Roster Crunched But Needing Upgrades, Twins Could Shop These Names This Week

[CRF]

They can get rid of any/all those guys...except for Wallner. 

[TwinsDr2021]

8 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Wallner is their best hitting OF, you didn't trade that. It just weakens your team. They have three prospects in the top 120 that are pitchers, I can't see them dealing for a controllable pitcher, while giving up a controllable hitter. 

Just to clarify he is the Twins best hitting outfielder against right handed pitchers. He is terrible against left handed pitchers, and since Larnach is similar, I think sending out one is a good idea. IMO that is Larnach only because of what Rooker has done. (Optics)

[TwinsDr2021]

To me this reads as the Twins have accumulated multiple fringe level players on their 40 man and are looking to clear up some spots by trading said players to another team to take them on. IMO that really isn't realistic. Wallner is kind of the odd one on the list because he pretty great against righties and that has some real value, and Canterino is another with value because he really doesn't require a 40 man spot while the team evaluates what his real chances are.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

10 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

What can the Twins get with Keaschall or Zebby?

Seller's remorse. 

[karcherd]

35 minutes ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

Just to clarify he is the Twins best hitting outfielder against right handed pitchers. He is terrible against left handed pitchers, and since Larnach is similar, I think sending out one is a good idea. IMO that is Larnach only because of what Rooker has done. (Optics)

How do you know he is terrible against left handed pitchers, when is the last time he had an ab against one.  The Twins have made the determination with all of their young left handed hitters that they can't hit left handed pitching.  Wallner actually had reasonable numbers in the minors against left handed pitching.  Now I don't know if he can be league average or not but we will never know if he gets no chance.

[TwinsDr2021]

5 minutes ago, karcherd said:

How do you know he is terrible against left handed pitchers, when is the last time he had an ab against one.  The Twins have made the determination with all of their young left handed hitters that they can't hit left handed pitching.  Wallner actually had reasonable numbers in the minors against left handed pitching.  Now I don't know if he can be league average or not but we will never know if he gets no chance.

You are correct, I don't know he is terrible, but since the Twins believe that and the small sample size of 71 at bats of .183/.231/.231 reinforces he probably won't get the chance. On one of the broadcast's they talked about this and were saying Larnach was better in the minors against lefties and he has been well below average at the major league level and with the holes in Wallner's swing he probably isn't going to be given much of a chance.

[Jeff K]

13 hours ago, Gamblerssoftball said:

Are there any teams looking for a veteran presence in the infield? I've been a Farmer fan, but now is the time to move him. Even if it's just for roster space. He could help a young team a lot. A good LHRP in return would be ideal. 

Wait for RnR and his automatic thumbs down on anything negative for Farmer.

[JD-TWINS]

13 hours ago, Gamblerssoftball said:

Are there any teams looking for a veteran presence in the infield? I've been a Farmer fan, but now is the time to move him. Even if it's just for roster space. He could help a young team a lot. A good LHRP in return would be ideal. 

Dreaming here …….a “good LHRP” for Kyle Farmer? ………trying to figure out how to get a good reliever for 2 prospects & struggling with that.

I like Farmer but he doesn’t fit anymore unless they can keep him “injured” until roster expansion in September. If they need 40 man space, which is the basis here, he may need to be DFA’d or dealt for a A ball youngster that isn’t on the 40 man for some time.

[JD-TWINS]

55 minutes ago, karcherd said:

How do you know he is terrible against left handed pitchers, when is the last time he had an ab against one.  The Twins have made the determination with all of their young left handed hitters that they can't hit left handed pitching.  Wallner actually had reasonable numbers in the minors against left handed pitching.  Now I don't know if he can be league average or not but we will never know if he gets no chance.

Well, the guy was hitting .080 against all RH pitching 3 months ago ……..probably not a leap to ease him back in against the side he’s supposed to be able to hit first. The experimentation desire in The Show doesn’t seem prudent heading down the stretch of the season. He’s been having success over about a dozen games so far…….let’s keep the momentum going and let him evolve v. RH pitching and then add opportunities v. LH pitching in the future - meaning in ‘25.

[karcherd]

23 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Well, the guy was hitting .080 against all RH pitching 3 months ago ……..probably not a leap to ease him back in against the side he’s supposed to be able to hit first. The experimentation desire in The Show doesn’t seem prudent heading down the stretch of the season. He’s been having success over about a dozen games so far…….let’s keep the momentum going and let him evolve v. RH pitching and then add opportunities v. LH pitching in the future - meaning in ‘25.

