Week in Review: Cold Start

[Riverbrian]

34 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

All you need to do is look at how the 13th position player is being utilized on other teams. I'll spoil it for you, that player is hardly used ever on good teams like the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Brewers, etc. 

If the starting 9 was good enough, Outman or (insert veteran player here that no Twins fans like) wouldn't be a blip on the radar for fans. 

You don't have to spoil it for me. 

I have typed miles of real estate on the subject on utiliization on Twinsdaily over the past many years. 

I have tracked utilization for all 30 teams... not just the Twins... I know the Twins are not alone in concept. It'll be hard to find anyone on Twinsdaily as utilization driven as I am. 

I have to try and keep my own personal my subjective thoughts on players away from it. I get it... nobody likes Outman... so Outman is going to be a roadblock when I say that all 13 spots should be utilized in order find the 9 because nobody wants to see #30 on a lineup card ever.  

13 Faucets turned on instead of 9. I didn't choose Outman... The Twins did. 

So Let's make it Erod instead of Outman on the roster. Now TD is going to want Erod playing 162 games and Larnach parked on the bench. Not everyone... some folks on TD don't want rookies period. So now you run the possibility of Erod struggling in his debut... performing like Lee did last year and Larnach who is at least average parked on the bench while we are OK with a .720 OPS parked for a .650 OPS because we believe that Erod will be an .800 OPS eventually once he works the kinks out. How many players have we watched... not work the kinks out. You can roster Larnach and Erod and nobody has to be put to sleep.    

My opinions on utilization will never fly with anyone as long as they have predetermined that Gray and Outman are trash. 

My point has always been... If Gray and Outman are trash. Get rid of them... bring in someone who can compete with Lee and Larnach and Wallner and Lewis. 

Everyday playing time goes to those who perform like they should get everyday playing time.  

 

 

[Vanimal46]

Things I consider doing this week if I'm Jeremy Zoll...

DFA Outman - Call up Orlando Arcia. Lee and Keaschall are both struggling right now. 

Call up Roden - Send Clemens to AAA

Things I consider doing this weekend if I'm Jeremy Zoll...

Call up Culpepper - Send either Lee or Keaschall to AAA whoever is struggling more

Call up E-Rod - DFA Larnach 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

1 hour ago, LA Vikes Fan said:

Here's another option. Send Lee down and call up Kreidler. Lean into the low scoring game thing with a SS who adds real value in the field. I know he can't hit MLB pitching but he's hitting in AAA so maybe he can get by at a roughly .200-.210 BA and add defensive value. Again, not great but at least it shores up the defense. 

You had me until this.

just like Outman, shaking the infielder tree yields an all glove no bat SS all the time. They can do better via trade or DFA claim. I’m ok with Lee as having more upside as a placeholder. Fielding at SS is crucial, but just how important is it when this team cannot score at all.

[LambchoP]

Releasing Outman and calling up Roden would be a start. He probably clears waivers anyways if they want to keep him in AAA as depth. Give Lee another week or two of everyday playing time. If he doesn't show anything, send him down and call up Culpeper. Maybe that gives the team a little life?

[stringer bell]

It’s early. A 4-4 game would change the perception on every position player on the roster. That said, the trends are not good. Trevor Larnach has been among the team’s best hitters, but he should be DHing and he hasn’t done that so far.

If Larnach is a platoon LF, then Martin becomes a short-side platoon player. Outman has essentially assumed the Keirsey role, pinch running and playing defense and this year more than last, more is needed from the 13th position player.

The definition of base clogging is having Josh Bell, Ryan Jeffers and Victor Caratini hit in succession—three of the slowest runners in MLB and subpar base runners to boot. Ground balls are going to routinely be double plays with those guys.

i think Shelton has to decide if he wants Martin to be more of a regular, and if so, what to do with Larnach. Another decision is how much rope to give Lee and maybe Lewis.

The pitching staff is a different mess. They don’t have any real late-inning, high leverage guys for the bullpen. There is going to be a lot of shuffling and guys like Funderburk and Banda are going to be asked to get out a lot of good right handed hitters. Abel has not clicked and Ober has only gone four twice in a row. Sim has a small margin for error and Bradley has a history of not living up to his potential and stuff, but he’s been great so far.

