I will not read too much into spring training, I will not read too much into spring training, I will not… you know what? Never mind.
This team wasn’t very good in 2024, less so in 2025 and now here comes the new season and so far I am equally unimpressed with this team as it falls to 2-7 in Grapefruit League action, including back-to-back blow out losses to the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
The problem appears to be a lack of pitching.
The Red Sox rolled the Twins 13-8 on Saturday, with starter Taj Bradley allowing five runs across two innings, top pitching prospect Kendry Rojas wasn’t much better and then Anthony Banda, most recently of the Los Angeles Dodgers, coughed up a grand slam.
The day before was even worse: The Bronx Bombers unloaded on the Twins, 17-5, and Twins prospect and starting pitcher Marco Raya had nothing working right.
Raya secured only one out in the first inning and his afternoon was done. In the process of his one-third of an inning, he allowed five runs, all earned, on one hit. How did that happen? He walked four batters and suffered through an error behind him.
Veteran Cole Sands also got roughed up in the same game, allowing three runs on three hits in an inning of work.
Some other disappointing performances:
- Veteran Justin Topa allowed four runs on three hits with three walks in a 5-3 loss to the Red Sox.
- Pitching prospect Andrew Morris served up four runs on six hits across four outs (!) in a 10-5 loss to the Orioles.
There were some bright spots:
- Portland, Oregon’s Mick Abel blanked the Detroit Tigers over three innings with five strikeouts in a 3-0 win.
- Bradley didn’t pitch well on Saturday, but he did last week when he limited the Atlanta Braves to one run over three innings with five strikeouts in an 8-1 victory.
- Alan Roden, who along with pitcher Rojas came to the Twins in last season’s fire sale, is swinging the bat well. He has seven hits in his first 12 at bats for a .583 batting average.
Extra innings…
–I was relieved to see that pitcher Bradley will skip the World Baseball Classic and remain with the Twins during spring training. I hope Joe Ryan and Byron Buxton elect to do the same.
My reasoning is this: I am struggling with the importance of the classic vis a vis potential player injuries, and in particular, of course, Twins players injuries. It’s a bad fit for Major League Baseball because so much is invested in these players and the success of the regular season. Instead of the pros, why not send a team of minor leaguers to play in the classic and call it a futures game? Otherwise, I say MLB steer clear of it.
–Twins owners, the Pohlad family, reportedly want to move on from talking about the team’s much lower payroll. You know how they can prevent being asked that question? Go out and sign a free agent pitcher to fill Pablo Lopez’s shoes. If not, then the message for fans is this: payroll is still very much top of mind for the club.
–I listened to Saturday’s Red Sox/Twins game on WEEI — the MLB radio app wasn’t working very well — and the Boston duo in the booth actually talked about the Twins quite a bit, and their conclusion about the state of the Twins was this: If they get off to a slow start this season, the team will move on to a complete rebuild from a partial one.
I think they are absolutely correct. What does that mean? You can say goodbye to Ryan, Buxton, Jeffers and just about anyone costing the Pohlads significant dough.
Ain’t life grand?