Riverbrian

It was nice to not worry about the offense for 1 inning. 😉

I've read some of your other posts... You have my respect. You are talented. First the question you asked at the end of your post. Are those my only two options because I'd rather be a combination of the Angels with Mike Trout and the Pre-Franco Rays who were competitive with a bunch of guys no casual fan could name. Now... the rest... Are we discussing a literal version of Joe Mauer or is there wiggle room in the subjective definition of superstar. If allowed to loosen it up a tad from Joe Mauer. How about producing a player that other teams will trade multiple prospects for or sign to a decent sized contract when they reach free agency. Brian Dozier would not qualify in my eyes. Angels: Trout Astros: Altuve, Tucker, Bregman, Valdez, Alverez, Springer A's: Donaldson, Chapman, Olson, Murphy Blue Jays: Vlad Jr, Bichette Braves: Acuna, Riley, Albies, Strider, Freeman Brewers: Burnes, Woodruff, Hader, WIlliams Cardinals: Wainwright Cubs: Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, Schwarber, Contreres D-Backs: Goldschmidt Dodgers: Kershaw, Seager, Smith Guardians: Ramirez, Bieber, Lindor, Carrasco Giants: Posey, Bumgarner, Webb Mariners: Rodriquez Marlins: Cabrera, Yelich, Stanton, Ozuna, Alcantara, Realmuto Mets: DeGrom, Syndergaard, Wheeler Nats: Harper, Soto, Turner, Strasburg Orioles: Machado Padres: Tatis Phillies: Nola Pirates: McCutchen, Cole, Reynolds Rangers: Garcia, Darvish Rays: Franco, McClanahan, Archer, Snell Reds: Votto, Castillo Red Sox: Betts, Devers, Bogaerts Rockies: Arenado Royals: Greinke, Perez Tigers: Verlander, Scherzer, Martinez, Buehler White Sox: Sale, Quintana, Semien Yankees; Judge Where are ours? I'll concede Berrios he brought back a couple of highly ranked prospects but there are much better on the list above. I think Arraez has the potential to join the above list but he was traded for someone who wouldn't make this list yet in the Marlins group. I won't concede that we need to do better in comparison with our peers. I'll stand firm and judge this front office by development and that is a work in progress. I like where the pitching is heading.

A long time ago... when I was 16. I had a part time job at a restaurant as a bus boy. I had spilled some water while busing a table. I did clean the water up but I didn't notice that water had spilled on to the seat. Unfortunately someone sat in the wet spot. Someone from that table demanded that I be fired. Loudly, in the middle of the restaurant in front of everyone. That person had never met me. As a 16 year old... I remember thinking that we should at least meet before such demands.

I'll try because it sounds like fun. It'll be heavy on assumptions obviously so grains of salt are necessary to digest. 1. Gray got himself into a pretty thick jam in the 5th so Moran had to get up and get ready. Rocco would have no choice here but to crank someone up. Once a pitcher gets lathered up in the bullpen, most managers across the league... if not all... will put that pitcher into the game so they don't waste the warm up session. No one should argue this decision. 2. Garlick has been a point of contention amongst many Twinsdaily posters including myself. My guess on why Rocco placed Garlick in the 3 spot instead of Lewis. Garlick has a decent track record against lefties while Lewis doesn't have much of a track record against anyone at the major league level. Garlick has 208 plate appearances vs left handed pitchers with a career .799 OPS. The numbers you quote are a small sample size of 22 PA's this year only. Rocco seems to place more faith in larger samples over time and he consistently doesn't seem to react to smaller samples over the course of a season. Some feel this is a smart thing to do... I'm not one of those but I can understand if this is what he is thinking and he seems to be thinking that. Taylor still hits 9th even if he is third in home runs on the team. Correa has not dropped down in the batting order despite deserving to be dropped down in the batting order. Kepler gets pretty good lineup order treatment. I want to be clear... I do not agree with Rocco on this but this is his thing and he's been doing it this way for a long long time... I don't think he is going to change. With Garlick I get why he batted third... I don't understand why he is on the roster at all... but, the other thing that is becoming undeniably obvious with Rocco (Front office?) is that the lefty/righty matchup is an unbreakable rule that trumps all other considerations and Rocco is consistently harder on lefty hitters facing left handed pitchers then he is on right handed hitters facing right handed pitchers. I don't agree with this when the team is struggling as hard as it has been but in fairness... the two left handers that the Jays deployed last night (Kikuchi and Mayza) have significant split differential... they are quite good against left handers and not quite as good against right handed pitchers. It isn't just the batters splits that needs to be taken into account if you are going to be a strict platoon practitioner and Rocco is a strict platoon practitioner. My counter point is... it didn't do us much good last night and it hasn't all year. WE NEED HITTERS Period. Not letting Kirilloff face left handed pitchers is a bad idea for his development and he is simply our best hitter right now. 3. Polanco... He needs 550 AB's this season for his option to vest. He won't make it to 550 AB's but the team will probably resign him anyway. They have a club option on him in 2025 before he hits free agency in 2026. He has decent trade value with two years of control so letting him go for nothing would make no sense. If they needed his 10 million to make other acquisitions... they would trade him and get something in return. That was my attempt at answering those questions.

