Riverbrian

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

What you say in this paragraph can't be argued... but I will anyway. On paper what you say... makes perfect sense. The relationship between a Pitcher and Catcher has to matter in regards to run prevention. The relationship is important... It's hard to measure of course... but... it has to matter. With that said... These relationships are forged over time and they all have a beginning. When Vazquez was signed... he was at ground zero with the Twins staff. Sure he had that veteran catcher juice on him which probably allowed him to forge relationships quicker but there was a beginning with Vazquez with the Twins and there was a beginning for Jeffers with the Twins as well. Delaying that beginning is just that... delaying that beginning until you are forced to begin a new. When you buy a new car... you gotta learn the new features. If this is a problem... just stay in your 2015 Toyota Camry and be comfortable with the .575 OPS that goes with it. However... Let's be clear... the neighbors are going to talk wondering why you spent 30 million dollars on that car.

In order to have a log jam you need multiple players performing above average at the same position or positions. Performing... Not projected to perform... Actually playing above average is necessary to create a log jam. Polanco, Julien and Farmer in January 2024 was not a log jam. Castro, Julien and Farmer was not a log jam in June 2024 either. You can't have a log jam if Kepler and Margot are getting over 300 AB's and both with a 6 in front of their OPS number. You can't have a log jam at catcher if someone is playing regular with a .575 OPS. All teams should strive for a log jam. They should spend the off-season building a projected log jam everywhere. They can try... the log jam still won't happen but... they should strive for a log jam. If an actual log jam occurs... if the roster is plump full of talented players playing above average... if the manager is scratching his head staring at this log jam and he can't figure out the playing time with everyone deserving playing time. Guess what... at that point... the playing time won't matter because he can draw names out of a hat with EVERYONE performing. The funny thing is... I've never seen a manager with that problem.

Personal lives? I really try to stay out of this type of stuff. I've listened to people say that Josh Donaldson is a cancer... Tommy Pham a clubhouse problem. I simply don't know and I also don't know if the difficult personality is actually a problem in regards to wins and losses. Coaches and Teammates don't like someone... does that mean the team goes into the tank if they remain on the roster? Every office in the world has popular and less popular employees. I've seen popular co-workers who were not the best at their jobs and unpopular ones get the job done. If people read something and decide that they hate Tommy Pham and Andrew McCutchen is the greatest human being in the world. Well... OK... I guess... that is what people believe. Personally... I've never met either of them. All I know is this... Jake Taylor seemed to be a pretty good teammate and leader. Roger Dorn and Eddie Harris seemed to be clubhouse problems but by the end of the movie with a team in a pennant race.. Dorn and Harris seemed to be leaders all of a sudden.

Great Post I agree with you. It's complicated... it has to be complicated because of roster limitations. But... everything you are saying... I agree with because I've seen it with my own eyes. I've come to the conclusion that it's possible that our expectations for young players exceed our expectations for veteran players and I think the Twins have a little of that cooking in their kitchen. There are a couple of arguments in support of the Twins. 1. You need players that you can stash in the minors for call up when needed. That stash isn't endless so it's risk to drain it during the off-season. 2. You don't want to start the clock to early on players with the potential of a long career. A talented player reaching free agency at age 30 as opposed to 28 will be a fairly large issue in the final year of club control. But... there are a couple of arguments that do not support the Twins and how they SEEM to operate in regards to young talent. 1. I see no evidence of lower tier vets out performing Pre-arb players. None. Yes... you can sign a lower tier vet who produces league average or even slightly above but you can trip over the same production from a pre-arb player and in the case of lower tier vets who perform below league average... I see yearly evidence of pre-arb players who match or exceed. 2. I see yearly evidence of smaller market teams thriving with over half of their 26 man roster comprised of pre-arb talent. With the Twins certain rookies will get chance after chance while others are given one shot. The Twins rode Buxton until Buxton become Buxton. They rode Sano until Sano became Sano. The rest of the young players coming up through the farm spill over the side into the baseball wind. How can the Twins miss on Rooker, How can the Padres? How can the Royals. This is how. 3. Pre-Arb Talent that struggle... will be back next year to try again with some experience behind them. Lower tier vet talent that struggle or even those who perform average or slightly above on one year contracts will not be back next year. In the end... I'm not a fan of pre-determination... even when that pre-determination is done by front offices whose job it is to make these hard decisions. Personally, I'd rather Keaschall be given a legit shot to win a job if he is indeed the best player. I'd rather Emma be given a legit shot to win a job. I'd rather anybody on the farm be given a legit shot over some 1 year lower tier guy who will not be back next year. With that said... I expect Keaschall to get a roster spot when a specific sequence events occur in 2025 to require his early addition to the 40 man and 26 man roster. When that happens... I hope he is given the opportunity to win a job and not sit on the bench like Camargo did watching Vazquez OPS .575.

