Riverbrian

He has had a nice start to the season. He is one of a very few players who are positively contributing to the baseball team at the moment. I hope he continues. This team needs the help. Heart and Soul? I sure hope not. He is signed to a 1 year deal with a 2nd year mutual option that we won't be able to afford if he ends being our heart and soul in 2025.

I'm not arguing. I'm certainly not advocating that Kiersay displace anyone. However, Just pointing out that it's hard to show anything with 16 scattered AB's in the majors. As for the coaching staff observing his abilities for years. Same coaching staff and front office that let Brent Rooker go for almost nothing. I'm not knocking their abilities. They do this for a living, they have to draw hard lines on thin margins due to roster space limitations. But I'll need to be forgiven for not trusting them entirely. Not them or any front office for that matter.

Understood but I'll say that 2024 is review mirror. 2025 is a small sample size. We have additions and subtractions (not a lot but enough to be context changing) and so do all the opponents that we face. When I become disenchanted. I won't be targeting Rocco. I'll be targeting the front office. The front office hired Rocco and the front office put the players on the field. If the manager is blowing it... the front office is the ones to do something about it. Am I disenchanted? Not yet but getting closer because I have developed development concerns. When Dombroski was fired by the Red Sox in September 2019. They had just won a world series in 2018 but they had a bloated pay roll and a farm system that Dombroski had drained. Our front office was in place at this time. Since then... the Red Sox farm system has risen from near the bottom to near the top. The Red Sox currently have 15 Pre-Arb players on the 26 man roster. The Twins have 9. Bottom line: The Twins are going with primarily experienced guys to compete with. It better work. If it doesn't... I'm not going to blame Rocco. I'll be looking at the people who hired him and staffed this club with low cost vets. My development concerns are years in the making so I hear you. But... right now... 10 games is too soon in regards to 2025.

It's 10 games. Small sample size. Those 10 games tho... Not good. League average OPS is .705 so far this year. It was .711 in 2024. The Twins have only 3 players above that MLB average thus far: Bader .988, Wallner .895 and Castro .774 Our 4th highest OPS over these 10 games belongs to Larnach at .564. The quick math on that. The Twins have 10 players who are at least 141 points behind league average. 257 out of 363 plate appearances handled by players who are at least .141 point behind league average. Don't look at the bottom of the OPS rankings. 47 Million dollar sitting at the bottom. On the pitching side. 4.08 is the league average ERA so far this year. Our team ERA is 4.92 which ranks 25th out of 30 teams. Again... small sample size. Too soon to panic. The numbers can't stay this bad forever... at sometime there will be improvement to move those numbers up. The team has to turn it around. They will have to get started on this turnaround against Cole Ragans. Ragans is the 2nd left handed starter we have faced this year. Martin Perez was the first. The Twins are still looking for their first hit against a left handed starter. We paid for veteran talent. I'm ready for that veteran talent to lead us out of this.

There wasn't any argument so it must have struck Perez. I just struggle to see the contact on the Twins.TV replay. Erceg spiked that curveball hard off the plate. His two seamer has some serious movement. Erceg has some incredible stuff. He will be a free agent in 2030. He will be a problem for us for awhile.

I honestly couldn't tell if it struck Perez first. If it didn't... that's a HBP. Nobody was arguing so... Perez must have made contact with it.

It can still be a hit by pitch if it bounces.

Can any rule experts explain why that isn't a hit by pitch. Did it bounce off Perez and then strike Buxton?

I thought Thursday was interesting. With the Twins down 5-2... in the 7th inning. Miranda pinch hit for Julien against King This occurred with two out and nobody on base. Hoping to start a two out rally. In the 9th... Yep Larnach to the plate against Hader. Gasper and Vazquez were available to pinch hit. Rocco stayed with Larnach. There was one out and nobody on base. Defensive substitutions appear to be the more popular than the pinch hit so far this year. With a 6-1 lead on Saturday.. pinch hitting wasn't critical so just one pinch hit move made. 8th inning at the DH position with Gasper pinch hitting for Julien to face the left handed Okert. After Larnach faced Gusto in the 7th. Bader entered the game for Larnach in LF as a defensive replacement on Saturday. Yesterday... with the score 7-5 in the 7th inning. France and Miranda entered as defensive replacements for Julien and Gasper. Castro shifted from 3B to 2B to shoe horn the defensive changes in. In the 8th Inning Keirsay entered as a pinch runner for Wallner.

