tony&rodney

I remember Tyler Jay. Having not watched the young pitcher, I have no opinion on him. I'm also cognizant that NCAA D1 baseball is FCL level, so the hike up the levels is huge. Nevertheless, the best players are really good and progress rapidly. We have seen the Angels and A's bring up players with success after less than a year in the minor leagues. Best player available is the key. If that player is a bat, then we also need to require said guy to own a glove. The Twins are completely flush with DH types.

The Twins will need to develop their own players in any event because the odds of adding a Kyle Tucker or Dylan Cease is near zero. Additionally, Falvey has been very risk adverse since the deadline deals a few years ago. The big deals for the Twins will continue to trades for Gasper or signing France. My expectation is that the team may sell in a few years and then we shall see wholesale changes. Until then, perhaps the Twins improve in their draft position and get lucky with a couple of choices. The A's have been a woeful franchise but adding Jacob Wilson at #6 in 2023 and Nick Kurtz at #4 in 2024 were golden touches. Both of those players have great bats and they both can play average to above defense. The Twins need the same. Until that time we have a roster of mostly DH guys.

Perhaps you missed that a couple of my suggestions were for pre-arb players. In fact, I have never advocated for signing bottom of the barrel veterans. It is what the Twins will do though-add a veteran.

Now the pitching needs to hold the line. Last night Baltimore scored 8 runs in the 2nd inning and were held without a hit or walk and 1 HBP the rest of the game. Down 0-8, Tampa Bay ran the bases furiously and scored 12 unanswered runs. Their pitchers held the line. We need the Twins pitchers to click back into keeping teams down. Great to see the bats swinging today. They are in Holiday mode.

Happy Juneteenth to you also.

Almost forgot .... Happy Holiday to all.

Injuries happen in sports. Baseball has a long season which can be unfriendly to some body types. Teams have always lost valued prospects and players. Look back at the lost of John Castino, a brilliant defensive player who was a very good base-runner, and had an excellent bat to boot. It's part of the game. Byron Buxton has shown, for now, that a player can heal and retain most of their skills to play baseball and succeed. Lewis has a long road back to full health, but it is possible at times.

He does, If Carlos waived his contract the Twins would need to pay three-fourths of it just to get someone to take him without a return. Correa is a good shortstop but he is way off his normal production at the plate.

Hey now, the season is long and hope springs eternal. Right?

This is an interesting take. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding but you seem to say that the Twins have failed to develop catchers and should suffer the consequences of that failure rather than make moves to acquire catchers because they will cost the organization prospects. The Twins have been among the most fortunate teams in baseball regarding the health of their catchers in the past two plus years. Vazquez is on an expiring contract and is unlikely to return at a bargain price. The Twins may pay that price. Jeffers has worked hard behind the plate but struggles defensively and would seemingly suffer if his workload increased. Without a competent catcher the team will suffer. The Twins are unlikely to make a major trade in any event for any position player so the entire conversation may be pointless, but I will propose it is very difficult to have a AAA catcher who cannot catch or hit or throw behind the plate. I'm not understanding how suffering an incompetent catcher works. San Francisco and Boston or Boston and the Chicago White Sox have shown that big trades can be completed. The unknown is whether any team will consider moving a player for a big return. For example, if a team wants Walker Jenkins, Lopez, Ober, or Ryan from the Twins, is there any player or combination of players that would induce Falvey to complete a transaction? Hypothetically would the West Sacramento A's trade Nick Kurtz for Joe Ryan? Catching? Would Milwaukee even listen if the Twins offer Brooks Lee, Marco Raya, and Gabriel Gonzalez for Jeferson Quero? Or are trades too costly and not worth the cost in players or prospects? Are you ok with Mickey Gasper and Jeffers next year and Jair Camargo somewhere in there? FWIW, Falvey believes he has the infielders and outfielders the team needs to compete.

FWIW, Walker Jenkins looked pretty good tonight playing for Wichita.

