Can The Twins Trust Their Three Rookies In 2027?

7 hours ago, Linus said:

They have to - they have no other reasonable choice. In a way it gives me comfort in that they are finally headed in a productive direction and I don’t see the FO being able to screw this particular piece up. 

Absolutely... They have to.

They can't hold Emma back he's out of options. His time has to be now. I don't care what anyone thinks of him after his September sample. You develop the hell out of this guy. Put talent on your roster. Realized or unrealized. He's here and he should play.  

Culpepper is the only SS consideration. There isn't another one within 500 miles of Target field. His time has to be now. But... He has to stay healthy. They need someone much better than Kreidler that has SS skill. 

However... they could screw this up.

Rostering Martin could send Jenkins to AAA. Martin would then attach to Emma. 

7 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

They have to.

They can't hold Emma back he's out of options. His time has to be now.

Culpepper is the only SS consideration within 500 miles of Target field. His time has to be now. 

However... they could screw this up. 

Rostering Martin could send Jenkins to AAA. Martin would then attach to Emma. 

 Now that’s some bad juju. 

2 minutes ago, Linus said:

 Now that’s some bad juju. 

I lose sleep at night... worrying that it is exactly what they do. 

17 minutes ago, ashbury said:

"Or"?

5 hours ago, HerbieFan said:

Ryan Kreidler is a pro, just not a very good one.  Guys like Tristan Gray are exactly who they are.  With all due respect I don't want to see any of those types occupying roster spots.  It's time for the kids.

It is very rare for a rookie or young player to successfully hold down the 13th roster spot, which I will define as a player who is counted on to be used for an occasional pinch-hitting duty but more often used to pinch run and play defense. That guy also fills in as needed for injuries, sometimes for a couple of days where a player heals without going on the IL. A player like Ryan Kreidler is incredibly important because he can create outs, play smart, run into a pitch, and not be morose because he is a reserve player. Now Royce Lewis could be a fit for that spot on the roster but how do you think he would see himself in that role? I think Kreidler is a pretty good use of the roster and like a few other utility players (Kiner-Falefa, Dubon), one never knows how he might grow as a baseball player.

Just now, JADBP said:

Ummmm....there is NO comparison between Wallner, Miranda, and Julien....Kirilloff is a kinda maybe.  Only Kirilloff was a first rounder, Miranda was 2nd, and Wallner, Julien taken deep (18th round +). 

Jenkins is a true five-tool player.  He may take some time to adjust, along with Emma, but he is a keeper.  But, then, I said the same thing about Royce.  Dang.  

That was a tough draft--2016, when the Twins took Kirilloff and Miranda, as 1-2 (comp).  They missed out on a ton of great talent, like Shane Beiber,  Aaron Civale, Zac Guillen, Corbin Burns, and tons of others, taken after Miranda.  The Twins didin't take a pitcher until the 5th round, and then it was the fighting Jordan Balazovic.  

I was looking at the top 100 prospects...and I keep seeing that name...again...there it is, as t he #2 rookie in all of MLB, Franklin Arias.  Remember, the Red Sox offered Arias and Payton Tolle for Joe Ryan.  Geez, the #2 prospect in all MLB, along with a SP that looks like an Ace for the Red Sox.  That was a fantastic trade opportunity, but instead Falvey decided to trade away Varland.  Seems like FLZ just don't want pitchers...they just want to hit more HRs than anyone else.  Fire Zoll...before it is too late and he trades Emma and Jenkins for a catcher.  

A haunting failure by Falvey not to trade Ryan for Arias and Tolle.  100% deserved to be fired just for that.  It’s hard to imagine the impact those two players could’ve had for nearly a 3/4 of a decade on the Twins.  Might end up being one of the biggest screw ups in Twins history (ok, outside of Big Papi).

22 hours ago, LA Vikes Fan said:

I think the most likely result is that Culpepper and Jenkins are everyday players at the start of the year, with Emma competing with Alan Roden for playing time. A lot depends on when Buxton will be ready to play. It may not be until next May, so that would give them a month to really sort through this during the regular season. The other possibility is that Roden could and probably should learn to play 1B. Let’s all remember that offensively Roden had the best year of all four in roughly the same number of at bats. All very small sample sizes of course, but I think the Twins will give him a shot to win a job and at least give him a roster spot, especially since he has so far been able to hit left-handed pitching. I would love to see him compete for the 1B job, especially if they plan to leave Clemens at 2B.

