Carson McCusker Should Be On The Roster Right Now

[Larry Janisewski]

21 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Yes bring him up and let him have a real opportunity to sink or swim - with Bride, a diminished Clemens, and Keirsey we have no bats on the bench - give him a chance to prove himself.  And yes we need the bat whether he owns a glove or not.

Baldelli has been notorious for bringing guys up and then sitting them on the bench without giving them the opportunity to see what they can do at the major league level.

[RpR]

5 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

For his career, Wallner is hitting 39% better than the average MLB player, and people think he should be benched and platooned. Unreal. 

Sent down, no; benched, some times that sends a message. Bringing up a rookie who has not shown any good responses, No.

The Twins are in a funk, odds are things will get better. IF the funk is still around after the All Star Game, playng a bunch of rookies, will depend on if the Owners think that will put more fans in the stands. 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, RpR said:

IF the funk is still around after the All Star Game, playng a bunch of rookies, will depend on if the Owners think that will put more fans in the stands. 

They'll have little choice but to play a bunch of rookies. I'd guess they trade away 6-8 players at the deadline.

[Vanimal46]

27 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I'd guess they trade away 6-8 players at the deadline.

That would be an unprecedented aggressive move by Falvey. I don’t think he has an aggressive bone in his body. 

[chpettit19]

An injury (multiple injuries?) or August 1st are the things that are needed to make it a situation where McCusker is going to get real ABs with the Twins. And that's best for him. Coming up to be a short side platoon bat as he tries to establish that he can hit MLB pitching is the worst case scenario for any rookie hitter. Having him sit on the bench of get 6 random PAs over a week is not what you want. 

Either an outfielder or 2 goes down and he comes up to be an everyday guy and actually get real ABs so he can make real adjustments and have a real shot at succeeding or the team continues to play this Jekyll and Hyde baseball and the front office finally gets real that this team can't compete as presently constructed and they make numerous trades on, or before, July 31st and he gets his shot starting August 1.

But calling him up now to sit around and rarely ever play sure doesn't sound like a great idea to me. Honestly, I wouldn't make any non-injury moves between now and the deadline other than activating Keaschall when he's ready. This is the team you thought could win. It's not actually decimated by injuries like some like to pretend it is. Let the team you thought could win try to win. Then be real with yourself in a month and do what the Tigers did last year. Trade every short-term vet you can and turn it over to guys with a possible future here. Trade Castro, France, Bader, Larnach if you're not going to pay his arb numbers, DFA Bride and Clemens if he's back to being his historical self as he seems to be coming back to. Bring back Julien and Miranda for their last chance. Give McCusker and whoever else their first chances. Running this squad back again for 2026 can't be an option. It absolutely can't be. And having another season where you miss the playoffs and don't get any info or give "young" players any experience because you're refusing to accept the reality of your roster failures would be a gigantic waste. 

Rattle off another 13 game winning streak? Guess the clubhouse saved itself. Hit the deadline around the .500 mark or worse? Get real and blow this offense up.

[AKTwinsFan]

Baldelli wouldn't know how to win if he had Judge, Soto and Ohtani on the team. It's time to move on, if the owners had any sense they would have after the same free fall last season. The boys just stop competing because he has no fire or passion. He just sits with a blank face all the time.

[stringer bell]

Of note, McCusker is not crushing since returning to St. Paul. Currently the hottest Saints hitter is Julien.

[jorgenswest]

When true prospects with a future value of everyday player come up Baldelli plays them every day. He played Brooks Lee played everyday when he was brought up. Keaschall played every day. When Walker Jenkins arrives he will play regularly. The same will probably be true for Emmanuel Rodriguez. Culpepper will get playing time. Prospects with a future value of platoon or bench player need to show they can thrive in their role.  Baldelli should not be playing every player brought up from the minors regularly.

The Twins believe in McCusker. They showed it by putting him on the 40 and keeping him there once sent down. It was good for McCusker to come up and see major league pitching. He hopefully realizes that he has work to do and needs to make adjustments. He needs to do the work. If he is making adjustments the results may get worse before they get better but that is part of the work.

