chpettit19

They play different roles on the team. Solano is likely replaced by Lewis when he's good to go. But keeping a lefty who can't crack the lineup frequently (he is in there today) against righties vs keeping a righty who starts every game against lefties doesn't really solve the Gordon problem.

My guess is Gordon has until Buxton starts playing CF some, and Kirilloff is called up, to show he can hit again. At that point it's DFA and hope for a trade, or likely lose him on waivers if they can't get a lottery ticket out of anyone. Gordon was scorching hot in August last year, but fell apart again in September. He's had 3 incredible months of hitting, but not much of a track record beyond that. I hope he gets a chance somewhere, and I hope he succeeds, but I don't see a role for him on the Twins for much longer.

The offense seeming to finally figure things out makes this a tougher situation. The 3 "everyday" lefties are all performing well, and I don't think they'll want to bring Kirilloff up to sit on the bench like Gordon. Castro is their backup SS right now so they won't send him down until Farmer is back to take that role. Gordon or Solano are the 2 most likely to be replaced, but I wouldn't think they'd DFA Solano for a lefty. My guess is Lewis takes his job eventually. My guess would be that Gordon has until Buxton starts getting time in CF to earn his spot. The Twins have said that mid-May is when that could be happening. So 2 more weeks? I'd guess Kirilloff takes Gordon's spot if Larnach keeps hitting, and Gordon doesn't. You can then have Kirilloff, Kepler, Gallo, and Larnach all in the lineup vs righties when Buxton is in CF. As for the medical stuff, the reports from the Twins beat writers yesterday was that Paparesta said Kirilloff playing back to back 9 inning games (which he just did) was the end of the medical stuff. Basically they'll track him for a couple days and make sure he's good, but he has the medical greenlight, and it's just a baseball decision now.

I didn't see anything from Hayes, but Do-Hyoung Park said "Paparesta says with this, they've done what they've needed to do from a medical standpoint, and it just becomes a baseball decision soon."

Dan Hayes reporting that Kirilloff is set to play 9 innings again for the Saints today. First time playing 9 innings back to back days. Would think that's a significant step in his return.

To me it's either Skenes, or the best bat available. It looks like the most likely option will be one of the high school bats, and I'm good with that. The Twins have a wave of prospects currently hitting the top of the minors, and the majors. Clark or Jenkins could take the spot at the top of the next wave. If any of Skenes, Crews, or Langford fall I'd be sprinting to the podium to take them. I don't see any of them getting skipped by 2 teams, though, unless 2 teams really fall in love with the HS kids. This feels like a draft with a bit of a drop after the first 5 so it's nice to see the Twins be in that 5 hole. By all accounts right now the Twins are going to have the chance to draft a really nice prospect with perennial all star upside.

Duran is unavailable today. Why would he not use the guy he knows can't pitch today instead of someone who could? Duran needs to take care of an immigration situation that required him to travel today. Doesn't seem that puzzling.

I'd be fine with them DFAing Gordon to call up Kirilloff today. But my guess is, as someone else stated, Kirilloff's callup is more likely to coincide with Buxton starting to play the OF some. Means Gordon probably has 2 or 3 more weeks to show he can hit. Or someone gets hurt and Kirilloff takes their spot. I think Kirilloff immediately becomes the best pure hitter on the team so I'd like to see him called up sooner than later, but I don't expect the Twins to suddenly break their very cautious take to injuries. I am very happy to finally have real decisions for the FO to make for both the rotation and position players. Been a long while since that was the case. I hope they really let play dictate decisions as we get into the heart of summer. It's still very early so I get not making big decisions on someone like Gordon (I'm just not a believer), but they're going to have to make some moves with this depth as they get into July, and make decisions based on who gives them the best chance to win baseball games now, and moving forward.

