LA VIkes Fan

I see a lot of complaints about Rocco not having Correa bunt and about him pitching Pagan against the stronger part of the Cleveland order in the eighth inning. I actually disagree with both of those criticisms, but have a different criticism. It just doesn't make sense to have your best hitter bunt down one run with a runner on second, particularly when the hitters behind him (Kepler, Sanchez, Urshela) are not hitting and have not shown themselves to be run producers. Having Correa hit gives us the best chance to score in that situation. Using the more experienced reliever in Pagan to pitch against the better hitters also make sense to me, although Duran may be more ready for that role as the season goes on. This isn't Rocco's fault, the front office made an ill – advised trade to try to get a young starting pitcher by giving up our best relief pitcher, then Alcala got hurt, Duffy imploded, and Stashak is gone again for the year. None of those are Rocco's fault. He is doing what he can with a shorthanded bullpen. My big criticism of Rocco is the batting order. I know I have beaten this drum probably to death, but Kepler, Sanchez, and Urshela are not nor will they ever be consistent middle of the order run producers. They should be hitting 7, 8, and 9, not anywhere near the 4, 5 or 6 spots unless there's an injury. We are an inconsistent offensive team because we cannot find guys to hit in the 5 and 6 spots that consistently drive in runs. We will struggle until we fix that problem and we know that Kepler, Urshela, and Sanchez are not the solution. I think the best thing Rocco could do for this team's offense is to move Kirilloff to the 5 hole and Miranda to the 6 hole, leaving Kepler 7, Urshela 8 and the catcher 9. Try this for a month, see if they produce. At the same time, work in Larnach some to see if he can learn how to hit a major league breaking ball since he might be a guy that could fill that 5 or 6 role, and have Garlick start and hit number 4 or 5 against any left-handed starter with Kirilloff and Miranda still in the lineup hitting 6 and 7. This is after Polanco comes back, now they move up one. When Polanco returns either Larnach goes back to AAA to work on his breaking ball hitting or Celestino goes to AAA and Gordon becomes the backup CF. We need better, more consistent run producers after the top four guys. I think there is a much better chance of achieving that result with Kirilloff, Miranda and Garlick in the 5 and 6 spots. This probably means fewer at bats for Urshela so we can squeeze Miranda in at 3B twice a week, and fewer to no DH at bats for Sanchez. I see those both these things as positives. I want to do this now because the next six weeks are when we find out who can do what, and fine tune the team for stretch drive that actually seems like it might be meaningful this year. We need to know if Kirilloff and Miranda are ready to help us in this way or not.

The rule hurts the Twins a little this year because it rewards starters who pitch deep into games and pile up innings and we only got 2 or 3 of those type of starters. We also don't have nay starters that will pitch more than 150 innings this year as they build up so we really need a a 6-7 man rotation. Bundy may be here to stay. I do think it helps baseball though by speeding up the game a little and eliminating those tiresome change pitchers every batter innings. I agree with the posters above; I'm definitely in favor. Starter depth is going to be as important as relief depth because we are going to have guys go 6+ innings when possible, so more innings, more injuries, more IL stints. Get ready for more starts by Bundy, and guys like Bundy, along with some AAAA guys getting their shot. Should be fun.

Why is Sanchez the DH? It sure seems like either Miranda or Larnach would have been a better choice. I know it's easy to say after he has looked bad for 3 at bats but in my defense, I did think about that when I saw the lineup. I really would like to see Kirilloff and Miranda back to in back the number 5 and 6 holes. I know it's risky but I really do think that's our best lineup. Move Kepler back to 7 or 8, 2 spots behind Kirilloff and hit Urshela after Kepler.

Key hit and what this team desperately needs.... run production from someone outside the of the top 4, tonight top 3. Kirilloff bats 5 tomorrow.

