Riverbrian

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

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.