Riverbrian

I'm currently looking for a GIF that has Jonah Hill sitting on that couch in the movie Moneyball that says "Are these my only 7 options" I'm requesting a little help from the TD community. I don't have the skill but I'll bet someone in this community could create one so I can reply with it. This fantastical idea that great fielding and average hitting CF are just out there for the Twins to pick is just not true. Again... you are not understanding what I and others are saying. And you are also assuming that I don't understand the market prices. Stop assuming that I don't understand the market prices and you won't waste your time coming up a list of 5 players to try to convince me of something that I'm not saying. BTW... On your list... 3 out of the 5 you came up with were developed by their organizations that's how far off the mark you are... you don't even realize that you are making our points when you trying so damn hard to refute our points. Here's another thing. There are multiple people that you are fighting here... You probably shouldn't put them all into a group that you call Bader Haters because everyone is coming from different places. That way I don't have to constantly say... I don't hate Bader when you throw me into that group. Maybe then you don't have to tell someone that Emma isn't getting blocked to someone who knows that Emma isn't going to be blocked. I can guarantee you that Chia Pet doesn't think Emma is going to get blocked. Trust me... Chia Pet understands that Emma will be called up in 2025 when injuries happen. Chia Pet would like to see Emma break camp with the club. Chia Pet and I are pretty closely aligned on our thinking and even I'm not so sure that Emma should break camp with the club... but I understand where he is coming from because... well... the rest is for you to figure out. Enough real estate has been typed on this subject and you haven't left the porch.

If he makes the club... He's going to short side until injuries make him long side. The question is where? 1B, DH or 2B.

Leaning into what they are good at is something that we all do in all walks of life... yet while I suck at fixing the screen door when it breaks. That thing is going to break someday and I'm going to have to grab a tool of some sort and get better at it or pay $300 dollars for that screen door guy to come track mud in my house. What I'm about to say... will seem like a cheap shot... it's not. Right now... they appear to be doing OK at developing pitching and they appear to be horrible at developing left handed hitters who can hit left handed pitching and now we are paying every single year for that screen door guy. I'll add... I'm not sure that they are horrible at developing left handed hitters who can hit left handed pitching. I'm suggesting that I think it's quite possible that they are not even trying to grab a wrench, scratch awl or swiss army knife to fix that screen door. They are just calling the screen door guy.

I don't care who you or others expect to make the major league roster. And I am not going to get into a discussion about the pro's and con's of Mickey Gasper. I only used his name as an example of a player that the Twins went out and acquired from another organization. I really don't care what your opinion of Mickey Gasper is. I don't have an opinion on him. I used his name as an example of THIS ISN'T A DISCUSSION THAT NEEDS TO BE LIMITED TO Bader or Kiersay because the Twins reached out and acquired someone from another organization rather cheaply. And I really don't care if we have throngs of people saying that Keirsay will never make it so we got to go get Bader. They don't know... I don't know and those two players are not the only options. Do I have to place a Jonah Hill from Moneyball GIF here. OK I will AND I"M GOING TO SAY THIS ONE LAST TIME. I'm not mad at Bader. It's the process that keeps the auto-fill on. Go ahead and tell me that they can't fill these spots internally. Maybe they can... maybe they can't. I reject your assessments of the options and I also reject my own. you may be wrong... you may be right. Go ahead and tell me that I'm just ignoring the state of the organization. I'm not and you are just being obtuse when you say things like that. You can't seem to grasp that this entire point being made... isn't about Bader... It's ABOUT THE STATE OF THE ORGANIZATION. But... Keep typing Martin sucks over and over and over because that aught to fix things. If that is indeed the state of the organization... I'm going to ask WHY is that? Because Pete Alonso isn't coming... we need to develop or die because we can't afford to acquire players developed by other organizations. Earlier this morning I took the time to respond to an intelligent response to this discussion. I stated that Cleveland is able to fill these spots internally. Kansas City is able to fill these spots internally. Detroit is filling these spots internally. The Twins can't with the third ranked farm system? Yet... you are telling me that the Twins can't find a CF who can go get that baseball in CF and hit as poorly as Bader has hit over his career for 5.5 million less and you can't seem to get past... I love Bader and I don't like these other players.

