bean5302

Blue Jays just DFA'd him (which is not the same as "releasing"). SWR is not a good MLB level pitcher. He's not going to help an MLB team in the rotation for sure, and he's of questionable, but potentially salvagable value in the bullpen which is like about 100 other guys on the waiver wire or minors who could be picked up for a Snickers Bar. Maybe the Twins will get him back? https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/06/blue-jays-designate-simeon-woods-richardson-for-assignment.html

Kepler activated.

I'm pretty skeptical about Raya. His past 10 appearances have been dominant. "Electric stuff" is seemingly untrue as the results speak for themselves. The promise of prospect hype and scouting reports fade quick when players are tested against high minors and MLB level challengers. The ever-present TD Hype Machine tool of comparing average ages for leagues vs prospects in the system concluding every trash performance was expected because of age kept Raya at the top of the list around here for a long time. Supposedly, Raya's big issue has been the inability to hit the broad side of a barn, but it's more of hope rather than confidence because truly great stuff doesn't need to land for strikes in MiLB. MiLB hitters can't lay off great pitches that are well outside the zone. That's why those hitters aren't in the show. Raya still has potential, but he's going to need to develop command over a couple of his pitches before adding the full repertoire back into things. To build on his MLB-worthy options, he'll need to stick around in MLB long enough. Last 10 appearances in AAA 17.0 IP, 2.12 ERA, 2.32 FIP, 9.00 K/9, 0.00 BB/9, 27.4% K, 0.0% BB WHIP 0.71, BABIP .250 He's literally walked nobody, and he hasn't allowed many hits. We'll see. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/marco-raya-694397?stats=career-r-pitching-milb 2026 Scouting grades: Fastball: 55 | Curveball: 50 | Slider: 60 | Cutter: 55 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 45 | Overall: 45 Originally drafted out of the Texas high school ranks in the fourth round of the 2020 Draft, Raya didn’t make his official pro debut until 2022, with the pandemic ruining any chance of him pitching after he signed and then a shoulder strain forcing him off the mound for all of 2021. He showed glimpses of potential on limited workloads the next two seasons, then took off and reached Triple-A in 2024, earning a spot on the 40-man roster. A return to Triple-A St. Paul in 2025 did not go as well as planned. A combination of size, concerns about durability and command issues are now pointing Raya towards a future in the bullpen, a transition that started at the end of last year. One of the big adjustments will be to pare down a repertoire that has had as many as six pitches in it. The fastball-sweeper combination will likely lead the way, with the heater coming in around 95-97 mph and the 86-mph slider missing a lot of bats even while he scuffled last year. His mid-80s curve can also make hitters look bad and he has a 90-91 mph cutter as well. The curve gets misses against left-handed hitters, so he might not need to worry about developing his changeup, which had good action to it, but he couldn’t land in the zone. There could be more ticks in the four-seamer coming in shorter stints, and he won’t have to worry as much about his command. If he can settle on a smaller menu in his new role, he could develop into a starter-turned-effective reliever kind of like former Twin Ronny Henriquez.

Hindsight looks pretty favorably on trading Dozier. He wasn't good enough to be a starter the rest of his career.

It's so hard. MiLB has massive differences between leagues and there are multiple leagues for the same level. Beyond that, there isn't the kind of precise ball tracking in MiLB. UZR/DRS use a framework which divides up the field into dozens or hundreds slices of pie and determines how often a position player gets to those balls in their zone. OAA uses an exact location the position player is standing with precise batted ball tracking to identify the likelihood a player would be able to make a play on a batted ball relative to their peers. I use RF/9, which sucks because Baseball Reference uses RF/G as the default so I have to visit each teams' site, evaluate who is the primary position player to compare (ignore the 28 year old journeyman, etc) It's only valuable inside a specific league due to the differences in pitcher quality across leagues. RF/9 determines the number of put outs and assists a player at a position has per 9 innings played. Comparing RF/9 can get some picture of defensive value, in concert with fielding percentage. It's still a little iffy, though. For a team which has a lot of ground ball pitchers vs. a team with a lot of fly ball pitchers, the infield values could change quite a bit. RF/9 for a SS is basically 4.00 is the minimum. 4.25 is good. 4.50 is elite, historically. Fielding percentage of .970 is the minimum, .975 is good, .980 is elite. The margins are really tight and those are "general" numbers, historically.

Yeah, no need for MiLB at all. Don't even know why guys play there? Get Houston up! For the record, Culpepper is viewed as an "adequate" SS. He's not a good shortstop. He just might not be terrible, and he's probably below average as it stands today.

I mean, this front office seems very incompetent so maybe? I'd hope not. Dude's been DFA'd 2x this year and cleared waivers both times.

Mendez's numbers at AAA are too SSS to take much from them at this point. He's got an extraordinary line drive rate so the ground ball rate really doesn't matter much. It he can suddenly become a 30% line drive hitter, he'll have success. Honestly, I expect him to be a lot like Gabriel Gonzalez as the plate appearances add up, but he's worth watching.

