Perception of the Old FO vs. New FO

[Vanimal46]

So there are a couple of things worth noting that I like from the new regime compared to the old... 

 

DFA'ing struggling players: 

Perception: They've been pretty aggressive cutting players that they don't see a future for on the team. So far it's been D Santana, Tonkin, and another player or 2 that's not coming to mind. 

 

The old FO did their fair share of DFA'ing players as well around this time of year - Fien, Stauffer, Schafer, etc. The big difference is TR kept out-of-options fringe players like D Santana around all season long instead of cutting bait. 

 

Using Off-Days and Rainouts to their advantage:

Perception: The new FO loves to use off-days to keep a 4 man rotation, and for the most part, keep arms fresh. Will that come back to bite them later on when the team needs 6-7 starters in June/July?

The old FO seemed to run the rotation on a strict 5 game schedule. Doesn't matter if there were 5 days in between the start, or 8 days. 

 

Rotating bullpen arms: 

Perception: The new FO has called up a ton of guys. May not be the ones we want (Burdi, Melotakis, etc.) but for the most part, have done a decent job rotating out bullpen arms. 

 

The old FO would have used every last ounce of a bullpen arm, even if they showed 6 weeks ago that their arm was toast. 

 

Any other things that come to mind for you? 

[drjim]

You basically say it, but the big change I noticed this year is how they are maximizing the 25 man roster. Not hesitating to move guys up and down (despite limited players with options) and keeping the pitching staff fully backed up so they don't get into innings problems, and not worrying if guys here for extended times without pitching. They've done this with options, DL, Bereavement List, using all the tools they are given.

 

The old way was infuriating over the past several seasons. Just seemed too disorganized and reactionary.

[howieramone2]

Falvey on Inside Twins said they will continue to work the edges of the roster. I took this to mean, they are basically content with the core. King Theo would call a waiver claim such as Wilk or a trade pickup such a Chapman, small moves. I wouldn't read too much into them. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

We're only 20% of the way through the season but it will be interesting to see when players begin to get the call to Minnesota. Berrios has been recalled. Mejia started on the Opening Day roster but didn't get much of a shot at the rotation.

 

Here are some previous callups with first appearance date (ignoring September cups of coffee).

 

Pitchers:

Trevor May - August 9

Kyle Gibson - June 29

 

Hitters:

Miguel Sano - July 2

Byron Buxton - June 14

Max Kepler - April 10

Eddie Rosario - May 10

[Mike Sixel]

I'm not sure I notice much difference yet. I'm still waiting for the active use of AAA to move RPs up and down. My perception is they've mostly just claimed bad players off other teams (either recently or in the off season), and have not used AAA like other teams are (yet).

[Vanimal46]

 

We're only 20% of the way through the season but it will be interesting to see when players begin to get the call to Minnesota. Berrios has been recalled. Mejia started on the Opening Day roster but didn't get much of a shot at the rotation.

 

Here are some previous callups with first appearance date (ignoring September cups of coffee).

 

Pitchers:

Trevor May - August 9

Kyle Gibson - June 29

 

Hitters:

Miguel Sano - July 2

Byron Buxton - June 14

Max Kepler - April 10

Eddie Rosario - May 10

 

Hopefully in the next 4-6 weeks we start seeing callups from AA and AAA... Over the last 2+ seasons, Molitor has shown to favor the "known" veteran instead of grooming young players for better roles in the future. Especially in the bullpen. 

This team needs all the help they can get. I'd like to think the FO will win that battle promoting someone like Burdi and forcing Molitor to groom him for a late inning role instead of continuing to rely on 35 year old pitchers. 

[Mike Sixel]

 

Hopefully in the next 4-6 weeks we start seeing callups from AA and AAA... Over the last 2+ seasons, Molitor has shown to favor the "known" veteran instead of grooming young players for better roles in the future. Especially in the bullpen. 

This team needs all the help they can get. I'd like to think the FO will win that battle promoting someone like Burdi and forcing Molitor to groom him for a late inning role instead of continuing to rely on 35 year old pitchers. 

 

I don't usually back Molitor, but in his defense, the FO did bring in two RPs that age or older.....and he clearly trusts Kintzler.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

The old FO did their fair share of DFA'ing players as well around this time of year - Fien, Stauffer, Schafer, etc. The big difference is TR kept out-of-options fringe players like D Santana around all season long instead of cutting bait. 

TR cut Arcia last year, his first season out of options.  Pinto was waived after his last option season.  Tonkin wasn't cut last year, but he was actually doing pretty well when TR was fired.

