JD-TWINS

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.

Agreed - in Cincinnati so I have MLB package ………………..my kids have Apple TV & found the game. No choice but to use Sands tonight if there are more than 3 innings left. Jax & potentially Pagan. I’d think with last year’s history with Lopez/Pagan v. Cleveland they would be well down the list of options. Where’s Thielbar?? How is Maeda progressing??

Sano - Kepler - Escobar - Garver - Rosario - Miranda - Gordon are all below average players if we look at their careers. 2-3 had really good season or two. Kirilloff - Larnach - Correa - Lee - Lewis will be 5 number 1 picks in the line-up in ‘24!

Pretty big deal having four guys with these numbers on a staff! Gray wasn’t bad he just wasn’t excellent - as these other 4 certainly were. Jorge with Pablo not far behind, were at the other end of the Spectrum.

To hit .265 for the year he’ll need to hit .295 the balance of the season - seems reasonable. I see a career BA of .279 and a traditionally slow starter. Seems to make sense.

Come on……seriously? He’ll hit .265 plus by year end & will be a threat in the middle of a good line-up come September/October. Lewis - CC - Polanco/Farmer - Kirilloff/Gallo is maybe the best all-around offensive infield in the game! Not every game or even to this point in May. But ultimately they are very good!

Lopez had 75 good days in Baltimore & they were ready to trade him. Not a great testimonial for his future! He’s a disappointment. Need Gordon to heal and play at least 50% of the games in CF flanked by Gallo - Larnach - Kirilloff - Walner v. RH pitching. Lewis - CC - Polanco - Kirilloff/Gallo & we have plenty of offense v. RH pitching. Need health & most of all we need to lose Kepler. He’s brutal at the plate - his defense can’t make-up for his feeble offense! He’s had two months w/o the shift and has maybe 4 extra hits because of that new rule. He contributes very little at the plate!

Taylor was never intended to start more than 50 games in ‘23. 35-40 of them v. LH pitching & then plugging some holes another 10-15 starts. Pinch hitter - pinch runner - late inning Defense. Polanco was hurt - Gordon had to play 2B for most of a month. He had a terrible start but was coming around & starting many games in CF v. RH starters. ’24 Outfield: Larnach - Gordon - Walner v. RH pitching Castro - Taylor - Kirilloff v. LH pitching ’24 Infield: Lewis - CC - Polanco - Kirilloff v. RH pitching Lewis - CC - Lee - Farmer v. LH pitching Buxton primarily at DH Catchers: Vazquez & Jeffers

That’s never happening.

Not sure how bad the defense might be? Anyway, Kepler, unless he goes crazy with the bat, is done after ‘23. Potentially, a trade piece with a prospect in July. Walner will have a chance with this organization in the next 8 weeks or from the beginning next season. Larnach still leads the team in RBI & he’s not on the roster either.

Same as Odorizzi, as well Mahle! Too many pitches in an attempt to strike guys out. Jax needs to throw (start) his slider over inside 1/3 of the plate to break off outside edge. He wastes too many good pitches that are never competitive in the zone. Starts a slider 2” off plate & it breaks 18” more left. Often there’s two of those in an at bat - used energy & walks.