Beast

Well, not really. As many of the “doubters” of Buxton cite injury issues, his being out for a prolonged period which happened to coincide with the beginning of the death spiral kind of proves them right. Im a big Buxton fan. I’m happy with his performance. But, the FO needs to start planning better for his inevitable IL stints. It’s absolutely inexcusable to ever see Manuel Margot as the starting CFer/lead off hitter, unless you’re in the tanking phase of a rebuild.

It shouldn’t, but it probably will here. Getting any sort of real criticism/tough questions out of the local media isn’t going to happen. And. There’s too many fans that are content spending $300 to hang out in nice summer weather with no regard for the product. There’s never a real consequence. That’s the thing. This is the absolute easiest market to run a sports franchise, and the current ownership group still can’t get out of their own way. All it takes is throwing the fan base a meager bone once in a while. Sign Carlos Correa at a discount when nobody else wanted him, and they have NPCs on places like this doing their best to drag anyone that dares criticize their spending policies for the next decade. I just heard a few stats on a podcast. This team has won 90 games twice since target field opened. It’s managed one play-in tournament win against an equally inept franchise in the last 25 years (and we had fans celebrating like we won’t back to back World Series). The current FO was brought in under the pretenses of building a pithing pipeline. This team still can’t pitch a lick and they’re nearly a decade into their administration. There’s still a subset of people that will die on the hill of this franchises proven loser of a team building strategy. I recently saw someone defending on the basis of the strong farm system, which is mind blowing. They just had Jenkins, a top 5 prospect fall into their lap. What else have they done? They didn’t want to pony up for Greene so took Lewis, who may never play a full season in his career, and frankly, is not that good (can’t play defense, can’t run, and we’ve just recently discovered, isnt a world beater at the plate either). They’ve burned first round pick after first round pick on slugging DH types that never materialize. Frankly, I don’t care what ownership does this offseason. I can tell you it won’t be enough. It never has been, and never will be. They don’t care. Their ultimate goal is to do just enough to con the fans. Not an inch more. This is 100% hopeless. Last year was the absolute ceiling for this franchise. And, considering the pop-up of the Royals and Tigers this year, we’re not seeing that again for a very long time. Last thing. Can everyone that doesn’t understand accounting quit with the “what do you want them to do, take a loss? It’s a business.” Do you really think they’re losing money? Amazon has a run an operating loss every year of their existence. How’s Jeff Bezos doing? They’re still making out like bandits financially, so let’s quit with the nonsense that they can’t afford this or that. This franchise needs a real, competent business man running the ship. Someone that understands return in investment and long-term positioning. These trust funders in place now have been led to believe that’s them. They were born on third base and think they hit a triple. Then, while pretending they know how to run the bases, they got picked off.

This organization is absolute garbage from top to bottom. I’ve never been more disgusted with a Minnesota sports team, and that’s a high bar to clear. The damage they did this year by “right-sizing” payroll is going to impact their bottom line negatively for years, on top of lost attendance and playoff revenue this year. The decision to try to save money cost them exponentially. What a bunch of morons. Total incompetence. No other way to spin it. Also, nobody gets the benefit of hindsight in baseball. Let’s end that trope I’m seeing trotted out by some. It’s their job to employ some foresight. It didn’t take Nikola Tesla to see the pitching staff was hanging by a thread and Lewis, Buxton, and Correa would spend time on the IL. My dog could’ve told them that if he spoke our language. There needs to be some accountability. People need to be fired (starting with Baldelli). Ownership needs to face a firing squad of difficult questions and made to explain themselves and admit they f’d up publicly. If they continue with the status quo, just move the damn team to a place somebody will care. There be be almost nobody left in Minnesota, and it’s going to be a death spiral of “right sizing” payroll to the perpetually decreasing revenues.

That seems inconsequential at best. They would’ve gotten nothing in return. There’s a more than adequate replacements for Kepler with Wallner and/or Larnach. Carlos Santana may win a gold glove and have a case for the MVP this year. They should’ve bolstered like the bullpen in free agency and/or at the deadline. That didn’t take hindsight.

Considering the absolute dumpster fire we’ve seen lately, give this guy the highest honor TD can award. He’s the Delta Force of TD in terms of optimism.

There was a recent article about Royce Lewis being out gas. Should’ve been about the whole team. Our best player is Carlos Santana, who is ancient. Maybe he should take the organizational reigns and teach these young guys some practical baseball knowledge. The AI Falvine leans on isn’t there yet.

