Larnach's Last Chance?

[Brock Beauchamp]

18 hours ago, stringer bell said:

I'm going to put this in the Larnach thread (it does relate to Trevor directly) but this is a more general question:

Has Trevor Larnach's option for 2024 actually been used? Here is what I know. A player may be optioned, but that option doesn't count if a minimum number of days on option don't accumulate. Last year, Kirilloff was optioned after his rehab for his wrist, but within a day or two an injury occurred and he was recalled and it was reported that the option didn't count. 

This year, Larnach was optioned to St. Paul during Spring Training. He was placed on the minor league IL before the Saints season began and just completed his rehab (at Fort Myers) when he was recalled to replace Wallner. I don't know the minimum number of days a person has to be assigned to the minors in order for the option to be used, and I don't know if an uninjured player for player swap is different than replacing an injured player. I also know there have been occasions when an option was voided because the player was injured when he was optioned. I don't know if that was the case for Larnach. 

I believe you are correct that an option may not count but I think the threshold is less than ten days, or something along those lines. It's certainly well under the close-to-a-month that Larnach spent "in the minor leagues", being that he was optioned before Opening Day, which was March 28th this year.

[bean5302]

13 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

Wallner's Job is Larnach's to lose now. 

Nah. Larnach has to absolutely rake beyond any of his historical precedents to keep it if Wallner starts hitting. Larnach is making a good case at the moment, though! 

[RpR]

38 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Nah. Larnach has to absolutely rake beyond any of his historical precedents to keep it if Wallner starts hitting. Larnach is making a good case at the moment, though! 

More like, Wallner is going to have to look like Ted Williams to not stay in St.Paul all summer.

Larnach is not a great fielder, but more mobile than Wallner.

[bean5302]

15 minutes ago, RpR said:

More like, Wallner is going to have to look like Ted Williams to not stay in St.Paul all summer.

Larnach is not a great fielder, but more mobile than Wallner.

LOL, no he is not. Wallner (28.2->28.0 ft/sec) is literally as fast as Royce Lewis (28.4->28.2 ft/sec) and Austin Martin (27.9 ft/sec) who are all on the edge of center fielder speed. Larnach is like 26.5 ft/sec (below average). Larnach's defensive instincts are great, though. Wallner looks awkward out there, but Wallner has a higher defensive ceiling than Kepler.

No chance Wallner gets called up until he rakes for a few weeks, though. He's looked ugly at the plate for a few weeks now.

[RpR]

Just now, bean5302 said:

LOL, no he is not. Wallner (28.2->28.0 ft/sec) is literally as fast as Royce Lewis (28.4->28.2 ft/sec) and Austin Martin (27.9 ft/sec) who are all on the edge of center fielder speed. Larnach is like 26.5 ft/sec (below average). Larnach's defensive instincts are great, though. Wallner looks awkward out there, but Wallner has a higher defensive ceiling than Kepler.

No chance Wallner gets called up until he rakes for a few weeks, though. He's looked ugly at the plate for a few weeks now.

Wallner is fast -- once -- he gets moving --  but is  very slow and awkward in setting up for a play.

Larnach is agile, far more agile than Wallner, and so far his throws are quite accurate., though distance has never been Larnach's strong point.

 

[Mike Sixel]

3 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

LOL, no he is not. Wallner (28.2->28.0 ft/sec) is literally as fast as Royce Lewis (28.4->28.2 ft/sec) and Austin Martin (27.9 ft/sec) who are all on the edge of center fielder speed. Larnach is like 26.5 ft/sec (below average). Larnach's defensive instincts are great, though. Wallner looks awkward out there, but Wallner has a higher defensive ceiling than Kepler.

No chance Wallner gets called up until he rakes for a few weeks, though. He's looked ugly at the plate for a few weeks now.

Wallner's arm really helped a ton last year also.....teams stopped trying to advance. I don't think people here realize how good he was on D last year, despite how he looks.....

[laloesch]

If Larnach can keep hitting like he has, I'll take it with this offense.

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

Nah. Larnach has to absolutely rake beyond any of his historical precedents to keep it if Wallner starts hitting. Larnach is making a good case at the moment, though! 

I don't historical precedents are necessary but major league average should let him keep his major league job. If Larnach doesn't tank... I believe Wallner will have to wait until an injury to try again. 

Even if the club believes Wallner is better than Larnach (They Might) it doesn't have to be an either or situation. There is room for both on the club next year.

Meaning... even if the club believes Wallner is better than Larnach (They Might) it doesn't mean that they have to just throw Larnach away. Is Kepler coming back next year? 

The situation is much more pressing for Larnach because if he goes back down to the minors this year. He is out of options and next year the minors are no longer an option. Wallner still has another option. 

This is a big year for Larnach and it may be his last chance. 

