Latest / Twin Cities Territory / Strong starts, slumping bats, bullpen woes piling up this season

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Strong starts, slumping bats, bullpen woes piling up this season · Twin Cities Territory

0:07
Speaker 1: All right, hello, and welcome back to Twins Cities Territory,
0:12
Speaker 1: your Minnesota Twins podcast here on the Foul Territory Network.
0:16
Speaker 1: I am Zach Pierce, editor at The Athletic and joined
0:20
Speaker 1: as always by Dan Hayes. The Athletics. Minnesota Twins beat
0:24
Speaker 1: writer Tyler Duffy is at the Dentist today, guys, but
0:29
Speaker 1: we hope to have him back on Fridays show. It
0:33
Speaker 1: is Thursday today, April thirtieth. We're coming to you a
0:36
Speaker 1: day later than usual in the week, had a little
0:38
Speaker 1: trouble finding a time to record yesterday during what ended
0:41
Speaker 1: up being another in a long string of Twins bummers.
0:46
Speaker 1: Dan they lost for the eleventh time in thirteen games,
0:49
Speaker 1: lost the series to Seattle after winning the opener, lost
0:51
Speaker 1: the last two games, and it's been a frustrating trend
0:56
Speaker 1: for the Twins. A good start, we're winning the game
1:00
Speaker 1: late and then the bullpen coughed it up. The bats
1:03
Speaker 1: couldn't keep putting runs on the board, and the Twins,
1:07
Speaker 1: who were once the American League's best team what a
1:09
Speaker 1: week and a half ago, slipped back to fourth place
1:12
Speaker 1: now in the AL Central, still just two and a
1:15
Speaker 1: half games behind first. Then in a division that has
1:17
Speaker 1: not gotten off the ground yet. But Dan, what's the
1:21
Speaker 1: mood like in the clubhouse right now?
1:24
Speaker 2: Yeah. One, it would have been so much cooler if
1:27
Speaker 2: we could carry out our original plan yesterday, which was
1:30
Speaker 2: start taping when the Twins were winning, or start taping
1:33
Speaker 2: when the Twins win, essentially like we're ready to record,
1:37
Speaker 2: and then the bulpun blew up again, and it was
1:40
Speaker 2: like the urgency for me to have to go downstairs
1:43
Speaker 2: went from if they win and they win a series, Okay,
1:46
Speaker 2: I want to go here.
1:47
Speaker 3: One person talk and I can bounce.
1:49
Speaker 2: It's no big deal to man, another bullpen disaster and
1:54
Speaker 2: got to get be down there and kind of taken
1:56
Speaker 2: the clubhouse, and you know, it was quiet. I think
2:02
Speaker 2: guys are still they're encouraged by the fact that they're
2:07
Speaker 2: in games. But we saw this in that first week
2:11
Speaker 2: when they went three the first ten games or nine
2:13
Speaker 2: games when they went three and six. They were in games,
2:15
Speaker 2: but they weren't converting their big opportunities, especially in those
2:18
Speaker 2: rubber matches of series, and when those get away, it's
2:22
Speaker 2: a definite difficult time. You can tell where's on a team.
2:26
Speaker 2: And now this is four series in a row.
2:28
Speaker 3: That they've lost, and you know, you look at the bullpen.
2:32
Speaker 2: They played a big role in two of those three
2:34
Speaker 2: losses against the Reds a couple of weekends back at home,
2:38
Speaker 2: and it played a role in the losses here against
2:41
Speaker 2: Seattle the last two days, and you know, you get
2:44
Speaker 2: a tight game. Joe Ryan pitched on on Tuesday night
2:47
Speaker 2: and that went away. And then Eric Orsey came in
2:50
Speaker 2: with the lead in the ninth yesterday and they liked
2:54
Speaker 2: it because he is a splitter, but he couldn't locate
2:58
Speaker 2: the splitter first six or seven pitches.
3:01
Speaker 3: His command was off.
3:01
Speaker 2: He talked about that he walked the first guy in
3:03
Speaker 2: four pitches. Can't do that in a one run game.
3:06
Speaker 2: And it led to the infield being drawn in because
3:09
Speaker 2: they were runners on second and third, and typically a
3:13
Speaker 2: ball that is in a double playball turned into the
3:15
Speaker 2: game winning single. And like he said it, I put
3:18
Speaker 2: myself in that position, so a very challenging time. And
3:22
Speaker 2: I think that, yeah, they were a little deflated, but
3:25
Speaker 2: I also think that, you know, TODJ. Bradley said it,
3:28
Speaker 2: and Todge Bradley pitched a great game. He said, we're
3:31
Speaker 2: going through it right now, but also we're trying to
3:34
Speaker 2: line things up and figure out how to be on
3:36
Speaker 2: the other side, and I think that we'll be on
3:38
Speaker 2: the other side of these one run games and down
3:40
Speaker 2: the season. That's optimistic, but also that's a guy that's
3:43
Speaker 2: out there and part of it, so he wasn't sugarcoating anything.
3:50
Speaker 2: I think that there really is belief. They've already shown
3:52
Speaker 2: they can win some of these games before, but they
3:55
Speaker 2: are in a rut right now, and it is a
3:57
Speaker 2: is one of those painful ones for fans where you
4:01
Speaker 2: just you know Ron Davis right the late game that
4:07
Speaker 2: hurts a fan base more than anything, the late game
4:10
Speaker 2: losses when the bullpen doesn't come through.
4:14
Speaker 1: The four point three percenters are bruised and beaten, but
4:19
Speaker 1: not completely defeated. Yet we're still hanging on by a thread.
