The Outfield Help is Already Here?

[chpettit19]

37 minutes ago, Dman said:

I don't completely disagree and love your write up!  Still I don't see much of an advantage playing Farmer in left or right.  The current team is so left handed all they need to do is move Arraez to DH and there is room for Farmer in the infield or give Arraez the day off against lefties as he doesn't hit them that well either.  Kirilloff could play first but he is actually listed as an outfielder and has played lot's of outfield on his way up.  Why not use actual outfielders in the outfield?  Who else is there to bat right handed in the infield or outfield? I think Farmer is it.

I don't know what the righty\lefty splits are on Gallo, Kepler, Larnach, Kirilloff, and Gordon are.  Maybe Arraez does better against lefties than all of them.  Still that leaves the DH spot open for a righty.  I just think given the circumstances it makes more sense to play outfielders in the outfield.  Farmer is 32 and while left field isn't all that difficult I'd try and keep him on the dirt where he has played most of his MLB ball.

Farmer could be an acceptable\last resort bridge until Lewis returns but do we know when that will be? The one point you might have me on unless something changes is Farmer is likely better in the outfield than Garlick.  Not having Garlick on the 40 man leaves room for other players. So I would say you are correct in that scenario.  If they did bring Garlick back then yes I would most likely prefer Farmer in the outfield with Garlick in the DH spot as it adds another righty bat and hopefully Farmer would be better defensively in left.

Still I don't think Farmer in the outfield is a "good idea" maybe "necessary" but hopefully the Twins come up with a better option.

I don't disagree with any of that. I'm not pushing for Farmer to be an OF regular, just saying him being able to play out there as well would be a nice addition of flexibility early in the year. I expect (hope?) Martin is the righty OF/IF utility guy after a couple months of the season (with Lewis the option in July and beyond).

There's a lot of variables in all of this. I prefer Garlick never wears a Twins jersey again (just not a fan of players who only bring hitting lefties, no speed, no defense to the table) so like Farmer as a possible option there. Like if injuries dictate a callup and Julien is tearing the cover off the ball in St Paul I'd rather have him be the one who crosses the river if Farmer can play OF and it doesn't dictate a Garlick move simply because he's RH and "plays" OF. Farmer being able to take a corner OF spot when needed just adds flexibility and allows them to use the best players and not be as limited on who you can possibly put on the field. If you're not a locked in, everyday starter (Correa, Polanco, Buxton, Miranda, peak Kirilloff types) I prefer having guys who can move around.

[Fezig]

I"m not saying Farmer is HOF, but Robin Yount made the move to OF at 30 years old after playing SS his entire career. A move to the outfield is a lot easier than moving from OF to IF

[Brock Beauchamp]

7 hours ago, Trov said:

Lewis injury was an overall fluke.  Many guys make the transition to OF from infield.  To argue that because someone who has not played the OF will get injured, means that everyone will get injured playing OF, because at some point it is their first time playing it.  I could go over several guys that transitioned to OF later in career, or even early in career after playing infield whole time growing up, that never got injured playing OF.  

I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a fluke. Lewis injured himself by failing to jump into the wall, and he likely failed because no one has asked him to jump into a wall before so he didn’t know how to do it.

With that said, Farmer has all of spring to get up to speed on playing OF, he won’t be thrust into it basically overnight. 

[DocBauer]

11 hours ago, Dman said:

There doesn't seem to be much reason to play Farmer in the outfield that I can see.  If you want more righty bats in the lineup then just move Miranda to 1st base, and put Farmer at 3rd or DH Miranda or Farmer.  Why play him out of position in the outfield when it seems you can pretty easily find room in the infield for him?

The Twins still need a right handed outfield bat and I wouldn't be surprised to see Garlick fill it yet again.  Still a fair bit of the offseason left so things can change but I don't see the need for Farmer in Left baring injuries.

Anyone else notice how much the Twins have inquired about centerfielder's this year?  First Lauriano, then Taylor I think they are looking for backup potential for Buxton which would be nice.  So far though no interest or prices high.

Yes, I have noticed the Twins making trade inquiries of potential CF options. I don’t think that's an odmonishment toward Gordon. I think it speaks more to A) letting Celestino further his development, and B) increase general roster depth/options, and C) maybe adding another potential speed player to the roster who is more than just a PR.

Not sure it's going to happen, though I don't think they're done making changes yet, but I do find it really interesting.

But I find the potential roster construction to be very interesting as it sits today. I believe the 13 man staff is locked in at this point. So that means 13 position players. If we take a HOPEFUL MOMENT and ASSUME Kirilloff is healthy, the 13 man roster would look like this: Vasquez, Jeffers, AK, Arraez, Polanco, Correa, Miranda, Farmer, Gordon, Gallo, Buxton, and Kepler. That's 12, meaning there's room for 1 more add. And that's assuming long standing rumors of Kepler, or someone, potentially being moved in a trade.

So does Garlick get added back to the roster when someone gets moved to the 60 day? Does a trade for an OF still happen? Is there room enough to include Larnach? We talk a lot about potential adds to the staff, but the player portion of the roster is clearly not set yet.

[Parfigliano]

5 hours ago, Fezig said:

I"m not saying Farmer is HOF, but Robin Yount made the move to OF at 30 years old after playing SS his entire career. A move to the outfield is a lot easier than moving from OF to IF

Robin Yount was also a baseball unicorn.  Farmer is not.

