Riverbrian

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/rankings/player/_/year/2026/position/c/sort/cap_total 23 million? Who is paying 23 million?

I don't know. Who can you trust these days? I have my own assumptions. I assume that Tom Pohlad is clearly in charge. He said as much when he walked in the door and something clearly changed during the off-season. Derek Falvey mutually parting ways 13 days before spring training. Who does that? Derek Shelton was under the impression and said "this team was going to develop young players" at his introductory press conference. He even used the cliche "I'm not using the word rebuild" which is what you say when you are going through a re-whatever and his message changed direction shortly after. Direction changed fairly abruptly so I've always assumed Tom Pohlad. However, I really wish I knew the inner workings of the front office. As for the Ragazzo article. Trustworthy or not. The Deadline? The decision was made in the off-season. I would have lost more respect for them if they pulled the plug at the deadline when they were in contention. You don't go for it, not fail going for it, let your trade value diminish and then pull the plug. If the "Front Office" was that wishy washy and thought it was a good idea to sell at the deadline in contention... I'm not going to be very comfortable with that wishy washiness. If the source was accurate, the "front office" was probably not on board in the off-season. And it was the off-season when the ship sailed. However. I really wish I knew the inner workings of the front office so my thoughts were less assumptive. In the end... its the people who hire the people so it'll come back to Tom Pohlad from all directions.

I don't know. I would really like to know the inner workings of the front office but I don't. Whoever, made the decision to go for it. Made a real questionable decision and it almost worked. Yet.... it was clearly questionable and I'd hope they wouldn't do it again... if they had a redo. If that was Zoll... I can't give him a high grade because it cost us time. We didn't have a bullpen... not even close to having a bullpen in order to attempt such things. Yes our starting pitching was decent but we didn't have the bullpen to support it... and... and... we had Joe Ryan at peak trade value that would have fetched an incredible return. We should have taken another step forward and finished what was started at the trade deadline. We didn't... we went for it. Now we've lost significant trade value and significant time toward peak next core. I don't know whose call that was. But it was the wrong call and not an "oh well" type mistake. If it wasn't his call. Zoll did rather good because it almost worked.

What is at stake this off-season? Let's just take our outfield as it stands today. If there are no roster adjustments. There is a possibility... maybe even a probability. That our 5 outfielders next year are Buxton, Keaschall, Jenkins, Emma and Martin. This is with assumption that Larnach, Wallner are gone and Roden starts in St. Paul. 3 RH and 2 LH. Against left handed starters. It's the 3 RH Keaschall, Buxton and Martin in the lineup. Jenkins and Emma on the bench. Martin's splits only justify work against left handed pitching so if he is on the roster... that's when he is going to play. Now you could place Keaschall at DH... Which would compromise his future value as a DH only with non-typical DH Power. And then put Larnach, Wallner or Roden into the 5th OF Spot and one of the left handed Jenkins and Emma will get to play against left handers. Or they could go shopping for a right handed hitter to play OF and we have two platoons set up in the OF. IF we continue doing what we have been doing. It's looking possible. This will take Jenkins and Emma on the exact same path as all of the other left handed hitters that have come from our system. Strict avoidance of facing left handers. Do it year 1... You'll do it year 2. Even if you start letting them hit left handers in year 2. You've wasted a year. If you start year 3. You've wasted two years of development. At year 5 if we continue down this same path. Jenkins trade value will be compromised. He will not become Schwarber or Freeman. His presence on the roster will require a Martin to shield him against left handers and this means you have selected less talent for your roster by choosing a specialist against 28% pitching. You also limit the amount of pure left handed hitters on the roster. When the numbers clearly show that left handed against right handed pitching is the most beneficial. There is a lot at stake this off season. All of this for something that isn't showing up in the win column. At least it didn't in 2026 according to the data. We faced 50 left handed starters in 2026. A .050 platoon advantage against left handed hitters will take about 27 games to produce an extra run. There is a lot at stake this off-season since we are starting fresh with a new young core of players in 2027. Do we want to half develop them? Or do we want to develop them?

