The Twins Nailed Lineup Flexibility

[Ted Schwerzler]

We have seen the Minnesota Twins look to utilize handedness as a way to generate lineup flexibility in recent years. This year more than others, it’s hard to argue that Derek Falvey and Thad Levine didn’t nail the roster configuration.

 

Image courtesy of Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

All offseason the two largest storylines surrounding the Twins needs, aside from the general notion for pitching, included a desire to retain Carlos Correa and a push for a right-handed bat that can play the outfield. Max Kepler wasn't traded, Trevor Larnach has been among the best hitters on the team, and Joey Gallo looks like a great bounce back candidate. None of those players are right-handed, but Kyle Farmer, Donovan Solano, and Willi Castro have fit the bill.

Originally, Farmer was tabbed as a baseline option to fill the starting shortstop role. The Twins sent minor leaguer Casey Legumina to the Cincinnati Reds after it was clear they were set to move on from Farmer. He provided a security blanket had Correa not returned which seemed likely since he agreed to deals with both the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets.

No longer the starting shortstop, Farmer settled into a utility role but is not a guy that should be overlooked. He has already been responsible for a walkoff win during the home opener, and followed up that performance with a multi-hit day against the Astros that featured both a home run and a double. 

Playing time was cleared for Farmer because Rocco Baldelli is without starting second baseman Jorge Polanco. Dealing with knee issues, he has just started rehabbing with the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. That has led to plenty of starts for Farmer, but Baldelli has an immediate pairing because of Nick Gordon. Splitting handedness, Farmer and Gordon are each continually put in advantageous situations because of how the Twins built the fringes of their roster.

After posting a 113 OPS+ last season, Gordon established himself as a high-level utility option a season ago. Playing on the infield and in the outfield last year, maybe no one on the Minnesota roster has provided the coaching staff more flexibility. He is off to a slow start this season, but there is no reason to believe he won’t bounce back.

When the Twins signed Solano during spring training, it was seen as an interesting move. Maybe Polanco wasn’t on track (he wasn’t) or maybe Alex Kirilloff wasn’t going to be ready (he wasn’t), but Solano as a righty made even more sense. He’s not an offensive juggernaut, but in three years for the Giants, he constantly was above league average. Being able to play multiple infield positions and first base, he has already proven his value to his new organization.

Rounding out the group was what could arguably be considered the final player to make the 26-man roster. Former Detroit Tigers utility man Willi Castro is an ideal end-of-the-bench option. He is a switch hitter, and while he’s traditionally been an infielder, last season saw him play a whopping six different positions. Castro has been a regular in the past, and while his 80 OPS+ the past two seasons leaves plenty to be desired, he can be utilized in advantageous scenarios.

By being flexible at the end of their bench and the fringes of the roster, Minnesota has afforded Baldelli a perfect mix-and-match spot. Farmer and Gordon are able to spell each other, while Solano brings more focus to the corner infield. Castro can be sparingly used and is never in a position where he has to be utilized, but also gives higher-level prospects time to develop on the farm.

Knowing how much injury that they dealt with last year, it was clear Minnesota sought to find depth. In doing so, they had a plan to incorporate flexibility, and the completeness of this roster is something we haven’t seen for quite some time. Platoons have become a much larger focus in baseball, and although the Twins don’t need to rely on them, they’re constantly available at their disposal.

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[jmlease1]

Castro is filler for me, only reason he started with the team was it might be better from a developmental side to let Julien & Wallner ease in with some time at AAA and the Twins absolutely don't care about his options.

I was skeptical about the Gallo signing, but so far that's worked out excepting for injury. Solano was a surprise for me, but with Polanco and Kirilloff being behind, it makes even more sense, and after last season where we had some many fringe players get significant time, a deeper veteran group doesn't offend me at all.

Still not sold on Pagan, though.

but as good as the depth has been to get us through several early injuries, the offense still needs some gas. Polanco is a bigger loss than I think some people realized and Nick Gordon has disappointed so far.

