Aerodeliria

Series won! Extra-inning game won! (This is not the minor league report, right?)

PS-Besides, since this is the season that wasn't, I would say let's try some experimenting now. Let's see what players can do in various situations. This will be a good season to find out which pieces are actually good enough to keep and then jettison some of the deadwood and/or the cash cows that can bring a giant upside.

Agreed! I just mentioned the same thing in the wrap-up. I think we can milk at least two innings out of Shoemaker and/or Thorpe on occasion. It seems like everyone else can only go one inning and all of them except for perhaps Robles can only come in for every other game without getting lit-up like a Chinese New Year's celebration. (But I am kind of meh on keeping Rogers due to his durability.)

What a pleasant surprise! I would have been delighted to find out that Duran was on the mound. If I could see Hackimer, it would be an added bonus.

That pitch by Colome was a meatball. It was almost a t-ball pitch. Too bad about Maeda; it seems like he had really settled in. I wonder if Shoemaker could give us a couple of innings now and then. It does seem like we have no one who can give more than one inning of relief and only Robles who can throw on consecutive days without a huge drop-off.

Thanks! Due to these excellent minor league reports, I have been following Tom Hackimer's career. Although he hasn't had significant control problems, he has had a tendency to plunk an exceedingly high number of hitters. I imagine most of these hitters are righties?? My guess is that coming from below the belt and losing a bit of control causes the ball to tail into right handed hitters. (This is wild guessing though based upon experiences playing whiffle ball but also from throwing side arm from the shortstop position.) The good news is reflected in the Ks, and as you mentioned, he was probably nervous. I have noticed a bit of Rogers syndrome with him as well. When he has pitched on consecutive nights, he tends to get tagged.

Agreed! I questioned this strategy right from the start. Dobnak seems to have the starter mojo.

Thanks ☺️

I like most of the ideas as a general rule with a few exceptions. I just can't see Polanco at SS. He just doesn't perform well enough there--especially in the late innings. If that means keeping Simmons, so be it. Donaldson's here to stay, so let's just live with it. I'm tired of waiting for the improved Kepler to surface...it seems like I have been waiting far too long. I'm much more patient with Sano because despite the awfulness, there is always that speck of belief that he might really turn into the monster hitter we all expected. The upside is just too high to throw away. I would actually look to trade Polanco. He is going to have trade value and we could land some very nice prospects from a trade at the deadline. Arraez, if he can stay healthy, will be a far better performer overall (IMHO).

Thanks for this Ted. These minor league reports are always a welcome respite (these days).

You can brag all you want about the Twins defense but the reality as to when errors occur cannot be swept aside. Also, mental mistakes have been frequent as was mentioned above. I watched one game in full this season. The Twins committed one error in the game, but the Twins made at least four mental mistakes that won't show up on any analytical dissection of defensive play (and I was only paying half-hearted attention so I might have missed others). Polanco took his eye off a pop-up and missed it (ruled a hit). Polanco failed to cover second base twice on groundballs to short, which ironically led to Simmons' throwing error. Cave, playing too shallow (IMHO), took a very bad route on a flyball, which resulted in a double.

BTW, if we're all about the metrics, why is Garlick in the lineup against a tough right-hander like Giolito? He gave us a textbook performance as to why he shouldn't be in the lineup against righties. Call someone up. They could only perform as poorly as he did at the worst.

I don't think you can just let Rocco off the hook and blame only the players. Baldelli has made some mind-bogglingly poor decisions along the way and his glib approach doesn't seemed to very inspiring. The players really do not seem ready to play. They continue to make mental errors that shouldn't be happening beyond minor league ball. These have to be attributed to preparation and the manager--otherwise the what's the manager's role?

Brand new day...same result or perhaps even worse. This time I just laughed instead of getting irritated. (I guess that's one of the eight stages fans have to go through in support of bad teams: 1) Disbelief, 2) Unfairness, 3) Bad luck, 4) Irritation, 5) Laughter, 6) Let's see who is in the minors who we could watch, 7) Cheer for the team playing the Yankees, 8) Turn on the hockey game.) The only reliever not to walk anyone: Willians Astudillo! (I seriously hope we trot him out there in a one-run game. His ERA is better than half of the relief core.) Eight walks? Good gracious. If you walk eight against a team like the Chisox, it's going to look like a merry-go-round on the bases.

Thanks. Ugly but oh so precise...sadly. Maybe we should change the moniker to Weakened Review?

