The Twins' Collection of Lefty Bats Has Reached the Breaking Point

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, Cody Pirkl said:

I don't understand this takeaway at all. The Twins aren't "turning the platoon advantage on it's head". You say that like they've made some kind of unprecedented breakthrough. They're better against RHP because they can't fill out a lineup with capable RHHs against LHP. They haven't been able to all year because of how they built the roster.

Their best hitters are RH so they play everyday. All of their switch hitters are worse against LHP. Most LHHs are much worst against LHP and they've chosen to overinvest in LHHs or switch hitters who are better left-handed. 

 

It's OK... Most people don't understand. I know that I'm against the wind on this. All teams platoon and I believe that roster decisions are being made on left right instead of talent or the development of talent.  

In order to understand... you have to at least momentarily let go of any left or right reasoning.  

When I say "turning the platoon advantage on its head". I'm not saying that it was some unprecedented breakthrough or even suggesting that this was intentionally done by the front office.  

I'm saying that we have 7 Right handed hitters, 3 switch hitters and 3 left handed hitters on the current 26 man roster and I'm saying that is the roster composition for the majority of the season. I'm saying we are not even close to over stuffed with left handed hitters to the point where we need to find an 8th right handed hitter.   

I'm saying that Derek Shelton just like Rocco Baldelli before him are setting the starting lineup primarily based on the splits of the pitcher.

I'm saying that we are typically stuffing 8 or 9 hitters into the right handed batters box against left handed pitching and typically stuffing 6 hitters into the left handed batters box against right handed pitching. Despite this consistent disparity... the Twins have been weak against left handed pitching despite 8 or 9 guys in the opposite batters box. And the Twins have been successful against right handed pitching with less batters in the opposite batters box. That disparity... that success with less and failure with more should make everyone question exactly how much the platoon is helping this team right now. And if it's not helping us right now... I'm pretty sure it isn't helping us in the future. I'm saying talent should be the reason for a call up and not what batters box they stand in. 

You talk about the switch hitters. I want to be clear that I have no problem with Brooks Lee getting AB's against left handed hitting because Brooks Lee is still developing. However... if the platoon split matters... why is Brooks Lee second in AB's against left handed pitching with a .587 OPS over 150 AB's. Yeah I know injuries to others and defense is always consideration in the amount of playing time. If Caratini is struggling against left handed pitching... why is he frequently used against left handed pitching? 

And here is another point. If it is so important that we try to math our offensive lineup together using the platoon advantage as a primary reason for lineups. If we are so concerned about a lefty facing a lefty. Why don't we have more left handed pitchers if we are so afraid of them offensively why don't we get more of these weapons for our ourselves. If you look at the historical splits. Left handed pitchers have a collective 3.84 ERA. Right Handed pitching has a 4.16 collective ERA.

Get more left handed pitchers if the left handed batter is concerning you. Give other teams the problem you are fighting. 

I'm saying don't fight it. Find Talent!!!  

[Cody Pirkl]

38 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

It's OK... Most people don't understand. I know that I'm against the wind on this. All teams platoon and I believe that roster decisions are being made on left right instead of talent or the development of talent.  

In order to understand... you have to at least momentarily let go of any left or right reasoning.  

When I say "turning the platoon advantage on its head". I'm not saying that it was some unprecedented breakthrough or even suggesting that this was intentionally done by the front office.  

I'm saying that we have 7 Right handed hitters, 3 switch hitters and 3 left handed hitters on the current 26 man roster and I'm saying that is the roster composition for the majority of the season. I'm saying we are not even close to over stuffed with left handed hitters to the point where we need to find an 8th right handed hitter.   

I'm saying that Derek Shelton just like Rocco Baldelli before him are setting the starting lineup primarily based on the splits of the pitcher.

I'm saying that we are typically stuffing 8 or 9 hitters into the right handed batters box against left handed pitching and typically stuffing 6 hitters into the left handed batters box against right handed pitching. Despite this consistent disparity... the Twins have been weak against left handed pitching despite 8 or 9 guys in the opposite batters box. And the Twins have been successful against right handed pitching with less batters in the opposite batters box. That disparity... that success with less and failure with more should make everyone question exactly how much the platoon is helping this team right now. And if it's not helping us right now... I'm pretty sure it isn't helping us in the future. I'm saying talent should be the reason for a call up and not what batters box they stand in. 

