Riverbrian

Unfortunately... the clubs are making the determinations on who gets the gift of time and who doesn't. Some players are going to be put back out there again and again until they prove the club right. The clubs get to determine whose .900 OPS gets sent back to AAA when the .700 OPS returns from injury. Whose 1,000 OPS at AAA means something and whose 1,000 OPS at AAA means nothing. There are only a handful of superstars. The rest is a big pile of thin margins. The clubs will determine who from the margins get to keep going and they are wrong a lot.

First class post and a fun discussion. I wish there was a sample size number that would be easy to point to but I don't see it. What I see is a wide variety of development lengths squeezed into varying sizes of windows of opportunity colliding with hard CBA defined decision dates and spilled amongst the chaos of injuries. I have said this a hundred times and I'll say it at least a hundred times more. The margins are thin... you have to let the players decide... clubs have to get out of the way and let the players tell you. If anyone can explain why Chris Williams has no chance at a MLB job and why Max Kepler can keep his. You will be closer to answering the sample size number required to know who someone is. Great topic

I'll take Candelario or CJ Cron. Cron if the Nats are asking too much.

For the past three years I have been controlling my social media algorithm. I only click on stories/videos of Baseball, Puppies and Babies Laughing. Add a puppy to the presser and it's all the stuff that makes life good. 😉

Trades are equal value when made. You win trades when you are able to take the players you acquire and make them better. Martin and Richardson were a couple of highly ranked prospects when we acquired them. If we lose this trade it will be because we failed to make them better players. Jury is still out.

If it was me... we wouldn't be enjoying this hot streak right now. He would have been off the roster in Early June actually probably off the roster in the off-season. If he continues swinging like this for the next couple of months... I still wouldn't be wrong about cutting him in June.

If he keeps hitting like this... I will absolutely shut up about him. However... at this point... I am still willing to compare and contrast the 2.5 years of poor offensive production against his current 15 day fantastic stretch. Right now... Play him like he is hot because he is on the roster and hot. Decision dates on Kepler are July 31 and November 10th. If he survives July 31 but does not not survive November 10th. He better play well in his remaining months with the team or he was just a clog in the system.

Yet quoted often.

Good post... I'm going to argue it but it was a good post 40.1 K% is an abject failure. Harmon Killebrew did indeed strike out 142 times and he indeed did hit 48 home runs in that same year. That year was 1962... Harmon's K% that year was 21.3% I understand the K argument you are making. I wouldn't use Harmon as an example 😉 but I do understand the case you are making. What I don't understand is this: The Twins seemed to have assembled a pitching staff that strikes out batters like the K matters. Yet completely unafraid of the K on the offensive side. You can't downplay the K on the offensive side while searching for the K on the defensive side. IMO -- We strikeout too much and Gallo is the poster boy. The K just won't bring that runner in from third base. In a different response to someone else you also stated: Is the current Gallo really a 'failure narrative?' His OPS leads the team among qualified players. That alone suggests otherwise. Leading the team in OPS among qualified players with a .782 OPS suggests to me a larger problem with the team in general. To me it suggests a problem with playing time distribution.

He's been exactly what I thought he would be. Gallo's numbers are a lot more tolerable when you are reviewing his stats and not watching him day after day playing for your team. In other words... that OPS looks decent when he is not playing for your team. When he is playing for your team and you watch him day after day... you don't notice the OPS because Those K's are so painful to witness that you can't see anything else. Offensively he is hurting us. On the defensive side... I like him... He's solid. For those who think he has slipped defensively this year. Put the numbers down. He's the same defensive player he has always been.

The players do not make out the lineup card. The players have been incredibly consistent this year. You have consistently stood by that consistency Now you are at your wits end and demanding immediate adjustments to deviate from that consistency but you made no adjustments to what you have consistently done this year with the lineup card. The players don't make out the lineup card.

We've seen the lineup and you were correct. Rocco appears to have remained firm and will stay on script with his game plans. The message appears to be. Play better... I'm going to keep doing what i do... you all play better and show everyone that I was right. It worked last night.

I was unable to watch or listen to the game so I dont feel qualified to comment on the game. I shall be away this weekend. I will say this: I enjoyed the notifications that came across my watch.

No need to give it much thought. Its a kink in the system that was designed to... as you said... distribute talent and prevent teams from holding players. Guys like Stevenson OPS 1,000 to deaf ears.

