Other site's news / opinions about the Twins

[Mike Sixel]

Pain: Could …. stop laughing…..could my Royals finish second or …even first? Tigers O looks bad. CWS are bad. Indians and Twins are vulnerable …Royald bats seem decent which means good in this division and rotation seems good enough. Okay, you can laugh now.

2:56

Ben Clemens: Oh totally, the Twins are the best team in the division but the Royals pitching looks GREAT

[Mike Sixel]

Oddball Herrera

2:16

Is Buxton cooked at this point?  It sure has been a long time since he looked good at the plate

Ben Clemens

2:16

Look earmuffs, twins fans

yeah, I don't think he's remotely as bad as he looks right now, but the explosiveness doesn't seem to be there

The one thing he has going for him is that he's still hitting the ball hard and still running fast.... but like, significantly lower on both coutns than in 2022

I think there's hope for him to be a competent major leaguer and a good defensive center fielder but it does seem like the injuries have taken their toll vis a vis being a true best-in-game star

[Mike Sixel]

Adam: Lets say the Twins continue to really underperform .. With Jhoan Duran set to come back this week, is he a under the radar trade candidate ?? Would love the O’s to get a guy like that who is controllable. Mayo for Duran ?

2:28

Ben Clemens: I think the Twins would jump all over themselves to make that deal

2:28

Ben Clemens: I don’t think it’d necessarily be an awful deal for the O’s, they have the whole issue of too many players for the major league roster

2:29

Ben Clemens: but that’s a great prospect to get for a reliever

2:29

Ben Clemens: even a really good reliever

[Mike Sixel]

Tom: are the Twins done? Cleveland looks like they’ll win 90+, hard to see the Twins fixing the lineup + the 4 & 5 starters in time to keep up with that pace
2:39    
Ben Clemens: I’m a little lower on them than our playoff odds (23% of winning the ALC)
2:39    
Ben Clemens: Their best path is the Guardians struggling b/c of an accumulation of pitching injuries
2:40    
Ben Clemens: I haven’t really downgraded my view of the Twins on a go-forward basis, but 8 games is a TON, which is what our odds say

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Adam: Lets say the Twins continue to really underperform .. With Jhoan Duran set to come back this week, is he a under the radar trade candidate ?? Would love the O’s to get a guy like that who is controllable. Mayo for Duran ?

2:28

Ben Clemens: I think the Twins would jump all over themselves to make that deal

2:28

Ben Clemens: I don’t think it’d necessarily be an awful deal for the O’s, they have the whole issue of too many players for the major league roster

2:29

Ben Clemens: but that’s a great prospect to get for a reliever

2:29

Ben Clemens: even a really good reliever

TD would explode.

[Mike Sixel]

Brock Stewart is quoted in this interesting post:

 

https://mollyknight.substack.com/p/nine-of-the-ten-starting-pitchers

[Mike Sixel]

Mike

1:55

How far out has Jenkins injury pushed him? Does this delay his progress by a year, or it doesn't matter all that much? thanks,

 

Keith Law

1:55

Walker? Don't think this matters in the long run.

[Mike Sixel]

Fangraphs has a top 100 prospect update....from "others we almost put in the top 100."

Luke Keaschall, 2B/CF, Minnesota Twins

As we approach work on the Twins list from top to bottom, we checked on Keaschall, who has done nothing but rake since entering pro ball, albeit in a relatively small sample. He’s shown feel for the zone, bat control, and modest power. Keaschall has never been a very good infield defender and the Twins have been experimenting with him in center field. He is very much still learning to play out there.

Rubel Cespedes, 3B, Minnesota Twins

Cespedes is a potential plus third base defender with a 70 arm, capable of hosing guys from deep in the corner. His swing is similar to Cam Collier’s and draft prospect Bryce Rainer’s — there’s big bat speed and low-ball lift but real vulnerability at the top of the strike zone.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/a-top-100-prospects-update/

[bean5302]

From "The Board" currently.
Walker Jenkins (29)
Emmanuel Rodriguez (36)
Brooks Lee (48)
David Festa (91)

https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board?sortcol=0&sortdir=asc

[Mike Sixel]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

From "The Board" currently.
Walker Jenkins (29)
Emmanuel Rodriguez (36)
Brooks Lee (48)
David Festa (91)

https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board?sortcol=0&sortdir=asc

Not bad......would be great if two of those hadn't missed the year so far.

