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The team may have a -1 run differential, but the horrible bullpen and hitting with RISP completely negate this one of many wishful justifications that a bad team's performance will eventually normalize. ( When your bullpen cannot hold leads in the 8-10 innings and your batters aren't clutch hitters with RISP--relying solely on sporadic bunching of home runs-- you are going to lose more 'close' games and the games that you do win will be by a lot of runs which skew the run differential (which is what has happened) This is not bad luck. Our record very much reflects how we have played. My personal favorite is the average exit velocity that some rave about without remembering that you actually have to hit the ball to get an exit velocity. If people want to start factoring in exit velocity, better start averaging in 0s for the strike outs! The Twins have had great exit velocities this year!* *when they have actually hit the ball ....the manager deserves much more blame when an entire team is playing sloppy and without fire.

I would reverse the allocation between the Front Office and the manager. I do think Rocco it’s about 25% responsible for where this team is. I would give the FO 15% because they badly misjudged the bullpen talent. This team is just not ready to play every day, they’ve lost confidence, and they look tight. The manager has to take responsibility for that. Rocco also needs to get his head out of the statistics, give his starters longer leashes since the bullpen is not strong, and be less afraid to pull the plug on players like Sano who are simply not performing. Those players either need to go to AAA or the bench. I think we really miss Derek Shelton as a bench coach and I know we miss James Rowson as a hitting coach. I think it’s time to cut to the chase. The season is pretty much lost. Let’s move on from some of the fringe, under performing veterans like Jake Cave, Kyle Garlick, and Caleb Theilbar. We need to keep Colome around, find a way to give him seven to ten strong performances, and then trade his ass at the deadline to somebody desperate for relief help. Strip this club down to the players you really want to have going forward and then, instead of filling the gaps with average or mediocre veteran talent, fill it with some of the young guys out of the system and sort through who can play. Now is the time for Larnach and Thorpe instead of Cave and Shoemaker. Let’s do what we’re doing with the catching. Garver is the starter and we gave Jeffers a chance to be the second catcher. He didn’t hit and we sent him to AAA and replaced him with Rortvedt. If he doesn’t hit and Jeffers hits in AAA, switch them out until you find one that can stay at the MLB level. Do you the same thing with the relief pitching and the same thing with the fifth starter spot. Sano can’t find his stroke at the MLB level, send him to AAA, give Kirilloff the 1B Job and put Larnach in the outfield. If Kepler can’t find his stroke, make him the fourth outfielder and start playing Larnach or Rooker every day. Maybe even find some consistent at bats for Gordon or Weil. And heresy of heresies, maybe it’s time to see if there’s a market for Cruz or Donaldson that would get you a quality relief pitcher or starter with upside. Look, I’m disappointed because I thought this was a team that had a real shot. It’s becoming pretty clear even at this early stage that it just does not. I could get behind watching a developing team this year, with a decent core supplemented by young guys being groomed for the future and getting their shot. It’s hard to get behind a veteran team playing poorly with no real plans for the future. And let’s face it, that’s with this team is right now.

We have not been “ok” offensively. Let’s break down our run production into a stem and leaf plot: Scored 10+ Runs: 5 Times Scored 9 Runs: 1 Time Scored 8 Runs: 1 Time Scored 7 Runs: 0 Times Scored 6 Runs: 2 Times Scored 5 Runs: 1 Time Scored 4 Runs: 2 Times Scored 3 Runs: 8 Times Scored 2 Runs: 6 Times Scored 1 Run: 2 Times Shutout: 2 Times That massive mark at 10+ completely inflates or Run Differential. Almost half the time, we score 2 or 3 runs. Those 10 Run games shouldn’t be separated from the 5 or 6 run games. That is called stat padding. For example, Ben Roethlisberger did not have a good game in the wild card game against the Browns this past year, despite the fact that his team scored 37 and he had a PR ~90. The game was well out of reach by the first quarter, in which his team scored 0, were down 28-0, with 3 turnovers. Those 37 points were stat padding against a backup secondary in garbage time.

