Platoon

You used "roster crunches" and "Twins" in the same sentence? The question is, after watching the Twins BP for the past several years, why the crunch. What possibly could have been lost by an extended evaluation of some of these crunched relievers? As for Orzoria, when I saw the Strib's online pic, said to myself, "please, I hope it's not the little guy in the middle" .

While you definitely have a point, in both the beating u while not hitting, and his need to recognize the down and out stuff, I must admit I have never been called, "toot sweet" before? :) .

Buxton is the most important Twin. His impact is magnified by how many facets of the game he brings. His defense allows pitchers to make mistakes. It allows the Twins to possible move A more bat first player into a corner OF spot. Kepler as a fourth OF'er? His arm restrains the running game. On offense, he does need to hit to at least a replacement level. But remember this. His walks become a double. He scores from second on any single. He moves IF in, and distracts pitchers while on base. There are few MLB players with his impact on the bases. He will be a straw! The one that stirs the drink? Or the one that broke the camels back? We will know by August for sure.

To an extent I agree completely, and have always felt that way. No matter what happens, the old regime had to go. But that does not explain the head scratching moves that have occurred. Take Curtiss v Duffey. To me, Curtiss has an upside of a 'get out of an inning' reliever. Duffey has the upside of a long reliever. To me the inning ender has more value, so why keep the guy whose main duty is to close out a loss? Getting rid of Duffey in the future doesn't make losing a Curtiss type in the present.

MLB has drifted to hard throwers, especially in the pen. And we keep a frisbee throwing artist in Hildy and a right handed balloon like curve ball pitcher in Duffey. Carol has a point, it's getting harder to see where this is going.

I like Joe Mauer, he was a special baseball player, likely one of the top three catchers in the history of the game. The head injuries were not his fault. Judging him offensively as a first baseman is like judging Nelson Cruz as a left fielder. He deserves the number retirement, and a "day". But I do think the team needs to beware of overdoing a good thing. Too much diminishes the importance, and does indeed lend itself to the perception it's simply another way to sell tickets, like mini pine trees for a batters eye?

Mike8791 has a valid point about closing, and that's the mentality of it. It's a singular role. It's not necessarily a more important role, but a blown save leaves a different taste in a teams mouth than a single against you in the 7th or 8th with guys on second and third. Walking off the field chewing on your sleeve sucks. Not all pitchers can deal with that feeling, and bounce back. Again, iam not contending that closing is more important, or more difficult, but I am positive that not all pitchers with shutdown talent have a closers mentally. There is a definite difference between losing a game in the 7th inning v the 9th.

Its really nice that you clarified that. I think.

I read that the long Cruz HR at TF was off The Duffman. Trading Duffy to a Central division foe would be a great move for the Twins offense.

Ho Ho Ho to all, and to all a good night.

Hmmmm, I didn't know they played baseball across the pond?

Sad, but so Twins like. In 2020 we unveil the new statue in the plaza.

I don't disagree with the coin flip analogy at all. That said you could be short a few coins, since no pitchers were included. But, is it time for Falvine to dig up some of JP's coffee cans full of moldy cash? Despite the last paragraph your OP would indicate it is not. If, as opined all these guys are coin flips, exactly what would Jims money be spent on? And after you bought some expensive replacements, what does one do with their predecessor? Trading a "coin flip" will not bring a return, and one doesn't release players like this. I think, through no fault of their own, Falvine is stuck with an evaluation year, yet again. Injuries to Castro, Sano, and Buxton all bear individual tales of woe. They need a last chance? Replacements have been purchased at 1B and 2B. It would be foolish to trade Rosario for a poor half season, especially after keeping Dozier for 4 years. Rosario will end up being more consistent than Dozier in all likelihood. That leaves you upgrading right field with an offensive player over a defensive one. and if there is one thing MN does not need, it's one less glove. Someone in the OF is going to have to chase down all the ground balls that filter through that IF sieve!

Looks like the only difference between this lineup and ML Slow Pitch Softball will be the Twins strike out more, and field worse! I would sure hate to stand on a mound and turn around and see that infield behind me.

The OP referenced Joe Kelly and his LA contract and his roots in SoCal. It also opined on the matter of whether we could have or would have paid enough to Kelly to play in a colder climate. These are salient points often ignored by those of us who are content in the layered look. All one has to do to research the desire that humanity has, all things being equal, to live outside the borders of the frozen tundra, is to look at a population map of the US. Athletes are not immune to that feeling. Given age, income, and the ability to perform anywhere in North Amaerica they will naturally tend to migrate towards moderate climes, higher revenue teams, and bigger city social life. And since we can't, or won't spend enough to overcome the "livability" factor, we will never attract the big FA's. Pretending we could maybe, possibly, almost, we were in the running, do it, hasn't worked for almost 60 years. Maybe a new tack is in order.

I too would want to see Romero show what he can do as a starter. Basically he would have to pitch his way off the rotation. Same of rthe internal options, regardless of what level they come from. If not now, when? This isn't a team where adding a dominant reliever will make you a solid contender. But I will say that being able to pick up a Kelly, ore someone else that is solid with a minimum of another year of control, preferably another two years, would make sense.

