I couldn't argue his. Except Lee needs to play more second base, if that will be his position. 

But, yes, you have no "second baseman for the future" right now, just placesetters in Martin and Castro, better used as reserves and bench guys for now. Give Lee a shot.  When a position is open even shortterm, you play the prospect, not the backup, if the prospect is ready.

Regarding Kepler, just what we need. Him to go down before another trade deadline. Such heights and such a fall (between him and Jeffers) in a short period of time. Even if Kepler was the Kepler of a month ago, I wouldn't be longterming him at all for the Twins. I would be salviatin that he was valuable tradebait. But not sure what he is worth...now.

I don't see him as a corner in 2025, so might as well get a looksee at Wallner. And hope that Rodriguez and Gonzalez get back into play and move up the lader sooner rather than later. Also, Kiersey is missing out on an opportunity.

The Twins do have an open roster spot. Can easily make two more (Thielbar and Boushley). Are Henriquez and Winders better than...Sands?

Lee up, Kepler to the IL, Castro becomes and OF. Just can't buy Wallner yet when he's striking out 33% of the time at AAA. 

2 hours ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

Lee up, Kepler to the IL, Castro becomes and OF. Just can't buy Wallner yet when he's striking out 33% of the time at AAA. 

Kepler is not starting tonight. The A's are I believe giving us southpaws tomorrow and Sunday. 

Interesting. I think we could IL Kepler back up to 3 days if he doesn't play. They may be waiting to see how he responds to treatment. My guess is he'll be put on the IL over the weekend retroactive to today. Hopefully Lee up, but it may be Wallner.  It might be interesting to se if either player sits for tonight's Saints game. 

6 hours ago, Rosterman said:

I couldn't argue his. Except Lee needs to play more second base, if that will be his position. 

But, yes, you have no "second baseman for the future" right now, just placesetters in Martin and Castro, better used as reserves and bench guys for now. Give Lee a shot.  When a position is open even shortterm, you play the prospect, not the backup, if the prospect is ready.

Regarding Kepler, just what we need. Him to go down before another trade deadline. Such heights and such a fall (between him and Jeffers) in a short period of time. Even if Kepler was the Kepler of a month ago, I wouldn't be longterming him at all for the Twins. I would be salviatin that he was valuable tradebait. But not sure what he is worth...now.

I don't see him as a corner in 2025, so might as well get a looksee at Wallner. And hope that Rodriguez and Gonzalez get back into play and move up the lader sooner rather than later. Also, Kiersey is missing out on an opportunity.

The Twins do have an open roster spot. Can easily make two more (Thielbar and Boushley). Are Henriquez and Winders better than...Sands?

 

 

 

I agree with Lee getting more time at 2nd. He was there last night but back at short tonight with Julien at 1st. 

15 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

I agree with Lee getting more time at 2nd. He was there last night but back at short tonight with Julien at 1st. 

He should in AAA; Twin are not another AAA team for learning.

If the Twins want Lee to play 2nd base, then he needs to do that BEFORE he comes up to the majors.  Yes, he's a good athlete, but this isn't townball.  He needs some time to get more familiar with the position.  Everything happens just a little bit faster in the majors.  Unless they want to bring him up as a mostly DH, I don't think it's likely to happen in the next couple of weeks. 

For this reason, IF Julien can get his bat straightened out, I think that we are going to see Julien up for another shot before we see Lee.  I know that's not popular because Lee's bat is very hot right now, but if he's for real, that won't be an unusual occurrence. 

I have a hard time predicting what this front office will do so I'm curious. There are a lot of different options both in pitching and in positions. I know what I would do, but that seldom what they would do.  

I have a hard time predicting what this FO will do as well.  That includes Rocco, who continues to use Duran in non-closing situations.  Not sure why he felt the need to bring him in for the 8th inning in a non-save situation.  Who was going to pitch the 9th if we had gone to the bottom of the 9th with a lead?  I don't think Duran is happy with his usage.  It may be affecting his pitching.  Most teams have clearly defined roles for their bullpens.  Rocco never has.  It's been a disorganized hodgepodge since he became our manager in 2019.  "Saving guys for leverage situations" just leads to confusion with your role.  The most successful bullpens I've known in MLB have a 7th inning guy, an 8th inning guy and a CLOSER.  

The Twins were ready to have Lee break camp with the major league team in spring training before the injury bug bit him.  I agree that some additional time at 2B would help him, but I think he could handle 2B with Castro becoming the full-time LF.  They haven't gotten squat from Farmer all season and it's clear keeping him at $6.6 million was a major mistake by this FO.  We have the benefit of hindsight as fans, but we're just calling them as we see them.  

The veteran bullpen pieces with the exception of Staumont have been major fails as well.  We would be better off cutting ties with most of the veteran off season acquisitions and just go with younger players to get a better handle on decisions that will need to be made for next year. 

The purpose of the minor leagues is not to win championships, although that's not a bad thing.  The purpose is to develop talent for the major league roster.  Lee is still a SS but he's blocked from playing a lot of SS by Correa for the foreseeable future.  He should have been playing half of his games at 2B since last season.  If he hasn't, that's a failure of the FO and those in the organization who determine these things.  

Lee needs time at 2B on the same team as C4. He will learn waaaay more in MLB than AAA.

On 6/21/2024 at 1:03 PM, Rosterman said:

I couldn't argue his. Except Lee needs to play more second base, if that will be his position. 

