Greglw3

With Walker Jenkins, Kaelen Culpepper, likely the return of Mick Abel, Emmanuel Rodriguez and Hendry Mendez plus possibly Gabby Gonzalez - the Twins can be competitive as soon as this year. The offense needs more but that group of prospects could impact this season and next when Ryan is 30 and 31 greatly. The fact is with a rotation of Ryan, Bradley, Abel, Prielipp, Kendry Rojas or maybe Ober again, the starting pitching could be strong again. The managing of Shelty and the contributions of Sizemore and Hawkins have been huge. Keaschall is starting to hit...he’s really important. Culpepper is hitting .261 with 13 HR + 12 SB in 13 attempts, just he would help a lot.

No way they get equitable value for s total stud like Ryan and no way they can use the excuse that they can’t afford him. Right, Tom Pohlad, we will do what it takes to compete? He’s the foundation of the team going forward. Extend him.

Excellent news!

This is a lot like cancelling a Major League Baseball game at 11 a.m. because there is a 100% chance of storms, then at game time it’s sunny and 75 degrees, a beautiful night for baseball. I think they have 2 main reasons why they will come to agreement and there will be no lockout 1) They saw the lasting damage to the sport when there was an extended lockout and cancellation of the World Series of 1994. I don’t think anybody wants to go back to the scorched earth days of Marvin miller, and in continuation, Don Fehr. 2) They are motivated to settle. The owners first proposal came in 3 months ahead of the owners first proposal in the last potential strike, in 2021-2022. If any prospect is ready, they should be called up. After overhauling the front office, manager, coaching staff and lead owner, the Twins owe it to said manager, coaches, players and long suffering fans to put the best team on the field. If that means DFA for Outman and Fedko as the backup center fielder, then let’s do it. If Culpepper refines some swing decisions and chases, call him up too....he’s a superior athlete. Same with Mendez. Would Sabato be better than Bell? It would be hard to be worse. AT .289/.366/.622, maybe Sabato is worth a look.

Call up Culpepper for the U guys at SS, Fedko to replace Outman as backup center fielder as I’m guessing by his stats he can hit higher than a buck fifty, Sabato, who has big time numbers to replace the inept Bell who clearly has a strange and ineffective swing and Hendry Mendez because .350 with .480 OBP. Also explore trades for offensive help.

I don’t think it’s drafts and trades. Joe Ryan and Taj Bradley and Mick Abel and Hendry Mendez were all acquired via trade as was Gabby Gonzalez. Drafting Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez and Brooks Lee were good calls. On the down side, Lewis and Josh Bell and Max Kepler and James Outman. If SWR is DFA’d, so should Outman. He’s not a viable major league player. Can’t hit a lick! Bell could be DFA’s and give Sabato a chance. Fedko could replace outman. As I write this, the patience of a long suffering Twins fan is being put to the test w Ober leading the charge to a 7-1 deficit in the 2nd. Let’s make it Mendez, Sabato and Fedko. They can replace the contingent of can’t hit current Twins that the FO is holding onto. Oh, yeah, I want Culpepper up at SS as well. Mendez LF Buxton CF (Fedko backup) RF Martin 3B Lee SS Culpepper 2B Keaschall 1B Sabato DH Larnach/Fedko C Jackson/Caratini and get well Jeffers and extend!

The Twins should definitely extend Joe Ryan by at least 3 years, ASAP. Shelty has been a revelation, done a superb job with what he’s been given. Grade: A+ The long shadow of the inflexible Marvin Miller will probably not allow a salary cap although it would be the next great advance in the game, along with a floor for the Pohlad-ish among us.

And stop telling Twins reporters that "you guys all think I suck". And stop holding that super long bat at the edge of the handle where the only real advantage is swinging for home runs and overall bat control is at a minimum as far as contact and using the whole field goes. That would be a good starting point for Royce.

