The Twins Have Created Themselves a Platoon Disadvantage

[Ted Schwerzler]

If you have been watching the Minnesota Twins for any extended period of time the past two seasons you know that their lineups have been built on platooning talent. Unfortunately a lineup that has remained inconsistent once again has created a platoon disadvantage.

 

On a daily basis you can hear the bickering caused by the announcement of Rocco Baldelli’s lineup card. Regardless of how a guy may be going, the handedness of the opposing pitcher will dictate what players start. With the rise of pinch hitting in the era of a universal designated hitter, Minnesota is doing the most to pad the stats. The problem is their blueprint isn’t working.

Over the course of the 2024 Major League Baseball season about the only thing that has remained constant for the Minnesota Twins is their inability to be consistent. Throwing up gaudy winning and losing streaks, they find themselves looking up at both the Cleveland Guardians and Kansas City Royals in the standings. As they continue to get healthier, returning Royce Lewis to the lineup in short order even, playing their best players could benefit them.

As Twins Daily’s Gregg Masterson pointed out recently, there are few teams doing more to actively hurt themselves at the dish than Minnesota. Through 65 games, no team has more at bats coming from pinch hitters than Baldelli’s group. Of the 55 at bats taken, only four five have gone four extra-bases (four doubles and a Ryan Jeffers home run), while the .182 batting average ranks 20th. The OPS for these spots from Minnesota checks in 17th across baseball and they have produced a near-neutral fWAR.

What’s most problematic, or maybe most telling as to why the numbers aren’t better, is because the Twins are using inferior hitters off the bench. Both Kyle Farmer and Manuel Margot have been nothing short of hot garbage to this point in the season, and while they should have an ideal opportunity when facing southpaws, it doesn’t bear fruit while they are going as they have been.

Beyond just inserting a pinch hitter into the lineup, Minnesota is actively tying itself down to inferior talent later in the game by allowing those types of players to grab multiple at bats. As mentioned previously, this is a strategy that has been going on for two years (and it worked last season for Baldelli) but none of those options were carrying an OPS+ below 50 with more than 100 plate appearances of a sample size.

It could benefit Baldelli and the Twins to be a bit more selective in the spots where they work with a platoon. Should a left-handed starter be on the mound, someone like a Margot or Farmer opening the game in the lineup only to be removed following their first plate appearance without success may bear fruit. Getting more at bats for better hitters, regardless of their handedness, could help to spark a needed offensive explosion.

The idea of a platoon, and pinch hitting for optimal hitting conditions, is to play on a batter’s tendency for enhanced sightlines. With pitches not able to work the same while being on the opposite side of the box, it’s a relatively straightforward thought process. However, the less we see Farmer or Margot, and the more routinely Edouard Julien, Alex Kirilloff, and Ryan Jeffers remain in the lineup, the better.

We are just one-third of the way through the season, and maybe some of the Twins struggling veterans find a way to get back towards their career norms. If that happens then they’ll rise the ranks if still employing this strategy. If they don’t though, it will continue to sink them and the platoon disadvantage will have been something the team played into all season long.

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[BH67]

Well, if suboptimal pinch hitting via the platoon strategy still achieves the 9th best record out of 30 MLB teams, the strategy is positive on the whole. A larger sample size will help Baldelli optimize the batters needed in these situations as the season continues. Thanks for providing a meaningful analysis here.

[Gamblerssoftball]

Using the platoon would be a great strategy if the right handers were hitting to the same degree as the lefties. Unfortunately, our right handed platoon players can't hit a lick these days. I understand the desire to get everyone on the roster a fair number of at bats, but right now it's costing the team a lot of poor plate appearances. I know that is frustrating for everyone. 

[nicksaviking]

I loathe the uber-platoon approach mostly because it leads to extremely inefficient and inflexible roster construction. 

But if they're going to do it, they should be doing it with better RH hitters. It's not like Margot and Farmer are some stud .850 OPS hitters against lefties. They're basically just league average hitters from their strong side.

Max Kepler used to be terrible against lefties too, now he's not because he got reps. Let the young left handers get those same reps or they'll only become usable against lefties about the time they hit free agency.

[Parfigliano]

25 minutes ago, BH67 said:

Well, if suboptimal pinch hitting via the platoon strategy still achieves the 9th best record out of 30 MLB teams, the strategy is positive on the whole. A larger sample size will help Baldelli optimize the batters needed in these situations as the season continues. Thanks for providing a meaningful analysis here.

