Tough Decision Time for the Twins

[Cody Pirkl]

In a mildly surprising move, the Twins promoted Austin Martin last week. While he was deserving, it’s left the team's roster too right-handed for their normally platoon-heavy ways. How long does the current iteration of the roster last?

Image courtesy of Nick Wosika-USA TODAY Sports

The Twins' current lineup consists of four left-handed options against right-handed pitchers: Trevor Larnach, Max Kepler, Willi Castro, and Carlos Santana. Their numbers for the year reflect this. While they’ve crushed southpaws, they’ve been below-average against right-handed pitching. The Twins have some pretty good options to try to fix it, but when and how do they go about it?

Matt Wallner was the first young player whom the Twins demoted this season. After a rough spring training, he struck out in over half of his at-bats to begin the season, and was sent to Triple-A for a reset. After struggling for a month-plus in St. Paul, Wallner started to heat up around when it became clear that Alex Kirilloff needed a trip to the minor leagues. He was skipped over for the promotion for Austin Martin, but it’s become even more apparent since that decision that Wallner deserves a chance to help turn this offense around for a second year in a row.

For a team struggling against right-handed pitching, it’s hard to justify keeping a left-handed former 32nd overall pick in the minor leagues, given how he’s performed recently. Because Wallner posted an .877 OPS in MLB last season and helped save the Twins' season, one could argue that it’s overdue to get him back on the roster.

In recent weeks, we’ve seen exactly why the Twins have a below-average slash line against right-handed pitching. What was once a lineup with several underperforming left-handed bats now lacks lefty swingers altogether. Manuel Margot occasionally starts against same-handed pitching, despite a career .657 OPS in those matchups. Kyle Farmer has taken some of these matchups as well. It’s not a good situation for a lineup that includes Christian Vázquez half the time, for defensive reasons. 

The Twins have a reputation for holding onto veteran players long after it makes strategic sense to do so. As they near July, they may have to make a difficult decision earlier than they’d like. With a group of potential second base options (which includes Castro, Edouard Julien, and Brooks Lee) within the organization, the top choice for who to swap out is all too clear.

Kyle Farmer was brought back to beat up left-handed pitching, which the Twins lineup has done despite him posting just a .633 OPS in those matchups. With just two fully left-handed hitters on the roster, the pinch-hit spots will be few and far between, even if Farmer was trusted to take those at-bats, which he has not been for some time now. He is also limited to second base, as the Twins don’t trust him at shortstop, and he has fallen behind Royce Lewis and José Miranda at third base. 

The Twins have a choice to make. They can let Wallner continue terrorizing Triple-A pitchers, possibly at the expense of the MLB lineup. They can ship out another player who’s either more productive or likely to be a long-term piece of the roster than Farmer. Or they can decide it’s time to value on-field production, which needs to be priority number one as they near the season's halfway point.

Is it time to call Matt Wallner to help balance the Twin's platoon issues? Do you agree that Kyle Farmer is the best swap to make? Let us know below!

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[dxpavelka]

Funny. We've spent years whining about being too left handed.  Until we realized that many of those lefties aren't good at hitting baseballs.

 

[Major League Ready]

Martin has actually been a little better against RHP at the ML level.  Where can Milb splits be found?

[Whitey333]

Yes.  Farmer has run his course.  It's time to move on.  It's also nearing time for fi al decisions on players like Kiriloff Julien Wallner and others.  If you have no future plans for players like these that have been hyped to the max even overhyped, then trade them to another team.  This "process not results" philosophy surely isn't helping the team and definitely not the players.  Calling these prospects up and then only play them part time does no one any good.  

[MABB1959]

I agree. Not easy to do but many of the players discussed and a few others have been given many chances at the MLB level and not much to say they will ever be good enough.  Right now all is going SO good but keep in mind they are playing below average teams.  I think they should keep going with what they have and see how this line-up does against the average or above average teams.  Why not give others a chance?

• Yunior Severino and Michael Helman both batted over .400 (as did Tony Kemp). Severino launched three home runs while Helman had two. Severino took eight walks.
• Brooks Lee settled in to the tune of a .333 average going 8-for-24 with a double and a home run.

 

[NYCTK]

31 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

Martin has actually been a little better against RHP at the ML level.  Where can Milb splits be found?

You can see splits under minor league game logs. Large splits in favor of RHP in 23 and 24 but not in larger samples in 22 or 21.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Margo vs. Farmer? Until Julian gets back to the Twins, I submit that the Twins need Farmer to play occasionally at 2nd base. Castro and Martin are the 2 other second basemen on the Twins. Both of them are adequate in the OF. Since Wallner is strictly an outfielder, in order to promote Wallner to the Twins, another outfielder, Margo, needs to be traded for some very young, minor league, flame-throwing, low floor, high ceiling pitchers. The Twins can also pay some of Margo's salary, if necessary.

