Twins

The Twins host the Cubs today and it's a battle of Buxton vs. Bryant.

Crank up the youth meter because youth will be on full display.

Here are some things to think about:

Brian Dozier is predisposed to prolonged slumps.

Over the past two years those stretches have come in the latter portion. In 2014 Dozier had a sharp decline in home runs, hitting just five after jacking 18 pre-All Star Break. Masking the power outage was the fact he maintained a solid on-base presence. Last season, however, not only did the home runs evaporate but the batting average and on-base abilities did too, leading to a sad .210/.280/.359 batting line as the Twins’ slim playoff chances slipped away.

The good news is that this season it seems that the Twins’ second baseman has been kind enough to hold his annual slump in the first-half, getting the depressing numbers out of the way at the beginning of the year.

The first and most important objective for any incoming baseball ops chief, in terms of roster construction, will be assembling a rotation for next season that gives the Twins a chance to compete.

This year's unit failed miserably in that regard. When the Twins inevitably drop their 100th game, they'll become the highest-scoring team with triple-digit losses of the last 10 years at least.

Admit it… you all had the Astros, Yankees and Dodgers circled on the July Calendar. You were all overlooking Detroit in between and now the Tigers are in town for a 3-game series and they must be dealt with.

It was the Astros, Yankees and Dodgers that were supposed to knock the Twins out of contention but that hasn’t happened yet. The Twins came out of the break 2.5 games behind the Indians. The Twins faced the Astros and Yankees while the Indians had the lowly A’s and Giants. The Twins went 3-3 while the Indians went 1-5 and now we are .5 games back so it’s back to the drawing board because you all need a new plan.

Here are some things to think about:

The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but back-to-back homers from Brian Dozier and Eduardo Escobar in the second inning put the Twins on top and they never looked back. Kyle Gibson labored in his final appearance of the regular season, but the bullpen, which included Jose Berrios, was stellar. There was even a Miguel Sano sighting.

When fans think back on the 2017 campaign, most are going to remember the breakout performances by young players like Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano. Other position players like Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler also enjoyed solid seasons. All of these players were under the age of 25 with plenty of areas for improvement moving forward.

Even with this young core of talent, the Twins were one of the best teams in baseball at avoiding pitches out of the zone.

There's still time left for Minnesota to salvage this wayward campaign, but here in mid-June we're approaching a point of no return if the losses don't quit piling up.

Accordingly, the Twins set into motion last week a series of moves aimed at saving their season. These included activating Joe Mauer from the disabled list, lining up Byron Buxton for a rehab stint, sliding Brian Dozier to a very unfamiliar lineup spot, and – most drastically – shipping Miguel Sano to Ft. Myers for a full-on professional and personal reboot.

Twins Daily Roundtable is a weekly series. As part of this series, a question will be posed to the site’s writers and they will respond in 200 words or less (Some writers don’t like to stick to this limit). This will give readers an opportunity to see multiple points of view and then add their own point of view in the comments section.

Paul Molitor is nearing the end of his fourth season as the Minnesota Twins manager. During his first season, the Twins pushed for a playoff spot into the season’s last weeks. There were over 100 losses in 2016. He won AL Manager of the year in 2017 after the Twins bounced back to earn a Wild Card spot. Now in his fourth season, the club is sitting below the .500 mark.

This week’s roundtable discussion question is: “How would you rank Paul Molitor’s managerial performance? Why?”

Nearly 20 years ago, a centerfielder was selected sixth overall in the Major League Baseball draft. Three years after being drafted, that same player was highlighted as the second best prospect in all of baseball per Baseball America. Fast forward just seven years from that point, 519 games later, and the career was all over. Rocco Baldelli had officially experienced the highest of highs, and lowest of lows during his professional baseball career. Those exploits could be the key to unlocking what’s next for the Twins expected superstar Byron Buxton.

Sometimes you lose a game, sometimes you win a game and sometimes you just get beat. The Twins managed to check all three of those boxes in this series at Philadelphia.

The Twins couldn’t muster any more scoring outside of a leadoff home run while the Phillies hit a two-out, two-run homer and made an excellent play to nail a Twins runner at the plate.

Aaron and John announce big show news, say goodbye (for now) to Willians Astudillo, and talk about missing out on Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel, Byron Buxton's latest jaw-dropping highlight, Max Kepler's three-homer game, Keoni Cavaco and the Twins' draft class, and potential playoff matchups. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. And check out our new midweek (daily?) podcast here.

Minnesota made the decision to non-tender C.J. Cron and this leaves Minnesota in search of a different starting first baseman for the second straight offseason. Cron could be brought back on a cheaper deal but it could also mean the Twins will turn to an internal option for next season. What does the future look like for one of Minnesota’s important corner infield positions?