BREAKING: Twins Calling Up Top Prospect Kaelen Culpepper

[chpettit19]

25 minutes ago, HarmonK03 said:

Not sure that the best option for a pinch runner should be your 3rd string catcher, but that is the state of this wonderfully constructed roster.

He has the same sprint speed as Royce Lewis. Jackson has a sprint speed of 27.7 ft/s. Lewis has the same. Martin is 27.8 and Clemens and Kreidler are 27.9.

Why wouldn't he be an option to pinch run? Just because he's a catcher primarily?

[HarmonK03]

Just now, chpettit19 said:

He has the same sprint speed as Royce Lewis. Jackson has a sprint speed of 27.7 ft/s. Lewis has the same. Martin is 27.8 and Clemens and Kreidler are 27.9.

Why wouldn't he be an option to pinch run? Just because he's a catcher primarily?

My point is if you want that as a role on the team, put somebody with real speed on the team like a Tolbert from KC.  Jackson has no role on this team other than being worried losing him for 2027.  

[Mike Sixel]

Color me happy to be wrong. Good move. Now play him every day.

[Major League Ready]

4 minutes ago, HarmonK03 said:

My point is if you want that as a role on the team, put somebody with real speed on the team like a Tolbert from KC.  Jackson has no role on this team other than being worried losing him for 2027.  

That sounds good in theory.  Who specifically would you bring up?   

[HarmonK03]

2 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

That sounds good in theory.  Who specifically would you bring up?   

My whole point is revolving around Jackson and his lack of a role on this team.  I want 13 players that can contribute to the team by having a defined role, Jackson has no role other than they are worried about losing for 2027.

[IndianaTwin]

5 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Love the move, hate the timing. Seems like a no-confidence vote that Culpepper could win ROY next season.

 

5 hours ago, umterp23 said:

So I read the rules/stipulations and they say PPI program allows up to but can’t exceed 60 days of MLB service time. Then below that statement it says rookies aren’t considered rookies after 45 days. Not sure what the timing baseline is. 

My understanding is there are two ways to get the extra pick through PPI:

1. Win ROY. Culpepper would not be eligible for this, assuming he stays up the rest of the year. 

2. Finish top 3 in MVP or CYA before reaching arbitration. I think this is where the 60 day baseline comes to play. Though it seems unlikely he will accomplish this, he would be eligible for this option. (Though I think it especially unlikely on the CYA side. 🤣)

That ignores the other parts of the rules like being in prospect rankings, etc. 

[DJL44]

23 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

He has the same sprint speed as Royce Lewis. Jackson has a sprint speed of 27.7 ft/s. Lewis has the same. Martin is 27.8 and Clemens and Kreidler are 27.9.

Why wouldn't he be an option to pinch run? Just because he's a catcher primarily?

The most likely players to need a pinch runner are Victor Caratini and Ryan Jeffers. Pinch running for either with Jackson and improving the defense is a solid bench move.

The bench of Martin/Jackson/Kreidler is there to pinch run and improve the defense. The Twins biggest weakness is on defense.

[howeda7]

5 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Love the move, hate the timing. Seems like a no-confidence vote that Culpepper could win ROY next season.

I don't get the worry about this. Who cares? Wins in a play-off push are more important that some theoretical future award/possible draft pick. Besides, no Twin has won ROY since 1995 and no Twin is likely to in 2027. 

[chpettit19]

2 minutes ago, HarmonK03 said:

My point is if you want that as a role on the team, put somebody with real speed on the team like a Tolbert from KC.  Jackson has no role on this team other than being worried losing him for 2027.  

Who is that guy? Jackson is pretty close to "real speed." Fedko? He's about the same range of speed as Jackson and those other guys. But he can't hit as well as Jackson is this year. There's nobody else on the 40-man that is clearly faster or would have a clear role in a playoff race.

2 minutes ago, HarmonK03 said:

My whole point is revolving around Jackson and his lack of a role on this team.  I want 13 players that can contribute to the team by having a defined role, Jackson has no role other than they are worried about losing for 2027.

Name a role and a player to replace him with then. Same question I asked you the other day and you couldn't answer. You don't seem to actually have 13 guys you'd like to see on the roster with specific roles you can define, you just don't want Jackson being that 13th guy. Which is fine. But just state it.

We went through it yesterday, or whatever day that was, that it's the playoff race. It's August, not April. Alex Call sits on the Dodgers bench and just pinch runs. His sprint speed is 27.8. As already stated, that's .1 ft/s faster than Jackson. Dodgers fools for playing their best 10 (catcher pair) as often as possible while they try to chase down the Brewers and not worrying themselves about their 13th guy? Speaking of the Brewers, they have someone named Brandon Lockridge on their roster who never plays. He is legitimately very fast, though. But their whole team is so he doesn't even pinch run. Has stepped on the field 1 time in the last week. Red Sox are hotter than the sun right now and they play the same 10 guys every day (assuming health, Contreras missed a couple games with an injury/illness recently). The Yankees play the same 10 guys almost all the time. 

