Riverbrian

I agree 100% but even if the front office goes out and finds the next Luke Voit who steps up and says play me. How is he going to become the next Luke Voit? If Joe Mauer and Logan Morrison are entrenched at 1B and DH and you can't even sit Morrison with a painful hip impingement and a simultaneous batting average below .200? How do you find the next Luke Voit? You can't. Tyler Austin is acquired June 30th and he has to cool his heels in Rochester waiting until Logan Morrison decides (I assume) to shut it down on August 12th to have a hip surgery that has a 4 to 6 month recovery, with spring training conveniently 4 to 6 months away. If Logan decides to tough it out all the way to the end of the season... Does Tyler Austin get called up on August 12th? I don't think he does. Tyler would have to wait until September for his chance in that scenario. The Twins can't ever do this again.

Position Flexibility and Depth are the biggest off-season needs.

Brian Dozier. Back in May or June I made the statement that the Dodgers would never tolerate the production of our players because the Dodgers will turn to the next guy. I then went on a month long Dodgers kick in an attempt to point out a different way of doing things. I'm sad for Brian Dozier but glad that he was able to show what I was talking about. Dozier is now playing only against left-handers because he hasn't met their standards. He has been beaten out of a job. They didn't acquire Dozier as a left handed specialist. They acquired him to man 2B and help in the playoffs. It was Brian Dozier's performance (injury related or whatever) that has minimized his playing time. Before Brian Dozier... Logan Forsythe was the casualty of sub-par play. And it isn't Dodgers money that is providing the depth. These are major league minimum players who are replacing Forsythe and Dozier. Taylor, Hernandez and Muncy and by turning to these guys and giving them a chance to beat Dozier for the main job... They created depth out of thin air. The Twins need to follow this model. Play the players who actually win the job through performance. The Dodgers don't mess around and the Twins have been incredibly patient to a fault.

Grossman is much maligned on Twinsdaily. I'm not one of those. I'm indifferent toward his ability much like you are. Personally... I think he can help you win games and his OBP has value but I also feel that a more complete package should be acquired because his OF defense is lacking and more power is out there. Jake Cave for example. In my opinion, I don't know if he is the type of guy that you settle down with, while calling yourself set and not look for improvement which shouldn't be that hard to find. However... He was chosen on purpose by the decision makers to be a part of the 25 man roster, It should be understood without any doubt that injuries will occur during the course of a season and it should be understood without any doubt that at it is also a strong possibility that someone you were counting on will not perform. There should be no doubt because we see it every single year in Twins Land. If Grossman made the 25 man roster out of spring training... there was absolutely no reason for him to not get more playing time when you consider that Morrison was playing through the pain of a hip injury and his numbers were bad. If Molitor can't turn to Grossman under those conditions... Then the front office needs to be aware of that and on the phone with another team or agent in full out effort to acquire someone that Molitor will turn to when Morrison or Buxton is not producing because of injury. There is no excuse for this.

Agreed that the depth on this team is a huge issue that needs to be fixed for 2019 and beyond. However we have a 25 and 40 man roster just like everybody else does and this year we had Wilson, Buxton, Sano, Morrison who were all well below replacement level. We would have been better with simple replacement level. This is on the front office but it is also on the manager and players. Astudillo should have been playing catcher and Wilson should have been in AAA. Cave should have been called up sooner it seems a stint on the DL for someone swinging on crutches might have triggered that. Grossman wasn’t very good early but he made the 25 man roster for some sort of purpose. LaMarre our performed Buxton and it can be argued that Petit our performed Dozier at his 90% or whatever he was claiming to be in the paper. I’m not claiming we would have won a title but there is no excuse for the performance we got from 6 of our everyday players.

Agreed... But... When the numbers are real bad? The decision can't be difficult anymore... it just can't.

It's possible but, it's going to cost them anyway. If we take them at their word... the total cost of it staggering. Buxton lost a year of service time Morrison will be signing a minor league contract next year. Dozier... who knows but he is currently only facing left-handers for the Dodgers and his next contract is going to be nowhere near what he would have got last season. The Final Cost to the players are and will be huge... and it ruined my summer.

