JD-TWINS

Same comments posted by me 3-4 times……seen half dozen others as well. If FO is reading this stuff for anything but laughs, we’re in trouble.

I don’t think they are as inept and dim as most commenters portray them as here. Miranda - CC - Kepler - Polanco - Buxton have all let the FO & team down……..Kepler has turned a corner since July 1, to be fair. These guys were viewed as decent players - probable contributors, by anyone that follows the game. Can’t blame front office for these guy’s performance to date - $70M of the $153M right here. Gallo hasn’t worked out & neither did Mahle. That’s on the FO……another $20 M. Tough to win when less than 40% of your team’s payroll is playing up to expectations. Again, I do not see the FO as being responsible for the players inability to get the job done. Castro - Farmer - Taylor - Solano - Vazquez are a big part of our success as role players. FO did a nice job pulling these veterans in to plug holes. Would have liked some relief help at deadline - at least one guy!!! Reasoning for inactivity on Monday: Guardians play 38 games v. teams above .500 in their last 54. Twins play 15 games v. teams above .500 in their last 54. Cleveland traded Civale & J. Bell on Monday. Gotta bet on logic winning out. Once we get to playoffs, we go with 12 pitchers and 14 bats. We have 2 months to jell v. LH pitching & Lewis will be back soon to help! Kuechel - Ryan - Duran - Jax - Pagan - Floro - Thielbar - Balazovic Lopez - Gray - Ober……Maeda Headrick & Ortega & Moran can help us get through August. Bottom line is once we are in playoffs we don’t need acquisition help!

I don’t live in MN so I’m not up to speed on Saints. I thought Helman played OF & that was mostly the spot for Martin as well????

We are going to host a 3 game series if we win the Central. We are in line to play Toronto or one of the two teams chasing them…….Boston or New York. If Chris Sale gets healthy he’s challenging - obviously, Cole is scary good. Toronto has Gausman…..we lit him up last time we faced him. All 3 teams can be good……all 3 can be mediocre as well. Gotta have some faith. If Kuechel works out and our starters get some rest in August we’ll be in great shape. October comes and we have Lopez - Gray - Ober with Meada in the wings. Ryan into the pen, more than likely. He’s a better option than Maeda. Who knows, we may still have Kuechel on the roster. 6 relievers & a 12 man staff in playoffs. We may go with the “opener” approach Kuechel/Gray & Maeda/Ryan to get 3-4 innings each with contrasting styles!

He batted 6th on the 21st, 22nd, 23rd, (off for birth) & the 29th……… 30th - 31st - 1st he batted 3rd or 4th but he also had 6 hits in those 3 games……..pretty confident in these numbers maybe off 1 hit? Rocco seems fine moving him around now?

CC hit .290 last year on the Minnesota Twins. He wasn’t hidden in the Houston line-up. We then signed him for $200M based on some realistic assumptions from ‘22. Unfortunately, his performance has tanked to career lows. Buxton had 3 doubles two games ago. 7 hits in past 4 games he played. He can still play when healthy……fairly healthy. He’s not Willie Mays because he’s not durable! We/he’s got to live with his shortcomings relative to durability.

Odd day to draw these comparisons as Buxton has 7 hits over last 4 games with 5 doubles? I do think, unfortunately, that there are scary similarities between Giancarlo & Byron. Didn't pick up on the reasoning for the Buxton scratch last night…assume it was some sort of injury related issue. It’s tiresome for sure. Really can’t see the logic many push to “just put him in the outfield and let him play til he’s unable” ………he’s already hurt. Just because we don’t know all the details of his ailments doesn’t mean they must not exist. He’d play CF if he could. The Twins/Rocco would play him in CF if he could. I was ALL for him going on IL & making room for a healthy player to contribute. After the 7 hits in 4 games (5 doubles) since paternity leave, I was then reluctant to judge. Now what? Hope he doesn’t become as rigid as Stanton - he’s really tough to watch & really fragile. Somehow, when Buxton plays, he seems to be able to run bases well. If he can’t return soon (in a day or two) I’d put him in IL until just before roster expansion in September.

IMO - after last year’s injury debacle & getting to the point where Jake Cave is your best offensive OF, they made a vow to have experienced depth. Taylor - Solano - Farmer - Gallo. With Polanco out Lewis out & now Kirilloff out they will ride Gallo through the month “just in case”. They’ll probably hold on to him through October 1 with the roster expansion. They get their money’s worth & still can drop him for playoffs if desired. He’s just got security at this point - Rocco is very aware he strikes out 45% if the time - hence the Pinch Hit by Solano last night.

9-1 going into KC for the year - 162 games - things tend to level off. If you don’t use logic to drive your actions in FO and behave like a fan, you will not have a job very long.

Guardians play 38 games v. teams over .500 in their last 54. Twins play 15 games v. teams over .500 in their last 54 games. Guardians pitching is really banged up (60 day IL) & they traded Civale. Conclusion?

