Darius

Not because we’re 6-10. Because we don’t have enough pitchers that can get batters out.

I’ve reaching the point where I believe this bullpen is so egregiously bad that someone needs to get fired. It’s absolutely unacceptable that they went into the season with this garbage. The FO was brought in specifically for their pitching expertise. I think they may have hired the wrong guy away from Cleveland.

This is a bad baseball team.

For a team trying to compete in the playoffs, it was an absolutely awful offseason.

This is why you don’t sign crap players from the bargain bin. When you need bullpen help, go get good pitchers. There’s a reason why nobody else wanted him on a one year contract for peanuts. I mean, Captain Obvious, right? The vast majority of people here were talking about this bullpen as a potential disaster for this club. That should tell everyone one thing: They’re just not that serious about winning. We’ve been sold this current window for almost a decade. When they broke out a little early (2017?), all you heard was “be patient.” Well, what are we waiting for now?

And his ERA over 10 in 18 appearances last year?

There is plenty for which to fault Baldelli. He’s awful. But, you’re right. It’s more of an indictment of Falvine and their awful decision making.

I’m ready to move one from Baldelli. The guy makes so many bad decisions. You need this game. Your starter is cruising at 80 pitches and you yank him for some washed re-tread from the bargain bin?

I’m starting to wonder how much the loss of Rosario is impacting the lineup. Say what you want about him, but a steady .270 25-30 homer guy getting plucked out from behind Cruz is going to hurt. We’ve gone from that to Kyle Garlick, and his career .723 OPS and negative WAR, hitting in the clean-up spot.

Nice job with that bullpen, Falvine. Outside of Berrios, Buxton, and Cruz, this team stinks.

Nothing like sticking a AAAA player behind Donaldson and Cruz to erase them. Another masterful decision by management.

This is getting ugly. It doesn’t make sense to me that Maeda would get a break on his ERA for a throwing error he made. He should be charged for those.

...and the bullpen is predictably derailing what should be an excellent start to the season. Everyone on Earth, besides Falvine and a couple of pocket protectors here, saw it coming from miles away. Awful roster management.

The Rays making the World Series isn’t the rule, it’s the exception. They also lost to the biggest spenders in the MLB. We’ve seen this team set the record for most consecutive playoff losses with that approach. Cleveland and Oakland haven’t won anything. The Royals were a lightning strike that will likely never happen again....ever. If you’re OK with being n that category, more power to you. I’d like something better. There’s a difference between signing an aging player like Donaldson and a guy in his prime like Buxton. If people were confident in Donaldson being a superstar going forward, he wouldn’t be here. But, honestly, I like the effort/gamble. If it doesn’t pay-off, so what? Same result as making no attempt. How have you liked watching 18 straight playoff losses because they wouldn’t make a move to get over the top? I’m also not saying we should be compared to the big spenders every year...but they expect to win. And they do more often than not. If we want to consider ourselves real World Series contenders, you have to be in that conversation at least once or twice periodically, it’s a sad truth. We’re either in or we’re out. There’s no middle ground where you don’t pay for elite players and beat the teams that do. Bringing up the Royals constantly in this debate is like arguing you should buy lottery tickets as a retirement plan. So just to be clear....we take the developmental route to a championships....which is almost impossible to do. But, when you finally develop the players capable of getting there, it’s better to get rid of them. Because we need to save money for something that will happen someday - something other than having a team like we have now. I’m sorry, I’m having a little trouble seeing the end-game. I get being apprehensive about Buxton. But, that injury history will be factored into his contract. If he was healthy all the time and producing at this level for years, we’re talking about a Tatis-level contract. That’s never happening here. There’s nothing in the pipeline as impactful as Buxton can be. If we sign him long-term and we fail, at least we went for it. I see both sides, but I’d rather go that route and fail than be perpetually mediocre because I’m afraid of a bad contract.

Just saw an article on ESPN predicting Buxton to win AL MVP (also predicted Nelson Cruz as MVP and lead the Twins to the World Series Title and Berrios AL Cy Young in the same article). Seems that the Twins are becoming a trendy pick nationally. It’s called “hot takes” in the title. So take that for what it’s worth. Just thought it was pretty cool to see the Twins getting some recognition from a national sports media outlet.

Can’t disagree more with this take. Look at this teams record with/without Buxton in the lineup over the last 4-5 years. You find a guy like him, you do not dump him out of fear of paying him. It’s incredible to me. The Twins’ media machine has pumped this “spending is bad” propaganda for so long that some actively advocate for getting rid of one of the best players in baseball to save on the bottom line. I’m not sure that would fly anywhere else (Red Sox fans nearly burned Fenway to the ground when they traded Betts). What are we saving the money for, if not to sign good players to hopefully win a championship?

He’s also been a slow starter, historically (when not being an all-together non-starter). I think Buxton coming out of the gates hot is a significant sign of something finally clicking. What an incredible talent. This is what we’ve been waiting for. Thank goodness the FO didn’t listen to all the fans who’ve wanted to sell him off over the years.

In hindsight, obviously the wrong decision. Not sure that’s even debatable at this point. What makes it worse is that’s it’s in the division. Do I blame for making it? No. Who would’ve thought anyone would keep him in the major league roster?

I know, Spring Training numbers.....but he did hit over .300 with power, walked a bunch, and stole bases in Spring Training. He looks like a pretty good player. Not sure what could really be done. Who would’ve thought he would be taken and actually stick on a roster? Good for him and good for the Tigers. No way he would’ve gotten a shot here for years, if ever.

Would’ve been safer to walk the elite Grossman against a RHP there. Baldelli is really living dangerously.

I have to go with Buxton. Buxton takes this team to another level - I think everyone is familiar with the winning percentage numbers when he plays vs. doesn’t. I agree with the comment above, the Twins will never be in the running for an “ace” free agent starting pitcher. But, wasn’t why this FO was brought in? The ability to source and develop “ace” starting pitchers from within? Operating under that assumption, a power-hitting, elite defensive center fielder, who could very realistically win the MVP in the near future, would be much harder to replace. I could be way off here, but it looks like Buxton has turned a corner (health is still a question). I’ll need to see more from. Berrios in the coming weeks to be convinced he can sustain the high-end performance. We’ve seen him dominate for stretches before.

And Robbie Grossman has thousands telling us he’s terrible.

So you pitch the rookie riding adrenaline and hitting the ball well right now? If we can’t let Robles pitch to skeletal remains of Robbie Grossman, why the heck is he on the team pitching in high leverage situations? Grossman is awful. Rationalize however you want, I get it. I understand the left/right matchup dynamic in baseball. It’s just overthought. The guy behind him his been swinging the bat very well. I think the results kind of speak for themselves.

We’re talking about a guy who’s hit under .250 3 of the last 4 seasons. If he loves to hit singles, he sure doesn’t show it on the field.

I think it was a bad call to walk Grossman in the first place. Who is scared of Robbie freaking Grossman? If you can’t get him out, you deserve to lose.