I agree and frankly, this team needs you to be right. Our offensive inconsistency is the result of being at least 2 players short to hit in run producing spots. Kepler is a nice player but he is not a number 5 or 6 hitter. He should be hitting 7 or later. Same for Urshela, same for Sanchez. Larnach can't hit breaking balls, Miranda is a maybe, Celestino has no power and is regressing to the mean. We have 4 quality hitters, 3 against LH if Arraez sits, and you need 5 or 6 Plus guys like Kepler, Sanchez and Urshela to have a consistent offense. We're 2 short. I'm hoping Kirilloff can fill in one of those 2 spots. My fantasy is Miranda can fill the other. Bottom line is at least one of those 2 needs to step up as a 5 or 6 hitter.

C'mon guys, context is critical. In a perfect development world Kirilloff, Larnach, Miranda, Celestino, Gordon and Garlick would play every day and we'd have a pretty good idea of where they are going at the MLB level by the end of the season. Of course, if those guys were playing every day better players wouldn't be and the team would stink. The good news is we're contending for the division and the better players are going to play. The reality is we have 5 spots for those 6 guys on the MLB roster on this team. One of them is going to have to either be optioned or DFA'd when Polanco is ready to return unless someone gets injured. It seems unlikely that the DFA candidates (Gordon, Garlick) will go since they are likely to be claimed by another team. That leaves the other 4 with 3 chairs. Based upon performance, Miranda probably stays. Celestino is slumping but he plays CF so he has a leg up unless Gordon plays CF the days Buxton does not. I think the team is higher on Kirilloff's potential than either Larnach or Celestino. He stays, and one of the other two go. Tough call but Larnach's inability to hit breaking balls tells me the should go back down to AAA.

Play him everyday at 1B or in LF, or even DH him. Larnach has fallen off the table so he can sit unitl being sent down when Polanco returns. If Kirilloff hits, he stays. If not, it's back to AAA.

Kirriloff's situation reminds me of that old joke about the two guys in the woods who accidentally startle a bear. The bear turns on them and gets ready to charge. One of the guys bends over and begins to change his shoes into something he can run in better. The other guy says "don't wait, we have to outrun the bear". The guy changing his shoes looks up and says "I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you." Kirilloff looked to have some pretty good potential over the weekend although far from a sure thing. He doesn't need to be great to stay with the Twins, He just needs to be better than either Celestino, Miranda or Larnach. One of those four is likely to go down to AAA when Polanco is ready to come off the IL on Thursday. Right now, Miranda, Celestino and Kirilloff are all outrunning Larnach. I think it's Larnach back to AAA by the end of the week. We will get to see a lot of Kirilloff in the next few days to see if he's still running fast enough.

I would both buy and sell, but a lot depends on whether Correa is planning on staying a year. If he is, then I would be going to trade a couple of prospects for higher end pitching, but I would exclude Miranda, Kirilloff and Lewis. Everyone else not on the current 26 man roster is fair game and Larnach and Winder are it also fair game. If he is not, we probably need to save our prospects and should of the trade lower level guys for relief options. That means middling relief options but it doesn't make sense to me to lose high end prospects for just this season. I just don't think we're close enough to truly contending to do it for this year, but I would do something for next year if Correa is going to stay. My willingness the trade our better prospects or someone like Montas, Castillo or Mahle all depends on whether we will be true contenders next year, with the possibility of some playoff success this year, and that depends on whether Correa is sticking around.

I think Archer has actually been a very important off-season signing, perhaps the third most important after Correa and Gray. We also have to keep in mind that he will not be a 6 to 7 inning starter at any point this year or perhaps ever again. He is really more of a classic #4/5 starter, go in expecting 4-5 innings and hoping for 6, knowing the chances of any more than a 6 innings are very small and that he if he goes out for the sixth inning you go get them as soon as there's any hint of trouble. There is real value to that role and very real value to that role for this year's Twins team. Now that Smeltzer is getting banged around a bit once teams had a chance to see him or get good film on him, I'm wondering if he and Archer can be a piggyback tandem once Ober gets back and reclaims the #3 spot in the rotation. Winder can be the other starter when he gets back or maybe we can trade for a starter that isn't going to be incredibly expensive like Marquez, Hendricks, or even Jose Quintana. I don't think were going to be willing to pay the freight for a Luis Castillo or Frankie Montas. I wonder if a package of Larnach plus an A ball pitcher could get us David Bednar, José Quintana, and Zach Thompson from Pittsburg....

