JD-TWINS

You want him to do some cheers?? Players play - they’re not 14 year olds. Baldelli isn’t giving up HR’s, that’s Ryan……..how’s he supposed to lead Buxton when he swings at anything & K’s in one AB and the next AB he takes 3 straight strikes. How? Jorge Lopez - Moran - Pagan…….these guys need to get outs and Baldelli will look pretty smart. Wouldn’t worry about Rocco …….batters need to start to perform - pitchers need to hold leads……….if players perform, there are very few bad managing issues!

Solano was my “assumed to be traded if he could hold on until Mid-July…” …….otherwise DFA to make room for Walner or Larnach or Polanco. He started great and then declined slowly over 5-6 weeks. Last 15 days or so he’s as good or better than anybody at the plate. Really need his veteran presence and performance, along with Farmer & Taylor, even though they were all slotted as platoon guys. Not getting much from Buxton - CC - Polanco………….none from Kepler - Vazquez - Gallo!! Unless we collapse, Solano should be on the roster through the season. It seems to me that freeing up 3B for Miranda & trading for Lopez has taught fan base to not take hitters for granted (Urshella @ .298 & Arraez @ .395).

Depends who pitches last, you never know - I’ve been down on both of these guys since September 1 last year. I know I’m not alone. …….you are right, Pagan’s issues are focus & command based, no intestinal fortitude. Lopez has no guts either & less focus. He gets hammered ahead in counts with 2 strikes - then he walks a guy on 7 pitches………. one inning perfect, next inning he looks like a 9th grader. I get guys aren’t perfect but he’s almost unstable. What’s up with the big grins after he gives up multiple doubles?? Completely insecure & low confidence & trying to mask with laughter?

‘24 roster without Polanco: Julien/Lee - Farmer - CC - Lewis - Kirilloff Larnach - Walner - Taylor - Gordon/Castro -New high $$ Player Buxton Vazquez - Jeffers No Polanco - Kepler - Gallo - Solano …….save $34 Million for FA outfielder - relief pitcher - extend Gray. (Lee may free up the possibility to trade Julien - Miranda?) Castro may push Gordon to the trade block?…..,,his defensive flexibility and base running are both better than Gordon……hope he can maintain! Am Nick Gordon’s biggest fan but Castro has been very effective. Catcher prospect for Julien may be worthwhile?…….Vazquez may not make it 2 more years?

If he hits .270 & drives in 35-40 runs from July - September, he’ll be back in ‘24. If he can’t get on the field he isn’t worth anything on our roster nor in trade - zero. Therefore, we don’t extend the option unless he’s solid most of the remainder this year. He’s great, affordable depth if he can keep his legs healthy. We have Lee with Julien as the prime possibilities for 2B next year and we’ll have Gordon back & healthy along with Farmer under contract through ‘24. I don’t want to be terribly negative but I don’t see Miranda back on this roster in ‘23 nor going forward. Lewis is the fixture at 3B. Kepler - Miranda - Pagan - Polanco can potentially all go at the deadline just to create space on the 40 man going forward. Obviously, we want to try and get a couple prospects but we’re asking teams to take on $$$ w/o a lot of upside. (if we’re winning) Organization is going to have a hard time, in season, letting Polanco & Kepler go just because of potential team chemistry upset.

Pagan has to go, for the sake of team psyche! It doesn’t matter what his “stuff” may be, he’s got poor command & even worse command when there are pressure situations in play. Can’t go for 6-8 outings w/o giving up a run & then take a bad loss. Same thing 4 or 5 different months of the season. Too high of a price to pay!!! Gotta be a big deflating thing in the locker room!! Needs to go or hit the IL for a month while targeting a trade partner - maybe we give him away for $1,000,000 salary share for balance of ‘23?

Torri Hunter - Lyman Bostock - Tom Brunansky - Shane Mack - Tony O - Kirby Puckett - Caesar Tovar are/were all very productive outfielders & 3 or 4 were gold glove guys at one point of their career. Doesn’t matter what Max’s War might be, he’s washed at the plate!! Can’t get 2 big hits a month and “play good defense” and be a worthwhile player every day in the line-up. Cannot!! DFA.

Kepler singles & homers Saturday & Wallner went 0-5 & struck out 3 times. Max keeps hanging on due to unclear circumstances with him, his competition, other’s health, etc. - would like to see them DFA Kepler & move on with Larnach/Wallner in RF…….maybe a little Castro v. LH pitching? Sunday’s loss separates them from a first place type team with momentum, headed into a 10 game home stand, compared to a lost team that can’t get things rolling. Kepler & especially Pagan - DFA!!

