BD57

I'd love to see the Twins contend in 2026. Problem is, where are the runs coming from? Buck & Jeffers are productive. Wallner, I'm not sold on. I'm not sure what we have with Lewis - prior to this year, I was thinking good things, now .... Pitching, what would we have if Joe & Pablo are gone? I don't see a #2 starter in the bunch, let alone a #1. Seems the Twins are forever stuck with ownership which wants to make a buck off of baseball WHILE they own the club as well as when they sell. While it's their money & they have every right to spend it however they wish, they're not giving Twins fans much to root for.

i'm thankful I have a team in each league that I follow . . . and that the NL team (the Phillies) is actually good. Front office blew up the roster at the trade deadline. Based on how the team came out of the All Star Break, hard to argue it was "wrong" to do so . . . the roster we had wasn't going to contend for anything. That said . . . there's little to nothing I can see which offers grounds for optimism. Seems we're going to look at mediocrity until the farm system produces a roster capable of playing good baseball. Which could take a while.

The "pre-sale" roster wasn't playing good baseball & blaming that on injuries isn't persuasive. Strikes me as as a "pare down the payroll & get some prospects for new ownership to inherit," essentially a "clear the decks & give the new ownership some room to maneuver. I'm all for the team being sold. While new ownership will have no obligation to spend its own money to make the team good, I'm hoping it'll be open to it.

A good manager challenges his players to be better. A "player's manager" treats them like men, expects the players to act accordingly, and holds them accountable if they don't do it. Part of accountability is "playing time depends on performance." Starting this season, the offense has been putrid & pitching hasn't been good. Getting swept by the Braves when they've had a bad start of their own ... not something that can be acceptable anywhere. While they're "not dead yet," there ain't much life there either. The Twins current "business model" requires the farm system to send a core of very talented kids who perform upon / soon after arrival to succeed. Farm system's not good enough to do it. Twins need ownership which gets a thrill out of owning a team - hate to say it, but "Operating the Twins like a business" isn't going to get it done because of the relationship between "amount spent on payroll" and "Winning." Current ownership isn't prepared to subsidize the roster to the extent required to put the Twins on the same level as Boston / Yankees / Mets / Dodgers, etc. I'm barely watching, which is a real disappointment, given how much I've enjoyed following the Twins in years past. Now . . . we see a group which finds a way to lose.

Seems really early to be drawing conclusions. Seems more like attendance being used as a hook for an article the gist of which had already been written.

The Suns are chaotic, and for all the chaos, they've achieved little to nothing. While increasing $$$$ available for payroll would help, in the end, the money needs to be well spent. The Phoenix Suns are not an example of "money well spent."

It's fine for the Bananas because they're playing a different game. I suspect it would often be used to get a team's best hitter up twice in the same inning against the same pitcher (more pitches seen, and all that). So . . what do you do when the "Golden Batter" strokes a single or double & is still on base when his regular spot in the lineup comes up? Do you get a 'ghost runner' (someone on the bench) who takes his spot on the basepaths so he can bat again? Do you send the guy whose at bat was swiped out to run the bases for the "Golden Batter" who gets a hit? It's a gimmick. If you think there's not enough offensive action, do something which addresses that . . . make the ball bigger & easier to hit, back the pitchers up a few feet (yes, I know changes of this type could have drastic impact on pitcher health). Don't make the ball more lively - "slow pitch softball" is not what you're trying to sell., So much about Manfred is a disappointment. His openness to gimmicks is high on the list.

Lack of consistency - awful to start the year, hot for an extended stretch, and then back into the tank to close out the year. We needed the offense to pick up the pitching staff in the end, when injuries took their toll. It didn't happen.

It's sad that Buck getting to 100 games is considered noteworthy. Need your best guys in the lineup more than 5 times in 8 games, but that's what we've got. Offense went seriously in the tank down the stretch. For the year, C- / D+ . . . wondering about our approach to hitting.

And Julien takes ANOTHER called third strike . . . what in the heck has happened to this kid?

Buck @ less than 100% is a "no go" for me. He doesn't bring enough to the party if he's less than 100%. If he aggravated / reinjured himself, then what. Even if we could replace him on the roster next game due to injury, it doesn't make sense to have someone you really can't count on being / remaining available on the roster.

Nice and ambiguous . . . . Buck isn't right. Hasn't been right all year, IMO. A guy hitting .210, striking out bunches and unable to play the field has very limited value (IMO). Either Buck isn't doing the work to get himself right (unlikely) or his body isn't capable of the grind which is MLB (more likely). We have more than enough experience with this by now to believe "it's not going to change." At a point now (IMO) where he needs to be sent to someone who really knows this stuff to get fixed.

Knee again? I ask because honestly I don't know for sure. What I do know is I don't like his "Home Run or Bust" approach at the plate. He's turning himself into MIguel Sano.