I agree with this split. We’re blasting the FO and Rocco but, while they deserve criticism for sure, the players need to come first. It feels like this team is constantly fighting against itself, nobody getting on the same page and, as a result, failing miserably at everything. When the offense shows up, the bullpen doesn’t. When the pitching shows up, the bats go bye bye. When the relievers find themselves in some trouble, the defense does NOT help out. Arraez never should’ve been at 3rd in the Oakland game, Blankenhorn shouldn’t have been at short. But Arraez is a major league player. He should have some idea of where to throw, and he misses by 40 feet. Was it dumb to pull Donaldson? Of course. Bad decision. But any major league player should be able to make that throw. That isn’t Rocco. That’s the players. With the bullpen in general, why does Rogers serve up meat so much? Duffey? Robles, who’s been rock solid thus far, giving up a game-tying HR to...let’s see here: Jonah....Heim?? Maeda, of course, was going to regress. But this kind of regression couldn’t have been predicted by anyone. Kepler and Polanco look like they don’t even care. Not bothering to work the opposing pitcher...not even taking professional ABs. I suggest trading Kepler while he still has SOME value, because rate of change in production function v(t) is negative right now, and a(t) is too. Polanco, at this point, has basically no value. I would rather see Gordon and Larnach in their spots. Falvine did not do a good job with the pen, it’s been said over and over. I’m not going to address that, because enough has been said. Rocco is making questionable decisions. But given the attitude of his players, he basically is forced to put the whole team up on his back and it just isn’t happening.

Going 137-85 over those two years was "luck", and going 11-19 in a month plus is not? It seems downright negligent to claim that a sample size of 30 games completely and totally trumps a sample size of over 200 games. We played 52 games over .500 and nobody deserves credit for it except "luck"?! Molitor and his old school approach got us one playoff game in 4 years. He oversaw the Total System Failure squad and had a talented squad in 2018 and squandered it. Shouldn't he be held responsible for his failure of results like you want Rocco to be held accountable?

Up to 59 already, Rocco only requires a few more than that from starters some nights.

I remember an interview NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin had with Joe Buck where Irvin was talking about his first season with the Dallas Cowboys as Tom Landry was about to retire. They'd lose a game on Sunday and on Monday he had some players come up to him and remind him that the paycheck was still going to be there later that week. That infuriated Irvin and when his coach from the U of Miami Jimmy Johnson got the job to replace Landry, he gave Jimmy the names of those players and Johnson worked on getting them off the team. Could the Twins be in a similar situation? We have given early extensions to players like Kepler, Polanco and Sano that looked like good ideas at the time. But now we see those players not playing with the intensity and results they had before the extensions. Also, Rocco Baldelli might have lost this team already. He's always been too laid back for me and has babied the players since he's been here (with scheduled days off and IL visits that last past the normal period). If someone treats you like a baby, you might start acting like one. I think one could make an argument that he doesn't hold the players accountable for bad play. I know that players are professionals and should be able to hold themselves accountable to play hard, but being realistic, the players in general in the Majors these days have changed with the large money that is being paid to them. I guess I prefer my manager to be a little old school and want and try to win games and make the players also want to win as well. I know there's an argument that Baldelli's teams have won the AL Central division that last two years, but those teams were teams that should have been expected to do even more. The Pohlad's went out and upped the spending for the teams the last three years from the $90-100 million area to the $125-135 million area. If these teams don't produce you could expect to see the owners decide to spend less in the future, to stay profitable as attendance could be dropping. And can we finally put the "pitch framing" strategy in the grave? I'm tired of watching our catchers give up bases and runs on wild pitches and occasional passed balls because they can't shift over on balls in the dirt to keep the ball in front of them when they're positioned with their legs spread out. Traditional catchers position themselves to be able to catch those balls in the dirt or wide. I think putting runners in scoring position or actually scoring on balls that get past the catchers far outweighs the calls we might get by "framing" the ball. Every umpire has their own strike zone and we all watch them make good and bad ball/strike calls irregardless of any help from the catcher. If the ball hits the ground, the missed ball is called a Wild Pitch and thus the catchers are probably less concerned since the missed ball doesn't show on their fielding stats.

"...were two for thirteen with runners in scoring position." Still a little high. Get that down to 0 for 13 and they'll be ready to fit in with the big club.

