howeda7

Games like this are why God invented gambling.

Running this line-up out there in a must win game and keeping Kepler on the roster while Polanco, Larnach, Jeffers and Wallner are in St. Paul is ridiculous.

While I understand he likely wouldn't have finished and they weren't going to let him go 140 pitches, they should have at least let him start the 8th and see what happens. If he got lucky and had a 10 pitch inning, who knows.

How so? I'd say the original article is goal post moving. "If only Royce Lewis and AK had been healthy..." when one was not being counted on and the other was an unknown quantity to start the season.

I'd look at it this way: Who were your 5 most important position players and pitchers going into the season and how many games did you lose due to unexpected injuries. Position Players: -Buxton: 100 games was a reasonable goal. Anything more than that would be gravy. That's just reality. He will come up a bit short of that. I'll also grant that he was hampered when he did play to some extent. Wins lost: 1.5 -Correa: He missed a few games with his hand and a few with Covid. Neither are enough to be deemed unusual. Wins lost: 0. -Polanco: Up until the recent IL stint, he was able to stay in the line-up even if he missed a few games. Wins lost: 0.5 -Arreaz: He has been fully healthy. Wins lost: 0 -The 5th spot is debatable, but I'll give it to Kiriloff. But we don't know how good he would have been when healthy. Even hampered, his #'s in 2022 were similar to 2021. Being generous: Wins lost 2.0 Pitchers: -Sonny Gray: He missed about 3 starts early. Not an unusual amount. Wins Lost: 0 -Joe Ryan: He missed 2-3 starts with Covid. Again, not unusual. Wins Lost: 0 -Taylor Rodgers: You willingly swapped him for Pagan on Opening Day, leaving Pagan as your default closer for half the season. Dumb move. But hey, he's been healthy! Wins lost: 0 -Johan Duran: He's been healthy and excellent. Wins lost: 0 -Baily Ober: Again, 2021 was a small sample size. He was essentially replaced by a combo of Winder, Smelzer and Sanchez. While they're not great, they also haven't train-wrecked. So again being generous: Wins lost: 2.0 Total wins lost due to injuries among the top 10 players: 6. I guess that would be enough to have us clinging to first place for now. But it wouldn't make this a great team.

On AK, just that this procedure is extreme and has very little track record to go off of. Paddock may be back in time to make 10 starts or so. But how effective will he be? You can have to plan 2023 disregarding him as a factor.

All of this. There has been some injuries. And if it required 95 wins to make the playoffs then *they never had a chance". But 85 likely would have done it and they still failed. And many of these injuries were foreseeable or should have been. Sorry, the front office does not get a pass from me. The way they handle and evaluate players, especially pitchers, is fundamentally broken. The Twins will never win a championship with Falvey at the helm.

He might not be good. But his strength is his sinker and since he got here, he's throwing a bunch of breaking balls because that's what Falvine and co. "believe".

I would assume you get nothing from Paddock or Lewis next year. Anything you do get is a bonus. Buxton will never approach 162 games, that's just a reality. 100 is all that's realistic. Kiriloff's seems like he's no better than 50/50 to play in the majors again, from what I've heard. The procedure he had was a last gasp. Some better health will help. But this team just isn't that great and I don't see them overtaking Chicago or Cleveland without some significant upgrades.

I'd love new owners because Jim is not curious and too disengaged. But this is on Falvey and Rocco. Their payroll is appropriate for their market size and is not the issue. How the payroll is deployed is. Every year that Falvey remains in charge is wasted. They will never win a WS with him IMO.

This offense is so putrid. How do you not call up Wallner, Contraras and Chris Williams and give them a shot? They really can't do worse.

Falvey is in charge. Giving Levine a shot would not be the worst thing, but I'd rather bring Jon Daniels in and let Levine stay #2 if we're going that route

Falvey getting canned is the only positive outcome for this season, but that's not going to happen either.

2021 Twins record from 5/21-9/5: 44-49 2022 Twins record from 5/21-9/5: 45-49

I don't agree with the "Cheap Pohlads" criticism. No owner is going to spend $200 million in payroll in the MSP market. But I do believe they are complacent and un-curious. They waited entirely too long to move on from Terry Ryan and they will likely do it again. Stability is great to a point. But having had only 3 GM's in 30 years while wining zero championships isn't really a badge of honor. I have seen enough of Falvey to feel very confident we will never win a World Series with him running the team. I'm doubtful we'll even clear the low bar of winning one play-off game. But I know he will likely be given 2-3 more years before he's shown the door. That's beyond frustrating.

When will this fascination with Megill end? He's not good. He throws hard. So what? So does Pagan. Give me Moran or even Sisk, Winder, or Peacock from St. Paul first.

The medical staff is under Falvey's supervision too. Time to clean house of them all and try again. He's a failure.

Which part?

Deep thoughts.

If Hamilton successfully steals 3rd and Urshella walks, he scores on Cave's fly ball.

Pagan still being on the roster is a joke. Even if we'd made it to the 10th, he'd have lost it then.

Please. Terry Ryan sitting on his hands and not helping the 2006 Twins was criminal. Steee's played one game. I'm not a fan of Falvey but this is a ridiculous rush to judgment.

Terrible loss. Lopez melting down is concerning.

Correa is so underwhelming in a big spot...

Yikes. Get Ryan out of there.