No matter the sample size Rocco will not change the opposite handed strategy.

[BH67]

2 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

No matter the sample size Rocco will not change the opposite handed strategy.

I agree. My point is that seeing more plate appearances will lead to better results from that strategy later in the season.

[Jocko87]

Seems the case being made is that its the players having abnormally bad years, not the strategy.

And what does it mean, to tie themselves to inferior talent for the rest of the game?  Do they not swap both ways?

A 4 man bench is going to get used, daily, Twins Daily.  Get used to it. 

[Fornasiere-ite]

I don't mind the early pinch hitting situations where Rocco will make sure its a R/L or L/R matchup in a big spot. What I don't like is doing it en masse. It's happened to many times where the better hitters are on the bench at the end of games, with no flexibility for matchups then. If you bring in Farmer for Julien, Margot for Larnach back to back in the the 6th inning, the 8th or 9th looks like Farmer and Margot against statistically most likely a righty. 

I understand the theory, I just would prefer best hitter period, especially at the end of the game. The problem is the "best hitter" is a toss up for 50% of our lineup. 

[Riverbrian]

This subject is obviously close to my heart. I've spent a lot of time thinking about it. 

1. The platoon advantage is real. It's harder for hitters to hit against the same hand. 

2. This is the first year that the front office set the roster with the intention of extreme platooning. The extreme platooning started during the season last year with the arrival of the young left-handed hitters.... Julien, Kirilloff and Wallner but the roster out of spring training wasn't set for this purpose... it became a necessity when they decided to shelter the youngsters.  

3, It worked last year... I didn't like it but the Twins offense got some decent miles out of it and it was the performance of the young left handed hitters that helped us immensely last year. They covered for poor performance from or the absence of big guns like Correa, Buxton, Gallo and Lewis.  

Here are the problems with it: 

1. While the platoon advantage is real. Julien may never have a reverse split because the platoon advantage is real but that doesn't mean that gap can't be closed through exposure. If Julien has an OPS of .800 against RHP and a .500 OPS against LHP... that's bad but if he can raise that OPS against left handers to .700 through exposure. You have an every day player that doesn't require a guy who hits .750 against left handers to handcuff to. 

2. It created an inflated impression of what the kids were capable of. Julien had nice numbers last year... so did Wallner. Would the numbers have been so nice if they had to absorb left handed pitching. Probably not but the lack of exposure and therefore lack of development against left handed pitching is an interstate that has no exit ramp. In order to maintain this philosophy you have to staff your roster with the right handed hitting equivalent. This leads to point #3. 

3. In order to set your opening day roster to this operational style. It requires you use up your extra position player inventory on players who hit left handers decently but don't hit right handers very well to fill the short side of the platoon. If you commit to this... it requires that you sign Luplow's... trade for Margots... Pay 6 million to Farmer... these guys are short side platoon guys because... they don't hit righties very well and they become your extra inventory of players and the guys they turn to when injuries or poor performance occur. 

4. If the Margot's and Farmers of the world hit righties well... and also lit up lefties. They wouldn't be short side platoon. They would play every day. You have to purposely go out and sign guys who can't hit righties just to keep the platoon operational and after the 1 year deal is done... they got to find more the following year to keep playing this game.  The only way to get out of this cycle is to find left handed hitters who can hit left handed pitching and you are not going to find those guys when you consistently don't let them be those guys. It's an endless cycle.   

5. Perhaps the worst part on the development side is this... When Austin Martin is called up... He goes into a short side spot. How does Austin Martin develop at the major league level waiting for a left hander to come around. Bottom line... this extreme platooning makes it hard to develop players while they are being strip mined for parts. The Twins CAN'T survive without development. We will not spend the money necessary to become self sufficient without a properly functioning farm system. The team will constantly be signing low level free agents to fill out the roster. 

6. Setting up your roster this way... Only works if everybody stays healthy. That never happens. It only works if the players perform at the level expected. Many times... they just don't.

7. By playing the platoon advantage to the extreme like the Twins do... they have actually turned it into a disadvantage because the real split they need to focus on is this. 75% of pitchers are right handers. They are rostering players to attack the 25% leaving the 75% vulnerable because your extra players who need to step in when injuries occur or poor performance occurs are not equipped to take on that 75%. If they want to play the platoon advantage. MORE LEFT HANDERS in the lineup. Attack the 75% and let them improve against the 25%. 

