Riverbrian

I agree with this as well. If Buxton would stop trying to jerk outside breaking pitches into the left field bleachers for a 5 run homer with the bases empty. I believe he would become immediately the player we want him to be. That's the light switch in my opinion.

Good post Well thought and I am inches from agreeing. Of course those inches mean slight adjustments. Almost agree with you on Buxton and Sano. Make them earn their way back I am in total agreement. I wouldn't have a big problem with them starting in Rochester but I would probably give them a spot on the 25 man. Either way I'm OK as long as they are not named opening day starters as the team attempts to build around them. If you are going to name Adrianaza the 3B based on defense... I'd pencil him in at SS instead and then focus on a 3B with some Pop. That will limit you to one light hitter on that side of the diamond. Grossman... I don't hate him like others on this website. I think he contributes but I would truly rather see the Twins go get a OF with Defense and Pop and move on from Grossman.

On that we are agreed. Just making sure you were not trying to have it both ways. I'm just in a "what are you doing for us right now" mode and Cave is doing much more right now. Honestly... Cave has options so we have time with him... Rochester would be the perfect place to start 2019. I'd like to see the Twins bring in a bigger splashier OF name.

This isn't quite fair to Jake Cave. You are absolutely correct when you say that his sample is not reliable. But then you go on to say that he does not project reliably forward? Based on an unreliable sample? You were correct... the sample is not reliable. Buxton on the other hand... 979 AB's... He's entering arbitration. Much more reliable data in my opinion.

I don't know about the once a game requirement but he certainly has to let the other team know that the club is in his bag and he knows how to use it. He's a pull hitter. Making a 3B creep up out of respect will open up more space to shoot balls through. First and foremost though. Contact... the guy has to improve his contact rate immensely.

The A's dumped Max Muncy. They are kicking themselves right now. The Cards would love to Voit back. The Astros dumped JD Martinez. The Mets dumped Justin Turner. The Brewers dumped Scooter Gennett The Indians dumped Jesus Aguilar The Giants threw in Francisco Liriano. The Twins dumped David Ortiz and Aaron Hicks(kinda) as you mentioned. I'm not claiming that Cave will be any of those guys but teams make mistakes like this all the time. I'm not even claiming that Max Muncy will be one of those guys in the future but Max will be given a fair shot to try again next year. Personally... I am long past the point of believing that any team has this down cold. I no longer believe that causalities of other organizations is some sort of indicator of future. I believe the margins are razor thin and I believe that opportunity is the key to success or failure and I believe that players get blocked watching some guy with potential struggle wayyy too often... especially in Minnesota. 40 man roster pressure forces teams to make these razor thin decisions constantly and sometimes they spit out the wrong guy. If Cave beats out Buxton... Cave gets the playing time as far as I'm concerned.

In all my years of being a Minnesota Twins fan. I have never felt the experience you describe above. Being afraid of having too much talent on a Twins roster is like worrying about an 80 degree day in December in Hibbing. It's never happened before and if it does... celebration fist bumps for everyone you meet walking around in shorts.

Spot on Article by Tom. It's seems simple to me... I'd put them on the 25 man roster and that is where the promises end. I'd say here's a bat and here is a glove, now go out and decide your fate. Either win the job or lose the job it is completely up to them. I would also remind them that they both have an option remaining that can and will be utilized if they have another non-competitive year. I'd look them in the eye and say "Yeah... we brought in a third baseman and we brought in a CF... do you have the talent to out play them? If you do... prove it". I understand that they are projected to be 1 trillion WAR players but those projections are not saving my summer at the moment. They will not be traded. They will succeed here or die here. We will not watch them figure it out elsewhere while we are forced to wonder if the relief pitcher we acquired in the trade can be trusted to get a left-handed batter out. Any 2019 plan that says we got Sano at 3B and Buxton in CF therefore we are set, so OK let's go find a 2B... is flawed. I'm completely comfortable putting the ball in their court and saying prove it. I'm completely uncomfortable having nothing to turn to if they can't.

I'd end up in a coma from happiness overload. I'd love to see the Cubs lose.

In my opinion, his roster management style is lock it and throw away the key.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Bannister is on the short list.

I'm equal parts sad and happy over the news. My personal issues with Molitor, were correctable in my opinion. I never called for his head but I was praying that he adjusts to fit what I wanted. Now I'm going to pray that Falvey and Lavine are close to my page.

Scioscia and Showalter are exactly what I don't want. I'm not looking for a manager that hasn't modernized. Might as well keep Molitor if those are the guys who replace him. They are the same manager in my opinion. Hyde, Geren, Pat Murphy are guys that I hope they took a long look at. Never discussed philosophy with any of them so I won't offer strong opinions on any of them but I do know that they currently exist in the philosophy I'm hoping for.

