stringer bell

I see the knives are out for each poster's "whipping boy". There's been a general downturn since the All-Star break. Lee and Bell have gotten credit all year for being really good in key RBI spots, but have regressed. Lewis hasn't sustained the burst on which he returned to the majors, Larnach has fallen off, Caratini has only really hit well for a month, Martin has done almost nothing against same-handed pitchers, Kreidler has regressed to his norm and even Jeffers has faded in key spots. That gives us a lot of candidates, but the reality is that the offense wasn't going to be as good as they compiled in the first half. I think the OP gets it about right. Looking to '27 and beyond, changes do need to be made.

Not a surprise really. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/09/byron-buxton-to-undergo-season-ending-hip-surgery.html

Obviously, the controversial call is Royce Lewis. Under the current rules the Twins have two more years of team control and at least next year his contract will be very affordable. I still have a flicker of belief, but two straight late seasons he has been healthy and failed to produce at a starter's level at an offensive position. I'd sign him for the arb rate and let him compete for a spot (most likely first base), but he would have to win the spot and continue to hit to hold a job. The good thing is that Kody Clemens can play first base and take over there (I think Clemens has earned a full-time job to start 2027). I don't know what the options for second will look like, but there should be some candidates to play second, allowing Clemens to move to first.

On Peacock.

Agree with assessment. Lee is a far better fit at third base. I’ll add that he’s got soft hands and makes a quick transfer and is accurate, negating much of his arm strength deficit. He’s been good at charging bunts and slowly hit balls and he’s made good decisions on which base to throw to.

1) Buxton is an excellent player when fully healthy although he is streaky and mostly a slugger, so more like Harmon that Kirby, Joe or Carew. The Twins must have a competent center fielder (like Taylor or Bader) because he has never been durable. It appears that Jenkins could fill that bill Buck hasn't been as good a DH, but maybe in the coming years he will adapt to that role better. 2) I don't think Keaschall will DH much, even though he has been an iron glove this year. He's a hard worker and the bar to clear in the corner outfield is pretty low to be considered acceptable. I wonder if Keaschall might get some work in the spring at first base. 3) I'd love to see Marek Houston advance to the big club and give the team a gifted defensive shortstop. I think he has to be good at AAA before that happens. Culpepper to second and Clemens most likely filling in at first second and the outfield. 4) Caratini/Jackson behind the plate leaves something to be desired. How far away are Tait and/or Lackey?

I would have picked Zebby #1 as well, not so much because he won 5 games, but he gave the team badly needed quality innings.

The defense in the month of August regressed as well. I would point a finger at two defenders--Keaschall and Culpepper--with much more leniency given to the rookie. Culpepper is a -3 DRS in 18 games at a premium defensive position. He may or may not stick there, but he has the requisite range and arm strength to be at least average. Coming on a big stage in the fringes of a pennant race, it is asking a lot to expect sharp decision making and fundamentally solid play. That said, he has not made several plays that cost runs. Keaschall has been asked to play both right and center field, with little minor league experience and it has shown, particularly in center field. I don't expect him to be even average, but the bar for acceptable on the outfield corners isn't as high as it is for shortstop. I think with time, hard work and experience Keaschall can become an acceptable corner outfielder, with his good speed making up for some poor jumps.

I am not sure how it works for an injured player on the 40-man roster who was optioned to the minors, but Fedko is done for this year and perhaps for good with a severe leg injury. The process used to be that they had to be on the major league roster and then placed on the 60-day IL. Perhaps he could be outright released and given an injury settlement.