[Mike Sixel]

Trevor Larnach

12:14

Am I real? K rate down 12% and currently 8th in MLB in average exit velo..

 

Dan Szymborski

12:14

The power probably. K should be improved, but not this much as still below average contact

[Mike Sixel]

Princess Leia: Help us Obi-Wan Clemonobi! You’re our only hope!
Keep Royce Lewis from any more freak injuries, master Jedi!

2:28    
Ben Clemens: You want the impossible!

 

Chickie: Edouard Julien just got sent to AAA for poor performance and the return of Royce Lewis. Take a look at both Julien and ELDC’s numbers over the past 28 days and they’re pretty darn close. With the exception of SBs and K’s, where Elly holds that advantage/disadvantage. If McLain and Marte were healthy and active , I’d guess Elly would’ve been AAA bound himself.
2:50    
Ben Clemens: I mean, what?
2:51    
Ben Clemens: I do not think that makes sense? And like…. if you’re sending people down for 28 days of performance you should not be anywhere near a GM’s seat
2:51    
Ben Clemens: Dan is writing about the Julien demotion later today, or maybe it’s already up actually

[Mike Sixel]

The rankings here will shock most of you

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-dog-ate-my-prospect/

[nicksaviking]

I'm actually not surprised. The Twins have been putting quality young hitters on the field regularly the last three years.

When they give them a chance.

[Mike Sixel]

Stuff about Cole Sands

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-three-relievers-with-four-fastballs/

 

[ewen21]

On 6/6/2024 at 1:46 PM, Mike Sixel said:

The rankings here will shock most of you

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-dog-ate-my-prospect/

I’m wary of FanGraphs.  It’s useful in a lot of ways but there is a lot of fatuous gobbledygook there as well.  I often seen an excess or misuse of Analytics.  The article went on and on about some TV program called  “One Tree One Hill” and it seemed like an excuse for the author to write about that for third of the article.  What is the point of such a diversion?   
 

Onto the substantive part of the article:

“The Twins own a high hit rate led by Royce Lewis, Mitch Garver, Edouard Julien, Ryan Jeffers, Luis Arraez, Nick Gordon, and Jake Cave,”

 

Do we really have a “high hit rate”?  This list isn’t as good as it looks, in my opinion.  Lewis has barely played but he’s been a shot in the arm since he’s returned.  Still…..he’s not doing us any good injured and there are valid concerns.  Who knows if he plays 50 games?  Given is track record am I wrong?  Garver is hitting .173 in Seattle and he’s 33.  Julien has been struggling all year.  We literally have no idea which way he’s going as of now.  Nice rookie year, but he’s a struggling player.  Jeffers has given us the best production on the list and he’s done it from catcher.  Arraez turned into Lopez and Lopez has 1.21 WHIP and .553 ERA.  Not the kind of value you’d want for a hitter like Arraez.  Nick Gordon?  Jake Cave?  Both are over 30 and barely in the league.  What actual contribution did these players make this year?  

 

Forget the article.  As of right now I don’t see a home grown product having a good offensive year on this ball club.  Lewis could put up decent numbers but the rest of the home grown talent has a lot of work to do.  This is to say nothing of the starting pitchers we have drafted over the last 25 years.  
 

I used to care about what the national media said, but I no longer do.  

[Mike Sixel]

2 minutes ago, ewen21 said:

I’m wary of FanGraphs.  It’s useful in a lot of ways but there is a lot of fatuous gobbledygook there as well.  I often seen an excess or misuse of Analytics.  The article went on and on about some TV program called  “One Tree One Hill” and it seemed like an excuse for the author to write about that for third of the article.  What is the point of such a diversion?   
 

