Where Do the Twins Fit All of the Youth

[Ted Schwerzler]

The Minnesota Twins are set to get a bit more healthy down the stretch this season, and with some of that representing younger players, the roster will see a crunch. Where does everyone fit, and how much can they play?

 

Image courtesy of Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

After injuring his oblique during the middle of the summer, Royce Lewis is back for the Twins on Tuesday night. He played four rehab games with the St. Paul Saints, and his time there was spent at third base. He went 5-for-12 with a pair of home runs and certainly looks ready to go. Rocco Baldelli could use the influx of offense for his lineup the rest of the way.

With Lewis ticketed to take back over at the hot corner, that puts veteran Jorge Polanco in an interesting position, and Minnesota must consider where everyone will play both this year and next.

On the season, Polanco has a 102 OPS+, but he has hit just .228/.343/.386 since returning from the injured list at the end of July. Assuming Lewis takes his spot at third base, it will be the second time this season that Polanco has been outdone by a younger talent, and Edouard Julien has settled in nicely at second base. Polanco doesn’t seem likely to be benched, so the designated hitter spot could become his regular home going forward. If there is fear Julien's defense holds him back, rather than is necessary development, the positioning between the two could be swapped.

The Twins have hamstrung themselves in terms of lineup flexibility when Byron Buxton plays this season. Currently on the injured list and looking for a health reset, he doesn’t seem ticketed for centerfield any time soon. That means he will continue to clog the designated hitter spot, and he’s doing so at a detriment to the Twins with just a 99 OPS+.

Shuffling will need to take place.

First base can presumably be Joey Gallo and Donovan Solano’s role until Alex Kirilloff returns from injury. It remains to be seen whether he can get healthy, but the shoulder issue is not the same as his wrist plaguing him in recent seasons. Kirilloff has seemed to be an everyday player this season, and that would be the hope for 2024 as well. He has the ability to play corner outfield, but keeping him at first is straightforward.

Right now, there is no reason to take Max Kepler out of the lineup, and Matt Wallner fits in at the other corner spot. Should Kepler’s option be declined next season, Trevor Larnach could figure to factor back into plans, but he has struggled to do anything with opportunities presented to him thus far. The Twins glut of corner outfielders becomes substantially more manageable in 2024, and seems to have sorted itself out for 2023.

At centerfield, a player like Austin Martin could find a chance to establish himself. Martin probably profiles more as a utility type, but could rotate with Michael A. Taylor. He’s a better defender in the grass than on the dirt, and his speed plays in center. He’s a high on base percentage guy, and it could give Minnesota a different look down the stretch.

Logically, it makes sense that Lewis could also start in centerfield for 2024, but that won’t be part of the equation this year. Even with the injury being a fluke in 2022, the Twins are set on their youngster not playing off the dirt this season. Giving him a full offseason to transition into the outfield helps to take some of the mouths needing to be fed on the infield out of the equation.

Carlos Correa will remain the starting shortstop this year and into the future, which then pushes Brooks Lee to third base. Julien is settling in at second, and unless he’s given more reps at first base, that seems like the role where he will stay. Lee has already advanced to Triple-A St. Paul, and although he won’t be with the Twins in 2023 or to start 2024, a quick debut could be coming.

At this point it’s hard to suggest what the future looks like for Jose Miranda, who failed to take the path he was provided and run with it. Losing the starting third baseman job, and then essentially losing a season due to injury, his future with Minnesota is a bit murky.

Beyond the big names, there are a few guys that could push for playing time, but these are the talents that should be expected to anchor Minnesota in years to come. A left-to-right infield of Lewis, Correa, Julien, and Kirilloff can add Lee at third a season from now. Wallner then flanks Lewis in the outfield, with one spot up for grabs. The Twins have more to shuffle on the infield than they do the outfield, but having this much young talent pushing for time is hardly a bad place to be.