The Twins don't have anyone meaningfully faster than Jackson. And they don't have 13 guys worthy of real playing time in a playoff race. Jackson isn't their problem. Him vs Fedko as the 13th guy, pinch runner type is a wash, so you don't lose a player just because he's a catcher. That'd be bad roster management. Jackson is faster than Roden, so if you added a Jenkins to the lineup, you'd rather have Jackson running than Roden so then Roden is the guy with no role. There is no reason to lose Jackson because there's nobody who fits a real need any better than he does. A 5th OFer who isn't as fast as your 3rd catcher isn't an upgrade to usefulness. It's just you throwing away a player for nothing.

[HarmonK03]

19 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Who is that guy? Jackson is pretty close to "real speed." Fedko? He's about the same range of speed as Jackson and those other guys. But he can't hit as well as Jackson is this year. There's nobody else on the 40-man that is clearly faster or would have a clear role in a playoff race.

Name a role and a player to replace him with then. Same question I asked you the other day and you couldn't answer. You don't seem to actually have 13 guys you'd like to see on the roster with specific roles you can define, you just don't want Jackson being that 13th guy. Which is fine. But just state it.

We went through it yesterday, or whatever day that was, that it's the playoff race. It's August, not April. Alex Call sits on the Dodgers bench and just pinch runs. His sprint speed is 27.8. As already stated, that's .1 ft/s faster than Jackson. Dodgers fools for playing their best 10 (catcher pair) as often as possible while they try to chase down the Brewers and not worrying themselves about their 13th guy? Speaking of the Brewers, they have someone named Brandon Lockridge on their roster who never plays. He is legitimately very fast, though. But their whole team is so he doesn't even pinch run. Has stepped on the field 1 time in the last week. Red Sox are hotter than the sun right now and they play the same 10 guys every day (assuming health, Contreras missed a couple games with an injury/illness recently). The Yankees play the same 10 guys almost all the time. 

The Twins don't have anyone meaningfully faster than Jackson. And they don't have 13 guys worthy of real playing time in a playoff race. Jackson isn't their problem. Him vs Fedko as the 13th guy, pinch runner type is a wash, so you don't lose a player just because he's a catcher. That'd be bad roster management. Jackson is faster than Roden, so if you added a Jenkins to the lineup, you'd rather have Jackson running than Roden so then Roden is the guy with no role. There is no reason to lose Jackson because there's nobody who fits a real need any better than he does. A 5th OFer who isn't as fast as your 3rd catcher isn't an upgrade to usefulness. It's just you throwing away a player for nothing.

Call up Jenkins, then you have a bench of Kreidler-13th man, defensive replacement, Martin-play against LH pitching, can pinch run as well, even though he is not always the smartest runner I know; Caratini-backup catcher and Roden right now until Buxton is back to play in the outfield once a week and pinch hit if needed.

Edit: In this scenario you could have Wallner up instead of Roden, he would be a strong pinch hitting option, he has at least had success previously in the majors.

[chpettit19]

9 minutes ago, HarmonK03 said:

Call up Jenkins, then you have a bench of Kreidler-13th man, defensive replacement, Martin-play against LH pitching, can pinch run as well, even though he is not always the smartest runner I know; Caratini-backup catcher and Roden right now until Buxton is back to play in the outfield once a week and pinch hit if needed.

Who is he pinch hitting for? The guy you constantly state can't hit and shouldn't be here is now a guy you want pinch hitting if needed? Jackson is out hitting Roden in their respective small samples this year. And he's faster. How is Roden more useful?

And we haven't even talked about what happens if Jeffers or Caratini gets hurt this year. It's not all about just having Jackson for next year. Caratini looks hurt right now when he's out there. If one of them goes down this year, who's the catcher you want to come learn the pitching staff and perform in a playoff chase? All so that Allen freaking Roden can backup corner OF spots that have plenty of coverage and pinch hit for an equally crappy hitter if needed?

[HarmonK03]

10 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Who is he pinch hitting for? The guy you constantly state can't hit and shouldn't be here is now a guy you want pinch hitting if needed? Jackson is out hitting Roden in their respective small samples this year. And he's faster. How is Roden more useful?

And we haven't even talked about what happens if Jeffers or Caratini gets hurt this year. It's not all about just having Jackson for next year. Caratini looks hurt right now when he's out there. If one of them goes down this year, who's the catcher you want to come learn the pitching staff and perform in a playoff chase? All so that Allen freaking Roden can backup corner OF spots that have plenty of coverage and pinch hit for an equally crappy hitter if needed?

