Brock Beauchamp

You carve out a roster spot for Miguel Sano because of course you do. All the other stuff comes later because of course it does.

Agreeeed. Which is why you don't have your best relievers pinned down to any inning, period.

If a guy can have a great night, go 3-4 with a double and a homer, and his stats return back to respectability, it's too early to worry about his performance. Gonzalez has played in only nine games this season spread out over 2+ weeks.

Whoa. A lot to unpack here. I'm not doubting that Molitor did a lot to teach Buxton how to steal but I don't see how second is that different than third, while I also accept that it is different. Pitch selection, count, pitcher hand, and batter hand also play a larger role in third base. But the idea is the same; run when it's in your favor. We're talking about a guy who could easily break the MLB record for consecutive stolen bases when all is said and done. He's over 60% of the way there already. But Henderson is a bad comp for any base thief. I could be wrong but my memory of Henderson is that he was fast but never the fastest guy in the league; certainly not Coleman speed. Rickey did it from pure instinct and baseball smarts, coupled with very good speed. Which is why Rickey had such an elite OBP. He knew what pitch was coming and could see it from a mile away. It wasn't just speed, it was a load of natural ability and smarts. Buxton is good but he ain't Rickey good and he certainly lacks the pitch recognition of Henderson. By God, Henderson led the league by stealing 66 bases in 1998... at 39 years old. Speed ain't the deciding factor at that point. Also, Rickey Henderson may be one of the least appreciated multiple record holders in MLB history. The dude had no flaws at the plate, though it was strange how his speed never translated to the field (not that Williams was ever held back by that, really).

Well, yeah. But if you're shifted every time, spending a few hours in March learning how to lay down a bunt seems like a useful way to spend the day. There literally is no excuse for some of these players. You don't even need to be able to bunt well, you just need to be able to aim it within ~30 degrees... in fact, the harder you hit the bunt, the better off you are. Hell, if you hustle it out, you could see a few bunt doubles come your way over the course of a season. Pretty hard for the left fielder to get to a ball bouncing down the line lazily if he's holding position in left-center. Get it past the pitcher and you're guaranteed at least one base. Literally. That's all it takes. Hell, you don't have to hit it on the ground. Sky that "failed bunt" to third and that's even a better result.

Every time I see a lefty slugger get in the box, the defense shift, and no bunt is laid down, a little bit of me dies.

But that’s ignoring today’s bullpens. Teams simply cannot carry multiple first basemen for an entire season unless one of them is also the DH... which runs right back into your problem of “if one gets injured, you replace him with a bat that can’t carry that position”.

Fair enough. There are a slew of guys in the upper minors who will be entering the conversation soon. But, as with most prospect discussions of this kind, enough will likely flame out that the logjam will disappear in a hurry.

Everybody here realizes that Kirilloff doesn't have to only play first or OF, right? Given the makeup of this team and how the front office seems to value flexibility, he could easily slot into a transitional role in 2020, playing first a few times a week, the OF a few times a week, and maybe DH occasionally if he's hitting. Besides... it feels like I say this a thousand times a season but: These things have a way of just working themselves out. I'm not going to put much thought into where a AA hitter with a wrist injury might fit into this roster whenever he gets here, which might not even be until the middle of 2020.

I don’t think it will be much of a problem, actually. Raley might reach Minnesota late this year but possibly at the expense of Cave... and that’s assuming everyone stays healthy, hardly a given in any outfield that contains the Wall Crasher. Kirilloff isn’t even in the picture yet. By the time he’s ready, Rosario might have one foot out the door.

I’ll pass. Half because of Uber’s troubled history with automation, half because I hate the founder so much.

Yeah, say what you will about either player but Cron is who he is at this point.

I’m sorry but UGH. Kepler got to try again because he didn’t suck in the field and can actually play an up the middle position. Everyone here needs to hit the pause button and take a second to remember that hitters also have to take the field. There’s a reason why teams give good defenders five chances to succeed and marginal corner defenders one or two chances at most.

Well, you should care which side of the platoon they play on. Lefties often struggle against LHP. Look at Morneau. His career split was about 200 OPS points. But you can't do that in reverse. Literally every bullpen has a handful of RHP out there to get a guy out. Which is why Tyler Austin's likely ceiling is Danny Valencia without the ability to play third base. Maybe Austin figures it out. At this point, it's unlikely he figures it out enough to matter for a contending team. Which brings us back to Cron. Contending teams shouldn't take flyers on weak side corner platoon players. They should go with the established player.

Dude, come on. A LH and RH platoon aren’t even close to the same thing. But even if you want to ignore that (really important) fact, Kepler’s split is just 172 points. Also, Max can play center field.

