The Twins Made A Decision About Royce Lewis and Edouard Julien, But It May Not Be The Right Choice

[Matthew Taylor]

As the Minnesota Twins prepare for the return of Royce Lewis from injury, Edouard Julien is set to be the odd man out, facing a demotion to Triple-A. So, what is the fallout from the controversial decision?

Image courtesy of © Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

The Twins had several candidates to send down (or send packing) as they get ready to reinstate Royce Lewis Tuesday. Ultimately, they decided that they valued organizational depth, and didn't want to DFA a veteran like Kyle Farmer or Manuel Margot. Edouard Julien's recent struggles at the plate made him the most logical choice for demotion. Since the start of May, Julien has hit .192 with 30 strikeouts, compared to just nine walks. Despite his potential, Julien's inconsistent performance highlighted the need for him to get consistent at-bats in triple-A.

While there is plenty more discussion to be had about the decision to send down Julien and whether it was the right choice or not, the decision undoubtedly has ramifications in terms of the makeup of the Twins’ infield moving forward.

Let’s dive into the three biggest questions following Lewis’s return and Julien’s demotion:

What happens to José Miranda now that Lewis is taking over full-time at third base?
The cleanest transaction for the Twins with Lewis re-joining the team would have been to send down José Miranda. This would have caused the least disruption to other positions and made for a simple swap. Miranda had other plans, though, as his hot bat made it impossible for him to be sent down. As a result, the Twins will need to get creative in deploying the right-handed hitter. 

Expect to see Miranda used at both first base and third base, as a backup to Carlos Santana and to Lewis, as well as a heavy dose at designated hitter. The Twins will also lean on Miranda heavily as a pinch-hitter late in games against left-handed relievers, replacing hitters like Trevor Larnach and Alex Kirilloff.

Miranda will always be in the lineup against left-handed pitchers, but he has shown throughout the season that he can be successful against righties, as well.

What will the designated hitter rotation look like now?
Expect Miranda to lead the way as a designated hitter for the Twins, especially against left-handed pitching. Additionally, the Twins will likely want to bring back Lewis slowly in his first month or so. A cycle of Miranda and Lewis at DH is likely. 

With the upgrade at designated hitter, the Twins will likely lean more on Ryan Jeffers at the catcher spot and not play him as often at DH, shifting more catching work away from Christian Vázquez.

Who plays second base now that Edouard Julien was demoted down to Triple-A?
With Julien gone, the Twins will have a giant hole to fill at second base. He was their near-everyday second baseman, providing much-improved defense there this season. The Twins will likely trot out Willi Castro as their near-everyday second baseman starting this week. Castro, a switch-hitter, will have a platoon advantage in every situation and play a capable second base in the field. One or two days a week, preferably against lefties, the Twins will utilize Farmer as their backup second baseman and shift Castro to a corner outfield spot for Larnach or Kirilloff.

Few individual, internal roster moves have ramifications as immediately significant and far-reaching as this swap. The stakes of this one are high--for the Twins' hopes of contending in 2024; for the futures of Lewis, Julien, Miranda, and Brooks Lee; and for the short-term outlooks for Castro, Farmer, Larnach, and Kirilloff. We're about to get some answers to fascinating and long-standing questions.

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Did the Twins make the right call by demoting Julien? How should they handle second base and DH while they try out this mixture of position players? Spark a discussion below.

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[roger]

Sure is the right decision, at least in my opinion.  Julien needs to learn what Arraez did so well, ie, foul off close pitches when he has two strikes until he gets one he can whack.

Kid can have a great career.  But it ain't gonna happen if he keeps watching strike three.  And now, let the race begin to see who wants the Twins 2025 second base job the most, Julien or Lee?

[Brett]

It may not be the right choice, but it probably is. When Julien finds his swing again, they can swap him back in. That’s when the roster decision will be tough, and a DFA will be in play for Farmer or Margot.

[TwinsDr2021]

It is the only option that makes sense, how does cutting a backup player help the Twins lineup or defense? How does cutting or demoting an outfielder help out? I mean the only other real option was cutting Santana.

[Whitey333]

Probably the right decision but I would have preferred a dfa of Margot.  But I knew they weren't going to do that.  IMO this shows in part some of the pitfalls of playing prospects, ie young players, like him and Miranda and kiriloff and larkin and others only part time.  By being so rigid on the left right platoon and giving the quick hook to players because of some analytic controlled mandate by Rocco is hurting the players development.  How can you look in the mirror and say you are sending a player down to get more everyday at bats then they sit almost half the time while on the big club?  I think the Twins have done a great disservice to their prospects and not getting near enough production out of their veterans.  I don't think this is a long term solution for utilizing your prospect base.  

