Brock Beauchamp

Two weeks ago, I would agree that sitting Buxton occasionally is the right move. But then he began to show life. Eight games ago, Buxton's OPS was .257. Today, it stands at .506. I don't take that guy out of the lineup for at least two weeks unless you feel he badly needs a rest day. The kid appears to be figuring it out. You let him keep on keepin' on.

To start this off, I want to see Berrios as much as anyone. I don't like most of this rotation and, going from a stat line, Berrios would look good in a Twins uniform right now. But the accusations I see floating around this board seem pretty extreme so I'm going to tackle them one at a time. 1. Berrios is ready. Is he? I haven't watched him pitch to more than a handful of batters all season and I'm not a pitching coach so I'm basically in the dark here. If someone can give me more substantial information beyond a box score why he's ready, I'd love to hear it. No snark, I'd honestly love to hear it. 2. The new front office is the same as the old. This one baffles me. Derek Falvey was given the lion's share of the credit for the Cleveland pitching staff's emergence a few years back. He was in the scouting department when Cleveland acquired Kluber, Bauer, and Carrasco. He was promoted along with those guys until he was Assistant GM when that staff led Cleveland to the World Series. Maybe it's possible Falvey knows what he's doing here and his goals are quite different than that of the old front office. Looking at an end result, finding similarity, and assuming the rest of the process is the same is a good way to be wrong about something. 3. The front office lied about Berrios stretching out after the WBC. This is really problematic for me. I can't count how many times I've given a loose framework to accomplish a task, only to later find there is something significantly wrong that blows up said timeline. Opinions change as new data presents itself. There could be a dozen reasons why the front office slammed on the brakes after seeing Berrios pitch a month in Rochester. 4. Berrios can't be worse than what the Twins have. Well, as evidenced last season, he most certainly can be worse than what we've seen. Jose Berrios was a horrible, awful pitcher last season. Kyle Gibson is merely terrible by comparison. Again, I want to see Berrios as much as anyone but the Minnesota-freakin-Twins are 14-11 right now and half a game out of first place. IN THE MONTH OF MAY. I didn't see this coming. You didn't see this coming. Hell, the front office may not have seen it coming. Given the start, it's reasonable for the front office to not throw caution to the wind and let it fly if they see something that indicates the result would be terrible. 5. This is some sort of punishment of Berrios and/or development malfeasance. Again, Falvey is known for two things: a. building a hell of a pitching staff and b. being one of the most affable and likable guys in baseball. The idea that he'd punish what may be the brightest pitching star in the organization makes no sense whatsoever. 6. If Buxton can play, so can Berrios. Byron Buxton was very, very bad at the plate early in the season but he was and continues to be a fantastic defender, probably the best in the league. That's worth a lot to a team, especially one that rostered a beer league pitching staff out of Opening Day. Berrios, on the other hand, could virtually assure a Twins loss once every five days. It's the difference between replacement level (Buxton) and a guy who was nearly two full wins under replacement last season in just 12 starts (Berrios). 7. Seriously, Kyle Gibson. I get it. We love a good punching bag. I'm thoroughly done with Gibson as much as anyone. But if the front office needs some more time with Berrios to fix something about him, do you really want to sacrifice months or years of Berrios scuffling just to see Gibson not make a month or so of starts? I'm patient enough to wait a bit longer, even if watching Kyle Gibson pitch is like a weekly dentist appointment. I'm frustrated, just like everyone else. I want to see Berrios pitch and I want to see him pitch badly. But we shouldn't let our frustration turn into tilting at windmills, manufacturing maliciousness and/or incompetence based on very limited information, particularly with a new front office that came from such esteemed organizations.

I actually think it's kind of the opposite, Levi. Derek Flavey's claim to fame is that he's the guy who built the Cleveland pitching staff, possibly the best internally developed staff in the majors. The guy isn't flailing in the dark here. But we kinda are.

That's a pretty big leap. Opinions can change for all sorts of reasons. Obviously, there's something about Berrios that makes them feel he's not ready and maybe it took a couple of weeks to find that out.

I hope the trailer isn't indicative of the film. It seemed pretty heavy on Jake. Roland views everyone around him as instruments. It's part of his character journey. Only later does he realize he needs others to form his Ka-Tet and find the Tower.

I don't like the Berrios decision at all but opinions can change. How many innings of Berrios have you watched this season? I've watched nothing more than the occasional highlight, which is hardly enough to make me an expert on the subject.

Dave, I adore Kepler. I think he's amazing. But the reality is that so few LHB hit LHP well that sitting Max against the occasional lefty is likely irrelevant. And don't bring up past arguments. You know I have piles of fodder on you but never bring it up. Tell me again what you said about Dozier in 2013.