Going into the last game of the month, the Twins are an ice-cold 9-17 for the month of August. After two consecutive winning months, which pushed them at and just above .500, the current month month would seem to doom their postseason chances in the weak American League. What happened? Well, hitting, pitching and defense and two key injuries. Going to the injuries first, the Twins' two All-Stars have been non-factors since the All-Star break and certainly in the month of August. Both Ryan and Buxton are currently on the Injured List and there was every appearance that they were performing at less than 100% when they were on the field this month. Every team has injuries, but knocking out probably the best two players is a harsh blow. On the position player side, there were some decent performances. Luke Keaschall has had an excellent month of August and looks like a full-time leadoff hitter. His position and defense? More about that later. Josh Bell has produced 20 RBI this month and has an outside shot at getting 100 RBI. I believe the last time the Twins had a 100 RBI guy was the Bomba Squad year of 2019. Kaelen Culpepper has shown a good bat , hitting some homers and not looking overmatched. Brooks Lee has put together a solid month and is showing himself to be a pretty decent third baseman. We've seen Walker Jenkins for three games and he does look like the real deal. Now for the less positive. Trevor Larnach has had his worst month, Royce Lee has performed at league average at best, and Ryan Jeffers and Victor Caratini have provided little this month. It seems the team has regressed to the mean when it comes to hitting with runners in scoring position. So the hitting has been a mixed bag. Pitching has been a real disappointment this month. Of the starters, only Zebby Matthews has stepped up consistently. Taj Bradley had a couple of poor outings and hasn't won a game in almost two months. Connor Prielipp had a tough month while Dean Kremer's numbers don't look great, he's been serviceable. Both Prielipp and Kremer seem to lose it pretty fast and part of their bad numbers is the bullpen not stranding runners that the starters put on base. Early in August, it appeared the bullpen had turned the corner and would actually be an asset. August has reminded us that relievers go from good to bad and bad to good in a hurry. Andrew Morris has lost five games this month and more runs than innings pitched. That comes after he was astonishingly good in July (0.64 ERA). The same story, but not as severe for Kody Funderburk. He allowed one run in July, but six in 11+ innings this month. The new acquisitions started strong, but also ended up on the losing side of the ledger. Closer Yoendrys Gomez lost two games although he is still 100% in save situations. Gomez has allowed 10 hits and seven runs in eight plus innings thus far this month. Probably the least acclaimed bullpen acquisition, Tommy Nance, has been the best, allowing only four runs in 15+ innings since being acquired in late July. Jeff Hoffman hasn't impressed. He has issued eight free passes and eight hits in eight plus innings for the Twins. AJ Minter has been fine as an additional left handed reliever. Today's thrashing of the Tigers including Walker Jenkins first homer (against a position player) puts a little shine on a you-know-what. Here are the Twins' hitting and pitching numbers for the month of August: https://www.mlb.com/twins/stats/?split=8 https://www.mlb.com/twins/stats/pitching?split=8

I also was young in 1961 (turned 7 in April) but remember the season well. The Twins weren't quite there yet, but had the pieces to be a very good ballclub. I went to one game (against the Red Sox) and couldn't believe how green and perfect the grass was under the lights! Really don't want to correct a fellow old-timer, but Jim Lemon was the left fielder in '61 (Harmon only played two games in left). Bob Allison was also a fine player--he'd won Rookie of the Year a couple years previous--and Earl Battey was an All-Star caliber catcher. A couple of interesting notes about the '61 team. Most of their starting pitchers are still around--Kaat, Pascual, and Ramos. Also, the Topps baseball cards showed no Twins wearing the TC hat, it hadn't been unveiled yet when they took pictures of the players in Florida.

Statcast's Outs Above Average isn't as kind to Lee at third base (+2 OAA), but still above water. In his shorter stint at shortstop, Lee was -6 OAA and overall he is -3. In his time at second base, I never thought Lee looked comfortable or polished. I think his best position is third base. Maybe third is also best for Culpepper, but give me the guy with superior range to play second base and that would be Culpepper.

Nice comeback month for Zebby. He’s tied with Bradley for the most wins on the staff and he was 5-0 with a 2.90 ERA for the month. I think he’s a safer bet than Prielipp, but the lefty might have more upside. Most pitchers fell off in August for the Twins. i would like to see them audition a couple more bullpen guys and have improved health in in their staff in 2027.

