Riverbrian

I won't quote defensive stats. The sample sizes are misleading. The Twins won 101 games with Polanco as the full time SS in 2019. I understand that they moved him to 2B in order to find a better defensive SS but the Twins won 101 games with Polanco at SS. He can play SS... there is a difference between not as good and can't.

He's done plenty for us lately. 115 OPS+ two years running is not a free fall. I have no problem with Polanco defensively. He has more versatility than Julien does since it was Polanco who was chosen to play 3B IN THE PLAYOFFS when Lewis was hurt. Polanco was chosen over Farmer BTW, Buxton has DH clogged? Buxton hasn't been healthy enough to clog anything. Buxton, Lewis, Kirilloff and Polanco have all had injury issues. We don't know who else will be injured in 2024 beyond those 4 but I'm willing to take the field and assume someone will be. If Julien can play... they will find a place for him to play. We were fairly healthy last year overall and we still had to move bodies around to cover.

Showing you are a quality minor league player doesn't do the trick either. Lukan Baker hit 33 home runs last year with Memphis - OPS of 1.159 I understand that Goldschmidt is a pretty good player in front of him. What kind of opportunity is Lukan Baker going to have? Michael Busch had a 1.049 OPS last year at Oklahoma City. The Dodgers are not clearing room for him.... they are adding established major league hitters as we speak. Trey Cabbage led the PCL in Home Runs last year. 30 dingers with a .304 average to boot. He might get a chance with the Angels this year... Might. But... I'm guessing he is still going to wait behind, Trout, Moniak, Ward, Drury, Rendon, Schanuel and Adell. That type of quality minor league performance got Trey 56 AB's last year while the Angels provided 1,919 to players who performed below major league average at the positions that Trey can play. Renfroe, Rendon, Moustakas, Urshela, Grichuk, Escobar, Walsh got the AB's first. Opportunity is rare.

I'm not sure how productive the discussion will be splitting hairs. Jose Altuve was the 13th ranked prospect in the Astro's system in 2011 when he made his debut. He wasn't in the Astros top twenty in 2010. Is handing a 21 year old who was the 13th ranked prospect in the organization bypassing AAA a typical thing in major league baseball? The debut of a 21 year old is RARE and exclusively reserved for the best of the best prospects. Jose Altuve was not Jordan Walker or Julio Rodriquez or Wander Franco or even Bobby Witt. The point of my post was about the rareness of opportunity. I'd say Jose Altuve getting an opportunity at that point... was about as rare as it gets.

To be clear... I really appreciate Farmer and what he did for us last year and my response should not be taken as a negative toward Farmer. If Polanco gets traded... Yes... Farmer's importance goes up. It goes up a lot because unless they take the left handed pitcher chains off of Julien... They will need Farmer to face the lefties. As of right now... I haven't read one comment from any poster projecting Farmer to be a starter next year. Budget seems to be the reason this is even a conversation. Polanco at 10.5 Million with a club option. Career OPS+ 111 - Polanco has been a Twin his entire 10 year career. Farmer at 6.6 million will be a free agent next year. Career OPS+ 88 and he has been with a club for 1 year. For an extra 3.9 million dollars in savings... choosing Farmer over Polanco is a pretty severe hit to the productivity of the roster.

I'm not sure what the Twins are going to do. The budget is going to be a factor. However... if I was in charge... I'm looking to add a player like Polanco before I add pitching and that is with Polanco on the team.

When a team builds the depth that the Twins have. The next step is to add players like Polanco. Not to subtract them. I love Julien... but if you see Polanco as expendable because of Julien. It's important to remember that Julien was pulled as soon as a left hander hit the stage. He was pulled before he even had an AB against San Francisco.

