The Twins May Have Waited Too Long on Walker Jenkins

[Parfigliano]

28 minutes ago, ashbury said:

I took a deep dive into analyzing Jenkins's major league career, and if my math is right the Twins are 0-2 in games he has appeared in.  Would his presence earlier in the season by itself have turned things around for the team?  I'm going to go out on a limb and say no.

Math.

[bean5302]

Jenkins was a ground ball and pop up machine through the the all star break. He didn't start showing he was potentially going to be successful at the MLB level until August. Sure, the Twins could have called him up 5-10 games sooner if they were really aggressive. But this is the 8,724th article about this.

Jenkins wouldn't have helped the team in any meaningful way.

[TJSweens]

The idea that the Twins were ever a viable playoff contender was always fool's gold. Way too many regressions to the mean were due. Being within a couple of games of a playoff spot at the deadline was the worst thing that could have happened. The Twins added at a time they should have been clearing the decks for Culpepper, Jenkins and more.

[Cris E]

Of course it's too late, he's spoiled now, like a brown avocado in the compost pile of expired prospects. Alas, poor Walter, I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite hitting, of most excellent fielding, 

Writing these huge pronouncement pieces after two days is continued clickbaiting.  I will henceforth try to restrain myself and stay on meaningful topics. No one will miss me, but I'll feel better.

[Coach]

Jenkins should have been brought up when Buxton went on the IL the second time and held CF until Buck was 100% (😉).  BTW, Jenkins has one more steal than Buxton since the all star break!

[IndianaTwin]

26 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Jenkins was a ground ball and pop up machine through the the all star break. He didn't start showing he was potentially going to be successful at the MLB level until August. Sure, the Twins could have called him up 5-10 games sooner if they were really aggressive. But this is the 8,724th article about this.

Jenkins wouldn't have helped the team in any meaningful way.

I'm pretty confident we'll be past 8,725 before long... 

[ashbury]

36 minutes ago, Cris E said:

Of course it's too late, he's spoiled now, like a brown avocado in the compost pile of expired prospects. Alas, poor Walter, I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite hitting, of most excellent fielding, 

"Alas, poor Yorick! You don't look so good."

[Mike Sixel]

4 hours ago, PuckettPond said:

It looks like we found our Kirby Puckett replacement in CF. A 5 tool player plus being well groomed showing pride in himself & the team. Hippies belong in the 1960's not on a baseball field. Pride, respect & self worth starts @ the barber shop. Support your local barbers. Go Twins!

This has to be a bit. 

[Derojo]

The Twins largest deficit is starting pitching. Jenkins is irrelevant to that. Second, they were expected to be at best just below .500. Third, even if a team makes third wild card, that's playing for experience. Third wild card is weak. The experience is good, that's all. 

[IndianaTwin]

2 hours ago, Cris E said:

Of course it's too late, he's spoiled now, like a brown avocado in the compost pile of expired prospects. Alas, poor Walter, I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite hitting, of most excellent fielding, 

Writing these huge pronouncement pieces after two days is continued clickbaiting.  I will henceforth try to restrain myself and stay on meaningful topics. No one will miss me, but I'll feel better.

I don’t know if this is more meaningful, but here’s what bothers me — couldn’t the makers of avocados put a new toy inside once in a while? I’m kinda tired of the little wooden balls they keep including. 

[MeleMouth]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Jenkins was a ground ball and pop up machine through the the all star break. He didn't start showing he was potentially going to be successful at the MLB level until August. Sure, the Twins could have called him up 5-10 games sooner if they were really aggressive. But this is the 8,724th article about this.

Jenkins wouldn't have helped the team in any meaningful way.

This is correct. The Walker Jenkins of today would have been helpful a month ago. But the Walker Jenkins of a month ago wouldn't. A new gear was opened at the Futures Game and he spent the next few weeks solidifying. 

[RpR]

The Twins needed Jenkins to keep Keaschall out of Center Field, nothing more.

[TopGunn#22]

I don't disagree with the general idea of the op.  Buxton was hurting.  He's been hurting for much of this season.  The opening was there.  It was clear.  There really wasn't much evidence to the contrary.  But it's not like Larnach, Roden and others were swinging such hot bats that the kid couldn't have shouldered his way into the lineup on a regular basis.  The same was true of Culpepper.  They really should have had him up sooner, but he kept getting hurt.