Don't get me started about pinch hitting for a guy in the 3rd inning like last year. OMG... that is simply not sensible. 

I've said this before... but... it's the number one issue with the Twins in my opinion... Even if it works just a little bit. 

[bean5302]

54 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I loathe the uber-platoon approach mostly because it leads to extremely inefficient and inflexible roster construction...

This. There are 26 roster spots which can be filled. 13 are going to the pitchers on pretty much every MLB team right now. That leaves 13 spots left. 9 have to be for your starters, and 3 have to go to utility infielder, utility outfielder and backup catcher. That leaves 1 open spots for platoon guys, but the Twins are like... "hold my beer, I've got 20 platoon guys!!!!"

[nicksaviking]

16 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

This. There are 26 roster spots which can be filled. 13 are going to the pitchers on pretty much every MLB team right now. That leaves 13 spots left. 9 have to be for your starters, and 3 have to go to utility infielder, utility outfielder and backup catcher. That leaves 1 open spots for platoon guys, but the Twins are like... "hold my beer, I've got 20 platoon guys!!!!"

And three of the four spots all currently go to guys who at their best are average veterans and at their worst (i.e. now, aside from Castro) are unusable, and there's no flexibility to option them. Ideally those three bench bats you listed should be optionable players you can sub out if they can't cut it. The fourth should be an actual good hitter.

[lake_guy]

30 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

 

7. By playing the platoon advantage to the extreme like the Twins do... they have actually turned it into a disadvantage because the real split they need to focus on is this. 75% of pitchers are right handers. They are rostering players to attack the 25% leaving the 75% vulnerable because your extra players who need to step in when injuries occur or poor performance occurs are not equipped to take on that 75%. If they want to play the platoon advantage. MORE LEFT HANDERS in the lineup. Attack the 75% and let them improve against the 25%. 

Don't get me started about pinch hitting for a guy in the 3rd inning like last year. OMG... that is simply not sensible. 

I've said this before... but... it's the number one issue with the Twins in my opinion... Even if it works just a little bit. 

And this is why someone in the Twins org needs to be held accountable for this approach.  They gotta have known this right?  right?!!

 

[Riverbrian]

2 minutes ago, lake_guy said:

And this is why someone in the Twins org needs to be held accountable for this approach.  They gotta have known this right?  right?!!

 

I always intend for my criticisms to be constructive.

I don't expect perfection and I have to assume that there are other things that they do well and throwing the baby out with the bathwater isn't always the best approach but yeah... I think they are wrong on this. 

I've been married for 34 years, I've been faithful, loyal to my family, I've been involved in the lives of my two sons for 30 years since the day they were born and they have turned out to be fantastic young men. I make a decent living, the house is paid for, I don't have a gambling or drinking problem, I mow the lawn and I take out the garbage.

However... I'm not very handy. I don't know what to do with a wrench because I'm not sure where the on-button is.  

My wife could have opted to trade me in for someone who can fix the plumbing but that someone may throw up on the living room carpet once a week and now she is looking again... when perfect just doesn't exist... unless she is lucky enough to get a guy like Ashbury. 

Ultimately... I will judge this front office on development because this team can't sustain success without it. 

I'm constructively saying that this level of platooning is hindering development and it guarantees that they will be constantly bargain basement shopping for guys who are beyond development.

The bill for strip mining will come due. 

 

[Schmoeman5]

2 hours ago, BH67 said:

Well, if suboptimal pinch hitting via the platoon strategy still achieves the 9th best record out of 30 MLB teams, the strategy is positive on the whole. A larger sample size will help Baldelli optimize the batters needed in these situations as the season continues. Thanks for providing a meaningful analysis here.

What would that 9th best record be without such poor results.  That's nothing to hang Roccos hat on. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Well, it is wounded and needs some mending. 

[Doctor Gast]

3 hours ago, BH67 said:

I agree. My point is that seeing more plate appearances will lead to better results from that strategy later in the season.

Margot & Farmer amongst others started out poorly. Because of injuries, they were forced to play regularly against RHPs which contributed to their further downfall that had to really messes up a guy's head. They are strictly used against LHPs & they want them to get as many ABs to try to get them out their funk. Because it's ridiculous how far Farmer is off his game hitting.

I was against obtaining Margot & Santana & I'd DFA Margot, Santana & Farmer but that is a different subject.

