Alright, here's my masterplan:
I have my doubts that we're going to catch the Twins this season. The starting pitching is either beat up or not playing up to expectations. Bullpen is surprising, but the offense outside of Lindor, Santana, Perez, Mercado, and Luplow against lefties is absolute trash.
We still have a chance obviously. It's June 6th, Clevinger is back soon, and we still have a decent chunk of games left against Minnesota and the trash-ass Tigers and Royals.
- Send Jake Bauers to Triple-A; call up Bobby Bradley | Bradley is raking down in Columbus, and I'm pretty sure Bauers has an OPS below .670 and a WAR below -0.5. Easy switch to make at this point in the season.
- Send Naquin to Triple-A (if he has options, not sure if he does); call up Daniel Johnson | We know what we have with Naquin, and we've already got an outfielder in Martin who can't hit lefties at all. Difference here is that Martin is still a really good glove in the outfield and has a cannon for an arm. Johnson has tore up Double-A and Triple-A thus far, might as well give him a chance with this anemic offense.
- Send Mike Freeman to Triple-A; DFA Eric Stamets; call up Mark Mathias | Stamets blows and will never be a competent Double-A stick, let alone an MLB one. Not a big loss here. Mathias isn't a hyped up prospect or anything, but he's producing at a good enough level in Triple-A (.823 OPS) where I think he's worth a look over Kipnis at this point. Kipnis stays on the roster and gets the occasional DH stint or start against a righty at second. Mathias has roughly similar successes against lefties and righties, so he wouldn't have to be a platoon guy.
Starting lineup against righties:
LF - Oscar Mercado
3B - Jose Ramirez
SS - Francisco Lindor
1B - Carlos Santana
DH - Bobby Bradley
C - Roberto Perez
RF - Daniel Johnson
CF - Leonys Martin
2B - Mark Mathias
Starting lineup against lefties:
CF - Oscar Mercado
3B - Jose Ramirez
SS - Francisco Lindor
1B - Carlos Santana
LF - Jordan Luplow
DH - Bobby Bradley
C - Roberto Perez
RF - Daniel Johnson
2B - Mark Mathias
Bench guys not listed in either lineup: Kipnis, Plawecki
My main problem with this team composition is that 1) Mathias likely wouldn't be any better than Kipnis at the big-league level but I just want to see something new and 2) we're kind of left without a utility infielder when you send down Freeman.
I'd also be down for something that moves Jose to second, because good God he is the worst defensive third basemen I've seen in a long time right now. Like, laughably bad. Just made his 11th error tonight.