Riverbrian

When it comes to balls and strikes... I have been an advocate of automation for quite some time and I will remain an advocate. I think the umpires as a whole do an amazing job so I don't blame them because getting those calls right is nearly impossible. In the case of Kirilloff against the Dodgers with the bases loaded... there was nothing that Alex could do. The 1st and 3rd strikes of that at bat were quite a ways off the plate both inside and outside. Even if in protection mode with two strikes... you don't swing at those pitches. The ump rung him up. In the case of Jeffers yesterday. Ryan kinda cooked his own goose by swinging at that slider on the very 1st pitch. That very first pitch started low and broke down and away landing in the dirt somewhere around the chalk line in the opposite batters box. You can't swing at that pitch, especially on the first pitch and especially when you look at the trajectory of that pitch. It was low to begin with. There was nothing that should have triggered a swing and by doing so he put himself in a hole. The next two pitchers were also low sliders... Most pitchers are going to throw it again if you swing at the first one wildly. The 2nd strike was a called strike on a low slider that clipped the bottom of the zone. I assume that Jeffers learned his lesson after he swung at the 1st one so he let the 2nd one go and he probably wouldn't have done anything with it. He is now down 0-2 should be 1-1 and the third pitch was another low slider that looked exactly like the first one. Why not... the first two sliders produced two strikes. The 4th pitch... Outside fastball out of the zone. Strike three. Yeah the ump missed it but Jeffers got himself in that position with that first swing on a crap pitch. The Twins have to get the pitchers back into the zone. The chasing is the primary issue with this offense in my opinion. If he doesn't swing at that first pitch. He probably doesn't see the 2nd and 3rd sliders because the catcher doesn't want to go down 2-0 with the bases loaded. Since he was chasing... might as well go to that same pitch. With that said... hitting is a hard job. The balls are moving.

In the past 7 days: Castro played in all 6 games and he led the team in AB's. 25 AB 1 HR - 3 SB .360 BA .880 OPS In the other 41 games: Castro had 51 AB's. If he is only getting 51 AB's in 41 games... He has very little value to us. If Castro can't get playing time when the team is healthy and the scripted lineup vs. RH and the scripted lineup vs LH has taken our team straight to the bottom of most offensive categories... Castro has very little value to us. However... now that he is playing... it seems that he may have some value to us. There are times when injuries make your team better.

I applaud your post. I do believe that in order to be fair in criticism... posters should be at least aware of what the other 29 teams are doing. Applause was the main reason for my reply... however... I don't believe the offense compares very well to others and I do pine over Luis Arraez. 😉

Well: If Gordon is hurt. If Buxton is being load managed. If Gallo is a minus 1 million defensively and a plus one million in RF and LF If Castro can play every position but CF If Kepler refuses to play CF If Lewis is only getting reps at 3B and SS If all of that is true... We are on a collision course for Stevenson or a waiver wire grab to man the position as we gear up for the World Series.

I agree with you but I'm taking a different path. To be fair... I'd call Detmers splits closer to neutral. If the pitcher is neutral you still have to factor in each individual batter which could lead you to the lineup with 8 guys hitting from the right side of the plate. But I will continue to contend that the plain ole' ability to hit the ball trumps platoon splits. I don't care what the splits say if you are hitting .210 and we have a team full of .210 and we just added a .210 from St. Paul because... umm... there are couple of lefties heading to the mound. Sending 8 right handers to the plate didn't stop Detmers from no-hitting them for 5.2 innings with 12 strikeouts. We got no hit for 5.2 innings and we struck out 12 times because that is what we do. And I'd also like to point out that 8 batters (7 when Kirilloff pinch hit) hitting from the right side of the plate did not stop the Angels from utilizing two left handers out of the bullpen and two is the exact amount of left handers that they had in the bullpen. The Angels didn't seem to be too concerned about the splits. I'll even add that the Angels bench... besides Trout was all left handed (Thaiss, Phillips and Soto) with Ryan as the starter. The Angels went ahead and started 7 right handers against Ryan with a switch hitter and Ohtani the lone representative from the left side. I'm asking as loud as I can... Dear Derek, Thad and Rocco, What exactly are you doing? You are not going to finesse/platoon your way out of this when we are not hitting from either side of the plate. We need a hitter plain and simple. When Gordon got hurt... his 26 man roster spot should have gone to the best hitter available because we need the best hitter available and that appears to be Julien or Wallner but certainly isn't Garlick. I'm sure it's not the case... but it almost seems to be some form of OCD to me because it doesn't seem to matter if the batter is actually hitting as long as they are hitting the opposite hand. Just sticking to the script and let the platoon trump actual performance. That is backwards. It's like they can't help it and they can't break out of it or something. It's kind of like a friend of mine that has to keep his glass of water at the 10' O clock position of his dinner plate or he can't enjoy his meal. The actual hitting results are the part of the spreadsheet that is being ignored. Get off the script. Your batters are not hitting. You will not finesse/platoon your way out of this.