Let's see where they are at after 250 at bats if you are going to compare them to Roden.  That is how many he had before he showed any productivity.  But it was only a three week stretch playing in a reserve role where he played better.  The only way Roden should be starting is if there is an injury, but he appears to profile more as a fourth outfielder.

19 hours ago, gman said:

I think the real question is can the staff work with the young guys to integrate them into the big league club. The previous major league staffs  seemed to have real problems in bringing on rookies. They haven't drafted nor developed particularly well. If the Twins are going to ever have future success they need to solve their draft and developmental process problems.

As long as Zoll is in charge and the baseball operations are overhauled, I do not believe this will happen and that is what is discouraging.

23 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

If the Twins do not trust these three players, they will be in horrible shape for 2027.  Welcome back Tristan Gray and Ryan Kreidler.  Brooks Lee goes back to SS and Royce Lewis covers 3B.  Is James Outman still available?

Manny Margo and Joey Gallo are available. Cheap. 

Yes they have to trust the 3 rookies and dive into the pool of more rookies. Marek Houston on the opening day roster makes the Twins a better team. If KC is playable at SS, he can become a gold glove 2B and we all know MH is going to hold down SS until the Twins cant afford to pay him. 
Martin needs to be the 5th OF. He isn't good enough to be anything more. 
4 man OF of the guys that show up when  healthy and rotate 2 of them into DH. We probably have another prospect or 2 that can fill in when an injury occurs.  
The ‘27 team is going to be young and exciting!!! Go buy a bullpen cause these kids are going to rally in the 8th and 9th. Buy someone that can hold onto the game!!!
 

19 hours ago, JADBP said:

On 10/31/2026 at 10:01 AM, Patzky said:

I'd say trust but verify. Our experience has been that they will not succeed based on the experience with Wallner, Miranda, Julien, Kirilloff. But there is not actual connection between any of these players. I'm hopeful but these are the questions that we need to ask as Twins fans. What plan B will we have in place?

Ummmm....there is NO comparison between Wallner, Miranda, and Julien....Kirilloff is a kinda maybe.  Only Kirilloff was a first rounder, Miranda was 2nd, and Wallner, Julien taken deep (18th round +). 

The reason that those guys were listed is that they did perform well for a year or three.  These are guys that made it and fell back, which is common in EVERY organization.

But here's the deal:  Kirilloff lost his career to wrist and back injuries and Miranda lost his career to a beaning. If you think you can draft around that then you should be in a front office being paid millions, or maybe go straight to Vegas or buy a bunch of lottery tickets. 

You can try to copy other orgs, but it's hard and even when you choose to copy the flavor of the month it's not going to work most of the time. For one thing you can't copy outcomes without the right people, and for another they might not do some things better than you.  Milwaukee is not a ROY factory, for example.  They had Devin Williams in the shortened 2020, Ryan Braun in 2007 and before that it was Pat Listach in 1992.  You know who has turned out a lot of ROY recently? PIT and the Athletics (teams who don't spend enough to fill holes and have to play the kids) or ATL (who drafted two in the third round and signed an intl free agent all within the past eight years.)

But ROY is a bad measure of how you develop talent.  Tarik Skuba was not, Kyle Lewis was, Jacob Misieroski was not, Jonathon India was, and so on. What you need to do is get players to the majors who can contribute. Julien put up 2.6 WAR in 2023. Wallner hung a 2,2 in both 2023 and 2024. Larnach has never put up a negative WAR in six years, and his 4.7 is not bad for a platoon OF. That's not much different from Royce Lewis, who has 4.9 in five years. Miranda had already put up 1.7 WAR before his 2024 season was ended by a fastball to the head. We're getting quite good use from our draft picks. What we're not getting is the tent pole, the big dog, The Man.  Buxton can be very good, but we need another for when he's out.  They need a star, and teams that won't buy one tend to go without for long stretches because they don't come along that often.  

Let's see our OF options include Larnarch, Keaschall, Roden, Buxton, Clemens, Martin, Jenkins, and Rodriguez.  I think we have back ups for the backups there.

At SS we have Kreidler and Culpepper.  I guess he better make it.  Or Houston is the backup plan here.  Maybe keep Lewis to be a backup 3B in case Lee needs to backup SS if Kreidler has to start there for an extended time. Not a lot of depth at SS at the moment.  

Ross is on the 40 and is a fine alternative.  In fact he might be better than Lewis as a backup since he can cover SS.