2027 Infield

[HarmonK03]

7 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

1B Lewis (totally replacement level at this point)

Lewis is playing above replacement level right now.  You need to bring in somebody that is a clear upgrade if you are going to move him off of 1B.  The last 50 games which has correlated with our best stretch of the season he has the third best OPS on the team.  And he looks like he will be good at 1B, just stop moving him around.

[MGX]

Who knows what changes are coming this off-season & how that impacts the Twins roster. With that said if we're just talking about existing players here is my best guess...

C - Caratini - unless Jeffers somehow remains a Twin then he is the obvious starter
1B - Clemens/Lewis
2B - Lewis/Clemens
3B - Lee
SS - Culpepper
LF - Em Rodriguez
CF - Buxton
RF - Jenkins
DH - Keaschall

Bench - Jackson, Kreidler, Martin & Mendez

Hopefully, Houston is at AAA to start the season & forces his way onto the team at some point. That would force a decision to be made on Lee. By then the Twins would have more data to make that decision.

 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

15 hours ago, Permanent Twins Fan said:

2027

C: Caratini 1B: Lewis 2B: Clemens SS Houston 3B Culpepper RF: E-Rod CF: Jenkins, LF: Buxton DH: Keaschall

BN: Lee, Mendez, Martin, FA Backup Catcher

SP: Lopez, Ryan, Bradley, Abel, Prielipp (That is a crazy good rotation if healthy) 

RPs: Hoffman, Gomez, Morris, Rojas, Festa, Nance, Matthews, FA RP.

That'll work.

[clone52]

16 hours ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

What has Lee done this year to show you that he is a mlb caliber infielder?

I'm sure he has a lot of bad metrics, but baseball-reference.com shows him as not a bad 3B.  Awfull SS, but not that bad at 3B. 

Statcast also has him as an average fielding 3B.

[clone52]

15 hours ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

So no outside changes? Would that equal an ownership group that wants to win?

Only place they can improve from the outside is the infield?  Nothing else would count in your mind?

[TheLeviathan]

2 hours ago, HarmonK03 said:

Lewis is playing above replacement level right now.  You need to bring in somebody that is a clear upgrade if you are going to move him off of 1B.  The last 50 games which has correlated with our best stretch of the season he has the third best OPS on the team.  And he looks like he will be good at 1B, just stop moving him around.

Yeah, I was being too harsh probably but I just don't know how a team that gets so little power from so many spots in their lineup can afford to have a 1B with low power as well.

I could be convinced to stick with him if we saw Culpepper, Jenkins, and a DH come up and inject the lineup with more life.

[Linus]

I think the infield will be in flux next year. I view Lee and Lewis similarly in that they both have some good stretches yet neither can be counted on to be a difference maker at least so far. Defensively Lee kind of is who he is while Royce looks like he will become a good first baseman.  The remaining playing time this season is important for evaluating both players. By no means should it be a given that both keep their positions next year. Keaschall- who knows where he ends up. KC will be the SS for a while so it will be good to see what he looks like. If the Twins are going to be a team with real playoff hopes they need to add about three players who are difference makers. You can’t be avg all over the board like they are now (except for Buck). Where are those guys coming from?  

[HarmonK03]

47 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

Yeah, I was being too harsh probably but I just don't know how a team that gets so little power from so many spots in their lineup can afford to have a 1B with low power as well.

I could be convinced to stick with him if we saw Culpepper, Jenkins, and a DH come up and inject the lineup with more life.

One additional point if Royce continues his pace from June 6, over a season he would hit over 30 HR's.  Now I get we need to see it for a longer period of time.  I am becoming more convinced you give him 27 to see if he can figure it and move forward.  Now if he falls off the last two months of the season, then that would be a different discussion.

[mnfireman]

Since his return, Lewis has 1.5 fWAR, tied for 5th best among MLB 1B over that period and his wRC+ of 132 is tied for 10th. And while his defensive metrics aren't the best, the eye test tells me that with a little more playing time he can be league average or better in the field (see Mauer, Joe).

Lee, since 5-22, when he was moved to 3B, has 0.9 fWAR, 17th among MLB 3B with at least 170 PA (roughly 3.1 PA/GM since his move to 3B). His wRC+ is 102, league average, but his 11 HR and 36 RBI are 9th best from a 3B over that time period. He grades out slightly above average defensively and the eye test agrees.

Clemens, since 6-26, when he took over primary duties at 2B, has 0.5 fWAR, 15th among MLB 2B with at least 100 PA. His wRC+ is 98, league average, but his 8 HR and 21 RBI are good for 1st and 4th from a 2B over that time period. He makes the plays he's supposed make in the field and grades out about average, which agrees with the eye test. 