4:24
Speaker 1: The bullpen issues have really been there all year, Dan,
4:27
Speaker 1: and obviously when you're winning eight out of nine games
4:33
Speaker 1: as they were earlier this month, those issues are sort
4:37
Speaker 1: of masked a little bit. I think. I think statistically,
4:40
Speaker 1: pretty much throughout the season, the bullpen has been near
4:43
Speaker 1: the bottom of of the AL in terms of most
4:46
Speaker 1: major metrics. But there's been a lot and we'll get
4:50
Speaker 1: into this a little bit more when we talk about
4:52
Speaker 1: starting pitching later in the show, but just a lot
4:56
Speaker 1: of games during the stretch where they had been handed
4:59
Speaker 1: a lead and it just hasn't haven't been able to
5:03
Speaker 1: keep it, And part of that is the bats haven't
5:04
Speaker 1: been able to help them keep it. But I actually
5:07
Speaker 1: should have looked up exactly how many times that's happened.
5:09
Speaker 1: But a handful of games and this slump have been
5:12
Speaker 1: cases of starting pitching doing very well and leading them
5:16
Speaker 1: into shape and then the bullpen not being able to
5:18
Speaker 1: finish it off.
5:19
Speaker 2: I mean, those roles, and we've talked about it before,
5:21
Speaker 2: are undefined, and there's not much velo in the bullpen
5:26
Speaker 2: right now. Andrew Morris is the hard throwing guy in
5:28
Speaker 2: the bullpen, and he's in a long man role because
5:30
Speaker 2: he's a rookie and he's just getting his feet wet,
5:32
Speaker 2: and do I think there's could be opportunity for more
5:36
Speaker 2: chances for him as he goes further along, especially because
5:40
Speaker 2: he throws hard and that's anominally. I mean to the
5:44
Speaker 2: Seattle Riders are two of my closest friends, and they said,
5:48
Speaker 2: guys were knowing that the Twins are spin based pitchers
5:52
Speaker 2: in the bullpen, there's not a lot of velocity to
5:55
Speaker 2: beat you with, and so they were waiting for mistakes
5:58
Speaker 2: with the spin. They were looking for spin up and
6:02
Speaker 2: they got especially the night before col Sants give up
6:04
Speaker 2: the three Rent Homer, I think it was Josh Naylor,
6:08
Speaker 2: like you know it's Derek Shelton described it as a challenge,
6:15
Speaker 2: and I think I said, what's the challenge like?
6:17
Speaker 3: And he said, that's a good word challenge.
6:19
Speaker 2: He's like, we have to mix a match and we
6:22
Speaker 2: have to find the right lanes for guys, and bullpens
6:26
Speaker 2: can operate that way, but having some velocity too to mix.
6:29
Speaker 3: In really really does matter.
6:32
Speaker 2: And that's one where area where the Twins are kind
6:35
Speaker 2: of lacking right now, Like, look, you've seen Cleveland put
6:42
Speaker 2: together bullpens that we're seventy five percent based on spin.
6:45
Speaker 2: It's how you know, names like Otero, Manschip, those guys
6:50
Speaker 2: like would come out of the season with a one
6:51
Speaker 2: eighty or in they're throwing frisbees, right, you can make
6:56
Speaker 2: those guys have a purpose. But having velocity helps because
7:00
Speaker 2: it masks some of that stuff. And it's not all
7:02
Speaker 2: guys who are like there are different armslots and the
7:05
Speaker 2: Twins have different looks, without question with these guys with
7:08
Speaker 2: their spent but also like it's you're still setting teams
7:14
Speaker 2: to look for off speed no matter who the pitcher
7:17
Speaker 2: is and going with that game's plan and mistakes happened,
7:21
Speaker 2: and like Eric Dorsey didn't control his splitter and that's
7:24
Speaker 2: his go to pitch and you walk the leadoff guy
7:28
Speaker 2: in four pitches and get down to a point where
7:30
Speaker 2: Cole Young again.
7:32
Speaker 3: Can make an impact.
7:33
Speaker 2: And you know, Cole Young had the game time double
7:36
Speaker 2: off Bradley, then he had the two runs single to
7:38
Speaker 2: win it. He's had big hits. This is a guy
7:41
Speaker 2: who debut against the Twins in Seattle last year in May,
7:44
Speaker 2: and it feels like every time there's a big moment,
7:47
Speaker 2: he's coming up.
7:47
Speaker 3: And producing in it for them. And he's certainly getting
7:50
Speaker 3: the Twins.
7:51
Speaker 2: So you know, I get how this must be frustrating
7:56
Speaker 2: for the manager and the general manager and everybody involved
8:00
Speaker 2: because there's not a lot you can do right now
8:04
Speaker 2: as far as add in velocity. I mean, it's just
8:09
Speaker 2: if you maybe promote some more young guys, but they
8:13
Speaker 2: still have to go through it and learn this. It's
8:15
Speaker 2: not like you can just throw young there's not Yoan
8:17
Speaker 2: Duran in the minor leagues that's throwing one hundred and
8:20
Speaker 2: four that you can just insert and he can dominate
8:23
Speaker 2: right there from day one. And like the Twins were
8:27
Speaker 2: so fortunate to run into Yoan Duran in that trade.
8:31
Speaker 3: It was a great trade.
8:32
Speaker 2: It was in the Eduardo Escobar trade from twenty eighteen deadline.
8:35
Speaker 2: But even that, look, that took four years for Duran
8:37
Speaker 2: to become Duran. So it's not something that can get
8:41
Speaker 2: fixed overnight unless you can acquire somebody, and we're not
8:45
Speaker 2: at a point in the season where that usually happens.
