Riverbrian

Mike's comment was the first that I heard about it. I had no knowledge and am goofy enough to make a similar type joke.

Agreed In the scenarios you list. Inconsequential for this season. For next season? Bride may be inconsequential... the roster spot will still suffer the consequences.

I used to have no problem with platoons. I felt it was logical use of data compiled by all 30 teams. The Twins have ruined it for me. The strict adherence to anything will ruin anything strictly adhered to. It's been better this year but If the past two years is how they interpret that data. If they are going to weight the data way past the other 29 teams. I'd rather they just stop completely. I'd rather they just look for hitters period and quit looking for handcuffs. I swear to all that is holy that if I hear another off-season rumor that they are looking for a right handed bat with 9 of them already on the roster... I'm going to keep complaining about it. How do the Tigers do it. They platoon... however, they currently have 6 left handers on the roster. How do they survive with all of those left handed bats when they have to face Tarik Skubal? How does Cleveland survive with only 4 right handed bats on the roster? Logan Allen must wipe them out. The Orioles are struggling this year but they sure thrived for awhile with 5 left handers in the regular lineup. Now that Anthony and Meyer are up with the Sox. They got 4 of them with Cases, Abreu and Yoshida on the IL. The Yankees and Mets are sending extra lefties up to the plate. The Dodgers have 6 of them lefties. The Twins... We have 3 of them and we spend the off-season telling the press that they'd like to add a right handed bat. Just go get someone that can hit. Stop trying to create Frankenstein out of parts.

You can make it sound even worse by saying he ended May hitting 1 for 13. Yep since playing himself into an everyday job. He has dropped himself into a current 4 for 38 stretch. However... For two weeks. From May 14th to May 27th. He hit .389 with an OPS of 1.325 I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you were not suggesting that we were better off without that incredible two weeks of baseball because he was just going to tank it eventually. And that circles us back to Bride. Since, Clemens has gone 4 for 38 now. Can Bride have some of his playing time? Some... Not All... Just some. Or is that drop off from Kody to Jonah so great that Kody has to be in the lineup every day in order for us to survive? And if the drop off from 4 for 38 is so great... why is Bride on the roster? With the exception of Keaschall. We are lineup healthy now and lineup healthy has Clemens in a starting role. We don't want competition for him? We just ride this horse to glory or off a cliff. Nothing can be done about it?

If they are worse. You send them down but you gotta give them a chance to prove they are worse. If you don’t give them a chance to compete they are Schrödinger’s Cat. Clemons was once a cat in that box.

I have the same opposites pulling at me. It’s a dial not a switch mitigates that. It’s why I was done after finite and coherence was thrown at me. I’ve done the Math. 8 times 7 divided by 11 is 5.09. That’s 5.09 starts out of 7 games for 11 players for 8 non catcher positions. Now I’m not asking for exactly equal playing time. You can dial up or down each player according to what they deserve or earn. You want Wallner and Buxton in the lineup everyday. Ok… 6 times 7 divided by 9 and 4.66 is the playing time available for the rest. If the dialing up and down creates a system where players producing average or below average require 7 out 7 and you have a player dialed down to 0 out 7. Get rid of that 0 for 7 guy. Because need someone to compete with the 7 out of 7 guy.s. If you don’t you are settling for average or below average. You’ve stopped looking for better. Can’t find an Abraham Toro that way and if you are treating expiring contracts like they not replaceable. Well… they will need to be replaced next year and what have you found? Eventually you have a roster with less pre-arb players and you 4 million dollar yourself to no payroll space. Rotation AAA for the 13th spot is a good idea. As long as they play some when up. If they struggle… send them down… they have options. If they are just going to come up and watch like McCusker and Fitzgerald did. There isn’t much point. in the case of Larnach and Wallner. I don’t mind the occasional seat. If it happens against a left hander it makes sense statistically. It just shouldn’t be all or nothing. Left hander… you are out. We will keep looking for right handers in the off season even though we already have 9 on the roster.

