Riverbrian

On June 3rd... Joey Gallo was placed on the DL and Kyle Garlick was called up. Who knows what the intention of the front office was but it was assumed and justified by some on TD that it was a just a temp job with Trevor Larnach coming off the Disabled List so therefore OK. Trevor Larnach was indeed activated while Byron Buxton was placed on the DL so Garlick has remained on the 26 man roster. It's been 8 games now. Kyle Garlick has had 11 AB's total in those 8 games. One Hit, No Walks and 5 Strikeouts. Max Kepler over those 8 games... 21 ABs - '3 hits, for a .142 BA - 1 walk and 1 Home run which was nice. Not only is Kepler continuing to struggle... but competition for his spot is being held away from him by management in favor of short side platoon matchups. If you do a sort right now for the last 15 days... You will see that Wallner has one more hit than Garlick does. Wallner is listed as 2 for 2... Garlick 1 for 11. That's kind of amusing. BTW... Larnach has 3 hits and 8 K's since his return... I don't mind this as much as Kepler because Larnach will be back next year. Kepler won't be. I continue to ask... what are we doing? We have completely wasted an opportunity to see if Wallner could be a better hitter than Kepler and Larnach. Especially if Buxton is out of the DH spot. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Left handed batters facing left handed pitchers still draws an extreme reaction to the lineup card and it's the primary source of all pinch hitting moves as Rocco continues with strict adherence of not wanting lefties facing lefties and continues to not mind righties facing righties as much other than Garlick. So we need to watch the lefty count of our upcoming opponents since it is without a doubt clear that this is an unbreakable rule for Rocco. The Brewers have one left handed pitcher in the lineup. A relief pitcher by the name of Hoby Milner. Good time for Gallo to replace Garlick for the Brewers match up. Who plays RF between Kepler and Larnach with Gallo I assume claiming LF. Is Solano out as the DH when Gallo arrives so Larnach can DH and Kepler in RF and both playing in all of their left handedness despite numbers that suggest that neither is doing much against any hand. Either way... When Buxton comes back... without any other injury. Kepler and Larnach are probably the 26 man decision to make room for when Buxton comes back. The Tigers series makes sense for the activation of the right handed Buxton (If he can be activated) in the platoon split world we live in and Garlick back in AAA. The Tigers have two left handed starters and they are scheduled for Thursday and Friday back to back. Matthew Boyd and Joey Wentz plus the Tigers have 3 left handed members of the bullpen in Shreve, Holton and Alexander. To matchup against Boyd and Wentz. Buxton DH, Catcher, Solano 1B, Farmer 2B, Lewis 3B, Correa SS, Taylor CF and Castro in LF or RF. Oh No... Someone will have to be left handed and start against a lefty with Garlick gone. Unless Rocco put Jeffers out in the OF. 😎 The Tigers will have the ability to left right left right Rocco until he is dizzy. Larnach is probably the guy who goes down for Buxton because I don't see them tagging Kepler with a DFA just to keep Larnach up with his 3 hits and 8 strikeouts. The Red Sox are next... We should miss the lefty Paxton so it will be 4 right handed starters with two lefties in the bullpen (Bernadino and Jacques) for the 4 games series. If nobody gets hurt... We will have 4 pure left handed bats on the roster,,, potentially down to 3 by the 20th when Julien is sent back to AAA for the returning Polanco who is eligible for return on the 20th. Let's see what happens.

I refuse to be bummed out by this loss. I'm actually happy because it has been the offense keeping me up at night. They took down a real good starter this afternoon. Keep it up! Been watching a lot of baseball over the years. I've seen blown leads before... I'll see a blown lead again. I'm sure. Pagan... what can I say... He's on the roster. You can't hide players that are on the roster. If you have to hide them... they shouldn't be on the roster because you can't hide them. Duran, Stewart and Deleon were not available. Moran and Jax have already pitched in the game. You have the 8th and 9th to cover. You can't hide players on the roster.

I would have preferred the headline to read "Bats Wake Up Late".

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Thanks... You are the best Jorgenswest. Please... if someone has anything on this... please provide it. Kepler has enough **** on his head without getting tagged with something false.

Lack of offense continues to provide our pitchers with no room for error. Even Duran is going to give up a run every once in awhile. However... let's imagine in our minds what our situation in the 10th would have been if Duran hung a zero in the 9th. 1. Jeffers would have been the Manfred Man on 2nd base. Nobody was available to pinch run. Rocco's moves were used. 2. Garlick would have been batting 2nd in the 10th. It is possible that Cash would have turned to the left handers Diekman or Beeks in the 10th but... he probably rolls with Patino because Patino can pitch multiple innings and we only have two left handers in Larnach and Kepler who shouldn't be scaring anyone right now. 3. Currently the best hitters on the team are Kirilloff and Lewis were both removed from the game and unavailable to help in extras. Kirilloff or course was replaced by Garlick because Garlick is a better hitter than Kirilloff and with nobody in scoring position is was a critical time in the game. Lewis was replaced by Farmer in the 9th because once Taylor pinch ran for Solano (That was a good move) only Farmer could play 1B I guess. Castro can play every other position but not first in a pinch. So... Lewis must sit. And there you have it... your top two hitters are gone for the extra frames to come. I don't know... it's fun to think about what if's... What if Duran hung a zero? I continue to ask... What are they doing?

Jeffers was caught red handed by the TV camera 80 percenting it down the line. I sure hope Rocco calls him into the office and asks him if he likes playing the game of baseball because that was the equivalent of that guy in your office that quickly flips from Twinsdaily to his spreadsheets when the boss walks by his desk.

Kepler played 9 innings of CF last year. 164 Innings in CF in 2021 including 19 starts. If Gleeman is accurate. I'd like to know when Kepler made the demand, request, whatever it was. Because the consequences of honoring that request or kneeling to such demands could include over use of Celestino in 2022 and it certainly would lead to the acquisition of Michael A. Taylor in the off season. If Gleeman is accurate... Kepler shouldn't be in a Twins uniform. He should be with the A's blocking Brent Rooker after signing a major league minimum free agent deal while he cashes a large check from the Twins to play against them. Kepler really needs to realize that he will be signing a minor league contract with someone else next year. But before... I get all snooty at Kepler... Can anyone confirm the accuracy of Kepler's willingness to play CF?

??? Taylor has played in 54 games in CF. No player has played as many games at any position. Correa is 2nd with 51 games at SS. Just out of curiosity When does he lose the "backup" designation?