Article: Roster Shuffle: Buxton And Kepler Out, Meyer And Santana In

[luckylager]

???!!!!

Edited April 26, 2016 by luckylager

[Jham]

 

I can't speak for the others... but part of my outrage... actually concern... I'm really not outraged.  

 

My concern is that that they shouldn't be in this position where they have no decent options. It was just Santana and Plouffe on the DL and it's just Plouffe on the DL now. 

And I get the criticism, but the conundrum only really arises because Buxton and Kepler were sent down simultaneously preceding the bizarre retirement of David Murphy.  I have a hard time blaming the organization for that.  We've played some very very good teams so far this year.  I can't blame the organization for that, nor for Perkins injury, Plouffe's injury, Santana injury, and rather dismal opening month for Dozier, Sano, and Rosario.  Criticize the catching situation, criticize game management, platooning, shifting, or not signing an additional bull pen arm.  Criticize forcing Buxton up, not holding on to Quentin, even hiring a manager with no managerial experience.  They've also made some unpopular decisions that have worked out so far, ie Nunez, Nolasco, Arcia, to some extent maybe DanSan, Abad.  I'm willing to wait a day or two before I call their plan/gamble an indefensible failure.

[Jham]

 

I don't know if there is anything for Duffey to argue or "win" -- this situation is common enough, I doubt it rises to the level of grievance.  If the pitcher can't take his next turn in the minor leagues, the team rescinds the option at that point and puts him on the MLB DL retroactively.

 

What they generally don't do is carry him in limbo on the MLB roster, unavailable to pitch when you need fresh arms, and with a 2 man bench, waiting to option him once his bruise heals up.

Yep, it's unusual.  Of all the critiques, I think this one carries the most weight.  But I think it's obvious we want Duffey to take his turn if Santana can't go.  Bearing in mind that the potential extra bench player is most likely Mastroiani, I'm really pretty ok with seeing if we can get an extra start or two out of Duffey/Santana.  Put another way, Duffey and Santana help the team more than Mastro even with the short bench.  I'm ok with waiting a day or 2 to see, no offense to Mastro.  It's ok if you're not.  I'm outnumbered, so you're thinking with the vocal majority.  I might join up as soon as tonight if the situation continues to drag, although I don't think that's their intention...
 

[Riverbrian]

 

And I get the criticism, but the conundrum only really arises because Buxton and Kepler were sent down simultaneously preceding the bizarre retirement of David Murphy.  I have a hard time blaming the organization for that.  We've played some very very good teams so far this year.  I can't blame the organization for that, nor for Perkins injury, Plouffe's injury, Santana injury, and rather dismal opening month for Dozier, Sano, and Rosario.  Criticize the catching situation, criticize game management, platooning, shifting, or not signing an additional bull pen arm.  Criticize forcing Buxton up, not holding on to Quentin, even hiring a manager with no managerial experience.  They've also made some unpopular decisions that have worked out so far, ie Nunez, Nolasco, Arcia, to some extent maybe DanSan, Abad.  I'm willing to wait a day or two before I call their plan/gamble an indefensible failure.

 

It's pretty easy to criticize the organization for that. They didn't need to send Kepler down. They should have started him in CF last night.

 

Are you sending Kepler down because Buxton struck out 50% of the time and it's just enough of this rookie stuff in total? 

 

I hope that's not the case because that would be very unfair to Kepler. 

 

Are you sending Kepler down because Molitor won't play him? Well... then I've got a problem because he was the only option for CF on the 40 man and that's just bad 40 man roster construction and you don't seem to have a manager and GM on the same page. 

 

It is my opinion... The Twins lost their collective mind when the sent down both Buxton and Kepler at the same time. 

 

And then didn't even use Meyer because.... it was a close game last night. Which again suggests a desperation because you called up bullpen help that the manager doesn't trust enough to use.

 

I'm really not seeing same page right now... but I could be wrong because I'm not in the room and I'm just as goofy as everybody else on this site. 

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Yep, it's unusual.  Of all the critiques, I think this one carries the most weight.  But I think it's obvious we want Duffey to take his turn if Santana can't go.

And we can do that, even after optioning Duffey, by putting Ervin Santana on the DL retroactive to his last start. Then you could recall Duffey to start Saturday.  Ervin would be eligible to come off the DL in time for his following start, next week.

 

The only reason to resist optioning Duffey is if you were also going to resist DL'ing Santana if he can't start Saturday, which would be rather insane -- who lets a SP miss two consecutive turns through the rotation without any kind of DL stint?  Or if they wanted Duffey to join the bullpen in a few days, but that doesn't seem likely with the promotion of Meyer to the pen, and in any case doesn't address the priority of bullpen need of the next few games.

[Jham]

 

It's pretty easy to criticize the organization for that. They didn't need to send Kepler down. They should have started him in CF last night.

 

Are you sending Kepler down because Buxton struck out 50% of the time and it's just enough of this rookie stuff in total? 

 

I hope that's not the case because that would be very unfair to Kepler. 

 

Are you sending Kepler down because Molitor won't play him? Well... then I've got a problem because he was the only option for CF on the 40 man and that's just bad 40 man roster construction and you don't seem to have a manager and GM on the same page. 

