Riverbrian

Last night was a third time a team has used an opener against us. It was the first time with a lefty bulk guy. April 26 - The Rays opened with Right Handed Jax with Right Handed Shultens as the bulk guy. We lost the game scoring just 2 runs. May 23 - The Red Sox opened with Lefty Moran with Right Handed Bello as the bulk guy. We won that game scoring 6 runs. Last night - The Dodgers opened with Righty Klein with left handed Lauer as the Bulk guy. We lost that game scoring 1 run. We are 1-2. Small Sample Size.

With righty Will Klein as the opener and lefty Eric Lauer as the bulk guy. A judgement call will have to be made on LH or RH. This one isn't easy. The presence of Larnach suggests the lineup was set for a right hander. The quick substitution of Larnach for Martin suggests that Larnach was not a factor. On the other hand... In the past 3 games vs LH starters. Shelton has placed 7 Right Handed hitters and 1 switch hitter in the lineup for a total of 8 in the right handed batters box. Jackson has been the catcher. Switch hitters Bell and Lee have rotated rest. This starting lineup contained 4 right handed hitters and 3 switch which leaves it one less player in the right handed box which was quickly brought to 8 by Austin Martin. My guess that the utilization of all 3 switch hitters makes sense with the righty opener followed by a bulk lefty so I'm going to follow the bulk guy and list this game as a left handed starter. Last Game Left Handed Bulk June 22 - Will Klein/Eric Lauer - Loss - 1 Run Scored Lineup Composition - 4 RH 3 Switch 2 LH Season Record vs LH Starters: 10-15 Season Average Runs Scored vs LH Starters: 4.64 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Season Accumulated Stats vs Right Handed Starters Season Record vs Right Handed Starters: 28-27 Season Average Runs Scored vs RH Starters: 4.95

I've been away from my spreadsheets. Getting Caught up. June 18 - Right Handed Starter - Jack Leiter - Won - Runs Scored 9 Lineup Composition - 3 RH 3 Switch 3 LH Record vs RH Starters: 26-26 Average Runs Scored vs RH Starters: 4.75 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- June 19 - Right Handed Starter - Michael Soroka - Loss - Run Scored 5 Lineup Composition: 3 RH 3 Switch 3 LH Record vs RH Starters: 26-27 Average Runs Scored vs RH Starters: 4.75 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ June 20 - Right Handed Starter - Zac Gallen - Won - Runs Scored 16 Lineup Composition: 4 RH - 3 Switch - 2 LH Record vs RH Staters: 27-27 Average Runs Scored vs RH Starters: 4,96 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- June 21 - Right Handed Starter - Jose Cabrera - Won Runs Scored 4 Lineup Composition: 6 RH - 1 Switch - 2 LH Record vs RH Starters: 28-27 Average Runs Scored vs RH Starters: 4.95 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Season Accumulated Stats vs Left Handed Starters Season Record vs LH Starters: 10-14 Season Average Runs Scored vs LH Starters: 4.79

Other than C and SS... Clemens can flow into almost any opening. And I've never seen a Twins team that didn't have openings. If Lewis can keep hitting and of course stay healthy. Lewis may have solved the 1B revolving door. Keaschall... I love his speed and grittiness. It was too soon to believe he was the answer last year and it's too soon to believe he can't do it after his results so far this year. With Clemens becoming an outfielder for the time being. Keaschall will have a little time. Additions in the OF could push Clemens back to the infield and then... well... Keaschall's ground gets a little shakier.

Keaschall hasn't been hitting either hand this year but he was making right handers pay last year. His development has to extend beyond his first 200 plate appearances. Mainly though... there just isn't room on the roster for anybody who can't hit the 72% majority. Injuries or players performing poorly like Wallner is just going to pull them into the light. The majority of our rostered hitters are below major league average. You can't fix that on the edges. Martin is going to have to get better at hitting RH's or he won't matter. He's getting to the point of a larger sample of consistently hasn't hit righties. Wallners demise was his opportunity. He failed.