[stringer bell]

57 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

When true prospects with a future value of everyday player come up Baldelli plays them every day. He played Brooks Lee played everyday when he was brought up. Keaschall played every day. When Walker Jenkins arrives he will play regularly. The same will probably be true for Emmanuel Rodriguez. Culpepper will get playing time. Prospects with a future value of platoon or bench player need to show they can thrive in their role.  Baldelli should not be playing every player brought up from the minors regularly.

The Twins believe in McCusker. They showed it by putting him on the 40 and keeping him there once sent down. It was good for McCusker to come up and see major league pitching. He hopefully realizes that he has work to do and needs to make adjustments. He needs to do the work. If he is making adjustments the results may get worse before they get better but that is part of the work.

I hope you are right on this. Lee is playing most every day because he's a switch hitter and I'm not sure either Rodriguez or Jenkins will get regular play against left handers when they make the majors. 

I also question how much the Twins believe in McCusker. Conditions forced his promotion (and addition to the 40-man) and it makes little to no sense to take him off the 40-man until or unless there is a need to move him. 

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

When true prospects with a future value of everyday player come up Baldelli plays them every day. He played Brooks Lee played everyday when he was brought up. Keaschall played every day. When Walker Jenkins arrives he will play regularly. The same will probably be true for Emmanuel Rodriguez. Culpepper will get playing time. Prospects with a future value of platoon or bench player need to show they can thrive in their role.  Baldelli should not be playing every player brought up from the minors regularly.

The Twins believe in McCusker. They showed it by putting him on the 40 and keeping him there once sent down. It was good for McCusker to come up and see major league pitching. He hopefully realizes that he has work to do and needs to make adjustments. He needs to do the work. If he is making adjustments the results may get worse before they get better but that is part of the work.

They better be right. Hand selecting this guy and holding back this guy.
 

Lewis better not fail. Rooker better not thrive elsewhere. 

[Mike Sixel]

48 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

They better be right. Hand selecting this guy and holding back this guy.
 

Lewis better not fail. Rooker better not thrive elsewhere. 

Every post criticizing then for Rooker gets a down vote. Every single team was wrong about him. Your post was great until then. 

[Riverbrian]

34 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Every post criticizing then for Rooker gets a down vote. Every single team was wrong about him. Your post was great until then. 

The Twins are not the only team that can’t pull players out of a pile. All 30 teams make these mistakes. Predetermined opportunities is a main reason why. Lewis will get every chance to become what they expect him to become. Max Kepler will get every chance to become what they expect him to become. Others not so much. 
 

Oakland also missed. It took an injury and a bad rebuilding team to get on the roster for Rooker. Even Oakland didn’t know what they had until they ran out of options and sent him to the plate..

The Twins missed on Rooker. I don’t blame the Twins for missing but they missed. If they missed on Rooker who’s to say they ain’t missing on McCusker right now with the same predetermined opportunities allowed or not allowed. With Rooker he got a shot to prove the Twins, Padres and Royals wrong. McCusker may not get that chance to prove anyone wrong and fade into the baseball wind with the thousands of others. 

[jorgenswest]

1 hour ago, Riverbrian said:

They better be right. Hand selecting this guy and holding back this guy.
 

Lewis better not fail. Rooker better not thrive elsewhere. 

Absolutely True. We need them to be right.

I don’t think it is possible for an organization to be successful if they commit to giving a consistent and long enough stretch in the majors to every prospect that showed flashes of promise. They absolutely need to rely on the skill of their minor league coordinators and staff in evaluating how each player is ready to help a major league club.

The one dimensional players are probably the hardest to give a real shot before options time them out. With Rooker and McCusker they only help with the bat and it is quite likely they are going to really struggle with the same side pitcher. If they don’t help any other way it is really hard to play them. These two have the additional disadvantage of being in the short side of the platoon.

It is critical that Falvey builds a highly skilled minor league staff and equally critical that the major league staff trusts their evaluation. I am not sure of their was a failure with Rooker or if options were running out on the Twins before his bat was ready to contribute. Maybe it was a failure on the staff to recognize his bat was ready.

[Riverbrian]

2 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

Absolutely True. We need them to be right.

