tony&rodney

The big offense at AAA may be a combination of factors. Perhaps there are a pile of pitchers who do not hit their spots, are in decline in regards to their careers, or simply still raw and learning on the way up. The batters are a combination of guys fighting for jobs on the 26 and 40 person rosters as well as some experienced players with talent who have begun to figure out how to hit. I have had the thought that using the ABS and challenge system at AAA gives hitters a great deal of confidence in what pitches to attack. No longer does a batter get that poor call which bails out a pitcher and puts the batter on the defensive side of a count. A bad call on a 1-1 pitch to make the count 1-2 suddenly shifts the at bat for both the pitcher and batter. Last night there was a particularly brutal strike call on Wallner, who is already prone to strike outs. Now Wallner needs to either take that pitch or try to hit it which is almost assuredly a swing and a miss.

My empathy is with Byron. His body just has not been fully healed, affecting his swing completely and keeping him off the grass. We have seen how much fun he has playing centerfield in the past. The restrictions are a total bummer for him. The Twins should do whatever they can to make him whole. Hopefully both management and Buck find a solution for him.

Kepler has a $10 M option for next season and Polanco has a $10.5 M option for 2024. Both are club options with $1 M buyouts. Kepler is a free agent in 2025 and Polanco still has another option (club) for $12 M in 2025. I would guess 95-5% that Kepler is in a Twins uniform next season. The outfield situation is pretty fluid this year and may be similar in 2024. A healthy Polanco has great value for the Twins or any other team for that matter. I expect him to return as well unless his health deteriorates from today going forward. Buxton and Correa are not going anywhere. Seattle still needs a good bat and pitching is always good to acquire. I see benefits for both the Twins and the Mariners in an exchange of players this offseason. A trade of an infielder (1B or 2B) could mean that Polanco is a definite option to pick up. I do not know what Seattle thinks about Wallner, Larnach, Kirilloff, Julien, Lee, or Lewis. Any one of those guys might headline a deal for Logan Gilbert that winds up helping both teams. In that scenario, both Kepler and Polanco (unless disabled) are locks to be back next season. Until the offseason, we can only hope that good health allows both Kepler and Polanco to get steady at bats to lead the Twins through the remainder of the year. Neither is old and we have ample evidence of how important their skills are to a winning season.

The path to a Hall of Fame, Minnesota Twins or MLB, is incredibly difficult. The road is strewn with the talents of countless players whose futures were bright but whose careers were sidelined by various obstacles. We are all still in awe of the potential of Byron Buxton, and hope against all odds that he can actually play out his contract as a serviceable player. Most of us Twins fans are not expecting Buck to win any more Platinum Glove Awards or string together MVP awards. Baseball is tough and often cruel. Mauer also faced a flood of challenges, but his talent allowed him a brief window of excellence unseen in Twins history from the catcher position. Despite the concussions, Mauer should be making another speech next summer in Cooperstown. Jay Jaffe has argued that Joe Mauer ranks among the top ten catchers in MLB history (7th in his view), and if the writers cannot vote a top ten all time player from the singularly most difficult position in the game into the Hall on the first ballot one might rightfully question the knowledge of those who do not vote for Mauer. I'm hoping the Twins have a player step forward with a career worthy of wide national acclaim across a decade plus, but we should all just be grateful to have had Joe Mauer as a Twins player in our lifetime. Mauer belongs with Harmon, Tony, Rod, and Kirby as the greatest players in franchise history since 1961.

Minnesota was really lucky to have Joe Mauer.

Unless attendance and viewership is up quite a bit from now until the end of the year or the Twins manage an extended run in the playoffs, there are going to be financial consequences to follow like a reduced payroll in 2024. Money is still important in business. The Twins committed to a record (for them) payroll in 2023 and it is reasonable to expect a return on that investment. I do not think the 2024 expenditures will be anywhere near the costs of 2023.

One thing that stands out way above anything else since Falvey and Levine were hired is the amount of money that the Pohlads have invested in the franchise. This has been a change from the first 33 years. The contracts for Donaldson, Buxton, and Correa were all pretty large. I wonder how the Pohlads view the manner in which the front office has proceeded. I would guess they are supportive, which means these guys will be around a little longer. Either way, there are some players worth watching every year.

The Twins should think about how to manage a trade with Seattle in the offseason. I'm willing to trade one of Lewis/Kirilloff plus Raya and a low A player throw in (not a highly rated young prospect) for Logan Gilbert.

Emmanuel just hit a rocket home run off of a left-handed pitcher. His bat is special, so quick and the power is effortless. E-Rod has farmer strength in those forearms. I'm excited to see how he progresses in the next year. Defense. Arm. Speed. Power, Eye.

Not a fan of the current front office and simply do not understand whatever philosophy of baseball they are attempting to drive forward with the Twins. I admired the honesty and direct humanity of Terry Ryan. I believe Ryan was superior in almost all ways to Falvine but understand those who have railed about the failure of Ryan to adapt quickly to analytics. That said, the judgment in my eyes is related to attendance and viewership that displays interest in the Twins product. I'm simply a Twins fan and will, in the end, pay little attention to the front office because I'm more focused on the pitcher-batter chess match and want the Twins to play to their potential which hopefully includes a few wins.

