Twins 5, Royals 1: Bailey Ober Bounces Back, But Byron Buxton Exits with Injury

[Strombomb]

I agree wholeheartedly with all of Hans's @Hans BirkelandStray Observations. It's painful for me to watch Wallner's at bats anymore and his fielding is scary as well. 

Provus asked Plouffe about bat speed and he wisely said that there are so many more aspects to a good swing that bat speed his overrated in many cases (I'm paraphrasing)  

Wallner's a prime example. 

[chinmusic]

I think deliberate tanking is wrong. The games become a spectacle, a sideshow. Whichever of the top draft picks you "earn", may have no relevance in any case. 

[sstolen]

Better than losing one. Might be enough right now.

Play hard fellas!!

[TopGunn#22]

In my opinion, Wallner should be traded this off season.  His BBTV is 29.5.  That would equate to a straight up deal for either of the White Sox young catchers (Kyle Teel or Edgar Quero), Henry Davis from Seattle or possibly Jefferson Quero of the Brewers, currently stuck behind All Star William Contreras in Milwaukee.

Wallner will always have a somewhat impressive OPS due to huis ability to draw walks.  But there are younger corner OF coming that will surpass him...SOON.  Get something valuable for him while he still has value.

Same with Larnach.  At $5 million he may be too expensive for us.  But there are big market teams that $5 million would be a drop in the bucket.  The Yankees don't really need him, but he could hit well there.  The Phillies are looking for someone that hits better than Kepler or Marsh.  Seattle could possibly be interested.  

We're going to have too many guys to protect on our 40-man roster so why not trade these two guys and get something that fits better.  

[Whitey333]

Nice story on the game.  It must be difficult to cover a AA team like the Twins posing as Major League.

[JD-TWINS]

13 hours ago, 1985Fan said:

Agree with your comments about Wallner, Pereda, and Outman. Even a fan like me can see that Wallner’s batting stance, leg kick, and long swing is problematic. I can’t believe the coaches haven’t worked with him to minimize the movement and shorten his swing. Even small improvements would benefit him. Right now, hes just flailing away and looking like Miguel Sano (not the good version). Your comment is spot on; he’s overmatched the majority of the time. 
I enjoy watching Pareda catch. Great to have a real catcher behind the plate that can block balls in the dirt. Bonus that he throws behind base runners to deter the running game, since Twins pitchers won’t hold runners. 
Outman truly is cooked. Falvey/Baldelli should explain what their plan is to get him back on track. Just give him MLB AB’s and hope he turns into an All Star?! Dodgers tried that and unloaded him on the Twins. 

All makes sense until the Outman piece (don’t disagree that he may be cooked?) since the Manager/GM don’t need to explain the plan to get someone back on track. This is competitive professional sports and not some politically correct forum. The player acquisition was a flier with some upside potential. Gotta play him to see where he’s at and whether he has tools to continue to work with going forward. Same thing they are doing with Funderburk and Topa in new situations. The organization gave up on “winning” being the driver for balance of ‘25 over a month ago. Outman needs some steady AB’s to see what he can do…….can he show signs of improvement? 

[Chembry]

33 minutes ago, TopGunn#22 said:

In my opinion, Wallner should be traded this off season.  His BBTV is 29.5.  That would equate to a straight up deal for either of the White Sox young catchers (Kyle Teel or Edgar Quero), Henry Davis from Seattle or possibly Jefferson Quero of the Brewers, currently stuck behind All Star William Contreras in Milwaukee.

Did you mean Harry Ford from Seattle?  I think most would welcome that trade.  I will add another to the mix, although most, including me, would probably be less enthusiastic about it.  Austin Wells from NYY.  There is a lot of talk of Judge moving to 1B next year and Ben Rice taking over the primary catching duties.  They would need a RF and Wallner would be an upgrade from Stanton defensively.  Austin Wells is also under team control through 2029.  He is another left handed hitter though, but very good defensively.   

[stringer bell]

29 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

All makes sense until the Outman piece (don’t disagree that he may be cooked?) since the Manager/GM don’t need to explain the plan to get someone back on track. This is competitive professional sports and not some politically correct forum. The player acquisition was a flier with some upside potential. Gotta play him to see where he’s at and whether he has tools to continue to work with going forward. Same thing they are doing with Funderburk and Topa in new situations. The organization gave up on “winning” being the driver for balance of ‘25 over a month ago. Outman needs some steady AB’s to see what he can do…….can he show signs of improvement? 

When do you go with "lost cause"? Outman and Keirsey Jr. were born a day apart (28 years old) and Outman had a nice rookie season three years ago. Otherwise both are AAA All-Stars who can't hit in the majors. Yes, now is an OK time to evaluate since the season is lost.

I wouldn't be surprised if either of Outman or Keirsey Jr. is bumped off the 40-man roster. OTOH, I think there is a decent chance that either one would get picked up and make a major league roster in 2026. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

8 hours ago, knothole61 said:

Man Charles, and I mean this in the best sense, that is a classic southern name-yes?

