stringer bell

Did we see enough of Ross to believe he is an adequate backup at shortstop? I didn't think so.

It's true that both Gonzalez and Mendez have to show a lot to continue to be prospects because hitting is their primary, perhaps only, ticket. Gonzalez played some first base so he has some positional flexibility and Mendez is a left handed hitter, but both guys have to be well above average hitters to be big league assets. They'll both be 23 for the 2027 season and have options so there is some time,

Over the course of a season, so much changes every year. The Twins infield was set to start 2026--Bell/Caratini/Clemens at first, Keaschall, Lee, and Lewis and by midseason it was Lewis, Clemens, Kreidler/Gray and Lee with Culpepper coming on board in August. More changes will come and the key thing is to have players ready to fill the spots. I see a role for Roden, not so much for Martin and who really knows about bullpen arms. They need to add at least one catcher, preferably a good defender who can slow down a running game.

I'd say that there are many possible players like Gray--he's neither average as a hitter or fielder--but guys like Kreidler are a little tougher to find. Kreidler is a good defender in both the infield and the outfield and plays a capable shortstop. If the Twins let him go, I think he would get a contract with another team.

Kind of intriguing. He's fast, can play second, third and the outfield and about a league average hitter and will turn 25 in a couple of weeks. As an outfielder, he looks like a slightly better version of Austin Martin, but I'd only want to trade for him if he can become a regular on the infield (second base, with Clemens becoming the primary first baseman). The biggest drawback would be adding an infielder who isn't a shortstop, unless the Twins would be comfortable with moving Lee back to short as their backup (don't like that) or keeping Kreidler at the expense of Lewis.

Even though he spent a majority of 2026 with the Twins, I can't see the Twins keeping Gray on their 40-man roster, especially since his last option was used this year. I'm also thinking Kreidler should be in the bubble group as his value is diminished by the use of his last option in '26 and his hitting declined dramatically in the second half of the year. I'd probably put Kremer in the bubble category, as well. He and Ober have similar age and projected arbitration numbers and there is a possibility that the Twins could keep Ober and let Kremer go.

Yeah, that's my thought. Right now, it looks like he's about eighth in the pecking order, but he looks like he has the stuff to move up in that order. I really think moving Rojas around from opener, to bullpen to starter cost him this year. Maybe he is a bullpen guy, but it seems he wasn't really given a chance to start and there doesn't seem to be real concern about injury to his arm. It's kind of a shame to waste innings for these guys in St. Paul, but Rojas might benefit more than most from a month or two at Triple A.

A million years ago (well, more than 50) I played high school basketball. We thought ourselves contenders to win our conference and district (in fact our district winner won the state championship) and played two other contenders in a Holiday Tournament. We won the tournament, defeating both teams soundly. One of those teams quickly added a center and moved four other players to new positions, benching their point guard. It improved every position and brought a sparkplug off the bench. They won the conference. I think adding a Marek Houston at some point in 2027 could do that for the Twins' infield, not so much for his skills but to free Culpepper and Clemens to be above average players at a different position (second base for Culpepper and first or utility for Clemens), improving particularly on defense. How much is it worth to make other players more valuable? Also, if Houston is as advertised (perhaps a top quartile defensive shortstop) how much does he have to hit to be a 2.5 to 3 WAR player, particularly if he can provide solid value as a base runner? I'll pick these numbers--.260 BA, .330 OBP, .370 SLG, which would compute to a high 90s OPS+. Fine defensive shortstops putting up those kind of numbers far exceed 2.5 WAR. Obviously, I'm making huge assumptions. It isn't certain that Houston will be a top quartile defender, he may never hit .260, he might never steal more than a handful of bases, etc. but the addition of a top defensive shortstop at minimum wage with average major league hitting ability and good base running would be worth a lot.