We need to find a number 5 and a number 6 hitter that can drive in runs. While I know that RBIs are opportunity dependent, I still think they are a valuable statistic to evaluate guys in which should be run producing sponsors the orders, basically numbers 2-6 in the batting order. The ideal number 5 or number 6 hitter is someone with a decent batting average who has some power, at least some doubles power, would doesn't necessarily strike out a ton. I strongly disagree with the idea that Kepler is that guy. He simply is too streaky, has two low a batting average, and is the king of the empty out through pop-ups and weak ground balls. I also disagree with the thought that Urshela can fill that role, no power, or Sanchez/Jeffers, too many strikeouts/too low batting average. Those three guys should be batting 7, 8 and 9 or potentially replaced by someone who's a better hitter. I am beginning to understand why the Yankees couldn't go with Urshela at 3B. He just isn't a good enough hitter for that position. The problem we have is that the replacement, Miranda, is nowhere near as good a defender and an uncertain quantity as a hitter so you have to choose between potential offense and defense and we have chosen defense. I think we want to keep Urshela around because he maybe next year's shortstop while we wait for Lewis to come back. I think the way to find out if Kiriloff can be a middle of the order run producer is to play him every day in left field. LArnach is doing what he did last year, a solid start followed by falling off the table - .219/.390/.448 in the last 30 games, .125/.222/.250 in the last 7. I hated yo-yo the guy up and down but it is beginning to look like a trip back to AAA might be his best move. Our allows Kirilloff to play left field against right-handed starting pitching, with Garlick playing left field against left-handers. We can also probably find Kirilloff a day or two we get either DH or first base. I think the bottom line is we need to go into the second half of the season knowing who the 4-6 middle of the order bats are going to be. Kirilloff might be one of those guys, and we need to play him to find out. I do think we know so far that Kepler and Urshela could be that number 6 hitter, but are better suited to number 7 in the order, that both catchers should be hitting 8 or 9, and that Larnach isn't the answer, at least not this year. Miranda is another option so I do think it's important that he and Kirilloff get consistent at bats through the All-Star break to see if they can be the 5 and 6 hitters. I would love to see a consistent lineup of Arraez, Buxton, Correa, Kirilloff/Polanco, Polanco/Kirilloff, Miranda/Garlick, Kepler, Urshela, Catcher. Celestino can either leadoff against left-handed starters or hit eight when he plays. Gordon fills in as necessary and hits in the back of the order.

I get the travel part and I could see them starting Miranda at 1B and Garlick in LF against left-handed starters. Still, I would like to see Kirilloff get ABs against left-handers to see if he can hit them and whether he is more than just a platoon player. Maybe the way to do that is to not use the second catcher as a DH against left-handed pitching and use Kirilloff or Larnach in that spot instead.

In a sense, that's good news. That means two of the three of Miranda, Kirilloff and Larnach can stay. Miranda probably stays to add a right-handed bat. Garlick comes in and replaces the relief pitcher that's sent out. I wonder if it will be Duffy . . .

You have to believe that starting tomorrow Kirilloff is at 1B with Arraez playing every day at 2B. Miranda will get his ABs at the DH or 3B spots and Larnach plays LF. I actually think the next five games before Polanco comes back are basically a tryout for these three guys. At the end, one of them will go down for Polanco and then a few days later someone has to go down for Garlick. I could see a scenario where two of the three stay and we lose a relief pitcher, but more likely is that these three guys are now playing for their spot and there ain't enough chairs for all three of them and maybe not even for two.

