Riverbrian

I've never seen what they do behind the scenes. I've never met any of them in person.

OK... Yeah it would be nice to fix the revolving door at SS. But, I'll add that at other positions some of those doors solidly in place need to start revolving.

Hamilton was basically gathering dust on the bench in September. Rocco only used him for pinch running despite Cave and Celestino being below average... nowhere near good enough for a team fighing for a playoff spot. Rocco turned to Cave and Celestino over and over again to below average results. If Rocco doesn't trust Hamilton to be an improvement over bad performance, I can't recommend a continuation of the relationship. I agree through... His defense and stolen base ability is good but we need a hitter more than we need OF defense. Whoever is backing up Buxton is going to play a lot. ?

Whoever backs up Buxton isn't a back up.

I won't argue bad or good, but we won games with Polanco, Arraez and Sano in those spots. ?

I just want to say that you post solid stuff. I can always count on your postings to be well researched and logical. I may see things differently from time to time but I know you are coming from solid ground. Cheers to ya.

You can sign multiple players and improve in multiple spots for what it would take to gobble up one of the top 4 SS's.

Thanks... I'll take the job. Just waiting for Falvey to give me a call. I'm keeping my phone charged and with me at all times just in case. In my opinion, Drury and Haniger are necessary together. We just don't know if Larnach will get the job done. We don't know if Gordon will be the same Gordon next year. I am certainly at my wits end with Kepler. Buxton has his health issues and so does Haniger. Drury plays 1B, 2B, 3B and he also plays OF. If we are struggling to find OF production because of the 5 things listed above. Drury can prop things up. Make it less likely that we are praying that Jake Cave brings us to the playoffs. Mateo can also play OF if needed. Gordon can also play IF. WIth the DH spot also available for use. We could staff a Haniger and Drury and find the AB's to keep them producing if they are producing.

I only included Pagan because... I know that he will be back. He will be on the roster next year and the front office better be right about that. In my world... Pagan money could be turned into Hand money.

You should change your underwear because you never know when you get caught with your pants down. If you keep specialists on your roster. What happens when you need them to be much more than what they are. Every. Single. Year. Injuries. Happen. If someone is on your 26 man roster, they can't be hid because injuries are going to bring them into the light and you will NEED THEM. It happens every. single. year. Every year... injuries are going to pull your pants down. Change your underwear because the whole world will see that specialist if you don't. Gilbert Celestino was a defensive specialist. His hitting wasn't good. We knew his hitting wasn't good and we knew that Buxton wasn't healthy by the trade deadline. You are screwed when you need your defensive specialist to be a hitter because your hitters have gone away. Max Kepler is a defensive specialist. His hitting makes him a defensive specialist. He defends but doesn't hit. That makes him a defensive specialist for two years now. Needing Kepler to be a hitter because your other hitters have gone away is too much to ask and too much to expect. Kyle Garlick was a specialist that was only allowed to face left handed hitting. You are screwed when you need Garlick to quickly digest right handers after starving him for years, needing to do it in September during a pennant chase is complete lack of prep for the possibility. Placing a player in a short side platoon is not prepping someone for September. We knew what Celestino and Garlick were at the trade deadline. The trade deadline is the last day that you can change your underwear. Our pants came down.