I don’t think it is possible for an organization to be successful if they commit to giving a consistent and long enough stretch in the majors to every prospect that showed flashes of promise. They absolutely need to rely on the skill of their minor league coordinators and staff in evaluating how each player is ready to help a major league club.

The one dimensional players are probably the hardest to give a real shot before options time them out. With Rooker and McCusker they only help with the bat and it is quite likely they are going to really struggle with the same side pitcher. If they don’t help any other way it is really hard to play them. These two have the additional disadvantage of being in the short side of the platoon.

It is critical that Falvey builds a highly skilled minor league staff and equally critical that the major league staff trusts their evaluation. I am not sure of their was a failure with Rooker or if options were running out on the Twins before his bat was ready to contribute. Maybe it was a failure on the staff to recognize his bat was ready.

It’s a hard job. Like timing the stock market is a hard job. 
 

The limitations of the 40 man and 26 man roster is going to require placing your bets on this player and betting against this player. This is why I don’t blame the Twins for missing on Rooker. But it can’t be argued that they didn’t miss. They missed and missed big. 
 

The problem is simply the wasting of 26 man roster space. When a player is called up and placed on the 26 man roster and then not utilized due to predetermination.
 

They better be right. They bet on Julien and Miranda this year. I did to. They were wrong thus far… so was I. 
 

When Rooker surfaces elsewhere… I have every right to look at them and say. Bet on the wrong horse Eh? How are Celestino and Garlick doing? Are you sure about McCusker? How can you be so sure? Are you sure about Lewis? How can you be so sure? 

[jorgenswest]

5 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

It’s a hard job. Like timing the stock market is a hard job. 
 

The limitations of the 40 man and 26 man roster is going to require placing your bets on this player and betting against this player. This is why I don’t blame the Twins for missing on Rooker. But it can’t be argued that they didn’t miss. They missed and missed big. 
 

The problem is simply the wasting of 26 man roster space. When a player is called up and placed on the 26 man roster and then not utilized due to predetermination.
 

They better be right. They bet on Julien and Miranda this year. I did to. They were wrong thus far… so was I. 
 

When Rooker surfaces elsewhere… I have every right to look at them and say. Bet on the wrong horse Eh? How are Celestino and Garlick doing? Are you sure about McCusker? How can you be so sure? Are you sure about Lewis? How can you be so sure? 

I don’t think are advocating for players like McCusker to come up and take away at bats from Wallner or Larnach against left handed pitching and some against right handed pitching. It sounds like you have lost trust in the organizational staff and their evaluation of minor leaguers. Are you advocating for a complete overhaul of the organization?

[Riverbrian]

18 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

I don’t think are advocating for players like McCusker to come up and take away at bats from Wallner or Larnach against left handed pitching and some against right handed pitching. It sounds like you have lost trust in the organizational staff and their evaluation of minor leaguers. Are you advocating for a complete overhaul of the organization?

Complete overhaul? I can’t advocate anything yet because I’m not sure if they simply don’t trust or are flat out failing to develop players they will trust. 
 

If they are failing to develop players that they trust. They need a complete overhaul of the system because they have fallen behind. 
 

If they are just not trusting. That just takes an attitude adjustment from the decision makers. Not holding my breath at this point. So eventually we will need a removal of that particular bottleneck. 
 

As for platoons. I’m done with them. Used to be OK with them because they made sense statistically but the Twins took it too far. Now I just see them as a slight advantage or disadvantage for one AB that will compromise  the development of players and therefore the future of the club. 

Forget the name McCusker… insert name here. If they give someone a 26 man spot. He needs to be allowed to compete… not put to sleep while players are playing every day with a .600 OPS. If the manager doesn’t allow him to compete. Get someone else. If you don’t have anyone else. The organization requires a complete overhaul. 

Because the Twins don’t have a roster that the Dodgers or Phillies have… 9 players from top to bottom… yet we have the same amount of pre-arb players and the attitude that Ty France can’t leave the lineup. 

 

 

[twinstalker]

Oh, he'll be on the roster soon enough. 

(Old camp song...)

Goodbye, Treva, goodbye Castra, we will miss ya, in Minnesata.

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Much less Duran, Justa Topa, Harry Bada.