8:47
Speaker 2: So it's it's definitely challenging. And again, why don't you
8:54
Speaker 2: tell me as a fan, like how difficult is it
8:57
Speaker 2: when your team is winning a game and like it
9:02
Speaker 2: ends up going that way? Like what what does that experience?
9:05
Speaker 1: Like, I mean, I think it obviously happens, and and
9:09
Speaker 1: you understand that as a fan, but the fact that
9:12
Speaker 1: it feels inevitable basically every time out at this point
9:17
Speaker 1: is the frustrating part, especially paired with the the knowledge
9:22
Speaker 1: that they tore the bullpen down last year and that
9:26
Speaker 1: this is just not a crew that you know has
9:31
Speaker 1: the talent that they had had last year, and obviously,
9:35
Speaker 1: you know, the game comes down to starting pitching, bullpen,
9:40
Speaker 1: and hitting. It's not a not a brilliant comment that
9:42
Speaker 1: I just made, but for for a week and a
9:44
Speaker 1: half there, the starting pitching and the hitting was was
9:47
Speaker 1: carrying them. Now the hitting has slowed down, and look
9:49
Speaker 1: what happens. They've got They've got two out of three
9:51
Speaker 1: phases that are just not bringing it. And yeah, it's
9:56
Speaker 1: it's not an ideal time to fix it. I think
9:58
Speaker 1: that's absolutely accurate. But I think and we'll think we'll
10:03
Speaker 1: talk more about this later, but as the team, if
10:06
Speaker 1: the team begines to slide, I don't think there's gonna
10:09
Speaker 1: be much motivation to fix it, as much as it's
10:11
Speaker 1: like continue to try to retool the system for you know,
10:15
Speaker 1: a run at the twenty twenty eight playoffs or whatever
10:17
Speaker 1: it might be. But we have a lot to get
10:20
Speaker 1: to you still. We're going to talk about some more
10:23
Speaker 1: great starts that have gone to waste from the starting pitching.
10:26
Speaker 1: We're talking about that offense a little more and a
10:28
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Speaker 1: All right, we are back uh starting pitching Dan. I
11:46
Speaker 1: looked up and tweeted out a stat yesterday that that's
11:51
Speaker 1: all that's all I should do on social media. Send stats.
11:54
Speaker 1: That's all people react to from my account anyway. But
11:58
Speaker 1: yesterday when Tesday against Seattle was the sixth straight game
12:05
Speaker 1: in which the Twins had a starting pitcher go six
12:08
Speaker 1: innings or more and allow well, I looked up allowed
12:11
Speaker 1: three runs or less, the old quality start Patrick. Do
12:15
Speaker 1: we still use that, Dan? Or is that frowned upon?
12:17
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean it's out there, it's still there.
12:19
Speaker 1: It's still there. Okay. But so the last six times
12:22
Speaker 1: that happened has happened this season, It's happened twelve times overall.
12:27
Speaker 1: The last six times it's happened, the Twins have lost
12:29
Speaker 1: the game despite getting that kind of a start. From there,
12:33
Speaker 1: from there, from what has been a great starting rotation.
12:36
Speaker 1: And actually all six times in that span they allowed
12:39
Speaker 1: two runs or less, there were none in that stretch.
12:42
Speaker 1: We're three rollouts. So that happened again yesterday with Todge Bradley.
12:46
Speaker 1: It happened Tuesday with Joe Ryan, who on Tuesday Ryan
12:50
Speaker 1: left a where did I have that written down? He
12:54
Speaker 1: went six innings, he left, it was a one to
12:55
Speaker 1: one game. The Twins lost seventy one.
12:58
Speaker 2: His inherited runs scored like Cody Funderberg couldn't strand the runner,
13:03
Speaker 2: and so Joe took the loss but left when it
13:08
Speaker 2: was one to one.
13:08
Speaker 1: Correct, And then yesterday Bradley left a two to two game.
13:14
Speaker 1: Twins took the lead in the eighth, but then the
13:16
Speaker 1: three run ninth for them right.
13:17
Speaker 2: Using line for the win. That was like a nice moment.
13:21
Speaker 2: And so look, we'll get into the offensive part in second,
13:27
Speaker 2: because that's where this is all from.
13:29
Speaker 3: And you mentioned earlier.
13:31
Speaker 2: The earlier the starting pitching, the offense were going great
13:33
Speaker 2: and Twins were winning. But with the offense doing what
13:37
Speaker 2: it's doing right now, we're seeing the Twins play tight
13:40
Speaker 2: games versus earlier in the year where they didn't.
13:43
Speaker 3: The bullpen could be masked by the fact that they.
13:46
Speaker 2: Were winning by three four runs and now they're playing
13:48
Speaker 2: in one run games and.
13:49
Speaker 3: It's not going as well. I didn't get to use
13:52
Speaker 3: the stat. Bullpen is now four and eight.
13:56
Speaker 2: Overall, they have blown four of their nine save opportunities.
14:01
Speaker 2: They're true save opportunities five point thirty er for the bullpen,
14:06
Speaker 2: And yesterday Gleaman tweeted out a stat with their ranks
14:11
Speaker 2: and let me just find it. It was.
14:15
Speaker 1: Not promising.
14:16
Speaker 2: Twins era is twenty seventh They're expected ERA is twenty eighth.
14:21
Speaker 3: Their expected FIP is twenty sixth.
14:24
Speaker 2: Their strikeout rate because they don't have any gas really
14:27
Speaker 2: in that bullpen is twenty eight Their average against is thirtieth.
14:31
Speaker 2: Their win probability added, so the stat that we can
14:34
Speaker 2: measure how much they impact the game, they are twenty eighth.
