Riverbrian

La Tortuga night with La Tortuga not starting? Baldelli is going to hear from the marketing department about reading his emails. La Tortuga not playing on La Tortuga night doesn't matter that much to me. Marketing schemes don't matter much when you are trying to win victories and the Twins won. Letting fans wearing La Tortuga shirts cheer the guy on the shirt is no way to connect with the fan base! It was clearly some form of surprise that triggered the fans cheering loudly for La Tortuga when he somehow got a pinch hit on La Tortuga night. Kinda like when a pitcher gets a hit in a National League game because you just wouldn't expect a hit from a pitcher. I strongly feel that La Tortuga needs to earn his playing time. La Tortuga simply hasn't earned the playing time like Marwin Gonzalez has. As long as Marwin is tearing the cover off the ball like he is... I would certainly keep playing Marwin. And keep hitting him 6th while you are at it. The ball is jumping off his bat so much more than Garver who hit 7th, Schoop who hit 8th and Buxton who hit 9th. Marwin should absolutely be the guy to get that extra AB in the 9th inning with the game on the line. Everybody knows that if Marwin was moved from the 6th spot to the 7th spot in the order, his timing would be all screwed up, so it's best to leave him in the 6th spot. Marwin has played 4 games in a row at 3B and we would have certainly been 0-4 over those 4 games without his contributions. La Tortuga has only managed 2 hits over those same 4 games. La Tortuga was pretty disapointing against Verlander that Wednesday. Speaking of Wednesday... Once Cave was sent down creating the 3 man bench... It makes perfect sense to utilize La Tortuga in RF and the utility role. This way you can leave Marwin locked in at 3rd base. Marwin would probably become uncomfortable if he had to man a different position like RF, you simply can't throw too much at a guy too fast without notice. A guy like Marwin is better served staying at one position, most players simply can't play different positions and Marwin might be one of those guys so it is best to leave him at 3B exclusively. You certainly don't want to disturb the hot bat of Marwin because moving Marwin to RF would make him think about defense instead of concentrating on hitting while hitting. Only La Tortuga has the correct attitude to handle an abrupt position change to RF to replace Cave as the getaway day outfielder. That's why you give La Tortuga the RF start on getaway day against Verlander. Although, La Tortuga will have to suffer that thinking about defense while you are hitting fate. He has to take the bullet for that and that is why he only has 2 hits in the past 4 games. La Tortuga makes perfect sense for the guy to play RF over Gonzalez because La Tortuga is much more athletic. Like I said, earlier... La Tortuga needs to earn his playing time like Marwin has. La Tortuga got his start against Verlander this week and only managed 1 hit. Sorry La Tortuga... you gotta rise to the occasion when your name is called. Go sit down. La Tortuga needs to realize that if he can only manage 2 hits over the past 4 games... his lack of playing time going forward will be his own fault. My advice to La Tortuga is to sit on that bench and watch Marwin do his job out there. Watch the professionalism and learn from the master. If he is lucky... La Tortuga, sometime in the future, maybe in a couple of years... La Tortuga will be in the lineup every day hitting .159 like Marwin is. Everybody needs role models to get where you are going. It makes perfect sense to sit La Tortuga on La Tortuga Night.

I would absolutely take a flyer on Pazos. The Rockies always seem to be looking for bullpen help. It's worth a shot.

I'm thinking Pazos because he's priced for free at the moment and he was pretty impressive when I saw him but there is something going on. You don't release an arm like that. As for Watson and Dyson I'd welcome them to the club but April or May trades don't happen that often. Kimbrel and Pazos... They are only money at the moment.

I watched him pitch a couple of times for Seattle and was very impressed. It's not that I impress easy. I watch a lot of baseball games and therefore a lot of players. You have to look impressive for me to remember the player. Pazos is left handed with a very hard sinker, kinda like Zach Britton. Obviously not nearly as good as Britton in his prime but we are talking about a very hard sinker. When the Mariners traded Segura to the Phillies, Pazos looked like he was a throw-in. Segura and Nicasio plus Pazos to the Phillies for Santana and J.P. Crawford. Santana had 2 years around 34 million on his contract. Segura was around 9 million for one year. (Phillies have since signed him to a larger long term contract. Nicasio was about 9 million for one year so the Money was somewhat Neutral. So the Mariners who were (seemingly) trying to shed payroll this off-season ended up Money Neutral with J.P. Crawford as the prize. Therefore... Pazos looks like a throw in in a deal that the Phillies should have taken every day and twice on Sunday even without Pazos included in the deal. So I ask myself... why would someone with a live left handed arm who is performing very well be thrown in? I assume it must be an injury or mechanical issue and now the Phillies have cut him before April is over. Something ain't right... because the Arm I saw was extremely impressive. If it's mechanical... Take a Flyer on Pazos... And go ahead sign Kimbrel.

