Dman

That was a masterpiece! Just a super fun read. Thanks for making me smile amidst all of this bad luck losing.

It is tough to win when your starting pitcher gives up 7 runs. To even be in the game at that point seemed crazy. Every facet of the team failed except the offense. Starting pitching was brutal, Relief work poor, defense so bad it lost the game. This team has a lot to work on right now. Baseball is like this though. Last year we were the hot team that caught the stumbling White Sox and took the division. Now the baseball gods have given us a taste of the other side. When you don't catch those little breaks things start to fall apart. The Twins aren't this bad. There are better days ahead. I honestly don't know if they can find a hot streak to match this losing streak but we will know more about what we have at the All-Star break. Baseball is a loooong season and other teams will have injuries and ups and downs as well. Here's hoping the baseball gods give them the breaks when they need them down the stretch.

Yeah this team is looking more and more like Cleveland light. Pitching just enough to lose and offense so bad the score needs to be low to win. Haven't really been watching much they have been so bad. I know they are better than this but this team feels more like a 500 team than a division winner. Slow starts that are this bad often mean missed playoffs because it is hard to play over 500 baseball and that is what it will take to make up ground. This offense needs some serious help maybe once they are out of it the guys will finally relax and perform. A few more weeks of this and it is pretty much season over.

Totally get it, but when we are talking about BABIP we are talking about pitches that guys are making contact on. If not making contact the shift is irrelevant. My point is why always roll over in to the shift when instead of trying to pull everything you try to be tick late and go oppo. Don't sell out for power try to go with contact the other way. A ground ball that direction has a greater chance to get through a line drive that direction is likely a double.

Not saying it is easy but that it can be done. I just think team philosophies are for selling out for power. If that is the case then the shift is here to stay unless they decide to go another way,.

Interesting discussion. With statistics the game has dramatically changed. I don't think you can really put that Geni back in the bottle. Like Brock I am not a fan of shifting it just seems ugly having all those guys on one side of the field. At the same time why can't the hitters adjust? Why continue to sell out for power and hit into the shift while dropping a few oppo hits changes your stats and erases the shift? If a hitter doesn't have that skill maybe they deserve to be punished with the shift (looking at you Max Kepler). Maybe my eyes and mind deceive me but it seems hard to believe that shifting doesn't lower BABIP. I mean why shift at all if that is the case. It feels like there might be some misinterpretation of the numbers there to me. Just look at Kepler's spray chart on Fangraphs. He hits about 80 to 90 percent of his groundballs directly into the shift with no chance of getting hits there. You are telling me that he wouldn't have a better BABIP if he went oppo with only one defender between 2nd and third? I find that hard to believe. Guys get shifted because they continue to sell out for power but anything on the ground is an automatic out. Maybe I missing that the hard hit doubles and HR's are making up for some of that but I still fail to see why a batter wouldn't try to take more advantage of extreme shifts. They might have slightly weaker contact and lose some HR power but one would think that if the other team continued to shift their BABIP could be 350 to 400 going oppo just needing to get the ball past one defender. While I don't love the shift I can't see changing it either. There are ways to beat it if batters choose to. If not then let the shift prevail. A weakness is a weakness exploit it if you can.

While I agree with your eyeball analysis there can be up to a 10 to 15 degree change in temperature from 1:00 to 3:00 versus 7:00 to 9:00. Not always the case but when it is April up north the highs are generally 50's and 60's at best and the lows 30's to 40's at best I can understand wanting to play during the heat of the day. This spring has been warmer than most so might not have mattered quite as much this year but I get where they are coming from. For games you can always record them or if you have MLB package watch them later if interested. For me not that big of a deal but I see your point that fewer people can watch as we have jobs and can't watch during working hours. So if viewership is what is most important they won't get it via weekday day games. For the players though I am sure they appreciate playing in slightly warmer conditions during the day.

I am with you here. While the righty, righty matchups are not advantageous to Jeffers batting line he is gaining valuable experience. It is not like he is never going to have to face right handed pitching. Perhaps working on a weakness early will produce more favorable results in the end. While the main point of this article has merit I think it is over the top to suggest the Twins are setting Jeffers up to fail. If by fail you mean us box score watchers aren't going to see the stats we want then I get it. The Twins know what position they are putting him in so the stats don't matter as much to them. They obviously don't want a black hole bat there but just how much better was a guy like Jason Castro? I'd wager not much better and they stuck with his "veteran" bat for three years. The kid has barely been in the Majors I think he needs more time likely a full season to get the hang of things and see where he is at. For right now any MLB at bat is a good at bat for Jeffers. There can be a painful learning curve but he is smart and talented enough to succeed in the end IMO.