You talk about the switch hitters. I want to be clear that I have no problem with Brooks Lee getting AB's against left handed hitting because Brooks Lee is still developing. However... if the platoon split matters... why is Brooks Lee second in AB's against left handed pitching with a .587 OPS over 150 AB's. Yeah I know injuries to others and defense is always consideration in the amount of playing time. If Caratini is struggling against left handed pitching... why is he frequently used against left handed pitching? 

And here is another point. If it is so important that we try to math our offensive lineup together using the platoon advantage as a primary reason for lineups. If we are so concerned about a lefty facing a lefty. Why don't we have more left handed pitchers if we are so afraid of them offensively why don't we get more of these weapons for our ourselves. If you look at the historical splits. Left handed pitchers have a collective 3.84 ERA. Right Handed pitching has a 4.16 collective ERA.

Get more left handed pitchers if the left handed batter is concerning you. Give other teams the problem you are fighting. 

I'm saying don't fight it. Find Talent!!!  

My point on the LHHs they target goes beyond the MLB roster. I agree that they should target talent, but it's gotten to a point where LHH talent should situationally be worth less to them, as it should've been for some time. 

We saw how this works out with Roden. I have no doubt they were targeting talent when they acquired him. It was easy to question how he was ever going to find playing time though, and that's exactly how it's played out. They targeted a 25 year old, and he'll probably be 27 before they can potentially find regular playing time for him if he's on the roster at all in 2027. 

They could've called Jenkins up a long time ago, but they invested in Roden, who has been behind Wallner, Larnach, and Outman at various points throughout the season. So they had to get a look at Roden or risk getting nothing from him a year after trading for him. They aren't setting themselves up to successfully choose the best players for the future because they aren't building a top of the system that affords LHHs enough opportunity. Hendry Mendez started the season at Double-A despite him dominating there last season because there wasn't room in St. Paul for him. Just another example.

[DJL44]

39 minutes ago, Cody Pirkl said:

My point on the LHHs they target goes beyond the MLB roster. I agree that they should target talent, but it's gotten to a point where LHH talent should situationally be worth less to them, as it should've been for some time. 

We saw how this works out with Roden. I have no doubt they were targeting talent when they acquired him. It was easy to question how he was ever going to find playing time though, and that's exactly how it's played out. They targeted a 25 year old, and he'll probably be 27 before they can potentially find regular playing time for him if he's on the roster at all in 2027. 

They could've called Jenkins up a long time ago, but they invested in Roden, who has been behind Wallner, Larnach, and Outman at various points throughout the season. So they had to get a look at Roden or risk getting nothing from him a year after trading for him. They aren't setting themselves up to successfully choose the best players for the future because they aren't building a top of the system that affords LHHs enough opportunity. Hendry Mendez started the season at Double-A despite him dominating there last season because there wasn't room in St. Paul for him. Just another example.

They are so focused on depth that they’re wasting some player’s careers in AAA.

[MapleGroveTwinsFan]

50 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

They are so focused on depth that they’re wasting some player’s careers in AAA.

They got with their pants down a few years back (2022) with no depth and they have decided that won't happen again at the cost of developing players. IMO

[Cris E]

2 hours ago, Cody Pirkl said:

I thought that writing about a team having too many LHHs and being in the bottom 1/3 of the league against LHPs and being on no hitter watch whenever they face LHPs was relevant. Especially when everyone is clamoring for Walker Jenkins. My bad!

You say the roster has been mostly sorted as the season has gone one. Go look at yesterday's lineup against a LHP and say that they've rounded into form. I don't get it. 

Also, I don't know why you read this as the whole piece coming down to complaining about the Varland trade. I mention the three LHHs they acquired at the deadline as well as other moves for LHHs they made after that were problems. Seems like a pretty disingenuous way to minimize an entire article in my opinion. If I wanted to write about how terrible that trade looks, I'd just do it, and it would probably be longer than this one!