[Fatbat]

Farmer and Solano were great signings! Castro is meh…. Much like a bologna sandwich… the young guns are going to own this team by September!!!

[Danchat]

Seems too early to say they nailed it, especially with the injuries that have popped up. Get back to me in another month or so and then we can talk.

[HerbieFan]

Agree.  Nice to have guys who can take veteran at bats in the lineup in the case of injuries.  Speaking of which....Kepler, Polanco, Correa, Gallo, Kiriloff......sure hope the new guy gets some things figured out and can get these guys healthy, and keep the rest of the roster healthy as well.  

[LA Vikes Fan]

The new guys have helped keep the offense at a subsistence level rather than completely falling off a cliff due to injury.  still, we need Polanco and Correa back and hitting in the worst way.  Miranda, Larnach, and Gordon are nice to have but they are that portion of their careers where they are going to be streaky and may not make it. Frankly, if 2 of those 3 become solid above average MLB hitters with the 3rd average, we will have hit a jackpot. We need the big 3 of Correa, Polanco, and Buxton anchoring this lineup on most days or we are going to have trouble scoring runs. 

[USAFChief]

If by flexibility you mean Nick Gordon batting cleanup, more than once, yeah, I guess.

[dxpavelka]

And best of all the names Cave & Garlick were never spoken in this article.

 

[ashbury]

3 minutes ago, dxpavelka said:

And best of all the names Cave & Garlick were never spoken in this article.

 

Get ready to hear Kyle's name mentioned now and then.

[KirbyDome89]

The Twins have a bottom 5 offense. Is right now really the best time to be touting positional flexibility? 

[USAFChief]

46 minutes ago, KirbyDome89 said:

The Twins have a bottom 5 offense. Is right now really the best time to be touting positional flexibility? 

He didn't say good, he said flexible. There's a lot of ways to put this together and still be bottom five!

[Riverbrian]

Flexibility is a natural by-product of depth. 

You can't have depth without flexibility. 

If you don't have depth... you will not survive the injuries that are sure to come.

[jkcarew]

Once again, way too much credit for Solano, IMO. If he had been part of any 'plan' he would have been signed before spring training. It was an act of desperation when they figured out Polanco and Kirilloff were delayed.

They've been lucky with it so far. But context on Donny Barrells...

after todays nice performance, his OPS is 753...thanks to a 423 BABiP. Don't know how great or sustainable that is...but yes, as of April 12, thank god for Solano.

After ST, I posted that I thought the Twins looked like a high-floor team, but not a high-ceiling team. After two weeks, they're the 4th or 5th worse offensive team in majors depending upon what metric you want to use. The question becomes, if this is GOOD lineup depth/flexibility...what would BAD look like?

I actually think the ceiling might be higher than I thought. But certainly not because of anything I've seen from the 'starters', or the 'depth' or the 'flexibility' of the lineups. Because of the pitching.

[dxpavelka]

2 hours ago, KirbyDome89 said:

The Twins have a bottom 5 offense. Is right now really the best time to be touting positional flexibility? 

Not shocking.  We scored fewer than 700 runs last year and did nothing to improve our offense other than trade away the AL batting champion and HOPE for improved health.  The trade has worked out well but the health, not so much.

[SwainZag]

Offense aside the defense has been pretty damn good.... which I'm sure has helped that shiny pitching ERA.  In that regard the depth has paid dividends.

[Doctor Wu]

Definitely a bit more lineup flexibility this year, at least in regards to players that can play more than one position, plus the quality of the bench appears better and deeper this year. Sure, it's still too early to pass any fair judgment on the front office's moves, but even with all these early injuries we don't need to panic too much at this juncture. 

[rv78]

Flexible Yes. Good No. Doesn't matter if the regulars are playing or the flexible depth is playing, this team struggles to score runs. Yes they are 8-4, but only due to the Twins pitching or the other teams poor play. Houston gave away the first game of their series with a wild pitch and the White Sox just played two sloppy games resulting in 2 Twins wins. Turn those 3 games around and the Twins are a mediocre 5-7. 

