Andrew Morris gets the Call as the Twins Seek Bullpen Reinforcements

[LA Vikes Fan]

32 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Kreidler is easily the best defensive player on the roster. A comment above on how this affects James Outman is interesting. I think the Twins see this as just a 10 day placement with no other moves. Bringing up an outfielder, ostensibly for better offense, would definitely have a ripple effect though. The Twins can't really promote a prospect from AAA and let him sit on the bench. Emmanuel Rodriguez (as an example) would need to play every day or 5 times per week. Right now Austin Martin is showing that he can field, run, and get on base. Martin should be in the lineup at least 5 times per week. What does that then mean for Larnach or Wallner. So I think the Twins just keep Outman.

Does Kreidler play at all except for once a week? He is a far superior shortstop to Brooks Lee and likely creates an out or three per game more than Lee. However, Lee is the shortstop and pretty young, which means it is unlikely he is replaced. Seems like Kreidler will mostly sit or play a little third base despite the obvious benefits of him playing shortstop. 

Kreidler has basically been Royce Lewis at AAA. He has drawn walks, strikes out, can run, hits a couple extra base hits but is not a bat to watch. Lewis is a Twins love story whose draft position trumps many realities of his tough career thus far. Kreidler can swing from his heels too. 

How the Twins use Kreidler will be interesting to watch.

Agreed. I would actually like to see them play Kreidler at short 2 or 3 days a week with Lee or Gray at third. He is far and 80away the best defensive shortstop we have.  

I am very much with you on the outfielders. Martin is far from perfect, but he shows some real potential and should be playing regularly, not just in a platoon. Let’s see if you can hit .280 with a .375 on base percentage like he did for two months last year while playing good outfield defense. That’s hard to do if you want to play Wallner every day and still get Larnach into the lineup. This gets us back to the same roster construction problem that this team has, too many limited corner outfield types. I would like to see them make some kind of move to break that log jam by trading Larnach for a relief pitcher. If they did that, they could then bring up Roden, Emma, or GG, have Wallner DH at least half the time, and have Wallner, Martin, and the call up man the corner outfield spots. That does mean Josh Bell playing first base at least halftime, but I think that’s inevitable.

The most likely result, though, is that they’ll leave things as is until there’s an injury of some kind. Sometimes these things have a way of working themselves out when someone gets hurt. I actually think what’s likely is that all of these moves to get the younger guys up will happen this year, just not as soon as many of us would like. I expect to see a much different roster by July.

[DannySD]

Ugh. I don't recall a time when the Twins employed a more pathetic group of pinch hitters than Kreidler, Outman, Clemens. Punto and Celestino are Babe Ruth compared to this bench. 

[DJL44]

11 minutes ago, Brett said:

Lee, Gray, Kreidler means we have 3 utility guys on the roster with 2 of them starting. This makes me want to leave a wake up call for June when Culpepper is promoted.

I will be surprised if we see Culpepper that soon.

[Fatbat]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

Rough break for Laweryson; he was finally getting a chance to pitch and looked really good. I'm a little disappointed that Andrew Morris doesn't get more time to experiment and develop his craft at the AAA level. He is the Saints best pitcher but he will now be thrust into the bullpen and be required to get outs in tough situations. I'm probably higher on Morris than most, but have felt he was still in need of more experience with commanding multiple pitches as well as refining a couple of pitches that he has been working on in the last year. Hopefully he transitions smoothly.

Ryan Kreidler will be an upgrade on Lewis in the field but    .......   his bat? There really isn't another option though unless the Twins were ready to give Kaelen Culpepper 300 PA to prove himself. Culpepper is hitting the ball but he also looks like it would be beneficial for him to get a couple more months of AAA before any promotion.

KC is 1 injury away from MLB or an 0-14 .000 BA by Kreidler. 

[DJL44]

3 minutes ago, DannySD said:

Ugh. I don't recall a time when the Twins employed a more pathetic group of pinch hitters than Kreidler, Outman, Clemens. Punto and Celestino are Babe Ruth compared to this bench. 

Most days you will see Clemens starting at 1B and Gray at 3B. The bench is Caratini, Outman and Kreidler but Caratini will be paired with Clemens. The extra outfielder (Larnach or Martin) is your only pinch hitting move.

[DJL44]

2 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

KC is 1 injury away from MLB or an 0-14 .000 BA by Kreidler. 

They will give Arcia a chance before they promote Culpepper.

[Fatbat]

1 minute ago, DJL44 said:

They will give Arcia a chance before they promote Culpepper.

Another guy with sub par MLB batting skills. 

[Fatbat]

Hopefully Morris can be decent in the bullpen because it was awful yesterday. 

[karcherd]

A couple of thoughts on the replacements.

If Culpepper is not going to brought up, Lee needs to be at SS.  Until you are ready to move on from him as your everyday SS, you can't move him around.

It is not that difficult to play Martin, Larnach, and Bell in the lineup against RH's.  It just means that Clemens is on the bench where he should be and Bell plays first.  No he is not optimal there but that was why he was signed and Clemens is an upgrade defensively but not by that much.

 

[LA Vikes Fan]

1 hour ago, GopherMike said:

I agree that this is more interesting than it appears on the surface. 

Do the Twins use this as an opportunity to give Brooks more play at 3B?
Do they give Kreidler a chance to show he's anything better than Outman?

My guess is Royce is probably out through April, which is about 20 games. That's a not-insignificant window.

I think you’re right on Lewis. A knee sprain is not an insignificant injury. It’s also the kind of injury that needs to heal completely or there’s a very significant risk of re-injury, particularly since this is his plant leg which takes the heavy twisting force when he swings. I think he is probably out at least three or four weeks if not longer. 

