Game Thread: Twins @ Marlins, 4/5/23 @ 12:10 CT

[wsnydes]

[CRF]

Not real sure about this lineup. My 2 cents worth...I think I would've left Buxton at 3 and maybe put Solano at 1. Even Castro at 1 would be ok. Also...why drop Larnach all the way down to 8? He should be in the middle somewhere at 4 or 5. I hope it works out somehow. We need to take this game today. 

[MMMordabito]

52 minutes ago, CRF said:

Not real sure about this lineup. My 2 cents worth...I think I would've left Buxton at 3 and maybe put Solano at 1. Even Castro at 1 would be ok. Also...why drop Larnach all the way down to 8? He should be in the middle somewhere at 4 or 5. I hope it works out somehow. We need to take this game today. 

Definitely raising an eyebrow at Larnach in the 8 hole.  He's been the hot hand and absolutely crushed a homer off a lefty on Monday.  I also hope it works out.

[stringer bell]

No Arraez for the Fish. Surprised at that. Pablo will face his former team, which is RH heavy, but I think he has pretty neutral platoon splits.

[Puckett34]

Looks like a W to me.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

We lost a game? My confidence is shattered.

 

In to lots of little confidences, i think.

(Perhaps i shouldn't be sharing that with ally'all)

 

Go Twins!

[MMMordabito]

PTC - Jeffers

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, CRF said:

Not real sure about this lineup. My 2 cents worth...I think I would've left Buxton at 3 and maybe put Solano at 1. Even Castro at 1 would be ok. Also...why drop Larnach all the way down to 8? He should be in the middle somewhere at 4 or 5. I hope it works out somehow. We need to take this game today. 

27 minutes ago, MMMordabito said:

Definitely raising an eyebrow at Larnach in the 8 hole.  He's been the hot hand and absolutely crushed a homer off a lefty on Monday.  I also hope it works out.

Yeah, I think Rocco/the FO gets too aggressive with the lineup moves based on the handedness of the starting pitcher. I don't know what the Marlins pen looks like, but if we don't expect them to be rolling out lefty after lefty all game I want Larnach to stay right where he is so late game situations don't lead to Gallo, Gordon, Jeffers, and Castro all getting ABs ahead of him. Assuming the move is going to be to replace Solano with Gallo at the first sign of him facing a righty, and Gordon in for Farmer.

The 2-5 in this order, in my opinion, should be Correa-Buxton-Larnach-Miranda no matter who the starter is. Well based on how Rocco seems to want them. I'd actually go Buxton-Correa-Larnach-Miranda 1-4, but beggars can't be choosers. Those 4 shouldn't be bounced around the lineup, though.

[Puckett34]

23 minutes ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

We lost a game? My confidence is shattered.

 

In to lots of little confidences, i think.

(Perhaps i shouldn't be sharing that with ally'all)

 

Go Twins!

4-158 inevitable now

[stringer bell]

6 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

 

The 2-5 in this order, in my opinion, should be Correa-Buxton-Larnach-Miranda no matter who the starter is. Well based on how Rocco seems to want them. I'd actually go Buxton-Correa-Larnach-Miranda 1-4, but beggars can't be choosers. Those 4 shouldn't be bounced around the lineup, though.

You will note that Larnach is the only left handed hitter in the lineup. I will say that Trevor is off to a nice start and so far has looked the part of a middle of the lineup hitter this year. But SSS. It is only 23 plate appearances. His lifetime OPS vs. lefties is more than 100 points lower than against right handers.

[chpettit19]

Just now, stringer bell said:

You will note that Larnach is the only left handed hitter in the lineup. I will say that Trevor is off to a nice start and so far has looked the part of a middle of the lineup hitter this year. But SSS. It is only 23 plate appearances. His lifetime OPS vs. lefties is more than 100 points lower than against right handers.

I see that he's the only lefty. But, like I said, when the game gets late and they're into the pen and you want your best hitters getting the ABs to win the game, I want Larnach up there. And last year he hit .277 vs lefties in 51 PAs. Still SSS, but he wasn't useless by any means.

I want my best hitters getting the most at bats. Every game. I want Larnach getting ABs before Solano, Farmer, Jeffers, Castro, Gallo, and Gordon. If I'm the Marlins I pull my lefty for a righty in the middle innings to get Gallo and Gordon in the game, and then I turn to my lefty closer against those guys at the end of the game. You want Gallo and Gordon in vs a lefty with the game on the line, or Larnach? To me it's a pretty easy question.

I just don't like the idea of setting your entire lineup based on the handedness of the starting pitcher. Get your stud hitters in the top 5 and leave them there. Mess with matchups in the 6-9 holes. Not the 3 and 5 hole.

[ashbury]

15 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

You will note that Larnach is the only left handed hitter in the lineup. I will say that Trevor is off to a nice start and so far has looked the part of a middle of the lineup hitter this year. But SSS. It is only 23 plate appearances. His lifetime OPS vs. lefties is more than 100 points lower than against right handers.

And it's not just "some lefty" he's facing; Luzardo will be a challenge.  #8 is fine.  Larnach can prove it to be a mistake, win-win.

