bean5302

I think it's fine to keep playing Keaschall every day at 2B so he can play a position his bat might be good enough to stick at. That's not likely going to be corner OF, though. If you're going to look at a SSS, you should at least be looking at the expected stuff. Anybody can get hot (or cold) for a month. Keaschall is holding his own at the plate. His xwOBA has been roughly league average June and July (almost identical June/July) after a terrible April and May.

God forbid people have nice things. Hey, glad you finally got that project car together you've been working on for years! Must be so great to have that accomplishment wrapped up! Don't forget your wife died last week, though.

So what you're saying is every single team in the league already has a solid starting catcher? Catchers are at a premium because the league has so few quality catchers. Jeffers probably gives a team with a strong need at catcher a couple more wins on their schedule. That's a big difference and why another team would potentially overpay to get Jeffers.

Falvey was once again the smartest guy in the world when it came to developing catchers. He drafted non-catchers who played a game or two there once as true "catchers" like there was a market inefficiency to exploit. That was after he decided he was smarter than everybody else in general and the talent level at round 10 was the same as round 2.

Nice start by Prielipp, but once again snakebit badly by the Twins bullpen tagging earned runs onto his stat sheet. Seems to be an automatic at this point. Seeing the runs come from almost everybody in the lineup is nice as well.

Jeffers is an average starting catcher, which is definitely a solid asset, but he's not a cornerstone for a mid market team. Since 2021, of catchers with 1500+ plate appearances, Ryan Jeffers ranks 9th. Distantly behind the tier above him. I will never understand the desperate Twins fan who will do anything and everything to hang on to a name they recognize until every last bit of playable baseball has left their career behind.

I've read very little on Tinney's defensive profile as everybody seems to focus on the potential swing and miss and the 70+ grade raw power forgetting he plays catcher at all. Prospect porch calls Tinney a good framer, and the one thing which is universally mentioned is he has a strong arm. https://prospectporch.com/players/carson-tinney.html When it comes to the pop time, a Texas baseball fan site has it listed at 1.80 sec, and his coach also praised his framing. https://www.burntorangenation.com/texas-longhorns-baseball/100337/carson-tinney-texas-longhorns-catchers Can Tinney improve at receiving? I have no doubt. Does that mean people should assume Tinney is woeful behind the plate like Jeffers was when he was drafted? I don't think I've seen a reason to accept that.

The new playoff format has certainly cracked the door open a bit for mediocre teams to serve as first round fodder for good teams, but the Twins' fate doesn't feel connected to Boston at all to me. Does anybody actually believe the Twins had a true shot if they stayed on an 81-81 pace or worse? Some team is going to win some games. It's rare to see teams in the playoffs under 90 wins historically (except in the embarrassment to baseball AL Central). We should know soon what the Twins are going to do. Are they buyers or sellers or pretenders?

Let me get right on your 100 hour analysis request of yours which you will summarily dismiss for an arbitrary reason if it supports my position.

On to trades that work? There's no goal for the analysis. Trades are useless if there isn't an end goal. Based on Tom Pohlad's comments, the Twins are in it to win the World Series as soon as possible. First trade - It doesn't help the Twins at all. Like... at all, and it shoots the Yankees in the foot, too. Volpe looks like he's on the way out so the Yankees NEED a new SS. We don't need another infielder prospect. Lombard, Jr. vs. Kaelen Culpepper vs. Marek Houston. How much better is Lombard, Jr. than our other two high level SS prospects? I wouldn't rank him a lot higher, and I'm more concerned about a hitter who struggles against MiLB fastballs already than a hitter who "might" struggle against MLB offspeed/breaking stuff. I'd be surprised if Houston wasn't a top 100 prospect at the end of the year at this rate, and potentially top 50 with his defensive skills. Also, teams RARELY trade their very top 1-2 prospects. It just doesn't happen. Beyond that, you never trade a top rotation arm for a mid rotation ceiling starter. It's like this article is trying to find dollar value without purpose or considering the viewpoint of potential trade partners. Second trade - Ryan is arguably (probably) a #4 starter for the Mariners. He does not slide to the front of that rotation. Like, get &^*^ REAL. The homerism needed to make the comment that Ryan slides to the front of that rotation... Jeeez. 2026 fWAR and FIP last 2 years Woo - 2.7, 3.38 Gilbert - 2.6, 3.34 Kirby - 2.5, 3.31 Ryan - 2.5, 3.61 Under normal circumstances, a #4 starter would rarely pitch in the playoffs. I just don't see the value for Seattle on this. Seattle can't hit. They need hitting, not pitching. Third trade - Again, the Dodgers do not need Joe Ryan, but unlike Seattle, the infinite resources of the Evil Empire of the West, I'm sure that organization would like to add him as Ryan would be nice insurance and a solid #3 or #4 arm for them. Blake Snell is close to returning for them and Glasnow appears to be close, too. Ohtani, and Yamamoto are unquestionably better than Ryan with the habitually hobbled up Snell also clearly superior when he's healthy. Sirota is probably a better Center Fielder prospect than Walker Jenkins who is universally viewed as a better corner OF prospect than CF, and Sirota has the All Star plus potential with the power if he can stick in CF. Fangraphs is decidedly down on his fielding instincts while other sources praise him and think he's solid as a long term CF. That said, the number one rule of trading a front line starter is to get back a pitching prospect with just as much or more ceiling than what you're giving up. That said... would you trade Walker Jenkins for 1.5yrs of Joe Ryan if your rotation was already stacked? What else do you think the Twins could legitimately get? Maybe Zazueta or Serwinowski? The Padres are probably sellers not buyers.