[dxpavelka]

Another infielder trying to play outfield?  NO

[glunn]

9 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a fluke. Lewis injured himself by failing to jump into the wall, and he likely failed because no one has asked him to jump into a wall before so he didn’t know how to do it.

With that said, Farmer has all of spring to get up to speed on playing OF, he won’t be thrust into it basically overnight. 

I would allocate some of the blame to inadequate wall padding.  

 

[Karbo]

20 hours ago, Dman said:

There doesn't seem to be much reason to play Farmer in the outfield that I can see.  If you want more righty bats in the lineup then just move Miranda to 1st base, and put Farmer at 3rd or DH Miranda or Farmer.  Why play him out of position in the outfield when it seems you can pretty easily find room in the infield for him?

The Twins still need a right handed outfield bat and I wouldn't be surprised to see Garlick fill it yet again.  Still a fair bit of the offseason left so things can change but I don't see the need for Farmer in Left baring injuries.

Anyone else notice how much the Twins have inquired about centerfielder's this year?  First Lauriano, then Taylor I think they are looking for backup potential for Buxton which would be nice.  So far though no interest or prices high.

i agree that he will be playing 3B against lefties, with Miranda moving to 1st.

[weitz41]

I believe one of the dynamic duo said something like this in the last month or two.

I expect Garlick to be back on the 40 man when spring training opens. Paddack and Canterino can be put on the 60 day IL. Leaving Garlick as OF option and Farmer as IF option against lefties. Hopefully a BP signing to fill out the 40 man once those two spots open.

[Riverbrian]

14 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a fluke. Lewis injured himself by failing to jump into the wall, and he likely failed because no one has asked him to jump into a wall before so he didn’t know how to do it.

With that said, Farmer has all of spring to get up to speed on playing OF, he won’t be thrust into it basically overnight. 

How does one sufficiently jump into the wall? 

https://encrypted-vtbn0.gstatic.com/video?q=tbn:ANd9GcT_NAN6CFf9ZuIAgRo9EyYPrtH8VZV4COvrtQ

 

[Brock Beauchamp]

23 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

How does one sufficiently jump into the wall? 

https://encrypted-vtbn0.gstatic.com/video?q=tbn:ANd9GcT_NAN6CFf9ZuIAgRo9EyYPrtH8VZV4COvrtQ

 

Lewis missed the wall, landed wrong, and that's what caused the injury. Missing the wall and landing off-balance is a pretty good way to do it wrong IMO.

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Lewis missed the wall, landed wrong, and that's what caused the injury. Missing the wall and landing off-balance is a pretty good way to do it wrong IMO.

He jumped before the warning track. The Ball wouldn't have reached the wall in the air in my opinion. If we assume that the  location of the ball will dictate when you jump and where you land. How does an experienced outfielder not miss the wall?  

  

[hitterscount]

Twins had several shortcomings last year and their defense was one of them.  Moving Farmer doesn't help/address that issue. While he can't hit, Gallo should help the OF defensively. You can probably plan on Buxton playing CF around 50% of the games. IMO, Buxton's health is the key to the season. If he could exceed expectations and play CF 100-120 games and remain healthy if they made the playoffs, then another RH OF wouldn't be quite as big of a concern, at least not as big as adding a quality starter. 

Moving Farmer to the OF to offset Buxton being unavailable is not a great fallback plan. Then again it might be the only one they have. Related to the defense topic, did I miss something last year,...  I was not impressed with Arraez's defense at 1st. In spring training I would get Miranda as much time as possible at 1st and let Farmer handle 3rd base duties.      

[Cris E]

I'm not sure Miranda is the answer to any question about improved infield defense, but I think Arraez got better at first the more he played there. It's not a super hard position, but there are things to learn and to drive into muscle memory through repetition and he's figuring it out. That said, losing Urshella is going to be felt at third until the year Miranda is eventually  replaced by one of the displaced middle infielders. That could be this summer by Lewis or next year by Lee or in four years by Correa, but he's not good enough as a hitter or a fielder to hold off guys who can field better and hit as well. As with everything on this team, time will tell who keeps improving, who plateaus, and who gets hurt. There are plenty of opportunities for plenty of good young players and we may be best off holding back on changes until we get into spring training and see what we have in our hand right now.

[Elliot]

On 1/19/2023 at 8:59 AM, JD-TWINS said:

OF: Gordon - Buxton - Gallo (Larnach - Farmer)

IF: Miranda - CC - Polanco - Arraez (Kirilof - Farmer)

DH: Garlick  - against lefties

DH: Larnach - Kirilof - Arraez against righties

C: Vázquez - Jeffers

Assuming health…………..Best 13 as of now……..Lewis in late summer may take Garlick’s spot due to IF - OF - DH flexibility.

Kepler??

[bloggymcbloggerson]

On 1/19/2023 at 8:08 AM, HoskenPowell said:

Great idea.  It worked out great with Royce last year so why not take a middle infielder with little to zero experience and see if we can screw up two years of his career.

hold up, we're not comparing royce lewis and kyle farmer here, are we? thanks, i needed a laugh this morning. 

[bloggymcbloggerson]

Just now, bloggymcbloggerson said:

hold up, we're not comparing royce lewis and kyle farmer here, are we? thanks, i needed a laugh this morning. 

though with that said, can someone/anyone explain to me why we're thinking a 32-year-old utility infielder with four MLB innings in the outfield is going to fill this role? anyone?

[Jacksson]

Arraez is gone.  Who is on 1st?  Kirilloff?  Miranda?? Farmer??? Kepler????