chpettit19

We're all here for you! Do you have an MLB account? If you're signed in and have the Twins marked as your favorite team they'll put the most recent Twins story towards the top of the news section. Do hasn't written one yet for this game it appears.

That's the Yankees beat writer. Not surprising he'd cover things this way.

Why didn't you do that in the first place and save my fingers all that typing work?! 🤣

I don't believe the Twins have made accusations of others. The umps were the ones who had a problem with whatever was on his hands, and Rocco just didn't agree with him being allowed to continue since he hadn't complied with the demand to clean his hands from the ump. From the interviews I've seen, nobody with the Twins has accused German of anything.

Gordon is out of options and it's going to cost him his spot on the 40-man if he doesn't figure it out in the first half of the season. My guess would be Julien goes down when Polanco is back (assuming no other starter gets hurt in the mean time). They'll want Julien getting everyday ABs, not sitting on the bench in Minneapolis. And Castro will go if the team is fully healthy when Kirilloff is back. Gordon will move to a bench utility role at that point, but he's going to have to start looking even remotely decent in the box. To me it's not even his numbers (which are terrible), but watching him hit just doesn't look anything like last year, or anything like a major league hitter. He swings far too much and teams have figured that out and he simply doesn't get pitches to hit, and is surprised when he does so he misses them. This FO has never seemed to love Gordon so I don't think they'll hesitate too long to DFA him if there's a point where the entire team (including Lewis) is healthy. He'll get time to figure it out in a bench role, though, as they have enough other guys with options they'll bounce back and forth.

I don't think the youthful replacements are doing much better. Wallner hasn't been useful at all so he'll go down for Kepler tomorrow. And Gordon hasn't hit a lick so Kepler will replace him in the order to see if he comes back swinging it. Garlick is likely the one sent packing for Gallo and that's when you may have a choice between Gallo, Larnach, and Solano, but I'd guess it'd be Gallo and Solano platooning at 1B. Polanco coming back is going to be the bigger decision making point (assuming no other injuries pop in between).

Not Rocco's call. FO makes that decision based on recommendations from the training staff and Drs.

Move him to the bench. Then it's DFA time after that. He's out of options, and I'd guess he'd get claimed by some of the lesser talented teams if they DFA him to see if he can get going again with their squad. He'll be an interesting one to watch if he doesn't figure it out relatively quick.

I believe Kepler can't be activated until tomorrow. And I assume we'll see Wallner back in St Paul (well technically Indianapolis, but in a St Paul uniform) when that happens tomorrow. I'd guess Garlick gets DFA'd when Gallo comes back, but that mostly comes down to whether or not Gordon can look like he's even close to being a major league hitter in the next few days. I'd guess Julien maintains his spot as starting 2B until Polanco comes back. That could be a tough time for the Twins FO with one of those proverbial "good problems" to have if Julien keeps hitting until Polanco is back. But I don't think they'll want him sitting on the bench so I'd bet he'd go down until Buxton is back playing in the field in mid-May. I think we're all under the assumption Sands is going down. I'd guess Varland is down tomorrow, and it's between Megill and Winder coming up. I don't know where Winder is at in his rehab so hard to judge which one that will be, but I can't imagine they want to carry Varland for more than today if they have no plans to IL Maeda. Definitely nice to have some tougher decisions on who to send down/DFA. Not too often we get that around here. It's nice to have players actually have to earn their spots, and not just get to keep them because you and I are their best backup plans. Gordon better figure things out quick or he's not going to make it through the year in a Twins jersey.

The most likely regression will come in the K%. That's going to drop some. But if they can keep it in the 25% range they'll be just fine and setup for a wonderful season. And I think that's a pretty realistic mark for them this year. Fun to finally have 5 guys who you feel can give you a shot to win any given day. And to have them backed up by 3 other guys who have the chance to keep you in most games as well.

Feels like a lot of assumptions being made off 4 games, and 14 4-seamers. Even if you add the sinker in he's thrown 33 total fastballs. Why are we worried about 33 pitches that he's given up 1 hit on? Way too early to draw any conclusions from anything. The Twins came into the season with Duran, Lopez, and Jax set to be their 3 go-to high leverage arms. Their starters are going deeper into games so they've been able to use those 3 in the vast majority of high leverage spots. Not sure how else you expected Alcala to be used. Things are looking great so far. Him being a multi-inning weapon would be a good thing so I'm confused by reading that as the Twins not trusting him.

