Jim H

Sorry for highjacking the thread. I just wonder sometimes how certain narratives get started and continue for years.

Oh I understand what you are saying, but 2 pts. Most players in power 5 conferences don't get drafted at all, so most of the the guys you you play against in college are clearly less talented then the guys in low A who have been drafted. Also the guys playing in the power 5 who opt to go college were most likely not considered top of the draft candidates or they would have been drafted and signed. If you are already top 20 player in the whole country, you have better chance of diminishing your draft stock in 3 years instead of enhancing it. Still , I have heard the claims about the SEC for years. I think that top level college players are polished and play an entertaining brand of baseball. I still think teams in low A full of players who have already played in those same power 5 conferences plus enhanced by international players who are the best of those signed 3 or 4 years earlier should be much more talented.

I wonder why people think that class A baseball is below the quality of baseball in the SEC. Everyone playing class A is one of the best college players selected from across the country, or one of very best high school kids who would of soon been dominating at college if he had gone to college, or international player who likely has been a pro for 3 or 4 years. The talent level is certainly higher in class A baseball even if the age level may not be.

I don't know if Wallner or Lewis have earned a return to the majors after a multi season stretch of not being very good. Most of the top prospects are injured or are deemed not quite ready for the majors. So, get him back to the majors, give both him and Lewis another chance to prove the belong in the majors. They haven't really earned a long runway, so if they don't perform like the middle of order bats they are supposed to be, I would like to see any of the top prospects that are earning an opportunity.

To answer your title question. It is pretty much the same reason Bell is playing everyday, Outman is still on the team, Lewis and Wallner playing nearly everyday for 2 months, Caratini played nearly everyday for a month, and now we have 3 utility infielders getting lots of playing. Roster construction, injuries, and not ready for prime time prospects have left few other choices. For what it is worth, I believe they should be playing Keashall everyday at 2nd base. Maybe eventually there will be a better choice, but for right now they need to find out what they got in Keashall. I don't think they should change his position either. 2nd should be his best fit skill wise.

Wallner seems to me to be the kind of player that is often overvalued. He reminds of the Dave Kingman or Joey Gallo type player. If you give them enough at bats, they will hit a significant number of home runs. Even major league pitchers make enough mistakes that players like this will get their opportunity to hit homers. They also miss a lot of their homer opportunities as well, when their timing is off, they're expanding the zone, etc. Guys like tis are generally very inconsistent even if they have good strike zone recognition. The reason that I feel this type of hitter is overvalued is that many of the most used stats including OPS, overvalue home runs in comparison to other hits. While I could write a whole post about why I believe that, I won't do that here. The real problem with a Dave Kingman type hitter is that when ou take out the games where they hit 1 or more home runs their contributions in all the other games is at best right around replacement level. You have a lot of games where they contribute basically nothing to potentially winning a game, especially if they are poor defensively. The best hitters in baseball combine power with hitting for average, and often add in a lot of walks as well. Most major leaguers can't really do all three at elite levels, so they lean into one side or the other, perhaps managing both power and average during their peak years. A good example is Kirby Puckett who came to the majors as a contact hitter, added in power for a number of years and was trending back to a contact hitter wen he had to retire. I tend to believe contact hitters are a bit more consistent and probably more valuable than most low average power hitters unless the power numbers are quite high. I could of course be wrong.

Well written post. Your no.2 is spot on. The eye test seems to say there is no real consistency with this team.I feel like there are too many boom or bust guys on this roster, too many platoon, guys, and not enough real hitting talent. It doesn't help that some of the guys who were expected to be at least big league everyday regulars, are not and may never be.

Calling Ryan "a major success of the Twins developmental process" is a it a bit of a stretch. He spent no time in the Twins minor league system and was an effective major league starting pitcher immediately when he joined the Twins. Lets settle for helping him refine his processes. As for the actual story, it is certainly possible the coaches got a little too cute with their adjustments. Ryan's stuff and command is good enough that even when a hitter is looking for a particular pitch he is usually difficult to hit. Major adjustments probably not necessary.

What i noticed from this list is that except for Paredes, every pitcher averaged less than 4 innings a week. Doesn't seem to matter age or level. Development is sure different from when I started following the Twins minor league teams years ago.

I haven't commented on this thread for quite awhile, haven't seen much point. A few observations. Even though the Twins have a losing record against left handed starters, they averaged more runs per game against them than against right handers. I expect part of reason for that could be that the 3 best hitters during the 1st quarter of the season were right handed, Jeffers, Buxton, and Martin. I am glad the Twins gave Lee, Keaschall, and Martin enough runway to prove they deserved consistent playing time. I appreciate the fact they did the same for Wallner and Lewis and also the fact they were demoted when they couldn't take advantage of the runway. I don't appreciate the fact that to this point, Bell and Caratini have been as bad of investments as I was afraid they would be. They along along Lewis and Wallner are the major reasons there is little consistent production or continuity from the 3-4-5 hitters. I appreciate the fact that all the career backups and platoon players currently on the roster play hard, take good at bats, and play most of the good defense we see from this roster. I don't appreciate the fact that nobody among our top prospects has been able to either stay healthy or play well enough to replace them.

Let's not be in big hurry to change his swing so he can lift the ball more. A 372 average with a ops over 1000 at AAA is just fine even if it is not "sustainable". I don't know why the Twins don't take Mendez and put him full time at 1B. If he is not good in the outfield as suggested, you probably aren't going to make him an acceptable 1st baseman without a lot of work, but giving him sporadic playing time there makes little sense. Commit to a path, trying to make everyone acceptable at multiple positions leads to the kind of defense we are watching on a nightly basis.

This is what I think as well. It is sort a thankless job. He is there to protect what is perceived to be more valuable arms, maybe keep the game close enough to make a come back possible. If he does well in a particular appearance, often he will be sent back to the minors for a different bulk pitcher, because he will be unavailable for 3 days. Maybe he will eventually get a chance to carve out a more valuable role, maybe not. At least he gets a chance to pitch in the majors.

I agree with this. Still, SWR has put the team into a bad position with his performance this year . you can't continue to start him and he doesn't profile as a good reliever. Transitioning to reliever for someone without a dominant pitch or 2 will probably take some time.

The NFL has parity. I believe they sacrifice quality to get that. A lot of NFL games are almost unwatchable. Parity isn't the only reason for that, but there is some that going on in baseball. The Twins have no middle of the order bats with Jeffers injured, they play at least 2 utility infielders at short, 2nd, and cf everyday, and their bullpen is still a mess. Yet they are still in position to qualify for the postseason if the can just play a little better. I want to see better baseball. Not just from the Twins. If a salary cap and a salary floor makes for better baseball, I am for it. I don't have any reason to believe that salary cap and floor will do that.

I don't really care about either. If you care about the players, change the 40 man to a 50 man roster and require that everyone on it is paid at least major league minimum. Also raise the minimum and change the 26 man major league roster to 28, 30 would be better. That would probably benefit marginal major leaguers more than a floor.