LA Vikes Fan

i agree except I would be willing to deal Ober in a deal for a starting pitcher. To me, the other 3 would only go in a spectacular deal for us (not happening).

I disagree with the other posters. I think this is a potentially high upside, low downside deal once Mahle gets away from that bandbox in Cincinnati. As I've said in other posts, we need to get past our attachment to prospects and be willing to trade quality to get quality. Particularly, we need to be willing to trade bat first corner OFs and non-SS IFs. That's where our surplus is. Mahle is the guy to get if we can't get Castillo or the price for Montas is too high. I worry less about shoulder issues with a clean MRI since frankly every pitcher in MLB has shoulder issues at some point. Elbow issues are what concerns me. Having said that, still think the offer is a little rich. I'm fine with Wallner and Martin, but I would like to keep SWR. How about substituting Raya or Varland for SWR? Or maybe Canterino? They are a little farther away from MLB so they fit the Reds' timeline better. Another thought is a straight up trade of Larnach for Mahle? That is an overpay by the Twins, but not if we can get a 2-3 year deal with Mahle as part of the trade or if the Reds throw in a non-40 pitching prospect or a catching prospect like Nelson. In each scenario, I think the Twins are trading form surplus for need. Bottom line, I think Mahle is a real target and a realistic one to boot. I hoe we get him if we don't get Castillo or Montas.

i agree that this is a complicated decision but strongly disagree with the premise that we don't have the prospect capital to get deals done. We can get a top end starter like Montas or Castillo - we just need to be willing to trade a Larnch or Miranda type PLUS (1) Ober or (2) a Steer, Wallner, and a lower level but high upside guy like CES, Julien, Sabato, Varland, etc. As for me, I would like to keep Miranda but wouldn't be opposed to moving him as the headliner package for a great return (Montas or Castillo plus a solid reliever with some remaining control). We can do the deals, we just have to be willing to give up quality. I am very open to dealing Larnach as a headline piece in a trade for starting pitching. Kirilloff is our LF for the foreseeable future because Arraez is the 1B, followed by Miranda. We all need to accept that reality. So unless we are going to trade Kepler - who won't get us much of a return - there simply is no room at the inn for Larnach to play every day. Same for Steer and Wallner. They play positions - corner OF, 2B and 3B - where we have players in place who are younger, cost controlled, and aren't going anywhere. You trade from surplus for need. Our need? Pitching, pitching and more pitching. Our surplus? Corner OF bats and guys who have good to high ceilings and can play 2B or 3B. That's who you trade. Also, let's not forget why you develop quality depth in the minors. The first and most obvious reason is to feed the MLB club, but it is not the only reason. The other reason is so you have players to trade for established MLB players on other teams in those years were you believe you have a chance to complete. I think this is one of those years and am open to using our prospect capital to improve the big club, particularly with respect to players who have more than just the rest of 2022 to offer. We all need to be willing to "let go" of some of the prospects we know and love so that we can trade them for established players who can help us right now. I personally think any Twins prospect recently graduating to MLB or still in the minors should be available except for Lewis, Ryan, Kirilloff, Duran and WInder, except that I would only move Miranda for an established MLB starter with at least 1.5 years of control and a chance of re-signing with the team. Other than that, everyone else should be available, That's the attitude I think the FO should have going into this trade deadline. I think if they have that attitude, there is no reason that this team can't put competitive trade packages together to try to get the three things that would really help (1) a quality starting pitcher like Montas or Castillo, (2) at least one quality rental reliever like Robertson, Bard, Okert, or Lopez (I would also use acquisition #1 to kick Chris Archer into the bullpen to add a second quality bullpen piece), and (3) a short-term rental bat you might have a chance of re-signing like Josh Bell. That's what we need to do and I don't think we need to "deplete the farm" to get it done.