14:39
Speaker 2: And his commentary was, that's what it looks like when
14:41
Speaker 2: you trade essentially the entire bullpen deadline and do almost
14:45
Speaker 2: nothing to rebuild it.
14:46
Speaker 3: And look, the Twins cobbled it together. They pieced together.
14:50
Speaker 2: Their bullpen, and I will make the argument that they
14:54
Speaker 2: really didn't find out about the off season plans what
14:57
Speaker 2: the new ownership wanted until a lot than notable guys
15:01
Speaker 2: were gone. But like Gleaman pointed out, but he still
15:03
Speaker 2: had three and four million dollar guys out there, Like
15:06
Speaker 2: Jacob Junas is a guy that is out there and
15:08
Speaker 2: pitching well, I think he got four million bucks. There
15:11
Speaker 2: are those kind of guys still there. The Twins first
15:15
Speaker 2: added Taylor Rodgers on the twenty third of January. They
15:19
Speaker 2: traded for Eric Orsey, who I do think is going
15:21
Speaker 2: to end.
15:21
Speaker 3: Up being one of the better guys in the bullpen.
15:22
Speaker 2: I know yesterday's struggles were not good. I traded for
15:26
Speaker 2: him on November eighteenth, and then they signed. They traded
15:29
Speaker 2: for Bonda on February twelfth. He's had some encouraging out
15:33
Speaker 2: into the velocity is starting to come back. He's a
15:35
Speaker 2: guy that can have velocity. But they pieced it together.
15:39
Speaker 2: And so this isn't shocking, like we shouldn't be surprised
15:43
Speaker 2: that this is what's happened. It's an unfortunate symptom because
15:48
Speaker 2: there's been great starting pitching that whole series. Connor prelib
15:53
Speaker 2: was really promising again man his curveball when he had
15:57
Speaker 2: command of it to pair with the slider. Joe Ryan
16:01
Speaker 2: has told us all year he hasn't actually felt totally on.
16:05
Speaker 2: He's still searching in his delivery. And yet Joe Ryan
16:09
Speaker 2: is capable of pitching into the seventh inning and allowing
16:12
Speaker 2: two runs and Tads Bradley through one hundred and fourteen
16:15
Speaker 2: or one hundred and fifteen pitches yesterday, a career high
16:18
Speaker 2: and was outstanding. And it's unfortunate like this. This is
16:23
Speaker 2: the kind of rotation that could keep a team in
16:26
Speaker 2: the race all season long if the other parts were there.
16:29
Speaker 3: And so yeah, it is.
16:31
Speaker 2: It got to be frustrating for fans for the team
16:35
Speaker 2: to see their guys give them a chance, and you
16:38
Speaker 2: know the offense isn't. There were three for twelve runners
16:42
Speaker 2: in scoring position yesterday and they were over ten the
16:45
Speaker 2: night before that, and that stat has gone the wrong
16:48
Speaker 2: direction for this eleven or thirteen stretch. So it all
16:54
Speaker 2: adds up. It's not just a bullpen's fault, like the
16:56
Speaker 2: offense needs to be doing what it was doing earlier
16:58
Speaker 2: in the year, and there's so many guys in that
17:00
Speaker 2: group that are that are struggling. Random is stat is
17:05
Speaker 2: that Byron Buckson is over nineteen with runners in scoring position.
17:08
Speaker 2: He batted, it was three to two after the Karatini
17:11
Speaker 2: Kartini had the pinch hit single. Roy Slows drew a
17:14
Speaker 2: walk to load the bases. Barron Buckson hit one and
17:19
Speaker 2: I think I got caught in the warning track in
17:20
Speaker 2: the top of the bottom of the eighth inning. It
17:23
Speaker 2: was close to going out and it was That would
17:25
Speaker 2: have been just an epic way to end what is
17:27
Speaker 2: such a weird straight because Byron Buckston had a nine
17:30
Speaker 2: to eighty four oh ps last year with runners in
17:32
Speaker 2: scoring position and he's sitting here over nineteen to start
17:35
Speaker 2: the year, which is just I think it's an outlier, uh,
17:40
Speaker 2: because there's a lot of like, he's still hitting home runs,
17:43
Speaker 2: he's still doing a lot of Byron Bucks and things.
17:45
Speaker 2: He's not coming through with runners in scoring position right now,
17:47
Speaker 2: and that's that's a weird stat that you think there
17:51
Speaker 2: will be a course correction then.
17:53
Speaker 1: Right, Like in so many ways, he's been their least
17:56
Speaker 1: problematic offensive player of the last night, of the last
17:59
Speaker 1: few weeks. All seven of his home runs have come
18:01
Speaker 1: in the last fifteen games. I believe he's hitting a
18:05
Speaker 1: lot better than he did to start the season, but
18:07
Speaker 1: that is a team epidemic right now. And I go
18:11
Speaker 1: back to the show where we asked if they could
18:12
Speaker 1: keep this up, and we talked about what were the
18:15
Speaker 1: what were the question marks that we had about whether
18:18
Speaker 1: the first place, you know, the AL Central leading twins
18:21
Speaker 1: were real or not. And one of the things we
18:24
Speaker 1: mentioned was runners in scoring position. They were I had
18:28
Speaker 1: the stats, Summers. We always have the stats somewhere, Dan,
18:31
Speaker 1: we just have to find it. So through April fourteenth,
18:35
Speaker 1: which was which is right after their eighth win, and
18:38
Speaker 1: nine games three oh seven with runners in scoring position
18:41
Speaker 1: which was number one in the league since then. It's
18:43
Speaker 1: there on the screen if you're watching on YouTube. But
18:45
Speaker 1: they're two to four since this stretch of eleven and
18:49
Speaker 1: thirteen sorry, eleven losses in thirteen games began. That's twenty
18:52
Speaker 1: eighth in baseball. So that's really it. You're if you're
18:57
Speaker 1: hitting one hundred points higher in that stretch too, you
19:00
Speaker 1: probably have won, you know, at least a handful more
19:02
Speaker 1: of those games. And we're not right, yeah, right, or
19:07
Speaker 1: the one run games went the other way because you
19:09
Speaker 1: got the hit with the bases loaded when you needed to.