Checked out schedules last night………I think you are right on the knowledge angle! The Twins have 15 games out of 54 left with over .500 teams. The Guradians have 38 games out of 54 left with over .500 teams. The Guardians are down McKenzie & Bieber until mid-later September, best case! They just traded Civale. That’s their top 3 arms 6 weeks ago. The Guradians traded Josh Bell. Logic would tell you the Twins are nearly a lock for Division title.

Can’t imagine they sat Kirilloff a day & then played him before the IL if it’s really serious. 2-3 weeks hopefully he’s swinging comfortably again! Miranda isn’t helping us. Alcala was written off. Gordon is not expected to contribute this year. Sounds like Stewart will not be back. Lewis is a big key - need him to lengthen the line-up.

I heard Brian Cashman on MLB & he used the same comments of the Twins FO, ……”the market got 3-4 more buyers over the past week & that made buying more cloudy/difficult”. An excuse. Not sure how it blocked us from targeting 5 different relievers and working a deal for one of them? Reality check- Sanity check on the lack of moves by Twins…………Cleveland is down McKenzie & Bieber until mid-late September. They also traded Civale…….I looked at our remaining schedule last night because I was curious what the “5th easiest remaining schedule” looks like. We have 15 games out of 54 remaining against over .500 clubs. Then, out of curiosity, I looked at Guardian’s schedule. Including the games v. Twins, they have 38 games out of 54 remaining against over .500 clubs. Logic would say that we are a strong favorite to win the Division. That said, we get through September & then DFA Gallo, we carry 14 bats into October, & we shrink our Staff to 4 starters with either Ryan or Gray moving to the Pen. Potentially, we could add internally in September to the staff and look at Headrick or Varland in relief roles as well! We have a shot to compete in playoffs. 1st round we would host the worst Wild Card and we get all 3 games in Minneapolis! Need 31 more wins out of 54 and we’re good!

They’ll win nothing if they are relying on Miranda - he’s done - based on his performance the entirety of ‘23. Larnach has shown nothing that says he’s an offensive improvement & has shown that he’s a defensive subtraction v. Kepler. Should maybe try Larnach, but no for sure upgrade. Adding Raley from Mets had about $1.5M left in ‘23 and there was an option at $6.5M for ‘24. Hand - Chafin - Suter are all cheaper and if they help us win games the fans will come. Knowing Stewart is going backwards as of Saturday and not getting one arm?!?!?! Mahle - Gray - Polanco - Taylor - Solano - Kepler - Maeda - Gallo …….these potential/probable subtractions in ‘24 equate to $70M ……from $153M payroll in ‘23. We can re-sign Maeda & Solano & keep Kepler OR Polanco & have $45-$50M left over. We have plenty of budget room going forward!!!!! My assumption is they plan on getting to later August & then pulling others into relief from inside the system. Headrick - SWR - maybe Varland. Would really like to see Kuechel to fill in, for 30 days plus, to get starters some skipped starts!

Any mid-level reliever would have had value! They knew yesterday that Stewart is burned up for the year. Not sure how they are going to piece it together now. Gotta get through 2 months. Can live in the playoffs with 6-7 guys in the Pen. Hope Ortega can come back and contribute. Thielbar being effective is a big deal as well.

Completely agree! Kuechel has been insurance and a fallback after a possible trade. They need to utilize him for resting starters in August. I think Maeda is good after time he missed in May/June & with his rebuilt arm. Would like to get Ryan - Ober to miss a couple starts & Gray & Lopez 1 each. Not that big of a risk - run him out there twice and see how it goes. It’s a cheap, low risk way to get guys rest! I assume we can sign him if we choose to pursue.

Jeffers is maybe the most impressive based on expectations. Clutch at moments as well. Kepler has finally come alive - 94 AB’s is a reasonable sample size & he hit .291…….that’s huge if he can just stay above .250 for the next 2-3 months! Julien - Kirilloff - Farmer are all doing what they do. Julien, obviously on the HOT side, impressive for sure. If Buxton gets rolling (7 hits since last Friday - over 4 games - 5 doubles) this group can play with play-off teams. Again, just hit .250 for a couple months - way better then .150 of the recent past! Lewis is a big missing piece. As much time as Polanco is getting at 3B I’m wondering if Lewis may not come back in an OF role??

Bednar is a great Target. Experienced, durable, & effective. Martin - Larnach - young arm other than Festa or Raya. Bednar is a difference maker!! Can use Duran as a stopper at any point in game. Bridge to 9th with Jax & Co. and let Bednar close!! This would be fantastic - too good to be true.