Agreed. We can get a top end starter like Montas or Castillo - we just need to be willing to trade a Larnch or Miranda type PLUS (1) Ober or (2) a Steer, Wallner, and a lower level but with high upside guy like CES, Julien, Sabato, Varland, etc. As for me, I would like to keep Miranda but wouldn't be opposed to moving him for a great return (Montas plus a solid reliever). I am very open to dealing Larnach as a headline piece in a trade for starting pitching. Kirilloff is our LF for the foreseeable future because Arraez is the 1B, followed by Miranda. We all need to accept that reality. So unless we are going to trade Kepler - who won't get us much of a return - there simply is no room at the inn for Larnach to play every day. Same for Steer and Wallner. They play positions - corner OF, 2B and 3B - where we have players in place who are younger, cost controlled, and aren't going anywhere. You trade from surplus for need. Our need? Pitching, pitching and more pitching. Our surplus? Corner OF bats and guys who have good to high ceilings and can play 2B or 3B. That's who you trade. Also, let's not forget why you develop quality depth in the minors. The first and most obvious reason is to feed the MLB club, but it is not the only reason. The other reason is so you have players to trade for established MLB players on other teams in those years were you believe you have a chance to complete. I think this is one of those years and am open to using our prospect capital to improve the big club, particularly with respect to players who have more than just the rest of 2022 to offer. We all need to be willing to "let go" of some of the prospects we know and love so that we can trade them for established players who can help us right now. I personally think any Twins prospect recently graduating to MLB or still in the minors should be available except for Ryan, Kirilloff, Duran and WInder, except that I would only move Miranda for an established MLB starter with at least 1.5 years of control and a chance of re-signing with the team. Other than that, everyone else should be available, That's the attitude I think the FO should have going into this trade deadline.

Larnach and Canterino for Montas and AJ Puk (or Lou Trevino). Larnach and Canterino or Steer for Castillo. Enlow for Robertson or Bard. Archer to bullpen in a late inning role (adjust his contract incentives). Sands, Strotman, and a lower level non-40 man guy (Julien?) for Josh Bell and Tanner Rainey from the Nationals. Substitute Austin Martin for Larnach in above scenarios if that works; don't be afraid to substitute Martin AND Balazovic for Larnach if they would accept that. A package of Martin, Balazovic and Canterino is probably not enough for either starter.

Agree that at least Larnach would be part of the ask for Castillo PLUS something else. I went on baseball trade values and came away wiht Larnach plus Canterino for Castillo. By the way that same package also netted Montas plus AJ Puk from Oakland. I would do either of those two deals. What about you guys?

Lopez looks like a tough target to me - high cost, high risk. If you believe Baseball Trade Values, Larnach and Canterino gets you Montas and Puk from Oakland or Castillo from Cincinnati and we keep Steer. Larnach and Steer for Lopez is also about right. It's also much more likely that we can get a "fair" deal wiht Oakland or Cincinnati since they are likely to trade those starters with 1.5 year of control than from Miami trading a high end starter with multiple years of control. Plus, Montas and Castillo are both better than Lopez although controllable for less time. Given those assumed choices, I would much rather make a deal for Montas or Castillo. I think Lopez is too risky and out of our price range.