Max has been looking a little rejuvenated since his return from the IL. I don't disagree that this is the classic MN goodbye situation, and I would be absolutely shocked if he's on the roster in 2024. To me, the interesting situation is the trade deadline decision this year. As always, much of that comes down to roster health. But if Kirilloff and Lewis are both back and healthy I could see them trying to flip Kepler for a lottery ticket at the deadline. I very much like Kepler hitting down in the order like he was last night. He's been a good hitter since his return from the IL. If he can keep this up in the 7-9 holes of the order he's a useful player. The question is just how much the young guys are able to push him aside by the trade deadline. Will be interesting to see how the summer plays out for Max. I hope he makes it a hard decision for the FO to move on this year, but don't think there's anything he can realistically do to have a spot on the Twins roster come 2024.

My hope is that Solano can hold on until Lewis is ready. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the Twins thought, too. He's a horrid defender, but if he's only playing 1B against lefties for the next month and a half until Lewis is good to go I think his bat can make him serviceable. But I think he gets released without much concern at some point. Don't think they fight to keep him around longer than he's useful.

I think the Twins using him basically exclusively at 2B the last year plus should tell us a lot. They try to get all kinds of guys work all over the field. But they're not doing it with him. He played 15 games in LF in 2021, and they haven't sent him back. He's not a good infielder, but they haven't wanted to put him back in the OF. To me, that says he can't read a fly ball. I've never seen him play OF, so that could be completely wrong, but if you want to get a guy up a level, and they're a bad infielder, you'd put him in the OF if they're at all ok there. Them not seeming to even be considering it says a lot. Only other thing I can think of is they don't think he can beat out the Larnach/Wallner/Kirilloff group of lefty corner bats. Which would also be a bad sign. He'll be fun to see work through the struggles of adjusting to major league pitchers. They are going to challenge him, and he's going to have to make them pay. If he can't, he becomes Sano/Gallo 2.0. And we all know how those types of hitters go over around these parts. He appears to have a really nice approach at the plate so it'll just come down to being able to make pitchers pay for challenging him early. Will be fun to watch him get his chance to show he can do it.

The Twins have 6 games left this month. If they go just 3-3 in those games they end April with 16 wins. 16 wins/month gets them to 90 wins. They've had some ups and downs throughout the early going, but a 16-13 record wouldn't feel like they drastically overachieved based on how things have gone so far. If they win 90 games I'm pretty sure they're winning the division. 90 games is also my cutoff for a team that has a chance to make some noise in the playoffs. Not be favorites or anything, but I'm not shocked by 90 win teams winning series in the playoffs. An ERA in the 3.50 range feels reasonable assuming solid health for the top of the rotation, and back of the pen. Buxton and Correa will heat up with the weather, even if Buxton will continue to be streaky. Kirilloff will come back (hopefully soon). Solid health from the lineup makes me think they will be good enough, but not spectacular. The playoffs, like always, will just come down to being the team that gets hot for a month. If you're there there's a chance. Not putting money on a WS ring, but it feels like they should certainly be the favorites to be central division champs at this point.

Ober optioned back to St Paul. Not sure who they'll call up tomorrow.

It's been a while since this was something they could even think about having a problem with! I'm not too worried about the pen short term. Headrick is around for any sort of 3+ inning needs, and if they're running 4+ 1 inning guys out there today they can change plans and call someone back up tomorrow. Hopefully they have a nice little stretch of only needing 3 one inning guys and can maybe think about going with a 12 man staff in the future. I'd consider calling Kirilloff up for Ober right now if sending Ober down is the plan.

That's good news overall. I don't know what the right thing to do with Ober is, but I don't think moving either of them to the pen in April is the correct answer. Wouldn't be surprised if they give a few guys an extra days rest during this stretch and throw Ober 1 more start before sending him back down. Will definitely be interesting to see how they manage these 2.