Julien was ill and did not start in the first 4 games. He has now made 5 starts in a row. Primarily at the expense of Miranda playing time. Bader is in a play 2 sit 1 pattern. Doesn't mean he is in a play 2 sit 1 pattern but his playing time over the first 9 games is a play 2 sit 1 pattern. Miranda might be in a play 1 sit 2 pattern and would link with Bader.

Develop or Die. Important for the teams that have money as well. The Red Sox currently have 15 pre-arb players on their roster. The Twins have 9. Margot was not good. The need for a Margot is ten times worse.

Miranda in... Bader out. Chief earns another point with another Julien start.

That always seems to be the case with Miranda. He has these stretches of hitting good and these stretches of hitting bad and when he is hitting bad... he chases crap. If the could take a discipline pill daily. Look out.

Maybe... He's had a rough start but so has Correa and others. The interesting part is what do the Twins decide to do in the near term and as the season goes along.

It's not a lot of effort. The only conclusion drawn from 6 games is that the Twins decision makers came out of the off-season and spring training with the players they have elected to give playing time to day one. That is their evaluation system saying... France over Miranda? Are they saying that... so far it looks like it. Now that Julien is healthy and Castro slid from 2B to 3B (Two games in a row now) What happens with Miranda? Is Julien the starting 2B against Right handers now that he is healthy. Did Castro slide from 2B to 3B to accommodate the health of Julien? Neither of us know the answers but they will tell us via utilization and more information will be released tomorrow with the starting lineup. Yes... Lewis getting hurt is a major factor and his return will be a big change in context and we will watch how utilization adjusts to that change and who is sent down to accommodate his return. Will Lee even join the big club when he is healthy? I don't know but we will find out and more information will be acquired in how the club ranks their assets. This thread may be a big waste of time or something that could be used as reference in June but my hope is that it will be something that provides insight into who the Twins placed their initial faith in day one who still has that faith on the 100th day.

We do differ on this. I don't oppose static positions and the benefits of knowing it like the back of your hand. BTW... I don't know the back of my hand all that well so I'm not sure where that phrase comes from. It's just that... I'm seriously not afraid of player movement because it happens all the time as managers on all 30 teams try to get their best lineups on the field and that will always be a combination of offensive and defensive contribution. That player movement often isn't disastrous while often not perfect. I think defensive problems are due to the defensive talent that we employ as opposed to position changes or comfortableness. If you want a better defending team... roster better defenders. If you have bat only guys on your roster... you gotta put them someplace. I think a good defender can be a good defender at other spots within reason of course... I wouldn't take Nolan Arenado or Matt Chapman and move them from 3B when they are the best in the business at that position. I think a bad defender will be a bad defender at his comfortable spot or other spots within reason of course and I'm not comfortable looking at small size zone ratings to determine who is bad or good. Any argument that Player A is a great SS and a poor 2B won't get very far with me. Julien is a below average defender. It's what he is. I think his bat is above average so he's gotta play somewhere if you want the bat. I get that reps will always be helpful but the majority of reps will be achieved in practice because not enough reps will occur in the games themselves to get them flying right. Also... If Julien is our 2B and Castro is our 3B. Castro isn't really deployed as utility until he is moved to another position to cover where another hole opens up. This means Miranda will have to be a bit of utility at both 3B and 1B to get playing time unless France is a 162 game guy. While France has been looking alright thus far... I'd be pretty mortified if France was a 162 game guy. Gasper will also have to move around a little. He's already played LF for 4 innings and even caught a couple of balls out there so we got multiple utility options beyond Castro. Some degree of player movement is just plain impossible to prevent. But... I'll compromise. Julien at DH with Miranda at 1B and France available to come off the bench against Hader if necessary? Today... we will have Gasper, Miranda Vazquez and Kiersay to pinch hit against Hader in the ninth and I hope it doesn't come to that. The other solution is to just beat them by a comfortable margin and keep Hader from mattering in the ninth inning. I really like this option. Or else it's grab a bat time for Miranda, Gasper or Vazquez when Wallner or Larnach or Julien come to the plate in the 9th inning down by a run. I really like the option presented in the last paragraph. In the end it is what it is.

