bunsen82

Ohl and Adams are not afraid at this level. Possible bullpen arms, maybe another organization sees enough to work with either willing to trade a reliever for a flier on a starting pitcher.

Ouch - Detroit favored 60% now

Twins up 3-1 mid third and only 52% chance of winning LOL. They really are handicapping our relievers.

Our top of the minors hitters are hitting the absolute crap out of the ball. I don't know if there is a trio of top 100 elite hitters in any other minor league system hitting as well as Gonzalez, Jenkens and Culpepper. Had you left Gonzalez down in AA, I really think a lot of games get out of hand, even still I think that lineup is going to crush a majority of the teams they face. Mendez has come over and filled the hole well very well. Keaschall 🤩 A-men he looks like the real deal for the Twins Houston is doing everything he is suppose to do and then some. Maybe just a tad more power. Call up to A+ ball may be incoming. Tait, got a hit. So far nothing explosive yet, but holding his own in a new system. Lastly whats the story on Pereda. Looks like he has hit well in the minors .300 BA at AAA but struggled in call ups for Marlins and A's in 86 at bats. Does anyone know if he is a solid defensive catcher. Likely a 1 night wonder. Even still he might get an opportunity.

Players age differently. There is also a massive difference between Correa at SS and Clemens at 1st. 1st base is the one position spot where you can grow into with age and a little less athleticism. Correa's body is failing him in my opinion. 2 hours every day to stretch his back and feet. The ankle issue. Yuck. Dozier started flashing in his age 27 season. You have had Bautista, Ibanez, Ortiz, Nelson Cruz, Justin Turner and Rooker (28) - who all flashed after age 28. Its not unheard of but still unlikely.

I have been a more consistent watcher since the deadline. 1. Is to watch the younger players and see who is playing well. 2. I have always wanted to root for underdogs - if you have been a fan long enough you remember cheering during Dozier days and the Radke days. There weren't a whole lot of wins, but you still got to watch some special players. 3. Seeing if this impacts lottery odds. Seeing how Baldelli contorts this bullpen put together with the same rubber bands and duct tape that was in Stewarts arm is something I have had my popcorn ready 🤣. Topa and Sands have both been pretty solid in their new increased leverage positions. (Sands shouldn't have had any runs yesterday if Buxton was playing). The rest . . . very questionable so far. I didn't see any way we could even be competitive with this bullpen. Tonkin is your #3 currently, yuck. Kriske and Hatch look like the 2 new ones. Can we find anything redeemable in those 2 players. Waiting to see if we reclaim Alcala. He has been a train wreck this year, but he has legitimate top 4 reliever upside.

I fully agree with your assessment. I think Mendez is insurance some of our big outfield prospects don't pan out/injured or is most likely a trade chip for the future. 2023 Traded for Oliver Dunn (rule 5 draft trade) haha 2025 Traded for Bader If he continues to improve my guess is the trade will be better than 2 months of Bader.

Fair enough. How about this though, its early and generally I would wait until September to make more of a statement like this. My bet is Clemens does well down the stretch and is our first baseman. So far of our AAAA players he appears to be one that is taking full advantage of his opportunity and becoming the 1st baseman. Yes he had 1 great month, followed by 1 poor month which average out, but since July 1st he has .8367 OPS. he hasn't turned into the pumpkin you think and I would suggest an OPS of .720 is light. I think an average OPS for the year of .800 is about spot on all things considered. Splits OPS May .985 June .625 July .805 August .926 (5 games, but also no homers)

Yes Mendez has 40 man implications, but he is 21 years old. His issue I would argue isn't hitting, it is power and getting more line drives than ground balls. He had a total of 12 HR in his prior 4 years. He has 9 this year so far. Mendez likely has to be a 15-20 home run profile to be a usable LF even if it comes with a high average, high OBP. For his scouting report he was 50 across the board except power was 40. If he can get the power closer to 50 and the hit tool closer to 60, that is a pretty decent player. His stats are very similar to what Larnach did in AA season as a 22 year old. I am not sure how they re-organize all the prospects in the offseason but Mendez will likely start in AAA is my guess. If not AA to make sure he is continuing to hit before he is moved up. In 1-2 years I think you have a potential MLB player.

Spot on. There are still at least 5-10 people or more on this site who think we failed at the deadline because we did not get "full value" and did not get Painter even though Philly said he was an untradeable asset.

He gets better every year. OPS 2022 .505 2023 .644 2024 .706 2025 .796 (.817 Twins) I'm not saying he can't play anywhere else. What I am saying is in limited run he looks really good at 1st base. What I have seen is he has been a key player in both of our 2 wins after the trade deadline. I will say his stats have been carried by 2 months so far May and 5 games of August. So yes I do realize his stats may not continue. He has 2 more months to show if he can play himself into that spot.

Twins missed out on Painter 🤣. You don't miss out when the other team isn't willing to trade you that asset. Also the one thing we may be getting out of this final 2 months is seeing if Clemens can legitimately be our 1st baseman going into next year. Unlike Julien or Martin with constant mental errors, he always seems to be aware of what is going on. Instead of "errors" he realizes the bunt is available to get a run across. The bat also appears to be solid and getting better. He has never been given consistent regular bats like he is receiving right now in Minnesota so basing on previous stats might not be an apples to apples comparison. He has 50% more at bats right now than any other year of play. If he can be a .240 average or higher with 25-30 home runs, that is a very good 1st baseman that is close to what we got out of Santana last year. Also go look at the stats year by year, he has been improving his ops on average .080 every year (22-.500, 23 - .640, 24 -.706, 25-.796) That is a very good player that continues to show improvement and you are paying him minimal salary, not Walker's salary. There is a strong possibility the Twins already have their answer for 1st base.

