It Sounds Like Kody Clemens Will Be the Twins' Starting First Baseman

[Cory Engelhardt]

4 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

I like the Buxton #1, Keaschall #2 line-up option better...

I'm good with Buxton at 1, 3 or 4. He is the best power hitter on the team. IF Lewis can become more like his 2023 self with solid coaching, then we can work with that.

[DJL44]

43 minutes ago, Tjwalsh65 said:

I think what money we have to spend should go into relief pitching.    

I think spending big bucks on relief pitching is a great way to set your money on fire.

[DJL44]

16 minutes ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

I mean, arguably, Keaschall and Buxton could be pretty decent #3 and #4 hitters no?

Then they would desperately need #1 and #2 hitters.

[mnfireman]

Just now, DJL44 said:

I think spending big bucks on relief pitching is a great way to set your money on fire.

Agreed.

I also think letting Kody Clemens or Eduard Julien play 1B regularly is a great way to set your season on fire...

[DJL44]

9 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

Agreed.

I also think letting Kody Clemens or Eduard Julien play 1B regularly is a great way to set your season on fire...

Letting Julien play anywhere regularly is a great way to tank your season.

[Cory Engelhardt]

12 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Then they would desperately need #1 and #2 hitters.

I think Lewis has #2 hitter in him. I also think Roden or Martin can be fine as a leadoff option in a pinch. 

Otherwise, Keaschall at #2 makes a lot of sense to me, with possibly Lewis at 3 and Buxton at 4? The talent is there, but have to get them to execute.

[Cory Engelhardt]

2 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Letting Julien play anywhere regularly is a great way to tank your season.

Agreed. His best defensive position is DH. 

[thelanges5]

Was hoping they’d spend some money here to find a right handed bat to push Clemens to the bench. Maybe this is a path for Fedko to the MLB, platoon with Clemens. 

[Mike Sixel]

Clemens is not young, and not good. Exactly the kind of guy no team should have as a starter. I'm shocked they'd block anyone young with a bad, old, player. Shocked. 

[DJL44]

7 minutes ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

Agreed. His best defensive position is DH. 

In AAA

[Deadfan]

Anyone else tried of hearing Falvey say "Value add" when speaking about a bargain basement pickup for the staff?

[DJL44]

2 minutes ago, Deadfan said:

Anyone else tired of hearing Falvey speaking?

Yes

[Woof Bronzer]

It's becoming increasingly clear that, as I feared, the Twins are not committing to a full rebuild, but continuing this halfhearted "cut costs but also run it back again with mediocre talent" plan that Derek Falvey has failed at time and again.   

 

[NYCTK]

1 hour ago, The Great Hambino said:

Whether you choose to acknowledge it or not, front offices operate on a budget, and the potential ranges of that budget for where the Twins sit could result in very different ideal courses of action.

Why are you under the impression that the President of the Twins has no idea what the budget might be in 2026?

Are we just infantizling everyone in the organization out of Pohlad spite? They suck, but the organization sucks because they've also hired a bunch of people that suck. People like Falvey. 

[NYCTK]

1 hour ago, The Great Hambino said:

And it's certainly possible (probable?) that he actually does know the budget

OK. So we agree. The Pohlads suck but Falveys failures to improve the team in the short or long term would be his own fault, not the ownership. 

[Chembry]

Here is my gripe.  There are several 1B prospects that could contribute next year and would probably be “relatively cheap” to acquire.  Tre’ Morgan, Ryan Clifford, Jonathan Long…why not try to get better?

Casas is an MLB option that needs a change of scenery.  Do something to try to get better.  I like Kody well enough and he would be an above average utility player, but should only be a utility guy.

[ashbury]

2 hours ago, Nick Nelson said:

 

I can buy into Falvey's stated vision: give Clemens an offseason to prep for the starting job, ramp him up accordingly in spring training, and see if he can fully unlock his potential with everyday starts against righties, while also providing value in other ways.  

 

So Kody's been half-assing his off-seasons up to now, waiting for some team to believe in him enough to pencil him in as a starter?  And now he'll Try Real Hard?   😀

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

I may be in the minority here, but im all for this. He's never been given a real opportunity and last year he hit 19 home runs in about a half season worth of at bats. His defense is good enough and if he plays every day, he could reasonably improve there, as well.  

2026 is a season I'm excited to finally see all this young talent waiting in the minors. See what we have. Shore up the bullpen. Get a few of these young guys to show they belong. We have talented starting pitchers. If a few things go right, this team is able to compete. It wouldn't be the first time a team has done this and won. Detroit did it recently. 

[Schmoeman5]

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

If the plan is "Let's try again with our 70-win team" then I have no idea why they kept Derek Falvey.

The answer to why they kept Falvey is simple. Him and Joe are tied at the hip. He's the current St. Peter. 

