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Riverbrian

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Everything posted by Riverbrian

  1. Riverbrian
    Agreed. However... Buxton will be playing regardless so if he isn't going to hit... It's better he doesn't hit in CF so someone else can actually hit in the DH spot.
  2. Riverbrian
    I won't use the popular phrase "Too Little Too Late". In this case... I'll have to modify it to "Quite a Bit Too Late". It took him 2.5 years to figure this out... if he has indeed figured it out. I love watching him play right now but for 2.5 years... I didn't.
  3. Riverbrian
    I didn't read the article but I read the title And I agree with the title without any other details necessary. Buxton in CF makes the team instantly and significantly better.
  4. Riverbrian
    Every Team... Every Player... Every Year
  5. Riverbrian
    I know you addressed jorgenswest but I can't help myself. That isn't what he said. If Polanco gets hurt. Lee for example will get his chance because of the depth he is referring to. A healthy Farmer all year doesn't provide Lee with that chance. He just stays and under performs Polanco and maybe even under performs Lee. Polanco is better than Farmer. Polanco and Lee is better than Farmer. Full disclosure... I don't understand the discussion. I'm picking up the Polanco option.
  6. Riverbrian
    Maybe... I don't spend much time looking at defensive stats so I can't or won't argue. Although... I'm not one to trust the small sample defensive metrics available to us. However... if Vazquez is the better fielding catcher... OK... but in the end, it doesn't matter much to me. The offensive difference was/is enormous and we went through a long stretch where our offense was near the bottom if not at the very bottom. We needed offense much more than we needed defense at the time and still do. They needed to adjust to this acute need and did not. I get the defensive importance of the catcher position. A catcher is so much more. They frame, they call pitches. I understand the nature of the position is going to produce other considerations when it comes to defensive value but, I don't see pitchers getting lit up because Jeffers is behind the dish.
  7. Riverbrian
    If I could take my concerns throw it in a pot and simmer it down to one dish and throw it on the plate for consumption... This would be it. The lack of adjustment. We were dying for offense but yet didn't even make a significant playing time adjustment at the catcher position to reflect this crippling need for offense in June. I'm sure they have framing data and other things to consider but we needed offense in the worst way and we still need bats in my opinion. The season started with a 66/33 split in favor of Vazquez. Jeffers hit the ball, Vazquez did not. They have adjusted to a 50/50 so progress I guess but I don't understand why the ratio wasn't reversed to 66/33 in favor of Jeffers. This type of adjustment was in house. It wouldn't require the clearing of space on the roster to try someone else. If Jeffers goes into a deep funk... they can always reverse back. It certainly wasn't going to solve our overall offensive woes at the time because we are only talking about every third baseball game but it was a simple adjustment in the right direction. Yep... The lack of adjustment, slowness to react is where my finger points. With that said. Our Playoff roster is here. Let's get them ready. They are who we got. They can do this.
  8. Riverbrian
  9. Riverbrian
    I wish I knew the answer to this but it is something that I have thought a lot about. 1. Lots of fans show concern about moving players to positions that they don't have a lot of experience playing. Yet these moves to lesser played positions happen a lot due to necessity and very rarely does it turn out to be the disaster worthy of the concern expressed by fans. 2. Despite these position switches happening often enough that every front office should be aware of the almost inevitable need to move a player to a position they have little to no experience at mid-season. Teams typically don't expose players to multiple positions in the minor leagues as preparation for these changes. 3. If a player like Brooks Lee (For Example) is knocking on the major league door and playing SS exclusively with Carlos Correa entrenched at the position in the majors. If a player like Brooks Lee is ready to help the major league club win games. The ability to play multiple positions opens up more major league doors for him to walk through. Front offices don't know where the door is going to open. The ability to play multiple positions makes Brooks the first call up if there is an injury anywhere besides P and C instead of waiting for Correa to go down before calling up your best player. 4. Yet... what typically happens is that a Brooks Lee is installed as an every day player at another position other than SS with little experience at that other position and that's how you end up with Spencer Steer playing OF out of necessity. What does all of this tell me? Teams don't worry about the position changes on the fly out of necessity or changing team context as much as fans do. If they worried about it... They would be exposing their best prospects to multiple positions in the minors as an obvious cure to what happens a lot and to get them into the positions of need as soon as possible. Take inventory and make it fit.
  10. Riverbrian
    Man I'll tell ya... I wish life and baseball was that easy though. 😎
  11. Riverbrian
    Yeah... I understand the thought process. Unfortunately... Just not the logic of Kepler over Polanco from a performance stand point. IMO... OF needs to be addressed. I'd rather it be done via Kirilloff or Lewis or Trade or Free Agent or whatever necessary combination of. Not signing Polanco but signing Kepler in my mind... Is letting a 7 (Polanco with another option year) go because you have a bunch of sixes and keeping a 5 (Kepler) because you have a bunch of 4's. Let's keep the 7 and figure out the 6's and 4's. 😉
  12. Riverbrian
    Amazing that a month of good Kepler can erase what he didn't do in 2021, 2022 and most of 2023. While a fairly consistent hitter can be erased by the bubbles of young talent.
  13. Riverbrian
    If "Wall" means "Wall". I wonder if "Ner" means "Over it".
  14. Riverbrian
    If it will get you home... Yep.
  15. Riverbrian
    Take inventory of what you have to work with and make it work.
  16. Riverbrian
    After this season... there will be at least 5 more years of Carlos Correa. Brooks has essentially only played SS in the minors. Are we willing to wait until 2029 for the SS job to open up or is it possible that the Brooks Lee path to the major leagues will be at some other position? If Brooks moves to 1B to fill a need... does it mean forever? Can he move back to SS or 3B? I honestly don't understand the concerns. If he can help us at 1B... play him at 1B. The questions to ask are: 1. Is he better than players currently on the 26 man? 2. If So... Is he better by a big enough margin that you are willing to start his clock early and lose someone off the 40 man roster?
