First Impressions of the 2022 Twins

[chpettit19]

First impressions? It's been 6 freaking games in miserable conditions. I haven't made any impressions about anything because it's been 6 freaking games in miserable conditions against a playoff hopeful and the world series favorites. 

The Alcala and Kirilloff injuries could be crippling, though, if they're long-term things. That's an impression I've made. They need those 2 if they really want to compete for a playoff spot.

[USAFChief]

15 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

First impressions? It's been 6 freaking games in miserable conditions. I haven't made any impressions about anything because it's been 6 freaking games in miserable conditions against a playoff hopeful and the world series favorites. 

The Alcala and Kirilloff injuries could be crippling, though, if they're long-term things. That's an impression I've made. They need those 2 if they really want to compete for a playoff spot.

What do miserable conditions have to do with anything? 

Playing teams expected to be competitive isn't a good way to judge whether or not YOUR team is competitive??

Losing 249 career PA with a 679 OPS Alex Kirilloff is "crippling?"

I'd say DEPENDING on Alex Kirilloff might have been the more crippling part. 

 

[chpettit19]

Just now, USAFChief said:

What do miserable conditions have to do with the anything? 

Playing teams expected to be competitive isn't a good way to judge whether or not  YOUR team is competitive??

Losing 249 career PA with a 679 OPS Alex Kirilloff is "crippling?"

I'd say DEPENDING on Alex Kirilloff might have been crippling. 

 

Short spring training followed by going and playing in 30 degrees and rain isn't exactly the best sample of data for drawing conclusions. Feel free to disagree with that, but I'm going to go ahead and wait for some better data before I declare the season lost.

The LA Dodgers lost their opening series to the Rockies. Should we expect them to be doomed now? I mean if 6 games is enough to draw real conclusions why isn't 3?

Alex Kirilloff has been an elite hitting prospect for years and then came up and did exactly what he was expected to do when he was healthy in the majors. Relying on him was more than reasonable. And, yes, losing your 5 hole hitter for maybe months or the season and 1 of your best late inning relievers for maybe months or the season can be crippling. That's not an outrageous statement about a team walking a tightrope of contention.

[USAFChief]

10 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Short spring training followed by going and playing in 30 degrees and rain isn't exactly the best sample of data for drawing conclusions. Feel free to disagree with that, but I'm going to go ahead and wait for some better data before I declare the season lost.

The LA Dodgers lost their opening series to the Rockies. Should we expect them to be doomed now? I mean if 6 games is enough to draw real conclusions why isn't 3?

Alex Kirilloff has been an elite hitting prospect for years and then came up and did exactly what he was expected to do when he was healthy in the majors. Relying on him was more than reasonable. And, yes, losing your 5 hole hitter for maybe months or the season and 1 of your best late inning relievers for maybe months or the season can be crippling. That's not an outrageous statement about a team walking a tightrope of contention.

Spring training was the same for every team, and has zero to do with team strengths and weaknesses.

Weather conditions have zero to do with strengths and weaknesses.

However...if you are depending on Alex Kirilloff to be your 5 hole hitter...that speaks directly to team strengths and weaknesses. And not in a good way.

If losing one RH reliever with somewhat modest history is "crippling," then your bullpen probably wasn't very strong to start with.

Which, by the way, it wasn't. And BTW, was damaged way more by trading Rogers. 

 

[chpettit19]

1 minute ago, USAFChief said:

Spring training was the same for every team, and has zero to do with team strengths and weaknesses.

Weather conditions have zero to do with strengths and weaknesses.

However...if you are depending on Alex Kirilloff to be your 5 hole hitter...that speaks directly to team strengths and weaknesses. And not in a good way.

If losing one RH reliever with somewhat modest history is "crippling," then your team probably wasn't very strong to start with.

 

6 games has zero to do with team strengths and weaknesses. Is your plan to change your mind about the team every 6 games? If it is then by all means continue to base all opinions on each 6 game stretch. I hope you have some good blood pressure meds because that can't be good for your health.

I honestly don't care about your opinions on a healthy Alex Kirilloff. He is a more than reasonable 5 hole hitter on a playoff major league team. But you can feel free to disagree. To each their own.

