Rod Carews Birthday

I liked the trade then and I still like it now. Both teams got something they needed and the players have continued to do well. The lesser names in the trade are also seemingly going to make it to the majors and do well also. While it would be great to have Graterol right now in the bullpen, that would mean we didn't have Maeda so that doesn't really help us.

Another good bullpen arm at the deadline would have been nice, but we didn't get one, so we will make it work with what we have. If they can get through the next couple of series without imploding, they will be in good shape for the division, so they can get by with the group they have. Come playoff time, we add Ryan or Ober (depending on who starts) and move Keuchel the pen. Either starter should play up big time, and Keuchel is weird enough that it may work well -- Lefty soft tosser, imagine bringing heat after him. Possibly add Varland as well. We would be well set for the playoffs - and that's without Stewart necessarily coming back. Go Twins!

I like it. IF none of the injured guys are coming back. Especially the Austin Martin piece. If they come back things get a little too interesting. Luplow gone. He hasn't been useless but he has to be the first to go. Gallo gone. Well? Maybe? He's a better defender than Solano and the rest of the "not" firstbasemen. But if/when we get Buxton, Castro, and Kirilloff back, I'm not sure how to pull this off. The pitching stuff is right on the money, although I would find a way to try out Funderburk as well.

It’s pretty painful. Living here, I hear the Sox fans gnash their teeth about Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn all the time. Unfortunately, from a management standpoint, the Sox have nowhere to go but up, so that puts another team potentially in play in the division race in the long run.

First of all, my frustration is obviously not directed at you, as you actually have reasonable arguments. Thank you! I would say that I mostly agree with you in that there can and should be concerns about some decisions. I do think that one of the reasons they are starting to mount is because everyone feels the pressure of being in a division title race and little things are starting to matter more now that we are only 40 games or so from the finish line. Game 142 isn’t any more important than game 22 in the great scheme of things, but it certainly feels like it. I take Ober’s comments with a grain of salt. First, when I listened to him in the presser, he didn’t really sound upset aside from the “I want to go out there and keep on pitching” mentality that good pitchers have. Was he disappointed? Probably, and that’s OK. You are right in that it would be boggling for those decisions not being relayed to a player, but I’m guessing that he was just being hyper-competitive, like we want him to be. I don’t think that Baldelli is a great manager, just one who is likely better than most of the realistic alternatives. There are certainly better ones, or at least more accomplished ones. They all make decisions that turn out to be mistakes in hindsight, but they don’t get the benefit of hindsight when those choices are made. The lack of consistency does boggle the mind at times, but I’m not entirely sure what the answer is for that. As a 35 year teaching veteran, I know that inconsistency has a way of rearing its ugly head even when we think there is no reason for it.

Were there avoidable decisions that led directly to the loss? That is true in every loss. Every. Single. Time. What were the reasons that happened? Taking out Ober, who probably benefits from a bit less strenuous use? Injuries tend to happen more when one is fatigued and since he has never sniffed this many innings in a season in his life, I'm going with the over on that one. Deciding to use a middle reliever, in the middle innings of a game? Should've brought in Duran. He could pitch the next four innings for sure. Then he won't be available tomorrow (or maybe ever if he pitches four innings) when we really need him because dumb dumb Rocco pitched him too much today. Encouraging Correa to miss the DP ball? I'm sure he definitely was trying to miss. Former platinum glovers do that all the time just to be fancy. What a bum! Making sure to place his infielders in position where they happened to not be able to get to the ball? Good call. It enabled the Brewers to get lots of softly hit singles. Any idiot could predict the future! What about having Julien play 1B? What if he had made an error. That's probably why they didn't hit anymore. They were worrying about his fielding. I have no problem with questioning the players, the manager, or the organization in general. However, I think that coming out of a game trying to figure out how to berate the manager is disingenuous at best. Criticizing is stating your case with evidence and talking about how the outcome might have been different. Rocco Sucks! Doesn't know how to handle a pitching staff! He's an idiot! Fire the manager! Can't get rid of him soon enough! These are all over the top hyperbole that destroy your argument before you make it. All of them imply a level of baseball knowledge that nobody on this page probably has.

