Dave The Dastardly

Can't agree with you on the rookie thing. The current Twins are not a playoff team. Cleveland just proved that. And a team doesn't "improve" by keeping average players in the lineup when it has rookies that may be better. But the only way you can prove a rookie can do a better than average job, is to play them. A lot. And give them all the chances in the world to play at the position they have been trained for at the level of competition you need them to play at. If you have to play them at a new position, then its only fair to cut them some slack while they adapt instead of immediately condemning their performance and ruling them a disaster. I've been preaching all year that this season is for the Twins to kick the tires on their prospects if they want to be a playoff team next season. Witness the negative effect the absence of Sano and Donaldson has had. None. Yet the 2022 team is better than the 2021 team because getting rid of those two made room for Arraez and the rookies. Yeah, the rookies will make mistakes, but that's how rookies learn. And if they get enough playing time this year, they won't be rookies next season.

I have the same optimism. Gio has done an okay job at 3rd in my opinion but he's not the future answer for the Twins. Miranda will be an upgrade, if he gets playing time at 3rd this year. At the major league level. He has nothing left to prove in the minors. Use him or lose him.

Forget the position player, bring in a pitching machine loaded with wiffle balls. But don't let it throw more than a hundred pitches... Tommy John is expensive.

Rocco and FO; If you're not going to use Duffy, release him. If Buxton is going to sit out two out of three games, put him on the IL. Bring up a fresh arm from the minors for the bull pen and a rookie hitter that at the least can be used as a pinch hitter. This is no time to be carrying dead weight.

Well said!

Patience grasshoppers. Last year the Twins would've lost this game by the fifth inning. This year they were in it until the end. Next year, if the young guys capitalize on the major league experience they gain this year and Rocco learns to manage by the "feel" of the game instead of relying solely on preordained "plans" the Twins will be the ones in the winner's circle. So pull your head out of the noose, stock up on your favorite beverage and focus on the younger players' development. Oh, the occasional stiff shot of Jameson will help.

No trades at mid-season. This is the year for the young guys to prove out. Until then they're all basically unproven prospects. Name me one team that has a plethora of No 1 and No 2 pitchers and will consider trading one of them for a handful of unproven prospects. We keep our guys together this year, pitchers and position players, and play them regularly. We might just find out our "ace" is already in the rotation.

I was not one of those "trade Arraez" guys. Instead I argued to trade Donaldson and cut Sano in order to clear spots for the likes of Lewis, Kirilloff, Miranda and Larnach and keep Arraez's bat in the lineup. So I feel vindicated. Not bragging, just wanting to briefly bask in vindication because vindication is not something I am overly familiar with. Happens maybe once every ten years or so. The other nine years I suck. I bet on the Vikings to win the Superbowl... four times, just as an example of my usual sports management/predictive abilities. But here's what drove my reasoning for keeping Arraez and going with the "yutes" in 2022; the experience the young guys pick up this year at the major league level, coupled with their obvious talent, will put the Twins in the World Series next year. And they'll take the title. Bet on it.

Can't totally disagree with your counterpoint. However, if Rocco knows days in advance which players are "scheduled" for an off day (and he has offered that argument) then the Twins should publish the "carved-in-stone" schedule on their website at least a couple weeks in advance so fans can pick which games they want to attend. I'm thinking of those families that live two-four hours from the stadium and have a kid who wants to come see his favorite players take the field. I used to be one of those families and my son would choose which games we should attend based on who was going to pitch. But if the Twins actually did post their "rest" schedule in advance, I'd bet attendance would drop when players like Buxton or Correa we're scheduled to be watching from the dugout. Can't imagine ownership would like that.

I believe it's the head coach/manager's responsibility to put the best team he can muster on the field on any given day. Trying to plan "rest" days around the odds of winning a game is overstrategizing and pure guesswork. It's sort of like a team deliberately tanking a season in the hopes of garnering a higher draft choice, but in this case, tanking a game in the hope all your stars will be in primo health come the play-offs. Assuming of course they get in the play-offs.

Winston the Black Lab story reminds me of the time one of our daughters and her husband brought their 100 lb Rottweiler to our country home. Apparently the Rott had never seen a deer or a raccoon before, or apparently a picture window. After several failed attempts to hurdle through the window, our son-in-law subdued the Rott after earning several carpet burns as the dog dragged him across the living room carpet like a dead water skier. Roberre the Racoon was totally unfazed by the attention and returned that evening to lick the grease off my grill and clean up the grape jam the orioles had left in my wife's, she of the "Shoot that SOB" chant, bird feeder. The deer? Well, we think it was Matilda of the Twins. No, not an avowed Twins fan, she's not a masochist like me, but the female deer who drops a pair of twin fawns in my wife's flower garden every spring, the same deer family that eats the blossoms off all the flowers and craps all over our front sidewalk. They sort of have the runs of the place.

