LA Vikes Fan

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.

We can have 3 of the following 5 on the 26 man roster - Celestino, Miranda, Larnach, Garlick and Kirilloff. I think it's really 2 of 4 since Celestino is the only one who can play CF - and we need that 2-3 times a week - and he is hitting .330 (albeit with with no power). It's a tough call. I would bring up Kirilloff and option Garlick and Larnach, Keep Miranda up in the bigs. I would prefer to keep Larnach up but we need the RH bat. I prefer Miranda over Garlick because I think Miranda is a big part of the next 5 years and Garlick is not. I still see this year as a higher level developmental year, not a go for broke to try to get a championship year. We will need Miranda a next year if Ursehla is gone and will need his bat if Correa is gone. I'd frankly like to find a way to get Kirilloff, Miranda and Larnach 400-500 ABs apiece this year but there's probably only room for 2 of them to get that many. Still, very tough call.

I think he's the plan to augment the bullpen for the stretch run and hopefully the postseason. I live in LA and the Dodgers typically used him as a starter until August and then put him in the bullpen to limit his innings to 150 or less. They were concerned he would blow out his elbow since he came to the States from Japan with concerning medical reports on his elbow. He was a very good reliever and could be a dominant 8th inning guy out of the bullpen. We need at least 2 more late inning arms, more than we can likely get in trades. I'm hoping that Maeda is ready in time to be one of those arms.

It actually looks to me like the move might be to swap out Kirrilloff for Larnach. I just don’t know what to sending Larnach down will do for his confidence. I think they’re going to wait another week or so to see if there is an injury and, if not, that’s the change I would expect.

I don't think losing Urshela or Gordon gets more at bats for Kiriloff unless you trade Urshela and make Arraez the everyday 3B with Kirilloff at 1B and Miranda playing a couple of days a week each at 1B and 3B. I don't see that happening because of the defensive downgrade. Arraez is not a good 3B with the glove. I really think you have to lose Garlick or Larnach to get ABs for Kirilloff right now. An injury can change all of that.

The problem is whose ABs do you take away so that Kirilloff can paly at least 4 or 5 days a week? it makes no sense to bring him up and play him a couple of days a week. That will hurt his development, not help him. I think this boils down very simply - we have 5 guys for basically 3.5 to 4 roster spots , 1B, LF, half time DH, and DH/reserve OF. Don't forget, we need to keep open the DH at least 3 days a week for a combination of Buxton, Correa and Sanchez (Sanchez for LH pitching). The 5 guys we have are Arraez, Celestino, Larnach, Garlick, and Kirilloff. Kirilloff is the odd man outright now. Arraez gets a spot because he's by far the best hitter. The rest all have advantages and disadvantages. Celestino is the only one who can play CF (and Kepler in CF is a no go apparently), but his batting average is coming back down to earth and he has no power, Garlick hits LH pitching very well, but can't hit righthanders and is an average at best fielder, Larnach was hitting, slumping now, and is actually a pretty good OF, and Kirilloff looks great in AAA but his MLB stats? ,242/.290/.393 (.683) and that includes the good part of last year. Hardly awe inspiring but the injury MAY be the reason for that, or he might not be that good yet. I actually think this is a very tough choice. I think there's 3 ways to get Kirilloff on the team. First choice is to option down Celestino IF we're willing to play Kepler in CF between Larnach and Kirilloff 3 days a week or Larnach or Kirilloff could play CF. Playing Gordon in CF is ok, but it doesn't create room for Kirilloff - you still have to bench somebody who is performing to shoehorn him into the lineup. The second option is to DFA Garlick, making us very vulnerable to LH starting pitching unless Kirilloff can hit lefties well. Option 3 is to send Larnach down and give Kirilloff his spot. Hard to like option 2 or 3. Maybe the best thing is to play Kirilloff in CF in AAA and see if he could take Celestino's spot. Bottom line is Kirilloff had a chance, didn't perform, and Larnach did perform and took his spot. Maybe it was an injury that sent him down but the reason is irrelevant - he didn't perform, someone else did, and he is outside looking in. I'd like to see him get a chance because he could be that middle of the order bat we need so Kepler can move to the 6 hole but someone who is performing has to go. Don't just say bring up Kirilloff, tell me who goes to give him a spot.

I think the A’s will want some MLB ready pitching in return for Montas, someone like Winder or Sands. I don’t think a package built around a position player, particularly one with Kirilloff’s injury history or a recent breakout like Steer, will work. I think it’s more likely they will want a winder or Sands PLUS a Miranda or Steer PLUS a non–40 man young pitching prospect. I just think the cost is too high for Montas given that I don’t think this team is one starter away from World Series contention. Maybe next year with more development and if Correa stays, but not this year. Mahle or Castillo are more realistic starting picture targets in my humble opinion, We probably will have to give up young pitching To get either of them since they both have a year and a half left before free agency, but they might realistically be had for a Winder or Sands type plus lesser position players or younger pitching. That’s the way I would go if we go for a starting pitcher at all. We do need at least one more bullpen piece but I’m hopeful that Maeda can be the second piece come August. He was a very good reliever for the Dodgers who would typically start him for the first 100 games and then put him in the bullpen. I think if we can get one more quality reliever and Mazda can be that second reliever come mid August through the end of the season, That probably does as much for us as anything else. Bottom line, I think this is a fun team but not one starter away from contending for the World Series so I would not trade away the farm to get that starter.

I wouldn't trade Martin except as part of a package for Frankie Montas or someone of his level. Certainly not for a reliver or 3 month starter rental. there isn't a good reason to sell low on him yet. Not at 23 years old with less than 150 professional games in so far. By the way, trading for Martin Perez with Texas is not smart. Good for him that his year has been good so far. Bad for us if we trade for his inevitable fall off. I say we stick with what we have in the rotation unless Montas is available (or someone at his level). For the bullpen, trade for a veteran having a decent year but don't give up a top prospect and don't trade for a "name" reliever, those guys rarely work out long term. I say we run with what we have. Let's plant the seeds for next year now. Oh, and something we can all agree on, IL or DFA Duffy.

That's the problem - we don't have other options. My guess is that if Ryan and Winder's rehab starts go well, they will both be up to start next week for the end of the Seattle series or in Arizona. Until then, we have to keep Bundy and Sands in the rotation because we simply don't have anybody else. Gray isn't available until 6/14 and also may get a rehab start. Ober 6/18. It seems like the best case scenario is we have is to have a full rotation by the Arizona series a week from this weekend. That means Bundy gets at least 2 starts - tonight against the Yankees and next week against the Mariners. Even with that, we will need to start a Chi Chi type or have a bulllpen game this weekend against Tampa. Bottom line, Bundy probably has 2 more starts to show he can stay at the MLB level. Doubtful he will, so I expect him to be put on the IL or DFA'd by the end of next week. Tonight is critical for him.

He’s hitting .348/.375.692(1.068) in his last 7 games, and .348/.375/.652(1.029) in his last 15. Hard to send him down. This won’t last obviously but you gotta keep playing him. He’s an adventure in the field at first base, but maybe third base would be a better spot . With this team, it’s getting harder to see a spot for Kirilloff or Lewis on the 26 man before the cut to 13 pitchers. An injury will change that analysis and give them opportunities, but right now everyone on the roster is earning their spot.