Why on Earth Won't the Twins Move Edouard Julien to First Base?

For some reason, the Twins seem extremely reluctant to make some of these positional moves, that make a lot sense to us arm-chair managers. Maybe they know better...maybe they don't.

There can be only one reason. They have a worthless Manager.

August of a rookie's campaign during a playoff chase doesn't stand out to me to be the best time to do this with a defensively challenged player. 

Lewis 3B

Polo 2B

Julien 1B

seems like a good idea to me. could’ve been working on this to get ready for Lewis coming back. maybe better for the off season than mid season. 

If Julien hasn’t played first in the minors it is risky to experiment in the majors. Remember what happened to Lewis, though outfield has more challenges than first. Also because first is Kiriloff’s best position, and he appears to be above average playing there. 

Your proposal is too logical, therefore not worthy of consideration.

There seems to be a general trend on Twins Daily that Julien should be playing first base or used as a DH. This naturally begs the question of what to do with Kirilloff and/or Buxton. Maybe one of Kirilloff or Julien should be used in a trade if either Kirilloff or Julien are not going to have a slot in the lineup. 

August is likely not a good time to put a player at a new position. As has been discussed in many previous posts, the Twins have a number of decisions to make going forward about who slots where defensively (Kirilloff, Julien, Polanco, Lewis, Lee, Miranda). Three infield positions are open with six players looking to play full time. I am not including those who may be seen as best used in a utility role (Farmer, Solano, Castro, Gordon, Prato, Martin). Expect a trade or two this offseason. For now, the Twins will play out the schedule in the manner we have seen thus far.

Something must not have clicked at 1B during those 180 innings for Julien. The best way to hide his bad Defense is to make him the DH in 8 out of 10 games. When Buxton gets back. Put him in CF. Let him play in a wheelchair if he needs one or just DL buxton for the rest of the year.  We got a large enough sample size that says he sucks at DH. Possible due to injuries or just mentally incapable of focusing on just hitting. Either way, he sucks at it. Julien might just be the guy that excels at just hitting. Gee… thats what a DH is for. Play him there and watch his OPS of .980 climb.

27 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

If he misplays one if CC’s one hoppers from short…….Sonny Gray will lose his mind.

It’s not high school, you don’t just move a guy to first and hope to hide him. It’s not played on paper. I see the 181 innings in minors……20 games. Obviously, he didn’t grade out very well! Picking up ground balls is one basic element - stretch/footwork - handling throws from pitchers with runners on base - cut-offs - feeding pitchers on balls hit to first - scooping errant throws, routinely - etc. One screw-up and the team knows we have a weak spot we shouldn’t have. Morale is sucked away.

Getting him to play 1B so when Kirilloff comes back Kirilloff can DH is the silliest thing I’ve heard on the subject.

Solano is on the roster - mild injury. He’ll be there soon. Kirilloff will be back there in 3 weeks, hopefully………Gallo til then. Obviously, this was probably written for TD prior to Gallo’s one walk/4 hit game Saturday night. 2 HR & 4 RBI.

We’re going to struggle with Julien at 2B until he gets better over next 18 months. IMO Polanco will play 2B v. LH & 30% of the time v. RH. That’s it - Julien will sit some & DH some. Buxton will get a shot at everyday DH but if he struggles, Julien will be there v. RH pitching.

Hope Julien funds a spot in line-up regularly but moving him to 1B in a stretch run to playoffs is not sound move. Once Kirilloff is back we have the same clogged issue with two LH batting 2B - one struggles on D! Kirilloff isn’t displacing Wallner nor Kepler at this point, he’s at 1B.

 

I hear you on the difficulty of managing this during a run to the playoffs.  Although it is also not ideal to have people playing who bat 175 and strikeout half the time.  My guess is that Sonny also prefers not to lose 3 to 1 when he is on the mound.  Julien has had a good bat.  I agree that if Kirillof looks like a September return the move probably isn't worth it.  I wonder, for next year, if he could play left field.

Is there an assumption that it takes no skill to play the first base?

A first baseman doesn’t need range or a good arm. They do need a good glove and hands. That soft glove is not in the skill set of every player and you don’t need to throw them out there at 1B to see it.

If Julien is strictly a DH I'd lean toward trading him for pitching this offseason.

1 minute ago, jorgenswest said:

Is there an assumption that it takes no skill to play the first base?

It takes less skill than playing 2B. It's hope that they can salvage some defensive value from Julien by playing him at the easiest infield position. If he can't play 1B then he's a 24 year old platoon DH who doesn't hit lefties. That's hard to carry with just 13 roster spots for position players.

Julien is also having a pretty bad August so far (507 OPS). I might consider sending him back to AAA when Lewis returns.

1) Julien is far more valuable if he plays 2B. He's still not great there but I'm sure the Twins want him to get more reps in the hopes that he can improve. 

2) I'm sure he'd have been moved to 1B if the Twins thought it was a long-term (rest of season to multiple year) plan. If he's only going to be there until Kirilloff is back, then is it really worth taking away 2B reps?

3) I agree with some others that 180 innings in the minors must have been enough to tell the Twins that he can't handle 1B. Perhaps it's indeed his lack of soft hands. 

Like many other complaints about this year's Twins team, I think the organization's reasoning goes far beyond what we can see on the surface. 

2 minutes ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

Have him work hard in the off season on fielding at 2B and decide if it is improved enough to not pick up Polo's option.  Players in the past (and present like Jeffers) have shown that they can improve defensively with hard work.  Trade either Julian or Polo based on that off season assessment.

Options have to be exercised early in the offseason. The Twins can't use Julien's offseason work to determine whether or not to send Polanco to free agency.

13 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

trade Buxton IF Buxton cant play D.

1) Buxton has a no-trade clause as part of the contract

2) No other team wants Buxton if he can't play defense

I wish I would stop seeing people make this suggestion. It has no basis in reality.

15 minutes ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

Have him work hard in the off season on fielding at 2B

I don't care how hard Julien works defensively he won't ever be a better choice at 2B than Brooks Lee. I'd rather see them have Julien work hard in the offseason at 1B or LF to see if there is one position in the field he can play competently.

33 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

Keep Julien/Kirilloff trade Buxton IF Buxton cant play D.

Buxton has a no trade clause and a contract that runs through the 2028 season. He is not going anywhere.

Wow! Some poor assumptions made in this take. You DO still need range at first. You need to field ground balls. And  poor throws from Infielders. Julien can't do any of those things. But it may not matter. It appears the Pitching Reports may be catching up to him. 0-12? Same happened to Miranda. Bring up Brooks Lee Sept 1 and get him ready for for 2024 with Lewis. Lewis, Correa, Lee and Kiriloff. Julien can't even be a utility guy because he can't play one position and especially not 2 or 3. Might be a throw in on trade for bullpen help with Polanco.

Keep using Julien sparingly at 2B and more a DH (along with Buxton if or when he returns from Il).   With Lee approaching MLB readiness and Buxton with a no-trade clause, the Twins must seriously look at trading Julien in the off-season to a team wowed by his offensive numbers.