[Mike Sixel]

44 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

It's becoming increasingly clear that, as I feared, the Twins are not committing to a full rebuild, but continuing this halfhearted "cut costs but also run it back again with mediocre talent" plan that Derek Falvey has failed at time and again.   

 

This.

[Mike Sixel]

29 minutes ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

I may be in the minority here, but im all for this. He's never been given a real opportunity and last year he hit 19 home runs in about a half season worth of at bats. His defense is good enough and if he plays every day, he could reasonably improve there, as well.  

2026 is a season I'm excited to finally see all this young talent waiting in the minors. See what we have. Shore up the bullpen. Get a few of these young guys to show they belong. We have talented starting pitchers. If a few things go right, this team is able to compete. It wouldn't be the first time a team has done this and won. Detroit did it recently. 

He was awful other than 6 weeks. He's 30. He's not "young talent" at all. 

[LewFordLives]

Nick: To be clear, I gave your article a thumbs up for the reporting and analysis and not because I like the implications of what Falvey is suggesting.

Yuck. Clemens has his moments, but he is not the starting first baseman for a contending club. I do concur though that if the alternative is someone like Ty France then might as well be Clemens. The bar is that low 

[HerbieFan]

Look, I love the Kody Clemens story.  But I sure hope there's a Plan B.

[The Great Hambino]

30 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Why are you under the impression that the President of the Twins has no idea what the budget might be in 2026?

Because the President of the Twins is saying he doesn't know what the budget is going to be, and Bonnes' reporting from his time at the GM meetings suggested that this is true.  I'm saying IF this is true, and his hands are tied from making any big moves until he has some reasonable figure, then yes, ownership bears some fault in the situation.  

If he does actually know what the budget is and still more or less stays pat, then yes, it's all on him. 

Normally I don't think it would be plausible that a front office wouldn't know the budget at this stage of the offseason.  But with the limited partner situation still in limbo, it's more plausible than it normally would be.  Again, IF this is true, then it makes me start to question if the limited partner approval process may have hit a snag.    That could certainly swing the budget quite a bit.

[DJL44]

7 minutes ago, HerbieFan said:

Look, I love the Kody Clemens story.  But I sure hope there's a Plan B.

In a competent organization, Clemens would be Plan C.

8 minutes ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

Shows what they think about former first round pick Aaron Sabato.

Sabato is a below average AAA player. I'm glad they aren't depending on him.

[KirbyDome89]

Kody Clemens from June 1st through the end of the season - .203/.267/.402

His April sucked too. Outside of 10 days in May he was borderline unplayable (unless of course you're the the Twins) which is why teams like Philly and Detroit don't regret their decision to cut bait. If we're talking about 1B defense or leadership we've lost the plot. Handing this guy 1B, even as the strong side of a platoon, has disaster written all over it. 

"If the alternative is going after someone like Ty France in free agency — and, let's be honest, it probably is — why not?"

Because Ty France was actually a good Major League hitter at one point before signing with the Twins? At least with that uninspiring signing there was some track record to point to. What's the Kody Clemens selling point? "Hey, if we keep feeding him enough PAs, maybe at age 30 he'll only be a solidly below average offensive 1B instead of waiver wire fodder." 

What a joke...

[bean5302]

Clemens had a much higher xwOBA than acutal. As far as all these free agent 1B out there, I'm not sure who they are.

Guys like Ty France? Worse at the plate than Clemens was last year. France was last passable as a regular 1B (just barely) in 2023, and last good in 2022.

Looking at Clemens, it seems like he was a bit unlucky. I don't think he's going to be a great hitter or anything, but just as good as we might expect from a dumpster-dive 1B is likely, imho.

No of the fans here know what the Twins are going to do for a budget, but it seems awfully unlikely we're going to go get Alonso.

[ashbury]

3 hours ago, NYCTK said:

they're not even trying to compete this year in the hopes of contending in future years. 

How does Clemens as the regular at 1B in 2026 move the needle on the longer-term goal?

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, NYCTK said:

Why are you under the impression that the President of the Twins has no idea what the budget might be in 2026?

Are we just infantizling everyone in the organization out of Pohlad spite? They suck, but the organization sucks because they've also hired a bunch of people that suck. People like Falvey. 

Because Falvey keeps saying he doesn't know. Repeatedly. Every time it comes up. Which isn't something he's ever denied to this degree before. 

I certainly wouldn't advocate blindly believing Falvey. But it's a change in how he's spoken about the budget for his entire tenure. He's never denied knowing what it is to this extent. They have limited partners that MLB still hasn't approved despite it being beyond the normal time it takes. There is a very real chance that he doesn't know what the budget is because the Pohlads don't know what the budget is because they don't know if they'll get bailed out of their debt or not. Is it 100% certain he doesn't know? Of course not. But it isn't 0% either.

[mnfireman]

33 minutes ago, KirbyDome89 said:

Kody Clemens from June 1st through the end of the season - .203/.267/.402

Also, Kody Clemens career slash - .206/.263./.403 (.666)....