KirbyDome89

The mental gymnastics are impressive. It doesn't matter if you or I think this club has a realistic shot at contending, if they're trying to win games they're trying to contend.

We agree that his age is irrelevant, which is why I didn't mention part of the equation. His (or any of these negative value backup SS) presence on the roster is the issue. You're burning a valuable bench spot and further diminishing already shakey production at SS when whoever wins the job gets playing time.

No, it's not "nothing lost," because as of now at least one of the current quartet is going to be on the opening day roster as the backup SS. That's actually a pretty big deal when you consider the fact that all 4 options are terrible hitters and none of them are plus defenders. Bench spots on the major league team matter, wasting one of those spots to see if you might have AAA "depth," is terrible resource management.

Careful, the prospect hounds are going to get wound up after reading this...

Those posts are one page apart...

The post I quoted claimed that the team wasn't using him correctly. I'm curious how the Twins are supposedly holding him back.

No, how is he being held back?

He didn't even average 5 innings per start last season Are the Twins holding back greatness here or are they protecting SWR and by proximity themselves?

And now that they've sold those top 4-5 arms and done nothing to address the gaping holes they're somehow in a better position? Half of those arms you named are going to be SP depth and/or in the opening day rotation, the other half haven't shown any ability to consistently get outs in either MLB or MiLB depending on the name in question. No team has an excess of starters, especially this club. I'm not going to go back and look at the FV values of previous flameouts because it doesn't matter but I very much doubt that this org is now somehow flush with so much pitching talent that they can start prematurely throwing arms into early bullpen service. Oh now they're trying to win? Last season, or the season before that, or 4 of the last 5 years they weren't trying to win, but this season they're trying to win? The names in question are "depth," and not cannon fodder right? And "finding their roles," isn't bad baseball, it's "development," right?

Idc about closing duties, but leverage innings absolutely matter. Throwing a bunch of **** at the wall and hoping something sticks isn't a situation resolving itself. Nobody is arguing that the slew of bounce back vets and castoffs this team has plugged in at 1B over the last 5 years has provided resolution at that position.

I very much hope this team isn't seriously considering giving Caratini some actual run at DH.

"The Twins can plan on him as an equal partner to Ryan Jeffers, just as they arranged things with Christian Vázquez for much of the last three years, but if they get a strong offer for Jeffers (either in the next two months or come July), they could trade him and feel good about Caratini as a stopgap primary backstop." Caratini hasn't even been splitting defensive duties the last three years, Idk if "good," is how we should feel about him potentially getting a primary-ish workload. Also, what is he a stopgap to? Another short term vet this FO hopes doesn't crater a la Vazquez?

“What I think it says is that we’ve had a run of guys that we’ve identified in the draft, near the top,” Falvey said. “No one is going to bat 1.000 in the draft—we all know that—but we have a number of picks who have found a way to contribute at the big-league level. It speaks a lot to our development process, too.” Salt in the wound for anybody that actually follows this club. I wish more of Twins media gave a **** and actually pressed these clowns.

Ideally they get him some pen time this year and keep the SP door open. He's 25 already, and he doesn't have any sort of history to suggest he can handle a SP workload, even if the "stuff," is there. Maybe there's an Ober-esque injury/availability turnaround in his future, Idk, but he should be on the fast track to the Twins given his age & the obvious need for arms.

The FO has boxed themselves into a corner with this horribly constructed roster. Half the bench (Arcia/Kreidler + Wagaman) is essentially unplayable plus a backup C who can't hit. I have zero faith in Clemens holding down the "strong," side of any platoon. I think Bell has to be locked into the DH spot, which means they're crossing their fingers that he maintains a league average bat (oh look another below average player at his position) while clogging up DH which I agree they could've just filled internally. That $7M definitely wouldn't have helped the bullpen right? Can Kreidler actually play CF? If not, whoever that 4th OFer is has to be able to stick in CF. I'm not exactly an Austin Martin stan, but this team can't possibly carry Outman as the 4th OFer with the aforementioned bench.

Don't worry, he won't be on base enough for any of us to worry about which color the light is...