Kirilloff - Agreed... I'm hoping this the type of hitter that can help turn us around. I'm good with him at 1B, LF, RF and DH but I will add this to yours: He can play 6 out of 7 games to give others playing time so we don't get clogged up with too many left handed corner outfielders and... and... under no circumstances is he to be a strict platoon. He faces lefthanders until he shows that he shouldn't face them. If it is determined that he shouldn't face lefthanders. He isn't what we need. We are not developing a platoon hitter here... We are developing a top of the order bat that can play at least 6 out of 7 games and his time is now in the context of the current team and in regards to how many options he has left. Can't screw around with this guy. Gallo - Kinda Agree... He appears to be streaky... If the ball is flying out the park on his way to 40 home runs... put his name in the lineup... again 6 out of 7 days is fine with me to give others playing time but let's be clear... if he's in one of those 0 for 28 funks. He can play less... like 5 out of 7 days or 4 out of 7 days to feed some playing time to others. In a nutshell he has unmistakable power and the way this offense is performing we will need his 2 run home runs even if 3 K's surround it. I love watching him play. He plays hard, he's aggressive on the bases and he's a great defender. I thought I would regret his signing... I don't regret his signing at all. Buxton - I don't know what to do here and I'm not qualified to suggest what to do here. As long as he is the DH... He almost hurts the team as much as he helps it. Whatever we gain keeping him on the field in the DH position is almost completely lost by losing the DH spot to someone who could be a better hitter and turning Taylor who is a below average hitter into an every day player. You take two body blow to deliver one punch. It's easy for me to say... if he can run hard and dive into 1B to beat out an infield single against the Dodgers that he can run hard and catch a ball in CF but... I have to trust the medicals which I wouldn't know how to read if I had access to them. All I can do is pray that he finds himself in CF soon to un-bottleneck the DH position. 9 out of 10 days is fine with me as CF/DH combo... 5 out of 7 if he is a DH only. Jeffers - Two out of three games at the moment. We need offense... his is better at the moment. I reserve the right to switch him back to 1 out of 3 games if Vazquez starts to hit while Jeffers declines. What happens to his trade value if he continues to hit like he has and is playing two out of three games. Catchers have insane trade value. This adjustment should have been done yesterday just in case Jeffers is what he has been. Not making this switch is way too auto-pilot for me. Farmer - Here is an example of what I often talk about. Farmer didn't reach the majors until age 26 and he barely played until he was 30. He was a throw in in a 7 player deal as the Dodgers were cleaning out the closet. When he got that playing time it was at SS despite playing a total of 84 innings and he did alright. Farmer is an average player and that's OK with me... He's Trevor Plouffe. Decent player but not the guy who stops Miguel Sano from playing 3B because we got Plouffe production and we don't ask for anything more. He's the guy who is going to get some of that playing time from players that are playing 6 out 7 games in my system and those games will add up to decent playing time. He's the guy who pushes the guy in front of him at 3B, SS, 2B and the OF. He's the guy who gets more playing time if the guy in front of him is hitting .210. Not a starter... Not Bench... Just an important guy to have on your roster that can help you win games. Don't let him rust.... Keep him sharp. Utility... Almost Super Utility. Polanco - 6 out of 7 games. 