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bighat

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Everything posted by bighat

  1. bighat
    I winced when I opened MLB.com this morning, but when I was finally brave enough to open my eyes I couldn't believe it. A truer "getaway day" lineup doesn't exist, yet they went out there and clobbered the 'Stros and took the series. Castro, Solano, Kirilloff and Varland fill up the stat sheet? Would be happy if they could build on this. 5 of the first 6 Twins outs came via strikeout, which is just something that can't continue to happen.
  2. bighat
    Twins have lost the past four series 2-1 each time. Almost impossible to believe they'll win on the road in HOU tonight. It's essentially a sure bet they'll lose, I wish I had as much hope as you. Royce Lewis isn't going to be able to carry this team by himself, and he's got essentially zero help. By the way, Buxton as a DH only isn't what the Twins signed up for, he's supposed to be a dynamic 2-way player, but he's become a below average 1-way player. When his bat is going bad, he can help with good defense but that's not possible anymore. Real bad situation.
  3. bighat
    Sadly, that appears to be spot-on. I'm normally a Rocco supporter but I think this mopey, ho-hum schtick is getting a bit old. He'd be a fine manager for a well-oiled machine like the LA Dodgers - just sit back and get out of their way. But he's not built to manage teams that are struggling. I may be wrong, but he doesn't seem like a motivator.
  4. bighat
    Every time this team gets even the slightest hint of momentum or a spark, it's immediately followed by a lifeless effort. Funny thing was, Correa was supposed to be that guy who brought fire and a passion for winning to this team. Carlos was a dude who gave his all and accepted no less from his teammates - at least that's what I read when he signed with the team. The Twins were getting passion for the game, a winning attitude, hustling, grinding it out - not to mention out of this world talent. Now the dude's as quiet as a mouse, batting .211 with a .600 OPS on a team that's desperately in need of a leader. What the heck happened?
  5. bighat
    Without Lewis this game ends in a 5-1 loss. He's delivered as advertised when he's been in the majors, let's hope no injuries derail him this time. Great to see him step up, sad that nobody else could do the job. I hope his presence energizes this clubhouse and starts activating the talent in guys like Buxton and Correa!
  6. bighat
    It's 2022 all over again. Twins slowly sinking, no fire, no life, in an unbelievably winnable division. A few of us are still in denial, concocting wishful ideas like "If Kirilloff and Larnach just string together some good at-bats and stay healthy...." or "When Correa and Buxton heat up this team is going to be dangerous"... Alas, it appears most of us know by now that this is not a very good team and a turnaround is unlikely. We have seen with our own eyes that they're horrible to watch, the offense is incredibly anemic and there's no help in sight. The only "win" we can hope for is that this team doesn't do something horrific like trade Royce Lewis or Brooks Lee for JD Martinez at the break. We can't have any more Trevor Mahle trades that strip the farm system to help a big league club that's clearly not going anywhere. I wish I had more hope, but these past 1.5 years have clearly done a number on my psyche. Reading the rest of these comments I don't think I'm alone. Sad times!
  7. bighat
    Right? And where the heck did Austin Martin disappear to? This guy was supposed to be the next Darby Swanson but I haven't heard a peep about him lately. He's now 24 years old and the Twins have plenty of holes in the outfield - if Martin was developing on target he'd be the starting center fielder right now and M.A.T. probably wouldn't be on the team. It's another reminder that prospects are NEVER a sure thing, no matter how highly they are ranked. Falvey's "wunderkind" schtick is getting tired. Time to deliver results.
  8. bighat
    What a great attitude this guy has. If he remains injury free he'll be the clubhouse leader in no time - this team hasn't had one in a while and Royce seems like a guy who can take on that role. Great interview and very nice article @Theo Tollefson! Good job getting Lewis on the horn for a TD piece!
  9. bighat
    I see no reason why Royce Lewis won't be immediately activated when eligible and immediately placed in the #3 hitting spot.