I wasn’t complaining about the role Keirsay had.with us as much. I had the usual what could he do with real opportunity thoughts in my head that grew louder as we crawled out of the gate offensively sucking as a team to start the season. But I understood the value of a guy with speed coming into the game late. With Bride that doesn’t exist. We have a guy who faces left handers at most and robs Larnach or Wallner or Clemens of opportunity against lefties. Bride can either stand on his feet and compete or he can’t. His utilization thus far suggests that Rocco doesn’t believe he can. The day will come when Rocco will have no other option and Bride is going to be needed just like Keirsay and Clemons were needed. He will either sink or swim. If he sinks… well Rocco… you were right and if you were right… why did we keep him for so long since you knew. If he swims… well Rocco… You were wrong. Why did he spend so much time on the bench?

I always appreciate your posts because I know you look beyond the Twins. I spend a lot of time on roster resource looking at the utilization of other teams. The Twins are not alone in regards to that last spot on the bench. All teams have a last spot on the bench. Most teams set up platoons just like the Twins do. Not to the degree that the Twins were doing it but yeah roster utilization is a challenge for all teams and the pressure to win is high. Jobs, attendance and revenue are on the line. For me... and I understand that I am against the grain. I'm just plain worn out using precious roster spots on specialists because the time will come when we need more from them. Keirsay was utilized as a specialist... nothing more. Kept on ice for 44 games to merely play OF in the ninth or pinch run when we needed something to happen on the base paths. Many here will nod their head in agreement. Yep makes sense. That's all Keirsay is good for. THEN BOOM... Buxton and Correa collide and Keirsay is in the lineup every game. Didn't trust you then... but we need you now. Are you ready? We expect immediate results. I'm just plain worn out settling for average... Settling for OPS+ in the 90's or 80's or worse and acting like they can't take a single day off. I'm just plain worn out from of the chain of players from Logan Morrison on forward through time who can't be removed from the lineup for a single day and won't play a single inning for the team once the season is complete. I'm just plain worn out spending precious roster space resources on specialists who are on the roster to face 25% of the pitching but end up facing more right handers than left handers because of injuries and the 75% throwing from the right handed side that just compromise the development of young left handed hitters in the process. Many say... why does it matter? I don't see it. Well... An example is standing right in front of us all. Kody Clemens. Nothing in his past stats suggest 130 OPS+ for any significant stretch. None of us have any idea what he will level off to in the future (near of far). Most of us would have been OK if Clemens was glued to the bench forever. We quickly attach AAAA labels on players to diminish them. The Phillies couldn't find time to utilize him. Rocco wasn't that interested until he ran out of options and then BOOM. Did Rocco not know that Clemens could go off like that on a stretch? I assume not or he would have been in the lineup quicker than the two weeks it took to get him in the lineup when he ran out of options. I get that Kody is a rare occurrence. In consideration of 13th man utilization it's amazing that anyone ever breaks through and surprises us but we can take a tour around the league and find Kody Clemens surprises on other teams. Did anyone have Tyler Heinemen on their Bingo Card? Wenceel Perez? Mike Tauchman? Abraham Toro? I get it... I'm sure Clemens, Heineman, Perez, Tauchman and Toro will turn back into the pumpkins at midnight but for 100 AB's in the morning of this baseball season they helped win games... they didn't cost wins. You can deal with midnight later. It's only 10am in the morning of this baseball season. Competition is important. Pre-Determination is a killer to competition and pre-determination is how you lose Brent Rooker. Anyway... I could care less about Bride... but that 13th roster spot. I Care deeply. You have a device that can handle 13 players at a time. Why would you only utilize 9 of them?

I want to be clear. I could give a rats butt about Jonah Bride. I'm not going to declare him anything. I don't care about Bride at all. What I care about is the roster spot and I don't want to get bogged down in others opinions about Bride. In a discussion about Bride on a different thread. I had the word finite thrown at me as in finite number of at bats and playing time. I ended the conversation. Long long before Bride was a glint in Derek Falvey's eye and long before finite was thrown at me. I knew and have typed on this website that there are around 6,000 plate appearances for a major league baseball team over the course of 162 games. I understood long ago that there are around 1300 starts over 162 games for 8 positions(not including catcher). I have divided those numbers and know the averages. I understand how much playing time is available. But, Let's forget all of that... There is one number that matters. Let's forget about your individual opinion of Bride... there is one number that matters. It's the most finite of all numbers. 13 Like the article states. You are limited to 13 roster spots. You can only fit 13 players through the gates. 13 incubator spots, Only 13 players can attempt to make your team better. If anyone thinks it's ok to just waste one of those 13 spots. We will never agree. If anyone is OK not playing someone because he might waste 4 PA's out of 6,000 and simultaneously OK wasting one of the 13 available roster spots. We will have nothing to discuss. I don't care about Bride but let's be clear... we do not have a team that is good enough to keep anyone on the bench.