The MLB website says Polanco's IL stint is retroactive to June 13, meaning he could come back on June 23, the last game of the series with Cleveland.

I couldn't agree more. I think the gap between hits and run-scoring is mostly because we don't have enough good run producers far enough down in the order. I like Kepler's overall game but he is not a consistent run producer as an offensive player. Same for Urshela and Sanchez. Jeffers is even farther down that list. They are very streaky, "hit or miss" guys. We need someone to fill the 5 hole consistently and it would help if that player hit left-handed. I don't know if Kirilloff is that guy but we do know that Max Kepler is not that guy. Kepler would be much better off hitting 7, and the catcher is better hitting 8 or 9 with Urshela in the other one of those two spots. The really good news is that the open positions to find that number 5 or 6 hitters are LF and DH. That should be the easiest place to find guys who are consistently solid to good hitters. We just haven't found them yet. Part of the problem is using young guys like Maranda and Larnach who are still maturing. I would like to see them try Kirilloff consistently in that spot for three weeks and see how it goes. Having a consistent run producer in the number 5 hole would go a long way to both scoring more and would relieve pressure on some guys who are being asked to do more than they are really capable of doing. That lack of pressure might lead to and improvement in performance. As I'm typing this I just learned that Kiriloff has been called up, unfortunately for Polanco going on the IL for lower back tightness. Still, let's see how he does and maybe when Polanco comes back the corresponding move involves Miranda, Larnach or Gordon, or even a relief pitcher. I hope Kirilloff starts and hits either 5 or 6 tonight, the latter because it's a left-handed starter.

I do think we could possible get a boost from a slightly different batting order with Kirilloff in it. Against right-handed pitching I would go Arraez, Polanco, Correa, Buxton, Kirilloff, Urshela, Kepler, Sanchez/Jeffers, Celestino/Miranda/Gordon. against left handed starting pitchers I would go Celestino, Polanco, Correa, Buxton, Garlick, Arreaz/Kirilloff, Urshlea, Kepler, Sanchez/Jeffers. You could drop Celestino to the 9 hole and move everybody up one but the key is to have Celestino hopefully on base for Polanco Correa, Buxton.

I think the lack of speed may be part of the answer but I think the bigger part is the lack of a true "number 4/number five" hitter. When you look at the Twins lineup most days you either see Max Kepler, Gary Sanchez, Kyle Garlick or Geo Urshela in a run producing spot like number 4 or number 5. These 4 hitters should be batting no higher than 6 in a competitive lineup, and frankly all four of them deserve spots like 7 in the order. I think what we have is four hitters for the top of the order (three against left-handed pitching) in Arraez, Polanco, Buxton, and Correa. Then the other five hitters in the lineup are all guys you should be hitting in the back third, and we're missing those "bridge" hitters between our good hitters and the average to slightly above average hitters. I had hopes for Miranda during his hot streak but I think that was premature. To me, this is the reason to make the hard choice of demoting Larnach or Miranda so that Kirilloff can come up. He is the most likely of those three to be that solid, consistent, #5 every day hitter. Unfortunately, that's what we need to score more runs. We simply don't have that guy now and Kepler, Sanchez, Garlick and Urshela will never be that guy.

Another good way to go. It's a tough choice between keeping up Miranda or Garlick. For that matter, it's a tough choice to send down Larnach so Kirilloff can come up but Larnach stopped hitting so maybe it's getting a little easier.

We can have 3 of the following 5 on the 26 man roster - Celestino, Miranda, Larnach, Garlick and Kirilloff. I think it's really 2 of 4 since Celestino is the only one who can play CF - and we need that 2-3 times a week - and he is hitting .330 (albeit with with no power). It's a tough call. I would bring up Kirilloff and option Garlick and Larnach, Keep Miranda up in the bigs. I would prefer to keep Larnach up but we need the RH bat. I prefer Miranda over Garlick because I think Miranda is a big part of the next 5 years and Garlick is not. I still see this year as a higher level developmental year, not a go for broke to try to get a championship year. We will need Miranda a next year if Ursehla is gone and will need his bat if Correa is gone. I'd frankly like to find a way to get Kirilloff, Miranda and Larnach 400-500 ABs apiece this year but there's probably only room for 2 of them to get that many. Still, very tough call.

