Updating Narratives Surrounding the 2026 Twins

Mentioned as drags on the offense were Wallner, Clemens, Outman and Keashcall, which is true and also add Lewis, who looks totally lost and inept at the plate as a 5th ineffective bat and Byron Buxton is a bit better but carrying a low batting average. Bell and Caratini are regressing.

The best hitters are Martin (by a mile), Lee (lately coming on) and Tristan Gray. Jeffers has been acceptable too.

The biggest drag IMO is Wallner, who I’d replace now with Emmanuel Rodriguez.

Keaschall probably needs to be sent down for a while and tough as it is, Clemens probably released. And Outman released. Lewis probably needs to be sent down and instructed sternly about stopping the relentless HR hunting and chasing of bad pitches and start learning how to really hit, up the middle, to right field. I think he was seduced by all those early home runs which has completely messed up his approach.

I’d probably go with a revamped, forward looking lineup (until and if any trades can be made) of:

LF - E. Rodriguez (G. Gonzalez or Fedko vs L)

CF - Buxton

RF - A. Martin

3B - Tristan Gray

SS - B. Lee

2B - Kaelen Culpepper

1B - Larnach  (Caratini/Jeffers vs L)

C-Jeffers/Caratini

DH - Bell/Caratini/Jeffers

This isn’t perfect but could eliminate the .100 club hitters from the lineup, add a bit more speed in E-Rod and Culpepper)

11 minutes ago, Patzky said:

-.800.. it's the Terry Felton zone..

I had hoped Zoll sans Falvey would be a bit more proactive and aggressive. It’s clearly time to draw the line in the sand with Wallner, Clemens, Lewis, Keaschall, Outman with options and DFAs. Let E-Rod, Culpepper and others have a go at it.

1 hour ago, Ricky Vaughn said:

Is it a lack of talent or a lack of competent instruction? A lot of these guys were highly rated even by outside evaluators, but fall flat on their face when they get to the show. 

Definitely talent. They’ve had multiple hitting coaches just in the last few years with the same basic results. We need better players. 

3 hours ago, rv78 said:

The current roster is woefully inadequate in almost every facet of the game. Good job Falvey!

This article could have been reduced to 1 line:

"They are who we thought they'd be."

I'm happy for Martin and have enjoyed watching him succeed, and I agree it's been a great story, but I'd caution against anyone seeing this as a breakthrough. He's got a .405 BABIP, low barrel rate, low bat speed, and low average exit velocity. Maybe he's the next Luis Arraez, but it's much more likely big regression is coming. He can still be a likeable and useful platoon bat/pinch runner even if he regresses, but he's probably not a key offensive piece in the long run. 

5 hours ago, Brett said:

Fielding

Preseason narrative: eek

Early season results: eww

Current narrative: ick

You could say that again . . .   🤣

2 hours ago, Greglw3 said:

1B - Larnach  (Caratini/Jeffers vs L)

Just how bad do you want the defense to be? I think that would be worse than Bell.

5 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

“If several lineup spots continue to provide little to no value, the offense will eventually crater.“

I think they found the crater in the past 10 games. 

Sunday 4 of the bottom 5 starters in the batting order had batting averages under .200. And the 5th: .208. No wonder they scored 2 runs! Actually its a miracle they scored 2.

The bullpen isnt going to magically get better on its own. With these players, you cant have 3 4 5 relievers coming into every game. One or more of them will falter more often than not. The starters need to pitch deeper into games. The other day Ober was pulled with around 83 pitches. Bullpen comes in and immediately puts the game out of reach. 

Coming into this season we knew it was going to be filled with ups and downs. Player evaluation should be happening. But the ones in charge absolutely need to make moves when necessary. We are past that point. Get the AAA guys up here and see what we have with them. Outman can go. I feel like Keaschall needs a reset in st paul. Get better defenders. Do something. Sending Kriedler down was not the right move. 

There were 3 glaring needs when the Twins came into the offseason: #1 high-leverage arms in the BP, #2 INF defense, and #3 clutch hitting. Putting Band-Aids, thinking you solved the problem or completely ignoring the problem is a typical Twins' approach. '26 was no different.

Yet, the Twins have been in almost every game. A serious approach could have made such a difference, especially in the pen. I'd like to give Shelton some slack because he's new, but I wish he were quicker to adjust to evaluating the pen. You don't use your worst RPs more; put them in higher leverage or when there is a runner on base. When your BP is so bad, you tend to over-extend your SP & Morris. Which results in injuries, blowout innings & inefficient arms. The sooner you can obtain higher-leverage RPs & more long relief the better. With a good BP, we can turn things around. Otherwise, things will only snowball.

Gray & Kreider have helped, but they & Lee are not permanent solutions. Martin has been a great table setter, but too often the Twins haven't hit in the clutch. To some extent, Jeffers, Larnach, & Bell have come through to win some games. So has Buxton, but he's capable of much more. Wallner, Lewis, Clemens & Outman have been disappointing. Wallner & Lewis are capable of much more. In our losing streak, Lee has finally gotten some hits to no avail. We have the potential to be a better team if they were administered better.

49 minutes ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

Coming into this season we knew it was going to be filled with ups and downs. Player evaluation should be happening. But the ones in charge absolutely need to make moves when necessary. We are past that point. Get the AAA guys up here and see what we have with them. Outman can go. I feel like Keaschall needs a reset in st paul. Get better defenders. Do something. Sending Kriedler down was not the right move. 

The AAA guys are mostly struggling in AAA. Roden looked ready before he injured his shoulder. Rodriguez is hitting for power and drawing walks but batting .239 while striking out 1/3 of the time. Everyone else is a mediocre AAA batter.

If you want help from AAA you should be looking at other orgs.

1B - Michael Toglia, 940 ops; Felix Reyes, 999 ops; Niko Kavadas 1043 ops; Ryan Ward 991; Jonah Bride 966; 

2B - Cesar Prieto, 994 OPS; Chad Stevens 938

RH platoon OF - Stuart Fairchild 968 OPS

45 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Yup, and none of those guys play shortstop

Paul DeJong plans on opting out of his Yankees contract in a few days.