And I didn't say losing just 1 RH reliever was crippling, I said losing your 5 hole hitter and one of your late inning arms could be crippling to a team that is such a borderline competitive team. I didn't say any of that in general baseball terms. I said for this specific team in this specific season losing those 2 specific players for a lengthy amount of time could be crippling. That's because they weren't that deep to start with, yes. It doesn't change the fact that losing them could cripple this team. Would you like to have a deeper conversation about team building and the depth of the 2022 Twins cuz I'm happy to have either of them. But that's not what this thread is about and not what I was saying so this probably isn't the place for that conversation.

Confirmation bias is a powerful thing. You notice that the people on this site with the strongest opinions right now are the ones who spent the offseason complaining about the FO and saying the team was doomed? That's what trying to draw conclusions from a 6 game span gets you. It gets you people who want to say "see, I told you they sucked, the season is doomed!"

6 games is not enough to draw any conclusions from. Especially coming off a short spring and then having the games played in terrible conditions. This thread is about drawing first impressions about the 2022 Twins. My first impressions are that those 2 injuries could be very bad for the 2022 Twins, but beyond that there simply isn't anything to draw impressions about because the info we have is not enough to draw reasonable conclusions. Unless one just wants to yell about the Twins.

[tony&rodney]

All things considered, the start has been ok. The Twins entered Game 1 weaker at C, 1B, 3B, LF, DH, SP, and RP weaker than they entered Game 1 last season. Last year the team crumpled. This year has just begun and the SP has been pretty good. The lineup is a little out of sorts but we can wait until June to make a more thorough judgment. 

We need to remember that the AL Central is no longer as pathetic as it was in 2019 and 2020. So, let's see how the next six weeks play out for the Twins.

[USAFChief]

37 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

6 games has zero to do with team strengths and weaknesses. Is your plan to change your mind about the team every 6 games? If it is then by all means continue to base all opinions on each 6 game stretch. I hope you have some good blood pressure meds because that can't be good for your health.

I honestly don't care about your opinions on a healthy Alex Kirilloff. He is a more than reasonable 5 hole hitter on a playoff major league team. But you can feel free to disagree. To each their own.

And I didn't say losing just 1 RH reliever was crippling, I said losing your 5 hole hitter and one of your late inning arms could be crippling to a team that is such a borderline competitive team. I didn't say any of that in general baseball terms. I said for this specific team in this specific season losing those 2 specific players for a lengthy amount of time could be crippling. That's because they weren't that deep to start with, yes. It doesn't change the fact that losing them could cripple this team. Would you like to have a deeper conversation about team building and the depth of the 2022 Twins cuz I'm happy to have either of them. But that's not what this thread is about and not what I was saying so this probably isn't the place for that conversation.

Confirmation bias is a powerful thing. You notice that the people on this site with the strongest opinions right now are the ones who spent the offseason complaining about the FO and saying the team was doomed? That's what trying to draw conclusions from a 6 game span gets you. It gets you people who want to say "see, I told you they sucked, the season is doomed!"

6 games is not enough to draw any conclusions from. Especially coming off a short spring and then having the games played in terrible conditions. This thread is about drawing first impressions about the 2022 Twins. My first impressions are that those 2 injuries could be very bad for the 2022 Twins, but beyond that there simply isn't anything to draw impressions about because the info we have is not enough to draw reasonable conclusions. Unless one just wants to yell about the Twins.

Fair enough. Nothing about the 1st week of the season changed my opinion, formed prior to opening day: the Twins aren't built to contend in 2022.

[chpettit19]

4 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Fair enough. Nothing about the 1st week of the season changed my opinion, formed prior to opening day: the Twins aren't built to contend in 2022.

And that's totally fair. I certainly wouldn't look at those first 6 games and try to tell you that opinion should have changed. Although even if they were 6-0 I still wouldn't make that argument. Baseball just isn't a sport that lends itself to big statements over small samples. Unless you're just admiring or being angry about a dramatic stat in that small sample (like 0-19 for Sano or that kid in Cleveland getting on base constantly).