stringer bell

The Twins had five players reach the 502 plat appearance threshold—the most since the Paul Molitor Twins had six, with two more players within 20 PAs of qualifying for the batting title.

Shelton inherited Maki from the previous manager. It may well be that Shelton wanted his own guy as the pitching coach. I just don't think the vast majority of coaches make that much difference in today's game.

Gomez? Until he hit the wall, he was a revelation. I will add that there were red flags even while he was succeeding.

Starting pitching depth is always used. Secondly, at least for the Twins, Kremer's results were much better than "roughly the same" from the younger pitchers. Realistically, I don't expect great results from Kremer if he's with the Twins during a full season, but I think a guy who gives you a decent chance to win in 90% of his starts has more value than just depth.

The Twins finished the year with a -38 Defensive Runs Saved, bettering only the Phillies and the A's. They were the worst in MLB at shortstop (-20) and right field (-15), accounting for almost all of their negative runs saved. Brooks Lee was -9 at shortstop, but +8 at third base, so according to the Fielding Bible, this was a position change that worked. However, Lee's immediate replacement (Tristan Gray) was even worse, netting -7 DRS in 37 games. Luke Keaschall was -4 at second base, but -8 in right field and -8 in center (in 26 games) although his numbers stabilized after a really rocky start in the outfield. After a promising start, Trevor Larnach ended the season with a -8 DRS in left field, better than one player. Matt Wallner's -9 DRS in 33 games tied for worst in MLB for right fielders. With Lee established at third base, Wallner and Larnach not in future plans and Keaschall stabilizing, Twins' defemse should be much improved in 2027. Bright spots. Austin Martin had positive grades in both left and right field and Emmanuel Rodriguez in a small sample size was outstanding in the outfield (+6).

Glad to see the Twins the finale. Also glad to see Royce homer in his last at-bat. At best, he earned an extension of his trial as a first baseman, not a successful season for him, despite getting over 500 plate appearances. I don't want to see Roden as a regular player. He is so average in so many ways, give me Rodriguez every time. Maybe Roden can be a good first baseman if the Twins cut the cord with Lewis. Kremer pitched very well as a Twin. He certainly earned himself some money in arbitration (unless the process is changed in the new Basic Agreement). Josh Bell drove in 96 runs, the most by a Twin in seven years. I wonder what kind of contract he'll get. Jeffers is 99% gone. I've always liked him, but he never made it to being a star with the Twins. Two lefties, Rogers and Minter, are free agents. I don't know if Rogers gets a major league contract, but Minter pitched decently for the Twins. I like the culture better and this team will be younger with Jenkins, Culpepper and Rodriguez on the roster and most likely breaking camp with the team. Hopefully a couple of guys will step forward on the pitching staff like Bradley did this year. Preliepp, Matthews, Rojas and Abel are all candidates.

Kremer pitched well for the Twins in all but two starts. His numbers exclusively for the Twins were very good for a backend starter. It appears to me that he knows how to pitch with whatever sharpness he might have. That is when his cutter and split are sharp, he goes after hitters, when they aren't that good, he nibbles more and pitches more to contact. I think he can be effective without his best stuff, in contrast to Ober, who has to have his best command to be effective. Kremer didn't suffer the disasters that younger pitchers with better stuff (Matthews and Preliepp) did. I think those two guys could take that step forward next year. Matthews and Preliepp both showed flashes, but weren't able to sustain.

I had the Twins pegged for 69 wins with a trade deadline selloff. So, I guess they exceeded my expectations. The offense was better than their aggregate numbers should have produced. but the down side is that of the three guys who needed to step up, only Brooks Lee stepped forward. Royce Lewis stayed healthy, but his numbers weren't close to good enough to guarantee a spot for the 2027 Twins and Matt Wallner failed and even though he hit very well at St. Paul, the contact and defensive issues remain. Buxton had a great half season (with a notable lack of hitting with RISP) and was injured and/or playing hurt for the balance of the season. Maybe the hip surgery will reignite his career, but there is a real danger that he'll never be what we've seen in flashes. On the plus side, we saw the future (Culpepper, Jenkins and Rodriguez) and they showed why the Twins and all MLB talent evaluators were intrigued. If these three all step forward, perhaps joined by Lackey and Houston, this is an enviable core. On the pitching side, Rojas, Preliepp and Morris debuted and all showed flashes of being really good. None sustained that performance, but I'm reminded of the rookie seasons of Frank Viola and Jose Berrios--they struggled early, but turned into top of the rotation guys. It looks like Morris will be a bullpen piece. Rojas seems to be undetermined, but I think he could be a really good starting pitcher. The two free agent signings--Bell and Caratini--worked out pretty much as expected. Bell hit okay and was a defensive non-factor and Caratini was a satisfactory backup catcher who didn't hit particularly well. Three other players deserve comment IMHO. Ryan Kreidler provided value as a good defender and did provide some offense. He might be in line for a backup infielder spot next year. Austin Martin improved as a defender and got on base against left handed pitching, but unless he can do more, he is limited to short-side platoon duty. Alan Roden is kind of average at everything, maybe a bit better on contact but with little power and an okay fielder with average speed. If he wants regular work, it might be at first base. The front office has made some strange decisions--the whole Alex Jackson debacle was weird. They took what turned out to be a sucker bet on adding at the trade deadline and not moving future free agent Jeffers and maybe Ryan and Larnach. It is TBD if the trades will work out, but they were made on the premise that the Twins would be playing significant games late in September and that didn't happen.

