Roster Utilization Thread

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

My guess is Julien is the 2nd baseman against RH pitching. Every day, until he doesn't hit.

But he's gonna hit.

 

I like your guess. 

I wouldn't mind Julien getting a start at 1B or DH this weekend in order to have France available off the bench in the 9th against Hader if we are down a run or two.

Miranda hasn't necessarily displayed talent against left handers thus far. I get reverse splits are a mirage but I like France for that role in case it is necessary.   

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

My guess is Julien is the 2nd baseman against RH pitching. Every day, until he doesn't hit.

But he's gonna hit.

 

Lineup is out and It's Julien at 2B on game one. Castro at 3B and Miranda on the bench. We may not have a rotation and that could be tough news for Miranda. 

That's one point earned for Chief.

If you collect 100 points... you will get 50% off at any of the participating closed Red Lobsters around the country. 

[arby58]

On 3/31/2025 at 7:26 AM, LambchoP said:

So far Wili and Larnach are the only ones hitting.

Bader seems to be hitting.

[arby58]

On 4/1/2025 at 9:19 AM, USAFChief said:

Given Julien was apparently sick to start the season, I'm not ready to say he doesn't have a role yet. 

Fair enough - Ober was sick and nobody is suggesting he doesn't have a role (right?).

[arby58]

On 4/1/2025 at 10:20 AM, tony&rodney said:

There has been more than a few thoughts directed toward Rocco Baldelli and his use of the roster over the last few years. I'm finding it difficult to manage a defense of his maneuvers. The first games are often not too reflective of a season but the style of play seems consistent with past practices. Baseball has a long season which makes it possible to hold off until quarter, third, or half games played markers reports are collected.

All the Rocco hate seems a little unfair to me. It's not as if he has had a roster full of high-salaried players, yet his win loss record is far from the bottom in Twins baseball history:

Manager	Wins	Losses	Percentage
Billy Martin	97	65	.599
Sam Mele	522	431	.548
Bill Rigney	208	184	.531
Cal Ermer	145	129	.529
Rocco Baldelli	288	258	.527
Ron Gardenhire	1,068	1,039	.507
Frank Quilici	280	287	.494
Gene Mauch	378	394	.490
Tom Kelly	1,140	1,244	.478
Johnny Goryl	34	38	.472
Paul Molitor	305	343	.471
Ray Miller	109	130	.456
Billy Gardner	268	353	.432

Gene Mauch was considered an 'old school' good manager - and had a losing record with the Twins. TK is beloved (and won two World Series) but also had some really rough years. Billy Martin had the best win percentage (in one year), but punching out one of your players in the alley behind a Detroit bar wasn't exactly endearing.

 

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, Riverbrian said:

I like your guess. 

I wouldn't mind Julien getting a start at 1B or DH this weekend in order to have France available off the bench in the 9th against Hader if we are down a run or two.

Miranda hasn't necessarily displayed talent against left handers thus far. I get reverse splits are a mirage but I like France for that role in case it is necessary.   

We differ on this. I want most of the players to play a position. Julien has a hard enough time trying to play second. Let's not add to problems. The last thing I want Rocco to do is continue with his damnable "anybody can play anywhere" lineups. 

Let's begin the process of making the Twins a great defensive team. Step one is having players learn a position in the minors and then LEAVE THEM THERE.

Castro is your utility guy. We dont need 11 or 12 of them

 

[Riverbrian]

9 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

We differ on this. I want most of the players ti play a position. Julien has a hard enough time trying to play second. The last thing I want Rocco to do is continue with his damnable "anybody can play anywhere" lineups. 

Let's begin the process of making the Twins a great defensive team. Step one is having players learn a position in the minors and then LEAVE THEN THERE.

Castro is your utility guy. We dont need 11 or 12 of them

 

We do differ on this. I don't oppose static positions and the benefits of knowing it like the back of your hand. BTW... I don't know the back of my hand all that well so I'm not sure where that phrase comes from. 

It's just that... I'm seriously not afraid of player movement because it happens all the time as managers on all 30 teams try to get their best lineups on the field and that will always be a combination of offensive and defensive contribution. That player movement often isn't disastrous while often not perfect. 

I think defensive problems are due to the defensive talent that we employ as opposed to position changes or comfortableness. If you want a better defending team... roster better defenders. If you have bat only guys on your roster... you gotta put them someplace.  

I think a good defender can be a good defender at other spots within reason of course... I wouldn't take Nolan Arenado or Matt Chapman and move them from 3B when they are the best in the business at that position.

