The Path is Clearing for Brooks Lee to Make the Twins' Opening Day Roster

9 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Julien should never be considered for playing 2B (I don't care if they think his bat plays there). Then Lee wins 2B by default. But is he the right person to play there? IMO Lee's best position is 3B, he's also 2nd in line at SS & 2B is his 3rd position. that IMO makes Lee more valuable as one that is the 1st choice in subbing Lewis & Correa. 3Bmen need to have a strong arm, Miranda doesn't have one to begin with & now with shoulder surgery & related injuries, his consideration at 3B should be removed last season. Just to get his bat in the lineup should not be the reason to play him there.

IMO Martin is definitely not needed in the OF. They should clean his slate & try him at 2B, if he shows promise at 2B & able to turn his hitting around so to beat out Lee let him start at 2B. It's an unfair opportunity but least it's an opportunity & could make our team better. If Lee fairly beats out Martin then let him start at 2B while still playing plenty of 3B & SS. & send Martin down to AAA to focus on his hitting & 2B, along with Julien to do the same but at 1B.

You are forgetting about Willi Castro. With Harrison Bader now with the Twins Castro is delegated to the infield unless there are major injuries in the OF>

10 minutes ago, darin617 said:

You are forgetting about Willi Castro. With Harrison Bader now with the Twins Castro is delegated to the infield unless there are major injuries in the OF>

I forgot to mention him in this text but I believe Castro is more established & more needed as a super utility player than settled at 2B.

4 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Do you believe Lewis can play third base?

Yes, I do. But I think Lee is better. Twins fired the old INF coach maybe the new one can help him correct his throwing. When Lewis is out, I hope they put Lee at 3B instead of pushing their luck with Miranda.

Makes me laugh to read all the dread about Julien. Somehow, someway, impossibly, Julien is close to being the key to the Twins season. If he hits and makes the routine plays, the Twins have a decent year. Julien doesn't hit or never gets a shot, the Twins have a soft bat and still poor defense at second base and finish .500.

Totally off topic, I had not watched Ty France very critically until recently. He makes Jose Miranda look like Carlos Santana. France should just DH if the Twins think his bat is that important. No way is Miranda not better at first base and Miranda will hit. Miranda's one big weakness is that he doesn't walk enough.

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

One of these players was handed the 3B job going into 2023 and then hurt his shoulder. You've spent 2 years blaming playing him at 3B for that arm injury and then his back injury last year. You call for Rocco's head for making this decision and setting that player up for failure because he just doesn't have the arm for 3B and there was no way he wouldn't get hurt doing it even though he'd played there 2145 innings in the minors. The other 2 players are Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee.

Player 1: Max MPH throw: 83.2, Overall 81.2
Player 2: Max MPH throw: 85.5, Overall 83.7
Player 3: Max MPH throw: 83.1, Overall 81.5

All of those arms are below average. Spoiler alert, Royce is the middle one and he's now hurt. Pick out Lee vs Miranda. Player 1 or 3. Who should start at 3B and who is having his career threatened by playing him there because his arm isn't strong enough?

Bonus Player 4 not on Twins who just signed a $40 million/year free agent deal as the defending AL Gold Glove winning 3B: Max MPH throw: 82.5, Overall 80.7

Bonus question: Should Boston move Bregman to 1B to save his career because he just couldn't possibly play 3B with that arm while leaving Devers at 3B since his arm has a max throw of 87.9 with an overall average of 84.7? Or can we just put your arm strength argument that isn't based on anything real to bed?

If one says things enough times, one tends to believe it has to be so. No matter how ludicrous it may be. Confusious or some one like that.

10 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Do you believe Lewis can play third base?

Not after today. Maybe sometime in May

59 minutes ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

It depends on whether Rocco wants Miranda in the lineup or Julien. If he wants Miranda for his bat, then Miranda opens at 3B, warts and all, and Lee is at 2B. If he wants Julien at 2B, warts and all, then Lee opens at 3B. I don't think Castro will be starting as much as he did last year this year. 

I'm hoping Miranda is the DH, although Jose is a better first baseman than Ty France. However, France looks like Baldelli's dream. Because Brooks Lee is slow he fits better at third base. Julien has the worst glove and his throws are always a mystery but he does have the best, still not good, range of the choices at second base. Of course, people have serious PTSD reading the name "Julien". The apoplectic responses do not change the reality. We can be certain of one thing though. What Falvey and Baldelli come up with is often a total surprise that elicits a huh. We get to watch.

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

I'm hoping Miranda is the DH, although Jose is a better first baseman than Ty France. However, France looks like Baldelli's dream. Because Brooks Lee is slow he fits better at third base. Julien has the worst glove and his throws are always a mystery but he does have the best, still not good, range of the choices at second base. Of course, people have serious PTSD reading the name "Julien". The apoplectic responses do not change the reality. We can be certain of one thing though. What Falvey and Baldelli come up with is often a total surprise that elicits a huh. We get to watch.

France fielding numbers at First Base, are actually close to Juliens at Second Base, but, France has played 530 games at 1st vs Julien's 165 at 2nd.

