Cap'n Piranha

I've been saying this for a month. Unless it's a chronic issue that can't be fixed absent a surgery that will require 2-3 months recovery, what is the point of playing games with Buxton injuries? Get him healed up. This should be an even easier choice with how well Celestino is playing, both in the field and at the plate. Finally, even if it is a chronic thing that needs surgery to correct--is having Buxton play through that actually a good idea? I vote no.

Maybe THAT will be what gets Buxton going! Wow!!!!

70% of Buxton's hits go for XBH--I'd like those hits to have runners on base for them. I also can't fathom any ball in play that would be a triple with the bases clear, but only a single with an average-speed runner on first.

Watching Buxton go down the line on that swinging bunt, and it is obvious that Buxton is not healthy. Get him on the IL so he can get better. Now please.

I'm telling ya, Buck is not right. He's looked tentative in the field, and confused at the plate. He's too talented for this to be anything other than he's worried about re-injuring himself, or he's playing while hurt. The Twins need to stop this ridiculous play two sit one policy, and just give him 10 days to get fully healthy. They also need to let Celestino play CF full time even when Buxton comes back. Your CF needs to be fearless out there, and the Twins just can't afford for Buxton to be that anymore.

You can if they piggy back each other, go 4 innings each, and more often than not give the bullpen the night (mostly) off. So far the Twins have been mostly unable, and potentially unwilling, to treat Bundy and Archer that way, which is the only way that makes sense anymore.

Falvine is petitioning Cooperstown to eliminate RBI as an officially recognized statistic.

I wish Carlos had struck out there.

This really should have a paid advertisement tag.

Must be why the stock tanked.

I'd like to see Correa attempt to barehand that ball. With Cameron's speed (76th percentile), and it being a relatively slow bouncer, you need to go faster to have any hopes of turning that DP.

Also, I'm going to take credit for that Max Power Grand Salami, since I was talking him up earlier in the thread.

Kepler and the Twins are so...

Here's something I didn't know--Max Kepler has (very quietly) accumulated 1.2 WAR this year, putting him on pace for a nearly 5 WAR season. He also has almost an identical wRC+ to Juan Soto. Given that the Twins will only pay Max $6.75M for the year, that is fantastic value.

If Buxton can only play 2 out of every 3 days, I would prefer we move him to LF for 2 days, let Celestino play CF, and then DH Buxton on the third day, what with the reduction in stress from not having to play CF anymore.

Because Royce's future is at SS, not 3B or DH. In all likelihood, that future starts next year, and it makes no sense to take reps away from him when he's missed the last 2 seasons, and wasn't considered a lock to stick at short before that. Now, if the Saints are going to move him around, then yes, he may as well do that for the Twins, and start 1x at short, 2x at 3B, and 2x at DH a week. But in my opinion that is a disservice to both Royce and the future of the organization--Royce should be playing SS 6x a week, whether that's in MLB because Correa is out, or in AAA because Correa is in. Let's also stop assuming that just because Royce had a good first 40 PAs, he's now a guaranteed top half of the order hitter for an aspiring division champion team. It's still quite possible that Royce could take the Trevor Larnach 2021 path, and have a miserable couple of months before getting demoted for cause. That would be bad for the Twins, and potentially bad for Royce. So let the process play out, and prioritize years 2-6 of Royce's career, as opposed to year 1.

I think instead of having pitch clocks, have plate appearance clocks. Each PA ends after 2 minutes, no matter what. If a pitcher has managed to get 4 strikes of any kind on a batter within the first 5 pitches, it is a strikeout. If the pitcher has not, it is a walk. If the pitcher does not throw 5 pitches in 2 minutes, it is a walk. A couple of other notes necessary to make this happen; A hitter gets one 15 second timeout per PA, that does not count against the 2 minute limit. Current rules on strikeouts and walks continue--3 swinging/called strikes is still a strikeout, 4 balls is still a walk. The pitcher must wait at least 10 seconds from the end of the previous pitch to start his motion--there will be a 5th official who's only job is to start that 10 second clock. This will have the effect of forcing batters to stay in the box, and value in-play contact (no more constant foul balls waiting for a pitch). If you have 3 strikes on you (1 or more foul balls), you'll need to choke up and make in-play contact, because one more foul ball and you're done. It will incentivize pitchers to attack the zone, because if you can get 4 strikes (swinging, called, or fouls) in the first 4 pitches, you can just pitch out and end the PA. This would fix so many of baseball's problems by incentivizing both the pitcher and hitter to be more aggressive early in the at bat, and for hitters to value contact as opposed to selling out for power.

