Riverbrian

What the hell does this even mean? Are you actually saying Julien is one of the best two-way players because Correa, Kepler and Lewis are hurt and because Buxton is sucking. Otherwise he'd be fifth? Are you saying that Julien's place on the roster wasn't secure because of Polanco? This first or fifth best player isn't secure because of Polanco? Does that mean that Polanco would have been 1st, 2nd 3rd, 4th or 5th... which would have knocked Julien down to 2nd or 6th? So thank heavens we got rid of the better player so Julien can rise up that depth chart?

Cause it was a sure thing... It's April 15th.

If I had to guess and guess is all I can do. I would agree with Chief. I think they went to Seattle in search of a starter but couldn't pry one of the good ones loose so they had to settle to say... hey at least we got one. The part where I would disagree with Chief is: Once DeSclafini became the starter AVAILABLE for a trade. He was no longer the primary in the deal. In other words: A starter was probably the primary catalyst for a trade with Seattle but when it was all said and done. Gonzales became the primary acquisition to complete the trade because the front office knew that a flyer on DeSclafini wasn't enough for Polanco. I could be right... I could be wrong or somewhere in between but no matter how it transpired... one thing is for sure. It did us absolutely no good in 2024. We lost a primary hitter for a sub prime pitcher in 2024.

Spot on. Switching Horses after 9 innings and 6 innings of work is... a little impetuous. Take it slow Things will work out fine. All we need is just a little patience.

If he is the talent others say he is and if he continues to hit AA pitching to the tune he is currently singing. The Twins have a couple of things brewing where he may be a discussion sooner rather than later. 1. If Wallner can't snap out of this... he will have to be sent down. I wouldn't send him down yet... way too soon but... if he can't pull out of this striking out 50% of the time thing he is currently doing. Something will have to be done for his sake and ours. 2. This is a critical year for Larnach. It's his last option year. He either demonstrates major league ability this year or he is gone. Trevor needs first crack at it. We don't want to throw away Larnach in order to have Rodriquez jump two levels. This is our last year to see if Trevor is worthy. Going into 2025... Larnach has to be rostered or placed on waivers where the A's will claim him. Get healthy quick Trevor... Get healthy quick. Keep pushing Emmanuel... Keep pushing. Figure it out Wallner... Figure it out.

Everyone in the world should be able to see the problem that you are illustrating here... yet so many seem to not see it. Farmer and Margot are historically not very good at hitting Right Handed pitchers. They are on the roster to hit left handers so Kirilloff, Julien and Wallner don't have to hit left handers. Once you commit 3 roster spots to three batters whose primarily talent is hitting 25% of the league and not so good at hitting 75% of the league. Once the injuries start and they are going to start... Now you are asking those 3 roster spots to do something that they are historically not good at. This is what we are asking Margot and Farmer to do... right now and this is what we will be asking Margot and Farmer to do... multiple times before the season concludes. Commiting 15.3 Million dollars this season to three players who are not very good at hitting right handed hitters in an off-season spent trimming payroll 31 million dollars is really really really hard to justify. Polanco at 10.5 is actually functional no matter what happens on the injury front.

You stand on your own two feet very well and I appreciate the discussion. However when you combine these two statements of yours together. "it was easy to see why Polanco was traded" "No team is going to have solid depth when looking at their starting 3B, SS (especially when they are the two best players on the team), and their top replacement going down and be able to easily cover that depth. You are illustrating exactly what Chia Pet and myself and others are saying. We were recommending that you don't trade that snow blower for a couple of shovels. 10 Feet of Snow just dropped in April so we are shoveling now.

I was the one who brought this discussion back to the forefront and the reason I did it was to show foresight. 😉

Minimum stay on the DL is indeed good news... especially with Farmer and Castro having been slow to rise to the occasion.

I love parables. Any post with a parable gets my applause. It's like a waiter or waitress that not only brings your food but does it while also telling you a parable explaining how wonderful the prime rib is.

That's possible because it's possible that preconceived notions were a reason he was included in the trade in the first place. But... based on results... Steer would be a very important part of this team and last years team.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you didn't mean the way this post reads... yet still respond according to how it reads. Based on how Steer performed last year with the Reds and how the entire Twins roster performed last year... If it's possible to mold those two worlds together. Spencer Steer would have probably settled into an everyday role by June of last year and would have come into this season as a starter. If not... they would be horrible talent evaluators. Spencer played a healthy amount of 1B, 3B, OF and 2B last year. The Twins: 1B - Donovan Solano played more games at 1B than anybody with 85. 3B - Lewis didn't arrive until May 29 and he managed to lead the team with 49 games played at 3B. This position was a revolving door of Farmer, Castro, Miranda and Solano again. OF - Taylor and Kepler with 126 and 124 games played in the OF. After that it drops all the way down to Castro with 83 games in the OF and then Wallner with 66 games played. Spencer Steer had a 582 AB's for the Reds last year. Only Carlos Correa had over 500 AB's for the Twins with 514. Donovan Solano was THIRD in AB's last year with 394. Steers produced .820 OPS You would have to play worse players on purpose If Steer is deep on the depth chart. With that said... Starting pitching is expensive. Steer and CES is expensive but that is what it costs. I don't blame the front office for the trade.