[Riverbrian]

13 hours ago, KirbyDome89 said:

The Twins have a bottom 5 offense. Is right now really the best time to be touting positional flexibility? 

I don't think anything should be touted after 12 games... including a bottom 5 offense.

Now... if it must be done. When I look at a 27th ranked offense with a .659 OPS... One of the first things that I look at are the players who are dragging that number down. Who are the players getting playing time below that 27th ranked number? Those are the players who are dragging it down. 

Here's the list: Carlos Correa, Michael Taylor, Jose Miranda Max Kepler, Nick Gordon, Kyle Farmer and Willi Castro.

Unless we pin it all on Gordon... the flexible players are not the culprit.  

 

[Ghost of Kirby Puckett]

25 minutes ago, rv78 said:

Flexible Yes. Good No. Doesn't matter if the regulars are playing or the flexible depth is playing, this team struggles to score runs. Yes they are 8-4, but only due to the Twins pitching or the other teams poor play. Houston gave away the first game of their series with a wild pitch and the White Sox just played two sloppy games resulting in 2 Twins wins. Turn those 3 games around and the Twins are a mediocre 5-7. 

Pitching, defense and other teams poor play are all part of winning. It's not our fault the White Sox have been inept at the fundamentals for what seems like my entire lifetime now. Watching the Twins horrid play in regards to these things last year was the most disappointing thing about this version of the Twins. Playing the "if these 3 things happened we'd be........" is dumb since it can be played both ways.  

We hit 307 homers and couldn't win a single playoff game.  1987, 1991 and 1999-2010 are the blueprint. Pitch, play defense, don't make dumb mistakes. Have depth and a roster that gives you favorable match ups. We have all that, plus a pretty good prospect pipeline for depth or trades.  

We will not be the 27th ranked offense at the end, guaranteed. And we won't have the best team era. The norms will slowly take over,  but I'd bet my house we are in a better position to win playoff games today versus last season. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

19 hours ago, Danchat said:

Seems too early to say they nailed it, especially with the injuries that have popped up. Get back to me in another month or so and then we can talk.

Can we agree that "From Opening Day of the 2023 season, until April 13, 2023, the FO has nailed it"?

[tarheeltwinsfan]

But they are not 5-7. Enjoy the ride.  

[tarheeltwinsfan]

10 hours ago, SwainZag said:

Offense aside the defense has been pretty damn good.... which I'm sure has helped that shiny pitching ERA.  In that regard the depth has paid dividends.

Outstanding observation. Thank you.

[Trov]

I am a fan of building team with flexible fielding guys.  Then your depth is not as challenged when injuries happen.  We already are seeing this.  Polanco starting on IL, AK starting on IL means we are needing back up right side of infield.  Now CC back hurt, Farmer on IL means we are on 3rd SS option.  Gallo hurt we are on 3rd 1b option.  Kepler hurt and buck not playing OF, maybe hurt now too, we are on 4th and 5th OF options.  Being able to move guys around to not have to pull up guys from AA to fill in is always helpful. 

[John Belinski]

it is really hard to understand why the Twins have 5 starters out hurt which is over half of the team starters.. Baseball is not a contact sport like football so why so many injuries? It just seems like something is wrong to have this many starting players hurt. I think the only spot they have been injury free is catcher and that seems like the one spot that could have an injury.  Other teams do not seem to have this many injured players. It is shocking that after only two weeks over half the starting lineup is out hurt.

[bird]

53 minutes ago, John Belinski said:

it is really hard to understand why the Twins have 5 starters out hurt which is over half of the team starters.. Baseball is not a contact sport like football so why so many injuries? It just seems like something is wrong to have this many starting players hurt. I think the only spot they have been injury free is catcher and that seems like the one spot that could have an injury.  Other teams do not seem to have this many injured players. It is shocking that after only two weeks over half the starting lineup is out hurt.

