crapforks

Nothing touches the ground in center right now.

Not much discussion about whether or not Mauer has the green light on 3-0

I have enjoyed the shapeshifting batting order. Its fun to try and justify these moves. I agree that Buxton should be moved from the three-hole. I would have liked to see a straight swap of Buxton and Polanco's spot in the order. Some of the lineup stuff is fun to look into. If you must bat Dozier first, your lineup will be more non-traditional. Buxton with a rough start notwithstanding, through that lens, the construction behind to make some sense. 1- Dozier- arguably the best hitter in the lineup based on actual MLB success. Some patience, some speed and pretty good power. Leadoff hitter in the first inning, secondary cleanup hitter after that. 2- Grossman- has shown discipline and the ability to hit LHP. The 2 spot will probably be the most musical of the chairs in the lineup, but you want someone who will take long ABs in this spot because... 3- Buxton- A grand experiment which, if successful, would have lengthened this lineup beyond what we have seen in the last 7 years or so. It has not worked as planned. 4- Mauer- Not anyone's idea of a cleanup hitter, but the ideal cleanup hitter is hitting leadoff. Mauer can take long ABs, can get on via walk, can allow a running game to develop for those on in front of him, and can allow the next hitter to see some extra pitches from the on-deck circle. Non-traditional, but I sort of like it. 5- Sano- Will benefit from Mauer's PAs. Has crazy power and decent discipline in his own right. Wherever he hits, the batters in front of him should be the OBP guys. Thats not old or new school thinking, thats just smart. 6- Castro- Doesn't offer a ton of protection for Sano, but his platoon splits combined with Mauer's might allow Sano to see more PA vs LHP, or be walked more. Castro has to bat somewhere and 6 is as good as any if Sano is clearing the bases in front of him. 6 is the new 9. 7- Kepler- Bats 2nd vs RHP, but I used opening day as my example. Kepler is essentially the leadoff guy to Dozier's cleanup-from-leadoff position. He can do everything pretty well (hit for average, power, draw a walk, go deep into counts, hit situationally, etc) but hasn't really done all of them at the same time. His tools are there, and if he gets going, he will be in the middle of the lineup soon enough. In this spot, he is a low-leverage leadoff guy coming up after Castro who is essentially batting 9th from the 6 hole. 8- Polanco- In this lineup, Polanco is hitting 2nd from the 8-hole. One could argue that he should be hitting second from the 2-hole. He looks to be a good hitter. There is no obvious flaw in his offensive game, but no standout strength either. He can take a pitch and walk, he has gap power which might develop into HR power, he has shown the ability to hit situationally, and will probably produce above average numbers overall once the season has ended. 9-Rosario- Absolute wild card. Carlos Gomez as a rookie level of selectiveness, but a certain swagger and aura where you feel like he just believes that will bust the game open given the opportunity. His hitting 9th in this lineup might be a trial run to he can be a 3-hole hitter for the Twins someday. Power, speed and fearlessness will be his game. Not sure if any of this makes sense, but baseball is on and I get to sit around and analyze meaningless stuff again. That makes me happy.

Interesting to see Mauer stay at cleanup. I would prefer to keep Sano behind him in the lineup because he wears pitchers down a bit, or at least can. It has been fun to figure the reasoning for the lineups. I would have preferred: 2B Brian Dozier SS Jorge Polanco 1B Joe Mauer 3B Miguel Sano RF Max Kepler DH Eduardo Escobar C Jason Castro CF Byron Buxton LF Eddie Rosario

Is the impact of the lineup construction great enough to move players around in the order to potentially protect platoon hitters? In the 7,8,9,1 of Park, Castro, Buxton, Dozier that I used as an example, that's assumes they belong in those spots. If Buxton is hitting like he did in September, I hope he is not in the 9 spot. I really have no point to all of this except it would be ideal to employ platoon hitters near each other while breaking up their handedness if possible. I would really like to keep Castro and Rosario from slotting back to back in the lineup.

I know that lineup position has largely been proven to not profoundly impact runs scored, but in some lineups the 7,8,9,1 is Park, Castro, Buxton, Dozier. I think that the opposition would rather not deploy a LOOGY to get Castro out in that case when they could save them for Kepler, Mauer, Rosario. Surrounding Castro with LHH would only increase his PA vs LHP.

Souhan saying Souhan things

Exactly what I took from this piece. Just hearing the manager of the Minnesota Twins talk about different lineups is exciting. I might explode if its actually employed regularly. Far cry from play second, bat second; catcher bats third even if its Redmond.

