LA Vikes Fan

Agreed. If the Lewis from last year appears, I like Lewis at 3B and leading off. No question that that Farmer has been good in the field and at the plate, but it's unrealistic to expect him to continue at a .283/.353/467 (.820), OPS+ 126, when his career line is .253/,313/396 (.709), with an OPS+ of 86, and he'll be 33 in August. Farmer can go to the role we had hoped for early on - an IF utility who plays 3-4 days a week at all 4 positions plus DH and starts most games against LH pitching. He's only played a few games in LF or at 1B but you have to think that he could learn 1B if he can play every other IF position, and same with LF.

I couldn't find any studies either. I just think I wouldn't want to be the guy who made a decision to put him back in CF and he got hurt again. The key thing is to get his bat in the lineup, let him fix our "lack of a leadoff hitter" problem, and add some hitting and speed. All of this requires him to perform like last year of course...

Add the drop in velo to his performance and I get an idea? Maybe his shoulder or elbow is starting to go. How about we IL the guy for 15 days, and then rehab him in AAA for 20 days. Things may sort out with the present AAA guys to see if we have a replacement over the next month. Just a thought.

I think the issue is the injuries and the additional leg stress from playing OF. I Suspect that the organization, player and agent are aligned in thinking that Lewis starts in the IF. Maybe he can move to the OF in subsequent years, but after tearing his ACL in CF last year, I'd really be surprised if he went back there this year. I've had ACl tears in both knees and you never come all the way back to 100% of what you were, and you get more strength and flexibility over time. I just can't see taking a guy who tore his ACL this first game he played CF after coming back from an ACL tear (if I remember right) and putting him back out in CF. This team is ultra cautious with injuries and rehab so I can't see them taking that risk. By the way, I think keeping Lewis in the IF is the right call.

Thanks, Brock. I suspected that was the answer but wanted to check. Too bad. He looks ready now but more time won't hurt.

I think it's very unlikely that Lewis plays in the OF. That's where he got hurt and his agent's comments that he'll be playing 3b and SS resonates with me. I would be very surprised to see Lewis in OF with any regularity at any point this season unless injuries force our hand. It's too bad he isn't available now because he would be the best call up to replace Gordon. Farmer is playing well at 3B, but he'll be playing 2B while Polanco recovers. Farmer can then be the RH hitting UTL since he can play OF in addition to IF. What I see by June 15 is a regular IF of Kirilloff, Polanco, Correa, Lewis, with Farmer playing 2-3 days a week backing up all 4 positions, and 1-2 days a week in LF/DH. The issue then becomes is Castro is the #2 UTL and Solano gone so we can keep Kepler, Gallo and Larnach, do we trade one of those 3 (or demote Larnach) based on performance/redundancy, or do we pick offense in Solano over defense and ability to play multiple positions in Castro. The answer? Somebody will get hurt and that will determine who stays or goes. If not, my guess is that when everybody is healthy Castro will get sent down unless Solano stops hitting. If he does, he gets the DFA and Castro stays. Should be an interesting next 3-4 weeks on the roster. Question - can we take Lewis off the 60 day list and bring him up now or is he once on the 60 day, have to wait the full 60 days?

Ugly for Gordon. Out for awhile. Interesting to see if they 10 day Polanco. Kepler out until 5/25(?). Still too early for Lewis (?). Garlick up for Gordon.

Hopefully Lewis will be back on June 1. I think he should be playing 3b every day and I would consider leading him off. Teh comments of his agent suggest pretty strongly to me that he won't be playing in the OF. Lineup something like this against RH pitching - Lewis 3B, Correa SS, Kirilloff 1B, Buxton CF/DH, Polanco 2B, Larnach LF/DH, Gallo LF/DH, Vasquez/Jeffers C, Kepler RF. Same against LH pitching, except Farmer either goes in Larnach' s spot playing LF or Kirilloff's playing 1B and they either hit one of Kepler/Gallo/Larnach 9 in RF, or they put Buxton at DH and Taylor in CF. Gordon and Castro or Solano ( whichever stays when Lewis comes up) are utilities.

Really? It's barely dinner time here in LA. By the way, tonight is Mookie Betts bobblehead night at Dodger stadium. Don't know if that helps or hurts, but the place will be full.