 

I don't think the new FO has been tested much in this regard either.  Santana and Tonkin are about it, and the new FO had the benefit of a full season's results from last year to inform their evaluations.

[TheLeviathan]

I've mostly liked what they have done with the roster, but their offseason was not very good IMO.  

 

One really, really good signing and then they focused on Napoli (huh?), didn't address the bullpen, and added very little for pitching depth.

 

So, I'm still feeling them out.  As should most people, we simply haven't seen enough to make decisions.  But I will say - they are making less obviously stupid decisions compared to the prior FO.  

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Rotating bullpen arms: 

Perception: The new FO has called up a ton of guys. May not be the ones we want (Burdi, Melotakis, etc.) but for the most part, have done a decent job rotating out bullpen arms. 

 

The old FO would have used every last ounce of a bullpen arm, even if they showed 6 weeks ago that their arm was toast. 

I don't know about this one either.  Last year by this time, the Twins had used 20 different pitchers. This year, it's 19 counting Gimenez.

 

Rogers, Meyer, and Berrios all made their 2016 debuts before the end of April, and Kintzler, Dean, and Graham were early May debuts last year too.

[gunnarthor]

I wonder why/who the 4 man rotation logic is.  Gardy had done that a few times in the past seasons and some seasons he didn't.  Seemed like it was more a manager decision than a FO one. Is this something that Pickler is instructing Molitor on? Is this something Molitor feels more comfortable with because he has vets?

[Mike Sixel]

 

I wonder why/who the 4 man rotation logic is.  Gardy had done that a few times in the past seasons and some seasons he didn't.  Seemed like it was more a manager decision than a FO one. Is this something that Pickler is instructing Molitor on? Is this something Molitor feels more comfortable with because he has vets?

 

I thought about this some, while driving to get my son from college this weekend....and I think it is mostly circumstance due to the schedule and rainouts. I think that, but don't know it.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Using Off-Days and Rainouts to their advantage:

Perception: The new FO loves to use off-days to keep a 4 man rotation, and for the most part, keep arms fresh. Will that come back to bite them later on when the team needs 6-7 starters in June/July?

The old FO seemed to run the rotation on a strict 5 game schedule. Doesn't matter if there were 5 days in between the start, or 8 days. 

I do like this aspect of the 2017 season so far (except as a fan, off days are boring ).

 

But this too is a factor of player performance.  The 2017 Twins have a major drop-off in starter performance after their top 2-3 so far.  This was not true of their starters in April 2016 or April 2015.   And from 2012-2014, all of their early season starters were pretty mediocre, and the exceptions include guys like Correia in 2013 -- was there really any motivation to skip the 5th starter to get extra starts for Kevin Correia?  Santana and Santiago easily outclass him.  Also, in 2011-2012, our worst April starting pitcher was Liriano, who was an asset that was a lot harder to skip/demote than guys like Mejia and Tepesch.

[diehardtwinsfan]

might be slightly off topic, but is Berrios going to work out of the pen until his next start or will he be getting starts on regular rest?  I like their use of the rotation, especially given the weakness of pitching, but I don' think I'd be skipping Berrios unless there's an active plan to manage his innings this year.

[beckmt]

Twins will have plenty of opportunity for more starters.  Maybe some bullpen games. This years starting pitching will probably not hold up. Hopefully by that time the bullpen will be deeper, so it will nobig an issue.  Wait and see.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

might be slightly off topic, but is Berrios going to work out of the pen until his next start or will he be getting starts on regular rest?

Berrios is actually the 4th starter, so he's not getting skipped!  He's already listed as the starter for Thursday's game.

[yarnivek1972]

 

might be slightly off topic, but is Berrios going to work out of the pen until his next start or will he be getting starts on regular rest?  I like their use of the rotation, especially given the weakness of pitching, but I don' think I'd be skipping Berrios unless there's an active plan to manage his innings this year.

 

 

I don't think there is any need to manage Berrios' innings this year.  Well, maybe a cap at 190-200.  But, between MLB and AAA he's had 170 two consecutive years.  But I doubt that's an issue.  Ervin Santana didn't even break 190 last year.

[Thrylos]

I'd let The Who answer for me.

 

This is not a "new FO".  Yet.  Just the head changed.  Will be a new FO after this evaluation season, and then we can really evaluate the "new FO".

 

[yarnivek1972]

The Twins are certainly stockpiling arms in AAA.  I mentioned this in a different thread, but the Red Wings currently have 15 active pitchers (sort of).  Mejia and Nik Turley are both technically assigned to "extended spring training" right now.  Mejia is scheduled to start Wednesday.  So, he'll be back and someone else will "go" to EST.  I also think that Turley is a guy that the player development staff will want to see pitch.