I'm not going into the SS situation because as of tonight it changes; Culpepper, whether he's ready or not, gets handed the keys.

Keaschall may get thrown back into the infield mix next season as Clemens probably better serves the team as a utility type player, but this is probably your best bet for 2027.

[Cory Engelhardt]

5 hours ago, clone52 said:

Only place they can improve from the outside is the infield?  Nothing else would count in your mind?

I was putting the idea together about the infield along with Tom saying they would raise payroll. A different thought/article could look at different position groups. 

[Cory Engelhardt]

5 hours ago, clone52 said:

I'm sure he has a lot of bad metrics, but baseball-reference.com shows him as not a bad 3B.  Awfull SS, but not that bad at 3B. 

Statcast also has him as an average fielding 3B.

There’s no one that’s starting for the Twins with more light blue on their savant page than Lee. It’s all light blue with no red. Not that that’s always the answer to everything. Just saying

[nicksaviking]

3 hours ago, HarmonK03 said:

One additional point if Royce continues his pace from June 6, over a season he would hit over 30 HR's.  Now I get we need to see it for a longer period of time.  I am becoming more convinced you give him 27 to see if he can figure it and move forward.  Now if he falls off the last two months of the season, then that would be a different discussion.

I was just going back through the game logs, and maybe I'm the only one, but I forgot that this time in 2024 Lewis had an OPS over 1.000. His decline at the end of 2024 and through 2025 are basically a perfect match to the Twins team as a whole going in the tank. I know they guy can be a handful, and he's been unbearably inconsistent since the end of 2024, but now that I recall (?realize?) he was a legit MVP contender back when the Twins were actually still playing good baseball, I want to give him a long enough leash to see if he can do it again should the Twins ever again find themselves playing good baseball.

[clone52]

56 minutes ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

I was putting the idea together about the infield along with Tom saying they would raise payroll. A different thought/article could look at different position groups. 

That's fair.  Just pointing out that it doesn't mean every individual position group has to be upgraded or payroll increase.

I mean if they signed Seiya Suzuki, Skubal and traded for Hunter Goodman, I would be fine with the in house IF options.

[howeda7]

Assuming Houston is not an option for Opening Day, the alignment of the current roster should be:

1B: Clemens

2B: Lee

3B: Lewis

SS: Culpepper.

Per DFRS when I looked about a month ago, Clemens is + 9 at 1B and +4 at 2B. Lee is the least bad at 2B (~-4 vs -9 at 3B) and Lewis is basically league average at both 1B and 3B.

[Mike Sixel]

6 minutes ago, howeda7 said:

Assuming Houston is not an option for Opening Day, the alignment of the current roster should be:

1B: Clemens

2B: Lee

3B: Lewis

SS: Culpepper.

Per DFRS when I looked about a month ago, Clemens is + 9 at 1B and +4 at 2B. Lee is the least bad at 2B (~-4 vs -9 at 3B) and Lewis is basically league average at both 1B and 3B.

I don't see why Houston can't start day 1 in MN. He's about to dominate AAA for 6 weeks or so. 

[Cory Engelhardt]

58 minutes ago, clone52 said:

That's fair.  Just pointing out that it doesn't mean every individual position group has to be upgraded or payroll increase.

I mean if they signed Seiya Suzuki, Skubal and traded for Hunter Goodman, I would be fine with the in house IF options.

Suzuki as a RF/DH would be a good middle of the order add. I would LOVE to go after Casey Mize as a free agent option, and I guess my perfect world would be a 1 year deal for Jeffers as a bridge until Lackey is ready. But I like the thought.

[clone52]

53 minutes ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

Suzuki as a RF/DH would be a good middle of the order add. I would LOVE to go after Casey Mize as a free agent option, and I guess my perfect world would be a 1 year deal for Jeffers as a bridge until Lackey is ready. But I like the thought.

Goodman probably moves to 1B long term anyway, so he wouldn't block Lackey or anyone

[Cory Engelhardt]

9 minutes ago, clone52 said:

Goodman probably moves to 1B long term anyway, so he wouldn't block Lackey or anyone

I like Goodman. He also would cost a TON right now. I think you could trade for someone like Isaac Paredes from Houston for less than it would cost to get Goodman, and his pull power would be awesome at Target Field.

But getting someone to be a cleanup hitter type would truly lift this lineup up

[clone52]

3 hours ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

I like Goodman. He also would cost a TON right now. I think you could trade for someone like Isaac Paredes from Houston for less than it would cost to get Goodman, and his pull power would be awesome at Target Field.

But getting someone to be a cleanup hitter type would truly lift this lineup up

Not a bad idea.