mnfireman

Confidence and mental state are crucial to all aspects of baseball, but especially to pitching. To a certain degree, to be a true stud on the mound, you have to have the mindset that you are the biggest and baddest motherf----- in the land. No one can beat you. That mindset comes from confidence, which comes from success. 

This statement right here is all the reason I need to at least hope the team gives him a shot at being a starter, either this year or next. Many great starters began their careers as relievers - Pedro Martinez, Adam Wainwright, Corbin Burnes, Chris Sale, and Curt Schilling among them. I also know that these are the exception to the rule, but what if.....

On 1/18/2023 at 10:41 AM, Nick Hanzlik said:

Yeah I feel that. I live in Iowa, but I managed to drive up a few weekends and catch some games. I think I went to 4, never saw Buxton, saw Correa once. I feel it wouldn't be that difficult to see a weekend home series coming up and maybe give those guys their day off on Thursday or Monday lol

The "Getaway day day off" goes back to Gardy and TK and I wasn't a fan of it then either. 

As much as everybody wants a Francona, he had 4 very bad years in Philadelphia to start his managing career, didn't manage in 2001, 2002 or 2003, and then became TITO (I know he had the nickname before 2004, but it is now his nickname, not his dad's). Not saying Baldelli is or can be Tito, but this is his 5th season as manager and maybe he can figure out a better mix of analytics and gut/in-game decisions. A full spring training and good team health could make him look real good...

Watching the Cards bullpen do their best imitation of the Twins bullpen...

CF's ball on the blooper, Celestino having a rough week.

Ryan did not have good stuff tonight, it is cold & rainy, and he is at a career high in innings pitched. Maybe send him out for the 5th (it was Trout, Ohtani and Ward), but otherwise I am good with the call

Cave's clunker: errors happen. He should have had it. It was raining, but he did hustle on the play (as he did on the triple in the bottom of the 4th), and I am sure he made no excuses for dropping it.

"Carlos Correa has been an offensive disapointment."

Correa is on track for the third-best season of his career by WAR and wRC+. Despite the dual nature of this season, it looks like his 2022 stats and his career averages will be pretty much identical. Hey, maybe he should just re-sign with Minnesota.

Fielding a AA/AAA line-up every night is bound to catch up with any team. Having to run Celestino, Cave, Contreras, Leon, Hamilton, Garlick, Palacios and Beckham out there almost every night is not playing without heart, its playing without MLB talent. Each of Buxton, Kepler, Larnach, Kirilloff, Jeffers, and Polanco tried to play through injury, and that is playing with heart. Gray, Mahle, Ober Coulombe, and a few others tried to pitch through injury, and, if what one TD poster says is true, Lopez has been dealing with personal issues but still wants the ball. That's heart.

Yes, some players are having down years, but that happens every year, to every team. This team played with immense heart, everything just finally caught up to them about mid-August and has fallen off the rails in September.

IF everyone gets healthy over the off-season it will be a nice problem to figure out the rotation and the line-up.

Rotation: Ryan, Ober, Winder, Varland, Mahle, Gray, Mazda, SWR, Paddock, and possibly Duran. Piggyback 'em, BP 'em, whatever is needed as we have seen that there is no such thing as too many SP's.

Line-up: Arraez, Miranda, Polanco, Urshela, Larnach, Buxton, Kepler, Kirilloff, Wallner, Lewis, Gordon, Jeffers, and possibly Correa. Probably need to sign another C. Again, find a place to play 'em and there is no such thing as too many.

Showing the young bucks how it's done...

https://www.mlb.com/video/cabrera-steals-third-scores?t=major-league-vibes

This is generally a league-wide problem since batters have fallen further into the 3 true outcome tidal pool. The big $$$ come from HR & RBI, not advancing the runner from 2nd to 3rd and letting the next guy get the RBI, and the pitchers know this.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/03/twins-trade-rumors-frankie-montas-sean-manaea-athletics.html

At this point, I would be comfortable with the team DFA'ing him right now. It may not send a positive message to potential FA's, but he has not performed at a level anywhere near worthy of being on an MLB roster at this point. 

If the team is evaluating talent moving forward, I would have much rather seen Astudillo sent to AAA as I don't feel he has a future with this team. 

