Does the Front Office owe us an explanation?

[curt1965]

Probably not. Hot shot office types don’t think they ever do......

 

But-

 

1.) Buxton situation playing through broken toe. (For that matter, not giving him any time in Rochester after long DL stint)

2.) Belisle

3.) Use of relievers (see Magill, Belisle, etc.)

4.) Wilson love

(For starters)

 

Twin city reporters are gutless. Same with FSN interviews-can’t remember any tough questions for Molitor)

Look, this is a bad team now. It’s going to happen.

But it would be nice to know if they had any discernible plans for this group. It’s embarrassing to watch this train wreck now!

[KirbyDome89]

Belisle still on the roster is comical at this point. Silence is probably better than any answer the FO could give. What's that old saying about opening your mouth and removing all doubt?....

 

Questions for the FO:

 

1. What's the plan with the "depth," the organization has at RP? We've watched serviceable arms be tossed away, Rule V fodder forced onto the active roster, waiver wire has-beens soaking up 40 man and active spots, and meanwhile Curtiss, Moya, Busenitz ect. are still trying to stick for more than a few innings per call up. 

 

2. What was the plan with the 4th OFer situation? Given Buxton's injury history you certainly weren't banking on him being healthy all year right? Right?

 

3. If you were so down on Garver as a catcher, why was he the only real backup plan in place in the event that Castro was injured? 

 

I know there are more but those three stand out at the moment...

[Riverbrian]

Any explanation they offered would be torn to shreds. 

 

They would be better off taking advice from public relations and continue to spoon feed us carefully worded statements on a small portion of every possible thing that we'd really like to know. 

 

Until we all act better in the world of social media... it's the only thing they can sensibly do. 

 

 

 

 

 

[RaoulDuke]

I still want to have hope for the front office, they were hired to rebuild the system (pitching especially) not win now.  So far they seem to be handling the reformation of the pitching program pretty well. 

 

Last year was unexpected and pushed expectations and plans forward.  Instead of a couple years to reform things its now playoffs expected.  They responded with an off season that was praised by most everybody.  Lynn, Morrison, Reed, Rodney all for cheapish short contracts and avoiding over paying for Darvish all seemed like decent/ good moves.  

 

Everything has blown up in their face however. 3/4 free agents have been bad, young guys expected to break out into stars are in the minors instead, solid vets have been hurt or have struggled.  Maybe it was possible to see it coming with scouting but it really seems like they have got screwed on decent moves.

 

That being said it is time for them to earn their stripes.  This is the trade deadline to restock the system and the half season to evaluate prospects.  The continued use of mediocre or bad vets is worrisome.  Belisle/ Wilson/ Grossman are not worth anything to us at this point there is no reason to roster them, let the rookies take their lumps.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Probably not. Hot shot office types don’t think they ever do......

But-

1.) Buxton situation playing through broken toe. (For that matter, not giving him any time in Rochester after long DL stint)
2.) Belisle
3.) Use of relievers (see Magill, Belisle, etc.)
4.) Wilson love
(For starters)

Twin city reporters are gutless. Same with FSN interviews-can’t remember any tough questions for Molitor)
Look, this is a bad team now. It’s going to happen.
But it would be nice to know if they had any discernible plans for this group. It’s embarrassing to watch this train wreck now!

 

Theyv'e already explained the Buxton and Belisle situations. Use of relievers is up to the manager/pitching coach. Catcher playing time is up to the manager (and probably to some degree, the pitchers). 

 

The media has asked Molitor those questions. I dont think they need to ask the manager the same questions every day. 

 

 

[gunnarthor]

I think we'll learn more about how they deal with this trade deadline and their offseason moves instead of answering any small roster questions. I'm still giving them a bit of a chance but a lot of their moves haven't really worked and they don't seem to understand what they have while it's happening. They still have a week to make some trades so it's too early to panic but ... 