Understood and I won't argue your point. If it was easy... we wouldn't have the catching market pricing that exists. The market pricing that pays Vazquez 30 million over 3 years. However, food for thought. A. Why does the catcher have to hit major league pitching and have a low pop time to 2B? Vazquez may have that low pop time to 2B but he can't hit. Why is the expectation for a pre-arb catcher that he provides both of these things when we don't ask Vazquez for this and pay him 10 million? There are roughly 60 MLB catching jobs at all times of the season. The talent level in those 60 jobs ranges Adley to Liam Hicks. We don't have to develop Will Smith. It's a dial... not a switch. B. The Dodgers don't seem to have a problem developing catchers drafting at the end of each round. Will Smith came from their system. They also developed Ruiz and traded him to help acquire Trae Turner and Max Scherzer. Connor Wong was traded to help acquire Mookie Betts. Cartaya has spilled overboard and is now on our 40 man roster. Camargo is also on our 40 man roster taking up precious space for the 2nd straight year... we shouldn't forget that Camargo was also acquired in a trade from the Dodgers catching factory and he was someone who helped acquire Mookie Betts and Brusdar. And they are still sitting with Feduccia and Rushing in their system. It's a dial not a switch. I don't expect the Twins to all of sudden match the output of the Dodgers but they should strive to get there because of the market prices being paid for catchers. For the moment... I'll lower my expectations to the bare minimum... I'll lower my expectations to just settle for one guy who doesn't cost 10 million to play behind the plate who can catch, frame, pop time, arm strength and it's ok if he hits just as poorly as Vazquez does. We can spend that 10 million elsewhere. I don't think I'm asking for that much.

Providing specific names are always great for these discussions but the reason I refuse to discuss specific names and instead focus on the process is. A: I really don't know how anybody is going to perform and the front office doesn't either. The conversation dies the minute someone who also doesn't know how anybody is going to perform is already convinced that this specific name will not make it. B: The front office really shouldn't be limited to the choice of either Bader or Keirsay and nobody else with a whole wide world out there. If the Twins front office have failed to develop the good defense and low bar offense that Bader brings to the table. That's on the front office... you call it a stupidity tax... you are correct. This off-season could have been spent addressing this specific organizational failure to bring in the defensive CF version of Mickey Gasper. Anyway... Excellent post as always. When I find some time... I will read up on Efficient Frontiers. Maybe write a song about it. Frontiers will rhyme with years, beers and fears so someone with Bob Dylan skills has a chance to produce a hit.

Thanks String. You are a breath of fresh air. Your sensible post was very much needed. You are right... Canha will probably get a major league job somewhere. However, for counter examples... The Tigers really haven't this year. Unless you want to call a reliever like Brebbia at 2.7 a marginal guy. The Tigers cleared the marginal guys out at the deadline and went on a winning streak with a team full of pre-arb players. With the money saved by developed pre-arb talent. The Tigers were able to play in the upper echelon of the market this off-season. They have signed Flaherty, Torres, Cobb, Kahnle and are rumored to be one of the teams still in on Bregman until the he signed with the Red Sox. Cleveland spent 12 million on Santana this year... otherwise... they are going to roll out of spring training with 17 pre-arb players on the roster. Cleveland apparently has a little more development juice than we have. Depending on what you think of Lorenzen... The Royals didn't. They re-signed Wacha for 17 million and Estevez for 11 million for the top of the bullpen. The Jays, Rangers, Rays, Giants, Phillies, Yankees, Red Sox haven't really dipped into this pool... yet. As for not having people in the system for these roles. Why don't we? I'm not asking that question like I have the answer... I'm asking the question... Why indeed... do we not have the people in the system? Our Farm system is like 3rd ranked. Cleveland has these people in their system. Why don't we. The players we are paying for to cover for not having the people in our system are setting pretty low bars to clear. My opinion... just an opinion is that the Auto-Filling of these types of players isn't helping. And in regards to not having the people in our system. We can make trades with other teams to address those holes. I'm not sure what hole Gasper fills but we traded for him. Don't have a CF in the system... trade for one. Instead we traded one away. If we don't have these people in their system... this front office has been in place too long to be having this particular problem. Where would we have been in 2023 without Taylor, Solano and Farmer? I don't know. I love what Solano did... Farmer and Taylor did play decently but both of them had to have career years at the plate to still be below average offensively. The counter question is... Where would we have been in 2023 with Bellinger and two pre-arb players instead of those three. I don't know the answer to that but that is the question that I debate in my head... Are you better off with one big piece or three smaller pieces?

