Rik19753

I have to confess I do not know how to feel about the lack of movement at the deadline.  I am glad we did not give up quality prospects in order to secure average MLB talent that will not significantly impact this years results. At the same time it is very disallusioning (is that a word?) to see we did absolutely NOTHING to address the blatant issues we have with this offense.
This disallusionment (again is that a word) makes me seriously consider how I want the rest of the year to go.  Am I not a "true" fan if a part of me wants us to collapse, IF that means that "Falvine" will be gone after this year? If it means other changes will happen? Such as Baldelli gone, Hitting coach gone, and we can install a new brand of baseball?  Is wanting short term failure for long term success mean I am not a "true fan"? 
 
I do not expect us to win every game, I do not expect us to spend on the best players in the game, I do not expect us to lead MLB in HR and batting average, and OPS, and SB. I do not expect us to lead MLB in ERA, WHIP, CGs etc.  I onyl want us to TRY!!!!
 
If we had a balanced lineup that we just need players to play better, then I coudl possibly understand, but we have built a flawed team, and if the FO cannot see that, and cannot seem to do things to admit a failure, fix it and move on, then it looks like we are not even trying.
We still have an extremely LH dominated lineup, we still hit LH pitching worst in baseball, we still have the players with the highest K rate in the history of baseball. We still have mediocre palyers blocking slightly better mediocre players that do not allow us to truly evaluate talent for next year. we still have middling talent ready to be out next wave.  
We still have Gallo on this team. Who takes away AB's from potentially both Wallner and Larnach. We still have an upcoming IF crunch to address when Lewis comes back in a  short bit.
We still have zero apparent plan going forward into next year to compete.  Gallo gone next year (addition by subtraction) Kepler, unless he stays on fire the rest of the year will be gone, Taylor is a FA, we have no established 3B at the moment for next year. With Kiriloff's injury we still have noone we can count on all year long at 1B next year, we are still handcuffed at DH as who knows if Buxton will be able to play the field next year. Our pitching still has Gray gone as a FA, if we think we will get a draft pick with a QO forget it. nobody will sign Gray to a multi year deal at his age with draft pick compensation tied to him, so we will lose him for nothing. If you cannot see that coming as a FO guy you should not be a FO guy. Maeda will be gone, Keuchle, if we add him will not be here next year.
 
At least the Indina made moves to improve the future while still being able to contend in this division!!
 
So back to my original question, is it OK to hope for a collapse if it means the longterm health (or at least a better chance at long term health) of the team I love?

The hitters are good, the pitchers are good, everyone is hurt and the team is fading fast. I traveled through time to give you the beat report from June 6th, 2025:
 
These Twins are hard to figure out. Sure, they lead the league in run differential but something seems to be missing for the club, now 25-35 and one game out of first place in the AL Central after being swept by Cleveland while being outscored by three runs.
 
“We’re taking good at-bats; we just can’t seem to scrape across that one crucial run when we need it most. I tried shaving my privates and confessing all my sins, but nothing seems to work,” said manager Joe Maddon.
 
The team is at a crossroads. They’ve pitched well, with Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Matt Wallner all posting ERAs under 2.00. They’ve hit well overall too, with eight lineup regulars hitting above a .900 OPS, and only minor league signing Max Kepler below that mark. The bullpen has had good moments too, as Derek Falvey describes:
 
“Imagine where we’d be without Jhoan Duran. Since he learned how to throw so hard that he broke the space time continuum and subtracted runs the other team has already scored, he’s really been a boost. It’s a shame we can only use him for three innings once a month.”
 
He continued:
 
“Having a -1.20 ERA guy at the back of the bullpen is super sick.”
 
The team has also rallied around Royce Lewis, who missed 2024 with what is being colloquially described as Royce Lewis Surgery, and is recovering from a gunshot wound currently. Lewis’ positivity is something his teammates are inspired by, and they hope for a quick recovery for Lewis, who was hitting .400 with nine home runs in fourteen games this year.
 
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to be out there with my teammates,” said Lewis, “But at the end of the day I can only control what I can control. Even though the gunman looked like Gabriel Arias, we can’t know for sure, so I’m just going to put in my work and get back on the field, hopefully by 2027.”
 
The first place Guardians certainly know how to win games, although their record sits below .500 at the moment. They expect Jose Ramirez back soon from a facial laceration suffered when his helmet popped off during a swing, tripped Ryan Jeffers (who suffered a torn ACL) and popped back and grazed Ramirez’s cheek. Jeffers was leading the All-Star voting at catcher at the time. Said Ramirez:
"The doctors told me if I didn't stick so much chew in my cheeks this wouldn't have happened. It was the wake-up call I needed to quit tobacco for good. Thanks Ryan Jeffers."
 
When asked, Jeffers added the following:
"The doctors told me if they find a donor I might be able to walk again."
 
