To Address a Shaky Offense, the Twins Have Brought In Some of the Worst Hitters in MLB

[Blyleven2011]

17 minutes ago, GNess said:

The Twins largely because they prioritize frugality, take what they can get. This amounts to placing value on veterans who have underperformed ( read as inexpensive) hoping against hope they will somehow contribute more than younger more talented players because of their experience. (So they don't typically rush players to the majors.)

This is a strategy to be sure, just not a very good one which is rather disappointing. (But the FO may see it as their only real path.)

 

I'd play darts with falvey everyday , he can never hit the bullseye,  infact he can barely hit the board  ....

He did hit the board on the 3 free agents last year , coloumbe  , Bader and to some extent  France  , but it took him almost ten years to do it ...

Billy beane he is not ...

[shabbos1]

To *Maintain* a Shaky Offense, the Twins Have Brought In Some of the Worst Hitters in MLB

[Blyleven2011]

8 minutes ago, SteveLV said:

If you think about it, I don't this this FO could have found 4 WORSE hitters to bring in.  I am pretty confident the handful of players who are worse that these 4 are no longer playing MLB.

Incredibly disappointing acquisitions.

But hardly unexpected.  

Maybe the pohlads and FO personal  watch the movie Major League  everyday at Twins Way and pretend to be Rachel Phelps ( owner of the Cleveland Indians ) , she was intent on adding the worst talented team so she coukd relocate  ...

Maybe riverbrian and me should go check this out 🤣 ...

[RpR]

With the exception of Arcia, their defense is equal or better than some the current infield.

Maybe the Frot Office does not want tohave to rely on out scoring huge numbers.

[rv78]

Anyone who doesn't think these 4 or 5 players are going to play a role on the major league roster is a fool. All you have to do is look at the likes of Gasper and see how the FO values worthless players. There was no reason for him to be on the roster in 2025 yet he remains for 2026 and they bring in 4 more players just as bad as him or worse. Falvey talked about Clemens and said he fully expects him to get significant playing time at 1B. Detroit and Philly barely found 100 AB's per season for him yet the Twins were able to give him almost 350. When a player barely hits over .200 and you consider him to be a major part of your team, you are beyond delusional. It is so incredibly obvious that Falvey doesn't know what a good hitter is or the value of one. With each of these signings he is establishing a floor that was lower than it was before the signings. My only hope is that the Twins have the worst record in baseball by the end of 2026 and Falvey is shown the door. He is truely the most incompetant person ever to run this team. I thought Terry Ryan was bad but Falvey has him beat by a mile.

[jkcarew]

Not fair. Each or these guys are just a couple handful of tweaks from being within shouting distance of average. Remember, this is the Minnesota Twins and the AL Central. Success has a very low bar…basically, don’t get mathematically eliminated from at least a wild card slot until the Vikings are in camp (and the trade deadline has come and gone). Have the stars align once every 3-5 years, and hang yet another ALC banner. Simple. And time-tested. Sure, those 90-win ALC seasons and first-round playoff massacres seem far away right now, but we’ll get back there in a few years. You’ll see.

It doesn’t get any better than this!

Not that it COULDN’T get better than this. It just DOESN’T get any better than this.

[ziggy]

A half measure would be to obtain one of the worst hitters in MLB.

Full measure is to obtain 4 of the worst hitters in MLB.

[Wizard11]

I will save my teeth gnashing until March.  This FO has a history of late opportunistic signings.  If the Roster looks like this on opening day I will commence Gnashing

[ashbury]

2 hours ago, KirbyDome89 said:

Twins fans massively overrate Taylor. 

But not what he did for the team that one season.

[LastOnePicked]

This is what the relentless pursuit of a championship looks like.

[Cris E]

If things go well most of these guys won't play much at all. Jackson will get some reps to rest Jeffers and Wags may get some ABs on the short side of a platoon. But Arcia won't play unless Lee completely breaks down and Culpepper fails as his replacement, and even then he may be fighting with Kreidler for time. 