Jax is human - he didn’t allow a run for two months after May 22. Our staff ERA is 3rd in AL - that includes Maeda’s inflated ERA & the bullpen. With Thielbar & Stewart healthy (can’t have a perfect 11 man Pen ready & waiting) the Pen was as good as anyone in the game and that was with trying to hide Jorge Lopez. Our management isn’t the problem IMO. Moran can’t walk first two guys faced with a 4 run lead & then give up a double!!!! That’s not the FO’s fault. Lopez having emotional issues isn’t the FO’s fault. Stewart & Thielbar going down at the same time isn’t the FO’s fault. Those 4 guys are 1/2 of the Pen. Mahle’s out for the year. The FO put enough pitching together so that we are still 3rd in AL in ERA. Big time frustration when players don’t perform - agreed!!! Don’t see it as a roster building problem though. It’s no difference than CC not performing - can’t anticipate that in 2023, and certainly can’t be expected to have a perfect back-up plan. Guys need to play well or it all goes to ……

Don’t think Twins can afford to trade anymore pitching away. Scobel - Wallner - Larnach - Miranda - Martin can all be up for grabs for the right relief arm.

India was ROY in 2021……not sure how he got so old? Walner has power…..India is a 15-18 HR guy at best. India plays 2B & that seems to be a need for Seattle - I guess? Wallner could take Teoscar’s league lead for strikeouts in AL going forward. Anyway, the real question is, why are we trying to acquire starting pitching for the future at the deadline and in a Division race? Particularly when your Staff ERA is 3rd in the AL? We need Pen depth - period!!! I’m all for moving Wallner if needed, preferably Larnach, along with Polanco to get some controllable relief help. They can go with a prospect or two in differing deals but these guys should be available. San Diego could trade relievers behind Hader and they get a LH bat or two they need. Possibilities there because they have real need for LH bats!

I look at Lewis - CC - Farmer - Solano & Jeffers for our IF………..Castro - Taylor - Kirilloff for our OF……Buxton at DH………...these guys v. LH pitching are a decent line-up. This adds Lewis & Jeffers to the team that started this past Sunday. Those two, displacing Vazquez & Wallner are a big upgrade over Sunday v. LH starter. Kyle Garlick is not my favorite guy but if we are going to roster a RH hitter for corner OF play, he isn’t much less output than the rentals discussed above. Teoscar has stats lower than Kepler & he LEADS the AL in strikeouts……..can’t imagine going after him! Only 25-30% of pitchers are LH. Please focus on Pen! LH Relief……… Raley/Suter/Hand…………maybe Headrick internally? RH Relief………who ??? maybe Varland internally? I know this sounds nuts but I like the idea of Maeda starting in playoffs and either Ryan or Gray in a relief role. They have good stuff but seems to be for shorter stints. Again, sounds nuts but starting Maeda or Kuechel for 3-4 innings and following them with Gray, that’s a big contrast in styles, and he gets us through the 8th. Ryan would be similar. Really need the one reliever to hedge against the Thielbar/Stewart unknown health. Two arms would be preferred! Need to get through August-September!

I hate to say it but I do think Gallo is safe, just in case Kirilloff doesn’t hold up (1B). I think they’ll IL guys - maybe even Gallo for 10 days to carry him to September roster expansion. Will drop him in October - probably only 12 pitchers in October!! Ober - Ryan - Gray - López should all get starts skipped either with a short option move on the younger guys or 10 day IL stint for Gray?? Some way to either have Kuechel or Varland spell these guys from August 1 through September 15. Maeda has a rebuilt arm & has already sat enough in ‘23. If they get hot - there may be room for rest days in last week or two of season if Division is locked up………seems like a stretch at this point!!

Larnach or Wallner, pick one, they both have upside & deficiencies. Wallner seems to carry more power but less chance to cut strikeouts. Not by much though on the strikeouts. Larnach - Miranda - Martin - Scoebel - Headrick - Moran - Winder - SS prospects down into A ball - etc.…….. I’d trade any 3 of these guys together for a solid reliever with some control over a couple years. Headrick may be the guy I’m looking for but we don’t know because the organization thinks we need to keep him stretched out, where he may never throw an MLB inking the rest of the year - crazy!

Could just agree but can’t give up with 50 plus games left & a Division lead. Last week we scored 7 - 7 - 5 - 7 runs in 4 consecutive games and lost all 4. Starters have been weak (other than Maeda) for 2 weeks and we have had multiple poor outings from our Pen! Still 2 games over .500 since the break and we are going into play a team that’s looking to dismantle itself in St. louis. Get some bullpen help! Need a couple decent starts and some timely hitting for a couple days. We’re OK! Need to use Kuechel to get some starters needed rest. Would probably be good to DFA Gallo & be done with that drama once Kirilloff is back next week. I really see value in trying to get a return for Polanco & Larnach. Gotta get a really good reliever for those two guys! Or we trade 1 of them & a prospect for a number 3-4 guy out of somebody’s Pen. We don’t need perfection nor a “closer”, just a couple experienced guys for depth!!!! RP options for about the 6th time in a week: Hand/Suter/Raley/Fulmer/……,middle relief guys with San Diego, other than Hader, etc.