[MABB1959]

I know the AllStar voting process is a joke but sad to not see any Twins players listed.

[srlarson]

how about Farmer to the Dodgers...for change....get him off the books and they need a body at SS.....

[Patzky]

Are we brave enough to admit Thielbar is only taking up roster space and has no business on the mound unless we're down ten runs (then just put Will there). Is jettisoning Thielbar and bringing up Wallner even an option worth considering?

[chpettit19]

3 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Are we brave enough to admit Thielbar is only taking up roster space and has no business on the mound unless we're down ten runs (then just put Will there). Is jettisoning Thielbar and bringing up Wallner even an option worth considering?

I'd be shocked if the Twins went with a 12 man staff for any considerable amount of time. They do everything they can to make it a 14 or 15 man staff by sending guys down, calling guys up, DFAing guys, etc. A 12 man staff just isn't something they seem to think is an option at all.

[JD-TWINS]

5 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Are we brave enough to admit Thielbar is only taking up roster space and has no business on the mound unless we're down ten runs (then just put Will there). Is jettisoning Thielbar and bringing up Wallner even an option worth considering?

No.

Could be done for a day or maybe two but  they won’t go short a reliever for any length of time.

All the speculation is fun but Martin going down and Wallner coming up in the next 10 days seems to be coming more & more real.

Farmer started the year (5 weeks) hitting .085. He’s nearly at .200 7 wee  kg s later and has never really been “hot”. I don’t see him going anywhere ………Dodgers is an interesting thought as it frees up $3M they could apply to a deadline acquisition …..,doubtful.

[JD-TWINS]

10 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Are we brave enough to admit Thielbar is only taking up roster space and has no business on the mound unless we're down ten runs (then just put Will there). Is jettisoning Thielbar and bringing up Wallner even an option worth considering?

Thielbar is a problem & if he doesn’t pitch well in very next outing - I see him being removed from 26-man for Funderburk.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, MABB1959 said:

• Yunior Severino and Michael Helman both batted over .400 (as did Tony Kemp). Severino launched three home runs while Helman had two. Severino took eight walks.
• Brooks Lee settled in to the tune of a .333 average going 8-for-24 with a double and a home run.

When all the Saints batters destroy a team for a week that tells you more about the opponent than it does the batters.

[Doctor Gast]

I'm in favor of bringing up Wallner. But what we have to focus on isn't how many HRs he hits in AAA but how many SOs will he accumulate in MLB?

The question doesn't only lie with Wallner but also Lee, Julien, Kiriloff & Keirsey (all LH hitters) who have the potential to be darn good players. far superior players to their predominate RH-hitting counterpart Farmer, Margot & Santana. Wasted money with DeSclavani, and Topa, we need to trade if we can or eat the rest of the money due & DFA them.

Kiriloff had difficulty hitting LHPs or RHPs which makes perfect sense to swap out with Martin who can hit either.

[USAFChief]

Wallner up ASAP. 

Farmer isn't useful in any capacity. 

While we're at it, find a useful player for Margot's spot, too.

[LambchoP]

I say Farmers time has come. We've got plenty of guys who can cover the infield. If we could find a team to take on him and his salary for minor leaguers, great. If not, DFA him or Margot and call up Wallner. Theilbar also needs to go. I doubt we find a trade partner for him so a DFA is likely. We've got a perfect replacement in Funderburk waiting, although I do think we should acquire a high leverage lefty at the deadline.

[saviking]

2 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

Funny. We've spent years whining about being too left handed.  Until we realized that many of those lefties aren't good at hitting baseballs.

 

How bout we quit worrying about whether a batter is left-handed or right-handed and just worry about whether they are a good hitter or not. 

[Jocko87]

48 minutes ago, srlarson said:

how about Farmer to the Dodgers...for change....get him off the books and they need a body at SS.....

I've been thinking this since Mookie went down. Farmer can still play enough short to cover a couple months and of all the organizations that have a low A ball prospect and a couple million to patch a hole. Somehow Gavin Lux is radioactive at short.

They also know him well having drafted him.

[Franz]

1 hour ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Margo vs. Farmer? Until Julian gets back to the Twins, I submit that the Twins need Farmer to play occasionally at 2nd base. Castro and Martin are the 2 other second basemen on the Twins. Both of them are adequate in the OF...

Agree that Margot should be the one on the hot seat.

