Minnesota’s Next Wave is Built on Infield Versatility

[chpettit19]

9 hours ago, USAFChief said:

So the Dodgers had a full time left fielder, right fielder, 3rd baseman, SS and 1st baseman. Their regular center fielder also played some corner OF.

They carried a couple utility players, as teams have done forever. Of those,  Rojas played only infield. Kim and Hernandez almost exclusively infield, except to cover injury.

Not one regular played multiple positions. 

Teams have been doing THIS forever. 

The Twins have operated under the philosophy of anybody can play anywhere. 

I think that's a mistake. It leads to nobody being actually able to play anywhere. 

Just conveniently ignored that they've all moved positions multiple times in their careers outside of Freeman and Smith? 

The Twins have bad defenders. That is the problem. This article suggests Keaschall can play outfield, otherwise it's about Lee and Culpepper playing other IF spots, just like every other team does. There is no team anywhere in major league baseball that trains players at 1 spot their entire careers and never asks anyone to move. It's an absolutely ridiculous idea. 

And I'll note the Twins had Correa as a fulltime SS, Lewis as a fulltime 3B, Wallner as a fulltime RF, Buxton as a fulltime CF, and France as a fulltime 1B last year. That's 5 guys by my count who didn't move positions at all. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the same number as the Dodgers, right?

[chpettit19]

7 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

I get where you are coming from but I think if the Twins had more guys like Freeman, Hernandez & Muncy they'd be less likely to move those types of guys around much.  I don't recall guys like Mauer, Morneau, Buxton being move around much.  Dozier and Kepler were pretty much penciled in at one position as well.  If guys like Lewis or Lee became .300 / 30 / 100 /100 guys they'd probably be penciled in at one defensive position and left there for the most part as well.  

Freeman is already at the bottom of the spectrum. Has been his whole career. There's nowhere else to move him.

Teoscar has played both corner spots just like Wallner and Larnach.

Max Muncy has player 1B, 2B, and 3B for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

They have been moving guys forever. Every team does. 

I wish the Twins had players of their caliber, that part I agree with. Mauer and Morneau were a catcher and 1B, though. Not great examples. Kepler played other OF positions. 

The Twins had regulars at 1B, SS, 3B, CF, and RF last year when healthy. France, Correa, Lewis, Buxton, and Wallner only played 1 position for the Twins. The Twins aren't doing anything crazy. They just lack talent compared to other teams. Eddie Julien isn't a bad defender because they tried him at multiple positions, they tried him at multiple positions because he's a bad defender. But plenty of guys move spots when they debut. Every team makes adjustments season to season and game to game to get their best 9 out there as often as possible.

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, rv78 said:

You are taking this out of context to fit your narritive by deciding to use every player for comparison. I am only talking about regular starters. Maybe you need to re-read what I said....The 8 regulars, not the bench. Of your list who fits now? No one. Edman is the closest and if you are using a fair comparision he is actually considered a Utility player. Not a regular. Keaschall was not a bench player especially after he returned from his injury.

And they've all moved positions during their careers. Everyone who wasn't a catcher or 1B has moved positions. All of their regulars. Every. Single. One. Actually, Muncy moved UP the defensive spectrum from 1B to 2B and then over to 3B. 

The healthy Twins had Lewis at 3B, Correa at SS, France at 1B, Buxton in CF, and Wallner in RF. Which matches the Dodgers having Muncy at 3B, Betts at SS, Freeman at 1B, Conforto in LF, and Teoscar in RF. Again, the Twins weren't doing anything different than the Dodgers.

Like NYCTK says, they're just asking their baseball players to play baseball.

And, actually, you're the one who's taking things out of context. This article isn't about 2026 alone, it's about "the next wave." It's about the bigger picture of how this team could look in the future. You've changed that to be just about Falvey saying they're going to get Keaschall in the outfield some this year. But the article is about them learning who their best players are and coming up with the best positioning from there. It's why I said it isn't some crazy idea they came up with. It's what every team does. 

The Twins are going to start the season with Lee and Keaschall up the middle (assuming health). If Keaschall goes down and Culpepper is the best player in the entirety of AAA, should they not call Culpepper up because he's a SS and not a 2B? Should they not put him or Lee at 2B? Every team would adjust and move one of those guys to 2B. That is what this article is saying. They have some infield talent and they'll get them organized as needed to put their best lineup out there.

[stringer bell]

8 hours ago, USAFChief said:

So the Dodgers had a full time left fielder, right fielder, 3rd baseman, SS and 1st baseman. Their regular center fielder also played some corner OF.

They carried a couple utility players, as teams have done forever. Of those,  Rojas played only infield. Kim and Hernandez almost exclusively infield, except to cover injury.

Not one regular played multiple positions. 

