Riverbrian

Last Game - Right Handed Starter April 9 - Ryan Flaherty - Win - Runs Scored 3 Lineup Composition 2 RH 2 SWITCH 5 LH Record vs RH Starter - 4-2 Season Average Runs Scored vs LH Starter 5.17 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Seasons Accumulated Stats vs Left Handed Starter Record vs LH starter - 3-4 Season Average Runs scored vs LH starter 4.14

I apologize. You didn't deserve my frustration. I'll discuss it with you if you are generally curious but I'm a little worn thin by the let me spoil it for you... this ain't little league... comments on other threads. It's my fault because I keep bringing it up and opening myself up for it so I'm going to stop doing that. The website has grown tired of me and I'm tired of the website. I'll let those folks just keep... I don't care. The concept is really simple. All 26 man roster spots are gold... All 26 man spots are critical to the present and future. Every single roster spot. It's about having better talent across the board. This should be something everybody wants. It really shouldn't have such opposition. My attitude is... looking at the Twins front office square in the eye and saying... OK... if you believe in the guy... let him show why you believe in him. However... as I've found out. Individual players plugged in are poison pills to the discussion. If 99% of TD hates James Outman and that 99% might be low. If everyone hates Outman... The concept is dead. I insist it's not dead... it should never be dead but James Outman or Tristan Gray or any player that others have deemed unworthy will become the discussion instead. This is subjective opinion... but subjective opinion kills the idea... dead in it's tracks. I didn't roster Outman... I would have done something completely different. I didn't trade a reliever that could be on our injured list right now for him... knowing he was out of options. I wouldn't have done that. I didn't roster him... the Twins did. He's not my poison pill. Meanwhile... I'll stick to my guns... all 26 man roster spots are gold and necessary. You shouldn't hide players... injuries are going to drag them into the light eventually anyway. Not letting them compete against average to below average production is just settling for average to below average production. That average to below average production that we settle for... those are players that over 50% of Twinsdaily is also bitching about. This really isn't a hard concept. It's just easier to bitch about the players. I'll type more when I have more time.

Last Game - Left Handed Starter April 7 - Framber Valdez - Win - Runs Scored 8 Lineup Composition 5 RH 3 SWITCH 1 LH Record vs LH Starter - 3-4 Season Average Runs Scored vs LH Starter 4.14 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Seasons Accumulated Stats vs Right Handed Starter Record vs LH starter - 3-2 Season Average Runs scored vs RH starter 5.60

Last Game - Left Handed Starter April 7 - Tarik Skubal - Win - Runs Scored 4 Lineup Composition 5 RH 3 SWITCHED 1 LH Record vs LH Starter - 2-4 Season Average Runs Scored vs LH Starter 3.5 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Seasons Accumulated Stats vs Right Handed Starter Record vs RH starter - 3-2 Season Average Runs scored vs RH starter 5.60

Winning on average 6 out of 10 over the course of 162 games produces 97 wins. Most likely a playoff team with a bye. Winning on average 5 put 5 produces 81 wins. Most likely out of the playoffs but close enough that you might be buyers at the deadline. Winning on average 4 out of 10 over the course of 162 games produces 65 wins. Sellers at the deadline, high percentage of lottery balls in the draft. The margins are so tight that it's a one win or one loss every 10 games that separates a fantastic team from average and a crappy team from average.

Last Game April 6 - Casey Mize - Win - Runs Scored 7 Lineup Composition 3 RH 3 Switch 3 LH Record vs RH Starter - 3-2 Season Average Runs Scored vs RH Starter 5.6 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Seasons Accumulated Stats vs Light Handed Starter Record vs LH starter - 1-4 Season Average Runs scored vs LH starter 3.40

I appreciate you Goat. You see it. How can this not be obvious to some... most? I can't even point at it and say Look.

