Dear Future Rocco

Buxton will be self-correcting. With each injury and with each year he will get slower and therefore less likely to injure himself my running into walls since the balls will get there first. Of course this means as value goes down but it is one problem solved.

Now we just need starters who can give you that five innings without also giving you five runs you have to come back from.

Fortunately is easy for us as fans to correct all of these things and you must deal with real people in real situations. Good luck.

Future Rocco probably won't be available for awhile, so I'll try to answer for him. Good points! Starting with the last point, injuries are a part of the game and most are unavoidable. Nelson Cruz isn't likely to hold up, even as a DH, for a full season. That said, getting and keeping Byron Buxton healthy is the #1 goal going forward. He means so much to the current team and no one has the skills to replace what he has to offer. Gallons of virtual ink have been spilled detailing and analyzing his injuries. It will be up to the team to find the "sweet spot" of keeping Buck aggressive, without needlessly banging into walls and turf.

 

Buxton's health impacts team defense. Since Buxton has been on the shelf, Marwin Gonzalez has played mostly outfield, and he is a capable outfielder. Gonzalez also happens to be the best corner infield defender on the team and he can't be used in two places at once. This has put Sanó at third and he's a liability there (not terrible) and Cron at first where he is probably average at best. Sanó to first base makes sense next year and perhaps when everyone is healthy this year.

 

Middle infield is another matter. Yesterday's sharp play at short (and two hits) demonstrates Ehire Adrianza's value. Currently he is both hitting better and fielding better than All-Star Jorge Polanco. Jorge is too good a player to be benched, but he was a lot better player when he was hitting .320. Arraez is OK at second base and will continue to get most of the reps there. 

 

Finally, the bullpen. The Twins now have three trusted late-inning bullpen arms. None of them is Mariano Rivera or even Joe Nathan, but all three are capable. Taylor Rogers can be elite, but can't be overused. With Dyson and Romo on board, the urge to use Rogers in every pressure situation can be reduced. Three guys--Harper, Duffey and May--can supplement the late guys, and since there are three of them, they shouldn't have to be overused either. To further reduce overuse of Rogers, a lefty specialist would be helpful. Ryan O'Rourke might be that guy. If the starters can give the club around six innings per start, the bullpen will be much improved and much less of an issue going forward.

Imposter!!!

Rocco asked me to answer for him. 

Dear Thieres Rabelo,

Thank you for the thoughtful letter, I can't express how grateful I am to be part of this organization. We are blessed to have such talented bloggers along with a devout passionate fan base. 

You raise some great points and rest assured we are constantly working on improvement in all areas.  

Infield Defense:

I agree that infield defense along with defense in general is very important. Any play not made creates an extra out, each extra out creates the potential for big innings against you, along with plays made that take away outs, which make scoring runs that much harder for the other team. Rest assured that we work hard every day to improve our defense but I want to make sure you understand that I have full confidence in the abilities of all of our defenders.

However, you must consider that there are always trade-offs. Could we find a better defender than Miguel Sano at 3B, I'm sure we could, but I'm not sure that we could find one that hits the ball as far as he does. Jorge Polanco has come a long way defensively and he can still get better but the combination of his bat and defense makes us a better team.

We believe in our team defense, we believe in our offense and you better believe that we believe in the total combination.  

Bullpen: 

Wes Johnson and the entire Twins organization has done a nice job working with our pitching staff. The job is without end because of seemingly brand new challenges to address every day. It's kind of a moving target. Ultimately, when it comes to the bullpen (entire pitching staff for that matter), we need to listen to Riverbrian more. We have to find a way to become less reliant on a small core of performers by creating depth on the pitching mound much like we have done with our offense. This is what he terms as getting "bullpen serious". Depth is created by opportunity, we need to stop preventing opportunity of potentially better arms by filling up roster spots with average arms. In hindsight, we feel that we made a mistake using up valuable roster space with arms that were ultimately released in July. They were great teammates, great competitors but we should be further along in the identification process of talent that will help us win games in the upcoming playoffs. Rest assured this organization will continue to work with our pitching staff to meet any future challenge. 

Injuries:

The Twins organization recognizes the importance of keeping our players on the field and in full health. To help us in this regard, we employ consultants, doctors, physical therapists and others, who work directly with our coaching staff, to provide everything humanly possible, in pursuit of an extremely difficult goal of total health at all times. The truth of the matter, it's a long season. Over 162 games, players are going to get hurt, history has taught us that this is something that we must expect and plan for. As an organization we mitigate the injuries that will naturally occur with depth up and down the roster. We use our depth for occasional rest to heal small issues before they become bigger issues. We use our depth to not become overly reliant on a single player. Anytime one of our players goes on the injured list or is unavailable to us due to injury, we will miss the talent that they bring to the table... however, as we have demonstrated this year, we have multiple players that also bring talent to the table in their absence. 

Thank you for your steadfast, honest and loyal reporting. Keep pushing us onward. 

GO TWINS!!! 

I'm not going to write a letter, but I am going to address the various points:

Defense:

I agree with trade offs defensively in regard to the infield, particularly at SS and 3B. IMO, Polanco and Sano are solid. They make most all routine plays as well as some great ones. They also just throw the ball away or drop a ball at times. I believe each is very capable of developing over time as they gain experience. I believe each are still only 25/26yo. We've already seen improvement from both.

But I'd like to add, there is nothing wrong with Adrianza giving Polanco a day off here or there. I think he may be getting a little fatigued from the grind.

No matter what the error totals show, I've really liked Cron at 1B.

Bullpen:

I loved Brian's comments, tongue in cheek or not, about good teammates and nice guys that should have been gone sooner.

But to be real, a few things just didn't work like they were supposed to. The Dyson and Romo moves should prove excellent. But I sure wish they could have been done earlier. The entire complexion of the one might have different if the quality young arms of Mejia and Romero had come through as hoped.

I applaud the Rochester shuttle auditions and feel there are a couple young arms that could help shape and deepen the pen going forward. And Romo could even be back next season. Regardless, I'd like 1 more quality arm before 2020 starts to go with what we have on hand.

Largely, I've been pleased with the way Rocco has used his pen. The exception maybe being Rogers. Hopefully, going forward, there can be far fewer games of 5-6 outs on consecutive days.

I would add, however, even with a lead, I have been a bit frustrated when a RP has come in and just looks like he doesnt have it and Rocco stuck with him too long.

Injuries:

You just can't stop them. But this year and last are night and day different. And depth has allowed us to weather the few we have had. The entire pitching staff has been very healthy.

The Buxton situation is a tricky one to be sure. I still like the idea of him playing deeper this season. And I think his hard offseason work to get stronger will continue to pay dividends.

I'm still a bit dumbfounded I have never heard anything about Hunter being used as an experienced sounding board for him.

I'm still a bit dumbfounded I have never heard anything about Hunter being used as an experienced sounding board for him.

Hunter was in the radio booth last night. He spoke about Buxton and style of play.

Hunter said (paraphrasing). It's how he plays and it's what makes him special. Yes there are things you can do but you got to play the game how you play it. 

He also mentioned his long strides... said that the guys with long strides have a hard time slowing down.