Three Crucial Minnesota Twins Hitters Trending Up Over the Last Two Weeks

Could alter the opinions of some but the haters will hate.

I am curios if keirsey Jr. will get a called up if Larnach goes on the Il and  to see how Wallner is doing when the All Star break comes.

As we play the Phillies after the break, the Twins had better be hitting on all cylinders.

Good article Ted

4 hours ago, RpR said:

Could alter the opinions of some but the haters will hate.

I am curios if keirsey Jr. will get a called up if Larnach goes on the Il and  to see how Wallner is doing when the All Star break comes.

As we play the Phillies after the break, the Twins had better be hitting on all cylinders.

Felt like Keirsey Jr. was closer prior to his IL stint and Margot's consistency.

3 hours ago, Craig Arko said:

In the end, Buxton is the key here. If he rediscovers himself this can be a formidable lineup.

Amen!

3 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Margot and Farmer are completely disposable. It's valuable only in the way that it allows the Twins to potentially move their contracts or trade other assets. Neither player is important to the team's success. For that matter, Carlos Santana is in the same boat, except he's provided legitimate value at this point.

Curious how you view this, maybe excluding Farmer given the small sample size. The Twins are getting nothing back for Margot, and while I'd like to see Keirsey or Wallner, neither are a given. Farmer's salary is a sunk cost, so they could definitely go to Lee (and I suspect they will before Julien).

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

Good article Ted

A blind squirrel finds a nut they say...

12 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Even at their peak value, we I expect we probably have better options logjammed behind them. I don't see the Twins cutting bait on them while they're performing well (and they have been hitting well the past few weeks). I think Falvey will probably hang on to Farmer and Margot until the All Star Break and determine what to do at that point. It's only 3 weeks away.

Farmer earns another 40 plate appearances, continues to hit at wRC+ 130 and his overall line climbs to wRC+ 85
Margot earns another 60 plate appearances, continues to hit at wRC+ 130 and his overal line climbs to wRC+ 96

Both Farmer and Margot can likely be moved at that point.

I don’t think you’re getting rid of either of them without retaining salary.

1 hour ago, Alex Wilde said:

I don’t think you’re getting rid of either of them without retaining salary.

This is probably it.

Best case scenario was for them to be bad and eat it.

Worst case is they hang around and grab more at bats.

If they continue to produce, it works.

If Farmer and Margot are 'crucial', then the Twins are in some serious trouble.

Buck's always been feast or famine at the plate. When he's got it going, he can carry the team for games at a time. But when he's struggling, he's an automatic out. Maybe Sunday's game is a sign of things to come. Would be a welcomed development for the remainder of the West Coast trip.

I'd also add that Buxton, maybe even more than Lewis, is such a jolt of energy for the team. The 'Buck Truck' thing might be a little bit cheesy, but you watch the dugout after a big hit, and they're all doing it. Team feeds off him.

23 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

In fairness, if Wallner were 29 he might have been released due to little value in the market. Seasons are long and things change - often. Whether a guy is an experienced playoff veteran or is in his 2nd year matters to people managing organizations.

 

So if Wallner was 29, with a career MLB OPS+ of 126 he might be released?

Yet Margot, who is 29, with a career MLB OPS+ of 91 (and only 81 this year) is somehow "crucial".

Tom Kelly, who knew a little baseball, said you had to give a player 1000 at bats to know what you had.  Margot has 2700.  He won't ever hit enough for a corner outfielder.  Ever.  

13 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

There’s nobody (me) saying Manny Margot is “crucial”!

 

Well, no, you did not say that... sorry to imply that.  However Ted said exactly that in the article title.  "Three Crucial Minnesota Twins Hitters Trending Up Over the Last Two Weeks"

I am glad that Farmer and Margot have improved enough to possibly be part of a package deal at the trade deadline.  Obviously a decent starter would be nice to acquire, but the Twins could also use more depth in their solid bullpen.  Lee is seemingly ready which ought to doom Farmer's tenure on the Twins beyond the trade deadline.  As was pointed out, at his best, Margot is not a worthy corner outfielder from a hitting perspective.  I would prefer to roll the dice on Wallner and possibly Kirilloff.

As far as the outfield goes, I don't get why Martin is not getting solid playing time. He's been hitting great since he was called back up. Especially with Kepler being hurt I'd rather see Martin out in right than Margot. An outfield of Castro Buxton and Martin looks pretty solid to me... Then you can continue to DH Larnach/Wallner.

It's certainly preferable that Margot and Farmer are back to performing the way they were anticipated in the roles they were brought in/kept to perform. The problem is that they are only effective in pretty limited roles. Neither Farmer nor Margot hits RHP worth a damn at this point and there are a lot more RHP in MLB. With such a limited roster, it's a little tough to carry 2 specialists like this and not have them get exposed. Particularly in how our LH hitters have done (or failed to do) against RHP this season.

Easier to have Farmer as a bench option to come in against a tough LHP later in games if you have Ed Julien raking against RHP, or Margot doing the same when you have Wallner on a roll. Which was certainly the plan at the start of the season, and Margot & Farmer were both expected to be better defensive options than those 2 players as well. Early in the year no one held up their end of the bargain. 

We've been lucky Buxton has been healthy enough to play extensively in CF, because Margot hasn't looked like a good option there regularly. (I think he's looked better in the OF lately, but it's not crazy at all to prefer Castro or Martin out there) 

happy to see the twins not get annihilated by LHP so easily now, and Farmer and Margot have certainly helped with that recently. Concerned that their inability to hit their weight against RHP still makes them more of a liability than a true asset.