Turner is hurt with Difo playing SS. Rendon is banged up and Dozier is struggling. You are right Kieboom will play but there are many choices as for where he plays. I’m pretty happy with the Schoop for Dozier trade we made so far.

When I was a child and sad. My mom used to say: "don't make that sad face... it might stay that way". I wish my Mom would have spoke to Brian Dozier about those long slumps he'd go into.

Paragraph by Paragraph 1. I'm not saying "not Adrianza"... I'm saying my (personal opinion) of Adrianza based on what I'm seeing... If I was the GM... I would have signed Tim Beckham (for example) instead. But... my larger point is more about the fundamentals of building your roster and not my opinion of "Any Specific Player". I will put aside my personal thoughts on Adrianza (mostly) and defer to the front office's judgement instead. What I will be watching is how Adrianza is then deployed after. Ultimately... what I'm saying is... if the front office puts a player on the roster... they must believe in that player and utilize that player. If they roster any player with the thought that the player won't play much... it's a severe error in the fundamentals of roster construction and ultimately, it will leave the organization no choice but to suffer through Logan Morrison type performance with no alternative or not have a sufficient replacement for any injury that may occur. I'm saying that fundamentally... they can't waste any of the precious 25 man roster spots and this fundamental change in roster construction is not only necessary but critical. I'm not asking for certain players anymore... I'm out of that game. I'm saying the Twins (and most of the teams) have lacked this critical fundamental and this has increased the length of the rebuild to a time frame that has exceeded my tolerance. I believed in Tyler Austin... I was sad to see him go but that's a personal opinion and I'm moving on because I'm not going to concern myself with individual players... my concern is strictly fundamental going forward... how are the chosen players deployed. 2. You've been talking to my wife. 3.If a player can't catch up to fastball... he has no business on a MLB roster. This type of player is going to struggle when he just plays getaway days... I'm saying that these players must be taken out of the equation and replaced with players who can catch up to major league fastballs. GM's can track the progression of every baseball player across history and combine them into a collective and this will provide a baseline for the average. However, There are always players who will blow that baseline out of the water and players who crash and burn well below the baseline and the question is this... How do you find those players who will blow that baseline out of the water. The answer is... you play them. Most players are tossed aside without a chance to prove themselves and if you are saying that no matter what (insert player here) does, he will never get a chance to play, you've just shut the door on a source of player acquisition and a source for zero to something increased player value. The Twins have been doing what you have suggested for decades and the rebuild is taking a real long time as you know. You frequently imply "open the damn pocketbook and get better players" but you offer no solution for the what happens when the 100 million dollar free agent breaks his ankle in May. I'm saying... yes... open the pocketbook and... and prepare for the possibility that the free agent breaks his ankle. You do this by not looking at those 4 spots as players who will never play. You create depth by playing your depth. On to Jorge Polanco in your example... Right now... I'm not taking Polanco out of the lineup for anyone but If I did... 1 game on the bench out of 7 games will not stall his development. You will only lessen his development if the manager makes Polanco sit every single time he plays Adrianza. If a manager can't figure out how to spread it around... he shouldn't be managing. Depth doesn't have to be complicated. 4. I don't believe Adrianza was the best choice to backup the infield positions but if the front office does... as I said earlier... I will defer to their judgement. But again... fundamentally... I'm not looking to roster anyone with a backup designation. Those who live near the Adrianza will end up in the Adrianza. Backups have to move to starting roles all the time... it happens every year... thinking of them as backups is a lack of preparation for the injuries and poor performance that happens every single year without fail. If the Twins have the chance to acquire Sterling Marte... I hope that doesn't mean that Kepler will never play for us again and I hope they don't say no to his acquisition because they have Max Kepler. 5. If you don't allow Adrianza or anyone else to continue doing well when they are doing well... he will never do well, so just cut him, quit wasting everyone's time and bring in someone else. The easiest way to kill a career, kill potential increase in value is to simply bench a player when he is doing well. 6. The Dodgers are the exact model of what I'm talking about. They are not rostering Adrianza types and the players are better but Max Muncy, Justin Turner, Chris Taylor, Enrique Hernandez were players who they picked up out of nowhere, they put them in the lineup and when they played well, they let them continue and that's how they have better players. They didn't buy their depth... they created it with their own hands by planting two watermelon seeds instead of one. This is a fundamental difference between the Dodgers and most of the other clubs in baseball and why the Dodgers are bulletproof. You may want to call David Freese a backup, but he has played 4 out of the last 6 games. (I admit mainly because they faced a bunch of lefties). You'll have to look a long way back to find a player gathering dust on the bench and if you find it... you'll find abysmal numbers attached to that player (Chase Utley). Believe me... I researched it.

