Week in Review: The Walking Dead

Accurate but very sad.  Has Arraez peaked.  Has he adjusted his hitting?  Is Miranda just tired?  Who wants to see Pagan and Lopez anymore - this season or next? 

Has Wallner taken the lead for RF in 23?  

So many questions about the pitchers. 

What is the good news?

26 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

What is the good news?

There are only 9 games left?

The Walking Dead. What a great lead and so true. I'm a little surprised that the younger players aren't making a better impression. It almost looks like the missing (Jeffers, Kirilloff, Polanco, Larnach, Buxton, Kepler, maybe Garlick and Lewis) can count on being penciled in upon return in 2023. 

Such a sad ending to what had been a pretty average season.

I finally had a chance to watch the Twins. Way back in June/July, I was kind of hoping to be able to watch them in their "clinching the division" mode when the Angels came to town. Unfortunately, only games 1 and 3 were on J-Sports 3. Game two was on a different J-Sports channel. Not that it really matters but here are my impressions of players who I haven't seen or haven't seen much:

Player impressions:

Megill: He pitched well in game 1 and terribly in game 3, but even in game one, I told my wife that despite his ability to throw +100 (he did it on several occasions according the Angels announcers...who I like BTW), his fastball has very little movement. I was not impressed in either of the games.

Henriquez: I liked him a lot. He moved the ball around and his pitches had very good movement. I think he's legit.

Varland: So-so. He has potential, but he looked like a AAA pitcher to me. He made critical mistakes to dangerous hitters.

Pagan: He pitched well. I think when he can find the strike zone early in the counts, he can be a decent pitcher.

Miranda: He's a pretty good hitter and he'll get better. I like his approach.

Gordon: He's a hacker, but I like him. He's hard not to like. He's not an outfielder though--not yet anyway, but who knows. He could become great as he has the speed.

Contreras: Send him back to AAA. He's has a long way to go. He made the pitchers look good. He looked decent in centerfield.

Celestino: He could be a decent hitter, but when runners were in scoring position, he became very impatient (every time) and swung at the pitcher's pitch. He is a competent fielder.

Wallner: He already looks very polished at the plate, and he played very well in the field in game 1. I like him a lot.

Hamilton: He hit a homerun when game 3 was out of reach, but he appeared completely overmatched in every other at bat. I don't know very much about him, but he looks like a minor-leaguer to be honest.

Urshela: He looked like a professional both at the plate and in the field. 

Palacios: Sorry, but he doesn't seem to have a clue. He made a few bad decisions in the games that I watched, including the "'no-look" throw into left field, but even on the routine plays, he made mistakes, such as letting the runner on second go to 3rd on a groundout hit directly at him. That's a high school-level mistake. His plate appearances were brutal. In game 1, he never was offered an actual strike from the pitchers but he still struck out. He offered at pitches that were a foot off of the plate early in the count. In game 3, he wasn't much better. I doubt he'll be ready for primetime anytime soon.

General impressions:

The Twins are a very sedentary team on the bases. The Angels announcers referred to this quite often, noting that if you don't have to throw over to first because you know the Twins aren't going to run, it helps you as a pitcher to 1) relax and 2) save your arm for pitching. (Despite all of the baserunners that Twins had in the two games that I watched, the Angels pitchers NEVER threw over to 1st base--not once!!)

Twins hitters constantly expanded the strike zone when runners were in scoring position. Perhaps this explains why they have such abysmal stats with runners in scoring position. They seemed to be thinking launch angle and were very impatient in general.

The Twins made a number of mental errors in the field. Of course, this resulted in runs. I mentioned Palacios, but Bundy failing to back up the catcher on a throw home? Those kinds of defensive tactics should be instinctive, but they need to be practiced...I wonder how often they are practiced...

OK! Let the poison arrows fall from the skies.

The walking dead  ...

Minnesota twins  ...

Minnesota twinkies ....

How about the Minnesota possums  , they play dead at home and then get killed on the road  ...

I do love my twins baseball  ....

Fair enough and not totally unwarranted critiques of Miranda and Arraez. While you do back it with some numbers, it just seems odd to point the finger or even mention those two as any part of the problem. 