The Twins play their 30th game this afternoon and are currently 11-18. They've been beset by bad luck, bad play and have taken a beating with two rule changes (extra-inning runner on second, 7-inning games for doubleheaders). How do they get out of this funk? I'm sure many in the organization will preach patience and they may be right, but that isn't any fun. Here are some possibilities for change that might help the team: Role change. We've already seen one role change. At least temporarily Alexander Columé is not going to see high-leverage innings. Columé has been a huge disappointment and even when he has worked scoreless innings, he's been shaky. The problem is that taking Columé out of high leverage situations leaves the Twins with few good options, particularly when going 6 or more innings for a starter is a rarity. I think one pitching role change that should be made is to use Taylor Rogers in non-save high leverage situations as happened early in 2019 and sometimes use him for multiple innings. Rogers shouldn't be used in back-to-back days. Moving Alcala to high leverage situations seems to be gradually happening. If things continue to go bad, it makes sense to have him give a shot as a closer. Position players--it seems to me that both Polanco and Kepler should have their roles diminished from full-time regular to something different. Kepler can play a corner and center and Polanco has played short and second, maybe Max should be slotted as the fourth OF or at least platooned with Garlick. I think giving Polanco the role of three-position infielder wouldn't be a stretch. He could get some at-bats as a platoon partner for my choice of regular second baseman (Arraez) and left-handed at-bats in place of Simmons and when Donaldson takes a day off (or is injured). Promotions/demotions. Assuming that Alex Kirilloff is in the big leagues to stay, when healthy the Twins have one extra position player and someone will have to be sent to the minor leagues or released. Discussion has centered on Jake Cave. Several others could be sent down and that doesn't begin to discuss the pitching staff. Many pitchers'performances could merit their demotion. Trades. It is unlikely that anyone will make a significant trade this early in the year. However, the Twins would be a good candidate for a major trade nearer the trade deadline. They have some redundancy (left handed hitting corner outfielders) and holes that need patching (bullpen, perhaps catching) and many candidates to trade. They also have a lot of players who would be free agents after this season. I do wonder if someone who was considered a cornerstone (Polanco, Kepler, Sanó) could be traded. None of these guys have performed remotely well so far but an uptick could make them more marketable. I have to believe that the Twins will bring in new pitchers either in the bullpen or the rotation. What they have at this time in the bullpen just hasn't worked. Personally, I think the Twins will need to do a little bit of everything to turn the corner. I am a proponent of changing roles. I think Kepler and Polanco could be candidates to have limited roles. The Twins need to add at least one strong arm in the bullpen, most likely by trade and Trevor Larnach is reputed to be nearly as much a sure thing as a hitter as Alex Kirilloff, plus he is a better outfielder. There is too much talent for the club to continue to play sub.400 baseball, but I think they need to make changes immediately.

Rocco needs someone "old school" that can help him or he needs to go. He manages completely by stats which is fine if your playing strat-o-matic, but in the real world you gotta go with your gut at times, and it doesnt seem Rocco can or will do that. It seems all I ever hear from him is preaching patience, or how hard the boys are working. He is the boss on the field and as such the responsibility is his to get better results. Yesterday as an example he pulled Pineda after 6 innings with the bottom of the order due up next and less than 90 pitches thrown. Was something wrong with Pineda? Knowing what a terrible bullpen we have why not let him go another inning? I havent seen any pitchers arm fall off at 100 pitches in the 60+ years Ive been watching the game. There have been countless other times where i have thought to myself "what in the world is Rocco thinking" this year and usually it turns out bad. Im not saying fire the guy, but he needs someone who is more experienced to help him as a bench coach.

I think the FO should get more than half the blame. For one, the bp. For two, I think they've massively over-estimated or completely missed in evaluating abilities of some of the players. Yeah, some players are just not performing and I have to wonder if that's just who they are at this point (Kepler, Polanco and Sano). And those are the three that the FO has put some faith in with healthy contracts. So ... yeah ... the FO gets the majority of the blame here. And I'd say 60% or more of it.

Masks now optional at Target Field, but paper bags over your head mandatory for anyone in seats designated as "in background view of center field, on deck circle, and bullpen TV cameras. Paper bags optional for all others. Cut out eye holes in bags will not exceed 2.5 inches in diameter. Drawing mask on bag with sharpie for comedic effect not permitted. That would be funny...once."

It's the curse of Eddie Rosario.....and at least Rocco wasn't managing in our World Series when Jack Morris pitched more than 6 innings....

The FO should shoulder most of this blame. The bullpen is crap and they seem to be big believers in limiting starting pitching innings. Seems like if you're aiming to build a team where the starters max out around 170 innings on the season, you have to have a huge and productive bullpen. We don't. I don't understand how the team was made. Offensively, I think it's ok. I'm ready to move on from Polanco and Kepler but we have some depth behind them that could work. And I'll give the FO credit for trying to build around the offense by bringing in Donaldson and Cruz. But the team has a few too many bench players in starting spots right now. Hopefully, a little health fixes that.

No, the guy in charge is always 100% responsible. If it’s a matter of the players being bad, why didn’t the talent evaluators figure that out? The FOs job is to put together a collection of players that can win baseball games. The managers job is to get that collection of players to perform. That’s his one and only job. Literally. Blaming this on guys like Kepler and Polanco, who now have a large sample size of suck, is absurd. Why would you think Maeda, in his mid 30s, is all of the sudden an ace because of one good shortened season? You can’t heap praise on these guys as “geniuses” when the players perform, then blame it on the players when they don’t. When Molitor was given crap team, nobody seemed to be lining up to give him a pass like they are Baldelli. The FO had every opportunity to get this bullpen in adequate shape. They made the decision to let two key late inning guys walk (May and Clippard) and replace them with guys off the trash heap. They terribly misjudged Colome (other FOs that wouldn’t touch him seemed to figure it out). If they would’ve addressed that properly, we’d be within spitting distance of the division leaders now despite the slumping offense. We wouldn’t be having this conversation. It’s time to stop making excuses for these guys. We’ve been sold a bill of goods on them (brilliant data analysts, pitching wonderkind, etc.) that is false. They got lucky in 2019-2020. Do your job or be held accountable.

