bean5302

Seriously. I do wonder whether Gabriel Gonzales could learn 3B.

Combined no hitters are meaningless to me. Nothing more than the equivalent of a participation trophy. Glad they have value to somebody, but I only care if somebody goes the distance. Obviously, that is kind of not a thing in the minors as it's really not what the minors are for, but it's what the game was about. Zebby clearly reaching back for an extra couple mph again. Only threw 1 curveball in the game.

Boston is fine. They have a good shot at the playoffs with a very talented roster. They just fired the manager and a bunch of the coaching staff as a shake up/wake up call. The Blue Jays, Orioles and Red Sox have started cold and I don't believe for a second that Tampa has the roster to compete in that division through the rest of the year.

Yes, and Falzoll put no effort into replacing the outgoing arms. Also, this team isn't young. C = 29 1B = 33 2B = 23 3B = 27 SS = 25 LF = 27 CF = 32 RF = 28 DH = 29 UO = 29 UI = 30 Util = 30 BC = 32 only 2 position players under age 27 on the team. SP = 30 SP = 30 SP = 25 SP = 25 SP = 25 rotation is pretty young RP = 35 RP = 35 RP = 32 RP = 29 RP = 28 RP = 28 RP = 28 RP = 24 Bullpen is old

Wonder what the "encouraging news" was? Given Falzol seems to treat injury news like players on the Twins are NFL quarterbacks where opposing teams change entire strategies around them, I'd say the encouraging news was a partial tear and the possibility Abel could avoid surgery exists. Rest and rehab never works.

Even though I seriously question his ability to keep it up, Ober has delivered quality outcomes recently.

I think it's obvious the Twins don't have faith in Culpepper's stuff at this point, but there's no reason not to have him in AAA. Batted ball type below AAA is pretty questionable, but Culpepper's got a 30% line drive rate against (absolutely terrible) and his xFIP down there is 4.28 suggesting he's due for a lot of home run regression, too. He could at least eat some innings at AAA, though.

I agree with Richie. The concensus was the bullpen was an obvious need and Falzoll failed to address this obvious point of desperation despite the means to do so. The Twins needed a couple high ceiling/high floor guys. Reliable, better than adequate bullpen arms. They went dumpster diving for cast offs instead. Banda's track record was well established as poor quality in my honest opinion. It seemed like I was in the minority of expecting him to be a virtual guaranteed poor performer, but to me it seemed pretty predictable. Topa is fine as mid innings eater. Rogers has lost more velo and without a 4 seamer, he's unable to strike anybody out. Funderburk's having the same issue as always. Same issue as Marco Raya. Unable to hit the broad side of a barn with pitch. 7.00 BB/9? That's crazy. Morris is not a hard thrower by bullpen standards. 96mph is maybe average for a reliever? While the sparkly 10.29 K/9 looks good, the reality is a very pedestrian 23% K rate. His K/9 is propped up by the 1.86 WHIP. He's been awful in 2 of 3 games. 3.0 IP with 2.00 WHIP, 1.1 IP with 3.75 WHIP, 2.0 IP with 0.75 WHIP. Tiny sample size, though. Acton. He's a cast off, but maybe? The Athletics didn't want him. The Rays didn't want him. The Marlins didn't want him. Before the Brent Rooker comments... unlike Rooker, it's not like Acton did anything in AAA the past few years to inspire optimism. Sands is fine as a middle reliever. The fact he was looked at as a likely closer tells a grim story for the Twins bullpen. Orze. The regression to the xFIP feels destined to occur. He's got MLB hitters reeling a little, wondering at what is coming, but I just don't think it will be long before the scouting reports catch up.

Remember when Royce Lewis played 2B while injured, trying to break out of a slump, during a playoff chase when he didn't prefer it? Remember when Royce Lewis played CF while recovering from ACL surgery only to promptly blow out his ACL crashing into the wall? Remember when Royce Lewis got moved off SS to 3B after being told he was going to be the starting shortstop for the Twins pre-season 2023 only to have Carlos Correa return? Feel free to look it up. Lewis would probably prefer to play shortstop, and if not SS, maybe 3B? I don't know. I haven't asked him. I think you'll find virtually every single player in MLB would prefer to play a static position.

Lewis has 403 PA (last year) below replacement level. He had 325 PA of above replacement level wRC+ 106 performance in 2024. He was bad last year at the plate. He will be very, very bad this year at the plate if he doesn't stop hacking away at every single pitch a guy throws.

Dude has 6 pitches and most of them were viewed as having legitimate MLB quality to them. Honestly, that's probably one of his biggest problems. Mastering 3-4 pitches is hard enough. Mastering 6? Nobody does that.

If you throw in international signings, have to go with 2009. Gibson and Dozier draft-wise, Kepler, Sano, Polanco.

Here's the critical hurdle in an image. See the bright glowing blue rectangle? That's the hurdle.

I don't think Clemens is going to add much in the way of long term value and I wouldn't stress about it if the Twins DFA'd him, but in his whopping 50 PA this year his xwOBA is notably above league average at .336. Clemens is also traditionally a good fielder.

Yes. He'll need a few weeks to build up, minimal anyway.