JADBP

no, totally wrong. We definitely have an excess of catching on the team....so much so that the THIRD catcher on the team has sat on his butt nearly all season! Now that is just useless excess! Well played, Mr. Zoll....

You are exactly right here! But, remember, the Pohlads are largely in the commercial real estate and finance business. And, I am gonna go out on a limb here and say they are probably equally skilled at the running an MLB baseball team as they are in manufacturing widgets. Here is the point: the Pohlad family are the owners and the financiers of the Minnesota Twins. They do not manage the Minnesota Twins. They HIRE people to do that for them. They hire an Executive Team, who, in turn, hire Managers, Coaches, Trainers, Marketing staff, Groundskeepers, etc. It's that Exec Team that comes up with a Strategy that will 1) lead the team to on-field success and 2) make the owners richer. By now you get the gist of this: The roster is an embarrassment, the coaches keep getting replaced, player development sucks, attendance has caved, and they are losing money. But, don't blame Pohlad for choosing which players trade at the deadline...remember, he hired people to do that. BLAME FALVEYZOLL (yeah...they are the same person). I hope that they finally realize that they hired the wrong Executive Team that has been rapidly devaluing their investment for years! Only then can they fire Zoll and hire an experienced baseball executive to lead the organization with intelligent baseball decisions. I am guessing that Tom is starting to realize this. I sure hope so!

yeah, watch....they will sign a catcher over the winter (either Jeffers or another MLB C) and we would have wasted a roster spot on Jackson all season. Just idiotic. Zoll, cleanup in aisle 13, asap! Please leave the Twins!

LOL...nice quote!

Well....nice start to his career with the Twins! A HR on his first AB! Really! First to do so since Eddie Rosario. And a great throw from CF to nail a runner at 3B! Other than Buxton, I don't think anyone else makes that out on the team. You know, when I watch Emma running around the bases, he kinda reminds me a bit of Puckett--he's got that big smile and that seemingly pudgy body. There is a lot to like with Emma...hope he never goes back to AAA. End of the road for Wallner, Kriedler. Maybe even Martin?

I couldn't agree more about ZOLL! PULLLEEEZZZE, Mr. Pohlad, give us some hope! As far as Ryan goes, I'd make him an offer to stay with the Twins for 3-4 more years. He can be an anchor with the team. Sorry that we missed out on Pablo this year, but I love him on the team...maybe we can extend him another couple of years. Ober...geez, I dunno...I am pretty sure i would trade him for a prospect. Agree with Jeffers and Larnach. That they are still on the team is just management malfeasance. We have not been a contender since at least August. Zoll really messed up with Jeffers--because now he is forced to give him the QO just to cover up his idiotic non-trade. Even if we had gone on a heater and made the playoffs, how much more money would the team have made (could have made the same bucs by dropping Jeffers salary!). People are just not showing up at the stadium until they start making smart moves!

And we already know what Larnach is…and Wallner, Roden, and Kreidler, Keaschall, and Clemens…. of the bunch, I’d only keep Clemens (Util), Keaschall (needs fielding training badly! but can’t ignore the bat) and maybe Roden as backup in AAA. We are being delusional if we think we can pass up FOUR other teams to make the playoffs. And so what if we did? We’d likely not last the first round. At this point in the season, the only thing we should be doing is testing unknown players at the MLB level to better understand what we need to do over the off-season for planning the 2027 roster. We don’t need to play Wallner or Martin or Larnach. They know exactly their skillsets and limitations. Thank you Zoll ( and still Falvey) for this mess!

Twins we’re out of contention in August!!

So the only options are: Keep him in AAA until he’s 100% ready and you know he will stay or bring him up and play him until: injury Send him down and expose him to waivers—probably losing him for nothing stash him on the bench and train him at the big league level (like we have done with so many other players) anything I missed?

Uhhhh...the Twins were eliminated from the postseason in August! As far as Erod....I only have two words to say: BIG PAPI Dumping Erod before he ever sets foot on Target Field would be as embarrassing as dumping Big Papi at in 2002, just in time for him to hit and average of over 35 HRs/year and drive in an average of 108 RBI over the next 13 years...of a first ballot HOF career. Now, will Erod match this extremely high level of performance? Well...their AAA stats are roughly similar....Erod 256/423/912 and Ortiz 309/381/913. And, yes, Ortiz had his share of injuries throughout his career too. So, why would you give up at Erod at this point? So you can play Roden? Larnach? Clemmons? Martin? Wallner (choke!).? Gimme a break! Roden, Larnach and Wallner don't hold a candle to Erod--not even in the same league. Clemmons is one of the best utility players we have had for a while...keep him there. Martin is OK, but powerless. This roster is totally F'ed up! There IS an easy fix here...maybe Erod plays in the AFL then Start him out in AAA,, but when you bring him up....sign Erod to a 2 year contract. That bumps him up to MLB minimum wage, but it also protects him in case we want/need to send him down to AAA for some more at bats--he'd just be under MLB contract But, just abandoning him with a trade this off-season would be as lunatic as trading Louie Varland. Sooner or later, we have to get adult brain cells in the GM chair. I just hope that happens before we destroy this team any further!