Whomever wrote this seems woefully unqualified to have their opinions quoted on this site. The chances a team advances in the playoffs is heavily influenced by their top 3 rotation arms. I've done this analysis before. I think only the 2015 Royals have won a World Series in the past 15-20 years without 3 bona fide playoff caliber starters in the rotation. Every team that makes the playoffs can score runs. There are no bad lineups. The Padres were the worst team in the playoffs last year in terms of run production, and they ranked 18th in MLB, being the ONLY team not in the top 1/2 of run scorers. 8 of the top 10 scoring teams made the playoffs. That means, like almost always, it's about pitching. Pitching wins playoffs. Your top 3 starters determine your fate. It's why the Twins kept making the playoffs year after year after year and getting swept right back out. For a professional sports record setting drought. The Twins did not have an ace. They did not have a #2. They had a collection of #3s, and the Twins often had better back end rotation options than other teams. Great for making the playoffs. Not great when you never face an opposing team's back end rotation arms because of short rest starts, series breaks providing extra rest, and meticulous lineup planning. When an ace matches up against a #3 in the playoffs, it is a massive disadvantage for the team putting a #3 on the mound. Massive.

3.0+ WAR Shortstop. Playoff caliber starter. Legit Closer Legit Setup No scraps. No bargain bins.

Why not just promote Culpepper? Volpe's ceiling looks like serviceable SS, but he's probably best written off as depth.

They knew there was a high degree of likelihood those players did not have the skill set necessary to be successful at the MLB level. Raw Talent Polish Both need to be graded highly to be successful at the MLB level. Polishing mediocre talent though experience is often enough to be successful all the way through AA, and sometimes fringe talent with polish becomes the proverbial AAAA player.

SS not hitting is different than 1B not hitting, but maybe you disagree.

The positional move from SS to 3B to 1B. It's $16MM of value for a full season. The "nobody plays nowhere" positional philosophy of this front office kills player value.

I think you mean Tom, not Joe. From Tom's statements, he doesn't believe this team is capable of winning a World Series, and winning a World Series is the goal. from July 10th article https://www.mlb.com/news/tom-pohlad-discusses-2026-trade-deadline-twins-payroll or the Athletic's coverage https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7436928/2026/07/10/minnesota-twins-tom-pohlad/

and the year after and after that and then again in 2030. Nothing like aiming hard for mediocre to satisfy this fan base. If I was Tom Pohlad and Zoll stood pat at the deadline, I'd order security to delete his access and fire his *** at 6AM the next morning I woke up.

I think Royce Lewis could be better off with another organization who values his skills and athleticism. I think Twins, under this front office, would likely be better off, too. This front office doesn't seem to have a place for Lewis, and wasting his skills and athleticism at 1B is a joke. Trading Lewis has minimal value for the Twins as they've absolutely erased Lewis' value through systematic stupidity, but the move certainly could look like one of the worst moves in this organization's history by the end of next year.

For real. International League teams might want to just swap their pitching staffs with their AA affiliates. AAA International League is an embarrassment to MiLB right now.

I think Lewis will continue to make adjustments to improve his results and improve his swing path. Either you can be critical of his low batting average or you can criticize swing adjustments to attempt to produce more line drives which will increase his batting average. Lewis' body is changing. He's healthy, his leg strength is returning. His speed is returning. This will allow him to make approach and swing changes that can take advantage of it. Since re-joining the team, he's been an above average hitter at the plate, and there's reason to believe there's more in the tank.

Marek Houston now over 100 PA at AA and he's looking legit in terms of production at the plate, though that BABIP is going to be hard to sustain with a low line drive rate. Of course, batted ball data is pretty iffy below AAA. I really like what he's done this year. Sands topped out at 94.2mph, primarily sitting in the 93s. Doesn't seem like the velo is coming back at the moment, but he pitched on one day of rest. If he feels good, his rehab is honestly over, and while rusty, that's not an MLBPA approved reason to keep him on the IL. I'd expect to see him back on the Twins as soon as this weekend's series against the Athletics.

Keith Law favors ceiling in his rankings. Emma has a ton of ceiling and he's shown it with crazy exit velocities and athleticism. The likelihood Rodriguez washes out feels very high to me as well. In any case, I'm not sure what value there is keeping him in AAA. Either he's got it or he doesn't. Someday, when he returns from thumb injury # 865, perhaps he'll get some MLB plate appearances.

I don't see any middling upgrade being a good target. Taylor Ward is the best of the 3, but this is just another problem with nobody on the team having a set position. What position do the Twins actually need help, other than SS?

Most of the ranking falls within reason to me. Except Emma (who I wouldn't have in the top 10). Gabriel Gonzalez is probably not a top 20 prospect and Young is a non-prospect (not top 40), IMHO.