Runners on first and second with no outs and Correa coming to the plate ..... bunt them over. Same for Buxton. The Twins need to address their near total futility to strike out or hit into double plays when runners are on base. Try something different because the talent will always allow them to switch back and still be a .500 team. Correa still plays a good shortstop (imho), but it cannot hurt to drop him down to sixth or seventh in the lineup. The Twins are in first place in the AL Central so we should expect to see the same batting orders and platooning as the last few months. Change comes slowly for the Twins.

Wonder when, if at all, the Twins will move some players up a level. Seems like Brooks Lee could use the exposure to AAA pitching if he is to be in consideration for a run at an infield position next year with the Twins. Emmanuel Rodriguez hits the ball a ton when he swings and connects. He looks like he is learning to swing at pitches in the zone as opposed to those players who need to learn to lay off of bad pitches. Rodrigues sure takes a ton of pitches right down the middle. On the other hand, E-Rod hits the ball hard on many occasions. His K-rate is troublesome, particularly the swing and miss. Is he served by going to Wichita, where he has to trust his talent more against better pitching? I'm curious about if and when there are promotions coming within the minor leagues. Sadly, players moving up also means others are released.

If you go to milb.com, you can pull up the teams and all of the stats or just individual players you are curious about at the moment. The magnifying glass in the upper right hand corner is handy. Click on game logs to see if a player is hot, cold, etc. For example, you can see that the top prospect (Jackson Holliday-Orioles) hasn't dropped in performance this year despite going from A to A+ to AA this year. It can be a rabbit hole, best saved for very cold winter evenings.

Ryan has a tired arm and just needs to be skipped for one (next) start. Dallas Keuchel (or Josh Winder) can get his shot.

Or .... there just were not any teams very interested in any of the players within the Twins system at least enough to have a full conversation about a fair exchange. Some of the relievers changed teams without much going back in return, yet those teams must have felt it was ok.

The comment concerning a flawed roster is fair.

Sure seems like it. That is also not in character for the Pohlads.

There have already been too many posts and comments on the trades in the last year. I'm not understanding anyone who is frozen because of those trades. The Mahle trade, which I opposed and then accepted because it showed movement towards trying to win, cost the Twins a couple of players who were stuck behind Correa, Arreaz, Miranda, Polanco, Kirilloff, Julien, Lewis, Lee, and a couple of others. Good for Steer, CES, and the Reds. The Jorge Lopez trade looked painless to most and was lauded at the time. I was a big Cade Povich fan, but never thought for a second that Cano would reinvent himself as an all star. So it seemed ok. Again, tough but good for the Orioles. The Pablo Lopez trade that cost Arraez was controversial and I supported it then and still do. So there was significant backlash and now the Twins do nothing. Trades are risky at times but they remain a way to improve the team. It felt like there were teams that may have been interested in working with the Twins. I'm concerned if there was, in fact, zero interest in any of the players within the Twins system. Do nothing doesn't reflect well on the negotiation skills of the management folks. One wonders where the Pohlads sit on the issue. The attendance in August and September will be important to them it seems. If you look around the league there are plenty of games played before 30-40,000+ fans on a routine basis. But maybe the Pohlads like it in the middle, right where the Twins are now.

We (Twins fans) will hope for some positive changes and the current roster could deliver a fun close to the season. It just seems very hard to expect Julien, Kirilloff, Wallner, Lewis, Jeffers, and Castro to lead this team. This is a heavy burden for inexperienced players. Kepler, Polanco, and Vasquez may turn up their contributions and I hope they do and soon. Kepelr has been better since the All Star break. Who knows? The two expected to lead, Correa and Buxton, have been at a level that it would be very surprising to see them reach their former star status, and yet we still hope for that miracle. The reserves (Farmer, Taylor, Solano) have been used way more than expected and seem worn down. The brilliant starting pitching has faded as well. The betting dollar belongs in your pocket and not placed on the Twins at this point of the year. The Royals just totally outplayed the Twins and swept them in three different styles of baseball. Yet, we as Twins fans will hope against reasonable odds that the current roster can perform in a positive way on a consistent basis. The Twins have a shot at winning the AL Central and closing out 2023 in a fun fashion. I'm not sure that Falvey believes in the team. But then again, I'm not sure what type of baseball or player the Twins see as the means to success. This may be that I refuse to believe that Joey Gallo is the model for 2023 baseball and the poster player for Falverball. I have been very complimentary of how serious and hard working Gallo has been as he attempts to lead the Twins. I just don't see him and his style of play as the type of baseball I want to see played by the Twins. St. Louis is a true baseball town and a great place for the Twins to find all of the aspects of baseball that make it a great game. Let us hope that the Twins players are rejuvenated by their visit to St. Louis and use it to drive them through the season. Falvey decided that the players on hand were a World Series team and now they need to show their game.

Yes it was. We can say that the Twins did Jorge Lopez a solid by allowing him to play close to home/family while he tries to get it back together as a baseball pitcher.

Falvey agrees, or he was told to sleep all day, because the Twins have not completed any trades. Well, at least if the deadline is the deadline. Times up, the Twins did not make a trade, and will go with the players they have on their roster. The Twins have some decent baseball players and the last two months will be a bit of a referendum on the current front office. I do not expect that they will be replaced in any event.

There's nothing happening here, why that is ain't exactly clear.

Trade Gray and keep Maeda. However, that is assuming that any teams are actually interested in Gray. The Twins would need fair value for Sonny.

I like the thoughts here. Too late on Farmer as Toronto added DeJong from St.. Louis. I was thinking that the Twins had a chance there (TOR) too.

Sure seems like Toronto would have some interest in Kyle Farmer.