Riverbrian

I absolutely love this post. Fair... Balanced, Sensible and Well Explained.

I've thought about this. But... I gotta say. I really really really hate the idea of Miranda on the short side from a development standpoint. And I hate the idea a little bit more when you look at Miranda's current splits in 2024. Santana's splits actually fit Julien or Kirilloff at 1B. Of course... We should know how that plays out. Santana will face more right handers and lead the team in AB's again. Anyway you slice it... The construction of next years roster will be dependent upon finding another Margot, Farmer and Santana. 13 roster spots 2 Catchers 3 Left Handed Hitters 3 Right Handed hitters to keep the left handed hitters out of the box against lefties. 5 players who play as many days as they can against both hands. These are the limitations set forth by the current model. 2 Catchers Jeffers and Vazquez. 3 Left Handed hitters Wallner, Larnach, Julien (Possibly Kirilloff instead of Julien) 3 right handed hitters who keep the left handers away from left handers Santana ??? (Miranda, Martin, Farmer type free agent) ??? (Miranda, Martin, Farmer type free agent) The 5 who play as often as they can. Correa Buxton Lewis Lee Castro? Then keep in mind that 3 of the 5 who play as often as they can... Correa, Buxton and Lewis have been unavailable for abnormally long stretches and there is no reason to think that is going to go away in 2025 or 2026. You can even start worrying about Lee's time on the IL as well because he has spent some time on the IL. 4 out of 5 big guys with health issues will cause you to look at the other 6 in platoon roles to fill in and no longer in platoon roles. All I can see is... Santana coming back and leading the team AB's in 2025.

I was OK signing him in the off-season. That was before I knew how the off-season would play out. After the off-season was done, the belt was tightened. I looked at the lineup construction. I questioned his being brought back in. We had committed way too much money to the short side. As the season progressed and his performance was about as bad as it can get for an uncomfortable length of time. I would have released him in July just so anybody else could take a shot at doing something productive with that roster spot. He is still here and now he is hitting the ball as well as anybody on the team. Therefore right now... he needs to be in the lineup. I don't believe that he will stay hot... he will cool down. Take advantage of his seeing the ball well while you can. We sure could use someone hitting the ball well right now.

It's also possible that you don't understand Levi's bit.

Any considerations for next years roster will have to be run through the platoon filter first. I'm not joking. If Wallner, Larnach, Kirilloff and Julien are on the roster next year. They will require at least 3 players on the roster to platoon with them. There is no indication that the Twins will back off this strategy. You have to account for how they treat left handed hitters when building a roster for 2025. Who is going to hit from the other side of the plate for the left handers. Santana fits that role. Margot and Farmer will also have to be replaced by the 2025 version of Margot and Farmer. Should they platoon to the degree that they platoon.. no they shouldn't and therefore they shouldn't need to sign Santana. But they do... So therefore... Santana should be signed. Because he would fit that role.

Good post. Everything has a cost. Prospects are currency. If the prospect price is driven up. You are still spending currency. If the Tigers can sell vets and acquire additional prospects at a driven up price and have the best record in baseball after the doing that? What does that say?

And on that I agree. I like to say "Options are powerful thing". So I said it.

I appreciate that but that isn't what I'm really saying. I was basically saying that trying to attribute our current problems with youth being stretched beyond what they have been asked to do previously may or may not be the reason. The Tigers this year are doing it with their youth being stretched beyond what they've been asked to do previously. Last year... I believe it was our youth that got us to the playoffs. Our vets certainly were not getting the job done. In our current funk... Vets and Youth combined have to look in the mirror. Lewis, Castro, Kepler, Miranda, Vazquez have fallen hard. The rotation... yeah that's almost all youth but that's what we have to work with. Youth is pitching just fine in Detroit. I think you can safely keep advocating for more youth playing time. Ultimately that youth, will have to carry some water because we are not going to buy water carriers in the free agent market. I remain not afraid of youth. I remain afraid of vets on expiring contracts that struggle. Cull from the bottom until the bottom is raised. Getting painted into a corner in September is just bad planning. Injuries are no excuse. Baseball is such an interesting game... every team has a different story and that's what I love about it.