Why is it that Rocco Baldelli didn’t get credit for the Bomba Squad in 2019? “Oh, but the juiced ball. . . .” Apparently no one else could do it as well as the Twins that year so all of those other managers must suck. I’m pretty sure that Baldelli knows more than me. Why is it that Rocco Baldelli doesn’t get credit for the starting pitching in 2023? “Oh but he doesn’t know how to handle a pitching staff. . . .” He’s apparently doing pretty well at it considering how they rank, which must mean that all of the other managers suck. I am perfectly willing to assume that he knows more than me. I’ve said it before. Way too much blame (and credit) goes to the manager. If the team wins, he’s a genius and if the team loses, he’s a bum. Sometimes we forget that all of the other teams and managers are also trying to win games and that gets in the way of the Twins going 162-0 on the season. They lost last night. It happens. Get over it. It’s a long season. The next day, we get up and we play another baseball game. It will give everyone another chance to rail on the manager.

I know this sounds a little ridiculous, but I don't really think they should "use up" a lot of Buxton playing rehab assignment CF -- just enough to know that he can physically make it happen. The one thing that he is probably the best at (if he is physically able) is playing CF, so I'm confident that his timing, etc. will be fine. We know that his knee, hip, hamstring, etc. is not going to let him be 100% but Buxton in CF would help the lineup in so many ways so let's not jeopardize that. One things for certain, however, is that he needs to be given the "You will not try stupid things out there!" speech before he starts playing every day. We just need good defense out there and will gladly sacrifice the occasional highlight reel play.

Gut feelings are based on . . . . analytics, only with potentially less accuracy involved. It's OK to not like the word, but when a manager "uses his gut" to make a decision, it's based on what he has seen work before and thinks might work again, and that's analytics. These are not stupid people. They're not saying, "Hey! Maybe the pitcher should pitch underhanded. That will work." or "Let's try batting with the your hands in the opposite position on the bat". We know those won't work because of the information we gather -- even if we "just know".

This is what people forget. Just because it wasn't a computer telling managers (and players) what the exact numbers were, doesn't mean that analytics didn't exist. Batters and pitchers most certainly studied each other's tendencies and managers used every tidbit of knowledge they could to exploit them.

Love these kinds of articles for places I just might go (even if not for a Twins game). I’ve been to quite a few, but they change a lot sometimes from year to year, so the refresher is absolutely needed. Definitely a great call on Summerfest. It’s pretty amazing.

I would be a little surprised if the Twins had two top 5 prospects any time soon, but I’m not sure I really care about it much. If you knew those guys would turn into Mike Trout, by all means I would love to have them, but they also sometimes turn into Miguel Sano (ineffective) and Byron Buxton (injured, a lot). I think it is a better option to have many more players in the top 100 because there is not some great chasm of ability levels between #5 and #50 or #100. Given the choice of two players in the top five and 10 players all ranked between 80 and 100, I would gladly take the latter. Many more chances at someone (or multiple someone’s) being really great.

Difficult choice here, but I too lean Carew. I wouldn’t put up much of an argument against Killebrew, however. There have been some excellent seasons by people like Mauer, Olivia, and others, but I don’t believe any of them get quite to the level of Charlie and Junior — and they both were on the team at the same time!

This is an argument that cuts both ways 50/50 pretty much all the time. If someone is spouting positive things, they are in effect telling you to be more positive about the team. If someone is spouting negative things, they are in effect telling you to be more negative about the team. Someone will always be on the wrong side of it, although perhaps degree of positive or negative plays into it in extreme cases. Rationality is also important. Calling Gallo and Vasquez amazing hitters is stupid. Calling for everyone's head is equally so. I will agree that ultimately no one's opinions about someone's favorite team matter but their own, and kept to themselves are no less valid. So ultimately, we all have to agree to disagree. Now let's go out and win some ballgames!

While this thread isn't about a comparison between the '87 and '23 teams, I think that we are remembering the '87 team more fondly than they probably deserve. Throughout the season everybody kept waiting for them to fall out of 1st place, since that's what Twins teams of the past had done, and then everyone assumed they would lose quickly in the playoffs and in the world series. Taking nothing away from that team, as it is a team that made me many lasting great memories, it was not some juggernaut. That high ranking is mostly because of the association with WS champs that they will always have, and also because of the number of years before that the team had been absolutely terrible. It was wonderful. Absolutely. But the '27 Yankees they were not. Yes, the teams in the West that year were somewhat better, but the Twins would have finished fifth in the East with their record and not even had a sniff at the playoffs. If I learned anything from the 1987 Twins, it is that anything can happen in the playoffs -- particularly if you can match up well on pitching. At the moment our pitching is showing a little bit of regression, but the bats do seem to be coming around a bit, so I'm going to be optimistic about their chances to win the division and maybe even a round of playoffs. What good does it do not to?

