tony&rodney

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.

Are you watching the games? Your statement above suggests a "No" answer. Not all outs are the same. 0-4 with all balls hit on the nose, all well above 100 mph, is not the same as an 0-4 with four dribblers back to the mound. Something noteworthy is that I have not seen Jenkins challenge a call yet. Certainly he may have and I just missed it. I have seen most of his AAA plate appearances. There have been double digit occasions for him to challenge. My guess is he doesn't want to lean on a practice that may not be available in MLB, but that is just a guess. For those who have not seen Walker Jenkins play .... he is the real deal. While I have been high and hopeful for a number of guys going through the minor leagues, I can't remember being so confident of any other prospect as I am of Jenkins. Try to watch a few Saints games.

Always appreciate all of the comments and views given by a bunch of people here on Twins Daily. I am very curious though whether people are watching the games, viewing a few highlights, or merely looking over box scores. I look over box scores as a habit I started in the late 1950s. Video wasn't an option and it has only been recently where we can watch the actual games via milb.com. My sense is that watching someone play several dozen to a hundred times gives one a better range of a player's skills, plus or minus, than looking at highlights or a box score or various analytics. This is merely my thinking and others may disagree. Marek Houston has not impressed me yet, either in the field or at the plate. By comparison the change in all things baseball related with Gabriel Gonzalez are plus, plus as far as improvement. The growth of Walker Jenkins jumps off the page, again, in all phases of the game. He looks like the best Twins prospect since Joe Mauer (no, I don't expect him to be as good as Mauer). The book is still wide open on Emmanuel Rodriguez. Erod runs the bases aggressively and is an asset in the field. Just that makes any comparisons overall to Julien not valid. That said, Erod does have a hole that MLB pitchers could exploit. The unknown is whether Rodriguez can stay healthy. All of his injuries seem unrelated, but he misses way too much time to count on him. The big "if" is health which then allows Erod to swing the bat unimpeded by fear of aggravating some owie. I believe Emmanuel can be really good. My thought is whether another team covets his potential in a fashion where the Twins benefit from a prospect for prospect trade. Those of us who saw Erod hit when fully healthy and in the groove (meaning not recently returned from injury or promotion due to rehab) know he has a hit tool. He needs to be in the lineup for months in a row though to prove himself. The fits and starts and constant readjustment back to playing have dulled his value and those who feel he can be easily abused by MLB pitchers could be correct if Erod cannot work consistently on addressing his weaknesses because he is just trying to be healthy. Can ER be a major piece of the Twins future (2026) or his he best used to address an area of weakness by seeking a trade partner? There should be some teams interested in swapping prospects in that gray area of top prospects (#25-75).

Baseball has crazy quirks and the failure is ever present, but Sands finished the inning and gets the W.

Always enjoy reading these wraps even after watching the games. Thank you. Watched the games, pausing and switching back and forth quickly to catch most of the action. St. Paul is a little tentative due to their long losing streak but played decently. Abel has stuff but finishing off batters and commanding his pitches is still a work in progress. Jenkins, Gonzalez, and Rodriguez looked pretty good tonight. Jenkins is on the quick learning curve, doing fine with a sweet swing. Wichita is tough. They are determined to win. Rosario is a leader and Mendez can swing a bat. Cossetti had a good game. Cedar Rapids got great relief pitching after a power outage caused a long delay in the first inning that resulted in a pitching change. The lineup was relentless with Urbina driving in 3 runs. The Kernels now face West Michigan that finished the year with a 92-39 record, the best in the minor leagues.

Fun win for the boys.

Does anyone have a bar that players should reach as a hitter? We can consider that the bar includes below average defense. Is it .220? .250? .700 OPS? .750 OPS? What should e expect from our position players at the plate or is that not worth thinking about?

Woods Richardson is the only player I can see being rostered next April by the Twins. Perhaps a couple of these guys sign minor league deals but it would seem they would first try to get a similar contract with a different organization. I could see Simeon being a part of a trade as well. He is a fair #5 starter. It is quite difficult to judge Twins pitchers who are in a gray area, like SWR, because the defense is so bad it doesn't reflect how a guy might look pitching for an above average or even average fielding team. Even Paul Skenes would have his numbers scarred and messed up by pitching for the Twins and the Pirates aren't very good.

Line from Pink Floyd's song, "Comfortably Numb".