Royals 5, Twins 4: An Early Three-Run Lead Goes to Waste, Playoff Hopes Diminish

Playoff hopes ended long ago. 

Wait a minute - What happened to the KC aspirin?  They are supposed to cure out headache and bring joy to the Twin Fans.

Why do we start Bundy - 

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Dylan Bundy delivered two perfect innings to open the game

 

Big deal - he is a starter not a RP - two innings!  Let's start pitchers who might be with us next year - I do not want or expect Bundy and Archer to be here so their time on the mound is a wasted opportunity to see a young player who might be.

The same song. Score early and then forget where home plate resides. This team has some very good players lacking the support of a quality coaching group. 

Can the entire coaching staff in the off-season! Oh, and get a conditioning coach.

Hopefully Professor Baldelli rides off into the sunset.

Next year comes early! Go Twins! Twins Geezer.........out!

Twins were out of contention a long time ago.  And of course now we have people tell us we should be happy with a 500 club.  I agree the whole coaching staff should be replaced.  An organizational look into the vast amount of injuries and their length.  Lack of transparency between said injuries from management.  Buxton?  Twins got just what they planned for.  A part time player on a $100 million contract that the only thing you can count on with him is being injured.  Correa?  Same thing.  Just an average to below average season until September when it's important for HIM to improve his stats for another run at free agency.  What was frustrating for this fan was the division was there for the taking and they couldn't do it.  The lack of fire or urgency especially since the all star game is tragic.  Very poor base running and hitting and pitching and a total laid back, I don't care if we lose as long as we stick to the plan philosophy by Baldelli.  Handwriting was on the wall this spring when they told us all those blown bullpen games didn't matter because it was only one game.

Btw.  You didn't mention the flareup of sorts between Baldelli and Cellistino.  I'm not a Rocco fan but was elated to see him bench Cellistino when his head was clearly NOT in the game AGAIN!!  He clearly should not be on this team

Now we can clear our heads and start complaining about the Vikings! Yay new season!!!

1 hour ago, Whitey333 said:

Btw.  You didn't mention the flareup of sorts between Baldelli and Cellistino.  I'm not a Rocco fan but was elated to see him bench Cellistino when his head was clearly NOT in the game AGAIN!!  He clearly should not be on this team

Yea I missed this as I turned it off after Gordon’s bonehead running play. Glad to see it although it’s about 3 months late. I’m thinking Celestino might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer.   

I said yesterday Bundy should never pitch for the Twins again, they should thank him and pay him his remaining salary and say good luck next year. There is ZERO reason to have him on the Twins any longer. (FYI I would have said this even if he pitched a perfect 6 innings yesterday this season is over and he has no future with the team, or at least shouldn't.

I just hope this team to be good in 2023. I honestly prefer if Correa left, I don’t wanna lock up a SS for 10 years if your top 2 prospects are both shortstops that can mash and Will both be up around 2024. If The Twins don’t sign back Bundy, Archer, Sano, or Correa and can Trade away Kepler you’ve got a good $60m or so in FA money, don’t go and play the same game as last year and try to “manufacture” a pitching staff. Get an Ace in the rotation (COUGH COUGH CARLOS RODON) and a high-tier CF so we don’t have to see the Celestino-Gordon show for half the season, fill patches in the reliever core and find a good Catcher. Oh yeah and fix the management altogether. Let’s see how Falvey fares.

1 hour ago, Linus said:

Yea I missed this as I turned it off after Gordon’s bonehead running play. Glad to see it although it’s about 3 months late. I’m thinking Celestino might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer.   

The Twins have a number of players that might fit that description.

If Jake Cave can get his batting average up to .250 he will be on the 40 man next year, he is the best left fielder they have; his perfect relay to Correa and then Correa to home is what the twins need, not bouncing throws.

IF,, a big IF, Wallner can improve his fielding he may be around a long time, he has a cannon arm.

The pitchers have figured out Miranda and now he is in a race to catch Urshela for most hits into a double play.; if he can improve his still shaky fielding skills, he will be around for awhile, at DH if nothing else.

Celestino is turning into another Willie May Hays Gordon but Gordon has a good bat.

If they lose Correa they will have a big hole at SS, and lose games because of it; they have had two of the best fielding SS for two years and there is nothing to replace that skill set.

"If they lose Correa they will have a big hole at SS, and lose games because of it; they have had two of the best fielding SS for two years and there is nothing to replace that skill set."

And what did that get us? I'd rather spend that money on a top-notch starting pitcher; someone who can take the ball every five days, pitch 6-7 innings and keep the Twins in the game without spending every other month on the IL.

3 hours ago, RpR said:

If Jake Cave can get his batting average up to .250 he will be on the 40 man next year, he is the best left fielder they have

Out of all of the terrible things that have happened this season, this sentence stands out as the worst. And it's not that you're wrong, either. Ugh, what a sign of a dismal franchise, when Jake Cave seems worth keeping.

2 minutes ago, SwainZag said:

If you can see into the future and see which pitchers are going to avoid the IL, there's a lot of money to be made out there.

Does the pitcher have a history of injuries? Does his medical report (necessary for a trade) reveal current "minor" injury problems? Does he have a history of going 6-7 innings each time he takes the mound, or is he pulled after 3 or 4 innings? How much time has he spent on the IL in the past? What for? Chronic-type injuries a la Buxton, Donaldson, Kirilloff etc. or single fluke-type injuries like taking a line-drive off the shin, or the hand, etc.

Not a perfect window into the future but better than snapping up someone who's already proven to be damaged goods, at the end of his career, or ineffective just because he's cheap, which seems to be the Twins preferred yardstick of late.