Which Twins Youngsters Have Earned a 2027 Job?

[chpettit19]

4 minutes ago, HarmonK03 said:

Or you let them work thru it like Chourio and Merrill were allowed.  I get there is a balance, but I am not in favor of sending him back after one month.  He is taking good at bats and is not taking his struggles into the field.

I'm fine with that, too. Just pointing out that sending guys back to AAA, even elite prospects, is not some crazy idea that no other team does. It happens all the time. 

Jackson Merrill was hitting .280/.336/.360/.696 after his first month+ and 110 PAs. 
Chourio was worse at .206/.257/.351/.608 and struggled even more his 2nd month.
Jenkins is at .125/.263/.281/.544.

If he ends with a sub-.600 OPS, it's entirely reasonable to start him in AAA with Keaschall-Buxton-Emma across the outfield. Not predicting he does that, and if he gets it up to .650+, he should absolutely start the season in the majors. But his numbers are really, really bad right now. AAA should absolutely be on the table if they don't improve. He controls his own destiny there.

[chpettit19]

1 minute ago, HarmonK03 said:

Actually Chourio was putting up sub .600 OPS and he was not sent down, that is the comp to me for Jenkins.

See above.

[MeleMouth]

7 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Unfortunately, Pohlad has sold the "we care about winning and are done rebuilding" message since he took over. Going with the youth movement (that should've been done this year) would be a complete 180 from what they've been preaching. Not spending would be a complete 180 from what he's been preaching. They've put themselves in a place to have to keep going down the "compete" path because they wanted their PR points.

I don't even know if it's PR anymore. If it is, it's poor PR, because ticket sales continue to drop. A press release might be good PR for a day or two, but your record is your best long-term PR, with your credibility being #2.

And I have no idea if it has anything to do with trying to drive up the value to sell the team. I've seen nothing other than social media speculation about a sale. The Angels and Padres just sold for many millions without any kind of notable success, so it does not appear that a playoff appearance would affect valuation very much (as opposed to a healthy turn-key operation, instead of one in which repairs have been deferred). 

I'm starting to think it's self-image - "I'm a winner!"

And perhaps an unwillingness to incur a little pain to achieve a goal.

[bjorks]

I'll jump on whatever bandwagon I need to be on and say Jenkins has been the victim of (gulp) some bad luck per analytics. Using SOME of them:  

.125 AVE (xBA .274) - BABIP .136 - Exit Velo 85.6 (slightly below) - Hard hit 38.1% (below) - Barrel rate of 4.8% (below)

It's interesting because in a small sample size he's not "squaring it up" at league average...but he's making quality contact when it is squared up yet he's hitting right at people...I think? I welcome for anyone with a better understanding of analytics explain this to me, which won't take much. 

As for ERod, I think he'll get his chance coming out of ST (if not traded) and if he struggles he's going to get the 'ol "shoulder - inflammation" need some rehab games, flares up, more rehab and call back. The other 2 are no brainers. 

 

 

[Brandon]

2 hours ago, HarmonK03 said:

He could get every day AB's up here as well, they choose not to give those to him but they are available.

The Twins are trying to compete for the playoffs.  E Rod needs reps.  He will get them in AAA and ride the bench unless he goes on a tear.  Let him play every day then bring him up at the up for 5-10 games....

[HarmonK03]

Just now, Brandon said:

The Twins are trying to compete for the playoffs.  E Rod needs reps.  He will get them in AAA and ride the bench unless he goes on a tear.  Let him play every day then bring him up at the up for 5-10 games....

Have you watched them play, they are competing in words only.  At some point you have to do an honest self assessment and this team has been out of it for about the last 10 days in reality, just not on paper.

[DJL44]

36 minutes ago, Brandon said:

The Twins are trying to compete for the playoffs. 

They have a 2% chance at the final wild card spot.

[Mike Sixel]

15 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

They have a 2% chance at the final wild card spot.

Even that seems high. 

[weitz41]

3 hours ago, DJL44 said:

You didn’t understand me. Kreidler had 113 PA in St Paul with a 889 OPS. Ross had 418 PA with a 810 OPS. Gonzalez has 444 PA with a really bad 741 OPS. I don’t understand why either is on the MLB roster. I don’t understand why the Twins want to fill the bench with bad players who they refuse to play under any circumstance.

AH! Now I understand. 

[SE23]

7 hours ago, Andy MacPhail said:

GG is a big liability defensively & we have too many DH candidates. MLB will quickly figure out his hitting. For a long time, I've said we need to take advantage of his hype & trade him before he's worthless.

He's a 45-rated fielder with a 60-rated arm. He's been working hard to improve his defense. Not a 'big liability.'

[miller761]

After this weekend E Rod should be with the Twins with regular at bats for the last 2 weeks of season.

[Mike Sixel]

1 minute ago, miller761 said:

After this weekend E Rod should be with the Twins with regular at bats for the last 2 weeks of season.

Right now. This is just weird at this point 

[RpR]

6 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

It is, actually. Being stuck in sub-.500s with middling placeholder vets is the worst possible outcome for an MLB team. 

The Front Office still cares about putting fans in the stands and to turn the Twins into Saints II would be not only an insult but asininely stupid also.

[HarmonK03]

34 minutes ago, RpR said:

The Front Office still cares about putting fans in the stands and to turn the Twins into Saints II would be not only an insult but asininely stupid also.