I know we are not arguing. However the CBA with the roster limitations set forth is a huge road block for a 29 year old Andrew Stevensom type. I'm not taking issue with the agreement but its a bouncer at a nightclub that keeps the old uncool people out.

My question is this (I admit that I don't know the answer): What can a Chris Williams or Andrew Stevenson type player do to get a 40 man roster spot and get called up? Wallner has a 40 man spot... He should already be up in Minnesota. However...for players like Williams and Stevenson. 27 and 29 years of age. Never the bonus baby... hitting the ball that require someone being removed from the 40 man just to be a consideration for call up. What can they do? To me... they appear to be doing it right now but that isn't going to get them to the big leagues and I don't believe it is reasonable to ask them to be even better than they are right now... so... apparently the answer to my question is... There is nothing they can do. It really bugs me that they are lighting it up with no hope of being asked to help and we have guys in the big leagues who are playing really bad and are seemingly entrenched. This is the most unfair part of the CBA.

Ah Yes... the 21 Braves. .500 team that completely rebuilt their OF at the trade deadline. Rosario, Pederson, Solar and Duvall and all 4 of those guys helped them win a world series. For the whopping price of Pablo Sandoval, Alex Jackson, Kasey Kalich and Bryce Ball who at the time were the Braves 15, 16 and 26 ranked prospects. Also another example of the rareness of the Braves but what a great story and they are a reason that I'm not throwing in the towel in June.

Roster Resource is an easy way to take a look at every team and see how many teams are playing their best 9 every day. Atlanta is the only team locked in with the same lineup every single day. The only team. Atlanta is also currently healthy. The Lowest OPS out of the 10 players that they play every day is .750 which is Michael Harris. Nobody out of the other 29 teams are the Braves. The Braves are couple of levels beyond rare. I'd also be willing to bet that there were no teams in 2022 that locked in like the Braves have locked in their lineup this year. If the Twins had the Braves lineup... Even I wouldn't complain much about the same lineup every day.

Difficult issue to solve. League Averge K% is 22.9. Only Solano and Kepler are better than average and Kepler... I don't want. The rest of the team... so almost the entire team is below average. How can you fix that? I have no idea. We have 4 players currently over 30% with Gallo leading the way at 40%. In 2022... Only Byron Buxton at 30.4% eclipsed 30% mark. In 2023... The K is like a virus. A bad virus that has spread through everything.

I won't argue... we gotta bring the K's down. I'm throwing out names because I'm ready for the raffle drum.

I agree. I was reacting to Rocco's words because he is the guy who represents the organization every night when he gives his thoughts for public consumption and it was Rocco who spoke those inspirational words. I've always said... if I get to the point where I'm frustrated with what is happening on the field... I'm not going to call for Rocco's head... I'll be calling for the head of Falvey instead. It's pointless to go after the people... you go after the people who hire the people. Max Kepler hasn't been good but more importantly... it isn't Max who keeps himself on the 26 man roster. It isn't Max who puts his name on the lineup card. I'm not going blame Max if he isn't good enough... he isn't good enough. I'm going to blame the people who keep putting him out there when he isn't good enough. I can play little Piano... Let me be clear... I can play a little piano. I know my chords. If the Chicago Symphony Orchestra asked me to play Piano and I couldn't keep up. It wouldn't be my fault. It would be the fault of whoever asked me to put on a tux and sit on that bench. It would be the fault of whoever kept me in that position instead of someone who can do what is required. You are right... the front office has to act.

Perfectly said. If you have Ronald Acuna... Yeah... play him every day. We don't have one of those. In the meantime... as we wait for an every day player to show up and actually play like an everyday player... Here's a question: How do we know who are the best 9 players are so we can put the other 4 to sleep? Is there anybody willing to trust the organization to pick the best 9 out of spring training to ride every day at this point. I don't and I generally support them.

Yeah... that's my expectation as well. When he says "we have to make some really, really legitimate adjustments to what we’re doing right now". Those words are going to come from what is in head and heard by what is in my head? To me adjustments are over due roster adjustments... To him it may mean adjustment to approach. One sentence... two interpretations. Personally, I assume they have been trying to adjust approach and it clearly hasn't been working so I'm not really not going to hear that... if... that is what he meant. No matter what he meant... I think he should toss someone overboard for punctuation on whatever that sentence meant.