I think the Twins need to decide on Rojas' path--starter or reliever? He appears to have the arsenal to be a starter and the potential to be a dominant late innings high-leverage reliever. In another thread it was noted that he was often injured, but (IIRC) none of the injuries seemed that serious or long-term. Rojas has options remaining so he wouldn't have to be moved to and from the rotation or bullpen. On balance, I'd like to see him compete for starting pitching innings and perhaps thrive, with the bullpen option activated if he either can't be effective or can't stay healthy.

I think fifth infielder is about what Lewis has "earned" with his performance in the last two years. He's still young enough, cheap enough and seems to have the talent to be more than he has been in '25-'26. Adding an infielder for either first or second would be what I would be looking for. Kody Clemens' performance the past two years has been decent and he probably merits playing time either at first or second at least to start the season. The Twins didn't have many infield injuries in 2026. It would be expected that they would have more in the coming season even with a younger roster, so being the fifth infielder may well get more playing time. Willi Castro was a backup infielder and outfielder in 2023 and ended up with near-regular at-bats. Several other guys without defined playing time never really did enough to move off that role. Giving a 27 year old Lewis a last chance to show his talent at about $5M is wise in my book.

The Lee and Keaschall moves have already improved the defense, particularly moving Lee to where he is an asset. Having Clemens at either first or second base is acceptable--he is decent (or better) defensively and has been an above-average hitter in his time with the Twins. I like Marek Houston's game and potential a lot, but I think it is a bit foolhardy to count on him in 2027 after half a season at AA. I do think leaving him a clear path to the majors and regular play is a good plan. Clemens' flexibility means they can add a second baseman or first baseman. Keeping Jeffers for another season or more would continue the status quo at catcher. Good offense, something to be desired on defense. If Jeffers leaves (likely), the Twins have to bank on a Caratini bounceback and contributions from unproven players or players from outside the organization. I don't know who can fill out the position, but a good defender would help.

When the Twins played the Padres, Provus said that like seven of their eight starters had been shortstops, so that seems to be a trend. Speed, range and arm play everywhere. The Twins’ defensive deficiencies will be mitigated by two things—having a shortstop who is at least average defensively, and finding a place for Keaschall where he does the least harm. I think Luke can be adequate in the corner outfield and Culpepper will be average-ish at short and that would improve the Twins’ defense to “neutral”. Add in the range and speed of Jenkins and Rodriguez (and subtract Larnach) and the defense might be above average. The cherry on top is if Houston is as good as advertised and Culpepper can be a plus second baseman. We can dream can’t we?

In checking Houston’s scouting reports, he is about a 75th percentile runner, just a little behind Luke Keaschall. That is good, but not elite. His tools as a defender are rated as excellent, but not off the chart. Comparing him to Bobby Witt Jr. is a disservice to both players. Witt is off the charts in speed and range.

Why not? He’s 25, a long way to go before he in decline, plus he’s still at a point where more experience at third should help him.

When the Twins got Roden, he was billed as a finished product who played good defense, including center field. Apparently not. He wasn’t used in center and Austin Martin and Luke Keaschall were instead. He doesn’t have above-average speed either. I’m seeing a Larnach replacement with less power, but better contact and defense and some ability to hit southpaws.

Roden wasn’t giing to get any firdt base reps with Vlad Jr. on the roster.

Vladdie Jr. is a good reason for Roden not to do much work at first base. There is a real opportunity for someone to get a lot of playing time at first base and I hope Roden gets a shot. Also, his Statcast data for 2025 put him above average as a defender. Not so much in 2026, but I would say he's a passable outfielder who doesn't have the tools to be much more than that. Kind of the same thing with his hitting--he doesn't really have corner outfielder or DH power, but again in a small sample size, his Statcast profile is pretty promising. Given the injury histories of the outfielders who are presumed to be ahead if him, it figures that Roden will get chances to play the outfield corners.