Disclaimer: I am fully aware that the Win and Loss Data that I am sharing has major holes in any conclusions because it does not contain extremely important data such as pitching performance. We all know that you can win a 2-1 game and lose an 8-7 game. Baseball is baseball. Another thing this information doesn't contain is talent. I realize this however... the accumulation and development of talent is probably my overall point. With the disclaimer fully in place to avoid unnecessary confusion. I'll restate the purpose of this data: Major league managers are setting lineups based on weather the starting pitcher is right handed and left handed. I don't believe that this can be argued. There are degrees to how much each team allows the throwing hand of the opposing starting pitcher to influence the daily lineup and almost all teams platoon to some degree. In the case of the Twins... I believe they platoon more than almost all teams and I believe that the hand of the starting pitcher is by far the primary influencer in the daily lineup. The starting lineup does the majority of the work apart from pitching. Anything that influences those decisions as heavily as the throwing hand of the opposing starter has to be looked at. The starting lineup handles the majority of AB's, defensive plays, baserunning and it determines who is available to pinch hit or pinch run if necessary. The reason managers play these rather marginal platoon advantages is to increase the chances of winning baseball games. The selection of the starting lineup plays a big role in wins and losses. If so... playing the platoon advantage as strongly as the Twins do. It should show up in wins and loss records when you are able to stack the opposite batters box with a higher numbers of players. I feel this is important because in order to maintain this level of platooning... There are examples of choosing lesser players to maintain it. Instead of choosing more talented players. So... this is ultimately a talent discussion as much as it is a platoon discussion. Did the platoon help us win more games? I draw no conclusions from this data set alone because of undetermined talent and undetermined pitching influence on outcomes. I will add to this data set (run production) later when I have time to compile it. Here is a breakdown of some of the data that I compiled over the year: Record vs Right Handed Starters: 55-57 Average Runs Scored 4.65 - Record vs Left Handed Starters: 22-28 Average Runs Scored 4.36 112 Games vs Right Handed Starters - 50 games vs Left Handed Starters: 69% of games were against Right Handed Starters. Average number of players in our starting lineup hitting from the opposite batters box against Right Handed Pitchers: 5.46 Average number of players in our starting lineup hitting from the opposite batters box against left handed pitchers: 7.78 We averaged over two more batters in the opposite batters box against left handers and it produced a 44% winning percentage against left handed pitching compared to 49% winning percentage against right handers. Stuffing the opposite batters box didn't produce more wins... it produced more losses. Let's break it down further: Number of players in the starting lineup in the opposite batters box against Right Handed Starters and the win/loss record: 3: 4-0 Average Runs Scored 3.75 4: 4-5 Average Runs Scored 5.00 5: 20-22 Average Runs Scored 4.95 6: 21-27 Average Runs Scored 4.42 7: 5-3 Average Runs Scored 4.13 8: 1-0 Average Runs Scored 8.00 We were 28-27 when we had lower amount (3-4-5) in the opposite batters box and 27-30 when we had higher amount (6-7-8) in the opposite batters box. Including 4-0 when we had the lowest amount of 3 batters in the left handed batters box. The 4 pitchers who started those games that we won were: Michael Wacha. Jose Cabrera, Ryan Feltner and Gavin Williams. The majority of games were in the middle with either 5 or 6 players in the left handed batters box and we were 41-49. This is not a surprise because a losing team is going to lose where the majority of games are located. Against Left Handed Starters: 6: 1-0 Average Runs Scored 5.00 7: 6-8 Average Runs Scored 3.14 8: 13-17 Average Runs Scored 5.00 9: 2-3 Average Runs Scored 3.80 They went 7-8 when we had lower amount 6 or 7 in the opposite batters box and they went 15-20 when we had higher amounts 8 or 9. It's a 50 game sample. 30 of those 50 times we had only one left handed hitter in the starting lineup. Typically Kody Clemens. Combining both hands together to create a collective won-loss record per batters in the opposite batters box: 3: 4-0 4: 4-5 5: 20-22 6: 22-27 7: 11-11 8: 14-17 9: 2-3 Not much to glean from this. It's basically the same numbers. 28-27 when the lowest amounts are applied (3-4-5) and 27-31 when the highest amount of players (7--8-9) are in the opposite batters box. 69% of the starters we faced were right handed. Again... I realize that pitching is not included and I realize that this can also simply be explained by the talent of the players who are suppose to be doing the damage from the batters box. However... Yes... absolutely Yes... I am making this a talent argument. If It is causing the rostering of lesser players to maintain it. It is compromising our future development for what appear to be marginal gains today if there are gains at all. Compromised development in the future is lower trade value. I am absolutely indeed asking the question... Does the platoon actually help us win games? This data doesn't show it. Does it help us enough to today to justify the potential damage to our developing players tomorrow? I am also asking the question: If 69% of the opposing team starters are right handed and if we believe in the platoon advantage. Shouldn't we be more focused on the 69%... which means more left handed hitters. Keep in mind that I am less of a believer in the platoon advantage even if it is proven year after year because it doesn't do as much today as we might think. Here are the 2026 platoon split OPS for the regular season. This data is every player, every game, every team in the year 2026. LHH vs RHP: .743 RHH vs LHP: .729 RHH vs RHP: .698 LHH vs LHP: .676 Against Left Handed pitching... there is .053 OPS gap. Against Right Handed pitching... there is a .045 OPS gap. Over an entire season it was an .045 gap between LHH and RHH vs RHP. When you call up Gabriel Gonzalez over Emmanuel Rodriquez. You are avoiding that lower end .676 and ignoring the highest end .743. It took 2,430 games and 794 players to produce these gaps of .045 and .053. How many runs does a .045 or .053 OPS advantage over 162 games produce per season, per month, per week, per game, per AB. It's about 1 run every 27 games against left handers. That's what is driving these decisions. Let's look at the Twins in 2026. LHH vs RHP: .741 (2387 PA) Ranked 17th RHH vs LHP: .691 (1554 PA) No team had more RHH vs RHP: .736 (1827 PA) Ranked 17th LHH vs LHP: .624 (359 PA's) Only Three Teams had less LHH vs LHP (Angels, D-Backs and Reds). In the case of the 2026 Twins. We threw more right handed batters at left handed pitchers than anyone in the league and we were .038 less than the major league average.