This is classic for Saint Paul. They are practicing for this year's Twins by stranding runners, wasting good performances, and even have a closer, Coulombe, with a last name far too close Colome (those extra letters don't fool me), who gets the same results.

I I am depressed. Who thought we’d be reading this article a month into the season?

We could start using the median instead of the mean. The median for the Twins is a hell of a lot lower, and heck it accurately describes what happens more often by its very definition. Median runs scored per game: 3. Median runs allowed per game: 4.

This is your opinion. I think Baldelli shoulders much more of the blame. He legitimately seems to be out of step with the players. You could say Baldelli is in his own bubble. It's clear to see with the pitching that has not adequately assessed who should be pitching where and when. The front office shoulders more blame as well. Yes they had good intentions, and yes they used the same method to build out the bullpen that they used in previous years. Personally, I expected this year's result in those previous years too, so although I was not happy with the bullpen this year, I held back on judging it. As for the players, I'm sure none of them want to be hitting or pitching as badly as they are. Let's be serious, would any of us be building a team around the likes of Kepler, Sano, Polanco, Shoemaker, Colome, etc.? Yes, all of us would probably have kept one or two of these guys around, but not all of them. For me, the biggest disappointment is Polanco, but I can't honestly say any of the others would still be on this team if I were in charge. Not that getting rid of all of them now is the answer, gutting the team by cleaning house is a recipe for disaster. The Twins should be looking to improve continuously by moving a couple of these marginal pieces year over year. In any case, the players are who they are. Blaming them for that is not productive, unless we know they are not taking the job seriously. If any of us believed, for example, that Kepler was a difference-maker, that's on us. The Twins team of the 00s had a lot of turnover, but kept improving. Sure, the late 80s teams had roster consistency, but they also had a team of all-stars and were setting attendance records.

We’re not just talking about Kepler and Polanco, they’re bunny turd balls on top of the already massive ****cake. We’re talking about Taylor Rogers and Tyler Duffey pitching like absolute ass in motion. We’re talking about Maeda giving up 6 HR in 2 games. We’re talking about Nelson Cruz and Josh Donaldson, instead of being the veteran leaders and quality players they were and are supposed to be, striking out on three pitches in key spots. We’re talking about Luis Arraez, a major league player, overthrowing first by about 40 feet. None of those guys have “a large sample size of suck”. And even then, Kepler and Polanco don’t even appear to be TRYING. If they’re not talented but they’re really trying, they would be putting together half-decent ABs but unable to hit the ball hard. What are we seeing? 4-Pitch Strikeout after weak dribbler after Popfly. The players don’t wear mind-control helmets, they aren’t robots, and Rocco isn’t a mad scientist. When you boil it down it’s one human (the manager) working against forty others (the players). Players need to be held accountable for poor performance.

I agree with everything but Astudillo. All year writers seem to want to say something derogatory about him. But he is a bench player and a utility man. If we want to jump on a bench player - take Cave. Astudillo has 0.4 WAR as a bench player. He is 288 with a 758 OPS. As a bench player who is number 6 in WAR on the team he is contributing and has spirit. When someone is better they can take his place, but I am happy to have him on the team.

What..!? Are you telling me hard hit rate and barrel ball pct, and exit velocity don't matter with a runner on 2nd and no outs? I thought it was a contest to hit the hardest ball? I'm shocked that moving a runner over or hitting to the gap works. I thought for sure swinging for a 3 run Homer with nobody on was the way to go. Launch angle must need adjusted. Sarcasm. RBI is so meaningless. Why would anyone want to bat in a run. Smh

