karcherd

I have never understood the opener concept, so you have Coulombe pitch the first inning instead of the 5th inning. And you take the starter out of his routine. The Twins need to develop starters, stop limiting them in the minors so they are ready to pitch reasonable innings and pitch counts when they come up. And stop with the opener nonsense.

There's an All Star play by everyone's favorite all star and the best defensive player on the team.

But the process that can lead to poor contact can lead to better results, because other times you will put the ball in play with a better swing and good things can happen. But when you are only up there to find your pitch to drive, we have seen the results of that, a called third strike or I love when we get the fly ball to the warning track with two outs. Baseball has been played this way for decades and even Rocco claimed in spring training they were going to change their process, like they had come up a revolutionary new method to play baseball.

You missed my point, Altuve was looking to put the ball in play where you have an opportunity for something good to happen. Castro and Correa were looking to drive a pitch and ended up looking at strike 3. Change the approach and put the ball in play and give yourself an opportunity.

I am beyond frustrated with this team and this game encapsulated everything that this organization is doing to not create a winning team. They don't develop starting pitching well, SWR, pull him after 53 pitches and one hit because they won't let him face the order a third time. They are doing the same thing in the minors, they think they are going to change the pitching model for baseball. How can pitchers be expected to go more than 4 or 5 innings up here if they are not doing it in the minors. The AB by Vasquez called for a bunt, but no they think he will get lucky again against Hader and hit a HR again. Play situational baseball, something this team does not do well at all. They want all players to be utility players. It is great Castro can play multiple positions but he doesn't play them all well and some of that is not getting reps at the positions. The ball in the 10th was catchable and a player with more reps in the OF probably catches it. He also threw to the wrong base in the 9th inning that did not hurt the team. But this is not the first he has made these type of mistakes. He makes up for some of his mistakes with his athleticism but let's stop treating players like a chessboard. The AB by Altuve where he got his bat on the ball in the 9th inning vs. Castro and Correa looking at called third strikes. How often does this happen because they want their pitch to drive instead of just getting the bat on the ball. This is a team wide problem. This all starts with the FO and the philosophy they have implemented and it is creating a .500 team over the past 8 years. But Rocco at some point has to say in this moment this move will give the team a better chance to win even if it does not fit in with the organizational philosophy. When they win, it is usually against lesser teams that they are able to outplay their mistakes. And once in a while Rocco will go against his spreadsheet but never with any consistency. This organization needs to be blown up and figure out what they have in the young players by letting them play. Then fill holes where needed and not with one year stopgaps.

How about saving innings on the bullpen for later in the year or developing your staters. SWR has been here almost a year and a half, at what point are they going to let him face the order a third time. If they aren't then put him in the bullpen. Pitchers need to pitch and face adversity and learn from it, that is how they get better. Rocco almost always refuses to let SWR face the order a third time.

Pinch hit for Larnach and not Clemens even with the lead, this makes no sense.

He has definitely helped the team and his defense has better than expected. But he needs to be a bench player. He should not be taking AB's from Lewis and Lee and currently he is. He has started the same number of games as Lee this month and one more than Lewis. The Twins have to find out what they have in Lee and Lewis and if Clemens is the best you have to replace them, then they need to be in the lineup. Rocco and the organization falls in love with these marginal vets and this why we are a .500 team. If they can't do the job then move on, but they find out what they can do. Lewis has impressive numbers over his first 162 games, but sitting him every third game is not going to help his development. Clemens should only be playing a couple of days a week.

They had a chance to potentially use a long man tomorrow by keeping Adams up here and starting Festa as he would be on normal rest. But instead they sent Adams down and my guess they will start SWR. Does this organization really believe in a long man, it keeps being speculated but what is their plan. They have starters they don't trust to go thru a lineup more than two times but then they don't set the bullpen up with any multi inning relievers who can help bridge to the later innings. They do not have the 8th man in the bullpen that they can churn thru like in recent years, They either have to DFA Alcala or send Topa down, none of the other relievers are a realistic option to send down for a long reliever. So really what is their plan, or are they just going to burn thru the bullpen as is and hope they don't burn out before September.

