cHawk

The Twins’ bullpen has been one of thee worst in baseball, no question, the last 10 games. Like, apocalyptically awful. Why? I want to hear what y’all think. Who’s to blame for this? How do we fix it? CAN we fix it (prior to the trade deadline)? Will the bullpen be a thorn in our side until then? Or has this awful stretch been a fluke? I’ll give my answer. I think it’s a combination of: 1) Lackluster Construction; Bullpen help was a need this offseason. We were losing Trevor May, Tyler Clippard, Matt Wisler, and the 37-year old junkballer. Three of those guys were very effective in 2020, and they needed to be replaced. They got Colome and Robles. And I don’t have a problem with those two guys on their own. They’ve both had a lot of success with their previous teams. And as I’ve said, relievers are dime a dozen. That being said, we don’t have enough arms. Rogers, Duffey, Alcala, Robles, and Colome is pretty much all we have. And most of those guys appear to be struggling, and might not be the same guys we’ve seen. Alcala is still unproven. Duffey appears to be losing fastball velo and Rogers can’t control his pitches. Same with Robles. And don’t get me started on Colome. And I don’t think we have any other good relievers. I am not a fan of Dobnak or Thielbar. Those of you who are pissed at the FO about this, you absolutely have a right to and should be pissed. Not good FO work. 2) Bad In-game Management; This was a problem last year, with, for example, Sergio Romo and Caleb Thielbar on the mound in the ninth inning of a 1-1 playoff game. Why? IDK. Both of those guys throw 83. Who should’ve been out there? IDK, maybe Alcala? But it’s also been apparent this year. Rogers was cruising, retiring 7 straight. You need that game, put the struggling Colome out there in the 9th? Letting him throw nearly FIFTY pitches? How about in the 4th Game against Boston, where Pineda was cruising. You go to the bullpen at that point? ?? Again, Rocco deserves the blame he’s getting, he’s been AWFUL thus far 3) Underperformance; It seems like the likes of Rogers, Duffey, and others have not been performing well. Rogers and Duffey have been good for us in the past, why do they look like hot messes now? If Colome is that bad, why was he as good as he was with Chicago? How do you go that quickly from being one of the league’s better relievers to being that bad?

What did you think of Rocco Baldelli’s decision-making on Wednesday afternoon? It SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUCKED!!

This past season, the Atlanta Falcons were 1-8 in one score games, so it might be sustainable...

He blew the lead the first time alright but the second time nah. Yeah he walked the bases loaded but he got two routine ground balls with two outs. And the players themselves do need to be held accountable. The bullpen certainly sucked and is a massive problem. But the direct cause of this loss is Arraez’ and Blankenhorn’s errors. Of course it was dumb to pull Donaldson but Arraez should be able to make that throw.

Do you watch UrinatingTree?

I will not defend the bullpen or Falvey anymore. I’m sorry for doing that, all of you.

I...I have nothing. The pen is a hot mess. Rocco is a hot mess. The lineup was great today, sure, but nothing else worked out. Costly errors by the defense. ALL of them resulting in runs. This team needs to rebound, and fast. Starting Friday.

These guys are gonna need police protection when they land here tomorrow.

The Yankees, Atlanta, and Tampa Bay are also off to slow starts. They going to finish below .500 too?

Rosario wasn't the clubhouse leader, or "a" clubhouse leader. If anything, he was a bad example for the younger players.

Our shortstop has been ill for a while. With him back our infield D should be better but it has not been performing well.

For those of you complaining about Rocco’s “lack of fire” in the clubhouse: You have not actually seen how he acts in the clubhouse, or really, in the dugout during the games. Yes, his decisions are questionable. We do see that. That being said, you cannot simply state that “Rocco is laid back, with no fire” without any actual evidence. Is he like that in the clubhouse? Who knows. None of us know how he actually acts so we can’t make these conclusions.

Individual RBIs are probably the worst stat to judge a hitter by. If a hitter is in the cleanup spot, that will inflate the number of RBIs he has. Eddie does have fire but it stands that he’s not very smart on the field, or at the plate. Cruz or Buxton should be able to take over that role. Neither were very good yesterday, though.

It's not fun watching your team play bad baseball. But it's the start of the season. Let's look around the league. Weird things are happening everywhere. - The Yankees will win the AL East - Boston will not make the playoffs - Kansas City will not win the AL Central - Neither Oakland nor Seattle will make the playoffs - The Rangers will not finish above the Astros - Atlanta will not finish 4th, behind Miami or Philadelphia - The Cardinals will not finish below .500 - The Giants will not make the playoffs Plenty of weirdness. I'd be shocked if I was wrong with any of those. The Twins will be fine. Also the Mariners started 13-2 in 2019, so yeah.

Getting Darvish and Snell is something you like to see your team do if you’re trying to win championships, but that doesn’t guarantee that they’re A+ moves. Last year’s Donaldson signing is a prime example.

We grade offseasons multiple years after they happen. Not two weeks.