In 50 AB's Arcia did OK. Not a large enough sample to feel comfortable with any declaration IMO. His biggest problem remains 2024 and 2025. 600 PA's with the Braves in 2024 with a .625 OPS and he lost that starting job early in 2025 to Nick Allen who ended up producing a .535 OPS over 400 PA's. Which led to the grabbing of Kim off the waiver wire in September. Kim wasn't the answer either for the Braves in 2026 has he was even worse offensively which led to Dubon becoming the primary SS. In the end. We rostered a 31 year old SS option who lost his job to Nick Allen who lost his Job to Kim who lost his job to Dubon. He became necessary for the roster when Lewis was demoted. It was May 20th... just barely into the season and we had an infield of Lee 3B, Keaschall at 2B and Keaschall was struggling both offensively and defensively. Clemens was playing 1B but also playing OF at the time which led to Bell playing more 1B than they probably wanted. Gray, Kreidler and Arcia were all up. Gray was the primary SS for that stretch with Arcia filling in around the infield with Kriedler bouncing between SS and CF. This year... I hope we get serious about staffing the ENTIRE roster. We will have the same problems in the infield in 2027 if we take the same approach that we did in 2026.

I don't know... it's really hard to know for sure. He (or the front office) seemed to be more decisive in regards to necessary changes. Like Lewis and Wallner sent down, Lee to 3B and Keaschall to the OF. Baldelli (or the front office) seemed to be slower to respond. Seemed... I offer no proof of that assumption. Did that decisiveness mean wins? We were 22-27 when Lewis was sent down and Lee moved to SS. We were 38-44 when they decided to move Keaschall. We were 56-56 at the trade deadline. So we went from 5 games below .500 - (Major adjustment) - to playing .500 ball (major adjustment) to playing above .500 ball until the trade deadline which led to acquisition of bullpen help along with basically locking into a lineup and watching that locked in lineup perform worse than Lee at SS and Lewis at 3B way back in the beginning. Assuming that these were the managers decisions. I'd say he won us some games leading up to the deadline by searching for better and moving decisively. Then he gave it all right back after the deadline as he stopped looking for better. Just sat frozen as it fell apart. I'll say in the end. He cost us a game or two.

Yet they couldn't develop anyone beyond Jeffers. Jeffers matured all the way from rookie to free agent and he is the sum total of organizational catching development during this lengthy period of time. I really hope to see Diaw but until they promote and play one... the play one part seems to be the hill they can't climb. They were so trusting of Jeffers development that they spent 30 million on Vazquez. Vazquez produced an OPS under .600 every single year. They couldn't develop anyone capable of reaching that low bar. Caratini had a couple of years of what I would call hitting good for a catcher. Never hit good for a 1B or DH. But, they were going to slam him in there anyway to start the season. Th 7 million spent was poor use of limited resources and he will be the guy next year so we spend another 7 million. Meanwhile... there is an impressive list of young catching in the major leagues being produced by the other 29 teams. I replied in regards to Catching... So... as not to ignore the other half of topic Kriedler. I think he did decently in consideration of something fairly important. That fairly important consideration is this: We didn't aggressively pursue infield help. You could almost say that we were locked in on Lee at SS, Lewis 3B, Keaschall 2B and Clemens/Caratini at 1B. And we declared that we were going for it. Gray was the initial selection over Kreidler and Arcia to grab that last roster spot so Kriedler was the 2nd choice for the last spot. Gray, Kreidler and Arcia were the insurance policies against anything going wrong in the infield and every single thing went wrong in the infield. Because none of those 5 people listed ended up playing those same positions by the end of the year. How do you lock into a lineup that ended up having to be completely revamped two months into the season. Lee wasn't good enough for SS and moved to 3B. Lewis wasn't good enough for the major leagues and was moved to 1B when he returned to the majors and mainly to accommodate Lee moving to 3B. Keaschall wasn't good enough for 2B and was moved to the outfield and Clemens was moved to 2B to accomodate Lewis and Lee. Kriedler became our primary SS. It's like the front office didn't know that the possibility of something going wrong with Lewis, Lee, Keaschall, Clemens and Caratini was even possible. Given the circumstances and the lack of front office preparation to deal with such circumstances. Kriedler was a godsend. We went for it.