I don't disagree with this premise, I just don't know how you manage the rotation overall with them both in it since I don't think you want to mess with Lopez, Gray, or Ryan and their routines. Mahle, too, but he's a step below those other 3 right now so not as worried about him. You don't want to go changing between 5 man and 6 man rotations a bunch. Starters have pretty strict routines between starts on how they workout and prepare for their next start. A 6 man rotation is hard to maintain all season, and even harder if 2 of those pieces are guys you worry about holding up for the season. But I also don't think sending Ober back to St Paul is a great option. There isn't a great answer, and that's why I stick with Maeda until he gives me a reason not to and worry about the rest from there.

I don't see them ever piggy backing starters. So Maeda to the pen for regular 3-4 inning appearances doesn't sound like a real possibility. He's way too good to be used in that Sands/Headricks/SWR role of sitting around until a starter takes a liner off the leg, or has a terrible start. If you put him the pen it's more likely in the Moran/Pagan/Alcala role of 2 inning, low-leverage appearances a couple times a week. If he's in that role for a month you've taken him out as a possible rotation arm later in the year if/when injuries or performance demand a new rotation arm. Bailey Ober has topped 100 innings 1 time since he was 18. Inserting him into the rotation and expecting him to go 5+ innings every 5th day seems like it'd be an awfully bold gamble since he's literally never been able to do that. Having him in the St Paul rotation for half the year is wasting his talent. To me the question is whether or not Ober has a future in the rotation at all. I think that's what you need to find out this year. And for the answer to be "yes" he needs to throw at least 120 innings this year. I think some kind of modified 6 man rotation where Lopez, Gray, Ryan, and Mahle throw on regular, or close to it, rest every time through and Maeda and Ober sort of trade off on the 5th spot in the rotation is probably how you maximize them both best. I'd keep Maeda as the primary #5 starter for at least 4 or 5 more turns to see what he looks like. Maybe do the 6 man rotation for the rest of this 13 day stretch of games, and then send Ober back to St Paul for a couple more weeks and let the other 5 role with the normal 5 man rotation for a few times through. If Maeda looks to be tiring too much through May then it's time to discuss moving him to the pen. I get that people are concerned about his stamina because he's 35 and didn't pitch last year, but if stamina is your main concern your first option to replace him can't be a 27 year old (will be 28 in July) who's never held up to an MLB starter's workload. If having a guy who can take the ball every 5th day and hold up is your concern, Varland is the guy you should be asking for, and you should be suggesting Maeda and Ober take Pagan and Moran's jobs in the pen.

I don't see many difficult decisions. When your offense is struggling to score 3 runs a game there's a whole lot of easy decisions to make if you have someone coming off the IL who's showing they could be an upgrade. Gordon was on the verge of being DFA'd last year before playing a really nice 15 games in June, 14 even better games in July, and going on a tear for 24 games in August. He came back to earth in September, and outside those 53 games in the middle of last year he's never even been an average major leaguer. He's been absolutely brutal to start this year, and there's not much to look at and say he's likely to ever be a .750+OPS guy again. If you DFA him and he does become that guy somewhere else you tip your cap, and say "good for you, Nick." In his 113 starts last year he had a .722 OPS, and that was supposed to be his big "breakout" year. 2B and LF aren't exactly defensive spots where the Twins don't have options, either. He's simply not that valuable of a player. And if moving on from Kepler ruins your season you weren't set to have a great season anyways. I've defended Kepler in the past as a guy who's a decent player who's just been expected to perform above his talents because the team keeps putting him at the top of the order. He isn't that guy. They continue to do it this year, and it's still not who he is. If he's hitting 7-9 in the order it's not such a tragedy, but if you can't replace your 7-9 hitter without your season falling apart you didn't have a very good lineup anyways. The "kids" (Lewis, Kirilloff, Larnach, Miranda, Julien, Martin, and Lee) were always going to be the key to the season. Gordon and Kepler were always fighting for a roster spot as long as they could hold on. Neither is doing much to hold onto a spot now, and it's time to sink or swim with the kids. Kirilloff should be up today, and I really don't understand why he's not unless his wrist has been giving him problems we don't know about. It hasn't shown in his performance. If he's playing everyday in St Paul anyways why can't he do it in Minneapolis? Is playing in a Twins jersey instead somehow worse for his wrist? His situation is different than Buxton's. Either that wrist is going to give out or it isn't. It isn't right now so let's quit wasting his swings for the Saints and give this brutal Twins lineup a boost. Buxton-Polanco-Correa-Kirilloff-Miranda-Gallo should be the top 6 guys in the lineup for 10 straight days to see if they can get this thing going. There's no tough decisions here. Start playing the guys who actually have the chance to be above average major leaguers in the top 5-6 spots in the order. Everyday (with Buxton getting his 1 in 10 days off). Quit worrying about borderline big league players. If you can't replace Gordon or Kepler you're doomed anyways.