Unless someone else gets hurt before Keaschall comes back. And if two more get hurt he's suddenly getting starting. But,,, who am I kidding. That would never happen. I'm sure the Twins will release him because they have a strong track record of releasing vet players who are out of options.

First off... Depth is momentary. Injuries can erase that definition in a heart beat. It wasn't long ago that we were talking about our pitching depth and could we move starting pitching. True Depth... Multiple guys who can play the game is what every team should strive for. If we got 5 guys who can play the game and right now it appears that we do... that's a good thing. Second off... Come trade time... Are we in contention or not in contention? If in contention we shouldn't be moving major league talent to acquire major league talent. We would move minor league talent to acquire major league talent. If not in contention... then we could move major league talent to acquire young talent. Buyers Buy and Sellers sell. Third off... If we do find a trading match so two team can shore up weak spots... what contending team is actually willing to trade decent pitching for decent outfielder... are our OF options actually enough to acquire a difference maker even if you found a team willing to move HEALTHY pitching. Buxton is probably the most tradable piece with a decent contract and his hopefully new found health could probably fetch a decent pitcher. Trading the face of the franchise is a pretty ballsy move. Castro is a free agent next year and would be the most likely candidate to be dealt. It would actually make sense to move him if we are not in contention. He's a two month rental... What kind of value does he break back? Can Castro be enough to actually acquire a starting pitcher with talent. I doubt it, all teams like the flexibility that he offers but how much will they pay for it. Is Castro the type of player that puts another team over the top for the stretch run that they will give up anything significant for a 2 month rental? You trade Castro if out of contention... if in contention... you utilize his flexibility abilities to mitigate this OF depth issue and that will help us get the best lineup on the field for the stretch run. Bader could be moved. He won't fetch a big name by himself but he's playing well enough to get thrown into the pile of other outfielders available at the trade deadline. Larnach and Wallner will be back next year. They have been strip mined for parts which minimizes their value to other clubs. The other 29 teams will not be giving up a truck load of talent for a player that only plays 75% of the time. If they were willing to pay a lot for them... it'll be because they feel the Twins were wrong in how they handled them the past two years. And if a team is willing to pay lot... how much would they be willing to pay if allowed to develop facing both right and left arms. We compromised those two and the other 29 teams are not going to come bail us out of that.

The Phillies decided that Bryson Stott would get nearly all the playing time at 2B. Stott produced a .671 in 2024 and has a .631 OPS thus far in 2025. Oops

But getting better... rising steadily against right handers. Yet not getting better against left handers during the same time. A possible reason for that is?

No need to continue this any further.

Your eyes are not deceiving you. My eyes are wondering why would anyone quote the slash line of 21 and 22 scattered AB's over the course of 162 games in two straight years and bang the gavel? After being HELD BACK by organizational philosophy to 43 AB's for two full seasons. Why would anyone then take 54 AB's over 60 some games and condemn him with it after two years of non-exposure. And If 2023 and 2024 were included in their small samples to condemn Trevor. Why couldn't the 47 AB's he had against lefties in 2022 be included or is that .277/.333/.383 slash line to small a sample. I also wonder what conclusion could possibly be drawn to explain how his OPS vs Right Handed Pitchers has steadily risen from 2022 to 2025 over 100 points from .711 to .815. Yet... against left handers? He's what... getting Worse is the apparent conclusion. Even if that was true... and I don't believe it's true. If true... Is it possible that strip mining him for parts for two years and not allowing him to grow his game against left handers while his right handed game has risen 100 points is a problem? OK... Trevor... Here ya go. We've kept you from left handers for two years. Go get em... Immediate results please. If he is struggling a bit and I don't think he is. The Twins caused it. Give him a beat or two. Trevor... If you are reading this... I got your back.