Aw man, you know all OPSes are not created equally. Cron has a career OPS+ 10 points higher than Austin (and there was no learning curve, he basically entered the league that way). wRC+ tells virtually the same story, with Cron having a nine point lead in that stat. Maybe even more important than those stats is just how easy it is to expose Austin in a starting role. His career L/R split is a whopping 294 points of OPS (!!!!!!)... to the weak side of the platoon (!!!!!). Past the fifth inning, a manager would have to be concussed to ever let that guy see a lefty, which makes him a .659 OPS first baseman in the most important half of the game. The dude is an opposing manager's wet dream in late innings. On the other hand, Cron's L/R career split is... 005... basically invisible... So not only is Cron the better hitter, he's a guy opposing managers can't exploit to the point of uselessness by basically throwing a dart at his bullpen roster. Austin is a good flyer on a rebuilding team or a bench guy for a team that (inexplicably) needs a defensively challenged LHP masher. But for a team with postseason aspirations, he's not the type of guy you can afford to wait out in hopes he figures out same-side pitching, particularly in the American League, where rosters are already crunched due to the existence of the DH.

Can Austin hit as well as Cron? Sure. Will Austin hit as well as Cron? Probably not. And that’s the difference right there. Austin is a good reclamation project if you’re rebuilding. I’m tired of watching the Twins rebuild using marginal non-prospects. Go find actual MLB players and sign them, please. If the Twins were coming off a 72 win season, I’d totally be down with seeing what Austin can do. But they should be aiming for the division this season and guys like Austin can hamstring that goal if he comes at the expense of more established players and then falls on his face.

You’re right. For some reason I thought Benson was injured and that sapped his up the middle defense but now that I think of it, I’m likely confusing him with someone else defensively.

Exactly. I can never figure out why people fail to realize how fungible questionable bat-first, corner "prospects" are in baseball. Yeah, you'll occasionally get burned by releasing the wrong one. But in between those mistakes, you'll likely jettison a bunch of Kennys Vargas, Joe Benson, et al type of players and not play a subpar player in MLB games in the meantime, nor will you waste a roster spot better used on a more flexible player with upside.

That doesn't seem fair, as Rooker and Austin are basically the same person through their age 23 seasons. In Austin's age 24 season (repeating AAA), he broke back into .900 OPS territory after scuffling at sub-.750 levels for two seasons. Rooker could easily bounce back to .900 OPS territory this year in Rochester. Essentially, Rooker has posted two .900+ OPS seasons and one .800 OPS season. I'm not sure why you'd think he's significantly different than Austin, other than Austin is older and has actually gotten a chance to hit MLB pitching, albeit at a pretty pedestrian rate.

Fantastic software, know nothing of their ability to monetize on scale but I’m skeptical of it being a profit beast. Their scope is pretty niche the same way I’d be skeptical of Skype being an independently traded company.

I don't dislike the lack of a touchscreen; if anything, I prefer it. Mazda put the display on the dash to increase visibility while driving and reduce eye focus time. As a result, the display is awkwardly placed for touchscreen use. I find the control knob to be quite good and use the favorites button to jump to the desired radio station. Really, most of my problems with the system boil down to its lack of Carplay and Android Auto. Not in love with Mazda charging so much to retrofit the system but that's because they cheaped out on USB ports. Carplay requires a higher voltage port than Mazda puts in most of their vehicles. Overall, considering how upscale Mazda's interiors are to the competition, it's a sacrifice I understand, even if I don't care for it. To keep a price point, they needed to skimp somewhere.

I haven’t gotten around to the CarPlay update yet but plan to do it at some point.

I'm pretty sure I remember seeing this on Facebook. Woof. In the future when purchasing used, it's hard to beat a Toyota product. It's a big reason why we bought a used 2010 Prius a couple of years ago. Under $8k, 130k on the clock, and not a lick of problems past wear parts (got nailed with needing to replace the entire rear brake assembly because I didn't realize it was worn when I bought the car). By and large, driving a Toyota is about as stimulating as watching a washing machine operate but damn, the things go almost forever (out of the top ten most reliable cars sold, about half are Toyota products). When we replace the Prius, I suspect we'll avoid Toyota but that's because we'll buy newer and I actually like to drive, a feeling the Prius tries to suck out of me every time I get behind the wheel of it. But if you just want Point A-to-B, can't beat 'em.

Literally everyone who didn’t save their piggy bank money from childhood feels this way. Don’t worry about it. You’re way ahead of most other Americans in this regard. Like you, I spent some time living WAY under my means in my early 30s (my now-wife and I in a studio apt for a year despite both of us having good jobs). Both cars paid off, little debt past the $550/mo in rent. In that year, the two of us saved about $20k, which we turned into a house.