Western SD Fan

I missed the game thread tonight, so I had to go back and read it and the expected comments about not letting SWR shake himself of the training wheels were all on there. I fully agree with one of the commenters that you could have had SWR go back out for the sixth with a batter-by-batter approach with Coulombe and/or Stewart warmed up to come in if he gets in trouble. Rocco was expecting Coulombe to pitch to Suzuki (RH) anyway so why not let SWR try to get another batter or two. I did go back through SWR's game logs since coming back from AAA and he has faced some good lineups: TEX, HOU, MIL, SEA, MIA, AND CHC. Other than Miami, these are all decent lineups, and you could make an argument for not letting him face this lineup a third time. What I see that frustrates me the most is that Rocco & Co. have a plan and want to stick to the plan, like planning out a two-week family vacation rather than managing the game. As for the all-analyst broadcast, loved it as a niche thing. I may not like as much after an entire series of this but tonight was nice. The transitions coming in and out of commercial breaks were disjointed and some of the in-game things such as who is warming up in the bullpen or who is in the on-deck circle could have been better. I see that as an additional duty for the production guys to let them know about such things to point out while they are doing this all-analyst experiment. Going forward, I would like to see this as multiple single games throughout a season and not a single series. Finally, a shout out to our old friend, Caleb Thielbar, the pride of South Dakota State Jackrabbit baseball! 🙂

I guess my point was that they didn't select many relief pitchers and it soon becomes a numbers game. I've already made my pitch on who Joe Ryan should have replaced on the All-Star roster in swapping him out for Bryan Woo.

If you believe that the Twins are eventually going to be sellers, what does Buxton or the Twins have left to lose? He's having one of if not the best year of his career. He gets to participate in front of his family and friends in Atlanta. His son is excited for him. Byron calls it a once in a lifetime opportunity. Maybe he will get a chance to show a national audience what could have been had he been able to stay healthy throughout his career. He deserves this opportunity and I'm not going to complain about him taking it.

All 3 relievers with Munoz, Hader, and Chapman? I do agree that had the Twins played better as a team that Ryan probably would have been picked. This was the comparison that ESPN ran with their snub article comparing all of these pitchers and suggesting that you could have picked any three of five and been fine. For reference, deGrom, Woo, and Bubic made the team, and you would have to pick a Texas pitcher as your three as that is their only representative. I made the suggestion that Ryan should have been picked over Woo, but Seattle has a better record AND the reputation of a better pitching staff than the Twins, so they picked the best pitcher out of this year's Seattle rotation, which is Woo.

I would argue that Cohen meddled too much in the construction of the team and Billy Eppler was trying his best to clean up the mess that he was told to assemble. The Twins are not in the same situation as Falvey not only created the mess, but you're also asking Falvey to construct a better nucleus considering the current track record. Finally, the players the Mets traded that season had more value to contending teams than the Twins have, Verlander and Scherzer in particular AND paid $35M each to the Astros and Rangers for the privilege of taking those players off of the Mets's hands. A similar transaction for the Twins would be if they could trade Correa and pay the other team to take him off their hands. Do you see the Twins paying someone to take Correa?

Spencer Torkelson would like to come into the conversation. I'm not trying to compare Torkelson to Wallner or suggest that Torkelson or Wallner are considered the best hitters in the league. I would just point out that Torkelson struggled in 2024, sent down to AAA for just over 1/3 of the season, and was on the verge of being replaced on the roster. Obviously, the main differences are that there are no readily immediate replacements for Wallner, nor do I believe the coaching staff is up to the challenge of fixing Wallner. Other examples could be Larnach or Lewis as it seems like the staff have no answers in helping them through their respective struggles either. Another example can be that Lee complimented his father's coaching staff at Cal Tech - SLO for his bat handling skills resulting in the game-winning hit instead of any coaching that the current staff has done for him. We can only hope that a team sale comes sooner rather than later for players like Lee, Lewis, and Wallner so there can be a complete turnover of the staff in the entire system rather than eventually trade them as the team failed to properly develop them as the players that they originally showed promise to be. As the Joker has so eloquently stated in the 1989 Batman movie, "This town (team) needs an enema!".

