The Great Hambino

I didn't say they needed to win 95 games to make the playoffs. My point is twofold: 1. If the claims that Rocco was costing the team 15+ wins a year were true, then the Twins must've been a 95+ win team based on talent. 2. Pushing back against that idea is not equivalent to saying managers are meaningless I'm not disputing that Rocco should be replaced. I don't know if anyone is at this point.

Yeah, there's a bit of a gulf between "people claiming that Rocco is costing the Twins 15+ wins per year are overstating his effect on the team [an actual figure that has been thrown out multiple times by multiple posters]" and "managers are essentially meaningless and anyone can do it". The 2024 Twins weren't close to a 95+ win team on talent I don't know who/where/what are these voices claiming Rocco is doing a good job and should be retained. I think the closest anyone has come to a defense of Rocco lately is "it doesn't matter because he'll be replaced by a clone." I don't really agree with that, but that's hardly a ringing endorsement

For what it's worth: Here are the current NL league-wide standings: 1. MIL 2. PHI 3. LAD 4. CHC 5. SDP Here are the current NL rankings in total bWAR: 1. MIL 2. PHI 3. CHC 4.SDP 5. LAD If you squint hard enough, you can see some correlation

Re: Rocco, I was later than many/most here to hop on the FIRE ROCCO train (for the record, it was when they came out completely flat out of the gates this year). It was my belief that he was good at those things that, like you said, happen behind the scenes and out of the public eye. But this story kinda puts the final nail in the coffin of that theory (if it hadn't been fully sealed already). If you're not able to control the clubhouse culture, and you're not a master tactician, and you're not known for player development ... what exactly is it you do here? Rocco is overdue for his meeting with the Bobs

Culture, chemistry, vibes - whatever term you want to put to that intangible sense of positivity within a team - I would agree is essentially a proxy for winning. Believe it or not, I've never played sports at a professional level, so perhaps there's an extra element or two at play when you're making your living with it and your teammates are also your coworkers. But I did play a whole lot of team sports growing up and into young adulthood, and I experienced the whole spectrum of relative success on those teams. In baseball, I was on a state championship team as well as one that didn't win a league game. My high school football career record was 5-22; in college, it was 31-9. I've been on great teams, horrible teams, and everything in between. My biggest takeaway from all of those experiences was that winning breeds chemistry more than the other way around. Maybe they breed each other to some degree. Chicken or the egg? I dunno. But the core of the team that apparently desperately needed a cultural reset when it got broken up at the deadline was essentially the same one that went on the playoff run that had team vibes flying the highest they'd been in a generation. Seems like the culture turned sour once the winning stopped. Or maybe Donovan Solano was the thing holding everything together.

I'm not saying he has been a success or that he should keep his job (his track record says no but every action ownership has taken says yes), but there has seemed to have been a pivot in recent years toward more athletic, more defensively-minded players. Since drafting Sabato, their first-round position-player picks have been: Noah Miller - defensive wiz, zero power Brooks Lee - great hit tool, not exactly Vince Coleman but profiled as having the hands and arm to be good defensively at 3B Walker Jenkins - true 5-tool player, any FO would've taken him with that pick in that draft regardless of philosophy Kaelen Culpepper and Marek Houston - shortstops with power being their weakest tool In free agency, their biggest position player signings in each of the last 3 years (non-Correa division) were signed with defense in mind: Vasquez, Santana, Bader If this has been a philosophy change, he's implementing it with the speed and urgency of someone turning an ocean freighter. And none of these pieces have really impacted the core yet. But there has been a definite increase in balls put in play (up to 65% of PAs from 56%) and decrease in strikeouts (nearly 2 fewer per game) since The Year Of The Strikeout in 2023. (There's also been a nearly 50 point drop in OPS and they're scoring 0.62 fewer runs per game since then, but that's for a different discussion on another day)

It would be nice if this were true. Unfortunately, the Pittsburgh Pirates exist and show that it isn't. They've been doing what we fear the Pohlads might be in the process of doing for years. They've done this with no repercussions. They have "sell the team" chants. They have faced a union grievance. They've been next-to-last in NL attendance every year since 2018. Doesn't matter. The profits keep coming. If boycotting or chanting "sell the team" or anything like that gives you some form of catharsis, then by all means, do what makes you happy. If you think your entertainment dollars are better spent elsewhere, go for it. You don't owe the Twins anything. But if you think that these things will spur any sort of positive changes we fans would like to see, then I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed.

So that's what they mean by bulk pitchers

I know - my best bet is to raise them as Lions fans. Or maybe one Lions, one Bears. Then we have the whole division covered

We shouldn't need to resort to harmful pejoratives here Their name is Pohlad. Show it some respect. And the answer is two. Joe writes an open letter to it assuming that will solve everything, then Jim comes in to clean up the mess

I walked into that one

Cory's favorite fair food is bottled water

I used to like the one or two nicknames per team that were creative The bats are harmless I guess. More fodder for game thread pun material, if nothing else The hat numbers are pointless and dumb on several levels

Am I crazy or should DET want to get the lead runner out?

I married a Packer fan. The battle for the souls of our children has begun

Give him time, he's only 28

21 ABs with RISP tonight for Detroit Have the Twins had that many all week?

This has "Twins lose 8-7" written all over it

GOOD THING THEY DID THAT PREGAME PITCHER FIELDING WORK!!!!

(I know)

Weird that Smoltz felt the need to dip into his child abuse material in a one run game He is not my favorite. If I wanted to hear incessant whining about modern baseball, I'd have someone narrate the game threads to me

Okay, I definitely don't have "Wallner scores from second on a ball that didn't leave the infield" on my Twingo card

I don't understand that. If they want the Pohlads to hear it, why are they doing it at Target Field?

Can't believe no one wanted Funderburk during The Great Bullpen Purge of 2025

MLB: "Hey players, how do you want to show off your individual personalities on Players Weekend?" Players: "Weird NASCAR numbers on the side of our hats"