It's a dial not a switch. There is a lot of room in between playing every single day and not playing at all. That goes for the entire team not just Bader.

OK Well Umm

When you watch the Twins. Do you watch the other teams at all? When 25 year old Addison Barger comes to the plate and hits one to the picnic tables in right field. Do you ever wonder who Addison Barger is or do you just dismiss him out of hand? 34 year old Tyler Heinemen? 31 year old Nathan Lukes? 29 year old Ernie Clement? 26 year old Davis Schneider? 25 year old Alan Roden? 23 year old Clase. Where did they come from? Do you ever wonder how the Blue Jays are 11-3 in their past 14 games vs the Rangers, A's, Phillies and Twins with Barger, Heineman, Lukes, Clement, Schneider, Roden and Clase taking up 7 of the 13 roster spaces? When the Rangers come to town tomorrow night. Will you be watching Josh Smith, Wyatt Langford. Josh Jung, Evan Carter, Jake Burger, Ezequil Duran or Alejandro Osuna and wondering where they came from? The Twins are 35-30, The Jays are 35-30 and the Rangers are 31-35. I was just wondering if you were wondering?

And we've come full circle. Nothing more is correct. 3 AB's over the past 11 games. 3 AB's! That's pretty much "nothing more". Tuesday in Sacramento. Rocco let him pinch hit for Buxton in the 9th inning with the score 10-3. Two days later... He entered the game in Buxton's lineup slot in the 5th inning with the Twins down 11-1. Some people read that and think that I'm being a Bride advocate. I'm saying ROCCO!!! If you don't like him. Get him off the roster! If you like him... Let him compete. Our infield consists of two players who were DFA'd and those two players are out performing the other 3 options with a .665 OPS, .655 OPS and a .540 OPS. Bride can't crack that crack lineup or we hurt our chances. If that's the case... Get him off the roster!!!

Agreed... That's why I don't want to get caught up in the discussion of individual players because the point won't get through when it sounds like I'm this Pro Bride Guy or anti Bader guy. It's not my Hill. The hill belongs to the Twins when they put him on the 26 man roster. I'm saying that they could die on this hill.