19:10
Speaker 1: But they haven't been able to do it, I think,
19:13
Speaker 1: but didn't Buxton had in a bat with the bases
19:15
Speaker 1: loaded late yesterday.
19:17
Speaker 3: I believe, yeah, that he flew out.
19:20
Speaker 2: He flew it was it was that eighth in and yeah, yeah.
19:24
Speaker 2: And in the one win this team against, they went
19:28
Speaker 2: five for twelve with runners in scoring position. They had
19:30
Speaker 2: a good game, one of those ones that props up,
19:32
Speaker 2: so that two O four is propped up by a
19:34
Speaker 2: game where they had a four hundred average, So that
19:37
Speaker 2: means really, aside from that win, it's probably about one
19:42
Speaker 2: eighty with runners in scoring position. It's not been good
19:47
Speaker 2: and it's another thing that you the bullpen frustrates fans.
19:51
Speaker 3: Leaving runners on frustrates fans, and.
19:54
Speaker 2: Man, there wasn't as there was some of that in Tampa,
19:57
Speaker 2: especially in the Friday night loss at Tampa, but it
20:00
Speaker 2: felt like there was not a lot of opportunities the
20:02
Speaker 2: other two days and this series that was not the case.
20:05
Speaker 3: The Twins had chances. They really Seattle did what they.
20:10
Speaker 2: Were supposed to do in those chances, especially starting late
20:15
Speaker 2: in Tuesday night's game. You know, after Joe Ryan was out,
20:18
Speaker 2: I mean, they scored five runs off of Thunderberg, gave
20:24
Speaker 2: up Ryan's run, but SAMs came in, gave up a
20:28
Speaker 2: run or gave up three. Luis Garcia and there is
20:31
Speaker 2: an interesting nugget there. They acquired him, They selected his
20:36
Speaker 2: contract for that game that night from TRIPAA, the thirty
20:41
Speaker 2: nine year old ten years of service time in the
20:43
Speaker 2: major leagues. He started the day at Saint Paul where
20:47
Speaker 2: they had an eleven AM game, and he did not
20:51
Speaker 2: pitch in that game, but he definitely you know, threw
20:53
Speaker 2: and played catch in the morning and then went over
20:57
Speaker 2: to the Twins for the night game pitching it. Gave
21:00
Speaker 2: up two runs in that game. We found out post
21:03
Speaker 2: game yesterday, or maybe Audre Martin found out sidelines reporter
21:08
Speaker 2: that Luis Garcia's wife had a baby during the middle
21:13
Speaker 2: of the day. But she's at home, and yeah, she's
21:15
Speaker 2: at home in the DR.
21:16
Speaker 3: I believe.
21:17
Speaker 2: I think that I don't know enough about him, but
21:19
Speaker 2: I think he's from DR and I know she's at
21:22
Speaker 2: home and she had the baby basically in between games.
21:26
Speaker 2: And so that's like the longest day ever. He gave
21:29
Speaker 2: up two runs in the ninth inning of that, that
21:31
Speaker 2: seven to one loss. But what a day. That's that's
21:35
Speaker 2: a crazy day to get back to the majors. But yeah, anyways, sorry,
21:39
Speaker 2: that's just a little side note that you know, you
21:43
Speaker 2: saw the bullpen give up the five. Seattle just did
21:45
Speaker 2: what it had to. Their clutch performers came through in
21:49
Speaker 2: big spots. Naylor hit the through in homer of Cole
21:51
Speaker 2: Sands to make a two to one game a five
21:53
Speaker 2: to one game. They added on against Garcia. They did
21:57
Speaker 2: it yesterday. Cole Young came through with the game time
22:00
Speaker 2: double off of Bradley, which I loved. Shelton giving Bradley
22:04
Speaker 2: the opportunity there to get through the seventh inning and
22:07
Speaker 2: he did. He just got one batter later. But I
22:10
Speaker 2: loved Shelton giving Bradley a chance where he's at a
22:13
Speaker 2: career high pitch to trust in him. And it does
22:15
Speaker 2: say something about the state of the bullpen that he
22:17
Speaker 2: trusted him there, because if you had last year's group,
22:21
Speaker 2: you would have pulled Bradley and tried to get you know,
22:24
Speaker 2: Cole Young out with somebody else. But also that's that's
22:28
Speaker 2: a vote of confidence and it says how good Taj
22:30
Speaker 2: Bradley is right now. Was a nice bounce back for
22:33
Speaker 2: him after this struggling in Tampa where he gave up
22:37
Speaker 2: the four homers and six runs, but he his off
22:41
Speaker 2: speed looked good.
22:42
Speaker 3: His velo.
22:42
Speaker 2: He's pumping ninety eight mile an hour fastballs at the
22:46
Speaker 2: end of his one hundred and fifteen pitch out and
22:48
Speaker 2: that was really that was a very good showing from him.
22:52
Speaker 2: And you know, he's looking like someone that's going to
22:55
Speaker 2: be headed to. I think it's Philadelphia for the All
22:57
Speaker 2: Star Game if he if he can keep this up
23:00
Speaker 2: like he's looking like one of their best options as
23:02
Speaker 2: a potential All Star.