First he was hitting .080 in 25 AB's, pretty small sample size.  The determination has already been made that he will not get AB's against a LH, this year or next.  The Twins want all platoon players.  If Mauer and Morneau came up today, they would be platoon players as well with this front office and manager.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

You are correct, I don't know he is terrible, but since the Twins believe that and the small sample size of 71 at bats of .183/.231/.231 reinforces he probably won't get the chance. On one of the broadcast's they talked about this and were saying Larnach was better in the minors against lefties and he has been well below average at the major league level and with the holes in Wallner's swing he probably isn't going to be given much of a chance.

Wallner didn't hit lefties very well in AAA and those lefties are mostly lousy.

[Doctor Gast]

8 hours ago, Colbeh said:

I've always been a huge Kiriloff fan (along with every other twins player) but trading him right now seems like a mistake. 

I also don't want to see the anti-falvey comments a year or two from now when he gets healthy and consistent and starts mashing like he's supposed to.

Unless he's a legit trade asset for a pitcher with control then hold on to him and give one last shot next year.

Right now we have a lot of RHHs in Lewis, Correa & Miranda, followed by Buxton & Jeffers, strictly platooned Margot & Farmer with SHHs Castro & Santana who hit better RH; all who can mash LHPs. We have RHH Martin who should be in the LHPs line-up but isn't. How about our LHH hitters we have Larnach, Kepler; Wallner & Julien who strike out a lot & then we have Kiriloff who's our best pure hitter who has some power. Kiriloff is our most dependable LHH (who are a premium because of the great majority of RHPs)when healthy so our priority should be keeping Kiriloff healthy. We desperately need Kiriloff so we shouldn't even think about trading him away for nothing.

[LambchoP]

As far as prospects go I'd say Severino and Keaschal are probably our best trade chips. Maybe Raya, but other than him, I wouldn't trade any pitching unless we also get pitching in return. I doubt we'll find any takers, but if we can unload Farmer, Margot, Vasquez or Theilbar to another team we should do it. Even if it's just for the roster spot and salary relief.

[old nurse]

12 hours ago, Marcos said:

You know… I just don’t get these comments and nonsense articles. The Twins really don’t have much to trade at all. I know that hurts to take. But it is. B. Lee would have been great to dangle, but since he has absolutely sucked, that’s no deal . I tried not to laugh so ridiculously hard about Julien as being trade bait. Do we promote that he has an excellent eye for a third strike call? The only dangle the twins have is Rodriguez. Please don’t even think of Walter! I said this on threads before R. Lewis even lit it up that he is untouchable! Same with Jenkins. Anyways,… we are talking about THE MINNESOTA TWINS! No organization in baseball knows how to pinch a coin harder than a Pohlad. C’est la vie

You seem to have missed the point of the article was about the fringe players of the 40 man roster .  You have definitely missed that there are multiple teams that are far more frugal than the Twins. Perhaps you need to reconsider ever labeling posting as nonsensical given your own post 

[Shaitan]

The Twins have a bit of a Kielty/Mohr situation right now with Kiriloff/Larnach/Wallner. At the moment Wallner is hot. But they do need to pick 1-2 of the 3 and start to move on by next season IMHO. 

That also doesn't mean they need to make the move now. But if the right offer comes, they should listen. (It worked with Kielty.) At this point, I'd move AK for a rental, but not Larnach or Wallner. But I also have no idea about AK's health.

[old nurse]

If the Twins make a trade for a player there will need to be someone off the 40 man so it would be a favor to the player to include them in a trade. 

One should remember that most of the minor league players were scouted by other teams  They may still have an interest. Any team needs to figure out long before any other team does whether or not there is a major league future or not. 

[TwinsDr2021]

28 minutes ago, karcherd said:

First he was hitting .080 in 25 AB's, pretty small sample size.  The determination has already been made that he will not get AB's against a LH, this year or next.  The Twins want all platoon players.  If Mauer and Morneau came up today, they would be platoon players as well with this front office and manager.

What have Julien, Wallner, and Larnach done in their limited at bats against lefties that gives people hope that they can overcome that during a pennant race? Margot has over 1900 at bats against righties with a .655 career OPS, he shouldn't be hitting against right handers. Jeffers and Lewis both have been given at bats against the same handed pitchers and have done well and thus were given more opportunities.

Mauer wasn't very good against lefties to begin his career but he was also 21 and 22 years old, Morneau wasn't very good in very limited at bats at age 22, but by age 23 was showing much better signs of being at least league average. Also Mauer and Morneau were much, much, much, much better prospects than Julien, Wallner, and Larnach. They were all stars and MVP candidates at ages the three above were still in the minors.

