KirbyDome89

Why did Bell look like he was swinging a pitching wedge during that AB....

Great AB by Keaschall. Brutal outside of that

Certainly plausible. Lewis also gets lumped in with guys like Miranda, Julien, Wallner (to an extent) ect. and that's not really apples to apples. I'm not giving Lewis a pass, he's been massively disappointing the last few years, but undoubtedly his inability to stay healthy has played a significant role. It's fair to question how much organizational instruction Lewis is actually absorbing at this point. I think it's entirely possible that the unsustainably hot start in a very SSS combined with the injuries set unreasonable expectations. That said, he hasn't been anything more than average-ish for short bursts the last 2 years and we're having serious discussions about whether he's worthy of arbitration, let alone an extension. It very well could be that the Twins found a way to maximize the thing(s) some of the lesser prospects do well, and once big league pitching found a way to adjust, there was nothing there to counter with. Guys like the trio I mentioned weren't "can't miss," status. Brooks Lee might just be a subpar SS without a good hit tool. Again, I'm not giving this organization a pass, I think they've done a pretty poor job of developing players. What I'm saying is I don't know if there's actually some systemic issue that stops these young guys from blossoming at the MLB level, rather, the Twins might've squeezed all the metaphorical juice they could out of these guys, i.e. maybe it's a dearth of talent, and not a total failure in making the developmental jump from AAA to MLB. Miranda and Julien will be interesting case studies this year.

Mentally fragile is probably too far. I think it's fair to question his maturity (mentality) after some of his comments/actions the last few years.

Those vets tend to be usable players, not an albatross actively dragging the lineup down, unless of course, you're the Twins. Dude, this one was already covered. Toronto played 18 postseason games. Ty France had 4 PAs and didn't start a single game. I mean c'mon.... Ah, we "don't know ball." Well, from my vantage point it looks like you've back yourself into a corner and the only way out is revisionist history and I guess claiming everyone else is too stupid to grasp the 4D chess that has been the Twins roster management. YMMV of course.

Forcing another roster spot to carry a LF candidate while continuing to burn a roster spot hanging onto a LF candidate that isn't playable? I mean what are we talking about here.... Why would anybody complain about successful additions? Haha, he might've "lost," his job as far as playing time was concerned, but he stayed on the roster for the entire ****ing year while being unplayable for 5+ months! That is the definition of refusing to move on. The notion that the Twins couldn't find somebody else to take over the role of possibly the worst hitter in all of baseball is laughable. There's absolutely no chance the organization was hanging onto Keirsey because his production was irreplaceable.

Pretty straight forward; cutting underperforming vets on MiLB deals during ST isn't the same thing as cutting bait with underperforming vets in season. The former happens all the time, the latter is a far more rare occurrence.

How can that roster spot be a revolving door if Gallo held onto it all season? A .288 OBP is terrible. We both know that. Moving on from a replacement level player is exactly what teams interested in winning should be doing, hence the term, replacement level. Locking in that type of performance is absolutely a worse roster decision than attempting to improve. I honestly don't know how that's debatable. Joey Gallo was most certainly a contributor to the offensive woes that plagued the Twins for much of the 2023 season. Yeah, we're gonna disagree that burning a roster spot on an unplayable guy because you paid him $11M is good roster management. You supported the Twins keeping Keirsey on the roster, despite his horrible performance, and you argued that was good roster management? That's not the discourse I remember, but ok.

People forget that the Twins were trying to win games in 2023. They were below .500 at the ASB that year. "He has to play because X, Y, Z player is out/needs rest," arguments were sunk cost reasoning. @chpettit19 already said it, but that spot at minimum could've been a revolving door for internal and/or external options. They could've actually addressed the need for another OF at the trade deadline if they felt so inclined. It wasn't simply Jordan Luplow or bust. That's a false choice. "Didn't meet expectations," is an understatement. He was a terrible offensive performer from May onward, and hanging onto him was terrible roster management. I really don't understand the argument for burning a valuable bench spot on a guy that you can't play. You led the charge for removing Kiersy last season for the same reason, why does Gallo get a pass here?

Three weeks ≠ 20% of the season, but more to the point, I didn't say that span of time didn't count, I said it was the only portion of the season that he was playable. He still held a roster spot through the entire year, so that's 5+ months of carrying an offensive black hole that no amount of corner OF defense could compensate for.

Margot was awful from the jump, but Gallo from May 1st through the end of the 2023: .163/.288/.374 with a 45% K rate. The rose tinted view of Gallo's MN tenure is baffling. He was a terrible offensive performer despite the ever declining OPS to which fans clung, yet the Twins refused to actually use his roster spot. I hope Larnach is playable for more than 3 weeks this season.

