Riverbrian

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. ?

In order to declare the upcoming stretch critical due to the quality of the opponent. Don't you have to pre-suppose that the bad opponents are consistently bad with no fluctuation to the upside? Don't you have to pre-suppose that the Twins are also consistent when it comes to their performance with no fluctuation to the down side? It's my opinion that baseball has never worked that way. I could be wrong.

Super Utility. Think Chris Taylor with the Dodgers.

I agree that positional flexibility should be developed in the minors. However... here are the totals of the players I came up with off the top of my head. Other than Ryan McMahon... the players all spent their time being primarily developed at other positions. Yoan Moncada played 18 games at 3B in the minors Jose Ramirez played 12 games at 3B in the minors Bobby Witt JR. Played 17 games at 3B in the minors Donaldson played 85 games at 3B in the minors Escobar played 22 games at 3B in the minors Alex Bregman played 23 games at 3B in the minors Ryan McMahon played 393 games at 3B in the minors Luis Urias played 58 games at 3B in the minors A-Rod played 13 games at 3B in the minors Chipper Jones played 7 games at 3B in the minors Pete Rose played 0 games at 3B in the minors Paul Molitor played 0 games at 3B in the minors Royce Lewis played 12 games at Salt River... We should be good to go. ?

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.

Rocco Baldelli Regaining 'Manager of the Year' Form, to the Dismay of Haters Rocco Baldelli Regaining Year Form the Dismay of Haters? Rocco Baldelli of the, to the dismay of? Rocco Baldelli Regaining of year to dismay haters? I'll finish working on this after I finish reading the front page and obits.

Non capisco cosa stanno dicendo. ? Buddy Holly Fans probably won't get past the spelling of "The Weeknd" long enough to give "Blinding Lights" a chance.

I like Music but I don't like the opera. I don't speak Italian, so the opera makes no sense to me. If I understood the opera... I might like it better because I do like Music. People tend to hate what they don't understand. If I make no attempt to better my understanding of the opera... my viewpoint will never change.

I agree that perspective is necessary. This particular AAA team is currently winning 4 games out of every 10. If the wheels completely fall of, They will still win 1 out of every 3 games. I sure hope we don't pitch underhand to them. ?

He pitched well. I'd like to see him get another start because he earned the right to show he can do it again. He may not get that chance if Bundy comes back. If choosing between the two of them. I am currently team Smeltzer.

Not to mention... it takes at least 6 months to buy it because of the chip shortage. ?

I was sleeping during med school and I don't have access to the information necessary to have an opinion. I will always rely upon those who make these types of decisions for a living.

I understand why platoons are helpful and statistically justifiable. I understand the overall historical numbers that clearly show an advantage for hitting against the opposite hand. I understand the historical advantage that pitchers have pitching against the same hand. I also understand that when it comes to roster utilization. The 3 teams that I frequently mention as organization I'd like to see the Twins pattern themselves after (Dodgers, Rays and Giants) are heavy platoon teams. However... my concern with the platoon is always going to revert back to development. Celestino has hit righties as well as lefties in the minors so his numbers don't suggest needing a platoon to survive. Taking a young player and short siding sure seems like a good way to limit his future potential. It can be an easy way to break someone into the majors instead of head first but if you don't let him off the leash he will have no future because eventually someone who hits both sides will take his job when roster decisions have to made in the future. In regards to Garlick... this certainly happened to him. Nothing in his minor league numbers suggested a short side platoon limitation but when he finally got his chance with the Dodgers. They made him a short side platoon and that is what he is... forever now. Garlick can mash lefties is the common phrase used around here but he wasn't given a fair chance to mash righties so who knows if he could have at the major league level. Mashing lefties won't save Garlick in the future. Eventually he will be dropped from our 26 man roster. Anyway... In short... I'm hopeful that Celestino gets a good dose of starts against right handers going forward for his development. After all he just had a good week against them. I'll probably get on this soapbox again in the future. ?

Also... this was against right handed pitching. Injuries allowed Celestino out of the short side platoon box for a bit. He did well, he did well in the minors against righties. He's young with his best years in front of him and in need of further development. Yet, I assume that he will be placed back into that box. I'd like to take this moment to question out loud... should he be in that box.