Riverbrian

I know you asked Jorgenswest but I can’t help throwing two cents in. I got a lot of loose change in my pocket that way. I do not feel comfortable counting on Buxton for 2019 and nothing he does in September will change that. The furthest I’m willing to go is on the 25 man roster and proving himself but I will require a CF option on the roster for him to compete with. I believe that Buxton getting better will be quick and a matter of stop doing that. I’m not sure that it is something that will improve with repetition. I prefer September on the off chance of immediate improvement and the chance he hits the ground running opening day and doesn’t need to see Rochester. A long shot yes but possible... maybe. Either way I want that year back and if the Twins decide to debut him in May or later. Ok.

I’m in the whoever camp. The guys who come in with runners on 2nd and 3rd in the 6th, 7th and 8th inning are more important than the guy who starts a clean 9th. I simply prefer a bullpen full of guys who the manager trusts in any situation.

I agree that he needs reps without question. But.. my unprofessional FWIW opinion is that he might need a little re-tooling and then the reps.

Yeah that's right... Perkins was also a 2009 issue. That one got contentious... and also an example that the supposed "bad will" that is created doesn't seem to stop players from eventually signing extensions.

Hardy was sent down 1 day short in 2009. Alcides Escobar was called up. The MLBPA on behalf of Hardy never filed a grievance. Of course... Hardy was traded during the off season for Carlos Gomez. It could be argued that the extra year increased his trade value. Maybe we could have traded the Brew Crew Alexi Casilla instead if the Brewers wouldn't have increased Hardy's value with that manipulation (that was a joke). Alex Gordon was another in 2009 and he is an interesting comparable to Buxton. Gordon was also a former #2 pick just like Buxton. At age 25 (Buxton is 24), Gordon was a weak hitting 3B approaching his third year of service time when he was sent down to the minors. He returned to the majors in 2010 as an OF. Interesting enough.. At the age of 27 Gordon finally exploded for a dang good 5 year stretch of solid baseball. So let's not give up on Buxton yet.

Ok... but... You are quite a few miles from the point I was making. If my point was in Florida... You are somewhere in Idaho. The context of my point was in response to a couple of posts stating (paraphrasing) "The Twins seem to be playing better". I was responding to why they seem to be playing better by stating that was because they were playing pretty bad before... meaning... It's easy to look better when they were playing so bad before. Instead of typing "they are playing better because they were playing really bad before" it would have simplified my point. I confused things (like I tend to do) by using examples of how bad we were. I used the example of Adrianaza once being our 3rd best hitter to point out just how bad we were. It wasn't a statement of how great Adrianaza is, was or will be... it was a statement that things are pretty bad when Adrianaza is our 3rd best hitter in terms of actual production and he was. If that was a compliment of Adrianaza... it was about as backhanded as you can get. Now... If I head over to Idaho... We might have a different opinion on that but we might not be understanding each other and are probably closer than you think. If you feel that I'm benching Dozier for Adrianaza... I've been misinterpreted. If you feel that I'm not going to tolerate a 3 month slump... then I've been interpreted correctly.

Sure... I'll go with this as well. Whatever gets me that year back.

Sadly... Yeah he was. It was sometime in June, Mauer was on the DL. Kepler was in a deep slump. After Rosario and Escobar... It was Adrianaza who was next best in terms of season production in the every day lineup. He had better stats than Dozier, Kepler, Grossman, Garver, Morrison. If you are talking potential and who should be the best hitters... Of course not... But in terms of actual production in 2018. Yeah... We had a stretch where you could sadly... He was. The mention of Adrianaza wasn't meant to inflate his value... it was just a reference point to how bad we were and how easy it would be for us to be playing better in August.

Agreed I'm OK with a May call up next year. I prefer shutting him down this year but am OK with that strategy as well. All in all... I want the year back. However the club gets there. I'm alright.

Agreed but I'm sure not unprecedented. OPS+ 7 would probably suffice.

Dozier, Kepler, Morrison, Sano and Buxton were bad and they played every single day. Adrianaza was our third best hitter and now he is not. Wilson caught more games than Garver... now Garver is catching more games than Wilson. Improvement was a poorly managed low bar to clear.

