Alex kirilloff has a chance this year to be so good if healthy

1 hour ago, Adam Neisen said:

Alex kirilloff has a chance this year to be so good if healthy

Your last two words are more important than this whole article.

A healthy KIrilloff would probably be their best number 3 hitter. It might take him half a season to get there, since there are more choices available. A roster as healthy as last years was injured could be an incredibly strong team. Anybody know which wrist had the surgery. The throwing hand, or the catching hand? Could be very important for a first baseman.

12 minutes ago, gman said:

A healthy KIrilloff would probably be their best number 3 hitter. It might take him half a season to get there, since there are more choices available. A roster as healthy as last years was injured could be an incredibly strong team. Anybody know which wrist had the surgery. The throwing hand, or the catching hand? Could be very important for a first baseman.

It was his right wrist so his catching-hand wrist.  This is good from a catching/throwing perspective but worse from a hitting perspective.

How Kepler is playing will dictate who would fill in for an ailing Kirrilof. Miranda moves over if Gallo is needed in the outfield, but Gallo can come in to first if Max is hitting well. There's no way we need the desiccated remains of Yuli Gurriel cluttering up the 40 man when there are this many AAA guys waiting for playing time.

3 hours ago, puckstopper1 said:

It was his right wrist so his catching-hand wrist.  This is good from a catching/throwing perspective but worse from a hitting perspective.

Thanks. Hopefully not too many swipe tags this year.

What does this mean for the outfield if we have gallo play first?

5 minutes ago, Connor E said:

What does this mean for the outfield if we have gallo play first?

Welcome to Twins Daily!

1 hour ago, Connor E said:

What does this mean for the outfield if we have gallo play first?

It means our outfield options are better than our 3B options so we chose, say, Larnach in LF and Gallo at 1b rather than Farmer at 3b and Miranda at 1b. Depends on who has stepped up and who broke down.   

On 2/5/2023 at 9:09 PM, Adam Neisen said:

Alex kirilloff has a chance this year to be so good if healthy

Yeah it will be exciting to see what he can do when fully healthy.

18 hours ago, Connor E said:

What does this mean for the outfield if we have gallo play first?

It means more playing time for Gordon & Larnach makes the 40 man.  Larnach probably will be DHing.

If Kirilof goes down, it seems obvious that Gallo takes over at 1B and when lefties start against us Miranda plays 1B.

No Gurriel nor anyone else brought in with mediocre potential at this point in their career.

Our outfield is fine if Gallo were gone tomorrow.

LF Gordon/Larnach/:Gallo

CF Buxton/Gordon/Taylor

RF Kepler/Gallo/Larnach

………………

FIRST BASE Kirilof/Gallo/Miranda

If Kirilof goes down & Gallo or Kepler are a liability into June, I would expect Walner or soon after, Lewis, to be in play!

Lewis/Farmer to 3B & Miranda to 1B.

Thank you for this thought-provoking article Matt. I look forward to your next article.

Spring Training is just around the corner. It will be interesting to see Julien take his hacks against the top staff and others in early spring games. While it surely seems that Julien will be across the river in April, I'm waiting until the final roster cuts if Kirilloff is not fully ready to go.

We all hope Kiriloff has that breakout season. That said I wouldn't have been against a Hosmer or Gurriel signing if there was room on the 40 man roster.

AK will be raking at 1st most of the year and Miranda may get a few games there. Nothing to even be concerned about if the team is average healthy over 162. 

They didn’t sign one of the better defensive outfielders in the game (Gallo) to play first base.

They certainly didn’t sign him backup Nick Gordon as the starter in left.  He would spit on the floor at that notion and go get a starting gig somewhere else.

Let’s compare some numbers, which is what the FO is going to base their decision on. 

Before getting to NY in 2021, Gallo had an OPS+ of 138 and an OPS of .869 with the Rangers.  Some care about batting average.  I don’t as much.  In 2021 he walked 111 times (led the league) and hit 38 HRs.  He scored 90 runs in 498 ABs.  In a 5 year span from 2017-2021, Gallo OPS+’d 118, 109, 145, 87, and 121

Lets be generous to Nick Gordon and throw out 2021, in which he had a 79 OPS+ (which exactly matches Gallos 2022 and everyone thinks he’s useless, btw, and is by far the worst of his career).  We likely just saw Nick Gordon’s offensive ceiling based on his career output.  He OPS’d .743, which is average.  He OPS+’d 113, which is good.  The .316 OBP is much less than desirable.  His defense is at best serviceable.  At worst, bad.