[Riverbrian]

Here's another point that has to be at least worth consideration 

Current Team Stats 2024:

Twins Team OPS Vs RHP .687 (Tied for 17th)

Twins Team OPS Vs LHP .739 (9th) 

We better be better against left handers because the roster construction this year has overwhelmingly from game one been:  

7 Right Handed Batters

4 Left handed batters

2 Switch Hitters

That's 9 right handed hitters against lefties. 6 left handed hitters against righties. 

If the platoon split is real and I believe it is. We better be better against left handed pitchers because we have loaded up against them. 

The 9th against 25% of the pitching is nice and all but the problem is going to be that tied for 17th against 75% of the pitching.

We got this backwards. We are chasing the wrong side of the equation with Margot, Santana and Farmer.   

 

 

 

 

[Castinofan]

Another problem is his righty- lefty useage is based on a generality.   Some right handed pitchers are actually tougher against lefties. It seems Rocco has decided all left handed hitters will do worse in a specific situation than a bad right handed hitter.   He would pinch hit for Rod Carew with Willie Norwood. 

[IndianaTwin]

23 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

Seems the case being made is that its the players having abnormally bad years, not the strategy.

And what does it mean, to tie themselves to inferior talent for the rest of the game?  Do they not swap both ways?

A 4 man bench is going to get used, daily, Twins Daily.  Get used to it. 

A 3 (or 3.5) man bench really, given that it's tough to do much with the catcher spot on a given day.

[IndianaTwin]

I recognize that this is the Internet, so there's always an element of recency bias and "what have you done for me lately"?

In 2022, TD was up in arms about Rocco pulling starters early. In 2023, Rocco let pitchers go longer, and people finally realized that the reason Rocco pulled starters early in 2022 was because they sucked. In 2023, they had better starters and, wheeee, they pitched longer.

This year's approach is really not much different than last year. Last year, we picked up Vazquez, Solano, Gallo, Taylor and Farmer and platooned a lot. As a whole, I think Taylor, Farmer and Solano were seen as wins, Vazquez probably a draw and Gallo became the whipping boy (even with his 103 OPS+ and generally good defense, but that's a different discussion). And all in all, there was praising of the front office for their emphasis on depth that allowed them to withstand injuries and bring along young guys like Lewis, Julien and Wallner.

This year, they've arguably allotted fewer PAs to vets (Vazquez, Farmer, Santana and Margot) and still platooned, but because the veterans have not performed to their career average (and in a couple cases, have been significantly below), the front office are suddenly idiots (or perhaps more accurately, idiots for a different reason, but that's also a different discussion).

Given that there is a solid likelihood that not all will go swimmingly in 2025, I predict TD will find a new thing to focus on next year.

 

[KirbyDome89]

4 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

Seems the case being made is that its the players having abnormally bad years, not the strategy.

And what does it mean, to tie themselves to inferior talent for the rest of the game?  Do they not swap both ways?

A 4 man bench is going to get used, daily, Twins Daily.  Get used to it. 

The case being made is that investing a disproportionate amount of your roster space in short side platoon players only works when everything goes right. How often does everything break right? 

Farmer turns 34 this year, should we be shocked his bat has declined? Margot has been a league average hitter once, maybe twice, in his career. Again, should we be shocked that at 30 a slap hitting OF who has lost a step is struggling? The individual performances of these short side guys is one thing, but there are also injuries, and performance issues with the starters to be considered. If Farmer, Margot, et al were scuffling once or twice a week in the starting lineup it wouldn't be as big of an issue, but when Julien isn't hitting, or Buxton is injured, or Lewis is out, Correa misses time, yada yada and you're plugging in replacement (or below) level guys with little or no defensive value every day that's a problem. 

[IndianaTwin]

1 hour ago, Riverbrian said:

Here's another point that has to be at least worth consideration 

Current Team Stats 2024:

Twins Team OPS Vs RHP .687 (Tied for 17th)

Twins Team OPS Vs LHP .739 (9th) 

We better be better against left handers because the roster construction this year has overwhelmingly from game one been:  

7 Right Handed Batters

4 Left handed batters

2 Switch Hitters

That's 9 right handed hitters against lefties. 6 left handed hitters against righties. 

If the platoon split is real and I believe it is. We better be better against left handed pitchers because we have loaded up against them. 

The 9th against 25% of the pitching is nice and all but the problem is going to be that tied for 17th against 75% of the pitching.

