Riverbrian

In the movie Saving Private Ryan. (BTW Thank you to all who have served). Tom Hanks is clutching his wounds and he whispers to Matt Damon "Earn This". I feel like someone should be saying that to Max Kepler right about now.

Wallner hitting a double, triple and 420 foot home run last night kinda suggests that he is still a hot streak cut short by decree.

Yeah... If he heats up in the 7 position... he can be moved back to the 3. Batting order doesn't have to be a permanent assignment.

I'm sure you understand that I am an individual and not people... and those who are concerned about the batting order changing too often are other individuals and not people. This board is not a single voice. I recommend not treating it as such in your responses. I agree that the batting order will not solve the main issues... I am not making a declaration but I am asking three questions that are lineup related. You can dismiss those questions if you like but I'm asking them anyway. Now if you use the word "Any" before "solve" and in front of "issues" in response. Just draw the names out of a hat because it doesn't matter apparently.

It certainly can't be denied that this is a discussion worth having. At the very least: 1. Why does Correa get to keep his top three batting order position? Right now... Kirilloff, Lewis, Castro and Julien have been our best hitters. 2. Why doesn't the batting order change more significantly day to day? They certainly have matchup data beyond left/right splits that should influence significant line up changes from day to day. At the very least they have hot and cold numbers that we can all see. 3. This last question has been bouncing off my brain walls for awhile now, and I really want to know the answer. If you are making data driven decisions to create SLIGHT advantages in the margins. Doesn't the lack of adjustment in response to the actual performance of Correa and others not meeting expectation negate all of those data driven decisions? In other words... the question for the front office in a nutshell is... What are you doing?

Thursday can't come fast enough for you.

I have no idea what Castro will be in the future nor will I even try to predict but the numbers say what they say and I like the rewarding of better numbers. I'm sure you know by now that I have an aversion to putting people in boxes like that. Assigned roles, utility man no matter if he hits better than others who apparently can't or don't play multiple positions. It's almost like the multiple positional guy is being punished for being multiple positional while the guy who can only play one position gets locked in and yet plays more? Castro can play multiple positions... Perfect... I like those types of players but why doesn't being able to play multiple positions mean that they can compete for playing time against the 3B, SS, 2B, LF, CF and RF. Multiple positions should produce more paths to more playing time but utility is viewed as occasional utilization here and there. Why does Kepler get utilized like he is Aaron Judge? His numbers are not good enough for that type of utilization. Taylor isn't good enough for Judge type utilization. Gallo isn't good enough for Judge type utilization? And if the Twins start utilizing players commensurate with their performance... all of a sudden we are are not as crowded in the left handed corner aisle of the department store.

I believe Cleveland is on the schedule for Thursday June 1 at Target Field. Pablo Lopez vs. Tanner Bibee to kick off a 4 game series. The first 10,000 fans get a Twins Water Bottle.

Proven Mediocrity. That isn't a good thing.

Castro and Kepler have a similar amount of bats. Kepler has played every day when healthy over 29 games. Castro has never been hurt while his at bats have been scattered over 42 games. Comparing direct with Kepler, Castro has been better in nearly every single offensive category so far. I'm willing to bet that Kepler will also push Castro into a short side platoon role.

We don't have a glut of left handed outfielders. We have a glut of veteran players performing average to below average baseball with a bat in their hands. I love Byron Buxton... he is one of us and will be for a long time. I don't want to feel this way but... I'm sorry... I'm almost at the point of starting to resent Buxton. I'm trying my best to understand that there is a medical reason for his playing DH but it's a bottleneck no matter how you slice it. We were vet healthy when this team cratered into the bottom portion of most hitting stats about three weeks ago. We are about to be vet healthy again. Hopefully we will see different results because Kirilloff and Lewis are now in the fold. And that is of course... youth leading the way... not the vets. I'm getting tired of the 1 for 4 day being a good day for our vets. Wallner has 1 more 4 hit day than all of the vets combined this season.

