Riverbrian

I remember that well. Lewis was sent down after hitting a home run and double against the A's. Royce was near .900 OPS over 11 games while Jose Miranda had a batting average under .100. When Correa came back from injury. They kept Miranda and they sent Royce down to AAA to play other positions so he could come up to the majors and play other positions. I don't have the quote from the Rocco or the front office but they didn't want to move him to utility at the major league level... learn on the fly I guess. So they sent him down to St. Paul on May 18. Royce played 17 Innings at 3B, 18 Innings in LF and 10 Innings in CF and they called him back up to the majors on May 29. After 45 innings at other positions... he was now ready for other positions. I also think that it is fair to point out that Royce Lewis played nothing but SS in 2022 prior to the injury to Carlos Correa on May 6. So if you put it all together. It took Royce 45 innings of other positions to be ready for major league utility work. Despite the presence of Carlos Correa... the Twins never prepped Royce Lewis for major league utility work prior to the Carlos Correa injury. Yeah... They could blow this upcoming Julien thing.

Who gets the zone rating punishment on that double to the first baseman?

A sweep feels good. Hopefully they can reel off some more. A nice winning streak would do wonders for the players and fans. These are all major league teams with major league talent. A sweep feels good. On the part of the article that I have quoted. Kepler could have easily ran underneath that ball for an out. I don't know who was calling for it or if nobody was calling for it. However, Kepler needs to take charge on that ball. Ball, Mine, I got it, Get Out are all sufficient commands that Kepler shouts to take charge. Kirilloff is going to keep after the ball unless a command is given. If Kirilloff is calling for it, it is Kepler's job to call him off and then it is Kirilloff's job to get out of the way to let the player coming in on the ball with an easier play make the catch. I don't know if Kirilloff wasn't listening to Kepler or if Kepler just let him handle it. But... I do know that there was 7 people in the stands so crowd noise shouldn't have been an issue and I do know that it cost us a run late in a close game. Unless I hear different... that was a lazy play by Kepler.

I saw the LHP in my head.

His defense hasn't been good but the Twins seem committed to playing him at 2B. I assume in the hope that he gets better at it and he settles in as a decent defensive 2B down the road. They seem to be committed to that. No such commitment against left handed pitching.

Julien is not a good 2B. Julien is a very good hitter. He might be the best hitter on the team. We need good hitters. If the Twins send down what might be the best hitter we have on the roster. They will demonstrate for all that they are not very serious about fixing the offensive issues. Play him at whatever spot gets his bat into this lineup. If it's multiple spots... it's multiple spots.

Your point is solid. The only difference is that Buxton will be back next year. Gallo and Kepler most likely won't be and that makes getting rid of them... justifiable.

If anything... the Twins would do the opposite and save some cash. With that said... There has to be some current metrics saying that it's ok to move him down in the order. Along with other current metrics saying that there are no logical choices to move up in the order. 😁

No it does not and actually the 0-18 doesn't even get close to suggesting that they are clearly weaker. The first loss in that 0-18 was game two of the 2004 American league divisional series against the Yankees. The 18th loss of that 0-18 was game two of the 2020 wild card series against the Astros. There wasn't a single player on the 2004 team that was on the 2020 team so loss #1 clearly has nothing to do with loss #18. Even if the same players were involved... the opponents teams were different year to year, month to month, week to week, game to game. Once you dive into the beginnings, the middle and the end of the 0-18 streak to find common players you start to realize that even the players that were part of this for multiple years are still different as individuals from year to year, month to month, week to week, game to game. Joe Mauer was a .432 OPS over 11 AB's in 2006 and a 1,000 OPS over 12 AB's in 2009 and a .558 in 2010 over 12 AB's. If you told me that you knew how Joe Mauer was going to perform in those 12 AB's in the 2006, 2009, 2010 playoffs after regular season OPS totals of .936, 1,031 and .871 in those years. I would have told you that you are... amazing. 😉 However... if you really want to impress me... you'd have my ear if you would have told me that Orlando Hudson was going to lead the Twins in 2010 with a .917 OPS over 12 AB's after a .701 OPS during the regular season. Now I realize that you are not talking about individual players... you are talking about teams being clearly better than the Twins. Regardless... my point about individual players in a small sample size still stands because individual performances are reason for the ream result. Good luck predicting 12 AB's for each individual player based upon... well I really don't know what you are going to base these predictions on. To bring this point home. It's about 60 playoff AB's for an every day player to get all the way through the playoffs. I've been pretty hard on Max Kepler. I don't think he should be on the roster. However, Max has hit 5 home runs in his past 62 AB's. If he did this during the playoffs... we would be singing songs about him. I don't know... you don't know... Max doesn't know... what he will do in the 2023 playoffs. However... lets talk about the teams since that is what you seem to be talking about. In 2019... you say that the 101 win Twins were "way weaker" compared to the the 103 win Yankees. You say the Twins were 5 games under .500 against teams with a winning record and claiming we got fat against the weak AL Central. The implication of your statement is that the Twins beat the weak teams while the Yankees beat the good teams. OK... Let's say that's true. If the Yankees won 103 by beating the GOOD teams and the Twins won 101 by beating the WEAK teams. The win total difference between 103 and 101 has to be made up somewhere so if you are correct... it would also HAVE TO MEAN that the Yankees LOST to the WEAK teams to make up the win/loss difference. No penalty for losing to the weak teams? Just in case the above point isn't getting anywhere... it should but just in case it isn't... I'll post the 2019 head to head records and you can tell me what team "clearly" dominated the Twins during the 2019 regular season. Opponent (Games) Won Lost WP Atlanta Braves (3) 1 2 0.333 Baltimore Orioles (6) 6 0 1.000 Boston Red Sox (6) 3 3 0.500 Chicago White Sox (19) 13 6 0.684 Cleveland Guardians (19) 9 10 0.474 Detroit Tigers (19) 14 5 0.737 Houston Astros (7) 4 3 0.571 Kansas City Royals (19) 14 5 0.737 Los Angeles Angels (6) 5 1 0.833 Miami Marlins (3) 2 1 0.667 Milwaukee Brewers (4) 2 2 0.500 New York Mets (4) 1 3 0.250 New York Yankees (6) 2 4 0.333 Oakland Athletics (7) 3 4 0.429 Philadelphia Phillies (3) 1 2 0.333 Seattle Mariners (7) 5 2 0.714 Tampa Bay Rays (7) 5 2 0.714 Texas Rangers (7) 6 1 0.857 Toronto Blue Jays (7) 4 3 0.571 Washington Nationals (3) 1 2 0.333 Let's continue on... deeper into the 2019 playoffs. We lost... the Yankees advance. They didn't get past the Astros and the Astros lost to the Nationals who were 6 games below .500 in Mid-June. Bottom Line: The playoffs are a small sample size, the 0-18 streak is a small sample size followed by a small sample size. It still hurts nonetheless but the streak was yesterday. Tomorrow is indeed a new day. We are right now 0-0 in future playoffs. I think we should add offense at the trade deadline. There are some who think we should sell. I think we should add offense because it helps us MAKE the playoffs not because the additions are going to necessarily help us win in the small sample size of the playoffs. Hopefully the additions improve our chances in the playoffs but I want to add to help us make the playoffs. For those who think we should sell... I can respect the reasoning that the team could sell Sonny Gray, get some decent players in return for the future, still make the playoffs and could still do well in the playoffs. I can't argue that point... I disagree because I think we should add offense but I can't argue that point. But for those who think we should sell because they think this team has NO CHANCE in the playoffs. I can't respect that. I won't respect that. I don't know, you don't know, the front office doesn't know and the individual players don't know. If you could tell me how Joe Mauer was going to perform in the playoffs in 2006, 2009 and 2010... Maybe I'll listen.

