JADBP

It’s all Rocco’s fault. There! Seven!

Yeah, you jinxed it!

What happened to the concept of: a) batting your HR hitter 3rd or 4th so he has some runners on when he hits? b) giving Buxton some rest during the season rather than trying to squeeze an extra at-bat into every game? Oh yeah, sorry, I know the answer! He’s been Roccoized! Dang!

Miranda has a chance. But not likely with the Twins. He’s gonna have to be injury depth (really deep) until he is a trade “throw in” piece. If agree the issue seems to be in his mind more than talent. Could he be trained? Sure. Maybe. Naaah? Julien is a different case. He never ever hit the bender. At first, throw him a juicy FB and bye bye baseball. But then teams saw this adapted by throwing sliders. and he adapted by swinging at the them rather than the occasional FB. He was so focused on hitting the sliders (but never figured out how) that he completely stopped hitting the FB. He looked just silly last season as he stared at that down the middle FB on strike 3! He was totally backwards. Miranda could become a Brent Rooker but the odds are low. He has fair talent but for some reason lacks consistency. Another team is gonna get a chance to try. Julien might finish the season (and career) in AAA.

Here is the most inane decision possible....letting Kody Clemmons hit. it was 9th inning, two outs but runners on 2nd and 3rd. And you expect Clemmons to get a hit here? He's batting 091 for the season, and hit a whopping 0.000 for the Phils before they dumped him. A little extra history on Clemmons...he has TWO DWIs! Last one he threw up while being arrested, after crashing into another car. Obviously he must think he's as good as his [roid poster boy] father. He has a brother named Koby...so it is Koby and Kody Clemmons, what was Roger thinking there? The sooner we dump him, the better! And, yeah, after Rocco walks him out the door, lock the door behind Rocco!

I guess the bottom line for me is this: The Pohlad's are getting exactly what they deserve. They ran this team into the ground. Whether through mismanagement, through bad player development, though bad signings, through payroll "right-sizing" or through whatever other BS that they have tried over the last 5-10 years, THEY HAVE FAILED. And, fans are paying them back...with their non-attendance! So, the team value is shrinking (who wants to buy an abject loser?) and the owners are likely to have to take out more loans to cover inevitable losses. They are just slowly bleeding to death. Its their own fault. They are never going to get anywhere close to $1.7 Billion (minus their debt against the team). That ship has sailed. Its their own fault. And now the truth is out. The family put their fine investment into a death spiral when they put Joe in charge. Its their own damn fault!!!

The players have given up! They are just showing up and who cares what effort they provide. Not the coaches, not the management and certainly not the owners. They have big contracts or a bright future so why bust your ass??? Really. Truly. Why bother? B cause the ownership has not spent a dime to improve the team when it mattered. Not in the offseasons. Not at the deadlines. Nothing but the weakest of token moves. And the coaching? Why bust your ass if the coach is gonna pull me in the 4th inning? Why bother if the coach keeps putting the same washed up loser instead of a promising g rookie? Why should I push to learn a position if I can’t stay there more than 2 games in a row? Why bother practicing hitting lefties? Because honestly the coach doesn’t seem to give a damn b cause there is never any consequences. So it’s the players. But it’s the players because ownership and management and coaching all screwed them over.

Can’t wait for that Rocco post Game IV: He will say; They played their butts off Tough game. they’re Grinders. never mention a player by name.

Uhhhh. Why wasn’t this flagged as inappropriate?

LOL. Why is “…and the Twins go down quickly” just ringing in my ears?

Actually it seems like the batters just give up after about the 5th inning or so. How often do you ever see them come back to win? They’re lifeless.

Proof: from last night’s post-game interview: [Rocco] “Our guys played their butts off out there tonight. When you go on an individual basis and look up and down and see what all the guys in the clubhouse did in that game -- the way we pitched and the way we competed in those at-bats against [Sale] -- it’s about as good as it gets. We grinded.“ Don’t worry about that 10 RISP….we’ll do better some day.

Come on, guys (and gals)! Don’t give up hope! The players are battling their butts off (according to Rocco)! And don’t forget: win or lose, everyone gets a Dairy Queen after the game!

DAIRY QUEEN FOR EVERYONE AFTER THE GAME TONIGHT! This was the most painful loss of the season to date. All those runners on 2nd and 3rd...surely you can push one or two across the plate? Bases loaded? That was pathetic. But, the worst moment of the game was the post-game interview with Rocco. I say with no sarcasm that Rocco displayed all of the feel-good juju that a mini-van-driving Daddy/coach gives the kids after a Little League game. Rocco: "I am so proud of the awesome effort that you kids put out today. You kids did AWESOME! DQ mini-Blizzards for everyone on the team!" Kids: "YAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!" Somehow Rocco thinks this translates well to the Biggs. Somehow he thinks modern coaching is about coddling the players, while slavishly juggling strategy based on slivers of numerical advantage. The players players don't give a damn because they are not being asked to give a damn. Other than the rookies, they are all making millions of dollars no matter how well they play. Why try harder? The coach never gets mad at the players. There are no consequences for failing 10 times to get that teammate home for 2nd or 3rd. And the owners....they certainly don't give a damn either, because they are just trying to cash out the team for a $Billion or two. There are no consequences here. DQs for everyone! This is Rocco....he's yelling "Come on, hurry up guys, DQ closes at 9!" Please hurry up and sell this team so a new owner might see through this BS.

Unless they sell the team to someone as stupid as themselves.

I just can't imagine someone buying the team, then letting baby-Pohlad continue to run the team. The teams finances are trashed...and who's fault is that? Man oh man, with that expectation, they will never sell the team!

sorry for the repeat....