I'm happy to default to the position that if we're using a metaphorical pipeline to describe the C situation within the organization, functionality is implied. "The (insert terrible farm system for random MLB team here) is a veritable treasure chest. I didn't say there was any actual treasure in the chest..." Eye Roll.

Conversely I very much dislike bullpen arms that constantly dig themselves into those jams. It's a recipe for disaster; his BB rate is atrocious. That said, if he's the best of what's left I'd rather see this team max out their pathetic payroll than leave $$ on the table to pay down debt. I guess we can cross our fingers and hope Dominguez has a couple good/decent months and can be flipped.

A baseball "pipeline," is metaphorical. If nothing is being delivered the metaphor begins to fall apart. hence my "within the context of baseball, production is implied," line from the post you quoted.

He had a .278 OBP and a 33% K rate. That 2023 Twins team struggled massively with offensive consistency, and Taylor contributed to that problem all year despite the career high in HRs.

With absolutely zero context, sure, the Twins possess a pipeline, and the flow rate doesn't enhance or diminish its existence. If we're talking about a pipeline within the context of baseball, production is implied. That's a logical connection.

I'd say those numbers are pretty conservative. 11 players (would've been 12 if Vazquez was healthy to end the year) exceeded 300 PAs for the Twins last year. 7 (or 8 depending on whether we count Vazquez) of those guys did so in what amounted to roughly 4 months worth of playing time. 356 PAs (a 55/45 split with Jeffers) went to catchers other than Jeffers, and that was with Jeffers healthy essentially all season and Vazquez being one of the worst hitters in baseball. Jeffers started 80 games last year. 81 the season before that. Alex Jackson, with his .153/.239/.288 career slash, is going to get plenty of run. Arcia and Kreidler will only play SS? So the Twins are going to burn a bench spot, a la Kiersey, and use either of the aforementioned guys exclusively as pinch runners and/or late inning defensive replacements? Culpepper has played half of a season above A ball. If everything breaks right he's maybe with the Twins at or near the deadline. You still need to get through months of baseball without him, assuming you get him at all. Clemens is soaking up utility innings now? He's not a L/R platoon with Wagaman at 1B? You're just gonna set Josh Bell loose there and cross your fingers? Where is there room for Julien on your roster? Ok, so Wagaman rots just like your backup SS. Bell is a switch hitter, so you're not subbing for him vs relief arms and you're not worried about SPs either so the only way Wagaman is getting PAs is the DH role, and only vs LHP. That's now half of your bench that you refuse to play btw, good luck with that. Lengthy injury histories of some of the starters aside, the usage (when healthy) that you're advocating for is what's "laughable," here. The PA numbers I threw out aren't worse case scenario, they're normal bench usage numbers. I'll say it again, bench spots aren't "contingency plans." Those guys actually play, hence the hand wringing over the sheer number of replacement level (or worse) guys this organization seems intent on forcing onto this roster. Yeah, even the best teams are trying to fill holes at times, but bringing in multiple sub replacement level guys to back up a roster that already has too many sub replacement level guys locked into playing time (what the Twins are doing) is downplaying the situation to an insane degree. Is the point to be equally as incompetent at the MI positions as division rivals? Because Cleveland and Detroit got anemic production from their 2B/SS combs it's ok if the Twins are also horrendous? I'm good on the whataboutism.

What? Jackson as the backup C is going to start at least 70ish games, so we're talking about 300+ PAs there. Wagaman, even as the short side of the 1B platoon or emergency corner OF is good for al least 300 PAs and that's assuming Clemens doesn't completely crater. Kreidler and/or Arcia aren't going to exclusively play SS. They're going to get starts around the infield, or in Kreidler's case, potentially the OF. That's another 300+ PAs. This all assumes these guys last on the roster and don't completely flame out, but that's at least 1,000 PAs dedicated to terrible offensive players between the new additions. How low does the bar need to go before people are allowed to "hate," an offensively challenged club piling more terrible hitters onto the roster?

Locking in what you hope is a league average bat at DH isn't adding firepower and it definitely exacerbates the defensive shortcomings that already existed on the roster.

Twins fans massively overrate Taylor.