tony&rodney

Larnach has to hit to play LF. The Twins know that Trevor is not a good outfielder. So many have been given a shot and did not pan out, so it is still Larnach until someone else arrives. I'm a little surprised by this article. Nobody who watches Larnach play regularly thinks he is an average outfielder.

No reason that Prielipp cannot continue to pitch, even if he gets extra time between starts. The old adage - listen to the body.

Tough deal for Banda and the Twins. He has been pretty good since early on in the season.

Derek Shelton and the coaching staff did not sign the players that came to Spring Training. Since the beginning of the year we have watched the club undergo a slow transformation. The incumbents had a shot and some have been shifted or moved out. There was opportunity for guys like Outman, Wallner, and others to hold their positions. Clearly the defense needed work and the moves made have improved the team and created outs. There is still work to do and improvements to be made but the staff is doing a good job of making baseball decisions. As far as what happens to Luke Keaschall, we will need to wait a while before the next moves are made. Thus the window for Keaschall to produce is still open.

The Twins were picked for roughly 72 wins before the start of the year. There are a pile of teams huddled in the vicinity of .500 and a couple of those teams might take off in August. The Tigers have had a year where they couldn't do anything wrong and a poor closing to another season. The Twins are a bit of an enigma and could either fold or suddenly improve with some fresh blood arriving via trades or AAA. Sonny Gray remains a good pitcher and would be a boost for the club. What does Boston require in return? Will Boston send money? Would Tom Pohlad spend? Gray is good for 5-6 innings, giving up two runs. Then is goes to the bullpen. The Twins are still sifting for pen guys to fill two middle innings. No doubt, the Twins are a bit of a pendulum.

The Twins are between a rock and a hard place. Ryan Jeffers is on the IL and becomes a free agent at the end of the season. Royce Lewis has had spasm of promise mixed with lunging ineptness, yet has adapted pretty well to first base and remains a crowd favorite. Brooks Lee is growing into a playable regular at third base, which was his prognosis all along; regular but not an all star. Trevor Larnach has improved to just slightly below average in left field and provides a steady bat versus right handed pitchers. Kody Clemens has played good defense wherever he plays and has hit the ball hard enough to deserve regular playing time. In the meantime, there are a pile of players who have some, but not exceptional, promise at AAA. Matt Wallner doesn't work any longer. Aaron Sabato has numbers but is an iffy choice. I wouldn't bet for or against him, but do not expect much. Kaelen Culpepper has risen pretty fast and could be a fine regular at the major league level but we shouldn't expect him to be an all star. He will be fine at either second base or shortstop with Lee at third. The corner outfield prospects will need opportunity to show their skills and platooning really isn't necessary for all of Jenkins, Roden, Rodriguez, Mendez, and Gonzalez. There needs to be a runway for a couple of these guys though. Five players for the two corner positions doesn't work. Mendez or Gonzalez might fit best at DH. The Twins are almost certainly wondering, thinking, reaching out, and listening regarding potential trades. The question is which players and what teams match up with the Twins on a mutually beneficial trade? The Coaching staff and Shelton have done a remarkable job thus far. The club had no bullpen and seven DH fellows at the beginning of the year. Trying to keep everyone involved, happy, and convincing players to move positions and embrace change has been a trick. The injuries to top prospects did not help at all. These changes take time and hopefully teams like Arizona, Seattle, Tampa Bay, or Milwaukee feel strongly about adding one or more of the players who can be traded. It is going to be difficult to find a good match. The Yankees and Jeffers works but will New York part with a player the Twins want?

The goal is to have good hitters who play average to plus defense at every position. Ultimately. positions will be claimed based on the bat. The Twins are stronger defensively today than they were in April at six positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, and RF. That is something. Shelton and his coaches have taken what they were given and are tweaking things to the benefit of the team. The pitchers are thankful. Keaschall is already better than Matt Wallner in right field and his move means that second base is improved as well. Luke will need to hit to keep his spot. Will others pass him by in the near future? Stay tuned.

Mike Rabelo was in that trade and he is doing good work now for the Twins.

Correct. It isn't a good time as no time is. Sorry.

Hunter Greene for Louisville and Kendry Rojas for St. Paul is live.

Ok. You make your point. You believe caps are important and also draw comparisons to other leagues. Seems normal to me and what most people have done/believe. My first paragraph brought those ideas in precisely because that is what you and others bring up. I wanted to address that reality. I don't see the comparisons as critical. I believe the issues that trouble MLB are owner induced and can only be solved by the owners. In the past I have stated that I believe the CBA will be finished by April of 2027. I still believe that as of now. My concern is that MLB chooses to shut down the game, which will have some unintended consequences which may last more than a decade or two and actually solve nothing. However, I don't know what will occur and just wish for the best.