We got this backwards. We are chasing the wrong side of the equation with Margot, Santana and Farmer.   

 

I don't think I'm disagreeing, but part of the challenge is in the question of what you're going to do in the off-season loading up. 

Going into the offseason, you essentially had six guys who were considered to be every day players (barring injury): Catcher, Julien, Correa, Lewis, Buxton and Kepler. Four (but really five, since the Catcher is shared between two guys) of those are right handed, two left-handed. Then, you had three guys (Kirilloff, Larnach and Wallner, all left-handed) that you were generally planning to have in one or two roster spots.

The remaining spots went to Farmer and Castillo, who were already on the roster, but were non-tender options, and Santana and Margot, who were added. 

Barring trades, you weren't weren't going to change the first group of players. Two of the last quarter are switch hitters, so that helps the situation when trying to maximizing platoon splits. What are you going to do with the remaining spots? Are you suggesting they should have pursued lefties for Farmer and Margot's spots? The constant chatter we heard all offseason was that we've got too many left-handed hitters. The easy solution is to say, "Trade some of those lefties for righties," but that's easier said than done.

Maybe I am disagreeing, but I don't think the issue is that they chased the wrong side of the platoon -- the issue is that the guys who are most underperforming (Vazquez, Farmer and Margot) happen to all be right-handed. 

[Mike Sixel]

11 minutes ago, IndianaTwin said:

I don't think I'm disagreeing, but part of the challenge is in the question of what you're going to do in the off-season loading up. 

Going into the offseason, you essentially had six guys who were considered to be every day players (barring injury): Catcher, Julien, Correa, Lewis, Buxton and Kepler. Four (but really five, since the Catcher is shared between two guys) of those are right handed, two left-handed. Then, you had three guys (Kirilloff, Larnach and Wallner, all left-handed) that you were generally planning to have in one or two roster spots.

The remaining spots went to Farmer and Castillo, who were already on the roster, but were non-tender options, and Santana and Margot, who were added. 

Barring trades, you weren't weren't going to change the first group of players. Two of the last quarter are switch hitters, so that helps the situation when trying to maximizing platoon splits. What are you going to do with the remaining spots? Are you suggesting they should have pursued lefties for Farmer and Margot's spots? The constant chatter we heard all offseason was that we've got too many left-handed hitters. The easy solution is to say, "Trade some of those lefties for righties," but that's easier said than done.

Maybe I am disagreeing, but I don't think the issue is that they chased the wrong side of the platoon -- the issue is that the guys who are most underperforming (Vazquez, Farmer and Margot) happen to all be right-handed. 

Trust Miranda/Julien/Kiriloff to play first base, for a starter. Don't use your scarce money on a backup. And another backup. And another backup. When you decide you won't have a good sized budget, you can't pay backups millions when you can use rookies for A LOT less.

Might not work, but then you either learned they rookies can't be relied on, or got them ready for next year, or it worked. Now? Now we have a bunch of mediocre veterans, and they still aren't producing....

[Jkeady12]

Said it before and will say it again. Rocco overmanages based on analytics.  How much does it affect the games? Hard to say because he can only manage based on analytics which means we could save his salary and have AI as the manager.  Don't care what your numbers show, good managers know when to use analytics and when not to, they know their players get hot and get cold. They know that there are outside factors that affect the players. Good managers manage not just look at analytics and completely trust them.

[NotAboutWinning]

39 minutes ago, Jkeady12 said:

Said it before and will say it again. Rocco overmanages based on analytics.  How much does it affect the games? Hard to say because he can only manage based on analytics which means we could save his salary and have AI as the manager.  Don't care what your numbers show, good managers know when to use analytics and when not to, they know their players get hot and get cold. They know that there are outside factors that affect the players. Good managers manage not just look at analytics and completely trust them.

And this makes Rocco vulnerable to being gamed by an actually good baseball manager. They know what buttons to push to get Rocco's lineup twisted around!

[Riverbrian]

19 hours ago, IndianaTwin said:

I don't think I'm disagreeing, but part of the challenge is in the question of what you're going to do in the off-season loading up. 

Going into the offseason, you essentially had six guys who were considered to be every day players (barring injury): Catcher, Julien, Correa, Lewis, Buxton and Kepler. Four (but really five, since the Catcher is shared between two guys) of those are right handed, two left-handed. Then, you had three guys (Kirilloff, Larnach and Wallner, all left-handed) that you were generally planning to have in one or two roster spots.

