Boom Boom

Not long ago teams carried long relievers mainly for garbage time in blow outs. Generally those guys were long-time minor league starters who couldn't crack a major league rotation. Now with starters only going 4 or 5, there is a greater demand for long relief, but contracts haven't caught up to that demand. Most long relievers, I'm sure, would rather be starting or working in short relief where the money is.

I have to give the Gallo signing an F. He just isn't an upgrade. Maybe they keep Kepler and Gallo because they don't expect much from Buxton. Or maybe this was a move to change the subject after missing out on Correa. Either way it seems like spending money just to spend money, even at 10M/1 year.

Let the starters pitch longer. 4.8 innings per start doesn't sound much different than the average of 5.2, until you realize that's a difference of 65 innings over the course of the season on the bullpen. More importantly the team needs to show improvement in the fundamentals. Fielding, baserunning and making contact at the plate are all lacking.

For the fans, the team and Buxton himself, it was a very disappointing season. If Fangraphs pegs Buxton's 2022 worth at $32M, Maybe the Pohlads can take some comfort in that estimated value, but I don't think anyone else will.

I feel like having a few 40 man options stashed at AAA is plenty of stability for the back end.

When you rely on your prospect pipeline to field a competitive team, you can't miss on a trade like Mahle, which the Twins did. It was a bad trade.

MLB has decided it's too hard to coach hitters to use the whole field so they are changing the rules. Thats a shame.

They have had their share of injuries, but I don't think anyone was counting on Alex Kiriloff or Royce Lewis or Randy Dobnak carrying the team to a pennant. Besides those you had Maeda (who has been out since before the season), Sano (who was awful) and Buxton (which shouldn't have been a surprise). I don't cut the Twins any slack for Paddack or Mahle. My #1 suspect is the FO.

I think it's a little ironic for a team to blame their state of play on injuries when that team's marquee player is Byron Buxton. As for Rocco, I think if he was shown the door, the FO would hire a manager with very similar in-game strategy. So it would probably be a sideways move.

There's a ton of players who were selected to the all-star team that didn't deserve it. I don't know why Buxton would stand out as an egregious example of this. It's mostly subjective like gold gloves or manager of the year. I think the Twins need another good CF on the team so there isn't such a huge drop-off when Buxton is out. And they need to do a better job of keeping him fresh during the season so he doesn't fall apart late.

Obviously there will be fans moaning about in-game decisions that don't work out, whether the starter was left in too long or pulled too early. Every time a manager makes a pitching change he opens himself up for criticism. And more + earlier pitching changes means a higher likelihood that one of those pitching changes will be a mistake.

I think the strategy of building a rotation from young arms (who have strict innings limits) and inexpensive free agents (who are often coming off injuries or ineffectiveness) compounds the bullpen problem.

They have lots of names. I feel like if the Twins made a 5 man rotation out of the best of these pitchers, and assuming all five were healthy, they would have a below average rotation. There is definitely some chaff that could be removed from the 40 man. But the Twins should be looking to add pitchers.

Having a no-trade clause doesn't mean the player cannot be traded. It just gives him veto power over a trade. And signing a contract with a no-trade clause doesn't necessarily mean the player wants to stay forever. He may just want to ensure that he isn't traded to a team out of contention.

I mean are there any vaccines mandated for all MLB players, regardless of where they are playing.