Why no Robles today and using Colome after using him two innings two days ago? I guess I didn't understand that one. I can see now why Chicago moved on from him. While he might give up weak contact you never know what is going happen. When you K someone you don't have that problem. I get it is baseball and you are going to lose some days. There are few too many holes in lineup right now. A couple of clutch hits and things would have been different. Have to give it time but that is tough especially at home.

The Twins will stick with him this year through thick and thin. He has come around before and likely will again. He has really tried to make sure he is swinging at strikes and has walked more than normal so far. I just don't understand the complete lack of contact when he does swing. That is what concerns me the most. I hope he can relax, have fun and get back to mashing baseballs. I can give him some more time but right now he is kind of a weak link in lineup. Here's t to hoping he catches fire sooner rather than later.

I actually thought it was strange myself. Colome didn't exactly have an easy time of it in the 8th and I really thought Baldelli was pushing his luck bringing him out for the 9th. He ended up only throwing 32 pitches so not horrible but I was curious as to why they sent him out there for the 9th. The thing I was wondering is if a reliever is already warmed up and hasn't thrown too many pitches the inning before does it make more sense just to have them pitch two innings? Or is is it generally a bad idea to do that? That was the question I had. The OP has thought about it much harder than I. After reading this there were a couple things I think I think. It was a close game and Duffy hasn't been particularly sharp to start the season, walking guys, giving up hits, his WHIP stands at 1.88 currently which is not good for a reliever. I know Colome had a tough first time out but he is a proven vet that Baldelli has said he trusts in tough spots and that was a tough spot. In the end I honestly just think it came down to comfort level and he trusted Colome more than Duffy on that particular day in that particular situation. That is just my opinion. There certainly could be some master plan at work but for me I see it as a gut type situational managerial call.

I don't think anyone is arguing not to go all in if it makes sense. But do you really want to go all in with a player that hasn't played a full season yet in their career? That is the larger question. If you look at the last 20 years there is a big spending team pretty much every year in the world series. so you are not wrong but there are little guys sprinkled in there. The Marlins, White Sox Indians, Royals and Astros all had middle of the road payrolls like the Twins and the Marlins, White Sox and Royals all brought home trophies. The Rockies were middle of the road as well but most of those teams had top 5 or top 10 payrolls. I am not saying never keep your home grown stars to try and make a difference but I do have reservations about banking on a guy who has a history of being on the bench when needed most. New York Yankees (35, 24–11) 4–0 San Diego Padres (2, 0–2) New York Yankees (36, 25–11) 4–0 Atlanta Braves (9, 3–6) New York Yankees (37, 26–11) 4–1 New York Mets[W] (4, 2–2) Arizona Diamondbacks (1, 1–0) 4–3 New York Yankees (38, 26–12) Anaheim Angels[W] (1, 1–0) 4–3 San Francisco Giants[W] (17, 5–12) Florida Marlins[W] (2, 2–0) 4–2 New York Yankees (39, 26–13) Boston Red Sox[W] (10, 6–4) 4–0 St. Louis Cardinals (16, 9–7) Chicago White Sox (5, 3–2) 4–0 Houston Astros[W][L2] (1, 0–1) St. Louis Cardinals (17, 10–7) 4–1 Detroit Tigers[W] (10, 4–6) Boston Red Sox (11, 7–4) 4–0 Colorado Rockies[W] (1, 0–1) Philadelphia Phillies (6, 2–4) 4–1 Tampa Bay Rays (1, 0–1) New York Yankees (40, 27–13) 4–2 Philadelphia Phillies (7, 2–5) San Francisco Giants (18, 6–12) 4–1 Texas Rangers (1, 0–1) St. Louis Cardinals[W] (18, 11–7) 4–3 Texas Rangers (2, 0–2) San Francisco Giants (19, 7–12) 4–0 Detroit Tigers (11, 4–7) Boston Red Sox (12, 8–4) 4–2 St. Louis Cardinals (19, 11–8) San Francisco Giants[W] (20, 8–12) 4–3 Kansas City Royals[W] (3, 1–2) Kansas City Royals (4, 2–2) 4–1 New York Mets (5, 2–3) Chicago Cubs (11, 3–8) 4–3 Cleveland Indians (6, 2–4) Houston Astros (2, 1–1) 4–3 Los Angeles Dodgers (19, 6–13) Boston Red Sox (13, 9–4) 4–1 Los Angeles Dodgers (20, 6–14) Washington Nationals[W] (1, 1–0) 4–3 Houston Astros (3, 1–2) Los Angeles Dodgers (21, 7–14) 4–2 Tampa Bay Rays (2, 0–2)