The remaining spots went to Farmer and Castillo, who were already on the roster, but were non-tender options, and Santana and Margot, who were added. 

Barring trades, you weren't weren't going to change the first group of players. Two of the last quarter are switch hitters, so that helps the situation when trying to maximizing platoon splits. What are you going to do with the remaining spots? Are you suggesting they should have pursued lefties for Farmer and Margot's spots? The constant chatter we heard all offseason was that we've got too many left-handed hitters. The easy solution is to say, "Trade some of those lefties for righties," but that's easier said than done.

Maybe I am disagreeing, but I don't think the issue is that they chased the wrong side of the platoon -- the issue is that the guys who are most underperforming (Vazquez, Farmer and Margot) happen to all be right-handed. 

I think we agree that the off-season was when the boat got pushed into the river and I think they were hell bent on keeping Julien, Kirilloff and Wallner away from left handed pitching and this was what ended up being the river current. They didn't have any money to spend so... strip mining the best parts off of players was probably the strategy all along.  

I have a couple of discrepancies from your off-season outline. 

Going into the off-season we had:

The two catchers locked: Jeffers and Vazquez were going to get their playing time divided up however it got divided up. 

I believe that 5 players Lewis, Correa, Buxton, Polanco, Kepler were considered everyday guys. You have Julien listed as every day. He was not an every day guy. He was a platoon guy all last year and he has been a platoon guy this year. Julien was always going to require another player rostered to handle the short side. I didn't want to see that... but we are all powerless to stop this force.  

This leaves 6 non-everyday spots: 

IMO... Julien, Kirilloff, Wallner, Gordon and Castro were going to take 5 of those spots if they remained with the club. There was question mark on if the Twins would pick up the option for Farmer and they picked up the option on Nov. 2nd so Farmer took the last available spot at that point. There was also a question on Kepler's option but that was also picked up on Nov. 2nd as well. I think the moment they picked up Farmer's option... I think that was the first indication that strip mining through heavy platoon was the off-season plan. 

That's 13 guys. Gallo, Taylor and Solano were free agents that were not going to be retained. No room for any of them. On the Farm... the team would have Miranda, Larnach, Martin, Camargo and Severino on the 40 man. 

I believe the Twins wanted to continue shielding Julien, Kirilloff and Wallner from left handers so they would need three short siders to make that happen with only two in house. Castro and Farmer could hold down two of those spots but they were one short with Gordon being a left handed hitter.

Here comes a Key Point: If they only have two short side platoon bats and that's all they had. Two of Julien, Kirilloff, Wallner, Gordon would have to play every day. One had to be replaced by short side right handed hitter. 

They announced early in the offseason that budget was being cut so in my opinion... they probably had little to no money to work with. No Budget and Farmer costing 6 million is a pretty good indication for the platooning.  

If they would have done nothing: Here's how it looked in my opinion: 

Every day guys(5+1) Lewis (3B), Correa(SS), Buxton(CF), Polanco(1B), Kepler (RF) 

+1 - Kirilloff, Julien, Wallner, Polanco share the DH work with Kirilloff, Julien and Wallner rotating starts against left handers.     

Left Handed Platoon (2) Julien(2B), Wallner (LF)

Right handed Platoon (2) Farmer (2B), Castro (LF)

No Role floater (1) Gordon 

Catchers (2) Jeffers, Vazquez

4 important dates to follow January 29, February 7, February 11 and February 26

January 29: They trade Polanco which frees up 6.5 million dollars to work with because DeSclafini would cost them 4 million of the 10.5 that Polanco would cost. No major league offense returned in the trade. 

Here is how it looks after the trade: 

Every Day Guys (5): Lewis(3B), Correa(SS), Buxton(CF), Kepler(RF), Gordon (DH)   

Left handed Platoon(3): Kirilloff(1B), Julien(2B), Wallner(LF), 

Right handed platoon(3): Farmer(1B) Castro(2B), Martin(LF)

Catcher(2) Jeffers, Vazquez

Someone from the 40 man will get Polanco's 26 man spot. I'll go with Martin since he can be that right handed short side guy and Miranda is still recovering from surgery. If they want to protect, Julien, Wallner and Kirilloff from lefties. Gordon would have to become an everyday guy instead of Castro because Castro has to handcuff to someone and Gordon makes no sense being left handed. They will need 5 every day guys and they are one short after the Polanco trade. I'm sure they didn't like the idea of Gordon being the every day guy but the roster is now set up this way so they look for a free agent that can be acquired under the 6.5 million saved in the Polanco trade. 