Absolutely needed, and as you said, from a surprising source. If he's pointing it out, and he most certainly is, it must be pretty prevalent. TD isn't too bad, but there are lots of postings elsewhere that definitely allow the perfect to be the sworn enemy of the pretty good. Every single team has its warts, but I think that pointing them all out every single day is counterproductive. I posted the other day that there are some who would complain about the two losses if the Twins won the WS in six games and someone actually had to ask if I was being snarky (I was, or thought I was. . . yikes!). Unfortunately, there are too many people that think that whining (or is it wining?) about it is the sport, and not actually baseball.

Maeda - Probably not. He's currently (arguably) the best starter. This could easily change over the next month however. The good news would be that he has done it before and knows what it takes, which are traits not to be underestimated. Keuchel - He's done. Get one more start out of him just to eat some innings and bridge us to another healthy starter, thank him for his service, and send him away. His low velocity stuff won't play well out of the bullpen anyway. If we are in the playoffs and Keuchel is pitching, we're behind by five+ runs and it doesn't matter who pitches. We have Luplow for that. Varland - I think this is likely. His stuff might really play up in one inning stints and it seems unlikely that we will need him as a starter, although again, that could change. Paddack - I would love it if he got a few innings in September, but I'm really not holding my breath for much at this point. That's a lot of pressure to put on a "recovery" situation. Those innings could be useful for his recovery road though. The unused starters -- right now that would likely be Ryan and Ober, although again, that could change. You keep one as your fourth starter, which you could need due to injury/ineffectiveness, etc. The other goes to the bullpen and is likely one of your high leverage guys. That being said, an arrangement where one of them starts and goes 5 or so and the other comes in and finishes the game could be pretty exciting I think. You may have noticed how often I pointed out that "again, that could could change." We're a little too early to started measuring drapes for the playoff bullpen. We're not quite there yet, plus we don't know which pitchers will be hitting on all cylinders (or any cylinders) at that point. Give it at least two more weeks before we start to assign and streamline people into new roles. Let's go Twins! Let's win some ballgames!

I feel your (knee) pain and agree completely. However, he IS a lot younger than us and in a lot better condition, AND I don't know that we as fans know what exactly his physical issues are. Is it "just" knees, or hips, or "legs" or all of the above? You're right in that the move may not do any good and may be just as taxing on his body. Or, maybe he can do it. Hey. . . look. . . I'm grasping at straws here. . .

I’m not sure if this makes sense or not, but it isn’t a terrible idea to try (for NEXT year). Buxton as DH isn’t really working out. Given his personality, I’m not surprised that his being involved in the game is important to his success and first base is a way to get him more involved than anyone except the P and C. It would undoubtedly take some work on his part, as he hasn’t been asked to play 1B before but he is nothing if not a great athlete and would pick up some footwork and infield glove work relatively quickly. That being said, is that really easier on his body than playing CF? He would no longer have long intense runs after balls in the gap, but he would have many, many more plays that require a short burst of speed, possibly a dive, and quick stop. Those aren’t easy on the body either, but I defer to someone who might know a bit more about Buxton’s specific issues to answer that.

First of all, keep using Polanco as a stop gap wherever needed — third base at the moment, first base until people get healthy, second if Julien needs a break, DH if we need one that day. He is a solid veteran professional who can do many things - not a great defender, but certainly functional. That allows Lewis to play 3rd, Julien to play 2nd, Kiriloff (hopefully) to play 1st, with a safety net below them. Pick up Polanco’s option this winter and find a good trade partner. His value isn’t what it was two years ago, but it should still be something, especially with demonstrated defensive flexibility.. I’m not sure where this leaves Miranda. He needs to fix things before he has any value to the Twins or anyone else. Lee isn’t in the picture yet (until 2024 sometime), so let’s not imagine a logjam where one doesn’t exist yet. Second, and I join and repeat the chorus, DFA Gallo. For a while I thought Gallo was bringing more than Kepler, but I have changed my mind on that. Wallner obviously has earned his playing time, and Kepler has played well enough lately to be useful. Jordan Luplow has proven to be useful in a RH role as well. Much as I and everyone else would like to see Buxton back manning CF, we need to understand that it’s not going to happen this year, nor maybe ever — we’ll see. So I bring up Austin Martin to play CF. The OF is likely his future home and his speed will serve him well. The backup is MAT, with the possibility that he is pressed into service more or used less depending on the success of Martin. I don’t think Martin is a star in waiting, but I do think that the odds of him completely flaming out are slim given his on base skills, pedigree, and minor league experience. for next year, we still have a Kepler decision to make, but we can solve that over the winter. Finally, it seems like the starting rotation has gotten a little bit messy lately, and I don’t have a good solution for that. Hopefully some time off for Ryan will give him the rest he needed and he will be back strong. Then we can give Ober the same kind of break. Keuchel is definitely not a long term answer. So far he has had one good (ish) start and one terrible one. Let’s give him one more, but if it isn’t solid we need to move on to Varland or try something new (Dobnak?). I think next year can take care of itself here, but we do need to patch things back together for the rest of this season. Sorry. I got started typing and wanted to solve all of the world’s problems in one posting. . .