It may be. I was always proud to have been named after them. I don'tknow if it is a southern thing, although my great grandfather (Senior),my grandfather (Junior), and  my father ( who was the III) were all from Greensboro, NC. However  I was born in Washington, DC. I was born and named while my father was overseas in WWII. I really think my mom and dad named me after my dad because they had realistic doubts that my dad would survive WWII. At any rate, I named my son Marshall and stopped the tradition. But I have a granddaughter named "Charlie", after my dad. I go by "David".

[stringer bell]

6 minutes ago, Chembry said:

Did you mean Harry Ford from Seattle?  I think most would welcome that trade.  I will add another to the mix, although most, including me, would probably be less enthusiastic about it.  Austin Wells from NYY.  There is a lot of talk of Judge moving to 1B next year and Ben Rice taking over the primary catching duties.  They would need a RF and Wallner would be an upgrade from Stanton defensively.  Austin Wells is also under team control through 2029.  He is another left handed hitter though, but very good defensively.   

With that short porch, Wallner could hit 40-50 homers for the Bronx Bombers. Wells is a good defensive catcher who hits lefty, sign me up! The Yankees have to plan around Stanton like the Twins plan around Buxton--you need to allow that he'll be on the IL for at least a month during a season. 

[DJL44]

19 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

I wouldn't be surprised if either of Outman or Keirsey Jr. is bumped off the 40-man roster. OTOH, I think there is a decent chance that either one would get picked up and make a major league roster in 2026. 

Keirsey is more likely to be picked up off waivers since he has 2 options left, but I expect both would not be claimed if outrighted this offseason.

[stringer bell]

2 hours ago, chinmusic said:

I think deliberate tanking is wrong. The games become a spectacle, a sideshow. Whichever of the top draft picks you "earn", may have no relevance in any case. 

The players aren't tanking although when you're behind five in the first inning, it is pretty easy to go through the motions. The active roster is dotted with guys who shouldn't be in the major leagues or shouldn't be in the role they are playing (Tonkin, Sands, Topa, Fundy). If anyone is tanking it is the front office.

There are a lot of questions to be answered in the final three weeks. Many of these guys have their future on the line. It's a lot more fun for my team to be in a pennant race, but every game matters to somebody and the numbers put up when the chance for contention is over still go on the back of the baseball card.

[jmlease1]

34 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

When do you go with "lost cause"? Outman and Keirsey Jr. were born a day apart (28 years old) and Outman had a nice rookie season three years ago. Otherwise both are AAA All-Stars who can't hit in the majors. Yes, now is an OK time to evaluate since the season is lost.

I wouldn't be surprised if either of Outman or Keirsey Jr. is bumped off the 40-man roster. OTOH, I think there is a decent chance that either one would get picked up and make a major league roster in 2026. 

I would drop both from the 40-man in the offseason; at this point I don't know if Outman gets picked up, frankly, but what do we lose if he does? His defense has slipped, he can't hit MLB pitching, and we have younger prospects with much more ceiling at this point. Same with Keirsey: he can't hit. His defense is excellent and his got nice speed, but he's a defensive replacement/pinch-runner, and that's simply not good enough. How many teams can afford to carry a 13th man with that limited of a role?

I don't think either sticks on a MLB roster in 2026; they might land on the 40-man but neither has shown anywhere near enough to be a serious contender for a 26-man roster IMHO. Quad-A players.

[mickster]

7 hours ago, TopGunn#22 said:

In my opinion, Wallner should be traded this off season.  His BBTV is 29.5.  That would equate to a straight up deal for either of the White Sox young catchers (Kyle Teel or Edgar Quero), Henry Davis from Seattle or possibly Jefferson Quero of the Brewers, currently stuck behind All Star William Contreras in Milwaukee.

Wallner will always have a somewhat impressive OPS due to huis ability to draw walks.  But there are younger corner OF coming that will surpass him...SOON.  Get something valuable for him while he still has value.

Same with Larnach.  At $5 million he may be too expensive for us.  But there are big market teams that $5 million would be a drop in the bucket.  The Yankees don't really need him, but he could hit well there.  The Phillies are looking for someone that hits better than Kepler or Marsh.  Seattle could possibly be interested.  

We're going to have too many guys to protect on our 40-man roster so why not trade these two guys and get something that fits better.  

IF, and that is a big IF, we can pry one of those catchers away - then yes deal them.   I would prefer to keep them and deal Erod

[knothole61]

8 hours ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

It may be. I was always proud to have been named after them. I don'tknow if it is a southern thing, although my great grandfather (Senior),my grandfather (Junior), and  my father ( who was the III) were all from Greensboro, NC. However  I was born in Washington, DC. I was born and named while my father was overseas in WWII. I really think my mom and dad named me after my dad because they had realistic doubts that my dad would survive WWII. At any rate, I named my son Marshall and stopped the tradition. But I have a granddaughter named "Charlie", after my dad. I go by "David".

Hmmmm, doing the math, (always a danger with me) your great grandfather might have been born near the end of Reconstruction in NC…interesting, and thanks for sharing.