Yeah....I am sorry, but this team looks like a bunch of high school kids trying to play pro ball. Its embarrassing. It would be more frustrating if we didn't that there really is some high level skill, talent and power in all of these professional athletes. So, let's look at he big picture. The Twins management have done absolutely nothing to support these players. Last season, they cut payroll and added dumpster-dive players. They were competitive some of the season, but management bailed on them at the trade deadline, getting for a player that they kept what, 2 weeks? It was like they said "See, we made a trade!" This last offseason, they let some good players walk and, as usual, went dumpster diving at the end of the offseason, when all the good, low cost gems were lost. Traded for nothing. SO, basically, the team has been going backwards for at least 2 years. Bringing up an occasional good prospect like Lee or Lewis keeps hopes up, but the injuries...just ugggly! What is really going on? Is there any hope at all this season? NO. Give it up. 1. The owners don't want the team anymore. Meaning they could care less about the team, the players, the fans, the success or failure of the franchise--they are done and want to cash out. 2. The team is hideously, deeply in dept. Obviously whoever has been running the organization has little to no business skills. Whoever buys the team is going to have to pay off and estimated $450 million in debt--meaning the value and the price is reduced by $450 mill. Too bad the Pohlad's are holding out for top $$. 3. Wait, this story gets better! Not only do the Pohlad's want to sell the team, dump that $450 million in debt while pocketing over $1.5 Billion, but they also want to retain management control of the team after they sell off their ownership! On what planet are these morons living?? Even if there was some logical reason to do so, would you want the current management, who ran up this enormous debt and who ran a competitive team into the ground, still running the show? Are you kidding me????? OK, so the ownership has completely trashed this team in many ways, while being arrogant enough to think that someone would allow them to continue to run the team. What do you expect the players to think about this sh17show that ownership is running. I am surprised that they even bother to show up to play. And, when they do, are they going to bound over large dog houses to play their best? Are they going to get serious about warmup stretches and batting practice? Or are they biding their time to get some experience and move on to the next team willing to pay them? Or just sitting on the trainer's bench counting their Millions?

WHAT JUST HAPPENED???! What in the world are Twins management thinking? From the mlb.com/twins.....we learn: Throughout the latter stages of Spring Training, even as Bailey Ober kept racking up strong results, he repeatedly told reporters that he nonetheless felt a bit out of sync. His velocity was down, and though he was getting hitters out, he was not pleased with his delivery. Unfortunately, just as Ober felt he had mostly ironed out those wrinkles, another complication struck. He got sick. Ober spent much of Friday in bed and Saturday taking IVs as he battled a virus. And so Ober never really ramped up in ST, never really got it "in sync." OK, so maybe he needs an extra week or two of prep and repetition to get in sync? Then he gets puke-virus-sick and is taking intravenous antibiotics for two days laid up in his hotel room...and the very next day he is asked to don a Twins uni and provide a max effort athletic performance. Come on, what is the chance that he is fully recovered? What is the chance that he is even 50% recovered? Who is the absolute moron that asked foe--or--even allowed Bailey to go out there and pitch on Sunday. It should have been obvious during warmups that he was not 100%. It should have become slap-across-the-face obvious that he wasn't gonna last much longer after the first inning of 28 pitches of declining quality. Same thing last year with Ober pitching. Blink and it is suddenly a half dozen runs. That's a FAILURE on the part of part of the manager. Why did the Rocco keep running him out there? Why wasn't Dobnak warming up in the first inning if Bailey was sick and questionable? Why didn't they see this in warmups? They're hanging over the railing...why didn't they see this in the first inning? Why didn't they hit pause and use one or two mound visits in the first or second innings. They could talk to Bailey and assess his health. They would buy extra time for Dobnak to warm up. Why did they do NOTHING until the StL had score EIGHT runs? Did they not see the train wreck happening? The train was blowing its whistle for the last three days...Ober was not ready, don't run him out there. This one is 1000% on Rocco, He should have scratched Ober. Let him skip a turn. If he wants, he can throw a simulated game, but DO NOT let him pitch in the game. It became a throwaway game. And, this is MLB, not Little League. These games count just as much as a game in September. Its a LOSS. But, immense kudos to Dobnak. He SHOULD have started the game, I find it immensely heartless to send him back down. What a D!@# move.

Yeah, OK...I know...I know...its just Spring Training...but....WHO DO YOU LIKE? CLE: 10-17 added Santana, Resigned Bieber, lost Boyd, Cobb, Gimenez, Josh Naylor, Eli Morgan CWS: 10-16 added Perez, Slater, Tachman, WIlson, Rojas, Taylor, Gilbert, Thaiss, lost Leone MIN: 10-15 added Bader, France, Coulombe, lost Farmer, Kepler, Santana, Thielbar, Moran DET: 12-12 added Flaherty, Torrez, Urquidy KC: 18-11 added ZJonathan India, Estevez, lost Robbie Grossman, Will Smith, Singer, Frazier, Pham DeJong, Gurriel

Uhhhh...play the guys who hit? Then what were they doing late last season...because NO ONE was hitting!

I’d be far more worried about Julien than Miranda but I worry about both. France is a rental/trade chip (if another collapse). Lee, Lewis are going nowhere—here to stay—and likely to star someday. Keashall and others are coming soon. So, if Miranda and Julien don’t start playing at a higher level they will get swapped for a bucket of balls.

Can you imagine where we would be without Sonny Gray and/or Jorge Lopez in the Twins org?

Geez don’t be such a downer, man!