ThejacKmp

Defense does matter (BTW, I never said it didn't) but it isn't the sole thing. Also, Lamonte Wade isn't a defensive whiz, he's a decent fielder. Grossman is below average but he matches other needs (switch hitter) that Wade does not. In an overall picture of the 4th OF role, the defense seems less important, especially since the Twins have the guy Grossman replaces as a defensive sub in late-inning situations. Wade's defense is useless in games he does not start (he's not a defensive replace for Buxton, Kepler or Rosario) while Grossman's ability to PH as a switch hitter makes him potentially useful every game. I use the data we have at hand, the more we have the better. We don't have any other data of Wade in the high minors or majors. Another point in Grossman's favor. He may not be perfect but you know what you get. Wade is likely to be overmatched at times simply because of inexperience. If he checked every other box, great. But as is, he doesn't fit the team. This does raise some long-term concerns for Wade and Granite. It's hard to see the Twins having much of a role for either one (and certainly not both) in the upcoming 2-3 years. It'll be interesting to see if they become trade chips at the deadline.

No they signed him for his entire body of work. Morrison is trending in the right direction and has a career OPS+ of 108. He isn't striking out more often than he has in the past and his line drive rate is similar to his career rate. His BABIP is .224 and while some will blame the shift, he saw the shift a lot last year and still had a career year. He'll get a bit more lucky and the hits will fall. He may not be last year's Logan Morrison but should settle in to be an above average hitter. At some point he will carry the team for a week and that will be fun. When Sano comes back, he should be DHing against lefties less, which would be nice.

Not sure what there is to agree with. Lefties hit righties better and righties hit lefties better. You're putting your team in a better spot if you have a backup OF who hits from the opposite side as the guy he spells. Twins 4th OF is likely to play when there is a LH starting pitcher on the mound. Lamonte Wade has a .667 OPS vs. LH so far this season (admittedly small SS) and would not be put in a position to succeed. Robbie Grossman's career MLB OPS vs LHP is .753 (and even as he has slumped this year it is still .733). If Lamonte Wade was a can't miss prospect, sure he'd be up. But he seems like more of a 4th OF unless he starts hitting with power (another reason he should be playing every day in the minors). His defense would be better than Grossman but a defensive OF is less useful for the Twins than a guy who hits righty. Especially with Sano out and our right handed options severely limited. As for the deadline, not necessarily. Trade deadline is the final date but trades can and do happen before then. The Giants, for instance, are 21-21 with top two pitchers out for at least another month. They may be ready to sell by late June, especially a guy like McCutchen who would get them close to being under the luxury tax (important if they see themselves as a Harper/Machado target this offseason). For now Grossman is fine (there aren't internal options and the available external options are not better than Grossman now) but hopefully by the All-Star Break, the twins can make an upgrade. With the pen and the rotation looking good and Polanco back around the break, it might be their biggest need.

Wade (and Granite) hit lefty. The Twins have little need for a LH hitting OF unless Rosario or Kepler goes down. Wade wouldn't play over either of those. If he was right-handed, Grossman might not be on the team but he isn't. Robbie Grossman had a tough first two weeks but he's put up an .868 OPS over his last 16 games. Driving the ball, getting on base, not as awful in the field. I'd prefer the Twins go find a new fourth OF (Wade/Granite bat from the wrong side; I'd like to see McCutchen if he's available) but Grossman is an acceptable 5th OF/bench bat. He almost always takes a good approach and there's value to that.

With Chief on this one. He looked pretty good last night. Made several nice scoops, had nice range on ground balls. That throw was terrible though but Ozzie Smith made errors too. I like to think Mauer wouldn't have done the same but who knows. I want Mauer to be effective in August and September and getting him some days off makes sense. I've noticed the Twins flipping Morrison and Mauer on days after Joe makes a lot of diving plays. I wonder if they're trying to manage his soreness.

Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Mauer's OBP is .413. He's doing okay.

It's basically the equivalent of college football's overtime vs. pro football's overtime. College is way better in that case but I'm not sure it applies to baseball. I think you can say that the essence of football is an offense trying to punch it in on a short field and a defense trying desperately to hold them to a field goal. Not sure that the essence of baseball is getting a guy in from second base with no outs.

I think we can all fill in the inappropriate joke that should follow this statement.

Agreed. People look for pattern but there isn't one.

You're being seduced by the name. It would take a very minor prospect - if you read above i suggested that the twins recent 5th round pick might be too much. Not even a top 20 prospect. He still hits lefties like crazy. Which is exactly what the twins need.

Yeah, even the best teams lose a lot in baseball. Last night wasn't some inexcusable loss.

Two years ago people were complaining about Dozier playing too often and being worn down and not finishing seasons. Like incessantly. They pointed to his 1st half and 2nd half splits and raw numbers: 2014: .777 vs .739, 18HR vs 5 HR 2015: .841 vs. .639, 19 HR vs 9 HR They criticized management and Dozier. They said "If he's this bad in May and he can't finish, how bad is this year going to be. The Twins should move him." They said the Twins should bench him down the stretch if he struggled. It was inane. Two years later, people complain that Dozier doesn't start well and only ends well. My point is that we like to find something to complain about. Brian Dozier will be fine. He's in a slump now and those happen. He'll bounce back.