[saviking]

You know. We don't HAVE to do anything other than get our players healthy. 

[In My La Z boy]

30 minutes ago, saviking said:

You know. We don't HAVE to do anything other than get our players healthy. 

I like this. And I like Festa, and Zebby is coming, and Topa, and maybe Paddock for the playoff bullpen. We need last years Lopez and a healthy Lewis & Correa. I would love to pull in one more stud starter this week. Perhaps an expiring contract stud we don't have to give too much for? I think that's where this is going in my opinion. Eovaldi is my choice. He's a horse when healthy.

[Road trip]

54 minutes ago, Shaitan said:

The Twins have a bit of a Kielty/Mohr situation right now with Kiriloff/Larnach/Wallner. At the moment Wallner is hot. But they do need to pick 1-2 of the 3 and start to move on by next season IMHO. 

That also doesn't mean they need to make the move now. But if the right offer comes, they should listen. (It worked with Kielty.) At this point, I'd move AK for a rental, but not Larnach or Wallner. But I also have no idea about AK's health.

There is some truth to this, especially considering ERod and perhaps also Keaschall are probably only a year away from joining the outfield mix.  Even with the assumption that Kepler and Santana are gone next year, I don't know that there is room long term in the lineup for all 3 lefties (I'll just pencil in Miranda at 1B next year).  

Unless absolutely blown away (#1 starter, which isn't happening) I won't trade Wallner.  He is the rare Twin prospect that has stayed healthy, has the highest ceiling by far of the 3 players, and projects to be the best defender once he moves to his natural RF position where his arm will pay big dividends (admittedly "best defender" is a low bar... none of these guys are future gold glovers).

AK, I'm afraid, won't bring back a lot at this time.  Because of his injury history teams will be wary.  I doubt he will have opportunity to build much value for the duration of 2024.

Larnach has value.  Higher floor, lower ceiling than Wallner.  Can't trade him this month because the Twins need his bat right now, but during the off season I would listen to offers.

[karcherd]

1 hour ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

What have Julien, Wallner, and Larnach done in their limited at bats against lefties that gives people hope that they can overcome that during a pennant race? Margot has over 1900 at bats against righties with a .655 career OPS, he shouldn't be hitting against right handers. Jeffers and Lewis both have been given at bats against the same handed pitchers and have done well and thus were given more opportunities.

Mauer wasn't very good against lefties to begin his career but he was also 21 and 22 years old, Morneau wasn't very good in very limited at bats at age 22, but by age 23 was showing much better signs of being at least league average. Also Mauer and Morneau were much, much, much, much better prospects than Julien, Wallner, and Larnach. They were all stars and MVP candidates at ages the three above were still in the minors.

When they are given a couple of AB's every two weeks it is difficult to have success to show you can have success.  Julien actually did produce in the first month when given an opportunity.  You have to develop your players and that means letting them play,  Noticed when we played the Brewers , they didn't automatically pinch hit for their rookie outfielder, Frelick.  There are numerous examples of teams letting their players play.  You do not win championships with a team of platoon players and that is what this front office has built.  You can' t control every scenario that players will hit in, you need players that can hit against both sides of pitching.  But the Twins will not give an opportunity to the LH hitters to do this.  Is it the player or is it the team philosophy.  We will find out when Jenkins and ERod arrive, because right now I believe they will be turned into platoon players as well.

[Shaitan]

1 hour ago, Road trip said:

Unless absolutely blown away (#1 starter, which isn't happening) I won't trade Wallner.  He is the rare Twin prospect that has stayed healthy, has the highest ceiling by far of the 3 players, and projects to be the best defender once he moves to his natural RF position where his arm will pay big dividends (admittedly "best defender" is a low bar... none of these guys are future gold glovers).

This is a good point about Wallner that I hadn't thought about, when comparing to the other 3. Larnach has been relatively healthy, but I get the impression he's battling through something sometimes.

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, saviking said:

You know. We don't HAVE to do anything other than get our players healthy. 

Has any team in the history of baseball ever had it's entire roster healthy at the same time?

[Road trip]

1 hour ago, Shaitan said:

This is a good point about Wallner that I hadn't thought about, when comparing to the other 3. Larnach has been relatively healthy, but I get the impression he's battling through something sometimes.

Relative to many other prospects, yes, Larnach has avoided major injuries.  He has suffered some nagging injuries.  He had some muscle pulls in '22 that landed him on the IL a couple of times, and has battled a foot issue to start this year, which for a time was limiting him to DH duties.  But compared to Lewis/Buxton/Kirilloff, Larnach has been pretty healthy.  Some of this of course is just good vs bad luck... 