  10. bighat
    I agree that it's possible, I just don't think it's likely. We're not waiting on Aaron Judge, Vlad Guerrero and Juan Soto to come back from injury. We're waiting on Royce Lewis, Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler to come back. Kepler is four years removed from his 2019 breakout year and the Twins have to have considered outrighting him to St. Paul more than once since then. Polanco's a solid player but injury issues are starting to become the norm for him. Lewis should be great but it's impossible to expect anything major from the guy coming back from 2 ACL tears. The Twins only chance is that the BEST version of all three of those guys shows up, Kirilloff puts up 30 homers, Buxton and Correa both bat .260+ with 20+ homers each AND at least one of the Larnach, Farmer, Michael A. Taylor & Nick Gordon bunch plays the remainder of the season solidly above replacement value. While some of those things may happen, I highly doubt that all of them will.
  11. bighat
    Unfortunately it's the truth. And when they lose 2-of-3 to Toronto that'll be the 4th straight series loss. It's nice to see this victory, but I'm not even remotely convinced this win will help them turn things around. Unreal to look at the numbers on Ryan, Gray, Lopez, Ober, and Duran - and then look at the standings and see a team that's barely treading water at .500. An unforgiveable waste. I don't think anyone can fix this team's hitting problem - at least not in the next 3 months. Twins need an offensive overhaul and that's not coming until the offseason.
  12. bighat
    Blaming this on the pitching staff? The pitching staff? That's like blaming global warming on someone who lights a candle. The problem with this team is that they cannot hit. This is a bad hitting team. The pitching has been fine.
  13. bighat
    This team stinks and is absolute torture to watch.
  14. bighat
    Ugly week out west. Every time this team shows a little bit of fire with a gritty win, they follow up with a bucket of ice water to dampen the spirits. The bullpen is an target because they're pitching in high-leverage situations almost every night - but that's because the offense can't score runs. That's pretty much at the core of the issue here. The heat is turning up on Correa and rightfully so. Remember, most of the damage he did last year was in September when the Twins were woefully out of the race. The only good news is that he looks engaged. He's trying. Defense is good. That's something, I guess. Nick Gordon going down is likely going to mean we'll be seeing Trevor Larnach get another long, uninterrupted chance to claim a starting job. If he goes into another long, uninterrupted slump? Then what? Lewis waiting in the wings, eligible to come off the IL on May 29th, I believe. Let's hope the Twins waste no time and get him up here. He may become the best player on the team in very short order.
  15. bighat
    And my point has been - if you're going to easily be able to shield your 7th and 8th relievers from high leverage spots, why the hell are we paying a veteran for that role? Why don't the Twins bring up Balazovic and Sands for those positions - not only will they be shielded from any high-level outings, but the Twins will also benefit from being able to develop young arms without worrying about them getting shelled out there. Paying Pagan to essentially be a mop-up guy makes zero sense.
  16. bighat
    If we're going to have a "low-leverage" guy, let's make it Balazovic, then. Or Sands. Why not? Let young guys get experience, see what they've got. Put them in low-risk scenarios and let them develop. Don't pay a veteran for that role. That's just my opinion, I didn't mean to sound too contentious when I quoted you, I think we may just disagree on this issue!
  17. bighat
    As Twins fans, we've let our expectations become so low that we think a guy who can ONLY pitch in low-leverage games where the score is 9-1 is "fine". Every bullpen pitcher should absolutely be able to go into a 3-2 game and get 3 outs. All of them. If they can't do that, they should not be on anyone's major league roster. Keeping Pagan so he can pitch for the Twins in blowouts is a complete waste of a roster spot. This is not a special or valuable skill in any way.
  18. bighat
    Color me shocked - a convincing win against LAD with timely two-out hitting and safety squeezes? What team are we watching? Great performance by Ober, really nice win. Please Rocco, let's go for the jugular today! Correa 1-for-5 and now batting .201 as we rapidly approach June 1st.