Lots of positives but two potentially worrisome negatives - bullpen depth and lineup depth. The Twins desperately need one more solid late inning bullpen piece. Duran and Lopez are good, high end late inning relievers. Jax is good as a 6th/7th inning guy but not as a late inning guy. Stewart and Pagan seem ok as middle relievers - I can't believe I just said that - but both could have a 6+ ERA month any time now. Thielbar coming back will help but we need one more guy. It doesn't look like Moran or Alcala is that guy nor is there anyone at AAA. Trade? I think if Kirilloff is the real deal then the lineup is only one guy short - a good speed/on base/leadoff hitter type. Is Lewis that guy this year? He might be. Add in Miranda by July as the RH 1B once Lewis takes over at 3B and the lineup could be pretty good and pretty deep. Yes, too much swing and miss. Yes, I would love to trade in Kepler and/or Gallo for a quality RH hitting corner OF but that isn't going to happen. Add Lewis on June 1 at 3B, get the 20221-22 Thielbar back, trade for a solid late inning reliever, and avoid injury, and this could actually be a 90-95 win team. Yes I know, the Easter Bunny could also turn out to be real but a guy can dream, right?

I agree with the thought but not your conclusion. Trading Cruz for Ryan, big win. Lewin Diaz for Romo, win. Three prospects for Sam Dyson, major rip off by the Giants, but nobody got much value there. The prospects have done very little, although Jaylin Davis is hitting for Boston this year, 3 years later. Berrios for Martin and SWR? Too early to tell what value we got, if any, but not signing Berrios to a long term big money deal was the right call. He's been poor at best in Toronto. Graetrol and Raley for Maeda and Camargo? Win -Win, Maeda good for Mn before TJ, Graterol ok but not as good as hoped for in LA. Petty for Gray? Short term win for the Twins, too early to tell overall. Arraez for Pablo Lopez and Salas - win for the Twins. A solid #2 starter with upside to possibly be your #1 who can then be signed long term at what I would say is a below market price is much more valuable than a very good singles hitter who can't run or play much defense. Add in what appears to be a good SS prospect makes it even better. 4 MiLB pitchers for Jorge Lopez? Right now, win Twins but we'll see how Povich does ( decent now at AA) and Cano is pitching a lot better there than he did in MN. Rogers and Rooker for Paddack and Pagan? Looking better for us now with Pagan actually contributing this year, and Rogers and Rooker no longer with SD. Depends on if Paddack comes back and becomes a solid mid-rotation starter. If he does, win Twins. If not, we lose. Finally (and I'm sure I missed some), Urshela for Hidalgo. Hard to say - Urshela is a singles hitter with no power for the Angels who doesn't play every day and leaves after this year as a free agent. Hidalgo looks pretty good in High A but is a long ways off. Too early to tell, unlikely to move the needle much either way. My point is that the track record is far from perfect but actually is pretty good. We traded away a quality hitter with little defensive value (Arraez), an as of now struggling starter on a big contract (Berrios), a decent but not great reliever (Graterol), a quality reliever coming up on free agency (Rogers), a 40 year old DH who has tanked since he left (N Cruz), a decent 3B who really is a utility guy because of his no power bat and limited fielding range (Urshela), a bunch of prospects who so far haven't really panned out for the teams that got them with possible exception of Steer, CES (hated to lose him) and Cano, and 2 prospects who are a long way away but may be good in Povich and Petty. In return, we got three now #2/#3 starters (P Lopez, Gray, Ryan - the guts of our rotation), a good back end reliever ( J Lopez), three solid starters now hurt who may come back to make a contribution (Paddack, Maeda, Mahle), whatever we want to call Pagan (awful in 22, not so bad in 23), and prospects we still have who may or may not become something (SWR, Martin, Henriquez, Hidalgo). I think it's a little unfair to say this FO's trades are a long line of mistakes. Overall, I think we've done better than 50/50.

Give Lee time. An MLB contribution next year would be a quick advance. He's not a likely answer for 2023. Those answers need to come from the current 26 man roster, plus possibly Lewis, and a return of Larnach and/or Miranda. There's a possibility of someone like Julien, Hellman or another current MiLB player contributing on the hitting side but I think that's pretty unlikely. More likely that we might try to trade for a bat at the deadline.

The whole thing sucks and the trade is definitely a loss at this point. I was in the camp of making the trade for the reasons many have stated. And no, we could not have gotten Castillo for the same package; he would likely have cost us Lewis instead of Steer. Still, it's a loss and a cautionary tale going forward. The good news is we finally have some SP depth and so maybe we won't have to make another more desperate move to get a SP with an injury history. The big question is what do we do now? It's great to have Ober and Varland in the rotation and Paddock hopefully coming back towards the end of the season. That pretty much blew out our depth though. I don't really think Maeda is coming back as a starter until at least July or August and more likely not at all. Ever. SWR, Dobnak, Balazovic, and Headrick are all "maybes" at best. We are going to need at least one of them to cover 5-10 starts for injuries if we're very lucky, more likely one at 5-10 starts and 2 more at 3-6 starts apiece. Things could be very dicey come August. Long term, lets sign Gray to the 3 year deal he probably wants at hopefully less than 20m a year. We need him both to pitch and to continue mentoring Ryan. I would offer Mahle 2 years at around 12-15m total, with a third year option at 15m to see if he can come back from the TJ. Let's also hope that one of the AAA guys or another now in the lower minors like Festa can move up. Finally, let's draft pitching every chance we get. There is no more precious resource in baseball so let's take as many shots as we can.