I would not be opposed to an early deal for a rental hitter... a rental hitter deal doesn't have to carry this enormous Ohtani price tag. Someone... Like Umm Candelario with the Nats for example. Pick him up for a 10th or 15th ranked minor league player. I know some will be bothered by Candelario being a 3B with Lewis in town. Let Candelario play 1B and Kirilloff can play some OF. Or... don't throw things at me. Lewis can play some OF... Maybe even CF. Kepler can be DFA'd to give Candelario a 26 and 40 man roster spot. Depth holds and we replace a struggling hitter in Kepler for a decent (not spectacular) hitter in Candelario and it costs us a Jose Salas type player. Now if you get Correa and Buxton back and playing like they are capable of playing. Lewis and Kirilloff performing along with Polanco. That occasional Gallo dinger might carry more weight and his .180 batting average won't be as problematic. Farmer, Taylor, Solano, Castro, Wallner, Larnach, Julien are still around for depth and hopefully they will be allowed to be in an honest competition for playing time should any of the above get hurt or struggle. I wouldn't be opposed to that type of deal. As far as the trade deadline goes. I don't believe in standing still. If the team is in contention... help the team. If the team is not in contention. Trade the expiring contracts... get something for them. If we don't fix this offense soon... we will be trading expiring contracts.

My guess was that Rocco was asked a question about it and he answered the question. We ask for transparency... We got it. If asked the question... Is Rocco supposed to say... No comment to avoid us making it into a huge thing because we would make that a thing. Is he supposed to say... No... It was fine when it wasn't fine. We probably wouldn't have like that either. He was asked a question and he answered it. Kepler has responded to it by saying... "Yep... It was on me". After a discussion after the game... Kepler was back in the lineup. I think managers are supposed to have these discussions when these things happen and these things happen because they are human beings. The manager of a trucking company is going to have a discussion with a driver who lost focus and ripped a trailer door off. The manager of a trucking company doesn't have the press asking about the trailer door. It doesn't mean that manager now hates the driver forever and it doesn't mean that the driver thinks he has been treated unfairly. I've made mistakes, we have all made mistakes. Does it have to be anything more than that? Do we have to take these molehills of information and make them into mountains? We keep asking for the truth but keep demonstrating that we can't handle the truth if we get it. This is why information is hard to get. Now... What about his hitting? Is he allowed to keep hitting like he has? That's a more serious question. What are they going to do about that?

I understand that the intensity is certainly up in that 22 game stretch and no I wouldn't bet my house on team like the A's going 13-9... but, 13-9 is not an impossible hill to climb. The A's won't be invited... we both know that. If the playoffs started today. #1 Seed - Rays #2 Seed - Rangers #3 Seed - Twins #4 Seed - Orioles #5 Seed - Yankees #6 Seed - Jays Twins would draw the Jays for 3 and Face the Rangers for 5 if they win 2 games against the Jays. Orioles/Yankees winner in 3 would draw the Rays for 5. You'll never convince me that the Twins have no chance of winning 2 against the Jays and 3 against the Rangers based on what is happening in June. Especially with these starting pitchers. Now... you might be able to convince me that if the Twins don't fix their offensive problems soon that they will be golfing with the A's and watching Cleveland, Chicago or Detroit facing that 6th seed.

