You're The Twins GM! Plotting My Offseason: What’s that Smell? It's the Funk.

[chpettit19]

43 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

I know you are a stats-only, forget about underlying conditions guy & slugging reigns supreme for you pertaining to catching. Rortvedt is not a slugger who didn't prosper under the NYY & MN "all or nothing type of hitting philosophy. Tanner Swanson (do you remember him?) loved Rortvedt's dynamic defense & insisted that he'd be included in the trade. While in NYY he was Cole's personal catcher.

Back to hitting. Rortvedt's hitting under a more friendly hitting philosophy at TB, he had a 1st half BA of .270 & OBP of .365 is more indicative of who he is than his time at NYY & MN. It's remarkable after an injury-plagued '23, he was able to be used as extensively as he was in the 1st half of '24 with TB & explains why his hitting cratered the 2nd half. Stating that Rortvedt is a 3rd string catcher is an insult & shows that you know nothing about catching. Your suggestion of moving Vazquez & putting more responsibility on Jeffers not only reinforces that idea but is also a recipe for disaster.

If that's what you've taken from my posts I'm sorry. I'm someone who cares about being able to show some sort of proof for things. I can show proof of Ben's abilities. Slugging reigns supreme when it pertains to catching, or any other position? No, but you can't have a hitter in your major league lineup with an OPS of .500 or below. No matter what position they play. I know you read an article that called him "Cole's personal catcher" and you love that, but Ben Rortvedt caught 13 games for Gerrit Cole in his life. That's basically 1/3 of a season worth of starts. And they traded him the very next offseason. So, he clearly wasn't too important to Cole.

Tampa is also a "pull the ball in the air" team. They aren't a slap hitting team. They pulled the ball 2% less than the Twins and more than the Yankees. You make claims that aren't based on anything other than you wanting to fit them into your narratives. It's why I use stats. Because it's actual evidence for my stance. Ben pulled the ball more in Tampa than he did in MN. It's not "remarkable" that a player can play the season after being hurt. He ended the 2023 season healthy. He had a healthy offseason. That doesn't explain him returning to his career norms in the second half. Them being his career norms explains him returning to his career norms.

When the POBO of the team you're talking about goes on record and names the position the player you're talking about as the position that needs to be upgraded for next year it may be a sign that you shouldn't be defending that player so hard. “The catching position, the production we got last year was nowhere near where it needed to be to be a playoff-contributing position. We need to find a way to score more runs. I think there’s a few different ways we can go about doing that. But upgrading the catcher situation, without question.” Maybe I'm not the one who doesn't understand catching when these are the quotes coming from the team you think has hitting figured out so much better than the Twins and this is what they're saying about the position the guy you're defending plays.

[Doctor Gast]

2 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

It is possible to strongly state your position without denigrating another opinion. The chance that people agree is less than disagreement. Disagreement is ok or should be.

FWIW, I was a fan of Rortvedt as a back up catcher. The Twins didn't agree. I also like Vazquez but believe that money is a reality too, which makes Christian a tough choice for an AL Central type roster budget.

Tony or Rodney, I don't smash the thumbs-down icon, I deal with people with respect but if someone pushes, I push back. CH was taking digs at me & was asking to be pushed.

[tony&rodney]

3 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Tony or Rodney, I don't smash the thumbs-down icon, I deal with people with respect but if someone pushes, I push back. CH was taking digs at me & was asking to be pushed.

Ok. Fair. Just think both of you add decent comments to TD and prefer things to stay positive, even in disagreement.

[Greglw3]

On 11/20/2024 at 10:50 AM, nicksaviking said:

The offensive production was a significantly bigger issue than the defense last year.

Agree. That’s why in my blueprint I added Profar for LF and Jesse Winker, a pretty good hitter and high on base guy just last year. Plus .333 hitting Jose Iglesias as C4 insurance.