[CRF]

Look at all the rope this organization gave Sano over several years, and he couldn't hit a breaking ball even if he was swinging a damn telephone pole (that's how old I am). Would Larnach strike out 100 times over the course of a season? Yep. Would he hit 25-30 HR's and drive in 80-90 runs? Maybe...probably. Since Wallner cratered this spring, keep Larnach in the lineup and give him a shot against both lefties and righties. See what happens. I wouldn't give up on him just yet. He'd go somewhere else and a smart coaching staff would make a tweak or two, and he'd be damn good. 

[Cameron Green]

I think the Larnach experiment is likely on its last legs, especially with Walker Jenkins going to be in the majors in 1-2 years hopefully. One can only hope that Wallner's struggles are fixable and come down to being able to adjust to pitchers having more of a scouting report against him and he can adjust that pitchers will pitch his weaknesses. 

 

Not saying that Larnach's days are numbered, but with other prospects nearing their debut's, it may be time to give them a look and Larnach take a back seat for the time being if he continues to underperform. 

[bean5302]

 

42 minutes ago, RpR said:

Wallner is fast -- once -- he gets moving --  but is  very slow and awkward in setting up for a play.

Larnach is agile, far more agile than Wallner, and so far his throws are quite accurate., though distance has never been Larnach's strong point.

 

2023 5ft splits.
Wallner = 0.00, 0.53, 0.83, 1.09, 1.32, 1.54, 1.74, I think you know what happens from here on...
Larnach = 0.00, 0.52, 0.82, 1.08, 1.32, 1.54, 1.75, 

The players have the same acceleration curve for the first 20 feet or so. Larnach's route running is better as Wallner's reaction and first step are rough.

[jorgenswest]

They need both Wallner and Larnach. They need them both as soon as Wallner turns it around. I argued in spring that Larnach needed to be on the roster or they needed to find someone else who could DH against right handed pitching. There was a lot of push back about the need for a right handed platoon outfielder and they ended up filling that spot with Margot. I still believe that additional bat against right handed pitching is important even if it means that Julien or Kirilloff or Larnach needs to start against a lefty. I far prefer seeing one of them start against a lefty than seeing someone like Vazquez at DH or in the line up at catcher more than necessary.

They invested their resources this winter to hit left handed pitching better. Take a look at tonight’s line up. Did they invest wisely? Would it be so awful to have that extra bat against right handed pitching and replace Farmer with Julien in this lineup? If not Farmer then Larnach or Kirilloff at DH in place of Vazquez? 

JeffersDH	R	3	12	0	.258	.822
BuxtonCF	R	1	10	0	.247	.684
MargotRF	R	1	2	0	.171	.521
Miranda3B	R	1	3	1	.212	.590
Santana1B	S	0	3	0	.149	.419
MartinLF	R	1	4	0	.244	.692
VázquezC	R	1	3	0	.150	.392
Farmer, K2B	R	0	2	2	.073	.322
Castro, WSS	S	1	4	1	.169	.538

Edit: I wasn’t expecting the bottom 5 of this order to put up a 4 spot. I hope they keep prove wrong repeatedly here in out.

Edited April 25, 2024 by jorgenswest
Bottom 2nd edit

[RpR]

11 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

They need both Wallner and Larnach.

They need some one's bat hitting at least as well as last regular season and it definitely is not Wallner, so they do not need Wallner.

[bighat]

On 4/23/2024 at 10:05 PM, Riverbrian said:

Wallner's Job is Larnach's to lose now. 

Yep. Larnach has been handed this gig for 3 years in a row now and hasn't been able to hold it. 

How big of a surprise gift would it be if Trevor broke out and finally became the player we all hoped he'd be? It seems like a long shot but you never know. 

[Riverbrian]

15 minutes ago, bighat said:

Yep. Larnach has been handed this gig for 3 years in a row now and hasn't been able to hold it. 

How big of a surprise gift would it be if Trevor broke out and finally became the player we all hoped he'd be? It seems like a long shot but you never know. 

3 things need to happen.

Health, Opportunity and Performance.

The odds are long for all but a select few. 

[Schmoeman5]

53 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

3 things need to happen.

Health, Opportunity and Performance.

The odds are long for all but a select few. 

Yeah. OK Obi-Wan. And options

[Riverbrian]

16 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Yeah. OK Obi-Wan. And options

OK Darth Vader. 

I honestly can't tell if we are arguing or not. 

[Schmoeman5]

13 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

OK Darth Vader. 

I honestly can't tell if we are arguing or not. 

Both? 

[Riverbrian]

7 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Both? 

Reading your responses in this thread. 

You seem to be saying that you don't think Larnach is that good but his situation with the Twins has been horribly mismanaged.

Beyond that... I'm not sure what you are saying.