As Minnesota turns the books to 2024, the amount of pre-arbitration contracts should provide ample opportunity for a big addition or two. Pairing that with established youth is something that should be exciting to fans for years to come.

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[farmerguychris]

Get rid of Gallo now.  It just makes no sense to keep him on the roster when others are being more productive.  I liked the idea of signing him - it just didn't work out and now he's hurting the team.  Good luck to him someplace else next year.  That will allow us to bring Lewis up.

[Karbo]

Move Polo to 1st.

[Riverbrian]

Take inventory of what you have to work with and make it work. 

[DJL44]

I think Brooks Lee would save about 30 defensive runs more than Julien at 2B. +10 vs -20.

[chinmusic]

Expanding the roster to 28 on Sept 1st will certainly help.

[Major League Ready]

Other than Lewis, I don't see youth filling any more holes this year unless there are a significant number of injuries.  The INF will be Kirilloff / Julien / Lewis and Correa.  The OF will be Kepler / MAT / Wallner.  The September call up for position players will be Prato or Severino.

Next year .... Move Lewis to the OF and 3B is a competition between Lee / Miranda /Prato and Severino.  The OF is Kepler / Wallner / Lewis and Buxton.  Castro is the only certain bench player.  Farmer probably stays but there are 2-3 bench roles between Farmer / Gordon / Martin / Prato / Severino and maybe even Hellman.  

[Nashvilletwin]

There are multiple permutations. One written about earlier this week suggested Lee go to 1B and, I guess, moving Kiriloff to LF. Not sure this is on the radar screen,

Here’s another: if CF is so dangerous, why not have Lewis in LF? We could put Wallner (with his arm) in RF and Martin (with his speed) in CF. This gives us our desired infield (left to right) of Lee, Correa, Julien and Kiriloff.

Regardless, sometime in early ‘24 we need Lewis, Lee, Julien, Kiriloff, Wallner and Jeffers in the starting lineup as often as possible (understanding Jeffers and Vasquez should be about a 60:40 split).  This leaves Correa at SS and one open, presumably OF, position player spot. Candidates for that include Castro, Martin, Kepler and Gordon.

Add in Buxton and there is your 13 position player lineup in ‘24 with nine of those players essentially making league minimum.  Exchange Larnach for Kepler (which makes sense in spite of Max’s recent resurgence) and only Correa, Buxton and Vasquez would be making real dough.  Or, instead, keep Polanco and not Kepler.  Either way, investment opportunities for the mound - both starting and in relief - should be enormous.  Maybe, we then resign Gray and/or Maeda….

I’m going to enjoy the rest of this season - who knows where it could go, especially if we get good Lopez and good Gray in games 1 & 2 in any playoff series. However, in ‘24 I’m really, really looking forward to getting rid of ‘23’s “one and done” rentals and heavily investing my avid fan interest in an essentially new era of Twins baseball.

[ToddlerHarmon]

Piece of cake:

DH Buxton

C Vazquez

1B Solano

2B Polanco

3B Farmer

SS Correa

LF Gallo

CF Taylor

RF Kepler

With exciting addition Lupnow coming off the bench against lefties.

There you go, plenty of defense, and not a single one of these players are over 40!

Love,

Derek and Thad

(I'm too scared to check whether this was our opening day lineup)

[AWOLNATION_11]

I'm confounded on why Polanco isn't playing 1B.  Maybe he will once Lewis is off the IL.  The guy was an everyday big league SS, you can't tell me he doesn't have the chops for 1B. 

[TwinsDr2021]

Everything revolves around Buxton. If he can play center, it opens everything up for some other players. If he can't, well than some guys have to go.