Gotta comment somewhere here. Varland, with the balance of 2023 under his belt, is pretty much a fresh Tyler Mahle. We have Paddack through 2025 - already have risk with him. Ryan is solid & only in year 2 of service. Lopez is signed for 4 years. Ober is 27 & under team control. Can’t worry about balancing results of the/a trade…..that’s not the competition the Twins are in - win some games. I live in Cinti and Steer looks like a hot Miranda in 2022….I hope he sticks. E-Strand looks like he’s going to be a real hitter! They are Reds & we can’t worry about that - resigning Mahle to save face doesn’t help us win. If we sign him for 2 years, we get 1 year of availability & some definite risk he’ll perform well………always a risk with anyone in any contract! Seems to me a better use of the funds, while reducing risk a few percentage points, would be to take the money we would spend on Mahle & give it to Gray as part of a 2 year extension. My assumption is Gray makes $15M now…….take Mahle’s potential $20M for 2 years and give it to Gray over 2 years. Gray is 33 but, unless he gets a serious injury, somebody will pay him $20M plus as a free agent. I’d pay him a little more, potentially, than market and give him $25M for a shorter contract term. Do it (offer it) mid season - in next month, as a near-term security blanket for him. I think that’s a better value and makes sense with the other depth we have. We can afford paying Gray to have him in play for play-offs and only have him throw 150 innings (probably his realistic work load/availability) during each season. Could also not spend anymore on starting pitching and take the $28M from freeing Mahle & Gray and spend it on an upside reliever and a RH outfield bat………will have another $32M coming off the annual spend with Kepler, Gallo, & Polanco…..who’s hurt too much?……..all gone in ‘24. How should we spend the $60M saved with these 5 guys all potentially gone in ‘24?

Agree. He’s got a long way to go but emulating Ryan’s attitude/mental make-up will carry him a long way as well.

Generally, a fine thought! You weren’t in the entertainment industry, the public eye, nor making $300K plus (my assumption). That said, don’t think the firing of coaches is going to solve anything.

Absolutely correct! No team other than the Twins. Our starting pitching stacks up with anyone across baseball. The Pen is far from perfect but on the whole it seems to be adequate over long stretches (occasional disappointment for sure). 2-0 after 2 games in Toronto winning in two completely different ways. 10 game home stand starting Tuesday. No reason to think the White Sox, at 27-35 are going to close on us in the near-term. If Sox go 13-7 again in next 20 games, unlikely, they will be 40-42. Maybe by late August they could be a threat but there are a lot of things that can happen between now & then. Guardians staff, line-up, & their culture worry me way more than the Sox!

I get it but not batting Correa 4th but in that line-up it doesn’t change anything. Lewis (whom I’m a big fan of) came into the game hitting .200 and he got 2 infield hits and had a couple flares to right to earn his 4 hits. Not exactly great 4 hole contact. Baldelli is trying to find a spark - maybe giving Larnach a #3 slot to start gets him going mentally?? There’s no great line-up options with this group of 13 guys!

Let’s hope for a strong finish in St Paul this summer so we actually have some options to consider.

So on the list of “who to blame”, I’d probably put The PLAYERS as the number 1 problem. Gallo - Larnach - Julien & others have been high volume strikeout guys through the varying lengths of their careers. Correa was a .279 career BA guy coming into ‘23 & in his 8th or 9th season. I get coaches are there to help - advise - guide, but if Correa can’t solve something on his own after 65 games that’s pathetic!! Vazquez got $15M/year for 3 years and turned into Phil Roof……he’s been around the Show for many years and a .270 plus career BA guy. 65 games into season………Zero home runs. Figure it out. Buxton has been a just above average offensive performer forever & into his 9th season, nothing new here - extremely hot & cold over the past couple years. He’s a great athlete with some unique talents but not a great hitter. He’s made great defensive plays in previous years to help balance his hitting woes. ALSO, in 7 of 8 previous seasons he only played 46% of the games. Basically, he’s been hiding his offensive deficiencies on the IL! Gallo - same as Buxton. Power KKKKK power hurt KKKKK hurt. Kepler is washed - Popkins nor either of previous 2 batting coaches have been able to reverse this decline over the past 3.5 seasons!! Needs to be DFA’d for the guy that’s obviously deserving of a shot - Wallner - watch out, he K’s a bunch too. Lewis’ approach to contact, (evidenced Friday night) that’s not always pretty, needs to be adopted up & down the line-up…….at least with Farmer - Castro - Taylor - etc……,.I doubt Popkins is coaching Lewis differently than the other 15 guys that have been up this year…….probably not coaching Kirilloff differently either. Those 2 guys have taken responsibility for their performance and they make adjustments. They both happen to be talented & with high expectations. Popkins hasn’t ruined them is my point…..maybe the critics/fans need more players taking a look in the mirror?