I read a tweet from Nick Nelson saying 25 games for a record of 4-21. The Twins had a game that they won 3-2 in 10 innings. I'm counting that... so 26 games with a record of 5-21. It's one more win but still worse.

Does either of these simplified scenarios make sense? Scenario #1 Front Office: Rocco, you have executed exactly how we want you to execute and because you have, we are going to make a change and let you go. These guys will usher you out of the building we will clean out your office, pack up your stuff and mail it to your house. Scenario #2 Front Office: Rocco, we want you to start Hatteberg at 1st base. You tell us to go stuff ourselves and you start Pena instead. We would like to offer you a contract extension.

I will ultimately judge this front office on development and the graduation of cheaper, controllable talent with actual talent to the major league level. I will factor in the lost year of 2020 and I do like the way the pitching has been progressing but eventually we need to produce a young superstar or two. Our last one was... ??? Joe Mauer???

Agreed that the amount of wins necessary have increased due to more wild card teams... that can't be argued. However... It's still a small sample size. A 13-9 record in the playoffs will give the 6th seed a World Series Title. Every team in baseball (Even the Oakland A's) is capable of going 13-9 over a 22 game stretch. It is still possible that Jeremy Pena, Jorge Solar, Steve Pearce, Ben Zobrist and David Freese type players can be the World Series MVP. I won't call it a crapshoot but I'm sure you know what is actually possible by making the playoffs.

I'm using stats to complain.

I originally didn't have a problem with Kepler not being on second... IF... he wasn't aware that Taylor was attempting to swipe third. However... Rocco would know all the details necessary to make this determination so if Rocco says he should have been on second... I'll believe him. OK... Kepler should have been on 2nd. It was a key moment in the game. OK... Rocco... you've stated publicly that Kepler wasn't "on the ball" on that play. Kepler is also hitting .192/.267/.369. You have started him 34 games out of 63 games this year. He has missed 25 games while on the disabled list which means you have started him 34 times out of a possible 38 games that he was available to play. He has played in 36 out of a possible 38 games. That's this year... we can also factor in the past two years in your considerations. So... OK... Rocco (And the Front Office)... what are you going to do about it? If the answer is he sits tonight against a left hander and plays tomorrow night against a right hander. I'm not comfortable with that.

6 games in a row with two runs or less. 8 out of the last 9 with two runs or less. It's June 9... This isn't a slump.

Good Post... I agree that the responses in this thread didn't start well. The front office has enough **** on their head to absorb things like attitude or lost the team accusations. However, the question posed in this thread is an excellent question. I encourage everyone to go to your favorite stat source and do a sort Vs Right Handers. Roll through the different stats... look at the players congregating at the bottom as you do. When I do it... here is what I see. Vs. Right Handed Pitchers: Our Left Handed hitters - Kepler, Larnach, Gallo and Gordon are at the bottom along with Correa. Kirilloff is the only left handed hitter doing well. I continue to ask... what are we doing?

I've heard Rocco say that the strikeouts are an issue and there's no way around that. 26 games this year scoring less than two runs. 6 games in a row under two runs, 8 out of the last 9 games under two runs. 9 out of the last 11 games. Michael A. Taylor is third on the team in Home Runs. Currently 31 of our 80 home runs are either hurt or in the minors so that power thing can be taken away pretty quickly. If Rocco said he can live with all the K's due to hitting with power... I want to see it.

