ewen21

It is.

Is this the Twilight Zone? 100% agree with your comment. Honestly, if we are going act like playing 102 games out of 162 is an achievement then it’s a sad state of affairs.

If they resign him? Explain how that’s even a thought at this juncture after all we’ve seen over ten seasons. We cannot keep pretending he’s more than he is

And you like that?

How can a player be the face of a franchise when they play in slightly over half the games on the schedule over the last decade? Too many accolades, accommodations and excuses and not enough reliability and production.

In the last thirty days only two teams have scored less runs than our team. Even if the defense was flawless we won’t be winning meaningful games if we are not going to score runs. End of story.

Unlike Buxton, big hits in the playoffs

If I’m looking for a big hit in a big spot I want Lewis up over ANYONE on this team.

Thumbs down is supposed to mean disagree. I’d like to know what about this post anyone can disagree with and if you do perhaps do little better than a thumbs down. It’s not enjoyable watching this team burn out the way it has these last couple of months. It’s too bad comments like this one above are spot on.

Seriously? Buxton missed about 40% of his games. He’s played in over 100 games ONCE. Somehow the Twins are doing him wrong? Why aren’t we questioning his approach? It is impossible to keep him on the field. They’ve tried EVERYTHING. This on him.

More later

You’re free to feel that way, but after ten years we all know enough about HIM. What we do know is he’s the only one reporting to anyone on the hip. No one can find anything and the staff is going what Byron says. At this point, one month for a sore hip is dubious to me. I cannot give him the benefit of the doubt any longer since this kind of thing has happened over and over again throughout his ten year career. You guys can give him the benefit of the doubt if you want, but can’t others question him? Bud Grant once said, “availability Trumps ability”. For all the praise Buxton has gotten here (and everywhere else) over the years his career numbers don’t warrant it, in my opinion. I’ve seen comparisons to Aaron Judge here and, quite frankly, as a Twins fan I find the comparison embarrassing. At this point he deserves to be criticized and questioned freely and I’m not the only one who feels this way. For a guy who has had over 85 hits in a season only he sure has a lot of folks ready to write his sick notes for him. After a while, the excessive time on the IL is on him. Patterns are sometimes hard to fathom but in this case we have nearly a decade of DATA and observation. For him to say he’s too sore to go just days after that rehab game in St Paul and then suddenly decide “I’m good to go” a few days later is suspect to me. Im sorry, but the way this organization has treated him with kid gloves created a Frankenstein. They set the bar so low with regard to his availability. I’ve been watching major league baseball since 1972 and I’ve never seen a guy “load managed” in the way he’s been. He’s been treated like he’s the Hope Diamond. He’s just another ballplayer to me and all everyday major leaguers deal with soreness at this time of year. Quite obviously he doesn’t very well at all and I think that’s soft.

Awfully nice of you to answer me. As already stated by cheesegopher, there is not a shred of documentation/evidence available to us showing what the injury is. Buxton has been examined by team doctors and his body has been scrutinized for a solid month. None of the expertise, advanced equipment, or experience in that medical staff can identify what the problem is. The only thing we are going on is Buxton's account of a hip that is sore since there is nothing team doctors can give us. This is a matter of trust. You trust what Buxton is saying and that is fine and I do to a point. I have no doubt he feels soreness, but I have no doubt he has trouble playing through soreness. This is why I feel HE is the one who kept himself out of the lineup, not the Twins staff. It has gotten to the point where they wait for him to say he's ready to go. Diagnostic imaging techniques allow medical staff to the damage from an injury to ensure the diagnosis is accurate. These techniques include X-rays, computed tomography (CT) scans, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. If any of these techniques yielded anything we'd have been informed. Since you “pay attention” please direct me to something other than “sore hip” because that comes from the player, not the staff. For one month hip soreness kept him out of playing meaningful baseball games. He was put on the 10-day and yet again he mysteriously stretched it out. Everyone is going on nothing other than what Buxton tells the doctors. Again, I believe this is where you need to chime in and tell us what the injury is, or maybe you take a beat and ask yourself if you're giving this guy too much leeway? In my opinion, he chose to milk this soreness because he’s learned this behavior. He played a game last week in St. Paul, struck out twice and got ejected in the 3rd inning. After that he complained of a setback and for a couple of days we had no timetable. Now, magically, days later, he is good to go? I am sorry. I can't buy it. He has a long, long history of injuries and many of them are headscratchers. Does it seem at all curious to you why he suddenly is straight and the soreness is gone in the snap of a finger? These are facts about Buxton that cannot be disputed: He has never scored 70 runs, he has never driven in more than 51 runs, his lifetime average is .243, his lifetime OBP is .304. He has gotten more than 84 hits just once, has had more than 308 at bats once, was put on a plan to play 100 games two years ago and I think he is still in that mindset because he has been allowed to do just that AND he has played more than 92 games once in his entire career. These are all facts and it informs an opinion I have, which is this guy has a low threshold for pain. Period. YOu can disagree with me if you want, but I ask that you refrain from the unnecessary insults.