It needs to said.

13 Position player spots 2 Catchers 6 platoon dudes 5 players who play most every day. Santana was never brought in to be a short side guy. He took Polanco's every day spot so they could keep Julien, Kirilloff and Wallner lefty free. How can people not see this? How can anyone not remember how many injuries occur every year? How can anyone not see what we are asking of sub-par players just to starve our young talent of growth. Polanco by himself isn't going to solve the loss of Correa and Lewis by himself but still... How can anyone in the name of the 2024 baseball season justify the trading of Polanco is something I fail to understand. But... We both saw it. Julien and Polanco on the same roster. What do we do? OMG it's a log jam!!! It'll be the same log jam talk next year. For what it's worth. Fans are auto mechanics, HR Directors and Estate Planners. The front office does this for living and it doesn't appear they could predict this totally predictable injury thing. If the front office is reading this. If you place someone on the 26 man roster... There will come a time when you will need them.

Case in Point. Game one of the double header today. Santana batting 2nd against a RH. Margot batting 4th against a RH. No Farmer but... I'm sure he will be in the lineup to face the RH scheduled in game two. This is the price.

No worries I'm sure we will have a log jam full of them next off-season. We can trade Duran to make space. 😉

Correa has made the timing perfect to repeat myself here. In order to keep the sanctity of our extreme platoon system. You must roster an equal amount of below average players who are just bad enough to fill a short side platoon role. If we are going to strictly platoon young lefties like Julien, Kirilloff and Wallner. You have to sign right handed hitters who struggle against right handers but can hit left handers. After all... if they could hit both right handers and left handers... they wouldn't be short side platoon guys. They'd be like Polanco for example... who hits both hands and plays every day so no need to short side him. You have to find these specific players to make your lineup pretty. 3 spots on your 26 man roster who can't hit right handers to support the guys who can't hit left handers. This off-season our front office faced with a budget reduction spent considerable effort to find below average players to make the jigsaw puzzle pieces of the 26 man roster fit and spent money we don't have to do it just to keep the sanctity of the extreme platoon system intact. Farmer was already here... Margot was acquired. The extreme platoon system requires that players like Farmer and Margot are necessary. Roster set: Roster all pretty. Left and Right handcuffs have uniforms... Now let's go play 162 games. It's like making your bed to military standard. That bed is looking good all tucked perfect until the season starts and soon the sheets and pillows are all over the place. Farmer: Career .658 OPS vs RH Margot: Career .662 OPS vs RH That's the price you pay to keep your young lefthanded hitters away from lefthanders. You got to roster these guys to protect them. That's a steep price. When Lewis and Correa go down... Margot and Farmer have to face those right handers because they are the extra players on your roster. So what have you accomplished with that pretty roster? You've fortified against the left handed pitcher that you face 25% of the time at the expense of compromising your abilities against right handed pitchers that you face 75%. Let's repeat those numbers: Farmer: Career .658 OPS vs RH Margot: Career .662 OPS vs RH There are people in this world who will excuse the front office because injuries derailed the club. I'm not one of those people. Injuries should be expected. They built this roster. They went out and got Margot, they kept Farmer (I like Farmer BTW... Unfortunately I have to talk about him this way to make my point) and they traded Polanco. Sub-Par players against right handers taking up roster space is the price you pay. It's a heavy price to pay just to bottle neck their development. :

I wonder who is on a plane from MSP to DTW this morning. Or is it someone flying in from ICT? Helman? What's the 40 man move to make that happen. His numbers are not great but he can play anywhere defensively. Emmanuel Rodriquez? Making the jump from AA. He's killing it right now and already on the 40. Awfully young but we don't have an obvious choice to fill an open 26 man spot. Severino? He hasn't gotten off the best start... Actually... it could be defined as a really really bad start with the Saints. Lee? Hurt Larnach? Hurt Who else?

Every year we forget that this happens every year.

Yeah... I'm in a I told ya so mood this morning. Every off-season we forget about injuries while we talk about the serious log jam problem and who must go to clear it. This morning... I'd like to remind everyone so we have less of this log jam talk next off-season, less of the we got to trade Royce Lewis to make room talk next off-season.

Just stopping by the water to check on that log jam. Memories are short. Next off-season just like every off season... we will speak of those mythical log jams once again. I've still never seen one. I'll keep checking.

Relax everyone... the song is fine. The graphic video played simultaneously on the big screen might have been a bit much though.