Abel... He looks real good. The guy has stuff. I think a healthy Abel would have done wonders for the pitching staff. Emma... his injury last year was really unfortunate. With last year being his last option. I really wanted to get a look at him. Get him the exposure he needs. When they called Gabriel Gonzalez instead of Emma in September...That really bugged me. A left right decision instead of a talent decision or instead of a Arbitration clock ticking decision. Two considerations that are more important than a left right decision that rules the world. Roden... He really struggled statistically for his first 37 AB's. He may have struggled statistically... however... he looked good doing it. He was was making decent contact... he wasn't chasing. He looked professional. Then the hits start to fall and his stats went off like a rocket (still inside a small sample). And as soon as he started to hit... he is sent down. Left/Right thing cost him the chance to continue and that's not how you treat a hot streak or a developing player. I agree with this list... these are 3 players that I would have liked to see more of.

I liked the @tony&rodneypost but I like yours better. I have no idea if Roden can actually play 1B. And no... we shouldn't force it. However... as you point out... The presence of Vlad Jr at 1B. Moving him to 1B in that organization would have made it hard to make the major league level. Chances are he can't so Tony or Rodney might be right but he would slide in nice there if he could.

It isn't really justification of either. At best it's acknowledgement of how hard it is pick talent out of a pile. The roster limitations leads to hard decisions. We had a pretty good bullpen when they dfa'd those guys. However... It's criticism. Ultimately... It's the choosing of a 35 year old Tonkin over young arms with potential. I want them to choose potential talent over old and crafty. I'd like them to consider years of service over one year blah. They haven't been doing that and our development has been a pile of non-developed players for too long now.

I still haven't forgiven them for Nick Anderson. 😉 If they make mistakes... and they make mistakes. Every club makes enough of these type of assessment mistakes to know... without a shadow of a doubt that they will make these types of mistakes. And if they know and they have to know... how can they lock in like they don't make mistakes.

Front offices get it wrong often. Not just the Twins but all teams. Front offices get it wrong a lot and they are making decisions on the margins as they try to maintain rosters with 26 man and 40 man limitations. Brent Headrick striking out 98 hitters in 78 innings for the Yankees should have never happened. This is a LEFT HANDED pitcher with that ability. A left hander that you have had your exclusive eyes on for 5 years. In an organization that lives in fear of left handed batters facing left handed pitchers so it clearly understands the importance of LEFT HANDED pitchers... Yet they can't identify a pitcher with the capability of striking out 98 hitters in 78 innings when he is STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM and throwing with his LEFT HAND! It happens because the job is hard and front offices get it wrong quite often.

Great post For the past decade. We have had a top ten ranked farm system year after year. Having a top ranked farm system for a decade running doesn't mean much because it hasn't really born fruit in over a decade. Other teams have oranges and blueberries on the table. Strip mined left handed hitters with no trade value despite being successful at the limited role we trained him to be. That's our success story. You reap what you sow.

Love the perspective. 162 games - 137 stolen bases - 22 Caught stealing. 159 attempts. Less than one attempt per game. The 14% CS is last and it is awful but only awful to the tune of 27 extra stolen bases from league average. Thats 1 stolen base every 6 games. Perspective. Its important.

You are absolutely right. This will most likely result in overpays to just reach the minimum. There will be teams that will just want to clear that minimum by as little as they can. The A listers will not be available to them, they won't want to sign if you went for them, they will have choices and there isn't enough A listers to go around so you fish in the same pool. The only solution would be to add money to the contracts of B the listers to stay compliant.

