Jim H

Yes, this. Some of this is caused by all the injuries. Some it Is caused by the trade off of relievers last summer. Some it is likely the lack pitching talent in the system. But a lot it is the limitations imposed by the 26 man roster and 40 man. You can't carry enough pitchers on 40 man to cover all situations. Nobody wants to lose a real prospect. So this is what you get. This is bad for everybody. Players shouldn't be subject to the constant churn this is causing. Fans shouldn't have to watch a guy who right now might be the 40th best pitcher in the Twins system. I wish MLB would look at this a little more closely when they redo the CBA.

If the new CBA is going to include a salary floor or something equivalent, then why would you trade Ryan or Jeffers? You are going to have to spend money on somebody. Also whatever you get is not going to as good as those two, at least immediately. So how close to being truly competitive is this team? Is trading our best starter and maybe a near all star catcher going to postpone whatever competitive window the Twins might be approaching? I don't believe that any of the young starters you have named, have actually proved that they can remain in a major league rotation. Maybe one or two can a top of the rotation starter maybe not. Ryan is that. I hope they don't go to a six man rotation. All you are likely to accomplish is reduce the number of innings our best starters can cover in a season. I doubt that the reduction in workload will actually reduce injury. Having one more bottom of the rotation starter or more all reliever games doesn't seem like a benefit to me.

Earned runs can also be misleading going the other way. Often an infielder will bounce a throw to first. Usually if the throw is not caught by the first baseman the error is given to the infielder making the throw. Often, those throws are caught by good first basemen. The Twins have had either poor first basemen or inexperienced first basemen playing there a lot. So, that is another example of a play that could of been made and cost an out that may of led to a run.

Earned runs can be a bit misleading. Not every play that should have been made, is ruled an error. In a game where Clemens was playing CF he came up just short of catching the ball. A little faster player or probably a more experienced center fielder catches that ball. It was ruled a hit, rightly. But it would have an out if a better fielder had been playing the position. This isn't a knock on Clemens, but the Twins don't have a lot of good fielders. They also have been putting players in positions they have barely played before. A lot plays that should be made are not being made and not all them are ruled are ruled errors. Earned runs can be misleading.

An interesting set of numbers for me. Last spring for Alabama (2025) Quick pitched 62 innings in 14 starts. This year at 2 class A teams for the Twins, he has pitched 33 innings in 10 starts. Largely once a week, about 4 innings innings per start. I didn't look up pitch counts. Clearly, the Twins are trying to protect his arm. This leads me to several questions. Is he dealing with arm issues this year? If not, are they holding him back a bit for other reasons? This schedule would seem to suggest no chance to pitch in the majors this year? How do you get to preparing a pitcher for a major league starter's workload under a program like this?

Unless he really wants to be traded, trading him is likely a bad idea. Barring a bad injury, he should a productive player for years. It is usually a bad trade if the best player in a trade is the player you give up. Finally, fans don't usually like losing the face of franchise especially when there are few other reasons to be watching the team .

I don't know Keashall's future, but I hope they don't juggle him around like they seem to be doing with both him and Lewis. Keashall might have a future as regular 2nd baseman. He isn't good enough defensively to be a utility player, and while he could possibly be a corner outfielder or first baseman, I expect there will eventually better choices for those positions. So either the Twins should continue to play him almost everyday at 2nd base or option him back to AAA. Doing some sort of juggling act with him and Lewis is likely counter productive for both players.

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.

When/if Gonzalez comes back up to the majors with the Twins, I hope the plan is for him to play more than 1 in 3 games. If it is predetermined that he is a platoon bat, it will become another reason to wonder about the mindset of this management team.

I am not sure what ABS has to do with framing. Of course I don't think framing has much to do with how an umpire calls balls and strikes either. A catcher's glove is roughly 3 feet behind the back edge of home plate. A major league umpire is deciding whether or not the ball passed thru the 3 dimensional strike zone above the plate. Where the ball is caught is mostly irrelevant to whether the ball is a ball or strike. What ABS is showing is that there are a lot pitches close to edges of the strike zone. It is not clear to me that ABS is really any more accurate than the umpire on those close pitches, due to the limitations of ABS. What is clear is that umpires generally have a good idea where the strike zone is and are not particularly distracted by how or where a catcher catches the ball.

I also believe the deadline trades need to be evaluated separately. I also believe it is far too soon to have a firm opinion on how well the Twins actually executed the mass selloff. Several conclusions can be drawn about why they did what they did, however. First, they had no confidence in the catching prospects throughout the system. Beyond the 2 prospects they added at the deadline, they have continued to remake the catching even up to the major league level. 2nd, they have really added to their pitching "pipeline". Clearly, they weren't too confident in their near ready starter prospects too be able too cover their potential needs. Whether Abel and Bradley will be to continue to perform at a high level is to be determined. But they are ahead of anybody who was in system. That they added a bunch more arms at the deadline also suggests they lacked a certain amount of confidence in what was already in the system. Finally, I really am confused about why they added 3 more corner outfield left-handed bats at the deadline. Maybe they will make some trades to clarify that, eventually.