A lot of people didn't like Tom Kelly's irascible style, but his teams always played fundamentally sound baseball. The level of play here is like AA baseball. I'm sorry to say that but it's not like this is a one-off thing. Mental and physical blunders continue to happen in every game--even those we rarely pull out. (I am recalling the 6-5 win over the Rangers, which was the one game I could watch from start to finish. Polanco was slow covering 2nd base twice and also dropped a pop-up. Cave took a very odd route on a fly ball and it turned into a double, etc., etc.)

Thanks Matt...a very enjoyable read.

Thanks Tom. I'm always grateful for these minor league reports.

Well, I didn't bother to even look at Gameday at all...maybe I should start doing that more often. I did say that I thought the most consistent reliever was Robles and hoped that he would be tried as the closer. It's only one game, but he held onto a one-run lead--something the Twins have done only once this year!!!!! (The 3-2 win at Detroit when Colome pitched two innings.) I am also happy to see that Baldelli let Berrios come out for the 7th considering he wasn't pitching poorly (maybe not fantastic but not horribly).

Thanks for this wrap. I'm always happy to read about the minor league games, especially when the major league team is playing so much worse!!!

It was easy to laugh about some of those Twins' teams in the past because we knew they were bad and everyone predicted they would be bad. This team was supposed to be a division winner or at the very least a wildcard team and yet, they don't play fundamentally sound baseball, which aggravates the level of exasperation. They've frequently made mental as well as physical errors in the field and on the base paths. The mentality of the pitching staff is troubling. How can all of these pitchers be having their worst seasons simultaneously? Opportune hitting has been non-existent. Maybe too many players trying to be home run heroes? (I was stunned in yesterday's game when Donaldson rolled one through the right side of the infield to drive in two runs because it seemed like the first time that someone had done anything like that in a month.) There must be internal issues that need some resolution. The team, on paper, is not this inept. Someone mentioned that this team will win again this year, but when? I would have said this weekend if the Twins had scratched out even one win against the Pale Hose, but I would not bet on the Twins in either of the next two games.

They've been brutal in all aspects of the game: pitching, opportune hitting, fielding and base-running and in-game management is also suspect...so that just about covers everything I think.

New sparkling look ?...same old Twins...?

They could actually pull this off: RULE 7.10, Approved Ruling (2) ". . . When the ball is dead, no runner may return to touch a missed base or one he has left...upon appeal he shall be called out."

Considering you've ranked them by trust. How about if we grade them ourselves: 1. Taylor Rogers: D (He has got the one save but he has been lit up like the 4th of July ever since. He's not durable and for some reason Baldelli forgets this every two weeks or so.) 2. Hansel Robles: B- (He's actually performed adequately. I don't think that Baldelli has marked him as his second most trusted; rather. I think he is trusted only slightly more than Alcala.) 3. Tyler Duffey: D (He showed signs of snapping out of it only to get hammered once again.) 4. Cody Stashak: F+ (I've always thought he was "living on a prayer" to be honest. He seems to be a mediocre pitcher with one decent season. The "+" has been given in the cases when he has some control over his pitches, which is only half the time nowadays.) 5. Jorge Alcala: C- (He hasn't been trusted at all and should be ranked last on the trust meter. He is rarely brought in during high leverage situations, which means he is rarely brought in because the Twins are perpetually in the process of being in high-leverage situations or converting comfortable leads into high-leverage situations. I'd like to see him more often if he is supposed to be the future. The lack of trust may actually have an effect on his confidence.) 6. Caleb Thielbar: D+ (He has good movement on his pitches, but everything I saw (granted it was limited) was up--not by design so hitters were swinging from their heels at his pitches. He certainly didn't look very effective to me.) 7. St. Paul Train WRECK (Derek Law, Luke Farrell, Devin Smeltzer): I'm not sure where Dobnak is in all of this, but I'll grade him as well. Farrell, Law: F (I do have some sympathy however. Oddly, they were both put into very difficult circumstances. I'm not trying to make excuses for them but they were both put into tie ball games in the extra frame just because there were some lefties coming to the plate? That's rough.) Smeltzer: C (We haven't really seen that much of Smeltzer so it is a little hard to grade him with confidence. I feel he is about a "C" meaning he can handle some situations well but not others. He's in the same category as Dobnak.) Dobnak: C- (I was tempted to grad Dobnak more harshly but I really think he wasn't used in the way I would expect. Because Dobnak is really not a strikeout pitcher, coming into games with men on base is not really going to help him IMHO. I'd like him to come into games at the start of an inning.) 8. Alexander Colomé: D+ (Colomé was a complete disaster when he was the MAN; however, since that time, he has pitched surprisingly well. Since the season is sinking faster than the Lusitania, I'd be willing to try him as the closer once more.)