It is just on the edge of possible. Not Miracle Mets level of difficult, but likely Morneau over Hamilton (after Hamilton hit a stupid number in the previous round) in the home run derby difficult. For me, the pertinent question is what degree of recognition does he need to get to no longer be signable for the Twins and/or put other teams in heavy pursuit? I would either like the Twins to sign him for two years or so (or the accepted QO) or for him to sign for big bucks leaving the Twins in the dust but supplying them with a good draft pick compensation. The latter would likely be a sure thing if he actually won the award, but it's also possible that he sits out there in tweener land if he doesn't and holds out for the big bucks.

Growing up as a farm kid in SD, I listened to hundreds of games on WNAX radio (often on a tractor) in the 1970's and early 80's. Even though I know I listened prior to this because I remember a few Harmon Killebrew home runs, my first really vivid Twins memory is hearing Tony Oliva hit a home run on opening day in 1973. I had decided that I really liked baseball at that point and was looking forward to the opening day game. I was too young at the time to realize the significance of it being the first DH home run, but it still made an impression. My favorite player over the years was Rod Carew, and he had that ridiculous season in 1977 that we will all remember. As you may have guessed from my screen name, I share a birthday of October 1 with Mr. Carew, although he is my senior by many years. I actually didn't realize that until many years later (sometime in the 1980's) when someone got my one of those "On your birthday" papers and he was listed as one of the celebrities/athletes that was born on October 1. I have another favorite tidbit of Twins information as well. In 1983, my cousin put out a flyer (one front/back page on a copy machine) and mailed (yes. mailed) it to as many sportswriters/voters as he could find the information for. It was entitled "Killebrew in '84" and he even got to hand a copy to Mr. Killebrew at an old-timers game. Years later, a family member contacted him when my cousin was dying of brain cancer, he came to Salt Lake City to see him and offer him some gifts. He was "that kind of guy." My Twins connections run deep and I am a die hard fan. They have brought me much joy (and a little frustration) over the years.

I think that declaring one position as being defensively much more difficult than another sells the situation a little short. Yes. Certainly it is much more difficult to play SS than RF in some ways, but each position does have it’s own unique set of skills that require some trial and practice to become accomplished. In my former life as a band director, parents (and students) came to me many times asking for advice and input on which instrument they should learn to play, often with the question of which would be easiest. What I found was that there are instruments that one can become “OK” at pretty quickly and ones that have a steeper learning curve so that it takes longer. It’s why no one really likes to hear a fifth grade oboe player but a fifth grade saxophone player doesn’t necessarily sound that bad. What is often underestimated, however, is that getting really good at either instrument is roughly the same difficulty and takes roughly the same amount of time. The other factor, of course, is someone’s physical/mental suitability to a particular instrument. They all take slightly different skills. I think it’s the same with baseball positions. A strong athlete can probably become an “OK” defender at an “easier” position, but will take much more time to become truly good at it. Add in a player’s specific physical/mental characteristics and assignments up and down the defensive spectrum become much more difficult to simply just assign. They all take slightly different skills. Do I think Julien can play 1B? Yes — in the future. Do I think handing him a glove and saying good luck at the MLB level is a good idea in the late stages of his rookie season? No way. Polanco, as a long term veteran player, probably makes more sense if you need a quick/emergency move to keep people in the lineup.

I like this idea for now, but it seems likely someone will be traded during the offseason.

Put me down for "cautiously optimistic" on this. They look really good right now. They are both on the good side of healthy. They seem to be playing at a really high level. I really hope they both become big stars, but few years back we thought Sano and Buxton were going to be unstoppable and that didn't really work out, so I'm going to declare it too early to tell.