"We’re almost to the finish line, Minnesota. Together, we can do this.”Citing increased vaccination rates and falling COVID numbers, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced new metrics for roasting the hell out of the Minnesota Twins. “I’m incredibly proud of the work Minnesotans have done in getting us to this point,” said Walz. “The epic failure of the Minnesota Twins in the first month of the season deserves a vigorous, full-throated response. And soon all of us will be able to provide it.” Walz revealed a graduated plan that will allow all Minnesotans to beat the holy hell out of the underperforming 11-19 squad no later than July 1st. PHASE 1 May 7: Fully vaccinated individuals can gather to craft “FIRE ROCCO” signage for use at home games before ushers remove them.Non-vaccinated or partially vaccinated individuals can write strongly worded posts on social media about the subpar play of Max Kepler, Miguel Sano, and Jorge Polanco.Minnesotans age 21 and older can take one (1) day off work at full pay, citing an “epic hangover, dude” after watching the bullpen crumble.Gleeman and the Geek listeners can get 25% off their first month of the Calm app. Use code “YOU KNOW WHO ELSE HAD ONE ACL BECKY? BATMAN. BATMAN HAD ONE ACL, BECKY” to subscribe.PHASE 2 May 28: All Minnesotans can gather indoors to be sad about baseball. Mask up if the group is 500+.All Minnesotans can yell at the sky about how unfair the injuries to Alex Kiriloff, Luis Arraez, or Byron Buxton are. Faith-based prayer and or cursing also acceptable and encouraged.Full-on heave crying in fully ventilated areas now permitted. Masks preferred but not required.If Minnesotans are choosing between an illegal stream of the Twins game or watching Twister on HBO, watching Twister on HBO is now recommended. Bill Paxton would have wanted it this way. Also way less spyware on the HBOMax app.Gleeman and the Geek listeners can get a free personal grooming kit from Harrys.com. Use the code “FIGHT ME, BUSTER OLNEY” to take advantage of this special offer.PHASE 3 July 1: If things are still bad, all Minnesotans can gather at the Blue Mounds State Park in Luverne to light a cleansing fire. It all burns in the fire. Snacks and refreshments will be provided. Corey Koskie will probably be there?Twins fans who are also Vikings fans can shift their focus to demanding Kellen Mond replace Kirk Cousins at quarterback even in poorly ventilated Willy McCoy's bar areas. Click here to view the article

Thank the lord Waddell is gone. Looking forward to watching Larnach.

This is a fantastic point that should be applied to almost any statistical breakdown, whether sports, the economy, healthcare outcomes, customer value, etc. The median is almost always a closer indicator of the most meaningful findings than the mean is.

The Angels DFA future Hall of Famer Pujols . We start Sano and Cave. Pujols .198/.250/.372 5 HR 12 RBI Sano .113/.299/.226 2 HR 4 RBI Cave .160/.241/.253 1 HR 11 RBI For Comparison: Tortuga .313/.308/.484 3 HR 11 RBI Gee! Should we sign Pujols? Just keep trotting Sano and Cave out there? Trade Tortuga for Pujols? Are the Angels that much better they don't need someone putting up numbers like Pujols? But the Twins need two guys worse than Pujol this season? Plenty of blame for FO and Rocco to share if you ask me.

Five games and Five losses yesterday throughout the system, and the bullpens were responsible for at least 3 of them. Not good.

If we remove the 5 worst games, we then have: Scored 10+ Runs: 0 Times Scored 9 Runs: 1 Time Scored 8 Runs: 1 Time Scored 7 Runs: 0 Times Scored 6 Runs: 2 Times Scored 5 Runs: 1 Time Scored 4 Runs: 2 Times Scored 3 Runs: 8 Times Scored 2 Runs: 5 Times Scored 1 Run: 0 Times Shutout: 0 Times That’s 13 games out of 20 where we score 3 or fewer, which is even worse. Sano may very well come around. I do like Kirilloff, he’s a legit MotO bat. But the offense was bad all last year, putrid in the playoffs, and bad so far. I see it as quite optimistic to predict that it will turn around. Nobody has been in sync.

If you are going to discount the best five games, you have to discount the worst five games. But my point was that I think the offense is going to be fine. Sano is better than this and will flip a switch and start hitting. Kiriloff is a legit middle of the order bat. We have enough weapons and depth to be a pretty potent unit. Pitching, bullpen in particular, is going to drag the team down all year.

Curses are not real. And Eddie is exactly replacement level, hate to say it. If Eddie can get “clutch” hits so can Donaldson, Cruz, Buxton, Arraez, and Kirilloff.

Is it OK to give 100% of this to the players?

