Riverbrian

I'm not sure that I am smugly dismissing the idea. I know that I believe that Wallner should be every day so I'd say that I am not inclined to defend nor throw Rocco under the bus. But, before I do any of these things above. I think it's fair to get a clarification on who the best 8 position players that should be the same lineup and the same batting order. The identification of those 8 players is pretty key to the discussion.

Out of curiosity. Who are the best 8 position players?

Horrible start for him. Has rebounded nicely. 159 PA's 132 PA's vs RHP 27 PA's vs LHP .294 BA .304 BA vs RHP .250 BA vs LHP 9 HR 1 per 17.6 PA's 8 HR vs RHP 1 per 16.5 PA's 1 HR vs LHP 1 Per 27 PA's .396 OBP .409 OBP vs RHP .333 OBP vs LHP .603 SLG .634 SLG vs RHP .458 SLG vs LHP .999 OPS 1.043 OPS vs RHP .792 OPS vs LHP 33.3 K% 31.8 K% vs RHP 40.7 K% vs LHP 44.6 Hard Hit% 42.9 Hard Hit% vs RHP 53.8 Hard HIt% vs LHP .419 BABIP .419 BABIP vs RHP .417 BABIP vs LHP After two hits against a left hander last night... In his limited small sample size PA's against LHP (which makes the stat very volatile and prone to swings positive or negative) his OPS is currently better than the following hitters that stand in the right handed batters box. Manual Margot Brooks Lee Kyle Farmer Willi Castro Austin Martin Jose Miranda Christian Vazquez Play the guy every day!!! Get him continued looks at lefty pitching. We have less than a month to get him ready for the playoffs. Wallner will be important in the playoffs.

Watch it again. The Runner was off with the pitch... The runner had passed in front of Royce before Lewis had fielded the ball. By the time Royce gets to his feet and in throwing position the runner is almost at 2nd base. Ryne Sandberg makes the throw home based on the runner passing in front of him alone. The throw home itself... it wasn't that bad. It may have short hopped skipped but it was nearly perfect for a tag with minimal effort. Right where you want the ball. If I'm Vazquez... I'm telling Royce... My Bad. There was so much crap that happened that inning. A lot of runs and it wasn't like they were hitting rockets off of Louie. Castro pulling up, Varland wild pickoff attempt, The Lee bobble, a bunt single to exploit the shift. The ball getting past Vazquez. We had plenty of chances to avoid 8 getting hung up on board.