[Rod Carews Birthday]

First of all, keep using Polanco as a stop gap wherever needed — third base at the moment, first base until people get healthy, second if Julien needs a break, DH if we need one that day.  He is a solid veteran professional who can do many things - not a great defender, but certainly functional.  That allows Lewis to play 3rd, Julien to play 2nd, Kiriloff (hopefully) to play 1st, with a safety net below them.  Pick up Polanco’s option this winter and find a good trade partner.  His value isn’t what it was two years ago, but it should still be something, especially with demonstrated defensive flexibility..  I’m not sure where this leaves Miranda.  He needs to fix things before he has any value to the Twins or anyone else.  Lee isn’t in the picture yet (until 2024 sometime), so let’s not imagine a logjam where one doesn’t exist yet. 

Second, and I join and repeat the chorus, DFA Gallo.  For a while I thought Gallo was bringing more than Kepler, but I have changed my mind on that.  Wallner obviously has earned his playing time, and Kepler has played well enough lately to be useful.  Jordan Luplow has proven to be useful in a RH role as well.  Much as I and everyone else would like to see Buxton back manning CF, we need to understand that it’s not going to happen this year, nor maybe ever — we’ll see.  So I bring up Austin Martin to play CF.  The OF is likely his future home and his speed will serve him well.  The backup is MAT, with the possibility that he is pressed into service more or used less depending on the success of Martin.  I don’t think Martin is a star in waiting, but I do think that the odds of him completely flaming out are slim given his on base skills, pedigree, and minor league experience.  for next year, we still have a Kepler decision to make, but we can solve that over the winter. 

Finally, it seems like the starting rotation has gotten a little bit messy lately, and I don’t have a good solution for that.  Hopefully some time off for Ryan will give him the rest he needed and he will be back strong.  Then we can give Ober the same kind of break.  Keuchel is definitely not a long term answer.  So far he has had one good (ish) start and one terrible one.  Let’s give him one more, but if it isn’t solid we need to move on to Varland or try something new (Dobnak?). I think next year can take care of itself here, but we do need to patch things back together for the rest of this season. 

Sorry.  I got started typing and wanted to solve all of the world’s problems in one posting. . . 

[laloesch]

21 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

Take inventory of what you have to work with and make it work. 

So essentially figure out a way to make a square plastic filter fit into a round slot using nothing but plastic trash bags and duct tape? 😁 

[Riverbrian]

1 minute ago, laloesch said:

So essentially figure out a way to make a square plastic filter fit into a round slot using nothing but plastic trash bags and duct tape?  :)

If it will get you home... Yep. 

[bighat]

1 minute ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

Everything revolves around Buxton. If he can play center, it opens everything up for some other players. If he can't, well than some guys have to go.

Yep. 

Buxton as the DH is hurting this team in several ways. First off, he's a DH who can't hit - that's bad. He also can't play defense when DH'ing, and considering that's probably his #1 strength, that's also bad. Finally, he's blocking everyone else....bad bad bad. 

This is all on Falvey, Levine, and Rocco. Buxton can steal bases and run around the basepaths - he CAN play CF right now, today. They just don't want him to. It's ridiculous. 

If another team traded for Buxton they'd put him in CF before the wheels on the plane touched down. 

[laloesch]

8 minutes ago, bighat said:

Yep. 

Buxton as the DH is hurting this team in several ways. First off, he's a DH who can't hit - that's bad. He also can't play defense when DH'ing, and considering that's probably his #1 strength, that's also bad. Finally, he's blocking everyone else....bad bad bad. 

This is all on Falvey, Levine, and Rocco. Buxton can steal bases and run around the basepaths - he CAN play CF right now, today. They just don't want him to. It's ridiculous. 

If another team traded for Buxton they'd put him in CF before the wheels on the plane touched down. 

 I agree and it DOES hurt.  If he could at least hit well he would be an acceptable TEMPORARY DH, but he's not even doing that.  I would be inclined to just stick him in the outfield and let him play till the wheels fall off.  What more can the team do?  This seems to be a chronic problem for Buxton.  If he's hurt (which is quite often), he's hurt and goes to the disabled list. Keep it simple.  If it's some long-term injury durability issue then the Twins need to suck it up, accept it, make contingency plans, and move on, but parking him at DH (a position he's not suited for) is not the answer.  Would he better fit as a CF sub / pinch hitter?  I don't know.  