I admit I don't know the answer with 100% certainty but I'm fairly baseball attentive and I don't recall a ton of reports of clubs getting nailed by grievances filed by the MLBPA. Frankly, the CBA not only allows service time manipulation, it basically encourages it. The Cubs manipulated service time with Kris Bryant The Astros manipulated service time with George Springer The Braves manipulated service time with Ronald Acuna The Yankees manipulated service time with Greyber Torres The list is waaaaaayyyyyy longer than this... "the bad look" is worn by every major league club and it doesn't appear as if the bad look has cost the Cubs or Astros or Yankeees in terms of acquiring players.

I'd be somewhat OK with this. But, at this moment... we are theoretically in contention for 2019. Not so much in 2018.

If he doesn't improve at the plate. The extra year will not matter. The scouts who predicted super-stardom will need to be fired of course.

Nick you did a great job presenting all sides but this one is an absolute no-brainer. Buxton does not see Minnesota soil for the rest of 2018. If he gets September off... he gets September off. Call it for the purpose of getting healthy but it is primarily for the purpose of getting that extra year... back. Buxton has nearly burned 3 years of service time and has produced 340 K's and 70 BB's in 1074 AB's. Career BA .230 - Career OBP .285 - Career OPS .672. This is not the superstar production that the scouts predicted he will produce. What this is... is nearly 3 years of service time wasted culminating in some of the worst offensive numbers ever produced this year. If you believe the scouts are right... you have to wait for it. If you have to wait for it... you need time to enjoy it when it finally arrives. That extra year is huge in case the scouts were right. If you call him up for a month worth of AB's in a lost season, what do you gain? I don't believe that a month of AB's are going to be the springboard to a changed man in 2019 and I know that his defense isn't going to get us into the playoffs this year. When you give up that extra year of control... you run a very real risk that Buxton figures it out, becomes the player the scouts predicted, the player we dreamed of... right before he hits free agency and we get 1 maybe 2 years if we are lucky of Good Buxton to go with the 4 or 5 years of Bad Buxton. If the front office burns a year of his control, while it is easily avoided and justifiable in consideration of production and health. And do it THIS SEASON with nothing to play for. It could only be viewed as irresponsible. If Buxton considers this a "gut punch". Better him than me. Because he has been gut punching me for 3 years and if we lose a year of superstar Buxton because of September AB's of Bad Buxton... that will be more like a cannonball to the crotch. A gut punch will feel good by comparison. This is coming from a guy, who looks at the terms of the CBA and consistently sides with the players. I do think they get the short end of the stick. But, the CBA is an agreement that a GM needs to consider when making decisions on long range plans. Until the CBA is changed to something more equitable to the players... I sincerely hope that my teams front office utilizes the rules of the CBA to their advantage and ultimately as a fan... that is also the front office acting on my behalf.

The short answer is: Yes he can. He may not but... Yes he can and I support his right to try.

Murphy is the type of guy who can develop position flexibility because he isn't tremendously gifted as a defender but has the capability of being adequate at multiple positions. You sign him and find a way to get his bat in the lineup. Murphy would absolutely be on my FA wish list.

It's 2018... It doesn't matter to me if he does cartwheels or walks up to the retired batter, tweaks his nose and says boop. You gotta let these guys loose as part of the game remake.

Maybe he will miss 4 bats next game.

I just want to say that it was a good start. 1 K 1 Smay... Nothing was hit hard... Nothing. I won't predict his future but it was a good start and we should give him another one.

Agreed that a double play wasn't possible. One out Runners on first and second. Double Play not possible. Lead runner out... A SURE THING. And that's the guy you'd want out if you could choose. I'd forgive him for a boot... Adrianaza was sleeping on the job. Stewart got pulled as a consequence.

Adrianaza owes Stewart an apology. Messed up his first major league start.

He looked parallel with the runner. It also looked the runner stopped to avoid being easily tagged.

I agree that adjustments have been trending the figures together but the Closer still makes the money. In Arbitration ruling and Free Agent Deals.

That Adrianaza error that wasn't credited as an error was huge and simple situational awareness would have rectified it. If Adrianaza just takes care of the lead runner like every other major league player would have. Stewart has a chance to get out of the inning with 1 run and maybe gets another inning. This wasn't a boot... this was a guy asleep in the field. Stewart gave up nothing hard. He gets pulled as a consequence beyond his control.