I don't do that thing with the backup QB. I know many do but I don't. Although Brock Purdy does requires some explanation and I don't care what sport... nor do I care what profession or industry that we all work in. They all have stories of better talent not getting the chance to be better talent. I do do it in baseball and I have no problem doing it in baseball while simultaneously recognizing from the bottom of my heart that the front offices are doing this for a living and have access to more information than I have. The job they do is hard and they are up against very talented front offices that also do this for a living. Nobody is doing this in spare time like I do. No matter what I'm saying... I recognize this... I'm not calling for their heads. But... I believe I have legitimate points worth consideration. Every front office makes mistakes... it's not the mistakes they make...they all make them... it's the sticking with the mistake and not moving off the mistake. I don't blame them for signing Gallo... I blame them for staying with Gallo. I don't blame them for losing Nick Anderson but I do blame them for not giving him a chance. Just look at the opening day roster and all of their mistakes are right there for all to see. They thought Julien was the 2B. They thought Castro was a fill in piece... They thought Farmer was worth 6 million. If they can be wrong on Julien this year... they can be wrong on Severino or Kiersay this year. Why was Miranda not on the opening day roster? These are mistakes that all front offices make. I harbor no thought that the front office is perfect. Nor should you. Because all 30 teams make large scale mistakes like this frequently. I never started thinking that I knew more but I certainly stopped thinking that they were beyond reproach. I understand what the front office is doing with the heavy platooning they are doing. I understand that they have data that probably supports it. I understand the splits historical and small sample and I do believe that left handers clearly struggle against left handers in comparison to the opposite hand. I also know that the Twins do it to a degree much more than the other 29 clubs. However... I believe it is a fundamental mistake to do what they are doing to the extreme that they do. I hope they correct it without throwing the baby out with the bathwater. This all started because I believe that Vazquez had to pinch hit for Larnach. I don't question the move... they had no choice... I question putting yourself into the position of having to do it. Because they have starved Larnach from facing lefty's for two years now. September with the game on the line is not the time to say... OK Trevor... need you now... sorry we didn't get you better prepared for this moment. I question putting yourself in the position of having to pinch hit a .568 OPS against left handers with the game on the line because you have starved the alternative. I question the early pinch hitting that leads to no other alternative in the final innings. I question being forced to pinch hit .568 OPS guy who will have to play 3B in the 10th inning if he is successful tying the game to force a tenth inning. Vazquez at 3B while Lewis moves to the OF in the 10th was the only possible defensive alignment in the 10th if Vazquez would have ripped a single in that pinch hit. I question it being all you have left because it is simply more important to protect left handed hitters from left handed pitchers and protecting them early in the game, therefore burning your bench early. I question what happens when Margot and Farmer get hurt on the last day of the season and are not eligible for the playoffs. They are the right handed cover. Who plays against left handers now? Wallner all of a sudden? I question how Wallner, Julien, Larnach or Kirilloff break free of the shackles to carve out a career without a Margot or Helman attached to them. I question how Jenkins will be handled when they completely absolutely keep lefties away from lefties and do so more so than all the other 29 teams. I question how a team that doesn't play in the free agent market can develop talent with these shackles applied because if you don't play in the free agent market... developing talent is critically necessary. I really really really question the throwing the shackles on a young player before they even get started and still developing. I really don't want them dipped in cement this way... especially when they make mistakes as frequently as they make them. I want the players to help them make the decisions with actual performance. I question if you are gaining anything from Margot and Farmer if you have to give it right back because they are are facing more right handers than left handers. I question the wasting of roster spots on short siders when injuries practically guarantee that you will need those short siders to do something they are not able to do. I question what the difference is when Margot has to face a righty compared to Wallner facing a lefty. Margot is facing more righties by a large margin. I understand why they are doing it. I question if they should be doing it. I think they got the data right... but the application is wrong.

Nope... She had a giant hairball that occurred from too much licking of her cat.

I literally point to middle ground in a post and you quote it with this response. It's pretty disappointing. Are you under the impression that I don't understand OBP. The OBP of Correa is .377 that means failure to reach base is .643. I can literally type... the very first sentence that I type in this thread. "There is no gaurentee of performance no matter what move is made". You even quoted that post. And you throw "Can't cover your eyes when they (LH bats) do nothing at the plate" at me. If you think that is what I'm doing or capable of... Don't respond to my posts. You won't be worth my time.

OK But if you are going to sit Morneau and Thome so Farmer can play... I need you to promise me that you will never play Farmer against a right handed pitcher with his .649 career OPS against them.

My suspicion is that if you asked Rocco why he platoons the way he does... His honest response would be that they are not good enough. My response to Rocco would be: They will never be good enough and you are making sure of that by decree. And the time will come that you are going to need them to be what you say they can't be because the roster only supports 13 position players and you are pinch hitting for players in the 4th inning. I don't believe for a second that Wallner can OPS 1,000 plus against right handers but his OPS against left handers will be locked at .516 in the basement with no chance of improvement. He only gets locked in the basement when Rocco locks him in the basement which is what he does. I know 24 PA's is a small sample size so I don't quote the following numbers as proof of anything because you and I both know the volatility of small samples. However his current OPS against lefties is .720 in those 24 PA's. That is higher than the following players who stand in the right side batters box. Lee Castro Farmer Martin Miranda Vazquez That's 6 players out of 13 spots. Yet... it's the crime of being left handed that dictates the lineup choices. The other thing is this: All teams will platoon... the platoon split is real. However only the Giants platoon as heavily as the Twins do and they are letting Yaz swing against lefties now with his .743 OPS against them and .754 against the RHP.

My argument is against the extreme response of just taking the lefties out every single time. I wouldn't want to go extreme in the other direction either. Most things in life have a middle ground that gets overlooked in a nuanced discussion. But if those are my only two choices. I'll take Jacque Jones and his .628 OPS against 25% of the pitchers while you staff the team for the 75% of the right handers.