Yeah, I agree that it's inexplicable, but I also think it's mostly "bad luck" rather than some sort of reflection on the training and medical staff. That said, it's worrisome to have a number of essential players with medical and injury histories.

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, John Belinski said:

it is really hard to understand why the Twins have 5 starters out hurt which is over half of the team starters.. Baseball is not a contact sport like football so why so many injuries? It just seems like something is wrong to have this many starting players hurt. I think the only spot they have been injury free is catcher and that seems like the one spot that could have an injury.  Other teams do not seem to have this many injured players. It is shocking that after only two weeks over half the starting lineup is out hurt.

This is not an issue unique to Minnesota

# of Players currently on the Injured List 

Yankees - 11 

Twins - 9  

Dodgers - 9

Mets - 9

Rockies - 9

Padres - 8

Phillies - 8

Marlins - 8

Braves - 8

Reds - 8

Nationals - 8

Brewers - 7

Red Sox - 7

Rangers - 7

Rays - 7

A's - 7 

Tigers - 7

D-Backs - 7

Pirates - 6

White Sox - 6

Giants - 6

Cards - 5

Royals - 5

Angels - 5

Mariners - 5

Cubs - 5

Astros - 4

Guardians - 4

Orioles - 4

Jays - 3

 

[KirbyDome89]

4 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

I don't think anything should be touted after 12 games... including a bottom 5 offense.

Now... if it must be done. When I look at a 27th ranked offense with a .659 OPS... One of the first things that I look at are the players who are dragging that number down. Who are the players getting playing time below that 27th ranked number? Those are the players who are dragging it down. 

Here's the list: Carlos Correa, Michael Taylor, Jose Miranda Max Kepler, Nick Gordon, Kyle Farmer and Willi Castro.

Unless we pin it all on Gordon... the flexible players are not the culprit.  

 

Overall, yes, and I've said as much elsewhere, but if you're going to make definitive statements about "nailing," roster construction this group probably shouldn't be near last offensively. Just my 2 cents.

Ok, but if it must be done, I'd point out that 4 of the 7 players you listed are guys being lauded. 

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

If this is the new trend, then maybe its time to increase the size of the active roster again.

In my opinion. It is not a new trend. 

 

[Riverbrian]

10 minutes ago, KirbyDome89 said:

Overall, yes, and I've said as much elsewhere, but if you're going to make definitive statements about "nailing," roster construction this group probably shouldn't be near last offensively. Just my 2 cents.

Ok, but if it must be done, I'd point out that 4 of the 7 players you listed are guys being lauded. 

I have issues with the article. I roll my eyes whenever anyone tries to lineup platoon splits that are only possible if everyone is healthy when everyone healthy rarely happens. 

I agree with you that "Nailed" is pretty aggressive for a team that is twelve games into the season. However...  pointing out a 26th ranked offense 12 games into the season is also aggressive. 

Like those guys with those big bearskin hats that walk around Buckingham palace. I will unwaveringly support depth and the flexibility that naturally and necessarily arises out of that depth.  

I recognize the front office efforts to deepen this roster at a level above Bundy and Archer and I eagerly await the results to be determined at a later time. 😉 

 

 

[KirbyDome89]

13 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

I have issues with the article. I roll my eyes whenever anyone tries to lineup platoon splits that are only possible if everyone is healthy when everyone healthy rarely happens. 

I agree with you that "Nailed" is pretty aggressive for a team that is twelve games into the season. However...  pointing out a 26th ranked offense 12 games into the season is also aggressive. 

Like those guys with those big bearskin hats that walk around Buckingham palace. I will unwaveringly support depth and the flexibility that naturally and necessarily arises out of that depth.  

I recognize the front office efforts to deepen this roster at a level above Bundy and Archer and I eagerly await the results to be determined at a later time. 😉 

 

 

I think an importance difference is that I'm not resigning this offense to the cellar. 

Yes, we're probably all much happier that (most of) the depth in question actually belongs on a major league roster this year.