I would assume that "metrics driven" is probably what this orginisation will or has become. For years players have sensed that they were just a number. That is no longer true. They are now a spreadsheet of numbers. Will it get to the point where scouts seemingly become data entry peons? Or has it already. With the elimination of many forms of human input into MLB decision making, the Twins decision on Buxton was fairly simple, and will become in all likelihood more common. They took what they hope wil be a good "in prime" year. And, Buxton as is his right, is not happy he lost a year of that kind of money. Both parties are correct, while operating from a completely different viewpoint.

Buxtons "potential" would justify a callup. His "performance" did not. That said I would have left him in Rochester for a different reason. If he continues on his present performance path, which btw I don't think he will, leaving him sit was a moot point. If he turns into the player he has the potential to be, overall history would indicate he's "outa here" as soon as he is a FA. So the move gave the team one more year of the good Buxton. I can't say if he would really bolt, but the overall odds are in that direction.

Now that corks me!

I had sort of thought that when Mauer retired and no longer took the fans hard earned money in a dishonest manner by representing himself as a player who had MLB ability that some of the angst would disappear. Silly me!

11/?/18 Joe Mauer announces retirement.

Nick, no one enjoys reading articles by a pragmatist. It's a lot sexier to call for a high level action. Say, Kepler for Harper. Ok, if Kepler isn't enough I would throw in Astudillo. But reality sucks. And the reality is that the Twins problems are not simply for any specific shortcoming. You can't fault the anlaysis of Buxton or Sano. Everyone in MLB was sure they would be key players, league wide. Berrios? Many had questions on his ability to be an "ace". He is a reliable MLB starter, but unlikely to be an Ace. Reality is where Falvine understands he can't wave a wand and remake an entire roster in a year. They could try with the payroll levels the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, et al to toss around. But here comes reality again. The Twins aren't those teams. They are more in in the KC realm. Reality is the Twins only option to put a competitive team, year after year, on the field is to draft, develop, and promote, prospects, and to move pending FA's at there peak value. While signing a name FA or God forbid two, would sell some tickets, and create some buzz, it won't solve the problems this roster encompasses. That will only be resolved by accepting and acting on certain realities. Those being, that for years this orginisation was run as a good 'ole boys club. That drafting and developing was subpar at best. That off season signings were often over the hill "names to sell tickets. That competition for a #2 WC was the ultimate goal. Hopefully these things are in the past, and that the new regime concentrates on agressive proactive moves. That's really our only option. While Christmas is around the corner, I don't spect to find Bryce Harper under Falvines tree. JP may be a seasonal character, but he's more likely the Grinch than that Jolly Old Elf. Ho, Ho, Ho!

I tend to agree with ND in his post above, to a point. I don't think Falvine is completely sure of what they really have in Sano and Buxton, and for that matter Berrios and Kepler. That's not just on the FO, it's also on several of the players, primarily Sano and Buxton. Sano ate himself off the roster last year, and Buxton continues to be injured, sometime freakishly, but injured nonetheless. Add that after the toe injury someone, I am not sure who, seriously mishandled his recovery. I think Falvine is going to use this season for several things. First is to make a final determination on the feasibility of Buxton and Sano being the core of the team, that or move on from that hypothesis. Secondly, tread water until reinforcements arrive from AA and AAA. Third, let all the non player orginisational changes phase in. Pohlads protection of Molitor cannot be understated. Where I disagree with ND is on what JP will spend. With the certainty that Pohlad will never become an upper echelon bidder in the FA wars, I do think he would pay for a certain amount of "fill in the gaps" players. But I also believe Falvine knows that with Sano, and to an extent Kepler, a question mark his corner offense is questionable. And unless Castro and Buxton return and are productive his middle defense and offense are both the same. Bottom line. Unless what is there now becomes what almost everyone had projected it to be, there is no way, and no sense in buying pieces here and there. Neither the trade value or the cash is sufficient to fill that many holes. If, and it's still a possibility, this roster just plain tanks, there will be a Rebuild 2 coming to a ballpark near you, and soon.

If Sano and Buxton don't become the elite hitter, and elite all around player, they were projected to be, the Twins can't "buy" enough players to be competitive. While Rosario has some two way talent, most of the rest of the roster is blah. Either the defense is washed out by poor offense, or vice versa. Pretty much up and down the roster. I tend to believe that given the approach both desired, and enforced due to Pohlad/Molitor, on Falvine they will continue to build the orginisation to be more self sustaining. By that I mean manning a roster with internal draft choices, development, and trades. if they are analytical enough to figure out someone will hit a 3-1 curveball to the left side 72% of the time, they are analytical enough to know that the MN Twins will never spend/afford enough payroll to compete on a monetary basis with the big dogs. Spending money and wasting playing time on mid level FA's without the basis of a competitive roster is a fools errand, at best.

You just cannot make up for that glove and arm, with that bat. Guys like RG who go up looking to take a walk shouldn't get that opportunity. They generally don't hit well enough to scare anyone, make them hit their way on. Additionally while he really wasn't as slow as his OF routes made him appear, his baserunning never reflected that speed. He will play somewhere in MLB. But as someone above said, hopefully we aim higher. "He will play somewhere" is not an analytical tool! I hope.