Ideally... They would develop their own catching and therefore not NEED to spend 10 million for 3 years on a position that plays 60% of the time at most. Ideally... they would develop excess catching that could be traded like Moreno or Ruiz. Taking advantage of the other teams that failed to develop their own catching and are forced to pay I have nowhere else to go airport prices because they didn't eat before they took their shoes and belt off for TSA screening.

That's not going to happen. So what could the Twins do instead? I know your next post is going to disappoint me but c'mon... you are getting close to understanding what Chia Pet is saying.

Nope You are basically Brick in Anchorman right now.

Good Luck with that specific poster. Sincerely, Riverbrian

To whom it may concern, Harrison Bader has been signed... He is a Minnesota Twin now. He plays for my team. Let me be very clear... I hope he is a superstar. It's in my best interest that he plays well because I am a Twins fan. I will not be rooting for his failure. Sincerely, Riverbrian If you are capable of understanding what I just typed. Maybe... just maybe... you can get yourself closer to the point where you actually understand what is being discussed and stop insultingly saying things that are not being said.

Thank God Kent Hrbek wasn't on the 2025 40 man roster.

Don't talk about zero understanding when you lack it. This front office has never released a player with significant money attached to it. My post was in response to the Rally Goat who has demonstrated time and time again on this website that he understands the Twins typical operating style and more. He said When was the last time this team benched or released a veteran? we just watched Manny Margot play the most games he’s played in a season since 2019 to his worst hitting and fielding performance of his absolute disaster of a career. He hit a 79 wRC+ while sporting -5 OAA. He's not wrong. I responded that I felt that a low dollar amount attached to France may make it easier to release him if necessary. I then used Bader as an example of someone who would not be released no matter what. You can call it Margot scaring all you want but there are more beyond Margot. You don't understand what is being said and you are willing to fight anyone to the death over Bader. I get it... You Like Bader.

I agree with you. Those 1 year contracts hang around for the entire contract. They consistently keep them in the clubhouse until the end. However... I got to believe that a 1 million dollar deal can be shed. Like they shed Jay Jackson last year. Bader... It'll take dynamite to dislodge him from the roster.

It's odd. Headrick and Henriquez were waiver claims yet they were able to trade Helman for cash. Did the Twins think they could sneak those two through? Anyway... It's all over now. The Twins have successfully removed every player on the 40 man whose last name starts with H.

Oh For Crepes Sake!

This is brilliant writing. Wish I would have thought of it.

More jumping to conclusions on this cold February evening in North Dakota. They didn't pay France 1 Million to play every day. He's going to short side if he makes the club. Here's a question... Who does France Pair with? Julien at DH or Larnach at DH?

Agreed... I don't mind Lee in AAA. He's a phone call away... Lee could be the guy who replaces France when they cut his 1 million.

You are right Doc. Here comes that right handed hitter I've been waiting for to fill in the last box. I don't like it... but I don't hate it completely. It's a million dollar deal... almost like signing a Kyle Garlick. 1 Million can be cut... if he isn't getting it done... they can shed 1M just like they shed Jay Jackson last year. However... the 40 man roster spot that's another animal. Yep... it cost us Headrick. Not sure I like that part. I kinda liked having Headrick in our back pocket but you and I and few others knew this right handed infielder was coming in some shape or form and here he is and somebody was going to make room for it. Jumping to further conclusions on this cold February Evening in North Dakota. If France makes the club... I think he will that's why he got the 40 man spot instead of the standard minor league deal. If France makes the club... who loses that 26 man spot? Brooks Lee isn't out of the question.

I don't.

Alright we're done. You have no idea what I'm talking about.