 

That said, if Molitor is still managing next year, this FO loses all benefit of the doubt.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Belisle still on the roster is comical at this point. Silence is probably better than any answer the FO could give. What's that old saying about opening your mouth and removing all doubt?....

 

Questions for the FO:

 

1. What's the plan with the "depth," the organization has at RP? We've watched serviceable arms be tossed away, Rule V fodder forced onto the active roster, waiver wire has-beens soaking up 40 man and active spots, and meanwhile Curtiss, Moya, Busenitz ect. are still trying to stick for more than a few innings per call up. 

 

2. What was the plan with the 4th OFer situation? Given Buxton's injury history you certainly weren't banking on him being healthy all year right? Right?

 

3. If you were so down on Garver as a catcher, why was he the only real backup plan in place in the event that Castro was injured? 

 

I know there are more but those three stand out at the moment...

 

2. The plan for 4th OF was Zack Granite. He got hurt and he's been hurt all season, pretty much. LaMarre earned a spot. They added depth in Jake Cave, and gave him a chance to play. As they should. 

[Number3]

The first question to ask ahead of the topic question is, "Who is the front office accountable to?" Answer; "It ain't the fans in this organization."  I am more and more convinced that the Twins, hiding behind the excuse of "small market = can't really compete" does not have winning as a primary objective. Ownership sees the Twins as an entertainment business whose main goal is to provide a spring/summer activity in a pleasant environment. As long as the turnstiles keep spinning enough and the TV revenue and other sharing revenue is enough, they are content. Main qualification to play for and/or manage such a team? Don't complain. If the players care about winning, its up to them as they showed last year.

[Vanimal46]

No, they don't owe the common fan an explanation about roster construction and moves.

 

At the same time, fans don't owe the team their time and ESPECIALLY their money when they're a bad baseball team.

[Major League Ready]

 

Any explanation they offered would be torn to shreds. 

 

They would be better off taking advice from public relations and continue to spoon feed us carefully worded statements on a small portion of every possible thing that we'd really like to know. 

 

Until we all act better in the world of social media... it's the only thing they can sensibly do. 

 

My guess is that people looking for an explanation from the F/O would not be likely to accept said explanation. Is it their fault …

 

1) Santana has been out all year
2) Polanco used PEDs
3) Lynn and Odorizzi have not performed to their career standards
4) Dozier insists only pulling the ball 98% of the time even when it’s on the very outside edge of the strike zone even though a shift has opened the entire right side
5) Sano feels the need to hit every ball 600 ft and his plate discipline regressed.
6) Buxton’s offense has gotten even worse
7) Castro is out for the year
8) Kepler has not improved offensively. You would have thought his improvement against LH pitching would have elevated his offensive numbers considerably.

 

These things and a few others explain the failure of this season. Should the F/O have foreseen these things? Should we have given up on Buxton and Sano and replaced them. Should we believe they have not tried to get Dozier to beat the shift and not try to pull pitches on the outside edge of the zone? Should we have given up on Kepler?

 

Most people understand what happened this year. Others feel the need to blame someone. Of course, we love the players so some of us blame the F/O. Kind of like parents who’s kid is never the problem. It would do the F/O no good to explain what went wrong to those who don’t already understand we had some key injuries, a costly suspension. and several players who simply have not performed to level we all expected. How would fans feel if the F/O said Buxton and Sano have sucked. Dozier has been mediocre and won't adapt. Polanco was an idiot and hurt the team when he used PEDs? Many here had a fit when they said it would eventually be a problem if Sano did not get in better shape. Remember those posts that grilled the F/O and any reporter who suggested such a thing?

 

I guess it's not surprise that fans act in a fanatical manner when things go poorly.

[USAFChief]

 

Theyv'e already explained the Buxton and Belisle situations. Use of relievers is up to the manager/pitching coach. Catcher playing time is up to the manager (and probably to some degree, the pitchers). 

 

The media has asked Molitor those questions. I dont think they need to ask the manager the same questions every day. 

When/where did anyone "explain" the Belisle situation? I guess I missed it...link please?

