KirbyDome89

Idk why so many are downplaying DeSclafani's role now that he's (predictably) injured. The Twins handed him a rotation spot and allocated nearly 1/3 of what little money they had to spend this offseason towards his salary. Clearly they didn't view him as some toss in.

One guy started 3x as many games and threw 3x as many innings as the other. I don't think there's a comparison to be made but YMMV.

Making 11 starts in a 60 game season. He was pretty bad then hurt in 2021, didn't pitch at all in 2022, and a decent back end option last year. His Cy Young finish is massively overstated on this board. All that said, I too would swap a projected relief arm for a starter I thought would settle into the middle of a rotation.

I'm not seeing any actual "hate," in this thread, more so concern for the floor and whether or not Wallner makes adjustments if necessary. We're talking about a guy with 300 career PAs, suggesting anything seems premature. The Twins sat him against a right handed starter in a deciding game. In that sense he was an exception. If we're going to exclude guys who are viewed as everyday players is there a fair comparison left? Kirilloff? He's received plenty of ****. Taylor, Solano, Castro, Polanco, or Kepler? They're some combination of gone, going, or part time. Julien hit. I guess there's Jeffers at C if that's the route you want to go.

If we're talking about 28 other teams taking notice of that Houston series and whether Wallner can make adjustments I wouldn't consider those 8 ABs to be meaningless.

This. Idk if it's the Pressly effect, or what, but even that good stretch you mentioned came after he was unusable for the previous two months and demoted.

What? He has a career .309 OBP. .370 would put him amongst the best in baseball.

Which hasn't happened once in his entire career. He had more ABs against RHP in 47 games during the shortened 2020 season than you're projecting for all of 2024.

Not if he's CF insurance.

He has posted an OPS north of .700 once in his career, and that was seven seasons ago.

Sure, but I agree with what you said upthread, go sign the AAAA or high injury risk guy to a MiLB deal and stash them. Instead, this FO gave DeSclafani, who has no options, a spot in the rotation and bumped somebody with a higher floor and possibly a higher ceiling. I think DeSclafani likely is a spare part, but it's hard to argue the Twins viewed him as just some throw in when they're going out of their way to make room for him. As for the leash, who knows? There are plenty of recent examples where guys overstayed their welcome.

I don't think he has much (if any) value either but clearly the Twins do/did if they're slotting him into the opening day rotation.

Solano was playing 1B basically full time until mid May with an OPS 100 points below what Julien posted. Yeah Julien was a butcher at 2B, but it's not like the Twins were trotting out anybody elite, or even close to it at 1B. He didn't get better because he was up and down 2x, he started to put up some impressive numbers because the team decided to feed him some consistent playing time from June onward.

He didn't start the season on the active roster. He (Julien) also had a .762 OPS in April/May for an offensively challenged team. That isn't exactly amazing, but it's not like the Twins were so loaded they couldn't carve out ABs for the guy.

I don't think it's simply a cost issue. This FO loves to give vets every opportunity to prove that they're unfit for their role and/or undeserving of a roster spot.

Yeah I'm not excited by anybody in in trio, but I'd say Duvall at least can compensate for his shortcomings in an area that's most impactful for this club. Idk what qualifies as an empty PA, but Margot's own on base skills are far from impressive and there's no power there. Maybe he slaps his way to another mid .200s average.

The overabundance of Ks is awful to watch, and it undoubtedly hurt the team last year. Is Margot being a subpar offensive player in the extreme opposite manner the lesser of two evils? Idk, at some point I think it ceases to matter.

Can you show us that they do? Are you somehow privy to hard revenue numbers across all of baseball? Astonishing that anybody has to actually ask that question.

"But there are definitely other players that can have a positive impact on our team that [president of baseball operations Derek Falvey], I'm sure, is looking at." The optimistic view points to trades. If this team is going to "live where they're at," or however the hell it was phrased, i.e. they're capped, Idk what type of impact player they'll trade for that won't affect the "right sized," payroll, while also providing the type of control this FO obviously covets. Good luck. A Luplow or Keuchel could just as easily fit the "positive impact," bill as far as this team is concerned.... "You see that both with the Tampa Bay Rays and with the Baltimore Orioles having lower payrolls, turning out very successful products on the field but also investing in other areas of the business. That is something that we are doing. But without a question the television situation is having an impact on our business but beyond that we're just trying to right-size our business. That goes into it as well." Problem solved guys, just develop like TB or have Baltimore's farm system + young MLB talent. Hilarious. "What I will say about some flexibility is, when Derek (Falvey) and his team think there is the right opportunity in front of us, we don't live hard and fast by a specific number." Like coming off your first postseason W in nearly two decades? With a promising group of young players? While also having established veterans at or near their prime? Do these guys hear themselves talk?

Yeah, Willie Castro is the fallback in CF, Carlos Santana is already platooning at 1B (and he's one Kirilloff injury/IL stint away from regular starts) and Anthony DeSclafani is taking the mound every 5th day but we're worried about Snell, Montgomery, or Bellinger blocking guys?

Huh? He only made a few starts, but he was part of the rotation to open the season. I'd consider that part of the plan. Agreed, banking on that many guys reaching or exceeding career highs in IPs again, as well as matching or improving performance seems like a near impossible ask.

I think people forget how fortunate the starting unit (sans Mahle) was from a health/production standpoint. The Twins relied heavily on the the starting staff and they needed a Cy Young runner up season from Gray to get to 87 wins. Idk if I'd call concern over replacing that type of production hand wringing.

This. I think his HR total overstates his value. Clearly others don't. What can you do...

For sure, a HR is unquestionably a better outcome than a double, and I'm not going to pretend to know exactly how that value is derived, but looking at Gallo's 2023 and seeing seeing average attached, Idk what conclusion to make other than he's an outlier.

Yes, because we're hoping for the status quo, not a bounce back, and Santana's role from the jump is lesser one. No, because I don't trust that the FO will pull the plug when necessary. Overall, signing a 38 year old on the decline isn't something to celebrate. They're buying time, and I'm ok with that (right now) when the alternative is guys with little to no MLB success/experience.