My anger level on this subject is quite high at the moment. I Just recently read an article quoting Brian Dozier that he has been playing hurt since April and that has impacted his performance this year. https://www.1500espn.com/news/2018/09/report-brian-dozier-says-playing-knee-injury-since-april/ “It’s been a struggle,” Dozier said. “I’ve had a knee issue since the beginning of the year.” Dozier’s injury, according to the Times, dates to April when he suffered a bone bruise on his right knee. Structural damage was ruled out after an MRI but the soreness remained and Dozier told the paper that the inability to swing freely has compromised his swing. “If one side of your leg is not working, find a way to use your other side,” he said. “That’s just my mentality.” Byron Buxton has the same story to tell: http://www.1500espn.com/twins-2/2018/07/byron-buxton-talks-injuries-swing-remains-confident-frustrating-start-season/ “You see a good pitch to hit but you can’t put the right amount of pressure on [the foot] to swing at the ball the right way. That was the more frustrating part. It limited me from doing what I wanted to do.” Logan Morrison had a hip impingement all season long that he was battling through and terrible numbers to go along with it. Many feel it is admirable to play hurt and tough it out like we all did back in the old days. And it is admirable... as long as you produce while toughing it out. Does anybody want your surgeon toughing it out with a broken hand? "Sorry about that, you'll have to wear a colostomy bag for the rest of your life because I accidentally removed a part of your colon taking out your appendix. It's OK though... I had a broken hand and I come to play every day so let me soak up all your admiration for my toughness". If they are using injury as an excuse for their production this season. Each player, the manager and the front office can all bite me. They ruined my summer. I'm all for the hiring of a biomechanics expert in an effort to detect warning signs and slow injuries that happen. I hope it works... but the front office better prepare for the possibility that it doesn't work as quickly as they like and do something about it the old fashion way at the same time. Spend this off-season acquiring more MLB ready depth. I want unequivocally... 25 players who can play on the 25 man roster... 25 players who will compete with each other for playing time and provide decent options when other players are injured and I want at least 10 more players on the 40 man roster. I don't ever want to hear a player in a Twins uniform (who starts over 90% of the time) state that the reason he had a .600 OPS was because he had pain somewhere, ever again.

Brian Dozier: http://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-dodgers-report-20180908-story.html Logan Morrison: https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2018/08/12/logan-morrison-to-undergo-season-ending-surgery/ Byron Buxton: http://www.1500espn.com/twins-2/2018/07/byron-buxton-talks-injuries-swing-remains-confident-frustrating-start-season/ Playing Hurt and Performing well suggests a toughness that you can be proud of. Playing Hurt and Not Performing suggests multiple people from the player, to the manager, to the front office getting it wrong. WIth the addition of Dozier to this list. It has been reported that 3 players were playing hurt, which is admirable unless... you are hurting the team trying to be admirable. It wasn't the people on the DL who killed us... It was the people who apparently were not placed on the DL. The front office is in charge here. They got this very wrong.

That last line made me laugh out loud. Chris Gimenez the Educational Toe Fungus.

The CBA was negotiated by big boys staring across the table at each other. The CBA is an Acronym for: Collective - A group representation. Bargaining - Terms and Conditions were negotiated. Agreement - Both Parties AGREED on the terms. Once the agreement is in place, the two parties will utilize the agreement to guide their future decisions. If there was an oversight or mistake made by either party during the negotiation and agreement. It is not the job of the other party to go back to table and say... I'm sorry we have a clear advantage and we would like to give that advantage back in the name of fairness. If you read the actual CBA... Service Time Management is tacitly encouraged. The "Good Faith" covenant is all they got and it seems to be working (a little) because JT Realmuto wasn't sent down to the New Orleans Baby Cakes to gain the extra year while the Marlins are clearly out of it. The Owners clearly won the negotiation and the MLBPA failed to predict the result of analytics taking over every front office. The biggest issue is going to be peak value and years of control. Once the front offices decided not to give out long term contracts to decline phase players and they collectively did that this off season, in my opinion, this was a paradigm shift that will lead to the MLBPA to insist on players reaching free agency at peak value, therefore at a younger age. The Owners won't want to give that up and I'm prepared for a strike or lockout or something that will ruin my summer. The radical solution is this: No first year player draft at all. Just like I can choose to work wherever I'd like as long as someone will hire me.

No doubt. Bottom Line... It's always the people who hire the people.

In order to get that job in Texas, Boston or the Cubs. I'd assume they will have improved us along the way. If that it the case. Congratulations are in order and I wish them the best in Texas, Boston or the Cubs. If Texas, Boston or the Cubs, hire them and the Twins are still struggling. That will also be great news because we will be ready for a new approach and both Texas and Boston are in the American League and that would be helpful as well.

I question weather we should count on Rosario, Polanco and Berrios. We tried that counting on people stuff this year and it didn’t work out.

I don't know if Buxton would have caught that specific ball. The ball wasn't in the air that long. He's fast no doubt but that looper looked like it required a whole nother level of fast. If Buxton would have caught that ball... it would have saved us three runs. Which would have prevented a crooked number, Which was my way of agreeing with you. Peter Bourjos was 24 before he turned 31.