A lot of puzzles to solve and not a lot of apparent answers. Maybe promoting prospects will provide answers. Contention seems a pipe dream. 

[USAFChief]

3 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

My point has always been... If Gray and Outman are trash. Get rid of them... bring in someone who can compete with Lee and Larnach and Wallner and Lewis. 

 

 

 

Who? Specifically? You cant just throw these theories out there and then push back every time someone brings up an actual name. The actual names are what matters. 

None of this makes much sense anyway. You want to "utilize all 13 to find the 9." Then what? Keep utilizing all 13, even after finding the 9?

The Twins are losing because their front line players, on the whole, suffer in comparison to other teams players. The Twins need better players.

Giving more playing time to even worse players isnt going to help win more games. And yes, we already know Outman is an even worse player. So is Gray. So is Clemens. 

I have zero problem stating the Twins need a better bench, but first they need a better starting 9. The problem isn't "utilization." If anything the Twins over-utilize their bench. The problem is talent. 

Edited April 6 by USAFChief

[Riverbrian]

4 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Who? Specifically? You cant just throw these theories out there and then push back every time someone brings up an actual name. The actual names are what matters. 

None of this makes much sense anyway. You want to "utilize all 13 to find the 9." Then what? Keep utilizing all 13, even after finding the 9?

The Twins are losing because their front line players, on the whole, suffer in comparison to other teams players. The Twins need better players.

Giving more playing time to even worse players isnt going to help win more games. And yes, we already know Outman is an even worse player. So is Gray. So is Clemens. 

I have zero problem stating the Twins need a better bench, but first they need a better starting 9. The problem isn't "utilization." If anything the Twins over-utilize their bench. The problem is talent. 

I don't trust my powers of prediction. And I don't trust the powers of the front office of all 30 teams prediction ability either. 

And don't take this personally but I don't trust yours either... and I'll add once again that I don't trust the front offices of all 30 teams either. 

So you want me to say Who? Specifically?

Whoever they roster. It's the job of the front office to staff the 26 man roster with the best guesses they can make with the data they have.

So I guess today the answer is Outman and Gray are the specific names... But the mere mention of those names shuts down the whole conversation because we have people who throw up on their cat at the mere mention of those names. 

Doesn't make sense? The concept isn't hard. If you find the 9... then what? Then you can trade your excess if you ever get to that point and yes you keep going because development can't stop. We are never going to be able to afford other teams development success so we have to find it. But... let's not get lost on the find the 9 so we can just trot the same 9 names out there every single day. 

Let's make it as simple as possible. Nobody likes Outman... he is on the roster. The Twins are not utilizing him except for emergency fill in or a LF defensive replacement. So... Let's you and I cut him. Screw the front office... You and I are going to cut Outman and we will call up Roden. 

OK... now we can let Roden compete for playing time. Unless you don't like him either. You can feed Roden, Larnach, Wallner significant playing time and let the best player get more and the worse performing player less. 

If you don't like Roden either and don't want him in a lineup card. Well... You've removed all options with predetermination and Larnach can go do whatever he does because nobody will be taking a job from him.

I guess that's it then... Larnach is the best we can do.   

I say this as a guy who has been defending Larnach against all comers. All I want is that somebody beat him out of the job and that isn't going to happen unless you take your 9 and expand it to 13. 

 

[Riverbrian]

18 hours ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

4 players for three positions would be 3/4 time.

That’s more than Martin is playing today with Outman rotting on the bench.

I appreciate you Goat. You see it. 

How can this not be obvious to some... most?

I can't even point at it and say Look. 

 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

21 hours ago, NYCTK said:

 

 

All this hand wringing about the Twins 5th OF is really indicative of fans losing sight of the forest for the trees. 

The Twins don't suck because of the 5th OF on pace for 160 plate appearances, and fans need to really stop fretting over that player. It was true with Keirsey and Margot too. Doesn't mean those players are good, but they're the least of the Twins problems.

Th reason he's on the roster is obvious. Neither Roden nor Martin are trusted defenders in CF and Rodriguez and Jenkins obviously shouldn't be backups on a major league roster. 

This isn't little league.

A player like Outman only getting minimal playing time can actually help develop other players, and find talent. There are about 6000 PAs to go around. If Outman is only getting 150, that leaves 300 PAs for the rest of the team to divvy up. 

 

Look at that one majestic tree