I agree and I’ve made this point to people in the past (I believe even on here). There’s another facet to this as well. The improvement of medicine. There have always been people who’s bodies couldn’t handle the workload/stress. But, those people used to blow something out before making it to the pros and their athletic career was over. Now, they can go get a minimally invasive surgery and have another chance. Royce is on his, what, 3rd chance? A few decades ago he may already be done and selling used cars or insurance.

Add another coulda/shoulda/woulda to the Twins long line. He might not just be cooked for the season, but his career. If you can’t get through a baseball season at ages 23-25, it isn’t likely to improve with age. He doesn’t have the same saving graces Buxton has (elite defense and speed). When he’s not hitting, he’s a black hole. He’s a defensive butcher. He can’t run. And, remember when he was an unflappable ray of sunshine in the clubhouse? So much for that. Another case of awful resource management leading to another failure of a season by this franchise. Rinse and repeat into eternity.

This is just who they are. It’s not surprising that Buxton, Correa, and Ryan couldn’t put together a full season. That’s a given. They’ve been bolstered by unsustainable performances for much longer than they should’ve been. Royce Lewis wasn’t going to continue to hit .300 with a home run rate equivalent to Judge. Miranda wasn’t going to continue to hit .350. Ober wasn’t going to continue to pitch at a Cy Young level. Vasquez wasn’t going to continue to win you games with clutch hits. Willie Castro wasn’t going to continue to produce like an All Star offensively. The bullpen was a powder keg waiting to blow from day 1. Theyre extremely fortunate to be where they are, given the roster construction. It’s just not that good of a team, and it’s finally caught up with them as it should have a long time ago.

You’re seeing what happens when you cheap out on the bullpen in free agency and sit on your hands at the deadline. This is 100% on the FO and ownership. Another absolute fail. They sure have a knack of putting together promising teams, then failing to get them over the hump (see 2019 and last year). This team is absolutely cooked. IF they make the playoffs, they have absolutely no chance. We’re seeing them reap the whirlwind now against good teams. Duran is washed. Outside of Jax and Sands, everybody else stinks. And, not sure I’d trust Sands in the 8th inning of tied playoff game against the Yankees or Astros. Theyre lucky Boston has played a brutal schedule lately, or they’d be looking at dropping out of the playoffs all together already. The sad part is, the ragtag offense without a number of key players and the rotation have been pulling their weight for the most part.

They used the financial flexibility to bolster other parts of the roster? I’d disagree that happened. Joe Ryan is a future ace? He’s darn near 30, has never put together a full season, gives up a ton of home runs, has one career playoff inning, has a career ERA around 4.00, and had a 3.60 ERA this year before likely being done for the year. I’d grant no more than decent #2 guy to good #3 guy. Maeda and his deal shouldn’t limit anyone’s “flexibility” and is inconsequential. Gray’s contact may be constraining for a couple years (if you couldn’t trade him later), but this team is likely leading the division if he’d been in the rotation all year vs. some of the alternatives. In order for anything positive to come out of it, they’d have to actually use the resources saved at some point. They wouldn’t even use a fraction of it to bolster the bullpen in free agency or the deadline. If they had, they’d also likely be in first place.

That game came down to one awful hanger from Ober to Machado and the inexplicable decision to pitch Okert in that situation when he likely had both Sanda and Duran available. I can give Ober a pass, despite the bad pitch selection. Baldelli’s decision, though, was absolutely horrendous. Okert shouldn’t be anywhere near a 2 run lead in the 8th inning against the the superstar-laden top of the order of arguably the most potent offense in baseball. Absolutely horrendous management.

Why is Okert even in the game right now?

Get Margot out of the lead off spot, for Pete’s sake.

I do think he’s the best prospect in the system right now. Jenkins status is based solely on projection. Erod has shown the power, discipline, etc at a high level. Lee just doesn’t look like he has the ceiling Erod has. Maybe a safer prospect, but I don’t see Lee ever being a superstar caliber player. That said, there are better prospects across the minors than Rodriguez. Likely not going to play a premium up-the-middle position. As noted, has K and approach issues. There’s just no way you can call him the best overall prospect in baseball with some of these insane 5-tool shortstops that seem to be in constantly in the pipeline.

If they can get out of this series with 1 win, I’ll be happy.

What irritates me the most is Julien’s complete lack of effort. Basically flat footed on contact, and not even a thought of attempting to slide to evade the tag or force a dropped ball. Or, the smartest thing he could done there, would be get in a rundown and give the other runner a chance to get into scoring position. Instead, he just gave up on the play. I’d have had him on his way back to the minors before the bottom half of the 10th was over. Putting that call on there was idiotic. A competent base runner on third that can move a little bit? Sure. But, I could pull a random middle aged person out of their chair after an 8 hour day at our office, and they could’ve gotten down the line faster and provided better effort. Back to Alcala, they should’ve gotten some ready to get him out of there after Garcia’s home run. Inexcusable to let him give Texas the lead there.

