How Can Jorge Polanco and Edouard Julien Coexist?

[Doctor Gast]

Julien isn't a 2B, I've advocated that they shouldn't have been having himwaste his time there the last 2 yrs. They should have focused him at 1st base & brought him up when Kiriloff didn't break camp at 1B. Unfornately now they need to send him down to refresh him at 1B. Besides Julien has no future at 2B when there is Polanco & Farmer there now & later there'd be Lewis, Lee & Martin coming up who are real 2B. The OF should be sorted out & put Kiriloff out there & have Julien the primary 1B, and have him do some DH. 

[dxpavelka]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

The problem is that our FO values our vets too much.  Kepler and Polanco should have been traded when value was high,  Keep the lineup fresh.  Buxton should have been traded too, but now he like Kep and Polanco has lost his value. I am just so confused by the FO take on the starting 9 bats.  

On the other hand we still haven't adequately replaced Eddie Rosario in LF.

 

[ashbury]

4 minutes ago, dxpavelka said:

On the other hand we still haven't adequately replaced Eddie Rosario in LF.

Joe Mauer's contract always was an albatross that the team had to work around.

[Linus]

To me it’s as simple as this if Buck hasn’t improved physically and at the plate by the time Polo is back then he goes to the IL and Julien is the every day DH. 

[dxpavelka]

41 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Joe Mauer's contract always was an albatross that the team had to work around.

Mauer's last year was 2018.  Moved on from Rosario AFTER the 2020 season.  Thanks for playing.  Try again.

 

[Schmoeman5]

5 hours ago, umterp23 said:

Polanco has 2 errors in 29 games at 2nd, Julien as 2 errors in 31 games.  Not sure the article commentary of "frankly not been good" applies.  He makes plays, flashy no, but makes plays.  

Trade Polanco and rotate Julien and Farmer at 2nd base and Julien can DH when Buxton goes on IL with exhaustion or neck injury from staring at the Jumbotron after walking back to the dugout.

Polanco's body is failing him more than ever this year, can't hurt to ship him out along with Miranda to see what you can get.  I don't see either one of them giving us much down the stretch

Juliens 2 errors at 2nd base could easily be 6. He's been the beneficiary of some questionable official scoring. Every ball hit his way is an adventure.  That said. I'd still like his bat in the lineup. But you can't compare his defense to anyone's. 

[FlyingFinn]

Polanco to 2B, Julien to DH, Buxton to IL. Radio announcers said that Buxton just doesn't look right out there. When he plays hurt, he turns into the 3 outcome batter, BB, SO, or HR. Since he's swinging at balls and letting strikes go, it is a lot of SO's lately. Let Buxton get healthy for the stretch run and injuries will probably let us figure out things by the time he is ready to play again.

[cmoss84]

Trade Buxton to wherever he wants to go. There will be interest from other clubs...SD for Hader? Chi for Bellinger? St Louis for Goldy or Arenado? 

[stringer bell]

As frustrating as it is to watch Buxton when he slumps, he is going to be the DH unless he is on the IL. That eliminates the best position for Julien. The Twins converted Arraez pretty much on the fly last year. Maybe they can do the same for Edouard. I think the best, most doable move is to move Julien to first base and have Kirilloff get more outfield reps.  

[Linus]

2 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

As frustrating as it is to watch Buxton when he slumps, he is going to be the DH unless he is on the IL. That eliminates the best position for Julien. The Twins converted Arraez pretty much on the fly last year. Maybe they can do the same for Edouard. I think the best, most doable move is to move Julien to first base and have Kirilloff get more outfield reps.  

This is logical except Arreaz has good baseball instincts which allowed him to make an impressive move to 1b. I don’t see that in Julien. He would need an off season imo. 

[Danchat]

6 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

Julien is not a good 2B. Julien is a very good hitter. He might be the best hitter on the team. 

We need good hitters.

If the Twins send down what might be the best hitter we have on the roster. They will demonstrate for all that they are not very serious about fixing the offensive issues. 

Play him at whatever spot gets his bat into this lineup. If it's multiple spots... it's multiple spots. 

Well, they did it last year when Royce Lewis was tearing it up in a two week stint and still sent him down when Correa was ready to go, despite our lineup badly needing him. Hopefully they have learned from that mistake.

[JesusisLord7]

I'd move on from some of these players who have not really translated to winning. When I the last time a Minnesota Twins team has won a playoff game? Decades! Trade Polanco, DFA Kepler etc. We don't really give our minor league guys a chance. Wallner should be playing with the Twins on a regular basis. Our team has no speed but we have a former high round pick with another organization Andrew Stevenson who is hitting .326 (St. Paul) with 25 stolen bases and plays center field. Um. Michael Taylor is barely hitting. Why not reward this good play with opportunities. Look at Spencer Steer of Cincinnati, he was crushing it last year in the Twins system before we faded. I wonder if he would have been called up and played if we would have made the playoffs last year and he'd still be a Twin? We have a few catchers hitting real well in St. Paul as well. Maybe we should shake it up at that position as well. 