Play at full speed on every play, hit the ball, catch the ball, throw the ball accurately a large percentage of the time, and run the bases aggressively. Jenkins was the #5 pick in a very strong draft. The bar should be set high. He should absolutely be himself. The projections were quite high. Many so called experts, people who have seen him play a bunch, have predicted Walker to be the top prospect in the game by this October after clearing the current list of those who graduated because they are now major leaguers. Merely staying healthy and playing baseball is a low minimum. I'm feeling positive about Walker Jenkins and expect that he is currently fully ready to go play baseball. I'm not thinking there is any reason to be cautious as the experience with Royce Lewis may have scared people. Lewis came back at half health and the results may have linked to that condition. I'm keeping Lewis and Jenkins totally separate.

Agree. It is almost as if the official scorers are not familiar with the game .... and yet they are and know the game. I am perplexed why and how these errors are and are not handed out in the modern game.

The ship has sailed on Rortvedt. He began to take his hitting woes behind the plate which ultimately resulted in his being dumped. Not sure if there is any possible hope left in Ben. Khadim Diaw is looking pretty good when I watch him play, but he is at least 2 years minimum (2027) away from wearing a big league uniform. Mickey Gasper is well below average behind the plate but works really hard and could serve as a 3rd catcher if the Twins are ready to trade him for Jonah Bride. Bride had a hit last night though so the Twins may be happy with him. All catchers will fetch a dear price. My argument is that the team shoot really high and offer an outrageous price in order to close a deal. The real issue is if teams simply say no to any offer or are unwilling to engage in any conversations regarding their catchers. This may be true.

Totally agree that management has not been proactive on filling the catching position. Trading Garver was a very good move because he was/is unplayable behind the plate. Vazquez was spendy but he does a decent job and the Twins needed a catcher (rock and a hard place). Martin Maldonado and a host of other veteran catchers were available including Narvaez. I believe it must be difficult to trade for a catcher, whether veteran or prospect, but the game always starts with a pitcher and catcher and today's game with the preponderance of strikeouts it is even more imperative than ever to have a good catcher. A number one catcher still needs a back up to catch 40-50 games but an organization must be aggressive towards accumulating those gloves. We have discussed numerous prospects (Rushing, Basallo, Ford, etc.) as potential acquisition. Some may be off limits, maybe all of them. Nevertheless, it is worth a shot. I'm offering Milwaukee Brooks Lee, Marco Raya, and Yasser Mercedes for Jeferson Quero. I'm also calling Seattle about Harry Ford and Colorado. Nothing comes to fruition without trying, which may have already occurred on multiple occasions for all we know. The cost will be high, that is sure. Food too, but still we buy it all the time. Can't play baseball without a catcher.

While I agree with that thought, it is really tough to blame a pitcher for striking out a guy on a pitch down the middle and not getting an out or watching a well hit ball that should be caught fall in the outfield. Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan, and others relied on their defense to convert balls in play into outs and for the catchers to catch the ball. Stuff happens though.

The passed ball was out number three, inning over. All runs scored after that are unearned. FC is never an unearned run unless an error(s) preceded it which would have ended the inning. Basically, unearned runs were devised as a system to separate what a pitcher was accountable for or could control versus what they cannot control (i.e. - the fielding). It has been severely compromised in the last quarter century because errors are seldom recorded on mistakes in the field unless it is the most basic of fielding plays.

Jeffers has worked really hard at his craft. I'm appreciative of his efforts. That said, it is the homer in us that identifies him as an average catcher. Jeffers is a big dude who plays big. His movements are what we see in most big catchers. Joe Mauer was taller than Jeffers but played about 4 inches smaller because of his exceptional athleticism. Details like keeping the throwing hand protected eventually matter. Jeffers is a tough guy and hopefully he is back in action Thursday because the Twins didn't like Jair Camargo too much last season and while Gasper works exceptionally hard the pitchers don't want him back behind the plate (watch a Saints game). For now the Twins need both Jeffers and Vazquez because it is tough to play baseball without a catcher. The Twins have not pursued catching which increases the importance of Jeffers returning asap. I'm still curious if Milwaukee could be persuaded to part with Jeferson Quero? Last November I was wondering if a Brooks Lee for Quero would work and might add a player like Marco Raya to acquire that catcher now. I wonder what ideas the front office has for next season or an injury?

I'm not sure the organization totally embraces this concept given the roster. Teams need offense to score runs to win games and good pitching and defense to constrict opponent offenses. The balance can be tricky. Either the offense improves at scoring runs while the pitching staff recovers their recent slide to keep runs off the scoreboard or the season could go off the rails because the Twins are not designed to play small ball, run the bases adequately, or create outs in the field. I'm hoping the bats come around.