Signing a contract with some sort of guarantee that he will play 3B only. That would be the best way to make sure it's his final major league contract. If Escobar asks for that type of guarantee... I am no longer interested. You will have taken away his best feature. Let's take the current D-Backs as an example. What happens to Escobar if Jake Lamb just got healthy all of a sudden? If he's 3B only he's dead. The baseball path he will have chosen will lead to a conversation with Trevor Plouffe. Trevor will be there waiting for him.

Those numbers you are quoting are all from this year. 103 OPS Total 98 OPS with the Yankees 108 OPS with the Twins. His strikeouts are way too high I agree and he is not a sure thing. I would hand him a 25 man roster spot next year but I would not offer his a spot without capable safety nets in case he looks like Sano did this year. However... he's hitting Homers at a 40 a year pace despite sporadic playing time during his career. Just imagine if he lowered that K rate with some somewhat consistent playing time in the future. He's out of options... he must be placed on the 25 man and I'd give him a spot to see what he can do. But... Alternative options in case he fails must be in place.

Yeah and after they looked at the cards... when the dealer asked how many cards we wanted we said none.

What else does Astudillo have to do? At the minimum... He has options and can be placed in AAA and brought up when needed. All you got to do is give him a 40 man roster spot that he has clearly earned. I'm not predicting a future for him but if the Twins talk themselves out of giving him a 40 man spot next year, it will be tough for me to understand. I have no defensive concerns with him at all and a catcher who puts the ball in play... forget all the launch angle stuff... just a catcher who can put the ball in play as frequently as he does... has real value in comparison with his catching peers around the league who are usually in that .600 OPS range with high strikeout rates. Small Sample Size of course but he's coming up on 100 AB's and he has the highest OPS on the team despite walks not being part of the math. I don't care who #1 and #2 are next year but Astudillo better be at least #3.

Who gets called up to play if Gordon gets hurt? Who plays significantly if both Gordon or Harrison/Adrianaza are on the DL at the same time? If Gordon starts in AAA... Gordon could be that guy who comes up and we will need guys who can come up because no team can avoid the injury reaper. If you want Cruz, Ramos and Harrison... Do it this way. C - Ramos 1B - Austin 2B - Escobar 3B - Somebody with a track record SS - Polanco LF - Rosario CF - Kepler RF - Cruz C - Castro or Garver 1B/3B - Sano 2B/SS - Harrison OF - Buxton Rochester/Chattanooga C - Astudillo 1B - Rooker 2B/SS - Gordon OF - Cave and Wade If you are going to invest in Cruz and Ramos... Don't stop short... Finish the job.

Kohl Stewart... even when he had the rough start... I could see with my eyeballs that he has stuff. Incredible movement that will make it hard for guys to square him up. I liked him from day one and I believe he has a future. Gonsalves... still needs to show me something. Stewart is ahead of Gonsalves on my personal depth chart.

You hit the nail on the head. This is my criticism of Paul Molitor. I don't know if this is Paul or a management directive that he has to follow or if it's a collective agreement... but this is my criticism to whomever is making these decisions. I assume it is Molitor because he did the same thing in 2016 when his supervisors were elsewhere... Kepler and Polanco were called up as backups and benched while the chosen starters played the team into a first pick overall in 2017. Players are allowed to fail for long stretches before adjustments are finally made (if ever). The position players, the bullpen, the rotation, he seems to lock them into roles and then he throws away the key. We went down with the ship. I'm not considering the argument that there is nobody else to turn to because we get the same amount of roster spaces as every other team.If a manager doesn't utilize those roster spaces when the guys he is utilizing are performing woefully that will never be an excuse in my eyes. Even the worm will turn. Put up a fight. We had players that needed some time off and still do. McGill was being utilized to near full extent until Phil Hughes was traded and then McGill was given the long reliever job and he then became severely under utilized waiting to pitch multiple innings in a lopsided contest. Reed and Pressly were going through a long stretch of struggles and they remain the set-up guys throughout. Hildenberger now going through a long stetch of struggle and he remains a go to guy even though there are multiple September options to try instead. Astudillo is brought up as a utility guy and never catches... Then he is brought up as a catcher and he is never utility. Morrison, Sano, Buxton, Dozier, Wilson playing well below replacement level for a long stretch and in the lineup every day while players who were out-performing them are forced to watch them not perform from the bench. I don't know who is responsible but I do feel that they can change. I've seen Molitor convert to the new concept of using an opener so I know he can convert to something else. If Molitor or whomever in the front office can commit to not going down with the ship. I have no problem with them coming back next year for 2019. If they can't... I will personally want someone else to take over the job. It doesn't mean that you bench Dozier when he is struggling so Petit can play... But it does mean that Dozier has to check the lineup card to see if he is on it until he turns it around. 25 Guys who can play and 25 guys who are utilized and 25 guys in honest to god competition for the bulk of the playing time. I'm watching other teams do it successfully so this approach is no longer unprecedented. I'm now watching the Indians add Josh Donaldson to 3B which moved Jose Ramirez to 2B and Jason Kipnis to CF. Ramirez and Kipnis have some experience at 2B and CF (although Kipnis CF experience is pretty limited) but... neither player got reps during the season but they are making the move now to accommodate Josh Donaldson right now during the home stretch. If the Indians would have been committed to flexibility all year long, they could have been preparing for a Josh Donaldson type acquisition all year long but instead... they wait until the end of August to slam it all into place. 25 guys who can play... Roster Flexibility... No tolerance of sub .200 BA or sub .700 OPS numbers. I will settle for nothing less. Hildenberger is just another example as we close out 2018 and turn our eyes to 2019.