Yes. Shelton is being polite. He stands by the guys he has, but he doesn't pick the team. He also needs to be cognizant of all factors in player usage. Everyone makes mistakes but maybe less second guessing .... Is this a good time to remind TD that nobody who has posted on this site has ever had even a smidgeon of baseball knowledge to compare to someone like Shelton? I say that as someone who had over 50 years of various experiences in the game. We just like baseball and enjoy effing around with our thoughts.

The mention of percentage, parity, and ability to compete along with caps are the main feature of almost every single comment on the upcoming CBA. It seemed worth a mention and perhaps I could have been more clear, although twice I mentioned that comparisons aren't very useful in my opinion. Others will disagree with that. I then spent two paragraphs explaining what I see as the only big fight in the upcoming CBA, which is how will owners solve the their problem with revenue distribution. It takes two teams to play a game. You need to read McKibbin for a quick introduction to the source of the real issue with MLB. I didn't go into any length on parity really. One could point to a vast number of statistics to make that point which I didn't because I don't believe the comparisons across leagues are useful. I feel the same about caps - not useful for comparison, which could also be gone into at length. Revenue sharing is the main thing.

I'm sorry to ask but did you read my comment? I specifically said that comparisons don't work across the different leagues. I then went on the suggest that the failure to share revenue was a collective ownership driven issue and further suggested that only the owners can solve that issue (sharing of revenue). The mention of winning percentages across leagues is not a valid point of contention as I don't believe the comparison work smoothly as I said in my comment. The number one comment made on this site and on other places as well suggest caps as an answer and in every case the reference points are the other leagues and parity/ ability to be competitive. To reiterate I don't believe the comparisons work between leagues, whether that is winning percentage, parity, or caps. I believe this is an ownership driven problem that will only be solved by the owners. Many people disagree and there are some who would like a return to the systems in place before the 1970s. Change happens and we will find out soon enough what direction the owners want to take. Just as an aside, I wonder how your graph would look if it included the time since the owners changed the revenue stuff about 10-15 years ago or even using the 21st century. I'm not sure the narrow window of 2022-2025 tells us anything. Have you read Mckibbin?

Designating a player for assignment and placing a player on waivers are two separate actions. If one wants to know the difference, just look it up. There is a clear easy to understand explanation.

The basic complaint I hear from all corners about MLB is related to parity or competitive balance. While I do not believe comparisons across different leagues works very smoothly we do hear most comments include the NFL, NBA, and NHL. If Colorado defeats Minnesota this afternoon (June 28), MLB will not have any clubs winning less than 40% of their games. There are zero teams winning 70% of their games. I'm not sure there has ever been anything close to that parity in NFL or NBA history. Statistically, MLB is the clear winner when it comes to parity. However, I did begin by suggesting that I don't really believe the comparisons are smooth. While many people are laser-focused on caps, I just don't see it as an option. MLB created the current revenue sharing problem earlier this century when they began making various exceptions to what counted and what did not count for putting revenue into a pot to distribute across each member club. MLB. likewise, can "fix" how revenue is defined, collected, and paid out. I'm not sure how much participation the PA would even have in that process because it seems that MLB teams (a few exceptions) are not willing to make their books public. The owners in baseball have always kept their little club to themselves and mostly agreed at their meetings about how to deal with each other. Jake McKibbin, among others, have written about whether MLB needs to adjust their revenue sharing. I believe that the solution to the next CBA will need to be worked out in the owner meetings. The small details of free agency, arbitration, years of contract control, etc. take a back seat to whether/how the owners distribute revenue.

You know you just supported my point that the Twins draw when they win but there are not large numbers of diehard baseball fans similar to the Vikings or Wild fans.

I'm not sure we are talking about the same thing. My point is that winning is tied to attendance, viewership, and numbers of people listening on the radio. It seems fairly simple - Twins win a bunch, attendance goes up ...... Maybe I'm wrong. A poster said one could not give away a ticket to the Shohei-Joe game. That game was a sellout and scalpers made bank that night. I understand there are people who are angry at the Pohlads, but I'm not talking about them regarding attendance. I'm thinking most casual fans have no idea who owns the Twins. I don't follow the Vikings and don't know who owns them. I do know most of the minor leaguers for the Twins. Maybe a different way to look at it is if one conducted a poll in a public space (Mall of America or maybe at twenty five locations across the Midwest asking people to write down their top five choices of sports. Just riffing here. In any event, my best guess is that if the Twins win games, their attendance will go up. This doesn't seem controversial or political .... at least it doesn't to me.