Looks like we are not alone in thinking Joe Ryan was snubbed. Even the hack writers at ESPN listed Ryan as the biggest AL pitcher snub, even though they taper their outrage by suggesting that you could have pulled out of a hat three of five pitchers between Ryan, Woo from Seattle, Bubic from KC, and deGrom or Eovaldi from Texas. So let's look at it and you pick three of five. One note being that you MUST pick a Texas pitcher as that is their only representative. IMO, Ryan should replace Woo. Seattle already has Raleigh and Munoz on the All-Star team. 2025 MLB All-Star Game rosters: Oversights, other takeaways - ESPN

This game is like some we see throughout the season. Had you asked us to go into the series that we won the first two games and had a chance to sweep with Joe Ryan on the mound, we would have been ecstatic with the result. It's unfortunate the way the game turned out, but I'm going to keep my expectations in check and be happy with the weekend's result. As for the game, I'm happy to see that the offense got up off the mat and fought back and not roll over like we have in so many of these games this year and lose 2-1 and saddle Ryan with the hard-luck loss. We have constantly made the point on TD in the comments and in articles that the lack of focus, fundamentals, and attention to detail will eventually haunt us. Looks like another refresher in INF fielding practice with PFP is in order. The Rays are fast as a team, but the Cubs aren't exactly that much slower than the Rays. I also liked the aggressive send by Watkins for Larnach to score and Wallner attempting to steal another base. Even though Wallner was ruled out, it's at least shows that someone wants to show initiative and recognize that station to station baserunning isn't working, whether that is just Wallner or a directive from the coaching staff.

I watched both the game and the post-game interview of Adams, and it definitely looks like he will need some more seasoning in St. Paul. In his post-game interview, he still looked like he was shaking so much that hopefully those jitters will go away with another bulk appearance. I'm going to hold judgement until I see him pitch against a weaker lineup in Pittsburgh on Friday night as that appears to be the next opportunity for him. A couple of those hits were just bad ball hits out of the zone and those you need to tip your hat to the batter. The one bright spot is that he didn't immolate on the mound when it started going pear shaped and was able to gut out of every inning. Unfortunately, his 66 pitches are right at the maximum they have him pitching in AAA so if you're expecting any stretch out beyond 4 innings, you'll be sadly disappointed. I honestly think Adams will be a placeholder to get by until the All-Star Break. I could see them swapping Raya for Adams if it looks like they need a pitcher after the break provided Ober or Matthews isn't magically coming back. Heck, if they go crazy and get to .500 before the break, there may be hope they could even be looking to add at the deadline. Six of their first nine games out of the break are against the Rockies and Nationals so there could be hope (possible false hope 🤪)

If you could trust any of these players to put down a bunt, I would almost love to see a safety squeeze here.

Dodged the slowest bullet of the game having that dribbler go foul.

I guess Jeffers framed that pitch just right. If Cash was already chippy at Nic Lentz, that may put him over the top.

My fear is that they are going to roll out Varland or Stewart and set themselves up for failure. Topa would be a possibility, but now you're looking at the top of the TB order for the ninth.

Even if you believe in the bats, wouldn't it make more sense to have Duran come out in the ninth in a tie game?

Duran warming up. Did Rocco forget what inning we are in?

They usually try to line them up with the pitcher's off-day throwing session. That's why we rarely see AS pitcher selections that pitch Sunday also pitch in the ASG and more and more pitchers are opting out when they start on Saturday as well.

Skenes is scheduled for Saturday. That's a tricky day because I'm sure MLB wants Skenes to start the ASG.

Pitch to contact. The Rick Anderson special. 🫠

That's what I've said all season long. The pitching almost has to be perfect to cover up for the bad offense. We shouldn't be looking at 4 runs as insurmountable, but yet here we are.

Or boneheaded plays like this where they have the runner dead to rights and still let him get back safe.

This was the next logical evolution since finding a pitcher to throw five innings is too difficult for the pipeline.

From a pitch count standpoint, this is likely Adams's last inning. He's been going 4 innings in St. Paul with between 55-65 pitches. Just don't see them sending him out for another inning.

Both doubles hit off of Adams have been bad ball hits. I wish a certain team in white jerseys were a little better at making contact like that.

Just seems like the way it goes when we don't put the crooked number up that we needed given the situation.

And watch the next half inning where the Rays get that run back faster than Adams can get settled in.