Teams have been doing THIS forever. 

The Twins have operated under the philosophy of anybody can play anywhere. 

I think that's a mistake. It leads to nobody being actually able to play anywhere. 

Just like the always-changing lineup, the Twins need more guys who are out there on defense every day. I think that is particularly true up the middle although catcher is a bit different because of the beating those guys take.

It would not take a .300 batting average and 100 RBI for Brooks Lee to be a regular. .260/20/80 (110 OPS+) would be fine. Much like Jorge Polanco, his range and arm are going to limit him as average as best as a shortstop, but if he's a plus hitter he could and should be in the lineup as a regular and second and third base both seem reasonable options. If Lee is more of an average to below average hitter, a bench role similar to Willi Castro (without the outfield reps) could get him regular plate appearances, particularly with an all right handed hitting trio of Keaschall, Culpepper and Lewis manning second, short and third respectively.

IMHO, Culpepper is the most likely guy to come in and be an anchor to build around in the middle infield. Lee will get a chance first, but he needs to both hit an field appreciably better and his ceiling as a defender at short isn't high. I'd give Keaschall at least 50 games at second to see if he can become a decent defensive second baseman. He has the speed and quickness to have good range. I don't know about other qualities--soft hands, good footwork, good judgement--but it seems to me he can establish himself at second base. 

[NYCTK]

11 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Not one regular played multiple positions. 

Teams have been doing THIS forever. 

The Twins have operated under the philosophy of anybody can play anywhere. 

I think that's a mistake. It leads to nobody being actually able to play anywhere. 

It would be a mistake if it were true. 

Twins primary SS, 3B, CF, 1B, RF and C didn't play a single game out of those respective positions. Pretty hard to accomplish with a philosophy of anybody can play anywhere! 

Almost as if the primary players are allowed to effectively remain in their primary position for the season and the supplementary roster is positioned around them. You know, like every single baseball team in the history of the game. 

Do you even acknowledge this is true? That the primary position player for 6 of the 8 positions on the 2025 Minnesota Twins was never asked to play another position? And this is more than the Dodgers, 5 of 8.

[DJL44]

Thinking back to the original article, I'm surprised nobody has suggested moving Royce Lewis back to SS. He was drafted as a SS and played a lot of games there. His statcast metrics are better than Brooks Lee. He had a good season at 3B, and I understand wanting to build on that success, but the best defensive alignment might be Lee at 3B and Lewis as the starting SS.

[Riverbrian]

4 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

The Twins are going to start the season with Lee and Keaschall up the middle (assuming health). If Keaschall goes down and Culpepper is the best player in the entirety of AAA, should they not call Culpepper up because he's a SS and not a 2B?

I understand why everyone wants a consistent position. The continuity at least on paper should produce a more comfortable developing defender. 

The problem is... as you point out. It can't be done without severe compromise either way.  

In the scenario you use perfectly. Lee is our SS... Keaschall is our 2B. If Keaschall gets hurt and a AAA call up is necessary. In order to keep that continuity as you just lock them players into positions.  Culpepper producing a .900 OPS in AAA isn't the call up because he is playing SS. The call up becomes Jake Rucker with his .650 OPS. The reason you are calling up Rucker... well... he's the 2B and we just lost ours. 

This continuity isn't even worth wishing for. It's a compromise either way. Either you compromise your talented young player with a position switch at the major league level. Or you compromise with a player that shouldn't be called up to play a static position. 

I'm firmly in the camp that you call up the best player in AAA when you need to call someone up. These baseball players are baseball players.

As a matter of consideration. If Martin keeps his infield glove handy... an injury to Keaschall at 2b could make Walker Jenkins the replacement. It can't happen if we just lock Martin into LF and say... nope... can't play other positions. 

 

[USAFChief]

27 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

I understand why everyone wants a consistent position. The continuity at least on paper should produce a more comfortable developing defender. 

The problem is... as you point out. It can't be done without severe compromise either way.  

In the scenario you use perfectly. Lee is our SS... Keaschall is our 2B. If Keaschall gets hurt and a AAA call up is necessary. In order to keep that continuity as you just lock them players into positions.  Culpepper producing a .900 OPS in AAA isn't the call up because he is playing SS. The call up becomes Jake Rucker with his .650 OPS. The reason you are calling up Rucker... well... he's the 2B and we just lost ours. 

This continuity isn't even worth wishing for. It's a compromise either way. Either you compromise your talented young player with a position switch at the major league level. Or you compromise with a player that shouldn't be called up to play a static position. 

I'm firmly in the camp that you call up the best player in AAA when you need to call someone up. These baseball players are baseball players.