I agree with this. Further, I just don't understand the take on Minneapolis or cities in general. However, I do not mean to denigrate, demean, or otherwise put down the opinions, thoughts, and experiences of others regarding how they view locations. I just don't understand it based on my experiences, which are plentiful. Other people may have had wildly different experiences which result in their takes.

Baseball is my entertainment of choice. I rarely watch much less follow other sports, although I do briefly skim some articles. So I'm a baseball fan and yes I am OLD. Witness the World Cup, where people are paying Super Bowl prices and there are a ton of games. I know a bunch of people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s shelling out $300-500 to go to these World Cup games and sit in the nose bleed seats. The experience, the atmosphere, the scene are all a draw. I received a thumb's down for noting that attendance, viewership, and listeners to Twins games are all down. These are just counting numbers that show baseball is not a top choice for Minnesota fans. It is what it is, no matter how much of a fan I may be of baseball myself. Not much to disagree with in simple numbers .... 2 is less than 3 ..... etc.

One thing that I haven't seen anywhere is how MLB proposes to display total transparency across the industry regarding all revenue. Will MLB allow the PA to check all numbers/total access? Has anyone seen anything that addresses that basic idea? Seems like if MLB suggests there is a 50/50 split on all revenue that there needs to be a manner in which this is openly completed. I'm not sure just saying it holds any merit.

This is true. Minnesota (on the whole) doesn't really see baseball as among their top choices for entertainment. It isn't just attendance, it is also the number of people watching or listening.

Attendance for baseball in Minnesota (the Twins) has always been tied pretty much to wins and losses. The Wild and Vikings draw even if they lose. Games are won by talent, which is the job of the front office. Despite a huge emphasis on payroll, which also makes its way into this article, it is talent that wins games. Unless one believes that the Twins owners should be carrying payrolls of $200+ million for players, the focus on money is misplaced as far as winning. As a brief reminder I will list Hoskins, Montgomery, and Gallen as players who various people forwarded for the club to sign if they weren't so cheap. The Dodgers took off when they hired Andrew Friedman in 2015 (I think). The accumulation of talent can be helped with access to large piles of cash, which MLB kindly provided to LAD when they exempted them from sharing their revenue in the same manner as all other teams. One cannot blame the Dodgers for spending that $600+ million unexpected money on talent. That does not negate that Friedman has built a terrific scouting and development system whereby the Dodgers always have a ton of talented players available for promotion or trades. Thus, I will suggest that the most important job of an owner is hiring the right people. The identification of talent leads to winning which leads to increased attendance. Minnesota will draw more fans when the team plays better and that will happen as new talent replaces a few of the current guys on the roster. While I may have actively opposed the sale of the Twins to Carl in 1984 because I preferred two of the other groups (MLB only okayed/allowed CP), it seems somewhat childish for people to throw out numerous articles that excoriate the Pohlads for their spending, while failing to note their relative absenteeism through the years. The real problem, as it is for all sports' franchises, has been a lack of talent and that falls directly on the shoulders of the front office. If Tom Pohlad is more aggressive with holding the front office more accountable or if he just goes absent due to a something like disinterest (was that Jim Pohlad?), there may be an article worth writing and reading. My personal thoughts are that the current group of coaches and Shelton are doing a good job. Can whomever is running the front office these days take the necessary steps to increase talent in the organization on on the Twins roster? If the answer is yes, attendance will increase. I really doubt that Tom Pohlad is scouring the fields across the world for baseball players or even making phone calls/texting people in front offices across MLB.

Not a big fan of defense metrics. My view of the gloves puts Kreidler as an average to possibly plus shortstop and Clemens as an above average defensive player at first base and right field. Clemens may be good at second base as well. That is what I see. The Twins appear to be transitioning to a more stable alignment in the field with the moves of Brooks Lee to third base, Royce Lewis to first base, Ryan Kreidler to shortstop, and Kody Clemens to right field. More changes could be in the near future (this season). I would not expect Kaelen Culpepper to be more than an average defensive player but if he hits an average glove in the middle infield would be an improvement. Both Emmanuel Rodriguez and Walker Jenkins would provide average or better corner outfield defense. The changes from the Falvey dream of a DH at every position has been challenging to change but it is going to happen. The mistakes by the pitchers are pretty head scratching and should be easier to clean up.

Hendry Mendez is fun to watch; he's a hitter. The reason Mendez was traded and the reason he is not ranked as highly as some others is directly related to his ability to contribute in the field. My hope is that with Falvey gone the Twins can begin to focus on players who can play defense as well as hit. It's fine to have a DH and maybe even one guy wearing a glove for his bat on defense. The Twins have too many DH types though which clogs up the roster with unplayable gloves. Mendez will get a chance to outhit every other fellow on the roster and claim the DH spot. There is a ton of value in a Yordan Alvarez. Just keep him as the DH five out of every seven days.