What's the Twins’ Long-Term Answer at First Base?

[MapleGroveTwinsFan]

6 minutes ago, S Bart said:

Also....Royce Lewis 

Royce Lewis debuted at 23, and Rooker at 25, not sure how that compares.

Rooker has had one great season, 1 season with a WAR of 2 and one with 1.8, and the rest below replacement and will be 32 in two months.

Lewis been a league average player at best minus a month or so back in 2023.

Not sure these two guys are making the case you think you are.

Sure if Buxton puts up a 5 WAR season, Keashall, Jenkins, Lee,  Erod, Culpepper and Clemens put up WARs between 2 - 4 then trying a 27 year old rookie isn't a terrible idea, if those things don't happen and they try out a 27 year old and he fails, well it will be another year of missing the playoffs. Sabato should be depth for next year and if somebody gets hurt they should give him a shot.

[gman]

31 minutes ago, bjorks said:

never said anything about Clemens, I'm referring to specifically the fact Kriedler should get about 250 ABs a year and if Ross is on the MLB roster, we've suffered massive failure/injuries. Moving Clemens off being the primary option at 2B is, IMHO, the stupidest thing Jeremy/Shelton could do. 

Working with players we have not the ones we hope to get maybe someday. I agree with Clemens being pulled away from second and at this point would be our best hitter for first base.

[Western SD Fan]

To suggest that we have to have a big power hitter at first is laughable.  The Twins and other teams have had light-hitting first basemen before.  The Twins have had Kirilloff, Mientkiewicz, and Ron Coomer.  Even the Yankees have had Greg Bird, who was not known for his power, in the lineup.  Whether a first basemen hits the ball over the wall or into the gap still drives in the run.  I'll take a full lineup of Lewis's, if they consistently hit the ball into the gap over a lineup of Joey Gallo's, who has light tower power, provided he can find the ball with the bat short of hiring Sherlock Holmes.

As for figuring out whether Lewis is the long-term answer at first, this could have already been addressed by now had they done this last offseason, which was move Lewis off of 3B to first or second.  Because they failed to address this last offseason, we need to use up another offseason to see whether the Lewis experiment will work or not.  I could also make the argument that they could have addressed this in the 2024-2025 offseason when all the comments were flooding in about Lewis refusing to play second in September of 2024.  

I could be intrigued by Keaschall at first.  Mainly because we just have too many OF that will need playing time and are better fielders, even if they move Larnach or not offer him arbitration, and I'm not even including Wallner, who probably needs a Julien type of trade out of Minnesota at this point.  Lewis could then move to second with Clemens being the LH Swiss army knife that gives a platoon advantage.

[S Bart]

[arby58]

57 minutes ago, bjorks said:

see...Rooker...Brent

It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. For every Rooker you’ll have 10 Fedko McCumbers. Keep in mind that Rooker had 3 seasons of negative WAR before he found hitting religion in Oakland - nobody’s gonna give Sabato that long a leash.

[S Bart]

when talking about age...important to realize that some of these players such as Lackey...Culpepper...Sabato.....Lee.actually went to college..gained experience there...as such, they enter pro baseball older....,,around 21 or 22. It is important to take that into consideration when comparing age any playing career. My belief is that Jenkins will improve with time,,,,but probably was baptized into the majors a bit early. I really am not certain if Royce is going to make an adjustment. He spent time with a batting coach all last winter. He will be 28....not sure how long of a leash the team should give him.

[PuckettPond]

If Royce Lewis does not accept coaching & continues to do it his way he may not be in a Twins uniform for long.

[Nashvilletwin]

Jeffers - as early as ‘28 and certainly in ‘29 and 30’.  Just depends on Lackey, Diaw, Tait and Tinney.

The point is that re-signing Jeffers to a four year deal makes sense because after ‘28 at the latest he can make the move to 1B and won’t be holding anyone back.

C’mon TDers - let’s think out of the box

[Jacksson]

The next 1B is not currently in the organization.  Identify that player.  Trade for him.

[S Bart]

50 minutes ago, MapleGroveTwinsFan said:

Royce Lewis debuted at 23, and Rooker at 25, not sure how that compares.

Rooker has had one great season, 1 season with a WAR of 2 and one with 1.8, and the rest below replacement and will be 32 in two months.

Lewis been a league average player at best minus a month or so back in 2023.

Not sure these two guys are making the case you think you are.

Sure if Buxton puts up a 5 WAR season, Keashall, Jenkins, Lee,  Erod, Culpepper and Clemens put up WARs between 2 - 4 then trying a 27 year old rookie isn't a terrible idea, if those things don't happen and they try out a 27 year old and he fails, well it will be another year of missing the playoffs. Sabato should be depth for next year and if somebody gets hurt they should give him a shot.

ahhh Rooker played for Miss. State and was SEC player of the year. So, it is important to take into debut consideration that some players actually do go to college and then enter the majors. Lewis went from high school. Players that enter MLB after college still have to go through the steps. I am not saying Rooker was great...unless Lewis can have somebody help him with his batting and pitch selection...you may see another Sano scenario...hope not 

[Andy MacPhail]

2 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

For all the plodding, slow, large, power-hitter types we drafted over the years we didn't manage a single one we could move to 1B.

It was so frustrating when Twins, drafted those players & develop them with big holes in their swing.