Onto the substantive part of the article:

“The Twins own a high hit rate led by Royce Lewis, Mitch Garver, Edouard Julien, Ryan Jeffers, Luis Arraez, Nick Gordon, and Jake Cave,”

 

Do we really have a “high hit rate”?  This list isn’t as good as it looks, in my opinion.  Lewis has barely played but he’s been a shot in the arm since he’s returned.  Still…..he’s not doing us any good injured and there are valid concerns.  Who knows if he plays 50 games?  Given is track record am I wrong?  Garver is hitting .173 in Seattle and he’s 33.  Julien has been struggling all year.  We literally have no idea which way he’s going as of now.  Nice rookie year, but he’s a struggling player.  Jeffers has given us the best production on the list and he’s done it from catcher.  Arraez turned into Lopez and Lopez has 1.21 WHIP and .553 ERA.  Not the kind of value you’d want for a hitter like Arraez.  Nick Gordon?  Jake Cave?  Both are over 30 and barely in the league.  What actual contribution did these players make this year?  

 

Forget the article.  As of right now I don’t see a home grown product having a good offensive year on this ball club.  Lewis could put up decent numbers but the rest of the home grown talent has a lot of work to do.  This is to say nothing of the starting pitchers we have drafted over the last 25 years.  
 

I used to care about what the national media said, but I no longer do.  

Did you look at the rates for all the other teams? Because you can't judge this in a vacuum.....Julien has already accumulated a TON of war for a pick as late as him.....

I share your skepticism overall, but when you look at most teams and what they produce, it's remarkable there are even enough players in the majors.....I have no idea what Arraez being traded has to do with if he's good (and, you ignored the value from Lopez last year, I see). 

Lastly, I post stuff here, I don't necessarily agree with it, but not everyone goes to sites and sees stuff so I'm just sharing it. 

[ewen21]

6 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Did you look at the rates for all the other teams? Because you can't judge this in a vacuum.....Julien has already accumulated a TON of war for a pick as late as him.....

I share your skepticism overall, but when you look at most teams and what they produce, it's remarkable there are even enough players in the majors.....I have no idea what Arraez being traded has to do with if he's good (and, you ignored the value from Lopez last year, I see). 

You have the correct perspective.  I just am tired of us not being able to draft and develop starting pitchers.   We have done a BRUTAL job there.  
 

We’ve also had a number of promising young players never quite develop.  Sano?  Buxton?  To a lesser extent Kepler and Polanco.  Five or six years people here would have projected them to pan out nicely.  
 

The bottom line for me is we need to have cost controlled starting pitching.  That means you draft and raise pitching and we are among the worst at for the last two decades

[Mike Sixel]

6 minutes ago, ewen21 said:

You have the correct perspective.  I just am tired of us not being able to draft and develop starting pitchers.   We have done a BRUTAL job there.  
 

We’ve also had a number of promising young players never quite develop.  Sano?  Buxton?  To a lesser extent Kepler and Polanco.  Five or six years people here would have projected them to pan out nicely.  
 

The bottom line for me is we need to have cost controlled starting pitching.  That means you draft and raise pitching and we are among the worst at for the last two decades

I mean, I don't get how we can say Kepler and Polanco didn't pan out....they've had multiple good years in the majors. 

Buxton? Injuries mostly explain that for me. Sano? Perplexing to me. I thought he'd have a longer career for sure. 

Mostly though, I just post stuff here from other sites....though I don't go to as many or post as many anymore....

[ewen21]

27 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

I mean, I don't get how we can say Kepler and Polanco didn't pan out....they've had multiple good years in the majors. 

Buxton? Injuries mostly explain that for me. Sano? Perplexing to me. I thought he'd have a longer career for sure. 

Mostly though, I just post stuff here from other sites....though I don't go to as many or post as many anymore....

Fair enough, although I must say Kepler’s career statistics are not great and he had three down years in his late 20s when he should have been prime.  I also think Buxton never really developed offensively.  
 

Ok, that’s all for me.  Thanks for engaging 

[Mike Sixel]

1 minute ago, ewen21 said:

Fair enough, although I must say Kepler’s career statistics are not great and he had three down years in his late 20s when he should have been prime.  I also think Buxton never really developed offensively.  
 

Ok, that’s all for me.  Thanks for engaging 

I kind of agree on Kepler.....but I can never decide how I feel about him. Thanks to you also.

