All Things 2021 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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Send Falvey and Rocco on their way. Let Levine and Toby finish the season.

Pull trigger on the trades / DFAs that need to happen.

Trade Cruz, Simmons, Robles, Pineda, Donaldson (when/if possible)

DFA Happ, Colome and Sano (hopefully someone claims him).

Call up Miranda, Winder, Rooker. Play Gordon sonewhere every day.
 

On the plus side, I get the true pleasure of hitting Kitty do some color before my subscription expires on the 6th.

Kitty still sounds great and still full of great stories and insight.

Truly one of my favorite announcer of all time.
 

Furious that Maeda get pulled after 6 innings of stellar work - OMG, SMH!!

Let him get at least 7 - he frickin eatned it.
 


Gopher_In_NYC said:
Furious that Maeda get pulled after 6 innings of stellar work - OMG, SMH!!

Let him get at least 7 - he frickin eatned it.
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They were pretty stress free pitches too, which makes it even worse. Not as bad as when they pulled Bailey Ober in Seattle after 4, but it’s still confusing.
 


Like it or not, this is the age of the pitch count.

and - with the short season last year, teams are being very careful not to overwork pitchers.

If Starter X only worked 75 innings last year, teams are worried about having guys go out there and rack up 200+ innings this year. So it's like 2021 is a transitional year to get pitchers back closer to a normal workload.

And for guys coming up from the minors, many of them didn't even pitch any competitive innings last year, so teams will be even more careful - a guy like Ober with the Twins falls into that category.

For an older guy like me who remembers pitchers making 40+ starts a year or throwing 250+ innings, it's a little hard to accept. but it isn't just the Twins. Most teams are using similar approaches to pitcher workloads.
 



Ober can be a good #2/3 starter in a few years and happy/amazed that he got the win (great for him)- thank God the guy on third ran on contact with zero outs and bailed him out.
 



BleedGopher said:
So soft:


Win Twins!!
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So you have a 40 year old dude that has an ailment for weeks, whom you have $13 million invested in, and you just send him to the doctor now? Who the F is running this organization? Seriously, the more reports that come out the more it makes me think it's Mickey Mouse running the show.
 

howeda7 said:
Send Falvey and Rocco on their way. Let Levine and Toby finish the season.
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This seems a little drastic given that Falvey has gotten the Twins to the post-season 3 times in what will be 5 seasons. Baldelli has 2 AL Central Titles in only 3 seasons.
 

Ope3 said:
This seems a little drastic given that Falvey has gotten the Twins to the post-season 3 times in what will be 5 seasons. Baldelli has 2 AL Central Titles in only 3 seasons.
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It might be. But Falvey showed us who he was at the trade deadline in 2019. Best offense in team history and he wouldn't part with any of his precious peospects to help the pitching rotation and we had to run an Uber driver out there in the playoffs. They'll never win a WS with him in charge.

I'm more indifferent on Rocco. But he is just too robotic and soft, IMO. Pulling Berrios in the playoffs last year was a travesty. He manages every game by the book like it's a Wednesday day game in May. You can't do that in the post season. And he hasn't handled the adversity of this season very well.
 

At least Kepler looks like he has come out of his coma.

Fun fact - Kepler hit an opposite-field HR on Monday. of 110 HR's hit by Kepler as a Twin, that is only the 3rd to go to Left Field.
 



short ornery norwegian said:
Like it or not, this is the age of the pitch count.

and - with the short season last year, teams are being very careful not to overwork pitchers.

If Starter X only worked 75 innings last year, teams are worried about having guys go out there and rack up 200+ innings this year. So it's like 2021 is a transitional year to get pitchers back closer to a normal workload.

And for guys coming up from the minors, many of them didn't even pitch any competitive innings last year, so teams will be even more careful - a guy like Ober with the Twins falls into that category.

For an older guy like me who remembers pitchers making 40+ starts a year or throwing 250+ innings, it's a little hard to accept. but it isn't just the Twins. Most teams are using similar approaches to pitcher workloads.
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This team is so worried about what might happen in the next game or a week from now or a month from now they forget the most important thing. Win the game right in front of you when you have an opportunity. So many times Rocco will basically punt on a game the twins trail by 1-2 runs in the sixth inning by going to relievers that don’t belong in the majors.

like with all things these things will sort themselves out and there will be blow out games you can pitch them I .
 

The fact Coleme is still on this roster and able to trot out of the bullpen in order to give up two runs says two things.

1.) the twins have no standards and no one is being held accountable for this failings. This is Evernote from the GM down to the kid that is in charge of the jock straps.

2.) the great pitcher whispers in the front office have not developed a single pitcher in the 5 years they’ve been in charge and have no one else to go to.

more maybe it’s a combination of both with Rocco saying you gave me this crap to manage so here it is in all its glory.
 

I do love that this game started in the rain and has basically played through rain the entire time. As opposed to the game two Friday's ago. Maybe the twins got tired of being a running joke of an organization?
 

Ope3 said:
This seems a little drastic given that Falvey has gotten the Twins to the post-season 3 times in what will be 5 seasons. Baldelli has 2 AL Central Titles in only 3 seasons.
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This isn't 1987. Making the postseason isn't quite the accomplishment that it used to be. Great, they won 101 games in 2019. They were still the 3rd seed in the playoffs. 4 teams lost 100 games that year; two of them were in the AL Central. The fact of the matter is it's pretty difficult to look up and down the roster and pick out any players that have been shrewd signings or have improved under this regime.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
This isn't 1987. Making the postseason isn't quite the accomplishment that it used to be. Great, they won 101 games in 2019. They were still the 3rd seed in the playoffs. 4 teams lost 100 games that year; two of them were in the AL Central. The fact of the matter is it's pretty difficult to look up and down the roster and pick out any players that have been shrewd signings or have improved under this regime.
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True, but they missed the post season 6 seasons in a row before that and the current Wild Card game was instituted in 2012. They were the beneficiaries in 2017 of the expanded format.

