Did the Twins Give Up on Brent Rooker Too Soon?

[nicksaviking]

6 hours ago, Linus said:

There are plenty of mistakes made by the front office but this isn’t one of them. Due to options roster spots etc you sometimes have to decide on guys before you would like to. Combine that with the fact that some guys just don’t become effective players until they are older and this situation will come up. We may well be in the same boat with Larnach and Kiriloff soon. My biggest criticism of this situation is the drafting philosophy behind selecting Rooker. He like Wallner Sabato etc are one trick ponies that offer no defensive value or speed and athleticism. It shows in the big club today: below average defense and no speed or ability to create runs other than the long ball. 

These guys were all drafted during the Twins successful juiced ball era. It's understandable why they thought it was appropriate to continue to churn out those three-true-outcome hitters. The league changed the game on the Twins and by 2021 the Twins had shifted their draft philosophy dramatically. 

[Squirrel]

2 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

I thought this had to be an Onion article, but nope, somehow it's real. Wow. 

Yeah, you can spot a Cody article that way … when you see the title, look at the author, and yup.

[Patzky]

The latest hopes are both starting rehab assignments in Florida, Brooks Lee and Walker Jenkins begin work in the Florida Coast league.

[Linus]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

These guys were all drafted during the Twins successful juiced ball era. It's understandable why they thought it was appropriate to continue to churn out those three-true-outcome hitters. The league changed the game on the Twins and by 2021 the Twins had shifted their draft philosophy dramatically. 

Possibly. Their success in this regard was pretty much 2019 if I recall correctly. Regardless their success rate in drafting this type of player hasn’t been good. 

[mikelink45]

6 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Would you trade Paddack for Rooker right now? I'm not sure I would.

That was not the trade. Rooker was a throw-in. I just can't make that one-to-one comparison

[mikelink45]

Of course, it would be great to have ricker in our starting lineup right now, but at the time we let him go he was struggling in the very limited amount of exposure we gave him and Larnach and Kirilloff we're projected to be the stars. Neither have come through as projected and that's the difficulty when you're dealing with young players. Who knows when and how players will reach their potential or if they will. So I don't blame the twins. But I'm really delighted for rooker. We can write the same kind of article about Cano and a couple other players who are doing well on other teams. The real key is if we have enough players doing as well or better

[bean5302]

3 hours ago, Danchat said:

I have a hard time blaming the Twins for giving up on Rooker, he was already 27 and proved them right by spending most of that year in AAA and doing nothing for the Royals. It's better to save those roster spots and plate appearances for younger hitters, and you can't count on these guys being late bloomers. Kudos to Rooker and the A's, but I put none of this on the Twins. It's a less ridiculous version of blaming the Twins for not unlocking Liam Hendriks.

It is unfortunate the the Twins strategy of spending 1st rounders on sluggers and didn't get the main return on Rooker, Larnach has been all over the place, Wallner is back into limbo after a great 2023, and Sabato is unlikely to be a major league player.

LOL, you're 100% right. It's definitely not the Twins' fault they can't evaluate talent.

[Danchat]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

LOL, you're 100% right. It's definitely not the Twins' fault they can't evaluate talent.

I am knocking them for failing to get results from these "slugger" type hitters, but I don't blame them for giving up on Rooker when they did. Waiting for a prospect to break out at age 28 / year 7 in our system isn't a logical way to run things.

[USAFChief]

5 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

I thought this had to be an Onion article, but nope, somehow it's real. Wow. 

I'd say more "Babylon Bee" like. Sort of like the Onion, only not clever or funny.

[saviking]

23 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Yes. Choosing to keep Larnach over Rooker was an obvious mistake as far as I'm concerned. I've expected Rooker to be a very good valuable hitter for a long time now, but he needed an opportunity. The Twins' treatment of Rooker ruined his reputation as a prospect and it took landing with the Oakland A's for Rooker to finally get a lengthy look in the lineup. I don't think he'll keep hitting quite as well as he has this year, but I bet the Padres and Royals are wishing they gave Rooker more plate appearances and ignored Minnesota's evaluations.

I don't think it's probable Rooker will continue to improve at this point, but he could settle in at a 3.0 WAR DH or if somebody puts him back into the field, a 4.0 WAR corner outfielder with rough defense.

I think the bigger story is don't give up on Larnach, Krilloff or Wallner at age 27 ..  

[bean5302]

16 hours ago, Danchat said:

I am knocking them for failing to get results from these "slugger" type hitters, but I don't blame them for giving up on Rooker when they did. Waiting for a prospect to break out at age 28 / year 7 in our system isn't a logical way to run things.

Rooker was, in fact, on the Twins before he was age 28. He was essentially benched for Larnach and Kirilloff in 2021 when Rooker was 26, after he ripped the cover off the ball in 2020 at age 25 before he had his wrist broken by a HBP.

The peripherals for Rooker showed he was getting unlucky in 2021, and even so, he was still as good if not better than Larnach or Kirilloff. The Twins chose Larnach and Kirilloff instead of Rooker. That's called evaluation of talent. Rooker is now a middle of the order slugger with All Star caliber numbers the past two years. Rooker's "defense" isn't so bad when you look at Kirilloff Larnach.

The Twins dropped the ball like it was routine fly to Alex Kirilloff.

[David HK]

Yes.

The Twinks gave up on the wrong college hitter.  

And gee, just imagine Rocco platooning this RH hitter instead of the one of the Black Hole Three of Farmer, Margot, and Vasquez.  Add Larnach to that mix after his SSS gets to be larger.

[Riverbrian]

In 2023... His OPS with the A's would have ranked 5th on the Twins. 

Thus far in 2024. He would be ranked #1 on the Twins. 

His minor league stats appear to be consistently good every year. He had options remaining.

No idea if the Padres insisted on Rooker or if the Twins insisted on Rooker but 26 man decisions had to be made like every year. Those 26 man spots are gold while we watched Garlick, Cave, Celestino among others occupy 26 man roster spots after Rooker was moved. 

When you roster Matt Belisle, you can lose a Nick Anderson as a result. 

 

[RpR]

Rooker -- they could have kept him in AAA, other wise, how may years of a massive hole in the  outfield and batters line-up were they supposed to suffer?

Cave's first year up put Rooker to shame; one reason  he stayed Rooker did not.

Twins crystal ball does not work as well as the ones some here use.

 

[Linus]

We might be talking about the wrong guy. LaMonte Wade has a 174 Wrc+ right now. That is quietly turning into a really bad trade.