[Mike Sixel]

5 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

Mauer's last year was 2018.  Moved on from Rosario AFTER the 2020 season.  Thanks for playing.  Try again.

 

Pretty sure you failed your sarcasm check.....

[dxpavelka]

1 minute ago, Mike Sixel said:

Pretty sure you failed your sarcasm check.....

Can't believe I even had to take the test.

[SteveLV]

I would put Polanco at 3B until Lewis gets back, if ever, this year.  Send Miranda down when he comes off the IL.

If they decide to give Buxton a day off, let Julien DH, Farmer to 3rd, Polanco to 2nd.

Try and keep everyone healthy.

[TwinkieFan4life]

6 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

I saw the LHP in my head. 

In the meantime look up Buxton vs. Left handed pitching.  Disgustingly bad.  Still in the lineup.

[Karbo]

14 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

The problem is that our FO values our vets too much.  Kepler and Polanco should have been traded when value was high,  Keep the lineup fresh.  Buxton should have been traded too, but now he like Kep and Polanco has lost his value. I am just so confused by the FO take on the starting 9 bats.  

I agree about Kepler, but Polo was (and still may be) one of our best hitters and run producers.

[Karbo]

Why not move Polo to 1st? They say it will be a lengthy rehab, so put him at 1st for a while in St. Paul and let him get used to it. The guys a great athlete so I don't think he would have a problem adjusting. It would probably be easier on his lower half anyways. Then move AK into the OF and either get rid of either Kepler or Gallo or rotate them. I don't know but probably makes too much sense for this management team!

[Riverbrian]

8 hours ago, Danchat said:

Well, they did it last year when Royce Lewis was tearing it up in a two week stint and still sent him down when Correa was ready to go, despite our lineup badly needing him. Hopefully they have learned from that mistake.

I remember that well.

Lewis was sent down after hitting a home run and double against the A's. Royce was near .900 OPS over 11 games while Jose Miranda had a batting average under .100. 

When Correa came back from injury. They kept Miranda and they sent Royce down to AAA to play other positions so he could come up to the majors and play other positions. I don't have the quote from the Rocco or the front office but they didn't want to move him to utility at the major league level... learn on the fly I guess. 

So they sent him down to St. Paul on May 18. Royce played 17 Innings at 3B, 18 Innings in LF and 10 Innings in CF and they called him back up to the majors on May 29. 

After 45 innings at other positions... he was now ready for other positions. 

I also think that it is fair to point out that Royce Lewis played nothing but SS in 2022 prior to the injury to Carlos Correa on May 6. 

So if you put it all together.

It took Royce 45 innings of other positions to be ready for major league utility work. 

Despite the presence of Carlos Correa... the Twins never prepped Royce Lewis for major league utility work prior to the Carlos Correa injury. 

Yeah... They could blow this upcoming Julien thing. 

[Riverbrian]

8 hours ago, TwinkieFan4life said:

In the meantime look up Buxton vs. Left handed pitching.  Disgustingly bad.  Still in the lineup.

I have looked it up... many many times. 

Don't just look at Buxton... look at the entire team. 

It isn't good across the board. 

[saviking]

If you want this thread to go on all day try to figure out who goes down if Julien stays up. 🤔 

[TNtwins85]

20 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

Julien is not a good 2B. Julien is a very good hitter. He might be the best hitter on the team. 

We need good hitters.

If the Twins send down what might be the best hitter we have on the roster. They will demonstrate for all that they are not very serious about fixing the offensive issues. 

Play him at whatever spot gets his bat into this lineup. If it's multiple spots... it's multiple spots. 

Like when they sent down Larnach early in the season even though he was leading in RBI’s. Let’s be honest he wasn’t tearing the cover off the ball and RBI’s are what they are but still. He was driving in runs and wasn’t as putrid as Kepler and Gallo.

[nicksaviking]

I'd be in favor of moving Julien around between 2B, 1B and OF. Maybe he ends up looking solid if given enough reps in the corner OF. I'm up for giving him reps at 3B too, but I'm much more forgiving about defensive mistakes than most are.

This isn't a problem that goes away when Polanco is gone, there are plenty of other young players who are already pushing for roster spots, so I'd experiment now while Julien's bat is needed in the lineup. 

Of course if it turns out he's one of those players who's offense tanks upon day-to-day position uncertainty, then I'd just put him back at 2B and regroup and re-evaluate in the offseason.

[Mike Sixel]

4 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I'd be in favor of moving Julien around between 2B, 1B and OF. Maybe he ends up looking solid if given enough reps in the corner OF. I'm up for giving him reps at 3B too, but I'm much more forgiving about defensive mistakes than most are.

This isn't a problem that goes away when Polanco is gone, there are plenty of other young players who are already pushing for roster spots, so I'd experiment now while Julien's bat is needed in the lineup. 

Of course if it turns out he's one of those players who's offense tanks upon day-to-day position uncertainty, then I'd just put him back at 2B and regroup and re-evaluate in the offseason.