I am aware of all of this and your post is valid. I realize that my posts on the matter tend to imply a utopian one formula easy button for success and life just isn't that easy. At the very least, I hope you recognize my attempts to not be hypocritical. I hope you recognize that I do go out of my way to point out that I didn't like the signing of Bride and Clemons and am now fighting for Bride. In response... here's a couple of considerations that hopefully sheds some clarification light on my thoughts. 1. I don't want Lewis or Lee benched or sent down to AAA. It's a dial not a light switch. My point will never be understood if the impression is either or. There is a difference between playing 7 out of 7 days and 6 out of 7 days or even 5 out of 7 days. I don't believe that 6 out of 7 screws up rhythm and I don't believe that 5 out of 7 days screws up rhythm and if we are worried about rhythm, timing and all of those factors. What does 0 out of 7 do. At some point in time, someone is going to pull a hammy and Rocco is going to turn to Bride and he is going to be wondering where he left his bat because he hasn't touched it in a week. 2. Perhaps the most central point of everything that I'm trying to say. If you are going to play 7 out of 7 days. You have to be better than average. Ty France (not picking on him but for example) has been fine... Average to below average but he's been fine and he has won some baseball games for us. He's fine but not good enough to play 7 out of 7 and glue someone else to the bench. You have to produce at a level that is clearly above others. You have to be truly irreplaceable. This is a pretty exclusive club. This roster has a lot of guys that don't belong in this club but are enjoying the perks of membership. They can play 6 out of 7 or 5 out of 7. With Castro on the roster... you have created playing time for competition for others. I realize that many don't see the importance of this... I'm used to it. I suspect it's because that's because they think light switch. They assume that I'm suggesting put Bride in there every day and sit Lewis everyday. I'm not saying that. Here is why it's important. Kody Clemons is why. I didn't like the signing for reasons I've stated multiple times but he was signed. He didn't really get in until someone got hurt and then Boom... he out performed nearly everybody if not everybody. Did he just get hot at exact moment through incredible timing or was he ready to explode for the two weeks he waited. I don't know... Rocco doesn't know either. There is only one way to find out. 3. Here is an impossible scenario that will never happen but for dial not light switch purposes let's present it. Let's take the catchers out because they are different animals. Let's say that by some miracle we have 11 players who are exact replicas. They have the same skills, offensive skills and defensive, same scout projections, same past metrics, same everything. Taking the catcher out... you have 8 positions and 11 players of exactly equal talent. Over 7 games equal playing time for those 11 equal players is roughly 5 games out of 7 for all. I assume there would be no reason to choose 8 of these equal players and just sit 3 of them. 5 games out of 7 is not going to ruin any of them. 4. Even though I presented the scenario in point #3. I am not saying that is how playing time should be distributed. Because things are not equal, I only present it to show that playing time can be painlessly yielded to create competition. It's an alternative thought to simply, choosing someone who isn't performing and staying with it. It's an attempt to letting the players decide through performance. Now of course... the players are not equal and we all know that and the front office has to take a guess at it with solid information but it should be clear to everyone that the front office, managers and coaches often get it wrong. We bet the 2B farm on Julien this year. It didn't work out. They were wrong. Rooker is in Oakland... They were wrong. The job is hard. 5. In the end... It's simply... If a player is not allowed to compete because the manager feels it hurts the teams chances. Release him and find someone that the manager will allow to compete because that competition is the only thing that will raise the bar above the settling for average. France has been fine and playing everyday. He's far from our biggest problem but playing everyday is not fine... he's not doing that well. France isn't the problem, playing France everyday is the problem and needing another France next year is going to be the same problem next year. BTW... One last thing. Even after typing all of that. I do recognize that Rocco is almost doing what I'm saying above with everyone healthy. He is rotating bench time and spreading it out to work 10 players into 8 spots. He's just leaving Bride out of the party. I apologize for not sending donuts and coffee for reading all of that.

I always appreciate your posts. You consistently demonstrate curiosity and you look into the corners. On Bride I absolutely agree with your first sentence and absolutely disagree with it. Bride clearly has no role because he hasn't graced the lineup card in 8 days. However, I will contend until I am blue in the face that our team does not have everyday type talent... even when healthy. I hate having to make these points because I really don't want to minimize players. With apologies to the players who have combined together to put us in a Wild Card position... here goes. Let's look at the healthy starters on the infield. France was DFA'd, Clemens was DFA'd. Lewis is supposed to be a superstar but it can't be ignored that his offensive stats are some of the worst in baseball. Lee is the future and I scream about the future a lot but let's be honest... .625 OPS. If Bride can't compete with France for playing time or Lewis for playing time. Why is he on the roster? Nobody has to serve extended time on the bench to allow for competition. With Castro on the roster... even the OF can yield a day here and there to foster competition. Bride can't compete with that infield lineup and performance? Bride lessens our chances so he must not be allowed to compete or it will be more likely that we lose? If the manager feels that way... take Bride off the roster immediately. These are not high walls to catapult over. Is the Farm system that questionable that we don't have anyone who can out perform the guy who can't out perform the average to below average guy. I was against Bride and Clemens being signed in the first place. Not because I was against Bride or Clemens as individuals but mainly because apparently the farm has hit a lull and isn't producing DFA level talent. Regardless... Bride is here now and we do not have a team full of players who can't yield time or death falls upon us. Treating average or even below average play like it can't be replaced is a blinking neon sign that says "Problem".