These are just examples... There are more. But... for these two examples... The Astros and the Orioles had to go into complete rebuild to provide opportunity for Altuve and Mullins. Altuve didn't show up on any top ten lists in the Astros system. He was hitting the ball in the minors as a 21 year old and the Astros gave him an opportunity rather than going with some 30 year old average to below average guy. The Astros could have easily just kept Keppinger. Kept Keppinger is fun to say three times fast. Yes... the Orioles were patient with Cedric Mullins... would they have been quite so patient if Adam Jones was still an Oriole in 2021. Would they have been quite so patient if they would have signed Jackie Bradley Jr for his superior defensive skills. Mullins... Santander... not many were saying... the Orioles are going to be good when Mullins and Santander get here. They got opportunity and they became more than what anyone expected. Letting a Logan Morrison type play horribly, play every day, taking up a valuable roster spot just makes it harder to near impossible for a Mullins or Altuve to surprise you. Which brings me back to the original point. It's rare because the opportunity is rare. The opportunity is rare because clubs tend to Keep Keppinger... Keep Keppinger... Keep Keppinger.

I'd be careful here... The Ontarioan language is a bit tricky. In my version... I believe Edourdo Julien is the God of the Sidewalk.

Coaches can't turn President Biden into Nolan Ryan but coaches can turn Nolan Ryan into Nolan Ryan. Natural talents like a big fastball is always a great starting point to work with.

I've thought about this a lot and I've posted on this a lot. I can't stand here and say that I have the answer because there are massive complications and I am not in the room... however... with all of the time that I've spent thinking about it... the solution to me seems to boil down to one thing. Teams need to be less tolerant of poor performance on the 26 man roster. Every time you hand playing time to average or bad play. You are making it harder for a Cedric Mullins to surprise you, you are making it harder for a Jose Altuve to reveal themselves. Cedric Mullins is rare in part because a Logan Morrison in the way isn't rare. If you give every day playing time to Logan Morrison... you are giving Logan Morrison the same amount of playing time that Mike Trout gets and that should never be. Cull from the bottom... constantly look for better... even if it is just incremental betterness and the Cedric Mullins, Max Muncy, Jose Altuve type finds will become less rare. If Keirsay is going to be denied a chance to forge a major league career... OK... that's fine... there is only so much space... but that 26 man roster better be shiny... better not be any Joey Gallos on that 26 man. If Nick Anderson is going to be denied a chance... OK... that's fine... it happens... there is only so much space... but that 26 man roster better be shiny... better not be any Matt Belisle's in front of him.

dieu des promenades

I agree that Larnach has been better. Which is why I stated this below. Once again... I use too many words. I'll condense it. Success is rare because opportunity for success is rare.

I agree with you... It's rare but I will contend that legitimate opportunity is also rare especially for players like Keirsay. Organizations will hand select players who will get multiple chances to have a major league career While they do not will not provide opportunity for many many many others. If you feed one puppy and neglect the rest of the litter. You'll have a bunch of runts. Trevor Larnach, Deshawn Kiersay and Michael Helman are all 26 year old baseball players (Helman actually 27) who were all drafted out of college in 2018. Larnach went 1st round, Keirsay was a 4th round pick and Helman went in the 11th Round. Larnach has 603 Major League AB's. Keirsay and Helman have not seen a major league dugout. Larnach has not earned a major league job yet but he will get the next opportunity to earn a major league job before Kiersay or Helman even get a phone call. To be clear... I'm not saying that Larnach should or shouldn't get the next opportunity... I also want to be clear that I am not slamming Larnach when I'm using him as an example... But... I am... saying that HE WILL get the next opportunity and I am also saying Kiersay and Helman will have to wait behind Larnach's last chance. Larnach has one option left. If Larnach fails, not only does Larnach fail but every player behind Larnach on the opportunity chance depth chart fails... and those players won't make a sound when they fail... it will happen silently. Now tack on the extended opportunity provided to the Kole Calhoun's of the world add it all up and I agree with you. Whit Merrifield is rare. Max Muncy is rare, Justin Turner is rare but it's going to be rare when opportunity is rare.

I have no problem with Wallner or Julien hitting against lefties. The Twins do. If you are looking for PHers It should also be pointed out that Solano had 394 AB's Castro had 358 AB's Farmer had 326 AB's That ain't pinch hitting. Those nice little pre-season plans of Gordon facing the right hander and Solano facing the left hander was out the window before May. Go GET HITTERS period. Personally... I could care less what batters box they stand in.