But, yes, you have no "second baseman for the future" right now, just placesetters in Martin and Castro, better used as reserves and bench guys for now. Give Lee a shot.  When a position is open even shortterm, you play the prospect, not the backup, if the prospect is ready.

Regarding Kepler, just what we need. Him to go down before another trade deadline. Such heights and such a fall (between him and Jeffers) in a short period of time. Even if Kepler was the Kepler of a month ago, I wouldn't be longterming him at all for the Twins. I would be salviatin that he was valuable tradebait. But not sure what he is worth...now.

I don't see him as a corner in 2025, so might as well get a looksee at Wallner. And hope that Rodriguez and Gonzalez get back into play and move up the lader sooner rather than later. Also, Kiersey is missing out on an opportunity.

The Twins do have an open roster spot. Can easily make two more (Thielbar and Boushley). Are Henriquez and Winders better than...Sands?

 

 

 

Not the only one, nearly unanimous, that Castro should be a Utility/Bench guy.

Why?

He’s leading the Team in AB’s - he’s hitting .272 as a switch hitter - he’s got 2.3 WAR through June 21……a virtual lock to get to 4.0 WAR which is very good. His OPS+ is 121 ……why would ANY TEAM dial him back?

Brooks Lee will shine when he’s ready……..Wallner is not too much different than the guy sent down in early April. His OBP last year was .370…….too lofty an expectation for ‘24 - granted. But, his walk rate isn’t changing and he still strikes out way too much………3 hits in 14 AB’s recently & all 3 were Homers - fantastic. He made outs 11 times and 9 times they were strikeouts. Hardly an offensive savior!

Boushley???

2 hours ago, Fatbat said:

Lee needs time at 2B on the same team as C4. He will learn waaaay more in MLB than AAA.

So if they think Lee is ready offensively, to me, he’s ready. Cannot be any worse than Julien at this point last year……If he comes up Castro can patrol LF……win, win!

2 hours ago, TopGunn#22 said:

I have a hard time predicting what this FO will do as well.  That includes Rocco, who continues to use Duran in non-closing situations.  Not sure why he felt the need to bring him in for the 8th inning in a non-save situation.  Who was going to pitch the 9th if we had gone to the bottom of the 9th with a lead?  I don't think Duran is happy with his usage.  It may be affecting his pitching.  Most teams have clearly defined roles for their bullpens.  Rocco never has.  It's been a disorganized hodgepodge since he became our manager in 2019.  "Saving guys for leverage situations" just leads to confusion with your role.  The most successful bullpens I've known in MLB have a 7th inning guy, an 8th inning guy and a CLOSER.  

The Twins were ready to have Lee break camp with the major league team in spring training before the injury bug bit him.  I agree that some additional time at 2B would help him, but I think he could handle 2B with Castro becoming the full-time LF.  They haven't gotten squat from Farmer all season and it's clear keeping him at $6.6 million was a major mistake by this FO.  We have the benefit of hindsight as fans, but we're just calling them as we see them.  

The veteran bullpen pieces with the exception of Staumont have been major fails as well.  We would be better off cutting ties with most of the veteran off season acquisitions and just go with younger players to get a better handle on decisions that will need to be made for next year. 

The purpose of the minor leagues is not to win championships, although that's not a bad thing.  The purpose is to develop talent for the major league roster.  Lee is still a SS but he's blocked from playing a lot of SS by Correa for the foreseeable future.  He should have been playing half of his games at 2B since last season.  If he hasn't, that's a failure of the FO and those in the organization who determine these things.  

Maybe Lee will play 3B? Lewis can play LF. Castro & Julien at 2B …….lots of options…..Royce seems overwound to have in the infield to me but am sure that’s not popular. Don’t get the over 50% of throws being on hop or more?

Anyway, I agree about the purpose of the minor league’s and development. But saying that and then stating that the veterans should get jettisoned so we can determine what to do for next year by playing youth immediately makes no sense to me.

Santana - CC - Lewis - Jeffers - Vazquez are fixtures in the infield…….Castro - Farmer - Miranda are auxiliary pieces……Lee could/should be in this mix soon…..,Julien on outside looking in right now.

Keppler - Buxton - Larnach - Martin - Margot are the OF pieces………I do not see any other “youth” breaking into this group for a month unless Keppler or someone else is injured.

2 hours ago, Fatbat said:

Lee needs time at 2B on the same team as C4. He will learn waaaay more in MLB than AAA.

While Twins lose more games because of errors like Lewis did at third due to inexperience.

Twins need to win now, not be a little league school.

Cincinatti brought up De La Cruz last year , he ended up batting a little over .230 for the year; Twins do not need for a rookie to find out how tough the majors are this year.

If they had a division lead like Cleveland, maybe, but they do not.

9 hours ago, RpR said:

While Twins lose more games because of errors like Lewis did at third due to inexperience.

Twins need to win now, not be a little league school.

Cincinatti brought up De La Cruz last year , he ended up batting a little over .230 for the year; Twins do not need for a rookie to find out how tough the majors are this year.

If they had a division lead like Cleveland, maybe, but they do not.

Its baseball. A game of failure. I will let Lewis off for throwing a dozen balls away instead of into the mit and a 1B’r all season long because he will still be 1.43 xrbsblablareplacent.com Lewis is priceless.