tony&rodney

I like the idea that you are going to games. That's a good thing. You have stated that you have never watched Zach Neto play. On other occasions you have admitted to never having seen a player, especially minor league prospects. I don't understand why you take these strong stands based on metrics and then turn around and ridicule another person who is doing the same thing, using stats. My only request is that people watch players before they take such a strong position on their play. I'm not talking down on anyone's opinions or thoughts but merely asking that folks watch the player a couple of dozen times before coming to a conclusion.

Joe Ryan has done quite a bit for the Twins. In addition to being an good pitcher he put the Twins in a spot to trade him for an absolute haul last July (2025) and last winter. Ryan will not be that expensive next season. His arbitration number is going to be around $13M, which is the option number the Twins and Ryan set up last winter. Only a strong close to the year will raise that number and if he is out for the year the number will fall. Ryan will recover and he will be a very good pitcher for the Twins in 2027, hopefully this August and September too. Small mistake by the writer, but yes, Joe Ryan put the Twins in a really good spot.

There were a number of Twins fans who were not disappointed at all the trades last July and believed that a good trade of Joe Ryan should have been completed, certainly last winter if not done in July of 2025. It also seemed like a good time to trade Ryan Jeffers as well. The only two trades that were surprising was the meh transaction with the Dodgers and moving Varland. That stuff is all in the past though and now the club (and the fans/us) need to move forward. Shoulda doesn't help much, so we can hope the Twins have some designs to improve the talent over the winter. Joe Ryan can still be traded but it now makes good sense to keep him unless a decent player who will project strongly returns. There really isn't great harm in losing a player to free agency without a return if that player performs at a high level and allows the Twins young, inexperienced starters an opportunity to refine their skills in a fashion where they can step in smoothly once Ryan is gone. The improvements should be in identifying good defensive players that can hit, a daunting but realistic task. I'm not concerned at all by any threat of a lockout beyond April at the latest, but I am concerned that the Twins continue to roster more DH players than is allowed. For those that may be curious, there is only one Dh per game.

Tait and Diaw are pretty good prospects. Diaw is looking pretty athletic behind the plate and has a good bat. Tait has real power but he is three years away. Houston or Culpepper for Neto? I only have one question regarding that topic. Have you seen each of those three make at least a couple of dozen plays in the field and come to the plate in ten or more games? If not, check them each out for several weeks and get back here. I'm watching the Angels right now.

I can understand why you or anyone does not have the time to watch minor league games or other MLB clubs. What is very difficult to understand is how a person can have such strong opinions or thoughts on those players they have never seen play. I once had someone tell me that they had watched a video on the internet about a country I had lived in for a number of years and that person was convinced they knew more about the country than they could ever learn living in the country or any knowledge that I had from my experiences. I just listened and wondered how someone can come to those conclusions. Likewise, I'm confused about how one can know what some baseball player is capable of without actually seeing them play. In the amount of time spent looking at Twins Daily a person can watch a few games. Tune into the Angels games for the next week or better yet the next three weeks and you should have a better idea of how Zach Neto plays. Watch Walker Jenkins in action for the next two weeks, about 40+ plate appearances, and you might have a better idea of how he plays the game. The metrics are nonsense compared to actually watching.

Actually they could do worse and did earlier this year and that was with Buxton in centerfield. If you score one more run a game but give up two more runs per game, the math doesn't work in your favor.

FWIW, Dan Hayes stated that the Twins asked around about a number of players and asked the Angels what they would want for Zach Neto. The response ended the conversation. Hayes did not say the Angels asked for Jenkins. The names suggested were a turn off and the discussion ended is what I understand. I always think it is interesting to follow the careers of these names mentioned over the years.

.... similar to the Harlem Globetrotters .... people like entertainment and being at a place where everyone is laughing and hanging out together.

MLB sells the subscription packages and additional money is necessary to watch your own team. Then after paying those fees, there a number of games where subscribers are blacked out. MLB wonders why it has a very large public relations problem related to how baseball is covered. Only diehards keep on with this nonsense and most of that crowd is very old. I know a ton of younger people (due to family, former occupations, etc.) and I don't know any young hardcore baseball fans. The entire morass of the media landscape turns off many people who might otherwise be interested. People should be aware that this mess is solely the work of the owners. My frustrations of paying subscriptions but then being shut out do not destroy baseball for me. It is an irritant. Many others just turn away which is why viewership in baseball is not very good and may decline further.

The conversation might need to be framed differently. Is it more important to have a good glove or a good bat in the middle of the field? People who comment have thoughts on this and so do the Twins. If the Twins wanted a shortstop that hit home runs, they would just put Brooks Lee back at the 6. Lee grades out as a better shortstop than Neto. Neto is Tristan Gray in the field. There are plenty of people who believe that Brooks Lee should be the shortstop and certainly the Angels have that as a thought process. Conversely the Tampa Bay Rays still use Taylor Walls quite a bit at shortstop and would not play Lee or Neto in the middle infield even if they were free. Teams and people have different thoughts on these calls. There are clubs and folks who put defense as a prime value in a player and those who want offense. It would help if those who support a player like Lee or Neto playing shortstop or Matt Wallner in the outfield would identify that they believe the defense is less important than bats. Those who clearly prefer offense at the expense of defense is a fair take. These are just different beliefs. I clearly push gloves. The recently completed series with Milwaukee was an advertisement (at least in my mind) for the importance of defense. My choice is defense. Thus in relationship to the conversation which includes Zach Neto, I might consider him as a first baseman or DH because he can hit home runs. My team would not take his glove. The next question would be - Is there anyone on the roster already who is better at first base and/or DH?

