Too Much Versatility Is Hurting the Minnesota Twins

[ashbury]

6 hours ago, Matthew Lenz said:

Do you think the Twins’ defensive struggles trace back to too much roster shuffling and a lack of true standouts at each position? Let me know what you think in the comments!

 

This question is quite a bit at odds with the headline which at first I came here to rebut:

Quote

Too Much Versatility Is Hurting the Minnesota Twins

Too low a threshold for what is considered acceptable, combined with a conviction the player will improve that proves to be incorrect.  There's the problem.  Tristan Gray is an example of the former, Brooks Lee at SS is the latter.

True versatility is valuable. 

Half-assing it?  Not so much.

 

[ashbury]

34 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Talent plays. 

In particular, the bat has to play.  Mookie Betts has, until recently, never has to justify his bat, and then his relative skills at a given position become secondary to who else is on the roster.

A quick and dirty approach to lineups is to take the 9 best hitters at your disposal (subject to handedness of the opposing pitcher and possibly other considerations) and then ask "who's the best SS among these?" then "who's the best CF?" then "who's the best 2B?" and on down the defensive spectrum.  After that, decide which position represents the biggest compromise on defense, probably shortstop, check the 4 remaining bats not in this lineup, see if one of them improves things enough to make up for the worse bat or if it's best to leave the lineup as it is.

But this simplistic method only works if *somebody* with a decent bat can play the skill positions.  If one guy is the only answer at SS, CF, and maybe 2B, the supposed versatility of that player doesn't get the job done.

That's what we've seen on the Opening Day roster, and it still haunts us to a lesser degree. 

[PuckettPond]

Multifunctional is better than functional. Baking soda & WD-40 has over 1001 uses toilet paper has one. Who was the only Twins players to play all positions in a game?

[weitz41]

It's a frustrating make up for the Twins and us fans. The draft is the key to where the team is now IMO. Drafting sluggers that can't hit same side pitching, combined with bat 1st players who can't play average defense. You end up with a platoon heavy, mediocre team.

Royce's two knee injuries changed the equation a bit. As someone who's had rotator cuff surgery on both shoulders, I feel safe in saying you never are the same as you were before those happened. Lee was never going to be a starting SS on a payoff worthy team defensively. You can go over each position and you end up with Buxton and....

Right now, the Twins are built to fight for a wild card. They don't have the players to have a Hrbek, Puckett, Gaetti, Knoblauch, Harper and Gagne in line up. Some of them, but not enough. so, we have what we have.