I think a bad defender will be a bad defender at his comfortable spot or other spots within reason of course and I'm not comfortable looking at small size zone ratings to determine who is bad or good. Any argument that Player A is a great SS and a poor 2B won't get very far with me. Julien is a below average defender. It's what he is. I think his bat is above average so he's gotta play somewhere if you want the bat.      

I get that reps will always be helpful but the majority of reps will be achieved in practice because not enough reps will occur in the games themselves to get them flying right.  

Also... If Julien is our 2B and Castro is our 3B. Castro isn't really deployed as utility until he is moved to another position to cover where another hole opens up.

This means Miranda will have to be a bit of utility at both 3B and 1B to get playing time unless France is a 162 game guy. While France has been looking alright thus far... I'd be pretty mortified if France was a 162 game guy.

Gasper will also have to move around a little. He's already played LF for 4 innings and even caught a couple of balls out there so we got multiple utility options beyond Castro.     

Some degree of player movement is just plain impossible to prevent.    

But... I'll compromise.

Julien at DH with Miranda at 1B and France available to come off the bench against Hader if necessary? 

Today... we will have Gasper, Miranda Vazquez and Kiersay to pinch hit against Hader in the ninth and I hope it doesn't come to that.  

The other solution is to just beat them by a comfortable margin and keep Hader from mattering in the ninth inning. I really like this option.

Or else it's grab a bat time for Miranda, Gasper or Vazquez when Wallner or Larnach or Julien come to the plate in the 9th inning down by a run. 

I really like the option presented in the last paragraph. 

  

In the end it is what it is. 

 

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

We differ on this. I want most of the players to play a position. Julien has a hard enough time trying to play second. Let's not add to problems. The last thing I want Rocco to do is continue with his damnable "anybody can play anywhere" lineups. 

Let's begin the process of making the Twins a great defensive team. Step one is having players learn a position in the minors and then LEAVE THEM THERE.

Castro is your utility guy. We dont need 11 or 12 of them

 

I think you lose a lot of games if that's priority #1. This team loses because the bats all go cold, particularly when there are runners on, and it's been that way for a long time. As bad as the defense can get, that's rarely the reason they lose games.

[TheLeviathan]

I see a lot of effort to draw conclusions from 6 games, but even if you think you're seeing trends....those might only be the case because Lewis and Lee are hurt.  (And Julien was sick)

For instance...if Julien was full strength is one of the LF starts going to Castro instead of Bader?

Even today, how would the lineup change if those two guys were available?  It seems like the first two choices to replace them in the lineup are Julien and Bader over Miranda and whatever other stiff on the bench.  I can't say I disagree at all with that.

[USAFChief]

2 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

I think you lose a lot of games if that's priority #1. This team loses because the bats all go cold, particularly when there are runners on, and it's been that way for a long time. As bad as the defense can get, that's rarely the reason they lose games.

Offense is certainly important, and an issue for the Twins. But that's a lot tougher to fix than defense, and a run saved counts as much as a run scored.

Today's game is just an example.

Twins are down 5-2 in the 8th as I type. With just standard, to-be-expected MLB defense, it's 2-2. Mistakes and misplays are all too common, and in the context of MLB, they add up.

[nicksaviking]

2 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Offense is certainly important, and an issue for the Twins. But that's a lot tougher to fix than defense, and a run saved counts as much as a run scored.

Today's game is just an example.

Twins are down 5-2 in the 8th as I type. With just standard, to-be-expected MLB defense, it's 2-2. Mistakes and misplays are all too common, and in the context of MLB, they add up.

You lose just about every game when you  only score two runs.

[Riverbrian]

17 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

I see a lot of effort to draw conclusions from 6 games, but even if you think you're seeing trends....those might only be the case because Lewis and Lee are hurt.  (And Julien was sick)

For instance...if Julien was full strength is one of the LF starts going to Castro instead of Bader?

Even today, how would the lineup change if those two guys were available?  It seems like the first two choices to replace them in the lineup are Julien and Bader over Miranda and whatever other stiff on the bench.  I can't say I disagree at all with that.

It's not a lot of effort.

The only conclusion drawn from 6 games is that the Twins decision makers came out of the off-season and spring training with the players they have elected to give playing time to day one. That is their evaluation system saying... France over Miranda? Are they saying that... so far it looks like it. 

Now that Julien is healthy and Castro slid from 2B to 3B (Two games in a row now) What happens with Miranda? Is Julien the starting 2B against Right handers now that he is healthy. Did Castro slide from 2B to 3B to accommodate the health of Julien? Neither of us know the answers but they will tell us via utilization and more information will be released tomorrow with the starting lineup.  

