Twins 2023 Thread

Those horses (and Arraez) didn’t seem to be enough.

Yeah with the long inning and pitching change for Houston I bet Rocco uses that to take Lopez out.

Big run driven in by Julien there. I think I’m okay with taking him out. I think…….

Huge getting at least 1 run from Julien’s hit, took a perfect throw to get Correa…

save Pablo for game 5. they got this

I’ve said this before but it’s the best way to explain it. The Lopez/Arraez trade was a franchise changing trade. Arraez is a great hitter, but he doesn’t move the needle in the big picture. Impact starting pitchers do and that’s what we got with Lopez.

Joe Mauer was a HOF type hitter and look what he got the Twins…..Nothing. You don’t win in the postseason without great starting pitching. That’s just a fact.

What a stud. Such a huge performance.

Damn, that was a helluva pitching performance… what a treat to watch!

Admittedly didn’t watch much regular season ball because of Bally, but damn is it fun to watch Lopez dealing in the post season with our guys getting the bats on a few.

Baseball and hockey are the two best postseason sports out there. We just don’t get to see the Twins in it for more than a couple games normally.

hard not to back a guy like Pablo. the guy does as much outside of baseball as he does off the mound. Johan is his idol and he pitched like him today. cant wait to see what Sonny does for an encore

at some point they need to consider just walking Alvarez

I thought that was a routine fly ball…..part of it is Houston’s ballpark but that guy is legit strong. Really big that Stewart was able to get back on track so Duran didn’t have to come in to the eighth.

maybe have Kuechel soft toss it to him to decrease exit velo?

Speaking of franchise changing players…..what a huge win! Target field is going to be INSANE on Tuesday.

game set match…….we are onto Target field baby

C4 making a hell of a play and throwing that cocky Pena out to end the game, just awesome!

that big dufus Ortiz got nothing to say tonight

I’m really liking Jeter in the postgame. He’s been really good and has really good stuff to say.

mahtofire14 wrote:

I’ve said this before but it’s the best way to explain it. The Lopez/Arraez trade was a franchise changing trade. Arraez is a great hitter, but he doesn’t move the needle in the big picture. Impact starting pitchers do and that’s what we got with Lopez.

Joe Mauer was a HOF type hitter and look what he got the Twins…..Nothing. You don’t win in the postseason without great starting pitching. That’s just a fact.

Don’t disagree but,
Hindsight is easy right now.
Reguardless with this franchise the trade is already worth it.

Also think it is unfair to put lack of playoff success solely on Joe.

It is possible to have a great hitter and a legitimate starting pitcher.
Hard to believe being a twins fan but it is possible.

Go Twins. Fun to watch.

I understand that, but the comparison is perfect. A guy that could win a batting title every season, but rarely drove in more than 80 runs a season and rarely moved the needle.

I dunno. I don’t think Joe Mauer and Aaraez are necessarily apples to apples comparison just because they both hit for a high average.
Joe at one point was an HOF catcher.
Aaraez is/was basically a DH that hit for high average in a game that hitting approach is waaaaay different than it was.

I bet Miami still makes that trade today honestly pre post season as it was something they needed as well.

Again easy to say in hindsight vs Twins getting bounced in first round losing both games 3-0 with a couple hits a game.

I definitely agree that it was a franchise changing trade.
Hell he won a playoff game that had not been done in 18 straight.

Debating a mute point I know.
Anyone missing Buxton?

Go Twins!!!

“…Anyone missing Buxton?

Go Twins!!!”

Poor guy, yeah I miss that Bryan Baxter – or whatever his name was – for sure!

Ripjiggen wrote:

I dunno. I don’t think Joe Mauer and Aaraez are necessarily apples to apples comparison just because they both hit for a high average.
Joe at one point was an HOF catcher.
Aaraez is/was basically a DH that hit for high average in a game that hitting approach is waaaaay different than it was.

I bet Miami still makes that trade today honestly pre post season as it was something they needed as well.

Again easy to say in hindsight vs Twins getting bounced in first round losing both games 3-0 with a couple hits a game.

I definitely agree that it was a franchise changing trade.
Hell he won a playoff game that had not been done in 18 straight.

Debating a mute point I know.
Anyone missing Buxton?

Go Twins!!!

How is their approach different? Both singles hitters that hit the ball the other way? Both hit doubles every now and then. Mauer stopped being a HOFer when he moved to first.

There approach to hitting isn’t. I meant the approach to hitting in the major leagues is much different now.

Pitching is key to winning post season games.

Luis Arraez has a great bat. Twins do not need another DH.

While Baldelli loves to move around players around the diamond – where would those Arraez fans put him in the field on an everyday basis ?

Pablo is a first-class pitcher, leader, and stand-up individual.

A healthy Lewis is a franchise-changing player.

Carlos has something to prove with the Astros. Glad he is delivering.

Polanco quietly (well not so quietly) showing he still has it.

This is the most excited I have been about Twins baseball in a long time. We finally have some hope! We have the pitching. We are getting hitting and our fielding is pretty dang good too. This team could go far.

Brittman wrote:

Pitching is key to winning post season games.

Luis Arraez has a great bat. Twins do not need another DH.

While Baldelli loves to move around players around the diamond – where would those Arraez fans put him in the field on an everyday basis ?

Don’t disagree.

CaptainMusky wrote:

This is the most excited I have been about Twins baseball in a long time. We finally have some hope! We have the pitching. We are getting hitting and our fielding is pretty dang good too. This team could go far.

I agree with you on most of your post, with the exception of the dang good fielding. I think there are days when Edouard Julien and Jorge Polanco could play catch and someone would get killed.