The problem is (aside from poor defense) is that he’s not only seeing at bats against lefties from the bottom of the order. His overall OPS over his last 30 games is .609.

Obviously, everyone needs to be healthy for anything to matter. But, if we have a better defender at 3rd in Brooks Lee or Miranda, and at 2nd in Julien or Keaschall, I don’t care what Boras or Lewis want. No special treatment. He’s obviously a bit shaky at third. He could fine tune his technique a but, but he doesn’t have the arm, which isn’t something you can fix. He’ll never be able to make consistently make those ranging plays to his right fading into foul territory or the squibs that require charging and throwing off balance. Id like to see him in left, The problem is he can’t run without getting hurt. That leaves first, which I’m fine with. The question is, does he continue to hit as well and for as much power as he has in his relatively small MLB sample size? I don’t think so. He’s clearly a very good hitter, but I don’t see him continuing his elite HR/AB and slugging numbers. Still certainly good at 1B as a .275 25 HR type guy, but I wouldn’t call that a “superstar” at 1B (or any position, really, outside of CF/2B) unless he’s providing some top tier defense as well. Another factor: Is Correa sticking at shortstop for the remainder of his contract? With his lower body injuries, is it better to move him off of short at some point down the road? His skill set would make him one of the better defensive 3B in the game, and his range and ability to play through things may play better there than SS if the foot issues are a constant issue. Im not opposed to idea mentioned above of a trade. His value is sky high right now. Even considering the injury history, maybe higher than what his output would be going forward once you factor in likely regression in power numbers. I’m not advocating dumping him at a discount, only if the price is right. Very unlikely, especially if they squeak into the postseason. But it may be a wise move. Especially if they’re going to be to cheap to pay him down the road.

Do whatever is best for his development. The big league club is dead in the water with Ryan’s injury because of the Pohlads (they created this mess with shortsighted business dealings and overall incompetence, and yes, by being cheap). Even if they limp into the playoffs, it’ll be a bloodbath. This is why you plan for injuries, not hope they won’t happen (especially with this roster’s history). I’ve been disgusted with this ownership group plenty over the years. Never more so than right now. Just sell the damn team already. We should be in a championship window and they’ve blown it.

You had to know some kind retribution was coming from the baseball gods. Can’t thumb your nose at free agency and the trade deadline without consequences.

Good thing we “bolstered” the pen with this nibbler.

Just stop with Margot in the lead off spot. I get that he can hit lefties a little bit once in a while, but come on.

I have to say, I’m impressed with how they’ve responded. I’ll start to gain some optimism if they can take another game in Chicago. But, obviously, the series after is going to tell us a lot and they still have a difficult schedule coming up. A couple bad series still could have them on the outside looking in. A lot of work to do, and it remains to be seen whether the baseball they’ve been playing will get them very far against good teams that can score runs. I’m not taking anything away from the White Sox series in terms of encouragement. They are an absolute dumpster fire. Going back to the beginning of June, the Twins are roughly 5 games under .500 against teams with a record .500 or better (quick math, may be off slightly). The Cleveland and KC series are basically the playoffs, and the atmosphere should reflect that. Absolutely have to win at least 4 of the 7 to stay afloat. Should be a lot of fun to watch. If they don’t make any hay in those series, following up with road series against Texas and SD, then at home against STL, Atlanta and Toronto, then again road series against Tampa and KC are going to be very difficult to make up significant ground. A lot of talented teams getting to the point of desperation throughout the remainder of the schedule. They control their own destiny and will get tested in playoff-like environments. Can’t ask for a more eventful stretch run as a spectator.

I think the days of “peak Duran“ are over. They know that, hence the reports of him being shopped at the deadline. What they need to make the playoffs is the offense to be one of the best in the game. If there’s injuries, significant slumps, even meaningful regression for a few guys, it’s over. Ive made my thoughts known to much ridicule. The division is over. We’re in 3rd and 7 back in August. Let’s get real. I don’t think the have the horses to hang in a WC spot. Everything has to go perfectly in terms of health and there’s a lot of better teams on the schedule. Also, getting a bit conspiratorial, the league does not want 3 AL Central flyover teams in the playoffs. Good luck with the umps against Boston, Baltimore, etc.