to piggy back with Archer. I disagree with your take on wins. I throw up a little in mouth thinking Archer could have as many wins as a starting pitcher that averages close to twice as many innings as him (for example).

As for WAR (ESPN), Kepler is the 12th best offensive player, and Ryan is the 12th best pitcher in the American League. Arraez is basically leading the league in average. My guess is Buxton picks it up and ends up an All Star.

The Twins have done what they needed to do and that was make hay with the early season schedule, the best/worst part is that they have been doing it with so many injuries and having to play some players out of position. It is concerning to me that the starting pitchers haven't been going deeper in games against some of these lineups, which scares me of bullpen overage usage against the better lineups, hopefully by then the starters will have figured out to be a bit more efficient to save on the bullpen. Also it would be nice to have less injuries the rest of the season. Not sure if what the Twins are doing would be called an experiment, I believe their plan with pitchers have been in place for a while. Can they keep this up, I sure hope so, not super confident they will, but with a few roster moves here and there (rookie pitcher stepping up or trades) I believe they should. Are they must watch, when Buxton, Correa are healthy and Gray or Ryan is pitching I think they are, when Archer and Bundy are starting and/or Buxton is out of the lineup, IMO not so much.

? agree with everything you wrote, and you did a better job of saying what I was thinking, I guess my point was the Donaldson trade wasn't about swapping him out for Correa, it was more inline of what you are saying.