Three Minor League Hitters Who Can Help The Twins In The Second Half

[Fatbat]

25 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Fangraphs likes Doncon better than Miller. They aren't the only prospect hounds who think MN got the better part of that deal.

Fangraphs probably has it right.  Im more salty about Margo as an underperforming roadblock. We have many young options all over the field.  AK will likely be back for 1 year since he is underperforming and arbitration wont do much for him. 

[bean5302]

3 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Wallner still can't hit lefties. He's striking out about 30% of the time vs RHP and 45% vs LHP. Splits are 906 OPS vs RH pitching and 592 OPS vs LHP in AAA.

Historically, Wallner has hit lefties hard. If he's fine against RHP, he'll be fine against LHP, not that Baldelli's macro would ever allow Wallner to face a lefty.

[gman]

Looks like Lee needs a position and job in the second half. I don't know where they will play him, most likely second base. It's nice to see a coming roster crunch with young players who actually have talent. Even at AAA the the roster is pretty young with old man is Tony Kemp at 33 and the next 2 oldest are 28 in Michael Helman and Chris Williams.  And Michael Helman has a 924 OPS this year and won't even get a sniff.

[RpR]

22 minutes ago, gman said:

Looks like Lee needs a position and job in the second half. I don't know where they will play him, most likely second base. It's nice to see a coming roster crunch with young players who actually have talent. Even at AAA the the roster is pretty young with old man is Tony Kemp at 33 and the next 2 oldest are 28 in Michael Helman and Chris Williams.  And Michael Helman has a 924 OPS this year and won't even get a sniff.

My oh my, this is in the vein of "Play Lewis in the outfield, because we say so."

Lee is not going to Second Base, period; if there is an injury need for a 2nd Baseman, it will be Kemp, or maybe Helman, not Lee.

Kemp and Helman would be this years versions of Stevenson or Luplow.

Twins are trying to win, this year, not next; they are not an advanced American Legion Baseball team.

[chpettit19]

32 minutes ago, RpR said:

My oh my, this is in the vein of "Play Lewis in the outfield, because we say so."

Lee is not going to Second Base, period; if there is an injury need for a 2nd Baseman, it will be Kemp, or maybe Helman, not Lee.

Kemp and Helman would be this years versions of Stevenson or Luplow.

Twins are trying to win, this year, not next; they are not an advanced American Legion Baseball team.

Tony Kemp and Michael Helman are your arguments for the Twins trying to win? Yikes.

[RpR]

54 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Tony Kemp and Michael Helman are your arguments for the Twins trying to win? Yikes.

Yep they are 1,000 percent than cast Lee to the wolves by seeing how bad he is at 2nd.

Lee is not a good fielder any where.

[Patzky]

7 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

They will need to try out youngsters when the injuries occur. They will have no choice. We are healthy now... We won't be in the future. The day is coming and it will be necessary to stay in the race for the wildcard.  

When that day comes... That's when the Lee discussion starts... That's when Wallner walks back in... or Julien walks back in. 

I don't see the Twins moving on from Margot and Farmer so injuries is what will open the door IMO.  

I'd rather see Lee get some more AAA AB's added to his resume but if the time is coming soon... it's coming soon.

However... if you consider that we will have 4 open positions next year to fill and little money to spend... it's important to point out that Lee can only fill one of them.

Lee with 64 AB's at the AAA level leapfrogging Wallner or Julien who we will also need next year isn't ideal in my opinion. 

 

 

   

 

Speaking of Cleveland, proof good things can happen tonight. New 1B Jhonkensy Noel was called up and hits a HR in his first AB.

[mnfireman]

Lee with another HR tonight...

[DocBauer]

11 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

Farmer should be added to your list. 

Some key players Lewis, Ober, Ryan, Jax will be entering arbitration and getting significant raises.

For Jeffers it's year #2 of Arbitration with a bump coming and Every Day Willi Castro will be in year #3 and a significant bump most likely coming.  

2024 Payroll is around 129 Million

2025 Payroll is currently around 95 Million without Arbitration. The Arb bumps in pay will most likely eat up the majority of that 34 million difference between this year and what is on the books for next year.  

From the current roster... We will be down the 4 position players listed plus Thielbar in the bullpen. 

Unless any one expects a payroll jump... I don't.

Therefore... I see no reason to think the Twins will be fishing in the big fish bay of the free agent lake this off-season.

Therefore... those 4 position players will be filled by players from the farm or once again... cheaper... right handed hitting specialists to fill the Farmer and Margot roles.

Probably a combination of... Because... Left Handed hitters Julien, Kirilloff and Wallner are still the players most likely to fill in from the farm and they require the right handed hitting handcuffs.   

Cheaper Free Agents like Amed Rosario and Rob Refsnyder are the type of free agent I expect to see the Twins Target. 

The Twins may have to shed Kirilloff (out of options) to make it work. Will Brooks Lee be fulltime on opening day? 2B is where he can get that full time work.    

Something like this?  

DH - Julien or Larnach/Lewis

C - Jeffers and Vazquez

1B - Miranda

2B - Lee

3B - Lewis/Rosario

SS - Correa

LF - Castro/Martin

CF - Buxton

RF - Wallner or Larnach/Refsnyder

Just a guess but I'm pretty sure Pete Alonso ain't showing up. I suspect we will need those youngsters to fill roster space and too many of them are left handed so Rosario and Refsnyder types have to take up roster spots. 