I apologize but I give up. I can't have this discussion everywhere and it's clear nobody understands what I'm saying and eventually it's just causing hard feelings. So... I give up. I have to keep my oddball opinions to myself. They just are not mainstream enough to express. I have been against the chasing of small platoon advantages especially with developing players since the Carter administration and have stated so millions of times on this website. Yet it has come full circle to the point where you have tagged me with platooning of all things. I started this thread so we can all see at the very least the actual Won Lost Record against Right Handed and Left Handed starters so anyone interested can question weather the platooning is actually helping in the simple terms of wins and losses. I honestly don't know what to type next. What I'm saying is... I'd like the Twins to roster 26 players that they believe in and I'd like them to demonstrate that belief in them by letting them compete for playing time. I can't help it if they roster players that people don't believe in.

I don't trust my powers of prediction. And I don't trust the powers of the front office of all 30 teams prediction ability either. And don't take this personally but I don't trust yours either... and I'll add once again that I don't trust the front offices of all 30 teams either. So you want me to say Who? Specifically? Whoever they roster. It's the job of the front office to staff the 26 man roster with the best guesses they can make with the data they have. So I guess today the answer is Outman and Gray are the specific names... But the mere mention of those names shuts down the whole conversation because we have people who throw up on their cat at the mere mention of those names. Doesn't make sense? The concept isn't hard. If you find the 9... then what? Then you can trade your excess if you ever get to that point and yes you keep going because development can't stop. We are never going to be able to afford other teams development success so we have to find it. But... let's not get lost on the find the 9 so we can just trot the same 9 names out there every single day. Let's make it as simple as possible. Nobody likes Outman... he is on the roster. The Twins are not utilizing him except for emergency fill in or a LF defensive replacement. So... Let's you and I cut him. Screw the front office... You and I are going to cut Outman and we will call up Roden. OK... now we can let Roden compete for playing time. Unless you don't like him either. You can feed Roden, Larnach, Wallner significant playing time and let the best player get more and the worse performing player less. If you don't like Roden either and don't want him in a lineup card. Well... You've removed all options with predetermination and Larnach can go do whatever he does because nobody will be taking a job from him. I guess that's it then... Larnach is the best we can do. I say this as a guy who has been defending Larnach against all comers. All I want is that somebody beat him out of the job and that isn't going to happen unless you take your 9 and expand it to 13.

You don't have to spoil it for me. I have typed miles of real estate on the subject on utiliization on Twinsdaily over the past many years. I have tracked utilization for all 30 teams... not just the Twins... I know the Twins are not alone in concept. It'll be hard to find anyone on Twinsdaily as utilization driven as I am. I have to try and keep my own personal my subjective thoughts on players away from it. I get it... nobody likes Outman... so Outman is going to be a roadblock when I say that all 13 spots should be utilized in order find the 9 because nobody wants to see #30 on a lineup card ever. 13 Faucets turned on instead of 9. I didn't choose Outman... The Twins did. So Let's make it Erod instead of Outman on the roster. Now TD is going to want Erod playing 162 games and Larnach parked on the bench. Not everyone... some folks on TD don't want rookies period. So now you run the possibility of Erod struggling in his debut... performing like Lee did last year and Larnach who is at least average parked on the bench while we are OK with a .720 OPS parked for a .650 OPS because we believe that Erod will be an .800 OPS eventually once he works the kinks out. How many players have we watched... not work the kinks out. You can roster Larnach and Erod and nobody has to be put to sleep. My opinions on utilization will never fly with anyone as long as they have predetermined that Gray and Outman are trash. My point has always been... If Gray and Outman are trash. Get rid of them... bring in someone who can compete with Lee and Larnach and Wallner and Lewis. Everyday playing time goes to those who perform like they should get everyday playing time.