[ewen21]

The Bomba Squad might have been the worst thing to happen to him in hindsight.   What we going to do, though?  
 

Max, don’t hit home runs?

I am STILL expecting 20-75-.270 from him this year.  It’s within reach 

[Mike Sixel]

Correa
3:25    Correa is having a great year and even better past few weeks.  He gets lost in the shuffle of amazing AL SS but what are your thoughts on his HOF path?
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:26    Hoping to write about him soon. I still think he's in good shape HOFwise, especially if this hot streak heralds a return to his previous level of performance

[RpR]

53 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Correa
3:25    Correa is having a great year and even better past few weeks.  He gets lost in the shuffle of amazing AL SS but what are your thoughts on his HOF path?
AvatarJay Jaffe
3:26    Hoping to write about him soon. I still think he's in good shape HOFwise, especially if this hot streak heralds a return to his previous level of performance

He has had one exceptional year, and two very good years in 9 years; he is far from HOF at this point but time will tell.

[SaberNerd]

2 hours ago, ewen21 said:

Fair enough, although I must say Kepler’s career statistics are not great and he had three down years in his late 20s when he should have been prime.

Kepler hasn't been a great hitter, but he is an elite fielder.  Statcast data going back to 2016 has him as the #1 corner outfielder and #16 for all positions.  He averages saving about 10 runs above an average player per season.  More analytic-driven player valuations like Kepler; Fangraphs has him overall as a 50 run above average player (19 WAR) for his career, which is pretty great for a guy who signed for under $1M at 16.

[jmlease1]

21 minutes ago, RpR said:

He has had one exceptional year, and two very good years in 9 years; he is far from HOF at this point but time will tell.

he's had 5 all-star level seasons ('15-'17, '21-'22) in 9 seasons and is on pace for a 6th this year. I'd say that's more than 3 exceptional/very good seasons.

[RpR]

8 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

he's had 5 all-star level seasons ('15-'17, '21-'22) in 9 seasons and is on pace for a 6th this year. I'd say that's more than 3 exceptional/very good seasons.

That is your opinion; I go by years his glove equaled his bat and there are only three.

Two of those he was an All-Star and one a Golden Glove.

Other wise he was top rank  but not exceptional Short Stop.

[jmlease1]

13 minutes ago, RpR said:

That is your opinion; I go by years his glove equaled his bat and there are only three.

Two of those he was an All-Star and one a Golden Glove.

Other wise he was top rank  but not exceptional Short Stop.

one of his 2 all-star years was the same year he won his Gold Glove (2021). So I don't understand your metrics here. You said "exceptional/very good".

Correa was great as a rookie, playing excellent defense and hitting like crazy in only 99 games. (4.8 bWAR) and it's not like he was hurt, he played 53 games in the minors that season, destroying AA and AAA on his way up. That's 1.

he followed it up with a very similar season in 2016, only this time he played 153 games, so more bWAR (7.0). That's 2.

Deserving all-star in 2018. That's 3.

he was awesome in 2019, but missed all of June and most of July with injury, so I skipped it. and the pandemic season was weird and he didn't hit, so I skipped it too.

he was a deserving all-star in 2021. that's 4.

he was great in 2022 for the Twins, even if his defense might have been a tick down. That's 5.

If you want to argue he wasn't "exceptional" in all 5...ok. but to not qualify him as at least very good seems seriously unfair. It's like saying that if you're not one of the top 5 SS in all of baseball in each season it doesn't count.

 

[Mike Sixel]

The prospects (they certainly don't agree with others on a few guys!)

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/minnesota-twins-top-44-prospects-2024/

 

[jorgenswest]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

The prospects (they certainly don't agree with others on a few guys!)

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/minnesota-twins-top-44-prospects-2024/

 

Is it that they don’t agree or is it the Twins have many players that are 40 or 45 and there isn’t a lot of difference from 5 to 32? How significant is shuffling in that range? A 45 is a low end starter/platoon player and 40 is a bench player which essentially is a platoon player. In pitching terms it is number 4/5 starter vs back end starter.

Are there other sites that have someone joining Jenkins, Lee, Rodriguez and Festa or see one of those 4 as a lower end major leaguer?