While I could be wrong, my sense is our minor league system isn't overflowing with big-time prospects right now. All this could be part of "restocking the pond" - rather than trade away kids who might turn into something (but aren't there yet), keep them & let's see what htey become. Again - we weren't going to make this roster dangerous in the post-season via a couple of trades.

This isn't a dangerous roster, not one which "could go far in the post-season by adding the right one or two guys from the universe of 'guys available'." Only way this group becomes dangerous is if a whole bunch of guys start performing "at their potential." Need Correa & Buxton to step it up, big time. Need Polanco & Lewis to get healthy & play at a high level. Frankly, need too many "happy answers" to the questions facing this team to believe the core group here now is capable of being "post-season dangerous." While pitching hasn't been great since All-Star break, even when they were hot, they're not enough to carry this offense ("Whether any staff could be" . . . probably not). "Trade Deadline" is when you get the guy or two who'll push you over the top 0R you get a start on remaking your roster for next year. Twins were in no-man's land: Not good enough to think adding a couple of guys would make them dangerous in the post season. Lacking in commodities which would get them excellent prospects in return. No one (or two) guys acquired in a trade was going to do that for this roster. So . . . do you trade for rentals / short-term guys & give up your best assets when you believe doing so won't make you significantly better "right now?" Or do you stand on what you have & put the job of making this group successful on the guys in the clubhouse?

Unfortunately, Buck's health issues may not be resolved until he retires . . . if then.

Does anyone know what the deal with the knee is? He had surgery last fall. Should've had sufficient time to get fully rehabbed and up to strength in the off-season - right? So . . . was the surgery botched, did he re-injure it again, has he developed arthritis in the knee? It's sad to see someone with as much physical talent as Buck have these problems year after year. As things stand now, Buck's not an asset or a detriment, he's . . . ordinary. We need better than that.

If Buck's injured again (there are people in this thread suggesting he is), then . . . don't know what to say. We've done everything humanly possible to coddle him this year, to keep him from doing anything which could lead to an injury. If he's STILL injured after all that . . . then, IMO, it's time to give up on the idea that he can ever stay healthy. Right now, he's not helping the team. Now, he's not the only guy not hitting but he's definitely one of them. IMO, he's only worth the contract if he can play CF 120+ times a year. Anything less than that & we're overpaying for the performance we're getting.

Walks, walks, walks. Pitching staff self-destructed again. Ugh.

Do what's necessary (within reason) to get Gray back, let Mahle go unless he's willing to sign a discounted deal - And maybe even "if he'd be willing to sign a discounted deal." He's had "health" issues, what, three years in a row now? And it's not a case of "Well, they got the diagnosis wrong before." A rotation starter who can't answer the bell is a liability. Mahle's recent history provides NO reason to be confident he'd be any more available after TJ than he was before.

Game threads are notoriously “negative,” doesn’t matter what team or game is involved. Fans love them a scapegoat & they’ll tear into anyone whose performance disappoints them. if the team loses, the coach / manager & players stink. If the team barely wins, the coach / manager & players drink. The people who are down on the team revel in those results b/c they think it proves how much smarter, more knowledge they are than fans who think more of the team etc than they do.

opinion only: By mid-May (we're basically there), guys have had enough plate appearances to give you an idea of how they're doing. We have a LOT of guys who are struggling. While it may make sense to give the vets with a track record additional time to figure it out, a younger guy like Miranda shouldn't have that long a leash. Here's the thing - I'd expect the analytics guys to pinpoint where he's getting himself out - particular pitch, particular zone, and so on. This many guys struggling after a "normal' spring training suggests a gap in preparation somewhere.

When Buck had that collision at 2nd base, who on here didn't think "Well, he'll be out 'til September ...." He's supposed to be a baseball player. Defense was part of setting the price when the Twins signed him to the current contract. IMO, he needs to be in the field.

A batting champion & established hitter (granted, not a power hitter) for a guy who'll pitch every 5th day. Our offense wasn't dynamic last year with Arraez. How will we score enough runs without him to give Lopez a chance to win every 5th day? A good starting pitcher gets 30 starts (or so), and will pitch well enough in 20 of those starts (or so) to give you a chance to win. Of those 20, there will likely be a few games where the offense doesn't pull its weight & a well pitched game winds up a loss regardless. Let's say we win a few of the game where he doesn't pitch well, to offset the games we lose despite how well he pitched. We're still talking about less than 20% of the season. Granted, the equation's different if we get to the post season. There, having a true #1 leading the pack can be a big deal - but you have to get there first. We need offense as much as starting pitching, IMO.

If we're trying to win games, which is the object of the exercise as I understand it, Buck contributes nothing when he's on the bench / DL list. The guys we put in the lineup when he's out bring a lot less to the table (thus far, at least). Buck can't win us two games at a time. We need him in the lineup, and a lot more often than has been his history.