Hasn't played since June 9th. Not May 9th.

No team in baseball would have given Buxton what the Twins did. It was an absurd offer 7yrs $105MM for a guy who might have commanded 2-3yrs at $40-60MM max, and definitely without a NTC in free agency.

They're close to the same height and weight, too... Very important considerations.

Bummer for Abel. He'll almost certainly be headed for the 60 day IL with maybe an outside shot of making a short appearance or two in September.

The Twins typically use about 8 significant starters for a season. I think the Twins have been fine on depth and are seeing normal results. Trustworthy locks 1. Lopez 2. Ryan Untrustworthy locks 3. Bradley 4. Ober Untrustworthy possible rotation choices 5. Woods-Richardson 6. Matthews 7. Abel MiLB Depth / Reliever 8. Prielipp 9. Morris The Twins rotational depth has been touted all year, but it was honestly just "adequate" to begin with. Prielipp was not ready and the Twins told him to add/work on a pitch (curveball). He was looked at 50/50 as a starter / reliever anyway. When Lopez went down in Spring Training, the Twins depth was immediately exposed as thin.

Lee's made significant improvements in his speed, but that only means he's still well below average rather than one of the worst runners in the game. Tough to count on his legs there.

@Sherry Cerny your "Box Score" link went to the game preview so you might want to update that. https://www.mlb.com/gameday/dodgers-vs-twins/2026/06/24/823691/final/box

Do other organizations even recognize his name? Beane: Eckerton? Phillips: I like Eckerton! Beane: You don't even know who Eckerton is! Replace Eckerton with Rosario Kala'i Rosario has been exposed to Rule 5 for two straight years and he's performing worse relative to his peers in AA than he was in 2025 (wRC+ 131 vs. 120) as Rosario has just gone passive at the plate. I think it's more likely the Twins want to see him vs. more polished pitchers to confirm his limitations before releasing him entirely.

He's a non-prospect. Same kind of rank as Kyler Fedko, but without the defensive versatility. Sure, AA is very hard. The level weeds out players with MLB level talent from players who have a likely ceiling below. Rosario certainly appears to be the latter.

If you look at Lee's expected HRs vs actual HRs it's been nuts this year (earlier especially). It's like he hits the ball juuuuuuuuust far enough to go over the fence in a specific spot at whatever stadium he's playing in.

I saw him in the box score on mlb.com. I clicked on "Voth" thinking who is this??? Even MLB didn't have a page link for him. It just took me to the directory. Looks like they made him a page link today. That's who the Twins trot out to the mound to pitch against the best team in baseball? Yeah. (*&^ Falzoll.

The Twins could easily part ways with 2 of 3 (Larnach, Wallner and Bell) and not have any roster issues. Moving all 3 probably wouldn't be an issue if Emma wasn't constantly using this thumb as a built in braking mechanism to stop his momentum on base paths. Trading Larnach makes the most sense because he shouldn't be part of the long term plans, he's hitting well, and he could potentially help a playoff caliber team with a need.

This year's version hasn't belonged, either. His luck stat is increased so far. Brooks Lee's last MLB plate appearances are less than 3 years away. He's not good enough.

Keaschall is generating results, but I'm not optimistic about him longer term. A recent hot streak pushed his numbers way up, but I'm not seeing what looks like a sustainable approach. Comparing him to Arraez just because Arraez isn't a power hitter is nonsensical. Apart from his brutal rookie season, Arraez had solid defensive metrics at 2B by UZR or DRS. OAA hated him, but he's flipped that game on its head apparently learning how to exploit OAA. Anyway, Arraez purposely hits the way he does. Keaschall tries to make harder contact and fails. Though, I do remember a time early in Arraez's career he started swinging for the fence and his numbers tanked as he had warning track power, not HR power.

Brooks Lee is on pace to produce about 1.4 WAR this year in a full season, and that's with a lot of luck at the plate. 1.4 WAR is not enough to justify an every day player workload. The xwOBA remains dramatically lower than his actual production .313 (below average) vs. .276 (very poor). He's just very limited at the plate and in the field.

Martin should be shipped to AAA and call up Roden. There's nothing left to prove in AAA for Roden, and Martin has proven everything he needs to prove at the MLB level. Larnach, Bell and Wallner occupy the same role. Imposter position player who is really a left handed DH. Bell is a switch hitter in name only just like Wallner and Larnach are corner outfielders in name only. Bell's a league average hitting DH from the right side of the plate over the course of his career, and he's certainly not better today than he was in his prime. At least one of Bell or Larnach honestly need to go before there's space for Wallner at this point. Roden, Buxton, Clemens should be the every day outfield unless Roden proves he's AAAA after another 150-200 PA.

MRI revealed inflammation. No structural damage, but the same issue he had before. Second opinion is being requested from Dr. Keith Meister.