As is, yeah. But because all of Duran, Jax, Stewart, Topa, and Alcala are due raises, we don't know if this front office will keep them all around. The bullpen, as is, is due $14 million.
That's not even mentioning Paddack who is due 7.5 mil.
The expansion of the playoffs has really muddied the waters on what it means to "warrant" a playoff spot. You could make a decent argument that the Minnesota Twins are the 18th best team in baseball.
I want to say again, because we all rightfully criticized Rocco for poor bullpen usage last week, he actually utilized it tonight in a way that showed some level of urgency.
No Margot leadoff or PH though. 2/10 /s
Since we all (rightfully) maligned Rocco for going to such terrible arms in Boston, he's actually approaching this game with some sense of urgency.
Too bad the seasons already over.
You're just looking at the narrow picture of this season. I think it's uncontroversial to say both of those teams are better positioned, better core group of players, going forward. Detroit might be dangerous for 3+ years.
I'm not even concerning myself with those teams. I'm just looking at the twins organization. They don't have much help in the high minors. There's no one that we're thinking "I hope they get invited to Spring Training!". Emmanuel Rodriguez might be ready to be a major leaguer next year but he'll be 22 and no one should really expect him to be a true contributor yet.
The payroll is ballooning with a bunch of players hitting arbitration and Pablo getting a big raise, so we may have to expect some exodus. And we can't really expect any outside help to fill any holes like 1B or CF.
Other than that, I'm pretty optimistic.
To this degree is incredible, but their collapse wasn't all that much of a surprise.
We all knew the starting pitching was going to fall off a cliff due to the lack of depth and reliance on rookie pitchers that were rushed to the majors, forced to stretch themselves more than they ever have in their career. Which made bullpen management extremely important, which is very evidently one of Roccos great weaknesses. Which then greatly exposed the lack of bullpen depth.
The offensive woes are seemingly just a clubhouse that lost all hope when their oft hurt stars were hurt once more, and just gave up at the first sign of trouble.
Mediocre team with no depth and poor leadership.