Yes... Lewis getting hurt is a major factor and his return will be a big change in context and we will watch how utilization adjusts to that change and who is sent down to accommodate his return. Will Lee even join the big club when he is healthy? I don't know but we will find out and more information will be acquired in how the club ranks their assets. 

This thread may be a big waste of time or something that could be used as reference in June but my hope is that it will be something that provides insight into who the Twins placed their initial faith in day one who still has that faith on the 100th day. 

[TheLeviathan]

5 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

It's not a lot of effort.

The only conclusion drawn from 6 games is that the Twins decision makers came out of the off-season and spring training with the players they have elected to give playing time to day one. That is their evaluation system saying... France over Miranda? Are they saying that... so far it looks like it. 

Now that Julien is healthy and Castro slid from 2B to 3B (Two games in a row now) What happens with Miranda? Is Julien the starting 2B against Right handers now that he is healthy. Did Castro slide from 2B to 3B to accommodate the health of Julien? Neither of us know the answers but they will tell us via utilization and more information will be released tomorrow with the starting lineup.  

Yes... Lewis getting hurt is a major factor and his return will be a big change in context and we will watch how utilization adjusts to that change and who is sent down to accommodate his return. Will Lee even join the big club when he is healthy? I don't know but we will find out and more information will be acquired in how the club ranks their assets. 

This thread may be a big waste of time or something that could be used as reference in June but my hope is that it will be something that provides insight into who the Twins placed their initial faith in day one who still has that faith on the 100th day. 

At this point.....is it really a bad call to bury Miranda?  I'm usually someone that wants to invest in young players but right now he's.......not good.  At much of anything.

[Riverbrian]

4 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

At this point.....is it really a bad call to bury Miranda?  I'm usually someone that wants to invest in young players but right now he's.......not good.  At much of anything.

Maybe... He's had a rough start but so has Correa and others.

The interesting part is what do the Twins decide to do in the near term and as the season goes along.   

[tony&rodney]

19 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

I think you lose a lot of games if that's priority #1. This team loses because the bats all go cold, particularly when there are runners on, and it's been that way for a long time. As bad as the defense can get, that's rarely the reason they lose games.

I can't exactly disagree with you on this but will suggest that Cleveland focuses on defense. 

We had this discussion a bit in March and someone would actually have to watch and code every game to find a decent way to judge the importance of defense. It would be more acceptable to have a handful of people watching a game and coming to an agreement on every play. Would that even work? I'm not a fan of the plethora of numbers inputted by a host of people as accurate of much because what is the chance that two, much less several dozen, people see the exact same play the same, especially when these guys collect their information from different places and in wildly different manners.

I coded two games to start the year and the Twins rated very poor in the field but decided no way would I keep that up. So it is complicated. Yesterday, less than stellar defense allowed 3 runs to score (balk, infield in, misjudged fly ball). Even there, someone would argue. However, you are correct because the Twins not scoring pretty much means a loss most of the time. time for the offense to step up.

Maybe the Twins should get players who are top defenders at every position who also win silver sluggers for their position.

[TheLeviathan]

On 4/4/2025 at 8:09 AM, Riverbrian said:

Maybe... He's had a rough start but so has Correa and others.

The interesting part is what do the Twins decide to do in the near term and as the season goes along.   

Sure, but the metrics back the eye test.  Miranda is swinging at garbage and rarely making hard contact.

I defer to playing young guys, but Miranda is stretching that instinct right now.

[Riverbrian]

41 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

Sure, but the metrics back the eye test.  Miranda is swinging at garbage and rarely making hard contact.

I defer to playing young guys, but Miranda is stretching that instinct right now.

That always seems to be the case with Miranda. He has these stretches of hitting good and these stretches of hitting bad and when he is hitting bad... he chases crap. 

If the could take a discipline pill daily. Look out. 

[Riverbrian]

Miranda in... Bader out. 

Chief earns another point with another Julien start. 

[Jocko87]

Wonder if there is a bit of pinch hitting lineup strategy today. Winds looks calm so the outfield should be pretty close to normal allowing flexibility in deploying Bader.  With Hader and their other lefties it probably isn't a bad idea. Jeffers for Julien and Bader for the higher impact outfield spot.

I liked seeing Larnach get the at bat against Hader but it went as expected. Different roles for different days and conditions.  On a gusty day Bader in the outfield is more valuable than the pinch hit chance.

[Riverbrian]

Julien was ill and did not start in the first 4 games. He has now made 5 starts in a row. Primarily at the expense of Miranda playing time. 

Bader is in a play 2 sit 1 pattern. Doesn't mean he is in a play 2 sit 1 pattern but his playing time over the first 9 games is a play 2 sit 1 pattern. 

