Riverbrian

And of course: Castro, Santana, Farmer and Margot are 4 players who were rostered not to be starters and all 4 have clearly better career stats against left handed pitching. Have thus far combined for 476 PA's against right handed pitching in 2024 with Castro #1 and Santana #2 on the list. Divide that by 4 and you have an average of 119 PA's against right handed pitching. Ryan Jeffers currently leads the team in plate appearances against left handed pitching with... (Dramatic Pause)... Ladies and Gentlemen... 69 PA's. We are providing an average of 119 sub-par PA's to avoid what would be a maximum of 69 sub-par PA's but in reality average out to 57 PA's. Based on Kepler, Julien, Larnach and Wallner having a combined 47 PA's against lefties this year. For an average of 12 each. Individually: Castro - 184 vs RH - 59 vs LH --- .710 OPS vs RH - .955 OPS vs LH Santana - 169 vs RH - 58 vs LH --- .679 OPS vs RF - .834 OPS vs LH Margot - 63 vs RH - 65 vs LH --- .502 vs OPS vs RH - .785 OPS vs LH Farmer - 60 vs RH - 53 vs LH --- .525 OPS vs RH - .607 vs LH We are giving up more than we are getting. Every batter is at least close to 50% against right handed pitching when 25% of pitching is left handed... We are giving up more than we are getting!!! They played the platoon split incorrectly and have accidently created a disadvantage trying to gain an advantage. With all of the analytics produced by the front office. They missed this rather large thing.

Thanks for this article @Nick Nelson This is the price that you pay when you spend 15 million dollars in the off-season to roster 3 players who hit left handers and struggle against right handers. 6 million on Farmer, 5 million on Santana and 4 million on Margot and we didn't have the 15 million to spend. We added 3 players to the roster with stronger stats against left handers and weaker stats against right handers... just to protect the three young left handers. AND... AND purposely placing development roadblocks to make the OVERALL WELL ROUNDED development more challenging for these young left handed hitters. AND... AND... Let's not forget that Lee (Better against lefties) and Erod are on deck. The Twins front office clearly over corrected in an attempt to protect our three young left handed hitters. They are now all gone and we got a pile of something not intended at the moment. We are set up great to face left handers and set up poorly to face right handers. I'll add another point to the great points you make in this great article. With the addition of Martin and the demotion of Kirilloff. We are currently overstocked with batters who stand in the right handed batters box against left handed pitching. We have 11 on the current roster but let's call it 10 with two of the players being catchers. The lineup card only allows for 9. Someone is going to sit against left handers consistently or you are rotating players to sit against left handers that pop up 25% of the time. Here's another point that I'll add to the great points that you make in this great article. Kepler and Larnach are the two remaining lefties. There is no way that they are going to start against lefties now. Two of the right handed hitters will platoon the right side for a total of 4 players committed to the platoon. Once you consider that two roster spots go to catchers... this means that 7 players will have to face both right handers and left handers... 6 at least of the 7 in every lineup. Lewis, Correa, Buxton, Castro, Miranda, Santana and ???... I have no idea who the 7th player will be but It won't be Kepler or Larnach or the catchers. That leaves Margot, Farmer and Martin to play every day or a rotation is set up amongst the three or two of them. How's it going to work? DH - Miranda C - Jeffers/Vazquez 1B - Santana 2B - Castro/Farmer 3B - Lewis SS - Correa LF - Larnach/Castro CF - Buxton RF - Kepler/Margot Martin pinch running and playing CF when Buxton gets a maintenance day? Maybe in addition to a rotation with Margot and Farmer against the dreaded lefty? (Late Addition to this post - 1st lineup out against a RH... Martin in and Miranda out). The roster was set up all pretty for platoon in 3 spots coming out of spring training providing nobody got hurt or nobody struggled. It stopped being pretty when the first injury happened and injuries were always going to happen. It has gotten really ugly when all 3 young left handed hitters were sent to the minors and players struggling is an every year occurrence. Anyway... We are set against the left handers that we will face 25% of the time. We better be... We spent 15 million that we don't have attacking it. I've come to the conclusion that we would have been better off attacking the 75% and fight through the 25% with the hope that the young left handed batters develop into better hitters against left handed pitchers through more exposure.