23:05
Speaker 5: Todd Father, it's getting a little warm out and that means,
23:08
Speaker 5: let's hit some concerts, let's hit some baseball games. And
23:12
Speaker 5: where am I going to go to find those tickets?
23:13
Speaker 5: And if you want to sing the answer, you can.
23:15
Speaker 6: We're going to seek hey, hey, listen. Ultimately, at the
23:19
Speaker 6: end of the day it is getting warmer and people
23:21
Speaker 6: want to leave the house and it's time to leave,
23:23
Speaker 6: go see a ball game. I guess where you can
23:25
Speaker 6: find the best tickets, best spots, best places to go.
23:29
Speaker 6: Seat Geeks got it all, man. They got their red
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23:34
Speaker 6: all that good kind of stuff. They make it really
23:36
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23:38
Speaker 6: a guy like me who's running around, I just need
23:40
Speaker 6: five minutes bing bang bom, I got my seat.
23:43
Speaker 2: Yeah.
23:43
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24:07
Speaker 1: The Twins, i should point out, are still tenth overall
24:09
Speaker 1: in baseball in hitting with Wutters in the scoring position.
24:13
Speaker 1: It's just been very feast or famine. So with that,
24:19
Speaker 1: we'll pivot to another topic we wanted to touch on,
24:22
Speaker 1: which obviously as we head towards the trade deadline, which
24:26
Speaker 1: is a little weird to say, but it is May tomorrow,
24:28
Speaker 1: so it's you know, we're getting there. You know, I
24:32
Speaker 1: think Dan when the Twins, when the Twins started that,
24:35
Speaker 1: or we're on that hot streak, it was easy to
24:38
Speaker 1: start to think of building this team up at the
24:41
Speaker 1: trade deadline as they have kind of regressed back to
24:45
Speaker 1: they are what we thought they were. Territory fans are
24:49
Speaker 1: probably already bracing themselves for fire sale two point zero.
24:54
Speaker 1: Tom poll Out, of course, now is the is the
24:56
Speaker 1: pull out in charge of all those decisions for the Twins.
25:00
Speaker 1: You wrote a story on him the other day that
25:03
Speaker 1: anytime you put his name on paper is going to
25:05
Speaker 1: spark your reaction from fans, and I know you wanted
25:07
Speaker 1: to say a few words about that.
25:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, one, when I write those stories, I know what
25:12
Speaker 2: the reactions could be. I know that you the fans
25:15
Speaker 2: don't want to read about the pull ds.
25:18
Speaker 3: I understand.
25:19
Speaker 2: I mean there's more sell the team comments and everything
25:22
Speaker 2: we're writing these days on social media, Like I get it.
25:26
Speaker 2: The one thing that is different here as far as
25:30
Speaker 2: a media perspective is that there's an owner who's talking
25:34
Speaker 2: and we have access to him. I think so I
25:37
Speaker 2: covered this team for this is my ninth season. We
25:39
Speaker 2: got Jim Pollad one time at Twins Fest and twenty eighteen.
25:44
Speaker 2: I can't remember the next time I talked to Jim
25:46
Speaker 2: Pollad on the record. He wasn't It's not that he
25:49
Speaker 2: wasn't around, because Jim Poulad was at all the games
25:51
Speaker 2: and it's suite, but owners don't typically make themselves available.
25:55
Speaker 2: Joe Pollad talked occasionally. That led to a lot of
26:00
Speaker 2: headlines the Twins didn't want.
26:02
Speaker 3: Tom pull Ed talks.
26:03
Speaker 2: And here's the one reason why it's important to keep
26:07
Speaker 2: talking to him. He's talking about an aggressive mindset. Say
26:13
Speaker 2: what you will about the offseason. He came in December seventeenth,
26:16
Speaker 2: and that's as far as attacking the big names and
26:19
Speaker 2: free agency, they're not there really at that point, especially
26:22
Speaker 2: in the reliever market. It was super aggressive reliever market
26:25
Speaker 2: where at the winter meetings a lot of the notable
26:27
Speaker 2: guys had signed.
26:29
Speaker 3: But he talks about.
26:31
Speaker 2: This aggressive mindset, and he came in at a time where,
26:35
Speaker 2: you know, the way that they would have to have
26:37
Speaker 2: been aggressive is by trades. And I'm not shocked that
26:40
Speaker 2: they didn't pursue building back up via trade after trading
26:45
Speaker 2: away and you know, kind of restocking the cabinets that
26:49
Speaker 2: it doesn't shock me that that's not a route they explored.
26:52
Speaker 2: But he keeps talking about an aggressive mindset and saying
26:56
Speaker 2: he owes it to Jeremy's all, he owes it to
26:58
Speaker 2: Derek Shelton, he owes it to the fans to give
27:01
Speaker 2: them the team they deserve. And what's notable to me
27:04
Speaker 2: about that is that he just keeps saying it, and
27:07
Speaker 2: right now there's no real way to prove that.
27:11
Speaker 3: But when he.
27:12
Speaker 2: Says this, it's something that we can then analyze how
27:16
Speaker 2: they act at the trade deadline, and even more importantly,
27:19
Speaker 2: probably is next year in the offseason, because he's on
27:23
Speaker 2: record as saying, we want to do this for our fans,
27:25
Speaker 2: we want to do this for the people in that clubhouse,
27:28
Speaker 2: and he's got to back up that talk and it
27:30
Speaker 2: will be scrutinized and it's a public record to have
27:33
Speaker 2: him on and I think that's valuable. Like I absolutely
27:36
Speaker 2: think that getting the owner to it's a little I mean,
27:41
Speaker 2: I'm a little surprised by how much they're saying it
27:44
Speaker 2: because they're really putting it out there, that's what they
27:47
Speaker 2: want to do. Well, now you can hold them up
27:51
Speaker 2: to that and say, look, is this what aggressive looks like?
