bean5302

2011. Span was the starting CF. Kubel was the starting LF. Cuddyer was the starting RF. Revere was the backup who could handle CF.

Honestly, it probably doesn't matter much what I think of the front office. I don't expect Jim to give me a call and seek my advice on whether or not he should keep Falvey and Levine employed. I don't really understand why people feel 2017 was a big product of Derek Falvey and Thad Levine. The only notable position player they brought in was Jason Castro. They brought in Hector Santiago to the pitching staff and he pitched poorly. It was basically the same team as 2016 with the same manager. It's not like Falvey's name on the plaque outside the GM's office door magically transformed the team. Pythagorean's showed +9 wins between 2016 and 2017 so that's undoubtedly a lot of the improvement, along with steps forward from the younger players inherited from the previous regime(s). I expect Falvey and Levine are on a very hot seat right now. Their drafts have been mediocre to poor based on performace so far and next year is likely to be how the ownership views the cast offs they inherited, and what happens with the 40 man roster this year like do they leave Gordon and Palacios off? Chargois - 40.2 IP, 2.43 ERA, 8.4 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 Reed - 9.1 IP, 1.93 ERA, 9.6 K/9, 1.9 BB/9 Wells - 47.0 IP, 3.64 ERA, 11.3 K/9, 1.9 BB/9 (could be a starter) Baddoo - 339 PA, .261/.327/.458 OPS+ 118 (plays adequate center field) Wade - 261 PA, .248/.317/.521 OPS+ 121 Now, I don't expect guys like Chargois and Reed will be successfull long term, and as relievers, they don't add a ton of value even if they pitch decent. They won't be the players who make or break Falvey. Wells, Baddoo and Wade very well could. So could Palacios or Gordon if they find success at the MLB level on another team. I guarantee you if Palacios or Gordon manage to put together a serviceable MLB season at SS somewhere outside the Twins, Falvey will have his walking papers next year, and if Wells turns into a middle of the rotation starter, Falvey is going to have to rely upon his drafts to save him and as of today, right now, they're looking pretty rough.

So long as you pretend Buxton's 2021 isn't massively skewing his career numbers and pretend Fangraphs doesn't exist. Assuming a 150 game played season (which Buxton will never hit) fWAR vs. bWAR, if Buxton played 150G each season 2019 = 4.7 (wRC+ 111) vs. 5.2 (OPS+ 116) 2020 = 4.6 (wRC+ 118) vs. 8.1 (OPS +126) Somehow, despite a pretty small jump in OPS+, Buxton's value skyrocketed in 2020 per game played if you use Baseball Reference's bWAR. It doesn't make sense, especially considering Fangraphs' UZR/150 is +15.7 in 2019 and +10.6 in 2020. Both are well within range of his career numbers which were almost always between 10-15.

Span and Revere, I'd say.

I mean... what's there to say about this? Gibaut is not and never will be MLB caliber. There's nothing to answer with this call up.

Romero was voted the #1 Twins prospect in 2017. Accolades flowed readily about Romero's "stuff" on various Twins sites including a mystical 100mph fastball despite Romero rarely actually limiting runs. Also, I didn't say a single thing about throwing Duran away. Downranking Duran in the prospect list doesn't mean the Twins need to release him.

Video claims low 90s for fastball. 90-92, touches 93.

Duran seems like he's in line to be the next Fernando Romero to me. Never ending accolades about "stuff" that never shows up in actual results. Duran can't throw strikes (or even hit the catchers mitt) and he still gives up a lot of hits. He's only once shown dominant results in the minors, that was 2018 in regular A ball in Cedar Rapids, but he was struggling before the trade that year with Arizona in A-ball. AFAIC, he's got a 1/2 season to show dominance or I'd push him out of the top 20 prospects in the system. He's got plenty to prove and there should be a push to get Duran innings if they can this year. Comparing Duran to Kopech was a crazy reach.

The Blue Jays are still in the hunt for a wildcard spot today, even with Berrios recently pitching poorly and taking 2 losses in his last 3 appearances. The Blue Jays are hungry, willing to spend money and they have a very talented core. Arguing teams shouldn't try to go for a World Series when their window is open is best left to the Twins' ownership.

Because it would be too painful haha. Baltimore's manager Brandon Hyde hasn't ruled out using Wells as a starter this year. They're really liking what they see, especially with Wells getting lefties out which suggests he could be a starter. Hyde's quote from July 3rd, I believe, “I wouldn’t rule anything out right now,” Hyde said. “I think it’s definitely a possibility. You never know what’s going to happen the rest of the year, but we’re comfortable where he is right now getting the experience that he is in the bullpen. He’s starting to pitch in some big spots in games. I’m excited about giving him the opportunity. I like the guy’s stuff. We’re keeping our options open with him.”

I've read this a number of times. What makes people think the offers the Twins made before the trade deadline are still on the table? The offers were during a pre-deadline push and would have expired long ago even if Buxton hadn't rejected them. The deal didn't get done and Buxton had a month off baseball following those offers to hammer out the disagreements on what is suggested are minor details around here. Not saying it couldn't happen, but the fact it didn't happen suggests a deal isn't particularly close. I'm obviously not remotely close to as bullish on Buxton as other fans on this site are, but I do think it is more likely the agreement would get made if Buxton manages to play steady and rakes over the last month (like wRC+ 150 or higher) giving the Twins reason to consider Buxton's ceiling may, in fact, be higher than what he showed across 2019-2020. I don't think a deal gets done under any other circumstances. Seems to me the Twins wouldn't have a real reason to go out on a limb from what Buxton has already shown over longer periods in 2019-2020, and I don't think Buxton has shown a willingness to take a pillow contract.