Please forgive me but this is something I try to correct when I see it. Super Utility is what Castro is right now. What you describe returning Castro to is closer to Utility. Super Utility is a player who plays every day at multiple positions. Think Zobrist or Bellinger with the Dodgers when he would move between 1B and the OF. Castro currently plays everyday at 2B, LF and CF. With the potential to SS if Correa needs a day off or 3B if needed. As long as Castro is playing every day at multiple positions. He's super utility. Utility is a player who spends time on the bench waiting to fill in at multiple positions. Other than that... I wouldn't mind a 2B addition to this club (what happened to the log jam) and returning Castro to the role you describe.

You are right that a lot can change in the next 45 days. However... I think it's fair to point out: Brandon Pfaadt had a .5.79 ERA during the regular season last year for the D-Backs. Then turned in a 3.27 in the playoffs. He's back up to 4.60 this year. Nobody was thinking in June that the D-Backs were set for the playoffs because of Brandon Pfaadt. It was nice to have Gallen and Kelly in the starting rotation they were both great in 2023 but there was nothing beyond that including Pfaadt. However it is fair to point out that Gallen wasn't a strong performer in the playoffs. Arizona had 5 hitters who were doing decently during the regular season. Carroll, Marte, Walker, Gurriel and let's throw Moreno behind the plate in that group. CF, SS and 3B were question marks. Pham was acquired cheaply and he had a nice post season. The Rangers got by with Montgomery, Eovaldi and Heaney in the playoffs. Scherzer was not a playoff factor. Gray and Dunning worked out of the pen. Degrom was hurt. The acquisition of Montgomery was huge for the Rangers. Although... The Rangers simply bashed their way to a title. Seager, Garcia, Jung and Carter were rock stars and couldn't be stopped for 17 games. Anyway... I agree that a lot can change in the next 45 days. I fully admit that I loudly wanted Max Kepler cut in June and he went nuclear after the all star break to help us into the playoffs... so yeah a lot can change. However... a lot can change between September 29 and October 1st. Because Kepler struck out 10 times in 23 AB's in the playoffs with 5 hits... no home runs and a .554 OPS. I don't trust myself to predict who will step up in the playoffs and I don't trust front offices to make those predictions either. Load up the best you can to make the playoffs and get hot at the right time.

No pressure is being applied to Vazquez. Camargo gets the call when an injury occurs and probably minimal playing time when that happens. Castro is firmly #3 on the depth chart and whatever he does won't change that. Unless Olivar goes meteoric rising from his current location in Cedar Rapids.

I agree... If I'm Pittsburgh... I'm trying to add a bat. An Outfielder should be where they should focus. Pittsburgh is a lot like the Twins last season. The Twins were producing some of the best pitching they have ever produced last year but we had offensive questions. There were a few posters on Twinsdailly who argued at the trade deadline last year that it wasn't time to add and I just didn't understand that thinking since the pitching was as strong as it has ever been. This year... the Pittsburg staff has three starters looking real good but the Twins staff last year was better in total... quite a bit better than the Pirates are this year. I'd love for the Twins to do some shopping off the Pirates roster but the Pirates shouldn't be selling in my opinion and neither should the Twins... At least not as of June 13, 2024.

Anything official from the Twins on Austin Martin being the guy?

For the Twins Yes. For Kirilloff... it's a big 2024 issue.

This will use up Kirilloff's last option. IMO... this is a huge deal. Next off-season... he is Nick Gordon. He will be out of options. The Twins will have to give him a 26 man roster spot next year or lose him. The rest of 2024 in St. Paul or at the major league level is critical for Alex's future in Minnesota.