How do you like watching Donaldson sitting on the bench? Until Buxton actually plays a full season you might have your 30M per year parked there. That is the main issue. I love what he can do and if his hitting is for real he very well might be the best player in baseball but you can't win a world series when your best player is sitting on the bench or out half the season. The Red Sox also are not a great comp when it comes to the Twins we are closer to the Rays and A's and Cleveland's than the Red Sox and Yankee's. If payroll were not an issue for teams then they all should outspend the Yankee's and Dodgers why don't the other 25 or so teams do that? Because every team generates a certain amount of revenue and budgets around that. Don't get me wrong I get the enthusiasm but there is also reality. The Rays made it to the World Series last year on a shoe string budget by making sound financial decisions to stay within the teams budget. They traded away elite talent to get there but they got there. Winning isn't always about money. It helps for sure but making sound financial investments (player production per dollar) is important too when there is a limited budget. Is Buxton a sound investment? One with a great track record of health and production? A player you can rely on to be there most of the time? I think those are important questions to ask before backing up the truck.

Pretty much everyone with a hit tonight even Sano so not much to complain about there. Buxton was in the 4 spot and hit one out. I can't believe I am saying this but I like him in that spot. I used to cringe when he came to bat and now I can't wait to see him up there. I know we have a long ways to go but I am loving Simmons eye at the plate and his bat. His offense has been a much needed boost early this year. Astudillo with another hit to get to a 500 BA. He looks better at the plate this year. Garlick has looked much better than Rooker at the plate and much more productive as well. Arraez and Garver with HR's it was a good night for the bats. Berrios pitched well but man they scorched some of his balls. He gives up a lot of hard contact but he did get 8 K's and almost made it 6 innings. Alcala was efficient with a 9 pitch inning but gave up hard contact as well. Waddell got to debut under favorable conditions with an 8 run lead. He looked a little shaky at times but he got the job done without giving up any runs. A fun home opener to watch and if this team continues to hit well and hit for power they could be pretty scary. I can get used to games like this. Next up is Pineda and hopefully the bats carry over the momentum to the weekend.

While I think your point has merit it also needs more context. Both players that were lost were coming off of injuries and and a lost Covid season. Do you think if Baddoo had made his way to AA ball last year they wouldn't have protected him? I think they would have but with the odd year and lost playing time it made less sense for a team like the Twins to protect him. Wells kind of the same thing and the Twins have a lot of relievers that they have fixed and that are in the pipeline every team loses guys like that on occasion. Both players were pretty high risk rule V picks IMO but I guess there are scouts and word of mouth and teams like the Tigers and Orioles can afford to take those types of risks. Teams that are trying to use their 40 man to win divisions and playoffs have a harder time accepting that type of risk. I certainly questioned the FO on boards here when they did not protect Baddoo as I believe I said at the time they must like Celestino better because they protected him and not Baddoo, but they were many factors at play that I did not consider at the time. They thought they could have their cake and eat it too, but it didn't work out that way.

