Riverbrian

The current platoon situation with the Twins is basically... on hold. At least traditional usage of platoon is on hold with our baseball club. The Starting lineup has: 1B, SS, CF and RF held down by Right handed hitters DH and 3B held down by switch hitters. Catcher held down by RH and a switch That leaves 2B and LF and we only have Kriedler available to handcuff to either of them. With Martin out... The last lefty we faced it was Roden filling in for Larnach and Clemens playing 2B. Kriedler was benched. We will see what they do tonight. As of right now. It's possible that they platooned themselves into a corner.

The past 6 games: Keaschall (6 Starts) .945 OPS in the past 6 games. Bell (6 Starts) .836 Lewis (6 Starts) .182 Buxton (5 Starts) .462 Larnach (4 Starts) .000 Roden (3 Starts) .777 That is 5 Spots and 6 players 4 Right Handed Bats handling 4 spots locking down 23 out of 24 lineup spots over 6 games. Left handed bats burdening an almost 50-50 split of playing time for one spot. This is our platoon at work. Handedness over talent. If Jenkins was right handed... He'd probably be up already. If you spend less time worrying about the platoon. Remove Jackson add Erod or Jenkins. You now have 5 spots - 7 players. 5 spots in 6 games is 30 lineup spots - 7 players for 30 spots is plenty of playing time for everyone and you have chosen talent over handedness. I'd choose Erod because of the late hour of his service time clock but Jenkins can certainly be the choice. Jackson serves absolutely no purpose on this roster. Opportunity is not an issue unless the Twins make it one.

Its nothing a 15 game win streak won't fix.

Last Game Right Handed Starter August 23 - Walker Buehler - Loss - 1 Run Scored Lineup Composition: 4 RH 3 Switch 2 LH Season Record vs RH Starters: 46-45 Season Average Runs Scored vs RH Starters: 4.68 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Season Record vs LH Starters: 17-23 Season Average Runs Scored vs LH Starters: 4.35

Last Game Right Handed Starter August 22 - Casey Mize - Loss - 5 Runs Scored Lineup Composition: 5 RH 2 Switch 2 LH Season Record vs RH Starters: 46-44 Season Average Runs Scored vs RH Starters: 4.72 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Season Record vs LH Starters: 17-23 Season Average Runs Scored vs LH Starters: 4.35

Last Game Right Handed Starter August 22 - Randy Vazquez - Loss - 2 Runs Scored Lineup Composition: 5 RH 2 Switch 2 Left Season Record vs RH Starters: 46-43 Season Average Runs Scored vs RH Starters: 4.72 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season Record vs LH Starters: 17-23 Season Average Runs Scored vs LH Starters: 4.35

I agree with you. I want them consistently keeping one hand on the future steering wheel. However… 2026 is set. Let’s get into the playoffs and calibrate in the off season. More youth and less one year filler is always my hope.

I’m not sure how to assess them yet. However in theory… at least in my theory… if you are moving a prospect for major league ready. You’d trade higher value to get higher value back knowing the rollercoaster before them. Tait probably lost value for the reasons you mention. If Lackey has a mediocre season his value drops. I’d just rather develop and produce multiple options. I want a catching log Jam if major league ready.

The Solution is to expose them to it when developing so they gain the experience to be better at it. The solution is too stop developing Joc Pederson and start developing Kyle Schwarber. The solution is to increase the trade value of prospects so when it becomes time to trade them because we can't afford them anymore... teams will pay higher prices for them and you keep the train a rollin. I don't care what their minor league splits say. At age 21 the book isn’t written yet so don't drop them into cement for what is a marginal advantage in a per AB or per game basis. I'm tired of right handed prospects getting full time opportunity while all lefties are grounded. If there was one thing that bothered me about Zoll's comments it was the mention that Culpepper was right handed as justification for his call up. Culpepper was the sensible call up because Tristan Gray was the best option otherwise and Culpepper just might be better. According to Derek Shelton... Tristan Gray was the choice out of spring training because he was left handed... Now it's Culpepper because he is right handed. I wish they stopped looking at right or left and just bring up talent and develop that talent fully for maximum value. When my kids were younger... I let them stick the penny into the electrical outlet. Mothers don't want to see them flailing away on the floor afterwards but they learned and now they understand the value of money. We exposed our kids to things during their formative years and that is when you see growth when they are younger. My kids could drive a semi-truck at age 3. They spent their summers earning money delivering pallets of Shampoo and Ravoli to Dollar Generals. And once again... I openly question the per AB and per game value of the platoon advantage and I say that recognizing the platoon advantage statistically. That platoon advantage shows up over time. Talent is what you shoot for. Left handed hitters should be more valuable than a right handed hitter. Develop them fully so they can be more valuable. Do not hold them back and therefore intentionally limiting their value.

