TopTwinsFan

His team has been .500. We will never know what achievements the team may have had with a good manager. When the Twins current sucky streak started, the day that Alcala blew a 4 run lead, you could see the pitching coach begging Rocco to take him out while before the game was blown as Alcala had already given up 3 or 4 runs. Rocco would not (he has no idea how to handle players in this situation and I mean no idea). Alcala gave up a couple more runs before Roccos finally allowed him to be taken out. The Twins lost that game, have been below .500 since then and Alcala has not been the same since. We will never know how the Twins would react if a good manager had taken him out when Maki wanted to. Perhaps the Twins dont go into a major skid for two weeks. We will never know, we are stuck with Rocco ball.

Castro is a a switch hitter and hits for a higher average when batting first but Rocco is not intelligent enough to understand he should bat first everyday. Julien may not quite be ready for the lead off role but he is another candidate to be the daily lead off hitter (at least vs rightys) but again Rocco is not intelligent enough. Bat Luplow or Santana or Margot or Jeffers first. If you watch enough baseball you know this is just....well dumb.

I dont think he would, he would move him around consistently in lineup to unsettle hime and Witt would not be quite as good as he is with good management.

Consistently and again tonight at the Royals, Roccos lineups are indicitive of somone who doesnt understand human nature and who overthinks his lineups on a daily basis. Santana batting first makes no sense no matter how much you stare at statistics. Then batting someone who should be in the minor leagues fifth with Farmer. Rocco thinks its super smart because later in the 7th he can pinch hit a lefty in that spot. He isnt smart enough to understand it will mean an automatic out every time Far.mer bats. Of course, in the first Farmer bats with two on and two out and is an easy out (as always). This lineup bugged me from the moment I saw it, as usual with Roccos lineups, Batting Luplow, Larnach, Jeffers or Santana first. So wish we had a manager who really knew what he was doing. Hes good in some areas but ridiculously bad in this area. Dont even get me started on his talk about being aggressive at the plate, no one who has ever played baseball stands at the plate and doesnt want to swing. But again, he has no understanding of human psychology. Mauer understood this, being aggressive at the plate is just another way of saying you are going to have a short at bat and increase your chances of swinging at a pitchers pitch. Sadly, great managers are needed to win a World Series and Rocco is no great manager. Even after years of managing he doesnt learn or get better in this area. I just sadly dont think he is intelligent enough.

As much as gambling is taking over sports now, we have to wonder when we see a horrendous job umpiring like we have seen today if the umpire is corrupt. Is he bought off to help guide the Guardians to win this game. We will never truly know. Maybe he just cant see well. Having an umpire decide the game is the worst part of baseball. One day baseball will let a stike be a strike and a ball be a ball but for now watching umpires decide who wins is what some people call "part of the fun of the (corrupt) game"

I wondered about the same thing. I also have no idea how Kepler has batted 5th or higher every game since he returned. Baldelli isnt smart enough to realize Kepler couldnt get a hit today if he was thrown 100 pitches. He acts like batting Kepler 8th or 9th while he is struggling and batting horrendously will hurt his feelings too much so better to just increase our chances of losing the game so Kepler can be an auto out every at bat. Baldelli isnt a bad manager but he sure struggles to understand human psychology.

Speaking of announcers I have enjoyed Corey Provus on TV. A nice upgrade over Bremer who thought people turned on the game to hear him. I hope Morneau gets better as he was awful this weekend. Laughing when Kepler got hurt (to be clear it bugged me not because JM was being a jerk, I just cant imagine watching another Twins player go down and hear him laughing as I worried about their health) and talking non stop for 3 innings to start the first game.

Nervous laughter is a problem for Justin Morneau and it was extremely uncomfortable to hear him laugh immediately after Kepler got hurt. I watch a lot of baseball and I dont recall an announcer ever laughing over a player being injured. The laughter was certainly not meant to be mean (I dont think Morneau has a mean bone in his body) but it made for a real weird moment to have your teams color announcer laughing as a long time Twin jumped around in pain. I know laughter was the last thing on my mind as I worried about Kepler's health.

Guessing the writer is a Dodger plant or someone who had a little too much for St Patricks Day. Def not looking to trade Lee unless a team gives us the sun and part of the moon.

What does "Right Sizing the Twins Payroll Mean?" We are greatly reducing the quality of the product we put on the field because there is absolutely nothing you can do about it and we are one of the greediest families on Earth.

I have seen a lot of frustration with the Pohlads over my 40 years being a Twins fan. Those people were all right. This offseason has been an awakening to how awful this family is. Now Joe Pohlad does an interview to tell Twins fans that he has begun hurting the team (reducing payroll drastically and that he and his billionaire family will continue to hurt the team far into the future.) How cruel must you be to go on WCCO and brag about how much you hate Twins fans and how little you will invest in the product when you own the team.

They are emulating the Rays and O's quite nicely. Neither team has won a Championship in decades. (Rays have NEVER won one). That is Pohlad's Vision.

