Article: MIN 5, KC 4 (10 Innings): Cruz Steps Up

[yarnivek1972]

But Buxton is here and will be for the foreseeable future. I've always said that we can carry Kepler's bat if he's the everyday CF but he will never be that guy as long as Buxton is with the Twins and hits over .220. Kepler is a corner OF, so you can only compare him to other corner OFs, not CFs. His bat isn't good enough right now to be a starting corner OF on a team good enough to contend for a championship. To me, that's the standard we should be looking at and yes, I agree he's far from alone. Frankly, if you look at the 2019 Twins we have maybe 10 guys who are quality starters on a WS contending team - Rosario in LF, Polanco, but at 2B not SS, Cruz as a DH, Cron of all people at 1B, Berrios and Gibson in the rotation but as #2 and #3, not as the #1 and #2, Odorizzi as a #4 or 5 starter, and Rogers, May and Parker in the bullpen. I also think Gonzalez, Garver, Cave and Astudillo are actually a bench that would work on a contending team - as bench players, not as starters. In other words, we have about half to 60% of a contending team.

 

How to get the rest of that team? Devlopment. That's where my Kepler comments come in. We need Kepler, Buxton (and I would throw in Cave's potential with that) and Sano to develop into quality MLB hitters. I think leading off Kepler puts too much stress on him at this stage of his development and has the potential to retard his development and not accelerate it. He would be better in the 6 or 7 hole as a run producer/keep the line moving guy, not as a miscast igniter.

 

I'm excited about this team because it's the first Twins team in several years that actually has the underlying bones to be very competitive if a few things break right. IF we can get even half of the Buxton, Sano, Kepler, Cave group to really step up then we can carry Castro's bat for his defense and Garver's defense for his bat at Catcher and live with Polanco at SS to keep Schoop in the lineup (although I would have signed Iglesias myself, defense over offense at SS), and we have the lineup. If Berrios can be a #1 and Pineda a solid #3 starter who actually starts 25-30 games, the rotation could be good enough. If we can trade for a closer/late inning guy and find one more solid middle inning reliever, we have the bullpen. Yeah, it's a lot, but all of those things are actually in the realm of possibility. That's so much better than years past when I need to go back to dropping Acid and squint hard to see a truly competitive Twins team.

 

That's where I'm coming from on Kepler. He' a league average bat for CF. Not good enough. For this team to truly compete, he needs to be a solid to above average bat for a RF. He's not. I'm not saying take him out, at least not yet, but we have to put him in the best position to succeed. To me, leading off ain't it. He should be hitting 6 after Polanco, Rosario, Cruz, Cron and Sano with Polanco leading off.

I think Kepler’s doing just fine.