Has Alex Kirilloff Played Himself Off the Opening Day Roster?

I live near Chicago and I've been seeing the Kris Bryant story play over the course of these last few years. The bridge burning is definitely a thing. Most of baseball decisions are just business, of course. But it is in an organization's best interest long term not to go about all interactions voiding all human considerations. Especially when you're the Twins and you've repositioned the team as a place where everyone likes each other, stays loose, enjoys playing for the manager, and listens/collaborates with the analytics team. 

I generally agree but the current Kirilloff situation shares little in common with what the Cubs did to Bryant. Kirilloff played scrimmage games against the same pitchers all of last season, excluding a single postseason game, and unsurprisingly seems rusty as a result. The Twins also have Rooker, who appears to be more ready in the here and now, though has a lower upside than Alex.

Whereas the Cubs blatantly held back Bryant for service time considerations and everyone knew it.

Does Broxton have any options if we were to add him to the 40 man? I don't understand the mechanics on him, but I'd sure like to keep him around. He looks like someone who could help this team.

Broxton has played in parts of five MLB seasons so I don't see any possible way he could have options remaining. I didn't pay attention to the transaction wire when the Twins picked him up but he's almost certainly a FA.

You must have missed Kirilloff’s entire stay in AA so far? How do you measure Garlick and Rooker’s proven worth above Kirilloff? Kirilloff is a consensus top 20 prospect in all of baseball and touted as the best pure hitting prospect since perhaps Joe Mauer in this organization. Neither player has been highly touted as a prospect, locally or nationally. Spring training stats don’t translate to regular season baseball.

I don't think anyone here is crazy enough to measure Garlick's worth over Kirilloff but bench guys are needed and if it comes to one or the other sitting around and doing nothing five days a week, I choose Garlick.

As for Rooker, the picture gets a lot muddier if you compare him to Kirilloff. Previous MiLB performances are pretty outdated at this point but Rooker hit quite well in the upper minors (~.850 OPS) while Kirilloff scuffled (~.750 OPS, largely due to injury but the numbers are still there) and Brent has a lot more experience facing higher calibre pitching. Rooker is a lot older and likely closer to his peak self as of today. And, to be blunt, the team probably doesn't care as much if Rooker receives inconsistent playing time at the MLB level while they're more focused in on Kirilloff's development arc.

I can see some pretty legitimate arguments for keeping Kirilloff in the minors for now without even factoring in service time.

Exactly. Every other outfielder is on the 40 man, and has options. Broxton is the only one we could lose. I'd put him on the roster and send Cave, Garlick and Kirilloff down. Rooker/Arraez cover LF - Broxton is #4/5 along with some turtle just in case. Losing Broxton when you don't have to seems like a wasted opportunity, we can cut him in May if we need to.

That's a pretty raw deal for Cave, who looks particularly appealing as a platoon candidate with Rooker and has all but earned an MLB roster spot until he shows otherwise (I'm basically writing off all 2020 performances because there are so many crazy, unexplained oddities in individual performances).

The reason to keep Cave is that he is the backup for centerfield? Kepler can play center in a pinch. Otherwise, you jettison Cave and keep Garlick. Rooker, too...who can backup first base and DH (with Garver).

Can someone explain to me why we're so bullish on Garlick? Because of 28 Spring Training plate appearances?

Come on, people, you've all been baseball fans long enough to know better than that.

Even ignoring the bit about rusty pitchers and facing MiLB quality talent, Garlick could have five bad games in a row and his stats are pedestrian, if not terrible, again.

Sigh.

Okay, let’s go through the arguments. He could play sparingly right now at the MLB level, or play zero baseball until May 1 at AAA. What’s better for the development arc?

 

Rooker and Garlick have more past experience against AAA/AAAA pitching. Who cares? Kirilloff is younger than them, so of course he doesn’t have similar experience.

 

Why prioritize Rooker or Garlick’s playing time now when they aren’t likely to be better than Kirilloff 6 months from now?

Maybe because the Twins feel they’ll field a better team in April by doing so.

And it’s not as if Kirilloff will be sitting around doing nothing. I’m sure he’ll be playing some form of extended spring training, though it’d be a lot better (and an easier decision to make) if MLB hadn’t postponed the AAA season.

I think I'd rather have Broxton in Cave's role, honestly. His defense grades out better, he can play CF well, he'd make a good pinch runner, and expectations for their bats are a wash.