What To Do With Max Kepler

I keep him. He may be a fourth outfielder but fourth outfielders will get a lot of at bats. There is no reason to sell low. 

Let's trade him to Miami so that he can be reunited with James Rowson and go on and win a triple crown!

Even though he's been one of my favorite players for years, it's time to trade him. If you can turn him into another Jhoan Duran type, you have to do it. Larnach is the RF moving forward in my view.

I can see him potentially as a 4th outfielder/platoon ie upgrade over Cave.    With our current OF situation he is our best defender outside of Buxton which has value.   

5 minutes ago, wavedog said:

I can see him potentially as a 4th outfielder/platoon ie upgrade over Cave.    With our current OF situation he is our best defender outside of Buxton which has value.   

By no means disagreeing with your assessment, but its pretty sad to be thinking of Kepler as a 4th OFer when he's guaranteed $15.25mill over the next 2 seasons (6.75 in 2022/ 8.5 in 2023).

I think his biggest problem is he can’t or won’t use the whole field like Larnach and Kirilloff. My theory is that he became pull happy after the 36 home runs and wants to beat the shift by hitting over it. Now, disturbingly he’s striking out a lot too. I agree, he should almost never bat against a lefty. So many times he could have an easy single if he would just bunt to the left side with the extreme shifts leaving half the left side of the infield open. .199 or just over .200 just won’t cut it.

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

This is very sad and it falls on the Twins who have failed to take Sano, Kepler, Polanco to the next level.  They were the building blocks and we did not coach, lead them to their potential. 

Agree, it is sad. Max seems like a good guy. Does he have as much talent as Larnach or Kirilloff? I thought so but it appears not. He needs some good coaching and a willingness to change his approach. It may be time to cut ties.

8 hours ago, Greglw3 said:

I think his biggest problem is he can’t or won’t use the whole field like Larnach and Kirilloff. My theory is that he became pull happy after the 36 home runs and wants to beat the shift by hitting over it. Now, disturbingly he’s striking out a lot too. I agree, he should almost never bat against a lefty. So many times he could have an easy single if he would just bunt to the left side with the extreme shifts leaving half the left side of the infield open. .199 or just over .200 just won’t cut it.

He was never all that great at going to the opposite field.  It drives me crazy that he and the coaching staff allow teams to put on an extreme shift.  Rod Carew would have batted 900 against that shift.  It drives me crazy that he can't take advantage of the enormous hole they leave him.  He would not even need to control the distance.  He could just bunt as hard as he likes.  Had he learned to bunt, he would have negated the shift and his average would be considerably higher.

5 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

This is very sad and it falls on the Twins who have failed to take Sano, Kepler, Polanco to the next level.  They were the building blocks and we did not coach, lead them to their potential. 

The list of guys that never made it to "the next level" is endless.  I doubt the problem is massive failure throughout the entire league to develop players, especially the last few years.  The development effort and practices have been advanced and intensified.  It's always possible something different could have been done to help but these three were not top prospects who failed to reach their expected level.  Fans just feel better blaming it on "management".

Kepler is another former hot young prospect who now can't hit their weight.  

Seems Kepler has gone the way of several of our Twins.  What does the coaching staff do?  Why do we have so many players regressing?  Isn't it the coaches job to develop our core players?  I hope Kirilloffs, Larnach and others don't regress under our coaches

How about a new hitting coach! 

25 minutes ago, PDX Twin said:

And if he bunted to the left side a few times (or shortened up his swing and punched a few singles that way), they would stop shifting so extremely and he could have more chances to get hits going to his more comfortable right. This isn't a difficult concept. Why do so few players do it?

I see players on other teams hitting to the vacant spot at second base a lot but not as much on the Twins. That shift, had it been employed against Rod Carew would have lasted no more than one game!

14 minutes ago, Greglw3 said:

I see players on other teams hitting to the vacant spot at second base a lot but not as much on the Twins. That shift, had it been employed against Rod Carew would have lasted no more than one game!

Agreed 100%.  Why are players not taught to bunt anymore?  To me, the game is not evolving, but instead regressing.  Is it coaching, or has the approach to the game changed so much that it sometimes has me gagging?  As a traditionalist growing up watching baseball in the 60's and 70's,  I hate all the new and extreme rules changes, like 7 inning doubleheaders, and the baserunner to start extra innings.  Getting as bad as Nascar.  Getting back to Kepler,  how about going back to the basics of hitting, bunting, walking.  He will never be a Carew type, and he shouldn't.  But he could be more of a Cuddyer type, which I think is reasonable.  

17 hours ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

He could be part of a trade package this month for MLB-ready starting pitching?

But where is that pitching going to come from? Everyone needs pitching. No good one will be cast adrift at the deadline.

