tony&rodney

Too early. The players another team would want are needed to keep the ship afloat for the next couple of months. No player is untouchable for the right offer but I cannot envision too many scenarios where the Twins gain because clubs hold their best young players and the Twins do not need mediocre prospects.

I suggested the Twins move on from Lewis and Julien after watching them lose to the Astros in 2023. I wanted a better fielding team, a more complete hitter, and felt that both had high value at the time. Falvey doesn't like gambling. Now, the Twins have to hope Lewis turns it around or some team finds enough value to offer a talented but unsung prospect from the Dominican, Rookie or A ball leagues. Hopefully Royce rediscovers baseball and a batting stance.

Shaw can be had for nothing. The Twins don't want Shaw even as a waiver claim. The Rays would not trade Caminero and Abrams is overrated as a shortstop. It is going to be difficult to acquire top talent and it may be necessary for the Twins to just develop their own guys. One player, injured currently and often on the IL in his young career, that may be worth asking about is Jordan Lawler. Change of scenery trade? Maybe Lewis and Wallner for Lawler? Something tells me acquisitions may be tough to do this season.

The Twins will need to consider what they have for catching, their budget, and any offers that arise for Jeffers this July. We should expect that 2026 is Jeffers last season playing for the Minnesota Twins.

Speculation and hope is always in season. There are a ton of young prospects who will eventually become top pitchers or all stars at their position. Every team is looking for those guys. The problem is most are well beyond reach or not really more likely to make it than the prospects already within the Twins system. Jesus Made is the top prospect in baseball. If the Twins really wanted to get Milwaukee's attention they would need to offer Joe Ryan, Kaelen Culpepper, and Dasan Hill. Would that do it for the Brewers? Maybe not. The Twins have a similar player (in some ways), maybe two, to Sebastian Walcott in Yasser Mercedes and Emmanuel Rodriguez. Xavier Isaac hits the ball a ton but has holes in his swing and needs a lot of work to become a decent fielder. Both Isaac and Tre' Morgan are worth discussions though. Neither requires Joe Ryan going the other way. Not sure what Tampa Bay would require but a healthy Ryan Jeffers could bring back one of them. The Dodgers have some fair prospects but I'm not trading Joe Ryan for even two of their guys in the minor leagues, maybe for Andy Pages plus an injured River Ryan. The Twins have some worthy young pitchers in Taj Bradley, Connor Prielipp, Mick Abel, Zebby Matthews, Kendry Rojas, Andrew Morris, and others working their way up through the system (Dasan Hill, Riley Quick, Charlee Soto, and others). On the position side, all of Walker Jenkins, Kaelen Culpepper, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Eduardo Tait, Gabriel Gonzalez, Marek Houston, and Hendry Mendez have shown promise with hope for others to reach their dream. The Twins need to develop these players. Trade discussions and acquiring a top prospect is an exciting thought but any trades need to consider that the Twins organization does not really need more filler. Last winter I felt that two teams might be thinking of going all in for 2026 and I proposed trades that were pretty much certain to cause grief for Twins fans and be rejected by the other organizations. Purely guessing I wondered if Detroit would accept Joe Ryan, Charlee Soto, and Royce Lewis for Max Clark. I was willing substitute Emmanuel Rodriguez for Lewis. I also wondered if West Sacramento would find Ryan, Soto, and Lewis (or Rodriguez) a fair return for Leodalis De Vries. It's always interesting to wonder how a team can acquire a top prospect and we saw that San Diego was willing to trade De Vries and others for Mason Miller. Miller has paid off handsomely thus far. Gamble trades are uncommon.

The swing, from a stable base (no dancing and shifting his feet) to a firm waistline that rotates smoothly (not bailing out) to working his hands directly through the ball (not yanking at pitches). That's it. A repeatable swing that takes the ball where it is pitched. Lewis needs to show that firm swing hundreds of times before the Twins consider bringing him back up. That could take two weeks or maybe he is done.

Lewis took a regular swing tonight in St. Paul for the first time in ages. Both his feet were fine, no dance moves and he wasn't bailing out either. It has been quite a while since i have seen Lewis take a regular grounded swing. It was good.