That's not what you wrote about. You only mention two switch hitters in passing and no right handed hitters at all. You discuss at great length roster events from months ago and only one paragraph mentions hitting outcomes at all (and it only characterizes this terrible situation as "bottom third of the league against southpaws.")  That's the crisis? 

You didn't talk about today's roster until the comments, but let's go ahead and do that, spots 1 to 9.

• Keaschall is hotter than heck, his 107 ops+ against lefties is weighed down by his slow start. Bats right, hitting everything right now, not the problem.
• Buxton has been playing hurt, but bats right. Still above average against lefties, but not the problem you're addressing here. 
• DH Jeffers bats right, been having a good year, And look, .891 OPS against lefties. 
• Royce Lewis bats right, 116 OPS+ against lefties is miles above his performance against right siders. He's not the problem you're addressing.
• Clemons is in LF and betting left. Here you go, this is the problem: 106 OPS+ against lefties, rarely in the OF. We'll return to him below.
• KC? Bats right, plays SS well, hitting well against everything right now. Not the problem.
• Lee is another infielder, and a switch hitter, but he is well below average against lefties. Not an outfielder, but we're getting warmer.
• Caratini is another switch hitter who has been terrible against lefties. A legit problem, but not a left handed outfielder. 
• In the nine spot was Kreidler, a righty who really can't hit at all and should be in for defense only, but was here to allow Larnach to sit. Here is your article. 

Yesterday's lineup was a result of a couple things. First, when Buxton hits everything else is better. No one disputes this and it gets its own set of articles all the time.  But he's hurt again and they are going to have to make some moves to get through September. Why was he not mentioned in this entire article about outfielders? Why was this huge source of uncertainty not part of the calculus around roster construction? You keep crediting some fictitious intent when really they are being forced to work around the availability of their best player. In fact you managed to write about Jenkins ' plight without mentioning Byron at all, which takes some discipline.  

Second, there are some players with platoon holes that get benched to minimize their flaws. It's bad if your best player is one of these guys, but when it's just a guy then you take the good and work around the bad. If Larnach had about 15 more PA he'd qualify for awards and he'd be around 60th in MLB for AVG and 65th for OPS (right now his unadjusted .758 is the same as Alex Bregman hitting in Fenway.) But he's no good against lefties and doesn't field well so you sit him against Jump and hope Kreidler's improvement of 2B defense covers the gap between him and Larnach against LH. The other 3/4 of the time you let Trevor tear up RH pitching. (And by the way, if you want to be assigning intention in roster design then please give credit to them for having him wrapped and stamped Trevor for shipment to Houston before Jim Crane vetoed the trade. He's yet another name that should have been sorted by this point in the process.)

Third, I don't think they trust Roden and he has to play or go. We may agree here. Choosing to play Kreidler's terrible bat anywhere over a guy who is 5-11 against lefties this year (Roden is a career .695 OPS against lefties) and who you are ostensibly trying to evaluate makes zero sense. Clemons is not that good in the outfield, and he's not that much worse than Kreidler at 2B, and some of Roden's value is supposed to be a decent glove. Play him or send him out. You say it's because they fear looking dumb, but I think they place enough value on Rojas that Roden's fate can be decided by his play. Regardless, he's useless on this rost4er.

This piece was a nothing burger. If you want to talk rosters then talk about the whole thing and tell how you'd handle Buxton differently, talk about what they were trying to do with Larnach and where that would have put them now, and maybe try to guess what they are doing with the guys they kept. You chose to rehash and not add anything new, and now that Buxton has forced their hand it looks even more stale. This piece as a retrospective that went into the series of 2026 decisions could have been something, but it's too far after the events and too far before the story ends to be useful.

[Cris E]

Forgot to add: where was Martin last night? How was he not part of a lineup facing a good leftie? Caratini and Kreidler were chosen over him and it's the one thing he can really do well. If you're going to play platoons and you built your roster around them then use the ones you chose.

[Linus]

4 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

It's OK... Most people don't understand. I know that I'm against the wind on this. All teams platoon and I believe that roster decisions are being made on left right instead of talent or the development of talent.  

In order to understand... you have to at least momentarily let go of any left or right reasoning.  

When I say "turning the platoon advantage on its head". I'm not saying that it was some unprecedented breakthrough or even suggesting that this was intentionally done by the front office.  