Twins won 2 WS with Dazzle Man Dan Gladden in LF.....

And if you go back in time HOF Goose Goslin manned LF for the Senators.

With Buxton and Kepler due back and Gordon showing (so far) he can handle MLB pitching, and Garver due back in July, I would for sure entertain offers for Cruz and Simmons. I don't think Sano will draw any interest, but DFAing him should also be considered. The everyday line-up could look something like this: C - Jeffers, 1B - Kirilloff, 2B - Arraez, SS - Polanco, 3B - Donaldson, LF - Larnach, CF - Buxton, RF - Kepler, DH - Garver. Bench players would be Gordon, Astudillo, Refsnyder, and take your pick of Garlick/Rooker/Riddle or whoever may have been acquired in one of the trades.

Donaldson's was supposed to make $18.75M last year, divide that by 2.7 (60 game season) and you get $6.94M. Fangraphs shows his 2020 season to be worth $6.9M. He is to make $21.75M this year, divide that by 2.7 (59 games this year, basically the same as last year) and you get $8.05M. Fangraphs shows his 2021 season to be worth $7.4M so far. Whether people want to admit it or not, he is not grossly underperforming what he is being paid (according to Fangraphs).

Maybe these so-called stat driven people on here are judging him by the old-fashioned eye test, shame on them!!

Baldelli does not seem to have a feel for the game as it is happening. He seems to rely on analytics and "new age" stats too much. Last night was a good example. Maeda got in trouble and threw a lot of pitches early, but was rolling over his last 3 innings, throwing only 39 pitches while striking out 3 and allowing no hits or walks. And BOOM, here's the hook. Bullpen has to get 12 outs in a tie game against the Sox. End result; 9-3 loss. This is a scenario that has played out time and again the last 3 years, but the offense has been good enough to overcome it the previous 2 years. While it is time for the arms to show up, it is also time for Baldelli to learn how to manage.

'87 was a great a series as was '91, which is when Hrbek lifted Gant of off 1B

I did a quick google search and found no results, thank you for taking the time to find and post these!! 

#3 and defense, the Royals way, seems the way to go. Make it a 6 inning game and make the plays in the field. Enough offense to have the lead or be close through 6, then go to the 'pen and the defensive specialists. 

How about just no. The player is property of the team. Right or wrong its the teams choice where their players start each season. 

How would Boras feel if all the GM's formed their own panel and decided not to sign his clients?

If Santana can get 30-35 infield hits and becomes an adequate bunter, I don't think a .300 batting average is out if the question. The other two should get better as they learn to hit, not just swing, and as their strike zone knowledge improves.

Not going to argue with anyone willing to take the time to make a prospect list...good job. I do think there should be a little sense of urgency with Berrios, but only because of his size. The team needs to get him to the show when he's ready or risk having him spend his most productive seasons in the minors.

Anybody expecting the team to contend next year should think again. This is only year two the rebuild, the team chose to ignore reality in 2012 and 2013. Injuries to Sano, Buxton, Meyer and May as well as the PED suspension of Rosario haven't helped either.

Either the kids gotta play and the team takes its lumps or another year of plug and play AAAA players and the team takes its lumps and loses more fans at the gate.

What will the Twins brain trust do??

Hughes just turned 28, young despite several years MLB experience. Gibson will be 27, Meyers and May will be 25 this off-season. I think Hughes should be kept for the duration of his contract and maybe even extended with what he has shown this season.

Dozier is another story. If the team can get a good return for him, i say trade him. Escobar has shown he can play every day and Santana would then be able to move back to SS, with Escobar at 2B. Plus it seems the team has several IF prospects nearly ready to move up.

Where else do you play him? Buxton, Hicks & Arcia are the OF of the future, Sano is the 3B of the future and Mauer's concussion issues won't let him play C anymore.

If the team had given him all off-season to learn 3B it might be a different story, but they thought Sano would be ready to go, so that is what it is. Maybe they deal Willingham and move Arcia to LF and move Mauer to RF, but then Buxton comes up next year and you have to move Mauer again.

I would rather have Mauer, Willingham and Arcia in the line-up everyday over Colabello.