 

It is my opinion... The Twins lost their collective mind when the sent down both Buxton and Kepler at the same time. 

 

And then didn't even use Meyer because.... it was a close game last night. Which again suggests a desperation because you called up bullpen help that the manager doesn't trust enough to use.

 

I'm really not seeing same page right now... but I could be wrong because I'm not in the room and I'm just as goofy as everybody else on this site. 

Like I said before,the Kepler/David Murphy thing is the one thing.  I mentioned Kepler loping after a fly ball and putting Esco in an awful spot.  I don't know what he's done in the locker room, batting cages, team meetings, or warm ups.  I don't know if he partied too hard in the Nation's capital, but he was up for a while and didn't play much for some reason.  Assuming rationale is tough without managerial input.  

I've only been taking the oppositional stance because I've misplaced my pitchfork.  I'll clean out my shed, and flip sides soon enough.  Oh look, Berrios is coming up!  
 

Edited April 26, 2016 by Jham

[USAFChief]

And I get the criticism, but the conundrum only really arises because Buxton and Kepler were sent down simultaneously preceding the bizarre retirement of David Murphy.  I have a hard time blaming the organization for that.

 

(Because we're not ganging up on you enough yet)

 

Forgive me, but it seems you're having a hard time blaming the organization for something they did.

 

Buxton and Kepler didn't decide on their own to be simultaneously demoted.  It wasn't due to league president orders.

 

I believe one T Ryan made that decision.  As well as the one to have only 18 position players on the 40 man (39/17 after waiving J Hicks), at least one of which isn't any kind of realistic MLB option.

 

Those all seem to me to be things we can blame the organization for.  It's not the weather...those are all conscious decisions they made.

[kydoty]

Byron Buxton's stats when he has two strikes on him are amazing.

 

28 PA, 1 H, 24 K, 0 BB, .036 AVG, .036 OBP, .071 SLG, .107 OPS

[USAFChief]

.071 SLG

 

At least it's not an empty .036 BA.

[Jham]

 

And I get the criticism, but the conundrum only really arises because Buxton and Kepler were sent down simultaneously preceding the bizarre retirement of David Murphy.  I have a hard time blaming the organization for that.

 

(Because we're not ganging up on you enough yet)

 

Forgive me, but it seems you're having a hard time blaming the organization for something they did.

 

Buxton and Kepler didn't decide on their own to be simultaneously demoted.  It wasn't due to league president orders.

 

I believe one T Ryan made that decision.  As well as the one to have only 18 position players on the 40 man (39 after waiving J Hicks), at least one of which isn't any kind of realistic MLB option.

 

Those all seem to me to be things we can blame the organization for.  It's not the weather...those are all conscious decisions they made.

Agreed.  Johnny Cochran and the Dream Team had nothing on you guys!  If you're an aggrieved fan who's been impacted by the crime of poor roster construction, contact the law firm of Brian, Spycake, & Chief for justice in the field of baseball team management!

[USAFChief]

 

Agreed.  Johnny Cochran and the Dream Team had nothing on you guys!  If you're an aggrieved fan who's been impacted by the crime of poor roster construction, contact the law firm of Brian, Spycake, & Chief for justice in the field of baseball team management!

the law firm of Brian, Spycake, & Chief

 

"BS et al, LLC."

[tobi0040]

 

Byron Buxton's stats when he has two strikes on him are amazing.

 

28 PA, 1 H, 24 K, 0 BB, .036 AVG, .036 OBP, .071 SLG, .107 OPS

 

That is the stat that shows he needs to be sent down. I was in the camp that he may turn it around and needs more time.  But when he got two strikes on him, he tried concealing it with a poker face. But his confidence was pretty low with two strikes.  it shows in these numbers

[Riverbrian]

 

Agreed.  Johnny Cochran and the Dream Team had nothing on you guys!  If you're an aggrieved fan who's been impacted by the crime of poor roster construction, contact the law firm of Brian, Spycake, & Chief for justice in the field of baseball team management!

 

The strange thing is that... I think I've been fairly supportive of TR and forgiving of the front office over the years.  

 

I think Chief is one of the great human beings on this planet but it feels real weird to be on the same page as him. 

 

This one is just too messy and it was too easy to fix in the off season and to easy to trace back to it's origin. 

 

We were in the race until the final weekend of 2015 and if you just looked at our off season following. 

 

You would have never been able to guess that we were that close. 

[TheLeviathan]

 

Byron Buxton's stats when he has two strikes on him are amazing.

 

28 PA, 1 H, 24 K, 0 BB, .036 AVG, .036 OBP, .071 SLG, .107 OPS

 

Good lord.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

 

Byron Buxton's stats when he has two strikes on him are amazing.

 

28 PA, 1 H, 24 K, 0 BB, .036 AVG, .036 OBP, .071 SLG, .107 OPS

dislike button

 

lots of buttons need to be pressed in response to this.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

 

Agreed.  Johnny Cochran and the Dream Team had nothing on you guys!  If you're an aggrieved fan who's been impacted by the crime of poor roster construction, contact the law firm of Brian, Spycake, & Chief for justice in the field of baseball team management!

That's not a law firm. That's a bakery.