Despite unfortunate outcomes, the Twins saw a wealth of breakout performances across the organization on Thursday night. Let’s dig in.Transactions Minnesota Twins recalled LHP Devin Smeltzer from St. Paul Saints.Minnesota Twins optioned LHP Lewis Thorpe to St. Paul Saints.Saints SentinelSt. Paul 3, Omaha 4 Box Score Caught in-between a starter and bullpen role in the bigs, Twins staple Randy Dobnak found his stride on the bump for the Saints on Thursday evening. The ‘Mustache Machine’ was stellar in his first start for St. Paul, shutting out Omaha in 4.0 IP. Despite Dobnak’s outing, the Storm Chasers were able to nip the Saints in 11 innings thanks to a bases-loaded Kevin Merrell single. Outcome aside, the Saints saw moments of brilliance both on the bump from Dobnak and at the plate from multiple players. Both Rob Refsnyder and Trevor Larnach tallied their second homers of the year. Refsnyder’s shot came in the first at-bat of the game and Larnach followed an inning later. Download attachment: LarnachHR.gif The Saints recorded 11 hits on the night thanks to eight of the nine players in their starting lineup. Unfortunately, the club left 15 runners on base and were two for thirteen with runners in scoring position. Spring Training sensation Derek Law replaced Dobnak on the bump and had an excellent outing, striking out two in a scoreless fifth inning. Wind Surge Wisdom Wichita 6, Springfield 7 Box Score Twins fans know Aaron Whitefield for his important work in filling the ‘Byron Buxton-less’ Twins outfield last year. His name isn’t going away. Whitefield crushed a 7th inning grand slam to left-center field to give the Wind Surge a 5-1 lead. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, as Springfield responded with five runs in the 7th and one more in the 8th to sneak by with a 7-6 win. Whitefield also added a double in the top of the 9th in a late-game effort to tie the game. Despite the loss, the Aussie is off to a stellar start, slashing .545/.615/1.182. Wichita was plagued with ‘ducks left on the pond,’ leaving seven runners in scoring position and batting one for nine with runners in scoring position. In addition to Whitefield’s grand slam, Wichita touted other exciting news off the field. The Wind Surge announced the debut of their official mascot, Windy the Pegasus. According to Senior Manager of Fan Experience Bob Moulette, Windy ‘came in with the Kansas winds’ and will sport the same red uniform that the team wears at home. Windy was officially introduced this afternoon in front of students at Franklin Elementary School in Wichita. The sky blue horse with navy wings will join T.C. Bear, Mudonna (St. Paul), Mr. Shucks (Cedar Rapids), and Mussel Man (Ft. Meyers) as the newest member of the Twins organization mascot community. Reliable sources can confirm that a life-sized costume of the soft drink ‘Surge’ was a close second choice. Better luck next year, Tom Froemming. Kernels Nuggets Cedar Rapids 2, Peoria 7 Box Score Following a career-best night in professional baseball, Matt Wallner’s 4th inning triple was one of the only bright spots in a 7-2 loss to Peoria on Thursday night in Cedar Rapids. The Forest Lake, Minnesota native nailed a 1-2 pitch to left field for his fifth hit in the last two days. Wallner also punched a single up the middle in the first inning off Peoria starter Matt Chamberlain. The Force from Forest Lake Wallner, who is Twins Daily's #13 prospect in the organization isn't just getting hits. he's exercising ever possible way to get on base. In addition to his single and triple, Wallner reached on a walk (HBP) in the third. On Wednesday he drove a second inning inning 1-2 pitch over the right field fence and repeated the act on a 3-2 pitch in the seventh. Oh, and he punched a single in the ninth the advanced the eventual game-winning running runner. "He's a big-bodied kid who barrels up a lot of balls, two more of them tonight," skipper Brian Dinkelman said following Thursday's game. "He's learning about professional baseball and carries himself in a good way. He's been impressive so far and if he keeps doing what he's doing he'll make his way through the system and up to Major League Baseball." I had the chance to chat with Wallner about his journey to pro ball over the offseason. Pretty cool to see Wallner kick off the season like he is for the organization that he grew up cheering for! Back on the Bump Perhaps the greatest story of the evening revolved around reliever Zach Featherstone, who pitched for the first time since 2018 following Tommy John Surgery. "It was pretty cool, it's been like three years (since I last pitched)," Featherstone said. Despite his hiatus on the mound, the 2016 Twins draft pick viewed the past few years as a learning opportunity. "Obviously COVID was tough for everyone, but I really tried to use the time as an opportunity to watch big leaguers and dive into pitch sequencing. I focused on how I can attack hitters based off of that data (from pitch sequencing). That isn't something that I would have done (prior to the injury)." It's great to have you on the bump again Zach, we're rooting for you! Spencer Steer, Jair Carmargo, and Yeltsin Encarnacion also recorded hits for the Kernels, who are now 2-1 on the year. Kernels starter Blayne Enlow lasted four innings, giving up seven hits and two runs. Despite the hits, Enlow struck out six, and only one of his runs was allowed. Not a bad first rodeo for the 2019 draft pick! Mussel Matters Fort Myers 1, Bradenton 3 Box Score Despite a rock-solid start from RHP Sean Mooney, the Mussels were unable to get the bats going in a 3-1 loss to Bradenton. Mooney was electric out of the gate, striking out four of the first six that he faced. That ended when former Golden Gopher Eli Wilson homered off Mooney to put Bradenton on the board in the third. Mooney recovered by striking out the next hitter and drawing a popout but left the game with two outs in the third with an arm injury. The lone run for the Mussels came in the top of the 7th when second basemen Eduord Julien punched a one-out triple and later scored on a sac-fly from right-fielder Max Smith. Auburn product Julien is off to a hot start in 2021, slashing .444/.643/.778 in the first three games of the year. The only other Mussel hit came from the Twins Daily #7 prospect and 2019 Round 1 draft pick Keoni Cavaco. The Chula Vista, CA native knocked a liner to LF in the top of the fourth but was gunned down at second on the extra-base attempt. Cavaco is now slashing .417/.533/1.033 on the year. Twins Minor League Players of the Day Pitcher of the Day: Randy Dobnak (St. Paul) - 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K Hitter of the Day: Aaron Whitefield (Wichita) - 2-for-4, 2 H, R, 4 RBI, BB, SO PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Alex Kirilloff (Minnesota) – Assigned to 10-day IL #2 - Royce Lewis (Rehab) - Out for Season (torn ACL) #3 - Trevor Larnach (St. Paul) – 1-for-5, 2 R, 1 RBI, HR(2) #4 - Ryan Jeffers (St. Paul) – 1-for-5, RBI, BB #5 - Jhoan Duran (St. Paul) – Did not pitch #6 - Jordan Balazovic (Wichita) – Injured List (back) #7 - Keoni Cavaco (Ft. Myers) – 1-for-4, K #8 - Aaron Sabato (Ft. Myers) – 0-for-3, BB 2 K #9 - Matt Canterino (Cedar Rapids) – Did not pitch #10 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) – 4.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K #11 - Gilberto Celestino (Wichita) – 0-for-4, BB, 3 SO #12 - Brent Rooker (St. Paul) – 1-for-3, 3 BB, 2 SO #13 - Matt Wallner (Cedar Rapids) – 2-for-2, R, 1 BB #14 - Misael Urbina (Complex) – N/A #15 - Cole Sands (Wichita) – 4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 SO #16 - Edwar Colina (Rehab) - 60-Day IL (elbow) #17 - Ben Rortvedt (Minnesota) – Did not play #18 - Alerick Soularie (Complex) – N/A #19 - Jose Miranda (Wichita) – 1-for-5 #20 - Bailey Ober (St. Paul) – Did not pitch FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Omaha (7:05PM CST) – RHP Griffin Jax Wichita @ Springfield (7:05PM CST) – RHP Austin Schulfer Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) – LHP Tyler Watson Fort Myers @ Bradenton (5:05PM CST) – LHP Brent Headrick Click here to view the article