Great post. Clemens is simply playing better than Keaschall by a fairly large margin at the moment. Will that be the case in the future... I don't know and the Twins front office doesn't know either. We are all hopeful that Keaschall surpasses Clemens in the future but the possibility that he doesn't is still a possibility especially with Clemens performing on par with many highly thought of... highly paid, highly ranked players. If Clemens continues doing what he is doing or even a little less than what he is currently doing this year next year. He has value to the current club in 2027 and increased trade value to the rest of the league because now we have a certain level of sustainability. It's my opinion that it doesn't matter if you are losing 100 games a year in 2026 or losing 60. You don't just toss away players who have hit 30 home runs in 617 Plate appearances with three years of control left. The current version of Clemens is what we hope Keaschall can become. It's what we hoped that Julien could become. If Julien would have hit like Clemens is hitting he would be considered an absolute development success. Why would you toss what Clemens is doing for a player that might. And this is coming from me... someone who constantly talks about the need for better development and is happy when a Fedko gets called up. 30 Home Runs in 617 plate appearances. That's 2025 Jose Ramirez Power Numbers, It's 2025 Yelich Numbers. It's Cody Bellinger Numbers. It's Yandy Diaz production. I'm content to just let Kody Clemens hit as a member of the Minnesota Twins. I wasn't happy with his initial pick up because I didn't like the need to continually grab from that pile but I'm grateful for his hot streak that occurred at the exact moment he got opportunity last year because if he would have started slowly when opportunity knocked he would have faded into the sunset like Jonah Bride. And I will continue to insist that Clemens performing at this level doesn't have to get in the way of Keaschall playing time... even if Luke is also performing at the same level... there will be room and playing time for both and a good problem to have.

Necessity is the mother of invention. The context of the roster is what will determine if invention is necessary in the case of Keaschall and others. Royce Lewis went down to St. Paul and played in 2 games at 1B and 1 game at 2B. Then he was called up and with Brooks Lee after shifting off SS to 3B... this necessity produced this Brooks Lee invention with produced a necessity that Royce would be reinvented as a 1B/2B on the fly because I'm not sure 2 games at 1B and 1 game at 2B in St. Paul is a decent enough time frame for a position change. Ultimately... Royce Lewis will hit or not hit and that will determine his fate. Ultimately Luke Keachall will hit or not hit and that will determine his fate. If Lewis takes over 1B and Clemens take over 2B or vice versa because they are hitting the ball and playing better than Luke is... Keaschall will have to find another spot or he will be sent down to the minors and wait his turn. It's his hitting that will keep him alive and determine if he is worth the effort of playing some LF and in LF he will need to out play Larnach or Martin or Erod or Jenkins or Kyle Fedko. It's the context of the team that will determines the necessity of the invention of Luke Keaschall. The most wins in team history occurred in 2019 with Jorge Polanco manning the SS position for 142 games that year. Mitch Garver was our most played Catcher that year. Apparently Polanco was a better option than Adrianaza and Garver deserved more time behind the plate than Jason Castro did. Fortunately, the team context in 2019 was 10 players with over 359 Plate Appearances and 9 of those 10 players produced OPS higher than .777. Marwin Gonzalez was the one out of those 10 who was a slacker with a .736 OPS. Fast forward to 2026 and the current Twins team has 4 guys out hitting the 2019 Marwin. Jeffers, Buxton, Clemens and Larnach are the 4. Actually 5 if you count Kriedler in 78 plate appearances. If you can't hit... I guess the defense is going to matter a little bit more. With Jeffers injured... We have 9 guys who need to hit better. Keaschall is absolutely one of those 9 guys.

I mostly agree with your post. If you are going to send Keaschall down... a little check of the infield inventory is going to show the infield. problem and therefore why he should stay up. However... With my confidence shaken. I must say... the season can't be over when the team is just two games out.

