tony&rodney

Andrew Morris pitched really well. The only hit was a broken bat flare. I'm not sure there is any significant separation between Morris and the group of Festa, Matthews, and Abel. Woods Richardson and Bradley have experience on the others. It is a decent sextet. There is. quite a qualitative difference between the trio of Gabby Gonzalez, Walker Jenkins, and Kyler Fedko and the remainder of players filling out the Saints lineup. Poor Jose Miranda has sunk so low that his appearances are sad. What a sudden demise from a guy who could hit to a flailing fail. Baseball is cruel. The West Michigan Whitecaps had more talent and just played with more enthusiasm and confidence. A massive dose of winning all season will do that. DeAndrade looked pretty good. Tait swing is too long. The better pitchers control his at bats. It may be a concern that he was used a fair amount as a DH, but he has profiled as a 1B and DH more than a catcher, but he has three years to learn. Marek Houston found professional baseball to be very challenging. Next year will be his first full season in professional baseball. Houston should be more comfortable next year in his return to Cedar Rapids. And now the Twins only have one team, the Saints, playing games. This winter should be interesting in how the organization begins the thought process of plans to fill out the 2026 rosters.

For those who are curious, Wallner has never played first base. Larnach played one game at 1B in his life during the summer of 2017 in the Cape Cod League. We can put that thought/wish to bed. Both guys are DH only. Ask around and see if anyone wants one of them and is willing to part with anything worth similar value. The guy left is our DH. Clemens has been playing hard and that is laudable. I hope nobody on this site will miss him when he's gone.

They certainly don't save money from this move, when one considers the overall expenditures. I decided to save money on my food budget by no longer purchasing salt.

Watched the Cedar Rapids and St. Paul games and only saw several plays here and there and then the last couple of innings of the Twins game. Have to like how the Twins are pushing to score and not playing deflated. Hopefully the Twins are geared up for the Yankees tomorrow and Bradley can get outs.

You made me chuckle. Then .... Wait. Isn't that exactly what the Twins did the last two offseasons? Wins like today are so much fun and yet as you say, so dangerous.

A huge part of me gets where you come from on this issue/article. The major reason I open Twins Daily is for baseball. My blood pressure and general health struggle badly if I read or see video about the chaos that exists in a world that is turning to again to genocide, violence, and increasingly stomping on the other as not only normal but ok. All I really want to do is watch baseball, crawl around the yard, and go kayaking. I'm an old man, one who has benefitted enormously in this world beyond all justification from where and when I was born, to whom I was born, my race, religion, gender, etc. Luck is a wonderful thing. I guess I was pretty brilliant to pick my parents. That is an important skill. It accounts for about 90% of all success. On the other hand, staying in your lane never accomplished much for slaves or other victims (gender, genocide, etc.) Currently I live in an incredibly wealthy country that is tipping over. The majority of the country does not have a politician to represent them. Those politicians who "won" their positions often received less than half the vote of their potential constituents. The three branches of government are broken badly. Money and power are what remains. If you need any proof of what I mean by tipping look at this: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/school-shootings-by-country That is normalcy today. MLB is a business and as you say businesses are in existence to make money and having a social conscience is .... (fill it in yourself). Back to the other hand .... So yes, let us please leave any and all references to anything remotely political off of Twins Daily. Frankly I'm a little surprised this was published.

Fun game .... at least the Twins and their fans.

Jeffers will be a player that numerous teams should be interested in acquiring from the Twins. Jeffers is a solid catcher and his bat can play. Obviously, before the Twins trade Jeffers, they first need to find a couple of guys to send to Spring Training as catchers. There should be a couple of deals completed and perhaps a veteran backstop is signed. Noah Cardenas doesn't hit much but he is a pretty good catcher. We have seen some positives from both Pereda and Gasper but I'm not really thinking either is a solid pick for a roster spot next April. They will almost certainly be in camp in February though. My uninformed prediction is that the Twins Opening Day 2026 catchers are not currently in the organization.

The Twins crush left-handed pitching. Right? No? The Bronx Boys like to hit home runs. SWR only gives up broken bat contact .... Twins win.

I think you are right on here. My frustration is from the rancid taste left over from the past two years of rolling back a very flawed roster. No doubt, really, in my view that the Twins faced challenges of completing other deals at the deadline because numerous clubs still envisioned chasing a playoff position and felt the need to hold on specific players. The coming offseason should bring internal assessments across baseball. Hopefully the transactions made bring a different style of baseball, one that includes a vastly improved group of defenders which will be the best move for the pitching staff. In any event, it should be an interesting winter.

I will grant that it would be surprising. However I have to wonder if there is a direction. I hope so and one should infer the purge of the bullpen was the beginning with the next phase to be a half dozen transactions this winter. Then again, we have those statements about how the team has now acquired the MLB ready pieces the team needed or words to that effect. Does anyone on this site have a feel for a direction?

Not on 40 person roster. Pitcher is likely.