It's simple...they need to have a feel for when to have a feel, but a plan in place that shouldn't be deviated from unless the feel for when to have a feel is a strong enough feel, and then they need to use their gut to determine whether to follow the feel or the plan. It's very basic, baseball 101 stuff.

Legitimate question: How many "can't miss" players are there in MLB in your view? This team is not fun to watch when they're making mistakes and 'K'ing 15 times. Totally agree. Wish they had some more athleticism on the base paths. Wish Buxton didn't give me a heart attack every time he slid (seriously don't understand how an athlete of his caliber can be so bad at sliding). Wish Correa could hit for more than 1 out of 5 games. All that said, I don't find them boring because I simply don't find any baseball boring. But I understand I'm an outlier. The idea of "can't miss" just got me curious what players (on the Twins or other teams) fans find to be "must watch" players. I have quite a few I make sure to tune into on mlb.tv when I can, but curious who other fans like.

From everything I've read about Miranda's development, swing decisions has always been what holds him back. That 9th inning swing decision was terrible. Guy is struggling to find the plate and you swing at a first pitch fastball off the plate on your hands? I also don't remember him swinging so hard as often last year. He's swung himself to his knee multiple times already this year. I don't know that he has to go to AAA, but he does need a reset of some sort. He's had a few games where he's driving the ball to right center like last year, but then you get games like last night where he's flying open, swinging out of his shoes, and either missing or just topping it to 3rd. They've dropped him down to 7th in the lineup today so maybe that gives him the chance to settle down and get back to his old self where he's using the whole field.

Contract the team.

Again, he had hits in 9 of his first 10 starts. That's not getting lucky against KC pitching for 3 days. His line as a DH and in CF were almost identical. Don't let facts get in the way of your opinion, though. Have a wonderful day.

Now comparing Buck to other players is a moot point? So first he didn't get enough playing time to be ready for the season, and now it's simply moot to even compare him to other players? We weren't discussing his overall stat line to this point of the season. You said his lack of spring training game reps meant he wasn't ready for the season. I proved you wrong so now you're trying to move the goal posts to the fact that he's struggled in the 3rd week of the season so his SSS line looks bad. It's ok to say "you're right, now that you've provided me with actual data to disprove my opinion I'll change my opinion." Yes, we're all entitled to our opinions. Your opinion goes counter to the facts. Byron Buxton was absolutely ready to hit at the start of the season and he showed it. They're now deep enough into the season that any missed spring ABs have been made up with regular season ABs. Any struggles at this point have nothing at all to do with spring training. You didn't like how they handled spring playing time, and that's totally fine. Tying spring training playing time to ABs 44 through 62 (PAs #45-70) of the season is simply confirmation bias. It sucks the twins are struggling offensively right now. But today is game #20 for the Twins. Spring training doesn't matter anymore. They've made up for all those ABs you think they missed whether you liked how they handled spring or not.

Fair. He had 17 ABs there. So he had 48 ABs in the spring. 8 more than Miranda.