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Riverbrian

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Everything posted by Riverbrian

  1. Riverbrian
    My personal opinion: The front office was never banking on Winder to wrestle innings away from Bundy and Archer. My guess was the front office was banking on the pipeline to be that quality depth that is necessary every year and it was necessary. Remember we started the year with a 6 man rotation, trading for 2 and signing 2 vets just to keep Winder as depth that would be needed later and I felt this was the first year in many years that we had actual starting pitching depth and we needed it. If you want to target anything in the rotation as an issue... Bundy and Archer were the 2 worst starters on the team and they led the team in starts. That is where I would begin. The pipeline kept us a float before the offense tanked in the stretch run.
  2. Riverbrian
    My point of contention is with the use of the word failure. If injuries are the benchmark... well yeah... the pipeline has some issues. That's a whole different discussion. If they are watching pitch counts to stay healthy... it isn't working. However... again my point of contention is with the use of the word failure. I'll contend that Winder and Ober who provided 18 starts combined for us were better than Bundy and Archer. If the pipeline wasn't there... Chi Chi Gonzalez makes more starts for us. Without the pipeline things would have been a lot worse. It was not a failure... it kept us alive. Cleveland is being used as the gold standard. They have done well... I'm not knocking them but overall we are still talking about a 42 run differential over 150 games being the difference between Great and Failure. Those are thin margins for such a vast distinction.
  3. Riverbrian
    The Twins have allowed 42 runs more than the Guardians over 150 games. Yet the Guardians are the praised and we have click bait about the failure of the pipeline. I repeat... That's a 42 run differential over 150 games. The worst performance on our staff came from Vets. Yet it's the pipeline that has failed?
  4. Riverbrian
    Failed? The use of the word "Failed" in the title is the failure on many levels.
  5. Riverbrian
    Injuries happen every year. Front offices including the manager need to prep for the fact that injuries happen every year. The question becomes... how many injuries can a front office properly prepare for? I don't know the answer to that one but the Twins MUST HAVE been near or past whatever injury level is reasonably expected to plan for. With that said: I remain a supporter of the front office but... whenever you stop on a .666 OPS and give that OPS an every day job and stop looking for someone better. You make yourself vulnerable to NEEDING that player to perform in a pennant race. Stopping on a player with a .630 OPS because it's a back up role and not looking for someone better leaves you vulnerable to needing that player to perform in a pennant race. Restricting a player to the short side platoon AB's for 4 years... leaves you vulnerable to needing that player to all of sudden hit right handers in a pennant race when you've been busy giving those AB's to guys performing at .666 and .630 levels. The organization had to know about the above 3 things in July.
  6. Riverbrian
    Congratulations to you and your kind.
  7. Riverbrian
    Perfectly Posted
  8. Riverbrian
    Gordon is playing well but currently needed at 2B Kepler (Injured or not injured) hasn't performed at an acceptable level this year and did not perform at an acceptable level last year Jake Cave did not perform at an acceptable level last year and has not been performing at an acceptable level this month. Celestino is not performing at an acceptable level this year Garlick is now on the 10 day and hasn't been allowed to Right Handed pitching in 4 years None of the options bolded above are performing strong enough to keep the team from trying someone else. Matt Wallner should be that someone else. I have no idea if Wallner can step in and contribute but someone else needs to try and contribute because Kepler, Cave, Celestino and Garlick are clearly not. This OF production problem has been going on too long at a very very very critical time. I think Wallner should have been up a couple of weeks ago. Today... With Garlick going on the 10 day. There is really no reason to not have Wallner in the lineup tonight... Unless he is injured or something. If not Wallner... Someone Else Please!!! and that someone else will be Contreras who has been on a roll in St. Paul lately. Go Get Em Mark... Stay Hot... We need you. Hope you go for 3 for 4 tonight. .
  9. Riverbrian
    To those who are angry, You know he wasn't going to throw 130 pitches under any circumstance. If you don't know that... your anger doesn't matter.
  10. Riverbrian
    Correa, Miranda, Gordon. Take a look at the stats for the last 30 days. Correa, Miranda, Gordon are the only hitters with regular AB's that have hit acceptably over the 30 days. Arraez and Urshela have been OK for the last 30 days. Neither is leading us to glory nor keeping us from it. Kepler, Celestino and Cave... Look at what the entire OF is doing over the last 30 days. Cave wasn't supposed to be here so you can't blame Jake, the front office knew who Celestino was by the trade deadline and then there is Max. Another bat... A rental... a good one... should have been acquired at the deadline.
  11. Riverbrian
    Injuries happen every year. Yeah... This year has been bad. Perhaps the baddest of all of them. But Injuries were bad last year and the year before that and the year before that. My personal feelings are: Injuries are never a valid excuse.
  12. Riverbrian
    Choosing lesser players will consistently kill your team. I don't know if Wallner is a better player but you have to find out because based on actual performance with the chips down, the players in front shouldn't be in front of anyone. Louie Varland pitched very very well in his debut. He should be making his next start tomorrow night or Wednesday night at the latest. He won't because we have committed to multiple pitchers with ERA's over 4 (by quite some distance) instead.
  13. Riverbrian
    13/8 = 1.62 162/1.62 = 1 error every 100 games 22/3 = 7.33 162/7.33 = 1 error every 22 games While you wait 22 games for that Wallner error to occur. Max Kepler is hitting .227 while slugging .348 Jake Cave is starting in CF Kyle Garlick hasn't been allowed to hit righthanders for 4 years Gilberto Celestino... during a pennant chase... can't remember how many outs there are despite being one of the rare baserunners that the team produced during an awful offensive stretch... not to mention Celestino somehow has a lower OPS than Kepler, which is hard to do. Wallner is 24.7 years old. Wallner will need to be added to the 40 man in December The law firm of Hamilton, Hamilton and Palacios are on the 26 man roster and none of them are playing during a time when we are desperate for ANYONE to PLAY DECENTLY. Obviously we have 26 man space plus 40 man space. AND... AND... It is important to note that they were just swept by a team featuring 7 rookie hitters out of 14 hitters on the roster. In conclusion... Defense better not be the reason.
