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

[MGX]

24 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

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.

Agreed.

If the Twins end up with a RH utility player who can platoon with Clemens this works a bit better as he OPS'd .782 vs RHP & 33 XBH's in just 270 AB's. It could be worse, in fact it was in 2025, when France was our 1B & OPS'd .678 with the Twins. 

[NYCTK]

53 minutes ago, The Great Hambino said:

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.

If I was the president of a $300-400 million company with an absent board of directors I'd either resign or, more likely, make decisions without the larger oversight in the best interest of the organization and force their hands. 

If Falvey wants to blame ownership he's a loser that is fit for the job specifically because he's a lackey of ownership. And he therefore deserves the blame. 

[TwinsDr2021]

57 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

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

He hit 3 homers in a game in September, 2 the rest of September 2 in 77 AB, he hit 2 in August in 92 at bats (.536 OPS), July hit 3 (.805) June 4 (.625), May hit 5 (.985), (ended the month 4/22 if the would have cut him right there, that would have been right move), Instead he is now the starting 1B? What a joke!

 

[NYCTK]

20 minutes ago, ashbury said:

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

Doesn't really. But I guess I'm being hopeful that it'd be a signal. If they sell neither of Ryan or Lopez nor do they upgrade at 1B I'll be laughing and calling for a further boycott of the organization. 

[NYCTK]

21 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

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.

Well then he's already at fault for either forcing a real budget or making one up for his organization, that he runs, as president. 

I get everyone hates the pohlads and I'm right there with you, but why are people allowing Falvey to abdicate any responsibility? 

[DJL44]

If I was trying to get Buxton to waive his no-trade clause I'd make a bunch of statements about how Kody Clemens is my guy at 1B and I'm not looking for anyone better.

[TwinsDr2021]

19 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

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.

If he truly doesn't know, he should be actively looking to trade Pablo for a young controllable right handed outfielder. and Plan on the following

Lewis, Culpepper, Lee. Keaschall infield, and outfield of Buxton, they guy they get for Lopez, one of Erod/GG/Jenkins in the outfield, Jeffers catching, Wallner DH's, and a bench of Fitzgerald, Clemens, Roden. and a back up catcher.

Ryan/Ober/SWR/ and two of (Abel/Bradley/Matthews), and the rest of the pen all the other pitching prospects. With Erod/GG/Jenkins ready to replace anybody if needed. 

If the Payroll gets decided later, you can spend the money later, or looks to trade prospects for player that makes too much and fills a need. 

[chpettit19]

3 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Well then he's already at fault for either forcing a real budget or making one up for his organization, that he runs, as president. 

I get everyone hates the pohlads and I'm right there with you, but why are people allowing Falvey to abdicate any responsibility? 

I don't think anyone is saying Falvey has no blame. There are hundreds (thousands?) of calls for his firing on this site every single day. But Owner is higher than President in every company I know of. I think some of us are just saying that there is a reasonable possibility that he truly doesn't know where the budget will come in and that that is on the Pohlads which takes Falvey from 100% responsible to something lower. Not 0, but not 100.

Falvey should absolutely have plans in place for a 70 mil payroll, 100ish, and $130 million payroll. He should have parts of those plans that overlap that he should be moving on. But the difference in what he can do between those levels of payroll are massive. And this current era Pohlads have done nothing if not confirm time and time again that they have no idea what they're doing when it comes to running an MLB team and it is very possible that they have a gap in payroll possibilities that are 10s of millions of dollars. That absolutely effects how Falvey can do his job on the baseball side. 

[chpettit19]

10 minutes ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

If he truly doesn't know, he should be actively looking to trade Pablo for a young controllable right handed outfielder. and Plan on the following

Lewis, Culpepper, Lee. Keaschall infield, and outfield of Buxton, they guy they get for Lopez, one of Erod/GG/Jenkins in the outfield, Jeffers catching, Wallner DH's, and a bench of Fitzgerald, Clemens, Roden. and a back up catcher.

Ryan/Ober/SWR/ and two of (Abel/Bradley/Matthews), and the rest of the pen all the other pitching prospects. With Erod/GG/Jenkins ready to replace anybody if needed. 

If the Payroll gets decided later, you can spend the money later, or looks to trade prospects for player that makes too much and fills a need. 

I think he should be looking at trading Ryan and Pablo no matter where the payroll possibilities are, unless one of the options is 130+ and he's calling Bo Bichette and Pete Alonso every day. And I don't know if he's actively calling on either of those guys. My guess would be that he's not in the best position to get max value out of them at this point of the offseason, though. All the other teams have multiple options for filling their rotation holes. I'm not blowing my prospect gun powder on Lopez or Ryan if Skubal is still a possibility. 