right....it was a gamble by the Zoll. And a stupid one! Look at it this way: suppose we did win a wild card playoff spot. Just making the postseason is not the goal here and should NOT be a measure of success. ADVANCING in the playoffs should be our goal. Building a team that can achieve that should be ZOLL's #1 goal. Pohlad said he wants to be competitive, sure, we were kinda competitive this year..probably thanks to the change in coaches. But, we are not good enough to compete in any playoff scenario. Which playoff teams could we have actually competed with this year? None. We probably would have matched up against the NYY, BOS, CLE or HOU....and I doubt we would have been able to put up much of a fight. So what was the point of the trade deadline non-deals? Larnach, Wallner and Jeffers should have been traded. Probably more. Those returns would have been better for the team than Jeffers hitting another 10 HR. We have been fumbling around with losers in the OF all season and it has cost us many games. Our pitching staff was miserable all season (injuries on SP, and a horrible RP staff) and it cost us many games. Could some smart trades shored up a couple of these positions? We could have brought up Emma and/or Jenkins and our OF would have been far better. We have been carrying three C's pretty much all season...what the heck for if you didn't trade Jeffers? Zoll's mishandling of the roster is beyond inane---its insane.

Andy, I am so sorry, but Zoll is simply Falvery #2. Born and bred. He has to go. The sooner the ownership understands this, the sooner the Twins can start forming into a winning organization, top to bottom. Can anyone name one thing that Zoll has really done differently than Falvey? He's on a one year contract for a reason. Pohlad had little choice when he fired Falvey. So, he gave Zoll the rope to try. It hasn't been pretty. As I said many times, it will take years to fix the mess that Falvey gave us. But Zoll does not have the experience, the knowledge nor the respect to pull it off. Sorry, we need someone far better than Zoll. Do you know anyone who is interested???

oh come on.....the Twins website news is shouting: "Urgency ratcheting up for Twins in do-or-die stretch" OK. . . it might be a little over-optimistic, but, here, 2.3% chance means there is still a chance! Personally, I say that the Twins are dead for this year...a year badly mismanaged by Zoll......

Catching may be the most difficult position to learn on the entire field. Lackey looks very good, and we all expect him to be lights out great one day, but rush him? It all depends on his performance next year and how quickly he learns, absorbs, grows, and matures. Much of that depends on good instruction and smart advancement (challenges). But I have high hopes for him. I'd love to see him grow into the MLB next year, but I am not counting on it. Since Zoll screwed up the trade deadline, we are likely going to lose Jeffers with nothing in return in a season where we were really never going to succeed (even if we made it to the playoffs as a WC, we would likely not go far). That is management malfeasance. Dang it! We might get something back with the QO, but I hear that the Twins are afraid to offer it for the fear that he might accept it! Such stupidity. Just piling unforced errors on top of errors!

NO! YOU DO NOT KEEP ZOLL !!!! This team has failed for several years now as a result of the bad team management. We have had many good/great players pass through Target field. But, to build those players into a complete, competitive team is the management's job. They scout, they draft, they trade, they hire, they put together all the pieces. And, hopefully they hired a good staff to train the players in a consistent, modern approach, from low A to MLB. And, they have to get the right facilities and get the players all the modern tools they need to succeed. All of this...is up to the GM and his staff. Do you think Zoll up to the task? Well, lets look at it this way: It is obvious that Falvey was not. The Twins did not exactly flourish under his administration. So, he get's canned and his sidekick takes his place. Could Zoll change the organization for the better? I don't think so because every move that Zoll has made is right out of the Falvey playbook. So, Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.....So sad. If there is any single change that Mr. Pohlad needs to make, it is to install an experienced, professional management team to run one of his most valuable assets. Sigh....we can hope!

No, he needs to learn now at hte MLB level. He's done more than everything he needed to do at AAA

On the one hand, a senior manager would have been a good idea...if Zoll would listen to him. Even the great one, TK, had smart, experienced support around him. On the other hand, if the ownership stuck with Zoll for the season and then he's gone, why bother to bring in backup in the Spring? Why not just wait out the year.

The easy answer is to replace Zoll with a competent, experienced and professional baseball GM.

Uhhh....the Dodgers are 82/57! I wouldn't mind a 13-17 stretch when you are 9 games ahead of the 2nd place team! Poor choice of case in point.