A slight change after taking the current 40 man roster into consideration and expected additions. Instead of Brad Hand... I'm bringing in Brandon Drury. SP SONNY GRAY 12.5 SP KENTA MAEDA 9 SP TYLER MAHLE 8 SP JOE RYAN 0.7 3 SP BAILEY OBER 0.7 2 SP SIMEON W. RICHARDSON 0.7 3 SP LOUIE VARLAND 0.7 3 SP COLE SANDS 0.7 2 SP JORDAN BALAZOVIC 0.7 1 SP CHRIS PADDACK 4 2 SP BLAYNE ENLOW 0.7 2 SP MATT CANTERINO 0.7 3 RP EDWIN DIAZ 16.1 2 RP EMILIO PAGAN 3 RP JORGE LOPEZ 3 RP CALEB THIELBAR 2 1 RP JORGE ALCALA 0.7 3 RP JHOAN DURAN 0.7 1 RP GRIFFIN JAX 0.7 2 SP JOSH WINDER 0.7 2 RP JOVANI MORAN 0.7 2 RP RONNY HERNANDEZ 0.7 2 C RYAN JEFFERS 0.7 2 C OMAR NARVEAZ 3.1 3B GIO URSHELA 9 1B-3B JOSE MIRANDA 0.7 2 1B-2B-3B-OF BRANDON DRURY 6.1 1B-OF ALEX KIRILLOFF 0.7 1 2B-1B-3B LUIS ARRAEZ 4.5 2 2B-SS JORGE POLANCO 7.5 SS-3B-2B-OF JORGE MATEO 0.7 SS-3B-2B-OF ROYCE LEWIS 0.7 2 2B EDOUARD JULIEN 0.7 3 OF BYRON BUXTON 15.1 OF MITCH HANIGER 15 OF TREVOR LARNACH 0.7 OF-2B-SS NICK GORDON 0.7 2 OF MAX KEPLER 8.5 OF GILBERTO CELESTINO 0.7 1 OF MATT WALLNER 0.7 3 BUYOUTS 4.5 TOTAL 147.7 GONE COULOMBE DFA GARLICK DFA MAGILL DFA CONTRERES TRADED FOR STASHAK JORGE MATEO FREE AGENTS SIGNED EDWIN DIAZ OMAR NARVEAZ BRANDON DRURY MITCH HANIGER

I won't argue with you because I have no idea. First year of free agency. Other than Judge he would be the top RH power hitting OF. I was thinking a 3 year deal at 45. Health might push him down to 2 years or 1. But yeah... I have no idea. His agent wasn't returning my calls.

If the Twins are rostering Pagan next year. They better be right. The past two years equal two strikes. Pagan better choke up for this next appearance.

I want to put a better one together. I might spend some time with a spreadsheet and the potential 40 man adds because in the end... that 40 man roster will dictate how many you can add and who needs to be moved.

Agreed However, Moran has options and can be stashed for a rainy day and it rains a lot. Gotta have those guys around.

In my opinion, Narvaez and Hand would certainly be 1 year contracts or 1 year with a club option. I'd guess that Haniger will take some years on the deal to get done. Health has been an issue for him and that is probably the main reason not to knock on his door. After all, we've had enough of the D.L. listings. I like the potential depth of this lineup so I'm knocking on Haniger's door.

SS is such a hard position to fill and stay under budget, All the SS's worth spending a chunk change on will be expensive. I'd love to have Correa back but Hanigar, Diaz and Narvaez fix 3 spots instead of 1. Injuries are going to happen so I want the depth that Martin and Lewis bring in St. Paul. We won games with Polanco at SS in the past and we can do it again. I think Baltimore is going to spend some money this year, it wouldn't surprise me to see them jump in the SS market and they also have that Henderson kid who can play SS if they don't so the Orioles could part with Mateo. A player like Mateo has speed (which we need), defense and the ability to play OF. He also has a little pop in the bat but I would like to see his on base percentage up. With Mateo on the roster, Royce Lewis could be the first call up with an injury at 2B, 3B and OF. Cave was our OF leader during the pennant chase. There is no way I'm looking at Kepler and saying this is the guy. I'm hopeful that the banning of the shift helps Kepler out but a RH power hitting outfielder is my first priority. Haniger is that.

I'm not going to get him at 15 if you have driven the price up to 20. ? I'm hoping the Trumpet Day Promotions will entice him. Free Trumpets to the first 10,000 fans.