Larnach has gone from 90 AB's against lefties to 51 to 23 to 17 so far in his 4 year existence in the majors. He has spent his 4 year existence of bouncing between the majors, AAA and the IL because he hasn't grabbed a full time job with both hands. The platoon split is real... I don't argue this... but Larnach hasn't been able to grab a full time job with both hands to this point. This year he has more AB's in the majors than any other year.

In my opinion... it can't be done. Depth is necessary because of injuries. In order to have decent depth not just names to fill out a roster that you hope you don't have to play.... you must have flexibility because you have 3 extra players for 8 positions not counting the catcher position. Talented players are not going to sit waiting for injury to play. Talented players shouldn't have to sit for prolonged periods of time because they are talented. Rostering Non-Talented to fill out a roster so the same 9 play every day results in needing those non-talented players to play because of injuries. Flexibility is a necessary product produced by actual depth. Actual depth is a necessary product of injuries and unexpected poor performance.

My Guess and a guess only is that the Twins are playing the long game. Over the long run... Margot will get some pinch hits and turn that 0-14 into a 5 for 20. Just making up numbers out of my goofy head for example purposes. September and 0-28 is a problem. Are they still waiting for a 5 for 6 stretch at the plate to finish out September? I was done waiting in August but I have my own thoughts that don't match up with theirs.

It's a sensible point. I won't really argue it because it is sensible. I make 162 game reasoning in my points when I complain about young left handed hitters atrophying against left handed pitching because they will be needed over the long haul. I make 162 game considerations when I complain about the short sider on the roster being needed over the long haul. You are right Cleavinger has now pitched two days in a row is most likely not available for todays game. To support what you are saying... I've often wondered why Rocco will at times (actually a lot of the time... if not most of the time) stack his left handers at the top of the starting lineup. For example... Larnach in the two hole, Wallner at the 4 spot and Kepler at the 5 spot. Instead of spaced out with Larnach hitting 2, Wallner 5 and Kepler 8. If you space them out, you make it harder for them to place a lefty on the mound knowing that they must face 3 batters minimum and two right handers are going to follow. When Rocco stacks them up. He is just asking for a left hander to enter the game when Larnach rolls around and if the manager does it early in the game. Margot and Farmer will have to face the nasty right handed closer in the ninth when the clock is about to hit zero. Ninth inning is back against the wall... 5th, 6th or 7th inning there is still opportunity to score runs. I've thought about why he does that and there are only two things that make sense to me. Although, I don't agree with either possible explanation. 1. Those are the best hitters so up in the order they go. I think your best hitters should go at the top of the order because they will hit more often... but that advantage is negated if it means they are not available in the ninth because they were pinch hit for. 2. He is trying to draw a left hander into the game because he thinks the possible left hander isn't as good as the right handed arsenal or he's trying to burn up a left hander early in the series. Trying to get the other manager to utilize or burn certain pitchers should be a consideration and I'm hopeful that it's on our managers mind. However, I'm not sure that reason #2 is the reason because I've seen the Twins get painted into a late inning corner on the last day of a series when the next team they play will get the benefit of burning a bullpen arm. In the context of last nights game. Uceta has been great so far in this 34.1 innings. 46 K's with a 0.67 WHIP. Cleaving hasn't been as good but he has still been pretty good. I'm not sure the gain is significant in this context. The Rays also have Lovelady who throws from the left side who Cash can put in the game early today and drive Larnach, Wallner and Julien from the lineup. Leaving once again Farmer and Martin or even Helmen to face Uceta or Manuel Rodriquez in the ninth. Just to show that I'm not just one sided and willing to look at both sides. Let's say that Rocco saves his bullets for the ninth... like I think he should have... or should do. Let's say he stays with Martin and Helman and lets them bat in the 7th. Leaving him with 3 lefties available to pinch hit in the ninth against Uceta. For example let's say that 7th and 8th play out exactly like they did last night with Martin and Helman remaining in the game. The Twins would have entered the top of the 9th down 1 run with Santana, Farmer, Lee, Castro, Martin, Helmen. Santana would not be pinch hit for is my guess and Julien would pinch hit for Farmer just like what transpired last night. Wallner or Larnach could have hit for Lee with Castro moving to SS if necessary in the 10th... But at that point... there is no reason that Cash couldn't immediately counter with Cleavinger as soon as Wallner or Larnach was announced and we now have the dreaded lefty on lefty matchup. I get it... I see both sides. You make a sensible point. My solution is to not starve your young left handed hitters during the course of the season because there will come a time when you will need them to face left handed pitching and the timing for this may be extremely inconvenient... such as... the September stretch run... or worse yet... the actual playoffs. Larnach at best can become Joc Pederson in the future, Wallner at best can become Joc Pederson in the future. Kirilloff at best can become Joc Pederson in the future. Julien at best can become Joc Pederson in the future. Emmanuel Rodriquez at best can become Joc Pederson in the future, Walter Jenkins at best can become Joc Pederson. This is your development plan for a team that... Let's be honest can't afford to bring in big name free agents... therefore development is absolute key to future success. Turning the key to future success into finding the right low priced Margot every single year. Because Joc Pederson requires Grichuk or Margot to take a roster spot. Margot taking a spot is a spot not available to ERod or Jenkins or even Kiersay until injury opens the door but if the injury is to Margot... they will call up Helman instead because Joc Pederson requires Margot or Helman who faces more right handers than left handers because 75% of the pitching is Right handed and injuries are going to happen. Meanwhile the Orioles roster 7 left handed hitters on their current roster. Yankees 7, Cleveland 7, Detroit 7, Red Sox 6. Jays 6, D-Backs 6, Phillies 6, Cards 6 and Nats 6. 10 of 30 teams are stuffed with lefty hitters. Those 10 teams are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10 and 12, 16, 20, 20 and 23 in runs scored this year. There is a lot to consider but this extreme reaction to the left handed hitter facing a left handed batter did result in Vazquez pinch hitting with the game on the line. OK... it happened... tomorrow's a new day and I get it. The platoon split is real... but one last thing that I can't get out of mind. If we are so careful to avoid left handed hitters facing left handed pitchers... Why isn't the reverse true. We have a 28 man roster that has ONE... left handed pitcher in Thielbar. Hitters... Nope can't do it. Pitchers... Yep can do it. Anyway... I'm not arguing your point... It's solid. I agree that 162 game considerations need to be part of what a manager does.