Yep... great post. We don't have to trade Brooks Lee to improve THIS offense. Basically... this offense can improve through simple subtraction. If we acquire a .230 hitter we have improved the offense... not by leaps and bounds but improvement nonetheless.

The Astros had 5 hitters last year Alvarez 187 Altuve 160 Bregman 133 Tucker 128 Brantley 125 In the playoffs Jose Altuve had an OPS of .483 over 58 playoff at-bats. It was Jeremy Pena who had a 1.005 OPS over 58 playoff at-bats who led the way to a title. Pena Regular Season OPS+ was 101. It was Yuli Gurriel who had an OPS of .850 during the playoff run over 49 AB's. which followed a regular season with an OPS+ of 84. I'll let others keep looking at regular season performance and think it matters come playoff time.

Excellent post. It describes what I am thinking. Is Kepler refusing to play CF or would he simply rather play RF? An agent speaking on behalf of the best interest of his client seems like normal course of agent business to me but it doesn't have to mean that Lewis is making demands to stay out of the OF and it certainly doesn't mean that the front office is trying to make Boras happy. The Twins organization might not want Lewis or Kepler in CF and therefore haven't asked. Royce may be saying to the powers that be... Man... I'll play anywhere as long as I get to play. Either way... I've read this stuff enough of this stuff to believe that a narrative of player obstinance is becoming perception.

They don't have to state it publicly. It's out there. Let's say the Twins trade for Nolan Arenado. Does the agent of Royce Lewis than say my client would rather ride the bench than play OF? Royce Lewis has 135 major league AB's. Royce Lewis will not be a free agent until 2029. Max Kepler is a couple of months from signing a minor league contract. I must be getting old but back in my day... People actually accomplished stuff before they were honored.

Paying good money to a player playing bad is a mistake but a mistake that doesn't have to be fatal. Playing that player over and over again is doubling down on that mistake and that is the part that kills you. Since they have already double downed. The quote from Falvey appears to be a tripling down. Derek Falvey on the possibility of trading for offense: "I still believe the vast majority of the offense we'll get the remainder of the season is going to come from the guys in that room. It's not going to be via acquisition that's going to make the primary difference." They are standing behind their product. Companies that do that usually offer a warranty.

It shouldn't be as expensive as trying to acquire starting pitching like we did last year.

You can improve this offense through subtraction as well as addition.

I have... So make it better. Support the pitching.

I'm not seeing it either. We should stop looking at the same spots. I'll look over here and you look over there and use the 2-way if you see something. 😁

So let's do something about it.

The outfield is what needs repair and we could use a 1B or 3B acquisition to improve the OF by moving Kirilloff to the OF. Turner I'll pass on because of that player option... I'd prefer a rental. Ultimately I'd like to see the team add speed/contact for another way to produce runs but I honestly don't see anybody who fits that description on the teams likely to be sellers. So I would settle for just plain good hitters who don't strikeout as much. Candelario (20.1%) would be my top choice at this moment.

You are not alone expressing this and I understand why it's being expressed but I'll never understand. This pitching staff is real good.

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.