Accept that you can sometimes be wrong. You'll be happier in the long run. I agree the Twins won't hesitate to make roster decisions based exclusively on service time. This wasn't one of those times. At all. He'd already missed over 60 days of service time this year before his call up so there wasn't any realistic potential impact to his service time for sending him back down under current rules.

I agree. Larnach's batting average may not look great, but he's flashing some power fans have really wanted to see. His ISO at AAA is .263. Plus, small sample size.

https://www.milb.com/gameday/marauders-vs-mighty-mussels/2021/08/25/648576#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=648576 Link to the 7-0 Bradenton win over Ft Myers. Both the links above are for the 12-1 victory

Ober's K:BB ratio was absolutely dominating while still striking out more than 10.0 per 9 innings at every level across the minors while not allowing a lot of hits, either. The biggest knock against Ober was how much time he missed with injury, which is also related to the reason he was drafted so low. Ober's velocity certainly doesn't look like the dominant model of the day, but there are plenty of very good pitchers out there who's average fastball is very similar to Ober's. Ober's strikeout and walk rates are both better than Jose Berrios this year and his xFIP is almost as good. Berrios gives up fewer hits partially due to a favorable BABIP. Now, I'm not saying Ober is as good as Berrios. Ober has a whopping 68 innings pitched at the MLB level, but with little time at AA or AAA, the results suggest a pretty high ceiling for a non-elite prospect.

Larnach had 3 games at AAA to start the year. He'd never played in AAA before that. Prior to his call up, Larnach had a grand total of 46 games above A+ ball.

Fangraphs has Celestino as 60 grade speed (50 for Austin Martin, 60 for Royce Lewis) MLB has Celestino as 55 grade speed (55 for Austin Martin, 70 for Royce Lewis, 55 for Cave back in 2017, 50 for Kepler back in 2015) Celestino should have the speed to play center field. He's probably faster than Austin Martin, Cave and Kepler.

Schoop, Cron, Kintzler, Magill, Adrianza, Wisler and Drake all had MLB experience and many of them had 5+ years of MLB experience. Then there's Smeltzer, who was part of the Brian Dozier trade. Enormously false narrative you've created. Of all the names you mentioned, only one was a MiLB free agent or Rule 5 pick. That was Ryne Harper, who the Twins subsequently DFA'd and traded for the Nationals' 9th round pick from the previous year, Hunter McMahon. For the record, Harper owns a 1.78 ERA in 25.1 IP for the Nationals this year and pretty good in 2020 except a couple games where he was hung out to dry which killed his overall stat line so it seems like that could be considered a mark against the Twins front office as well. Speaking of guys the Twins let go, why not add Wisler back into this? He's putting together a nice overall season and the Twins let him walk for nothing so Wisler is as much an indictment of the Falvey as he is a credit to him. Rule 5 picks almost never turn into anything so when you see multiple Rule 5 picks out of the Twins being successful this year (Baddoo and Wells) and you add in a couple other recent potential poor judgements like Wisler, Reed and potentially trades with Wade and Harper plus a bad season were every single one of those players would have been very valuable to the Twins, you get some fair criticism. I'm not saying Reed won't be figured out and clobbered, but if he does find continued success, it's extremely damning on the front office who had every opportunity and every reason to give him a chance but never did. Identifying and maintaining control over young talent is the most important thing in Falvey's job description.

He had UCL reconstruction surgery rather than UCL replacement.

It's standard procedure to get a second opinion on UCL injuries regardless of the the recommendation. It's just as likely the first opinion was against surgery as it was to get the surgery. In any case, here's hoping the best for Maeda, regardless of the outcome.

I've watched the Twins play at Fenway. My experience was pretty positive. The stadium was okay, but the fans were pretty good. Treated them with a little respect and they were very cool with us.

Why do you think he's a bullpen arm?

As I recall, the Twins front office didn't think much of Reed's stuff and were trying to get him to change some things despite him simply dominating the minors in terms of strikeouts and ERA. For years people wondered when Reed was going to get a call up because the only issue was walks. Other teams had a couple weeks to a couple months to look at him. The Twins had 6 years. Players who never get an opportunity at the MLB level with their original team before being picked in Rule 5 or leaving through minor league free agency rarely turn into anything so when it happens, it's worth an raising an eyebrow. If Reed turns into something decent, it's yet another strike against the front office and coaching staff. It's the front office's job to maintain team control over players and in concert with the coaching staff they hire and employ, to evaluate players. Right now, Reed isn't walking anybody, he's striking out a lot of folks, generating good whiff rates and the Mets used him for 3 innings in an outing against the Dodgers. His results are promising lately. Just have to see.

Sounds like Dobnak will be ready soon. I'm sure he's chompin at the bit!

Personally, I think Jax has earned the long look at starter. This isn't a season where the Twins are going to compete, and I'd be a little surprised if Jax got a starting rotation spot out of the gate next year, but there's no need to pull the plug on him until the Twins are sure of his potential.