I keep reading these comments from our community. Not from you... but from others. When they talk about how this team isn't a contender, isn't playoff worthy, a majority of them will add that they are only in it because the American League is so weak this year and use it against the Twins. It makes no sense to me. A weak AL... Let's think about that... I've thought about it... That's Good... Take advantage of a weak American League. Throw your hat in the ring. Does anyone think the birds are looking at a spilled grain truck and thinking to themselves. Don't touch it... It's too easy. Or do they get while the getting is good.

Understood But... I'd rather they take advantage of that talent themselves. I'm tired of buying catching at the market, we need to grow our own and for the first time in decades I am witnessing the organization make the position a priority and taking advantage of the catching market instead of being victims to it. We still don't know who is going to fly straight out of the bunch. If we have 4 major league catchers in a few years. Keep the best of them and deal of the excess. Let other teams who didn't develop their own catching pay the prices to acquire them. But we do have to identify who is excess first. If we were to deal catching future depth right now and It's a perfectly reasonable thought. Go top of the pile... You trade Lackey right now. He probably brings back the most in a trade. His value is probably off the charts right now.

The thing I don't understand is how the American League being down in overall talent this year is used against the Twins. Down Year? That's a good thing... Take advantage.

If they call Walker up and platoon him. Keep him in St. Paul. If they strip mine him for parts. I might be inclined to complain about that.

If the question is what would I do. I just might be different than Zoll, different than you and different than Chia Pet. If it was me. I still have a pecking order. I really want Erod up first. I want to reduce the spillage. This club needs to develop Jenkins plus others.

If opportunity is a primary consideration. And I agree that it's a sensible consideration. Hang Tight. There will most likely be injuries.

We certainly have a pile of OF considerations. Catching... Yikes... I wouldn't touch that one yet. Our MLB depth at that position is years off.

Lots of high fly balls trying to hit one of those BABIP Gods laughing above.

The BABIP gods took away his 21 Dingers and forced a fight between the high exit velocity gods and the low line drive rate gods. It's like putting a humidifier and dehumidifier in the same room to see what unit wins.

That is correct. They have also combined for 4,675 Strikeouts on the mound.

If we have free agent dollars to spend. It should be spent on infield or pitching. We will have Buxton, Larnach, Keaschall, Martin, Jenkins, Erod, Wallner, Roden and even Mendez as potential OF options. Granted there will be trades and player movement but we will need to use that DH space to maximize utilization on all options because none of them should be glued to the bench.

I agree... actions speak louder than words. I believe the plan at 1B out of spring training was Clemens vs RH and Caratini vs LH. Then things started to change. Because things change and they always change... To answer Doc's question. Unless it is a special bat. Beyond a Bell bat first type. We are talking Nelson Cruz type special. Unless it is a special bat. Do not sign a DH in the off-season because things change and they always change and that DH bat first guy will be be needed in the field eventually and not filling the spot with average will allow you to rotate more players through which creates more opportunity for competition and the identification of players who are performing.

I just sent this email to the commissioner's office: Dear, Rob Manfred, This is a formal request to end the season after today's schedule of games. It is critical that you consider this request and act upon it for a valid reason. It gets cold in Late September and October in Minnesota. We often see temperatures of -50 in early October. Concluding the regular season today, August 20th will allow the Minnesota fans to attend home playoff games in temperatures better suited to outdoor baseball. It will be easier for fans to get through the security gates when they are not wearing heavy winter coats. Sincerly, Riverbrian

Oscar Wilde has a famous quote from his play "An Ideal Husband". He was actually talking about baseball when he said "When the Gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers". Aesop was also talking about baseball when he wrote in one of those famous fables "The Frog who wished for a King". Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.

I'll add a big boo. Before the title of the thread was changed... It said "Twins Call Up Jenkins". I didn't open the thread to see that it was false. Instead I read the headline and immediately jumped into my fantasy baseball league to check his availability and I grabbed Jenkins off the wire dropping Andrew Monasterio. Then I opened the thread... Saw the headline was ********. I then went back to my fantasy team and dropped Jenkins, Monasterio is on waivers for 3 days and I had to grab Matt McLain to take his place. It's OK because I was going to replace Monasterio anyway. It's not OK because... the title was ********.

Our longest win streak this year is 4 and we've done that 4 times. Out longest losing streak this year is 5 and we've done that twice. We had a 13 game winning streak last year We had a 12 game winning streak the year before that. I believe we are due our double digit 2026 winning streak and it's coming. It might be happening right now. The White Sox and Red Sox will be aware of our presence at that point when the streak reaches double digits. Then it will be up to them to hang on because the streak won't last forever.