Yup, you're right. I'd just like to see Gordon get a shot to see if he can replicate last year. The 2022 Gordon would be a hitting upgrade over Gallo, Kepler, and Taylor. Well, at least Farmer is playing. Maybe he can hit some although his track record against RH Pitching leaves one to say the answer is probably not. It looks like the only real potential upgrades coming are Lewis when he's ready and improvement from the core 5-6 guys. I'm hoping they bring up Lewis as soon as they can, put him at 3B, DF Solano or demote Castro, and hit Lewis leadoff.

I agree on what has to happen. I wonder if switching lineup positions might help change their perspective or relieve some pressure, thus leading to better ABs. I think it's unlikely that Gordon can be a long term leadoff hitter but I do think what he showed the second half of last year might be repeatable in the short term. It's worth a shot and would help quite a bit if he can get on base. I think we can see that hitting Kepler 1, Correa 2, and Gallo any where near the middle of the lineup isn't working right now. Let's shake things up and see if an alternate arrangement can work better. It would be difficult to have it work any worse. .

The current lineup isn't working and hasn't worked for awhile. It's great that Farmer is back but Farmer isn't likely to provide the lineup spark we need. He was 0 for his last 11 with 8 strikeouts before he got hurt. If you look at the lineup/26 man roster realistically, who can be that spark? The only possible answer I see is Gordon - 6 for his last 20 with 2 HRs. Solano can't play defense anywhere on the field so he doesn't have much value if Buxton is the DH. I guess we now know why Solano was available. I would actually consider DFAing him for Julien or Hellman. We need to shake up the lineup - Correa can't hit #2 and we need a better leadoff hitter. Kepler has actually performed . . . well, like Kepler usually performs - a streaky .213/.308.427 (.735). We can argue if he should play regularly, but it's hard to argue he should lead off. How about this for a lineup shakeup? Gordon LF Buxton DH Kirilloff 1B Polanco 2B Correa SS Kepler/Gallo RF Jeffers/Vasquez C Gallo/Farmer 3B Taylor CF The other thought I have is to DFA Solano or demote Castro and force feed Julien or Hellman up here. If it's Julien, lead him off at 3B, move Gordon to the 6 hole, bench Gallo and move Kepler to #8. I don't like that as much as I like the lineup above. To be honest, I don't really like either but I think they are the best we can do and I think both lineups are better than what we are trotting out every day. A shakeup also tells guys like Correa and Gallo that they have to earn their lineup spots; nothing is just handed to you. Thoughts? I can't come up with anything better. . .

Agreed. Farmer isn't likely to be the spark we need. He was 0 for his latt 11 with 8 strikeouts before he got hurt. If you look at the lineup/26 man roster realistically, who can be that spark? The only possible answer I see is Gordon - 6 for his last 20 with 2 HRs. Solano can't play defense anywhere on the field so he doesn't have much value if Buxton is the DH. I guess we now know why Solano was available. I would actually consider DFAing him for Julien or Hellman. We also need to shake up the lineup - Correa can't hit 2 and we need a better leadoff hitter. Kepler has actually performed . . . well, like Kepler this year - .213/.308.427 (.735). We can argue if he should play regularly, but it's hard to argue he should lead off. How about this for a lineup shakeup? Gordon LF Buxton DH Kirilloff 1B Polanco 2B Correa SS Jeffers/Vasquez C Gallo/Farmer 3B Taylor CF Thoughts? I can't come up with anything better. . .

This is unfortunate but probably the correct call both for the short term needs of the Twins, and for Miranda's long term development. It's not unusual for a player to really struggle in his first two or three years. Hopefully this will just be another step in the journey as the kids say today. It's also good to see the team at least trying to shake things up a little since we can't score runs. It will be interesting to see what they do at 3B. I'm intrigued by the idea of Gallo there short term, opening up LF for Gordon to play. The problem is that Farmer was slumping badly right before he got hurt (0-11 in his last 4 games before the injury with 8 SOs) and Gallo isn't hitting at all (0-23 before his hit last night) so I'm not sure we need to find either of them a place to play. Gordon is actually starting to hit a little better (6 for his last 20 with 3 HRs), so I'd like to find Gordon a spot in the lineup before i worry too much about finding ABs for Farmer or Gallo. I don't see Gordon at 3B so I don't see another way to fit him in unless we either play Gallo and Farmer at 3B, or sit Taylor, Gallo, or Kepler. We need to find a spark somewhere so I'd like to see Gordon get a shot at regular playing time. No that he's great, but he's the best shot we have to find someone who can get hot on the 26 man roster.

