Week in Review: Powering Up

The Walker Jenkins situation (whatever you want to call it) is a little befuddling. Every team clearly had time to know what number was necessary to sign the players. The flow of information and communication should have all made a signing just a matter of finding the most convenient date to meet in person. It would surely be odd to find out that negotiations were a part of any conversations post draft. The only scenario remaining is the dreaded "failed physical". But doesn't that follow an agreement in principle on a dollar amount which is then pending a clean physical exam? Confounding/confusing at this point.

I would say that the Twins were trending up. The at bats are slowly improving and the Twins have enough talent to go on a run. The schedule during the remainder of the season favors the local nine and several players are feeling better about their skills lately. 

Correa, Polanco, Julian, Krill, Lewis at the top/mid of the order had a wonderous ring to it!

Buck needs to bat 6th or lower until he has proven otherwise over at least a 2 week stretch. 

If he is still playing poorly by 1 September and we are playoff bound, he is going to have to step aside and let someone else DH. 

Not signing Jenkins would be a complete disaster—get gifted the 5th pick in a generational draft with 5 generational players, and then not sign the player.  Whatever it takes, he has to be signed.

Wallner's been fine.

Cease & Giolito just combined for 11 innings, 1 run, and 18 Ks.

Castillo and Kirby combined for 13 innings, 3 runs (all Castillo's) and 21 Ks to wrap the previous series. 

The Twins certainly took advantage of some bad (Oakland & Chicago) and inexperienced (Seattle) pitching but Idk if that's a departure from anything they did in the first half. 

It's been an encouraging week. Hopefully not a mirage due to who they played. Getting Thielbar and Steward back and at their previous production would surely add to the BP. Adding a RH OF bat and another BP arm in the next week, plus a couple more series wins would hopefully keep the offense rolling and as they say hitting is contagious. 

On a side note, Keuchel not opting out has me wondering if the FO is considering parting with a back of the rotation arm..Someone like Varland or Meada...

10 minutes ago, William K Johnson said:

No one seems to be talking about what they are going to do when Lewis returns.   He is, in my opinion, our best baseball player.   He has to be somewhere in this lineup.

Won't be a problem if Buxton doesn't start hitting. Buck to the bench or IL, Polanco to DH and Lewis inserted back into the 3B spot. To make room for him on the roster DFA Gallo.

I’m thinking 5-1 week pull away from division and put more distance from Cleveland 

2 hours ago, William K Johnson said:

No one seems to be talking about what they are going to do when Lewis returns.   He is, in my opinion, our best baseball player.   He has to be somewhere in this lineup.

LF maybe? But my guess is 3rd with Polanco at 2nd against lefties. Trade deadline may clear it up some as well.

14 minutes ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

Question on the Jenkins signing... Has the team used up their allotted draft pick money and now Jenkins has changed his demands?  If so, are the Twins limited in what they can offer?  i.e. can they not go above their overall draft slot $ limit to sign him? 

My math says they have the full slot bonus pool available. I think the rule is you can go over you pool money at the cost of draft picks and/or international bonus pool money. But I think it's pretty limited at how much. Not certain on that but vaguely remember reading something about that.

Lewis will play 3B when he returns, Julien and Polonco will cover 2B and 1B in some form. Kiriloff LF.

Really unfortunate that Kepler will not play CF. I'd say our biggest need would be for a good right handed hitting CF.

1 hour ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Jenkins is represented by the Twins' "good friend" Steve Boras.  I hope Jenkins signs with the Twins, but if he does not, he and his agent are being foolish. Then I guess he will honor his commitment to play with the UNC Tarheels and leave $7,000,000 on the table.

You'd probablly wouldn't mind him playing for the Tarheels, wouldn't you?

37 minutes ago, Dman said:

That is what I saw too so they can give him full slot and he fell right about where he was expected to fall so I don't see why Boras would have leverage to get more than slot.  Especially since two of the top 5 already signed under slot deals.

That leads me to believe something might have popped up in the physical that is making them think twice or want to go under slot to try and sign pick number 20?  Not sure but it doesn't make sense that it is taking this long as the money is there.

You might be right, Jenkins had some hip problems prior.

1 hour ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

Question on the Jenkins signing... Has the team used up their allotted draft pick money and now Jenkins has changed his demands?  If so, are the Twins limited in what they can offer?  i.e. can they not go above their overall draft slot $ limit to sign him? 

They can go over their draft allocation by 4.9 percent ($700K) with only a monetary penalty.   They are actually $300K under their allocation.  That would give them about $1M to try to sign the 19 & 20 picks if they sign Jenkins at slot.  Hopefully this plays out well with Jenkins and one of the 19/20 picks.

If our 1-4 spots in the batting order stay the same (Correa, Julien, Kirilloff, Kepler) then I think the top half of the order can finally stay consistent for more than a week.  Correa's 6-26 doesn't exactly scream success until you factor in the 4 BBs.  As long as he can continue to get on base then that should hopefully setup success in the 2-4 spots in the order.  Looking further down, I dont know how anyone but Jeffers could be in the 5-spot when he's behind the plate. 

6 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

Gotta beat somebody - we play the same teams as the Guardians & other teams in the Division.

Beat Houston - Boston - NY - etc. ……can cherry pick results for either side of the argument…….they are 53-48 and still haven’t jelled for any real length of time.

Polanco - Lewis - Thielbar - Stewart should all contribute to a push forward down the stretch.

Who is arguing that the Twins need to give the Ws back?

4 hours ago, Nick Nelson said:

Taking advantage of bad or inexperienced pitching would be a departure from what they did in the first half lol

Yeah they definitely never ambushed anybody, or looked anemic against better arms in the 1st half....

Jenkins situation (if it is one?) is odd. I haven't seen mention of any concerns or hangups by any local media - has anyone else? 

Best guess is he'll sign later tonight or tomorrow, given that no one locally or nationally seems to be talking about it.