[Jacksson]

Reinforcements??  You REALLY mean non-screw-ups.

[Mike Sixel]

Good luck to Morris! Exciting times for him. 

[Patzky]

1 hour ago, Patzky said:

He always shows he can hit 'a little bit'. I guess as long as some other no hit wonders aren't in the lineup (Outman, Clemens, Wallner) we can maybe try Kriedler at 3B.

This is exactly what Shelton did. Kudos.. no Wallner Clemens Outman. 

[LA Vikes Fan]

22 minutes ago, karcherd said:

A couple of thoughts on the replacements.

If Culpepper is not going to brought up, Lee needs to be at SS.  Until you are ready to move on from him as your everyday SS, you can't move him around.

It is not that difficult to play Martin, Larnach, and Bell in the lineup against RH's.  It just means that Clemens is on the bench where he should be and Bell plays first.  No he is not optimal there but that was why he was signed and Clemens is an upgrade defensively but not by that much.

 

I think this is really the important issue. What we need to do is make sure that our priorities are straight on who plays most of the time. Clemens is not part of the long-term roster; he is at best a nice bench piece. Don’t find him at bats. Play Wallner, Larnach, and Martin against most right handed pitchers with Bell at first base. Clements can get an occasional start at first base in place a Bell or at DH in place of Larnach, but don’t put him in a regular rotation. He just isn’t good enough and he’s already 30 years old. Play the guys who hope to be part of the near to medium term future. 

[Tallguy80]

So basically the plan is to punt when it comes to offense on the left side of the infield…that should really boost attendance into the 3k levels. 
 

Give Culpepper his deserved shot, if he sticks there are plenty of guys hitting < .200 on the roster that can be sent to AAA. If not, u can send him back with the likelihood he is called up again. 

[DJL44]

40 minutes ago, karcherd said:

A couple of thoughts on the replacements.

If Culpepper is not going to brought up, Lee needs to be at SS.  Until you are ready to move on from him as your everyday SS, you can't move him around.

Why? Lee isn’t going to get better with repetition. He has no future at SS. Play the best defensive alignment (Kreidler at SS) and try to win baseball games.

[Patzky]

1 hour ago, thelanges5 said:

Whatever they do, let’s hope it cleans up the defense on the left side of the infield.
 

per Jamie Cameron:

The left side of the #MNTwins infield is worth -8 OAA after 13 games 😱

Sim, Ober, Joe can attest to that.

[karcherd]

11 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Why? Lee isn’t going to get better with repetition. He has no future at SS. Play the best defensive alignment (Kreidler at SS) and try to win baseball games.

Then why wasn't Kreidler made the opening day SS, you don't move off of Lee after 14 games unless it is for a long term solution.   Kriedler is not the answer for the rest of the season, Lee is a better option for the season until Culpepper is brought up, which they don't seem to be in a hurry to do.

[bean5302]

2 hours ago, LA Vikes Fan said:

Glad to see the Twins go for the 24 year old Morris rather than a waiver pickup/retread like Kent or Altavilla. This year is for development. Let’s see what the young guys can do. 

I get bringing up  Kreidler for defense at SS and CF, and I hope it’s a prelude to sorting out the bench. We now don’t need Outman since Kreidler can back up CF. I’d really like to find a way to bring up GG or Emma and get them playing time. That probably means losing Outman and either Larnach or Clemens so we’re still a couple of steps away. 

Morris provides high quality short term injury replacement rotational depth IMHO. That said, if they can get high end relief value from him, I'm all for seeing him out of the bullpen.

[bean5302]

25 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Why? Lee isn’t going to get better with repetition. He has no future at SS. Play the best defensive alignment (Kreidler at SS) and try to win baseball games.

Wallner doesn't get enough hate around here. I want him at SS so I can get entertainment from reading comments with people absolutely losing their minds in here. Better yet, if the Twins can defend the move by talking about Wallner's strong arm.

I don't ever want to see Kriedler in an MLB game. Brooks Lee, for all his faults, is way better overall.

[DJL44]

50 minutes ago, karcherd said:

Then why wasn't Kreidler made the opening day SS, you don't move off of Lee after 14 games unless it is for a long term solution.   Kriedler is not the answer for the rest of the season, Lee is a better option for the season until Culpepper is brought up, which they don't seem to be in a hurry to do.

Kreidler wasn’t the opening day SS because he can’t hit a lick. I would prefer they didn’t play Kreidler at all, but if he is going to play they should get the most out of his defense.

[weitz41]

Grats to Morris! Hopefully your 1st and only call up. Hoping for Laweryson's strain turns out to be a mild issue or a nothing issue. 

As for Kreidler... I'd like to see him starting at SS with Lee at 3rd. No one's been hitting (in those spots) much before so improved defense and not hitting seem like a marginal improvement....

[twinstalker]

We all know the bullpen is going to give up runs.  It's a good thing we can crush teams prior to calling on it.  #WS2026

[nclahammer]

One of the many reasons I love road-tripping to Cedar Rapids every year is to get to see the Minnesota Twins up and coming prospects.   If you have never been down there, the stadium is very nice, the players accessible, and after Sunday games the players sign free autographs down on the field.   I have been a fan of Andrew Morris since the Twins drafted him, he helped pitch the Kernels to the Midwest League Championship in 2023.  Best of luck Andrew Morris!  Go get em'  kid.

[Linus]

Hopefully he thrives in the pen. Then add Festa  when he is ready and maybe the pen looks different. 

[Riverbrian]

3 minutes ago, Linus said:

Hopefully he thrives in the pen. Then add Festa  when he is ready and maybe the pen looks different. 

Necessity is the mother of invention. 

[Linus]

18 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

Necessity is the mother of invention. 

Oh boy do we have necessity 😀