Well, we know what Farmer is he has played in the bags for a while. He is a decent, but not great fielding SS who will probably be a good fielding third baseman, who doesn’t hit much. Hits left-handed pitching pretty well, doesn’t it right handed pitching much at all. Is that better than Miranda? Short term, maybe, long-term, hopefully not even close to be in the same. The only reason to put it in Farmer over Miranda is if Miranda’s hurt, which is my theory, or if he needs to go to AAA for a reset. We just don’t want to be a position of depending on Farmer.He can be a couple week fill in, but no more. Having said all that, I can see making a change if the shoulder really is hurt. I would put him on the IL and then send him to AAA for a week or two. In the interim, let’s alternate Gallo and Farmer at 3B.

This. Bring him up when you can and either put Taylor on the Il (back) or DFA Solerno. I like Solerno but he can't play in the field anywhere even close to competently and he has no power. He is unlikely to be claimed, so take the risk and if he gets through and is willing to stay in the org send him to AAA as insurance. If not, he's 35 and isn't going to be on the team next year anyway. Having 6 guys for the 1B, LF, CF, RF, and DH spots is not ideal but is workable. It's especially workable when you have slump prone players like Gallo (.095/.296/.238 last 7 games) and Larnach (.174/.259/.217 for same 7), injury prone players like Buxton, and a couple of guys who just aren't very good hitters like Taylor and Kepler. I wish one more of these 6 were Rh hitters but some times you just have to live with the pain.

How about Kirilloff for Solano? I know that leaves us a little short of RH hitters. To me though, Solano really has a limited role as a RH DH/occasional 1B. He really is pretty awful in the field so he offers little or no defensive value, is just a singles hitter with no power, and is 35 years old so he isn't part of the future. Solano is really the most limited player we have. That leaves us with 6 guys for 1B, LF, CF, RF, and DH and that's not counting Gordon so it isn't ideal. It would basically mean that Gordon becomes a true utility player who spends at least some time in the infield at 2B. It does give us our best bats at the major-league level unless you think that Solano is better than Larnach. I can see the argument that Larnach should go back to AAA and try to re-find his stroke. Still, I would rather have him at the MLB level even if he's only playing 3 days a week. Bring up Kirilloff before the 20 days run so you preserve his option, DFA Solano who will probably pass through waivers given his limitations and age, and then replace Castro with Farmer when he is ready to come back. I suspect that the end of Kirilloff's 20 day free period and Farmer's return will be pretty close together so I say have those 2 replace Solano and Castro and go from there. Of course, injuries will probably rear their ugly head before then and solve the problem for us.

Agreed. That's a big advantage to having two decent catchers - you can start the one who's hitting more often and go back and forth. Vasquez needs a break.

I'm not sure the Twins will put Lewis back in CF given that he got hurt last time he played there on what didn't look like that unusual of an athletic move for an OF. I think he is more likely to play LF or even 2B with Polanco moving to 1B. We'll know more when we esee what he plays during a rehab stint.

I agree. Putting Kepler in CF seems like a better path to the same goal. It’s a tough one though since Taylor has actually played very well. Still, I think Kirilloff is at least a week or two of playing 5 games a week away from being called up.

My thinking is that Kirilloff won't be called up unless there is path to playing time roughly every day. There isn't now with Buxton at DH unless we're going to sit Larnach, Gallo, or Kepler regularly while Buxton is the DH. The only way to get all 5 in the lineup regularly - which should be the goal - is to have one of them in CF regularly with Taylor on the bench. Normally I would say bench Kepler but he has been our best hitter the last 7-10 games. I'm not ready to say that Kirilloff represents an upgrade over any of the 5 RF/LF/1B/DH options unless you take Buxton out of that mix but putting him in CF 4-5 times a week. Is he an upgrade over Gordon or Castro? Sure at the plate, but Kirilloff can't play in the IF outside of 1B os you sacrifice some depth and maneuverability if you drop one of those guys. Besides, Castro goes when Farmer comes back. Solano? Tough one since hits better than Kirilloff has shown and he's RH and we need RH bats. Even if Kirilloff comes up for Solano or Gordon, there's no place to play him regularly unless we bench Taylor. That's why Buxton playing CF is the key to me.