At least both of them are getting a taste of the big leagues now.  The Twins should be calling up Emmanuel Rodriguez on Tuesday and he should play RF.  let Keaschall play LF.  That, with Jenkins in CF is your OF of the future.  Eventually, Buxton will get his hip healed, but I don't think it will be this season.  He and the team should determine if he needs surgery or not.  If he does, the sooner he gets it, the sooner he can begin rehabbing. 

If Buxton returns to CF next season, that's a GOOD outcome.  If he has to play LF, I would do what I could to get Keaschall as many AB's as a LF/2B and RF if you want to sit E-Rod against certain LHP.  But it's time to give extended play to younger guys and see what you have for 2027.   

[AlLagoon]

Strong disagree - Jenkins was playing okay at St. Paul not so long ago. He's on a heater now, but better than Buxton?

Stop the 2nd guessing and what if click bait.

 

NO!

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

19 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Hippies?

I, for one, am all in favor of bringing back Oscar Gamble hairstyles!

[Parfigliano]

12 hours ago, RpR said:

The Twins needed Jenkins to keep Keaschall out of Center Field, nothing more.

Nothing more?  Wow.

[Parfigliano]

2 minutes ago, Bangkok Twins Fan said:

I, for one, am all in favor of bringing back Oscar Gamble hairstyles!

Barley get a hat on.

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

17 hours ago, Cris E said:

Of course it's too late, he's spoiled now, like a brown avocado in the compost pile of expired prospects.

But that was a magical sentence. Thank you!

[Major League Ready]

Let's see ....

They were bad in 2025.  They lost one of their 2 top of the rotation SPs before the season started.  The other looked suspect at the deadline as did their best position player.   The guy they had to keep (Jeffers) in order to contend has am ops of .638 for the month.  The other guy they kept (Larnach) has a .600 OPS for August. 

 Their plan to replace the BP was to add Taylor Rogers and Anthony Banda.  They actually decreased payroll again.   Yet, Tom Pohald tells everyone he does not do half measures and this team must contend in 2026.  I would hate to see a half measure if this was full-measure.

Walker Jenkins was not going to put this team in contention.  They were never a contender despite the insistence of Tom Pohlad.  They managed to do slightly better than expected for part of the season by hitting out of their minds with RISP.  That regression should not surprise anyone.  Their plan for the year and the future is the pursuit of mediocrity.   Tom Pohlad needs to find a guy to make the baseball decisions and stay out of the way. 

[Jasper]

This is good experience for Jenkins and Culpepper for next year. Get Manny up tomorrow and play them everyday. See what you have this season is over.

[Woof Bronzer]

20 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Jenkins wouldn't have helped the team in any meaningful way.

The idea that replacing worse players with better ones won't help the Twins at all is one of the more baffling things about the whole Jenkins saga.  I truly don't understand this thinking.  No one is saying they would have won the Series if they called him up in June.  It's just frankly insane to think that calling up Tristan Gray when Buxton went down the first time, or keeping an empty bench spot the most recent time, or trotting out Concrete Glove Keaschall in CF "helped the team" more than calling up Jenkins would have. 

The Twins are not good enough.  They need a substantial injection of talent.   The Twins need more Jenkins and Culpeppers, less Grays and Jacksons.  

[twinstalker]

If you weren't going to keep him down all year, the Twins were absolutely stupid to not trade Larnach to the Astros when they came back with interest after blowing up the Abreu trade.

Pride is a terrible thing.

[h2oface]

“Saying Jenkins definitely cost Minnesota a playoff berth would be impossible to prove.”

Kinda like saying he wouldn’t have saved the decline is impossible to prove. Those last 3 weeks before they did sure were impressive. And now they bring up another utility guy. Just what this team needs, eh? A utility push. 

[Woof Bronzer]

3 hours ago, h2oface said:

“Saying Jenkins definitely cost Minnesota a playoff berth would be impossible to prove.”

Kinda like saying he wouldn’t have saved the decline is impossible to prove. Those last 3 weeks before they did sure were impressive. And now they bring up another utility guy. Just what this team needs, eh? A utility push. 

Right. I keep seeing this idea that "if they called him up a week earlier it wouldn't have made a difference."  A week earlier they were in playoff position!  Who knows what would have happened?   

[RpR]

4 hours ago, twinstalker said:

If you weren't going to keep him down all year, the Twins were absolutely stupid to not trade Larnach to the Astros when they came back with interest after blowing up the Abreu trade.

Pride is a terrible thing.

So is infatuation.