Sonny Gray, Mackenzie Gore, Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera, Kodai Senga, Freddy Peralta, and probably more are rumored to be available. Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez, Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen, Michael King, and Tatsuya Imai all available for just money.

I'm not at all suggesting Falvey shouldn't or couldn't be doing things. He absolutely should be actively working to improve this roster. But where the budget falls changes his options significantly and other teams need to be willing to actually make deals for Twins players now. And I don't think many are at this point.

[DJL44]

16 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Falvey should absolutely have plans in place for a 70 mil payroll, 100ish, and $130 million payroll. He should have parts of those plans that overlap that he should be moving on. But the difference in what he can do between those levels of payroll are massive. And this current era Pohlads have done nothing if not confirm time and time again that they have no idea what they're doing when it comes to running an MLB team and it is very possible that they have a gap in payroll possibilities that are 10s of millions of dollars. That absolutely effects how Falvey can do his job on the baseball side. 

How can that still be a question at the beginning of the offseason? I could see a $10M discrepancy but not knowing your budget to within 50% is crazy.

[Sjoski]

What a message to send the fan base. Brilliant plan Derek. Really inspires confidence for 2026.

[KirbyDome89]

52 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

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.

This is also the first time Falvey has been squarely in the crosshairs. They've gone through multiple training staffs, Levine departed, Rocco is out, the current assistant staff is almost entirely new. Falvey (outside of our billionaire overlords) is the lone holdover. There could definitely be some self preservation at work here, and it's an easy card to play given how unanimously the Pohlads are hated. 

[The Great Hambino]

10 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

I think he should be looking at trading Ryan and Pablo no matter where the payroll possibilities are, unless one of the options is 130+ and he's calling Bo Bichette and Pete Alonso every day. And I don't know if he's actively calling on either of those guys. My guess would be that he's not in the best position to get max value out of them at this point of the offseason, though. All the other teams have multiple options for filling their rotation holes. I'm not blowing my prospect gun powder on Lopez or Ryan if Skubal is still a possibility. 

Sonny Gray, Mackenzie Gore, Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera, Kodai Senga, Freddy Peralta, and probably more are rumored to be available. Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez, Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen, Michael King, and Tatsuya Imai all available for just money.

I'm not at all suggesting Falvey shouldn't or couldn't be doing things. He absolutely should be actively working to improve this roster. But where the budget falls changes his options significantly and other teams need to be willing to actually make deals for Twins players now. And I don't think many are at this point.

Good point on Skubal.  It's very possible that the starting pitcher trade market is on hold until teams know one way or the other if he's actually available.  I know I'm not burning prospect capital on Ryan, Gore, etc if I think Skubal is a real possibility.  That could buy the front office some time

[Russ]

Hopefully Shelton is not so platoon heavy

[chpettit19]

38 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

How can that still be a question at the beginning of the offseason? I could see a $10M discrepancy but not knowing your budget to within 50% is crazy.

Because this has been a super poorly run company for a long time. And, apparently, they won't make any decisions until the minority partners are approved.

[JADBP]

4 hours ago, NYCTK said:

I don't think a front office standing pat would at all be an indictment of the ownership. If Falvey neither makes moves to improve nor sells assets to improve in the future, that's an indictment of him alone. 

OH NO....it IS an indictment of the ownership!  I am definitely NOT giving Falvey a pass, he sucks, but Ownership has also heavily contributed to the mess of a team!  They are the idiots that ran up $500 million in debt on the team--making it both unsellable and perennially uncompetitive.  The inept ownership moves have forced the limited budgets that Falvey has to work with.

That said, Falvey has had three strikes against him for some time and is at least half the problem:

1) Poor trading moves have clearly overshadowed his few good trades.

2) Some alarmingly bad free agent signings.

3) Unconscionably horrible strategy for a small-market team.   

[chpettit19]

46 minutes ago, KirbyDome89 said:

This is also the first time Falvey has been squarely in the crosshairs. They've gone through multiple training staffs, Levine departed, Rocco is out, the current assistant staff is almost entirely new. Falvey (outside of our billionaire overlords) is the lone holdover. There could definitely be some self preservation at work here, and it's an easy card to play given how unanimously the Pohlads are hated. 

Certainly a possibility. I wouldn't rule that out at all. My guess is that the limited partners swing the payroll relatively significantly. But I wouldn't rule out any nonsense from this org.