Based on Martin's usage at minor and major league levels this year (3 games at 2B for St Paul vs 14 in the OF, and 1 vs 29 for the Twins, according to Rotowire), I think the Twins no longer view him as an option at 2B. That adds to the OF logjam and makes Margot redundant on this roster. I see more value in Margot's roster spot than any trade we could make, though.

 

[Road trip]

1 hour ago, srlarson said:

how about Farmer to the Dodgers...for change....get him off the books and they need a body at SS.....

This, this, a thousand times this.  Dodgers need a stop-gap with Betts out a few weeks.  Offer them Farmer for a bag of baseballs just to get the salary relief and roster spot.

Think the Twins could get by with Castro and Martin to cover 2nd base until either Lee or Julien is deemed ready.

[Greglw3]

1 hour ago, MABB1959 said:

I know the AllStar voting process is a joke but sad to not see any Twins players listed.

Deserving are Correa (total no brainer) and probably Lewis. And quite possibly Joe Ryan.

 

[terrydactyls]

2 hours ago, MABB1959 said:

  I think they should keep going with what they have and see how this line-up does against the average or above average teams.  Why not give others a chance?

 

Keep going with what they have and give others a chance???  Isn't that a little contradictory?

[DJL44]

21 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

While we're at it, find a useful player for Margot's spot, too.

Margot has an OPS > 900 in June (35 PA). Farmer does as well but it's in about half as many plate appearances.

I think they should find both of them a new home but they're not useless this month.

[chpettit19]

I don't know all of the Dodgers options, but I'm not sure why people think they'd want our 3rd string SS to fill in for Mookie. Farmer can't even backup SS here, but we think the Dodgers want him to be their starter for 6 to 8 weeks? I find that hard to believe. What makes him a better option than Rojas, Kike, or Taylor? 

Kyle Farmer vs Rojas for 2024:

Why would the Dodgers give the Twins anything for Kyle Farmer?

[Riverbrian]

It's tough decision time? 

I seriously doubt that it's tough decision time. Decision time comes when there is an injury and who gets hurt will make that decision easier. Farmer and Margot are not going anywhere. The Roster will operate how the roster operates. 

[GKuehl]

Even though Farmer's overall numbers on the year aren't great, they're weighed down by a historically bad first month of the season. Of late, he's been about league average, which is exactly what you'd expect from him. Could Farmer actually have a bit of trade value, especially for a team like the Dodgers who could use some middle infield help with the injury to Mookie Betts and the struggles of Gavin Lux? 

[Road trip]

15 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

I don't know all of the Dodgers options, but I'm not sure why people think they'd want our 3rd string SS to fill in for Mookie. Farmer can't even backup SS here, but we think the Dodgers want him to be their starter for 6 to 8 weeks? I find that hard to believe. What makes him a better option than Rojas, Kike, or Taylor? 

Kyle Farmer vs Rojas for 2024:
 

Why would the Dodgers give the Twins anything for Kyle Farmer?

Dodgers likely won't give anything significant, which is fine.

Agree Rojas is the likely starter at short, though he is also past his prime and playing every day may be asking a lot at age 35.

Kike is stretched at short and hasn't played there all year, much like Farmer.

Dodgers are also playing Gavin Lux at 2nd base almost every day, and he isn't hitting at all.  3B Muncy is on the DL (Gavin Biggio there for now).  The loss of Betts just makes their infield situation very thin for the next several weeks.  

[LA Vikes Fan]

13 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

I don't know all of the Dodgers options, but I'm not sure why people think they'd want our 3rd string SS to fill in for Mookie. Farmer can't even backup SS here, but we think the Dodgers want him to be their starter for 6 to 8 weeks? I find that hard to believe. What makes him a better option than Rojas, Kike, or Taylor? 

Kyle Farmer vs Rojas for 2024:

Why would the Dodgers give the Twins anything for Kyle Farmer?

This. The Dodgers didn't get to be one of the best teams in baseball just because they have money. They got there because they are really good at evaluating talent. Would the Dodgers maybe give that all time great player "cash considerations" to get Farmer as a back up IF if he was DFA'd? Maybe, may be not. But they are not going to give up anything to get him. They don't need to. 

[jimbo92107]

Problem is, Wallner's most natural position is right field, where Max Kepler continues to execute flawless fielding, along with some revived hitting so far this season. They can platoon Wallner with Martin in left field, but the real transition comes after one of the team's most solid players goes somewhere else.

Wallner probably will develop into a good right fielder. He's got a serious gun for an arm, and I'm sure he's smart enough to learn the nuances of that corner, and the overhanging wall. Even so, can he be as reliable as Kepler has been? That's a tough ask.