Miranda Finding His Groove

[Vanimal46]

Patience is paying off after a rough start to his MLB career. Miranda mashing the ball is creating a great problem for the Twins to have… No position player on the current roster is struggling enough to make room for Kirilloff, or Lewis when he is healthy enough to return. 

[Twinfan603]

21 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

...No position player on the current roster is struggling enough to make room for Kirilloff, or Lewis when he is healthy enough to return. 

A good problem to have, for once. People may disagree with me strongly here, but I'd be all for using Kirilloff as major trade bait. Ain't gonna get Frankie or Castillo or any other big fish without some value, and with a crowded outfield with surplus value, a trade should start there.

Let's just hope he keeps mashing AAA to get his stock up further, but long-term I prefer Larnach to AK, and even Celestino's emergence makes it easier to ship him out if the return is a good SP.

I certainly wouldn't rush Royce back either, bone bruises can be nasty.

[wsnydes]

9 minutes ago, Twinfan603 said:

A good problem to have, for once. People may disagree with me strongly here, but I'd be all for using Kirilloff as major trade bait. Ain't gonna get Frankie or Castillo or any other big fish without some value, and with a crowded outfield with surplus value, a trade should start there.

Let's just hope he keeps mashing AAA to get his stock up further, but long-term I prefer Larnach to AK, and even Celestino's emergence makes it easier to ship him out if the return is a good SP.

I certainly wouldn't rush Royce back either, bone bruises can be nasty.

I'd disagree on Kirilloff mainly because he's your 1B guy and Miranda 3B.  There's room for both plus Larnach.  I think Urshela is more short term while those guys gain MLB experience.  

[Twinfan603]

3 minutes ago, wsnydes said:

I'd disagree on Kirilloff mainly because he's your 1B guy and Miranda 3B.  There's room for both plus Larnach.  I think Urshela is more short term while those guys gain MLB experience.  

I'm not saying to ship him out regardless, only if his inclusion can help land a high-quality SP with control beyond 2022, which the team desperately needs.

Agree his ability to play 1B well does mean there is room for everyone, but 1B is also one of the easiest positions to fill given the availability of mashers who can't play defense out there.

[wsnydes]

18 minutes ago, Twinfan603 said:

I'm not saying to ship him out regardless, only if his inclusion can help land a high-quality SP with control beyond 2022, which the team desperately needs.

Agree his ability to play 1B well does mean there is room for everyone, but 1B is also one of the easiest positions to fill given the availability of mashers who can't play defense out there.

Fair enough.

Though, I'm one that actually values defense at 1B, so I would disagree that it's easy to fill.  That said, this organization has so many corner types that it frees up a spot.

And he shouldn't be off limits in a trade, I would agree with that.  

[Trov]

Miranda really worked on things after his 1 day demotion.  That was one hell of a day in St. Paul to learn how to hit at the MLB level.  

[jorgenswest]

I am not sure he found anything other than maybe a return of a little confidence. He wasn’t as bad as he was at the start and he isn’t as good as he has been the last few week. It is mostly random variation due to sample.

Look at his three hits last night. He has a lazy fly ball that lands for a double in front of Stanton. An infield hit where the third basemen tried to get the lead runner instead of going to first and a ground ball up the middle that avoided the shift.

If he was 0-4 or 1-4 do we have the same perception today?

[4twinsJA]

I agree, Miranda longterm answer at 3B and Kirilloff at 1B. But also agree, to get something, will need to give up something. May need to include one of the top prospects to get starting pitching, would Steer be enough. Twins have quite a few pitchers who will be rule 5 eligible this winter and will not have enough room to protect them all, could include 1-2 of them.

[wsnydes]

32 minutes ago, Trov said:

Miranda really worked on things after his 1 day demotion.  That was one hell of a day in St. Paul to learn how to hit at the MLB level.  

Gotta kill time on that long trip across town somehow.  May as well study up, right?

[In My La Z boy]

56 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

I am not sure he found anything other than maybe a return of a little confidence. He wasn’t as bad as he was at the start and he isn’t as good as he has been the last few week. It is mostly random variation due to sample.

Look at his three hits last night. He has a lazy fly ball that lands for a double in front of Stanton. An infield hit where the third basemen tried to get the lead runner instead of going to first and a ground ball up the middle that avoided the shift.

If he was 0-4 or 1-4 do we have the same perception today?

I'll answer yes to your question because he makes contact. I love to see a young prospect who doesn't strike out. This young man will be quite dangerous when he starts taking pitches better. Kind of a right-handed Eddie Rosario. He is up to stay in my opinion.

[Trov]

2 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

I am not sure he found anything other than maybe a return of a little confidence. He wasn’t as bad as he was at the start and he isn’t as good as he has been the last few week. It is mostly random variation due to sample.

Look at his three hits last night. He has a lazy fly ball that lands for a double in front of Stanton. An infield hit where the third basemen tried to get the lead runner instead of going to first and a ground ball up the middle that avoided the shift.