Miranda might be in a play 1 sit 2 pattern and would link with Bader. 

 

 

 

[Riverbrian]

On 4/5/2025 at 11:35 AM, Jocko87 said:

Wonder if there is a bit of pinch hitting lineup strategy today. Winds looks calm so the outfield should be pretty close to normal allowing flexibility in deploying Bader.  With Hader and their other lefties it probably isn't a bad idea. Jeffers for Julien and Bader for the higher impact outfield spot.

I liked seeing Larnach get the at bat against Hader but it went as expected. Different roles for different days and conditions.  On a gusty day Bader in the outfield is more valuable than the pinch hit chance.

I thought Thursday was interesting. With the Twins down 5-2... in the 7th inning. Miranda pinch hit for Julien against King This occurred with two out and nobody on base. Hoping to start a two out rally.

In the 9th... Yep Larnach to the plate against Hader. Gasper and Vazquez were available to pinch hit. Rocco stayed with Larnach. There was one out and nobody on base.   

Defensive substitutions appear to be the more popular than the pinch hit so far this year. 

With a 6-1 lead on Saturday.. pinch hitting wasn't critical so just one pinch hit move made. 8th inning at the DH position with Gasper pinch hitting for Julien to face the left handed Okert. 

After Larnach faced Gusto in the 7th. Bader entered the game for Larnach in LF as a defensive replacement on Saturday. 

Yesterday... with the score 7-5 in the 7th inning. France and Miranda entered as defensive replacements for Julien and Gasper. Castro shifted from 3B to 2B to shoe horn the defensive changes in. 

In the 8th Inning Keirsay entered as a pinch runner for Wallner. 

 

[Linus]

2 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

I thought Thursday was interesting. With the Twins down 5-2... in the 7th inning. Miranda pinch hit for Julien against King This occurred with two out and nobody on base. Hoping to start a two out rally.

In the 9th... Yep Larnach to the plate against Hader. Gasper and Vazquez were available to pinch hit. Rocco stayed with Larnach. There was one out and nobody on base.   

Defensive substitutions appear to be the more popular than the pinch hit so far this year. 

With a 6-1 lead on Saturday.. pinch hitting wasn't critical so just one pinch hit move made. 8th inning at the DH position with Gasper pinch hitting for Julien to face the left handed Okert. 

After Larnach faced Gusto in the 7th. Bader entered the game for Larnach in LF as a defensive replacement on Saturday. 

Yesterday... with the score 7-5 in the 7th inning. France and Miranda entered as defensive replacements for Julien and Gasper. Castro shifted from 3B to 2B to shoe horn the defensive changes in. 

In the 8th Inning Keirsay entered as a pinch runner for Wallner. 

 

Wow. Franca and Miranda as defensive substitutions was not on my bingo card 

[Riverbrian]

Interesting lineup today against the talented lefty Cole Ragans.

Both Larnach and Julien in the lineup.  

Gasper at 2B over Julien in the DH spot. 

Wallner, Castro, Keirsay and Vazquez start on the bench. 

Haven't heard of any injury reports regarding Castro. 

 

[jorgenswest]

3 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

Interesting lineup today against the talented lefty Cole Ragans.

Both Larnach and Julien in the lineup.  

Gasper at 2B over Julien in the DH spot. 

Wallner, Castro, Keirsay and Vazquez start on the bench. 

Haven't heard of any injury reports regarding Castro. 

 

I was betting on Vazquez at DH as part of the all right handed line up.

[Riverbrian]

16 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

I was betting on Vazquez at DH as part of the all right handed line up.

I was thinking the same thing. 

Another interesting lineup note from tonight. 

Brooks Lee playing 2B for St. Paul.

[stringer bell]

Gasper is poorly served playing perhaps his worst position and batting from his weaker side, but he might only be a Triple A talent as a hitter. 

[Riverbrian]

8 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Gasper is poorly served playing perhaps his worst position and batting from his weaker side, but he might only be a Triple A talent as a hitter. 

It certainly leaves questions behind. Is this why he was acquired? Is this why he was rostered? 

Is this Gasper utilization an example of the adherence to the platoon dictating roster construction? 

 

[Riverbrian]

Getting the catching spot out of the way. The Catching position has been a strict 50-50 rotation between Jeffers and Vazquez occupying one spot in the daily lineup. 

With the other 8 spots:

In the 8 games since April 1 when Julien was healthy enough to play. 

The following 7 players have started at least 7 out of those 8 games. 

Wallner, Correa, Buxton, Larnach, France, Castro, Julien.

At this point... I'm going to assume that they are primary starters that get an occasional day off. Larnach and Correa have started all 8 games, the rest have started 7 of the 8. 