I have always been aware of the concept. My point is that they need to reconsider the concept and my thoughts will always look like the words of a crazy man if anyone believes that picking and predetermining the 9 players works. It doesn't. There is a success failure ratio that has been constant throughout the many decades of baseball. Front offices know more than I do but with all that knowledge... they fail quite frequently. The concept discussion just becomes subjective when individual players are discussed. Twinsdaily can't even reach consensus on the 9 players to choose. 99% want Outman gone. I'm making up numbers of course but 80% of Twinsdaily wants Larnach gone... 50% want Wallner gone. 95% thinks thinks Gray is too old to matter. Very few are happy with Lewis... but 85% think we should play him 162 games a year if healthy regardless of how he actually performs. I can't talk concept nor get understanding of what I'm trying to say... Because Outman just kills understanding because by simply being on the roster he becomes part of the concept. If the only thing you see is Outman getting any playing time and you reject that out of hand. Well... nope my concept won't work because it require Outman to compete. So... if the team doesn't want Outman to compete... if the team just wants to have him come into the game in the 8th to replace Larnach in LF. He isn't going to push anyone for playing time. We are locked into Larnach being the savior and Outman not being able to become a replacement if Larnach isn't the savior. So just cut him and call up Roden or Erod or Jenkins and let them compete with Larnach and Wallner for playing time. Are we talking concepts or are we talking about Outman. You won't understand what I'm saying if you reduce the concept to Outman or not Outman. The point has never been Outman... my point has always been... if you have selected Outman for the 26 man spot. He's a waste of valuable roster space if he's just collecting dust. I don't want this team selecting players that they won't play. We need talent... we don't need specialists. Defensive replacements, Pinch Runners or short sided platoon guys. We need talent and in that search for talent... nobody... and I mean nobody... I mean the front offices... I mean me... I mean you... I mean everybody on the planet doesn't know what Royce Lewis is going to become. Not even Royce Lewis knows what he will become. Yet all eggs will be in the Royce basket. If he fails... it's back to the drawing board and Gio Urshela on one year deals. I'm talking about competition for playing time. I'm talking about hedging bets. I'm talking about Lee having to actually win a job and not throwing him away if he doesn't. I'm talking about turning on 13 faucets not 9 and I'm saying that if you are going to get every day playing time... you need to perform like you deserve every day playing time. As much as I defend Larnach and Wallner. They haven't performed well enough to deserve every day playing time. There is a canyon between Juan Soto and Matt Wallner but they will receive the same amount of bats if they both remain healthy. That's just baking in the disadvantage between Soto and Wallner.

I know this isn't little league. Do you believe I think this is little league? It's a completely unnecessary and insulting start to your response. I'm not focused on Outman... I'm focused on the roster spot. The issue isn't Outman's playing time or whoever is occupying that 26th spot on the roster. The issue is the playing time and performance of everybody else. If everyone is healthy and performing nicely... There is no issue with that 26th man spot. "A player like Outman only getting minimal playing time can actually help develop other players". I suppose that's true because the other players are going to get all of the development time. Well it better work! They better have hand selected players the right players and they can't make a mistake.

All I say it again and as often as I need to say it. If Outman is on the roster... he needs to be allowed to compete or he is a complete waste of roster space. That statement isn't a defense of Outman on the roster... It's a statement based solely on the fact that he is on the roster. We can't afford to waste roster spots on players who are defensive replacements. We don't need specialists who face specific hands. We need to find talent. The front office acquired him knowing he didn't have options. So you believe in him or you don't. If you don't believe in him... If you don't think he can OPS over what Clemens is doing or Caratini or Martin or Lee... he has no business being on this roster. Get him off the roster and call up Roden. Lee was ill for two games and I assume that has provided more AB's for Gray than he would have gotten and Gray was a significant positive factor in two of those games. Lee not so much thus far. Players get hurt and they get ill. Every roster spot matters. If you think of a player on the roster as bench... the baseball gods are going to show you that a bench designation on players is just a bad idea. Martin has gotten decent AB's because we have faced an incredible percentage of left handed starters. I still worry... and will continue to worry until the Right/Left thing stabilizes that Martin is going to be treated like a short side specialist. He's too young to be strip mined for parts. That will be a complete waste of Austin Martin and his potential future. Austin Martin does not have to be Randall Grichuk. He's young enough to be better or worse in the future. If the organization plans on turning him into Randall Grichuk... just get rid of him as well. Bell and Larnach have been our best thus far. Part of the reason why we are 2-2 vs Right Handers and 1-4 against left handed starters. So Far nobody on the team can hit left handed starters despite throwing 8 hitters into the right handed box every time a lefty starter has started on the rubber. Find Talent.