The additions of Simmons and Robles are working out so far. The other ones? I do take back what I said on Colome, I don’t think he’s washed as I look at his stuff. His cutter and four seamer are hitting the same MPH as they have the last few years and he’s been really successful those years. He’s broken, though. There’s a difference between being broken and being washed. If your stuff has lost a lot of velo, you’re washed. If it hasn’t and you’re getting shelled or getting significantly worse results than you have over the course of your career, that’s broken. Robles was broken last year, not washed/cooked. Romo was cooked because of how piss poor his stuff was. Robles actually had good stuff and it wasn’t working. I believe Colome is fixable, since he hasn’t appeared to have lost velo. Happ and Shoemaker have done their jobs, which is a positive. Overall, we don’t have enough pen depth. Even if we fix Colome, we still would only have five good relievers. Dobnak is fools gold (quote h2o face) and Thielbar is too. We’ll need to pick up some arms in July if we’re serious about winning.

What is the reason? Can you prove that he's bad? It seems like you judge relievers by their ERA alone and he had a 0.67 ERA last year, with a ~2.50 ERA the two years before that. It's worth noting that how much someone is paid does not define their quality as a player. They grabbed Matt Wisler last year and he was really good; I would say it was a "worthy investment.” Just because players don’t cost much doesn’t mean that they’re not good. Likewise, just because players are expensive don’t mean they’re that good. An example? Albert Pujols. And by your apparent definition, there were only like 4 or 5 “good pitchers” on the FA market. And with, IDK, at least 10 teams looking for bullpen help, you’d be lucky to get even one. You can't just say "There's a reason." You actually need to prove the reason. The world is full of corrupt logic.

He’s been an idiot. Simple as that. Both with his fielding and his pitching. He repeatedly throws slow cutters down the middle (good idea—not) and watches them get hit. He, or Wes, knows that they don’t work and they continue to do it. He also repeatedly throws his fastball down the middle and he gets hit. It doesn’t work. The fastball to the top right corner does, has, and should be done.

Let’s break down each loss: April 1 @ MIL: The defense makes several key mistakes that all result in runs. Combine that with Colome serving up meatballs April 6 @ DET: The offense fails to score any runs with 1st and 3rd and nobody out in the 10th. Combine that with a lack of offense in Innings 1-9. April 10 vs SEA: The offense once again fails to execute with RISP, this time in the bottom of the 8th. April 11 vs SEA: The bullpen implodes. Also, apparently the offense can’t score runs after the 5th Inning. April 12 vs BOS: Once again the offense can’t score runs past the 5th Inning. Or, wait, the 1st Inning. Dobnak gets shelled. April 14 (Gm1) vs BOS: A completely pathetic offensive performance, with 2 key Boston runs coming from a stupid throwing error. April 14 (Gm2) vs BOS: Berrios cruises until he suddenly can’t throw strikes. The offense once again can’t do sh!t. April 16 @ LAA: Terrible bullpen management results in 10 runs. Weak ground balls bleed through the infield. Offense can’t hit with RISP I think the main reason the bullpen looks so bad is because the skipper isn’t pulling the right strings. Let’s all remember that Liam Hendricks has a 6.00 ERA right now. Bullpens fix themselves over time. We saw it in 2019. We very well may see it again this year. The offense is clearly a problem. The fact that we can’t hit anything when runners are on is a recurring theme. We hit into double plays way too much. SP seems like the strength of the team so far and may be our strength this year.

The Lineup was Garver, Donaldson, Cruz, Garlick, Arraez, Sano, Polanco, Kepler, Cave

It’s baffling to me that they can keep us in the game when we’re down one of two, but when we’re tied or ahead they forget how to pitch.

Train wreck. Nothing but a train wreck of a performance. Rocco looks like the Mike McCarthy of the MLB. Walk Trout with the count 2-2? WTF? Dobnak for a 3rd Inning after he gave up two the previous inning? I could realistically see management running this team into the ground. In-game particularly. Please prove me wrong.

I was referring to much more in-game management. I don’t believe the bullpen is constructed as badly as it has looked. Falvine gets 30% of the blame. Rocco gets 60%. The relievers themselves get 10% for just not executing.

Did the Twins pull Michael Pineda one inning too soon? Yeah, no sh!t. You’d think Rocco would’ve learned from pulling Berrios in the playoffs last year. Apparently not. Was Robles the right call to start the eighth? Yeah, he’s a high leverage guy, based on his stuff (IDGAS about his 10.00 ERA last year). I would’ve let Pineda go one more and brought him out in the 9th if I were Rocco in that situation. Many are criticizing the decision to bring him out in the 8th but that is purely results-based criticism. Remember that Rocco can’t see the future. If you were going to the pen, Robles or Rogers was the right call. Both throw hard. Robles has been good in that spot so far this year. Guess who wasn’t the right call for the 9th? The guy who has been shellacked consistently (Colome). ALL of his outings (except Game 2 against Milwaukee) have been cringe-worthy. And it’s no fluke. His stuff is not good. He throws 89 MPH cutters over the plate. That’s pretty much it. He’s a guy who should be pitching in garbage time. Not meaningful time. Does a higher power hate the Minnesota Twins? They’ve lost 18 straight playoff games. That takes some serious commitment. That or some really bad luck. Who’s to blame for this? Management. Colome keeps going out there in the 9th. Why? IDK. Rogers, Duffey, Robles, and Alcala should be the closers (If they’re going for multi-closer thing, which is fine). They all throw hard. Thielbar is fine as a setup guy (NOT as a guy to stop the bleeding). Outside of those five, who do we have? Colome sucks as I already said. Brandon Waddell has not looked good. Dobnak is fools gold, always has been. Anderson? We haven’t seen him in the majors yet. Maybe he could be good? IDK.