KirbyDome89

Agreed that he no control over whether he hits w/ RISP. I think the rest of the post was spot on in questioning whether he's able to hit in general though. Carter was terrible last year and LA basically handed him over. I guess he's added depth, although the quality is debatable.

This. Once you look beyond his ERA last season it's apparent he isn't the same guy prior to the surgery.

I agree that a good process doesn't always deliver a good result. I've said the same thing multiple times regarding the Park signing. I don't agree that the process was solid in this case, so I think ripping the results is warranted. They could have waited another season to make sure the 14' Hughes was who they were signing and not 10'-13' Hughes, and still come in early on the extension.

I would guess most don't read it that way. To say the "Buxton doesn't care about working on his hitting as much as his defense," summary is a different interpretation is probably too kind. How far can a simple quote be stretched before speculation becomes fabrication? I guess we'll find out....

Do you think Cave sticks with the team? Personally I don't, so I'm not going to get bent out of shape over whether it's Cave or LaMarre getting ABs, but I'm also not going to get on anybody for wanting to go with the "hot bat," for 1-2 weeks. I don't think anybody is campaigning for LaMarre as a long term solution, but Cave fits into that category as well. The end game is to find some sort of spark on offensive for that 1-2 week period. Is it really that crazy to prefer LaMarre? IMO it isn't, and I think that's the only point anybody in that camp has made.

"Minnesota still has plenty of games remaining against the division's dregs to help fuel a rapid climb." If they're fighting for the last WC spot then sure, that's an advantage, but right now they're at the bottom of that group and honestly it's generous to even include them. IMO the division title is a long shot but if that's their only way into the postseason then the advantage of playing a poor divisional schedule is erased. I get that there's 3/4 of a season left to play, and I still think the WC is their best shot at getting in, but the hole they're digging is putting them in a position where they're forced to win the division. I'm not sure that the games left with KC, Det, and CHI are as much of a safety blanket as we thought they'd be.

I didn't hear anything about the Twins getting angry but this is the same team that got upset after a bunt beat their shift earlier in the season.

Yes. No.

I seriously doubt Miller is resigned. I just don't see Cleveland being so far out of the race for the title in arguably the worst division in baseball that they're selling by mid-late July. It would be shocking to say the least.

They're 2 seasons removed from a WS berth, 1 season removed from winning 100+ games, and the team is for the most part still intact. IMO Given their recent success and the outlook of the division, Cleveland would have to be truly awful from now until almost the deadline for them to even consider a sale.

It's nice to not dread Gibson starts. Hopefully this is the pitcher, more or less, we see all year, but I can't say I'm confident that happens. Fair or not, I'm continually waiting for "bad Gibby," to show up.

Too real....

I'll settle for them just going back to the pinstriped uniforms from 06'

I honestly couldn't believe that Toronto pulled that off, and with Morales running no less. You're spot on, high level high school teams can defend that play. IMO that was the low point.

It would have been nice to see Curtiss get some work in lower leverage innings before being booted.

Those aren't 8 separate stretches of 24 games each, that would be over a full season of games. They're double dipping. Just looking at the top two "streaks," the first lasted 7/6 - 8/5 and the second was from 7/8 - 8/7. That's essentially the same streak with a difference of only a game or two on either end. Six of those eight "streaks," cover basically that same time period. There's one stretch from late June to late July, but even that is including a lot of the same games as the July - August "streaks," above. There's only one other distinct stretch and that was from late May to mid June. It's really more like two periods of really bad baseball. I guess the silver lining is that the Twins haven't hit the same level of bad as that late June - early August stretch last year, at least in terms of games lost. I think we could make an argument they've hit that low in regards to performance. The season certainly isn't lost, but Twins aren't the kind of team I'd bet on to dig themselves out of big holes. This is a team that should be around .500 a few months and pushing over .500 for the rest to build to 85-86 wins. Finishing a month over .500 is a big deal for this team, and now barring a crazy winning streak, they need to do that for multiple months just to break even. Like I said, this isn't a time to panic, but I do think the work that's required for the Twins to dig themselves out is being a bit understated.