We will just have to agree to disagree.

[ashbury]

So it's Rashi that loses the 40-man spot, not Gray via DFA nor Fedko via 60-day IL.  Color me surprised.  (And mistaken in my earlier two guesses.)

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

2 hours ago, HarmonK03 said:

I have no idea what you are saying.  Many comments have been about losing Jackson and not having a backup catcher for next year.  My point is you can find another backup catcher this offseason for $1.3m the same as Jackson.  So all this anxiety is misplaced in my opinion.  Jackson has no role on this team and to carry him when you say you are a contender is mismanagement of the roster.  I want 13 players that can serve some role on helping the team win.  In this case I am not worrying about 2027 because backup catcher is an easy position to fill at his production level.  And they signaled they want Caratini as the starter next year when they signed him last offseason, as foolish as it may be.

You either haven’t looked at the free agent list or you don’t know what you are talking about. There will be zero positive war catchers for $1.3 million. Maybe you can trade a 3-5 million excess prospect for a similar type catcher but you are greatly underestimating his worth because it doesn’t fit your agenda. Be happy Culpepper is up and stop the diatribe on Jackson. 

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

18 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Who is he pinch hitting for? The guy you constantly state can't hit and shouldn't be here is now a guy you want pinch hitting if needed? Jackson is out hitting Roden in their respective small samples this year. And he's faster. How is Roden more useful?

And we haven't even talked about what happens if Jeffers or Caratini gets hurt this year. It's not all about just having Jackson for next year. Caratini looks hurt right now when he's out there. If one of them goes down this year, who's the catcher you want to come learn the pitching staff and perform in a playoff chase? All so that Allen freaking Roden can backup corner OF spots that have plenty of coverage and pinch hit for an equally crappy hitter if needed?

He has conveniently avoided the topic of who would be the backup catcher if one of Jefferson or Caratini gets hurt. As of this year we don’t have any available competitive depth other than Jackson. That should be changing as soon as next year. 

[HarmonK03]

Just now, Hawkeye Bean Counter said:

You either haven’t looked at the free agent list or you don’t know what you are talking about. There will be zero positive war catchers for $1.3 million. Maybe you can trade a 3-5 million excess prospect for a similar type catcher but you are greatly underestimating his worth because it doesn’t fit your agenda. Be happy Culpepper is up and stop the diatribe on Jackson. 

He has a -2 WAR for his career.  Those catchers are all available in the offseason for a backup.  We traded Payton Eeles for him, not exactly a promising prospect.

I will continue my comments as I see fit, you like to tell me to not post things, but you can always scroll but you refuse to.  There are many others who feel the same as I do about Jackson and I have not any responses to them.  Now with the number of comments on this post, I may have missed one but I doubt it.

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

1 minute ago, HarmonK03 said:

He has a -2 WAR for his career.  Those catchers are all available in the offseason for a backup.  We traded Payton Eeles for him, not exactly a promising prospect.

I will continue my comments as I see fit, you like to tell me to not post things, but you can always scroll but you refuse to.  There are many others who feel the same as I do about Jackson and I have not any responses to them.  Now with the number of comments on this post, I may have missed one but I doubt it.

What’s his War in the last 2 seasons. MLB doesn’t care what type of player you wer 5-10 years ago, it’s what you can do for me now. For a position that regularly has negative war, .7 WAR last year and .4 this year in limited opportunities. 
 

Look I can’t stop you from having you opinions but spamming the board 100 times a day goes beyond having an opinion. Look I am similar that I can be just as stubborn. If you can tell me who you think is good enough to fill in from the minors if Jeffers or Caratini gets hurt then I might think you have a point. Until then it doesn’t appear you are looking at the whole picture.n

[Palindrome Bob]

7 hours ago, rdehring said:

Fantastic news.  Who is the other side of the move?  Assume it is Gray going back to St. Paul.  While watching last night's game, kept wondering when they would do this.  

What will be interesting is what they do when Buxton returns, hopefully, within a week.

Looks like AAA RHP Taylor Rashi, which makes a lot of sense, considering that he was extremely unlikely to receive a call up given his performance and the Twins’ deadline moves. 

Glad that Gray sticks around as organizational infield depth.

[Palindrome Bob]

24 minutes ago, ashbury said:

So it's Rashi that loses the 40-man spot, not Gray via DFA nor Fedko via 60-day IL.  Color me surprised.  (And mistaken in my earlier two guesses.)

 

25 minutes ago, ashbury said:

So it's Rashi that loses the 40-man spot, not Gray via DFA nor Fedko via 60-day IL.  Color me surprised.  (And mistaken in my earlier two guesses.)

While it’s intuitive to suspect that an infielder coming in means one going out, there are more fringy AAA RHP relievers on the 40-man than depth infielders. Rashi doesn’t shock me, but it could’ve just as easily been Go or Orze.