Thumbs Up. I know he's played a little of it but I don't know if he can... But... if he could... If he has any 1B skill at all. Roden at 1B could give us a shot of producing something at the position. I'd like to see some more home run pop at that position but we don't have that guy in the system. I think Roden can hit. When he started the season after 37 AB's. He still looked good doing it. He was making contact... he didn't look fooled. I wasn't worried about that early sample. Things started to bounce his way.

Everything is faster and the balls break a little sharper. His hard hit rate is going to come back when he gets adjusted to where the slider is going to land. With those hands, that bat speed. Let him adjust to that breaking pitch and figuring out where the barrel needs to be on the slider. He has KA BOOM potential. I really liked what I saw

There is a lot to like about him. He looks like a ball player. I'm genuinely excited about his future. He will quickly become one of my favorites.

It has my vote. Years of control if you do straighten him out with some more exposure. He may not be expensive to acquire.

Managers tend to get a little more careful come playoff time. Milwaukee certainly platooned less thus far. Frelick sat against the only left hander they faced. Lara subbed in. Prior to that Bauers was sitting for Vaughn against lefties at the end of the season. Which is odd because Bauers splits are pretty neutral this year but that's Vaughn forcing that substitution. The Dodgers have platooned Muncy against lefties for Rojas and Kike and they have faced a lot of left handers. in the playoffs. The Braves have never been a heavy platoon team. Yaz sits against lefties and they have Lane Thomas chained to him for those lefty moments. The Padres were pretty low on options so the platooning they are doing revolve around Samad Taylor, Dustin Harris and Ben Sheets who is dealing with injuries but they could barely staff 9 in the playoffs. The Yankees were locked in. They just got frustrated with Chisholm and McMahon as they started getting desperate for offense. The Rays are just doing a platoon with Simpson and Vilade. The White Sox are platooning the hell out of this thing. They have Antonacci, Benitendi and Tristan Peters subbed out for Grichuk, Pham and Doyle. Pham and Doyle were picked up at the deadline but it's important to point out that the White Sox are a left handed heavy team. They only bat two right handers against right handed pitching. They are left handed. And then there is Cleveland. They are even more left handed heavy than the White Sox are. They have 2 pure right handed hitters on the roster. Adell and Fry... that's it. And Fry has only played one game in the playoffs. They have chosen the left handed hitting Lowe over Fry. While Venable is attacking with left handed bullpen arms instead of standard starters. You are right... this is dear to my heart and I watch it like a hawk and when I watch the playoff behavior under pressure... I can't help but wonder what they hell we are doing during the regular season.

Yeah but teams are using the platoon to staff their rosters. If they platoon... They are looking for role players. They set their rosters for it. If they staff in this regard and they do. It would be odd to be dismissive a players who is performing in that exact role. So his role would be DH against Right Handers which is the role he is useful in. So when the D Backs take on Yammamoto in the playoffs next year. Larnach would be in the lineup. 😄

Agreed. Specific players destroys the concept or the idea because the player takes over the discussion. The concept will not work if the specific player is subjectively dismissed. Although... I admit... my consistent specific chime in's in Trevors defense makes it hard for me to discuss concept because in this regard... I'm willing participant in a specific player... so I guess I ask for it. All in all... I just find the opinions on Larnach to be... a little unfair.

In regards to Larnach. Maybe. I don't know enough to be confident. The Elite hitting DH... is a pretty rare bird in most backyards. Adrian Castillo did the majority of DH work for them with a .556 OPS. Jose Fernandez with a .643 and Pavin Smith with a .556 filled half of their DH work. But I wouldn't expect Larnach to return Lawlar by himself but again... I don't know. We will find out soon enough. If he is offered arb. He has value. If he isn't... He doesn't.

I apologize for jumping in on a discussion with someone else. Personally... I'm never sure what teams will take back in trades and I don't like making suggestions because I've been surprised a few times. I think Jordan would be perfect for what I'm looking for but I have a hard time seeing a deal because nobody wants to sell low on potential and I think Jordan's value is a little distressed at the moment but yet young enough to turn it around so I tend to agree with you. I don't think Lawlar would be easy to acquire. However... I'd like someone like him.., somehow someway. The value of Larnach? We will find out soon enough. If the Twins don't offer him arbitration... we will know that he has no value to other clubs because he has out priced his value. And if he has no value to other clubs despite doing pretty well at what we asked him to do and other teams ask other players to do... Which is hit right handed pitching exclusively. If that happens and he has no trade value. It's going to make a pretty loud statement about what the hell are we (and other teams) doing. All 30 teams are trying to math their lineups together to various degrees. Someone has to be interested in a guy who provides the math they are looking for which is .819 OPS against Right handed pitching. I don't know... but I guess we will find out soon enough.