2026 is a year to see what they have, so they're playing what they have.  If they did go sign someone there'd be complaining about blocking the kids, so they get some backups and a couple lotto tickets in case things fall apart. I swear the people on this site just love to hate.

[KirbyDome89]

42 minutes ago, Cris E said:

If things go well most of these guys won't play much at all. Jackson will get some reps to rest Jeffers and Wags may get some ABs on the short side of a platoon. But Arcia won't play unless Lee completely breaks down and Culpepper fails as his replacement, and even then he may be fighting with Kreidler for time. 

2026 is a year to see what they have, so they're playing what they have.  If they did go sign someone there'd be complaining about blocking the kids, so they get some backups and a couple lotto tickets in case things fall apart. I swear the people on this site just love to hate.

What?

Jackson as the backup C is going to start at least 70ish games, so we're talking about 300+ PAs there. 

Wagaman, even as the short side of the 1B platoon or emergency corner OF is good for al least 300 PAs and that's assuming Clemens doesn't completely crater. 

Kreidler and/or Arcia aren't going to exclusively play SS. They're going to get starts around the infield, or in Kreidler's case, potentially the OF. That's another 300+ PAs. 

This all assumes these guys last on the roster and don't completely flame out, but that's at least 1,000 PAs dedicated to terrible offensive players between the new additions. 

How low does the bar need to go before people are allowed to "hate," an offensively challenged club piling more terrible hitters onto the roster?

[D.C Twins]

                                

EXCLUSIVE LIVE ACTION SHOT OF FALVEY!!!!!!!!

[D.C Twins]

6 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

These signings don't mean a thing unless... 

Unless or until they become the best or only option and there is a high probability that they easily become the best or only option. 

They can sign all the Arcia's they want to minor league contracts for all that I care. When Arcia is leading the team in AB's in the month of May. I'll care and it isn't hard to see a scenario where that is the case. It's not the individual players that I object to... it's the need for these players that is the source of my strong objections.   

Injuries occur... they occur a lot. When they occur and they will. We can all take note of the number of AB's they get. If they perform in those AB's... we can all pat the front office on the back, say way to go and marvel at their craftiness.  

Your article is spot on and it gets to the heart of the problem. 

Taking your thought one step further.  

The 4 players you list in your article. They are probably it for the off-season. 

So... As we stand today. Joe Ryan is not being traded in order to compete in 2026. Arcia, Wagaman, Kreidler and Jackson are the acquired support brought in to support not trading Joe Ryan so they can compete in 2026.   

We need Joe Ryan to compete and we offer Arcia, Wagaman, Kriedler and Jackson to augment/justify that need for Joe Ryan in order to compete.

Impossible path to navigate forward with Joe Ryan pulling them toward victory while Arcia, Wagaman, Kriedler and Jackson are pulling that Ryan momentum backwards.   

Who exactly is the architect of this half measure off-season plan? Falvey? Zoll? Pohlad? 

All 3?  

this...This....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand.... THIS!!!!

 

[mikelink45]

This is a tough column - it exposes the Twins big moves.  It provides too much reality.

[Doc Lenz]

6 hours ago, SteveLV said:

If you think about it, I don't this this FO could have found 4 WORSE hitters to bring in.  I am pretty confident the handful of players who are worse that these 4 are no longer playing MLB.

Incredibly disappointing acquisitions.

But hardly unexpected.  

Gasper?

Keirsey?

[RpR]

32 minutes ago, Doc Lenz said:

Gasper?

Keirsey?

Julien , Wallner, Larnach, Lewis 

[Jacksson]

1 hour ago, Doc Lenz said:

Gasper?

Keirsey?

Keirsey is gone and has already been scooped up by another organization.

[twinstalker]

Quote

Bingo with the headline, Nick.

 

[the_brute_squad]

Let's just hope they are good clubhouse guys.