February 7: They Sign Carlos Santana for 5 Million

So Lets send Miranda down to the minors to give Santana a 26 man spot and update: 

Every Day Guys(5+1): Lewis(3B), Correa(SS), Buxton(CF), Kepler(RF) Santana(1B)

+1: Kirilloff, Julien and Wallner rotate through the DH position against Left Handers. 

Left Handed Platoon(2) Julien(2B), Wallner(LF) 

Right Handed Platoon(2) Farmer(2B), Castro(LF)  

No Role Floater(1) Gordon

Catcher(2) Jeffers, Vazquez

They still need that Short Side Right handed Bat to protect he young left handers. 

February 11 - Nick Gordon is traded to the Marlins - No offense returns in the trade - Let's Update

Every Day Guys(5): Lewis(3B, Correa(SS), Buxton(CF), Kepler(RF), Santana(1B)

Left Handed Platoon(3): Julien(2B), Kirilloff(DH), Wallner(LF)

Right handed Platoon(3): Castro(2B), Farmer(DH), Martin(LF)

Catchers(2) Jeffers, Vazquez

They could have stopped here, the roster has the left/right handcuffs but I'd guess that they are not comfortable with Martin breaking camp with an opening day job. So they still have to find that right handed hitter. Outfield is the obvious spot. 

February 26: Twins trade for Margot 

There it is... A 26 man roster all balanced and pretty. With one problem. Those right handed bats would have to fill in for injuries should they occur and none of them have demonstrated the ability to hit right handed pitching.. So the roster is just fine providing nobody gets hurt or struggles. 

Every Day Guys(5): Lewis(3B), Correa(SS), Buxton(CF), Kepler(RF), Santana(1B)

Left Handed Platoon(3): Julien(2B), Kiriloff(DH), Wallner(LF)

Right Handed Platoon(3): Farmer(2B), Margot(DH), Castro(LF)

Catchers(2): Jeffers, Vazquez

Just a guess of course but I think I'm close to right. 

I think the key moment was when they picked up Farmer's option. I think that signified the Platoon heavy approach and the off-season was going to be how do they get there without money. 

 

[USAFChief]

2 hours ago, NotAboutWinning said:

And this makes Rocco vulnerable to being gamed by an actually good baseball manager. They know what buttons to push to get Rocco's lineup twisted around!

This happens almost daily. 

[DocBauer]

So I am a little bit confused as to whether we're talking actual platooning, or are we talking PH, or are we talking both? It feels to be we're talking both as the one often leads to the other.

1} In the first few months of 2023 the Twins were at the absolute bottom of the league in AVG and OPS from PH. For whatever reasons, they were amongst the best in the league from around July on. Was that the players getting better at it, more comfortable? Or was it simply the law of averages correting back?

2} I don't have a major issue with PH in certain situations. In the past, there were a couple of times when Rocco really jumped the gun early in games and short sided the Twins the remainder of the game. I really haven't seen much of that as of late. Now, in the first game of the Houston series Friday evening, Julien was pulled in an RBI situation as the Astros had a lefty on the mound with reverse splits. So Rocco brought in Margot, and the Astros immediately countered with a righty...anyone could see this coming a mile away...and Margot hit a weak grounder, if I remember correctly. And now Julien was out for the remainder of the game. 

IMO, that was a poor way to use a PH strategy.

But let's talk platooning by itself. @Riverbrianhas really covered this at length now, and previously, so there's not much more to add. But:

1}It's a simply fact that generally speaking, LH hitters perform poorly against LHP. It's just a fact. Not all, but most. But it's the "not all" that is part of a larger issue. Until and unless someone gets the opportunity to face more, and see if they can adapt/learn to do so, you never know. Further, as was pointed out, a LH batter wouldn't have to be an All Star caliber hitter against same side arms to be valuable as a daily option, just not horrendous. Unless or until you have just seen enough of a player to just know it's never going to work, they should receive some opportunity to experience LHP and see what they might be capable of.

