Gleeman & The Geek: 7 Takeaways From the First 7 Days of Twins Camp

[John Bonnes]

Aaron and John talk about the early Twins tidbits from spring training involving Ty France, Jose Miranda, Brock Stewart, Louie Varland, Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee, Chris Paddack, Harrison Bader, and more. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. 

View full article

[Doctor Gast]

When healthy Miranda mashes pure & simple so keep him at 1B, Just because he can play 3B doesn't mean it's a good idea to play him there last year or this year if that's in their head. Because you want his bat in the lineup you think it's a good idea but it isn't because you putting his shoulder through a lot when you should try to preserve it at this stage, to keep him healthy & productive. Miranda can be a very productive player if you let him, don't lose him as you did with Kiriloff.

It seems like the Twins are going out of their way to keep Miranda off of 1B, who belongs there which to me is very strange. What is even stranger is the Twins are going out of their way to keep Julien on 2B, who doesn't belong there. This weird analytics just baffles & frustrates me. Because both decisions are very bad & keep us from getting better. Julien needs to be sent down to AAA to iron out all his problems or trade him.

[Doctor Gast]

Bader is a waste of $6.5+M  plus a buyout when you have (LH) Keirsey who can more logically sub Buck against RHPs & is still a pretty good fielder for free. 

[Doctor Gast]

The pure hitters Correa, Miranda, & Kiriloff were hitting great but everybody else stunk. That is when Baldelli made the change of hitting approach which turned the team around. The crash at the end was due to overextending the rotation, lack of high-end LHRP, injuries to Miranda, Kiriloff & especially Correa that created a void in leadership & chemistry. Together some young players running out of gas & hitters became desperate & started to swing for the fences reverting to the old way. That started the downward spiral that nobody could stop.

[stringer bell]

I am not as high on Miranda as you. He's had times where he's a very good major league hitter, but he's also struggled, although probably impacted by nagging injury. First base isn't a panacea. He could get nicked up there almost as easily at third base or moving back and forth. I think going with Miranda as the primary first baseman is okay, but depth is extremely questionable.

The collapse of last year showed why depth is essential. The Twins had three rookies starting along with Lopez and Ober and both Buxton and Correa were injured and Lewis ran out of gas--that is the best three players that the Twins had last year. 

I also am not sure that Keirsey is a major league player. He might be another Celestino, although he's put up superior numbers to Celestino in the minors. Keirsey Jr. is pretty old to be finally breaking into the majors. It appears that Bader will get platoon at-bats against left handed pitching and also might get part-time usage against right handers even when Buck is in the lineup.

[stringer bell]

Listening to this podcast right now. Gleeman said that "at no time in the last five years" has Bader been an effective hitter against right handed pitching. He is neglecting Bader's postseason run in 2022.

[jorgenswest]

12 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Listening to this podcast right now. Gleeman said that "at no time in the last five years" has Bader been an effective hitter against right handed pitching. He is neglecting Bader's postseason run in 2022.

I have learned to check for myself.

Bader’s wRC+ L/R

2024:    70/93

2023:   151/35

2022:    66/89

2021:    101/110

Source: Fangraphs

[ashbury]

Bobby Knight: Dead!