I've frequently complained about the potential development issues in regards to young players. I'm not so sure that not playing everyday is the reason though. If not playing every day is hard on Julien, Kirilloff, Wallner and Larnach. It has to be doubly or triply hard on Farmer or Margot who are playing even less. However, we get there... we agree that we are both not fans of the heavy platooning taking place.

I agree it can take some time for young players to figure it out but disagree with the implication that vets figure it out. I realize or at least assume that you are not making a black or white statement claiming that all young players or all vets because you are a solid poster who wouldn't do that. I'm just not so sure that any of us should be tagging this type of thing on the young player. What is typical across the league is that vets are allowed more time to figure it out and some do... while some don't. Options are a powerful thing in roster management. That vet who can't be sent down have to figure it out at the major league level. The youngster with options doesn't have to because they can be sent down. Have Julien, Wallner and Kirilloff struggled? Yes they have. They are not the first youngsters who struggle in year two and they won't be the last... However... So has Margot and Farmer and they are not the first nor will they be the last. Did Holiday struggle?... He sure did... Really bad over 34 AB's. Cedric Mullins has struggled real bad over 187 AB's and is still given daily opportunity to cure whatever is ailing him. Abreu and Hamilton are playing decently for the Red Sox. What will they be next year? Next Month? Who knows but those are a couple of young players who are helping Boston win some games. Cleveland has that David Fry guy and a lot of youngish players. I still don't know who David Fry is? But... He's a 28 year old rookie with an OPS over 1,000 - 131 AB's into the season. Kerry Carpenter figured it out right away in Detroit and still has it figured why Javier Baez took the big contract and continues to do nothing big at all. Bregman is starting to figure it out in Houston this year but statistically... he currently isn't much better than Julien,,, other than the strikeouts. Julien has spent too much time walking back to the dugout. The Royals have young players all over the place... they also have a couple of vets in Renfroe and Frazier who still need to figure something out. The Angels... they are a collection of vets who struggle... they got a couple of youngsters in O'Hoppe and Neto who have done decently. The Yanks are happy with Volpe and not so happy with Rizzo. Garver, Haniger and Polanco have not been good this year for the Mariners. They will continue to get chances to repair themselves. The Rays are pretty much a veteran team now... Vets who are not performing very well this year but the same players who performed pretty darn well when they were classified as youngsters. Carter has certainly taken a step back from his incredible World Series performance with the Rangers. Langford certainly hasn't exploded out of the box. Adolis Garcia has some turning around to do and will keep getting AB's for turning opportunity. I'm not sure if Vlad Jr and Bichette should be classified as Youngsters but they have certainly been in the league long enough to be Vets. Bichette was very important and not playing important. Springer is a very well paid vet and I just picked him up off the waiver wire in my fantasy baseball league. Davis Schneider on the other hand has been perhaps their 2nd best hitter so far. I could keep going into the National League but this post is already long enough. I just wanted to point out that opportunity has always been advantage Vet and remains so... although statistically... I'm not so sure that the Vets are better. Young players these days make some decent debuts at a much lower price. The Twins need to find more because we can't afford vets who struggle. If we continue spending 18 million dollars every year to round out the roster... that bill will eventually get paid by a minor league system that didn't produce cheaper talent.

Some reports on the web that it's Austin Martin heading North... umm... West.

That's all of them.

Understandable However... There are a couple additional points to be considered on top of sample size. 1. If that's it... that's it. He's a no go 3rd time through the order based on his previous numbers. His numbers will atrophy at that level and therefore in theory... always be a no go. Can't fix it... If that's the case... it's going to be real hard to claim a rotation spot because those numbers won't change. 2. Out of all his previous starts that led to 19 innings of poor third time through the order metrics. How many of them were a low pitch count like 63 pitches and 1 hit? My guess would be not many if any. IMO... When it comes to player management... There is one way to guarantee poor career metrics and make it impossible for a young player to carve out a career... benching them when they are doing well will make it real hard to build up that resume. I'm not saying he was hot at the time... I wouldn't know because I can't watch the game. I also want everyone to know that I'm not raking Rocco over the coals for making a manager decision. However... 63 pitches and 1 hit suggests he was doing very well at the time and if you can't let him come out for the 6th at 63 pitches and 1 hit... When can you? What is going to open that door in the future? And I'll add that these decisions sure look scripted because the criteria for execution are pretty consistent... Much like... in comes the left handed pitcher... Here comes the right handed hitter.