[DJL44]

5 hours ago, Coach said:

According to Google AI: Minnesota Twins have designated Tristan Gray for assignment (DFA) He recently appeared in a game for the team against the Kansas City Royals on August 6, 2026, and remains active on their roster. 

Your AI was hallucinating 

[HarmonK03]

13 minutes ago, Hawkeye Bean Counter said:

What’s his War in the last 2 seasons. MLB doesn’t care what type of player you wer 5-10 years ago, it’s what you can do for me now. For a position that regularly has negative war, .7 WAR last year and .4 this year in limited opportunities. 
 

Look I can’t stop you from having you opinions but spamming the board 100 times a day goes beyond having an opinion. Look I am similar that I can be just as stubborn. If you can tell me who you think is good enough to fill in from the minors if Jeffers or Caratini gets hurt then I might think you have a point. Until then it doesn’t appear you are looking at the whole picture.n

You go out and sign somebody off the waiver wire, it's not that difficult. You can't plan for every contingency, worry about today.  

And you might want to find a new hobby. lol

[Hubie29]

2 hours ago, Fatbat said:

I’m not sure why anyone is worried about who gets demoted. There are 5 solid demotion candidates. Pick one. 

My only problem is we have 3 catchers and 2 of them that are not worthy of an mlb roster spot. One has to go. 

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

17 minutes ago, HarmonK03 said:

You go out and sign somebody off the waiver wire, it's not that difficult. You can't plan for every contingency, worry about today.  

And you might want to find a new hobby. lol

Name a catcher on the waiver wire as good as Jackson at catcher? I am ample fine in my fan hood.  Without depth in the minors you are counting on luck to fill your hole.  That’s sounds like excellent risk management Harmon.  

 

[HarmonK03]

3 minutes ago, Hawkeye Bean Counter said:

Name a catcher on the waiver wire as good as Jackson at catcher? I am ample fine in my fan hood.  Without depth in the minors you are counting on luck to fill your hole.  That’s Sonys like excellent risk management Harmon.  

 

If Jeffers goes down, it won't matter who is behind the plate, because neither Caratini or Jackson are starters or even half time players at catcher.  If Caratini goes down and what is the probability of that, I am going to take the risk of grabbing someone off the waiver wire.  There won't be a huge dropoff from Jackson for a backup catcher.  You don't want to take risk, fine but I am willing to take that risk to improve the roster now.

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

1 minute ago, HarmonK03 said:

If Jeffers goes down, it won't matter who is behind the plate, because neither Caratini or Jackson are starters or even half time players at catcher.  If Caratini goes down and what is the probability of that, I am going to take the risk of grabbing someone off the waiver wire.  There won't be a huge dropoff from Jackson for a backup catcher.  You don't want to take risk, fine but I am willing to take that risk to improve the roster now.

Why was our best stretch when Jeffers went down? 
 

who would you sign right now. Name 1 catcher available?

[HarmonK03]

1 minute ago, Hawkeye Bean Counter said:

Why was our best stretch when Jeffers went down? 
 

who would you sign right now. Name 1 catcher available?

Because Caratini had a career month in June, I wouldn't expect that going forward.

We don't need a catcher now, but there is typically one available to be signed and I don't really care who it is.  They have signed catchers in August and September as have other teams, rosters are not static throughout the major leagues.

[Patzky]

7 minutes ago, Hawkeye Bean Counter said:

Why was our best stretch when Jeffers went down? 
 

who would you sign right now. Name 1 catcher available?

Yanks took a flyer on Garver.  That says a lot 

[TheLeviathan]

Sucks to see several pages battling our roster mess.  The deadline offered high value for Jeffers and likely could've provided space to move some of our OF glut to reduce most of the problems discussed here.

Instead...misfit roster.

[Hubie29]

18 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Yanks took a flyer on Garver.  That says a 

 

14 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

Sucks to see several pages battling our roster mess.  The deadline offered high value for Jeffers and likely could've provided space to move some of our OF glut to reduce most of the problems discussed here.

Instead...misfit roster.

Trading Jeffers leaves us with 0 mlb caliber catcher.  That's the problem moving him. If they lose him this off season they better have a plan to replace him. 

[Coach]

1 hour ago, HarmonK03 said:

Call up Jenkins, then you have a bench of Kreidler-13th man, defensive replacement, Martin-play against LH pitching, can pinch run as well, even though he is not always the smartest runner I know; Caratini-backup catcher and Roden right now until Buxton is back to play in the outfield once a week and pinch hit if needed.

Edit: In this scenario you could have Wallner up instead of Roden, he would be a strong pinch hitting option, he has at least had success previously in the majors.

Who is Martin platooning for? 😁