2B primarily... wouldn't mind him playing some DH to let a Julien play some 2B on occasion or get Farmer into a game and if the team context changes and his playing some SS would help the team. The world will not collapse. Larnach - If he is on the roster... Play him 6 out 7 or 5 out of 7 but let's be clear. He has two options remaining. He is competing for those 6 out of 7 or 5 out of 7. If he is losing that battle to Kirilloff, Kepler, Wallner, Julien, Gallo... anyone... then down to the minors he goes. No one can compete for a job without playing time so give him playing time. If he is on the roster... he is allowed to compete. If Wallner is on the roster... he is allowed to compete with Larnach. The loser wins a trip to St. Paul. Let the players decide. I certainly don't the front office to say (Any front office... the margins are too thin)... this is the guy and then throw all of those eggs in that basket with a Minnesota or bust sign on the back of the truck. The players decide with performance. Hedge your bets. Letting a player struggle until he stops struggling is a bad idea and it keeps you out of the playoffs. Solano - None of this is his fault. When we needed him due to injuries he stepped up and hit right handers and left handers alike. Everything was fine with Solano until we got healthy. However... I'm losing interest and I'm losing interest fast. The theme with me should be apparent... If the strong side of the platoon is struggling, I could care less about the weak side. If I'm given a choice between fixing 75% playing time or 25% playing time. I'm choosing the 75% every time. For the time being... I'm giving him more playing time because I think it is possible that he could out produce some of the 75% crew but in order to do that... I'd like to see Buxton get out of the way at the DH position. DH, 2B, 1B are the positions that I would spoon feed him some time. Taylor - He's OK... He's a good defensive CF... He can run into one every once in awhile and help a team on any given day but this isn't Mike Trout and shouldn't get playing time like he is. This is one of those situations where I didn't have a problem with the Gordon/Taylor strict platoon. That platoon made sense to me while I was wishing that Buxton would just wipe it off the face of the earth with a triumphant return to CF. Every other day in the lineup... all three outfield positions are fine with me. Garlick - I'm done with him. I apologize to him because I don't believe it is his fault, he was never given a chance to be anything but a short side platoon specialist but that is what he is now and I have no use for him at all. He will not be allowed to be the solution. He has no value... if you took him off the 40 man roster... he won't be claimed. He's just a guy who is occupying a valuable 26 man spot on a team that should be given to someone else who could be the solution in time. Correa - Just to show that I'm not a total "What me worry about defense guy". Yeah... Correa should play 6 out 7 games just because of his defense alone at that position and we will have to be patient for him to add the offense that his contract promised to us. But let's be honest... what he has provided us thus far. Can anyone say that we wouldn't have been better off with a Schmitt, Duran, Rodolfo Castro or Perdomo so far. C'mon Correa... get it together quickly. If given the choice... I would sign him again but that's a lot of money being spent for below average. Castro - He is not necessary at all. This team does not have the offensive talent to reserve space for a late game defensive replacement or late game pinch runner. Those skills are great when you have a 1 through 9. We don't have that and we need to quit acting like we do. What's the point of subbing Castro at second to start the 10th inning when the lineup isn't capable of moving him along anyway. I'd call up Julien instead of Garlick... Julien can run. When Kepler comes back... Castro is the guy sent to AAA. If Miranda is leading the team in AB's before he is sent down. That means... that no matter how bad it gets with Miranda... the manager is not going to turn to Castro. He is not going to be allowed to help so he simply doesn't matter. Bottom of the pile is where you start when it comes to making yourself better. Castro is the bottom of the pile. Vaquez - 1 out of 3. He needs to find that bat to reverse this back.