Starters: ERA 3.95 Ranked 14th - 43,1 innings Ranked 19th Relievers: ERA 4.93 Ranked 22nd - 34.2 innings Ranked 21st Starting pitching has been decent collectively Bullpen has not been decent collectively. On offense: Batting Average .192 Ranked 30th On Base .298 Ranked 21st Slugging .331 Ranked 27th OPS vs LHP .530 Ranked 26th - 143 PA's - Ranked 2nd OPS vs RHP .704 Ranked 15th - 194 PA's Ranked 30th Offensively we've done a decent job drawing walks and getting hit by a pitch. We have faced more lefthanders than any team in baseball and we have sucked against them. We stack the right handed batters box with 5 RH Hitters and 3 Switch hitters when a lefty starts. Doesn't seem to be helping thus far. I'll keep insisting this a talent issue and not a math problem. Brooks Lee needs competition. 3 for 18 thus far (3 singles) 2 walks. He had a .655 OPS last year. Tristan Gray has shown a couple of shades of Gray. He leads the team in RBI's. He is 11th in PA's. That isn't me declaring Gray anything. It is me saying that Brooks hasn't earned anything. Wallner striking out at a 46% clip will need to calm down. Too soon to be declarative... it's a small sample after 9 games.

Last Game April 5 - Nick Martinez - Loss - Runs Scored 1 Lineup Composition 4 RH 1 Switch 4 LH Record vs RH Starter - 2-2 Season Average Runs Scored vs RH Starter 5.25 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Seasons Accumulated Stats vs Light Handed Starter Record vs LH starter - 1-4 Season Average Runs scored vs LH starter 3.40

To me... at least the part that I talk about often... Pitchers don't really apply in regards to utilization. You can't hide pitchers. If you are in the rotation... you are going to rotate in. You can occasionally skip a spot if off days allow but you are going to take your turn the rest of the time or it will compromise the rest and routine... rotation... of the other 4. Pitchers are going to get their opportunity. The Bullpen... you can't hide. LaTroy is going to tell you get up because you are going in. The manager can try to control leverage but that dam will burst every 3 game series. You can't control leverage because leverage is all over the place in every 9 innings... run prevention is needed in the 5th and 6th inning. On the position players side of the equation. You can hide players until you can't... because injuries are going to shove that guy you hid behind the snowblower in the garage right into the starting lineup. Picking a starting nine for daily work... only works if you are: A; Right All the Time and B: Healthy all the time. I try really hard to keep individual players out of the discussion because it makes the player the discussion and not the concept. I'll use your suggestions for example. You'd give full time opportunity to Buxton, Jeffers, Martin, Keaschall, Wallner, Lewis and Lee. On Twinsdaily... some are going to disagree with you. And that's OK. However... The lack on consensus, the subjectiveness, the difference of opinion should suggest that these decisions are made on the margins. There isn't a clear advantage... therefore there isn't a clear superior player... yet 1 will be chosen. If the choices were between Trevor Larnach or Juan Soto. We would clearly be off the margins now. If we had to choose between Witt and Lee... Nobody is going to say... Hey... Get that Lee in there. There would be no discussion. Therefore... we don't have a player that is good enough to keep it from not being a discussion. We don't have Bobby Witt... We have Brooks Lee getting the same amount of playing time as Bobby Witt... and that just locks in that disadvantage. I'd rather have someone competing seriously with Brooks Lee until someone starts performing everyday worthy. All your eggs in that Brooks Lee basket with no net if he fails and failure means... starting over again. Lee Failure costs time. Plus... it's just unnecessary... What we have is 13 roster spots and 9 starting positions. You don't have to absorb a full time .600 something OPS... You can hedge these bets on the margins. Just allow for honest competition until someone says mine and says mine by actually becoming a player that erased all doubt... becoming a player who stepped out of the margins. IMO... Byron Buxton and Luke Keaschall are the only two players who have earned every day playing time. That's it. For the first nine games this year. Has anybody earned everyday playing time? Our team Slug is collectively .331. My chosen two are slugging .250 and .233. It's Josh Bell that has been irreplaceable. With two catchers... catchers have their own rotation and Buxton and Keaschall. You are left with 9 players and 6 positions to fill. If Royce wakes up and becomes the Royce that we expected him to be. The kind of guy that the manager would bat 2nd or 3rd in the batting order instead of 8th. Great! Now you have 8 players left to work with an 5 positions. Find another superstar. 7 players for 4 positions. Until then... in the meantime... Let them compete! Every last one of them. Turn on 13 faucets... not just 9. Lets not waste time with bit players at all. Lets not act like Lewis and his .671 OPS was everyday worthy. Lewis was in the margins with Graham Pauley.