[arby58]

21 minutes ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

I mean the only other real option was cutting Santana.

Given that Santana is second on the team in HRs, RBIs, Total Bases, and Walks (and plays better defense at 1B than anybody else on the roster) that isn't happening. Yes, I know he also has the second most at bats and his OPS is still below .700, but he is not a DFA option.

Agree with others that Julien needs to add some two-strikes hitting ability and the current depth provided by Margot and Farmer means they stick around a little longer. IF Lee gets healthy and/or Julien performs and Wallner gets it back together, both Margot and Farmer might not see the second half of the season, at least not from Target Field.

[JDubs]

25 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

By being so rigid on the left right platoon and giving the quick hook to players because of some analytic controlled mandate by Rocco is hurting the players development.

Come on, nearly every part of this sentence is wrong. The "mandate" to platoon is not a Rocco thing alone, it's clearly an organizational philosophy from the top to bottom. Also, the reason they platoon is because it works -- look at any left-handed hitter, unless they're a superstar, a league-average right-handed hitter is better than them against lefties. There is no evidence letting a lefty flail away against lefties leads to some magical development where they can suddenly hit left-handed pitching. Gleeman had a great article about this a few weeks back you should check out, platooning just makes the most sense.

[JD-TWINS]

So the move is the clear cut correct one in my opinion. Even if Lewis wasn’t coming back, Julien needs to refresh his approach. I think most of it is between his ears with approach but I’m not an MLB player - just seems he has the capabilities to overcome adjustments the League has made against him as well as his 2 strike mindset.

I think you are saying above that Castro will play LF & Farmer at 2B v. LH pitching? I think Farmer will be in games more or at least sooner as circumstances evolve in the games. I do think this is an opportunity for Farmer to prove his worth, or without an improvement, it further justifies his DFA move in the future.

How about Miranda? He won’t let up - looks more polished all the time - nice aggressive approach!

I do not see Miranda DHing more, or better said, ahead of Larnach at DH v. right handed pitching. I think Santana & Kirilloff will continue to get 95% of the reps at 1B……,Miranda pinch hits couple times per week …….starts at 3B once or twice to ease Lewis into regular time…….DH once or twice.

I think getting Kepler some regular rest with Kirilloff & Larnach (occasionally) in the corners could happen going forward with Lewis at DH or 3B along with Miranda.

Do not see Jeffers kicking up time much at Catcher this early in the year. His hitting drop has come from regression to the norm but his playing nearly every day probably has an affect as well. He may pinch hit a little more with the ability to come in and catch late in Vazquez starts………bottom line is Staff is doing well, Vazquez is part of that, don’t see pushing Jeffers with 100 games left to play. He may catch 53 - 50 with Vazquez here on out but not much more, IMO.

Kepler pinch hit for fellow LH hitting Julien the other day……..I could see Jeffers coming up to pinch hit for Vazquez after the 5th in a key situation. Tough for Vazquez but he’d still be getting time/starts & working with the rotation on the regular.

[TwinsDr2021]

9 minutes ago, arby58 said:

Given that Santana is second on the team in HRs, RBIs, Total Bases, and Walks (and plays better defense at 1B than anybody else on the roster) that isn't happening. Yes, I know he also has the second most at bats and his OPS is still below .700, but he is not a DFA option.

Agree with others that Julien needs to add some two-strikes hitting ability and the current depth provided by Margot and Farmer means they stick around a little longer. IF Lee gets healthy and/or Julien performs and Wallner gets it back together, both Margot and Farmer might not see the second half of the season, at least not from Target Field.

Oh I agree they were not going to DFA Santana, I was just saying there were only 4 possible scenarios. Leave Lewis in AAA (not going to happen), Demote Miranda(wasn't likely with the way he has been playing), Demote Julien or DFA Santana. Makes no sense to talk about Farmer since he is basically the last player on the 26 with some positional flexibility and Miranda (3B/1B/DH) and Julien (2B/DH) don't have really have that.

[Karbo]

Looks like a left field/DH rotation of some sort, between Larnach (who IMO should be the regular) and AK, and Miranda at DH, or filling in for Lewis a couple of times a week?

[JD-TWINS]

14 minutes ago, arby58 said:

Given that Santana is second on the team in HRs, RBIs, Total Bases, and Walks (and plays better defense at 1B than anybody else on the roster) that isn't happening. Yes, I know he also has the second most at bats and his OPS is still below .700, but he is not a DFA option.