  14. Riverbrian
    If all those If's happen. You are still tethered to a boat load of other "Ifs" that would require a much longer article to cover. Ifs that also include each opponent and the boat load of their own Ifs that they bring with them. Can they be as good as anyone in a short series? If... things go right for them... Yeah! ?
  15. Riverbrian
    Ifs occur in any article that is set in the future. ?
  16. Riverbrian
    I think Davey is touching Mickey, which has led to Mickey touching Peter. Michael has a hat on.
  17. Riverbrian
    Infinite Amount of Monkeys with an infinite amount of time making infinite amount of gifs. gif
  18. Riverbrian
    He's good I hope he stays healthy and remains in the rotation for a long time.
  19. Riverbrian
    I just want to applaud the typing of "Rimshot gif" instead of... you know... attaching a gif.
  20. Riverbrian
    He Did 2019 - Oklahoma City vs RHP 234 AB's - 19HR - ..308/.374/.637 vs LHP 99 AB's - 8HR - .292/.364/.708 2018 - Tulsa/Oklahoma City vs RHP 297 AB's - 15HR - .259/.289/.478 vs LHP 105 AB's - 7 HR - .257/.313/.514 2017 - Tulsa vs RHP - 255 AB's - 14HR - .246/.333/.478 vs LHP - 61 AB's - 4HR - .246/.314/.475 There is nothing in his minor league stats that says platoon. He came up in the Dodger organization and was called up in 2019 with the following list of outfielders in front of him: Cody Bellinger - OPS 1.035 Joc Pederson - OPS .876 Alex Verdugo - OPS .817 AJ Pollack - OPS. 795 Chris Taylor - OPS .794 Kike Hernandez - OPS .715 Playing time was obviously tough to find and he was strictly platooned for a total of 15 games. In 2020 Alex Verdugo was replaced by Mookie Betts while the other 5 remained. Kyle was out of options and DFA'd... he was picked up by the Phillies and was given 22 AB's, hitting .136 and released while the minor leagues were shut down. In 2021... The Twins signed him and kept platooning him despite Jake Cave bringing a hot OPS of . 541. He had been a platoon expert for 15 games with the Dodgers. Yet... Somehow Branded. In 2022... The Twins kept platooning him. The same eyeballs that decided he should be platooned because of some undemonstrated lack of ability to hit RHP are the same eyeballs who decided that Jake Cave could hit RHP despite a .541 OPS saying that he couldn't. Same eyeballs who decided to ride with Martin Perez over Randy Dobnak in September 2019 only to pull the plug on Perez right before the playoff roster was to be set and finally commit to Dobnak in the playoffs. Same eyeballs who chose half a season of Matt Belisle instead of 6 years of Nick Anderson. I am pro front office... they know 200 times more than I do... But they are not infallible. If they were infallible... we wouldn't be worried about the Guardians and White Sox right now. In 2022... Kepler was not good enough to keep the bat out of Garlick's Right handed hands and now we need Kyle Garlick to do something that he wasn't allowed to do. Why wasn't he allowed? Strict adherence to the platoon concept? Jake Cave?
  21. Riverbrian
    He probably is just a platoon guy. 18 AB's vs. RH's in 2019 with the Dodgers 8 AB's in 2020 with the Phillies. 40 AB's vs RH's in 2021 with the Twins Now 67 AB's vs RH's this year. I would never make a declarative statement on sample sizes like those and I'm pretty sure that nobody should. Someone decided that he was a Koala Bear and fed him nothing but eucalyptus for 4 years. That mold has been setting for quite some time. Meanwhile... in 2022... the guy getting those left handed swings... is worse.
  22. Riverbrian
    My jokes worked better in the 60's... That's for sure. ?
  23. Riverbrian
    I'll agree with you if the left handed hitting options were indeed playing like better options against RH pitching. If they are not demonstrably better options... all you have accomplished is give all the playing time to someone (someones) who is (are) not playing better at the expense of someone you will eventually need due to "not much Rocco can do" during a September pennant race. Unfortunately you have been starving that person that you end up predictably needing due to the injuries that occur every year without fail.
  24. Riverbrian
    Sometimes Humor has a point and Sometimes it doesn't. And obviously sometimes Humor goes down swinging on 3 straight pitches. ?
  25. Riverbrian
    Kyle Garlick is the most under appreciated player on this team. He leads the team in OPS (.835) and yet Rocco can't seem to get PLATOON out of his head and apparently it doesn't matter how many people get hurt or struggle. OPS Vs. RH Garlick - .734 - 57 AB's Cave - .730 - 54 AB's Larnach - .711 - 113 AB's Kepler - .680 - 277 AB's Kirilloff - .680 - 120 AB's Celestino -.673 - 150 AB's I am very pro front office and I remain supportive of Rocco because we all make mistakes in life. However, if you consider the injuries that we have had, we have certainly reached the point where the Twins need to take responsibility for intentionally putting Garlick to sleep due to stubborn adherence to unfair type casting. With all the injuries and Max Kepler's continued weak performance, there is no justification for it. Garlick is at the top of the list of who Falvey, Lavine and Baldelli under appreciates while Garlick is also on the top of the team's OPS and SLG list.
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