Riverbrian

Good Teams average 6 wins every 10 games. 6*16=96 (160 games) Average Teams average 5 wins every 10 games. 5*16=80 Bad Teams average 4 wins every 10 games. 4*16=64 Every 10 games there is variance from these averages for all teams regardless if they are a good, average or bad team. There will be 10 games stretches where bad teams will win 7 games or more and there will be 10 game stretches where good teams will lose 7 games or more. The Ranges above are very consistent year over year. I mention all of this to point out that there is no such thing as cushy competition. Bad teams will beat you but I'm reading a lot of posts taking the Royals and Tigers for granted while talking about this stretch of games being time to make hay. If anybody has the ability to predict when these stretches will happen. Stop following baseball and invest in the stock market instead. ? 10 game intervals were chosen by me for example purposes and simple math.

In France it's called a "Royale with Pole".

Just want to point out that the "quarter pole" is not the first quarter... It's the last quarter of the race. Carry On Everyone! We got lots of race left.

And it will stay in that range.

Garlick mashes Righties!!!

There are some things you should know: A. If what comes next isn't good. You will be forced to spend your enthusiasm during horrible times. Trust me on this... you do not want to do that - I once let a woo-hoo out at a funeral and I'm not kidding... nearly everyone in the chapel turned around to look at me. In the end... I found that to be awkward, unsatisfying and very very hard to explain afterwards. B. The body is always producing enthusiasm. It is produced by the appendix. If you don't use it at regular intervals the organ will eventually burst from the pressure. If those people would have just adequately expressed enthusiasm at decent intervals, they would still have their appendix. Surely, you've noticed how all people who have had their appendix removed are stolid and languid afterward. 86.7% of all people who have had their appendix removed become butlers, librarians, air traffic controllers and Twinsdaily posters. Just let it out man... You can't take it with you.

In my world... If you play well.... you get the chance to show that you can keep doing it. He threw a real solid 5 innings last time out. Eager to see what he does tonight.

Innings management is probably a consideration. Winder only threw 74 innings last year and zero in 2020. Although... Same could be said about Joe Ryan.

Yep Or Lewis can remain static somewhere and others move around to accommodate but you are 1000% correct. Nobody needs to get splinters in their rear to accommodate the arrival of someone playing fantastic. This is not EITHER OR extremes.

Honestly Brandon... I really like your support for Miranda. It's a refreshing viewpoint. I think he should already back in St. Paul but I'm hoping he will come back to Target Field and shine at a later time in the near future. I'll also concede that it's hard to prep someone for another position with 2020 and 2021 being non-existent for Royce. As for the planning... those players... they are dynamite... they blow those plans to smithereens, time and time again. ?

I often agree with the majority of things you post. Gotta disagree here. 1. I don't know if Lewis is comparable to Buxton on the flexibility value scale. Buxton when healthy is the best defensive CF in the business so you are correct that you shouldn't move him around. However, his knee could change that on a dime. I don't know if Lewis is at that level (or close to) or even projected to be at that level (or close to) defensively. That's not saying he's a bad defender. 2. I agree that front offices have to be forward thinking and I agree that becoming our SS for the next 6 years has extreme value. However, if you are truly forward thinking, locking a guy into a spot for 6 years isn't forward thinking at all. There are many things from a permanent nagging injury to a better defensive SS coming though the system that could happen in the next 2 years (let alone 6 years) that will cause (or should cause) a change of course. 3. Sending Lewis down to the minors isn't a permanent move. But neither is playing 3B or LF for a period of time while Correa mans SS and then returning to SS when the coast is clear. If something happens to Wander Franco... the Rays will put Taylor Walls back at SS.. it's not like he was ruined playing other positions. Trea Turner started in CF with Washington... Moved to SS. Was traded to the Dodgers and he played 2B and now he's back at SS. 4. No front office in baseball has the shelf life to ignore now completely. Yes, please... think about the future, but if you ignore now... you won't be in place when the future gets here. 5. If a player is performing... let him. ?

Buxton when in the lineup is setting a new level of performance. He is simply awesome right now. Buxton's willingness to commit to the Twins and the State of Minnesota makes him one of us and moves him into the group of my favorite all time Twins. I will not let the times that he is not on the field diminish my enjoyment of the times that he is on the field. I'll take what I can get. He's worth every penny. Go get em Buck... I drink to your health.

Yep... Gordon is that guy that someone might claim so you hang on to him in the name of the depth And also that guy who isn't producing enough to take AB's away from others.

By the way. Through all of the Royce Lewis discussion. I did forget to say one thing. Welcome back Carlos Correa!!! You'll be a sight for sore eyes.

The next guys in line are getting multiple position training as we speak. Austin Martin is playing both SS and OF Spencer Steer is playing 2B, 3B and SS. We don't know where Martin and Steer will be needed when they get that roster spot. The front office doesn't know where the injury or hole will occur. Handling Martin and Steer like this creates multiple paths to the majors should they demonstrate the talent to succeed. You have to prepare for success.