For sure a frustrating experience watching the US offense no show vs both the DR and Venezuela. I think most (and rightfully so) expected the US lineup to put on a better display. After the offense flopped, the frustration became "they didn't care," as opposed to "it's ST and it's 2 games." Idk what the tourney meant to the US players. Tbh, I don't really care, because while entertaining, I view the WBC as an exhibition. I would happily trade any number of WBC championships for a Twins sale and return to relevancy. The US guys play 162 games, in the most competitive league in the world, in front of fans in their home country. It's just different, and that's ok. I think fans are projecting their feelings (and I'm not unempathetic or even in disagreement) about what's happening outside of baseball onto individual performances and/or single games.

Venezuela earned it by playing better no doubt. The "they wanted it more," narrative feels like cope to me though. The US lost the championship game of a single elimination tourney by one run. That's baseball. At some point this season the Colorado Rockies will beat the Dodgers and nobody will think twice about. No questions about LAs effort or desire to play to game. That DR lineup was absolutely stacked. They scored one run in their loss. Did they just not want it enough? We need some perspective.

Thought the same thing reading that. Off the top of my head: Alex Jackson Ryan Kreidler Tristan Gray James Outman That's 4 position players right there. I believe Orze is on the 40 man and it doesn't sound like he has been all that impressive this spring so there's a 1 for 1 swap if the Twins can't possibly stomach losing any positional "talent." Travis Adams has been mentioned already.

Danny Coulombe, who has been better the last few years, brought back a nothingburger at the deadline.

Eh, disagree, Chafin isn't going to return anything of note in a trade midseason.

Concur, they're going to be terrible either way, you might as well find out whether somebody like Funderburk (or the trio you mentioned) can actually stick.

If you have one or two lefties in your pen, at best they're close to a 50/50 split RH vs. LH faced with the 3 batter minimum. Idk how that type of split is possible with 4 LHPs in the pen. As far as starters go, outside of Ryan there isn't a single SP capable of even semi regularly going deep into games. Either Ober, SWR, Bradley, and Matthews/Abel are left out there to get through an order 3x, or the Twins give up on the idea of these LHP relief arms being matchup dependent. Either way, something has to give.

Well 34 IP last year, still not a huge SS but that's pretty much always the case with RPs. What's more scary is that LHs posted a .740ish OPS against him in '24 and '23. Last year it was a ridiculously low .454 OPS. I guess he posted reverse splits in '24. If I'm betting which trend(s) from the 3 year SS continue, I think that a soon to be 36 year old LHP, who experienced durability issues last season, moving from a low .700s OPS to an .800ish OPS vs RHs is more likely than that same LHP posting reverse splits or absolutely dominating LHs. Happy to be wrong though. I'd rather see Funderburk almost purely because of age and the maybe slim chance he has an actual future with the team beyond this season. I want him to get that shot too. To me Banda/Rogers/Chafin are redundant. The type of usage that keeps them amongst the 8 best arms is an impossibility with 4 LHs in the pen. Even with "only," 3 LHs, shielding them from RHs isn't possible.

He had an 805 OPS against vs. RH hitters last year. Banda and Rogers struggle against RHs and Funderburk isn't great either. You can't have half your bullpen unusable against 75% of the hitters they'll face.

I know you said tepid, so I'll take it as a devil's advocate type argument, but Zach Littell is on his 6th organization since the Twins outrighted him at the end of the 2020 season. SF waived him, he didn't appear in a MLB game for Texas, and Boston waived him before he settled in with TB. Did all those teams "mess with him," too? If Zach Littell is the example of organizational malpractice you're kinda proving my point.

Out of context? "That kind of mentality destroys development and younger players." What context am I missing? So asking for examples to substantiate your massively exaggerated claim is an unfairly narrow criteria. Lol ok.... Do I think Falvey's penchant to lean into veteran mediocrity over unproven youth hindered this team at times? Sure, but if you're going to claim the Twins were destroying young players then I'll say it again, cite your work, It shouldn't be that hard if the environment was/is as toxic as you're making it out to be.

What players has this organization "messed with?" In particular, what SPs have been derailed specifically by the Twins failing to provide opportunity? Off the top of my head I can't think of a single starter who has flourished elsewhere after being pushed aside.

Do you see Kreidler or Gray as significant offensive upgrades? I don't. I guess Kreidler could maybe handle some CF? Idk, it makes no sense to keep Arcia in AAA and roster one of the two above if neither is going to slide into the starting SS role if/when Lee misses time.

If that's the case he's making the team right?