d-mac

Totally agree. I have no problem giving credit where credit is due. No doubt the Smith regime acquired some nice young int'l talent. But the bad far outweighs the good. In both instances.

I don't think firing a guy after 17 full years of general mediocrity results qualifies as knee-jerk.

The buck stops with no one. Thus sayeth the bureaucracy.

You assume I expect this team to win. They aren't going to win no matter what. So let's not force young players to the majors before they are ready. Everybody loves to compare Buxton's upside to Andrew McCutchen. Do you know how many AAA plate appearances he had before he was called up? 881. The Pirates were horrible the years he was in AAA. And they had been for a long time. I guarantee that McCutchen would not be the player he is today if he had been called up to start the year in the majors in 2008 after just 72 plate appearances in AAA to that point.

So, you don't think that ALL of the position players (ex Mauer and Escobar, yet including Plouffe and Dozier) failing at once is no more than coincidence? Baseball is a f@%$ing hard sport. Players will struggle, especially ones trying to establish themselves. But when virtually all of them struggle at the same time (including Plouffe and Dozier) the players need to take accountability, but those in charge should shoulder no blame for not putting them in the best position to succeed? I've been saying since day one of spring training that Buxton was rushed, not ready, and needed a few months in AAA. That's clearly not his fault is it? Buxton isn't holding a gun to TR's head and forced himself on the roster. Sano wasn't the one moving himself to right field. Suzuki isn't filling in the line-up card, writing himself in the line-up over JR Murphy. Neither is Rosario or Santana when they bat second. The buck has to stop somewhere. I have never, and will never blame players for failure, question their conditioning, preparation, or work ethic. That INCLUDES Mauer and Perkins. To me that is classless. It's what fans of the Yankees and the NFL do. You don't think the players aren't embarrassed by their start? You don't think they care or aren't pressing to win a ballgame? They're probably pressing too much. They need to relax. But then again, isn't that the manager's job set the tone in the clubhouse?

If they were going to do this, why not just have kept Sweeney? Their going to lose someone on the 40 man anyway, Sweeney costs less AND is younger and has at least some defensive value left. TR had to have known that the odds of having at least a few of Rosario, Buxton, Sano, Arcia, and Santana struggle making contact and need more time in AAA was very high, why not just keep Sweeney?

Um, Quentin and Murphy are apples and oranges. Murphy is just an older version of Sweeney. Both lefthanded 4th outfielders with extreme platoon splits, decent BB/K ratios with not much speed on the bases. Sweeney has been an above average defender in the corners and average in CF; Murphy has been below average in the corners, but "GOD NO DON'T DO IT!" bad in CF. Murphy has hit for a little more power, but that's because he spend the bulk of his career in Arlington and Sweeney in Oakland. Murphy was cheaper and we had him in camp. This is just lack of foresight on TR's part.

Yes, blame the players for lack of work ethic. Stay classy, Ryan choir boys.

This is a classic Ryan series of moves. Except this time it's blowing up in his face. Maybe this finally exposes that the emperor has no clothes. Maybe ownership will wise up and clean house. Maybe some good can come from this horrendous start.

Murphy is just an older and more expensive version of Sweeney. And they released him. Sweeney is younger and a better defender. And yet people wonder why we get into these situations. The lack of foresight is mindboggling.

And why the f@%& is Rosario hitting second again? Suzuki or Buxton are literally the only worse options there. Bat Escobar or Mauer second. Honestly, this isn't that hard to figure out. Goin needs to chew out Molitor on his poor line-up construction and love of sacrifice bunting. These are all fireable offenses to me, IMO.

Sorry to use you as another example of the cliche Twins fan again Brock. But I also hate it when Twins fans blame the players for failure, but give all the credit to management when they are successful. Baseball is a f$%*ing hard sport. None of us would do any better in that situation. I'm mad and frustrated with the lack of progress of the young hitters. Sure, they may be struggling because of lack of hard work, in which case they would deserve our scorn. But who am I, as an outsider, to speculate on a player's work ethic? And then wouldn't the coaching staff to blame for lack of motivation? This entire team (ex mauer and Escobar) seems to have regressed with contact and plate discipline from last year. If it was one or two isolated incidents, then sure it may be the player. But it's not. The only common thread here is the coaching staff. I'm mad at year, after year, at trying to fit square pegs into round holes (Sano in RF), and hope against hope that a high risk/reward player can establish himself at a critical position with no back-up plan (Buxton). I'm mad at year after year of mind-bogglingly sub-optimal roster construction (May in the bullpen; Tonkin and Arcia on the roster, but never used). I'm mad at many missed opportunities of failing to sell off players at their high point on a rebuilding roster. I'm mad at rushing "toolsy" outfielders with questionable contact skills to the majors before they are ready (Hicks, Buxton), yet have a veteran fetish at other positions (Suzuki over Murphy, keeping May and Berrios out of the rotation, the entire bullpen every year) both being a detriment to the team and the development of the young players.

No, I'm not mad because he's not hitting. I knew he wasn't going to hit. I'm mad because Ryan rushed him to the majors. Just like in countless situations before he makes a risky bet on a player, with no back-up options. This is literally the EXACT same situation as when Aaron Hicks made his debut. Except this time, Buxton is more important to the future of this team and he's failing even more spectacularly.

I didn't come to this conclusion yesterday. I've been very vocal in calling for a clean house in the front office since 2011, going back to my days on the other site.

Sure, SSS leads to some goofy splits. But this offense has the highest K%- leads the #2 team 1.4%, the next 4 teams are separated by only 1.2%. This team has the 4th lowest ISO in baseball. They are right about league average for BB% and BABIP. Does situational hitting influence why we have scored the fewest runs in baseball (23 less than the median team)? Sure, but some of that is SSS. But at some point you have to call a spade a spade. This offense is bad. Like historically bad contact rates bad.

Do you know what's cliche and aggravating? Twins fans giving a lifetime pass to management for making the playoffs a couple of times a decade ago in a poor division. Some of you almost deserve to be watching bad baseball. For the rest of us, it's painfully obvious that the front office needed a clean sweep five years ago.

So being severely overmatched at the major league level is going to have no negative effects on his development? I find that incredibly naive.

Yes, a replacement level player gives us a better chance to win than a below replacement level player. I can't possibly see how leaving Buxton up here to strike out in half of his plate appearances is in the best interest of himself and this team. Please explain why you think otherwise.

Mastro gives us a better chance to win now. Buxton getting 300-400 plate appearances in AAA is best for his career and the future of this team. Buxton is a well below replacement level player right now. He is 2015 Danny Santana bad. I can't find a single reason why keeping him up is in anybodies best interest.

I can't imagine striking out every other plate appearance is harming anything.

It was pretty obvious Buxton should never have been in the majors to begin with. If they had rushed him last year, which they had admitted, did they really expect giving him 60 spring training PA's were going make up for that? Did they really learn nothing from the Aaron Hicks experience?

Or replace him. But you know they won't.

I read this more of a critique of how the Twins have handled major pitcher injuries in the past.

It's not just the past two years. They've dragged their feet on DL'ing players and leaving the manager with a short bench for as long as I can remember. And they're constantly trying to fit square pegs in to round holes due to lack of foresight.

Speaking of self-inflicted pain, what's the over-under on how many RH batters faced until the Twins realize that Rogers is only a LOOGY at the ML level? Any fan with two gray matter cells to rub together can take a quick glance at his BBref minor league splits and determine in about 10 seconds that he should exclusively be used against lefties. I'm setting the over/under at 50 right handed PA's.