It seems like everyday the Minnesota Twins find a new way to lose a baseball game. Sure this team has some injuries but what team doesn’t once the marathon baseball season begins. If you have watched this team since April 1 you can see that this team has gotten worse and not better as the season has gone on. The Twins are spiraling out of control and are in a free-fall and the Twins FO is just sitting by watching and waiting. I am not exactly sure what they are waiting for but more action needs to be taken other than shuffling pitchers between Target Field and the CHS Field.
Baseball is a strange and funny game and I have seen teams over the years that have over-performed and I have seen teams that have under-performed. The same goes for players, tell me you haven’t seen a good player have a bad season and bounce back the following year. It happens, we all get into these ruts sometimes when we feel that everyone and everything is against us and no matter what we do it just doesn’t seems to get any better.
The 2019 Minnesota Twins had an amazing season, everyone hit home runs, and as time goes by we will look back at that team and say that most of the players on that team had career years. So why is the reverse not possible and when we look back at 2021 and say that most of the players on this team all had their worst seasons at the same time.
This 2021 Minnesota Twins team is not a great team but it is better than its 15-28 record indicates. So why is the team playing so poorly in 2021? When you have a team that is performing badly across the board with bad hitting, bad pitching, playing inconsistently in the field and making mental mistakes I think it points back at the coaching staff and the manager.
Yes I know that Rocco Baldelli has managed two seasons and he has had winning teams both years and the players appear to enjoy Baldelli’s managing style. A style that I would consider to be laissez faire. Baldelli is considered a players manager and from a fans perspective (like myself with no inside knowledge) I would agree with that assessment. Who knows, maybe he calls players into his office after they play poorly and rips into them, but I doubt it. This may be the new managing style that is in vogue right now but I don’t see it working in baseball where you have relatively young players that come from a variety of countries and backgrounds. A baseball team needs leadership and I think this team does not have it. All Rocco has spewed forth is how hard the team is working and that they have had injuries, in other words, just excuses.
The players are paid to play baseball and they are well compensated for it, it is a job. So why is Baldelli resting his best players so frequently? Resting them for what, the stretch run? There will be no stretch run at the pace this team is playing. I think the players want to play and Baldelli should send out his best team of players day in and day out. If a player is injured or needs a day off the player should be able to knock on Baldelli’s door and say I need a day off. Simple as that. Next man up philosophy. Players need routines, they need to know they are in the line-up and that they will be hitting in a certain spot. They need to know who is playing next to them so that they are comfortable with their habits and their skill sets.
Same goes with the pitching staff. This business with starting pitchers shouldn’t face batters a third time in the same game goes against the history of baseball. Starting pitchers should be allowed to get out of a jam that they created and pitch counts should be just one source of data to determine if a starter should be lifted. Again, players need to know that they will be allowed to pitch until they can’t get batters out. Baldelli needs to show that he has confidence in his starting staff, they are his horses. Relievers are in essence failed starters, that is the bottom line. If they were good enough to start they would do so, what is the rush to go to the bullpen for a reliever?
I also think that Target Field has become a country club where the inmates are running the asylum. Why is there a nap room for a certain player or that certain player(s) don’t take BP outside with the rest of the team? The perception is that favoritism is being shown to certain players, that is not conducive to building a team and you need to have a true team effort to win in baseball.
This team need a wake-up call and I don’t think that Rocco Baldelli is up to task. The Twins need fire Baldelli and to hire a manager with big league managing experience to get this team back on the right track. No, I would not expect this manager to get this team in the playoffs this year but I would expect him to teach these players some old school baseball on how to play the game and what it takes to win. He can also see what the Twins have in the minor league system that might help them. Today’s minor league players don’t need to be in the minors for 5 or 6 seasons before they get a call up, why not give them a shot sooner rather than later and see if they have what it takes? Numerous players including a number of Twins have skipped rungs on the minor league ladder and made nice big leaguer’s. Plus getting a call-up to the big club gives these players a taste of what awaits them if they have the right stuff and work hard enough.
The Twins FO also has to take a step back and re-evaluate their “all-in” philosophy regarding analytics. In my opinion they have gone over-board and they need to make some changes. Old school baseball has worked for a long time and not everything they did was bad so why throw out the baby with the bath water. All the changes brought on by analytics are not necessarily good, they need to sort through the good and the bad and see what works best. Derek Falvey and Thad Levine have been so busy building an analytics empire in Minnesota that they have forgotten that the goal is to win baseball games, not try to dazzle us with how much data they have accumulated and how many computer guru’s they have on the payroll. Be it old school, new school, whatever, Minnesota Twins fans just want to see the team play better and smarter baseball. The buck stops with you Mr. Falvey and Mr. Levine, make it happen.