I really can't see both guys coming back in 2027 and as noted in the OP, it is more than possible that both will be gone before the first official pitch of the new season is thrown. They are pretty close to the same age with the same wear and tear on their bodies. Ober has been a unicorn, getting outs with an 88 mph heater and lots of movement. Kremer would appear to be more of a standard issue backend guy. I think Kremer has a bit more upside so I'd pick him, but if he could net more in a trade than the "bearded nightmare", Ober could stay.

The Twins used all of their pitching depth this year and got to where Paredes was a starter. I hope they don't reach that point next season. With exactly zero of this year's starters attaining free agent status, they have Lopez, Ryan, Bradley, Ober, Kremer, Preliepp, Rojas, Abel, Matthews and perhaps Festa as candidates for the starting rotation. They also have Gomez, Hoffman, Banda, Funderburk, Sands, Raya, Morris, Adams, Nance as bullpen arms. Guys will get injured, but I think the 19 guys will be more than enough to open the season. I hope they add more quality, but I suspect one of Ober and Kremer will be gone and a couple of the bullpen guys as well. A bit better health plus a better defense should make the Twins a much better pitching staff. I don't know how many guys from the farm they will eventually need, but I wouldn't think it should be too many. On the position player side, I will be interested to see if the Twins are preparing to use the top two guys--Lackey and Houston. First of all, if there's a normal ST, will Lackey be catching big league pitchers and facing major leaguers when he hits? As far as Houston, will he get reps with the major league infielders and will Culpepper be playing some at second base? They did this for Brooks Lee and he was up pretty quick.

I don't know if Keaschall will or would be a "good" first baseman. IIRC, he did play there some either in college or in the minors. The second half bat plays anywhere, but first base is typically a place for a 30 homers hitter and Luke probably won't ever be that. If Jenkins and Rodriguez both are at least long side platoon options next year and Buxton is healthy, it would be convenient to move Keaschall to first base. The three outfielders all have plenty of injuries in their careers, so having a fourth "starting" outfielder more than makes sense and I don't think that guy is Austin Martin, who by all the metrics has become a good outfield defender. It probably will end up with Keaschall staying in the OF and DH usage for all four of the outfielders, if they all are healthy. Fixed it for you (in bold). Years and injuries ago, Buxton won a Platinum Glove. The arm isn't as good and he's much more cautious. Still more than good enough, but no longer elite. Jenkins has the athleticism to be every bit as good as Buxton is now and probably better. In the limited sample size this month, he looks fine, but in an even smaller sample ERod has looked great.

Certainly agree. I think the fanbase could have expected Lopez to be very good, if healthy, in 2026. 2027 will be an open question as he's now coming off his second TJ surgery. It appeared to me that Abel had a chance to become a top starter as soon as this year before the injury. Of course we don't know that. Every team goes through similar ups and downs with pitching (except Cleveland this year). The Twins had a good year in '23 principally because the top starters were healthy. Maybe it will happen in '27.

Arm strength is overrated. Matt Wallner has one of the strongest outfield arms in baseball, but he's still a lousy fielder and according to the metrics his overall throwing was a net negative. For outfielders, accuracy and a quick release make up for lack of arm strength so I don't think a relatively weak arm means Keaschall can't or shouldn't play corner outfield. Lee's 36th percentile arm has played at third because he's pretty accurate and gets rid of the ball fast. Culpepper has a much stronger arm, but footwork and release still need work. Keaschall has certainly looked better and more comfortable in the outfield as the season has moved on. I don't think he would be a noticeable weak spot in the outfield. Also there are a lot of factors in limiting the running game. The pitchers have to do what they can and I think the Twins have been pretty poor in having their pitchers do their part. Caratini has never graded well at throwing out base stealers, so I would suspect a large portion of responsibility is on him.