Has anyone else who has heard the interview felt like it would have been easier for Joe Pohlad to send out a pic with him holding out his middle finger to his customers. Perhaps under a caption that reads. We hate you f####ing morons. They want to take advantage of the little boy/girl in all of us that love baseball and use it to add to their greed collection.

Not calling out the greed driven, soulless money lovers that own are team is like seeing you country in the middle of a stupid war and believing it is more patriotic to support it than it is to express your outrage. Greed is greed and the evil Pohlad family that had made their fortune on foreclosing farms and homes now wants a higher percentage of what they make off our team to go directly in their pockets. I cant stop them but they are lying, greedy and the worst of society. Like most rich people.

Promises made by billionaires are not promises at all. Lets call them cheap lies from people who could care less how many games the Twins win. They want to worship their God of Greed. They have decided that pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars a year isnt enough greed for them. They just love money too much. Just be thankful you arent one of them. Most of the weatlhy people I know are the most repulsive human beings on earth. Almost like having a mental disorder that makes you care only about yourself. You can watch people struggle for the basics while having more than you will ever need or want and yet you want more. What a sickening way to live. When someone shows you who they are, believe them. I was a Twins season ticket holder for 10 seasons. I remember thinking 11 years ago when I dropped my season tickets that the Pohlads hate their fans. This is just another reminder that I was right. Being wealthy nearly guarantees that you are evil AF.

Average people think greed is disgusting. The wealthy believe it is a way of measuring their greatness.

YES! Less propoganda. Exactly. OMG the posts about how rough its going to be to ensure the Pohlad oligarchs have sufficient excess money in the bank. Its really hard being a billionaire. Tale as old as time. The few have more than they could ever need and they need more from you. Or in this case, understand why the men with more money than they could ever need have to cut a community asset because they need to get wealthier. Insight into the moral depravity of the wealthy.

Innings have become so expensive this offseason. In other words, the cost of guys who can pitch 100+ innings have increased significantly. Part of why I am surprised the Mariners made this trade. Sure hope Topa can give the Twins 65 IP and a 2.50 ERA. They have needed a guy like that badly to set up Duran consistently and it will make Jax and Stewart (and perhaps Varland) better.

He is a second base version of Kirby Puckett. He will swing at everything, and hit most of it. I too am excited for his debut (probably this year) but even more excited for Walker Jenkins. I think he is a future HOF. The Twins have a bright hitting future ahead of them and its part of why on its face this trade looks good. They needed to add innings-DeSclafani- and another great bullpen arm-Topa- (plus a top 100 prospect etc)

Vazquez could bat a thousand times in that at bat and he would never get a hit. He looked ready to be out the second he walked up to the plate. He swung at the last pitch like he was happy to be relieved of the pressure to try to win. I almost literally turned the game off when he came up.

Always odd to me that to protect Baldelli some will throw away season after season of Twins baseball. He costs the Twins several games per year with his idiocy. You either know baseball or you dont and he doesnt get all the nuance of the game. He was a great hitter who just went out and used his natural talent. Not a clue how to manage a complex game like baseball. I try to temper my excitement/love for the Twins with the knowledge he will make jaw droppingly stupid decisions. Like pinch hitting the loser Vazquez with the game on the line yesterday. Excited for the playoffs but we better score tons of runs so Baldi doesnt have to make any key decisions or we lose.

He is the worst Twins manager in my lifetime and it’s not even close. He doesnt know what hes doing and it will hurt when he costs us a chance to advance in the playoffs. You cant win big games with a horrendous manager and he doesnt have a clue how to manage a lineup or bullpen. His move yesterday to bring in the Twins worst hitter, Vazquez, I wont even try to understand it. If this organization truly cared about winning he would be gone already.

No doubt. Consistently getting the least out of your players talent is a Baldelli specialty. Worst Twins manager in my lifetime. Not even close. He trims wins from his team every season and will never be able to win a playoff game unless he has a 7-0 lead.

As I have told you before, Rocco and his horrid management and culture of meh costs the team 8-9 wins per year. Managers are very important. They can change lineups (at least when they are not simply putting the computer generated lineup out there as incompetent Rocco does or did until they players asked for normal, manager (human ) made lineup. I think people that understand human emotions well understand Rocco us a horrendous manager and he does daily harm to our chances to have a fun club to watch. The fo is another story. I personally may give them another year or two. However anyone who has seen Falvey interviewed knows he has no skill at human interaction. It makes Rocco's complete lack of understanding sports psychology a huge weakness. Rocco is the main reason the Twins get the least out of their talent. They have scored 44 more runs than they have given up and are a .500 team. They are horrendous in close games. Currently their expected win losss is 50-39 so I may underestimate how many games per year Baldiball cost the Twins. Getting the least out of your teams talent=Baldiball. Nauseating.

10 years ago I was tired of the Twins not getting further in the playoffs and proclaimed it was time for a new manager. I always said Gardenhire was a good manager but not a great one. I wish nearly every day for a good manager now. Watching the Twins run by Baldelli is like getting into a car with a bad driver ever day. You are constantly wondering why you are doing this. And how to make it stop.