Unless we're going to acquire a current starting pitcher with a winning record, a low ERA, goes at least 7 innings every time he takes the mound, has no injury issues, has at least two years remaining on his current contract after this season, is in his lower 30's, has been vaccinated, has never been sued for sexual harassment, helps grandmotherly types across the street, has an IQ over 120 on the Stanford-Benet and prefers classic country over rap I'd say step away from the trade table and keep our prospects. Better the devil we know... Just ask the Cleveland Browns.

Arraez hands down. Ryan second. Kepler third. Larnach fourth.

Hilarious! Laughed all the way through it. I used to have trouble using Microsoft Word until I got my first vaccine shot. Now it's a piece of cake. Got my booster and damned if I can't do Excel spreadsheets like a pro now. I'm hoping the third shot will help me write code. Lots of money to be made designing video games with lots of first-person shooting and explosions in them. The only drawback I seem to have is this urge to face northwest every morning and bow multiple times while chanting "Bill is my Savior." Don't know where that comes from...

The Twins will be the most well-rested players watching this season's play-offs from home. But many of us expected nothing more than a .500 season this year as there are still too many missing parts for this bunch to be a serious contender. What this season should be is the final building year before we become a serious contender in 2023. But only if we stop signing up retreads, fielding players that won't help next year and start playing every day those that need the major league experience and can help us next year. And not all over the field, but at one position where they can master positional skills, become comfortable playing there and can focus on hitting. Same with the bullpen. Give them a role so they anticipate when they will be used, know how long they'll be on the mound and how often they will be used. Of course all that's assuming Rocco will actually let position players play long enough to develop familiarity with their position, quit screwing around with nonsensical batting lineups, expect starting pitchers go at least 6, preferably 7 innings, and learn how to properly use a bull pen so as not to burn it out by mid-season. And for godsakes stop designating "rest" days for a player whether he's tired or not and not using them as pinch hitters on their "off day". World Series in 2023!!!

You mean Rocco Rest and Pitch Limitations isn't "saving" players from injury?

Concur. I got one from a motorcycle accident when the end of the handlebar got slammed into my hip. Took forever to heal. The pain from a sneeze would damn near cause me to blackout. Had to quick brace myself against a wall whenever I felt a sneeze coming on. But I was the lucky one. The black lab I hit went to that Big Kennel in the Sky. What's it going to take for the Twins to increase the padding? Gotta be cheaper than putting your millionaire players on the IL for weeks at a time.

If it was my decision to make I'd view the situation as a long term matter, not a short term situation (who's joining the team as a short-term substitute for an injured player). Granted, the Twins are more competitive this season than most of us expected. But are they serious contenders for post season play in 2022? Probably not. Close, but not quite close enough. When they can beat Houston and New York in regular play, they're ready. So the long term goal should be readying the team for 2023. In that scenario, the team has to count on Lewis, Miranda and Kirilloff to take key rolls on next year's team. All three have to "be ready". So all three need to be playing full-time for the Twins right now, not wasting time starring at the AAA level. There is nothing they can learn playing for the Saints that they can't also learn playing for the Twins. Plus the value of major league experience. So you bring up Lewis now with the idea he's staying for the season. Kirilloff, since he's sort of on a rehab assignment, you leave in AAA until you're sure the bum wrist is going to hold up or he learns how to deal with an aggravating injury, sort of a Buxton-type thing. Miranda stays up with the team. He has a track record of initially struggling at a new level of play, then adapting. He can't "adapt" to major league play pounding the hell out of the ball in the minors. Gordon, unfortunately becomes expendable with Lewis, Miranda and Kirilloff on the team. But he has trade value so start shopping him. There's also no room for Sano to return, not that we need him, package him with Gordon. Nail down Correa as soon as possible. If he commits to returning, Urshela becomes expendable as Lewis will claim third base in 2023 with Correa staying at short. So start shopping Urshela. If Correa hedges, start preparing for Lewis to take short in 2023 and Miranda to play 3rd. Urshela is again expendable. A package of Gordon and Urshela might be attractive enough to land a decent pitching prospect. Sano you can throw in for free. So the short answer is bring up Lewis. The long answer is keep all three, Lewis. Miranda and Kirilloff, on the major league team for the rest of 2022, replace a few retreads off the pitching staff with young talent from the minor league system in the second half of this season and plan for the play-offs in 2023. End of Sunday sermon. Go in peace.

How about a stint in St. Paul as a long reliever first? If he's still showing promise bring him up after the All-Popular Game. Our bullpen will be worn out by then and we'll be looking under the bleachers for new fodder anyway.

At the rate Rocco is going every bullpen arm will have more innings than any of the starters. Maybe that's the plan; after the All-Popular game the starters will move to the pen and the pen will be the starters. God! What have I done! Erase this before Rocco sees it!

And some are unable to see the big (long term) picture.

Two more "experiments" why the Twins are more competitive; we got rid of Donaldson and Sano has been on the IL. Addition by subtraction at its best.

I know! Maybe he's not getting enough playing time! We might need to send him down to St. Paul so he can get regular AB's with Lewis! Chill! That's sarcasm for those who haven't had their morning coffee yet, or have just spilled their morning joe down their jammie front.

Matt- I don't get into analytics but love your writing style. Kept a dull subject interesting enough for me to keep reading.