Clubhouse leadership? Some are quiet leaders... Some are vocal leaders. How that translates to the other players in the locker room is hard for those in the clubhouse to quantify and basically impossible for us outsiders to quantify. Does leadership mean good guy? I don't know if he is a good guy. I have no idea if he kicks puppies or feeds them the best puppy chow in the world. All I know... Byron Buxton is a Minnesota Twin. He's been a Twin for a long time with more to come. He plays for my team. I wish him health and everything that he wants to accomplish on the baseball field and in his personal life. Hopefully he provides leadership and inspiration for his teammates along the way. At the same time, I hope that (insert name of young player here) provides leadership and inspiration for his teammates along the way. Play Well... Play Hard... Put the work in. The leadership thing will take care of itself during the journey by helping the team win games regardless of experience.

First he needs a 40 man spot. He doesn't need to be placed on the 40 man until December 26. If he doesn't need to be placed on the 40 man until that time. Getting placed on the 40 man will require a combination of events. Injuries or unexpected poor play from others combined with good play from Luke playing for the Saints. If those things happen... we could see him this year and I'll cheer my head off for him. Injuries and poor play happen all the time so it isn't impossible for these things to happen. It's up to him to hit that baseball in AAA so he's the obvious call to make. One thing that works in his favor is his multi-position work. This opens the door for him for injuries and poor play at multiple spots. The thing that doesn't work in his favor is that 40 man roster. He has to out perform those in AAA that are on the 40 man.

I don't know what 2025 is going to bring. I won't pretend to. I'd like him to stop looking at strike 3 as much as he does and be a little more aggressive with two strikes. I think that would be helpful but... completely change his approach? These guys change approaches all the time sometimes within a single AB. However... that looking for the right pitch served him pretty well... he carried us in 2023. It was Lewis, Wallner, Jeffers and Julien who covered for Correa, Buxton and Gallo having down years in 2023. Julien may have struck out 31% of the time but he also led the team in walks... led the team in on base percentage. 2024 on the other hand wasn't good but 2023 wasn't good for Correa and 2024 was very good for Carlos. Julien is 25 years old making the minimum with 600 MLB AB's under his belt. The Twins have coaches and analytic infrastructure to work on whatever he needs to work on. Defense? I'm not going to defend his defense... I have seen better defenders. I get it. I'm certainly not going to spin defensive metrics. That's for other people to do. I'm just trying to say... it's a dial not a switch. For those who can't see past defense and claim the world comes to an end with Julien putting a glove on his left hand. I'm just placing him in a defensive pile with others who played the position last year. It's a dial... not a switch. Gleyber is in that pile, the Yankees reached the World Series and he just signed a 15 million dollar deal with the Tigers after a .708 OPS season. Gavin Lux was the primary 2B with the Dodgers... They did alright. The Padres did alright when Cronenworth shifted over to 2B from 1B. The Orioles did OK when Westburg shifted to 2B from 3B. It's a dial... not a switch. Correa and Santana covering defensively? I'm going to assume that you mean having good defenders at those two positions can cover for someone not as good at another position. I have to assume that because the thought that Correa helped Julien's range by getting to balls that Julien couldn't get to would be basically impossible. If what I assume you meant is what you meant... OK... I won't argue that having a couple of good defenders in the infield... could cover for a weaker defender at another spot. That is true but the same would also have to be true at the plate. In 2023... Julien covered for a sub par Correa at the plate. But in the end... the 2B gets ball hit at him and the SS gets ball hit at him. Range is not going to change that.