The Guardians are hitting for a .490 OPS as a team, but that hasn’t caused them to change their approach. Manager Terry Francona has grown a curly mustache and admits his only goal is to frustrate more talented teams by trying to put every ball in play. The plan hasn’t worked exactly- Cleveland is 0-18 against the Astros, Rays and Yankees, but a perfect 7-0 against the Twins, despite playing them only six times.
 
“I’m proud of our guys,” said Francona, “Sure, George Valera had a .600 slugging percentage in Triple-A but seeing him get a bloop hit against an All-Star like Bailey Ober, advancing to second on the gunshot to Lewis and getting to third when we bunted and Ober forgot he was right-handed, and scoring when God himself descended from heaven and gave the middle finger to the Twins dugout which distracted everyone and allowed him to score, that was nice work. We have a scrappy group.”
 
Despite ranking number one in pitching and hitting as a team, a first for the franchise this deep into the season, the Twins are being talked about as sellers at the deadline. Falvey admitted as such to the media Friday:
 
“Look, we aren't where we want to be. Fortunately for me and Thad, we signed under-the-table ten year extensions before the tie-breaking loss to the Tigers in game 162 of 2023. This team has a lot of talent but clearly we need to reshuffle things if we want to compete going forward. We saw the Guardians just trade their ace Triston McKenzie for nineteen top one hundred prospects last week so we have to keep pace.”
 
Asked if Carlos Correa would ever escape from Russian state prison, Falvey laughed. “We don’t expect Carlos back this year. His ankle is fine, we think if he can strike a deal to serve in the Russian army for a couple years he can return stateside by 2028.”
 
DH Byron Buxton is another story. It came out last week that he has been playing with a serrated knife plunged into his lower abdomen, meaning his pursuit of the major league home run record may have to wait. When asked about the injury, he told Do-Young Park of MLB.com, “Have you ever had a knife in your dick? I would advise against  it.”
 
All that said, the Twins are an exciting team this year. Hopefully a little patience goes a long way and they hit their stride, unlike in 2024 when their twenty game win streak to start the year was curtailed when the visiting clubhouse at Guaranteed Rate Field had a sewage explosion and everyone on the team got Hepatitis A and Cole Sands died.
 
“We’re a good team,” said leadoff hitter Willi Castro, ”Obviously we’ve had a few breaks not go our way but there’s a lot of fight in this team. Not many teams can navigate the number of funerals we attend, but if we keep scoring runs and pitching the way we have, we’ll be fine.”
 
Up next: Tuesday’s opening game against the Royals has been suspended because pitcher Louie Varland has obtained WMDs. Varland claims he doesn't know how he got them, he was just trying to get ahead in the count.
 

You probably tuned out of the second half of the 2022 Twins season. Given the team's terribly underwhelming results and the Bally Sports North TV debacle, there were better things to do than watch Twins baseball.
While you were enjoying your summer, you missed Nick Gordon carrying the Twins’ offense, drilling line drives as a middle-of-the-order slugger. From July 1 onward, Gordon batted .281 with an OPS that was about 20% better than league average. In a disappointing season, Gordon’s offensive outburst was an exciting surprise.
Unfortunately, Gordon’s hot bat went cold during the Minnesota winter. He enters Friday batting a measly .161 this season and has seen his OPS decline more than 200 points from last season.
Why has Gordon struggled? Well, actually, he hasn’t. He has just been supremely unlucky. Gordon’s expected batting average (xBA) is .260 this year, nearly identical to his .261 xBA from a season ago.
Among Twins hitters, Gordon’s season is a clear outlier in terms of luck. There’s a Metrodome-sized gap between his batting average and what you would expect based on his quality of contact. He has the lowest batting average on the team, but the second highest expected batting average!

 
The -.099 differential is by far the widest among Twins position players with at least 20 at-bats.

In fact, in terms of BA-xBA differential, Gordon is the second unluckiest batter in all of MLB (min. 50 PA). 

How do you break a curse of bad luck? The internet says to throw a pinch of salt over your left shoulder, burn some incense, or find a lucky charm. To be safe, Nick Gordon should toss a few handfuls of salt, invite all his friends to an incense bonfire, and drive to the nearest Amazon warehouse to buy out their lucky rabbit feet. 
Thankfully for Gordon and Twins fans, Gordon might have turned a corner in Chicago. He collected hits in all three games of the series, including his first two homeruns of the year (hard to get unlucky if you hit the ball over the fence!). Gordon continuing to barrel the ball will go a long way in helping a Twins offense that has been inconsistent this season.
The numbers say it’s very likely that Gordon will begin to see the ball bounce his way. Over the course of a season, batting average and xBA almost always converge. Once a player reaches 100 at-bats in a season, their batting average and expected batting average are typically within .020 of one another. Nick Gordon’s -.099 differential won’t last forever.
If you’d like to do your part as a fan, the Twins’ mailing address is 1 Twins Way Minneapolis, MN 55403. Send Nick Gordon your good luck charms.