Good news! Move forward - no more washed up vets.

On this date in 2018 the Miami Marlins were 13-21 with the worst bullpen in baseball. They went on to lose 98 games and had the worst record in the league.

It's both. Like the original article said. The players need to play better and make the plays they should be capable of making. And the manager needs to put his players in the best positions to give them the best chance to be successful. It's Rocco's job to hold Colome accountable for his awful pitching. Colome didn't come running out of the bullpen on his own. Rocco shares responsibility by continuing to put Colome in games when it was clear for weeks that Colome wasn't right and couldn't get outs. It was Rocco's job to put the team in the best position to win that game in Oakland and pulling his 3rd best defensive player to give himself his worst possible fielding IF (Arraez, Polanco, Blankenhorn, Tortuga left to right is atrocious and Rocco has to know that) should be something Rocco is criticized for. Yes, they are plays the guys should make, and do make 90% of the time, but Rocco also put the team in a situation that had a higher likelihood of failure by putting a pitcher on the mound that was clearly struggling at all time levels and putting his worst possible IF defense behind him. I don't think anyone has said the players shouldn't be held accountable for completely falling apart to start the year, but acting like Rocco hasn't made mistakes that put the team in less than ideal situations is ignoring a real part of the problem. None of us can speak to the clubhouse or what ST was like or if Rocco and his staff are doing things to help the players right the ship, but when almost every player on the team is playing well below expectations, and looking unprepared to play basic, fundamental baseball, one has to question if there's a failure in how things are being run that leads to such teamwide struggles.

Agreed. I'd start with the hitting staff. They haven't been able to help Sano, Polanco, Garver, Kepler, etc. get going. Come to think of it, the pitching coaches haven't done much with that bullpen either. Baldelli also can't seem to get these guys to perform. The record is a pretty overall indictment of the coaching staff from manager on down.

He used to be a well-regarded prospect. I wonder if our front office sees something that other teams have missed, and can develop him into a major leaguer.

Rocco deserves a higher % of the blame. As bad as they've been, if they didn't play extra inning games with their hands around their throat and hadn't stuck with Colome several games too long, they'd have 3 more wins or so and we wouldn't be panicking. That said, cut dead wood and play the kids. Cut bait with Sano and Cave. DL Buxton. Call up Rooker, Larnach and Broxton. Cut Shoemaker after tonight unless he earns another start and roll with Dobnak.