 

I haven't seen specific questions asked about reliever usage. Let's just pick one example: Zach Duke, right before the break, was used on July 10th (27 pitches), 11th (20 pitches), 13th (20 pitches), and 14th (another 20 pitches, resuling in a loss). 

 

Another example: Ryan Pressly has been used 48 times this season. 32 of those appearances have been with 0 or 1 day rest.

 

Can you point me to the link of someone asking Molitor why he uses some relievers so often, and a guy like Magill has been used 3 times in the month of July, only 8 times since May 29th?

 

 

[Tom Froemming]

 

Probably not. Hot shot office types don’t think they ever do......

But-

1.) Buxton situation playing through broken toe. (For that matter, not giving him any time in Rochester after long DL stint)
2.) Belisle
3.) Use of relievers (see Magill, Belisle, etc.)
4.) Wilson love
(For starters)

Twin city reporters are gutless. Same with FSN interviews-can’t remember any tough questions for Molitor)
Look, this is a bad team now. It’s going to happen.
But it would be nice to know if they had any discernible plans for this group. It’s embarrassing to watch this train wreck now!

I wish the front office types were more available to the media. The manager makes himself available both pregame and postgame more often than not. While I don't find myself defending Molitor too often, I do think it's a little unfair he's almost always the guy with the microphone in his face. Part of the job I suppose, but still ...

 

Anyway, if you want to hear from Thad Levine, he was the guest on this week's Inside Twins, which is available here: http://www.mlb.com/fan_forum/podcasts/index.jsp?c_id=min

 

A few things in regard to the media:

-You can ask all the questions you want, but getting concrete answers is a different story. Just listen to the Levine interview linked above. He completely dodges the question on buying or selling, saying they're trying to make good baseball moves instead. Thanks for that golden insight onto your process, Thad. To be fair, there are some valid reasons why a team would want to avoid transparency in order to maintain a competitive advantage.

 

-Everybody with FSN basically works for the team. They're essentially PR people. They will never try to rock the boat.

 

-Gutless? Ask Torii Hunter how gutless Mike Berardino is Still, I get what you're saying. The team has been bad, there have been lots of questionable decisions, you'd think there would be more questions about those decisions. But the beat writers also have relationships to maintain.

 

If you really want to know how teams feel about the media, I think it's worth looking back at Reds manager Bryan Price's 2015 blowup on beat writer C. Trent Rosecrans. I'm not saying anybody with the Twins deep down wants to go on a rampage against the media or anything like that, but I do think teams want/expect certain things out of the media, and what they definitely do not want is for the media to be thinking/asking questions that a fan may ask.

 

Again, the reason behind that is because transparency can put you at a disadvantage. If Levine went out and said "Oh yeah, we're totally in fire sale mode. Everything must go!" well that's going to hurt the Twins in trade discussions. But, from a fan's perspective, it's still frustrating to not really know what's going on.

 

All I can say is that actions speak louder than words. Should be an interesting next week and change.

[Craig Arko]

No, nobody owes us an explanation. Conversely, we don't owe them our time and money.

[Vanimal46]

No, nobody owes us an explanation. Conversely, we don't owe them our time and money.

Copy cat

 

They already got my money for MLB.tv... In my mind I got value from it watching games earlier in the season.

 

As far as time now... Yeah, can't say I've watched more than a couple of innings over the last month or so.

[laloesch]

 

My guess is that people looking for an explanation from the F/O would not be likely to accept said explanation. Is it their fault …

 

1) Santana has been out all year
2) Polanco used PEDs
3) Lynn and Odorizzi have not performed to their career standards
4) Dozier insists only pulling the ball 98% of the time even when it’s on the very outside edge of the strike zone even though a shift has opened the entire right side
5) Sano feels the need to hit every ball 600 ft and his plate discipline regressed.
6) Buxton’s offense has gotten even worse
7) Castro is out for the year
8) Kepler has not improved offensively. You would have thought his improvement against LH pitching would have elevated his offensive numbers considerably.