I understand... However... If we sign Cruz, Murphy and Ramos... that would be awesome... but it still wouldn't justify a wing and a prayer at 2B or SS.

Nick Gordon will be placed on the 40 man roster this off-season and he has all 3 options remaining. In my opinion... there would be absolutely no reason to roll the dice on a guy when you don't have to. You don't want to shorten the depth on a dice roll. You can't sign a free Agent 2B or SS and place them in Rochester for depth. Only players with options or players signed to minor league contracts can be placed on the farm. SIgn a 2B or SS and when someone gets hurt and someone always does... Gordon can be the call up. If Gordon comes up and performs at the MLB level... now you have too many players and one of them can be traded to shore up somewhere else. If the Twins, during the off-season were to determine that Gordon is a starting 2B or SS next year and we don't attempt to sign someone else for that position via trade or FA. They will have purposely decided to put all of their eggs in the Nick Gordon basket when it wasn't necessary. If Gordon hits .150... there will be no options to replace him because you didn't attempt to sign anyone else and all your eggs are in the Gordon Basket. SIgn a 2B or SS and have Gordon in AAA ready to replace one of them if they end up with a hip impingement or hit .150. Same amount of Eggs... Multiple baskets. I'm sorry... but I'm not personally willing to put up with this type of thing anymore. This choosing one player and developing one player at a time at each position every year, then living and dying with the consequences needs to come to stop with this year's roster. 2019 needs to be different.

If the Twins pick up a starting pitcher via trade or free agency... it needs to be a needle mover guy on the top end that can push the others down a notch. Even if we don't acquire that guy... I'm fairly comfortable with the depth that will be available for us. I believe we will need that depth because Berrios, Gibson, Pineda, Odorizzi, Romero, Mejia... One or two or three of those guys will get hurt and need time on the DL. How do the Dodgers and Astros handle all of their pitching depth? The answer is the bullpen. Musgrove, McHugh and Peacock are and were important bullpen arms for Astros and they will slide them into starting roles when needed and their arms are not falling off as a result. Maeda, Urias and Stripling are or have worked out of the bullpen for the Dodgers and their arms haven't fallen off either. Actually, I believe that Urias had his arm glued back on but... well... that happened while starting so the point remains the same. If the Twins need to stash some starters in the bullpen... do it. Just don't freeze them in place by naming them a long reliever or something waiting for a lopsided score to pitch. Keep them active... Utilize them... Let them help you win games. It's a whole new bullpen world out there. Bullpen guys don't just throw an inning anymore. The opener concept isn't going away. Bullpen games are going to be more frequent. Might as well modernize your approach right now because it will have to happen sometime. Bottom Line: I'm excited about our depth. Now I'd like to see it used. Flexibility is important in the field and it can be important on the mound as well.

I used to believe this but I no longer do. I'm starting to believe that the line between a decent AAAA and the average MLB player is pretty close together and I believe it is about opportunity instead. The guy with the MLB job gets a chance while the AAAA guy doesn't. Therefore when Morrison plays hurt (as claimed) and produces at the level he produced at. He becomes easily replaceable by lots of AAAA options. They might not be Paul Goldschmidt but they can beat Logan Morrison out of a job in his current form. When Morrison is not placed on the DL because there is a feeling that there isn't a suitable replacement. The organization just failed because Logan Morrison ened up being a very low bar to clear.