I understand all of this and I agree with a chunk of it but here are my counter arguments. 2. I agree that releasing and depleting your depth in May is a little aggressive. Honestly, I'm at the point where, if it happens OK but in this discussion... I'm not suggesting releasing anyone at all. We have an injury. We have a roster spot that doesn't require the release of anyone. This is the open door to promoting someone who might be a solution going forward. We have chosen to bring up a player who is already targeted to go back down on Tuesday and not a solution going forward. However... I will add that if your depth is ..500 OPS, .600 OPS... We don't have depth and who cares if it goes away. 1. Yes... Garlick is on the 40 man. Easy canoe trip across the river. He has legit power... I like him always have but he will not be allowed to be a solution. He will play 25% of the time if he sticks on the roster beyond Kepler coming back meanwhile 75% of the time we have problems that need to be addressed but we can't because... our current lineup can't be replaced. Back to point #2... This is a 26 man roster spot opening and the opportunity to see if someone can be something. 3. The Cubs... Well... if the front office is releasing a struggling vet because they don't think they will contend in a division being led by the Pirates... (Oops Brewers but close enough). The front office isn't capable of doing their jobs. They are releasing Hosmer because he is hurting their chances of contending.

Agreed - I'd like to see if we Julien can join Lewis at the top of the pile. I know for sure it won't be Garlick. Kinda Miranda needed to be sent down but he wasn't the bottom at the time. Larnach and Miranda being sent down was probably more a function of having options so they could be and I get that... and don't have a problem with that.

The Cubs just released Eric Hosmer. .234 BA - .610 OPS Those numbers look familiar to me. We can't be locking into this. You are right... this might be the offense we are going to have but it shouldn't be and the reason... is??? why??? Defense??? As you can tell... I'm becoming frustrated with the lack of movement or experimentation or the flat out holding still waiting for... I don't know what. The batting order barely changes... that's auto-pilot. Myself... I'm starting to pull from the bottom until the bottom is higher and maybe while pulling from the bottom, we might get lucky and find a top of the pile addition and the top is higher. As sure as I'm standing here... that is how you fix it. Gordon is hurt for awhile, that is taking straight from the bottom. Who's next? Castro? He's at the bottom of production. Nope... can't send Castro down because he is needed to back up multiple positions with Gordon is out and play 25% of the time so he can OPS in the .500's. So... he can't replaced and firmly entrenched at the bottom. Garlick is just adding more bottom to the bottom. What are we doing? I don't know anymore? But... Hey... on the positive side. I'm sure liking the pitching.

Yep... And then pulled before he get that 4th. ☹️

I'd love to see a player step up and produce a 4 for 5 day. Just an indication that someone... anyone is locked in for a day... just a day. And then maybe... just maybe... that 4 for 5 day could lead to a 10 for 20 stretch. And then maybe someone will can pickup that vibe and maybe... just maybe. I believe they call it a spark. I'll take one... I don't recall anybody having a day like that this year. I'm ready for it.

Well... If Buxton can't play CF at all. He is indeed a DH bottle neck. Especially, if under no circumstances would we ever entertain the thought that nobody else can play CF besides Taylor... even for a game or two... just to get players AB's who might actually hit the ball and help this team rise up a level. If Buxton can play some CF... Doors open up. If Gallo is allowed to man some CF or Larnach for a game or two some doors open up. Over time they will tell us who shouldn't be a 5th wheel. My arguments are never going to make sense with rigid defensive expectations but I'm standing here... saying with all my might. We don't have a roster that says... stop looking... at any position for that matter. I'm Ok with creativity. It does not scare me. Standing pat scares the crap out of me.

We are not that far off from each other String. I understand what you are saying and I think you understand what I'm saying. The main disagreement is this. You have already classified the call up as disposable or temporary. I'm saying disposable or temporary doesn't help us one bit and is a wasted opportunity for improvement. Why does it have to be a 4 day fill in with an egg timer ticking? 103 OPS+ isn't a Eureka moment. Injuries can make a team better especially when that injury is to a guy with a 37 OPS plus. Maybe we can find another 103 OPS guy and start addressing the 92,89 and ,74's while we are at it.

Does he need to play every single day? Would 4 out of 5 games be OK. 3 out of 5? Based on performance 100 plus AB's in... Who on the current MLB roster is playing like they can't ever be taken out of the lineup? What if Wallner is hitting like Christopher Morel? or Casey Schmitt or Brent Rooker or JJ Bleday or Sam Hilliard or Owen Miller or Dominic Fletcher or Geraldo Perdomo or James Outman or even James Heyward for that matter. What if he is hitting like... Lamonte Wade or Casey Sobel or Bryan De La Cruz or Connor Joe or Jack Suwinski or Rodolfo Castro or Ezequil Duran or Leody Tavares or Harold Ramirez or Isaac Peredes or Jarren Duran or Jake Fraley or TJ Freidl or Brenton Doyle or Nick Pratto or Zach McKinstry or Jake Burger? Even if this type of hitting only lasts a month and they fall on their faces in July... wouldn't performance like that... Help in May and June? You are a great poster so don't read anymore into these questions than myself doing everything I can to point out that we have players on the current roster playing every day that are not earning it that playing time. I'm pointing out that every year there are multiple examples of players performing like the players that I list above that may not have been in the original plan. Injuries should be the time that you call up the players who are earning the right to play. We can't let people under performing players stop the discovery process.

