Kaelen Culpepper is Preparing Himself to Fill Two Roles the Twins Desperately Need

[RpR]

4 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

So never room for rookies. Good plan. 80-ytear-old Nolan Ryan vs Lou Brock tomorrow is going to be a great matchup.

And Walter Mitty was a middle aged man by the way.

If they are good enough, their time will come, no matter how much some people whine.

[twinstalker]

Quote

Culpepper has always chased...that’s a trait the Twins aren’t afraid of drafting.

Well, this pretty much says it all.

Twins apparently aren't afraid of drafting bad defense, either.

[nicksaviking]

2 hours ago, RpR said:

If they are good enough, their time will come, no matter how much some people whine.

Half the MLB team isn’t good enough. Why does James Outman get a pass exactly? He’s not going to help this team in 2027.

The only whining is coming from you every time someone mentions a prospect. 

[PatG]

Lewis' mistake was to say "I don't do slumps"; funny (not) now charisma comes around in life.

Please Royce: hit singles to right field for a month.  Get used to seeing the ball a bit more in the zone.  Ignore Buxton's HRs to left (even encourage Buxton to get some bunts or at least occasionally try to hit the ball to the right field gap - but, gotta love the HRs to left).

I know I missed the gist of the Culpepper article.......

[JD-TWINS]

On 5/12/2026 at 9:09 AM, Bangkok Twins Fan said:

That's the elephant in the room. The "cratering" of both players this season, especially so drastically, is alarming. But yeah, not much trade value for either at this point. 

Neither guy had a “good” ‘25. It’s even more drastic of a disappointment than I could have imagined, particularly with Lewis! They both have Options …….. I get they were hitting #3 & #4 to start the year and were part of the “core” that was going to propel the ‘26 offense. It’s not happening & either or preferably both should get to St Paul sooner than later.

Rodriguez - Jenkins - Roden all being hurt is the only way Wallner is still on the Roster with a -1.100 WAR 25% of the way through the Season. Honestly, it could be worse if Shelton wasn’t recently playing Martin ahead of Wallner v. RH pitching….,,more opportunity for Matt would inflate his negative WAR.

[JD-TWINS]

8 hours ago, twinstalker said:

Well, this pretty much says it all.

Twins apparently aren't afraid of drafting bad defense, either.

I hear ya.

9th in baseball at 28.2% Chase this year.

Martin is at 12.6% & Buxton is at 36.6% ……. Larnach is essentially the same rate as Team average…………”average Chase” is 23.5-25.5%.

[jmlease1]

11 hours ago, RpR said:

If they are good enough, their time will come, no matter how much some people whine.

So how do you decide when they're ready? Are they only allowed to come up when they're never going to get sent back down? How do you know when that will occur? 

Part of how their time occurs is when you give them a roster spot. development isn't linear, and you're better off not burning off too many option years in AAA because you've philosophically decided that you don't trust rookies or something.

When a team isn't good enough to compete, it's also a good time to test those young players and actually find out if they are ready by the only sure means: let them play.

It's still only mid-May, so it's not like we've only got 20 games left in the season to give someone a tryout for next year. But end of May/Early June you have to start making some calls if you want to give promising players a real look and not just a cup of coffee. And sometimes guys play well, put a charge into a team, and they go on a run...

[jkcarew]

17 hours ago, RpR said:

LOL, this is the Big Leagues. Yeah bring them up so they can miserably fail, brilliant.

This is the real world  , not The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

You mean like Hrbek, Gaetti, Gagne, Laudner, Bush, Brunansky, and Viola mostly failed miserably when they were first brought up in the early 80’s?

Yeah, that would be dumb.

[RpR]

10 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Half the MLB team isn’t good enough. Why does James Outman get a pass exactly? He’s not going to help this team in 2027.

The only whining is coming from you every time someone mentions a prospect. 

LOL, yeah, that is why Outman , Clemens and Larnach were/are mentioned SO often for week after week as to OH WHY, OH WHY are they here , LOL.

I do not live in the world of wishful thinking, wonder boy rookies, you and so many do.

 

[RpR]

2 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

So how do you decide when they're ready? Are they only allowed to come up when they're never going to get sent back down? How do you know when that will occur? 

Part of how their time occurs is when you give them a roster spot. development isn't linear, and you're better off not burning off too many option years in AAA because you've philosophically decided that you don't trust rookies or something.

When a team isn't good enough to compete, it's also a good time to test those young players and actually find out if they are ready by the only sure means: let them play.

It's still only mid-May, so it's not like we've only got 20 games left in the season to give someone a tryout for next year. But end of May/Early June you have to start making some calls if you want to give promising players a real look and not just a cup of coffee. And sometimes guys play well, put a charge into a team, and they go on a run...

People whose whole life is baseball know when they - probably - are ready, vs. coming up because there is no better option.

A high strike out rate, or sub-Mendoza Line batting average vs. AAA pitching IS a big thing that will keep them in the Minors longer.  Keaschall heading towards Lewis type play is some thing I did Not expect and has dimmed  my view on Saints boys.

Journey man veterans showing up after the season started, shows , some times, they think there is a better option.

[RpR]

1 hour ago, jkcarew said:

You mean like Hrbek, Gaetti, Gagne, Laudner, Bush, Brunansky, and Viola mostly failed miserably when they were first brought up in the early 80’s?

Yeah, that would be dumb.

😄I do not know what world you live in but not one of those came even close to failing, period, much less miserably, when they came up for Minn., 😆

Try again.

[nicksaviking]

33 minutes ago, RpR said:

LOL, yeah, that is why Outman , Clemens and Larnach were/are mentioned SO often for week after week as to OH WHY, OH WHY are they here , LOL.

I do not live in the world of wishful thinking, wonder boy rookies, you and so many do.

 

Name me one player who was never a rookie.

And what's the wishful thinking? Nobody is expecting these guys to be HOFers. The guys they'd be replacing have created such a low bar, that the idea is that even if the young guys come up and stink, so what, the guys they are replacing already stink. 

[nicksaviking]

24 minutes ago, RpR said:

😄I do not know what world you live in but not one of those came even close to failing, period, much less miserably, when they came up for Minn., 😆

Try again.

Yet you would have complained about playing rookies none the less.......

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, RpR said:

😄I do not know what world you live in but not one of those came even close to failing, period, much less miserably, when they came up for Minn., 😆

Try again.

Hrbek had an OPS+ of 85 he first taste of MLB. Gaetti only got a cup of coffee, but looked rough (did fine, if not quite starting quality in '82, his first real season). Brunansky crushed it. Laudner of course was never a quality starter and often a poor backup, really. (a historically bad all-star, there only under the kindness of Tom Kelly, who frankly should have been ashamed of himself) Viola was bad in both of his first 2 tries at MLB; he actually gave up more earned runs than anyone in 1983. Bush? A marginal player I'm afraid. gagne? Did nothing in his 2 cups of coffee, then struggled to be more than a backup getting starting time for a couple of seasons, before blossoming into an excellent fielder.

A mixed record in their starts, for sure. I think you could argue there was some real failure there.