They will need to send down a reliever when they need another starter for Lopez. I am assuming it will be Adams because they don't seem to want to cut bait with Alcala. So let's use Adams in at least one game before sending him back because they have a short leash with both Festa and SWR, And of course there could always be another injury which could change everything.

Start Festa on Tuesday and use Adams in relief. You at least save the bullpen for one game. Then go with SWR on Wednesday.

So now Lewis is a part time player, he plays two games and has a game off. If we are going to have success this season, they are going to need Lewis to get going. Sitting him over France and Clemens is not going to lead to success for this season or future seasons.

Do the Twins have faith in Wallner, it doesn't appear that they do. After the Thursday game Rocco stated that he told Wallner that he would be in most every game and not sitting two games in a row. Then before last night in his press scrum, Rocco said he could play but it also depends on other players on the roster. Then he pinch hits for Wallner and not Clemens. All players are not equal in ability and other than Correa and Buxton, Rocco treats the players as though they are all equal in ability because of matchups. They need to identify 5 or 6 core players and they play every day regardless of who is pitching. And if they are not good enough, make changes. Players like Clemens, Bride, Bader, even Castro need to fight for playing time, the others need to be in the lineup. This is what championship teams do. I know Castro is valuable but playing him every day wears him down as evidenced last year. Play him 4 days a week and bring him off the bench strategically the other days is a better use of his skills.

So you pinch hit for Wallner but not Clemens. I have no idea what the spreadsheets are saying anymore.

Festa got squeezed, that was strike 3 on Wilson. He would have been out of the inning with one run only. He can't let it affect him, but it's a tight strike zone.

Lewis needs to be in the lineup every day. Our chances to have a winning season are much greater with Lewis if he can turn it around. But he won't get better playing every couple of days. He gives us a better chance this year and future years than Clemens or Bader.

Why take Zebby out, he was doing fine.

A LH is projected to be the bulk pitcher, so according to Rocco, you can't play Wallner in that scenario.

He has had 600 AB's in the major leagues, I am not ready to give up on him. He is not going to figure it out with periodic at bats. And there is no clear upgrade to play over him. And no Clemens is not an upgrade and Castro plays all over. Let him play every day and see what you have, he has shown he has plenty of upside, now it needs to be done on a consistent basis.

They need to let Lee and Lewis play every day at 2B and 3B respectively. These players need to be developed and if they don't have the patience to let them, they need to acquire a clear upgrade not somebody like Urias. Clemens had a nice couple of weeks, but no contending team is going to count on him to be an every day player. His defense has been better than I expected but he is not an every day player. I am not sure why we are so quick to write off Lewis and Lee, it is the same story with every young player they bring up. If they don't hit .350 with an OPS over 1.000 for two years, they will be deemed not to be worth keeping. The Twins need to determine who they want and let them play and develop and if they don't then move on. Stop with the stringent analytic decisions and let them play. Waller is out of the lineup again tonight, two days off in a row after being called up, let him play.

Rocco, it's not that hard to make a lineup, play your best players. Larnach and Wallner can hit pitching from both sides, put Willi in LF. Bader can be your pinch runner or defensive replacement in the later innings, stop overthinking it.

He was pulled for defense last night. With a LH projected to come in for the bulk innings, Rocco is sitting his lefties.

They are throwing an opener and a LH is expected to be the next pitcher. So rather than just put in your best lineup, Rocco is going to show them he is smarter.

They need to develop a plan with Lewis, they can't let it drag out. Either play him here or in St. Paul or if he is hurt put him on the IL. Regardless of his performance since the last half of the year, he is a player they should be able to count on and need to get him right. Bouncing him in and out of the lineup is not going to solve this problem. If he flames out this is a huge black eye on this organization to not develop him.

He has given up 14 earned runs and 7 were in two games in April. In May he pitched in 14 games and in two of them he gave up a run in two of the games. Yesterday he was hurt by Jeffers error. I am not sure of your definition of struggling.