[Riverbrian]

15 hours ago, Cris E said:

If things go well most of these guys won't play much at all. Jackson will get some reps to rest Jeffers and Wags may get some ABs on the short side of a platoon. But Arcia won't play unless Lee completely breaks down and Culpepper fails as his replacement, and even then he may be fighting with Kreidler for time. 

2026 is a year to see what they have, so they're playing what they have.  If they did go sign someone there'd be complaining about blocking the kids, so they get some backups and a couple lotto tickets in case things fall apart. I swear the people on this site just love to hate.

I don't have an issue with any of these signings. I actually like the Wagaman signing. He at least has options. 

However... Cris? If things go well?

When have things gone well?

By well... how many Royce Lewis PA's would that be? 

Go back and review. Take note of how many players got at least 100 AB's in 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021. If that isn't enough. Keep going until you notice the consistency. 

Who will be the 17 players required to get through 2026? Who will be the 17 who play in at least 30 games?

Hopefully that recurring back issue that Brooks Lee deals with has been completely cured? I'm not sure the Twins are going to rip the redshirt off of Culpepper when Lewis is grabbing his hamstring on opening day? I guess it's possible they start the Culpepper clock in April when Keaschall takes a fastball off the forearm? I'd still say unlikely but certainly possible because they selected the contract of Keashall on April 17 last year. One day after they traded for Jonah Bride on April 16th and 9 days before they traded for Clemens out of necessity. 

Now Jonah wasn't 1 of the 17 that I counted to get through the 2025 season because he was 20 PA's short of 100. But it's worth pointing out that it was April 16th and the Twins are already fishing outside the organization for new starters. With Miranda gone as it turns out forever, Lewis still not available and Keashall about to break his forearm on April 25. 33 Games - 17 Starts for Bride while Clemens made 93 starts.

Just didn't see that coming in the off-season prior to 2025. 

 

 

 

[Russ]

The farm system needs to produce better and faster to get to the big leagues.  Hope they produce before they are free  agents.

Winning teams also make players want to stay and get away as soon as they can.

 

Joe Ryan, I am sure is waiting to exit.

[Riverbrian]

15 hours ago, Cris E said:

If things go well most of these guys won't play much at all. Jackson will get some reps to rest Jeffers and Wags may get some ABs on the short side of a platoon. But Arcia won't play unless Lee completely breaks down and Culpepper fails as his replacement, and even then he may be fighting with Kreidler for time. 

2026 is a year to see what they have, so they're playing what they have.  If they did go sign someone there'd be complaining about blocking the kids, so they get some backups and a couple lotto tickets in case things fall apart. I swear the people on this site just love to hate.

Wagaman BTW. 514 PA's last year with the Marlins. 330 of them against RHP. 64% of his plate appearances against Right Handers.

You may be right... the Twins might try to short side him. Just like they tried to short side Margot in 2024. 343 PA's in 2024. 172 against RHP... 171 against LHP. Injuries are not going to allow a team to keep it platoon clean but lets give him a roster spot. Whose roster spot will Wagaman take? Someone needs a roster spot to backup SS. Are we going down to 4 OF's just so Wagaman can take a roster spot to short side platoon?

I like Wagaman but to short side him... whose 26 man spot does he take in order to face only 25% of the pitching? Wagamen, Bell, Clemens, Julien are all candidates for 1B. One of them will for sure be off the 26 man unless Clemens or Julien can play SS in a pinch.

Of that group... Only Wagaman can be sent to the minors without waivers being involved. Can Wagaman shield all those left handers by himself. Julien. Clemens, Larnach, Wallner, Roden, Outman Erod, and Jenkins all need that shelter from the nasty left handers? Do you turn Martin into a short side platoon at this stage of his career to create a 2nd platoon? Do you start trading or cutting left handed hitters because there isn't enough right handed cover and we have too many left handers to face the 75% of pitching? 

Wagaman... who I like BTW.

514 PA's - .674 OPS

Ty France 490 PA's - .681 OPS 

I'm sincerely glad we picked him up. Some of us are not hating... some of us are just concerned with the infield depth overall, the budget to address it, the injuries that will occur and a front office declaring that they simultaneously going for it.  