According to The Fielding Bible’s Defensive Runs Saved, Brooks Lee is +7 at third base. I don’t think second is ideal for Brooks, but he’s been very good at the hot corner. As long as he hits acceptably, he should be the regular 3B. Culpepper is -3 DRS in 18 games. That figures to be -27 for a full season. He looks like he has the range and arm, but honestly he looks pretty raw. Keaschall is -5 in right field and a whopping -9 in center in limited play. I think a corner spot or maybe first base are his future. Two or three weeks ago, it looked like Lewis was well on the way to estabishing himself as a regular, probably at first base. Now he has four more weeks to make that claim. In 2027, I would in expect Keaschall and Lewis to be better defenders at their spots where they had very limited experience going into this season.

Jenkins contract purchased, Roden optioned. Woo-suk Go DFA.

Acton and Merryweather have pitched well.

Agree with this. There is value in having a guy like Bell in the middle of the order every day. I am surprised that Josh has moved around so much during his career, given his clubhouse presence, durability and production. However, he’s not an elite slugger and his skillset is bat-first.

I think Rojas eventually at least partially replaces Prielipp, maybe in a piggyback scenario. Adding in Joe Ryan is crucial to this season's postseason chances. Perhaps the couple weeks rest will rejuvinate the Twins starter.

The Twins have 34 games remaining and currently have the sixth best record in the American League, which would qualify them for a Wild Card if the season ended today. I expect that the five teams ahead of the Twins will all make the playoffs, so my favorite team has a narrow window to make postseason. Here is my schedule breakdown and optimistic projection for the Twins (hint: they win the AL Central on the last day). Bad teams: the Twins play three team who have a less than 1% chance of advancing to postseason (Angels, Athletics, Giants). I have this as 7-3 with three series wins. Division foes: Fifteen games--six each against Chicago and Detroit and three against Cleveland (9-6,. 4-2 Chicago, 3-3 Detroit and 2-1 Cleveland) This would give the Twins the tiebreaker over all three of their divisional opponents. Six games against good teams (San Diego and New York Yankees) 3-3, win the home series go 1-2 this weekend. Finally, a three game series with another below .500 contender (Texas) 2-1 and an overall record of 84-78. I project Chicago going 18-18 in their final 36 games and finishing in a flatfooted tie with the Twins (Twins win tiebreaker). Detroit and Cleveland fall short and the other Wild Card contenders (Toronto, Baltimore, Texas, Seattle) also fail to get to 84 wins.

It is nice that the Twins have so much outfiedl depth that is approaching major league readiness. In drawing up my preliminary major league roster for 2027, there are way too many corner outfielders and there definitely should be a culling process. Non-prospects Wallner, Martin and Roden really are only depth pieces. Wallner's last two major league seasons have negated good productivity previously. Martin was given a chance for a larger role and came up short and Roden's meh tools point to either an AAAA player or fourth OF. The Twins could roll with Buxton, Jenkins, Keaschall and Rodriguez with perhaps Mendez or more likely a Lane Thomas type as their outfielders. Mendez would be behind them and given the first four's injury histories, he might be on the major league roster all year.

Thanks Chief. I edited my original post to make it more open-ended.

The Twins are in the third wild card spot with Texas' loss tonight. They will remain in that spot at least until Friday when they arrive in San Diego.

According to DRS, Lewis is 0 at third base, certainly not a disaster. Average. Also at first, he's +1. These numbers are through yesterday .https://www.fieldingbible.com/drs-leaderboard/players?position=5&team=8 https://www.fieldingbible.com/drs-leaderboard/players?position=3&team=8

As far as defense goes, the team is 28th out of 30 according to Defensive Runs Saved (my go-to). They've been in that range for most of the season, but the negative number isn't growing fast at this point. Luke Keaschall isn't great in the OF, but with an offseason to work, he might be okay by next year. Brooks Lee and Royce Lewis have looked decent to better than that at new positions and Culpepper (perhaps later Houston) might solidify their weakest defensive position (-20 DRS) of shortstop.

I think we can grudgingly say that Tom Pohlad put some of his money where his mouth was as well. The Twins took on salary for Minter, Hoffman and Kremer after throwing around quarters like they were manhole covers. The moves weren't flashy, but the bullpen has been substantially improved.