Miranda Mania: 3 Ways To Get Him To Minneapolis

[LastOnePicked]

On 8/22/2021 at 9:21 PM, mikelink45 said:

it is about the FO rewarding a player for outstanding performance.  

Absolutely this. He's exceeded all expectations. He's become a top prospect. He deserves a chance to put the icing on this incredible cake of a season. And he needs some MLB at-bats so he gets a sense of what he might need to work on over the offseason.

He can have Rooker's at-bats, and he can split playing time at 1st with Sano and 3rd with Arraez/Donaldson. Might be good for him to be near Donaldson for a bit as well.

After the FO exposed him to the Rule 5 draft last November, it's additionally insulting to completely ignore what he's done in AA/AAA all season. DFA Cave immediately and call up Miranda.

[TopGunn#22]

At this point Rooker has played himself off the big league team.  Every AB that cave gets is an embarrassment.  Simmons has no future with this team.  Just play Arraez in LF.  I don't really care if St. Paul is battling for 1st place.  The sole purpose of the minor leagues is to develop players and deliver them to the big leagues.  GET. MIRANDA. UP.

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 hour ago, TopGunn#22 said:

At this point Rooker has played himself off the big league team.  Every AB that cave gets is an embarrassment.  Simmons has no future with this team.  Just play Arraez in LF.  I don't really care if St. Paul is battling for 1st place.  The sole purpose of the minor leagues is to develop players and deliver them to the big leagues.  GET. MIRANDA. UP.

While I've been quite unimpressed with Rooker this season, he still has fewer than 200 MLB plate appearances with an overall 102 OPS+.

My biggest issue with Rooker is this roster and his glove but Miranda doesn't really fix that problem, either, because Josh Donaldson and Luis Arraez are occupying third base and Jorge Polanco is occupying second.

Before we christen Jose Miranda the second coming and Brent Rooker a waste of roster space, we should look at their numbers:

Brent Rooker AAA: 541 PAs, .932 OPS

Jose Miranda AAA: 285 PAs, .917 OPS

Obviously, Miranda is younger and has a position (though it's blocked in Minnesota) while Rooker is older and positionless but we need to temper our expectations and valuations of players just because we're frustrated with a different player in the moment. But a blocked position doesn't really help Miranda that much in the here and now. He's not 35 year old Josh Donaldson at third base, much less 23 year old Josh Donaldson at third base.

I expect Rooker will not be on the Twins 40-man next season and I'm pretty okay with that, though it's slightly risky. But I also understand why the front office is giving Rooker one more shot before kicking him (or another position player) off the 40-man roster to add Miranda for September.

Personally, I thought the time to call up Miranda was when Arraez was banged up and Donaldson wasn't playing third base but that window has passed.