The Rangers and D-Backs made the playoffs on the final day of the regular season. There is no such thing as a playoff team with no chance. Buyers Buy - Sellers Sell. We will see where we are in late July but as of June 12, 2024. We Buy

I was very sad after the trade was made. Arraez was the one hitter on the team that I felt was threat every plate appearance. Lopez has made me feel better about the trade. Despite what his numbers say this year. He's has real good stuff, he's smart, he's a valuable member of the starting staff and will be for years to come (Health Willing). I proudly wear my yellow Lopez jersey. However... Yeah... I really miss Arraez and our offense hasn't quite overcome his loss yet.

The Marlins have quite a few players that I'd be interested in. All those left handers: Tanner Scott: If we are in contention... absolutely interested in him for a rental. Who wouldn't want to add a hard throwing lefty to a bullpen for a stretch run. AJ Puk: The starter experiment didn't go well to start this season. He's been better as a reliever and he's been pretty good the years prior. He's a good bet for a rebound. Ryan Weathers: The Twins haven't had a left handed starter in quite some time.

Since I can't watch the game. I really can't comment on last nights nuance. I do find it amusing that Park is claiming several nuances as an explanation why Varland was pulled. At the same time... fans who don't understand why Varland was pulled are asking Rocco to consider nuance and let him pitch. If there are several nuances... Rocco wouldn't consistently make the same moves at the same moments. Several Nuances produces several variables. His decisions are too consistent for variability.

Update: Day 8 of Lewis Back/Julien sent down - Everybody healthy lineups. Miranda sits for 2nd straight day against a RH. Margot starts for 2nd straight day against a RH. Hot Hand?

7 Games into the Lewis is here and everyone is healthy portion of our season. Lewis at the moment appears to be playing two and sitting one. Buxton at the moment appears to be playing three and sitting one. Too soon to lock this in but that's what has happened so far. This has opened up 4 lineup holes against right handers that either Santana, Margot and Farmer will have to fill in. Buxton has sat twice over this stretch. Farmer got the nod once. (June 6) Castro shifted to CF. Margot got the nod once. (June 10) Margot played CF Lewis has sat twice over this stretch. Santana got both of those starts at 1B as Miranda slid to 3B. Santana also picked up two more starts. Playing 1B when Kirilloff sat against a left hander (June 5) Playing 1B when Miranda sat against a right hander (June 10) Right now... it's too soon to tell but Buxton maintenance days have been lightly split by Farmer and Margot. Santana seems to be the primary choice for fill in work against right handers thus far for everyone else.

Yep... it takes two roster spots to handle one spot. Which is one less spot for someone to be a complete player who takes up one spot. And they are going to have to do it again next year with a fresh crop of Margot types to try again. There is no indication that they will stop trying.