I was making that comparison in the context of, "is Mendez ready for a callup" as was Emma but maybe not clear about that?. You’re right, it was meant as a tribute to Mendez and not a critique of E-Rod. I think E-Rod could probably help the Twins if he was healthy right now. I’ve been watching some Saints games on MLB.tv and he just looks "hitterish"! One thing I would do, if possible, is bring GG right back up and platoon him with Josh Bell. I think this is the 2nd consecutive year where Bell has struggled mightily vs lefties. Something doesn’t look right about his swing vs. lefties and GG acquitted himself well in his debut and is hitting lefties hard. I do worry about the Twins org. hurting players by trying to turn too many players into power hitters, the classic case was Austin Martin getting lost when they did that to him. That said, I have much, much more confidence in this new regime with Zoll and Shelton and Sizemore and Latroy so I think the team approach to hitting is working better, drawing more walks, a bit more selective.

I think there is cause for concern but the presence of Gonzalez, Jenkins and Hendry Mendez softens the blow, quite a bit. And the accelerating development of Austin Martin! And Larnach’s significant progress. Maybe even Fedko? Hopefully E-Rod can overcome the chronic injuries like Byron Buxton has.

Let's look at the facts In 72 plate appearances at AAA: As of this moment, Mendez is hitting .379/.500/.569 = 1.069 OPS. He’s playing LF. Rodriguez in 108 plate appearances is hitting .247/.417/.506 = .923 OPS Same team, same league, essentially the same pitching. You may be sure, but I’m not yet. Mendez hit .290 and .324 at 2 stops in AA last year. I’m not saying he’s a better player than E-Rod but I think Mendez is opening some eyes and he’s starting to hit with more power, which I don’t think is that important at least with respect to launch angle. Give me a team of 9 Austin Martins over a team of 9 Matt Wallners. Much more reliable. Launch angle is vastly overrated and the Twins over-emphasis on power has hurt their offenses a lot and has seen two players demoted because they’ve gotten lost in the hit for a home run as their primary modus operandi, Wallner and Lewis plus the wretched Joey Gallo was only worried about home runs and hit .177 in one of the worst offensive seasons ever. Rod Carew was the greatest hitter ever to wear a Twins uniform and one of the few greatest hitters of all time, topping out at .350, .364, .359 and .388 in a 5 year period and he wasn’t worried about launch angle at all, his .388 with 38 doubles, 16 triples and 14 home runs with 100 RBIs and a .449 OBP as well as 239 hits was plenty good. So, I get excited when Mendez steps up to AAA and in 72 PA immediately registers a .379 batting average.

Are we sure that Mendez isn’t as good a prospect as, say, Emmanuel Rodriguez? I’m really intrigued at what his ceiling is and kinda wonder if he could hit major league pitching right now?

I really liked seeing Mendez doing the Buck truck! As to the high errors, not sure what this means, but I remember Garry Templeton as a real high error guy who had great range and was an all-star caliber player. He had 40 errors at SS in 1978 but was also the first switch hitter to have 100 hits from both sides of the plate (not sure if the same year, or not). Surely Young would have to cut the errors way down. If he ends up having a physique like Delmon or Dmitri, I would doubt he would stay at short. It seems like the rare player that stays at SS, even when they make their ML debut and then again, after playing the position for some years, may end up at 3B, 2B or 1B. Ozzie Smith played SS all the way into his 40s, I’m pretty sure, and Omar Vizquel did too. Jeter and Ripken? The really big star SS like Bert Campaneris, Dave Concepcion, Smith, Vizquel, Jeter, Ripken, Belanger, Alan Trammel, Maury Wills, Honus Wagner.....tend to hold the position most or all of their careers.

I could tell you the tale of one Kirby Puckett, who was highly regarded but struggling at AAA Toledo, my home town. He was hitting in the .230s, may have peaked a bit over .240 before his callup but when he was called up immediately started with 4 and 5 hits a game and just took off, never to hit in the .230s again. Maybe if left in AAA and the heater continues, GG’d have an .886 OPS. The reason it’s .686 is because he hasn’t had enough time to bring it up any higher after a 1/20 start to the season. He was the Twins Minor League hitter of the year last year, not Jenkins or Rodriguez. I just happen to be a big fan of GG and very disappointed by his start but encouraged by his flip-the-switch, Josh Bell like awakening lately!

Maybe, but he is 11 for his last 21 at bats, on a heater.