mnfireman

For the days he was actually able to play, May 1 until the the end of the season, it was more like 75% starts @ C (104/140), 20% starts at DH (28/140)and 5% days off (8/140, but he pinch hit on 5 of his 8 off days). Mauer also exited early in 6 games due to the game being a blow-out. The 70/15/15 formula would work out to 113/24/24 (I know that's only 161), and Mauer missed the first 22 games of that season, so he actually only had 3 complete days off once activated. But I guess we would all be happy with about 140 games out of Buxton, so maybe this can work.

Spin it any way you want, the team was in 1st place in September despite being decimated by injuries for most of the season. Yes, it is the AL Central, but whatever, you play who you are scheduled to play. The Twins played .333 baseball in Sept/Oct, or a full season record of 54-108. They were not that bad. Over the same period Cleveland played .706 baseball, or a full season record of 114-48. They were not that good. On July 1, the Twins were 43-36 .544, or a full season record of 88-74, which would still not have been good enough to overcome Cleveland's 92-70 record, but would have probably been a closer indicator where last years team was had they managed to stay healthy. Injuries totally decimated this team last year and they were ill-equipped to handle them. This years team potentially has better back-ups to cover the inevitable injuries. We shall see if it is enough to compete with Cleveland.

Assuming he and the team are ok with discomfort he will be feeling when swinging a bat, I think he needs he to overcome two obstacle against live or in-game pitching. First, he needs to be comfortable with whatever body armor he will be wearing for protection, as teams are going to pitch him inside, and as we've seen over the last few years, MLB pitchers struggle throwing inside. He will also have to see how the wrist reacts when he has to check his swing and/or fouls a pitch off right above his hands (the "handle"). A plan can then be made once he gets through these.

Regardless of your feelings towards the front office and the players they acquired/lost this off-season, last years team was in first place as late as September 4th, then lost Buxton (actually in August), Polanco, Kepler, Mahle, and Gray among others. Hopefully they won't have to use them, but the players the team brought in are better than the replacements they had to use last season.

I think now that the team will be losing players to the WBC and the first round of re-assignments to minor league camp coming up, we will start to see Buxton, Kirilloff ad Polanco in games.

Not worried about Maeda, he threw two scoreless the other day with the batters knowing what's coming. https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/kenta-maeda-on-pitchcom-during-spring-training-game-vs-rays

As does every MLB team...

So now the conversation has turned from "where is the pitching pipeline" to "holy crap, the Saints rotation is loaded with more on the the way." LOL. Somedays this site cracks me up!! Seriously though, this is a good problem to have given the injury history of some of the MLB rotation.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/03/gilberto-celestino-out-6-8-weeks-following-thumb-surgery.html

The Expos projected Brady as a potential All-Star, with then-GM Kevin Malone claiming he had the potential to be "one of the greatest catchers ever".[38] The Expos offered him money typical of that offered to a late second-round or early third-round pick,[39] but when Brady learned of the interest in his playing football, he chose football over baseball;[33] Brady would later go on to become the last active athlete drafted by the Expos.

Looks like SD and Machado got it done. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/02/padres-manny-machado-finalizing-extension.html

Buxton has started 34 games at DH in his career, all of them last season, all of them after he injured himself on an awkward slide into 2B. Those starts at DH were part of the "plan" hatched after that injury to get his bat into the line-up semi-regularly. That plan did not work as Buxton missed time, was unavailable on his days off and eventually underwent season ending knee surgery, something that could have been done in April and had him back on the field in late July/early August. If healthy, he should start in CF, not at DH. His value is much greater when his bat AND glove are in the line-up.

I feel this years spring training games will be very important, more so than most years. IF Kirilloff needs to start the season in AAA (or worse, the IL), then I feel that Larnach needs comes north, but only if he plays, which to me means Gallo at 1B and Larnach in LF. If the team decides that Solano/Farmer/Miranda will absolutely cover 1B/3B to start the season, then I think that Garlick comes north, but only to DH/PH against LHP. With Gallo, Buxton, Kepler, Taylor & Gordon in the OF/DH roles I don't think that there would be any AB's for Larnach, though I guess he could DH against RHP. As deep as everyone thinks this team is and is worried about how to get everybody AB's, April could be worrisome if Kirilloff doesn't come north for whatever reason and the team has to move forward cautiously with Polanco, Larnach and Buxton (haven't heard any concerns on the latter 2 yet and this thread is only about 1B plans...).

Hope somebody takes charge, don't like the rotation idea. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/02/twins-notes-first-base-kirilloff-henriquez-rotation.html

https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/rocco-baldelli-expects-deeper-starts-from-twins-pitchers