Losing

[Monster]

Murphy has a better average than Aaron Hicks lol. I'm glad I looked that up so I could see some of Hicks defensive plays though.

Let's be real here. The Twins had no hitting behind Suzuki last year. They went out and got a legit catching prospect in Murphy. People were on a range of feelings on the move and at this point Murphy hasn't shown much but 20 something ABs is a little early to get too worried. We all know Hicks struggles pretty well but we know that guy isn't going to be hitting 0.055 for the year and catcher has an even lower bar of expectations for offense than excellent defensive CF. let's see how this plays out a little longer. Obviously the lack of hitting from that position is part of the problem. Suzuki isn't going to be hitting as bad as he has early on all year either.

[JasonIsDaMan [enjin:7981157]]

When do we think about upgrading our catcher? Murphy had RISP 3 times today from what I caught on the gamecast and was 0-3. Batting .077 is a joke in the majors and Suzuki isn't that much better.

Agreed. We had a thread in January that spoke to the dearth of Twins catching and hoping this 23 year-old from Ole' Miss who is at Rochester can get it done soon.

But I have to say, you picked an odd day to complain. They won 8-1. Maybe during the first 9 games, when they lost a ton of close games because they couldn't hit basketball might have been a better time.

Could have easily been 10-11 to 1 if he gets a base hit or two. It wasn't a problem today, but it's going to be in the future. You just can't have bats that bad in the lineup. Also, I'm willing to give guys some time to get their bats going and his has just been awful since the start. Jumping on guys in the first 10 games is really quick on the trigger. 15 is still pretty quick, but he's just shown nothing to this point.

Once again, I agree with you, and it was discussed in January. It was clear they were going to be weak at catcher, and it is very difficult to be below average at catcher and make the playoffs (years like 1987 just don't keep happening). I think the world of Terry Ryan, but if they miss the playoffs again by two games, with the catchers being 15th in OPS and 10th in defensive rating, and his two biggest "roster invites" being Quentin and Sweeney when the team already had one hundred corner outfielders, then yeah, he has to answer for that.

But they won 8-1. Just pick your spots better.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I don't understand why it's against the rules to criticize a guy for going 0-3 with RISP even in a win. Winning doesn't mean everyone is above criticism. That's not an acceptable performance and I'm gonna call him out for it if it's in a huge loss or a huge win.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Really difficult to follow this team right now. 38 strike outs the past 2 games...really? And how about this John Ryan Murphy? We're 19 games into the season and he has the same number of hits that he has names...really sad. I have tickets for Wednesday when it's going to be a drizzly 48 degrees. Sucks to be me.

[Monster]

Really difficult to follow this team right now. 38 strike outs the past 2 games...really? And how about this John Ryan Murphy? We're 19 games into the season and he has the same number of hits that he has names...really sad. I have tickets for Wednesday when it's going to be a drizzly 48 degrees. Sucks to be me.

Tough loss last night in extra extra innings. It feels like this team could still break though at some point. Dozier had like 325 ABs and didn't strike out? Amazing. Murphy is like one hit away from reaching triple digits in batting average. Lol

[Monster]

I haven't watched too close the last couple of days (been more focused on the NFL draft) but the positive momentum they had going there for a bit was nice but not so much now. I hope there are some silver linings.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I haven't watched too close the last couple of days (been more focused on the NFL draft) but the positive momentum they had going there for a bit was nice but not so much now. I hope there are some silver linings.

Gonna be a long season, monster, but there are some things I think Mollie/Ryan should do right now:

1) Move Dozier down to somewhere 7-9 in the lineup. He's hitting .184 after a similar average the last half of 2015. Pitchers are pitching him away, and he has no chance trying to pull that ball. Absurd to let him clog up the top of the order, when we have a perfect #2 hitter (Mauer) to replace him. Bat Nunez 1 and 2 in the lineup, and more often than not, we will have a guy or guys on when our power guys come up.

2) Use the Santana and Gibby injuries to keep rolling the kid pitchers out there. Berrios and Meyer (and even Duffey) are going to find some bumps in the road, but they all need a few starts without having to look over their shoulder. Let's see what they got.

3) Try to play Arcia, Park and Sano every day. Even thought they are going to strike out a lot, it's fun to have three guys who can go 450 feet every time they come up.

4) Give Nunez regular at bats. He's hitting .371, and it's not a soft .371 at all...he's really stinging the ball. He's not a great defensive player, but he's also never had a chance playing behind Jeter. He should be at 3rd, SS or 2nd every day.

In some ways, this Twins club reminds me of the Wolves...a lot of young talent, but not quite ready to win. We're not getting blown out like we did last April, so there is some evidence that these guys can play. but we're going to have to suffer through bonehead plays like Sano making the last out of the game at 3b yesterday until they grow up a little.

[Monster]

I watched the condensed game tonight not knowing what the final outcome but U know what happened the first few innings before ai watched from Twitter. Crazy game. When the Tiger outfielder dropped that ball I thought maybe the Twins would have enough luck go their way but it wasn't enough. Dean did enough to give them a chance. If Mauer could have gotten one hit or a walk that may have been enough. I guess he was due for one unproductive game. There was at least enough fun stuff to watch from this one to make me want to watch more.

[JasonIsDaMan [enjin:7981157]]

Three observations from yesterday.
1. We've all figured out Berrios, right? Everybody has seen what I've seen? Well, in case you haven't, here goes: When he gives up the go-ahead run, he stops throwing strikes, probably out of fear, and he hopes the other team swings their way out of the inning and the offense give him the lead in the next half inning. Worked in Houston, but hasn't worked any other time. They just need to tell him to keep throwing strikes. Sending him down accomplishes nothing.

2. I read a "review" (for lack of a better word) about Pat Dean on a Twins Fansite two years ago that said he will never be more than a poor man's Duensing because he can't get RH hitting out. First of all, what is a "poor man's Brian Duensing"? Is it Jose Mijares? Len Whitehouse? (I would like to apologize to Q12345 for the Len Whitehouse reference). Second, he did pretty well against a bunch of good RH hitters last night. Maybe he should get a shot.

3. When Ausmus was thrown out and they announced Gene Lamont was taking over, I got excited. I thought "Sweet, now Zimmerman will throw 175 pitches and go on the DL tommorow". Then Lamont pulls him after a measly 109 pitches? Didn't Lamont use to refer to a 109 pitch start as a "bullpen session"? I feel cheated.

[Monster]

This season is looking really bad and people are frustrated and angry. They are unhappy with Terry Ryan asking about Molitor being fired all the stuff you would expect for one of the worst baseball teams in the league especially since it looked like things were on the rise.

I said for months Terry Ryan and the Twins were in a tough spot. They have a stocked farms system with tons of young prospects but a lot of them probably are a year away and I even thought that may include Buxton even though it was obvious they were going to give him every shot to win the CF job this year. On the other hand they showed some nice signs last year maybe they could break through especially if a couple young players broke through played well etc. So they were stuck in the middle of competing and a significant youth influx of talent.

It's gone really bad. The young players have been dissappointing and or regressed. Several vets have been awful. The silver linings are that Mauer looked good early on Park seems fairly legit and Nunez has been hot. Oh and Nolosco figured out how to stay healthy so...yeah it's been terrible. I don't know where they go from here. It is a mess. I'm really not sure what they do to get out of the spot there are in but flat out rebuild but guess what part of the reason they sucked for a number of years seemed to be the lack of player leadership. Are there a couple guys they may have a hard time dealing for that reason? Idk but IMO the Twins have some hard decisions to make in the coming weeks and months.