Am not sure of Maeda’s availability date……..needs to be in Pen as he’s available in June. Moran has Thielbar’s spot for remainder of June. Space for Moran not an issue in short-term. Thielbar may be at end of his rope? I’d like Balazovic to get some action in the SHOW to see if he may be a better option than Lopez or Pagan, come end of July………Stewart should have the spot in my earlier post occupied by Headrick. Stewart has proved himself very useful when given the opportunity - hoping Balazovic may do the same so we don’t need to live & die with Lopez & Pagan. Best 8 at end of June??? Maeda - Headrick - Moran - Stewart - Jax - Duran ………..Balazovic - Lopez - Pagan - Thielbar

Forgot, slow rollers to 1B!

Worst batted ball BA in the game - not performing…….can only pop out to third or hit weak flies into Left Center so many times per week before everyone checks out on you mentally!!

You know what the FO & Rocco see when they look at the spreadsheet…….? Miranda - terrible, not rebounding quickly Kepler - worst Batted Ball BA in baseball-DFA Larnach - pretty swing, barely watchable Buxton - UP & down & Up & doowwn & up & DOWN Kirriloff - decent player Polanco - decent player Gallo - being Gallo Farmer & Taylor - have played 2X as many games as anticipated going in & justly, fading Correa - Still struggling & now recurring injury Jeffers - decent platoon player (relative to expectations) Lewis - nice 3-4 game stretch…..now brutal Walner - gotta DFA Kepler to get him up long-term Vazquez - didn’t think he’d be a problem Castro - decent platoon player (based on expectations) Gordon - always available…..HURT Julien - .210 BA in opportunities given so far in SHOW Solano - decent platoon/reserve WHAT’s A MANAGER TO DO WITH THIS GROUP?????

Walner is hot & has been for 2-3 weeks. Julien is hitting .210 in the Show. Walner displaces Kepler (worst batted ball average in the sport) & Julien displaces Polanco on his notably better side (LH) which makes little .sense. Walner appears to be a solid option in right & at DH v. RH pitching. One seems clear & the other seems to be wish thinking from the March Baseball Classic.

Author states, before getting into the debate, that using the 3 day retroactive approach is commonly used around the league!! The PLAYER & the TRAINING STAFF need to be more decisive in the process to allow guys sitting in an office (or in their basements at home) to be able to discern what the best course of action is when a guy gets nicked (not injured). A, let’s wait 12-24 hours if the guy’s not injured, seems to be standard logic. A rib bruise, depth of bruise - player pain tolerance - what’s visible on x-ray - repeat of similar “nicks” v. new issue - are all part of each decision and we need to think that the guys making decisions are human and don’t have hindsight to rely on for their opinions.

Headrick - Maeda Jax - Thielbar Balazovic - Duran J. Lopez - E. Pagan…Moran in Wings in St. Paul JUNE 15 Bullpen……..fingers crossed!! Gotta use arms like Headrick & Balazovic to win now, not when somebody gets hurt, at some point.

Unless we drum up a contender that really needs a defensive OF & is in need of platoon depth from the right side, we are wish thinking. I guess those 2 needs are potentially out there………..don’t see ANY potential for return from the trade though since we’d be relieving ourselves of $8-9 million for the last 2.5 months of salary. Trading Donny Barrels has a little value but Max is arguably “washed”. His .246BA on balls put into play was a league worst as of last week. That’s the definition of “washed”. The team that needs this combination is The Twins, using Kepler as a twice a week starter for defense & rest of other guys. Don’t love it as a solution but it’s practical to keep him at least until Gordon is healthy. Want Walner or Larnach starting in front of him regularly.

I think it may be coaching…… coaching guys between the ears. Subtle mental/confidence stuff. …………. Lopez had good stuff when he made the All-Star game staff last summer and he looked great in April in ‘23 in MN. He still throws hard and his pitches move well - he just has lapses in his Focus & throws pitches that end up middle/middle & gets rocked!??

Can’t read another one of these w/o commenting. Buxton is fragile - that’s who he is…..who he’s going to be. It’s like asking Bob Hayes to run half of his pass routes as slant patterns. Gotta be old to get that one. Anyway, the plan was to play Taylor v. LH pitching & another 15 games maybe in ‘23 - that’s it. Gordon was going to start 75 games in CF v. RH pitching. He couldn’t do that in April because Polanco needed someone to fill in for him. Gordon started to pick it up by mid-May & was playing CF - he’s hurt for probably another 6 weeks. Gotta ride it out with Taylor (a little Castro) and expect to see Buxton for maybe 20 starts in July - September just to have potential flexibility in playoffs. Saying he’s an average DH isn’t accurate since he’s 6th statistically a day or two ago. He’s been in a downward swoon - he’s streaky. Period. Dreaming - wish thinking that if he could just run a ball down in the gap (that excites you as a fan) would turn him into Joe DiMaggio is nuts! He needs to be protected & it doesn’t matter how much money he gets paid during the year. It’s not a “we need to maximize his value” situation ……..so we’ll ignore the fact that he’s played 90% of the games this year v. 46% average in 7 of 8 years of his career. We are finally getting his value - just not as evenly as anyone would like.