Good detection of the sarcasm. The post was started in defense of JD-Twins and I just couldn't pull out of sarcasm mode so I just kept going. What are we doing? What are we even talking about. Gallo is an excellent RF or LF and 1B apparently because nobody seems to argue that but if he played a game in CF... We are the worst defense all of a sudden. I understand that there is more ground to cover in CF and ultimately it would be nice to have Randy Moss out there running everything down but I also understand HOW OFTEN that extra ground needs to be covered and I also understand that winning teams have deployed slightly lesser outfielders in CF from time to time and done OK including the World Series. An outfielder with range in LF or RF will have some range in CF. Less than ideal is not the end of the world. Polanco can't play SS is the narrative sung around here... I agree he seems to be a better 2B but we won games with Polanco at SS but that is never factored into these discussions. Less than ideal is OK. Sometimes less than ideal will improve the product as a whole. What this team really really needs is someone who will hit the ball. We have a team full of .210 hitters and we are calling up a guy hitting .210 in St. Paul because he is right handed? I know the Twins have had an offensive hot streak the past 5 games but lets not forget it wasn't long ago that the offense was dead last or close to dead last in many cats. A healthy offense with a dedicated platoon system BTW was at the bottom of the offensive stats. We got healthy and we tanked when we did but we kept to the script and apparently are still on the script. I don't care about Garlick. If he is on the roster... he needs to help. He might help if he is allowed to play because he's got legit power however... I'm not interested in a guy who plays 25% of the time against left handers when the guys playing 75% of the time are not getting the job done. For clarity... last year... I used a lot of Twinsdaily real estate asking why Garlick couldn't play against right handers. I'm not doing a 180 on my position on Garlick. I'm saying if he is on the roster we need him to help. He was on the roster last year... I don't want to waste a roster spot on a platoon specialist when the strong side guy isn't performing. I understand platoon splits. I have looked at the all time stats, I've seen the season stats. When the numbers get large, the opposite handed hitter does perform better in a larger sample. But I also understand how that translates into smaler samples of a single game or even a week of play. I also understand that... a crappy strong side platoon player kinda destroys the whole concept. Unless the argument is that the guy hitting .210 would have been hitting .180 if allowed to hit both hands. I'm not interested in the slightest on a play 25% guy because I'm not looking for a place holder until Max Kepler gets back. I'm looking for a guy who might challenge MAX KEPLER or any of the guys who are hitting .210. Sometimes injuries can make you better. Injuries are when the youngsters who might be something get a chance to show that they are something. Gordon had a couple of decent games at the plate this year and he was one of our better hitters last year but his stats the past 15 games are not good and his season stats this year are not good. Gordon getting hurt is an opportunity to bring up someone who might be better. It won't be hard to be... at least... better. Who would I call up? Julien. He is the best hitter available in St. Paul and he is hitting right now. OPS over 1,000 in his past 15 games. Good stats over the season. I'm not looking for a guy that I'm going to automatically send down when Kepler is healthy. I'm looking for a guy who can out hit the sub par hitting we have been getting this year. When Kepler comes back... maybe we can take a nice hard look at someone else. Where does he play? Don't care. We don't know the status of Polanco or Gallo at the moment... I assume the Twins do but if they are both healthy enough to play. 1B or DH for Julien, Kirilloff can play some OF. BUXTON can play some OF but apparently this isn't possible because Buxton is the DH and nobody can be trusted to play CF. We have become so rigid defensively that there are no options to fix the offense. If Gallo or Polanco need to recover for a couple of days. Well... we got spots all over the place to fill. But we are calling up a guy that they will only play 25% of the time and is hitting .210 currently in the minors because a couple of left handers are on the docket. OK... I wish Garlick the best... but it doesn't matter if he does his best. He could 8 for 10 tonight and tomorrow night. He will be on the bench on Sunday and he will be sent back down when Kepler returns. He won't be allowed to help us.

