Twins ALDS Roster Announced

Concur. I think Castro and Garver make the perfect match for the catchers on a team. One is a great hitter and an okay defender who is maybe even improving over the big improvements already made, the other a so so hitter, at a position where you don’t really need it, and a great defender. Turtle isn’t a great hitter, but good, and he’s a terrible defender. If he’s on the playoff roster, it’s not in place of Castro, it’s in place of someone else, so who? There is no one else he has outplayed where he deserves a spot. Maybe, and it’s a big maybe for me, you could make the argument Schoop should be replaced by Turtle, but it’s not what I would have done. If Adrianza proves unwell or is reinjured, then Turle comes back. Or MarGo. But I hope not. The way the two of them have played, I think that’s an upgrade over Turtle. Or if we go with 11 pitchers next round, then there is a place for a position player and you can add him. Or Wade.

Adrianza, Smeltzer, or Gibson.

Castro's 2019 OPS of .767 would have been better than Mauer's OPS in 4 of Mauer's last 9 seasons, when Mauer's average OPS was .786.

 

Castro hit 13 homers in 237 AB's. Mauer averaged 552 AB's over his last 9 years, averaged 8 HR's and never hit more than 11.

 

The Turtle is NOT an upgrade over Castro.

 

Castro is also a way better defensive catcher. The fascination with the Turtle is confounding.

Although the poster you both are responding said Astudillo can hit, the poster was mostly building up Astudillo’s intangibles. So with all due respect, I will say “all of you are right.”

 

And surely you can think of situations where Astudillo should pinch hit for Castro.

I’m not sure what this is saying, except maybe answering my question of who goes on off the roster for Astudillo. Yes, I already said, if you go with 11 pitchers, yes. As for Astudillo over Adrianza? No. Adrianza has been performing very well this year and is a far better SS than Astudillo. I’d also prefer Adrianza over Astudillo in a few other positions. If Adrianza isn’t healthy, yes, Astudillo is the likely next call up. But Astudillo is not an upgrade over Adrianza.

Sure he is. I would probably use Astudillo as a pinch hitter ahead of Adrianza. We’re only talking about bench guys, here. Adrianza is a better bet for a middle infield replacement, but with Astudillo active, you have the elite contact skill, a tiny bit of corner position flexibility, and that third catcher you can use to buy time if Castro or Garver were to tweak something or get a bad foul tip and you wish to sit Castro or Garver for a game or two instead of placing them on the injured list and losing them completely. Add to that, Adrianza hasn’t played for a few weeks.

 

I mean, the Twins said it was a very, very difficult decision. So there was probably some internal disagreement and some who were arguing for Astudillo.