I was sleeping in med school but in my head... I certainly could imagine the need to see how an injury responds to rest or a band-aid or something. Med Person: How are the Ribs this morning Mr. Buxton? Buxton: The Rub is a little dry. I definitely prefer the Carolina Sauce. Med Person: Still pretty swollen. Let's take a look again in the morning. In the meantime... lots of Chicken Noodle Soup and 7UP. I can certainly understand taking a little time before making a move but at some point, you have to look at things and ask yourself... what are you waiting for. There are times when injuries hurt a team and there are times when injuries make you BETTER. There are times when getting another player up and giving them at-bats provides immediate help or at worst necessary information toward future solutions. Placing the player who Correa is SUPPOSED TO BE on the DL hurts a team. However, Placing the player that Correa HAS ACTUALLY BEEN THIS SEASON on the DL could make your team better. I get the short bench argument and agree it isn't ideal because after all, Garlick was starting against a right hander last Sunday. Don't get me wrong... I don't mind Garlick playing against a right hander personally but I know it bugs the **** out of Rocco because he would never do that if everyone was available to him. However... To me the bigger issue is the wasting of the opportunity to find someone better. WE NEED SOMEONE TO BE BETTER! Sometime injuries make you better. Let's not waste the opportunity.

He's standing out of bounds. Its where I have to go.

It's time to put that 45 RPM record or 8-Track of the Hues Corporation away. Younger folks will have to google the reference and probably have the eyesight to read this sentence.

You are right... and my wife is always right. I should have gotten the recyclables out in the first place. My not getting the recyclables out was -- Jeffers swinging at the first pitch down and which created the grounder that led to needing 110% effort to avoid the double play. I am giving 110% with my analogy. 😎 Now I gotta flip back to my spreadsheets. My boss is about to walk by.

I'm going to assume that Taylor went on his own. Kepler wouldn't have known he was going. I'm assuming of course. Now if the ball is thrown to third and a tag needs to be applied... he could he have taken off once the ball is thrown to third. But, he would be getting a real late jump and these major league players have real good arms and can get that ball from 3B to 2B really really quick. I'd like to see him on 2nd in that scenerio but I can understand why he wasn't there if he didn't know Taylor was going. If he missed a sign and the bench called for a double steal... Yeah... then we got an issue.

Well... I gotta know if it's OK to ask before I go straight to the boss. He's a busy guy. I must respect that.

I know we don't have obvious alternatives but is it too soon to ask the question. Why is Correa still batting in the top 3? Is it OK to ask why veterans are handled with kid gloves. Can't change the batting order or they can't handle it mentally. Yet young players like Wallner can be tossed around like sand bags without mental damage. If Correa starts hitting in the 7th, 8th or 9th spot... we can always move him back a top 3 spot. I assume that is allowed. Yeah... I know... we don't have obvious alternatives. But is it OK to ask this question?

The other day... my wife was on her way home and I knew that she was mad at me. I forgot to put the recyclables out. She typically becomes a little less mad if she is allowed some time to breathe. I looked out the kitchen window and I could see her car turning onto our street about 3 blocks down. At that moment... I knew I had no time to spare. I had to get to my car and someplace else to allow her time to breathe. When you give 110%... your head is looking down at the ground. I gave 110%... If I would have looked back... I wouldn't have made it. I'm still married.

I want to continue on this what if. In the 8th... If Garlick reaches base... Is the next move pinch running for Garlick with Taylor? Probably... And of course... If Garlick reaches base... Now Larnach is up against a left hander and would Farmer pinch hit here? Probably is the answer. Now Taylor isn't available to pinch run for Solano in the 9th or play CF because he is in the DH spot. Back to the 10th inning if Duran hangs a zero. In the 10th... The options for Kevin Cash are remaining with Adam for another inning or the the right handed Patino who can go multiple innings. The other two options are left handers Diekman and Beeks. Everybody else is used up. The sensible thing to do would be Adam for the first 3 hitters in the 10th (Polanco, Garlick and Correa) and then a left hander for Larnach in the 4th spot and Kepler in the 6th spot. So if Farmer is the only guy who can play 1st base... why not substitute Farmer into Larnach or Kepler's spot instead of Lewis? If we are really playing the lefty/righty match up game. Take a left handed hitters out of the lineup and compromise his two left handed options available. I continue to ask... What are we doing?