Good Luck my friend. I've been here before. You are about to find out that you can't play a Brandon Marsh, Adam Duvall, Kyle Tucker or a Cody Bellinger, in CF or everything will fall apart. Not even an inning or it all comes tumbling down. It's best we call up Kyle Garlick because his .210 batting average in St. Paul will fit in perfectly with the batting averages on the Twins roster and he is an excellent center fielder. It is really important that we can bombard 8 right handed hitters at the those two lefties the Angels are throwing at us because split stats show that we won't have any hitting problems at all if we can make sure that a right handed hitter is facing a left handed hitter and vice versa. Overall production doesn't matter as long as the integrity of the platoon split is intact. I sure hope the Angels don't pull a fast one and yank one of those left hander starters as a counter move. We would have no chance if they did. Because you know... we are all exposed with a clown car of right handers now and those split stats would be compromised if they suddenly went right handed on us. GULP. Maybe they won't notice and mindlessly trot the lefty out anyway. Oh... No... What are we going to do against Ohtani? He's right handed. Only got a couple of healthy lefties now. I can't watch.

Does any team have that? It's hard but you have to keep working toward it by culling from the bottom. To find the teams that have it or are closer to it, simply sort by bullpen ERA or WHIP or whatever weapon of choice. The teams will low bullpen metrics at the top of the pile will reveal themselves. The top 3 arms in any bullpen will still only throw 50% of bullpen innings. You need a village to keep those overall village numbers down. Orioles, Mariners, Astros, Yankees and Guardians are pretty deep effective pens. The Orioles are interesting because 2 of those guys were ours once. The Mariners are interesting because they have a couple of good relievers on the injured list but keep humming along. Nobody has recognizable names, maybe the Guardians have some recognizable names but it's not like they are loaded with high dollar proven guys.

Low Leverage will pop up on occasion but not often enough to hide anyone in the bullpen waiting for safe harbor to throw. Low leverage will be even more rare in consideration of our offensive output this year, yes we've had a nice offensive explosion the past few games but it would be incredibly brave to conclude that our offensive issues are over. We will need to win some more 3-2 and 2-1 games in the future is my guess. This means that it will be high leverage the majority of the time when the starter reaches his limit. The offense simply hasn't created breathing room consistently enough. Pagan will see high leverage again as long as he is on the roster. Plus If Duran is going to be utilized as a traditional closer and it appears to be the approach they are taking with him this season. Duran isn't going to be an option in situations like last night because they are going to save him for traditional closer situations. Spots #2 through #7 have to be trusted. If the front office trusts Pagan... OK. I'm not sure why they would but if they do... OK. We will see how it turns out.

Bummer for Helman. I get the left handed starters in Anaheim. But Kyle Garlick isn't hitting that well across the river. If you are going to call up a right hander to face the lefties. I'd like one that is hitting well. Besides... if we are looking at platoon execution. I'm not... but the front office seems to. Consider that the injuries yesterday were two lefty swingers in Gordon and Gallo with Polanco a switch hitter. Current healthy Twins who hit right handed are: Vazquez/Jeffers - Buxton, Correa, Farmer, Solano, Taylor with Castro a switcher. That's 7 of 9 spots against lefthanders so I wonder if Garlick is really necessary because Larnach and Kirilloff would be the healthy lefties. So... who pinch hits against that right handed reliever the Angels will throw after the left handed starter is pulled and who plays against the Right Handed Ohtani on Sunday. Kepler isn't eligible to be reinstated until Tuesday? I agree that Garlick is a clean move because of 40 man considerations. Limiting the choices to those on the 40 man. Your choices are Julien, Miranda, Wallner and Garlick. All clean moves. Wallner and Julien are hitting decently. I'd take one of those two for Gordon. I'd take the other one for Gallo or Polanco if either require a stint on the DL. Moving off the righty/lefty splits and back to what I'd like to see. I want the hitter that is hitting better right now. I'm not looking at projections or who SHOULD be hitting better. I'm looking at who is hitting the ball. I wouldn't mind tripping over a Casey Schmitt type performance for 30 AB's even if he cools down to what Casey Schmitt is supposed to be later on. Recent 4 game team offensive hotness aside. We still need hitters so in my opinion I'll take hitters over splits. If all 3 require a DL stint? Uff da. I guess we are looking at Miranda and Garlick in that scenario.