The Twins may definitely be toast this year, but just offloading talent now, when they know they won't get value I don't think is the solution. The team will be a loser whether they trade now or not. So the question would be....how many years do you want to be 'rebuilding' and pretty much non-competitive? I go back to...I have to think, if you are a young fan, you are willing to sacrifice years perhaps. If you are older (ahem) time becomes more valuable and waiting around for a suspect to maybe float to the top isn't a happy thought! So Twins need to be somewhat practical and not knee-jerk...at least not without just giving away what talent they do have.

They need pitching...they won't get it on July 31st...

He would at least be the busy side of a platoon, but then who is the other side? What does that look like? An outfielder that hits lefties well enough to be in the lineup, can defend when he's out there, but hits righties poorly enough to use Kepler instead? That's  a specific pedigree, and maybe not useful enough for a roster spot. Platooning is how you make do with the roster you have. It's a real hard way to build a roster.

As to whether better development is to blame, that's hard to know. But the ease with which effective staffs keep all the Twins off the bases is worrisome

While I really like Max though I have been touting trading him to the Yankees who desperately need a lefty hitter and Max can take advantage of the short porch in Yankee Stadium, I do hope he stays with the Twins and plays about 120 games a season against right handed pitching. He could hit .260 with 25 home runs and 75 RBI if he can do that though that may be his ceiling. He's also a good defender. Part of the problem is we don't know who else we have. I am not a fan of Larnach though he's just a rookie and wonder why he is batting so high in the lineup. If the Twins do trade him, I would hope we can get something decent for him.

anyone for tennis?

11 hours ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

The starting pitching is going to come from, first, 1) a trade, and then 2) a free agent signing. They need two additional starters on par with Berrios and Maeda, or better to be competitive in 2022. It can happen. On July 31st this year? Not sure. 

1. The pitcher to trade for? I don’t know. They do need to get it right. So maybe make two trades, deadline or offseason. The front office assures us that competitiveness is sustainable, meaning that good position players are always coming up and fighting for playing time. That does seem to be working. To me, it really shouldn’t matter who they trade away, Kepler would be a candidate, even Kirilloff or Larnach (but not Buxton or Berrios, and I would not trade Lewis either). All in all, the front office has done a good job filling the lineup, in my opinion. 

2. The free agent? Again, I don’t know. It sure looks like the Twins passed on the better options in free agency in recent years that would be making a difference now (Darvish, Wheeler). Keep in mind, with one year deals, you get what you pay for. 

Relievers are important too, but I’d start with the starters. Maybe Duran can start as a bullpen guy. 

I am optimistic this can be turned around in time for 2022!

I hope you are wrong.  By far the most effective way to build a team is by producing starting pitching by drafting or trading for SPs before they are established.  When you are a mid or small market team it's essential.  The Twins at least have enough revenue that they can supplement a home grown staff with a free agent.  IMO, the failure to develop homegrown pitching is one of the primary reasons the Twins have not had a deep playoff run in 30 years

I also do not align with your pessimism where are SP prospects are concerned.  As of now, I think there is very good reason to believe Winder and Balazovic can be impact SPs.  Duran has a lower ceiling (RP) but he probably has the highest ceiling. Canterino / Enlow / Sands all seem to have mid rotation potential.  Ober is a bit of a mystery to me.  I would think he can be a solid 4 if he can maintain the plus command he has been known for in the minors.  There are a couple other guys with potential too.  That’s a lot of guys with MLB potential to dismiss.

I also am not in the camp that seems to assume trades for SPs always work out.  There were a lot of people ardent about trading for Snell who is now boast an ERA of 5.29.  For the record, I don’t think it is remotely accurate to say the Twins passed on Wheeler.  Wheeler was their #1 target.  He was very firm in his desire to be in the NE.  Fans sure to like to ignore any information that does not fit the narrative of we should have signed XYZ player.  For example, Wheeler did not want to here or the fact that Philly's strategy which is what you are promoting has failed.  They have been at or below 500 during the stretch where they signed Harper / Degrom / Wheeler / others and traded & resigned Realmuto.  They can't make it work with $100M of incremental revenue on the Twins so is this really the best strategy for the Twins?
 

I too was a big fan of Max since he came up.  His inability to use the whole field (especially against LHP) is killing him.  I hate to say this, because the Pohlad's should operate us like the St. Louis Cardinals and not the Tampa Bay Rays, but Max is just too "pricey" to be a 4th OF'er.  

Trading him seems to be the best solution.  According to Baseball Trade Values, Kepler still has a value of about 34.0.  That kind of value could bring some serious talent back in a trade.  Maybe Max will have his value "revised and downgraded."  But at 34.0 he's got LOTS of value where you could move him for young pitching or a team with a lot of young SS talent.