[Schmoeman5]

6 hours ago, karcherd said:

How do you know he is terrible against left handed pitchers, when is the last time he had an ab against one.  

Just before the all-star game vs Giants. Snell made him look bad. But then again. Snell was making everyone look bad.

[Greglw3]

19 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

What can the Twins get with Keaschall or Zebby?

I think they could get a very good return for Keaschall but I would have Zebby as an untouchable right now. He’s been so phenomenal that he could be a #1 starter unless scouts suggest that’s not possible.

[stringer bell]

6 hours ago, Shaitan said:

The Twins have a bit of a Kielty/Mohr situation right now with Kiriloff/Larnach/Wallner. At the moment Wallner is hot. But they do need to pick 1-2 of the 3 and start to move on by next season IMHO. 

That also doesn't mean they need to make the move now. But if the right offer comes, they should listen. (It worked with Kielty.) At this point, I'd move AK for a rental, but not Larnach or Wallner. But I also have no idea about AK's health.

Kielty/Mohr was a platoon, yes? They didn't have to choose on or the other IIRC. With Kepler (95%) and Santana (80%) likely gone next year, there will be at-bats to be had for the corner outfield, first base and DH, so maybe all three guys could be substantial parts of the 2025 team. 

Larnach has made himself relevant this year with decent performance. Wallner, since returning from the minors (SSS) has been mashing (or striking out) and Kirilloff has continued to frustrate his fans with injuries that drain his performance and then land him on the IL. I don't think any of the three have established themselves as big-league regulars, but it's possible all three could be good (we've seen moments). I would think it would be risky onto foolish to count on all three to be major contributors next year, but someone should step forward.

I haven't been a big fan of Wallner, but he has the ability to put a real charge in a baseball and he has a big arm and decent to good speed. He could become really good if he learns to make more contact, maybe spoiling 10% more of his strike three swings and misses and a bit better able to handle inside pitches. 

[Western SD Fan]

I am resigned to the fact that we do not have the budget nor the stomach to acquire a front line starter. I would be ok with running what we have. An opener for Festa like Wednesday or Paddack with someone resting in the wings when he implodes in the 4th or 5th. Miller just went on the IL so that should end his discussion. But broken pitchers are the Twins Way. ;)

I would like to see a LH RP and a corner OF that can actually PH. I am over Margot and his 0 fer in PH and Rocco for continuing to roll with it. My idea would be a Yimi Garcia or Tanner Scott. I would even bring back a Rob Refsnyder type since he can at least PH (4 for 13). 

Does anyone know Kirilloff’s ETA? Last news I saw was he hasn’t begun baseball activities yet. Can we transfer him to the 60 day IL and create a 40 man spot? Another trade bite might be Headrick in St. Paul. When he was right, he was good and someone might need bullpen help enough to dangle him out there. As for other DFA/trade options, it’s the usual suspects in this order: Farmer, Okert or Thielbar provided we upgrade, and Margot provided we upgrade.

[stringer bell]

50 minutes ago, Western SD Fan said:

Does anyone know Kirilloff’s ETA? Last news I saw was he hasn’t begun baseball activities yet. Can we transfer him to the 60 day IL and create a 40 man spot? 

Kirilloff could probably end up on the 60-day list to temporarily open a spot. IIRC, the first broadcast after the All-Star break, the broadcast team was saying that several injured players, including AK, were working out over the break. I don't know what Kirilloff was doing, but there's been radio silence since. There was also a report about a month ago (July 6) where MLB Trade Rumors reported that Kirilloff was soon ready to begin swings. Here is the note:

Alex Kirilloff has been on the Twins’ 10-day injured list since June 13 due to a back strain, and Kirilloff provided media (including the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Bobby Nightengale) with an update on his status yesterday.  Since part of the discomfort in Kirilloff’s back was due to a nerve issue, he received a cortisone shot and has been working on core-strengthening exercises for now, hopefully with an eye towards soon starting to take swings.  Injuries have plagued the career of the former top prospect, as Kirilloff has been limited to 249 games since his MLB debut in 2021 due to a shoulder surgery, two wrist surgeries, and now this back problem.

[Joe A. Preusser]

10 hours ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

I hope that the FO makes a trade to help this year's team.  That may also help to not lose someone of value in the next Rule 5 draft.  My guess though is that they stand pat to keep low cost young talent thereby saving $.  They have enough talent and depth to stand pat and make the playoffs and maybe even win a series, but without more help I doubt that they can beat one of the big dogs in a 7-game series.

We looked pretty darn good against a pretty big dog this last series.  Without 3 of our best hitters.