stringer bell

Bumping this topic. Has Royce "found it"? I don't think his end-of-the-year numbers will end up being impressive, but it seems he is healthy and he's hitting.

More information. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/twins-claim-jhonny-pereda-designate-jair-camargo-for-assignment.html

The ageless Dick Mountain aka Rich Hill will join his 14th major league team--the Royals. He will probably be the oldest player to suit up for a major league team this year (45 years old). Hill worked 38.2 innings for the 2020 Twins. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/royals-to-select-rich-hill.html

Due to Keaschall's TJ surgery and the fact that he couldn't continue strengthening after he broke his arm, I think he will stick to DH with an occasional day at 2B. I really doubt Keaschall plays any outfield this year.

I mostly agree. He goes through periods of time where he's a strikeout machine. Bader has done a fine job in the field and hit enough to be an asset, but he should be the last starter or the fourth outfielder because of his offense.

The Twins are 12th in AL attendance, leading two teams in minor league stadiums and ........the Chicago White Sox.

BTW, Zebby is going to have to find another pitch other than his fastball or he'll get hit as hard as Paddack did.

But he gets the job done this time.

Not the best guy to get the run home with less than two outs.

A little bit of offense in the second inning.

No you're not.

Whose place does Zebby take? I presume it is Adams, but haven’t seen anything official.

If he's on the roster, he should be starting tonight. Whether he should be on the roster is another question. France's numbers are very similar to what he put up for the Mariners last year, with both fewer walks and strikeouts. He's played well defensively by all measures and the Twins have no one on their active roster that should be playing in front of him versus a lefty. That's really not a compliment to anybody, but it is reality right now. An active roster spot is too valuable to average less than one start a week, and if France isn't starting against a left hander when would he start.

Agreed. Slow guys making weak contact aren't going to get a lot of hits unless the hitter is named Arráez.

This club has Pablo, Ryan, Ober starting, three horses in the bullpen and Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton playing two of the three most critical defensive positions, all at least through 2026. It's hard for me to say "tear it down" especially with Buxton saying he is a "Twin for life". That said, the position players for the fourth consecutive year, haven't put up or prevented enough runs to support the pitching staff. The position player group is slow with moderate power and not especially gifted on defense. I think some changes need to be made with who lines up behind the pitcher.

Lewis has 22 Ks in 153 plate appearances, well below league average.

While I agree that Wallner has been lousy this year, he had stretches like this last year as well and came out of it to post really good offensive numbers. He hits the ball very hard and when he squares the ball up, it goes a long way. Going back as far back as Harmon Killebrew, there's room for elite power in any lineup. The eye test has told me that Wallner has struggled in the outfield this year, but the numbers in BBRef say that he's about average, just a bit below and he undeniably has a strong arm. Wallner's straight-ahead speed is average to a bit above, so it is about routes and jumps for him as an outfielder. Both Larnach and Wallner need to hit to be assets and an OPS+ less than 100 tells me they are hurting the team. Wallner put up two partial season with 138 or better OPS+ numbers. IMHO that justifies having patience with him. Larnach has been more consistent the last two years, but his numbers haven't exceeded average-ish in any single season including 2025. I don't think there is room for two such players on the Twins roster, but we've been there for most of this season (except for when Wallner was on the IL).

I guess having a .998 fielding percentage means that he catches what he gets to. I don't think it means much more than that. His defensive profile was considered pretty poor going into this season, but he's been very good at first base for the first half of the season. The subject of this thread has been rated a far better defender at first than France.

Wallner hasn't been good since he returned from injury. His OBP is way down and the strikeouts are up. I think a case can be made to send him to St. Paul for a quick reset, although I think the better answer is patience. He's been particularly disappointing with runners on base and when the game is on the line. I understand there are ebbs and flows in a career and a season, but I'm wondering if it would be good for him mentally to start mashing at St. Paul. Totally agree on Clemens. He's hit with enough power and driven in enough key runs to be considered an asset despite the low OBP and high strikeouts. I don't think his leash should be too long, given his age, predigree and career to this point. He's versatile and an okay defender and could be somebody who finds himself rather late in his career.

Kody Clemens has been the second most productive hitter for the Twins. Yes, it is rather a small sample size and his career and pedigree don't give us much confidence that he will sustain that production. I guess the most promising part of his profile is that his swing speed has gone from average to near elite and that could explain his power surge and could perhaps be a reason that he will continue to be well above average at the plate. Ty France has been subpar as a hitter over the course of this season and he's slumped noticeably in the past month or more. France has been a surprisingly good defender at first base and was the Twins' best hitter in clutch situations for the first third of the season. Clemens has definitely been the better player since he was acquired by the Twins and should be getting at-bats over France unless or until he turns into a pumpkin.

Okay, so Wallner has driven in three runs outside of his homers. That is Joey Gallo territory. The homer by homer analysis does show he hasn't hit all his homers in garbage time, but IMHO only one was really significant and the Twins wound up losing that game. Adding on is nice, but I'd rather take a couple of two-run doubles in tie games than adding a solo when the Twins are up two or three.

Okay, I'm not that big into advanced metrics, but I like to check Statcast and Fangraphs on occasion just to see what the metrics oriented sites see in certain players. 2025 Royce Lewis looks like an average player according to Statcast, maybe a little better than that, and he's a decent defender. Most of Royce's graphs are middling, with as much blue as there is red. I've long thought that Royce's throwing inconsistency made him a subpar third baseman, but he hasn't displayed that this year. Does that mean Lewis will turn around and look like the player he was in 2023 and early 2024? I doubt it, but I'm not ready to give up on him as either a hitter or fielder. I have thought Lee is the best fit of current players at third base, but his performance this year hasn't moved him into a core player tier.

I don't really want to pile on, but I can't remember an important homer that Wallner has hit all year. His home runs have come when the game was pretty much decided most of the time. The fact that he has driven in only six runs outside of his homers is mind boggling to me.

On the position player side, the Twins have not suffered too much from injury. The biggest loss has been two months of Luke Keaschall, who almost certainly will come down to earth statistically after a very nice start. Underperformance by Wallner, Correa and Lewis (probably injury related) has been the most obvious factor in the subpar offensive performance. I would say that on balance Larnach, Lee, Jeffers and France have performed close to, but below expectations while Bader, Castro and especially Clemens and Buxton have done far better than expected. Having two of the worst hitters in baseball at their level of plate appearances (Vázquez and Keirsey Jr.) gives the coaching staff fewer options. In a long season, things tend to even out. Many of the guys who have performed below expectations have had stretches where they looked far better. I don't see much hope in St. Paul. Julien's overall numbers are about league average. McCusker has been Gallo-like at AAA since his demotion, Eeles and Martin might be better utility players than Keirsey, but I don't think they would move the needle much overall. With the injured pitchers on the mend--it looks like Zebby and Ober could make a start or two this month--and a so-far healthy bullpen, I think there's a path for the Twins to make the playoffs and having Ryan and Pablo dealing they could have a chance to make some noise. It would require good health and for most of the underperformers to regress to the mean. I don't know if the Twins should sell. The expiring contract guys are valuable to them but wouldn't bring back much and trading someone like Jax, Ryan or Durán would bring back plenty, but would put a hole in what is a team strength.

I'd add Wallner as a major disappointment. Agreed that the lack of productivity from these three is a big reason why the offense has not reached projections.