Fedko and Ross are tweeners. Neither broke out big when they entered pro ball and are now doing pretty good at AAA. Both players have had high strike out rates and been prone to chasing. Both are working diligently to improve. The Twins have noticed as both players are in the lineup on a regular basis. It is still possible that Fedko (and Ross) receive a trial run in the majors at some point. MLB is a tough league to break into. Rarely do rookies take the league by storm and sometimes good rookie campaigns are followed by dreadful second seasons. Patience is the word for both Fedko and Ross. I do not believe the Twins have given up on either player. nor do I think the organization has a dim view of their skills. Feko needs to keep working on controlling the strike zone and having good plate appearances. Both Fedko and Ross are decent base runners and both play solid, albeit not spectacular, defense. Fedko may get an opportunity this season.

Not everyone was high on Emmanuel. You were not a fan of him.

Alan Roden can be put on the 60 day IL.

Always enjoy your Mets fan viewpoint. Fair point - I should definitely not blame East Coast pundits. That was poor and reflected my ptsd from reading so many Yankee/Mets trade offers last winter that offered utility players for Ryan, Lopez, Buxton. Apologies. I can agree that it is unlikely the Twins receive a Top 10 player but maybe, just maybe, it is possible to include a player or two along with Ryan to tempt a team. The larger point is that I'm not seeing a ton of players I'm interested in that are remotely available. Teams that are rebuilding are not trading for Ryan and most teams that want Joe don't have that much worth talking about. Maybe you have some ideas. The only team that might be interested and that might (might) provide a possibility is Boston and I don't think they will part with Arias and Eyanson for Ryan. Ryan has 2027 and if a trade offer is going to improve the roster that is always worth the gamble. I'm in favor of making any interested team come with a really good offer. The Twins can wait until July of 2027 or with the right offer they can do a transaction tomorrow. I simply don't think the Twins must trade Ryan. Value must be returned. The Twins do not need any more DH types or maybe might be good players. It isn't terribly likely you and I will agree on what value Ryan has for a team. He is currently pitching quite well for a team that is pretty challenged defensively and the offense has not given him a ton of runs to cruise through his games. I put Ryan easily among the top twenty starting pitchers in MLB. He is fun to play behind, watch, and a crowd pleaser. Sometimes that is a guy to keep. Whether the Twins can sign Ryan is debatable and seemingly unlikely. Maybe West Sacramento wants to invest in Joe Ryan. The Giants would almost certainly be his preferred destination but they are a little slim in pickings. This will all be regurgitated plenty of times as the season reaches the trade deadline .... and then there is next offseason. FWIW, I was willing to accept Nolan McLean for Joe Ryan. However I was very clear that the Mets should not and absolutely would not trade the young hurler and that any idea of such a transaction was ludicrous. I don't remember anyone suggesting such a deal. If I had to pick who would pitch for me in a playoff game this season, I would pick Joe Ryan. McLean clearly has more value due to years of control and potential for improvement.

Players get injured. I still believe that Emmanuel has a bright future. He may be a guy who gets traded or blossoms in a couple of years - hard to know. Rodriguez has been one of my favorite hitters to watch in the last three years .... when he was healthy.

Houston has the glove we covet for a shortstop. Is he Noah Miller? How far away is Miller? My guess from watching him play is 2-3 years. He gets quite a few hard hit base hits between the third baseman and the shortstop. Against the better A+ ball pitchers, Houston looks like he struggles. It takes time to learn how to hit. I'm hoping Houston takes off this summer. I try to tune in and watch at least a few innings often.

Any discussion related to trading Joe Ryan should remember that he (unlike Ryan Jeffers) still has another year before hitting free agency. I'm never opposed to trading any player as long as it improves the roster and increases the odds of winning moving forward. The Twins should receive some interesting offers for Ryan, but most of them will be the type of worthless three for one deals we can find the East Coast pundits suggesting on a routine basis. If Ryan returns a top 10 prospect that fills a need for the Twins, great Right now I cannot see any possibilities of teams putting together the required package for Joe Ryan. I thought there was some opportunity last Fall. I'm not going to be disappointed if all the Twins receive for Ryan is a draft choice instead of trading for a package of utility players.

Kaelen Culpepper needs experience, that's all. He faces the same velocity and same breaking pitches at AAA but the pitchers lack command and consistency. Raya is a good example. Raya can be unhittable for a few batters and then just groove a pile of pitches or be really wild and walk several guys in a row. So Culpepper needs to see these pitches, learn what to swing at, and continue to grow as an infielder. I watched him take a couple of walks on close pitches recently and felt that was an improvement over a year ago when he wanted to hit everything within three inches of the strike zone. Culpepper could be a sweet addition in July, but maybe he gets called up in June too. The Twins are doing the right thing.

