Max Kepler isn't good at anything anymore

[Teflon]

Speculation is that Kepler is in possession of some damning pictures taken of Thad Levine/Derek Falvey with TC Bear. #furries

[wabene]

25 minutes ago, Teflon said:

Speculation is that Kepler is in possession of some damning pictures taken of Thad Levine/Derek Falvey with TC Bear. #furries

To be fair the bear does look quite cuddly 

[RpR]

1 hour ago, Major League Ready said:

. Wallner has looked really bad defensively.  he just does not have good instincts or hands.

That said .... If it were one or the other, I would keep Kepler for now, cut Gallo tomorrow and bring up Wallner or Larnach.  

Kepler 8 season in minors in RF -- 4 errors

Wallner 4 seasons in miinors in  RF -- 26 errors.

[LA Vikes Fan]

Let's be honest guys, Kepler's mini hot streak probably got him leave to stay until the All Star break at least. In fact he's playing and hitting 3rd tonight! I'll cheer for the guy but I think we all know that he's at the end of the line by year end, or at least we won't pick up the option. 

Gallo, on the other hand, is lost at the plate. I live in LA and he looks like the same guy who hit .162/.277/.393 (.671) for the Dodgers last year. While I never hope for illness or injury, I'd love to see something happen for Wallner (or Andrew Stevenson) to get up to the Twins and show what he can do. I found myself almost wishing that Buxton's back spasms required an IL stay so Wallner could come up and hit. Miranda is also now hitting well in AAA, Larnach not so much. I don't see them DFAing either Gallo or Kepler, and neither one of them have any trade value to speak of, so I think Wallner and/or Miranda's only way up is an Il stint opening a spot. 

[MMMordabito]

Watching the game today?

[Reptevia]

He’s seemed lackadaisical on defense. He doesn’t run out balls. He is terrible on the base paths. The eye test shows a player that is past caring. 

[ashbury]

8 minutes ago, Reptevia said:

He’s seemed lackadaisical on defense. He doesn’t run out balls. He is terrible on the base paths. The eye test shows a player that is past caring. 

You picked a funny day to say this. He's looked good on defense today and of course owns the first 4 RBIs of the game for the Twins.  He's looked engaged when the camera is on him.

I don't put much stock in any small sample of results, and merely say this is very welcome and a bit overdue from our right fielder.

[Reptevia]

1 minute ago, ashbury said:

You picked a funny day to say this. He's looked good on defense today and of course owns the first 4 RBIs of the game for the Twins.

I don't put much stock in any small sample of results, and merely say this is very welcome and a bit overdue from our right fielder.

One day or even a series against one of the worst teams in MLB doesn’t erase the past three years. 

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, MMMordabito said:

Watching the game today?

a hot stretch offsets 4 years of data?

[Schmoeman5]

On 6/22/2023 at 3:06 PM, RpR said:

You do not like Kepler, oh my, oh my. 😆

And you love him. Oh my, oh my. 😃 

[big dog]

During the game today Gladden said it was well known that a few series ago Baldelli called Kepler into the office and gave him some heat for now putting out enough effort.  Is that actually well known? First I've heard of it. Gladden gave it some credit for Kepler hitting and defending better the last few games.  At best there seems to have been a lag between when the talk occurred and when production picked up.

[D.C Twins]

A professional baseball player being paid millions needing to be reminded to try hard..... yikes!

[Rod Carews Birthday]

Trade him TODAY.  He is in the middle of the only hot streak he will likely experience this year.  You could maybe get TWO bags of balls instead of only one, but it will open up the spot for Wallner. 

[weitz41]

Interesting how you can get the Hershy bar pieces and graham crackers ready for your smores and then the marshmallows burn to char at the last minute. I still don't disagree, but I'll hold off till next weekend's smores.

[lecroy24fan]

2 hours ago, big dog said:

During the game today Gladden said it was well known that a few series ago Baldelli called Kepler into the office and gave him some heat for now putting out enough effort.  Is that actually well known? First I've heard of it. Gladden gave it some credit for Kepler hitting and defending better the last few games.  At best there seems to have been a lag between when the talk occurred and when production picked up.

Yes. It was after he failed to tag up on a play he probably should have.

[Joey Self]

2 hours ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

Trade him TODAY.  He is in the middle of the only hot streak he will likely experience this year.  You could maybe get TWO bags of balls instead of only one, but it will open up the spot for Wallner. 

Don't you need a sucker...I mean, an interested team in order to do that? 

[Rod Carews Birthday]

25 minutes ago, Joey Self said:

Don't you need a sucker...I mean, an interested team in order to do that? 

People get excited about SSS all the time!  At least I hope they do!  At any rate, we would be definitely sell high!

[jctwins]

Bump

[Schmoeman5]

The fact that it took close to 3 years for him to get playing well speaks volumes against him. He's been doing great. Where was that performance hiding? Under the I could care less Kepler. He's running harder on the bases and in the outfield. Not that tip toeing ballet dancer. If he played anywhere near the level he's playing at now, no one would have been calling for him to be traded or possibly released.

[Schmoeman5]

2 hours ago, Schmoeman5 said:

The fact that it took close to 3 years for him to get playing well speaks volumes against him. He's been doing great. Where was that performance hiding? Under the I could care less Kepler. He's running harder on the bases and in the outfield. Not that tip toeing ballet dancer. If he played anywhere near the level he's playing at now, no one would have been calling for him to be traded or possibly released.