  17. Riverbrian
    Absolutely... I agree with you 1,000 Percent. In the end... my judgement on this front office will be almost solely based upon their ability to develop capable young talent at league minimum with years of control. The fruit is starting to ripen. Fresh fruit fills those gaps nicely.
  18. Riverbrian
    Teams move players around all the time due to ever changing team needs. It shouldn't scare anyone but the thought of it seems to frighten some folks as these discussions happen all the time. Having Lewis, Julien and Polanco on the same roster is not a problem unless you make it a problem by being inflexible. Flexibility is a natural by-product of having actual depth on your roster and every team should want depth on their roster. You can't have depth without flexibility. When Lewis comes back... I don't care who plays 1B. Move someone... it'll be OK. The sky will not fall because teams do it all the time out of necessity. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. If Polanco is rostered next year as a 3B, 2B and 1B. That's Great!!! Polanco instantly becomes more valuable and easier to put into the lineup card while making room for others.
  19. Riverbrian
    Super Utility is a guy who plays every day at multiple positions. Utility is a guy who plays occasionally at multiple positions. The limitation of 9 starting spots and 13 players will limit how many super utility guys that you have because you won't need that many. In the example that started this discussion string. Polanco would be a super utility guy because he would play nearly every day at multiple positions. That would not be a bench guy. Personally, I don't care much for buckets or labels because those buckets and labels don't last long over the course of a season. Willi Castro made this roster as a utility player out of spring training with limited expectation for playing time. As the season has gone along with injuries and what not... Castro is 5th in AB's. There have been stretches of time where Castro has been Super Utility because of necessity. Necessity is the mother of invention.
  20. Riverbrian
    When this chapter of the book is finally written and sent to press. This will most likely be the easy conclusion.
  21. Riverbrian
    I think those guys got railed on a fair amount but with them you have limited options because Buxton, Correa and Vazquez have crooked numbers left on their contract. Moving them down in the order or benching them are your only two options. Kepler, Gallo and Pagan on the other hand are free agents after this season (Club Option with Kepler). They don't have to be back after this season so there is really no need to be tolerant or patient with poor performance. I can't speak for everyone but that is why I personally focused on Kepler and Gallo while being aware of that Buxton, Correa and Vazquez have also disappointed. I haven't really targeted Pagan this year.
  22. Riverbrian
    The Worst Teams in baseball win 4 out of 10 games. The Best teams in baseball win 6 out of 10 games. Average teams win 5 out of 10. The margins are thin and the margins have been thin since the beginning of time. None of the worst teams in baseball consistently win 4 every single stretch of 10 games. They are up and down like a rollercoaster. If you catch one of the worst teams while they are winning 8 out of 10 games... Are they one of the worst teams in baseball when you play them? None of the best teams consistently win 6 every 10 games... If you catch one of the best teams in baseball when they are only winning 2 out of 10 games... Are they one of the best teams in baseball when you play them? It's a fun exercise to look at the remaining schedule and declare an easy or hard road ahead based on current records but the exercise is pointless because nobody knows what is going to happen from game to game and week to week. You got to strap it on every day and grind and never ever ever take any team for granted.
  23. Riverbrian
    To be clear. I was responding to Fire Dan Gladden who stated: Gallo (along with the other two musketeers Kepler and Pagan) receive an incredibly high number of negative posts compared to Correa and Vazquez, (and to a lesser degree Buxton) who are way more to blame for the Twins current problems. Hopefully that puts my post in proper context as a possible suggestion to why Gallo, Kepler and Pagan get a higher proportion of fan targeting compared to Correa, Vazquez and Buxton. That's one explanation... along with the performance of those three over the past two years. How do I feel personally? Kepler: Play him... keep playing him... he's as hot as anybody in Baseball right now. He should be in the lineup a lot. Let's see if he can keep it going through the rest of the season. He's playing bigger than any trade acquisition right now. However... I WOULD HAVE CUT HIM IN JUNE BASED ON PERFORMANCE. His roster spot was already available for someone else. He isn't having this hot streak for us because I already cut him. 2 and half years of below average play is more than worthy of a cut. Pagan: I wouldn't have brought him back this season. The front office brought him back and I give everyone a chance. I have not suggested cutting him this season based on his performance. I think every spot in the bullpen is high leverage and Pagan has earned a spot. Even if I felt that he didn't earn a spot going into the season. Gallo: I wouldn't have signed him in the off-season. Once he was signed... I gave him a chance. He had a great first month. He has been very bad since. The K% is too much. The Batting Average is too little. I would HAVE CUT HIM IN JUNE BASED ON PERFORMANCE. His roster spot was already available for anybody else by now.
  24. Riverbrian
    I have no problem with your Polonco usage suggestion. It adds up to somewhere between 6 to 8 days at 4 different positions so the time frame you are suggesting is obviously very important. If you are using a typical week time frame... he would not be a high priced bench guy... 6 to 8 days is either a full time job or a Beatles song. Therefore... if he's playing full time at multiple positions... wouldn't that make him more valuable than the guy who plays full time at one position. Personally... I stopped using the word bench many years ago. Willi Castro is currently 5th in AB's with the Twins... So is he a bench guy? Once you remove the word bench from your baseball language, having Julien, Kirilloff, Polanco and Lewis on the same team is no longer a problem.
  25. Riverbrian
    I agree that Buxton, Correa and Vazquez are more to blame if we must assign blame which I don't like doing. A team is a team. However, those three will be back next year and the year after that. A little more patience will be required of them. Gallo, Kepler and Pagan don't have to be back next year. Getting out from under these three is actually possible if necessary.
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