Article: Offseason Primer: Twins Need to Be Prepared to Pivot from Buxton and Sano

[ewen21]

 

Not if his OPS is south  of .600.

Defense does NOT make up for his horrendous bat.  If he is south of ,700 he hurts the offense too much.  He was not earmarked to be Jackie Bradley Jr and if he turns out to be that he is a bust.  The kid was hyped up so much in so many places so he was set up to be that if he failed.  I wanted to wait and see before I anointed him anything.  At this point, I don't view him as a "super-prospect" so I don't think he deserves endless rope.

 

This article needed to be written.  Both players have forced the Twins to think this way.  This "play him everyday and let him take his lumps" mantra doesn't work 95% of the time.  Just because Hrbek was called up from Visalia in 1981 and it worked doesn't mean it is going to work.  People need to understand this

[ewen21]

Let this be a lesson.....

 

Stop hyping prospects.  I visited Twins boards for years and these two have been hyped up as saviors for years.  I am actually psyched about Kiriloff and Lewis, but I don't need to read about how their talents are so amazing that I need to be in awe and genuflect when their names are mentioned  Those kinds of articles ran constantly on Buxton and they really got tiresome to me.

Can he at least play a game in the majors before we get so giddy?

[DrNeau]

1. C  - Garver
2. DH - 
3. LF - Rosario
4. CF - Buxton
5. RF - Cave
6. 3B - Sano
7. SS - Polanco
8. 2B - 
9. 1B - Austin
-- Bench --
10. OF - Kepler
11. C   - Astudillo
12. IF - 

-- Pitchers --
13. SP - Berrios
14. SP - Gibson
15. SP - Pineda
16. SP - 
17. SP - 
18. RP - Rogers
19. RP - May
20. RP - 
21. RP - 
22. RP - 
23. RP - 
24. CP - 

 

Anyone not on this list is expendable. Castro needs to be gone. Pick up Donaldson and a 2B and we become immediately way better. Forget adding a starter. Rebuild the bullpen with strong talent.

[yarnivek1972]

You are just going to eat the $8 mil owed to Castro? How important is the offense the Twins get from Castro? Maybe with renewed health, it will be closer to 2017 levels. Someone has to hit 9th.

[Mike Sixel]

My question about the catchers.....can Gaver stay back there with all the concussions, or should he be in the RF/1B/DH mix?

[Squirrel]

 

My question about the catchers.....can Gaver stay back there with all the concussions, or should he be in the RF/1B/DH mix?

That's a good question without a good answer. I'd be tempted to move Astudillo as the back-up and Garver as another super utility playing OF(RF)/1B/DH/C. But ... not sure ...

[TheLeviathan]

Garver and Austidillo's flexibility might mean three catchers. Gardy would be proud.

Edited October 10, 2018 by TheLeviathan

[yarnivek1972]

I think we need an autocorrect on TD for some of these hard to spell names.

 

I’m sure there’s plenty of bandwidth available for that...

 

 

[USAFChief]

 

I think we need an autocorrect on TD for some of these hard to spell names.

I’m sure there’s plenty of bandwidth available for that...

Brock Bowchamp? What say you?

[Squirrel]

Garver and Austidillo's flexibility might mean three catchers. Gardy would be proud.

So would RiverPositionalFlexibilityBrian.

[DrNeau]

 

You are just going to eat the $8 mil owed to Castro? How important is the offense the Twins get from Castro? Maybe with renewed health, it will be closer to 2017 levels. Someone has to hit 9th.

 

We are already eating the $8 million to Castro. Might as well get the best possible production. Astudillo is better. No question. 

[ewen21]

 

Ever had a migraine or a broken toe? I’m not trying to say Buxton gets a pass for his performance as he definitely has things to work on, but migraines are debilitating. It’s not just a headache. And he didn’t miss an entire season due to a broken toe. He was rushed back up too soon after that and the toe wasn’t healed. So he was sent back down. Where he had wrist issues. He was also not really performing at the plate until the very end so there was no rush to bring him back up.

That said, I do hope he works hard during the off season. His defense does not make up for his bat as it was.

THat is part of the issue with Buxton.  The migraines will be there and so will an array of other injuries since he plays with a reckless abandon.  Part of his development involves him figuring out a way to stay healthy.

 

Quite honestly, he was not hitting the first few weeks.  YOu can cite a "small sample size" but I was very concerned about how he'd start off--especially after I read this article:

https://www.twincities.com/2018/03/28/twins-star-byron-buxton-takes-pride-in-his-ability-to-play-through-pain/

 

I don't give him a pass this last season.  He needs to prove himself to me.

Two months at the end of 2017 is really all he has.  Apart from that he has been a terrible hitter--so bad it was too hard to justify putting him in the lineup.