Old Twins Cap

The game was on TV somewhere, there's highlights on MLBTV. Lee and Wallner both boomed balls that hit under the padding of the outfield wall. Lee's ball, the CF just turned and ran after like in a little league game. No hope of making a play. I don't know, the Twins seem to be incredibly deep and talented this year. I'm trying to figure out how they could screw this up. And still no Buxton, Polanco or Kiriloff yet?

MLB bullpens are the easiest piece to remake during the season. Individual performances vary quite a bit year to year. No need to put together a perfect bullpen for the beginning of the year. If your team is in it in July, then you go out and add.

There are many, many outcomes in baseball that are worse than striking out. Many. Including pulling a hammy running out a DP ground ball. Remember: the worst outcome ever in my recent memory for a Twins AB was when Michael Cuddyer hit that ground ball in Toronto in 2011 (or whatever year that was) and Morneau took a knee to the head, altering his MVP trajectory, the entire Twins season that year, and the eventual future of both Morneau and the Twins. That was the single most destructive AB in Twins' history. Devastating! If he had just struck out, our Twins' history would be completely different. The one true judgment for Gallo, like Correa, like Buxton, like Baldelli, like the entire Twins organization, like every baseball team in MLB, is their Win-Loss record. I am glad that the Rooster is here to help with that. Go Twins!

One of the few games I went to last year, maybe against the Tigers?, Celestino fielded a ball in fairly deep center running away from the play, and heaved it all the way home on the fly, where Sanchez tagged a runner out. He does have a good arm. Mental mistakes can be fixed, but not length on throws. That Ben Revere, when he came up, I was like, "How can he possibly make it in the big leagues? No length to his arm or his bat." Put some more power in Celestino's bat and he could be a keeper. It's a big diamond in MLB, Christian Dior big, and you have to make plays involving great length. That takes a MLB body.

Good insight on what makes a team click. I call it having a "career year". Multiple players in the same year. Every time a good team makes a run into the playoffs and the World Series, you look at their team and what do you see? Guys having one of the best, if not the best year, of their career. That's what makes a team click. Hitters or pitchers, Check their stats and put those up against their career numbers and you will see that a predominance of players on a team had very strong years. Throw in a talented rookie and some unusual contributions from fringe players and suddenly you've got a clubhouse that is having fun, is talented and makes a deep run into the playoffs. I tried to get excited about the Twins this year, but you look at their individual numbers in June and it's like: Who is going to carry this team? What four or five guys are having good years? There was no one there. Nobody pushed forward with a great season. You look at that and you know right away that there was no chance, there never was a chance, because no one was having a career year. Look at Cleveland. They had a rookie having a great year, Rosario -- career year, Ramirez -- very strong year, Naylor -- career year, Gimenez -- career year. Bunch of fringe guys step forward, you don't need much when you have five guys out front pulling. Boom, a couple clutch hits, a great pitching staff, especially the bullpen, and it never was close to being the Twins' year.

Now that's a metric that is easy to understand. Thank you!

Baseball has always been a mirror reflection of American society, and I expect it always will be. The level of inequality between haves and have-nots in the US continues to accelerate. When and how this will possibly change is utterly unpredictable. And yes, baseball, like many aspects of our society, seems to have exhausted any semblance of being on a level playing field, much less enjoyable to watch and believe in as a National Pastime.

Writing police: you can't be a "former" top prospect. If you were once a top-prospect, that can never be taken away. It's not like you graduate from that status. "Former University of Minnesota graduate becomes millionaire."

Forgot about Jax. Well, Twins have a strong bullpen now.

Duffy and Pagan get the 6th. Thielbar and Megill in the 7th. Fulmer and Duran for the 8th. Lopez for the save. Twins can go two full games without needing to use the same guy, except maybe Lopez. I would pair Maeda on Archer's starts and get a good 7 innings. Rocco's bacon has been saved by giving him an actual bullpen.

What a relief....

Twins FO: Do not bet the farm to extend the Major Sports League all-time playoff losing streak. We ain't that good this year.

Yes, I would trade Correa, if and only if he does not commit to coming back to the Twins. Look, it's business. Not only would the Twins save in the range of $15M for the just under half the season they would be paying him, they would presumably get some pretty valuable pieces coming back. As in young/controllable pitching. We got shortstops up and down the system. The Twins are going to wither and die on the vine this last half because they have inadequate pitching. So, it's lose-lose-lose if they don't trade him. But, I have to think, Correa signed in Minnesota for a reason, and whatever those reasons are, they are probably still operative. He's a Boras client, who will try to maximize his value for sure, but in the final analysis the only sure way the Twins win this negotiation is to pull the trigger.

I don't follow prospects closely but it sounds like we got a Bregman-type in the 1st round, (maybe more when you factor in the switch-hitting), and a Pedroia-type in round 3. And now we have like 3 or 4 tall, hard-throwing lefties coming up through the Minors. Never forget my first trip to Target Field in 2010 and watching Pedroia stand next to Mourneau at 1B on a beautiful Spring Day -- just glad to be outside again after the dark years of the Metrodome. Both guys were All-Stars and MVPs, but man, totally different body-types and players. In the immortal words of Ryan Jeffers, "Sometimes, baseball just baseballs." Pretty hard to measure the heart of a great player.

Twins have been competitive while trying to retool their pitching staff and working a bunch of young hitters into the lineup. That's reasonably exciting after what we've been through the last few years. But, realistically, they are years away from being a top 4 team in the league. And, you never go anywhere in MLB without your best players having "career" years. Who is having a career year on this year's Twins? Anyone? A hobbled Buxton? Kepler? Correa? Just Arraez. We will be a middling team for awhile, as young players mature, the Twins sort out their pitching and we continue to hope veterans find their prime years of performance.