It is... Add Julien and Kepler to your list of Kirilloff and Santana. This is what happens when you are using 6 roster spots to strip mine via the platoon. The problem has always been with the 5 players who will have to face both right handers and left handers. Our every day guys... the top of the pile guys. We started the season with Lewis, Correa, Buxton, Kepler and Santana in those 5 roles. We started weak with Santana in one of the 5 spots to go along with two injury prone players in Lewis and Buxton. The injuries we have suffered this year have come from exclusively from those 5 every day player spots. Losing Lewis as quickly and for as long as we lost him hurt a lot. Correa, Buxton and Kepler have also had injured list time. Even with the struggles of the young left handed platoon guys. They were never candidates to replace the top 5 for full time duty... even if they were crushing left handers like they did last year... which of course they are not. They can't just start playing the left handers every day to replace the injuried big guys with Margot and Farmer needed to get into the lineup against left Handers. Castro is playing every day because we don't have a better candidate to play every day. Even when healthy like they are now... the roster doesn't have an answer to play every day other than Castro with Santana and Kepler knocked down to platoon duty. We are doing OK... If the season ended today we get the last playoff spot but Rocco has to strip mine every little bit of juice out of 13 position players in order to keep them hanging on. We need a top of the pile hitter to add to Lewis, Correa and Buxton (We need Buxton to be better as well). Castro in one of those roles is a problem even if Castro hasn't been the problem.

That's why it's not intended as a slam. But... to put it in proper perspective. League Average is leading your team in PA's against right handers? Here are the top 5 leaders in PA's vs Right Handers this year for our Twins. Castro - .690 Santana - .630 Kirilloff - .680 Julien - .637 Jeffers - .840 I know injuries played a big part in this leaderboard but we are healthy right now and Castro can't be taken out of the lineup. This is more a negative statement on our roster construction then a negative statement on Castro. Jeffers who ranks 5th and has actually produced well above average numbers against Right Handers this year has been reduced to a 50-50 split with a guy producing a .503 OPS against right handers yet Castro can't come out of the lineup. I love what Castro has done... Solid member of the 13 position players on the roster this season... I'm really glad he is a Twin... However... with everyone healthy right now... we still can't afford to take Castro out of the lineup? Castro getting Aaron Judge like playing time is a roster issue.

We are pretty close to agreement. Although... I think there is nothing the Angels can do to make themselves playoff contenders. Even if Trout, Rendon and Drury come back strong. The pitching is just... well... not good. Bullpen might be the worst in baseball. The Angels and Rockies are in a race for the worst run organization in baseball. I'd vote for the Angels as the worst because at least the Rockies are starting to produce a little something from the farm. The Angels simply haven't developed anything and they should have torn this thing down and started over years ago. The Twins need top end talent. They need to improve the group of 5 players who play every day. They need to add hitters to the group of Lewis, Buxton and Correa. Find hitters that are better than the other two (Castro and Miranda). The 6 platoon guys... you are just moving parts around for minimum improvement. Rengifo a switch hitter while exceptionally strong (2023 and 2024) against left handers still does a decent job against right handers and therefore wouldn't need to be platooned and his contract is still pretty reasonable. Playing multiple positions... He's the only one who makes sense for the Twins but even Rengifo wouldn't be big time improvement over Castro or Miranda. However, he would drop Castro down to a platoon spot which would allow you to drop a player like Farmer for example. I'd be OK placing a bet on Brandon Drury having a strong rebound in the 2nd half but not worth the bet at whatever is left on his contract this year. 4 Million? Because he may not improve... his track record of success is impressive but rather short. Calhoun is a left handed hitter who makes the minimum. He would just get in the way of Kepler, Kirilloff, Larnach, Wallner, Julien, Erod ETC.

Castro is the definition of Super Utility. Plays every day and plays multiple positions. What I'm about to say about Willi will not be fair to Willi. Before I say what I'm about to say... I want to be clear that I think Willi has done a great job for us and I don't want what I say to be perceived as a slam against Willi Castro. Here goes: Willi Castro against Right Handers in 2024: BA - .218 OPS - .690 He leads the team in PA's against Right Handers. He leads the team in PA's period. The Twins are offensively healthy right now and Willi Castro can't be taken out of the lineup. Kudo's to Castro for rising to an every day job but let's be clear. Your team has to lack top end talent in order for Willi Castro with a .690 OPS against RH to be played like top end talent. Castro is an example of what you can accomplish if you never give up. He is also an example of a serious lack of top end talent in the Twins locker room.