 

Beyond those two, are DJ Baxendale, Buddy Boshers, Alan Busenitz, Kevin Chapman, Trevor Hildenberger, Drew Rucinski, Michael Tonkin and Alex Wimmers as relievers.  As starters, the Red Wings also have Kyle Gibson, David Hurlbut, Aaron Slegers, Nick Tepesch and Jason Wheeler.

 

And that's not even mentioning Mason Melotakis and Nick Burdi blowing guys away in AA or JT Chargois and Jake Reed on the DL for Rochester plus Tyler Jay and Stephen Gonsalves on the DL in AA.

 

It would certainly lead one to the conclusion that permanent changes at the MLB level could be coming as well.

[caninatl04]

"JT Chargois and Jake Reed on the DL for Rochester plus Tyler Jay and Stephen Gonsalves on the DL in AA"

 

Is there a centralized site that lists the injury report for all of the Twins' minor leaguers? I'm curious which players we'll see this year and which are out for 2017.

[yarnivek1972]

 

"JT Chargois and Jake Reed on the DL for Rochester plus Tyler Jay and Stephen Gonsalves on the DL in AA"

Is there a centralized site that lists the injury report for all of the Twins' minor leaguers? I'm curious which players we'll see this year and which are out for 2017.

 

I suspect if anyone was definitely out for the year, we would have heard about it.

 

The best thing to look under is at milb.com.  Go to the home page for a specific league (like the Southern League for example).  Under the stats tab is a "League Transactions" listed by month.  Just do a ctrl-F for whoever you are looking for.  It likely won't be nearly as detailed as we fans would like, but it is slightly better than nothing.

[Vanimal46]

The only MiLB players that come to mind who are out for the year are Kiriloff (TJ surgery) and Luis Arreaz (shredded his knee) 

[Mike Sixel]

 

I suspect if anyone was definitely out for the year, we would have heard about it.

 

The best thing to look under is at milb.com.  Go to the home page for a specific league (like the Southern League for example).  Under the stats tab is a "League Transactions" listed by month.  Just do a ctrl-F for whoever you are looking for.  It likely won't be nearly as detailed as we fans would like, but it is slightly better than nothing.

 

We have heard of some out for the year.....

 

There used to be a sheet here with all the rosters, haven't looked lately...

[Seth Stohs]

 

Using Off-Days and Rainouts to their advantage:

Perception: The new FO loves to use off-days to keep a 4 man rotation, and for the most part, keep arms fresh. Will that come back to bite them later on when the team needs 6-7 starters in June/July?

The old FO seemed to run the rotation on a strict 5 game schedule. Doesn't matter if there were 5 days in between the start, or 8 days. 

 

 

Not sure how much credit this is for the front office, or if it's Molitor and Allen... and the fact that Santana's been terrific.

[Vanimal46]

 

Not sure how much credit this is for the front office, or if it's Molitor and Allen... and the fact that Santana's been terrific.

 

Whoever is making the decision, it's a good one. They know the weakness is finding 5 competent starters... Might as well use the off-days to their advantage and use the 4 best pitchers available at the time. 

[Mike Sixel]

 

Whoever is making the decision, it's a good one. They know the weakness is finding 5 competent starters... Might as well use the off-days to their advantage and use the 4 best pitchers available at the time. 

 

Agreed, that's a good use of SP for now. Very much agreed.

[caninatl04]

 

We have heard of some out for the year.....

 

There used to be a sheet here with all the rosters, haven't looked lately...

 

So, could someone let me know when any / all of the prospects might be expected to return?

[HitInAPinch]

In my simplistic mind, the New FO is nothing like the Old FO:  a history of creating and using advance statistics, rapid evaluation of fringee players, player movement, etc.  The acquiring those fringee-types is a logical plan to slow desperately moving MiLB players before their time.  I believe they are now in full change mode after an early delay due to a playoff and WS hunt.  And, yeah, I think they are having a real affect on Molitor's decisions.  

 

As we get closer to the AS break, I think things could get really interesting...

[Platoon]

If the FO is having to advise Molitor on rain day pitching changes, and if Molitor persists in burning pitchers, see Kintzlers third straight appearance, in a game with a three one lead, I can't see that as a sustainable situation. I would think neither the manager or the FO would want the FO micromanaging the field staff. In the big picture, how does the FO handle the draft? Please no college 1B pick. And how does the FO either make Moltor their manager instead of Jimmy's manager. Or move on. That issue should be clarified.