In searching for optimism Wednesday night following the Twins’ fifth loss in a stretch of six home games, manager Rocco Baldelli pointed out that this isn’t the first time Minnesota has been lousy this season.
RandBall: The cavalry isn’t coming to save the Twins
If the Twins are going to snap out of their skid and steady themselves to earn a postseason spot, they will need to rely mostly on players already on the active roster.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
August 29, 2024 at 4:27PM
“We’ve hit a bump and we’ve been pretty streaky — basically for the entire season,” Baldelli said. “We’ve come right back from it and played some pretty good baseball.”
This is true, but it describes more of the first few months of the season than the last couple. The Twins seemed to have steadied themselves in mid-June through mid-August, going almost two months without anything more than a two-game losing streak.
They had relatively good health during that time as they climbed into a position to contend for a playoff spot, either as a division winner or wild card.
What feels different now, though, is the sort of roster depletion that leads to close, frustrating losses. Carlos Correa has been out for almost seven weeks. Byron Buxton hasn’t played in two weeks and the Twins still haven’t even decided whether they are ready to send him on a rehab assignment. Brooks Lee is in the midst of a rehab assignment, and he can’t arrive back with the Twins fast enough.
Joe Ryan was just transferred to the 60-day injured list, meaning his season is over. And the only player they added at the trade deadline was such a disaster that he’s already been subtracted.
There is a growing sense that there is no cavalry coming to save the Twins. It’s quite the opposite, in fact, as I talked about on Thursday’s Daily Delivery podcast.
It’s frustrating because the Twins (72-61) are absolutely good enough to be a playoff team, but that spot is tenuous right now even if statistically they are in good shape with one month left to go.
It’s frustrating because even if Ryan’s injury was unpredictable and ill-timed right after the trade deadline, adding two good bullpen arms instead of one shaky one was within the Twins’ reach. It’s also frustrating to wonder how much the Twins’ unstable TV situation (and resulting revenue shortfall) played into their inactivity.
The reinforcements now are Michael Tonkin, who has been DFA’d four times this season. And maybe they will get Chris Paddack back in time for the playoffs.
In other words, if the postseason becomes a reality for the Twins, they will be counting on the same young starting pitchers and injury-riddled lineup that have struggled lately.
Here are four more things to know today:
- Also on today’s podcast, I was joined by Gophers football writer Randy Johnson and high school writer Jim Paulsen for a preview of Gophers vs. North Carolina and an expanded look at the top prep football players in the state.
- The surging Lynx won at Phoenix and moved into second place in the WNBA standings at 23-8.
- It was interesting to see the Vikings cut 2023 fifth-round pick Jaren Hall on Thursday in favor of Brett Rypien as a third quarterback. They are clearly willing to risk losing Hall to another team, providing insight into where they think his development is.
- Friday’s podcast will have plenty from Gophers vs. North Carolina plus an extended look at the best 1990s kids sports movies.
The speculation surrounding shortstop Carlos Correa’s availability in a trade was overblown this week, Twins officials indicated at the winter meetings in Dallas.