I think he's the plan to augment the bullpen for the stretch run and hopefully the postseason. I live in LA and the Dodgers typically used him as a starter until August and then put him in the bullpen to limit his innings to 150 or less. They were concerned he would blow out his elbow since he came to the States from Japan with concerning medical reports on his elbow. He was a very good reliever and could be a dominant 8th inning guy out of the bullpen. We need at least 2 more late inning arms, more than we can likely get in trades. I'm hoping that Maeda is ready in time to be one of those arms.

It actually looks to me like the move might be to swap out Kirrilloff for Larnach. I just don’t know what to sending Larnach down will do for his confidence. I think they’re going to wait another week or so to see if there is an injury and, if not, that’s the change I would expect.

I don't think losing Urshela or Gordon gets more at bats for Kiriloff unless you trade Urshela and make Arraez the everyday 3B with Kirilloff at 1B and Miranda playing a couple of days a week each at 1B and 3B. I don't see that happening because of the defensive downgrade. Arraez is not a good 3B with the glove. I really think you have to lose Garlick or Larnach to get ABs for Kirilloff right now. An injury can change all of that.

The problem is whose ABs do you take away so that Kirilloff can paly at least 4 or 5 days a week? it makes no sense to bring him up and play him a couple of days a week. That will hurt his development, not help him. I think this boils down very simply - we have 5 guys for basically 3.5 to 4 roster spots , 1B, LF, half time DH, and DH/reserve OF. Don't forget, we need to keep open the DH at least 3 days a week for a combination of Buxton, Correa and Sanchez (Sanchez for LH pitching). The 5 guys we have are Arraez, Celestino, Larnach, Garlick, and Kirilloff. Kirilloff is the odd man outright now. Arraez gets a spot because he's by far the best hitter. The rest all have advantages and disadvantages. Celestino is the only one who can play CF (and Kepler in CF is a no go apparently), but his batting average is coming back down to earth and he has no power, Garlick hits LH pitching very well, but can't hit righthanders and is an average at best fielder, Larnach was hitting, slumping now, and is actually a pretty good OF, and Kirilloff looks great in AAA but his MLB stats? ,242/.290/.393 (.683) and that includes the good part of last year. Hardly awe inspiring but the injury MAY be the reason for that, or he might not be that good yet. I actually think this is a very tough choice. I think there's 3 ways to get Kirilloff on the team. First choice is to option down Celestino IF we're willing to play Kepler in CF between Larnach and Kirilloff 3 days a week or Larnach or Kirilloff could play CF. Playing Gordon in CF is ok, but it doesn't create room for Kirilloff - you still have to bench somebody who is performing to shoehorn him into the lineup. The second option is to DFA Garlick, making us very vulnerable to LH starting pitching unless Kirilloff can hit lefties well. Option 3 is to send Larnach down and give Kirilloff his spot. Hard to like option 2 or 3. Maybe the best thing is to play Kirilloff in CF in AAA and see if he could take Celestino's spot. Bottom line is Kirilloff had a chance, didn't perform, and Larnach did perform and took his spot. Maybe it was an injury that sent him down but the reason is irrelevant - he didn't perform, someone else did, and he is outside looking in. I'd like to see him get a chance because he could be that middle of the order bat we need so Kepler can move to the 6 hole but someone who is performing has to go. Don't just say bring up Kirilloff, tell me who goes to give him a spot.

I completely agree. This looks like about 80-85% of a WS contending team. We need another late inning bullpen arm, a #2/#3 type starter and one more bat. If we were playing in the AL East we'd win 80-85 games. In the AL Central though, 90 wins is there for the taking.