Mahoning

Apparently Madison Bumgarner is on the trading block. The Twins have some prospects. Kiriloff? And Bundy's future is not bright.

If you listen to Jim Kaat (and we all should listen to Jim Kaat) the only reason young pitchers pitch so few innings now is that is how they are trained. It's simply not possible that young athletes today have 60% of the strength and stamina that their grandparents did. If you are told by your bosses (as apparently the Twins pitchers are) that six innings is the limit of human capacity, then you will conform.

The situation has potential to be disastrous. As others have noted, Ober and Ryan have no track record and the Twins won't let them pitch many innings, and both could easily have arm trouble. Look for them to keep a Uber on call in St. Paul as they shuttle pitchers up and down from the Saints. The Twins should hope for a LONG lockout and a very short season.

Well, to rely on Ober, Ryan, and Bundy is madness. All if them could easily go down with injury or blow up, making the 2021 Twins look pitching-rich by comparison. Stockpiling arms makes plenty of sense.

With Buster Posey now retired, the Giants show up as a team that needs a catcher and maybe has some pitchers to trade. Also, Travis D'Arnaud can't hit a lick. Garver to Giants or Braves?

I see people lobbying for Larnach and Rooker. Good grief, two more .200 hitters with some power. If what you like is an offense based on solo homers, there you go. Kepler, another .200 hitter, seems totally expendable. You can get that for the major league minimum, not $9 million. If he were gone he would not be missed. I think Nick Gordon needs to be given a chance to play every day: Speed!

Rocco may be in over his head, I have no idea, but can anyone say what is the RIGHT way to manage a team whose pitching staff has collapsed? That said, I hope that the organization will train youngsters like Winder to go long and not be persuaded that six competent innings is a major accomplishment.

Everyone -- especially Bremer and Morneau -- seems to believe that 2019 was the REAL Kepler, whereas the evidence is mounting that it was an extreme anomaly.

Add me to the list of those who appreciate Jim Kaat. What a breath of fresh air! Unlike the babbling Morneau and Smalley, who mumble at least twice and mostly just repeat the standard "wisdom," Kaat speaks clearly, adds some information, and says it just once. Last night he marveled at Rortvedt missing ball after ball because, at least in part, he sits on the ground so he can't shift to block balls. Kaat wondered why.

It's obvious: Time to bring back Astudillo, this time as a pitcher. He can't be any worse than Ober and Shoemaker, and unlike three-ball-count-on-every-hitter Ober, Astudillo would move the game along!

Small sample sizes for Larnach (who also blundered on the bases) and Kiriloff. Eddie is on pace to drive in 100 (again!) To me that counts more that OPS, etc. In ballgames runs count, OPS doesn't. The Twins, ostensibly, were built to win THIS YEAR. Replacing a known run-producer with two unproven (and still unproven) rookies seems inconsistent with that (now failed) approach. It's unlikely that between the two of them Kiriloff and Larnach will match Eddie this year.

Countless times I have read the local experts asserting with confidence that Rosario would be easy to replace. Well, he is playing for a team with a poor offense and has 41 RBI -- more than any Twin. SO EASY to replace, and yet the Twins have not replaced him. Good for Eddie -- he went to an organization than knows how to win.

Rooker is a terrible outfielder; Larnach is not too great either. They better hold onto Buxton and hope that the train of misfortunes has reached the station. Rocco doesn't seem to know what to do with Gordon, suggesting that he doesn't really have a position. But he sure can run. I'd rather see him in the lineup every day than Simmons because . . . what future does Simmons have? Are we waiting for the 15-game winning streak?

Is it pitch framing or simply that that is the umpire's strike zone that day? The moving low-and-away or low-and-in pitch is the hardest one for an umpire to see and evaluate. (I suspect that "pitch framing" is the baseball voodoo stat of the moment. Umpires, after all, are trained to watch the ball in relation to the plate, not the location of the catcher's glove.)

Haven't the Twins already lost this game? It's against the Yankees.

Some teams have a certain swagger -- the Rays, the Red Sox, the Astros, the As. They have it even when they don't have stars. The Twins don't but it is something to aspire to. The Rays are the best example. They do not have stars comparable to Stanton, Judge, Cole, et al, yet they go into Yankee Stadium and kick butt. It's a mysterious thing but it can be done.

The pitching would look a lot better if the lads were scoring five runs a game. When you leave 10 LOB every night, there is naturally more pressure on the relievers.

OK. Now if they aspire to win 90 they have to go 68-39. It's beyond obvious that that is not going to happen, so it's time to clear the decks and play for next year and beyond. Kiriloff, Larnach, Jeffers, and maybe Gordon are a good start. Back to the drawing board. All expectations have been destroyed, so there is nothing now to lose.

Children in the favelas of Rio, monks in the monasteries of Tibet, cameldrivers in the Sahara, and pitchers in the American League all know how to get Miguel Sano out -- fastballs up and in, breaking pitches low and away. Maybe he should make some adjustments. It's his job, after all, to earn his salary. If he were doing so, perhaps the Twins would be 21-16 when he's in the lineup instead of 16-21. The writer's argument seems to be, "The Twins are lousy and Miguel is doing his part!"

To win 90 games they would have to go 69-41 the rest of the way. That is not going to happen. The best people can say about Donaldson and Sano is that they "get their walks." Whew. Time for a sell-off. And, why is Gordon on the bench every day? The commenter who advised us to "detach from the outcome" is on the mark.

Except for two pretty good weeks, Sano has taken the whole season off. In what line of work is that acceptable?

To win 90 games they would have to go 69-41 the rest of the way. It's hard to see how that happens. Sano has gone back into his strikeout hole. He's on a pace to hit 16 homers and drive in about 70 (and strike out about 300 times.) Where is CJ Cron when you need him?

Robles is driving me crazy. THROW A FREAKING STRIKE!

Everyone said Eddie Rosario would be easy to replace. Hmm. With a Cleveland team that has trouble scoring runs, he has 21 RBI, which would be second on the Twins. He is never injured and also has 5 stolen bases. And unlike, say, Miguel Sano, he doesn't require one quarter of the season to start playing baseball. Yes, very easy to replace . . .

It's great the Sano was the hero last night. He has carried himself professionally through his terrible slump. That said, the slump lasted ONE QUARTER OF THE SEASON. There aren't many professions where you can show up three-quarters of the time (at best) and be praised. Also, the "unwritten rule" is an absurdity. I wonder if any player can explain why it has anything to do with anything.