2} I have ZERO issue with the Twins philosophy of building their player roster and saying to themselves: "Hey, we need another OF here. And we could really use one that can play a good CF to help back up Buxton. Wouldn't it be great if he was a RH bat to help out against tough LHP?" Where I DO have a problem is when that player is signed ONLY because they can help against LHP. I don't mean to pick on Margot, but he's been close to average his whole career against LHP. Fine. But he's been pretty far below average against RHP. So a non great 25% usage short side platoon option to fill in a roster spot? How about a better hitter than him against RHP who can STILL beat up on LHP some? I understand we're talking about "better" player than Margot in this scenario, and maybe a more expensive one, but we're also talking about better value spent for the $. And what if that "better" player happens to be a rookie, or second year guy, etc? Then the $ affect goes out the window.

While $6M for Farmer as a reserve INF is pretty high, if he was the same player he was in 2023...leadership, defense, decent bat...he's arguably worth that kind of money. When he's performing about as bad as any player in the league, the $6M is a bad investment. When we add in what Margot has been doing...or not doing...as well as a poor offensive "2nd" catcher, the whole platoon situation takes on a life of it's own.

In short, signing, trading for, or promoting players who hit from the right side to complete the roster is NOT a bad idea to help offset the number of LH bats on the team, or to provide PH opportunities in games. What IS a bad idea is selecting those guys ONLY because they can be part of a short side platoon. How good of a ballplayer they are should be the primary consideration, NOT because they bat from a certain side.

 

[Riverbrian]

39 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

1}It's a simply fact that generally speaking, LH hitters perform poorly against LHP. It's just a fact. Not all, but most. But it's the "not all" that is part of a larger issue. Until and unless someone gets the opportunity to face more, and see if they can adapt/learn to do so, you never know. Further, as was pointed out, a LH batter wouldn't have to be an All Star caliber hitter against same side arms to be valuable as a daily option, just not horrendous. Unless or until you have just seen enough of a player to just know it's never going to work, they should receive some opportunity to experience LHP and see what they might be capable of.

This paragraph is what makes it hard to sleep at night. 

1. Development - Not developing your young left handed hitters just forces you to continue to find these right handed compliment Margot types year after year where they will continue to get exposed to right handed pitching due to injuries. I'd like to see them escape this pillory that they willing binded themselves to so we can simply concentrate on rostering the best players possible at all times. And... And... if you look into the Twins future... This platoon thing gets a little scary looking when you notice that our top prospects are LEFT HANDED. ERod is a lefty... Jenkins is a lefty and Brooks Lee while a switch hitter thus far has significantly better splits batting right handed. Do these 3 get the same treatment as Julien, Kirilloff, Wallner, Larnach and now Kepler. Obviously there is plenty of land to cross before reaching this bridge too far but lets say Lee and Jenkins show up... lets say... next year. Do they get to face lefties... if not will the Twins revert to finally giving Julien a chance. Do they trade excess left handers whose valued they have lowered because they have been branded platoon players on purpose. How do you add Lee and ERod to the roster with all these wannabe Joc Pederson on your roster? I know we all have different ideas on what they should do but we are talking about what the Twins will do. They are clearly committed to this strip mining thing... so what happens when Lee, Erod and Jenkins hit town with this left hander against left hander fear going on. 

2. The part that I bolded of your quote is important. Just because a lefty hitter isn't as good against left handed pitchers... doesn't mean that the numbers are horrendous.

Using Kepler for example. Using On Base Percentage for easy down and dirty math. 

Career OBP vs RH - .329

Career OBP vs LH - .293

Over 100 AB's... Kepler reaches base 4 less times. One single AB... Kepler goes from a .33% chance of reaching base to a 29% chance of reaching base. We are rostering lesser players to just improve your odds potentially very very little. And that potential little improvement of odds are gone... vanished... flipped in the other direction every single time Farmer or Margot types have to face right handers and they will face more right handers than left handers. Because there are more Right handers and injuries are going to force the necessity of facing them. 

Just play the odds against the 75%. If you want to play the odds. 

[Whitey333]

As a long time fan I absolutely hate Roccos platoon system.  It's too rigid.  Maybe that's because he doesn't know how to actually manage a baseball game.

[Riverbrian]

11 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

As a long time fan I absolutely hate Roccos platoon system.  It's too rigid.  Maybe that's because he doesn't know how to actually manage a baseball game.

In order for Rocco to utilize this system. The roster has to be set up accordingly and it was set up accordingly. 

It clearly isn't Rocco's system alone. The front office and Rocco are rowing on the same oar.