Twins 2022

Dutchboy wrote:

Kelly is the only Bundy that has game.

You ain’t lying!

Just turned it on why is arreaz batting 9th what happened to Sano

Duran has gigantic balls

WOW!

jeez Gary almost blew it trying to frame that one!

oh Duffey……..welcome back! he has zero control where that ball lands after he lets it go………..yes ZERO

Sano only struck out once last night, but he only got 2 at bats. Boy are pitching is bad. Who’s left for today to pitch? Rocco will need reinforcements next week, when we play 10 in a row starting Friday.

I think the expected pitching results are what the pocket protectors predicted. Without Gray & Ryan it’s a 100+ loss team.

I find it interesting when people refer to Buxton as Mauer. That is a slight towards Mauer last time I checked Buxton has never won an MVP or any silver slugger awards. 10/15 years he hit above 290 with a couple of those years above 330. Buxton has two seasons he hit above 290 and he only played 80 games those years at the most. In his career Buxton has only played above 100 games once in a seven year career. We keep hoping for something more consistent out of Buxton that is because that is the narrative that the team pushes on us. We screwed up a few years ago when we had the chance to move on and trade him. They were hoping him and Sano were going to be cornerstones we could build around and they are more like straw roofs with more wholes in there games then positives. We need to build with pitching and bullpen strength that is where the game is won.

eyeguy507 wrote:

jeez Gary almost blew it trying to frame that one!

That was not framing. He was expecting a fastball and Duran through the slider. Almost killed him.

orve4 wrote:

I find it interesting when people refer to Buxton as Mauer. That is a slight towards Mauer last time I checked Buxton has never won an MVP or any silver slugger awards. 10/15 years he hit above 290 with a couple of those years above 330. Buxton has two seasons he hit above 290 and he only played 80 games those years at the most. In his career Buxton has only played above 100 games once in a seven year career. We keep hoping for something more consistent out of Buxton that is because that is the narrative that the team pushes on us. We screwed up a few years ago when we had the chance to move on and trade him. They were hoping him and Sano were going to be cornerstones we could build around and they are more like straw roofs with more wholes in there games then positives. We need to build with pitching and bullpen strength that is where the game is won.

If you still think Buxton isn’t worth keeping around you need to rethink things. He’s on pace for 125-135 games this year. His average is bad right now but he’s still driving in runs and hitting HR. He’ll get his average up. Mauer could hit 320 every year but he never had 100 RBI, he was never clutch (Buxton is) and he probably leads the Twins in most double plays in history. He also wasn’t a game changer behind the plate like Buxton is in CF. He was paid way more money than Buxton is even making with his new contract. They will get more value from Buxton this year playing 125 games and hitting 225 than they did from any Mauer season other than his MVP season.

mahtofire14 wrote:

he never had 100 RBI

Yup, Mauer never had 100 RBI and also only hit over 20 HR’s one year. His career slash line was .306/12/80, and most of the Silver Sluggers were due to playing catcher. He was a great hitter for average at a position that has the least offensive production. Buxton (healthy) is way more valuable than Mauer (healthy). It’s not even close.

Agree. Mauer was a good average hitter but that’s it. Not the kind of player to build your team around and be your super star. Buxton has that potential, but if the Twins aren’t willing to spend and bring in pitching none of it matters anyway.

If you are the ownership and have more money than you could spend, don’t you think you’d have a little self pride and put your chips in every once in awhile?? I don’t get it.

lindyrig79 wrote:

If you are the ownership and have more money than you could spend, don’t you think you’d have a little self pride and put your chips in every once in awhile?? I don’t get it.

They have a Ferrari Dealership, Soccer Team and whatever else they want next to fund! When they said they needed a new stadium to compete, we rubes assumed it meant at winning baseball games, little did we know it was funding their quest to climb the Forbes rankings.

The fact that Falvine has ignored this god awful bullpen for three straight seasons, let alone the rotation, is grounds to be axed in my book. What an embarrassment.

The last two games – a close score/loss and a blow out/loss suck in terms of record/standings – but couldn’t happen at a better time from the perspective of making it clear the team has to really step up for both starting pitching and bullpen help.

If Falvine and/or ownership had any hesitation this should provide some clarity. Have to give up players/prospects, trade, or sign expensive FA’s in the offseason if you want to ever win a division let alone win a playoff game.

The gap has widened ~

Yep. It’s put up or shut up time. It’s also a fork in the road for Falvine’s future with the club. If they turtle here I think the fanbase riots. Whether that means anything to the FO who knows but we will find out the true goals of this club in the next week. Frankly I’m a little scared at what will or more realistically won’t, happen.

I find the constant ripping of Mauer interesting. There isn’t a guy here who can carry his jock in football, basketball or baseball. Yet he is somehow a worse player than a guy who can’t stay on the field, has 24 homeruns with a whopping 44 RBI.