While we wait to see how long Correa needs to rest his back... it should be noted that we had a 4 game stretch of healthy. For short term utilization purposes... I think we can actually call it a 5 game stretch since we knew that Correa was in the lineup yesterday, pulled due to his back and replaced by Brooks Lee. So... I'm going to call it a 5 game stretch since the original lineup had what was thought to be a healthy Correa. Healthy stretches are important stretches of utilization information because the manager has all of his resources available to him. Utilization with all hands available are moments that the manager can speak from the heart of his current intentions. His actions are not burdened by the hole plugging necessary when his preferred options are taken away due to injury. Before we get to the utilization during this mini stretch of health. Just for fun... Let's look back at the adjustments that have been made from the opening day roster. 4 adjustments to be exact. Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee, Kody Clemens and Jonah Bride on the current roster but not on the opening day roster, Julien, Miranda, Gasper and Keirsay on the opening day roster and now in AAA. Lewis would have certainly had a 26 man spot if healthy on opening day and possibly Brooks Lee. Clemens and Bride were obviously not options for opening day. Based on utilization in early April, I'm going to assume that Gasper or Keirsay or both were the 26 man beneficiaries of Lewis (Lee) not being healthy. Looking back at opening day is basically benign insignificant information from the past. All teams should adjust as the season goes along. However, as I mention the insignificance... here's the significance that shouldn't be ignored: The Twins front office looked at Julien and Miranda in the off-season, they said, these are our guys. Saying these are our guys is significant for two reasons. 1. If Julien and Miranda don't get it together, it will be a rather severe development blow. These two eggs have spent a lot of time in the development basket and it's not like a lot of eggs are being allowed into this basket. Our future chicken population depends on this singular basket. 2. All front offices... all 30 teams make these type of mistakes. It's a hard job. The ups and downs of players is a hard thing to predict. If they get it wrong and they do. How can they confidently sit anyone? Yes, this is a McCusker comment. This is also a Clemens only getting 15 AB's in his 14 games in a Twins uniform comment. It's a Logan Morrison comment. They know more than I do but they don't know. OK... Utilization in the 5 healthy days. 3 right handers followed by 2 left handers on the mound. With his roster options in place. It appears the platoon has come back. Wallner and Clemens sat two games in a row with back to back lefties (Springs was the bulk guy). Wallner, was getting left handed opportunity before his injury so it could be an easing the hamstring thing or it could be an all options available thing but Wallner and Clemens on the bench for back to back games vs. the left hander. However, Larnach continues to get work against left handers and this continues to make me happy although it is at least two years late. On the other hand... literally... on the other hand. Against the right handers. It looks like Rocco has 12 guys that he is willing to turn to rotate in and I like this approach as well. France, Lewis, Buxton, Lee, Lewis and Bader sat in the 3 games of health vs. right handers. Jonah Bride is clearly the 13th man in our brief period of health. No starts for the bride... He's been a bridesmaid since Wallner came back and healthed us up.

Beautiful work as usual. Can you hang a zero and how many can you hang? One bad appearance where you give up 4 runs in one third of inning. Is one bad appearance that is going to stain him for months. I have no complaints with the Twins bullpen as a whole. The pitching staff has been top of the line this year.

According to Roster Resource. Ronny is listed as the current closer for the Miami Marlins. Yeah it's the Marlins but still... he is currently closing for them. 28 innings pitched and 40 K's thus far in 2025. Decent WHIP and ERA. I'm not going to blame the front office for Miami finding a performer on the waiver wire... well not a full on blame anyway. I would simply like to take this opportunity to point out that these decisions are hard and all front offices often get it wrong and Ronny seems to be a case where the Twins chose wrong. There were some roster complications to contend with in February especially in the bullpen. Ronny was out of options. They were trying to see if the Rule 5 Dude from Philly was worth keeping and that was going to take a 40 man spot until they decided to send him back to the Phillies. And there was 35 year old Michael Tonkin who was tendered a contract back in November so he gets a 40 man spot. I know this is a thread about Alcala but unless I'm reading this wrong which is possible. The front office decided to not only keep Alcala (Also out of options)... Which I would have been fine with at the time because of the stuff that Alcala possesses. In addition the Twins kept a 35 year old Tonkin over Ronny and decided to experiment with a Rule 5 and send Ronny packing to the waiver wire. These types of mistakes that all front offices make are why I consistently ask for opportunity. When the decisions are tough... Always choose the guy who is under team control for multiple years over a guy like Tonkin who will spend one year with the club and be gone. If you choose to take the 35 year old... you better be right.