bunsen82

Hendry Mendez has the potential to be a Top 50 Prospect. The stats and the above author would disagree with you. He has some elite skills. He makes contact at an elite rate and has elite plate discipline, and his exit velocity is in the 90th percentile. That is not to say he could flame out - absolutely. In general those, individuals with those skills are the least likely to flame out. Our closest Twins comparison would be Arraez (minus the exit velocity). The article above uses Jackson Merrill. All 3 of Gonzalez, Mendez and Arraez have extremely similar profiles. Elite bat to ball skills, elite plate discipline, questionable athleticism and defensive skills. Both Gonzalez and Mendez offer more power potential than Arraez. Now who would be the caveats - It would be Miranda and Martin. In both cases, the Twins and or players tried to completely change their profile once they got to the MLB level or to the Twins organization. Yes its great to elicit more power but not at the expense of losing their elite skills, Miranda became ultra aggressive and MLB pitchers used it against him. Miranda completely fell apart - I largely think on the mental side. Martin appears to have embraced and went back to what made him a great prospect. Now I don't think either of them are the type of prospect then Mendez is. Neither one of them had back to back years of nearly .400 OBP in the minors - nor at Mendez's age of 21. Miranda literally had 1 elite year 2021. Thats it. Martin similarly had a good 2021 and previously college career. You could also throw Lee into the mix and he is falling a bit into the same trap as Miranda, of the ultra aggressiveness and good bat to ball skills are being used against him. Now Mendez at this point is much less aggressive than either Lee or Miranda so likely won't fall into that trap. If they give him balls off the plate he will let them go by rather than creating weak contact. My biggest complaint on the Twins from the last 5-6 years is we have lacked professional at bats. We would often swing at the 1st or second pitch in multiple at bats. I understand the reasoning, why its smart. We have needed more hitters in the profile of an Arraez. There is also an aspect of taking pitches. Mendez is excellent at working counts, and at this point eliciting walks. Much better than Arraez ever was. I am hoping Mendez takes the next step this offseason and next year of continuing to lift the ball more without changing the rest of his profile. Arraez was a prospect in the teens for the Twins when he was called up. Moneyball is outdated. However - the point still stands. Higher OBP correlates to more runs scored. Now there is a higher correlation with OPS, but we need to find the types of hitters that can truly improve this ball team. I truly think Mendez has that type of potential. In either case I just have a higher appreciation of him than you.

No we wouldn't he would still be in the minor leagues.

NM

You took his entire numbers and still top 17. I asked for his Twins slash line. I have seen a couple other places that have said the bat is good enough to be a top 50 prospect. Now he won't get there because he has not had the power for several years, this is more a breakout. Even still the bat should play in AAA as well. He is a replica of Gabriel Gonzalez (who should be a top 100 prospect now) and that is a good thing. Defense is lacking a bit with both but you have 2 elite bats that are willing to take pitches, can put good contact on pitches and rarely strike out. Mix them in with a few power hitters and behind a couple speedsters and the lineup could be drastically better.

He will 100% get added to the 40 man. Now he could be turned around and be a quick flip. I could definitely see us using him to get a very good reliever for next year. He was the primary asset in the Bader trade. You are not going to allow a player that just had a .460 OBP in AA to get immediately poached.

A run of the mill prospect? His hit skills are as good as Gabriel Gonzalez. His issue has been 2 fold, a lack of power and too many ground balls. He had 11 home runs this year. A jump from 3 the prior year. He is 21 years old. He is definitely in the territory of getting to 15-20 home runs per a year as he matures. .324/.461/.450 slash line for the Twins since the trade. Please name more than 10 players that have had a better slash line than that in AA since it is run of the mill. I still would prefer for him to remain as an outfield prospect but would be completely fine as a DH or 1st base prospect. He continues to try to lift the ball more which includes a greater percentage of HR. He had something like a 60% ground ball rate. I still don't think he is ready for the Twins, but he is one of 5 prospects that I think could debut during 2026 and 2027 that would provide a much better hit tool than the prospects we have been turning over. Jenkins, Gonzalez, Rodriguez, Culpepper and Mendez. Add in Fedko for insurance. These are exactly the type of hitters our lineup has been in a drought of. The issue is 5 of those are outfielders. Yes it gives you insurance but someone is going to have to move to a different position or get traded. At the very list Mendez has significantly improved his prospect status since the trade deadline. I wouldn't be opposed to a quick turn around flip on him either.