Perhaps you forgot that Cholowsky and Lackey play different positions, which require different development regimes. For example, Terry Ryan stated that Joe Mauer was ready for the major leagues right out of the draft but there was work to do with the catching side of the trade. Likewise, highly rated pitchers often do not play or merely make a couple of brief appearances in organized baseball the year they are drafted because organizations have them working on specific details. Paul Skenes comes to mind as an example. I have not seen anything that suggests the Twins are different than other teams when it comes to promoting prospects.

Correct. I used BaseballSavant, where it shows 17 Brewers and 16 Twins for that 12-2 tally of sprint speeds of 28 ft/sec or better. The actual numbers for the recent series are 8-1, a large difference. The idea behind the comment was to highlight the stark difference between the teams and account for why a Twin going all out does not get to a fly ball or ground ball, take the extra base, or is safe at home on a close play (as we saw yesterday), while the Brewer player is able to finish plays in their favor. It is a difficult discrepancy to overcome.

Josh Bell is the DH. If something happens to Bell or he needs a day there is a line - Larnach, Keaschall, Roden. Wallner would have been called up if there were a spot for him. Gonzalez is also a DH and not hitting particularly well at this time. Walker Jenkins is the last card left in AAA. It is difficult to watch Ryan Kreidler struggle at the plate but he remains valuable because he can turn batted balls into outs. I'm not feeling desperate. The trade deadline is over and the Twins replaced Tristan Gray with Kaelen Culpepper. The roster is what it is and there is really only one move left until September when a 14th position player and 14th pitcher can be called up. If the Twins play as well as they did this weekend through the remainder of the schedule, they will be fine.

Provus and Plouffe explained this during the game. Connor Prielipp's younger brother had his final game today. The family knows they can watch Connor next week. Makes perfect sense to me. I would do the same.

Prielipp looked great today. He is picking up the nuances of pitching at a solid rate. The guy looks strong. One must respect the Twins wanting to be careful with Prielipp considering his rough go of arm troubles going back to his Alabama days. It does look like his injuries are behind him though and he sure looks like he could give the Twins good outings through the remainder of the season. Fun weekend for Roden and Prielipp to play in front of full houses versus the team they grew up watching.

Maybe. i guess we will know that answer by March.

Maybe but I doubt it. Houston and Winokur have been slumping in August.

Let me be clear, I want Walker Jenkins at Target Field tomorrow and in the lineup every day. I do believe his defense and overall play would be a shot in the arm. I'm also hoping that Kaelen Culpepper starts five days per week. My thinking is that the Twins may be less convinced based on his inconsistent plate appearances. They may be concerned about Jenkins being overwhelmed. If Jenkins is up, I don't know who goes down or away. Austin Martin? However, I'm just guessing. The other piece is that the Twins chose to keep three catchers. It really isn't that automatic to find a catcher and thus the reluctance to just let Alex Jackson go, especially because the White Sox would love to have him. The Yankees just gave Mitch Garver a minor league deal and he isn't really much of a catch any more. I really was surprised that the Twins were unable to find a transaction that included Ryan Jeffers but we also have to give at least some credit to the organization for deciding that Jeffers is worth using for the next two months and then losing for no return.

There are plays that demonstrate the importance of defense in baseball. This weekend's series with Milwaukee saw a number of really good plays and a few spectacular plays. Outfield defense is important as we saw by a few balls that fell away from the gloves of the Twins fielder and we saw plays made by Brewer players. The catches by Lara and Chourio stand out but there were several other fine plays. Lewis, Clemens, and Kreidler also turned in good plays. It would be interesting to see what managers would choose Zach Neto over their current shortstop based on the plays that need to be made in the field. I sure wish Kreidler handles the bat better but his play at shortstop is much better than whatever Neto could deliver. Now Neto as a DH? Sure. Wallner as a DH? Sure. However, in case people have not noticed, the Twins have a DH. I was not enamored of the Josh Bell signing but he is the DH until the season is finished.

..... which not exactly all that unusual. Tune in late to games in the 8th and 9th inning or in extras and you see this is not rare by any stretch. The heat and breaking stuff from relievers is nasty.

Walker is often on the bench on Sunday. Jenkins was injured making a play similar to the catch Lara made in the 10th inning today. Because the Twins are careful with Jenkins, he often gets two days per week, Sunday and Monday. I would love to see Walker Jenkins called up and inserted into the regular lineup 5-6 times per week. He has been pretty inconsistent in the last couple of weeks though. FWIW, Emmanuel Rodriguez does not look so hot. He gets his hits but is often out of balance. A fly on the wall could tell us what the Twins think about those two players.

I was reacting to the comments which are easily negative on the balance.

The Twins are showing themselves to be a very resilient bunch. The players are working hard on every facet of the game and played the Brewers tight in this series. The differences between the two clubs is rather stark. The Twins hustle to their maximum ability but can't reach balls, while the Brewers run down the ball with skill and speed. The plays by Chourio and Lara were Buxton at his best back in the day. A viewer cannot help but notice the speed of the Brewers in all facets of the game. Buxton and Keaschall are at or above 28 ft/sec in sprint speed. The Brewers have twelve (12) position players at or faster than that rate. The Twins will find success if they can keep focused and put pressure on like they did this weekend in Milwaukee. Those were three excellent baseball games in front of packed houses. The AL Central Division is still realistic but things have to go their way in a few cases. This next week is another big test. Go Twins

Why does it seem like a number of people are unhappy that the Twins are not on schedule to lose 100 games? That was quite a game today. The Twins lost. This isn't football. They play again tomorrow.

A fun game to watch. Good baseball. Brewers have 12 players with 28.0 or faster sprint speed. The Twins have Buck and Luke. Milwaukee is a tough team and the Twins are battling. Go Twins.