 

These things and a few others explain the failure of this season. Should the F/O have foreseen these things? Should we have given up on Buxton and Sano and replaced them. Should we believe they have not tried to get Dozier to beat the shift and not try to pull pitches on the outside edge of the zone? Should we have given up on Kepler?

 

Most people understand what happened this year. Others feel the need to blame someone. Of course, we love the players so some of us blame the F/O. Kind of like parents who’s kid is never the problem. It would do the F/O no good to explain what went wrong to those who don’t already understand we had some key injuries, a costly suspension. and several players who simply have not performed to level we all expected. How would fans feel if the F/O said Buxton and Sano have sucked. Dozier has been mediocre and won't adapt. Polanco was an idiot and hurt the team when he used PEDs? Many here had a fit when they said it would eventually be a problem if Sano did not get in better shape. Remember those posts that grilled the F/O and any reporter who suggested such a thing?

 

I guess it's not surprise that fans act in a fanatical manner when things go poorly.

 

I would add that Morrison has been almost a complete disaster as DH / 1B backup.  What a shame Mauer is spending the final season (possibly) of his career on such a team.

[KirbyDome89]

 

2. The plan for 4th OF was Zack Granite. He got hurt and he's been hurt all season, pretty much. LaMarre earned a spot. They added depth in Jake Cave, and gave him a chance to play. As they should. 

Were you comfortable heading into the season with Granite as your primary OFer off the bench? For a team that was supposed to contend, relying on a light hitting LH OFer with minimal MLB experience seems like a pretty big gamble, especially when there were/are questions about Kepler's ability to play full time. I get that he was hurt to start the year, but he's played a considerable amount of games at AAA now, and the reason he isn't with the Twins is that he hasn't been good. Maybe (likely) the shoulder isn't 100%. 

 

The fact that LaMarre made the roster kind of highlights the point I've made; the Twins weren't really prepared to handle an injury in the OF. Technically he earned a roster spot, but in reality the choices at that point were slim. We're watching Cave because the two other experiments failed. Who knows what he'll end up being, but it's too little too late. The point of entering the season with a solid backup is that in the event of injury the team doesn't have to weather a revolving door of subpar play just to find a stopgap. 

[Vanimal46]

Were you comfortable heading into the season with Granite as your primary OFer off the bench? For a team that was supposed to contend, relying on a light hitting LH OFer with minimal MLB experience seems like a pretty big gamble, especially when there were/are questions about Kepler's ability to play full time. I get that he was hurt to start the year, but he's played a considerable amount of games at AAA now, and the reason he isn't with the Twins is that he hasn't been good. Maybe (likely) the shoulder isn't 100%.

 

The fact that LaMarre made the roster kind of highlights the point I've made; the Twins weren't really prepared to handle an injury in the OF. Technically he earned a roster spot, but in reality the choices at that point were slim. We're watching Cave because the two other experiments failed. Who knows what he'll end up being, but it's too little too late. The point of entering the season with a solid backup is that in the event of injury the team doesn't have weather a revolving door of subpar play just to find a stopgap.

We discussed quite a bit over the winter a RH hitting 4th OF was needed on the team...

 

Some people rebutted by saying "Tell me who was available better than LaMarre willing to be a bench player" and I would say it's not our jobs as community members on a blog to know that answer. I'm willing to bet there was a better option than LaMarre though.

[bird]

 

When/where did anyone "explain" the Belisle situation? I guess I missed it...link please?

 

I haven't seen specific questions asked about reliever usage. Let's just pick one example: Zach Duke, right before the break, was used on July 10th (27 pitches), 11th (20 pitches), 13th (20 pitches), and 14th (another 20 pitches, resuling in a loss). 

 

Another example: Ryan Pressly has been used 48 times this season. 32 of those appearances have been with 0 or 1 day rest.