He also went 6 innings, 0 ERs, 8 Ks against a good Milwaukee team his last time out. Reality is that the Twins decided not to make a serious offer and instead opted to spend that money on a handful of lesser players. Those two decisions are linked whether or not people want to acknowledge it. At this point Romero and Gonsalves can't be worse than Hughes and Lynn.

1. I griped about MN passing on Darvish and going the quantity route over quality. You're right that it's too early to bury some of these guys but Rodney, Lynn, Duke, and Odorizzi all had serious question marks when they were signed or traded for, and so far only Odorizzi has performed as expected. There's a reason Lynn was still hanging around unsigned during ST. There's also a reason he eventually sold his services for only 1 yr/12M. Duke was coming off major surgery and threw less than 20 innings the previous season. Everybody knew the dangers of Rodney, and if they didn't they're well acquainted now. I thought Morrison, while a decent gamble, was redundant and an overpay for the type of production the Twins were likely to get. These guys certainly added depth to the roster, that isn't really debatable. Odorizzi, Berrios, Gibson, Lynn, ? is a better opening rotation than Berrios, Gibson, Hughes, Mejia, ? In the same way, adding Rodney and Duke to the bullpen shouldn't have hurt. The question at the time the FAs were signed though, was whether their contribution would be greater than the opportunity cost of not making a serious offer to Darvish. It wouldn't shock me to see Rodney improve and not be as terrible as he has been. I have no idea what to think of Duke. The guy records outs but I don't think even he knows where the ball is going half the time. It isn't a stretch to think he could be effective for the rest of the season. I think Lynn resembling anything close to his good years in St. Louis is a pipe dream. I can see Morrison hitting 5-6 homers in a single month, but I was very skeptical of him reaching 25+ to start the year, and given his start that number might realistically be closer to the mid to low teens. Kudos to the FO for snagging Reed, he was a great signing. Even if he was tanking like the rest of the FA group, I couldn't get down on bringing him in. If the Twins have a chance to bring in a proven talent like him on a team friendly deal they should do so every time. The FO certainly didn't sit back and do nothing like last offseason, but they made the conscious effort to bring in a handful of small parts rather than one big piece. When you add some of the other questionable roster decisions I think it's fair to say they share a portion of the blame for the rough start. 2. Obviously I want to see this team make the postseason, and I'll be as excited as anyone to watch the WC game. That said, what does it really say if the Twins play under .500 for April, .500 the rest of the way against non-divisional opponents, and then beat the hell out of bad divisional teams to sneak in? I'm not sure if that really shows any improvement from last year.

Mid 70s might be a stretch but apart from a 20 win August they're under .500 for year in 17'. If we ignore 16' for the moment, they needed 20 wins in May of 15' to hang around in the WC chase with 83 total Ws, and they needed 20 wins last August to claim the WC at 85 Ws. They don't have to apologize for those great months, and I absolutely agree that they don't have to give any wins back, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't concerning that they've needed monster months each of those years to pull a team that hovered below .500 just above that line and into WC contention. It's a long year, and they can string a few decent/good months together and erase this early hole they've dug. To me, that's going to be the mark of improvement. I would agree with Wsnydes, 17' seems like a long shot to be repeated, simply because I'm not sure banking on a big winning streak is a good bet.

I didn't think I would be this tired of Rodney this early, but yeah, I'm there....

This. It was a big gripe last year too. Instead of scrap heap filler they might should be finding out what they have in the minors. If organizational guys can't hack it or they really think they found a gem on the outside, then fine, turn to the waiver wire. At least by giving their own players the first shot they'll have a better idea of who might actually be able to contribute heading into each season, which helps in making FA and Rule V decisions. Agreed on the "cuteness," of some of these moves.

On cue

Gennett knows he can use his glove and not just his foot to field that short hop right? Twins fans thought they had it rough this last week.....imagine being a Reds fan....

I heard he was complaining of oblique tightness in the dugout.... DL stint part II

Yep a RH 4th OFer would be nice right about now. Maybe all the "flexibility," they have next year will make room for one.