Last Game April 4 - Steven Matz - Loss - Record vs LH Starter - 1-4 Runs Scored 1 - Season Average Runs Scored vs LH Starter 3.4 - Lineup Composition 4 RH 2 Switch 3 LH Last game vs Right Hander starter and Accumulated Stats vs Right Handed Start April 3 - Joe Boyle - Won - Record 2-1 vs RH Starter - Runs Scored 10 - Season Average Runs Scored - 6.67 - Lineup Composition 4 RH 1 Switch 4 LH

This is very true. Under 3 years experience doesn't necessarily mean youthful. It leads the mind to think youth but that isn't always the case. The ages of our 14 players with under 3 years experience are: 30, 29, 29, 28, 28, 28, 28, 27, 27, 25, 25, 25, 24, 23 9 out of the 14 are over the age of 27. Being baseball young at an older age is an automatic dismissal to some. Just another filter to make the job of finding talent harder. IMO this is another search for perfection or focusing on the wart that we do. We focus on that wart and use for counter arguments to dismiss talent out of hand. It's the Wallner strikes out too much, Larnach can't play defense, Gray is too old argument... that leads to dismissal out of hand. Personally... I tend to worry less about the age. I place more emphasis on years of control... will they be back... if they actually show something... could they be back to do it again. If Tristan Gray produces an OPS of .750... if he has that surprise great year at age 30 and he is under team control for age 31... we wouldn't want him back? We'd rather spend 7 million on a 33 year old who had an OPS of 720. I also place more emphasis on the budget... we have a budget. Finding players who make the minimum that are at least marginally better or marginally worse than the guy you are spending 4 million or 7 million on matters. It matters greatly. But yeah... you are right. Our youth isn't as youthful as other teams.

Left Handed Starters: March 26 - Trevor Rogers - Lost - Record 0-1 Runs Scored 1 - Season Average Runs Scored 1 - Lineup composition 5 RH 3 Switch 1 LH March 30 - Kris Bubic - Lost - Record 0-2 Runs Scored 1 - Season Average Runs Scored 1 - Lineup composition 5 RH 3 Switch 1 LH April 1 - Noe Cameron - Lost - Record 0-3 Runs Scored 9 - Season Average Runs Scored 3,67 - Lineup composition 5 RH 3 Switch 1 LH April 2 - Cole Ragans - Won - Record 1-3 Runs Scored 5 - Season Average Runs Scored 4 - Lineup Composition 4 RH 2 Switch 3 LH Right Handed Starters: March 28 - Kyle Bradish - Won - Record 1-0 Runs Scored 4 - Season Average Runs Scored 4 - Lineup Composition 4 RH 2 Switch 3 LH March 29 - Shane Baz - Lost - Record 1-1 Runs Scored 6 - Season Average Runs Scored 5 - Lineup Composition 3 RH 2 Switch 4 LH April 3 - Joe Boyle - Won - Record 2-1 - Runs Scored 10 - Season Average Runs Scored - 6.67 - Lineup Composition 4 RH 1 Switch 4 LH

Mickey Gasper certainly was a struggle. Perada... He did just fine back there in the 11 games he was needed. In my opinion. Caratini covering a catcher spot in 2027 makes perfect sense with Jeffers likely gone. 2026 in combination with Josh Bell doesn't as much sense to me though... especially with the proclaimed go for it mode our Twins are in. 14 Million on the spots they will occupy and Jeffers promised the bulk of the time behind the plate. Caratini is a good hitter for a catcher. For a 1B or DH... he is an average at best hitter. I would have rather punted catcher position and spent 14 million on one bigger player to play in one bigger offensive spot. Oh Well... The course has been charted.