I apologize but I'm really confused by your post. Did Larnach reinvent himself? Did Larnach make adjustments? Don't they all make adjustments along the way? If Julien hits like Larnach... will that be enough? Pull hitter? Not in the games I watched. Julien has always hit the ball hard the other way... and yes... he can also turn on a pitch. No future at 2B? Defensively... he has been on par with Lux, Rengifo, Torres, Cronenworth and Westburg. But... Ok... he must be moved to 1B where his bat isn't sufficient to play? His 2023 slugging numbers would have ranked 6th among 1B last year. .459 would have tied with Pete Alonso and would have ranked ahead of Matt Olson. His 2023 OPS would have ranked 4th with last years numbers. I get it... his 2024 wasn't good. But his 2023 was really really really good.

Jekyll and Hyde thus far. It's important to point out that his future years... do not... absolutely do not... have to be either extreme. His future production could land somewhere in the middle. And that middle is still valuable for someone making the minimum. For example... If you add his Jekyll and Hyde together. His Jekyllhyde is still above average as a hitter. HIs 2024 .616 OPS over 301 Plate Appearances was not good. However... no matter how bad his 2024 was. His career OPS is still above average because his 2023 was that good. Career OPS over 709 PA's is .742. Santana had a .749 OPS last year and we were singing songs about him and suddenly he costs 12 million. Castro had an OPS of .716 last year. Julien is that pre-arb player making the minimum that we need so we don't have to pay extra for it. The willingness to write him off and toss aside is somewhat astounding. Give him a job... He will tell us through performance. Check his teeth and hair... if his hair is messed up and his teeth widen to the point where they don't fit his mouth. We will know he drank the potion again.

Traded a top half of the rotation starter for a bullpen rental. They do not do this trade if allowed to turn back time. They trade the player the Royals probably originally asked for instead. If anybody has any thought that the front offices of any club has this assessment thing down. They don't. Aroldis Chapman was a rental. 2023 was a year of Chapman needing to rehabilitate his reputation. He was left of the Yankees playoff roster in 2022. He dropped from 16 million AAV to a 3 million deal with the Royals. What did the Royals think of Ragans? He wasn't enough to acquire a bullpen rental. The Royals required the Rangers to also include an outfielder by the name of Roni Cabrera. We can look back and say... Boy those Rangers sure blew this one. The Royals also didn't know what they had because they required another player to get the deal done for a bullpen rental. Assessment is hard. There is no reason to be afraid of youth. I'll be hoping for the health of our young lefthander. And the Royals were probably asking for somebody else.

The thing I find interesting... is just another data point that can be used to illustrate how the Twins compare to the other 29 teams in regards to the commitment to keeping left handed hitters away from left handed pitching. Wallner isn't good enough to face left handed hitters? Some believe this. OK... how about this: The Twins are 30th ranked in left handed hitters facing left handed pitching. So no left handed hitter on the Twins apparently is? . Still think this is still on Wallner's ability to hit left handed pitching? OK... here is another data point to chew on? 12 of the top 15 in plate appearances were left handed hitters. What's that... Those top 12 are the best hitters in baseball... Wallner doesn't belong in that group? OK... Well... I guess... The Twins will make sure that he never gets into that group. The Twins either failed to develop left handed hitters who could compete against left handed hitters or they are simply shutting it down on purpose. Either way... they spend the off-season shopping for right handed hitters. Investing millions.

Don't need to go to a bar. I could win those bets with some of the folks on TD. Which is the same thing because the TD forums drive me to drink.

If he remains healthy. Margot led the team in AB's vs Left Handed Pitching last year with 156. Interestingly... Shohei Ohtani (Left Handed Hitter) led all of baseball PA's against left handed pitching with last year with 249. Even more interesting and I mean real interesting. The top 8 batters in baseball in 2024 plate appearances against left handed pitching... ARE ALL LEFT HANDED HITTERS. Ohtani, Schwarber, Duran, Harper, Soto, Freeman, Devers and Henderson. Additional Interest... The highest ranked right handed hitter in plate appearances against left handed pitching isn't a huge name but a rather young name. It was Ezequiel Tovar of the Rockies with 209 plate appearances. He was tied for 12th... with Alvarez and Carroll... who are interestingly... both left handed. 9 and 10 on the list are switch hitters: De La Cruz and Marte. Jazz Chisholm... another lefty is 11th. Just to keep the interest going... Arraez checks in at 15th and he is... again left handed. For those who don't want to do the math. 12 of the top 15 players in plate appearances are pure left handed hitters. I find that interesting. Others may not have any interest.