27:53
Speaker 2: Is there more is? Do you think this was enough?
27:57
Speaker 2: And I think that's the true value in it. And
28:00
Speaker 2: I understand people don't want to read it, but it was.
28:04
Speaker 2: I asked about it because I watched Tom Pole at
28:08
Speaker 2: Monday was yet another miserable game to sit in the
28:11
Speaker 2: stands and there he is wearing a poncho, sitting in
28:15
Speaker 2: the front row by himself in the rain the whole time.
28:17
Speaker 2: He disappear for you know, a couple of minutes at
28:20
Speaker 2: the time and go into the champions Club and warm up,
28:23
Speaker 2: and I know he grabbed a blanket because he said
28:25
Speaker 2: his hands were freezing and tested his will, but he
28:27
Speaker 2: really wanted to be out there and sit through it.
28:30
Speaker 3: And Dave Saint Peter used to.
28:32
Speaker 2: Do a lot of the same thing, and sitting in
28:34
Speaker 2: a suite, he would insist on the window being open.
28:37
Speaker 2: And Matt Hoy one of the guys that works with
28:40
Speaker 2: the who runs target field essentially and sat with Saint
28:45
Speaker 2: Peter all the time, and even though the coldest nights,
28:47
Speaker 2: they had the window open and Matt was like, yeah,
28:49
Speaker 2: David always say if they're sitting through it, we should
28:52
Speaker 2: be too. And so I think Tom Pole had wants
28:55
Speaker 2: to do that. I think he wants to show the
28:57
Speaker 2: fans he's in this and you know, I mean, you
29:01
Speaker 2: make of that whatever you want. I don't think Twins fans.
29:04
Speaker 2: I think Twins fans and you can kind of speak
29:07
Speaker 2: to this because I want to hear the fan opinion.
29:10
Speaker 2: I think Twins fans probably want to see actions and
29:13
Speaker 2: not hear about them, especially at this point with this family.
29:17
Speaker 2: But you know, I mean, he's out there, he's doing
29:19
Speaker 2: this stuff, and it's important to capture it so that
29:23
Speaker 2: we can talk about it later and when it's time
29:26
Speaker 2: to actually review things. In my opinion, I could be
29:28
Speaker 2: wrong on that, but I think it's fascinating that he
29:31
Speaker 2: is putting himself out there as much as he is.
29:36
Speaker 1: Sure, deep deep breath. First of all, I don't speak
29:43
Speaker 1: for all fans. Of course, we all look at it
29:45
Speaker 1: different ways. Like there's some who will not buy a
29:49
Speaker 1: single word of it until something happens to otherwise.
29:52
Speaker 3: Which and they shouldn't.
29:54
Speaker 2: I get that.
29:54
Speaker 1: And there's others like my mom would never have cared
29:58
Speaker 1: about like the free she didn't care many of that's
30:02
Speaker 1: just whoever's on the field, he's gonna watch him in
30:03
Speaker 1: cheer for him. There's all kinds of fans in between.
30:06
Speaker 1: I think. I think, like he says all this stuff,
30:10
Speaker 1: that's great. It's great that he's out there. It's great
30:12
Speaker 1: that he's putting himself on the record. He is new,
30:16
Speaker 1: at least in the sense of he's a different poll
30:18
Speaker 1: ad than we've heard from before. But it sure seems
30:22
Speaker 1: like this team is being set up to be torn
30:25
Speaker 1: down again the way that they they made all the
30:28
Speaker 1: moves last year to and you know, here we are.
30:30
Speaker 1: They are what we we thought they were, et cetera,
30:32
Speaker 1: et cetera. So it like, but when you look at
30:36
Speaker 1: the team right now, like you got a good thing
30:38
Speaker 1: going on with that's starting rotation. So if if you
30:42
Speaker 1: mean that, like, don't don't sell it for parts, you know, like,
30:46
Speaker 1: that's that's a that's a starting point a lot of
30:48
Speaker 1: teams would would love to have. Is is the at
30:51
Speaker 1: least how it looks. I mean, obviously, we'll see if
30:53
Speaker 1: Nick Abel can keep it up. We'll see if Connor
30:55
Speaker 1: pree Lip can keep it up, who we haven't talked
30:57
Speaker 1: about yet but got his first major league win after
30:59
Speaker 1: we were coded on Monday. But if you mean it,
31:03
Speaker 1: at the very least at the deadline, don't don't tear
31:06
Speaker 1: it down. Give yourself a chance in the off season
31:08
Speaker 1: to take the stuff that's good and build from it.
31:12
Speaker 1: So I guess, yeah, like like I'm not going to
31:14
Speaker 1: take the pitchforks out just yet. I definitely, you know,
31:19
Speaker 1: it's all talk to me until it's not. But but
31:23
Speaker 1: like I think it is fair that between the start
31:25
Speaker 1: of the season and now he hasn't had much chance
31:28
Speaker 1: to do anything about it. But the first thing he
31:31
Speaker 1: might have to do about it is to not touch
31:33
Speaker 1: it at the trade that in line, you know, or
31:36
Speaker 1: at least not not give away the promising parts that
31:39
Speaker 1: can help this team soon. But you know, if there
31:43
Speaker 1: are fifteen games under five hundred in July, I you know,
31:47
Speaker 1: I don't know, we'll see so and you're right, like
31:50
Speaker 1: keep him on the record, Dan, you and you and
31:52
Speaker 1: all the people going down there and talking to him
31:54
Speaker 1: whenever he talks, Like keep him on the record and
31:57
Speaker 1: keep him saying those things and then we can reassess.