Honest analysis. I agree that we need one impact starter, 2 bullpen pieces, and a hitter. This Lineup needs another run producer in the number 4 spot in the order and it ain't Max Kepler and I don't think it will be Miguel Sano. Where I disagree is the idea that the choice is either to stand pat or "gut the farm" to improve the team for this year and potentially next. We have a lot of prospect capital. The value of prospect capital isn't simply to graduate people to the MLB roster over time, it's equally as important to have that so we can trade it when we need to, not just to keep it forever. More than half of these guys will never amount to much on a MLB roster. We need to stop obsessing about keeping every single prospect who might have one flash in the pan year or even a solid MLB career, and use that prospect capital to improve the MLB club. That's 1 of the things it's for. Here's my dream of how you do this to improve the team and I don't think it means that we are "gutting the farm" (all trades vetted through Baseball Trade Values): 1) Laranch and Canterino to the As for Montas and Puk . . . or Larnach, Canterino, and an A Ball guy to the Reds for Castillo. Starting pitching added, maybe with a left handed reliever. 2) Sands, Strotman and Julien to Nationals for Josh Bell and Tanner Rainey. Throw in Sano and enough cash to pay his salary so he doesn't add or subtract from value. The Nationals get pitching prospects, and outfield prospect, and a replacement 1B with maybe some upside. Gets us a #4 hitter and solid 7th inning type reliever. 3. Here's the tough one - Enlow for Daniel Robertson of the Cubs or Enlow and Festa for Jorge Lopez of the Orioles. Closer added. 4. Archer goes into the bullpen as a late inning reliever/closer (with this contract adjusted so he can reach incentives), and Winder goes into the bullpen as a long reliever/6th starter. Pagan is thrown into some trade, maybe to the Cubs or A's, demoted with his consent to work on things in St. Paul, or released. Thoughts? I don't see this as gutting the farm in any way. Sure, losing these guys will hurt and maybe this is not enough to get the people I mentioned, although Baseball Trade Value seems to think it is, but to me this is one of the reasons you build up your farm system - To trade prospects for established MLB players when doing so have the chance to put you in a contending position. I think that's where we are. I would make each of these deals if available.

Not a bad pitcher, like the years of control. I just think that Celestino is a big overpay and Gordon probably is too. Besides, Gordon may need to be our starting SS next year until Lewis is ready to come back. I would be willing to consider Wallner since he is still an unproven prospect who may or may not ever amount to anything. Still feels like an over pay though. Interestingly, baseball trade values lists Okert at 2.8, Celestino at 2.1, Gordon at 1.1 and Wallner at 3. I don't think those are updated from the beginning of the season though and all 3 would be up from that time given their performance this season. My "overpay" comment may be more based on perceived value to the Twins than overall. W need Celestino or at least Gordon to play CF on all the days Buxton can't and we need Gordon for next year to play SS for awhile if Correa opts out. I'm not willing to put Palacios bat in the lineup every day or move Polanco back to SS. Bottom line, Like this guy as a possibility but we need to trade from the MiLB depth for him, not the MLB roster.

Fun way to end the game. I go back to what I said a couple of weeks ago, let's have Miranda and Kirilloff in the lineup (almost) every day through July and see what they do. On offense, all this team really needed is 1 or 2 more middle of the order bats to go with Arraez, Correa. Buxton and Polanco at the front of the order. Kepler is not that bat; he would be much better continuing his fine defensive work and hitting 7th. Same for Urshela and the catchers are what they are, average offensive players for catchers which is to say, not great. I'm really hopeful after the last 2 weeks that Miranda and Kirilloff can be those 2 middle of the order bats. With Larnach and Sano potentially coming back, maybe 1 of then can even add another bat. That way we don't need any hitting help at the deadline and can focus whatever resources we want to use in the trade market to what we really need, late inning relief pitching and a quality starter in that order. I would love to see the "standard" lineup for the rest of this month and into August look something like this: Arraez 1B/DH Correa SS Polanco 2B Buxton CF/DH Kirilloff LF Miranda 1B/3B/DH Kepler RF Urshela/Gordon/Sano/Garlick, etc. - Fill in/DH Jeffers/Sanchez C

