PopRiveter

I was quoted as saying something similar. "When I go to Mills Fleet Farm and I go to the fishing lure clearance bin and I want something, I do some math to determine the price minus the color-coded percentage discount. But I usually decide it still costs more than I want to pay. So if you're a cheap enough guy, you can pass on just about anything. I'm the product here, and not especially good at baseball, so..."

Everything I've read from every commenter has been reasonable and well-founded. Unfortunately, the overwhelming conclusion it leads to means there is no reason for me to stick around any longer. I think I'm done watching baseball this year. Evil won. Oh well. Baseball was fun through most of the summer anyway. Get outdoors and enjoy some beautiful weather. I'll see y'all next year!

This is all about feelings, and feelings aren't right or wrong so no judgement please. The events of the second half of this Twins season have drained me of enthusiasm and interest. Beyond my ambivalent feelings overall toward my Twins, I have a deep and abiding hatred for the Yankees. That never wanes. MLB is no fun to watch when the teams who pay 2-3x the payroll of their competitors are just beating up on the rest of the league. I especially root against Aaron Judge. It is not fair to him and I'll admit that, but he is exactly what I picture when I read accounts of the Nephilim or Goliath. His success brings nothing but pain. I would have already moved on 100% to football season, but Luis Arraez is my favorite current Twin and he still has a chance to play spoiler. In honesty, this will be a near impossible hill to climb. With Judge this close to the triple-crown, the mandate is in and you can see it every day on the field. MLB wants the huge east-coast storyline. For the rest of the season, many of the away crowds will be rooting against Arraez. More importantly, the umps will be skewing the field against him. The strike-zones will be pinched when he bats. Close calls will go against him. Judge is the recipient of every possible advantage right now and it's moved him just ahead in the race. If the numbers keep trending this way, I'll be checking out until spring. But if Luis can resurge and has a real chance to play spoiler, I'll still have one solitary reason to care about these otherwise worthless games. It's Arraez vs. Evil. Here's hoping!

The purpose of the season is to determine which teams belong in the playoffs. That has been accomplished. There can be no question. Our 2022 Twins just don't belong.

I'm an idiot.

This has the workings of a nice rally. I'm somehow still hoping for the best

Just set their new record for the most pitchers used in a single season? I'm beaming with pride. Now I can remember the 2022 Twins fondly as the "record-setting 2022 Twins"

Man. This team. I should've brought some whiskey to the office today.

I'm with her too. You'd whine too if ya knew what's good for ya!

I am right there with him. This is no fun.

Good writeup. Feels like there was potential for a much better outcome this year, but it would have required a number of good breaks. It’s gotten pretty bleak lately.

I can’t let this go. I will try hard to be respectful, but I just can’t see this the way you do. Buxton, Polanco, Kepler, Sano, Kiriloff, and Jeffers all made the opening day roster and all were out hurt. It was painfully obvious that a Plan B lineup was on the field. First line of defense this year included opening day roster bench players who are now regulars-Arraez (thank God), Gordon & Celestino (both having risen to perform above expectations). These were supposed to be supplemental talent, not the core group. Then comes the frontline contigency minor league group which was led by Garlick, Miranda, Lewis (out), Larnach (out). It’s been a lot of blows to the depth of the lineup. Most everyone has lost some time and all the lifelines have been used extensively. At this point, the attrition has overwhelmed the team. Again, this isn’t even touching on the pitching. Is it an excuse? You can decide that for yourself. Is it an inescapable truth? Yup. 100%

This article twice characterized Wnder looking good today. I disagree. He was getting hit hard and managed to take advantage of some nice breaks. Glad he got through it, but I don’t think many of us there today felt confident with the frequent hard contact he was allowing.

Apparently you weren’t at the game today like I was, watching an outfield of Cave/Celestino/Garlick. The Twins had to field that group because injuries have sidelined Buxton, Kepler, Kiriloff, Larnach, and Contreras. All higher options on the depth chart than the players that were actually playing. The infield is missing Polanco, Sano, Lewis and Jeffers. That’s without even mentioning the many pitching injuries that have gutted the starting and relief corps. The team is broken. They are cooked. They are severely injured. I feel it’s disingenuous to claim otherwise.

Maeda can hardly be categorized the same as Paddack and Dyson. He was a season and a half post-trade before he lost time to injury. I see him as an example of the times it pays off- pitchers who become available for a reasonable price because of lingering injury concern, but who then contribute beyond their price tag. I'd put Maeda's name alongside Pineda on that list. I'm holding out hope Archer will prove he belongs in that grouping as well, but that would require he reverses some current trends. There certainly aren't many examples of that being a successful strategy.