Wagaman ranked 35th in OPS for rookies in 2025 (100 AB qualifier). Wagaman at least as options.

So no complaints on Wagaman we need the depth at the position. Just questions on how this is supposed to work if most of these guys are not going to play much at all as you say.  

[Patzky]

21 hours ago, Woof Bronzer said:

..sign some of the worst hitters in baseball (in Jackson's case, one of the worst hitters in MLB history) and hope they magically become good hitters.  

Falvey grew tired hearing TD forum posters complaining about Christian Vazquez' hitting and broke out the wicked witch on us. Stop that sniveling or I'll give you something to really cry about..

[Cris E]

16 hours ago, KirbyDome89 said:

What?

Jackson as the backup C is going to start at least 70ish games, so we're talking about 300+ PAs there. 

Wagaman, even as the short side of the 1B platoon or emergency corner OF is good for al least 300 PAs and that's assuming Clemens doesn't completely crater. 

Kreidler and/or Arcia aren't going to exclusively play SS. They're going to get starts around the infield, or in Kreidler's case, potentially the OF. That's another 300+ PAs. 

This all assumes these guys last on the roster and don't completely flame out, but that's at least 1,000 PAs dedicated to terrible offensive players between the new additions. 

How low does the bar need to go before people are allowed to "hate," an offensively challenged club piling more terrible hitters onto the roster?

This is laughable. Only ten Twins had over 300 AB last season. Assigning 1000 to these four guys is a wild over-reach.

Jackson -may- get 300, last year all non-Jeffers catcher ABs only totaled 314, but he was not terrible. I'm not expecting 111 OPS+ again, but even if he were around 80 he'd be about par for backup catchers, and very few teams avoid giving 300 AB to a weak hitting catcher.

Kreidler and Arcia will get 300 AB between them, mostly at SS. Lee will play SS until he's injured or so bad they throw the keys to Culpepper. Clemons will be soaking up a bunch of those utility innings, especially at 2b and 3b. Julien and Martin will get chances at 2B before these two just to see if they're ever allowed near it again. 

Wagamon will only get as many AB as he earns, and since all Josh Bell's value is derived from hitting against RH there won't be many chances against those for the youngster. But again, if he hits LH pitching like he has been it may not be the end of the world for him to get 300. 

You can catastrophize if that's what makes you happy, but "the worst hitters in MLB" are not here to start, or even play a lot. They include a backup catcher and some infield contingency plans. This is about what replacement level players in these roles look like. We had great luck with Castro, but many teams accept holes in the lineup and work to fill them over time.  Have you seen Cleveland's middle infield? Schneeman and Arias neatly matched around 130 games and 76 OPS+ with Rochio backing them up with his 75 OPS+ in 115 games. In DET Sweeney led their SS with 118 games of 53 OPS+ and his backup was Baez with a wildly sucessful 87 OPS+ that marked a complete win for him.

It's tough out there, but when you trade away your starting SS on short notice there's going to be a period of pain while you get something better in place. Culpepper is close. 

[Patzky]

On 1/8/2026 at 1:19 PM, Mike Sixel said:

Fitzgerald outhit every single guy they've brought in so far last year (in a tiny sample).....

The Dodgers must have read your post

[RpR]

42 minutes ago, Patzky said:

The Dodgers must have read your post

I will forever remember the game where Fitz  and his twin brother both hit 2 run home runs!

[KirbyDome89]

5 hours ago, Cris E said:

This is laughable. Only ten Twins had over 300 AB last season. Assigning 1000 to these four guys is a wild over-reach.

Jackson -may- get 300, last year all non-Jeffers catcher ABs only totaled 314, but he was not terrible. I'm not expecting 111 OPS+ again, but even if he were around 80 he'd be about par for backup catchers, and very few teams avoid giving 300 AB to a weak hitting catcher.

