Riverbrian

Lee will be the wild card in this discussion. Does he break camp as the top dog at 2B or start in AAA playing SS?

1. Christian Vazquez produced an OPS of .575 last year in 2024. 2. Jair Camargo was up with the big club for around 20 games in 2024. Despite Vazquez and his .575 OPS. Camargo only had 7 plate appearances stretched out over 5 game appearances. Camargo was asked to just sit there quietly and observe the guy making 10 million this year produce an OPS of .575. 3. Camargo was called up three separate times April, July and September to sit and watch Vazquez produce that .575 with no game action and he is still on the 40 man roster. 4. This is the last year of the Vazquez contract. If someone doesn't rise from the farm to play catcher in 2026. The Twins will be spending millions on a Vazquez doppelganger. The front office... Everyone will be a little more comfortable committing to a catcher in 2026 if they at least show something in 2025. 5. I don't care who the new owner is... the budget isn't going to explode over 200 million because the new owner feels like it. We will have a budget in 2026 and beyond. Any thought that the Twins are just going to go get JT Realmuto with the new owner's checkbook is extremely optimistic. If the Twins do sign JT Realmuto next year will there be any more free agent honeymoon dollars from the new owner left to spend? The TWINS HAVE TO DO SOMETHING in regards to catcher development and the clock is ticking with Vazquez soon gone... the names change year to year and this need development need is constant at every position but that clock is always ticking. If neither Cartaya or Camargo fail to rise up this year. If the Twins do not provide the opportunity for either of them to rise up. The Twins will be right back at the free agent table spending millions to land a sub par veteran catcher at over inflated catcher prices for next season and the millions spent on the Vazquez replacement could be combined with other available dollars to upgrade any where on the 26 man roster next year. On players that will play over 100 games a year. Develop or Die. Bottom Line: The Cartaya dice roll had to happen because something has to happen. Roll those bones. Come On 7

I believe that the shedding of the financial commitment to Donaldson allowed the Twins to make a financial commitment to Carlos Correa. With that consideration... It was a good trade for the Twins. Although at the time... I admit that I did not like the trade of Garver for IFK by itself. It wasn't until soon after when IFK was moved to the Yankees that I felt good about the trade and I still feel good about the trade. Donaldson, Garver, Rortvedt for Correa, Urshela, Sanchez and Rodriquez was a good deal.

There is a reason for everything. I don't know but I will suggest... front office conjecture. 😉 In 2014 which was the last full season in the minors for Joc. He had 206 PA's vs left handed pitchers in Albuquerque and he produced a .994 OPS against them. 385 PA's against right handed pitchers and he produced a .980. In 2015 with the Dodgers... Joc had 129 PA's vs left handers and produced a .691 against them. Compared to his .784 against RH. Joc was the primary CF that year... his outfield mates were Andre Eithier and Carl Crawford who are also left handed hitters and Yusiel Puig a right handed hitter. In 2016 he dropped down to 64 PA's vs lefties and an OPS of .469. And Boom... Just like that... Joc was a right handed hitting specialist for the rest of his career. In 2016... Apart from Joc... The Dodgers other OF options were all right handed. Puig, Kendrick, Thompson and Kike. The Dodgers were left handed in the infield with Seagar, Adrian Gonzalez and Chase Utley. Only Utley platooned with Kike sliding over to 2B against the southpaw and he produced a .669 OPS vs LH. The right handed hitting Kendrick had an OPS of .625 vs LH. What did the Dodgers gain? What did Joc lose?

Or... It is the creation of a bigger problem in an attempt to solve a much smaller problem. You said it yourself... "three-fourths". Why go out and search for more right handed bats when they will face the "three-fourths". The Twins as a team in 2024 ranked 30th in pure left handed batters facing left handed pitching with 194. Only the Mariners, A's, Reds, Angels, Pirates and Rays... none of which made the playoffs... didn't reach approximately double the amount of left handed hitters facing left handed batters. The Red Sox led all of baseball with 843 PA's. The Top 9 were: Red Sox, Phillies, Yankees, Cardinals, Guardians, Nationals, Dodgers, Orioles and Padres. 6 of the top 9 made the playoffs. 14 individual left handed hitting players had as many AB's against left handed pitching then the entire Twins team. Have the Twins taken this beyond what others are doing?? Other teams seem to be doing OK... with left handed hitters on their roster. We have capped the development of Wallner, Larnach and Julien at "NEEDING A Margot or Bader or Farmer ATTACHED to them. If this is the best our development can do... in the name of "Information outweighs its benefit" If avoiding the cost of a game or two... which I don't believe... but if avoiding the cost of a game or two... costs us the development of a player who doesn't require a lower tier handcuff players. I'd say the cost of a game or two is a smaller price to pay.

Agree that it's conjecture. Conjecture is a conclusion drawn with incomplete information. Wallner will do great against left handed pitchers is conjecture. Wallner will be average against left handed pitchers is conjecture. Wallner will be terrible against left handed pitchers is conjecture. Some of us are literally begging the organization for more complete information.