I would leave Winder in the rotation for the rest of the season, recognizing that he is probably going to need at least one IL "rest" stint to keep his innings closer to 100-120 for the season. We are going to need him as a starter next year and I think that's the role in which he has thrived. I think the move when Ober is ready to rejoin the rotation after the All Star break is to move Smeltzer to the bullpen. I also think that Archer could be a real weapon in the bullpen if he would be willing to give that role a shot as a late inning guy. I don't know that he is ready for that psychologically though. If he is, when Ober is ready to come back I would put Smeltzer in the bullpen as a long man (along with Cotton), and put Archer in the late inning mix. I would then upgrade with at least one trade for quality seventh or eighth inning guy, essentially make Duran the closer, and fill on from there. You would have two multi-inning guys in Smeltzer and Cotton, one left-handed, one right-handed, and a late inning mix of Archer, Duran, someone we trade for, and Duffy. Smeltzer fills the 6th starter injury fill in role. That means that one or two of Pagan, Megill. Theilbar and Moran can't be part of the bullpen, two if you trade for someone. I think the right answer is that you try to get someone to take Pagan as part of a trade package, keep Theilbar as a lefty, and Megill and Moran are part of the St. Paul shuttle as they have options. This assumes we trade for at least one quality reliever. If we don't, both stay. If Archer isn't willing to go to the bullpen or the team really wants to keep him as a starter for future, that I would move Bundy to that role. I also think he could do well as a late inning reliever, again if he's willing to do it.

Agreed. I know Pagan has more than five years in the majors so he can’t be sent out without his consent even though he has one option remaining. Still, is there any chance he would be willing to go down to AAA now to try to figure out his issues? Frankly, at this point, either Minaya or Cano would provide more value in the middle innings. And does anyone you know when Alcalá will be back? We all agree that this bullpen needs a minimum of two more arms and it will be difficult to get much now without a significant overpay. At least if we can get him down there working on things for the next month while we have someone a little more reliable we can try to maintain for the next month. There isn’t anyone likely riding to the rescue for at least 30 days.

If we believe what we read, Wes Johnson has been making a lot of the bullpen decisions rather than Baldelli. Maybe this late inning love affair with Pagan will go when he goes. In any event, having him experiment with a new grip in the Majors is looking like a mistake. Does Pagan have any options let? If not, maybe an IL stint with a rehab assignment is in order. Let him close at AAA and see if he can get his mojo back. As for a replacement, what about either Winder, Sands or Ober (when he returns) as a late inning relief pitcher? Smeltzer belongs in the rotation with his performance to date. , Bundy doesn't have late inning reliever stuff, same for Archer. Maybe one of the young starters can help out.

I now have "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria" from the Sound of Music going through my head and it won't stop. I hate you.

The idea of Enforcing the contract through a decree of specific performance is an interesting one and really depends on state law. In California where I live, you cannot get a degree of specific performance requiring an employee to continue to perform services, but you can prevent him from performing services for a competitor if there are trade secrets involved. I don’t know Minnesota law but I’m fairly confident that you cannot get a decree of specific performance requiring the employee to perform services since we have abolished slavery in this country. Having said that, you may be able to get an order that prohibits him from working for a competitor or perhaps even from working in the same industry. I could definitely see getting an order preventing him from using any proprietary information or trade secrets that are owned by the team. Hard to see how there would be any in this case though. More likely though, the most the Twins could do was sue him for any damages they suffer and it’s hard to see how those could be quantified in Court. Interesting stuff on the legal side.

Guys, I think we gotten a little bit far afield. This is actually pretty simple. An important employee of the team got a job offer from another employer who more than doubled his salary and provided him an opportunity for different lifestyle. When the Twins offered to match the salary, which apparently they did, the employee still decided to go. The opportunity was now, not six months from now, not 3 months from now, not when it was convenient for his current employer, now. Had Johnson not decided to take the LSU job they would have offered it to someone else because they needed somebody for the recruiting season that starts in a week or two. It also make sense based upon the timing when their pitching coach was hired way that this all happened over the last couple of weeks at most. That's what happened. I run a law firm and we have lost people in the middle of cases, projects, etc. because they had other opportunities that they preferred. This is a fact of life in business and a possibility that is always out there. The Twins are doing exactly the right thing, you make an effort to retain the employee and if he or she decides to go, you wish them well and don't burn any bridges. This is not a betrayal by Wes Johnson. This is a common practice in the business world of an employee getting what he or she thought was a better opportunity. The reverse is also true, the Twins always had the right to fire Johnson at any time without his consent. It's just that simple. The venom against Johnson is misplaced as is the thought that the Twins were somehow too cheap to keep him.