Lineup is out and It's Julien at 2B on game one. Castro at 3B and Miranda on the bench. We may not have a rotation and that could be tough news for Miranda. That's one point earned for Chief. If you collect 100 points... you will get 50% off at any of the participating closed Red Lobsters around the country.

I like your guess. I wouldn't mind Julien getting a start at 1B or DH this weekend in order to have France available off the bench in the 9th against Hader if we are down a run or two. Miranda hasn't necessarily displayed talent against left handers thus far. I get reverse splits are a mirage but I like France for that role in case it is necessary.

At 8;50am on April 3rd, 2025. Our Twins are both first and last at the same time. Umm... Also 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

Agreed... Rocco sticks with his guys. Plays the long game typically and that's why I created that other thread to track it. For the past two years at least... There has been a pattern to Rocco's utilization. There is some sense in sticking with your guys. Correa started the season 0 for a million and cranked out two nice hits yesterday like the 0 for a million didn't matter anymore. Truthfully it really didn't matter anymore because he's 0 for 0 at the start of every game and that light switch can be found at any time. I don't mind a rotation and I also don't mind getting some playing time to everyone especially early in the year because I think playing time should be a competition and I don't care about the size of the contract when it comes to that competition. I don't mind slumping players getting the occasional start but overall... I would simply prefer that he let anybody hitting hot keeping hitting until they cool off. Two players fit that description for me right now. Bader and Castro. Everybody else can rest if need be.

Houston will be throwing 3 right hander starters at us. The Stros Bullpen has 3 left handers... One of those three is the closer... Josh Hader. It's good to keep in mind that they have a left handed closer when considering bench moves late in a close game. Now that Julien is healthy. Bader, Julien and Miranda appear to be in a rotation of sorts for one spot against Right Handed Starters using Castro to combine 2B, 3B with LF, RF and the DH spot to rotate the playing time. Is it a rotation of sorts? I'd bet on yes but too soon to tell. Gonna have to keep watching the lineups. If Miranda is sitting today. It isn't a rotation. If Miranda is playing today. It could be a rotation. Right now... I don't think Gasper is part of that rotation. Looks like he took the place of under the weather Julien in that rotation in game two of the year. I'm guessing that Gasper is playing the role of short side at 2B. The Catchers are rotating equally every other day behind the plate. Everything else has been pretty settled.

Julien or Miranda is the only question. I think he will go with Miranda at 3B. The other 8 are close to locks. I think the opening day lineup in St. Louis will be used for opening day at Target Field. Larnach or Wallner at DH would also be a slight question.

Its the home opener. I checked the standings this morning. I noticed that we were in first place in the AL Central. Others will notice that we are in last place in the AL Central.

8th inning I assume. Let me think on that. Normally I don't like giving up the out and Julien on deck with high strikeout percentages. With that scenerio I wouldn't bunt. However... there was a lefty warming in the bullpen which probably meant Gasper was going to pinch hit. Gasper is supposed to be a contact guy... so maybe. Of course... Gasper did pinch hit and strike out against that left hander. I'll say this... normally I don't like giving up the out. However... if Rocco would have called for a bunt there. I would have appreciated it because they didn't bunt all year until the end of September when they were desperate for runs to stay alive. If you are going to starting bunting in September like your life depends on it. Maybe you should do some bunting in April, May, June, July and August. So... After all of that hamster turning the wheel in my brain. Rocco starting bunting when he was desperate last year. It shows that he thought he needed it. Maybe he should try some bunting in advance of that desperate moment. I wouldn't have but perhaps they should have.

Indeed. It will be interesting to watch and what they do will again tell us how they assess the players. I think chances are someone will hit the IL in the meantime. If everyone remains healthy... Lewis goes right to every day 3B work and the question becomes how are France and Miranda utilized at 1B because it looks like DH is going to be utilized as part of a rotation for Larnach, Wallner and Bader playing time. Julien will probably have to slide into that mix as well. I'd guess that Lee goes to St. Paul because I think they are going to give Castro a run at 2B. If Lee goes to the big club... it will tell us that they BELIEVE in Lee and his time is NOW. I think Gaspar keeps his job unless Lee takes it from him. Castro has to play OF against left handers and Gasper is the only choice for 2B when Castro does that. Keirsay would be my guess for the player sent to AAA to make 26 man space for Lewis. This is the stuff I'll be watching and noting all year long. Who do the Twins believe in and how do the players they believe in actually perform.