It’s a bunch of poo poo, if you don’t like him fine, but at least try and understand what he did on a baseball field.

Thor should be in Minnesota, the Angles are going to give him away to anyone that will take the remainder of the seasons pay. ($10M) If the Pohlands want to show some good grace to the fans, they will pony it up and hope to catch lightning in a bottle with him for the 2nd half. They aslo need to add 2 arms in the pen. They must do that or do nothing and be sellers, The only way the win the division is with 2 arms added in the pen. The only way to win in the playoffs is to add another starter. I suppose they are banking on the fact the fan base would be happy to win a game in the post season, let alone a series.

18 straight postseason losses?? That is embarrassing

Dutchboy wrote:

I find the constant ripping of Mauer interesting. There isn’t a guy here who can carry his jock in football, basketball or baseball. Yet he is somehow a worse player than a guy who can’t stay on the field, has 24 homeruns with a whopping 44 RBI.

It’s a bunch of poo poo, if you don’t like him fine, but at least try and understand what he did on a baseball field.

He was a singles hitter. He was a cornerstone of a team that needed a real cornerstone. Singles hitters cannot be cornerstone players. He was one of the least clutch players I’ve ever seen play and had no passion to win. I don’t understand all the love for him. Well actually I do, it’s because he’s from MN. He would not be in HOF consideration if he was at any other position than catcher.

Mauer never had 24 HR or 44 RBI by the All Star break and he certainly didn’t save runs like Buxton does when he’s in the field.

Buxton has more value playing 100 games than Mauer playing a whole season and that’s just fact.

mahtofire14 wrote:

The fact that Falvine has ignored this god awful bullpen for three straight seasons, let alone the rotation, is grounds to be axed in my book. What an embarrassment.

Totally agree, especially with no constraints from ownership…right? Right…..

Dutchboy wrote:

There isn’t a guy here who can carry his jock in football, basketball or baseball.

Pretty sure no one here could carry Buxton’s jock in any of those things either. I don’t think that’s a prerequisite to criticizing professional athletes.

Nobody has been a cornerstone of a team and played as little as buxton or hit as low percentage wise as buxton. We still need a cornerstone player and that is not Buxton. Again WE NEED PITCHING. Also Morneau was suppose to be the power guy no Mauer. Honestly I think some of that was also coaching philosphy at the time and the push for contact over power. Look what happened to guys like Ortiz when they left minnesota.

orve4 wrote:

Nobody has been a cornerstone of a team and played as little as buxton or hit as low percentage wise as buxton. We still need a cornerstone player and that is not Buxton. Again WE NEED PITCHING. Also Morneau was suppose to be the power guy no Mauer. Honestly I think some of that was also coaching philosphy at the time and the push for contact over power. Look what happened to guys like Ortiz when they left minnesota.

With Mauer it was not coaching. I played against him in high school and never saw him pull a ball. It’s how his swing was built. I wasn’t saying Buxton is a cornerstone player, but he is a helluva lot more valuable than Mauer ever was even at the rate of games he plays. There’s plenty of issues right now with Buxton too. But if he plays 100 or more games each season for the rest of his career I bet the only stat he doesn’t pass Mauer in is batting average. Even at this stage of his career.

mahtofire14 wrote:

I played against him in high school

x2 and Mauer was never clutch even in HS, despite all the accolades in all the sports I think he only one won State Championship, in football as a junior. And he was at Cretin, so it’s not like he was the only athlete on the teams.

mahtofire14 wrote:

But if he plays 100 or more games each season for the rest of his career I bet the only stat he doesn’t pass Mauer in is batting average.

Didn’t Mauer win a battling title and an MVP? Do you foresee Buxton accomplishing those stats? I don’t.

If there was nobody on base, Mauer would get you a single. If there were runners on, he’d hit into a DP. Saw it lots and lots of times. Have to agree with the ‘not clutch’ comments.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mahtofire14 wrote:</div>
But if he plays 100 or more games each season for the rest of his career I bet the only stat he doesn’t pass Mauer in is batting average.

Didn’t Mauer win a battling title and an MVP? Do you foresee Buxton accomplishing those stats? I don’t.

Like I said, the only stat I don’t see him passing Mauer in is batting average. That’s what a batting title is, ONLY batting average. His MVP year wasn’t even really MVP caliber. Under 30 HR and under 100 RBI. I can see Buxton winning an MVP if he ever qualifies for one. If the Twins were better and he would’ve kept hitting (for average) like he did in the first three months of the season, he’d be in the conversation this season.

I’m not a big analytics guy obviously but if you look at WAR which everybody seems to use as the end all be all of valuing players Mauer had a career WAR of 27.5 in 1858 career games.

Buxton has a 19.1 WAR in 568 career games. If he kept going at this rate, he would be at 38.2 WAR in 1136 games. 722 games less than Mauer ever played.

Joe Mauer was a good player. He just wasn’t that valuable.