I am not saying that gives Falvey a free pass forever, but there is enough success to not blow the whole thing up and let it play out for at least another season, maybe 2.

Signing Cruz I would for sure say was a "shrewd" move. Hopefully they can flip him for something helpful in the near future. Also getting Maeda last year greatly improved the staff. His injuries and struggles this year have had a much greater impact on this year, not Shoemaker.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
This isn't 1987. Making the postseason isn't quite the accomplishment that it used to be. Great, they won 101 games in 2019. They were still the 3rd seed in the playoffs. 4 teams lost 100 games that year; two of them were in the AL Central. The fact of the matter is it's pretty difficult to look up and down the roster and pick out any players that have been shrewd signings or have improved under this regime.
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Huh?

Nelson Cruz - great signing.
Maeda - Cy Young runner up last year, struggled this year - above average signing and he was signed on an incentive laden contract which ends up not costing a lot for this year. I expect him to bounce back and be more 2019 vs. 2020 in 2021.
Whistler was an adroit find last year and provided good coverage.
Odorizzi was a great starting pitcher and made the All-Star team in 2019 - last year was a different story.
Robles was nice signing this year and has been adequate to good in my opinion.

You animus is leading you to a choused perspective that lumps all signings into one bucket, which is inaccurate and misleading.
 
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Gopher_In_NYC said:
Huh?

Nelson Cruz - great signing.
Maeda - Cy Young runner up last year, struggled this year - above average signing and he was signed on an incentive laden contract which ends up not costing a lot for this year. I expect him to bounce back and be more 2019 vs. 2020 in 2021.
Whistler was an adroit find last year and provided good coverage.
Odorizzi was a great starting pitcher and made the All-Star team in 2019 - last year was a different story.
Robles was nice signing this year and has been adequate to good in my opinion.

You animus is leading you to a choused perspective that lumps all signings into one bucker, which is inaccurate and misleading.
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Larnach was also a draft pick from this regime, early results are quite positive.
 

My theory is that Falvey is trying to avoid sinking a lot of money in starting pitching because the Twins think the next group of players coming through the minors will make up the bulk of the rotation.

Having no minor league season in 2020 hurt the Twins as much as any franchise, because they were counting on a year of development from those pitchers. if there had been a typical minor league season last year, a couple of those guys might already be in the rotation.

having said that, no doubt they made some bad choices. but we don't know what players were demanding in terms of salary. if the choice is average player at a huge contract, or a retread at a lower contract, they may have felt the lower contract was the better long-term decision.
 

I am going to Target Field tonight for the first time since September, 2019.

Looking forward to starting a new streak of attending a Twins game annually, the one I had began in 1973 was disrupted last year.
 

Had fun at the game last night, quick moving with action and a couple of bombs, played in about 2.5 hrs.

A bit of sticker shock at the concession stand: 1 beer, 1 Capt/Coke (double), 1 brat (w/chips) and 1 bag of peanuts = $49.50. Before tip.
 

No idea why Madea was removed from the game tonight after cruising through 5 innings and throwing 84 pitches. He was replaced by a guy that has an ERA over 4.5. I hate baseball this way.
 

From the Parkinglot said:
No idea why Madea was removed from the game tonight after cruising through 5 innings and throwing 84 pitches. He was replaced by a guy that has an ERA over 4.5. I hate baseball this way..
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Alcada's ERA is lower than Maeda's (5.03 before tonight).

Big game tonight in the race to finish in 3rd place. Really odd they play Detroit in 8 straight.
 

Ope3 said:
Alcada's ERA is lower than Maeda's (5.03 before tonight).

Big game tonight in the race to finish in 3rd place. Really odd they play Detroit in 8 straight.
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I am convinced that Berrios wants nothing to do with the twins since he was taken out of the Houston game in the playoffs last year. The guy was rolling and everyone says he’s not an ace. Then when he throwing like an ace in the playoffs (a place the twins had lost 17 times in a row) they pull him.
The twins seems to forget that these are human beings and not robots programmed to do exactly what the book says.
In the garbage game in July there is no reason not ot let Maeda keep pitching. It’s not like you’re worried about any playoff innings.
 

For stat geeks, the lowdown on Ohtani.


My favorite, 1st MLB player ever to have 10 of each, Pitching Starts, Home Runs & Stolen Bases.
 

From the Parkinglot said:
No idea why Madea was removed from the game tonight after cruising through 5 innings and throwing 84 pitches. He was replaced by a guy that has an ERA over 4.5. I hate baseball this way.
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Rocco's spreadsheet says not to allow Maeda to go through the order a 3rd time. It must be obeyed. Same reason he yanked Berrios in the play-offs last year.
 


Ope3 said:
I am going to Target Field tonight for the first time since September, 2019.

Looking forward to starting a new streak of attending a Twins game annually, the one I had began in 1973 was disrupted last year.
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Your streak was disrupted by Covid just as mine was with the Belmont Stake, as this was an "Act of God", so I don't consider our streaks broken. I simply say that I've attended every single year that fans were allowed.
 

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