Let's chill on racking Buxton for now. He's played all of 11 games before last night. For context, before last night Brian Dozier was sporting a .418 OPS in his past 16 games. Guys get hot and get cold, let's not jump to conclusions just yet.

Wow, this is reactionary fandom at its finest! In the past 16 games Dozier had a .418 OPS and had driven in all of two runs. Not even a run a week. During that same time, Mauer had a .715 OPS and also drove in two runs. Mauer regularly takes great at-bats and is never an easy out. It's a long season folks. Guys are gonna get hot. Guys are gonna get cold. Same thing with teams. Time to relax.

Can we include the affiliates record in this somewhere? I like to know how the teams are doing but am too lazy to go look it up myself. Which is perhaps an argument against enabling me. Your call.

Ludicrous. It's not playing favorites, it's being smart. What's Petit's upside? What's Dozier's? You stick with Dozier because he has a track record of 30 HR power. Petit has a career OPS of .652 and has hit 4 HR . . . in his career. He has no minor league track record of success. He was so good that he signed a minor league contract with the Twins at age 33. There's reactionary fandom and then there's this. This is worse. It's been two weeks for Pete's sake.

Ludicrous to say that Dozier is a slow starter. Two years ago I was arguing on TD when people said that Dozier started fast but never finished well. This is recency bias at it's finest.

Making things interesting, the Giants are paying $208 Million for this team and are over the luxury cap by $11 million-ish. They were over the luxury tax limit by $3 million last year too so getting under this year would allow them to reset the increasingly draconian penalty and avoid being a third time offender next year. Getting McCutchen off the books would bring them close to getting under the cap. The Giants might have to move a guy like McCutchen because there aren't a lot of other options: Hunter Pence is the only other big-money expiring contract and he's going to be very difficult to move. Joe Panik has an expiring deal but he's only making $3.5 million so that doesn't move the needle much.Posey has value but it's hard to see the face of the franchise being traded and his contract is pretty massive for a 31 year old catcher.Baumgardner has a lot of value when he comes back and is likely the biggest chip the Giants have for getting prospects but it's hard to see the Giants moving him. Baumgardner + McCutchen would get the Giants under the cap FWIW.Melancon, Longoria, Crawford, Cueto, Shark and Belt are all on too long of deals and not effective enough to be realistically moved IMO.Austin Jackson and Tony Watson each make only $3 million this year and next and might have some interest as a 4th OF or middle reliever salary dump to get the balance of the $11 million after McCutchen theoretically goes.Larger point is that if the Giants were to lose 20 of their next 30 games or so (not hard without Cueto or MadBaum) and decided resetting the luxury tax is a priority, it's hard not to see McCutchen being a part of that. The earlier they move him, the more of his salary they get off their books. Might be a nice opportunity for the Twins to get a new 4th OF in early June.

I didn't see anything about a no-trade clause when McCutchen got traded and he doesn't qualify for the 10-and-5 veto. So I think he can be traded. He's on the last year of his deal and makes $14 million. So at the deadline it'd be somewhere around $6 million for the rest of the year. Definitely something the Twins could absorb.

Any concept on his catching? It would seem that being new to the position would mean he needs at least a few years in the low minors to learn it. But what do I know?

Any news on Buxton's availability?

He'll for sure be up to AA this summer if he hits like this. The big league club would have to happen before Polanco comes back. Once Polanco comes back, the depth becomes too much: Dozier, Polanco, Escobar and Adrianza all ahead of him.

SSS. It's been 63 at bats. His OPS+ since 2012 has been 97, which is great for a catcher. I imagine that number will creep higher this year if he's being rested against lefties because he's got a more capable caddie in Garver. My only worry is that meniscus seems bad for a catcher. The Twins don't seem worried but if Castro goes down, the cupboard is bare. Not sure who they could trade for - Gimenez maybe?

This is some serious Castro-hate based on a very small sample. Since 2012, Castro has put up a 97 OPS+ as a catcher. That's pretty solid for a catcher. He's off to a rough start this year but his BABIP is low and we're basing it off of 63 at bats. That's not enough to say he can't hit. And his catching has been good this year - he's thrown out 40% of base stealers and is generally considered an above-average catcher. Garver is unproven but that's kind of the point of a backup catcher. He's got a 107 OPS+ and is trending up after a cold start. I don't see where the Twins are going to get some elite catcher. Those don't exist on the free agent market (Russell Martin was really the last one to hit the market) and are very expensive via trade. The Twins have a pretty good catching situation - a lefty and a righty with some pop. If one goes down, I could see adding someone but that'd be the only reason to upgrade catcher.

Not giving up on the Wild Card. The Twins have an easy division and can beat up on the Tiggers, Royals and White Sox all year long while teams in the AL West and East will slog through games against better teams. The Twins are bound to get healthier and get Polanco back for the second half too. I fully expect the Twins to be in the Wild Card hunt in August/September while also chasing down Cleveland.