With those 7 identified as primary starters and the two players dedicated to the catching position. That will account for the utilization of 9 of the 13 players and primarily cover 8 of the 9 daily lineup positions. 

That leaves 4 players (Bader, Miranda, Gasper and Kiersay) for 1 open lineup spot plus fill in work. One open spot per game creates 8 starting opportunities for those 4 players. 5 of the primary 7 resting one game creates 5 more starting opportunities for those 4 players for a total of 13. 

Those 13 starting opportunities for those 4 have been divided up this way:

Bader 6 (This makes him one start short of the group of players I have in the primary 7). 

MIranda 4 (Trusted Back Up)

Gasper 2 (not trusted yet)

Keirsay 1 (Pinch Running Defensive OF specialist)

At this point... I think we have a severe curbing of the strict platoon philosophy and this makes me very happy.

The platoon philosophy has been replaced by a primary starting lineup that has Bader the #9 guy and therefore the most likely to yield some playing time for Miranda and the others. 

 

 

[stringer bell]

1 hour ago, Riverbrian said:

Getting the catching spot out of the way. The Catching position has been a strict 50-50 rotation between Jeffers and Vazquez occupying one spot in the daily lineup. 

With the other 8 spots:

In the 8 games since April 1 when Julien was healthy enough to play. 

The following 7 players have started at least 7 out of those 8 games. 

Wallner, Correa, Buxton, Larnach, France, Castro, Julien.

At this point... I'm going to assume that they are primary starters that get an occasional day off. Larnach and Correa have started all 8 games, the rest have started 7 of the 8. 

With those 7 identified as primary starters and the two players dedicated to the catching position. That will account for the utilization of 9 of the 13 players and primarily cover 8 of the 9 daily lineup positions. 

That leaves 4 players (Bader, Miranda, Gasper and Kiersay) for 1 open lineup spot plus fill in work. One open spot per game creates 8 starting opportunities for those 4 players. 5 of the primary 7 resting one game creates 5 more starting opportunities for those 4 players for a total of 13. 

Those 13 starting opportunities for those 4 have been divided up this way:

Bader 6 (This makes him one start short of the group of players I have in the primary 7). 

MIranda 4 (Trusted Back Up)

Gasper 2 (not trusted yet)

Keirsay 1 (Pinch Running Defensive OF specialist)

At this point... I think we have a severe curbing of the strict platoon philosophy and this makes me very happy.

The platoon philosophy has been replaced by a primary starting lineup that has Bader the #9 guy and therefore the most likely to yield some playing time for Miranda and the others. 

 

 

I absolutely approve of the usage of Larnach and Wallner--the two guys who were often pinch hit for as early as the middle innings. Give either or both of them days off when a lefty starts, but don't automatically pull them when a lefty comes out of the bullpen. With the exception of Correa and Buxton, I can see occasional days off for all of the other guys, usually when a same-handed starter is on the hill and Buxton will get some days off (as he did yesterday).

Adding Lee as the primary second baseman makes room to move Castro to third, where he's graded well the last two seasons and would leave one of Julien, Miranda, Castro, Lee or France on the bench against a right handed pitcher (unless Willi is in the outfield). 

 

[Riverbrian]

33 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

I absolutely approve of the usage of Larnach and Wallner--the two guys who were often pinch hit for as early as the middle innings. Give either or both of them days off when a lefty starts, but don't automatically pull them when a lefty comes out of the bullpen. With the exception of Correa and Buxton, I can see occasional days off for all of the other guys, usually when a same-handed starter is on the hill and Buxton will get some days off (as he did yesterday).

Adding Lee as the primary second baseman makes room to move Castro to third, where he's graded well the last two seasons and would leave one of Julien, Miranda, Castro, Lee or France on the bench against a right handed pitcher (unless Willi is in the outfield). 

 

I am happy. I have no complaint with when he has utilized a pinch hitter, I have no complaint with when he didn't utilize a pinch hitter. I have no complaint with his pinch running or defensive replacement moves. 

And I really love the spacing of left handers on the lineup card. 

The removal of this simple philosophy has opened doors. 

After two years of complaining about the utilization of left handers.  

I currently have no complaints. Just a lingering lament of the two years of development lost in regards to Wallner, Larnach and Julien.

This much needed adjustment can pave the way for Emma and Jenkins in the future. Paving the way for Emma and Jenkins will pave the way for not needing a Margot in the future. Not needing a Margot in the future can pave the way to signing a significant free agent in the future as opposed to the low level free agent.

This adjustment can curb the urge to looking specifically for right handed bats in a right handed pitching world. It can open the doors to having more left handed hitters on the roster.