Maybe I am Polly Anna but I don't see Baddoo falling off a cliff Offensively, He has upped his game the last two years he was out. The Hit he got off Robles nasty slider tells you all you need to know IMO. Yeah the two HR's came off cream puff fastballs but that is what good players are supposed to do. I don't think he will stay this hot but I don't see him falling all the way to 4th outfielder status either. He has the speed to play center and while he is noted to not have a great arm he was able to nab Simmons at second the other day. He has the speed to steal bases and has always had a good eye at the plate and that will carry him through tough hitting spells. I don't think he is going to be wished away anytime soon although any thing is possible I guess. The season is long though and injuries happen. Players get mentally tired and physically tired he won't stay this hot. The OP's title doesn't make sense to me though. The FO never gave up on Baddoo they just didn't think a team would take him and even if a team did they didn't think he would be ready to make the jump. Mainly because I don't think we have seen many if any players in the last 10 to 20 years make the jump from A ball to the majors. The risk of losing him appeared slim and the right play 90% of the time IMO. As others have noted the 40 man needs to be primarily planned for winning regular season games and yet there needs to be some room to protect good players that might be lost to Rule V. The better your team is the more you would like those 40 man spots to help with regular season depth. Also options can be a factor when you add a player too soon. The Twins didn't want to clog their 40 man with a young player that hadn't played organized baseball in two years and wasn't likely to contribute to the team this year. While that assumption appears wrong in hindsight given the odds it made sense. Despite all the things I said above we need to remember the Twins two highest rated players are outfielder's that are just about ready to make the jump in Kirilloff and Larnach. They added Celestino early so that he wouldn't get taken in Rule V and they have Wallner on the way and possibly Soularie as well as a host of ubber young international prospects with solid potential in Urbina, Diaz, Rodrigguez etc a little further down the pipeline but not too far off. So if they were going to lose an outfielder it was not like the cupboard was going to be bare. As others have said it is way to early to draw any solid conclusions about Baddoo and how his year will go. he is off to a great start but their will be bumps in the road. IMO he has the tools he needs to get over those and be successful but we will have to wait and see. While I hate to say this I think he is lucky he got taken by the Tigers in rule V and I think rule V worked as intended in this situation. If he stayed with the Twins he would have had to battle Kirilloff, Larnach, and Celestino for Spots for sure and possibly Rooker, Wallner and Soularie as well with the other young guys chasing him. In Detroit he doesn't have near that level of competition and can likely stick on an MLB team. In the end maybe he will be better than all of those players it is hard to say at this point but I still don't think you can fault the FO for trying to do what was best in the present versus an uncertain future. Hindsight is 20/20 but the FO doesn't get that luxury sometimes even when the odds are in your favor you still lose.

Yeah I want to give him the benefit of the doubt but the K's are just killing his ability to be a MLB player. He did have three walks the other day and IMO the umps have not been kind to him especially on high strikes and off the plate strikes that appear pretty wide. Still it doesn't seem like he is seeing the ball as well as he needs to. Add in the fact that he has a huge hole in his swing with trouble making contact and things don't look good right now for the righty slugger. Maybe he is thinking too much. Maybe he is isn't thinking enough I don't know all I know is that it would be nice if we had a more productive bat in that spot right now. When he comes up to bat he is an almost automatic out. Often times the pitcher only needs three pitches and he is done. Can't have that from a MLB player. It is early can't panic yet but he needs to at the very least start making contact with the ball or benched for someone like Astudillo who can at least put the ball in play.

Yeah I thought Waddell was the least likely of the waiver claims to crack the 40 man. I had Gibaut with his elite spin rates ahead of him and Hamilton and his good slider and ability to throw strikes ahead of him. Have to give Wes some credit here as Waddell's numbers didn't really jump off the page until he tweaked whatever he tweaked. Here's hoping he becomes an elite reliever for the Twins.

Dang Boyd is tough on our hitters. 1st pitch strikes by the buckets and second swing hacks by the dozen put our guys in a tough spot. Thankfully Buxton finally had a long at bat that ended in a double and scored run or he might have made it all 9 innings. After Buxton trying to single handedly bring them back they scored two more in the 6th on a big Double from Polanco that scored Cruz al the way from first base. That was it for the bats. Maeda pitched well but he gave up some hard contact as well. he only gave up two runs and his pitch count was low but he was far from dominant IMO. Robles came in and did a nice job. Colome got the job done but gave me major heartburn doing it. Sano and Garver take the black hole bat awards today. Garver K'd three times and mainly let strikes go by and swung at stuff out of the zone. Absolute horrible eye at the plate today. Maybe swing at a few of the meatball first pitch strikes you were given almost every at bat. I can see Sano is trying and he did make some contact today so that is a start but but he has too many three pitch strike out at bats to be a MLB player. The waiver claim Garlick was the only player with two hits today and looked like a huge improvement over Rooker at the plate. Simons was his pesky self and Astudillo did what Kepler couldn't do twice yesterday which was get a sac fly to bring Buxton home. Polanco has a lot of weak contact and then in the last two at bats powered the ball one for a double with the game winning runs. Hopefully those at bats get him rolling. Have to say I was very impressed with Boyd today. He was aggressive and made the batter uncomfortable and kept them guessing mostly incorrectly for the first 4 innings. Buxton got to him in a hard fought battle and he had a bit of a tough luck 6th but to me he looked better than Maeda today. He had to face a tougher lineup and he made it 7 innings and had the Twins guessing early. He almost won the game for the Tigers but fell just short. Happy the Twins won a close one on the road to a team that seems to give us trouble. Starting pitching has been incredible (Am I really typing that) and the Bullpen has been pretty good too although a couple of failures have cost us wins. We are off to a good start just need to have a strong homestand to keep pace in the division.