[Joey Self]

13 minutes ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

Everything revolves around Buxton. If he can play center, it opens everything up for some other players. If he can't, well than some guys have to go.

Saved me some typing, because I was coming to make this very point.   Buxton on the field and not on the bench during the defensive half of the inning is key to a whole lot of things.  

Well, OK, two things--it opens up the DH spot for someone that would otherwise be out of the lineup, and it gets MAT out of the everyday lineup.  

JcS

[AWOLNATION_11]

Fun topic, I could think about this and read about this all day...could probably do this in two articles. 

Where Do the Twins Fit All of the Youth for the rest of 2023

Where Do the Twins Fit All of the Youth for 2024

[insagt1]

Injuries are the huge elephant in the dugout for the Twins. Someone key will always be injured for the rest of the season.  So flexiblity is important.

Kepler v Larnach? Is Larnach as good, or will be ever be as good as the guys playing now. Is he honestly an upgrade from Kepler..at least for the rest of the season? He hasn't impressed me that much this season. An insurance policy...ok. We'll have to see.

Polanco will play somewhere...and lets hope he becomes Polanco again. His bat isn't getting it done in this injury plagued season. All the rest of the guys have been discussed pretty thoroughly IMO

[big dog]

I think we should trade Spencer Steer and a couple of others for a durable starting pitcher.

[farmerguychris]

Maybe just activate Buxton and put him in CF.  If the wheels fall off, then they fall off and you put in on IL until he can play the field again?  Putting him at DH isn't working and he's making too much to just sit on IL so more productive players can play.  Still can DFA Gallo and I'm sure we can find someone else struggling to open another roster spot - its not like we're scoring too many runs per game.

[gman]

48 minutes ago, ToddlerHarmon said:

Piece of cake:

DH Buxton

C Vazquez

1B Solano

2B Polanco

3B Farmer

SS Correa

LF Gallo

CF Taylor

RF Kepler

With exciting addition Lupnow coming off the bench against lefties.

There you go, plenty of defense, and not a single one of these players are over 40!

Love,

Derek and Thad

(I'm too scared to check whether this was our opening day lineup)

Quote the Raven - Never More

[bloomwcjkl]

Just keep rotating people through AAA and AAAA. I don't know why the younger players can't supplant Gallo, Solano, Kepler. They just aren't consistent enough.

Whoever we seem to "go with" flames out. I'd prefer youth, but now we are stuck with Buxton and Correa for 5 years.

Not easy being a AAAA major league team.

[P Meyer]

If the Twins decide to attempt to cram Lee, Correa, Polanco, Lewis and Julien into a lineup, yes, I think you have to play Buxton at CF. How often will the Twins have that problem based up injury history is the real question. I personally view most professional athletes are depreciating assets for the most part. Because of that, I think the Twins are a bit foolish in limiting Buxton's time in the field using his defensive skills. Those skills are part of what makes him a top player. I don't feel a DH only role is maximizing the use of that 15 mil per year. 

[DJL44]

52 minutes ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

First of all, keep using Polanco as a stop gap wherever needed — third base at the moment, first base until people get healthy, second if Julien needs a break, DH if we need one that day.  He is a solid veteran professional who can do many things - not a great defender, but certainly functional.  That allows Lewis to play 3rd, Julien to play 2nd, Kiriloff (hopefully) to play 1st, with a safety net below them.  Pick up Polanco’s option this winter and find a good trade partner.  His value isn’t what it was two years ago, but it should still be something, especially with demonstrated defensive flexibility. 

I like that role for Polanco but question whether he's worth $10M as an oft-injured utility infielder.