My frustration isn't at that level. I do trust them. It's a tricky job with lots of moving parts to manage. Everybody in the world makes questionable decisions from time to time. My criticism is more constructive in nature. Or at least intended to be that way.

Lewis isn't an OF'er because the organization is refusing to let him play OF at best or didn't prepare him to be an OF at worst. Nick Gordon wouldn't be an OF'er either with the same stipulations applied to Lewis.

I can't say for sure what the Dodgers would do but I have been watching them close. If a player displayed what Lewis displayed while Trae Turner was out. I do believe that the Dodgers would have kept Lewis up when he returned. I'd guess that they would have put him in LF primarily. Taylor would have then moved to the super utility role. It can be argued that the Twins don't have a Chris Taylor... No we don't... Not Exactly but that is because we haven't created a Chris Taylor yet and we should. Arraez and Gordon are our attempts at it Not to mention Gavin Lux who was moved around when he first arrived and is still being moved around. And Max Muncy who has been moved around when he first arrived is also on the roster and is still being moved around. This is positional boxing of players into single position boxes is an unnecessary self created handicap that the Twins need to overcome. And Today I'm saying... Overcome it quickly. The Dodgers have. A question has been in my mind for a long time now: How can a team as loaded as the Dodgers find the playing time for a player like Max Muncy? It's the willingness (fearlessness) to move players around the diamond to let them continue contributing that makes it possible. The Dodgers don't talk themselves out of it. It makes them bulletproof.

I get this. But in the end you are keeping a guy to face lefthanders only just to cover for another guy who you'd rather not face lefthanders. Instead of keeping the guy who is hitting both. You are using two, where you could use one.

LOL... Greatest. American. Ever. Is what Alfred E. is. Just expressing my thoughts. Not worried. This isn't a Nick Anderson level mistake yet. It's fixable. I just don't like the mechanism that led to this move. The mechanism is similar to how a Nick Anderson type mistake is made. Go with the guys getting the job done.

Garlick has an option. So that would make him an option. I don't believe Garlick deserves a send down either but, his utilization is limited to short side platoon which isn't as necessary when you have a player who isn't going to be platooned in Lewis. If the concern is moving Lewis around to different positions while he learns the league... OK Fair Enough... However, I don't personally agree because the Dodgers do this sort of thing all the time and do so with success. But OK Fair Enough... Don't move him around to avoid complicating his introduction to the league and protect that innocence. So... then make him static at a different position and let a vet move around instead. They could let Royce play LF consistently in the bigs and use the DH spot (even 1B) to provide playing time for Kepler and Larnach. We don't have players playing well enough to block this. There are other options on the other side of this coin that can be thought through as well. ? In the end... not the end of the world... He's a phone call away but, this is the very thing that I don't want my organization doing. Talking themselves into not letting players who are playing well play. The reasons for doing this are defensible to a point... the reasons to not do it are stronger in my opinion. I'll be OK but Jeez.

1. Based on actual performance on the field. We just sent down our 4th best position player. I understand that this is my opinion. I also understand small sample sizes. I understand that he could slump in the future and settle in at a different spot in my subjective rankings. However... The guy was handed a job and he did that job better than most of the players who remain and it wasn't particularly close either. The team just sent down our 4th best position player in my opinion. I know we can always call him back up... it's not the end of the world... we didn't release him... but yeah... we just sent down our 4th best position player. That is always going to be hard to justify. 2. They were unprepared for his success. The organization was not prepped for this. Baldelli said that they are going to send him down to play SS but also get exposed to other positions. THEY ARE LATE WITH THIS PLAN!!! If it is necessary to get him exposed to other positions... it should have been done already. It's disappointing that my team (that I thought was progressive) would let a positional bottleneck occur. If you have a Correa on the 26 man roster and a top prospect on the 40 man at the same position and not considering (planning) for the possibility of a different position for that position player behind Correa... you dropped the ball. Even if you don't have a Correa on your roster... any time a prospect has to wait in line at one position and one position only... you extend that wait... waiting for that one spot to get hurt or fail. THEY ARE LATE WITH THIS NEW PLAN!!! 3. Do we have to wait until Correa specifically gets hurt again to see Lewis. How long is this exposure process going to take? If Kepler or Urshela gets hurt for example next week... will Lewis need more exposure or do we call up a lesser player to play 3B or OF instead? Miranda has not played well and is still here so the answer appears to be lesser players until this exposure process plays out. I remain supportive of the front office but Jeez... I am disappointed.

Those 4 reps in the game CEMENT the thousands of repetitions off the fungo. If you don't do the 4 reps in a game... there is no cement. ?

Super Utility. Think Chris Taylor with the Dodgers.

We all know that we are supposed to walk a mile in different shoes first. But our own shoes are comfortable once they get all broken in. It's easier to just say **** that.