Pointless to blame Wallner for his play in the outfield when he is a DH. The Twins have had others outfielders like him .... Josh Willingham for one. When The Plan includes rostering multiple position players who are best at DH the ball will find them. It becomes much more noticeable in close games but it is always there. If Nelson Cruz had been the right or left fielder every day for the Twins he would not have been very popular. The players are putting out the effort. The skills in the field and on the bases are just not available. Hopefully the Twins can improve at the plate but we should acknowledge that opposing pitchers are doing their best to thwart that outcome.

You are not alone on that front. Julien isn't the only one with that problem either. Today there is an article calling for a return of Gasper. Gasper has had incredible AAA stats with a bat. He might be, along with Miranda, a guy who struggles even more than Julien with the glove. So it becomes an issue of how much defense does a team sacrifice for offense? The patience with the bat is really hard if the glove doesn't play. This has been the fate of the Twins at a number of positions. It also doesn't help if the players are looking over their shoulder. These defensively challenged players work very hard to reach some level of competence but then errors, misses, and mistakes happen because excellence in the major leagues is difficult. Teams have different philosophies on building rosters. The Twins are hoping to win with pitching and position players who are bat first. Tampa Bay and Milwaukee, among other teams, put more of an emphasis on defense than the Twins. The teams we watch reflects the will or visions of the front offices and managers on various teams. When hacks like myself suggest potential trades in the offseason I only have an idea of a team in theory. I cannot know whether other teams would entertain any of my proposals. My ideas include players who could run and play defense at a high level with an allowance for 2-3 DH type hitters. Pitching is always going to be a main focus as well. Right now the Twins roster the slowest team in baseball and a pile of guys best put in the lineup as a DH. If Julien was strictly a DH, we wouldn't discuss his fielding. Since the Twins have not released or traded Eddie, we can expect to see him back at second base for the Twins if a couple current players fail or get injured. The chorus shall rise again if this happens, but remember it is part of the design of the organization.

Won't argue that Julien is a below average defender, but your negative fixation on him is a little bit psychotic considering he is but one of two dozen below average defensive players who have been rostered by the Twins since the beginning of the 2023 season. This nearly sounds like someone who lost money on a bet, not saying you have at all. At the close of the 2023 season I suggested that the Twins could sell high on at least a couple of several players and Julien was among them. My reasoning is that there might have been an opportunity to improve the talent in the organization but had nothing personal in a negative fashion towards any player. Everyone will make their own decisions on every player that puts on a uniform but it isn't necessary or healthy to have derision or a negative view towards an athlete. Baseball is a hard game and the ups and downs for individuals can be tough to watch and tougher for the player who is working hard at their craft. The differences aren't all that great. " It ain't such a long drop ..... From the diamonds in the sidewalk to the dirt in the gutter." It's just entertainment. Stay well.

Correct. To be fair, neither do many of the Twins. Of course many people enjoy quibbling about who is below average and who is a speck below below average.

Hard to be so harsh with Devers when he has been so dynamic at the plate. I have looked and looked and come up empty regarding any single incidence of rancor or less than full positive participation from Devers in the clubhouse. Boston handled the entire situation as badly as could be done and it is worth a reminder that this is a total copy/paste from how things went down with both Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts. The Red Sox front office will manage the press as they did with both of those trades, but one can wait to see how the season plays out to make your own judgment. If you are an old geezer reading this you will remember that Reggie Jackson was seen as the worst teammate ever and a total cancer on any roster according to the press. Hmmm? Why do I remember so many winning seasons from teams rostering Reggie including perhaps the best teams of the modern era, those fabulous A's squads. Hard to pump dirt on a guy that played on double digit playoff teams and in 5 World Series. While I was never a Reggie Jackson fan, he did go by the moniker "Mr. October" and the self-titled "Straw that stirred ... " The press tilts crap when they don't like someone or get what they want from somebody. We don't have to buy it.

Julien has a good OBP (.400+) and hits an occasional line drive. There is something there but he still watches numerous pitches right down the middle for strike three. Remember he can challenge the calls, unless the organization does not want their players who have played at the major league level using those challenges due to it not being available in MLB, which makes sense to me. I think Julien might help but he seems like a psychological mess.