I was a little surprised Buck was not put on first base after the wild pitch. My guess is that Abreu felt more comfortable pitching to Buxton than he would to Larnach because he threw the 3-2 pitch right down the middle, a pitch that has a very high BA for every MLB hitter. Buxton had struck out on four pitches, hit a squib double off down the right field on the third pitch in his second PA, flew out to right field on one pitch, hit a sharp ground ball double on the second pitch in his previous trips to the plate. Despite the two hits Buck didn't look too comfortable. I don't believe he even considered bunting but my orginal reply was that if it works it ties the game .... The goal is to score runs.

Yasser Mercedes was on lists in 2023. Three years of poor numbers will cause a prospect to fall off any list. I have no clue why Merecedes is doing well at A+ ball right now. I have watched him (via milb.com) in at least seven games recently and the young man looks very comfortable and clearly talented. Can he sustain his success and even grow moving forward is the question asked about all prospects. A tooled up guy whose physical skills stand out draws attention. In the end though the player needs to perform over time. If Yasser continues his current production there will be any number of publications noting his potential. As Twins fans we can only hope that a star emerges. It can happen.

Two outs, the runners are moving up on contact ... the run scores. I've seen that play before. The controversy comes with the concept of your best player bunting to score the tying run as opposed to getting a walk off base hit.

Would have been a great play if successful as it scores the tying run. Runs scored is the objective.

Mercedes had a rough go of it in Rookie and A ball. Did something click? There is very little doubt about the tools. Can they play consistently. Baseball is more mental than physical.

Culpepper is a solid shortstop. I watch plenty of minor league baseball and think he is a good ballplayer. When Kaelen has reached a point where the Twins feel his AAA experience has adequately prepared him for MLB, I would expect to see him playing third base. The switch, moving Brooks Lee to 3B and Culpepper to SS would be next season. It seems unlikely that the team would move Lee without time to process and prepare for the move. Occasionally a few folks call for Marek Houston but he is at least 2-3 years away from Target Field. The Topa move made perfect sense. He is a ground ball machine if effective and Topa was no longer anywhere near ok. My hope is that Royce Lewis works on some type of stabilization in his legs while swinging a bat. Also his backside bailing on breaking pitches while flailing needs to cease. Using the entire field of play on swings needs to be a focus as well. In sum, Royce has plenty to work on and the results are less important than the corrections. I was a little surprised to see Matt Wallner doing the same things today as he did with the Twins: blind squirrel swings and half efforts in the outfield. I wish the Twins would just end the outfield experience for Wallner but perhaps they are hoping to trade him (Falvey crapped the bed on that).

Derek Shelton is working with the arms the team has in their bullpen. I can't criticize him. It's not like anyone on TD has ever has a molecule of baseball knowledge equal to Shelton. Many of us fans have experience and some knowledge but these guys are pros. I'm actually positive about the current coaching and manager. The player talent will improve in the next year and so will the results. Perhaps by then the Twins will have a bullpen with pitchers who have more defined roles, similar to a year ago.

Marek Houston looks like he needs quite a bit of work on his approach at the plate. He can dominate poor pitching but struggles versus better arms. This is just my unpaid/nonprofessional observation from watching Cedar Rapids games. Yasser Mercedes is coming off of several years of very incomplete play at Rookie and A ball. This year something clicked and he looks really good thus far. Mercdes is totally tooled up, that is a for sure. Hendry Mendez is playing pretty decent baseball. He is one to watch right now. Riley Quick merely needs to show command to get on a Top 100 list and that may be tricky. He is pretty raw but has a chance to move fast (Quickly).

A little surprised Lewis was sent to St. Paul. Seemed like a reset of his swing meant a trip to Ft. Myers for a month and then a minor league rehab until after the All Star break. Tough luck for Ryan Jeffers. Good opportunity for Jackson. Arcia can help the Twins if he plays in a disciplined manner. It is an opportunity to show he has skills that play in MLB. Kaelen Culpepper will be called up in June if needed or after the All Star break. KC needs the AAA time to work on his game. Seems like Bowman and Brebbia will be free agents. They would be wise to stick with St. Paul because more chances to get back to MLB will be available in time.

Wonder if the Twins could trade for a competitive balance pick?