I don't believe Byron would waive his no-trade clause without a renegotiation of his contract. If his contract is renegotiated. The guaranteed part of his AAV may double. The length of the contract would probably increase. In other words... His value... what the Twins get back... will plummet. No team is going to pay free agent money and also pay top prospects. If we don't get top prospects back. There is no reason to trade him.

Last Game Right Handed Starter June 16 - Kumar Rocker - Won - 12 Runs Scored Lineup Composition: 4 RH 2 Switch 3 LH Season Record vs RH Starters: 25-26 Season Average Runs Scored vs RH Starters: 4.67 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season Accumulated Stats vs Left Handed Starters Season Record vs LH Starters: 10-14 Season Average Runs Scored vs LH Starters: 4.79

The regular season started with a very unusual run of left handed starters. 21 games into the season the Twins faced 13 Left Handed Starters and 8 right handed starters. This kind of disguised the possibility of Martin having been assigned a short side platoon role with Larnach. Martin was getting plenty of playing time with the unusual amount of lefties. Then Wallner fell apart and Martin took over full time duties in RF and Martin responded with a .596 OPS over 126 AB's against right handed pitchers. Now I assume that Martin will go back into a short side platoon role. This time without the benefit of an unusual run of left handed starters. I assume that Fedko will join him.

Was it a rest day for Lee? Or is Lee moving into a strong side platoon role? Brooks has started at 3B 14 straight days. He has started 22 out of the past 23 games. He was probably due some rest. His OPS vs Left Handed Pitchers is currently .642. Kody Clemens OPS vs LH is .696. I don't know I do know that Brooks Lee batted 2nd in the order for the first 17 games at 3B in the 22 of the past 23 games. He has fallen from 2nd in the order to 3 to 5 to 7 to 5 to 7 in the last 5 starts and... I do assume the possibility that the Twins could indeed hard wire 4 platoons with the promotion of Fedko. Is Lee part of the platoon future or was it just a day of rest?

There was a roster change with Fedko replacing Arcia. It's a right handed hitter for a right handed hitter so the roster composition does not change. It remains 7 Right Handed hitters 3 Switch and 3 Left Handed hitters.

Last game Left Handed Starter June 15 - MacKenzie Gore - Won - 4 Runs Scored Lineup Composition: 7 RH 1 Switch 1 LH Season Record vs LH Starters: 10-14 Season Average Runs Scored vs LH Starters: 4.79 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Season Accumulated Stats vs Right Handed Starters: Season Record vs RH Starters: 24-26 Season Average Runs Scored vs RH Starters: 4.52

I'd be happy if they just allowed Fedko to compete with Bell. With Martin... with Larnach. With Lee With Gray and Kreidler.

When an entire team is producing a combined OPS higher than all but two individual players on the Twins roster. Also consider that the St. Paul Saints are 3rd in team OPS in the IL. Yeah... those numbers are going to be skewed. Weather Fedko can do it or not... I won't place a bet but I'm less concerned with Fedko than I am with the 7 players below .684 OPS on the current roster. I've heard theories that you can knock .200 points off AAA numbers to the majors... maybe but I don't think there is anything in the sport of baseball that consistent or mathematically proven. I have seen players who produced better in the majors than they did at AAA. Luke Keaschall produced a .710 OPS in AAA last year. Went .827 with the big club. Tristan Peters was .784 in Durham last year. 804 with the White Sox this year. Austin Slater? Please no. This team has no business developing short side platoon specialists. None. This team hasn't been able to develop hitters period and we are going to run our prospects through partially. Fedko may fail but let him take a rip. We have 7 players below .684 out of 13. Maybe he can produce a .686.

22% 19% vs Left 23% vs Right I've seen worse but we can find numbers to be concerned about on most every player. If it's not K's... It's exit velo's or defensive issues or foot speed or... you name it. All I care about is this: Can he outplay current members of this team? Even if it's just one. We are better off for now and hopefully the future.

