Riverbrian

In reality, I have the same view of catchers that you do, I'm just not as hard on Garver as others. In the end, I do agree with you. Others are much more to blame than Wilson. As a matter of fact, I often agree with you. You should probably be concerned about that.

I agree unless the context of the team is desperate need for offense. If offense is killing the club, pitchers asking for a preferred catcher could be counter productive to addressing the weak points and the primary reason why a manager is necessary. Managers need to make the decisions that are important to the club and not to the pitchers personal preferences. Brian Dozier shouldn't get to pick where he hits in the order either.

Molitor has to tell the pitchers that he is in charge.

I hate to say it but the current plan seems to be: Set the course and follow it in the river and hope that you reach the other side of the river before you sink.

I've often thought the same thing from an outside the box viewpoint. What if the Arms race changed from players to development? Or perhaps the question should be... why hasn't it? Instead of spending 12 million on Lance Lynn... Spend 12 million on a system that is gonna produce 10 Lance Lynn's. Take your analytics department and track the most successful scouts across baseball. Offer them double or whatever. Find the best analytical minds... Offer them double or whatever. Find the best hitting coaches and pitching coaches throughout the minor leagues and offer them double or whatever. Make Minnesota the easy place to say Yes to by compensating them a whole new level. Go get these guys and get a head start on the competition. The other teams will of course eventually match once they realize that they are bleeding talent but you'll have a head start before they recognize the blood. Of course you would have to do a better job identifying these folks then the job you've done identifying the players that you are currently spending your resources on. I'm getting tired of business as usual in baseball. I want my team to think outside the box and get rid of anyone who isn't able to think outside the box.

I think it's a natural conclusion to draw after the autopsy is complete. It's isn't a stretch to consider both arriving at similar conclusions independently.

I think the future of free agent paydays as we know it is in trouble. The numbers don't lie... It's hard to justify a 12 Million Dollar deal for a player that barely out performs (or doesn't out perform) a 600K guy and this happens frequently... Way too frequently. I also don't believe that the size of a teams payroll indicates the size of on the field success so I don't think $130 Million is guaranteed better than $100 million. With that said... Free Agency is a door that has to always remain open because a General Manager needs to keep every available door open when it comes to staffing a roster for competition. GM's need every available avenue. In the future... The price for a Logan Morrison type is going to go down but the need for a Logan Morrison type is going to remain unchanged. While many are not working as planned... SOME DO and as long as some do... you must keep the door open to fill in those gaps. What GM's need to stop doing (especially the Twins)... is assuming that the free agent you just signed has just fixed your problem before he has fixed your problem. GM's need to bake the salary into the payroll as the cost of doing business and have a plan B in case Logan Morrison becomes our Logan Morrison. Yes... I'm gonna pick on Logan Morrison as an example: I was OK with the team signing Logan Morrison. Signing him shows a good faith effort by the front office to improve the team. Even if he struggles as badly as he has... I'm ok with it. I'm not OK with playing Logan Morrison on a regular basis all the way into July when he is playing as poorly as he has. 4 wrongs do not make a right.: Wrong 1 - Spending 6 Million on a player that would easily be out performed by AAAA guy for 600K is a wrong. But a survivable wrong. It's only Money and if you simply bake the salary into the recipe, the results won't kill you. Wrong 2 - Playing that failing 6 million dollar player everyday compromises your chances to win. It does the exact opposite of your intention by signing him. Now you've essentially paid 6 million dollars for the privilege of making it hard to win. Everybody will make a wrong turn on occasion with the intention of going the right direction. Wrong turns are only major issues if you keep going the wrong direction. You've now taken one wrong and made it two wrongs and this makes the situation much much worse. Wrong 3 - Playing that failing 6 million dollar player everyday also blocks the opportunity for a Jake Cave at 600K to avail himself to the club as an option that wasn't considered previously. Now you've spent 6 Million for the privilege of making it harder to win with a player not producing. AND... And... you are now making it harder to identify a cheaper option that may become a club asset by not providing the necessary playing time because you are wasting his opportunity by playing the guy you made a mistake signing in the first place. By not identifying a cheaper asset, you force yourself to repeat wrong #1 in the future because you never gave that cheaper asset a chance to be considered in the future. That becomes wrong #4... You didn't identify a cheaper option for the future... so now you have to go back to free agency to find the Logan Morrison replacement with a Logan Morrison type and possibly repeat Wrong #1 again. Now you are in a death spiral that you can't get out of. Not making wrong #2 will give you a chance to minimize wrong #1 and could provide you a chance to avoid repeating wrong #1 over and over again until we all die. I do not blame them for the signing of Logan Morrison... I blame them for letting him continue.

We simply have no idea how insubordinate Doug M may have been to new ideas brought by the new regime. I have no idea obviously but that would be the first place I’d look when trying to figure out why he was let go. There was a change and some people don’t change and some people tell everybody around them that they are not going to change.

If the rumors are correct. They almost did. The choice was Ramirez or Swihart.

I’m having trust issues with the clubs ability to identify the difference between prospect and non prospect.