HIs defense at SS has been wonderful... I'll give him that. That has value. But on a team that is dying for lack of offense and based on the grand canyon difference between what he should be doing at the plate and what he is doing... Yeah... I'll agree... if you had to point at the biggest problem... Correa would be at the top of the list. I think Kepler and Gallo have been worse but neither of them are a total surprise to perform like they have. They've been doing this for years now. If Correa is doing what he is supposed to be doing, Gallo doesn't hurt as much... So Yeah... Correa is the biggest problem.

OK... You've said it out loud. “I mean if I’m rolling that up and trying to portray it any other way I’m lying, so we have to make some really, really legitimate adjustments to what we’re doing right now if we’re going to go out there and compete and win games against that team or really any other team,” Let me just say... welcome to the party... we have all been waiting for you to join us. Now that you've said it... you are going to have show you are serious and that means actually making some really, really legitimate adjustments to immediately back up what you've said out loud. Hopefully taken as constructive criticism... here is what I suggest to fix things as quickly as possible in steps. 1. Look in the mirror. Before you start identifying the players not getting it done and making the decisions that frankly should have been done many weeks ago... you have to look in the mirror first. You have to look in the mirror and so does Falvey, Lavine, their assistants, your scouts, your coaches, your analysts. All must look in the mirror and take responsibility... come to the conclusion that it was THIS operation... THIS group of people who chose the players who are not getting it done... it was THIS group of people who stuck with the players who are not getting it done. Take responsibility for this... come to the conclusion that is obvious... you were WRONG about a lot of players and you are going to be wrong again in the future... next time you are wrong... don't be so freaking stubborn and ignore the wrong right off the cliff... like time was going to cure your wrongness. 2. You've said it out loud... you have to do something significant right now. The 26 man roster that arrives in Baltimore HAS TO be different than the one you arrived in Atlanta with. I'm not talking about a young player with options that is part of the St. Paul shuffle. It needs to be significant... so when you are huddling with your coaches and talking with the front office -- Kepler at the very least can't show up in Baltimore. 3. Cull from the bottom and keep going until there is no bottom. It's really more than Kepler. A scapegoat isn't enough. You are going to need 40 man space and 26 man space to shake things up. Any player that are BOTH NOT helping this year and won't be back next year need to be cleared to open up space for someone else. You eat the money that Kepler and Gallo are owed. IMO Solano and Taylor can hang for a bit but give them some different players to compete with for playing time. If they lose... clear them. Quit giving Vets the free pass to be sub par without consequence. 4. Get serious about Byron Buxton. If he can't play CF... HE'S HURT!!! If he isn't physically able to play CF, then he probably isn't physically able to swing the bat like he could and it's showing. HE's HURT!!! Place him on the DL and rehab him until he can play CF. I don't want to hear any stories about how hard he is working and how he is playing through pain... I'm glad to hear that because I'm a Buxton fan... but it's not justifiable to let an injury produce poor results. If he can't play CF... HE"S HURT!!! In the meantime, while Buck is on the DL... you can use the DH spot to look at some players who might actually hit the ball. 5. Go back to what you learned in Step 1. If you were wrong about Kepler and Gallo... maybe you were wrong about Wallner, Stevenson or Chris Williams. Stevenson and Williams can get the 26 and 40 man spots of Kepler and Gallo. Wallner can take Bucks 26 man spot. It may fail... Stevenson, Wallner and WIlliams may be no better but maybe one of them keeps hitting and then you have gotten one player better. You were wrong about Kepler and Gallo... maybe you were wrong about them... Let's find out. It certainly can't be worse so what do you have to lose. 6. Let hot players stay hot. If you have a Wallner going 8 for 8... let him try for 12 for 12. If a player is hitting get out of the way... if a player isn't hitting... get in the way. Let the players tell you what to do. 6. Let the players honestly compete. Correa and Buxton have not been good and have not been threatened. Correa and Buxton have remained at the top of the order. I know you don't have a bunch of obvious replacements for top of the order duty but you are just letting all of your players know that Correa and Buxton can play bad and stay entrenched while a player that is hitting will stay entrenched at the bottom of the order. If I was a player... I'd start to question if performance matters in the decision making process. I'm sure it does but I'll be honest... I can't see if from my chair. 7. Get off the script. You are not going to finesse your way through this with the information that your analysts are bringing you. A .200 Right Handed hitter against a left handed pitcher isn't going to help you. You need to find hitters... period. OK... You've said it out loud... Now do something... finally... Please do something.