The defensive ratings all make sense to me, except maybe for Correa who I thought was better. Urshela is average to below average defensively - he makes some spectacular plays but has limited range and boots some easy ones. Arraez isn't much of a middle infielder but we knew that already. 1B/DH is the perfect place for him. I think there are 2 changes that make the Twins better on defense AND on offense. The first is easy - Polanco comes back to play 2B and Arraez becomes a 1B/DH. By the way, has anyone else noticed that Arraez' hitting has dropped off since he went back to 2B and put more stress on his knee? Correlation is not always causation but the 2 may be related. The second is to play Miranda at 3B every day. His defense won't be much worse than Urshela and may be better and there's a good chance he's a better hitter. I know this puts Kirilloff in LF which is not ideal but I think that's a small price to upgrade 3b and get Arraez a better place to play. It also gets Kirilloff and Miranda in the batting order at 5 and 6 and we can stop with the fantasy that either Kepler, Sanchez, or Urshela is a middle of the order hitter. My lineup? Arraez 1B/DH, Polanco 2B, Correa SS, Buxton CF/DH (yes, I switched Polanco and Buxton), Kirilloff LF, Garlick/Urshela DH, Miranda 3B, Kepler RF, Jeffers/Sanchez C. Celestino and Gordon hit 9 when they play and everyone moves up one up to the spot of the guy who is sitting out. Trade Urshela as part of a package for relief pitching and bring up Palacios or Steer to be the primary IF backup. Urshela fills that job for now.

I see a lot of complaints about Rocco not having Correa bunt and about him pitching Pagan against the stronger part of the Cleveland order in the eighth inning. I actually disagree with both of those criticisms, but have a different criticism. It just doesn't make sense to have your best hitter bunt down one run with a runner on second, particularly when the hitters behind him (Kepler, Sanchez, Urshela) are not hitting and have not shown themselves to be run producers. Having Correa hit gives us the best chance to score in that situation. Using the more experienced reliever in Pagan to pitch against the better hitters also make sense to me, although Duran may be more ready for that role as the season goes on. This isn't Rocco's fault, the front office made an ill – advised trade to try to get a young starting pitcher by giving up our best relief pitcher, then Alcala got hurt, Duffy imploded, and Stashak is gone again for the year. None of those are Rocco's fault. He is doing what he can with a shorthanded bullpen. My big criticism of Rocco is the batting order. I know I have beaten this drum probably to death, but Kepler, Sanchez, and Urshela are not nor will they ever be consistent middle of the order run producers. They should be hitting 7, 8, and 9, not anywhere near the 4, 5 or 6 spots unless there's an injury. We are an inconsistent offensive team because we cannot find guys to hit in the 5 and 6 spots that consistently drive in runs. We will struggle until we fix that problem and we know that Kepler, Urshela, and Sanchez are not the solution. I think the best thing Rocco could do for this team's offense is to move Kirilloff to the 5 hole and Miranda to the 6 hole, leaving Kepler 7, Urshela 8 and the catcher 9. Try this for a month, see if they produce. At the same time, work in Larnach some to see if he can learn how to hit a major league breaking ball since he might be a guy that could fill that 5 or 6 role, and have Garlick start and hit number 4 or 5 against any left-handed starter with Kirilloff and Miranda still in the lineup hitting 6 and 7. This is after Polanco comes back, now they move up one. When Polanco returns either Larnach goes back to AAA to work on his breaking ball hitting or Celestino goes to AAA and Gordon becomes the backup CF. We need better, more consistent run producers after the top four guys. I think there is a much better chance of achieving that result with Kirilloff, Miranda and Garlick in the 5 and 6 spots. This probably means fewer at bats for Urshela so we can squeeze Miranda in at 3B twice a week, and fewer to no DH at bats for Sanchez. I see those both these things as positives. I want to do this now because the next six weeks are when we find out who can do what, and fine tune the team for stretch drive that actually seems like it might be meaningful this year. We need to know if Kirilloff and Miranda are ready to help us in this way or not.

