BritishTwinsFan

You seem to have been personally offended by my opinion. I am not a consultant hired to assess why 2021 has been a disaster for the Twins. I am a fan. I watch the games, follow the news, and think about the team. I am not on the inside. I am not in a position to diagnose what the problems might be. My main assertion was that there was a problem in the coaching, which I don't think is too far from your assertion that the problem lay with underperforming players. I get that we have analytics that can produce insights around player performance, and that the same is not available for off field staff. However, simply blaming the people playing the game is not particularly helpful. A roster of little leaguers would have bad stats but we wouldn't blame little Timmy for running home crying at the sight of a 100mph fastball. Polanco had a bad 2020, and it wasn't until he got surgery we found out there was an injury behind it etc. I feel you have fallen into the trap with players as you have identified I may have with coaches.

I disagree with your premise- Pull a guy of the street and have them manage a team and even if you have an allstar roster you still are not winning. Its a fantasy to think that you assemble the best 9 players and that will translate to wins. I grew up watching the England national soccer team. 11 of the best players in the best league but chronically mismanaged leading to disappointment (conditioned me well to be a Twins fan). Rocco can obviously manage because he has won the division twice. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't something amiss with the coaching team and organizational culture. In 2019 and 2020 Rocco was paired with an experienced baseball mind in Shelton and Bell. With the latter's passing you could argue that its had a huge affect on the team. I would also put blame on the pitching department of Wes Johnson. The guy has received a lot of praise especially for the 2020 pitching but this year it has not worked. Project arms have failed, established guys have regressed, and free agents have looked lost. Take Dobnak's slider- A crowning achivement in the Spring and a laughing stock yesterday. Few players can perform without the coaching behind them. We can assess Rocco and the coaching team based on one thing- Results. This core of players who won in the last two years are now underperforming. Do you think they just hit the field and choose to ignore what they have been coached? "Coach said to glove this groundball but maybe if I booted it that would be good for me or my team?" You can blame a player for a singular error but not for a pattern of defensive bungles.

It didn't work out but look at it Outside the Kiriloff left field hole to start the season that is exactly what the Twins had. A projected defensive powerhouse left sided infield with masters in those positions. Same with centrefield and right field. Sano who is pretty good at first, Garver and Jeffers as good catchers. I'm sure you are talking about Astudillo who is lovely to have on the bench to cover injuries but shouldn't be starting in the field or relied on to hit. Arraez is serviceable alongside Polanco defensively. Then Cave who fits the role of the 4th outfielder on a team with a strong DH- There for cheapness, defense and flexibility but again isn't an everyday starter. Then in the bullpen on paper you have 3 closers- Rogers and Robles projected to return to 2019 form, and then Colome who WAS a shutdown guy last season, looked a bargain at half the 2020 price and should have suited the defensive infield. Building the roster you are balancing cost with upside and expected performance. Colome even with some regression built in looked good, you can't predict his cutter stopping working based on available data. High leverage situations aren't always the 9th so its good to have flexibility rather than one superstar you are scared to waste or gas. Coming into spring the Twins had Speed (Buxton, Cave Polanco), Defense (Donaldson, Simmons, Buxton), Reliable hitting/Patient hitting (Cruz, Donaldson) plus strikeout guys like Robles in the bullpen. In terms of the players called up for depth Refsynder, Gordon, Larnach have all done well. Bullpen depth perhaps not but a lot of the guys were projects that maybe didn't get the time before being pressed into service. Even with starters there were 7/8 guys set to go opening day. I'm not sure with the budget *And Knowledge* available that there could have been much else done on roster construction. My view is early bad form, surprises and injuries got the Twins behind where the pressure mounted and the fundamentals fell apart. E.g. the infield Errors have been too high but I'm not sure how that could be predicted preseason.

I get the Twins haven't been the most injured but firstly I wonder if that includes COVID & Concussion lists. My understanding is these are not IL stints because they don't require 10 days out. (It could well include this information I'm just not sure) Secondly, Its all well and good having injuries but no team has lost their superstar for a five weeks of the season. Imagine where the Blue Jays would be if Vladdy Jr had been out. The record without Buxton isn't that much worse but that was during a period where the Twins got hot and includes, but also he played through injury for a bit. Then you have Garver who was getting hot or Maeda looking bad after playing through injury (I'm really hoping thats the reason he was bad). If it was utility guys or bullpen arms each having minimum IL stints then fine but the Twins have seen key players gone and then their replacements banged up too. Put it this was- Willians Astudillo has remained stubbornly healthy all year to add his skillset of comedy defence, the clutch ability to pop out, and whatever blackmail he has over Rocco to keep getting into the lineup.