[stringer bell]

First of all, as to adding two players on September 1, I doubt the Twins bring up a player who is not currently injured and is not on the 40-man roster. The possible activations of Nick Gordon, Brock Stewart and Chris Paddack might cover the two spots that can be added on 9/1. A clue to the future of Gordon is if and when he goes on rehab assignment. Twenty days from the start date the Twins would either have to add him to the active roster or DFA him. Stewart was moved to the 60-day IL and would be eligible to come off late in August. No word on progress for him.

There are five more players on the major league IL with at least a chance of being ready to play yet this year. 1) Buxton--the disabling injury is a hamstring. The underlying injuries (hip and knee) might also be healing with the time off. There is still plenty of mystery about Buxton's injuries and the resulting inability to play defense. 2) Kirilloff--No reports since he had a cortisone injection. I am starting to doubt his return this year. 3) Ryan--No report on Ryan either. His fifteen days will be up and it was reported that he would continue throwing while trying to get healthy. 4) Miranda--No report since July. It would appear that if even if he returned to health that there would be no place for him on the active roster and an option to the minors would be the next step. 5) Alcalá--The Twins say that they hope he will pitch again this year. It would seem probable that he, too, would require a rehab assignment and so far no word on that.

As a fan, I'm totally frustrated with the lack of news about all of these players. Several could be key performers in the postseason and we just don't have any timetables or firm estimates on their return. 

[TwinsDr2021]

7 minutes ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

The guy I feel bad for is Miranda.  He looked so promising last year and I had high hopes he was one of our key future pieces.  Now I do not know what they do with him.  If there isn't even room on the roster (this year or next) for him to showcase his talents (assuming he still has them) then how on earth do we even get value if we decide to trade him?  Basically he needs one or two injuries to open a hole for him to reemerge.

Like it or not it is the one of the downsides of bringing players up when they are already 24 or older, They don't get much of a chance to work though issues because they next 24 year old needs a chance.

Currently you have Miranda (25), Julien (24), Wallner (25, 26 to start next season), Larnach (26, 27 to start next season), AK (25, 26 to start next season), Lewis (24).

All on the older side of prospects that haven't established themselves (or stayed healthy enough) as solid major league starters.

The next small wave is probably Lee (23), Martin (25 to start next season), Severino (turns 24 in October)

Doesn't leave much opportunity for a real young prospect when you are still trying to figure what you have with your mid 20 somethings.

[TwinsDr2021]

6 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

First of all, as to adding two players on September 1, I doubt the Twins bring up a player who is not currently injured and is not on the 40-man roster.

 

💯agree, unless there is an injury and they need a player and my guess is that they would put a throw away player on the 40 as to not waste options on a real prospect (Williams or Stevenson for example). IMO

[nicksaviking]

Cleveland has given the Twins the ultimate gift of being able to win the division while still experimenting with the young players to evaluate next year. 

The Twins need to take advantage of this. And not just with Julien/Wallner/Larnach/Kirilloff/Lee/Martin listed above. Get the chaff off of the 40-man, particularly those that will have no chance at making a playoff roster, and start trying out everyone who's been hitting well in AAA or AA ball this year.

[JD-TWINS]

Feel bad for Miranda as well but he’s not even a thought for me as the Twins go forward. Even in ‘24.

Lee isn’t ready for this year and we don’t have roster space.

14 games til September roster expansion…….need Lewis up today…….Castro has had back problems so he seems a candidate to go retroactive to the 10 day IL……then available any time between 21st & 31st of August.

Current 13:

2 Catchers

Taylor - Kepler - Wallner - Luplow

Farmer - Solano - CC - Lewis - Julien - Polanco - Gallo

……………………….

Castro - Luplow - Polanco …….one of them has to go off 26 man. Castro can be optioned until September 1 but I think IL gives team more short term flexibility.

Who are the 15 guys with bats in September? We have 16 guys in the mix. 13 guys above plus Castro - Kirilloff - Buxton.

Gallo definitely gone by October 2 unless somehow he shows some hot streak. 14 bats in playoffs as we only need 4 starting pitchers.

The 15 in September is intriguing……may just be settled by injuries?