Wichita had a really good season. The looked tired at the end but fought the best they could to win. Cedar Rapids is playing without Brandon Winokur (injured from HBP I believe) and a little undermanned. They still have a shot but will need better pitching and some clutch hits. St. Paul gave their home crowd a show today. Gonzalez, Jenkins, and Rodriguez are looking pretty good. Will they be good enough to open with the big club next April? Holland had a big game.

The Twins are playing exactly according to The Plan. What comes after the season ends is still a mystery.

This was something brought up numerous times in past years and has been a request this year as well. Larnach played 1 game at 1B in the Cape Cod Summer League in 2017. Wallner has never played first base anywhere. There must have been a determination that neither could ever field a ground ball or scoop a one hop throw. I'm guessing all consideration of this move (to 1B) has been thought of, discussed, given a few looks in practice, and dismissed as an option. I get why folks want there to be options for using either/both Larnach and Wallner somewhere other than DH.

While I agree with you, more or less, about BTV I don't want to be completely dismissive of those who see some correlation with the numbers. I don't pay attention to it but am aware that others do at times. The Wallner plus for Jones is just a thought. It is the teams job to identify who goes and comes in transactions. I'm not closing my mind to any thoughts. The Twins need improvement. We have seen many surprising deals in the past. FWIW, there are a pile of people who are quite high on Wallner.

They did their best.

Thank you. However, it is the Twins that need the luck. I might be the luckiest guy alive.

That is the only option for a Twins fan. Whatever. I'm merely suggesting that there may be players from the Twins current collection of guys who are seen as worth acquiring by another team. The job of the front office is to identify those teams and the players which might make for a mutually agreed upon trade. Some people on Twins Daily reference BaseballTradeValues.com. Can anyone comment on how BTV views a Wallner plus an A ball pitcher for Jones plays out. I'm not a fan of that site but many people think they are often within reason on their numbers. Pittsburgh needs offense badly. They are loaded with pitching. Jared Jones was a bright young pitcher who is currently rehabbing from a partial TJ surgery of some sort. His name was just a thought. There should be others. I'm dreaming alright.

The Twins need to get better in all phases of the game. Jenkins, Rodriguez, and Gonzalez may not be ready for Opening Day 2026, but these guys are coming. Buxton is unlikely to be going anywhere. Austin Martin has begun to show skills. You reference OPS. Martin has a better OPS than either guy. We are just not going to agree on Matt Wallner. I'm not totally pushing him away, but rather believing he can be traded for a more valuable player. If there aren't any buyers he is the DH. Larnach? I'm wondering if the Twins bring him back. Again, I'm not getting rid of him but he doesn't have a position. The Twins will need to get creative to improve the roster. The players from the bottom of the pile will not return anything. It is easy enough to identify what position players have value to other teams: Jeffers, Keaschall, Lee, Lewis, Wallner, and Buxton. It is doubtful if more than one or two of these players are dealt and perhaps none. The Twins could choose to trade prospects. The Twins could also look at signing a few free agents. I'm willing to be surprised but do not expect those options to be among the choices made this winter. Right now the Twins have the worst team in MLB. The front office chose to roll it back each of the last two years. Do they roll it back again? These discussions seem like they are best left for the offseason. I'm hoping the Twins do something. The current talent is not up to par.

You have made some decent arguments making a case for the Twins to have more pre-arb players in the past. I'm not sure whether Trevor Larnach has any value in a trade scenario, but he is also a candidate to be DFA'ed or not be offered arbitration. Larnach is a little bit of a tweener and $5M might be too rich for Minnesota. Matt Wallner, on the other hand, should have some value. He , Larnach, and a few others are only suited to the DH position. Wallner is, arguably, much worse in the outfield than Julien ever was at second base. I will not argue for Julien, at all. Finding a team that sees value in Wallner should be a goal for the Twins this offseason. Both Larnach and Wallner are total losses in the field and on the bases. To date their OPS, BA, RBI's, R, and other offensive numbers do not make up for their deficiencies enough to allow either to play in the field. If no other team shows any interest in either I'm guessing Wallner stays and Larnach is cut. If nothing happens, then keep Wallner to be the DH.

Jenkins challenged a strike tonight and the call was overturned. He has a hard hit single but several outs. St. Paul looks dejected after Prielipp, who looked great for 2 innings, gave up a grand slam in the fourth frame.

Not Larnach for Jones, but Wallner for Jones. I would add a minor league pitcher too. I don't think the White Sox would trade either Teel or Quero. They also have some outfielders on the way. As much as it would be nice to have all of Lopez, Ryan, and Ober back next season, there is a fair chance 2 out of the 3 could be traded. Hopefully the return is good. Yes, the Twins need to make multiple trades.

Hoping another team feels the same. Pittsburgh? For Jared Jones?

I'm hoping both finish the season on an absolute terrorizing run of home runs and doubles and are then traded for talented players in November. Wallner may have some value. Perhaps Larnach stays in the organization because the offers are not worth the paperwork and time. Both of these players only have some value in the DH hole.