I'm sorry is this too soon? I realize that 2024 isn't over yet. You just got me thinking. 

Yes it's too soon. But I've been doing the same thing in my head lately, lol.

Not saying someone won't be signed on the cheap, or lost in rule 5, or just decide to move on, but there's a pretty good chance the 13 man position player roster and reserves/alternates are already in the system. 

1B/PRIMARY DH: Julien, Miranda, Kirilloff

2B: Lee/Julien/Castro/Martin

SS: Correa/Lee/Castro

3B: Lewis/Miranda/Lee/Castro

LF: Larnach/Martin/Castro/Kirilloff

CF: Buxton/Martin/Castro

RF: Wallner/Larnach/Castro/Kirilloff 

C: Jeffers/Vazquez

IN THE WINGS AT AAA: Camargo, Severino, Prato, Keaschall, Helman, Keirsey, Rodriguez, Rosario. (Sabato?)

* Assuming health for everyone, including AK.

**Deliberately not giving Castro a starting job simply because he's so good and so valuable in his super utility role

***Including 40 man and non 40 man options at AAA because that's pretty standard.

I think that's about right, assuming no signings at this time. Potentially a pretty good looking lineup and depth options.

[Riverbrian]

2 hours ago, Patzky said:

Speaking of Cleveland, proof good things can happen tonight. New 1B Jhonkensy Noel was called up and hits a HR in his first AB.

Look up the top 30 Cleveland Prospects last year on MLB.com. Count how many of them are on the current 2024 roster. 

The Answer is 9

The best record in baseball in 2024 has 9 out of their 26 players on the roster who were ranked prospects in Cleveland's system in 2023. 

Once you look at what the youth is doing in Cleveland. 

Don't look at Margot. 

You develop kidney stones if you do. 

 

[Riverbrian]

39 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

Yes it's too soon. But I've been doing the same thing in my head lately, lol.

Not saying someone won't be signed on the cheap, or lost in rule 5, or just decide to move on, but there's a pretty good chance the 13 man position player roster and reserves/alternates are already in the system. 

1B/PRIMARY DH: Julien, Miranda, Kirilloff

2B: Lee/Julien/Castro/Martin

SS: Correa/Lee/Castro

3B: Lewis/Miranda/Lee/Castro

LF: Larnach/Martin/Castro/Kirilloff

CF: Buxton/Martin/Castro

RF: Wallner/Larnach/Castro/Kirilloff 

C: Jeffers/Vazquez

IN THE WINGS AT AAA: Camargo, Severino, Prato, Keaschall, Helman, Keirsey, Rodriguez, Rosario. (Sabato?)

* Assuming health for everyone, including AK.

**Deliberately not giving Castro a starting job simply because he's so good and so valuable in his super utility role

***Including 40 man and non 40 man options at AAA because that's pretty standard.

I think that's about right, assuming no signings at this time. Potentially a pretty good looking lineup and depth options.

Too many lefties. 

[Riverbrian]

8 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

Look up the top 30 Cleveland Prospects last year on MLB.com. Count how many of them are on the current 2024 roster. 

The Answer is 9

The best record in baseball in 2024 has 9 out of their 26 players on the roster who were ranked prospects in Cleveland's system in 2023. 

Once you look at what the youth is doing in Cleveland. 

Don't look at Margot. 

You develop kidney stones if you do. 

 

The Twins have 8 players on their current roster with less than 2 years of service time. Lewis, Miranda, Martin, SWR, Festa, Funderburk, Rodriquez and Sands. 

Cleveland with the best record in baseball has 16 out of 26 players with under two years service time. 

[Fatbat]

14 hours ago, RpR said:

My oh my, this is in the vein of "Play Lewis in the outfield, because we say so."

Lee is not going to Second Base, period; if there is an injury need for a 2nd Baseman, it will be Kemp, or maybe Helman, not Lee.

Kemp and Helman would be this years versions of Stevenson or Luplow.

Twins are trying to win, this year, not next; they are not an advanced American Legion Baseball team.

Lee has been playing 2nd for the Saints and will be called up before any other infielder at AAA unless we need to cover 1B because of 2 injuries to Santana and Miranda. Amazing that people still say that we have to slow walk Lee and his ceiling isn't real high.  The kid is gonna improve our lineup immediately. 

[AKTwinsFan]

Thes best thing for the current MN teams who are a part of Bally Sports north is to create their own network like YES for NY teams. That way they can generate more revenue to keep players around and add more veteran players.

[RpR]

3 hours ago, Fatbat said:

Lee has been playing 2nd for the Saints and will be called up before any other infielder at AAA unless we need to cover 1B because of 2 injuries to Santana and Miranda. Amazing that people still say that we have to slow walk Lee and his ceiling isn't real high.  The kid is gonna improve our lineup immediately. 

"Improve out lineup immediately" -- LOL 😄

Unless MiLB like to tell lies, he has played a whole 2 games, WOW, at 2nd Base, the rest at Short Stop so as I said, it is the -- "play him  at ___ because we said so." - mean while he is mediocre at the spots he does play, 3rd Base and Short Stop.