 

Can you point me to the link of someone asking Molitor why he uses some relievers so often, and a guy like Magill has been used 3 times in the month of July, only 8 times since May 29th?

 

Yeah, and that's just three examples of the dozens of hard questions the media owes its hard core customers.

 

Sure, the FO is going to skirt around certain questions, either to protect its relationship with whomever is deserving of the criticism, or for competitive reasons. But when it comes to their own mistakes? Come on, media, ask the tough questions. And come on, Falvey, be more candid about those times you'd do things differently in retrospect. It'll make it easier to forgive the blunders and praise the good moves.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

We discussed quite a bit over the winter a RH hitting 4th OF was needed on the team...

Some people rebutted by saying "Tell me who was available better than LaMarre willing to be a bench player" and I would say it's not our jobs as community members on a blog to know that answer. I'm willing to bet there was a better option than LaMarre though.

Well, this a pretty specific, high-level thing, so I think identifying some players shouldn't be too hard.

 

Let's see... for MLB deals, there was Austin Jackson, Cameron Maybin, Carlos Gomez, Jon Jay, Chris Young (the outfielder). A number of those guys did sign for starting spots. Also, Eduardo Nunez and Howie Kendrick were infielders with some corner OF experience, if that counts. Notable minor league deals include Peter Bourjos, Melky Cabrera (eventually), Rajai Davis, Scott Van Slyke, Jayson Werth.

 

I think every one of those guys is now sitting at a 89 OPS+ or worse, except Kendrick who ruptured his achilles in May, ending his season with a 110 OPS+.

 

We wound up with Chris Heisey and Ryan LaMarre on minor league deals. And then LH Cave. Not sure why they didn't turn to Cave sooner, but combined LaMarre and Cave have about a 100 OPS+ in 197 PA. Grossman's got a 94 OPS+ and 137 PA in the outfield. Grossman's defense hurt, but I don't know if we'd have notably better production from the 4th outfield spot with one of these free agents.

[Brandon]

My question for the front office is this and its a long one with back fill so here goes.

 

At the beginning of the season we had Polanco go down on suspension,

 

Castro was out all year with a knee injury (he is supposed to be all ready to go just after the end of the season so he should be able to come back next year)  

 

Sano, Mauer and Buxton were hurt for periods

 

Morrison and Grossman were slumping

 

our contingency plans were Escobar who started out at SS then went to third for Sano, Ehire for SS Polonco, Morrison for 1B, Grossman for DH and LaMarre, Cave, and Granite and we had Vargas if AAA if need be.  

 

This is not a bad set up except everything that could go wrong did go wrong.  

 

now for the question.  We clearly had more holes popping up then we had contingencies available.  Why didn't we try to sign a DH like Hanley Rameriz to league minimum to come in and DH or one of the other available options?  when Rupp wasn't hitting in AAA why didn't we go after a big league Catcher?  

 

I feel like plugging those two holes with outside reinforcements back before we were out of the race would have made a positive impact on this team and we may be 5 or 6 games higher in the standings.  I feel like the front office could do a better job of handling contingencies on the fly during the season.  

 

As far as pitching goes i think they did a good job with that.  Belisle is a minor thing and he has to produce or go soon.  He cant get away with too many more blow ups. Odorizzi is who he is and Lynn needed more spring training and he is a 4th starter not top of the rotation.  Also they are doing a good job of accumulating solid prospects in the minors.  Also i think there is more than enough evidence now that pitchers need 6 weeks of spring training.  So if I signed a pitcher half way through spring training i can for see a DL stint to start the season in the future to give the pitcher more time to ramp up for the regular season.  

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Does the Front Office owe us an explanation?

 

[Vanimal46]

Well, this a pretty specific, high-level thing, so I think identifying some players shouldn't be too hard.

 

Let's see... for MLB deals, there was Austin Jackson, Cameron Maybin, Carlos Gomez, Jon Jay, Chris Young (the outfielder). A number of those guys did sign for starting spots. Also, Eduardo Nunez and Howie Kendrick were infielders with some corner OF experience, if that counts. Notable minor league deals include Peter Bourjos, Melky Cabrera (eventually), Rajai Davis, Scott Van Slyke, Jayson Werth.