I'm not hating on anyone because I don't know if Kepler has given an absolute of if he is simply expressing a preference and that was my point. Bottom Line... If the Twins need Kepler to shift to CF in a pinch. Then Kepler needs to shift to CF in a pinch. We have no idea where it's going to pinch in 2024.

Agreed... But they don't so the perception is reality.

I can't see the Mariners who are in need of more decent hitting... trading a decent hitter to get a decent hitter. Unless... they just don't like France and if that's the case... do we want him? I've never been to France... I've heard that Saint Tropez and Paris are nice places to visit.

I do have the diet of the average puma.

7 players played CF in 2023. 2022: 7 2021: 7 (including Kyle Garlick) 2020: 5 2019: 7 Last Year Julio Rodriguez led all CF's with 714 Plate Appearances. Seattle still had 5 other players play CF in 2023.

Went to have dinner with my in-laws once and I was given the choice between steak or walleye for dinner. I emphatically chose steak... I believe my response was "Steak Please... Yum... Thank You". I had no problem with walleye... just chose steak when given the option. A month or so later... they had a good day at the lake coming back with a bunch of walleye and they invited us all over. It was kind of embarrassing when they made me and only me a steak special because they thought that I didn't like walleye. There is a difference between refuses to and would rather. If this is simply a rather... it's unfortunate because REFUSES TO PLAY CF has been tattooed on his forehead by us. Now... if true... IF... he indeed refuses to play CF. Trade him. Why would any club want a player handicapping a manager in his attempt to make a team better? If he refuses to play CF... He can watch the rest of the team have walleye doing what is needed and working with what is available. Kepler can sit in his RF corner have that steak made special for him oblivious to all that walleye around him. I can tell you that the steak was very good but I felt like a jerk.

I think Farmer would be a nice fit for the Giants if they want to give Luciano the chance to grab the job out of spring training because Farmer would be decent insurance for a rookie who might lay an egg in his first go around. However... the problem with the Giants is this: They got a lot of Farmer type talent on the roster and what they really really really need are clear upgrades from the long list of average to above average talent that already over flows on their roster. If I'm the Giants... I'm shopping bigger. If I'm calling the Twins... I'm asking about Polanco. I'm calling the Brewers about Adames. I'm thinking about a big contract for Bellinger. They got a lot of middle players... they need some high end dudes. Adding Farmer to Estrada, JD Davis, Wade, Conforto, Yaz, Flores, Haniger is like getting your 8th shovel when you should really just go get a snow blower. Farmer may have that curved handle for easier scooping but they need a Toro.

Both teams still have RSN money coming in. Both teams spent comparatively low money last year, The Royals at 91 million and the Reds at 87 Million. The Twins spent 159 million in 2023. The Reds haven't raised payroll yet. They shed a big Joey Votto contract and others and they still haven't spent all of that that money. 😎

If Lewis has a nice year but not as nice as last year... while technically a regression... I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. I think he's the real deal regardless and health is the only thing that I worry about with Royce. Julien... I love watching him hit. He's a fantastic young hitter... but... but... He's a role player no matter how good he is in that role if he isn't allowed or able to hit left handers. He's ceiling is Joc Pederson. Someone who is pinch hit for in the 3rd inning... has a very challenging future. The best he can do is Joc Pederson. Might get a one year deal once he reaches free agency. Wallner... If he stumbles out of the gates... the Twins have a lot of options to take his playing time so his regression could happen quickly... it could be a last year Miranda-esque type regression. Before the calendar hits May. Wallner could go from the we are counting on you opening starter to the Oh Yeah... I forgot about Wallner playing in St. Paul guy. He best do some damage opening day and let everyone know that he is here to stay.

I hope he comes back solid from his shoulder issue. I used to watch him pitch against us and remember thinking that I wish we had one of those. He blew me away watching him blow our hitters away.