To clear any confusion... I'm not comfortable using Adrianza as the test subject here but he was the player mentioned so I continued with him as the example. I have my own personal belief on the potential of Adrianza going forward and I believe my thoughts are similar to yours. Where you and I seem to leave the train station on different tracks is that I believe that a player is capable of improving dramatically with an adjustment that will render past results meaningless. This is the job of the coaches to improve performance. If a players performance can't be improved... might as well tell the coaches to ignore that player. If Adrianza is not given the opportunity to show that coaching/adjustments are working. There is no point keeping him on the roster. He becomes a dead weight road block to bringing in someone who might be given the chance to show something and every time the organization takes this approach, it leaves a speed bump to slow the organization in the pursuit of finding players who produce for winning today or future value tomorrow. If the manager doesn't want to play him. The front office must send him packing. We've done the develop Trevor Plouffe and Trevor Plouffe only to get nothing back in trade value and very little in production for the plain ole winning of ball games.This has led to the approaching of a decade of perpetual mediocrity. We can talk about signing Free Agents all day long... We haven't been big shoppers so we got to produce our own. If you want to produce a Watermelon... Plant two of them to increase your odds. If you just plant one... it may die on the vine leaving you with no Watermelon until you plant again next year. This is why Depth is important... This is why you need 25 people who can play. If you don't want to play Adrianza but you roster him... you have 24 people who can play and a wasted seed not planted. Your Watermelon Harvest is now contingent on one seed surviving.

It's not day trading... It's trend trading. Watch your indicators. This depth concept is so foreign to Minnesota Twins Fans because we've never had it. Let's say below is your current roster: JT Realmuto Gary Sanchez Paul Goldschmidt Cody Bellinger Jose Altuve Whit Merrifield Nolan Arenado Manny Machado Francisco Lindor Mike Trout Christian Yelich Bryce Harper JD Martinez Who plays? Who Sits? Does Bryce Harper still play every day? Does Whit Merrifield only play on getaway days? Are you picking out the best 9 players and letting the other 4 players gather dust or are you going to figure out a way to play everyone. Now it's May 1st: Lindor is hitting .220 with 1 home run while Machado is hitting .300 with 8 home runs. Do you start playing Machado more and Lindor less? Once you figure out what you'd do with the depth of the above group. Replace Realmuto with Castro and Replace Sanchez with Garver and so forth until you have our current Twins roster. And figure out what to do with the depth of the Minnesota Twins. Not as talented as the above group but depth none-the-less. BTW... If Adrianza goes 4-4... Why not play him again tomorrow to see if he can do it again? To reward a good game with another. 4-4 doesn't indicate a hot hand per se but if he isn't allowed to go 6-8 and then 10 for 20... He will never be a hot hand and you've killed him by choice and there is nothing he can do but sit on the bench and pray that Polanco pulls a hamstring.

Few Days? I'll give you a lot more than that. Rosario started the season 1 for 17. I'm still playing him but at the same time... it is perfectly OK to let Rosario sit one day so Jake Cave can take a couple of swings and it's OK to let Jake Cave take a couple of swings for Max Kepler during the same stretch and over time... separation will happen naturally that the manager can recognize along with you and I. Now... It's April 23rd: Marwin is slugging .259 while Astudillo is slugging. 523. I'm at the point now where Astudillo should play more and Marwin should play less. We can all see the seperation... And I'm still happy that we signed Marwin and don't feel Marwin should be benched to the point that he can't pull himself out. Return him to the utility role he was signed to play and move him around the diamond to get AB's. Give Astudillo more time at 3B while we await the return of Sano and let's see if Astudillo can continue. I'm also ready to give Garver more playing time behind the plate and occasional first base to see if he can keep doing it. What's happening right now was what I was begging for last summer and this off-season and facing heavy resistance on. I don't want to get Logan Morrison'd with no attempted alternative ever again.