You are right....Zoll has had a part in this for many years. That's why I assigned him 90%--I was going to go 80/20 for Zoll/Falguy, But then I realized he is probably far more to blame than we can see. Day to day operations, lack of training facilities, poor minors coaching/training, lots of problems from one end to the other. And, if it is really this messed up (just look at all the roster f'ups!), then WHY didn't Zoll change anything/fix anything? He just kept on doing what Falvey taught him to do. There is only one long term fix that is absolutely imperative for the Twins: replace the Zoll organization--starting with Zoll. Its the only way we ever get out of this mess. The LAD Dodgers are a fantastic team NOT because of an owner that throws massive money at the players payroll (see, for example, the NY Mets)--its because the owner built a great team from end to end. Great facilities, great scouts, great management, great marketing, great, smart everything!

You hit the nail on the head! I'd have to say the fault is 90% Zoll and 10% Falvey. Its their job to run the ENTIRE organization!!! The owner's job is to fund their investment and select able managers to run the organization. They are funding, albeit at modest levels. But what the organization does with that money is up to Zoll (and formerly, Falvey). I keep saying that it will take some years, maybe 2-3-4 years, to undo Falvey's mistakes. Now Zoll.....new boss same as the old boss--not undoing. Shelton has to do the best with what he is given. But he isn't even given a full team...carrying 3 catchers means he is wasting one spot on the bench with dead weight that he refuses to play. And, not just the catchers! He's carried other dead weight throughout the season. He just doesn't play them! Wallner, early Lewis, RPs, etc. And, Shelton doesn't make promotions. Zoll does. Holding back all that ready OF talent available in AAA (instead, watching Wallner, Keaschall, and several others fumble around in the OF) is NOT Shelton's fault. Its Zoll's fault. The players can take some blame if you say that Wallner is useless in an MLB RF. It is Zoll who built this mess of a team. Maybe our facilities or training or medical staff or coaching or something else is the reason for so many injuries? But you can't blame the players in AAA who Zoll never (or too late) promoted. Zoll is the reason the roster is so screwed up. While we can certainly blame him for some of the flailing additions he's made in his tenure, we must also lay blame on Zoll for the moves he DIDN'T make. He could have moved Jeffers for a key future piece (why the H are we carrying three C's if we kept him?). I know he tried to trade Larnach, but he should have had a backup plan to pivot once the deal fell through. Larnach was immediately replaceable with any of three great AAA OFers at minimum cost. Those, and several other non-trades, demonstrated that Zoll is simply not ready for the big time. As a minumum, Zoll could help dampen the criticism if he was a little more open about his through process. But, he spews nonsense. He must have spent too much time watching Joe P. The one thing that Pohlad has to do besides invest was choose a management team to run the team. Zoll was promoted into the job because Pohlad had few other options on Jan 30. Now he has had time to watch Zoll flounder, we dearly hope that he brings in an experienced, professional baseball manager to run the organization! That's our best hope for a winning future!

You know.....Cleveland is holding firm with the last wild card spot...and their record is only 1 game over .500! If we can't even get to .500, then we certainly don't deserve to be in the playoffs. Very disappointing loss. Twins play well for a while then just BOOM, fell flat on their face. Ouch! Like going 10/17 in August...after going 15/9 in July. Odd....in August, the Twins won only one of ten weekend games (Sat and Sun) all month!

-1 OAA is not horrible...its just not great. Just below average. That's a significant improvement over what we had at SS so that's probably why he looks so good. Technically, Buxton has been our best fielder with 3 OAA. Monthly totals are not yet available but he did play most of August. I DO like the idea of DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE MONTH! Keep it up! Keaschall is well at the bottom of the list for the year with -11 OAA. Ouch! Was a rock at 2B.

Yes, Joe Mauer was the best Catcher prospect ever for the Twins--maybe the most elite prospect the Twins ever had. But, even though he had 55/60 grade power, he just didn't use it much--except one year--2009, when he hit 28 HRs. But that was his contract year--and he put on an MVP year to push up the price of his long term contract. Then he sat back. He averaged just under 8 HRs for the rest of his career. After the first year of his contract, his productivity fell off a cliff (yeah, bilateral leg weakness). He had plenty of pop, just rarely ever turned it on. He had plenty of hit tool but his BA just slowly went down. He moved away from his best position (C) but he was still a very good 1Bman. One he got that big 9-year contract, he just sat back and coasted. aka Maueritis. But, luckily, coasting for the immensely gifted Joe Mauer was still very very good. Do you ever see Joe Mauer at Twins training camp helping out young Catchers or hitters? Do you ever see him helping the team in any way? I see him once in a while for an single appearance like Twins HOF day or something... With Joe, sadly, it was all "Just show me the money!" He could have been better than Pucket or Killibrew...if he only cared.

Fedko has been DFA'ed and is no longer with the team. He badly injured his knee, so he gets to recover over this winter and see if he can catch on somewhere...anywhere. He was 0-16 when called up to the Twins, so I guess I can understand not giving him a lot of chances.