I'll also add that I'm sure the pitchers loved having Buxton in CF saving their butt on occasion. I've heard that the pitchers preferred to pitch to Bobby Wilson. Offense was what carried us last year. Buxton and Wilson helped kill our offense this year (not just those two) to a 20th ranking in team OPS and those defensive preferences led our pitching staff to 23rd in Team ERA. I'm not sure I understand what was accomplished in the end other than we ended up selling at the trade deadline.

I agree with you. I think I understand what you are saying. I believe crooked numbers are often the difference between winning and losing. I also believe that extra outs or stolen hits are major factors in producing or preventing a crooked number. When Byron Buxton makes a catch that no one else can make it is hard to quantify exactly what he prevented by taking away a triple with nobody out and turning it into one out with nobody on. I personally believe that each time is potentially big. It's all a matter of sequencing of course but I do agree with you. I've seen it many times while coaching 15 year olds and while watching the Twins nearly every night for going on a hundred years now. From Bartman to Ervin Santana not getting that 3rd strike call against Didi Gregerious before he homered in the 1st inning of our playoff game last year. Each moment that is gained or lost to create an out can be (often is) full of consequence. However... Peter Bourjos is having a hard time finding a job because he just couldn't hit enough and Buxton has got to hit to avoid being Bourjos because the routine defensive play that nearly all can make is the norm in the major leagues.

Oops.. editing it now.

I know this is a Falvey-Lavine discussion and talking about the previous regime tends to take things off the rails but in my opinion... The previous regime dealt Falvey-Lavine a 3 of Diamonds and 8 of Clubs. Therefore... It's relevant to the discussion. I'll add to your point. I'm not that concerned about the playoff wins. You gotta make the playoffs to get a playoff win. I have two serious points of contention right now and my hope is that Falvey and Lavine will be the people who fix it... pronto. 1. Since Target Field opened April 12, 2010. The Twins have the 2nd worst record in baseball. 650 Wins 791 Losses for a 45.1 Winning Percentage. Only the Marlins have a worse record over that span. 2. Since Target Field opened... we have not produced or acquired a SUPERSTAR!!! Not one. Rosario or Berrios might get there but they haven't got there yet in my opinion. Those two things together should be hard to accomplish simultaneously . The Marlins have been worse but they did manage to produce Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Fernandez and Christian Yelich. Bad records means high draft picks, bad players means more opportunity to locate a different player. It took a concentrated commitment to mediocrity to achieve this. It took a front office saying we have Trevor Plouffe, we are set at 3B, we don't need to find anyone better. It took consistent failure to develop a 1st round pick since Joe Mauer in 2001 or maybe Denard Span in 2002 to accomplish it. Maybe we can count Hicks in 2008 or Kyle Gibson in 2009 as an example of development, but we only really had one decent year of Gibson and we really didn't get to enjoy any of Aaron Hicks playing well. Speaking of trades, It took lack of activity in the trade market to accomplish it. The Twins have made 54 trades since 2003 and that is the 2nd lowest. They committed to mediocrity, didn't try to improve it and were unable to develop anyone who could surpass it. The reason we don't have playoff wins is because we don't have wins to get us to the playoff. With the 2nd worst record in baseball since Target Field opened. This roster should have been fully stocked for Falvey and Lavine to work with. It wasn't.

Give him time. My wife is high character and she didn't talk to me for a week when I accidentally mowed over the tulips.

Agreed

I'll have to learn to survive without your help. I'll bow out gracefully and let your above paragraph be the final word.

That is also my fear. I love Joe... I'm building him a statue but we can't hand cuff him to the new Morrison again and say this year is going to be different.

I'm kind of surprised it hasn't been done by a blogger. I'm surprised that you can't find a published list of Service Time markers with each demotion and call up on the internet. If I was the MLBPA... I'd be writing a check to Fangraphs or Baseball Ref to make sure that light is shed into the dark corners. A little public exposure just might help the next round of negotiations.

We both have shown possible explanations involving the Rockies and we could probably play that game with every team. You are right none of us have had the privilege of being a fly on the wall so who knows. Hopefully, we can find some common ground when I say that the Twins may have a reached another level with this move but it is still shades of the same old song. Justification is in the eye of the beholder. You won't justify it and that is your right. Myself... I had already justified it before the move happened. I'm on record saying that "I wanted the year back" multiple times before the announcement. Regardless if you approve of the method... Byron Buxton has just increased in value overnight. That extra year has value and if Byron supports that value with the play we have been waiting for... The trade return gets real big.