What Does Ty France Mean for José Miranda's Role With the 2025 Twins?

[Linus]

1 hour ago, TopGunn#22 said:

Go ahead and check back jmlease.  I was one of the guys saying that Jax could succeed as a SP and I still think that.  Of course he could still be very effective as a late inning RP.  He's just a good pitcher.  I'm willing to consider Lewis moving around the IF with 1B a possibility. 

I keep reading how Lewis's arm is a noodle now.  The guy started out with a cannon.  I think his throwing problems were more related to lower body issues than a lack of recovery from Tommy John.  I just want Lewis to play some place where he will stay healthy so his bat is socking 30 HR's and driving in 100 runs.

If you project Keaschall at 2B and Lee at 3B that kind of leaves Lewis somewhere else.  I'm not advocating for it, but I see it as a possible outcome.  With the exception of SS this Twins team is about as unsettled in the IF as I can ever remember.  You'd probably have to go back to 1981 or 1982 with Hrbek and Gaetti coming up at the corners to find a similar situation.   

I don’t believe that Lewis has had Tommy John surgery.  I do agree that it is too soon to assume he has permanent throwing problems. 

[old nurse]

On 2/13/2025 at 11:29 AM, TwinsDr2021 said:

IMO, he was brought in as first base depth, but more importantly to DH against Lefties. With the current bench of Vazquez, Castro, Bader and (Martin/Julien/Lee depending on who the primary second basemen is) doesn't really leave a DH against lefties. I think they realized Castro just isn't good enough to be a full time player and definitely not worthy of a being a DH against lefties (,674 OPS last year and .686 career), Bader isn't worthy of a DH position and most likely will be starting for Larnach or Wallner. Julien, Martin and Lee aren't either (depending on who is even on the roster)  Plus if Lee is the starting 2B, they might put Miranda at 3B and France at first against the tougher righties and give Lewis a rest if Martin is the guy on the bench and not Julien.

In 10 PA as a pinch hire in Seattle he has had 2 walks and a HPP. I am not sure but that looks to be very very close to the Margot line of PH. Ofer

[Schmoeman5]

On 2/13/2025 at 11:46 AM, RpR said:

It means Lewis had better  do lot better job at Third or Miranda will.

How so? Is France significantly better at 1st than Lewis is at 3rd?

[RpR]

4 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

How so? Is France significantly better at 1st than Lewis is at 3rd?

If France gets First, Miranda was better than lewis at third base, so Lewis will get less playing time.

[ashbury]

13 hours ago, Linus said:

I don’t believe that Lewis has had Tommy John surgery. 

"The test results came back, Mr Lewis, and I'm afraid you've got a bad case of Tommy John of the Knee."

[Doctor Wu]

On 2/15/2025 at 10:01 PM, TopGunn#22 said:

I'm not very fired up about the Ty France signing. 

Agreed, In fact, it's hard to get fired up about ANY of the signings this winter. Not much to move the needle or excite the fans. Feels like band-aid and insurance acquisitions for the most part. Seems like a trade still needs to happen, if only to get rid of some of the excess on the roster and of course trim that budget. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Rocco's comments are a little surprising. Both he and Falvey have mastered the game of word salad. But it's not even March 1st yet. A lot can and will happen between now and opening day. Maybe they're trying to motivate Miranda? 

[Schmoeman5]

13 hours ago, RpR said:

If France gets First, Miranda was better than lewis at third base, so Lewis will get less playing time.

If France gets first. What does that mean? Rocco is just giving it to him?You didn't answer my question. Is France a better 1st baseman than Lewis is a 3rd baseman? Mr Defense over all else is OK with a subpar defender who hit for a couple years. You were sure to let everyone know that Santana was a superior defender last year and Gallo the year before. And that they deserved to start over all others because of that fact. But now it's ok if this guy sucks defensively. As long as he doesn't suck as bad as Lewis does at 3rd. If Miranda's glove and bat are better than France he should start over him. Simple as that.

[stringer bell]

I know one poster has claimed that Lewis is a poorer defender than Miranda. I don't think so and I believe Lewis has more potential to improve as a defender than Miranda. France has been pretty lousy at first and his upside there is pretty limited. Miranda has less experience at first and also wasn't very good there in limited time. I think with more reps Miranda could be as good as France. 

Now that I have talked Miranda up at first and down at third, here is why--Miranda has primarily played third in the minors and so far in the big leagues and he's probably close to as good as he's going to get and it isn't very good. Meanwhile, he hasn't played a lot of first base at any level so there is room for him to grow. He's 6'2", tall enough to provide a few crucial inches when stretching for throws and his arm isn't strong which is less of a problem at first than third. 

Lewis made a bunch of throwing errors in 2024. His arm strength is fine and he is a more nimble and athletic player than Miranda will ever be. He isn't an athletic marvel anymore (reduced speed and more bulk), but his hands are better than Miranda's and his arm strength is better. Hopefully, we'll see a better version of Lewis in 2025 with a complete recovery from his injuries of 2024 and another year removed from his knee surgeries. Lewis needs to clean up his throwing and I speculate it was a combination of not being 100% physically plus a bit of a mental issue after making a few bad throws. Lewis has played exactly 100 games at third base and played third very little in the minors. With more experience, he should get measurably better.