If he was 0-4 or 1-4 do we have the same perception today?

The write up was not about a single game, but how he has been hitting overall last week or two.  He has 10 hits in 28 at-bats, with 3 HR.  Yes, SSS and he could just as quickly drop back to what he was, but he has raised his season OPS nearly .200 points in that span.  

I doubt anyone is saying he is on his way to ROY or anything, but his at bats have been looking better overall too. 

[Otto von Ballpark]

Too obvious?

[Muppet]

Remember Sano is going to come back at some point too. Think any other teams out there have a need for a poor defending 1B/DH who can't hit and has a history of behavior problems? 

[CRF]

Miranda has been a little more lucky than good since he came back up, but that's ok. He's been getting some dinks and dunks, but he does have the occasional rocket too. He'll get better with more playing time. I'd definitely keep him in the line up. His defense isn't anything to write home about. They should have Morneau work with him at 1B, especially with his footwork. I'd take him over Sano any day of the week and twice on Sundays.  

[terrydactyls]

8 hours ago, Twinfan603 said:

I'm not saying to ship him out regardless, only if his inclusion can help land a high-quality SP with control beyond 2022, which the team desperately needs.

Agree his ability to play 1B well does mean there is room for everyone, but 1B is also one of the easiest positions to fill given the availability of mashers who can't play defense out there.

Stop the "easiest to fill" nonsense.  Did you watch Miranda butcher two plays at first last night?  In a closer game, those plays might have cost the Twins the game.  There is footwork and technique in being a good defensive 1B.

[Vanimal46]

5 hours ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

Too obvious?

Key to life: find someone who looks at you like Taye does to Jose ❤️

[ashbury]

18 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Key to life: find someone who looks at you like Taye does to Jose ❤️

I was amused by that juxtaposition of images too, but you absolutely 100% nailed what I was trying to find the words for.

[Trov]

14 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

Stop the "easiest to fill" nonsense.  Did you watch Miranda butcher two plays at first last night?  In a closer game, those plays might have cost the Twins the game.  There is footwork and technique in being a good defensive 1B.

I fully agree.  Most people think first is just stand there and catch ball at ya.  Which in a lot of cases that may be the situation.  However, there are many ways to mess even that up.  Stretch too early, or not have feet set right to make the right stretch.  With all the shifting you need to figure out when to go after a ball and when not to.  Also, pitcher need to do better getting over to cover on any ball hit that direction.  They are so used to think only balls close to first, but now some first basemen are only person on that side and need to cover more range. First is not as easy to defend as many people think, and even harder now than ever before with the shift. 

[Twinfan603]

14 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

Stop the "easiest to fill" nonsense.  Did you watch Miranda butcher two plays at first last night?  In a closer game, those plays might have cost the Twins the game.  There is footwork and technique in being a good defensive 1B.

I'm not saying the position is easy itself, but I don't see how anyone can argue it's a tougher play than any of the other infield spots. If a guy can't play SS, 3B, or 2B, they simply won't ever be able to. And yet many (though not all) can learn to at least manage 1B. Again, this isn't to diminish the role, but the barriers to entry are much lower than the other positions.

Sano learned it just fine. So has Arraez this year. Can you imagine trying to recast someone as a 3B on-the-fly?

[Murph]

Honestly - until Miranda learns how to play D, he shouldn't be playing on Target Field.  He is NOT READY!!

One of the Twins biggest problems is bowing down at the altar of Offense.  Pitching and Defense wins and loses games... We've seen it over and over again - like recently in the Twins' 2022 season, where we wouldn't have been anywhere near 1st place without our  pitchers! 

And - how come nobody ever talks about what a disaster the Aaron Hicks trade was!  He lets us know it every time he's in Minnesota!

[terrydactyls]

6 hours ago, Murph said:

Honestly - until Miranda learns how to play D, he shouldn't be playing on Target Field.  He is NOT READY!!

One of the Twins biggest problems is bowing down at the altar of Offense.  Pitching and Defense wins and loses games... We've seen it over and over again - like recently in the Twins' 2022 season, where we wouldn't have been anywhere near 1st place without our  pitchers! 

And - how come nobody ever talks about what a disaster the Aaron Hicks trade was!  He lets us know it every time he's in Minnesota!

And the Washington Senators made an awful trade in 1943 so let's blame our current problems on that too.

[ashbury]

52 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

And the Washington Senators made an awful trade in 1943 so let's blame our current problems on that too.

Free Anthony Slama!

[Murph]

On 6/10/2022 at 4:18 PM, terrydactyls said:

And the Washington Senators made an awful trade in 1943 so let's blame our current problems on that too.

 

On 6/10/2022 at 4:18 PM, terrydactyls said:

And the Washington Senators made an awful trade in 1943 so let's blame our current problems on that too.

nice