There is no gaurentee of performance no matter what move is made. However... I do want to point out that a sequence of left-right-left on the mound will paint us in the ninth inning corner every time. A sequence of right-left-right will also paint us in the ninth inning corner. Larnach has 17 total plate appearances vs left handed pitching. Those 17 appearances have been scattered over 14 games. An AB here and a AB there is scattered to the point of atrophy. Christian Vazquez is hitting .205 vs left handers. OPS of .568 but he does he stand in the right handed batters box. If you put Larnach in the game with 1 out in the 7th on the road. Just two players reaching base in the next 2.2 innings is going to bring him to the plate in the 9th. When the team is on the road... the team will bat in the 9th. You had 4 left handers on the bench and Vazquez.3 of the left handers were already in the game with Kepler injured. Cleavinger was coming. Vazquez was the only option. Again... I'm not saying that anything else was guaranteed success but all of these moves are made to increase odds. You plum run out of increased odds by the time the 9th inning rolls around. I wish that Rocco would save his bullets. Here's an interesting thought or question. If Vazquez would have singled and tied the game... forcing it to 10 innings. Assuming Kepler is hurt. Who plays LF in the 10th? Where does Vazquez play? My guess is Lewis goes to LF because he would have been the only option left and Vazquez would then be our 3B in the 10th.

Yep We need to find guys that can field one position, they also need to hit and they can never get hurt and they can't cost a lot. 😉

I got my drivers license when I was 16. My Dad thought that teenagers were terrible drivers so he wouldn't let me drive the car at all. The only time I drove the car was practicing for the drivers test and the test itself. A year later when I was 17... Mom and Dad were out of town. Dad called me and said that I would have to take the car, pick my Aunt and take her to the hospital. She would be standing in her driveway waiting for me. I had told my Dad over and over again... There was going to come a time when you would need me to drive the car. And I reminded him of those conversations... I was telling him I told ya so as he gave me the combination for the safe that he kept the keys locked up in. At the last second... he told me to bring the keys to our neighbor Larry with the drinking problem instead. The moral to the story. Somebody was going to run over my poor Aunt standing in the drive way.

