On Friday, at the outset of their post-All Star break schedule against a comically weak Rockies team, the Twins sent affable but inconsistent righthander Chris Paddack to the mound.
Joe Ryan pitched in Tuesday’s All-Star game and wasn’t available. Pablo López is hurt. Bailey Ober is on a rehab assignment. And none of the Twins’ young pitchers are demonstrably better than Paddack, which is saying something in and of itself.
I happened to be in attendance at Coors Field on a family vacation. After a whirlwind tour through multiple food vendors, we settled into our seats at the start of the bottom of the first — just in time to see Paddack give up extra-base hits to the first four batters he faced. Four bites of nachos in, it was 4-0 Rockies, and Colorado was on its way to a 6-4 win and eventual rare series victory.
The game was perhaps a snapshot of what has gone wrong for the Twins not just this season but generally speaking in the last five years. Barring an unforeseen turnaround, the Twins will miss the postseason for the fourth time in five seasons after making the playoffs three of the first four years that Derek Falvey was in charge of baseball decisions.
Running a team that long inevitably will lead to a history of both good and bad moves. On balance, Falvey and Co. get a passing grade for the duration of the tenure — though not by much, and with the grade looking increasingly tenuous as we consider recent developments.
It was enough for Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse to muse on Monday’s Daily Delivery podcast, “I am turning on the [Twins] baseball department. I’m beginning to think they’re not very sharp.”
The specific subject of his ire was the Twins giving up on 100 mph-throwing reliever Jorge Alcala, who has been effective with Boston, instead of being able to help harness his talent.
Alcala was the last link to another regrettable trade, coming here in the deal that sent Ryan Pressly to Houston in 2018 (instead of the Twins being able to help Pressly excel).