Totally agree that they have some guys in the minors who can steal some bags. And those guys are stealing bags. But their MLB guys do not have the speed to steal a bunch of bags. It'd be an awful strategy to try. So complaining about the current MLB team not stealing bases doesn't make sense to me in the least. Current sprint speed percentiles for the guys you listed: Kepler: Would be about 70th if he were playing, but doesn't have enough to qualify Buxton: 99th (unfortunately he's just not going to run much anymore as part of their strategy to keep him healthy) Gordon: 75th (but he can't get on base, he's stolen bases in the past so not sure why we'd think he wouldn't try this year) Polanco: 0 (he's not even playing, but will be in the 70-75th range and may try to steal) Correa: 37th Gallo: 29th Farmer: 19th Larnach: 43rd This current team doesn't have the guys to steal. Correa, Gallo, Farmer, and Larnach do not have "speed enough to steal." They're flat out slow. The team had Molitor in spring training working on base running and stealing. They did base running drills everyday. The fast guys in the majors and minors steal bases. Why do you think they won't steal bases when the guys they have throughout the org have literally been stealing bases for years? I don't understand the complaint. Their fast guys are either Buxton, or can't get on base right now so they aren't even able to steal bases. The guys they have coming up are stealing bases, and have been stealing bases but people seem to be getting in pre-complaints that they won't steal bases when they get here for some reason I don't understand. It looks an awful lot like the "quick hook" narrative where people are just throwing a blanket statement out as a team philosophy instead of looking at the actual situation. Gray, Ryan, and Paddack were going 6 and 7 innings to start the year last year. Paddack blew out his elbow, Gray kept getting hurt, and Ryan got covid that wiped him out for quite a while. The rest of the guys they were starting were bad pitchers who didn't deserve to go deep, or Ober who can't stay healthy and needs limits. But people ignored that and just said the team won't let guys go 3 times through the order which was false then and is showing to be really false now. So people have moved on to steals. The Twins have had a super slow team for years so haven't stolen many bases and now people are claiming it's some sort of org philosophy despite there being guys stealing bases all over the org. Trying to steal with guys who can't steal just to say you tried to steal is a terrible strategy. 19th percentile sprint speed Kyle Farmer should not be stealing bases, sorry. Correa has seen his sprint speed steadily decline through the years and hasn't stolen more than 3 bases since his 2nd season. He stole 6 combined in his last 5 seasons in Houston. Why weren't the Astros stealing him if it were such a great idea? Carlos Correa shouldn't be stealing bases. The Twins simply don't have the guys to steal bases right now. It'll start changing as Julien gets more time, Lewis comes back, Polanco comes back, Gordon stops being really bad, Martin gets called up, etc. It's not an overarching philosophy it's a lack of players capable of doing it.

Then what was "Ultimately this is on Buxton, and let’s hope he comes to camp next season committed to playing 150 games like other star players do" implying?

Well he's not worse than the other two, so there's that! Him staying probably depends on the role available. They won't want Wallner and Julien sitting on the bench while they wouldn't care about it with Garlick. Julien and Wallner will be sent back to AAA to play everyday so they can be better than me in the field.

What info are they withholding? Byron Buxton won't play CF until mid-May. If you're waiting to hear if he's in the field or not before now and then they've already told you he won't be. Carlos Correa has back spasms and can't, or won't, be playing through them today. They hope he'll be back tomorrow, but can't promise it. Same situation with Gallo and his side. Kepler won't be playing at all as he's on the IL with a knee issue. Any other info you feel they're withholding and not being transparent about? Or would you like them to predict the future and tell you exactly when Correa's back will be better and Gallo's side will be better? I don't even care about privacy rules. What information are the Twins withholding that other teams are giving out? In any major sport. The Twins tell us what the injury is, what their hoped for time table is, and give updates on those things daily (unless it's a long-term thing they just address here and there). They've given us a rough timeline for Polanco as he works back. There's articles out nearly weekly about Lewis and his progress. What more do fans want? What more do they see other teams giving? There's a difference between not being honest and transparent, and not having all the answers.

I mean you're actively ignoring the Twins players that would've hit 150 or more "except for IL time." Interesting that you use that caveat for other teams, but not the Twins. Correa played 136 games, but missed time in the beginning and end of May with an injury. Otherwise would've hit your magical 150 mark. Arraez played 144, but missed the same chunk of early May as Correa or he would've hit your magical 150 mark. Miranda played 106 of 113 games after being recalled. Polanco had played 153, 55 (out of 60), and 152 the last 3 years before getting hurt last year. And even last year he'd played 104 of 125 while battling injuries for months and missing 2 weeks at the end of June. And Urshela missed a half dozen games in July with an injury or he would've gotten there, too. That's their 5 best players not named Buxton. All of which would've played more than 150 games if not for injuries (or being a rookie in Miranda's case). But tell me again how they're resting their best players more than other teams. Byron Buxton is the only one they do dramatic things with. There were 54 guys who played 150+ games last year. Less than 2 a team. The Twins would've had 4 if not for injuries. You, sir, are the one who is flat out wrong. Provably wrong, in fact.