The rule hurts the Twins a little this year because it rewards starters who pitch deep into games and pile up innings and we only got 2 or 3 of those type of starters. We also don't have nay starters that will pitch more than 150 innings this year as they build up so we really need a a 6-7 man rotation. Bundy may be here to stay. I do think it helps baseball though by speeding up the game a little and eliminating those tiresome change pitchers every batter innings. I agree with the posters above; I'm definitely in favor. Starter depth is going to be as important as relief depth because we are going to have guys go 6+ innings when possible, so more innings, more injuries, more IL stints. Get ready for more starts by Bundy, and guys like Bundy, along with some AAAA guys getting their shot. Should be fun.

I think Archer has actually been a very important off-season signing, perhaps the third most important after Correa and Gray. We also have to keep in mind that he will not be a 6 to 7 inning starter at any point this year or perhaps ever again. He is really more of a classic #4/5 starter, go in expecting 4-5 innings and hoping for 6, knowing the chances of any more than a 6 innings are very small and that he if he goes out for the sixth inning you go get them as soon as there's any hint of trouble. There is real value to that role and very real value to that role for this year's Twins team. Now that Smeltzer is getting banged around a bit once teams had a chance to see him or get good film on him, I'm wondering if he and Archer can be a piggyback tandem once Ober gets back and reclaims the #3 spot in the rotation. Winder can be the other starter when he gets back or maybe we can trade for a starter that isn't going to be incredibly expensive like Marquez, Hendricks, or even Jose Quintana. I don't think were going to be willing to pay the freight for a Luis Castillo or Frankie Montas. I wonder if a package of Larnach plus an A ball pitcher could get us David Bednar, José Quintana, and Zach Thompson from Pittsburg....

We need to find a number 5 and a number 6 hitter that can drive in runs. While I know that RBIs are opportunity dependent, I still think they are a valuable statistic to evaluate guys in which should be run producing sponsors the orders, basically numbers 2-6 in the batting order. The ideal number 5 or number 6 hitter is someone with a decent batting average who has some power, at least some doubles power, would doesn't necessarily strike out a ton. I strongly disagree with the idea that Kepler is that guy. He simply is too streaky, has two low a batting average, and is the king of the empty out through pop-ups and weak ground balls. I also disagree with the thought that Urshela can fill that role, no power, or Sanchez/Jeffers, too many strikeouts/too low batting average. Those three guys should be batting 7, 8 and 9 or potentially replaced by someone who's a better hitter. I am beginning to understand why the Yankees couldn't go with Urshela at 3B. He just isn't a good enough hitter for that position. The problem we have is that the replacement, Miranda, is nowhere near as good a defender and an uncertain quantity as a hitter so you have to choose between potential offense and defense and we have chosen defense. I think we want to keep Urshela around because he maybe next year's shortstop while we wait for Lewis to come back. I think the way to find out if Kiriloff can be a middle of the order run producer is to play him every day in left field. LArnach is doing what he did last year, a solid start followed by falling off the table - .219/.390/.448 in the last 30 games, .125/.222/.250 in the last 7. I hated yo-yo the guy up and down but it is beginning to look like a trip back to AAA might be his best move. Our allows Kirilloff to play left field against right-handed starting pitching, with Garlick playing left field against left-handers. We can also probably find Kirilloff a day or two we get either DH or first base. I think the bottom line is we need to go into the second half of the season knowing who the 4-6 middle of the order bats are going to be. Kirilloff might be one of those guys, and we need to play him to find out. I do think we know so far that Kepler and Urshela could be that number 6 hitter, but are better suited to number 7 in the order, that both catchers should be hitting 8 or 9, and that Larnach isn't the answer, at least not this year. Miranda is another option so I do think it's important that he and Kirilloff get consistent at bats through the All-Star break to see if they can be the 5 and 6 hitters. I would love to see a consistent lineup of Arraez, Buxton, Correa, Kirilloff/Polanco, Polanco/Kirilloff, Miranda/Garlick, Kepler, Urshela, Catcher. Celestino can either leadoff against left-handed starters or hit eight when he plays. Gordon fills in as necessary and hits in the back of the order.