A few things for me here. If you're going to point out that Rocco was saddled with Colome, Happ, and Shoemaker last year, you certainly have to point out that he was given Gray, Paddack, Archer, Smith, and Duran (Falvine could quite easily have kept him as a starter in AAA) this year, to say nothing of Correa. How well would the pitching staff look with those 5 gone from the MLB roster (albeit Rogers added back)? We have no idea how Archer would have performed in a hypothetical 5th innning last night. Maybe the first 4 runners reach against him, it's a 3-run inning in total, and the Twins lose 4-3. Maybe Archer gets the side out on 11 pitches, and you can get the bullpen more rest. After all, the 3 batters due up in the 5th (Smith, Pache, Kemp) have OPS' of .523, .431, and .570--not SLG, OPS. The fact that the Twins pen is throwing a ton of innings is an issue, one that could haunt the team later in the year against much tougher competition than Oakland. Count me in the camp that is not thrilled with the handling of Buxton--not because he's not playing, but because he's playing too much while clearly hurt. If Buxton (or any player for that matter) is not healthy enough to play 5 out of every 6 games, then he needs to be on the IL. Buxton has already missed 12 games, 5 after the injury, and 1 from each of the 7 series that have happened since his return. If they had just put Buxton on the IL immediately after the Boston game, perhaps he would be fully healed, and able to play every day. If this injury is a chronic thing that would need months to fully heal, then why are we risking a long-term serious injury in a season we're long shots to win the WS anyways? I don 't think Rocco deserves all the blame he gets, and I think he's Ling's Palace as a manager (for fans of Brooklyn 99--he's fine. He's just fine), but nor do I think he's a great manager. I'm not advocating for his dismissal, but I would be not at all upset if we went in a different direction at the helm.

Are we saying that this is just at this point a chronic thing, and Buxton will always be injured, and never fully healthy? For a guy who gets a fair bit of his value from speed, that seems alarming. When you say you nursed your balky knees through 10 seasons, is it possible that had you taken a month off with full rest, they would have gotten better? Or did you just assume they would never get better, but mitigated them getting worse by reducing your activity?

The goal should absolutely not be 100 games for Buxton--I find acceptance of that concept asinine. If Buxton is healthy, he should certainly be able to play 5 out of every 6 games, at a bare minimum--that correlates to 135 games, which means he could have 3 stints on the 10 day IL, and still play 105 games (more if the 10 day stint comes during a 10 day stretch where the Twins have at least one day off--not exactly rare). As such, if the Twins are not willing to play Buxton at that rate, he should be on the IL getting nothing but rest and recovery, especially given the big step forward Celestino has taken this year, providing a legitimate option at CF if Buxton is not there. In fact, part of me wonders if perhaps Buxton should be moved to LF full time, with Celestino the everyday CF even if Buxton is healthy. When Larnach comes back, he can play 2-3 times a week in LF, and 2-3 times at DH.

Subsequently quoted by Brian Kelly when he was at Notre Dame. Because our society is stupid now, a not-small number of reporters decided what Coach Kelly meant is that he would like to kill his players in a ritual manner.

To start, the Twins have played a decent schedule so far, going up against 5 teams widely considered playoff teams (or at least strong playoff contenders) in their first 29 games--4 against SEA, 2 against LAD, 4 against BOS, 3 against CWS, and 3 against TBR--16 games total. Granted, Seattle and Boston both look weaker than expected, but there's still plenty of talent on both of those teams, and the Twins split against them. The real question is how much stock to put into the 2 non-competitive losses against LAD, as opposed to the 5-1 record against Tampa and Chicago. As far as needs, for me the biggest is actually a starting pitcher at least as good as Sonny Gray. There's no way Ryan, Ober, and Winder can pitch at current rates for the entire year, and still be effective in October, so unless the Twins want Archer or Bundy to be the inning eater that lets you skip those 3 a couple times in the second half, you'll need someone else. This of course also assumes that Paddack can return in short order and be effective, and that there are no other injuries, so at least a #2, and ideally a #1 (if the Twins want to actually make noise in October, not just participate). The names potentially in play here are Kelly from ARI, Zimmerman from BAL (would require a lot, as he only has 1 year of service time), Montas from OAK, Mahle from CIN, and Kuhl from COL. Kuhl should be pretty gettable, as he is a FA at the end of the year. I don't think any of those profile as a sure #1. Next on my list for needs is a bullpen Alpha that can be your traditional closer, and take the 9th anytime you have a lead. This would allow Duran, Smith, and (hopefully) Duffey/Pagan/Alcala/Coulombe to be deployed in spots where they'd be most effective, and then use Jax as a multi-inning guy to get you through the 5th and 6th or 6th and 7th. Finally, it's possible another bat might be needed, but I want to hold on that, to see if Miranda, Larnach, Lewis, and/or Kiriloff can be contributors. If 2 of those can become impact bats, adding that to an Arraez/Buxton/Correa/Polanco top 4 gives you a good enough lineup, in my opinion. If more than 2 materialize this year, we're in good shape with Jeffers/Kepler as our wrost bats. When I look at all this, my thought is to wonder if this is the year to make moves. When considering that our starting staff next year shapes up to be Gray, Maeda, Paddack, Ryan, Ober, and Winder, with hopefully Balazovic, SWR, Varland, and Canterino ready to fill in, and those 10 guys would cost maybe $30M, next year seems to be the year you can really have some ability to do things, especially if Miranda, Laranch, Lewis, and Kiriloff establish themselves in the lineup. Because of that, I think this is the year to stand pat and let the teams gel, unless you're able to swing a deal that is too good to pass up (say Montas for Canterino and CES for example, or Josh Bell for Cavaco perhaps).

Yes, No is the new Yes, but No, Yes is not the new No, because Yes, Yes is the old Yes, so also Yes, No is the old No. Hope that clears it all up.

They love it even more when he's on the bench or in the doctor's office or doing rehab. The additional risk of injury is just not worth it.