As unenthusiastic as I am about Kepler's return and as much as I hate management stopping a little hot streak by decree. I also don't see an alternative move for the front office to make. Wallner had to go down for Kepler. We have 3 hitters on the 40 man down in St. Paul. We are still in the month of May, it's too soon to put acute pressure on the 40 man roster. Correa, Buxton, Gallo, Kepler, Polanco and Taylor have to be better.

True And yet... not enough. I substituted Wallner for that 2nd Larnach.

I was thinking about that exact thing watching Kepler have a pretty rough game yesterday. I was thinking that Matt Wallner in just 2 games almost reached one third of Max Kepler's entire season of offensive production. I was thinking that it's possible that Max will be signing a minor league deal next year but not before he gets in the way for one last time. Honestly... I didn't think about Kepler that much because Royce Lewis gave me something else to think about. Watching Lewis I started thinking. Our youth has led the way in the past 3 wins as the vets did very little. Then I started thinking... when Polanco gets back, we will be healthy again with vets all over the place.

Options... Wallner has them. Kepler doesn't... this means that Wallner has to be significantly better than the player who doesn't have them and it's hard to be significantly better when hot streaks are stopped at management's request. Kepler sending Wallner down was in the script. That's why we are not surprised.

He has one option remaining. However, He isn't on the 40 man and is supposed to be out for the year.

Castro has made more of his opportunity than quite a few others have made of their opportunities. I'll let others make assumptions on what he will be a month from now. Right now... we need opportunists. BTW... I've seen it mentioned a couple of times. 26th Man/Super Utility isn't a thing. 26th Man is just utility. Super Utility is when you play most days at different positions. If he keeps hitting and Rocco lets him... He may become Super Utility.

IMO 1. That is two games in a row that the hitters didn't chase excessively. They forced the pitcher into the zone. Let's go for three games in a row... getting this under control will make us a much better offense. 2. Been waiting on a breakout game from a player... any player. Hoping for a player to lock in and hopefully take a run with the locks on. Julien, Wallner, Castro and Kirilloff all looked the part yesterday. 3. I've watched a lot of baseball in my 157 years on this planet. Don't think I've ever seen back to back home runs come out of the glove on the same player. That was a rarity... how can you not love baseball.

@ashbury @stringer bell OK... Back to the chess game. Maybe... By placing Kirilloff and Julien so close together in the lineup last night... maybe... Rocco intended to draw Mayza out yesterday. Mayza has now pitched in back to back nights and 3 out of the last 4 games. Reasonable assumption that Mayza is out for today's game. Nothing but right handers available in the pen if that is the case. Rocco has possibly countered this today by stacking all of his left handers at the top of the lineup with Gallo, Julien, Kirilloff, Castro and Wallner hitting 1,2,4,5 and 6 in the order. Bench consists of: Correa (Abundance of caution with the heel?) (Stacking the left handers?)(Who Knows) Garlick Solano Vazquez Pinch hitting will only take place if Rocco decides to pinch hit for Taylor or Jeffers late in the game. He most likely won't sub a righty for a lefty to face a righty and he probably won't pinch hit for Buxton or Farmer. Feet up Game for Rocco.

I remain concerned about the hitting but I actually saw last night as positive. They didn't chase that much, they worked the count. In the end... it didn't work out but if they can keep that up... things will get better.