I have no idea what structural changes were made and I have no idea what structural changes will be made going forward. But I’m pretty sure that If anyone was expecting a sudden shift in direction, you were nearly certain to be disappointed. Things rarely change on a dime when an existing staff experiences a change of leadership and you have to get rid of any notion that Terry Ryan or Thad Lavine make decisions by themselves in a vacuum. I’ve never witnessed it personally but I’m willing to bet any amount of money that Terry Ryan-Falvey/Lavine -All GMs have authorized the signing of players sight unseen by themselves on the recommendation of their staff. It is hard to say who the advocate for Belisle was. Whoever it was... if it works like it is supposed to. His future recommendations will carry less weight.

I swear that I’m not giving up on him myself. But that is a loud OPS+ 7 for a guy ready to hit Arbitration. It isn’t injury to me. It is pitch recognition upper cut swing mechanics. But I’ve seen the light bulb go on before and I will wait for it.

It won’t stop. We probably have a decent size percentage of our Twins Daily Posters already counting on Nick Gordon to start next year. As humans. We have the uncanny ability to watch and feel what happens to Buxton, Sano, Kepler Etc. and eagerly await the next one. Like forgetting the pain of childbirth or life stops after one I guess.

Who knows what kind of emotional wrecks we have on our payroll. There are emotional wrecks all around us every day. We all know people capable of losing sleep because someone took the last cup of coffee a couple of days ago. However... logically. Do we want players who are so fragile that they wilt at the loss of a coach or the mood of the disgruntled? You’d have no chance unless everything was perfect on and off the field.

We could seriously consider changing our team name from “Twins” to the “Young Struggling Centerfielders who will play better for another team later”. We need to get out of this pattern of rushing up a CF. Absorbing the bad Getting frustrated and then trading them and letting others enjoy the good. Gomez and Hicks alone are enough for a few decades. Don’t add Buxton to the list.

I’m leaving Buxton in AAA for the rest of the year. I’m assigning someone to the job of whispering in his ear daily “quit swinging for the fences””... level out your swing and put the ball in play”. Should we trade him and move on? How bout we just simply stop expecting him to be Mickey Mantle. How bout we just simply stop expecting him to carry the weight of all our hopes and dreams. How bout we simply keep Buxton. Think of him like we think of Cave and then be over joyed if he turns into Buxton we hoped for. That way if he develops... bonus. And If he doesn’t... he doesn’t take the entire organization down with him.

Personally... I’m not sure. I’ve seen Garver catch some nice pitching performances so I don’t think he is catastrophic in that regard. However... in this environment... dying for a hit and not dying on the mound. Playing Wilson over Garver seems like treating the heart attack victim with a nose job.

Alright... those are fine selections. I’ll switch to one of them.

Yep... by the time he figures it out. Off to Free Agency he goes. It’s a big reason why they don’t rush prospects up. You can end up eating a lot of years of control with the fuzzy end of the lollipop.

Insurance - Get some This organization has to stop working without a safety net. How many years in a row have we turned to Hicks and then Buxton only to have them struggle and then be forced to turn to Mastroianni types. My perspective on Buxton and my desperation and hopes toward Buxton changed, the very second I thought to myself, bring a decent 4th OF in case he fails. I don't worry about him nearly as much then. Buxton crumbling before our eyes is much worse because Grossman isn't a good insurance policy. I'm hoping this organization stops making the same mistake over and over again. Thinking to yourself, We got Buxton... We are covered. Is an example of the worst possible planning that I can imagine. Get Insurance and let Buxton develop like Hicks eventually did. Provide a safety net... BUT... this time... Don't trade him off when he finally starts to show something.

I have no idea... I haven't been tracking his BABIP or checking his hot zones. Just watching him game in and game out. Hard Contact... he doesn't make a ton of it. The balls that it does seem to connect with seem to be exclusively low in the zone. I don't see him get much out of balls up in the zone. If he is a low ball hitter... He's gonna get less of them and BABIP and all the counting stats marginalized until he can make the adjustment. Somebody could check this stuff out and it might be the opposite but it is the impression that I get from watching. I'm a big believer in Kepler but he just might not be ready yet and his performance gets added to the pile of players causing our downfall.

I apologize for not being clear. If Logan Morrison is one of our best players but performing like one of our worst. How long before he isn't considered to be one of our best players? As for rest... if you pinch hit and hit a ground ball to SS and then went back to the bench, that seems pretty restful but if you pinch hit and stay in the game as a defensive replacement... not so much. There are degrees obviously. Does the player need a physical break, a mental break? Does the player need to be sent a message? It can be complicated and most of it is out of our view. Overall, You seem to be saying... Play your starting 9 with 3 or 4 guys on the bench who mostly watch the other 9 unless one of the starting 9 needs the occasional break.

Can you expand your thoughts a little? Are you saying who starts doesn't matter?

I know that I've been having a love affair with the Brewers roster but... even though the Brewers offense hasn't been off the charts this year... They are built for games like this. They can scratch out a run with a home run or they can do it with their feet small ball style... Plus.. Killer defense and bullpen that can shut you down. Win and Losses are mattering less and less for me. I'm just hoping for a spark of something that can lead to a spark of something in 2019 at the moment.

Resting is a secondary or territary point. Primary point is who the managers are giving the playing time to with starts.