Yes, teams play their stars everyday. Just like the Twins do.

Our *star requires a mandatory sit day every 4-5 games, yes. Correa, Larnach, and Miranda were playing everyday before Correa got hurt. Larnach and Miranda have played every game. Byron Buxton is never going to be an everyday player. If you expected that coming into the year that's on you. I don't have any idea why anyone thinks Buxton would, or should, be treated like a guy who's going to play everyday. How many more years do they need to try that and watch him play fewer than 100 games before people just accept that his body can't do it? Not liking that Buxton can't play as much as we want isn't the same as the Twins doing something crazy.

Number of players who've played every game this season by team: LAA- 4 Astros- 4 A's- 2 (1 guy who was at 8 straight before getting hurt) Tor- 3 Atl- 5 Mil- 3 StL- 4 Cubs- 5 Ari- 1 LAD- 4 SF- 0 (2 guys who missed 1 game with Inj designation) Cle- 3 Sea- 5 Marlins- 1 Mets- 4 Nats- 3 O's- 4 Pads- 5 Phils- 4 Pit- 3 (Cruz was at 9 before getting hurt) Tex- 4 Rays- 2 Bos- 3 Reds- 5 Rockies- 1 (Cron missed 2 with injury) KC- 0 Tigers- 2 Twins- 3 (Correa was at 100% until he got hurt) CHW- 1 Yanks- 3 Yeah, I can see what you're saying. Twins way off here. Everybody out there just running the same 9 guys out there everyday. Twins were 1 short of the league leaders before Correa got hurt. And every team has cycled regulars through the DH spot to give them a partial off day. It's almost like modern day FOs utilize athletes different in pretty much every major sport now and it's time to quit pretending they don't.

My question when it comes to the small ball, "manufacture runs" stuff is who do you want them doing these things with? Especially the steals. Who in the lineup yesterday should've been stealing bases? Gordon was 0-4, Taylor 0-4, Castro 0-3. Those are the only guys you have that would have any chance of being successful stealing a base. Then when it comes to bunting, I assume the idea is to bunt guys from first to second since they had no extra base hits. So now you're giving up a an out to get a guy who isn't fast enough to score from second on a single to second base where you still need 2 hits to just get him in in a game where you had 4 total hits. You have to have the guys to do those things. They have very few people who can steal bases. They have a lot of swing and miss in the lineup so doing a hit and run is quite risky because if they swing and miss with these runners it's an automatic out. Bunting a guy over is just giving up an out and still needing 2 hits from a team that's struggling to collect hits regularly. The Guardians and Yankees have significantly different rosters than the Twins. There's some context that needs to be taken into account when it comes to these strategies actually being useful for a team.

Probably not the first time someone's done that on these boards...😉

1/3 is a bit of an exaggeration, but I believe the point the other poster was trying to make was that he'd be getting $35+ million a year if he were someone who could stay healthy and perform as expected for a full season. 15 a year is less than half of what he'd have gotten on the open market if he were a healthy version of himself.

He's not exactly a "physical specimen," though, is he? He may look good with his shirt off, but he's been anything but a physical specimen. His body clearly doesn't hold up under physical stress and punishment. He's athletically gifted, but we have nearly a decade worth of proof that he's no physical specimen. His body just can't do what we all wish it could do in terms of staying healthy and performing. I think that's the disconnect on some of this. The idea that Buxton should be treated like any other player doesn't make sense to me. We've done that. He very clearly can't hold up to 100+ games in CF. Just throwing him out there and expecting him to randomly stay healthy this time seems like it'd be a terrible idea to me.

I've never understood the "obviously us fans who have no actual health info on Buxton know best how to use him!" argument. Bunting, stealing bases, lineup construction, pitcher usage, etc. make sense to me for us to debate since we have information and can make educated arguments. This idea that the Twins are mismanaging Buxton sure looks like it's just fans frustrated and turning that into the Twins being wrong. And I get it. It sucks to have him DHing. But this isn't just Rocco or Falvine saying "I'm no Dr, but I'm pretty sure this is how we'll save Buxton from getting hurt." The Drs and trainers are giving them their best, well educated, advice on how to manage him to get the most games/ABs out of him. Crazy to me that fans with no real info think they know for sure that they're doing it wrong. It's ok to just say "this sucks, and I wish he was in CF everyday and this freaking team could stay even a little healthy" without having to say the team is screwing it all up.

Why do you think this is a Rocco driven decision? I'd put a large sum of money that the FO has more input on Buxton's usage than Rocco, and the FO is making their decisions from advice from the training staff and Drs. I find it hard to believe Rocco is deciding he knows best how to manage Buxton's usage as it relates to his health and is just deciding to sit him because he thinks that'll save Buxton while the Drs and trainers are telling him he can play Buxton full bore with no issues.