SheboyganBrats

Kluber's injury may have made it easier for Falvine to sit tight. If they thought they had enough pitching before the injury, it's probably less likely they'll "go for it" now.

I think the question posed in the topic "Why astudillo in rf and marwin at 3b?" gives some insight into Baldelli's style as manager. He seems much more prone to giving players set defensive positions and having set batting lineups than, say, Molitor. When Sano went on the IL, Baldelli gave Marwin the 3b position and Astudillo and Adrianza took up the utility roles. With the emergence of Astudillo, he kinda became the super-utility guy. If my view is correct, when Baldelli needed someone for rf, he stuck with Marwin at 3b and Astudillo got plugged into the open spot. This seems at least plausible to me. As far as Astudillo being put into the regular 3b role, it's an interesting question. We'd likely be seeing much better offensive production, but, of course, this is a hypothetical. Some players thrive as everyday players, some don't. Maybe Astudillo being exposed on a daily basis wouldn't be a good idea in Baldelli's mind. Maybe Baldelli has seen something in Astudillo that makes him think he's more suited to a back-up role at this point. Maybe some defensive issues would emerge, or maybe pitchers would start focusing on him more at the plate. Dunno, but a good discussion so far. It's just too bad La Tortuga got hurt and we won't get to see how this plays out, at least in the short term.

It would be nice if Molitor would lick his finger and stick it up in the air once in awhile,

Right now, Jake Cave is Lou Gehrig to Byron Buxton's Wally Pipp. Not saying it's going to be that way over the long run, at least I hope not, but right now.......

The Twins have too little pitching depth, not too much. Berrios, Romero, Gibson, maybe Pineda when he returns. Everyone else that is close is back of the rotation material. Graterol and Lewis are still a ways away. Trade from strength, not weakness. There are a lot of players I'd trade before Gibson. It seems that trading Gibson means you have given up completely on 2019 and the Twins remain in this unending rebuild. Of course, this comes with the caveat that, if someone makes an offer that blows you away, you take it. Otherwise, no.

My problem with Molitor began early in his tenure. It was Molitor's first full season and Alex Meyer had had 2 solid starts and one so-so start in Rochester. Terry Ryan brought up Meyer on a day the Twins needed a starting pitcher. Meyer had been on schedule to start that day, but Molitor didn't start him. Instead, several days later Meyer was given a short start, and several days later was sent to the bullpen. I don't know what really went on, but it seemed like the GM had brought up Meyer to start and Molitor decided otherwise. We all know that Meyer's shoulder issues subsequently flared up again, and Meyer and his agent made it pretty clear that Meyer wasn't going to pitch for the Twins again. Around the same time Max Kepler was brought up and he also got to rot on the bench. Inexplicably for Kepler's first plate appearance, he was brought in to face a left-handed pitcher. I may be remembering all of this wrong, but I couldn't figure out why Molitor wasn't using the players he was given. To me it looked like he was undercutting his GM, or at the very least, they weren't on the same page. In any event, I developed a very unfavorable view of Molitor's handling of his young players, and my feelings about that haven't changed.

I raked my lawn yesterday, and we all know the result. My lawn is going to look pretty sad, if I have to rake it every day until the season ends. Imagine the year Rosario will have had, though.

It seems like every time I turn on the game and the Twins have men in scoring position with less than two outs, they fail to score. I don't know if I can do anything positive to help, but if I don't tune into the games, maybe I'll quit screwing up their chances.

When it rains, it pours.

Damn! If only they had known this before Big Sexy signed that minor league deal with Texas. Okay, I've had my snark for the day.

That answers my question. Of course, no one is suggesting that either of these guys get drafted as position players, but I was wondering about the speculation around these guys as two way players and what relevance that might have. Sounds like it's a wash.

There's been discussion in this thread about the possibility of Greene switching to shortstop, if he doesn't pan out as a pitcher. It has always seemed to me that McKay has a much better chance to become a position player (acknowledging that first base is not a premium position like shortstop). After all, there are a number of places I have seen McKay's hit tool ranked first among college hitters, and I've seen McKay compared to John Olerud. If McKay busts as a pitcher, I think he's still potentially a very good MLB first baseman. Not so much, Greene at shortstop. Would you folks agree with this assessment, or am I caught off base?

I didn't like the trade at the time. As others have said, I couldn't figure out why the Twins kept getting rid of their center fielders. And, I wasn't as down on the Twins catching as some may have been. However, I can understand why the trade was made. Catching seemed to be a black hole in the organization, according to many, and Murphy had shown enough to take a chance. And Hicks, while he had tools and talent, seemed to be a huge head case who didn't seem to show up mentally for his at bats half the time. I'm guessing that there was frustration over his seeming inability to take the game seriously. Now, maybe this was the organization's fault, or maybe it's a misreading of what was going on, but from afar it seemed like Hicks was out to lunch a good deal of the time.

Indeed. Well said!

It would be nice if they played on the day following the opener, but I understand why they keep the day open, so I won't get my undies all twisted up about it. I do wish MLB would quit scheduling their opening day games on the same day as the NCAA men's basketball final.