When I watch Julien bat. Patience is the thing that stands out to me. In his good 2023... he seemed to show patience. In his bad 2024... he seem to show patience. I tend to like the patient approach because in the game of cat and mouse between pitchers and hitters. Pitchers are trying to get a hitter to hit a pitch they don't want to hit. Swinging at pitches that pitchers want you to isn't ideal. Waiting for your pitch could... in theory... lead to some interesting numbers such as the high BABIP that many thought was sure to regress. However the downside of extreme patience can lead to two strike counts and two strike counts leads to exactly what you point out in your post and of course... in the case of Julien... High K% because you can't strike out with zero or one strike. You and I were part of discussion awhile back about K% and offensive production. There wasn't obvious correlation because some of the best contact teams were the lowest producing teams in the league. In the case of Julien. For some reason he got to two strikes too often in 2024. (I bolded those 4 words because of 75% of those words). When that happened... Too many times he stood and looked at strike 3... sometimes those suckers were right down the middle. If you are patient to the point of reaching two strikes... at that point... go ahead and produce that .509 OPS. Make contact with that pitch that isn't in your happy zone.

You got the right guy. Yep... He needs to change his 2 strike approach.

To me this says... Why is he working on his swing against left handed pitching if the organization has no intention of letting him hit left handed pitching? Did Julien do this on his own? Behind the bushes when nobody was watching in a desperate attempt to show them all what he can do? Did the organization recommend this under the watchful eye of professional coaches and if so... how did they throw that large amount of baby out such little bathwater? I just don't buy the excuse. But... if true... get back on the horse Mr. Julien while hopefully the Twins get off their high horse.

I love this post I never want to lose sight of what you are saying. The majority of players from Aaron Judge to the 20th round pick in the last draft is putting the work in to make a dream come true.

Batting Order? Put your hottest hitters at the top or best matchups at the top because they will get more AB's. Put your coldest hitters at the bottom or worse matchups at the bottom of the order because they will get less AB's? Space out your left handed hitters and right handers the best you can so the opposing manager doesn't have a clear path to deploy the lefty or righty out of the pen. Static lineup orders serve no purpose whatsoever. If you bat in the 1 spot on Monday and the 7th spot on Tuesday and the 3rd spot on Wednesday. The mental state of the batter will eventually recover from the shock once they start to understand that they have to check the lineup card daily and that they don't get a GUARENTEED batting order position and it is pointless to take anything personally. If a player can't deal with being moved around in the lineup on a day to day basis. Look for a trade opportunity so he can be replaced by someone less fragile. You are only guaranteed to bat lead off once a game. 7 8 and 9 hitters get on base... if they can't they shouldn't be on the team. Correa led the team in OBP last year reaching base 3.9 times out of 10. Ryan Jeffers and Max Kepler got on base 3 times out of 10. It's a dial... not a switch. Wallner was one of our top On base guys last year. He's a great candidate for lead off.

Your method is much more efficient and accurate. Mine was more colorful but wrong. I was just trying to confirm Ash's number and I am not afraid to jam things together to make them fit in support of Ash. Now take that 47 add the attendance 4,933... add the average wind speed of 7 and finish by adding the area code of Tombstone Arizona and then turn the calculator upside down and it adds up to.

We didn't sign any innings eaters. Our starting pitching depth will be home grown for two years in a row. That's pipeline enough for me. Elite? It'd be nice... but average will get you through.

Let's see 35 AB's + 7 BB's + 2 SF's - 1 GIDP for 43.

I count his 8 PA's. That way his Mom can tell the neighbors that he led the Minnesota Twins in BA, OBP, OPS and BB% in 2024. However... I do not count his pitching numbers. I don't believe his Mom is interested in them.

My theory is that Keirsay is not a candidate to be called up for Buxton or Hader injury. My theory is that he will only get called up if injury occurs to two specific players and those players play in the corners. If my theory is correct. Keirsay will need injury to two of three specific players to see the light of day because of Emma. I I'm hoping that I am wrong.

Well yeah if you use them for balance. Like your walking on a wire.

Ok... He's running with scissors. You should never do that.

I took a speed reading course and I got really good at it. In one night... reading to my kids at bedtime... I got through 12 Harry Potter Books before they fell asleep. They thought it was a Gregorian chant but it was good bonding time with them.

I agree that "tbis" makes no sense at all. Spot on Chief. You are spot on.

Zero runs by the Tigers. With a better defense the Tigers would have scored minus two runs. Rocco playing with fire.

It's only one game... but I found it interesting that today's lineup had Martin in CF and Keirsay in RF. Again it's only one game but the Twins seemingly haven't given up on the idea of Martin in CF. It was also interesting that today's lineup at Julien at 1B and Gasper at 2B. With all of those defensive issues in one spring training lineup... it stands to reason that the Tigers only managed 1 hit.

.669 OPS post all-star. Vazquez was actually better than Jeffers offensively post all-star break. Better than Kepler, Castro, Lewis, Margot, Miranda, Lee and Julien. That's how playing the long game works. It is justification for sticking with a struggling player knowing that some good times are bound to come. Farmer upticked after the all-star game as well. On the other hand... Kepler, Castro, Lewis, Margot, Miranda, Lee and Julien did not pay off with good times toward the end of the long game. And it is important to point out that in order to wait for that uptick good time down the road to come from Vazquez and Farmer. the club had to absorb a .556 from Farmer and a .514 from Vazquez Pre-All Star break. That kind of absorption is more than the Brawny Paper Towel guy can handle or should be asked to handle.

I found this photo of Christian Vazquez online