So what is the issue Matthew? Is it Falvey? Is it Ownership? Is he truly in over his head or did things not work out on this version of going for it? When you have a plan put in place, and the entire plan is thrown out by ownership by rightsizing the budget how are you supposed to pivot. They couldn't just trade Correa then although that would have been smarter. Attendence will crater when you are actively tanking to get a better draft pick. There were no good answers for the short term. I do think fans will come back if they put a better product out there. How much financial resources will they be given is the ultimate question. I do think it should be 2 positions, but that is not what ownerships wants. Things will begin to improve in 2027 after the new CBA and as the new crop of players start coming up and becoming the new faces of the franchise. The game is always based on hope. In reality in most cases that all it is. But lets do another hit piece. We can't cover a presser with him, but we can do another piece to go after him. I am not saying he is the answer or there aren't questions to go after. But if we are not offering a better solution or it won't change this article really doesn't make much sense. Until Ownership decided to start spending again, or we do find 3-4 stars that can lead this team, there will continue to be negative opinions. Its a no win situation for anyone. Just firing isn't necessarily the best answer just because it will make you feel good.

Jax - about the same. He was horrible to start out. ERA is a little lower, whip higher, strikeouts lower. Duran still a stud. Bader has done better. Varland and Coulombe and Paddack have struggled. Correa was better France was the same. Bader and Correa are the only 2 that were better - Dobnak doesn't count LOL. It definitely appears someone was creating revisionist history.

Iglesias is 8 million, Maton is 7 million, Williams is 5.7 million. Mid to low tier - Coulombe 4 million, I think they may be willing to spend $10 to $12 million on a bullpen. Bullpen - Williams (closer 5.7 million, if back is healed), Sands, Traded reliever, Coulombe, Funderburk, Topa, Laweryson, converted starter. That is $10 million and using some prospect capital. you have to realize that Falvey is feeling the hot seat. He is not just going to put a subpar bullpen out there to tank a season that determines whether he will continue in his position or not. Iglesias or Maton give you a higher floor with a little more money spent. Falvey is in current preservation mode now, but will be for next year as well. My guess is he puts the best roster out there he possibly can.

"Could the Twins have traded for higher-upside prospects further away from the majors? Sure. But they didn’t. Instead, they’ve built a roster that looks like it could hang around .500 if everything goes right, which is rarely the case." Are we just going to ignore #2 Tait, #5 Rojas, #14 Gallagher, #25 Mendez (who I could argue should be much higher- I would have top 10 area), #28 Jimenez (who I would have top 20). Villoria is young but has a chance. The currently players were Abel and Bradley, who are both a WIP, but both flashed at the end of the season with what their upside is. If they are #2 or #3 type starters this trade deadline was a win excluding all the prospects I mentioned earlier. Outman was a lottery ticket and i am not sure he makes it past 40 man cuts. Roden has a chance to be an every day OF but will see competition form the younger bats. He is the 2026 version of Julien and Miranda. He has 1 more year to show he can stick at the MLB level. Lets see why a coach would be willing to take a chance on the Twins - Strong starting pitching core - Ryan, Lopez, Ober, Bradley, Abel, SWR, Festa. That is a top 10 starting rotation. Current players - Buxton, Keashall and Jeffers is a decent start. You do start to run into question marks. Martin offensively began to show that his bat and speed can be an asset at the MLB level. Lewis, Wallner and Lee have shown flashes but have just not been consistent enough. Then you have several fringe or non mlb players Outman, Gasper, Julien, Miranda, Kiersey. You have several young players coming up with good contact rates in the minors - Perada (likely backup catcher), Jenkins, Rodriguez, Culpepper and Gonzalez. My concern with the team has been too many empty out. Strikeouts in bunches, not moving players around the basepaths. They appear to be more willing to steal and these players other than Rodriguez strikout at much lower rates than what we have had at the major league level. The bomba mentality stayed for way too long in my opinion. Most coaches know that bullpens can be rebuilt. Especially if there is a plan in place. So yes a coach could see a team that has bright future in a few years. There are players that could be all stars or better and you have a strong group of starting pitchers. There is the potential to perform well in the short, mid and long term. You would have to go in with wide eyes and realize ownership is not likely going help a ton with salaries.