I'm saying that we have 7 Right handed hitters, 3 switch hitters and 3 left handed hitters on the current 26 man roster and I'm saying that is the roster composition for the majority of the season. I'm saying we are not even close to over stuffed with left handed hitters to the point where we need to find an 8th right handed hitter.   

I'm saying that Derek Shelton just like Rocco Baldelli before him are setting the starting lineup primarily based on the splits of the pitcher.

I'm saying that we are typically stuffing 8 or 9 hitters into the right handed batters box against left handed pitching and typically stuffing 6 hitters into the left handed batters box against right handed pitching. Despite this consistent disparity... the Twins have been weak against left handed pitching despite 8 or 9 guys in the opposite batters box. And the Twins have been successful against right handed pitching with less batters in the opposite batters box. That disparity... that success with less and failure with more should make everyone question exactly how much the platoon is helping this team right now. And if it's not helping us right now... I'm pretty sure it isn't helping us in the future. I'm saying talent should be the reason for a call up and not what batters box they stand in. 

You talk about the switch hitters. I want to be clear that I have no problem with Brooks Lee getting AB's against left handed hitting because Brooks Lee is still developing. However... if the platoon split matters... why is Brooks Lee second in AB's against left handed pitching with a .587 OPS over 150 AB's. Yeah I know injuries to others and defense is always consideration in the amount of playing time. If Caratini is struggling against left handed pitching... why is he frequently used against left handed pitching? 

And here is another point. If it is so important that we try to math our offensive lineup together using the platoon advantage as a primary reason for lineups. If we are so concerned about a lefty facing a lefty. Why don't we have more left handed pitchers if we are so afraid of them offensively why don't we get more of these weapons for our ourselves. If you look at the historical splits. Left handed pitchers have a collective 3.84 ERA. Right Handed pitching has a 4.16 collective ERA.

Get more left handed pitchers if the left handed batter is concerning you. Give other teams the problem you are fighting. 

I'm saying don't fight it. Find Talent!!!  

I e got a simpler way to state your argument. They are wedging in Caratini at first base against lefties. It’s ridiculous. 

[Cody Pirkl]

1 hour ago, Cris E said:

That's not what you wrote about. You only mention two switch hitters in passing and no right handed hitters at all. You discuss at great length roster events from months ago and only one paragraph mentions hitting outcomes at all (and it only characterizes this terrible situation as "bottom third of the league against southpaws.")  That's the crisis? 

You didn't talk about today's roster until the comments, but let's go ahead and do that, spots 1 to 9.

• Keaschall is hotter than heck, his 107 ops+ against lefties is weighed down by his slow start. Bats right, hitting everything right now, not the problem.
• Buxton has been playing hurt, but bats right. Still above average against lefties, but not the problem you're addressing here. 
• DH Jeffers bats right, been having a good year, And look, .891 OPS against lefties. 
• Royce Lewis bats right, 116 OPS+ against lefties is miles above his performance against right siders. He's not the problem you're addressing.
• Clemons is in LF and betting left. Here you go, this is the problem: 106 OPS+ against lefties, rarely in the OF. We'll return to him below.
• KC? Bats right, plays SS well, hitting well against everything right now. Not the problem.
• Lee is another infielder, and a switch hitter, but he is well below average against lefties. Not an outfielder, but we're getting warmer.
• Caratini is another switch hitter who has been terrible against lefties. A legit problem, but not a left handed outfielder. 
• In the nine spot was Kreidler, a righty who really can't hit at all and should be in for defense only, but was here to allow Larnach to sit. Here is your article. 

Yesterday's lineup was a result of a couple things. First, when Buxton hits everything else is better. No one disputes this and it gets its own set of articles all the time.  But he's hurt again and they are going to have to make some moves to get through September. Why was he not mentioned in this entire article about outfielders? Why was this huge source of uncertainty not part of the calculus around roster construction? You keep crediting some fictitious intent when really they are being forced to work around the availability of their best player. In fact you managed to write about Jenkins ' plight without mentioning Byron at all, which takes some discipline.  