It seems like you are asking for a new fool proof projection when the old projection isn't working. I don't have the answer for that and neither does the front office. All I'm asking is that instead of taking those projections and developing 9 hitters... develop 12 hitters instead and increase your odds in the process. Let the players separate themselves and the projections will change accordingly. Projections are based upon on how players perform. If you don't let the player perform... he can't change the projection. You can make the right decision in the short term based on performance today. Let the players who are hitting continue to hit. Slow down (not bench completely) the usage of players like Marwin who are not. If the tide turns... follow it. The players should dictate... not the projections. If you find that you can't play a player anymore... get someone else. If the Astros decided to trade Correa to us tomorrow for International Signing Pool Money. Would you bench Polanco tomorrow because Correa is projected to be better? I wouldn't. Would you pass on Correa because you have Polanco... I wouldn't. Now replace Correa and Polanco with Astudillo and Marwin. Do you really put Astudillo on the bench for Marwin at this moment? I wouldn't. Get yourself 12 players who can play and play them. Baldelli is doing a pretty good job getting everyone in and letting them compete. We will see what happens when clear separation starts to rear it's ugly head. For now... I hope he keeps it up and I hope the team keeps it up so he has to sweat figuring out who plays today. I've been asking for depth... I've gotten it. The Dodgers have been doing this for years and they are miles ahead of most teams as a result. It isn't the FA money they are spending... it's their ability to find talent all over the place and playing that talent. Dave Roberts and the Dodgers would not bench Astudillo but Molitor would. The Dodgers will bench Dozier and Forsythe... Molitor will continue to play them. You develop depth by playing your depth. I apologize if I haven't answered your question directly... Maybe a specific scenerio will help me zero in on what you are asking.

I responded to a similar question earlier... Specifically asking about a couple of bullpen arms but the same would apply for hitters. See below: Hitters or Pitchers... the first move is always slowing down usage while you identify the problem. If the problem is taking awhile to correct... there are a bunch of considerations that will factor into any subsequent action. Does the player have options, Is the player listening to coaching, is the player progressing. Projections are important but waiting for the projection to realize while absorbing lenghty sub-par play will kill your season. The Twins front office needs to think of this team as contenders right now and continue doing so until the team gives them a reason to think otherwise.

That would depend on many factors. The peripherals, is the issue fixable and how many struggling arms are you needing to absorb poor performance from at the time of having to make a decision. You can slow down usage and control leverage with one guy for some rope to turn it around. Two guys can be handled but it’s obviously more taxing depending on the length of both players struggling. 3 guys and you need to start making hard decisions and make those decisions quickly. Bottom line: We should never allow a struggling player the opportunity to drag the team down by forcing poor performance into the collective output.

25 guys who can play and a manager who trusts all 25 is what I’ve been asking for since Logan Morrison. I would have no problem with this continuing all season long. Next step... cull the struggling herd. If members of the bullpen don’t improve... replace them and try someone else.

Repeating myself I know but... . I (for the most part) don't care about batting order. It is the manager's job to construct it and whatever he goes with is fine with me but I would like to know that the manager is constructing it daily based upon real time data and not constructing a lineup based upon a template created prior to game one. The question I ask for all TwinsDaily-ites is this: What damage is done to the performance of the club/player if you bat a player 1st on Monday, 4th on Tuesday, 7th on Wednesday and 1st again on Friday or any combination of batting order slots. The reason to move players around could be based upon matchups with the starting pitcher that day, Hot/Cold streaks each player is currently exhibiting or Right Handed/Left Handed lineup balance and separation? Why is the consistency of a player hitting in the same spot every game necessary? Why does the consistency of Kepler (for example) batting lead-off every single game trump Kepler striking out 4 out of 6 career AB's in his history against the pitcher he is scheduled to face? Why does the consistency of Marwin (For example) batting 6th in the order every game trump a month long slump. Teams are mining data to search for tiny grains of advantage, yet absolutely willing to ignore any advantages discovered in day to day lineup construction for simple consistency and I don't understand why the consistency trumps any such information. What happens if Buxton bats 9th, is moved to 1st and back to 9th. Is that it for him now... Did we just ruin him forever? I personally believe that players can move around the batting order free and easy without any mental, physical or plain ole' performance repercussions. It's your turn to bat... go bat. Each AB comes with a unique circumstance that can't be controlled based upon where you hit in the order. I don't understand why static batting orders are necessary at all. Get your best hitters to the top of the lineup... they will get an extra AB that way. If the Twins feel that Max Kepler is one of our best 4 hitters, fine but we are still talking future (I do believe in Max Kepler) because at no point in his current career with the Twins has he been one of our top 4 hitters. Why can't Kepler hit 7th, 8th or 9th until he starts hitting like we hope he does? (Disclaimer: I'm not picking on any of the exampled players... I believe in all of them).