  19. bighat
    Great write-up, a shame it looks like I missed a good ballgame here on the East Coast. 11 straight losses to LAD, including a heartbreaker where they used up the bullpen in the opener on the road? It would be hard to not think the Twins get swept here. These aren't the Cubs. Great to see the offense continuing to put up runs, that's 3 games in a row. Larnach heating up and making hard contact. Would be nice to see Buxton start to heat up again, he's a difference maker when he's hot. Giffin Jax in May: 5.2 IP, 9 hits, 5 BB, and a 6.35 ERA. It might be time to start considering putting him on the St. Paul shuttle.
  20. bighat
    Pablo Lopez deserved better. Nice to get a win, but unfortunately there are no signs that this team is figuring things out offensively. It's just such a grind for them to get anyone across home plate. Don't see them scoring more than a run off Darvish today, have to assume at this point it'll be 3 straight series losses.
  21. bighat
    A lot of us predicted that Michael Wacha - a free agent who didn't find a taker until very late into the offseason - and his 5+ ERA would waltz into Target Field and dominate. This is a below-average team, folks and Cleveland is waking up. At this point the main goal for the season should be for Royce Lewis to solidify a starting position, make a decision on Kirilloff and Larnach, and maybe get Brooks Lee a cup of coffee. Ship out Polanco, Gallo, and Kepler (if they can get anything for him) at the deadline.
  22. bighat
    With all due respect, you wrote the same thing a month ago. Since April 8th, the Twins have been unable to score more than 3 runs in the following games, including the starting pitcher names: Michael Kopech (5.97 ERA) Peyton Battenfield (Who?) Logan Allen (Who?) Cal Quantrill (4.09 ERA) Jose Urquidy (5.05 ERA) Hunter Brown (Rookie) Dylan Cease (Fine) Lucas Giolito (3.87 ERA) Gerrit Cole (Fine) Domingo German (4.35 ERA) Trevor Williams (4.35 ERA) Patrick Corbin (1-4 with a 5.17 ERA currently) Brad Keller (4.67 ERA) I suppose it has to get better in the sense that it can't get any worse. But I don't know how anyone can look at the futility of this offense and think "they'll be fine".
  23. bighat
    An absolute embarrassment of a road trip. 2-4 against teams that had a combined record well below .500. Can't hit meatballers like Quantrill and Koepech, who have been throwing batting practice all season. Same goes for Sale in Boston, the guy's getting absolutely drilled out there by everyone, but the Twins come to town and he throws 7 shutout innings and strikes out 10. News flash: it's not the opposing pitching that's good. The Twins offense is downright horrific. It's been going on since Day 1 in KC. An offense with all the attributes of quicksand has the Twins solidly entrenched at the bottom tier of MLB offenses this year. And no, help isn't on the way. Kirilloff is rusty and while serviceable he's not a game-changer. Lewis has been out for a year, not sure how much difference he can make. There's really nobody else out there to help. Brooks Lee? I don't think so. It's going to be a long, drag of a summer. Watching a team that can't hit is about as bad as it gets.
  24. bighat
    You're not alone. The Twins 7th inning was horrendous in every way. But at least Correa and Buxton put the balls in play. Sure, they were tappers to the mound, but both of them put pressure (at least a little bit) on the defense. Larnach getting down 0-2 immediately and then striking out was much more painful to watch.
  25. bighat
    Great writeup, thank you! Twins need to win this series, would be nice to see a sweep. Boy is old Grienke cooked, sad to see guys like him and Kluber getting smacked around. It's interesting that many all-time great hitters can leave the game gracefully with solid stats in their last years (ie: Ortiz, Pujols, etc) but it's not as common with pitchers. Bux is really heating up. Keep him in the lineup, Rocco....anyone have an idea if he's going to play in the field at all this year? I mean, I can see the argument for continuing to DH him but it's frustrating to see such a dynamic talent being held back. Pitching injuries are everywhere. 2021 Cy Young Award Winner Robbie Ray of the Mariners is now officially out for the year, he made one start. Carlos Rodon hasn't even thrown a pitch. Names like Verlander, Woodruf, Glasnow, Wainwright, McKenzie, Severino, Taillon, and many more all on the shelf for long periods of time. That's an All-Star lineup.
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