In the end, it is always about pitching IMHO. I think it is fair to say that this year's pitching staff was decimated by injury. Losing their best starter for the entire season and getting only twenty innings out of MItch Abel were huge losses. Add other losses like Festa, Banda and Sands and the impact of injury is pretty severe. The bullpen was in shambles, but in 2027, there is at least some hope for being pretty good. The Twins started the season with three guys who were arguably the worst defenders in MLB at their position (Keaschall, Lee and Wallner), one was demoted and the other two changed positions. A lot of "earned runs" early in the season were attribuatable to bad defense not charged as errors. The defense hasn't hurt them as much during their slide out of contention--pitching depth and regression to the mean in hitting has--but their defense is still at best average.

I don't disagree RB. The Jackson story is probably for a different thread, but I wish they had given him a little more run because his rep is a competent catcher who can slow down a running game and he was paid couch cushion money. It would appear that catching help from the system isn't that far away (midseason 2027?), Cleveland traded away a catcher with offensive potential and went with two defense-first pretty weak hitters and it looks like they will win the AL Central again. Finding a guy or two with defensive chops and options would be fine.

Agreed, and with a healthy Buxton, the Twins would have two guys (Keaschall and Buxton) with well-above average speed and five guys (Culpepper, Jenkins, Rodriguez, Clemens and Lewis) with above-average speed, Brooks Lee's sprint speed has improved to the 24th percentile and almost all catchers not named Alex Jackson are slow. That would be the most speed the Twins have had on their roster since the Metrodome Days of the early 2000s. Emmanuel Rodriguez has been astounding defensively so far. The Fielding Bible gives him +6 Defensive Runs Saved in 12 games. He's robbed two home runs and made every play. I doubt he can sustain that, but it would be huge to have a real elite defender manning the outfield. The numbers say that Buxton is no longer that guy.

Culpepper, Jenkins and ERod have been here for a fraction of a season each, if you consider those guys as "already in place", yes that would be the answer. Getting an above-average defensive catcher to pair with Caratini should be a top priority. The wild card would be when and if Marek Houston is ready for MLB.

Yeah, and Jenkins would have to average about 7 WAR per year for a decade to surpass Rod Carew.

The Twins have Kremer, Nance and Hoffman for 2027. If there is no work stoppage (or if it is brief), all three guys should contribute to the pitching staff in the coming year or perhaps the return for one of them if traded. I don't think the reason the team faded is because of the acquisitions and it remains to be seen if the Twins gave away too much to acquire these pitchers.

With just five games to go, the Twins remain one of the worst defensive teams in baseball. They rank just ahead of Cincinnati, Philadelphia and the Athletics. For the season they have a -34 Defensive Runs Saved according to the Fielding Bible. That number is bad, but not epically bad IMHO. First of all, the Twins were over negative 20 DRS by midseason, so they have slowed the leak of runs allowed by bad defense. Secondly, the bad DRS numbers basically come from two spots--shortstop (-19) and right field (-14). If they were just neutral at those positions, they would be neutral for the entire team. Brooks Lee and Tristan Gray accounted for almost all of their deficit at shortstop and it looks like neither will figure at that position in 2027 or beyond. Matt Wallner accounted for half of the Twins negative score in RF and it looks like he's played his last game for the Twins. However, Luke Keaschall is -6 and it looks like he will remain an outfielder going forward. Keaschall has learned the Of on the fly and by the eye test has improved substantially. The Twins leading defender in just 97 innings (about 11 full games) is Emmanuel Rodriguez, who has amassed 6 DRS in a really short span. That level of D is not sustainable, but he has shown himself to be a good outfielder. Coupled with Walker Jenkins and Buxton or Keaschall, the Twins should have a much improved outfield defense in 2027. Using one source for fielding evaluation is a lousy bet, but the Fielding Bible seems to concur with what my eyes have seen. Catching is decent, but really struggles limiting the running game, Lewis and Clemens are decent on the right side and Lee has been good at third base. Clemens is okay at first, second or in the outfield and Ryan Kreidler is a good defender in the infield or outfield. Culpepper was a modest -1 DRS in 31 games. It would appear that he would be a neutral to slightly below average shortstop. Farm system jewel Marek Houston might be the long-term answer at shortstop, which could move the entire team north in defensive ratings.

How about this crazy homer take: In ten years, the top two WAR for the organization will have the initials WJ.

Congratulations to him. If anyone in St. Paul earned a look it was him. I don't expect much, but stranger things have happened than having a late-blooming first round pick.

Gómez showed he has enough stuff to be an effective reliever, but he also wasn’t able to get around the high walk rate and hard contact rate until the end of the season. I don’t think he should guaranteed a closer role. If he looks great, he did have a nice half season as a closer, but he couldn’t sustain until the end of the season.

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