Absolute embarrassment the way they are finishing this season. Shoved into a locker by Cleveland and then they refuse to even try the rest of the way. It's truly evident the Twins don't care whether they win or lose a game at this point. No pride, no competitiveness, just going through the motions until they can all get the hell out of the clubhouse.

Not saying I wouldn't do the same, but as a fan it's really disappointing to watch your favorite team become so disinterested in playing baseball. 

2 hours ago, theBOMisthebomb said:

Fair enough and not totally unwarranted critiques of Miranda and Arraez. While you do back it with some numbers, it just seems odd to point the finger or even mention those two as any part of the problem. 

On a competitive ball club these two have the traits of guys that help make a good team great, and make the lineup great from 1-9 in the order.  On the Twins though, they are the marquee players.

But just imagine for a moment where the entirety of the Twins stayed healthy this season*.  I think we stay a lot more competitive throughout the year, and given the strength of the central we probably win it by 10-15 games, easy.  Guys like Arraez and Miranda become the anecdotes in the season that help push this team to the division championship, and not the reason we hope to stay competitive...

If I'm in the front office there are of course things I'm looking to change / pick-up in the off season to re-tool the pitching staff.  But I'm also taking a very hard look at the strength, conditioning, and the medical staff.  The amount of injuries that happened this year, and the way many continued to find themselves hampered by those injuries (not playing up to expectations, heading back to the IL, etc) tells me that something is really not right with the way the players are being handled.  I'm also focusing on off-season conditioning so that these scheduled rest days that Rocco loves so much don't have to happen in the first place. 

* Except for Buxton.  I honestly believe he's always going to find a way to get injured and miss extended playing time every season.  At some point you have to look at the history and know that this is a predictable pattern and not some unlucky trend.  In 8 season, he's only managed to play more than 92 games ONCE, and that was 5 years ago.  If he can just get to the first tier of his plate appearance bonus next year I'll take that as significant progress.

13 hours ago, Aerodeliria said:

I finally had a chance to watch the Twins. Way back in June/July, I was kind of hoping to be able to watch them in their "clinching the division" mode when the Angels came to town. Unfortunately, only games 1 and 3 were on J-Sports 3. Game two was on a different J-Sports channel. Not that it really matters but here are my impressions of players who I haven't seen or haven't seen much:

Player impressions:

Megill: He pitched well in game 1 and terrible in game 3, but even in game one, I told my wife that despite his ability to throw +100 (he did it on several occasions according the Angels announcers...who I like BTW), his fastball has very little movement. I was not impressed in either of the games.

Henriquez: I liked him a lot. He moved the ball around and his pitches had very good movement. I think he's legit.

Varland: So-so. He has potential, but he looked like a AAA pitcher to me. He made critical mistakes to dangerous hitters.

Pagan: He pitched well. I think when he can find the strike zone early in the counts, he can be a decent pitcher.

Miranda: He's a pretty good hitter and he'll get better. I like his approach.

Gordon: He's a hacker, but I like him. He's hard not to like. He's not an outfielder though--not yet anyway, but who knows. He could become great as he has the speed.

Contreras: Send him back to AAA. He's has a long way to go. He made the pitchers look good. He looked decent in centerfield.

Celestino: He could be a decent hitter, but when runners were in scoring position, he became very impatient (every time) and swung at the pitcher's pitch. He is a competent fielder.

Wallner: He already looks very polished at the plate, and he played very well in the field in game 1. I like him a lot.

Hamilton: He hit a homerun when game 3 was out of reach, but he appeared completely overmatched in every other at bat. I don't know very much about him, but he looks like a minor-leaguer to be honest.

Urshela: He looked like a professional both at the plate and in the field. 

Palacios: Sorry, but he doesn't seem to have a clue. He made a few bad decisions in the games that I watched, including the "'no-look" throw into left field, but even on the routine plays, he made mistakes, such as letting the runner on second go to 3rd on a groundout hit directly at him. That's a high school-level mistake. His plate appearances were brutal. In game 1, he never was offered an actual strike from the pitchers but he still struck out. He offered at pitches that were a foot off of the plate early in the count. In game 3, he wasn't much better. I doubt he'll be ready for primetime anytime soon.