Mitch Haniger, Edwin Diaz and Brad Hand added as Free Agents To add some speed. Jorge Mateo acquired in a trade with Baltimore for Cody Stashak. Still have Royce Lewis ready to go when he's ready to go. Otherwise... I'm going to let the starting pitching keep bubbling up. C: Ryan Jeffers ($0.7M) 1B: Jose Miranda ($0.7M) 2B: Luis Arraez ($4.5M) 3B: Gio Urshela ($9.00M) SS: Jorge Polanco ($7.5M) LF: Trevor Larnach ($0.70M) CF: Byron Buxton ($15M) RF: Mitch Haniger ($15M) DH: Alex Kirilloff ($0.70M) 4th OF: Nick Gordon ($0.70M) Utility: Jorge Mateo ($.7M) Utility: Max Kepler ($8.50M) Backup C: Omar Narvaez ($5M) SP1: Sonny Gray ($12.00M) SP2: Tyler Mahle ($8.00M) SP3: Kenta Maeda ($9.00M) SP4: Joe Ryan ($0.70M) SP5: Bailey Ober ($0.70M) RP: Jhoan Duran ($0.70M) RP: Jorge Lopez ($3.00M) RP: Griffin Jax ($0.70M) RP: Jorge Alcala ($1.00M) RP: Caleb Thielbar ($2.00M) RP: Josh Winder ($0.7M) RP: Brad Hand ($6M) RP: Edwin Diaz ($14M) Payroll is 9.14% under budget

How thin are the margins? Arraez was once 50/50 for a 40 man spot. Inches from being elsewhere.

Not only is it hard to predict for us mere mortals. It's hard for the professionals in those front offices to predict despite having the power to influence the results. Emilio Pagan shows up, the professionals watch him... they measure him... they analyze him. After all of that... they give him a high leverage position ahead of many others based on what they see. They are professionals... they are better at this than you and I. They were still wrong. Max Kepler has struggled for the past two years. Based on playing time... based on how they structure the lineup with his name in it... based on the deal they committed to him. They obviously assessed him higher than what he has been. They were wrong. If there is wrong (and there is) that we can actually see on the players they turn to,... wrong on the players that they believe will be successful. There has to be wrong on the other side that we can't see. Nick Anderson not getting a chance type wrongs. Oh Yeah... Nick Anderson... They were extremely wrong. This isn't to denigrate the front office and I'm hoping I didn't start rolling another ball down the hill because every front office makes these types of mistakes. Moral to the story. The margins are thin... the difference between the edge of a career and career is painfully tiny. There is only one way to find out if a player is going to make it or not. Give them the ball and let them show you.

It's harder when young players can be sent down while vets can't. If a rookie performs like Archer and Bundy they get sent down. If Archer and Bundy perform like Archer and Bundy they stay up to preserve depth because you are one foot shorter when they hit the wire and that depth will be needed later so you can't blame clubs for doing that. Also factor in health. Arms are hard to maintain so pitchers go down at some point and many use up their bullets in the minors.

It posted itself after I made one entry.

Not to mention there is no guarantee that Gordon will be next year what he was this year. Production fluctuations happen all the time from the first year to the next. The Twins have to add a good OF next year. They have to. Kepler, Gordon, Larnach are not names that you can fill into a space and say: Eureka, we got our guy so let's stop looking. Not to mention the forever cloud of Buxton health. The 5 OF spots on the 26 man next year has to look like this Buxton Good NEW addition Gordon Larnach Kepler The Twins have to add an outfielder this off-season. A good outfielder. Have to.

Here are the 10 outfielders that the Twins tried before they called up Jake Cave on August 2nd and played him 54 out of the final 59 games during a pennant chase. The Orignal 5: Buxton, Kepler, Kirilloff, Celestino, Gordon. Followed by 6. Larnach 7. Garlick 8. Lewis 9. Contreras 10. Beckham We apparently expect a lot from a utility outfielder. Jake Cave went beyond utility, he was option #11 in the outfield this year. Option #11 played in 54 out of 59 games and he led all of our OF'ers in AB's with 164, while producing a .644 OPS during a pennant chase after he was called up on August 2nd. An OPS of .644 is well below average so this isn't your Hollywood story of Option #11 showing up and grabbing a job with both hands as the team carries him off on shoulders. This is the story of option #11 becoming the best you got with a .644 OPS and needing him to carry you home during a pennant chase so desperately that he plays 54 out of 59 games with a .644 OPS. Yet... we expect a lot of a utility OF because we expect Rocco to still win the weak AL Central with option #11 leading the OF in AB's with a .644 OPS. What if you can't find 3 guys that you want to play every day? How well does a player have to perform to hold down that every day job while holding a guy or two on every roster to sporadic sub. What if your 5th Outfielder is better than your 2nd Outfielder. What are the odds that the 3 chosen ones are healthy all year?