I am absolutely not suggesting that people don't have that right. I admitted that the fact I am bothered by it is irrational. In real conversations and online, I notice it but never make mention of it. I simply want to find out if any others share that annoyed felling on some level.

Thats just the thing. I know how ridiculous it is. I no longer get upset that the lingo is used, I get upset at myself for not being able to just look past it. I don't get so mad I need to breathe deeply and count to 10 or anything. I just momentarily think, "Why? Why not exclude yourself? Is it really this personal?"

I read a lot of the Twins content on this site, both major and minor league. I am at the point now where I get angry with myself for my inability to temper my anger when I read someone referring to their favorite team as "we, us, our, etc." This is of course not specific to the Twins community, and I think it's worse in non-baseball pro sports. Am I alone in this? Is there anyone else who feels a guttural, visceral sense of frustration when people talk/write/type in this manner? Side note: although I browse this site almost every day and have since the site started, I have never ventured down this way before. Good stuff.

A part of me wants to believe that Dan mellowed out and decided to dedicate himself to ABW attributes for a time.

That's much more realistic, and I'm still taking the combined under on that.

There is a lot of talk about Berrios not having any business pitching in AAA. I get that. Totally. BUT, if the Twins staff saw something he need to work on or fix, then maybe a handful of starts down there wouldn't be the worst thing. If he breaks camp and has the same results as last season, what good is that for anyone, team or player? Berrios has thrown 552 innings in the minor leagues with a sub 3 ERA and a 9.6 k/9, with improvement at every level. In almost every case I would be out there clamoring for the guy to sink or swim in the majors. But I want Jose Berrios to be pitching at a high level for the Twins for the next half-decade and another run with the big league team that resembles last year's could be quite damaging. The talent is there. No pitcher on this roster has higher upside, so he isn't blocked. But if he isn't right; if he is doing what he did last season, I'd rather he rack up a few more starts in AAA.

Hughes is a lock if he is recovered, but I haven't really seen/read much that points to that. Tough to inagine planning on 160+ innings from Hughes at this point, no?

Corporate bartenders usually have to free pour in various amounts before their shift starts. Its annoying, but it cuts down on over/under pouring and helps maintain consistency. Passing a test every day before you start working works on many levels. I'm all for this. Good way to see if someone isn't right (injury/ailment) or if the mechanics are out of whack.

Damn. I'm old. I remember the ESPN boards (Elysian fields), BYTO, and now here. Dis a nice lil site y'all got here.

No need to apologize. I appreciate the clarity. I'm on mobile, so the thread opens to the first unread post and I was just so puzzled as to what was being said. It makes total sense now with the context.

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what it is you're talking about. I have no doubt that you researched something, but even for money, I wouldn't be able to tell you what it is.

Just stopping by to say that I love this thread. TD posters posting the meat so we don't have to read all the live chats during the work days. Also having Jack Goin participate for a while was awesome.

This is a quiet thread, considering there was mention of ABW. Good analysis of the impact of some decisions. Turner/Garver, Park/Vargas, Palka/ABW needed someone to S or get off the pot. Redundancy has a place on a 40-man, but there are just not enough slots to justify this amount of it attached to this caliber of (potential) player. If everyone looks good, there could be a Berrios/May/Duffy/Santiago/Mejia/etc decision which should also be fun to follow.

I don't know that a big, sweeping change in the scouting department is something that any team would want. It depends on what sweeping means to you, but to let go of the majority of the staff and replace them would probably leave the whole unit in shambles. Even if you replace every staff member with someone more experienced, you would have communication issues and bumps in the road learning a new system. I certainly hope for the system to be overhauled and improved, but I would like to see yearly moves that don't tear down the existing system. Hiring outside talent, bringing in some old-school scouts to work with some of the stat-savvy additions. Bring in a bunch of young SABR guys and have them work with some 60+yr old scouts. And make them not kill each other.

Of course thats true, but a pitcher like Tim Hudson had his changeup working most days, and any starting pitcher has their fastball working or they're not pitching in the middle innings. Increasing the odds from 50/50 FB/change moves the needle quite a bit. Good article.

There seems to be ~50 parking spots there.

I said in the last Bautista thread: "Bautista isn't a good fit for the roster, but I could see rooting pretty hard for him if he ended up with the Twins. I picture him to be a player who will be playing with a chip on his shoulder after the inevitable 1yr contract. Im also probably biased having seen him play at Target Field a few times." Its a damn shame that the roster isn't set up to accommodate him. The Twins, right now, have a log-jam of players who are best suited for 1B, LF, RF or DH. Bautista isn't Jim Thome yet, but dude inspires confidence at the plate.