I know it's going to sound like I care about the batting order but honestly... I don't care that much. However... I don't believe there is any benefit to a static batting order... I only see detriment. I honestly can't imagine a logical argument that makes sense to keep a static batting order and I've been forced to endure it for way too long. Dozier bats leadoff every single game... No Matter if it's the multiple month long slumpy Dozier who produces out after out or the Power Hitting Monster Dozier who hits a ball out of the park every 3 AB's. Neither Dozier is an ideal leadoff hitter but that's where he hits every single game. Mauer hits third every single time and it took dynamite to move him to the #2 slot. What is the benefit of locking players into a batting order and leaving them there through good times and bad. Why does Marwin hit 6th? I'm happy he is here... I believe he will get it going... I wanted the Twins to increase flexibility and I wanted them to sign Marwin and I'm still happy we signed him but he is now 54 AB's into the season and he's slugging .278!!! I believe Marwin will find it but why can't he hit 9th until he finds it and then move him into the 6th spot. Do we ruin Buxton if we move him from 9th to 1st and have to move him back to 9th in case he is just fooling us right now? Personally... I don't think so... if players are so mentally fragile that they can't move to different spots in the batting order... then how will they get through the playoffs when mental toughness is flat out required in almost all circumstances. In my opinion... I'd like to see Polanco, Buxton, Cruz and Rosario getting the most AB's at this moment. I reserve the right to change my mind later based on who is putting the barrel of the bat on the ball. However... I'll state again... I honestly don't care that much about batting order... other than... when I see a locked in batting order... I start to believe the manager is on auto-pilot. Think about this... When Adrianza plays... he hits in front of Buxton because Buxton is locked into the 9th spot. This can't be justified other than, you'd like to have a good hitter to roll over into the top of the order but there we are with Kepler at the top of the order. So you rolling into a struggling leadoff hitter who is locked into the leadoff spot even if he isn't really producing like a leadoff hitter at the moment. None of this can be justified. But as long as the team wins... it won't matter and I really don't care about batting order.

Rollie threw 138 Innings while racking up 37 Saves in 78 appearances. I'm not suggesting that our bullpen go all Rollie Fingers out there but I am suggesting that there is middle ground between the 190 innings thrown by starters and the 60 innings thrown by the bullpen arms and ultimately we should be looking for ways to get our top bullpen guys more innings to make up for the less innings that will be thrown by our starters. The question is how much rest is required between efforts and what does max effort do to the equation. Hader is already starting to break down the walls.

I won't argue the conditioned usage but we are already seeing examples of certain pitchers going against that grain. Hader for example and it all starts by starting to do it. Taylor Rogers may have struggled as a starter previously but he has done some nice sized improvement on his slider to the point that I don't think his past numbers are applicable today.

I think it is safe to assume, that the majority of players, office staff, broadcasters, producers read Twinsdaily and not just the articles. They are on these forums because it is only human nature to see what is being said about you. Kind of like putting your tongue on a canker sore just to know you are alive. They may not admit it, but yeah they know how to navigate the internet and find comments about them.

Buck hasn't had any sacrifices nor has he hit any home runs so far in 2019. He has 16 hits in 56 AB's for a batting average of .285. He has struck out 15 times (25%). So you get to take those 15 AB's that resulted in strikeouts out of the equation and make it 16 hits in 41 AB's for a .390 BABIP. 4 more balls caught by defensive players over his 17 games. Would result in 12 hits in 41 AB's which would normalize his BABIP while lowering his batting average to .214 because he hasn't parked anything yet. Instead he is hitting line drives with the 2nd highest exit velocity in the league thus far. (BTW... Provus said it last Sunday so I took it as gospel and didn't verify. I'm looking at exit velo's today and Harper is not #1 and Buxton is not #2... but they are up near the leaders). I'd rather move him up while he is doing that instead of waiting for the regression that is inevitable. You can always move him back down. Anyway... I know you get all the numbers better than most. I could have shortened up this whole thing by simply saying... Buck is hitting the ball hard right now.