General impressions:

The Twins are a very sedentary team on the bases. The Angels announcers referred to this quite often, noting that if you don't have to throw over to first because you know the Twins aren't going to run, it helps you as a pitcher to 1) relax and 2) save your arm for pitching. (Despite all of the baserunners that Twins had in the two games that I watched, the Angels pitchers NEVER threw over to 1st base--not once!!)

Twins hitters constantly expanded the strike zone when runners were in scoring position. Perhaps this explains why they have such abysmal stats with runners in scoring position. They seemed to be thinking launch angle and were very impatient in general.

The Twins made a number of mental errors in the field. Of course, this resulted in runs. I mentioned Palacios, but Bundy failing to back up the catcher on a throw home? Those kinds of defensive tactics should be instinctive, but they need to be practiced...I wonder how often they are practiced...

OK! Let the poison arrows fall from the skies.

 

Agree almost entirely with your analysis of the players. I think we all may be falling victim to overestimating Waller as the new guy in town. To me, looks like he needs a season AAA with the possibility of a midseason call up. Gordon looks real. I hope we find him an everyday spot next year in LF or RF; he's athletic and can learn to play OF.  On the other side of the coin, Palacios is completely overmatched. This hopefully eliminates the thought that he could be the replacement for Correa while we wait for Royce Lewis next year. We have to find someone else, even if it means putting Polanco back in short for half a season with Arraez or Gordon playing second.

I also agree with you and the Angels announcers on how sedentary the Twins look on the bases. No stolen bases and no even attempt to hit and run. We got to do something about that because with the change in base size next year and limits on throwing over its quite possible there's really be a lot more base stealing and a lot more running in general. I'm a little surprised that we aren't running guys like Jake Cave on those rare occasions he gets on base, but the real problem is outside of Gordon you just don't see anyone likely to be in the starting lineup next year that brings much speed other than Buxton. That is going to be a real problem if it is not addressed. We have spots open in the lineup is at least one corner outfield spot and backup CF (plays there 40-50% of the time). I've been advocating for really looking for impact bat in the off-season but maybe needs to be an impact bat with speed. 

Wallner on the field is a bull in a china shop

Two games in a row he nearly plowed into the another fielder and twice in one game.

I can still the the,  -what the hell are you doing-,   look Miranda gave him after the second one.

The Twins organization as currently constructed does more wrong than right.  This is a direct reflection of the management and front office (who are so tied together, they can't be separated). 

It is super sad that next season will be more of the same.

Without change in the near future, only the most diehard fans will continue to enjoy this site or bother to go to a game.

Hope is the most important thing for a Twins fan.  Change is the only way to get it back.  

On 9/26/2022 at 8:03 AM, bighat said:

It's truly evident the Twins don't care whether they win or lose a game at this point. No pride, no competitiveness, just going through the motions until they can all get the hell out of the clubhouse.

 

Except for Correa, who is playing himself into a huge payday next year with some big market team. 

On 9/26/2022 at 5:51 AM, theBOMisthebomb said:

Fair enough and not totally unwarranted critiques of Miranda and Arraez. While you do back it with some numbers, it just seems odd to point the finger or even mention those two as any part of the problem. 

It was interesting that those were the primary lowlights in the summary.

A "slumping" rookie having "only" a 110 OPS+ since August 1? That's the lowlight on a team clicking on all cylinders, not a team that is on a major skid.

With the state of the team at the moment, Miranda being in a slump that still has him at a 110 OPS+ deserves to be a highlight!

Even rookies like Lars Newtbar and Jose Rodriguez have had 6-8 week slumps that saw them hitting worse than Miranda is now. 

Palacios, Lopez, catcher hitting, the outfield trainwreck-in-motion, and the generally poor defensive play, all seem more fitting for that section.

It is a silver lining that we get to see Ryan, Ober, Winder, Varland, and their 72 combined MLB starts, pitch this week. 

I feel like an earlier era of the Twins would have seen the equivalency of Archer, Bundy, Aaron Sanchez, and Derrick Rodriguez out there in this situation. 

On 9/26/2022 at 1:34 PM, RpR said:

Wallner on the field is a bull in a china shop

Two games in a row he nearly plowed into the another fielder and twice in one game.

I can still the the,  -what the hell are you doing-,   look Miranda gave him after the second one.

He has come as advertised , bat first , not a good defender  ...

Now it's up to coaching to make him better defensively  ..