Per MLB trade rumors Brandon Waddell is replacing Brent Rooker and Colina is headed to the 60 disabled list. Congrats to Waddell.

With his slight injury this spring and watching him get hit pretty hard there I was thinking his time might be up. Like you Tom, I was very impressed by what I saw in the Tigers game. The hitters just seemed baffled by what he was throwing and they looked really uncomfortable against him with mainly weak hacks. I know they finally got some solid contact at the end but it was hard earned. I also was surprised to see him throw a fastball at 94mph. I honestly didn't think he had that kind of velocity in him coupled with that slow curve that he was dumping in for strikes and that had to tough for the hitters. If he pitches like this the rest of the year the Twins will have found another great reclamation arm for penny's on the dollar.

Like everyone I like both right now but if forced to choose it would be Buxton. He is an elite defender at an important position and cannot fully be replaced. If his hitting HR's is for real then that moves him into a stratosphere we won't be able to compete with financially. If he becomes an elite defender and power hitter in center he is a unicorn in MLB, that is if he can stay healthy. There are a lot of "ifs" but if he meets them or comes close he is the most valuable IMO. That is not a knock on Berrios who is important as well. If he has finally found the consistency to pitch well most every game we have the ace level pitcher we have been looking for the last 4 years. While we have some elite arms coming up odds are they won't be as good as Jose for a while. It would really be nice to have a couple of more years of prime Berrios but I believe they will have to pay heavily if they want those years. As Wabene said odds are the Twins let both of them go rather than extend because they have Celestino almost ready and while he will never be Buxton he is a really good defender and looks to be coming along with the bat. They have about 5 different arms to try and replace Berrios with so the odds are better there but arms are fickle things you can never bank on. Also they are running out of time to extend either player at a reasonable rate and both players are vital for the teams continued success right now so they can't really trade them for value either. As usual the FO has some tough decisions to make? If they can't extend one try and extend the other if they can't find the common ground to extend either there is plan B which is less expensive but much more risky IMO.

I concur with DC Twins. If his eye at the plate improves he is a major league baseball player and IMO possibly a starter if the bat continues to play. HIs flexibility to play catcher is a huge bonus and his energy and ability to give 100% at all times is contagious. If the turtle can hunt pitches to hit he will always have a spot on the roster. As noted he has a very, very small sample size so will have to wait and see,

My personal opinion is they wouldn't have left him off if they thought someone would take him. I could be wrong though as they do have a lot of outfielders in the pipeline and their two top prospects are outfielders. Here is the thing how many players can move from or have moved from A ball to the majors? I honestly can't think of any. They had to believe the odds were on their side in a major way. It is hard enough for players to make it from AAA to the majors and while several have made the jump from AA I can't think of anyone making it straight from A ball. Some college players have moved pretty fast especially relief pitchers but position players usually take time. The FO knew Baddoo was good there just wasn't really much president for a player making that large of a jump and making it. I think if Baddoo had played last season and there wasn't a Covid season they could have seen the improvement and protected him. They never got that chance. Some scout must have seen Baddoo or had some information passed to him and it was enough for the Tigers to take a chance. That is my theory.

It is silly but it is just how passionate fans feel. It is hard to play the long game all the time and we wouldn't have much to talk about then either. However I do see your point the sample is way, way to small to predict anything at this point but I still want to rant about my take on the team and enjoy hearing what either people think as well even if it is a little early to predict much based on the data.