Very few things are repeatable from year to year. That's why these front offices keep getting burned on those free agent contracts.

I also heard someone (Provus I believe) say that Byron ranks 2nd behind Bryce Harper in exit velocity which coupled with his speed leads to a possible logical (not concrete) explanation of the .390 BABIP. I'm not seeing fortuitous doubles. I'm seeing line drives of the base off the LF wall and some singles in the gap that he turned into doubles with pure speed. Personally... I rarely look at BABIP as a luck stat to be normalized down the road. I feel BABIP is more of an indication of solid contact and other factors like speed. Some people tend to use BABIP as a way to marginalize or downplay current success. When I look at a high BABIP, I tend to say "Nice Job... Good For You... Keep it Up". He already has 12 extra base hits in 61 AB's. I do agree that I'd like to see a big cut down in his whiff percentage. It's better so far this year in a small sample size but I'm salivating over the thought of him getting his strikeout percentage to Astudillo levels.

I thought of another potential complaint that I’m not ready to complain about yet. Baldelli does seem to have a locked down slotting of players in the batting order which leads to the question. Wouldn’t we all like to see Byron Buxton get an extra AB every game he plays? It doesn’t have to be permanent but isn’t Buxton currently out performing the nine hole that he has been consistently hitting out of? I normally don’t care about batting order but I’d put Buxton in the 1 or 2 hole as long as he’s hitting like he is and let him be a distraction on the bases while the pitcher is trying pitch to Cruz and Rosario. Polanco... Buxton... Cruz... Rosario... Looks like a great 1-4 at the moment start to any batting order.

I continue to have no complaints with how the team has been run. Rocco is utilizing his entire roster. However... I feel a complaint coming on. In my opinion: I think he has been great defensively at 3B but, It's time to start moving Marwin around the diamond. Sano is coming back eventually, Garver is hitting the ball and earning more AB's and Astudillo has been earning AB's all along. Let Garver catch more, Let Astudillo play 3B more, Move Marwin around the diamond spread the playing time burden around to everyone. It's time.

I've been saying this for quite some time and will continue to say it. Every team should be trying to sign, acquire or create their own Andrew Miller or Josh Hader type. Taylor Rogers is our candidate for this type of role. 2018: Josh Hader -- 55 Appearances - 81 Innings. 2018: Taylor Rogers -- 72 Appearances - 68.1 innings. 2018: Jose Berrios -- 32 Appearances - 192.1 Innings. The Hader and Rogers numbers kind of highlight the difference in how they were deployed last year and it shows how Rogers can throw more than 1 inning per appearance if the organization looks at the Brewers and Josh Hader and considers it. Jose Berrios is listed for the hell of it to show that anything in between is also possible with Taylor Rogers and to simply ask the question back: Would you rather have Berrios pitch in shorter bursts and be available to appear in more games? Or would you rather him cover multiple innings but be limited to fewer games? Baseball has been Auto-Pilot for way too long. Starters don't have to go 6 innings and relievers don't need to be limited to 1 inning. Everything in between is possible!!! It doesn't matter what inning... Taylor Rogers should be deployed whenever the game is tight and should remain in the game (there is a limit) until the offense provides separation. You won't create this type of weapon until the coaching staffs and front offices get over the 1 inning bullpen mentality and get out of the prefabricated boxes of closer, 8th inning guy, 7th inning guy, LOOGY. If you have a guy who can hang zeroes... let the guy hang more of them. Don't pull him just because you can't fathom anybody on earth throwing an additional inning out of the bullpen or because it was how your grandfather constructed his bullpen. Don't limit him to 55 special innings... increase his innings. The goal of every bullpen is to hang zeroes. Let the guy hanging them... hang more. Once you create a guy like this... there is nothing stopping you from creating another one so the other can get some rest. This is how you get Bullpen serious. Stretch out everyone. Quit creating these specialists... Quit saving your best guy for the 9th inning only and only when you have a 1 to 3 run lead. When I see Baldelli get another inning out of Taylor Rogers... I am hopeful that it's an indication of a different bullpen usage mentality. I know it doesn't mean he is in lock step with me because it was just one time but I'm hopeful because it needs to happen. How do you get Rogers more innings?... Not appearances... Innings? That's the question that needs to be asked.