killertwinfan

Do you mean last year? That was one ~quality prospect and two long shots. Hindsight proved they were wise not to pull the trigger on the deal.

For this team to progress, they need more pitching. It's going to hurt, but we need to give up good prospects for a quality starter.

Crushing it??? Not sure where "Crushing it" falls on your scale of one to ten? Certainly there is a lot of reason to have hope. The success of 2017 was mostly of a fortunate cause. I don't think you can count on a repeat from Santana. And, any fall back from the pitching staff and we go the other way in a hurry. Then your article title with change to "getting crushed".

This is a young team. You should Berrios out there. He needs his opportunities to prove he can step up in tough situations. It is part of the learning process.

I am not sure but, it certainly wasn't an inspiring outing. He did have the the Royals chasing pitches out of the strike zone, but seemed to be missing his spots. Also, the Royals were making good contact on pitchers pitches. I think Perez's 5th inning AB was Gibson's last out was on a low FB that he drove to the warning track in left. I would bet that this outing was more lucky, than better. It looked like the same Gibson. I agreed with the quick hook.

I saw something on ESPN yesterday saying that Greene's camp has put the word out that their preference is San Diego implying that he will be a difficult to sign. That being said does he pass up $7M+ to not be with the Twins? That might be crazy, but I suppose it could happen.

Amen brother. Give me the stats on how long he can hang on? He has been hit very hard (speaking of his outs) and we/he has been lucky for the most part. I hope our starting pitching prospects aren't so bad that what he is doing right now is our best option.

It's not like this rule is unknown to the players. The Twins had to be expecting a response. Is it possible that Sano was adding to the unwritten rule that if you throw me, I am going to react! And, if so maybe that's why he got the game suspension. I don't know. In terms of altercations, this seemed mostly harmless. Following the long standing trend, the retaliator got caught. My take, McCann's move was punkish. He did it on purpose and should also be fined. Any catcher that intercedes with a batter in that way will receive a similar reaction. I am sure he is chuckling to himself right now.

Unfortunately our handling of Buxton has been the premier chapter from the book, "What No To Do". I like what your are saying and for the most part it appears the Twins are following that advice. All of but one of Buxton's PA's were good in the opener with Texas and all looked really good last night. I really liked his last AB even though it resulted in an out. He took a pitch on the outside part of the plate and hit hard the other way. Very Nice! Of course, the pitching last night for Texas left much to be desired, but progress nonetheless.

I was convinced that Polanco couldn't play short given last years effort and the off season activity by the Twins. Although he has his shortcomings, he looks very good. If this was in the cards, I don't know why you would even consider trading Dozier. Getting what we wanted was a pipe dream and very disruptive to the player being traded. I really like the grit of Polanco.

I don't know if it is a good idea to send him down, since any options we have really impact the outfield D negatively. But, It may be a quicker fix if he works things out in triple A. I really hope there are no technical issues with his swing and that things are all in his head. He just needs to slow down, try to recognize the pitches and hit them where they are thrown. STOP SWINGING AT tough breaking balls early in the count. It seems that everyone is at a loss with Buxton. I feel bad for what he is going through and extremely frustrated with our handling of him.

Not in the last ten games.

2/3rds of our outfield is batting .150, one of our bench OF is around the same. Defenses are squeezing one of our better hitters into sub .250. Very poor clutch hitting, in general we are too aggressive at the plate in those situations. I guess all of those things are correctable. But prolly not tonight and prolly not in this series. Dorthy needs to find another way.

I believe the root cause of this issues with this team is the way Falvey and Molitor came together on this roster. Falvey got some of his guys in there and Molitor as well. But Molly was open about not liking 13 pitchers, so my guess the roster is tilted in Falvey's favor. I DO NOT LIKE THIS! They should have come together on a strategy and built the 25 and 40 man rosters from there. Instead we get a hodge-podge pitching staff, an infield with an offensive tilt, and outfield with a defensive tilt, a light bench and bunch of weird decisions looming. Nice job boys! If you know what you are doing you sure aren't showing it.

HMMMM. This article frustrates me and it shouldn't. Maybe I just want to kill the messenger, but I won't do that. To me this is very obvious and it was in spring training too. Just because he is paid $14M, they are playing him. I hate that notion, and I am alarmed that our alleged baseball people can't see this or have chosen to roll the dice on him, when we have better options. 13 pitchers when you came out of spring training with some obvious issues in the field? FOOLISH, especially when one of your bench is Grossman who struggles in the field. I would feel better about things if our leadership were crafting a message for the future they are building. Not hanging on to threads of hope. Hughes, Breslow and Tonkin are the low men on the pitching totem pole. Two of them should not be here right now. The 40 man roster is there for a reason. You can bring a pitcher if you need one. They don't have to be on the active roster. Come on guys, show us you know what you doing!!!!