[DJL44]

17 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Because this has been a super poorly run company for a long time. And, apparently, they won't make any decisions until the minority partners are approved.

Not making a decision is making a decision. They're deciding not to participate in the offseason until mid-December.

[chpettit19]

16 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Not making a decision is making a decision. They're deciding not to participate in the offseason until mid-December.

I'm not defending any of this. I'm not saying it's good. They're an incredibly poorly run team and business. All I've been saying is that the Pohlads should bare some blame and it isn't 100% Falvey. He deserves blame too. They all do. I also said they should be able to do things no matter what the budget is. But they also don't have many, if any, big moves to make at this point when they don't have the big guns on the market. They can want to trade Ryan or Lopez or whoever today, but they need somebody willing to pay the needed price. I don't know what action people expect to see at this point. Unless anyone legitimately thought they were signing Naylor. Nothing else is happening. 

[Doc Lenz]

Could it be he’s a placeholder for the year? 
Maybe there’s someone they expect to be ready in 2027? This poorly run company won a division two years ago. How about quit bitching constantly and let’s see what happens this off season. Maybe we will like it maybe not.

[AceWrigley]

Baseball REF has Kody Clemens listed as 450th all-time on the First Base list, right behind ex-Twin Jose Morales.  Go Twins. 🙂

[Doctor Gast]

They predicted in house Miranda as the starting 1Bman the last 2 yrs. but they decided to waste their defensive 1B magic on out house alternatives. I was all in favor of giving Miranda a chance but I pass on Clemens as the starting 1Bman, although I'm fine with him as a utility 

[sweetmusicviola16]

If Clemens and Julien will be manning 1B in 2026 as Falvey alluded to is the case, what a bonehead. We have a non competitive team that we make into worse. Lets see what we have in the organization. Clemens is not a starter and Julien is awful. Start with Sabato in ST and see if he has anything to offer. Give other players we have a 1B glove and see if they can grow into the role. Clemens and Julien and Gasper as the 1B is taking a step back for a rebuild. It's a step back if you're intent was to actually compete as well. It's a step back no matter what point your team is at. 

[AceWrigley]

Calvin Griffith was a better Twin's owner than the current Pohlad situation.

[jorgenswest]

I look at Clemens statcast numbers and I see hope from his exit velocity and launch angle. I also have hope that given his salary they will not be waiting until August to go another direction if this year’s wOBA doesn’t approach last year’s xWOBA. If it does then they have a major league player at 1B. if it doesn’t then they options they have other options which could include Roden, Julien, Mendez, Sabato and even Keaschall. If they don’t spend resources on a free agent 1B when Culpepper shows he is ready he can take the spot of anyone in the infield who is not performing. He will be the shortstop and Keaschall can move to 1B and Lee can move to 2B or 3B.

My first choice would have been acquire someone at Naylor’s level or above. Short of that I would have gone with the status quo over another one year stop gap at 1B.

[Permanent Twins Fan]

Rumor has it that the Twins are interested in a under-the-radar 42 year old first basemen from Minnesota named Moe Jauer with suspiciously elegant sideburns.

[tony&rodney]

Fedko/Roden sounds better. Falvey is being cute with media.

[RpR]

1 hour ago, AceWrigley said:

Calvin Griffith was a better Twin's owner than the current Pohlad situation.

For Griffith Baseball was his life and Only income.

[TopGunn#22]

Cody Clemens had a nice year last season but he's really nothing more than a 29-year old journeyman who had a career year.  He's at best, a Utility-Type player.

For Falvey to say this is ridiculous, even if he has no intention of Clemens being the everyday 1B and has some other plan in mind.  Actually, it shows that Falvey doesn't really have a SERIOUS plan.  So I call him out as a fraud and I cast the same aspersions onto our least liked "family" in Minnesota for employing him and expecting even casual fans to accept the drivel that is shoveled to this fan base on a regular basis.

This year, the Pohlad's and Falvey will be able to hear the wind blow at Target Field because nobody will be there.  

[S Bart]

8 hours ago, mnfireman said:

With all the OF prospects due up at some point during the '26 season, I would have expected the team to seriously consider Wallner for 1B, he has a higher upside than either Julien or Clemens. And let's be serious, if Julien and Miranda can be given reps at 1B, why not Wallner??

Agree...but the guy seriously needs to work on his hitting challenges in my view. If not, he is going to go the way of Sano. Hope not....but he hopefully is working on the issue with a skilled coach during the offseason. Clemens hit more home runs than Wallner last season regardless of Wallner being hurt...