 

I think every one of those guys is now sitting at a 89 OPS+ or worse, except Kendrick who ruptured his achilles in May, ending his season with a 110 OPS+.

 

We wound up with Chris Heisey and Ryan LaMarre on minor league deals. And then LH Cave. Not sure why they didn't turn to Cave sooner, but combined LaMarre and Cave have about a 100 OPS+ in 197 PA. Grossman's got a 94 OPS+ and 137 PA in the outfield. Grossman's defense hurt, but I don't know if we'd have notably better production from the 4th outfield spot with one of these free agents.

That's a good high level overview of MLB free agents. They could have explored a trade like they did for Cave, explored the international market, and hell, check out independent leagues.

 

LaMarre in general was aiming low... No surprise it didn't work out.

[jorgenswest]

Last year they took two steps forward. This year they took one step back.

 

I thought the one year deals for Morrison and Lynn were good moves. I continue to like the one year part.

 

I am disappointed in the performance of Sano and Buxton. I like front offices response to their poor performance.

 

Gibson and Rosario are performing far better than expected.

 

It is hard to get worked up about the margins of the roster in the bench and the back of the pen. I am not sure they have utilized the rule 5 draft well.

 

They have found a few players to move from the margin to useful in Hildenberger and Adrianza.

 

I will be watching to see what happens with the coaching staff this off season.

[Mike Sixel]

I'd say if the media wants my money....they should start asking hard questions. Otherwise, they are just PR machines for the team (having worked with media people, I know it's the second one).

[curt1965]

Theyv'e already explained the Buxton and Belisle situations. Use of relievers is up to the manager/pitching coach. Catcher playing time is up to the manager (and probably to some degree, the pitchers). 

 

The media has asked Molitor those questions. I dont think they need to ask the manager the same questions every day.

 

Sorry, Seth, I never saw/heard any reference to Belisle and why he is rostered. And I think you missed the jist of my post: if the fans are supposed to support and stick with a poor team when things are tough and losing is a comman occurrence, is it wrong to expect that team to put their best 25 players on the field for each and every game? (Unless winning isn’t the goal)

None of us has your knowledge of current and future player’s skills and ability that you do. You ‘da man!

But as a fan who loves the Twins and follows every game, it is hard to explain away what is going on with Magill, for example. If Molitor isn’t going to use him, bring up someone he will use! It’s not rocket science.

If Garver is so bad, why not play him now to see if he can improve? What’s to lose? My personal question is why Gonsalves hasn’t been given a chance, when 4 other pitchers rated lower than him have already been called up?

I’m sure he has an attitude problem or is a poor teammate, and the organization is sending him a message.

Whatever.

I do think it’s fair for fans to ask these questions. Sorry, if I don’t remember Molitor being asked those questions. I watch every game. And postgame. And read the StarTribs sports section every day.

And maybe that’s why I’m called a fan-a word derived from another word- fanatic!

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

That's a good high level overview of MLB free agents. They could have explored a trade like they did for Cave, explored the international market, and hell, check out independent leagues.

LaMarre in general was aiming low... No surprise it didn't work out.

Who's to say they didn't do those things? I mean, they actually did get Cave by trade. I understand this kind of criticism over a few years across a roster, perhaps, but in one offseason at a specific position, it's not necessarily easy to do. Has anyone else plucked an international/independent outfield gem this season?

 

And did you read the last part of my post? The Twins non-starting outfielders have combined for roughly a 91 wRC+ in 345 PA this year. That's as good or better than any of the free agent outfielders I listed. Even considering Grossman's defense, they're all about replacement level -- but bench players often are.