Has there been any word yet on a possible vaccine to prevent the bullpen from vomiting all over themselves in the late innings?

Which part of the phrase Total System Failure came as a surprise to you?

You're arguing from a different straw man than I was.

Leadership seems to be saying, "Just give us some time and it'll be 2018 again." There doesn't seem to be much urgency. I recommend bunny steps. Next time you go to extra innings, lads, just try to get a runner to third. That would be a big confidence builder.

The pitch framing metrics were designed to keep umpires honest and make them accountable. Largely this has succeeded, yes there are still bad calls and bad games but it's not like it was 10-15 years ago. Yes, I strongly believe the Twins were bounced out of the playoffs more than once in that era by bad-intentioned umpires. I'm not sure where Garver and Jeffers rank for pitch framing, so I can't say if this is what they are trying to do. In any case, the best pitch framers get one extra strike per game. There was a strong narrative that this was a huge difference maker, there were many vocal pundits around saying what a huge difference this was. Logically we knew this was never the case. We have enough data now to show that no team has gone deep in the playoffs solely due to the performance art of the catcher. Umpires have vastly improved their ball-strike accuracy in the last decade, but not due to catcher finesse. It's due to umpire accuracy being measured.

Agree With LA Vikes fan that the percentages given to Rocco and the Front Office should be flipped. Rocco probably is 14% responsible for our problems thru his game management, or lack thereof. But he certainly gets another +10% for his being responsible for preparing this team to compete. Sure doesn't look like a team that wants to win? Really wish someone would show a little fight. Can they still recover, yes. But to do so they need to make a 180 degree turn and do it very soon. Another couple weeks of this and its over. At that point, I think the FO needs to take this team down to its core. And I sure as heck don't know who that core is.

The Twins may see lower attendance AFTER the restrictions are lifted. If they keep playing like this we will need “social distancing” from them more than any time during the crappy pandemic.

After seeing “Windy”, much less than a Seven Nation Army could “hold me back” from “goin’ to Wichita.” Maybe we could start by going back to team names which end in “s” or at least “x”.

Good article, Ted, and I agree with your % points. The players deserve the most blame, by far. They're getting paid to play a lot better than this. I am glad you didn't heap it all on bad luck like the Twins' broadcast does on a nightly basis. Rocco certainly deserves blame, but you could bring in the best manager in the league and he'd be at his wits' end with this roster.

Some things just keep repeating and repeating: Twins bullpen blows another save Twins bullpen loses its 7th extra inning game Byron Buxton is injured Miggy Sano strikes out again,,,and again Twins hitters can't hit with RISP and finally... KKKKKKKKKKKKKKK Thats all this team does now....strike out, strike out and strike out some more. Double digits just about every night. While the pen is just awful, just about every game, the hitters have become the equally as lousy culprits. All of them. Donaldson suddenly is as lost as all the rest of the them. His stats over the past couple weeks are putrid. And of course, its always nice when you are 0-6 in extra innings to start out with a wild pitch. Twins have scored in only 1 of the 7 games...with a runner at 2nd and no outs. thats almost not possible. Its no longer early. All the analytics in your computers can't change 11-19 (6-17 over the last 23) The team is broken...just about every aspect. Unless they are ahead by 10 with 2 innings to go, no win is a lock with these guys. Sad

Beautiful day at Target Field today. Very happy for Gordon and he made several nice plays in the field. It was interesting that Big Mike was pounding the zone and the game was moving along nicely. It ground to a halt when Robles came in. Some genius in their analytics department needs to tell Rocco that when your bullpen sucks running 3-4 relievers out there every game is not a recipe for success.

Absolutely. While many here panicked about the team's bullpen and run production early on, they were shouted down by the spreadsheet geeks: "Stop worrying. The BABIP is incredibly low, barrel % rate is high, and the avg. MPH exit velocity is in the top 10% of the league". Who the heck cares if they don't get hits with men on base? You can't create a team based on advanced stats alone. Meanwhile, Eddie Rosario is delivering clutch hits for Cleveland. He won them a ballgame a couple nights ago in extras. I don't care what his OPBS+ is, I know the guy got clutch hits when needed. No, I'm not pining to get Eddie back, I'm not going down that dark hallway. What I am saying is that we have zero clutch performers now that he's gone, and it doesn't matter what their stats are because they are not hitting when they need to. None of 'em. Twins have now lost home series to Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Texas. They are getting absolutely smoked by just about everyone and are absolutely the laughing stock of MLB right now. This is worse than the worst case scenario anyone could have imagined going into the year.