Right.....you have Lee (if Lewis is at third, Lee has to be your 2B of the future) and Severino (I think he's traded for a RP this deadline, or as part of a bigger deal) and Martin (who should only be a LF or CF at this point, but maybe his arm can't take that right now) and Schoebel (too far away to worry about).

Julien has to coexisit with Lewis and Lee in the near term, whether Polanco is here or not.

[nicksaviking]

42 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Right.....you have Lee (if Lewis is at third, Lee has to be your 2B of the future) and Severino (I think he's traded for a RP this deadline, or as part of a bigger deal) and Martin (who should only be a LF or CF at this point, but maybe his arm can't take that right now) and Schoebel (too far away to worry about).

Julien has to coexisit with Lewis and Lee in the near term, whether Polanco is here or not.

Not to mention I still want to see Chris Williams, DaShawn Keirsey, Seth Gray, Anthony Prato, Jair Camargo and Alex Isola before the Twins lose them for nothing. These are the type of non-prospects the Twins have had success with in the past. They won't have much trade value other than 3rd or 4th pieces, but about every other year one of these guys turn into Ryan Jeffers, Luis Arraez, Mitch Garver or Brian Dozier. This team needs to start getting creative or they're never going to get actual auditions. Move the young guys around the diamond just to see if their bats will play, then figure out the defense if/when they show they'll be a useful offensive piece.

[ashbury]

26 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Not to mention I still want to see Chris Williams, DaShawn Keirsey, Seth Gray, Anthony Prato, Jair Camargo and Alex Isola before the Twins lose them for nothing.

If I were chief of baseball operations for a team, I'd try to rein in the urge to micromanage, but I'd set out a general principle to my GM that anyone not on his 40-man at age 25 and above is either at AAA or else has been given The Talk: "we think you might be a good coach someday, and if you would like to continue your playing career until then we'll find a spot for you to work with the younger players coming up and teach them your good work ethic by example."  And then I'd want my GM's monthly written report to me to contain a section on "25-year old non-roster player progress" for the occasional exceptions to this rule.

IOW, concur.  Why TF is Seth Gray or DaShawn Keirsey in Wichita?  Make a decision - give yourself some meaningful AAA data to make that decision - and even if you guess wrong there'll be another crop of 25-year olds this time next year.

[USAFChief]

31 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Not to mention I still want to see Chris Williams, DaShawn Keirsey, Seth Gray, Anthony Prato, Jair Camargo and Alex Isola before the Twins lose them for nothing. These are the type of non-prospects the Twins have had success with in the past. They won't have much trade value other than 3rd or 4th pieces, but about every other year one of these guys turn into Ryan Jeffers, Luis Arraez, Mitch Garver or Brian Dozier. This team needs to start getting creative or they're never going to get actual auditions. Move the young guys around the diamond just to see if their bats will play, then figure out the defense if/when they show they'll be a useful offensive piece.

Leaving aside the "why.?"...How do you propose giving any of these any time in Minnesota? 13 man roster, team is trying to win the ALC.

 

[nicksaviking]

16 minutes ago, ashbury said:

If I were chief of baseball operations for a team, I'd try to rein in the urge to micromanage, but I'd set out a general principle to my GM that anyone not on his 40-man at age 25 and above is either at AAA or else has been given The Talk: "we think you might be a good coach someday, and if you would like to continue your playing career we'll find a spot for you with the younger players coming up."  And then I'd want my GM's monthly written report to me to contain a section on "25-year old non-roster player progress" for the occasional exceptions to this rule.

IOW, concur.  Why TF is Seth Gray or DaShawn Keirsey in Wichita?  Make a decision - give yourself some meaningful AAA data to make that decision - and even if you guess wrong there'll be another crop of 25-year olds this time next year.

Yeah, at a certain point, the ages of these players become a question mark. I would say that I'd give this era of 'old' prospects a bit more leeway than most, for two reasons. The first being that all of these guys lost a year during Covid, the second being that the current front office has put way more veteran roadblocks in front of their promotions than the last couple of front offices.

That second one I don't particularly like, but will give the organization props for at least putting an effort into the free agent market and creative trades, even if I don't care for the vets they've chosen more often than not.

[nicksaviking]

4 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Leaving aside the "why.?"...How do you propose giving any of these any time in Minnesota? 13 man roster, team is trying to win the ALC.

 

Can't do it if they're trying to win with Kepler, Gallo, Farmer, Solano, Taylor and Castro on the roster. Correa, Buxton and Vazquez's contracts will keep them on board certainly. Obviously you can't dump them all and expect to win, and I'm not pinning the blame on all of these veterans. However, my position has always been that the team will do better with an influx of youthful energy than they will by counting on 'veteran leadership'. 

I know the optics would make it look like waiving the white flag, but I think the only shot at pulling out of the funk is to throw caution to the wind and turn the show over to the next generation. I'm not expecting others to agree with me.

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

Leaving aside the "why.?"...How do you propose giving any of these any time in Minnesota? 13 man roster, team is trying to win the ALC.

 

How about one of them, even? You know, for a corner OF that hasn't hit in three years?