If our true long term goal is to develop these young pitchers, resign Vasquez for 1 year deal 3-4 million. Honestly we get more long term benefit from that than signing any other catcher.

Alcala has the stuff to be a top 4 bullpen arm. I think mentally he still struggles. O would take the chance. He has more upside than any other reliever we have.

2-3. This team refuses to stop fighting. Great win. Keaschal is a difference maker.

Kody Clemens is playing himself into our everyday 1st baseman. Solid defense, smart, and he continues to do enough with the bat and keep improving. At this rate with starting, he has a real shot at 20 home runs. He has been a key cog in both of our wins. Matthews with a really nice outing. The bullpen needs help still, but every single game this team has fought and the bats are beginning to show up. Keaschall looks like a legit player.

Sands gets out of that inning with 0 runs or 1 run with a competent center fielder. Buxton gets to that ball if he is playing.

No, but they do have something in common, they both think I’m an idiot 🤣

My son had a joke for me today, Did you hear of the guy that dipped his balls in glitter? I replied no laughing and confused he replied, pretty nuts holy crap

Mike he is a known commodity, he has upside and he has more talent than 4 -5 we have in the bullpen. If they don't claim him you know they see no hope. At the very least get him in and dfa later. AAA needs arms as well.

I wouldn't be surprised at the Twins reclaiming Alcala.

The depth we had was become of 30+ year old relievers that figured out how to be effective in Stewart and Coloumbe. Relievers is the one position where players 30+ suddenly can become solid quality relievers.

How old is Ohl? How old is Adams? Looks like we picked up a reliever from KC, Hatch 30 year old. This is a painful process. I expect many more waiver claims of players like Hatch. Martin, Julien, Roden, Clemens, potentially Outman are your players that are auditioning for 2026. Clemens right now has the step up and may be solidifying himself as the future 1st baseman. You state don't invoke Rookers name with mid 30's relievers. I am not, I am comparing the opportunity the 5 have above to figure something out. In most cases you don't find a player. Everyone once a while a player like Rooker or Castro finally figures it out and it is a huge addition to the team. You are finding a player or pitcher of the AAAA scrap heap. This is a long process, we have 50 more games. If you want to be debbie downer be my guest. You are missing the bigger points to fit your agenda. My main point on the pitching depth, more than likely we have 3 open spots available next year as we are only retaining Ober and Lopez, making the depth more necessary. I hope we can find a position player, yes it most likely won't be a player of Rookers ability, but it will still be good for the team. If you can't find positivity in that, you have a long road ahead as a Twins fan. Its definitely not always rainbows and unicorns.

Next year, you have the potential Rookies of Keaschall, Culpepper, Gonzalez, Rodriguez starting with the team out of spring training. I really think we open a spot for Gonzalez/Rodriguez to start. Not sure which player would be going Larnach, Wallner. Keaschall is almost guaranteed to start. Rodriguez and Keaschall would also give you the extra draft pick as both are on top 100 lists. Starting next year with gradually putting multiple position players into the field, we may see one legitimately make a run at the rookie of the year. Jenkins most likely is on the team in 2027.

The trade of Varland, wasn't worth the return. Its not to say they got actually a very good return. Roden has been rough early on, but he has shown flashes of being a very good useable/tradeable piece, particularly in spring training. I am really hoping he gets comfortable at the MLB level in the next 2 months. Kendry Rojas stuff looks very good. Mid to back end of the rotation is definitely possible. This trade cost much more than just Varland. With Varland, fans still had a hope we could figure this out in the next couple years. Varland was the local kid who had made good. If Varland were to become the closer, with Topa and Sands, that is something you could build around, even this fall. If you had not traded Stewart, who we dumped for peanuts I think you could figure out enough games to be competitive. The Duran trade I understand, the Jax trade was requested, Coloumbe was expected. I continue to come to 1 conclusion, trading Stewart for peanuts and Varland were much more impactful. You eliminated this teams chance of even being competitive. I will gladly call it what it is, tanking. The Twins don't want the #10 pick in the draft, they want a top 3 pick in the draft. Whether it gives you better prospects, or more money to spread out to more quality prospects it gives you a better chance at finding the extremely high end prospects that are difference makers. I know the 2026 draft is know as being good, most comparable to 2023. However will it have the high end prospects of a Skenes, Crews, Clark, Langford and Jenkins? That is difficult to know. The other aspect to understand is due to the rule on lottery picks, 2 teams with likely high percentages in the draft will be eliminated, currently Colorado and Washington. If they remain in the bottom 3 teams that is 33% chances being eliminated. Currently the White Sox hold the other top 3 spot, and their current draft odds are 26% of #1 pick and 70% chance of top 3 pick. The odds still aren't great, but if you do tank this year, your odds of getting a top 3 pick is drastically better than most years. So the return on Stewart and Varland is more than just the players that we received. The cost was also much more than just trading those players. You ripped out an emotional connection many fans had to this team, and you created a version of this team for the next 2 months that is nearly unwatchable. More than anything that is the frustration many have, that they think the Pohlads are cheapskating their way out the door. I will say this is lot of heat the Pohlads are taking, if this was the direction the new owners wanted, and I don't think there is any way you don't make these trades without the new owners blessing. Or the other option is, there is no new owners on the horizon. That option is even worse.