I think there's a 90% chance that France returns to the Padres. He was outstanding for them for minimal money. He'd be in line for a lot more after this year, but not eight digits. Arraez would be intriguing. He's going to hit .300 and be a solid bet to win a batting championship. He's also been surprisingly durable in his career and his defense was okay. He lacks power and the walk rate has fallen since his Twins days. He will want a lot of money and I don't know how long he will last as a second baseman. Okert had some decent years before he came to the Twins and has been good for Houston the past two years. I don't trust relievers moving to another club and continuing to do well. No thanks.

I don't think Larnach will have a role on the '27 Twins unless someone is moved or there are multiple injuries. Alan Roden is younger, cheaper and more athletic than Larnach and in a small sample size, his Statcast profile looks outstanding. There are four other outfielders (Buxton, Jenkins, Keaschall and Emmanuel Rodriguez) in line for playing time in front of Roden, but they all have substantial injury histories so the likelyhood is that there will be playing time on the grass for Roden. As for Lewis, again he might be the second option at two positions (third base and second base) in addition to competing for playing time at first base where he is the incumbent. Without bringing in someone from another team, the Twins could go with Lewis as one of four alternatives at first--conversion prospects Keaschall and Roden, Kory Clemens and Lewis. $5.1M is a lot for a utility player if Lewis loses out to others, but it would give him a last chance to reestablish himself as a major league regular in his age 27-28 year. Lewis got through the season with less than two weeks on the IL after losing years to injuries. He's shown himself to be versatile and his speed has moved up considerably as he's recovered from devastating injuries. I still think there's an above average hitter with good power in there somewhere and it would be a pity to let go of him a year too soon.

I think the ideal would be for Houston to take over in midseason, but a little of things can and will happen in tge meantime. Having a lineup with Buxton, Keaschall, Houston, Jenkins, Culpepper and Rodriguez and we would see some speed and athleticism on display.

I’d do the under on “average walks”, which might be why he won’t break .800 for OPS for a while.

If Brooks Lee had Culpepper’s athleticism…… i think he’ll hit acceptability, but I wasn’t really impressed with his defense and he’s probably going to struggle at times. It was a pretty small sample size and perhaps the hard hit rate will rise and maybe tge walk rate as well.

Bobby Witt is among the five fastest runners in MLB. I don’t think Houston has that kind of raw speed. I would hope he has plus speed and range, but don’t expect that he has 99th percentile sprint speed.

Who isn't miffed to see other teams seemingly running at will against the Twins? It is a team-wide problem, well pitchers and catchers anyway and I don't think it is all on the catchers. On at least half and probably closer to two-thirds of the steal attempts last year the catcher had no chance. That's on the pitchers. Another point to consider is how important slowing a running game is overall. It isn't a be-all or end-all, but it is far from worthless IMHO. The Twins absolutely need to be better at limiting the opponents' running game in 2027 IMHO. Here's where I insert the Alex Jackson conversation. In small sample sizes, it appears that Jackson has the tools to be good to very good in limiting the running game. His pop time is well above average and his arm strength appears above average although I couldn't find a velocity number. Jackson had a fluky good season hitting, which I doubt he would sustain, but I think that with a normal backup catcher's workload he could be a defensive asset and not hurt the team too much offensively. Apart from limiting the running game, I thought Caratini was okay as a defender and he had one good month of hitting (playing a lot). I wonder what he could do with 60% usage. I doubt he would be above average, but maybe approaching what is expected for a catcher. Finally, I don't rule out Lackey making his major league debut sometime in 2027. He was a college player, so he's the same age as Walker Jenkins, although the complexities of catching probably would delay a promotion somewhat. Lackey/Tiat in 2028? That would be exciting.

IIRC Houston missed only a few games due to injury this year. It would be great to have a prospect develop who is durable. Having a guy who is an asset defensively would be huge for the Twins, add in the speed he has demonstrated and all he has to be is average-ish as a hitter to be a truly valuable player. Houston was the second college shortstop in a row taken by the Twins and followed Culpepper's path exactly, splitting his first full season between high A and AA. One would expect him to be ready sometime in 2027 if his development continues.