If you’re one that believes Nick Gordon has another step to take, I applaud your optimism.  But, that’s all it is.  He’s shown little statically in his professional career that would lead anyone to believe he’s going to improve over last year’s numbers.  He was not that good last year, people seem to be missing that.  He was a 1.6 WAR player.  He’s a bench guy.

Gallo has multiple All Star seasons, has won multiple Gold Gloves, has a career OPS .50 points higher than Gordon, and is only 29 years old.  I think some think he’s a washed up old guy past his prime.  Gordon is going to turn 28 this year.  The ceilings here aren’t even close.

Long story short, Gallo starts in left quite a bit.  Period.  People think he’s a right fielder - he’s got more MLB starts in left than right by a fairly wide margin.  He’s played the majority of his MLB games in left.

Gordon gets worked in when Gallo DHs.  It’s fluid, so contain your rage.  It can change if Gallo continues to stink and Gordon continues to play well.  But, you have to look at the numbers here and throw out blind optimism and recency bias.

I’m more inclined to give someone like Farmer ABs at 1st.  Bring up Julien to play there.  Teach Larnach.  Wallner.  Hell, even play Gordon or Kepler there, before taking Joey Gallo and putting him there full time.  It’s like arguing we put Buxton at 1st full time.  That would a be gross mismanagement of assets.  You’re eliminating his best skill, one that’s elite relative to anyone else in the team and the league.  It’s ridiculous.

OK I'll man up and start the thumbs down..

Just sign Sano once Paddack and Lewis go on the 60-day IL.

If Kirilloff's wrist proves to be healthy you can cut him before the season. If you keep him around, which I think would make the most sense, you can always trade him at the deadline.

No, I don't want Sano and Gallo in the lineup every day. But shuffling 2-3 positions seems even worse.

The other free agent options have their own warts. If they didn't, they wouldn't be unemployed right now.

7 hours ago, weitz41 said:

OK I'll man up and start the thumbs down..

Just sign Sano once Paddack and Lewis go on the 60-day IL.

If Kirilloff's wrist proves to be healthy you can cut him before the season. If you keep him around, which I think would make the most sense, you can always trade him at the deadline.

No, I don't want Sano and Gallo in the lineup every day. But shuffling 2-3 positions seems even worse.

The other free agent options have their own warts. If they didn't, they wouldn't be unemployed right now.

How about play a guy that has 794 milb ab, .283 ba, 35 hr, 53 sb and a career .922 OPS. Lets not look backwards. I’d rather take the bumps of a rookie learning a new position. 

8 hours ago, weitz41 said:

OK I'll man up and start the thumbs down..

Just sign Sano once Paddack and Lewis go on the 60-day IL.

If Kirilloff's wrist proves to be healthy you can cut him before the season. If you keep him around, which I think would make the most sense, you can always trade him at the deadline.

No, I don't want Sano and Gallo in the lineup every day. But shuffling 2-3 positions seems even worse.

The other free agent options have their own warts. If they didn't, they wouldn't be unemployed right now.

Sano is at the top of that Unsigned For A Reason list. That showcase was Tuesday, easily long enough for all the excited teams to throw out $5m or $2m or $1m or non-roster invites to camp. Crickets so far though, both unanimous and loud. He was fun but he showed nothing last year and no one has even hinted that they might be interested.

Predictions:  Gallo will barely play 1b if at all. Kepler will barely play CF if at all. Taylor is the starting CF, and will end up with the most innings played there by a WIDE margin. I understand everyone is super excited by the OF defense. Yea!  It’s great to have, but only really wins close games. That means we need outstanding pitching because this team will struggle to score runs. 
[Gordon…”was not that good last year, people seem to be missing that.  He was a 1.6 WAR player.  He’s a bench guy.”. And that was good for like 4th best on the team?  The history suggests Buxton will regress to less than the number of games he played last year.  Despite all the rainbows and unicorn kisses on here, this is not a very good team. 
I’m thinking somewhere around 70-80 wins, and that’s because I’m optimistic.