The High Numbers with our young players takes a little getting used to. Lee - 72 Martin - 82 Helman - 92 I see a pattern so the next person called up will obviously wear #102

My prediction is that if Ryan Jeffers is healthy. He will get the majority of playing time. If not all playing time in the playoffs.

Come playoff time it's all hands on deck. If we have excess starters... they will push out subpar bullpen guys. The designations of starter or bullpen no longer matter. They will most likely choose the top 3 starters to start games... maybe 4. The rest go into a bullpen pile.

Clutch Hitting is an interesting and hard thing to assess. It absolutely matters in each individual moment but it equalizes over the long haul of a season. So it's hard to say exactly how much of a difference maker it is. Comparing the Royals and the Twins - I'll add the D-Backs who are perhaps the most clutch team in MLB at this point of the season. Here are the numbers and rankings at this point of the season... followed by overall numbers and rankings. BA/RISP BA All PA's Royals .290 (#1) .254 (#7) Twins .243 (#21) .252 (#11) D-Backs .285 (#2) .263 (#2) SLG/RISP SLG ALL PA's Royals .465 (#4) .419 (#9) Twins .422 (#15) .425 (#6) D-Backs .485 (#1) .437 (#4) RBI/RISP RBI ALL PA's Royals 481 (#3) 622 (#11) Twins 446 (#10) 647 (#5) D-Backs 548 (#1) 714 (#1) You can't look at RBI's without the amount of opportunities PA/RISP Twins 1362 (#7) 5190 (#13) Royals 1275 (#19) 5145 (#19) D-Backs 1486 (#1) 5334 (#1) There is more complication to throw on this if anyone wants to dive deeper. On the surface with just a couple of down and dirty stats... to me it looks like the Twins perform pretty much the same RISP compared to how they perform in all situations. Yes there is a slight downtick but using rankings the Twins are doing well in comparison to the other 29 teams. On the other hand The Royals and D-Backs do seem to jump up a bit in clutch situations compared to how they do in all situations.

Players nobody saw coming. Every year a list like this can be compiled. You can also put together a yearly list called "Players nobody thought would fall apart".

Get in I don't care how.. Just get in. Once that happens. None of the numbers accumulated this season or any past season by any of the players on any of the teams will matter. Those numbers are all history. In front of all teams and all players. Potentially a 20 game stretch of new numbers to accumulate. Up will be down and down will be up. The season numbers will not repeat with the exception of a few cases.

I was in attendance. Opposite side of the field so I didn't get a good look at the catch into the netting. But I did get a good look at the Lewis homer. Felt Good... like breathing out after holding your breath for a long time. On the way to the game... I was listening to Falvey on the radio. I listened to how carefully he chose his words and meaning of what he was saying when talking about Royce working out at 2B. He clearly had kid gloves on for whatever reason. Certainly minimizing the workouts and certainly minimizing the odds of Royce playing 2B in the near future. It sounded like Royce had some concerns about it and it sounded like Falvey was trying to walk it back. I certainly don't know the details but I was thinking to myself... you've got to be kidding me. The President of Baseball Operations shouldn't have to dance around this as carefully as he was. Royce should play where the team needs him to play. End of story. If Royce doesn't like that... Oh Well. And wouldn't you know it... after all of that Falvey dancing in the pre-game. In comes Royce to play 2B after Santana pinch hit for Julien. He had two chances and made them both. Certainly not worth the drama of whatever Falvey was trying to calm. It was a close game. Julien was not going to face a left hander. Santana was not going to play 2B after he pinch hit for Julien. So Santana to 1B moving Miranda to 3B and Lewis to 2B. Rocco could have used Farmer or Helman at 2B which would have sat Santana or Miranda down. Could have used Martin at 2B and Helman to LF. However... It's the top of the 6th, no score and plenty of game to go. Lewis at 2B keeps our best possible lineup for 4 innings when offense was still needed. Lewis to 2nd was much to do about nothing. Play him there some more. Pinch hitting for Larnach and Julien in the 5th is why it was necessary.