Royals 5, Twins 2: Wallner Delivers, but Twins Falter Again

[MMMordabito]

10 minutes ago, RpR said:

Unless they pick up a top line veteran, they have no one as good at third as Urshela, and while Wallner is going to be strong part of the Twins in the future he needs a lot of instruction on fielding so they cannot afford to dump Kepler.

Catcher, First Base and Left Field are spot where ??? should/will play next year.

Dumping Kepler in favor of outfield slugs Larnach, Kirilloff and Wallner and $8.5 mill is likely to be a reoccurring theme in off-season posts.  I would also expect assumptions that Miami would love to have Kepler and will trade Lopez or Alcantara for him and some 10 to 20s level prospects.

Larnach and Kirilloff will then get hurt, and Wallner will pull a Parmelee.  Rinse and repeat.

[Karbo]

3 hours ago, insagt1 said:

Too many injuries right now to accurately assess this team...which right now is just trying to get the season over with. The current lineup cannot produce runs. I'd like Correa to stay...if somehow the team can field 9 healthy, major league ready players. Our recent failures can usually be traced to having a AAA or less lineup every night, plus bullpen failures when it counted.

When you look at the players Twins brought up this season, and lets say compare them to the kids the Orioles brought up ....wow. The kids on the O's are actually carrying that team right now, whereas the kids the Twins brought up never really measured up...when it counted. Wallner is looking OK right now, but honestly there is zero pressure on him. Twins chances for a .500 season are pretty much over. Last 2 games against KC were pretty sad.

this season has ended with a thud...but to be fair, the guys that helped them stay in 1st for more than half the year are nowhere to be found. And that does matter. The weakness of the farm has been manifest. There is work to be done.

Twins have 2 players that should give them sleepless nights: Buxton and Kirilloff. This year demonstrated the fears of many here...Buck can't stay healthy. He wasn't healthy from the get-go this year. A different ailment at every turn. What to do with this guy? Kirilloff's wrist may prevent him from ever being the hitter he was supposed to be. Two guys who were to figure majorly in the schematic for 2022 weren't around much. Thats huge. I'll let you all discuss the other players!

Miranda carried the team for most of August and Duran is a rookie also. Otherwise I can agree that other call ups probably weren't ready.

[Karbo]

It seems lately that the boys are in a hurry to get their at bats over with. What happened to having a little patience at the plate? So many early swings and unproductive outs.

[jmlease1]

team seems gassed to me, and it's just tough when you have 9 position players on the IL. the OF has been the Legion of Injuries. I get that injuries can happen to any team, and I know there are some (many?) around here that have no interest in injuries as an excuse, but...9 position players on the IL is a LOT! Here's the playoff contenders in the AL right now:

• Cleveland: 0
• Chicago: 3
• NY: 3
• Toronto: 2
• TB: 4
• Baltimore: 0
• Houston: 0
• Seattle: 2

Wallner has done pretty well in his first shot at MLB, Nick Gordon has exceeded all expectations and we're lucky to have him. Urshela has been a stalwart. Arraez & Correa have been key. Miranda has dropped off but had a pretty nice rookie season. but there's been a lot of "injured or bad" everywhere else, and it's really caught up to this team where we needed the lineup to be a strength and right now it's struggling.

 

[Mortimerkenny21]

It would have been cool if Barf was at bark in the park!

[mbuehrer68]

I agree it's difficult to assess the team with all of the injuries. But I don't think it's difficult to assess the coaching and training staffs. Bad luck with injuries can be real, but when it happens consistently over many years, it's not luck any more.

How many incoming pitchers actually get better w/ our coaching vs completely fall off the table. I know losing our pitching coach was not great, but why would he leave mid-season? There has to be a reason and I am comfortable putting that on the front office and/or manager. And promoting the bullpen coach when your bullpen had been underperforming brought exactly the disastrous results you would expect.

It's time for Baldelli to go. He certainly cannot manage the lineup or bullpen. And the team has continued to play without heart or intelligence. That must fall on him.

[ashbury]

3 hours ago, Mortimerkenny21 said:

It would have been cool if Barf was at bark in the park!

Also a neat trick, if you want the actual actor who portrayed him.

[Mortimerkenny21]

Just now, ashbury said:

Also a neat trick, if you want the actual actor who portrayed him.

Yeah that could be pretty difficult to get him to make an appearance. Pretty reclusive these day's from what I hear.