For the record, I feel he’s chosen not to play. Again, when I’m not so busy at work (later this evening) I’m prepared to explain.

So much here to pick apart and so little time. I promise you I’ll give a very detailed response when I get a chance in the next couple of days. We don’t agree, but to say we aren’t paying attention is absurd. I’ll show you just how much “paying attention” I have done with regards to Mr. Buxton. And if you disagree maybe you should isolate what it is that you disagree with so we can have an actual discussion. Cheesehopher has tried several times and you’ve not followed up at all.

Same here.

I don’t like Rocco. Period. I called for him to be fired after that first round sweep in 2019. The “I’m not frustrated at all” comment put me over the edge. HOWEVER, let’s be honest….He was supposed to have this terrific trio of Correa, Buxton and Lewis and none of them played over 90 games. What about THAT? How come we aren’t talking about that a lot more?? Are these players above criticism?

Evidently the GMs are 100% satisfied. Anyone ever stop and think that they hired Rocco and they can fire him? He is the Yes Man they wanted and if they fire him they’ll get another one like him. Everyone needs to understand that I would also suggest there are managers all over baseball making head scratching bullpen moves. For years I wanted Molitor and he might have mismanaged the pen worse! Rocco is a distraction. There are far bigger problems. I say fire him but so much more has to be done. This roster is straight up weak heading into next year.

I’m mystified as to how Falvey and Levine get literally no mention. I give them full marks for making moves and taking chances the likes of Terry Ryan would never make. HOWEVER…they need to go

Well you’re my Irish twin. I’ve not gone since 2013.

I agree with you for the most part, but it could be solved without even changing ownership (which isn’t possible). We need a new GM. It’s been ten years and it’s time. This isn’t a small market team. It’s mid market and there is more than enough payroll room for field a much better team. We’ve latched onto the wrong group of guys and that has nothing to do with Rocco. Rocco never should have been hired in the first place. I agree with you about the talent. We just don’t have it

I agree with you on the dismissiveness and smugness. I think it’s stupid, lazy and pretty unfunny. Do they think they’re smart and clever? That said, I’m tired of people who whine about Rocco constantly as if he’s holding this organization back with his managing and almost never call out players. Rocco is a figurehead for the GMs. If they didn’t hire him they would have hired something very close to him. I do not think we have a very good roster and I think the organization culture is a problem as well. It used to be a manager could come in and change the culture, but I’m not sure if that’s possible these days. Not the way baseball is being run by front offices all over baseball. Let’s be honest, this team just isn’t that good. Has anyone looked at a boxscore lately and seen the names? Can we wake up a second and do that? I am not second guessing when I say the GMs and most fans grossly overrated players like Buxton, Correa, Lewis and Lopez. Kepler also has been grossly overrated for years. He’s been pedestrian for a number of years aside from part of the second half last year. How about what this organization has drafted, developed and raised? Where are the starting pitchers coming through? There is some promise now, but I’ve seen this rerun already. Aside from Matt Garza who have we drafted raised in the last 30 years? By all means eject Rocco into outer space. Send his Ben & Jerry’s eating, Phish loving body to Jupiter for all I care. ….then what? There are so many issues to address and it starts with the GMs if you ask me. They are weak. We might need a GM with some guts and with actual baseball experience as a player. Someone who can make honest statements about some of the players who are literally destroying the organization

Stop already. He’s provided the evidence and you refuse to accept it. I don’t understand for the life of me why people have to feel a certain way. Seems to me the post by The Leviathan must be the prevailing belief here as evidenced by the 8 likes. ”It’s in his DNA” to not be able to play. I don’t know what that means and I don’t see how that’s much different than me saying he is soft. Add to it the fact that he went mental during an at bat where he looked like garbage. Instead of focusing and on the AB and shrugging it off he would not quit. He fixated on the ump in a rehab game. That right there shows how he is clueless and it looks a little like he wanted out of that game because he couldn’t hit. Maybe it’s all in his DNA (read not his fault)

He controls whether he could play or not right now. We’re not talking about a fracture, a torn ligament, something that actually shows up in a medical report, We are going on his account. He’s telling the staff that his hip hurts. Brad Radke patched with a torn labrum. Shannon Stewart bravely tried to play through plantar fasciitis. Torii Hunter, no doubt dealt with all sorts of things the way he played. Patterns are sometimes hard to fathom, but in the case of this guy, it’s pretty clear that he doesn’t play through pain or soreness. I’ve been watching major league baseball since 1972, and I haven’t seen anybody like this guy. Period. I don’t have it in for him, I’m not jealous of him, it’s just a simple observation.

Agreed. If he were pushing to play he’d play with a sore hip. You can’t see a sore hip on an MRI, X-ray or sonogram or whatever. It all comes down to him. He’s the one reporting the soreness. He gets treatment, lots of money, looked at by specialists all the time and yet it’s a “sore hip” EVERY player has soreness. Buxton simply cannot play through it and for that I call him soft, too. Is that against the rules?