It's not just you... it has become a golden rule not to be broken, only club in the bag type move that is being consistently made and I openly question it along with ya. Let's look at everyone involved. Tim Mayza - Left Hander - The Only Left hander in the Jays Bullpen. Mayza has been real good this year primarily as a left handed specialist. This Year - Sample Size 18.2 Innings .543 OPS (40 AB's) vs Left Handed Batters - .573 OPS (30 AB's) vs Right Mayza has been real tough against both sides of the plate this year. It's a small sample size but based on this year... It doesn't matter if he is facing a lefty or righty. He's been equally lights out good against both but you can see by facing more lefties than righties... he is deployed to take on left handed hitters. That is his role. Over his career... his splits are much more pronounced and they suggest he is indeed a left handed specialist with a .772 OPS against right compared to a .565 OPS against left. This year says it doesn't really matter but his career will suggest that your odds are better with a right handed hitter facing him. Rocco is justified to match up. However... Willi Castro? Willi Castro - Switch hitter This Year - Sample Size 89 AB's Vs. Left - 38 AB's - .237 BA - .694 OPS Vs. Right - 51 AB's - .255 BA - .688 OPS Career - Sample Size 1,096 AB's Vs. Left - 329 AB's - .271 BA - .709 OPS Vs. Right - 767 AB's - .235 BA - .660 OPS His career numbers suggest that Castro is slightly better against left handers but... let's be clear... His 2023 numbers and his career numbers suggest that he isn't really a good hitter against either hand. Let's look at Alex Kirilloff: He has had 9 AB's this year against lefties... 2 hits including a home run off of Matt Moore in California. But... let's not draw any conclusion on 9 AB's. So let's go straight to his career numbers which as we all know has been complicated by injuries. Career numbers: Vs. Left - 111 AB's - .248 BA - .721 OPS Vs. Right - 340 AB's - .256 BS - .716 OPS Kirilloff is a wash but still better than Castro against left handers. I'll concede that Mayza by himself is a reason to bring in a right hander but doesn't it still matter if that right handed bat has any talent. Some additional questions: 1st Question: If you are concerned at all about Mayza and his deployment against your lefties and Rocco clearly is because he pinch hit a worse hitter standing on the correct side of the plate. Why that batting order? Why was Kirilloff hitting 4th and Julien hitting 6th. Wallner and Gallo didn't start, Castro a switch hitter was also on the bench. There were only two left handed hitters in the starting lineup last night and you had one of them 4th and the other 6th so they both could be impacted by the left handed specialist coming out of the bullpen. Wouldn't it make more sense to bat Julien 8th in the order to make Mayza go through 3 right handers before getting to the next lefty. In other words he wouldn't. 2nd Question: Why does platoon split data seem to over ride all of the other metrics that should be making it's way down to field level? There are a gaggle of analysts working for your organization gathering data, they shouldn't be repeating work so therefore lots of analysts should equate to lots and lots of different data. Why does the hand of the pitcher seem to be the only thing that causes an adjustment in the batting order. An 0 for 25 streak won't cause an adjustment to the batting order so why does the left handed pitcher/right handed pitcher standing on the mound seem to trump every single data point. I'm going to assume that there are a lot of other data points that suggest that Kirilloff is a better hitter than Castro. Why does that data get over ruled? Bunch of questions: Are there minor league splits that suggest that Kirilloff should be platooned? Are you training him to only face right handed pitching? If the Twins make the playoffs... is it your plan to have Kirilloff sit against left handed pitching? I'm not anti-platoon... I'm anti blind strict adherence to the platoon and it appears to be what is happening. BTW... Because I find it funny... and not to imply that it was Nostradamus-ish. In another thread... I was joking around with @chpettit19 and I said... that deploying Mayza early would deplete the options early so Garlick would have to face a right hander at the end of the game. And it happened... Turns out it wasn't Garlick... It was Castro who came around in the order again after facing the masterful Mayza. Garlick started the game against a right hander surprise surprise which never happens. He drove in the only run of the game against a right hander and Castro... was able to single to keep the game alive against a right hander in the 9th after coming in as a specialist to battle the left handed dragon. So... basically none of these lefty/righty shenanigans mattered in a situation by situation sample. I'm going to continue to support my team and front office and coaching staff but I'm going to continue to ask. Are we just platooning for the sake of platooning. What is going on? Can we just start looking for hitters that can hit. Sincerely, Riverbrian

Underlings? Underlings? We are the most under of all lings.

The cheering crowd would make a very shrill noise. Go EEEEEEEEEEE's

@chpettit19 @ashbury @stringer bell All the work for nothing! After all the planning we all did. Not only is Correa not on the D.L,.. He's in the lineup and Garlick is starting against a Right Hander.

The Astro's managed to sign a 36 year old free agent and get 3 years younger at the position by doing so. I give them high marks for the degree of difficulty on that maneuver.