I don't know... don't they always have to consider options if it's a player with a 100 plus heater. Pagan had stuff with poor results. Alcala has stuff and his results have been poor a few times. Alcala doesn't pass through waivers. White Sox grab him.

Options are a powerful thing. Alcala can be sent down so he is. Pagan can have the same results with no options and stay for the year. In this particular case and context Stuff wise... I'd keep him up and utilize him a lot. Results wise... Umm... Jeez... I don't know. We don't have a lot of room for crooked numbers being hung.

Maybe... I think you bring up a potential issue. However... on the other hand. Those Tigers have a 17-9 record and a 2.82 ERA in the past 30 days. They are youth from top to bottom right now. All the Vets were traded away at the deadline. Maeda the one vet that they couldn't trade has been minimized to mere occasional work. Same thing on the other side with the offense. Nothing but youth sparking this run. Our problems may not be that simple.

Streaks stop and start on a dime. It takes a while to recognize that you are in one but after awhile it becomes clear that you are. I would say our recent stretch began on August 18. We were about to sweep the Rangers in Dallas. Alcala gave up a 4 run lead. Since that day... the Twins have gone 9-19. 5-9 in games decided by two runs or less. 4-10 in blowouts, Over that 28 game stretch. The Twins rank 21st in Runs Scored and they rank 21st in OPS. The Twins rank 27th in team ERA with a 4.95. 26th in runs allowed which is a repeat of the ERA ranking for obvious reasons. During this stretch of games. Royce Lewis, Willi Castro, Jose Miranda, Edouard Julien, Christian Vazquez, Brooks Lee and Max Kepler have produced shouldn't be in the major league numbers. The first 5 names on the above list rank #2, #4,#5, #8 and #9 in AB's during this stretch. During this stretch of games. 4 of our 5 starters Ober, Festa, SWR and Zebby have ERA's of 5.86, 5.24, 5.66 and 7.97 respectively. The Bullpen sports a 5.47 ERA. Streaks stop and start on a dime. All of the numbers that I list above are Yesterday. Today is a new day.

I have no conditions. I attach no filters. I want the Twins in the playoffs.

I want to watch the Twins in the playoffs.

Buck hit a nice shot in his first game and it is nice to have Correa back. My post wasn't a knock on either of those guys... They are potentially big additions. I was just trying to say that they are most likely NOT the missing ingredient at this moment. The team needs to remember how to play baseball. They have seemed to forgotten how for a stretch. If they can get the team playing baseball around them like they did on Sunday without them. Then Buxton and Correa can be Cinnamon and Nutmeg in the team cookie and people will buy that cookie by the dozens. I admit that I don't know if cinnamon and nutmeg go into a cookie.

We got Buxton back on Friday and we lost. We had Buxton and Correa back on Saturday and we lost. Sunday... they both sat out and we win. I'm not diminishing the importance of Buxton and Correa by pointing that out. I'm not saying that Buxton and Correa out is why we won. Those two are very important but why I'm pointing out is this. It's a team game. Just having them on the field means nothing,,, if the other 24 players are not getting the job done. We need everyone to step up... Offense, defense. bullpen, starters... right here.. right now. We are trying to make the playoffs and in order to do that... we need to realize that we are in the playoffs right now. Cleveland is going to throw two left handed starters at us. They have two more in the bullpen.

It's real simple... Just win. Doesn't matter who you play. Just win baseball games for this 13 games stretch run. Don't care if its Cleveland or the White Sox. Just win. Kansas City vs Detroit is a big matchup for the Twins. If either of those teams sweep each other it's potentially a game changer in our race... if... if,,, we can get some W's while it's happening. If we get some W's against Cleveland while Detroit sweeps KC. It pulls us tighter with KC to make the Royals the team that Seattle or Detroit could catch. If KC sweeps Detroit... while we win... it takes Detroit out or at least close to the edge but Seattle still remains and KC gets a stronger grasp on the 5 spot keeping us as that last horse for horses to catch. Nothing matters if Cleveland manhandles the Twins in this series. Detroit will pull past us or KC will cement the 5 spot. With sweeps by either squad. Only one thing matters. W's... the Twins just need to win baseball games. Don't be that horse in the money on the home stretch that fades to 7th in it's last steps.