I think Breslow will be the first to go and will likely be replaced by a position player, but ultimately as other pitchers come off the DL, Tonkin will follow. The Twins are in a tough spot. My belief is that if you have Grossman on your bench you can't keep 13 pitchers. He is so poor defensively and we need another candidate for the OF on the bench. Right now Palka seems to be the only OF ready or performing in Rochester. Granite would ultimately be a possibility. On top of that Mauer is in a very bad place and may struggle to bat north of .250 this season with little or no power. AB's against lefties need to go to the next first baseman. (Park, Vargas or Hague). Lastly, I think Hughes has been give way too much credit. Batters are hitting him hard. I like what he has tried to do but I don't think his pitch movement is sharp enough at his current velocity. Berrios should take that spot. We'll need Duffy to eat up innings in the bullpen.

I believe Molitor's comment was that he is so sped up Buxton is pulling everything. Is it possible the head position Buxton displayed in the video is proper for middle of the plate pitches, that you would pull? Or, is it that his head is not in the right position at all, for any pitch? My concern being of course, is that the people in charge of helping Buxton have no freaking idea what to do.

What concerns me the most about the Twins is the leadership. I would be more comfortable with them if their actions aligned with performance on the field. I will give them a pass on Buxton because he is in a slump. Everybody has one of those. However here are three things that concern me... 1. It appears that Polanco, although not ideal, can play short next to Dozier. The only offer we got for Dozier was very poor and although I thought we had to move him, I agreed with the decision not to. Why did we not know either of these things? 2. Hughes has been hit hard, for two years now, including this spring. If they play the infield in again somebody is going to get killed. He has not proven he can pitch, yet he gets a starting spot. Somebody paid this guy too much now somebody is trying to play him before he is ready, and he may never be. We have a glut of pitchers, he is not part of the future. Make him prove he can pitch before you give him the ball. 3. Mauer is not improving, he is regressing. He is a one trick pony and the opposition has recognized that fact. Molitor talked about protecting Joe against lefties this spring yet come opener we did not bring up a position player to accomplish that feet. One bad decision on the pitching staff, leads to another with a field position. I know this is a new and promising leadership group. At this point, albeit in a tough situation, I really don't see improved decision making translating into improved performance on the field.

I believe the first time I heard this was when Matt Millen said it. I believe he was still playing at the time. Soooo, DaveW has to share. LOL.

Add to it that it seemed to be more of a disagreement between Bert and Dick. I thought Dick was making a supportive comment for Mauer's recent struggles and Bert was frustrated with Mauer's inability to adjust. I don't expect much improvement from Joe. He may be a .250 hitter with no power. I would trade that for a .225 hitter with power. I expect to see either, Vargas or Park taking a bunch of his AB's in the second half. My diagnosis is bilateral leg weakness. Just a guess.

BTW, stick a fork in Mauer. He is done.

We are blessed with a good start, period. This team could end up over .500 and even make the playoffs. Or, things could go horribly wrong and they play like they did in 103 loss debacle we witnessed last year. I am thankful and purchased MLB extra innings so I can watch games. Have fun with it while it lasts, (which is hopefully all season) but don't expect it. The trends, great pitching, poor hitting (especially with RISP), great defense and a lot of gifts. None of it will continue at the current pace. It will be interesting to see how the organization responds.

I am 100% with you on that. June, if not sooner in some cases, is going to be very interesting from a personnel standpoint, probably on both the 40 man and active rosters. Most likely, we'll see how strongly they are committed to the future vs making a mistake of letting go of pieces that aren't performing or aren't part of our future.

If I used the word acceptable instead of wise, would it be fair or true? I am not sure if you are watching these guys postpone decisions that really should have been made already. My fear is the motivation is that they are hoping for circumstances to arise to make the decision easier. Rip the bandaid off already. They are afraid they will be ripped for their decision. Reality check, they are going to get ripped, period.

The context of the article is a little problematic. If you change the context to, you are paying a guy $23M for 49 RBI's, then Jack's comments resonate well. In my opinion, you can talk all day about what what you would like Mauer to do, but the reality is the what the Twins do is far more important. For whatever reason, our leadership feels it is wise to play a guy based on what you need rather than what they are capable of. Mauer is not capable of 100 RBI any more, Buxton has not proven himself in the majors, and there are several other examples of this mentality. Don't put Mauer in the 4 hole. Give other batters, the right ones, chances against lefties. Keep Buxton at the bottom of the order and for god sakes make Perkins prove himself at triple A before you bring him back. Please stop being hopeful and start being more pragmatic.