Your bottle is low and your cheese has mold

[RpR]

2 hours ago, Schmoeman5 said:

The fact that it took close to 3 years for him to get playing well speaks volumes against him. He's been doing great. Where was that performance hiding? Under the I could care less Kepler. He's running harder on the bases and in the outfield. Not that tip toeing ballet dancer. If he played anywhere near the level he's playing at now, no one would have been calling for him to be traded or possibly released.

Que sera, sera.

[Danchat]

Alright front office, you win on this one for ignoring us fans and sticking with Max. However, their same persistence with Gallo hasn't worked.

[wabene]

I gotta admit I joined in on giving up on Max Kepler. If he keeps this up that $10m club option is looking pretty good. What originally looked like a team friendly deal becomes one again. Who can explain this turn around? I'm all ears.

Max has all the tools to be this very valuable player. Can he keep it up? Will he and his buddy Polo be here next year? Polo volunteering for 3rd base speaks volumes for his mindset. Kep is harder to read. 

[jorgenswest]

He has been hitting the ball harder most of the year but the hits didn’t come until July. He is pulling the ball more often again. I wonder if the shift caused him to try to hit the ball to the opposite field and instead of good contact to the opposite field he ended up with weak contact too often. He is best when he is pulling the ball and hitting it hard.

On June 29 I wrote about the Twins and hard hits as a ratio of at bats. Jeffers was the Twins leader given Wallner’s small sample but Kepler wasn’t far behind. The three have done quite well since. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Kepler and Polanco are fixtures and whether we agree or not, the front office seems to love both guys. Polanco might face more of a roster crunch with Julien and Lewis, and with Lee looming in AAA. Wouldn't necessarily be shocked if Jorge's not on the team in 2024. But considering the lack of outfield options in-house, I think they pick up Kepler's option for next season. If not, they just paint themselves into a corner and force themselves into signing a stop-gap until one of the young guys are ready.

[insagt1]

Kepler looks much more engaged these days...looks more passionate...watched his reaction to the game tying HR yesterday. Thats a Kepler we hadn't seen much this season. But a hot Kepler in August-September can't hurt! Now if Polo and Correa could follow suit...as both are not up to par at all. With Kirilloff hurt, and Larnach up and down, and Buxton unable to play CF, and Twins suddenly 4 1/2 games ahead of Cleveland, its nice to see some of the guys stepping up.

Kepler could go back into the dumper again but for now, its nice to see him really contributing. (unlike Gallo, who is not contributing much of anything at the plate and that has been going on for a long time now)

[TruthInDuluth]

Complain complain complain about Kepler

hes like most major leaguers, a streak hitter.

who’s complaining now? .328 since all star break, plus a couple great plays in right

war is a tough stat, the ball has to be hit close enough to make a special play on, yet not too far out of reach. Not a players fault that the balls hit are not quite close enough for him to look like a superstar 

Kepler is a better player than all those who were bent pre trade deadline to replace him

Buxton is the one who needs to go, always hurt, only a 238 career hitter

[chpettit19]

39 minutes ago, TruthInDuluth said:

Complain complain complain about Kepler

hes like most major leaguers, a streak hitter.

who’s complaining now? .328 since all star break, plus a couple great plays in right

war is a tough stat, the ball has to be hit close enough to make a special play on, yet not too far out of reach. Not a players fault that the balls hit are not quite close enough for him to look like a superstar 

Kepler is a better player than all those who were bent pre trade deadline to replace him

Buxton is the one who needs to go, always hurt, only a 238 career hitter

Not sure BA is really the way you want to go when suggesting Kepler is good and Buxton is bad. Kepler is a career .233 hitter. And this hot streak where he's hitting .328 since the break? That raised his BA this year to a whopping..... .238. 

[nicksaviking]

I trust this 'new' Max Kepler about as much as I trusted April Joey Gallo. A month and a half of good hitting isn't going to make me forget about being disappointed in him for six of his last seven seasons.

I obviously hope he keeps hitting well, but if the front office is fooled into thinking that a 30-year-old is suddenly going to turn his career around, then they haven't been paying attention to how baseball works.

 

[2wins87]

3 hours ago, wabene said:

I gotta admit I joined in on giving up on Max Kepler. If he keeps this up that $10m club option is looking pretty good. What originally looked like a team friendly deal becomes one again. Who can explain this turn around? I'm all ears.

Max has all the tools to be this very valuable player. Can he keep it up? Will he and his buddy Polo be here next year? Polo volunteering for 3rd base speaks volumes for his mindset. Kep is harder to read. 

My take on Kepler pretty much all year is that he's still being more or less the same player he's always been.  OPS+ within about 10 points above or below 100.  Good defense in the corner outfield spot.  There are a few peripherals that are a bit more out of line with his norms, but overall, this is pretty much where we should have expected him to end up all along. 

So he's on pace for another season around 2 WAR which is solid starter material.  Definitely not the kind of player that gets DFAd, but also not something you can't move on from if you wanted to construct the roster differently.  Also definitely worth a $10MM option if they want it, though I don't think that should preclude them from shipping the $10MM option to some other team in the offseason either.  I think there would be takers, though with an excess value of like $5 or $6MM they wouldn't get back a whole lot.

Polanco is complicated by the fact that he also has another team option for 2025.  It makes it a little harder to give up on the bounceback when they could get 2 valuable years of control if it happens.  I'm becoming increasingly skeptical that his health can hold up enough for him to be the productive guy he could be though.  Makes it harder to figure out what to do, but I also wouldn't be surprised if there are other teams that would like him. The second option is entirely gravy for any team that wants the contract.  It's a $10MM bet that he can be healthy and productive, and if he's not they don't have to worry about the $12MM in 2025.