It better be Helman. His OPS is currently 1.145 - Power, Speed and he plays multiple positions. Garlick -- Currently hitting .210 and he plays one position that is well covered. We have a team full of players hitting .210 already. We don't need another one of those. If the front office goes Garlick. It will shake my confidence in them. It will mean they chose short side platoon over a better hitter.

I don't feel that finding a solution is all or nothing. When you ask "would you propose that Correa be benched as well?" it suggests an all or nothing approach and there is decent sized territory in between those extreme positions. Are you asking if CC either plays every day or he sits bench every day? Are those the only two options. If those are my only two choices... I'd play Correa every day. However, I do not believe that this should be limited to just the north and south poles. You are right... they sent down Larnach and Miranda. You and I both know that they were chosen to go down because they have options and can be sent down without losing them. However, they both played every day until they were sent down. No course correction based on results... just a hard breaking at 70 MPH on the interstate. Miranda led the team in at-bats before he was sent down. If Miranda is struggling to the point where he needs to be sent down and he was struggling and therefore was sent down and I agree it was the right move. How can anyone justify his leading the team in AB's right up the the very end? I can't. I don't want anyone benched... if you have to BENCH a guy because playing him hurts the team, get rid of him until you find a guy that you don't need to bench. If you are going to play every day... earn that every day playing time. No more Logan Morrison walking past the lineup card without checking because he knows his name is on it regardless of what he is doing out there. If you can't play Solano or Castro because they can't out perform the guy hitting .180. Get rid of Solano and Castro and bring up someone who you can play because the guy hitting .180 is need of some competition and the team is need of some production. It's the .180 guy who is killing you... Solano and Castro are only killing you because apparently they can't be trusted to hit at least .181. The slump was too long, the slump was team wide and the lineup didn't change. The batting order didn't change. I support this front office and I support Rocco. I'm asking them to take the wheel, put the auto-pilot lineup away until the plane is flying better.

Agreed Yesterday was yesterday, today is today and tomorrow is tomorrow. It's a long season and there are going to be ups and downs like every year. However, that down was too long for my tastes and hopefully a nice long up will balance things out better. So, Here's hoping for a long up. I'm Ok letting the professionals in the office do their jobs however, I understand the season is a roller coaster but I have one thing that will drive me crazy and that is... over extended poor performance without consequence. The needle wasn't moving and players were eclipsing 100 AB's. I believe I was justified screaming about it. Let's see what the rest of May, June and July brings.

People fixing potholes, find it easier to do their jobs with a jackhammer. It's a lot harder to fix that pothole without a jackhammer. An electronic strike zone is a tool to help them do their jobs easier and better. For the life of me, I don't understand why Umpires would be apposed to an electronic strike zone. There will still be a home plate umpire so there is no loss of jobs. I assume that umpires don't want to miss calls ever and I assume that they know they do. This would be a tool to help them. Grill, Smrill... This fire will cook this steak just fine after I rub these two sticks together.

If the Twins can score 10 runs a game from here on out. I promise to not complain about the offense for the rest of the season.

That is true... there was some anti-Jeffers sentiment during the off-season... no doubt. Personally, I was concerned about Jeffers himself after last season and... and concerned about the set back in catcher development that would occur if they moved off of him. I was probably more concerned about the catcher development organization wide and therefore hopeful that they would give Jeffers another shot. Here we are in May and if it was my call. I'd reverse the current catcher rotation for the time being for offensive help no matter how little that help may be. Play Jeffers 2 out of 3 and Vazquez 1 out of 3. If Jeffers cools down and Vazquez heats up you can always switch back. I still hold a dream that the Twins can develop a Sean Murphy type talent with high trade value. Jeffers is a long way off from that but still the closest.