Agree with others that Julien needs to add some two-strikes hitting ability and the current depth provided by Margot and Farmer means they stick around a little longer. IF Lee gets healthy and/or Julien performs and Wallner gets it back together, both Margot and Farmer might not see the second half of the season, at least not from Target Field.

Agree!

Starting Miranda v. LH pitching ahead of Santana at 1B won’t happen.

Pretty sure they’ll give the veterans (Margot/Farmer) an inordinate amount of time to regress back to their norms ……….no real logical reason not to if the guys supplanting them are inconsistent young guys like Wallner & Julien……,hope it happens at some point and those two “force themselves” back in to the MLB roster.

As an aside, Vazquez isn’t going anywhere until the end of ‘25. If Jeffers were to get nicked up the Team can’t have the “fallback position” only be guys currently in AAA.

[Peter]

Twins made right call doing this!!

[USAFChief]

The proper move was to send Farmer packing, but there are 6 million bad reasons they didn’t. 

Ridiculous. 

[TwinsDr2021]

32 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

I think Farmer will be in games more or at least sooner as circumstances evolve in the games. I do think this is an opportunity for Farmer to prove his worth,

I am not saying you are wrong, but this would be one of the dumbest things in baseball I have ever seen, bring up your youngish super stud and this requires one of the worst players in the major leagues this year to play more?

If Farmer gets more playing time because Lewis is healthy, the FO should be fired immediately, because if there is so much playing time for Farmer, at least give it to Lee to let him start figuring out MLB pitching. (He can't be any worse than Farmer)

[Dman]

5 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

The proper move was to send Farmer packing, but there are 6 million bad reasons they didn’t. 

Ridiculous. 

I have always been a big Farmer backer, but I admit that I am frightened when Farmer is in the game especially with Vasquez as that is two near automatic outs in the lineup.  I honestly don't think they would miss him much if he were gone as they could add Helman who plays every position and can't hit much worse than Farmer has if they needed that type of player.

That being said Farmer has had some tough BABIP luck this year at .211 which has to rise and with that hopefully the slugging which is at a pathetic .239 with no HR's and only 7 doubles it is a brutal .513 OPS right now.  Still his approach hasn't changed as he is walking at a 10% clip and only striking out at 20%. There is a solid chance for a turn around in the numbers.  Given the choice made I sure hope Farmer can start making some noise with the bat.  Having two black hole bats is generally a real rally killer for the team.

[LA Vikes Fan]

While I agree that a DFA of Margot would be a better result, I think we all saw this coming. I actually think this isn’t going to change the batting order a lot. Castro will wind up playing. 2B almost every day, and Larnach and Margot will be the platoon in LF now that Larnach’s turf toe has healed enough for him to play in the field.  That opens up the DH spot and I would expect Lewis to be there 30 to 35% of the time while Miranda plays 3B, with Miranda there another 30 to 35% of the time. I’m hopeful that Miranda will play 1B a couple of times a week as well and I think he will be a part of the DH rotation.

Lewis coming up will cost Miranda, Santana, and Kirilloff some ABs, and may cost Buxton and Jeffers some time at DH. We basically have four guys playing three positions with Lewis and those three playing 3B, DH, 1B,  I would expect to see three of the four in the lineup almost every day, so there won’t be a lot of DH and bats available for anybody else.

[stringer bell]

I don't see Farmer playing more as a result of Lewis returning. He won't pinch hit and enter games for Castro, as he has for Julien. The first pinch hitter for Larnach would likely be Margot, with Castro staying at second base. Except for concerns about Lewis' health, I don't think there's a rationale to bring Farmer in to replace Royce (with Castro moving to third) as they have done with Miranda. 

[DJL44]

I don't think Julien will be in AAA long but I'm also not sure he can work on what he needs to improve in AAA. I don't know if the AAA pitchers will use the same strategy to try to get him out because I'm not sure how many of them actually have the command to be successful using that strategy. I do hope Julien plays against every LHP in AAA to try to improve that weakness.

[GNess]

Interesting ideas being shared here. Seems that a secondary and maybe more important related facet to this is the now competition between Julien and Lee for the future at 2B. 

[stringer bell]

Among those that survived this time, who is #1 on the demotion/DFA list? IMHO, the least safe player is Alex Kirilloff. That .220 average isn't good enough and he has less power than Trevor Larnach. The next guy is Kyle Farmer. His role is already diminished this year (and if he's only a platoon 2B, he can easily be replaced. #3 is Margot. He has had an uptick, but still is well below average as a hitter with a quite limited role. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

I wonder if any thought was given to putting Lewis at 2B? Maybe that would be too risky, since Lewis has not played 2B much and the injury risk is there when turning a double play. Just asking. 