32:02
Speaker 1: I guess when's.
32:03
Speaker 2: And that's all that I think, it's all you can do. Right,
32:07
Speaker 2: They're trying to turn this around. That's what he wants
32:11
Speaker 2: to do. That's what he says he wants to do,
32:13
Speaker 2: and the only way you can do.
32:15
Speaker 3: That is with actions.
32:16
Speaker 2: So we'll see if they are able to come through
32:19
Speaker 2: on this. And I get why fans are skeptical, and
32:21
Speaker 2: I get why they don't want to hear it. I'm
32:25
Speaker 2: I feel like this is a opportunity to just keep
32:28
Speaker 2: them talking, and that is important.
32:30
Speaker 3: Because you know, it's it's rare.
32:32
Speaker 1: It just really is rare. And it's just it's the
32:36
Speaker 1: connection to the exit, to the ownership that makes it
32:39
Speaker 1: like he doesn't get the same leash that another new
32:42
Speaker 1: person would in that role because correct.
32:44
Speaker 2: Like a brand new owner, you're giving them every benefit
32:47
Speaker 2: of the doubt because it's different, Like the Angelos is
32:50
Speaker 2: sold in Baltimore and Dave Rubinstein took over two years ago,
32:53
Speaker 2: and it's like he's gonna come in with money, and
32:55
Speaker 2: then the first year was a little disappointed fans. Okay,
32:58
Speaker 2: well we'll give them a year.
32:59
Speaker 3: This is the case.
33:00
Speaker 2: This is a family that's owned it since eighty four.
33:02
Speaker 2: So even though it's a new point person, and I
33:05
Speaker 2: do think it's you know, it's gonna be interesting to
33:08
Speaker 2: see how his mindset plays out, but you know, it's
33:13
Speaker 2: it's still the family. So I get where the why
33:16
Speaker 2: the pitchforks are still there.
33:17
Speaker 3: I get why I think he does.
33:19
Speaker 2: He said it. He's like I asked him about fan
33:22
Speaker 2: interactions and he said, ninety nine percent of them positive.
33:26
Speaker 2: And I'm sure that there have been some negative ones,
33:29
Speaker 2: you know, people yelling from different parts across the stadium,
33:32
Speaker 2: that kind of stuff. I'm sure there have been more
33:34
Speaker 2: than one percent negative, but he said most of his
33:38
Speaker 2: fan interactions have been positive. And he said, and the
33:41
Speaker 2: ones that have been negative, he said, I understand where
33:45
Speaker 2: it's rooted in. And it's rooted in a good place
33:47
Speaker 2: because these are just frustrated fans that want better for
33:50
Speaker 2: their team. And he's like, I want that too. All right, great,
33:54
Speaker 2: this is this is good stuff. That we're hearing prove it.
33:58
Speaker 3: That's it.
33:58
Speaker 2: Prove it.
33:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think that's you know.
34:00
Speaker 2: That's all.
34:03
Speaker 1: And you know he may be entirely sincere with all
34:06
Speaker 1: of that, and I think fans still say, okay, well
34:10
Speaker 1: when you go back to the pole Ad compound and say, hey, guys,
34:14
Speaker 1: here's what I want to do. I want to I
34:16
Speaker 1: want to go this direction instead of this direction. What's
34:19
Speaker 1: the reaction going to be and is actually going to happen,
34:21
Speaker 1: But like, we'll see, we'll.
34:24
Speaker 2: See, and it's fascinating stuff. It is fascinating stuff, especially
34:28
Speaker 2: in the middle of a thirteen and eighteen starts the
34:31
Speaker 2: season where the bullpen is frustrating and the offense is
34:34
Speaker 2: and doing everything it needs to do with runners in
34:36
Speaker 2: score and position, like, can't cover the same game over
34:40
Speaker 2: and over and tell a good story when there are
34:43
Speaker 2: other stories to tell, right.
34:44
Speaker 1: I imagine the pole Ads living in like a mister
34:46
Speaker 1: Burns type state, but I don't know. We'll see it's
34:54
Speaker 1: Toronto's in town with that will transition to Toronto's in
34:57
Speaker 1: town for four games. Tonight is Bailey Ober against Kevin
35:01
Speaker 1: Gosman and we will be back again tomorrow morning. So
35:05
Speaker 1: we'll just have the one game to talk about. We'll
35:07
Speaker 1: find some other things to talk about. It might have
35:08
Speaker 1: to do name that twin round two. We'll see if
35:11
Speaker 1: I can like it, if I can put that together
35:13
Speaker 1: by tomorrow. But eleven losses of thirteen games, twins will
35:17
Speaker 1: try to try to get back back on track. Dan,
35:21
Speaker 1: anything you're looking forward to in this series.
35:24
Speaker 3: No, I more want to hear Tyler, Henny and cavities.
35:28
Speaker 1: Yes, oh yes, we will get the we'll get the
35:30
Speaker 1: I almost texted him and said, can you have your
35:32
Speaker 1: Dennis call us and give us the you know like report.
35:34
Speaker 1: But there might be some hippo laws or something involved
35:37
Speaker 1: with that.
35:38
Speaker 2: So this is a good psa chance kids floss.
35:42
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I definitely want to hear what his flossing
35:45
Speaker 1: situation is like. So we have a lot of good
35:48
Speaker 1: stuff plan for tomorrow's show. Thanks everybody for listening. If
35:52
Speaker 1: you if you like what you hear, please subscribe, like,
35:55
Speaker 1: toss us a comment, any feedback. We'd love to hear
35:57
Speaker 1: from you and we will see you on Friday's show.
36:02
Speaker 1: Bye bye, everybody,