Why do we have a minor league system in your view if it isn't to develop players to hopefully contribute in the major leagues.  At some point you have to find out where they are in their development process.  And September has typically been the time for that especially if a team is out of the playoff hunt and fans understand this even casual fans.

[Danchat]

40 minutes ago, RpR said:

The Front Office still cares about putting fans in the stands and to turn the Twins into Saints II would be not only an insult but asininely stupid also.

The idea that the likes of Larnach and Bell are the only thing keeping some fans in the seats is laughable. Most casual fans couldn't care less who is playing or not, any diehard/tuned-in fans would know that sitting a couple of vets that aren't hitting above a league average level doesn't change much and certainly isn't going to influence their decision to attend a game.

[Mike Sixel]

6 minutes ago, Danchat said:

The idea that the likes of Larnach and Bell are the only thing keeping some fans in the seats is laughable. Most casual fans couldn't care less who is playing or not, any diehard/tuned-in fans would know that sitting a couple of vets that aren't hitting above a league average level doesn't change much and certainly isn't going to influence their decision to attend a game.

Anyone that thinks casual fans care about Larnach playing..... hahaha. 

[MeleMouth]

7 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Neither was Mike Trout and they sent him back to the minors when he was performing better than Jenkins is right now.

Neither was Byron Buxton when he kept going back to the minors because he wasn't performing.

Sending struggling players with options back to the minors isn't "treating them like a fringe prospect." It's normal roster management for MLB teams.

I can't think of a prospect ever who got to keep a job in perpetuity without performing well.

[LastOnePicked]

1 hour ago, RpR said:

The Front Office still cares about putting fans in the stands and to turn the Twins into Saints II would be not only an insult but asininely stupid also.

Go check the Target Field attendance for 2026. How's the Tom Pohlad approach working so far?

[TheLeviathan]

13 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

Go check the Target Field attendance for 2026. How's the Tom Pohlad approach working so far?

I was told that Tom Pohlad stood before legions of Minnesotans, lifted his sword in the air, declared us "contenders", and a mighty roar went up from the casuals.  So inspired were they by this man who knows no half measures, who sunk a whole 8 million dollars - 8 million!!!! - that they charged after him in droves to fill Target Field with their battle cries!  

Articles at Twinsdaily made me think it looked something like this on that fateful day of August 2nd...

Was....was I lead astray?

[Woof Bronzer]

9 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

I was told that Tom Pohlad stood before legions of Minnesotans, lifted his sword in the air, declared us "contenders", and a mighty roar went up from the casuals.  So inspired were they by this man who knows no half measures, who sunk a whole 8 million dollars - 8 million!!!! - that they charged after him in droves to fill Target Field with their battle cries!  

Articles at Twinsdaily made me think it looked something like this on that fateful day of August 2nd...

Was....was I lead astray?

EIGHT whole million?  My goodness, what an investment!  That's almost as much as they're paying Correa not to play here!  Gosh, 5 more of these non-half-measure investments and Sir Thomas the Benevolent will be approaching Kansas City-esque payrolls! Sir Thomas promised meaningful September ball and we are locked in a fight to the death with Detroit for 4th place in the division.  He hath delivered!

[Woof Bronzer]

11 hours ago, RpR said:

The Front Office still cares about putting fans in the stands and to turn the Twins into Saints II would be not only an insult but asininely stupid also.

You're saying folks who are big enough fans of the Twins to go to a meaningless September game for a team 8 games under .500 and out of contention, would be so offended by playing prospects during this game that they'd decide not to go instead?  

[RpR]

1 hour ago, Woof Bronzer said:

You're saying folks who are big enough fans of the Twins to go to a meaningless September game for a team 8 games under .500 and out of contention, would be so offended by playing prospects during this game that they'd decide not to go instead?  

Yes.

If they want to see the Saints, they can go to St. Paul.

[Woof Bronzer]

1 hour ago, RpR said:

Yes.

If they want to see the Saints, they can go to St. Paul.

I take it you believe attendance has tanked this past month since they called up Culpepper and Jenkins?

[RpR]

10 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

I take it you believe attendance has tanked this past month since they called up Culpepper and Jenkins?

Two players means nothing, the cluster so many here pee and moan to bring up is a totally different matter.

Jenkins to keep Keaschall out of center field was a very good move, but then he is here because Buxton was not. etc. etc.

[Andy MacPhail]

17 hours ago, SE23 said:

He's a 45-rated fielder with a 60-rated arm. He's been working hard to improve his defense. Not a 'big liability.'

Evaluators are usually very generous at rating fielding, so when a player is rated at 45, that's pretty bad. After working very hard, he's still too slow for an OFer, poor jumps, routes, glove & it doesn't do any good to have a good arm if he doesn't have a quick release. Twins are waking up & are playing him more at 1B, but his glove still isn't that good & his hitting doesn't meet the standard for a 1Bman (St, Paul stadium is very hitter friendly) & again MLB will very quickly adjust to his swing.

[RpR]

18 hours ago, SE23 said:

He's a 45-rated fielder with a 60-rated arm. He's been working hard to improve his defense. Not a 'big liability.'

I doubt Wallner will ever come back,  👽 although why not one last shot a Right Field this Sept.😍

Oh wait you  meant some one else?