Twins_Fan_in_NJ

Zebs better watch himself with the top of the Angels' order. Got to Festa early on Monday night. Could do the same to Zebs.

Farm Dog heating up!

It's a pennant year race. Not spring training. Patience and empathy? Nope. Accountability. He needs to be held accountable. Send him down when Correa is back.

The third out was botched...

Julien shouldn't see the field again this season. And if Rocco plays him, he's worse than I thought.

Rocco's jumped the shark. He's been their friend. He's been a corpse in the dugout. As a last resort, he tried to be a hard ass and the Twins responded with one of their worst losses of the season considering the opponent and the importance for the wild card race. Somewhat in his defense, 6 years is a long-ish time for a manager or coach in professional sports. He's being tuned out. And it shows. What happens after this season is up to the Pohlad's.

Two things are true... He isn't the worst manager in team history. He's not a good manager.

Oh, and forgot to add - the biggest indictment against Rocco was his team's performance last night. He put them on blast out in the open for everyone to see and they came out and laid an egg against a team that looked like a split-squad in March. They're absolutely done with this guy and if the Pohlad's opt to ignore it, 2025 is a 75 win season...

This notion that the team is tired... Carlos Santana is the only player over 30 year's old that is in the lineup every day. Tired is flat-out an excuse. This is more about a team that has thrown games away with poor bullpen usage and lack of fundamentals - three recent examples - the Alcala meltdown game in Texas, the Julien botched DP, and Saturday night in KC - Twins could have a 5 or 6 game lead right now and that looms large especially with the upcoming series at Fenway. Over the course of 162 games, every single team will deal with injuries and fatigue - some teams more than others but no one escapes it. The Twins were 17 games over .500 in the end of July - without Correa and with Buxton being and out of the lineup. Even playing .500 ball from that point and they'd have a wildcard spot essentially clinched. The injuries have hurt but the bigger issue is a manager that is unable to push the right buttons. Zero feel. He's tried the nice guy routine, he's tried the stoic Joe Torre routine, and he's tried the tough guy routine. The team simply doesn't respond to this guy. The 2019 Bomba Squad was the outlier. In 2020, the White Sox pissed down their leg and the Twins backed into a division title. 2021 was a disaster. 2022 is a carbon copy of 2024 when things got tough and the manager couldn't steady the ship. They're fortunate that the division was as bad as it was in 2023 or they've would have been home in October despite a rotation that featured Pablo, Gray and Ryan all pitching at a high level. Rocco is a good guy. You can see that. But he's not a good manager. The Twins are in the midst of an epic collapse. 6 game lead for a playoff spot in late August and its about to evaporate. The roster needs a new voice. They need a manager who sees the game on the field instead of behind a computer. Correa might get back on the white horse and maybe saves Rocco from himself. But that's the only hope the Twins have and the Pohlad's need to be smart enough to see that regardless of making the playoffs or not, they have a manager who is in over his head.

That three game series in Fenway is going to put this team out of their misery.

This is the Angels....

More tough talk from Rocco tonight?

Manager comes out and talks about the road trip was unacceptable and the team needed to play better. The AAA+ Angels come to town and the team responds with... You haven't seen anything yet, Rocco.

Well managed team, clearly.

This team is done-zo.

This team...good god.

Man, Correa...come back soon. Please.

For sure, still time. But oof. Not a good look.

I love how this team responded to Rocco's hissy fit yesterday.

Nice double play. Lucky to only be down 2-0.

Not entirely out of frustration. The Twins' economics and roster construction make a Lewis trade somewhat plausible.

When this team has struggled, a lot of Rocco's comments to the media started with the word 'THEY' - it's a bad look. If you want to hold your team accountable, do it behind closed doors. I think back to that series after Baltimore - they need to start hitting the ball forward, they need to stop swinging stuff outside of the zone - how about, we all need to start doing a better job so that we start scoring some runs.

I'll duck after posting this, but... The Twins should consider trading Lewis this off-season. You can't have a Big 3 (Buxton, Correa, Lewis) with so many questions about injuries and durability. The first two names on that list are untradeable. That leaves Lewis. His value this off-season might be the highest that it's going to be - what happens if in 2025 he misses more time with injuries or if he does stay healthy, he fails to make the proper adjustments and struggles at the plate or in the field? Ownership isn't going to spend $$$. If Lewis can be dealt for a controllable starting pitcher and a high leverage reliever, it should be considered.

If this pending collapse shows anything, it's that Correa really is indispensable and they better spend the off-season trying to figure out how to keep him healthy.

It wasn't the first time this season. There were other instances. Mild or not, he might want to look at himself in the mirror.