Second, there are some players with platoon holes that get benched to minimize their flaws. It's bad if your best player is one of these guys, but when it's just a guy then you take the good and work around the bad. If Larnach had about 15 more PA he'd qualify for awards and he'd be around 60th in MLB for AVG and 65th for OPS (right now his unadjusted .758 is the same as Alex Bregman hitting in Fenway.) But he's no good against lefties and doesn't field well so you sit him against Jump and hope Kreidler's improvement of 2B defense covers the gap between him and Larnach against LH. The other 3/4 of the time you let Trevor tear up RH pitching. (And by the way, if you want to be assigning intention in roster design then please give credit to them for having him wrapped and stamped Trevor for shipment to Houston before Jim Crane vetoed the trade. He's yet another name that should have been sorted by this point in the process.)

Third, I don't think they trust Roden and he has to play or go. We may agree here. Choosing to play Kreidler's terrible bat anywhere over a guy who is 5-11 against lefties this year (Roden is a career .695 OPS against lefties) and who you are ostensibly trying to evaluate makes zero sense. Clemons is not that good in the outfield, and he's not that much worse than Kreidler at 2B, and some of Roden's value is supposed to be a decent glove. Play him or send him out. You say it's because they fear looking dumb, but I think they place enough value on Rojas that Roden's fate can be decided by his play. Regardless, he's useless on this rost4er.

This piece was a nothing burger. If you want to talk rosters then talk about the whole thing and tell how you'd handle Buxton differently, talk about what they were trying to do with Larnach and where that would have put them now, and maybe try to guess what they are doing with the guys they kept. You chose to rehash and not add anything new, and now that Buxton has forced their hand it looks even more stale. This piece as a retrospective that went into the series of 2026 decisions could have been something, but it's too far after the events and too far before the story ends to be useful.

"You didn't talk about today's roster until the comments" 

The very first paragraph I mention how they can't or don't want to make room on the roster for Jenkins. I then discuss how the decisions they've made over the last year have led to their inflexibility and lack of opportinity for players like Roden in the currently constructed roster. I just wrote this yesterday, and the words are right above the comment section in case I forget, so not really sure what you're trying to accomplish by claiming that. 

If you disagree that the Twins have a logjam affecting the roster and keeping players from getting opportunities they need, that's fine. I don't think that's the common opinion though, and you're not going to make any meaningful argument opening your disagreement by calling it "pointless trash"

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, Cris E said:

Forgot to add: where was Martin last night? How was he not part of a lineup facing a good leftie? 

League rules forbid it.

[Cris E]

3 minutes ago, Cody Pirkl said:

The very first paragraph I mention how they can't or don't want to make room on the roster for Jenkins. I then discuss how the decisions they've made over the last year have led to their inflexibility and lack of opportinity for players like Roden in the currently constructed roster. I just wrote this yesterday, and the words are right above the comment section in case I forget, so not really sure what you're trying to accomplish by claiming that. 

Mention. You can't talk about making room on the roster without talking about other people on the roster, either the 26, the 40 or just names under contract.  Who did they keep? What makes this guy different from those guys? Are those guys doing better? Are there other measures that might indicate decisions were made other than hitting against lefties? Are there 40 man considerations? Were there any injuries? Who is blocking who? Any discussion of roles and who was in them? Any examples of too much platooning or not enough (other than empty assertions like "lacking right-handed hitting complements" when Martin's whole thing is hitting righties (.808 OPS) and acting as a platoon partner.)  

When you talk about Roden and guys like him you have to talk about what playing time is available. To do that you must discuss who is holding the full-time spots and who is involved in platoons, and how Roden (or whoever) may be better or worse suited than any of those folks. You wantd to have a discussion about the roster without talking about the roster. How?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cody Pirkl]

21 hours ago, Wedman13 said:

Every article twists back to the Varland trade.  Fairly sure Louis is doing the writing.  We get it.  Ya like homegrown guys.  Folks were advocating  for Wallner a year ago.  Win some, lose some.  Roden is not 1/2 of the value we got.  Hes not great.
 

our record is better than last year..our system is stronger .and Toronto' sucks ..(I think) 

but nice job getting me to click 🤣🤣

Are the players we got back in that trade barred from ever being mentioned again? I think the fact that they got Roden back in that trade plays at least a small factor in them not simply allowing Jenkins to pass him over for playing time.