laloesch

Another blown game on Rocco’s shoulders. Is this team intentionally tanking? At this point I’d rather have Molitor, Gardenhire, or TK as manager. Baldelli is just brutal

Well with the way Baldelli is over using the bullpen and pulling the starters early it’s pretty much a certainty. He’s lost two games already yanking starters on low pitch counts for no reason.

And if they aren’t careful they will be done midway through May possibly earlier if they don’t turn this ship around

You don't think Ober could have started the seventh? Genuine question. He was going strong and only at 73 pitches at the end of the sixth, which is well within acceptable limits and wasn't laboring. He could easily have gone 6-2/3 if not 7 if you ask me. This multiple times through the order stuff the author of the column outlined is overhyped. Stick with the hot hand. I agree though these pitchers are getting babied wayyyy to much.

LOL, some of them certainly have egos though.

It's all good. I just have a differing opinion. There's no doubt the defense behind him was not good, but you have to acknowledge that he did LABOR A LOT in both those games and he did make significant mistakes, that led to the infield defense making mistakes behind him. All that said, hopefully he picks it up some and should be fine, certainly better than Paddack. As everyone has been harping on the BIG problem is the offense, absolutely atrocious.

Sorry, I'm not interested in the excuses. Ober was pitching very well and only at 73 pitches at the end of the sixth, he should have gone out another inning. Preseason is for ramping up innings, not vice versa. I think Baldelli overthinks things. Stick with the hot hand.

The way I see it, they have a bunch of marginal role players in the infield with the exception of Lewis (when he's healthy), potentially Lee (when he's healthy as well), and Correa (once again starting a season ice cold). Miranda, France, & Julien, none of these guys impress me. Castro has potential though. The outfield is slightly better, but everyone knows how streaky and injury prone Buxton is. Bader and Larnach are the ones so far that have pulled their weight.

I disagree. His first start was not good. He walked 4 batters, gave up 8 hits, and 4 earned runs in 5-2/3. Definitely, not decent. His second start was better but he only managed to go 4 innings on 82 pitches so he was laboring away in that one too.

It also doesn't help that Paddack, and Ober have been atrocious so far and Richardson has been bad as well. Bad pitching, no offense, lots of errors in the field = lots of loses.

Nothing is going right at the moment, but that can change with some concerted effort by this team. What's true, we need Correa and Buxton to start hitting as soon as possible. The sooner Lewis and Lee can join the team the better, but unfortunately it sounds like Lewis is out for at least another 5-6 weeks which is not good and now Lopez is likely out 5-6 weeks with a hammy strain. They should consider calling up Walker Jenkins and possibly Emmanuel Rodriquez and Luke Keaschall. The way this team is playing they are dead in the water without reinforcements and could quickly fall below the lowly White Sox and make this a lost season long before June.

I don't think so. He's getting paid 10 million dollars to shuttle back and forth to AAA to open up a roster spot when he's not needed. I'd take that deal every day of the week and twice on Sunday if I was in his shoes.

I don’t think the Twins have any choice but to roll with Lewis when he’s healthy

This kid has FILTHY stuff! 3 great pitches.

Your words not mine🤔

Get him healthy and play for a stretch and then trade him. That's what I would do, but then again I'm not GM. We can't have players like Buxton and Lewis consistently missing 1/3 - 1/2 of the season every year. It's just not sustainable long term.

Glunn that's a pretty good outline. the benefits of AI are upon us.

Yes, both would be ideal. Squats and deadlifts also strengthen the core muscles of the lower back and stomach area too.

True, but a bit overboard under the circumstances don't you think? It's not like he's saying he doesn't care, he just realizes it's not a life or death catastrophic injury or something like that. He'll do just fine, but maybe not as a MLB pitcher. I think what USAFChief was alluding to is what Silvy Khoucasian described as "empathy without boundaries is self-destruction."

wow. You have to wonder the training regiments of these guys. For a 20 something year old they shouldn't be pulling hammy's that often. Are these guys doing squats and deadlifts? Are they stretching properly before gametime? They should be.

125-130 games played would be an absolute miracle for Buxton. He's only broken 100 games twice in 10 seasons (2017 and 2024). That's atrocious. His career average is 77 games played a season. Not hatin just sayin. I'd rather he focus on staying healthy, hitting the ball, and only steal bases when absolutely necessary.

If Dobnak is making starts at Target field this season the Twins are in BIG trouble from a starting pitcher perspective.

It's a one year dumpster dive move nothing more. Fulvey can try and hype this signing up more than it is but it's a dumpster diver signing. Hopefully once there's new ownership the Twins will sign a quality first baseman or trade for one.

Bingo. And that's not to say you won't have anomalies every once in a while, like the Guardians or even the Royals who will make the show and even on occasion win it all. Yes, that will continue to happen periodically, but the truth of the matter is that it's STILL the same handful of teams spending crazy amounts of money (as you said), 2 to 4 times more on player salaries than the rest, which distorts the free agent market and favors the big spenders. Possible Solution: 1. Increase the arbitration eligible years from 3 to 5 years for a total of 8 service years vs. the current 6 before a player is a free agent. Raise the minimum salary to help offset the extended time with the franchise before free agency. That would at least give the team a chance to benefit from more years of mlb service time while theoretically in the prime playing years. It should slow down the looting of talent from small market teams to the big market free agent spenders that are gobbling up the star talent. 2. Institute franchise tags similar to the NFL's below. NON-EXCLUSIVE TAG: This tag allows the player to sign an offer sheet with another team. The original team has the right to match the offer or receive two first-round draft picks in compensation if the player leaves. This is the most common type of tag and is most similar to MLB's compensation picks. EXCLUSIVE TAG: This tag completely binds the player to his team. His agent is prohibited from seeking an offer sheet. TRANSITION TAG: This tag works like the nonexclusive franchise tag, except it only provides the original team the right to match the other team's offer. If the original team decides not to offer a matching bid, it gets no compensation when the player leaves. 3. Institute a hard salary cap and floor. This has been discussed ad nauseum in other threads.

I don't necessarily disagree with what your saying, but the fact remains that teams like the Yankees and Dodgers can consistently do this (keep signing multiple big free agents in their late 20's early 30's almost every season), and then buy out or trade the ones (while including $ to the recipient to offset a portion of the bloated salary), that are on the downhill slope of productivity and not shed a tear. The latest gimmick is to massively backload those contracts, which allows them to load up on even more talent in one season and then kick the can down the road for paying the piper. This also negates the damaging alternative of going WAY over the luxury tax threshold. That's the difference and why MLB at minimum needs a hard salary cap. Most franchises in MLB can't do that to the level that the Dodgers have recently (nor should they), but the fact that a handful of teams DO consistently do it, is an unfair advantage, and why a strike is necessary in 2027 to get this nonsense under control. And for the record I am not opposed to a salary cap floor either.