 

Twins non-starting outfielders:

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=1&season=2018&month=43&season1=2018&ind=0&team=8&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=2,d

 

Free agent outfielders:

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2018&month=0&season1=2018&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=9848,5223,4881,5227,3882,2578,3708,4022&sort=21,d

[LaBombo]

 

Theyv'e already explained the Buxton and Belisle situations. Use of relievers is up to the manager/pitching coach. Catcher playing time is up to the manager (and probably to some degree, the pitchers). 

 

The media has asked Molitor those questions. I dont think they need to ask the manager the same questions every day. 

 

With all due respect, I've no doubt that this was meant as a courteous,concise reply, but to me it still had a whiff of slightly testy dismissal of questions being asked by some posters whose names I recognize as well-informed Twins fans. 

 

And even if the Twins have mentioned the eyebrow-raising handling of Buxton, Belisle, and other players early on, wouldn't it be fair to say that even if those were adequate explanations at the time, they might no longer cut it now?

 

'Swamped at work' may be a convincing explanation of why your Christmas tree is still up a week or two into January. It's not very convincing in March. Belisle is a Christmas tree in March, and he's not the only player shedding needles.

 

 

 

[nicksaviking]

 

Well, this a pretty specific, high-level thing, so I think identifying some players shouldn't be too hard.

 

Let's see... for MLB deals, there was Austin Jackson, Cameron Maybin, Carlos Gomez, Jon Jay, Chris Young (the outfielder). A number of those guys did sign for starting spots. Also, Eduardo Nunez and Howie Kendrick were infielders with some corner OF experience, if that counts. Notable minor league deals include Peter Bourjos, Melky Cabrera (eventually), Rajai Davis, Scott Van Slyke, Jayson Werth.

 

I think every one of those guys is now sitting at a 89 OPS+ or worse, except Kendrick who ruptured his achilles in May, ending his season with a 110 OPS+.

 

We wound up with Chris Heisey and Ryan LaMarre on minor league deals. And then LH Cave. Not sure why they didn't turn to Cave sooner, but combined LaMarre and Cave have about a 100 OPS+ in 197 PA. Grossman's got a 94 OPS+ and 137 PA in the outfield. Grossman's defense hurt, but I don't know if we'd have notably better production from the 4th outfield spot with one of these free agents.

 

The team may not have gotten notably better production, but I'll bet if we asked industry experts in March to rank the 12 men listed in your second paragraph along with LaMarre in order of how they'd expect them to produce this year, LaMarre would have gotten every last place vote.

 

The front office spent a record payroll and they were fairly aggressive, which they should be lauded for, but every single off season acquisition was still based on economy spending and bargain hunting. Yeah, Logan Morrison was a steal considering last year's production, but I don't go out and buy mustard when I actually need ketchup just because the mustard was on sale.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

The team may not have gotten notably better production, but I'll bet if we asked industry experts in March to rank the 12 men listed in your second paragraph along with LaMarre in order of how they'd expect them to produce this year, LaMarre would have gotten every last place vote.

Sure, But focusing on LaMarre misses the fact that we also had Grossman, plus Cave in AAA, and both Cave and LaMarre had options so they could be swapped freely according to need (ideally Cave up for starting opportunities, and LaMarre up for more infrequent appearances).

 

I wished they would have brought up Cave a bit earlier (although he may turn out to be no more productive than LaMarre in the end anyway), but finding adequate 4th outfielder production doesn't seem to be a particular failing of the 2018 Twins.

[Don Walcott]

 

The team may not have gotten notably better production, but I'll bet if we asked industry experts in March to rank the 12 men listed in your second paragraph along with LaMarre in order of how they'd expect them to produce this year, LaMarre would have gotten every last place vote.

 

The front office spent a record payroll and they were fairly aggressive, which they should be lauded for, but every single off season acquisition was still based on economy spending and bargain hunting. Yeah, Logan Morrison was a steal considering last year's production, but I don't go out an buy mustard when I actually need ketchup just because the mustard was on sale.

There are some mustards that would be worth buying for a steal. Morrison didn't turn out to be one of them.