Kreidler and Arcia will get 300 AB between them, mostly at SS. Lee will play SS until he's injured or so bad they throw the keys to Culpepper. Clemons will be soaking up a bunch of those utility innings, especially at 2b and 3b. Julien and Martin will get chances at 2B before these two just to see if they're ever allowed near it again. 

Wagamon will only get as many AB as he earns, and since all Josh Bell's value is derived from hitting against RH there won't be many chances against those for the youngster. But again, if he hits LH pitching like he has been it may not be the end of the world for him to get 300. 

You can catastrophize if that's what makes you happy, but "the worst hitters in MLB" are not here to start, or even play a lot. They include a backup catcher and some infield contingency plans. This is about what replacement level players in these roles look like. We had great luck with Castro, but many teams accept holes in the lineup and work to fill them over time.  Have you seen Cleveland's middle infield? Schneeman and Arias neatly matched around 130 games and 76 OPS+ with Rochio backing them up with his 75 OPS+ in 115 games. In DET Sweeney led their SS with 118 games of 53 OPS+ and his backup was Baez with a wildly sucessful 87 OPS+ that marked a complete win for him.

It's tough out there, but when you trade away your starting SS on short notice there's going to be a period of pain while you get something better in place. Culpepper is close. 

I'd say those numbers are pretty conservative. 11 players (would've been 12 if Vazquez was healthy to end the year) exceeded 300 PAs for the Twins last year. 7 (or 8 depending on whether we count Vazquez) of those guys did so in what amounted to roughly 4 months worth of playing time. 

356 PAs (a 55/45 split with Jeffers) went to catchers other than Jeffers, and that was with Jeffers healthy essentially all season and Vazquez being one of the worst hitters in baseball. Jeffers started 80 games last year. 81 the season before that. Alex Jackson, with his .153/.239/.288 career slash, is going to get plenty of run. 

Arcia and Kreidler will only play SS? So the Twins are going to burn a bench spot, a la Kiersey, and use either of the aforementioned guys exclusively as pinch runners and/or late inning defensive replacements? Culpepper has played half of a season above A ball. If everything breaks right he's maybe with the Twins at or near the deadline. You still need to get through months of baseball without him, assuming you get him at all. Clemens is soaking up utility innings now? He's not a L/R platoon with Wagaman at 1B? You're just gonna set Josh Bell loose there and cross your fingers? Where is there room for Julien on your roster? 

Ok, so Wagaman rots just like your backup SS. Bell is a switch hitter, so you're not subbing for him vs relief arms and you're not worried about SPs either so the only way Wagaman is getting PAs is the DH role, and only vs LHP. That's now half of your bench that you refuse to play btw, good luck with that. 

Lengthy injury histories of some of the starters aside, the usage (when healthy) that you're advocating for is what's "laughable," here. The PA numbers I threw out aren't worse case scenario, they're normal bench usage numbers. I'll say it again, bench spots aren't "contingency plans." Those guys actually play, hence the hand wringing over the sheer number of replacement level (or worse) guys this organization seems intent on forcing onto this roster. Yeah, even the best teams are trying to fill holes at times, but bringing in multiple sub replacement level guys to back up a roster that already has too many sub replacement level guys locked into playing time (what the Twins are doing) is downplaying the situation to an insane degree.

Is the point to be equally as incompetent at the MI positions as division rivals? Because Cleveland and Detroit got anemic production from their 2B/SS combs it's ok if the Twins are also horrendous? I'm good on the whataboutism. 

[ashbury]

7 hours ago, RpR said:

I will forever remember the game where Fitz  and his twin brother both hit 2 run home runs!

I wonder if the Dodgers got mixed up and thought they were claiming their own guy back.

[Patzky]

On 1/9/2026 at 2:51 PM, RpR said:

I will forever remember the game where Fitz  and his twin brother both hit 2 run home runs!

That's funny.. Dodgers fans were reacting to the picture of Fitz on the transaction article and were going "NO NOT OUTMAN AGAIN!"