Yep... I agree... that it's a "Slim" chance. Made extremely slimmer with a short side role. That's 72 AB's against left handers for an OPS of 1.262 OPS. That is also 167 PA's against right handers for a respectable .823 OPS. There would have been a good chance that is his numbers would have come down as the LH sample increased but who knows. You only find out by putting his name in the lineup card. 10 out of 15 home runs vs right handers. One home run every 16 PA's against RH and one home run every 14 PA's against Lefties. There is a distance between the splits but all the numbers say that he can hit at the AAA level.

In my opinion. Buxton should play everyday. That's it. 12 other players 8 other roster spots. Fedko should be allowed to out perform Bell if he can. Clemens if he can, Larnach if he can. If he is held to short side platoon. There will be nothing Fedko can do.

It is certainly possible that they just hard wired 4 platoon combo's into place. A possibility of lineup card auto-pilot to follow. Possibility that Martin and Fedko are strip mined for parts on the short side. The longer this takes place the chances of a decent sized career will decrease incrementally for both Martin and Fedko. Left handers will most likely be taken from Clemens unless Clemens takes AB's from Bell against lefties making Clemens a full time player and Bell a platoon. I think Fedko will be in the lineup tonight. The lineups in the 5 games against right handed starters after that will say a lot.

Maybe. However Shelton doesn't yank in the 6th inning like Rocco used to do and Martin will most likely be getting the first phone call when a left handed hitter needs to be pulled late in the game. There is a possibility that the Twins just set up for 4 platoons with the Fedko move and with Royce taking over 1B. Caratini/Jackson Gray/Kreidler Larnach/Fedko Clemens/Martin Bell DH, Lewis 1B, Keaschall 2B, Lee 3B, Buxton CF full time. They could go lineup card auto-pilot for a bit. At least until the next roster composition changing move. Such as Wallner or Culpepper called up. I'm really happy for Kyler but I expect him to be strip mined for parts. After all... his AAA 2026 OPS plummets to .823 when facing right handers.

Last Game Right Handed Starter June 14 - Michael McGreevy - Won - 5 Runs Scored Lineup Composition: 3 RH 3 Switch 3 LH Season Record vs RH Starters: 24-26 Season Average Runs Scored vs RH Starters: 4.52 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Season Accumulated Stats vs Left Handed Starters: Season Record vs LH Starters: 9-14 Season Average Runs Scored vs LH Starters: 4.83

He will certainly start tomorrow against Gore. After that it's 5 Right Handers in a row and then back to back left handers to start the Dodgers series. I'd hate to see him just watching for 5 in a row but... I worry that you might be right. Congrats to Kyler... The phone call home must have contained a lot of woo-hoo's.

June 12 - Right Handed Starter - Kyle Leahy - Won - 9 runs scored Lineup Composition: 3 RH 3 Switch 3 LH Season Record vs RH Starters: 23-26 Season Average Runs Scored vs RH Starters: 4.51 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- June 13 - Left Handed Starter - Matthew Liberatore - Loss - 6 Runs Scored Lineup Composition: 7 RH 1 Switch 1 LH Season Record vs LH Starters: 9-14 Season Average Runs Scored vs LH Starters: 4.83

These two sentences are important and worth strong consideration. I think you are on the right track. I agree with almost everything you are saying. I just don't believe that Falvey knew. Those are perfect sentences... if you look at what you wrote. You are correct... he should know the financial situation and make decisions accordingly. Payroll going up further was the only way to sustain momentum without minimum making options for an alternative. However... He didn't make decisions accordingly... you and I agree that he didn't and we agree that with knowledge he should have staffed accordingly and he didn't. Therefore I don't think he knew. I think he was told the opposite... evidenced by payroll going up to levels I've never seen. The signing of Correa, the trading for Mahle. These are not moves made by a team about to run out of money. Anybody who buys a house with no money left over to pay down the mortgage or pay the property tax. No money for food to keep you alive. Somebody who does that wouldn't get one of these 30 jobs. I don't know... I can only guess... but those were two great sentences and those two sentences are something we should all think about. Why did he staff with money when there wasn't enough money? Those sentences are which way is the wind blowing sentences for consideration.