I am not looking for contention I am merely looking for a winning team. After the deadline the goal was to lose games by not having a competent bullpen and running out crappy lineups with 2-3 players a night that were not MLB players. They had 8 blown saves in 18 opportunities. They took them out of the opportunity of winning games in probably another 6. I am expecting better offensive production as well. We gave 750 non competitive at bats to the following players (Outman, Vazquez, Gasper, Kiersey, Julien, Miranda, Bride) with the majority coming after the trade deadline. 1 to 2 batters were guaranteed outs in the lineup every time through. If you think we will have several players of that caliber in the lineup every day maybe your expectations are correct. I truly believe the lineup will be significantly better than what we were putting out there at the end of the year. Bullpen can be rebuilt, either by buying Free Agents and/or trading for some players. If you had 1 high leverage are, and 2 other decent bullpen options the bullpen is at minimum adequate. I think most would agree as currently constituted our starting rotation should be a strength.

My personal opinion is Correa was a negative asset for the team. I just just don’t think he was a fit for this team. You are getting better by having better contact hitters. You are getting better by removing empty outs. It’s counting on the younger kids at least 1 or 2 to perform when called up, Let’s be clear I said ,500. We need to sign a closer, a mid tier reliever and then possibly trade for a third piece. Add to Funderburk, Sands and Topa I think you have a functionable bullpen. Switch 1 starter to the bullpen and see what we have.

Yes if they rebuild the bullpen and get a legit 1st baseman absolutely. Keaschall, Buxton, Jeffers, good 1st baseman gives a solid foundation. Lewis, Wallner and Lee have wide variances. Gonzalez has hit at every level. If Lee struggles you have Culpepper to bring up. The starting pitching has immense depth and high upside. As many things have gone wrong this year, sooner or later luck does change. Pereda, Martin, and Clemens is a much more dynamic bench than we have had. Power option, speed option, and contact hitter depth catcher. How many games did we lose because Vasquez, Fitzgerald, Julien, Gasper ect we’re getting at bats because we had no one else. They were empty at bats. You put a legitimate lineup out there every day things should change significantly, I am an optimist.

I think they will be .500 or better depending if they rebuild a quality bullpen.

No Derek Shelton??? Should be somewhere on the list.

I am willing to make a bet that he is on a big league roster and gets a contract with an MLB team. Would prove the point whether he is considered an MLB player or not beyond my or your opinions.

Sept his slash line was .234/.289/.481 (114 OPS+) July was .250/.286/.519 May was .279/.362/.623 Maybe just don't play him in even months LOL. He was better than just 1 month or 40 at bats. He did have some bad stretches in August and June with the Twins. I did understate his OPS with the Twins for the year .725.

I am surprised Derek Shelton wasn't brought up. Ties to Falvey. Was in a more dysfunctional organization than the Twins. Likely would have a better overall roster than he did with the Pirates. Is currently available. I really don't think the quality is going to be great to choose from. He does have MLB managerial experience. Not a great performance record, but wasn't given quality rosters either. 2nd option would be Gardenhire.

He had a better MLB season than many other active starters and several bench players on other teams. It isn’t up for debate. Choosing to ignore the best stats of a player because it doesn’t fit your narrative doesn’t help either. All players go on hot streaks. Maybe that month was the best he can do and will never see it again. There have been examples of late bloomers in the past. If he is not on the Twins he will get a contract from another team. It will not be a minor league invite deal. 700+ OPS, solid defense and positional flexibility will be something at minimum 5 teams would be willing to take a chance on. Had he hit a .700 OPS he would still be with the Phillies.

So we were a .500 team middle of the road team before the trade sell off. I’m not sure what the Frankenstein team is. We need to rebuild the bullpen, find an above average 1st baseman. I assume Larnach is gone. We will need to see better production from Roden/Gonzalez/Rodriguez in left. I agree ownership is 66% of the issue, I do think the other third is the hitting philosophy and in game decision making.

Gallo was paid 11 million for a .740 ops and .5 War. Clemens was paid peanuts for .715 OPS and 1 WAR. Now this may have been a fluke season because of a hot streak. But his OPS in 350 at bats was .100 points higher than his first 350 at bats. That does show the potential for improvement. Yes he is older but still in what should be his peak years. We probably won’t agree I’m surprised you are unwilling to consider him a bench player on some teams.

Then why did Gallo get so many opportunities with sub Mendoza stats? I still don’t think he is a starter, a bench player absolutely.

Clemens was a 1 WAR player. No team would have him as a starter but I do think several would have him as a bench option hoping they could get more out of him. His position flexibility does give him a leg up. Players with power and good defense tend to get opportunities.

Yes he hasn’t had a ton of experience there. I am sure he will work on it in the offseason. It’s not a great option but it is an option if as the initial poster claimed Keashall is on the IL all year which seems like a doomsday prophesy.

Stating a player will be on the IL seems rather silly. If that were to occur I think the most likey outcome is Lee back to 2nd and Culpepper up.