As a matter of consideration. If Martin keeps his infield glove handy... an injury to Keaschall at 2b could make Walker Jenkins the replacement. It can't happen if we just lock Martin into LF and say... nope... can't play other positions. 

 

First of all, temporarily playing 2nd instead of SS, when you've been trained to play SS, is a reasonable ask.

Having Keaschall learn no position, and then asking him to move from infield to outfield willy nilly, isn't the same.

And finally, if Culpepper is handling SS and OPSing .900 in St Paul, he should be bumping Lee from the lineup already, and Lee can go from the bench to 2nd.

[NYCTK]

11 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Having Keaschall learn no position, and then asking him to move from infield to outfield willy nilly, isn't the same.

What does this even mean? Having him learn no position? Do you think he's been DHing his entire Twins career? Are you under the impression Keaschall hasn't played OF before? 

You just sound like you've never watched baseball before. I'm being honest with you, you sound like you don't know anything about the sport. Like at all. 

Pre-complaining about the Twins potentially moving a defensive question mark player to a different position he's potentially better and more comfortable in. 

BTW @USAFChief, you just thumbs downed my honest question for you. Are you able to acknowledge that 6 of the 8 primary position players were never asked to play a different position on the field? And one of the other 2 just moved around the OF, which is hardly moving them, meaning you can argue 7 of the 8 primary players were never asked to play a different position. This is, as I said, less positional flexibility than asked of the terribly managed and know nothing Los Angeles Dodgers. 

 

[NYCTK]

19 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

he should be bumping Lee from the lineup already, and Lee can go from the bench to 2nd.

The guy that started complaining about this team's imagined "any one can play anywhere" strategy endorses moving a player to a different position, thereby dismissing his own complaints. 

[TheLeviathan]

Silly me, I thought Rocco leaving might have allowed some folks a chance to stop drowning themselves in context-free, poorly thought-out positions.  You know, come up for a big, deep breath of logic and reason.  

And yet.....here we are.

[NYCTK]

13 hours ago, dxpavelka said:

I'm not a huge fan but it seems foolhardy to overlook Larnach as the LF.

Completely honest, I totally forgot about him. I guess he's gonna spend half his time at DH but you are right. 

[twinfan]

Twins must get some relievers to compete. Keaschall can be a star. Lee seems to be improving and Lewis can be a stud if healthy.

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

First of all, temporarily playing 2nd instead of SS, when you've been trained to play SS, is a reasonable ask.

Having Keaschall learn no position, and then asking him to move from infield to outfield willy nilly, isn't the same.

And finally, if Culpepper is handling SS and OPSing .900 in St Paul, he should be bumping Lee from the lineup already, and Lee can go from the bench to 2nd.

Yeah but... Lee has an OPS of .950 in Minnesota. 

We are going for it. How else are we going to win the World Series this year? 😉

Right now... myself. I don't see OF work because we don't need OF... and we desperately need IF. He seems to just naturally flow into the 2B position because of the huge hole there collecting the flow. 

If Keaschall is bad defensively as many on TD state. I'm not sure that's the case but... if he is... I'm personally not concerned about where he plays. We will be weak at 2B, 1B or LF... wherever you place him and he can move around wherever we need him. He will only matter if he can keep that OPS in the .800's. 

Of course... that OPS won't be as good as Lee's.  

 

[DJL44]

21 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

Yeah but... Lee has an OPS of .950 in Minnesota. 

That would be awesome. Move him to first base and he can lock that position down for 5 years.

[dxpavelka]

7 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Freeman is already at the bottom of the spectrum. Has been his whole career. There's nowhere else to move him.

Teoscar has played both corner spots just like Wallner and Larnach.

Max Muncy has player 1B, 2B, and 3B for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

They have been moving guys forever. Every team does. 

I wish the Twins had players of their caliber, that part I agree with. Mauer and Morneau were a catcher and 1B, though. Not great examples. Kepler played other OF positions. 

The Twins had regulars at 1B, SS, 3B, CF, and RF last year when healthy. France, Correa, Lewis, Buxton, and Wallner only played 1 position for the Twins. The Twins aren't doing anything crazy. They just lack talent compared to other teams. Eddie Julien isn't a bad defender because they tried him at multiple positions, they tried him at multiple positions because he's a bad defender. But plenty of guys move spots when they debut. Every team makes adjustments season to season and game to game to get their best 9 out there as often as possible.

Julien is a bad defender because he is a bad defender.  If his hitting returned to its 2023 level we might all be shocked at how much better his (perceived) defense might be.  If not, we might all be enjoying his exploits in a St. Paul Saints uniform.

[dxpavelka]

1 hour ago, NYCTK said:

Completely honest, I totally forgot about him. I guess he's gonna spend half his time at DH but you are right. 

Adding Bell probably decreases the chance of Larnach not moving on.