That must include the assumption that the 1 - 2 and 3 guys do what we want them to do and even the elite players still makes outs more often than they don't. It's all playing small increases in percentages either way. The on-base percentage of your 8 and 9 guy compared to the on-base percentage of your 1 and 2 guy is pretty thin when you break it down to a per AB basis. If I can make up numbers for example purposes. The 8 and 9 guy will get on base 31 out of 100 times. The 1 and 2 guy will get on base 38 out 100 times. 7 times extra per 100 AB's is pretty thin in the grand scheme of things on a per AB basis. While saying that I realize that getting your best hitter that extra AB is also pretty thin so it's really 6 or a half dozen. IMO... I don't spend a lot of time worrying about batting order. I don't think the order needs to static. I think managers should players up and down based on hotness and coldness. If I had one rule with batting order it would be separate your left handed and right handed hitters so the opposing manager doesn't automatically bring in the left hander when 3 left handed hitters in a row are due up.

I'm a Chaim Bloom fan. They don't like him much in Boston but he left behind a farm system that is starting reap benefits. If the Cards hit on only 33% of the 19. If they fail with 67%. They will have added 6 solid players to the roster for next year at a cost of around 4 million. We will get to see what the Cards do Wins and Losses wise. The Roster breakdown for the Cards on Opening day: Projected Starting 9: 7 Projected Not Starting 4: 3 Starting Rotation: 3 Bullpen: 6

In the case of the Dodgers. One of those 12 is Yamamoto because he has less than 3 years service time... he's certainly not making the minimum. You are right... Despite having the resources to pay for upper level vets and crowding younger players out. The Dodgers still post a 12. The Dodgers draft late every year and are still a development success story. That success is more than a 12. They will trade development for developed and still prioritize 12. The Dodgers opening day 12 breaks down like this: 2 Projected starting 9 (Pages and Freeland) 2 Projected not starting 4 (Rushing and Call) 3 Starting Rotation (Yamamoto, Sasaki and Sheehan) 5 Bullpen arms. The bullpen is a popular spot to roster players with less than 3 years experience. Adding up all 30 teams. 124 pitchers with less than 3 years experience made the opening day roster. The average is therefore 4.13 per team.

He has a little velocity. The pen could use a little velocity. Make it a little less crafty.

I will do my best to update this next section game by game. It's just a running tally of Win/Loss record against Right Handed and Left handed starters. This research will have massive holes that you can drive a truck through. I'm only doing it for one reason. I want to simply know how the team is doing when a left handed starter starts and when a right handed starter starts. Win and Losses vs. Left Handed Starters: March 26 - Trevor Rogers - Lost - Record 0-1 Runs Scored 1 - Season Average Runs Scored 1 - Lineup composition 5 RH 3 Switch 1 LH March 30 - Kris Bubic - Lost - Record 0-2 Runs Scored 1 - Season Average Runs Scored 1 - Lineup composition 5 RH 3 Switch 1 LH April 1 - Noe Cameron - Lost - Record 0-3 Runs Scored 9 - Season Average Runs Scored 3,67 - Lineup composition 5 RH 3 Switch 1 LH April 2 - Cole Ragans - Won - Record 1-3 Runs Scored 5 - Season Average Runs Scored 4 - Lineup Composition 4 RH 2 Switch 3 LH Right Handed Starters: March 28 - Kyle Bradish - Won - Record 1-0 Runs Scored 4 - Season Average Runs Scored 4 - Lineup Composition 4 RH 2 Switch 3 LH March 29 - Shane Baz - Lost - Record 1-1 Runs Scored 6 - Season Average Runs Scored 5 - Lineup Composition 3 RH 2 Switch 4 LH