Even if Kepler turns into a .900 OPS beast, it's likely he'll be - at best - mediocre against LHP. Sitting him down against the occasional lefty isn't going to stunt the kid's development in any way.

Winner winner, chicken dinner. When dealing with limited information, you need to trust the people with more information until they prove themselves untrustworthy. Otherwise, Dunning-Kruger.

Okay, first off, you've already violated several rules of this board in this thread but I've let it slide. If you refer to my opinion or anyone else's as "pathetic" again, you'll get a warning. Second, I don't think this team is good enough to make the playoffs, either. But that doesn't mean I'm willing to take a flyer on a catcher whose defense may hinder this already horribly shaky pitching staff just because I don't like Chris Gimenez (which I kinda don't). Your opinion may differ. That's fine. But it's an opinion. You need to reel it in a bit because, again, you're speaking in absolutes in a situation where you have extremely limited information on a complex subject. Garver isn't some rando who plays right field every third or fourth game; he's the guy who catches 150+ pitches a couple of times a week. His bat *might* be nice to have in the lineup but the havoc a bad backup catcher can cause is pretty substantial. And maybe you think wanting to win this year is a mistake. Personally, I like winning. Particularly when it's delivered on the backs of guys like Sano, Kepler, Polanco, Buxton, and Rosario, all of which are 25 years old or younger. I don't want the Twins to sacrifice a promising young prospect's playing time - such as Berrios - for a retread but we're talking about the backup catcher here. A little perspective is needed.

No way in hell should Perkins give up the money owed to him. That's absurd. He provided a ton of value for the Twins AND took a contract under market value. Go and get paid, Glen. I only wish you could still pitch.

Hitters aren't bigger at 20 years old. That's kind of my point. You're using outdated comparisons of a talented hitter like Hrbek to justify a decision of Mitch-freakin-Garver. It's fine to want Garver here. I get it. But your argument falls flat for a myriad of reasons. The game isn't the same as the comparisons you've used. The Twins are likely going to be 14-11 in a few minutes. We don't know much about Garver's defense. Until recently, he was a middling hitter and he's far from a blue chipper, never cracking any major prospect lists. My point is that you're speaking in absolutes when it's painfully obvious this is not an absolute situation.

That's pretty much my point. The thought process of needing a "closer" when Rauch had been just fine in the role was bad. If you need a closer, go and pick up someone like K-Rod, okay. But Matt Capps for Wilson Ramos? Oh, come on.

Good lord, no. The minor league system has drastically changed. Here's a list of players who skipped MiLB entirely. Notice what happened after the 70s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_baseball_players_who_went_directly_to_Major_League_Baseball It's a different game. Pay raises, Latin America, and Asia have drastically changed the game of baseball. In the 70s, an acceptable fastball was 88mph. Today, it's 92mph. It's a wildly different game.

Yeah. When Max came up, I called him a tweener because he didn't take good routes and seemed to be inexperienced but had the athleticism to play center. Watching him this season, I have no doubt he could play center. He wouldn't be a star out there but he could hold his own.

Going from old knowledge but almost positive retirement voids a contract.

He was never Wilson Ramos good and that's the point. Gomez for Hardy was a good trade from both sides. The Twins needed to win now, the Brewers needed to win later. That's how trades are kinda supposed to work. Capps was a mostly mediocre reliever and the Twins traded a solid (and later great) catcher for the guy. That's not how trades are supposed to work.

True, but I have to wonder if Joe is struggling through some adjustments. Something about his latest plate appearances just feel different. Maybe it's my imagination. Early in the season, he was making contact but drilling it into the ground. Lately, he seems to be getting under the ball a bit more.

Yeah, it's hard to get too riled up about this. Keuchel has been fantastic.

Square posted a loss of just four cents per share. I think this will be a growth stock going forward. When I invested last year, I hoped they'd be profitable by 2019. It looks like they might do it this year.

He gets a wash for Hardy. The Gomez trade was good. The Hoey trade was laughably bad.

I'd have to check but I believe Blyleven started broadcasting over 20 years ago. Not that it changes your point or anything. Edit: 1996 was his first broadcast season so this is his 22nd season.

I've always thought Smith was underrated in his international and free agent signings. He was overrated in his trades because he was *that* bad. I'll never forgive him for Ramos.

I'm neither condemning nor praising the Twins' system but the game of baseball was a very different beast three and a half decades ago. It was somewhat commonplace for prospects to spend only a year in the minors or not even go to the minors at all (Winfield). Now it's news if a guy reaches the majors at age 20. The game has improved and sped up to the point where only the absolute best prospects can play at age 21 and even then, most of them scuffle for some time.

The BABIP is a mild concern but he's making contact and that's what really matters. Up to this point, the overwhelming majority of Byron's hits have been singles. I'm hoping that starts to change and soon. He's making good enough contact now that hits should start dropping in for multiple bases.