I couldn't agree more. I think the gap between hits and run-scoring is mostly because we don't have enough good run producers far enough down in the order. I like Kepler's overall game but he is not a consistent run producer as an offensive player. Same for Urshela and Sanchez. Jeffers is even farther down that list. They are very streaky, "hit or miss" guys. We need someone to fill the 5 hole consistently and it would help if that player hit left-handed. I don't know if Kirilloff is that guy but we do know that Max Kepler is not that guy. Kepler would be much better off hitting 7, and the catcher is better hitting 8 or 9 with Urshela in the other one of those two spots. The really good news is that the open positions to find that number 5 or 6 hitters are LF and DH. That should be the easiest place to find guys who are consistently solid to good hitters. We just haven't found them yet. Part of the problem is using young guys like Maranda and Larnach who are still maturing. I would like to see them try Kirilloff consistently in that spot for three weeks and see how it goes. Having a consistent run producer in the number 5 hole would go a long way to both scoring more and would relieve pressure on some guys who are being asked to do more than they are really capable of doing. That lack of pressure might lead to and improvement in performance. As I'm typing this I just learned that Kiriloff has been called up, unfortunately for Polanco going on the IL for lower back tightness. Still, let's see how he does and maybe when Polanco comes back the corresponding move involves Miranda, Larnach or Gordon, or even a relief pitcher. I hope Kirilloff starts and hits either 5 or 6 tonight, the latter because it's a left-handed starter.

I do think we could possible get a boost from a slightly different batting order with Kirilloff in it. Against right-handed pitching I would go Arraez, Polanco, Correa, Buxton, Kirilloff, Urshela, Kepler, Sanchez/Jeffers, Celestino/Miranda/Gordon. against left handed starting pitchers I would go Celestino, Polanco, Correa, Buxton, Garlick, Arreaz/Kirilloff, Urshlea, Kepler, Sanchez/Jeffers. You could drop Celestino to the 9 hole and move everybody up one but the key is to have Celestino hopefully on base for Polanco Correa, Buxton.

I think the lack of speed may be part of the answer but I think the bigger part is the lack of a true "number 4/number five" hitter. When you look at the Twins lineup most days you either see Max Kepler, Gary Sanchez, Kyle Garlick or Geo Urshela in a run producing spot like number 4 or number 5. These 4 hitters should be batting no higher than 6 in a competitive lineup, and frankly all four of them deserve spots like 7 in the order. I think what we have is four hitters for the top of the order (three against left-handed pitching) in Arraez, Polanco, Buxton, and Correa. Then the other five hitters in the lineup are all guys you should be hitting in the back third, and we're missing those "bridge" hitters between our good hitters and the average to slightly above average hitters. I had hopes for Miranda during his hot streak but I think that was premature. To me, this is the reason to make the hard choice of demoting Larnach or Miranda so that Kirilloff can come up. He is the most likely of those three to be that solid, consistent, #5 every day hitter. Unfortunately, that's what we need to score more runs. We simply don't have that guy now and Kepler, Sanchez, Garlick and Urshela will never be that guy.

Another good way to go. It's a tough choice between keeping up Miranda or Garlick. For that matter, it's a tough choice to send down Larnach so Kirilloff can come up but Larnach stopped hitting so maybe it's getting a little easier.