[saviking]

Margot .209 .AVG  AVE279 OBP

Julian .207 AVG  ..309 OBP

Farmer .163  AVG .274 OBP

---------------------------

Julian's lack of versatility, has options left, and the team isn't ready to admit they made bad signings, which is why Julian is the one. Any talk of his poor performance vs the other two isn't justified.

 

[Dman]

13 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

I don't see Farmer playing more as a result of Lewis returning. He won't pinch hit and enter games for Castro, as he has for Julien. The first pinch hitter for Larnach would likely be Margot, with Castro staying at second base. Except for concerns about Lewis' health, I don't think there's a rationale to bring Farmer in to replace Royce (with Castro moving to third) as they have done with Miranda. 

Which begs the questions why keep Farmer at all?  Keep Julien at second and then you have Castro to fill in at any spot and not be stuck at 2nd base.

[jccracraft]

Miranda did play quite a bit of 2B in the minors...he's not great at either 1B or 3B. Why not give him another look there on occasion?

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

The proper move was to send Farmer packing, but there are 6 million bad reasons they didn’t. 

Ridiculous. 

I'm not opposed to sending Julien down to catch his breath.

I'm opposed to rostering Farmer. And Vazquez. And Margot. This was an easy opportunity to rip off the band aid.

[old nurse]

1 hour ago, Dman said:

I have always been a big Farmer backer, but I admit that I am frightened when Farmer is in the game especially with Vasquez as that is two near automatic outs in the lineup.  I honestly don't think they would miss him much if he were gone as they could add Helman who plays every position and can't hit much worse than Farmer has if they needed that type of player.

That being said Farmer has had some tough BABIP luck this year at .211 which has to rise and with that hopefully the slugging which is at a pathetic .239 with no HR's and only 7 doubles it is a brutal .513 OPS right now.  Still his approach hasn't changed as he is walking at a 10% clip and only striking out at 20%. There is a solid chance for a turn around in the numbers.  Given the choice made I sure hope Farmer can start making some noise with the bat.  Having two black hole bats is generally a real rally killer for the team.

Farmer has an CBA of .200. It is not like that is much of a difference than .163

[jmlease1]

16 minutes ago, Dman said:

Which begs the questions why keep Farmer at all?  Keep Julien at second and then you have Castro to fill in at any spot and not be stuck at 2nd base.

Because the front office is extremely adverse to losing control over what they see as an asset. 2022 fell apart when we didn't have enough legitimate outfielders to hold things together (that team was tied for 1st on September 4th and finished 14 back) and they've clearly taken the position that they're never going to let the floor drop that far out again. Which I don't think is unreasonable, even if all of their decisions in trying to maintain a floor with veteran signings haven't worked out too well with guys like Gallo and Margot. I think the problem now is that once you get into June, that level of depth becomes less vital, you fall into the sunk cost fallacy when you keep hoping veterans will rebound and you can extract value from them, and organizationally we have more options in the high minors with young players that are able to perform as well if not better.

they're guarding against injuries to high levels and risking on-field performance in a different way now.

[DJL44]

40 minutes ago, Dman said:

Which begs the questions why keep Farmer at all?

He can come in and catch an inning if they pinch hit for Vazquez. That's not a compelling reason but it's something.

[DJL44]

Keeping Kyle Farmer is basically acknowledging that Brooks Lee still needs to develop in the minors for at least a couple of months. The other infielders in AAA (Castillo, Helman, Prato, Severino) are pretty bad, not players you want to promote to the big leagues if there is another infield injury.

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, stringer bell said:

I don't see Farmer playing more as a result of Lewis returning. He won't pinch hit and enter games for Castro, as he has for Julien. The first pinch hitter for Larnach would likely be Margot, with Castro staying at second base. Except for concerns about Lewis' health, I don't think there's a rationale to bring Farmer in to replace Royce (with Castro moving to third) as they have done with Miranda. 

I'm really not sure when it's appropriate to play Farmer at this point. Castro is better against lefties than righties so the straight platoon at 2B they planned with Julien and Farmer isn't there anymore. Margot is the more straightforward platoon with Larnach or Kirilloff in left, and Santana and Miranda are the platoon guys at 1B with Kirilloff (if Miranda isn't already the DH). I don't know when you put Kyle Farmer on the field with this roster.

(The answer is they'll sit Kepler against lefties to put Castro out there and play Farmer at 2B, but I don't like that answer)