[TouchEmAllGuy]

I like the lineup and the Twin's chances of winning today! 

PTC: Miranda!

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Should we make an acronym library?

PTC -> pick (of players) to click?

 

(At least folk usually pick a player rather than a coach or ump or fan or poster... No, i don't think i'll click.)

[chpettit19]

6 minutes ago, ashbury said:

And it's not just "some lefty" he's facing; Luzardo will be a challenge.  #8 is fine.  Larnach can prove it to be a mistake, win-win.

What if Larnach goes 1-2 against Luzardo (thus proving it a mistake), and then in the 9th the Twins are down 1 with guys on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs, and it's Gordon in the box because he pinch hit for Farmer with Puk on the mound. Is that win-win? Cuz to me that sounds like a loss while Larnach would give them a pretty decent shot at scoring those runs.

[Puckett34]

PTC: Buxton

[Puckett34]

6 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

What if Larnach goes 1-2 against Luzardo (thus proving it a mistake), and then in the 9th the Twins are down 1 with guys on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs, and it's Gordon in the box because he pinch hit for Farmer with Puk on the mound. Is that win-win? Cuz to me that sounds like a loss while Larnach would give them a pretty decent shot at scoring those runs.

Cross that bridge when they get to it, my guy. Lets focus our concerns on the first 8 innings.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Have been saving this lovely photo

 

[ashbury]

11 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

What if Larnach goes 1-2 against Luzardo (thus proving it a mistake), and then in the 9th the Twins are down 1 with guys on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs, and it's Gordon in the box because he pinch hit for Farmer with Puk on the mound. Is that win-win? Cuz to me that sounds like a loss while Larnach would give them a pretty decent shot at scoring those runs.

I guess I was thinking more about the long season, and if Larnach earns a higher spot in the lineup even when a lefty is on the mound, then that'll be a good thing.  Meanwhile, as with Alcantara, Luzardo might be a candidate for a strong 8 or 9 innings so I wouldn't focus too exclusively on the scenario you laid out.  It certainly could play out that way though.

[chpettit19]

1 minute ago, Puckett34 said:

Cross that bridge when they get to it, my guy. Lets focus our concerns on the first 8 innings.

That's fine for everyone around here, it's not how a manager should actually run his team, though. Unless you're suggesting this lineup is just going to be so great against Luzardo that the game is out of reach by the end. I'm going to go ahead and say that isn't likely. Because it's almost never the case. And Luzardo is an awfully neutral split pitcher. He's not some lefty specialist. 

As I've said multiple times now. I want my best hitters getting the most at bats in every game. Trevor Larnach is currently a clearly better hitter than everyone on this team not named Buxton, Correa, or Miranda. It's those 4 and everyone else. A Solano/Gallo platoon is not a better hitter than Larnach right now. A Farmer/Gordon platoon is not a better hitter than Larnach right now. Jeffers isn't a better hitter. Willi Castro is absolutely not a better hitter. Trevor Larnach in the 8 hole doesn't make sense for any of the 9 innings, my guy.

[chpettit19]

2 minutes ago, ashbury said:

I guess I was thinking more about the long season, and if Larnach earns a higher spot in the lineup even when a lefty is on the mound, then that'll be a good thing.  Meanwhile, as with Alcantara, Luzardo might be a candidate for a strong 8 or 9 innings so I wouldn't focus too exclusively on the scenario you laid out.  It certainly could play out that way though.

Trevor Larnach hit .277 off lefties last year. .212 off righties. He's 1-1 with a HR off them this year. And Luzardo has never gone into the 8th inning in any major league start in his career. I'm going to take the under on him doing it in his second start this year.

[ashbury]

4 minutes ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

I like Larnach in the top half of the order no matter who is pitching until he shows that he cannot handle that spot.  That said, it's quite obvious why Rocco has moved him to the bottom of the order, outside of that he is LH'ed.  It is a Wednesday and a day game with the temp greater than 82.3 and no prior Twin in the opposition batting order.  The metrics do not lie!

I've kept track through the years and TD threads for day games during the week contain 41% more straw man arguments and 19% more fictitious statistics than night/weekend games.  You can look it up!

[Doctor Gast]

I like the line up. You need your greatest scoring threat at lead off and that's Buxton. At least until Polanco comes back & is up to it. With P Lopez it should be a win. How's Duran?

[stringer bell]

Let's see what the righty hitters can do. It has been speculated that the Twins will have more success versus lefties than any season since 2019. I think that is the case and hopefully the only left handed hitter will do his part.

[TouchEmAllGuy]

Welp

[stringer bell]

Probably not going to get 11 runs today. Luzardo looks nasty.

[MMMordabito]

Video game cover injury curse?

[Squirrel]

Ugh, hate seeing anyone writhing around in pain

[TouchEmAllGuy]

Soler has some massive power, wow

[TCSquad]

That had to be tough for Morneau to watch. Chisolm (edited: originally named Soler as the victim) sliding into second and taking a knee to the head... Flashbacks to 2010...