Now errors seem to depend on how much the scorers like a player, but at that, Julien now has 7 errors vs. France's 10 errors in 3 times as many games.

Ir would be interesting to see how Julien's lead glove plays at first base. Maybe Baldelli could have the pitcher running over to 1st to back-up Julien on most plays.💀

10 minutes ago, RpR said:

France fielding numbers at First Base, are actually close to Juliens at Second Base, but, France has played 530 games at 1st vs Julien's 165 at 2nd.

Now errors seem to depend on how much the scorers like a player, but at that, Julien now has 7 errors vs. France's 10 errors in 3 times as many games.

Ir would be interesting to see how Julien's lead glove plays at first base. Maybe Baldelli could have the pitcher running over to 1st to back-up Julien on most plays.💀

 

There are counseling services available online if there aren't any offices/clinics in your area.

15 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

There are counseling services available online if there aren't any offices/clinics in your area.

Sorry they are all overbooked by those who think Julien is good enough for MLB.

12 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Also, since errors are among the lesser-called outcomes in the sport, it's not a particularly useful stat anymore (like, for 100+ years) in judging a fielder. Also a separate matter from favoritism.

Hmm, how many times can a fielder kick the ball away, or throw it into nowhere land before it becomes a problem. 🤣

It's still just ST, but it is the day after Lewis went down with an injury; Lee CG at 3B, Miranda CG at 1B and Julien 7 innings, 4 PA at 2B. Also 7 innings, 3 PA for Keirsey. The results were mixed, but maybe the team is going to let the players sort out who's making the team and where they are going to be playing. 

On 3/16/2025 at 5:37 PM, chpettit19 said:

One of these players was handed the 3B job going into 2023 and then hurt his shoulder. You've spent 2 years blaming playing him at 3B for that arm injury and then his back injury last year. You call for Rocco's head for making this decision and setting that player up for failure because he just doesn't have the arm for 3B and there was no way he wouldn't get hurt doing it even though he'd played there 2145 innings in the minors. The other 2 players are Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee.

Player 1: Max MPH throw: 83.2, Overall 81.2
Player 2: Max MPH throw: 85.5, Overall 83.7
Player 3: Max MPH throw: 83.1, Overall 81.5

All of those arms are below average. Spoiler alert, Royce is the middle one and he's now hurt. Pick out Lee vs Miranda. Player 1 or 3. Who should start at 3B and who is having his career threatened by playing him there because his arm isn't strong enough?

Bonus Player 4 not on Twins who just signed a $40 million/year free agent deal as the defending AL Gold Glove winning 3B: Max MPH throw: 82.5, Overall 80.7

As always you miss my point. The point I made is that Miranda's arm is overtaxed at 3B, especially since his injuries from playing there. Miranda is no Bergman, in that moving him to 1B is a gigantic waste of talent. Which could be only temporary until he is 100% again. Again my point is the condition of Miranda's arm that asks for no pissing contest between him & Lee. For me, stats have no meaning if underlying conditions aren't present. Which I want no debate on the matter, it's my opinion & has no meaning on this thread.

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

No, you miss the point. I provided you the numbers for their arms. Alex Bregman has a weaker arm than Jose Miranda. Brooks Lee has virtually the exact same arm strength as Jose Miranda. But you don't care because you've decided you're smarter than the numbers. You're smarter than radars and computers so you know that Miranda was hurt despite the fact that his arm is clearly strong enough to make that throw.

Just saying "underlying condition" doesn't make the facts go away. Jose Miranda played over two thousand innings at third base in the minors without getting hurt. TWO THOUSAND. He had 438 assists. That means he made that throw 438 times in games alone. So not even counting practices where he likely made that throw well over 1000 times. He had another 284 innings and 66 assists at shortstop in the minors. 1173 innings and 200 assists from 3B in the majors. At all levels, over 9 seasons, Jose Miranda has played 3416.2 innings and made 662 assists from third base. In practices he's made the throw from third thousands of times. Just saying "underlying conditions" like it explains all that away is meaningless and doesn't outweigh facts. He didn't wait until he made the majors and then suddenly decide he needed to work harder and strengthen his arm for 3B where he'd spent the vast majority of his minor league career. You love to say "it's common sense" until common sense disagrees with you. It doesn't make any sense at all that he'd spend most of his minor league career playing 3B then make the majors as a 3B and then suddenly go crazy trying to strengthen his arm that is already strong enough to play the position.

If Miranda's arm is "overtaxed at 3B" but it's the same strength as Lee's then why aren't you worried about Lee? Where is the "common sense" in that? If it's stronger than Bregman's why isn't Bregman hurting himself making that throw? Simple answer: it isn't overtaxed and his injuries aren't from playing there they just happened.

Again my point that you want to debate on is not about their ability to play 3B. It's about the condition of Miranda's arm & the health management to keep Miranda on the field. The fact that Keaschal shouldn't be playing OF now isn't because he can't normally play there. It's a matter of health management. Grant it that they are at different places in their recovery but the idea is the same.