Could Someone—Anyone At All—Give Twins Fans Any Reason To Believe? Please?

[KirbyDome89]

7 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

He beat WAR on 2 years as I stated.  2021 and 2023.   Yes so Far Bradley hasn't matched it with the Rays.  You could say Ryan needed the Twins to help unlock his full potential which lets be real has been a bit of a roller coaster.  Amazing starts of the season followed by struggles in the second half (yes I am one of the biggest Joe Ryan supporters stating he is a #1 pitcher and defending that statement in May and June).  

As to USAChief lets just say we had a gentlemens agreement to ignore each others posts.  So much for that.  You should ask him about Draft Capital. he keeps bringing it up in the game threads.  

For being such a huge Ryan supporter you seem to be (conveniently) forgetting how his '21 season played out. He was in AAA with TB at the deadline, the Twins called him up immediately after he was acquired, he made 5 starts and threw a whopping 27 innings. I'll let you figure out why his WAR total that season was less than what Bradley accumulated in over 5x the number of innings thrown last year. Is it really that hard to show a modicum of good faith? Seriously....

[KirbyDome89]

4 hours ago, MGX said:

The bottom line is we traded a 30 year old inconsistent reliever for a 24 year old SP who already has 350+ solid IP in MLB. Who knows how it will work out, but the Twins need to make that trade every day.

If Jax is inconsistent, I've got some bad news for you regarding Bradley...

[Woof Bronzer]

3 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

2021 everything clicked.  

The Twins went 73-89 in 2021.

[bunsen82]

13 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

The Twins went 73-89 in 2021.

Correct mistypo, meant bomba squad of 2019.

[bunsen82]

51 minutes ago, KirbyDome89 said:

If Jax is inconsistent, I've got some bad news for you regarding Bradley...

Griffin Jax is almost 31 has an ERA of 7 in 11 appearances for Tampa with multiple bad outings.   Bradley at age 24 in 1 start has a 12.6 ERA.  Both were traded by the other team that they could improve the performances.  I will always take the younger pitcher with more years of control - for a player who requested to be traded.  

[Mahoning]

Why do writers keep saying the Twins have a good farm system? You can’t win without stars. When did the system last produce a genuine star? Maybe Duran. A hitting star?

[jmlease1]

42 minutes ago, Mahoning said:

Why do writers keep saying the Twins have a good farm system? You can’t win without stars. When did the system last produce a genuine star? Maybe Duran. A hitting star?

Buxton. Deserved all-star this season, and not just for his defense. Dude has a 135 OPS+, which is good at any position and great in CF.

If this is close to who Keaschall actually is as a hitter, he'll be a star. His bWAR pace over 162 games right now is an awesome 7.8, which is nearly MVP levels. Since he can likely improve significantly defensively, there's a potential star in there at least. That said, I'd like to see him do this for more than 27 games...

But stars are hard to find and rare to emerge from the farm system. It's why people are so excited to see Walker Jenkins rising. It's why plucking Joe Ryan from the Rays was such a great move. 

People talk about the Twins having a great farm system because they have a lot of depth and players with the potential to be stars. They're getting a lot of prospects to majors, which isn't easy.

How do you define a star? Dozier played at an all-star level for several seasons, was he a star? If you're only judging on MVP-level players you're going to be pretty disappointed...

[USAFChief]

3 hours ago, Woof Bronzer said:

The Twins went 73-89 in 2021.

Exactly. "Draft capital."

[KirbyDome89]

3 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

Griffin Jax is almost 31 has an ERA of 7 in 11 appearances for Tampa with multiple bad outings.   Bradley at age 24 in 1 start has a 12.6 ERA.  Both were traded by the other team that they could improve the performances.  I will always take the younger pitcher with more years of control - for a player who requested to be traded.  

Idc which disappointing '25 season anybody prefers, the point was that if we're criticizing Jax for being inconsistent, Bradley is equally guilty. 

[bunsen82]

4 minutes ago, KirbyDome89 said:

Idc which disappointing '25 season anybody prefers, the point was that if we're criticizing Jax for being inconsistent, Bradley is equally guilty. 

Yes both teams traded underperforming assets hoping to turn them around.  We got the younger version that is still a starter and 2 more years of control.  

[Mahoning]

On 8/28/2025 at 3:51 PM, jmlease1 said:

Buxton. Deserved all-star this season, and not just for his defense. Dude has a 135 OPS+, which is good at any position and great in CF.

The farm system produced Buxton a decade ago. One star per decade is not an enviable record. You can't win that way. A generation ago Calvin Griffith's farm system produced Gary Gaetti (better than anyone on today's roster), Kent Hrbek, Kirby Puckett, Greg Gagne, Tom Brunansky, and Frank Viola. Now THAT's a farm system.

[jmlease1]

3 hours ago, Mahoning said:

The farm system produced Buxton a decade ago. One star per decade is not an enviable record. You can't win that way. A generation ago Calvin Griffith's farm system produced Gary Gaetti (better than anyone on today's roster), Kent Hrbek, Kirby Puckett, Greg Gagne, Tom Brunansky, and Frank Viola. Now THAT's a farm system.

Gaetti was a fine player, but he wasn't better than Buxton. (healthier, sure. Not better) Gagne was drafted by the Yankees (he did get finishing school in MN after 3 seasons in the Yankees system). Brunansky was drafted by the Angels and made the majors before becoming a Twin.

Gagne & Brunansky weren't stars; good players, not not stars. Bruno was a 1-time all-star, and Gagne a zero-time all-star. Neither has a case to complain about being overlooked. L:et's maybe take off the rose-colored glasses.

1 star is not an enviable record; of course, the Twins do have other stars in Lopez & Ryan, and developed Duran & Jax into star relievers before they were dealt. And maybe Keaschall & Jenkins add to the mix. Not arguing that the current farm system has developed enough talent. They've also had some bad luck with injuries that have wrecked some pretty talented players.