When Kepler comes back. Right now we are talking about the 15th guy. Come playoff time you will have to tack on one more... the 14th guy to get down to 13. My guess is that platoon will be the driving force in the decision. It would make no sense to not let lefties face lefties consistently and violently all year long and then all of sudden say... OK... Go do it now. Because the Twins have done that all year. Margot and Farmer have become essential. Julien would require an extra Margot/Farmer type guy. Lee doesn't have a job. Miranda... Shouldn't be facing lefties based on his splits but he should be in the lineup against right handers based on his splits. IMO... Miranda gets the last spot on the roster. When does he play? Who comes out?

You have to question the necessity of ranking pizza in North Dakota when the Minot Pizza Hut came in 4th. Grand Forks has some good pizza places. A shout out to Rhombus Guys, Up North, Slap Shot, Deeks and Popolino's.

438 different players across MLB have had at least 100 AB's so far this year. .712 is the league average OPS. From Xavier Edwards at .812 to Mitch Garver at .612 -- 302 of those 438 players currently have an OPS .100 points + or - of the league average. From Garrett Mitchell at .762 to Kyle Manzardo at .662 - 176 of those 438 players currently have an OPS .050 points + or - of the league average. There is a lot of average play on rosters. Slumps are what bring players down to average and Hot streaks bring players up to average. Creating a big big pile in the middle. Hot and Cold streaks stop and start on a dime. Timing is everything. The players you mention are getting a little too prolonged though. Royce is not playing at a superstar level but I think he is a superstar talent and I think there is only a handful of superstars so you got to ride this one out and hope that he corrects himself back to superstar while remaining healthy. Jose Miranda... I think he will get back to swinging the bat well. He goes bad when he starts swinging at everything and he seems to be chasing a bit. Brooks Lee... I like him getting some AB's right now... Getting AB's in 2024 was supposed to happen. Whatever he is right now... he is. I'm not worried about it but also hoping for team health to the point where he doesn't need to be rostered for the playoffs. I'm excited about his future... but was always cautious about his beginning and I am not afraid of youth at all. I think Castro has been over relied upon. I like him... he's a solid member of any roster... I don't want to be negative toward him... he has earned praise... however... we've managed to create a world where he is has become essential and is utilized like he is essential. He is leading the team in AB's by a fairly significant margin... he has regressed to major league average. Alcala... He's got stuff... Bullpen small sample size volatility can be misleading. 18 appearances for a total of 17.2 innings since the all-star break. 13 Earned Runs over that time frame. He hung zeroes in 11 of those 18 appearances. Crooked number in 3 of those appearances for a total of 9 of those 13 runs. The 5 runs against Texas over 0.2 is going to take awhile to overcome for improved statistical optics. He won't have enough time to hang zeroes to make his post all-star break numbers look decent. I still think he can hang a zero when we need him.

Every day is a new day. Whatever happened up from the beginning of the season to September 12th no longer matters. It's a 16 game sprint to the finish line. We currently have 3.5 game head start over the closest competitor behind us. Each win by the Twins and each loss by the Mariners, Tigers and Red Sox is big because it's a sprint now. I'll place extra importance on the Red Sox series but in no way will I diminish the importance of the other 13 games. Buckle Up... This is what I want every single year. I want September to matter and it matters. Hats off to the players, coaches and management for getting us this far. Bring it Home

All 5 places were inside the walls of North Dakota. The other 12 pizza places in North Dakota not included in the list are wondering why.

Feltner vs Skubal... Of course Colorado won. I absolutely love September baseball. In Seattle... Kumar Rocker made his MLB debut. Pulled after 4IP... 74 Pitches. 7 K's... Just a Justin Turner home run for his only blemish. The folks on Rangersdaily are calling for the head of Bruce Bochy for pulling Rocker after 74 pitches. It's debut weekend for the Rangers... Rocker, deGrom and Scherzer is what the Mariners will face in succession. Which is fine... as long as they don't have to face Ryan Feltner. September Baseball... How can you not love it.

Good thread! Thanks for starting this.

I downloaded this news ap on my phone. My intentions were good. I Wanted to be informed if anything major happened. It sends me stuff like "5 best pizza places in North Dakota". I click on it... and it's somebody who listed 5 pizza places in North Dakota. I often wonder what happened to "News" on my newsfeed. It's my fault... I clicked on it.