Jocko87

Damn.

There's a reason the Twins and many others struggle against lefties. It's kinda like ice cream, even when it's bad, it's not that bad. Now that I think about it, maybe there is value of the hitters spending some time with Kuechel?

But meaningful games don't start until October, so long as you can lay back and coast to a division title. Had they any fear of losing the division he would have been out there already. They've played that pretty well. I think it's fairly obvious reading between the lines of working him up into CF was only about two things. A-he's healthy and full go, huzzah or B-risk injuries only when the games really matter. In this season, it's October. I fully expect him to get some time out there off and on in September even though he won't need much for warm up while still mainly DHing. Remember that long dinner with Correa? It's all about the ships baby. Many of the comments seem to assume we are going to be putting out the best lineup daily for the next two months. There will be plenty of time off to go around as they get ready for the post season. You may think they are tempting fate but it's the right move when you have 95% playoff odds. After the next three weeks or so we will know for sure.

Bobby Witt and the Royals have been removed from this post. Damn them. Brent Rooker is on pace for 26.13 homers. A's on pace for 44.42 wins. It's getting late early.

He can field enough to get on the field with an .900 OPS. He's not great. I've watched him quite a few times live in Wichita, playing either 2nd or 3rd with Lee at short. He makes the plays on the balls hit to him but not much more. He's a bit better than Julien in my estimation and might actually be decent at 1st. Long term he's a trade guy, don't get too attached. The better he hits at AAA the better for the org.

Ahem, the new pass code to the game thread is "as expected" please pass it on.

Possible, E-Rod is quite the longshot though. Do they all have to be on the same team? These prospect list rankings are interesting and they can be as varied as every evaluator will be slightly different in what they value. The end game is the same though, how many can you develop to the big club and there are only so many slots. Like everything else in baseball, the hindsight is the only true evaluation but these discussions are fun. Obviously the Orioles are going to be close to the top because so many of their prospects look like they will be impact players in the majors. That adds up, but if the Twins get the same number of impact players out of their system which was was better? Julien wasn't exactly a hot prospect until last week, but he can be an impact player. A Julien gets no attention in the Orioles system and probably doesn't get the same development chance being behind so many guys. The Twins and their good drafting fortune the last two years could have 7-8 major contributors from the farm system in no time. There won't be room for everyone but 2026 could easily feature Lee, Lewis, Jenkins, E-Rod, Kirilloff, Ober, Varland and Buxton as drafted successes. Insert one of Wallner, Larnach, Miranda, Julien etc as you see fit. I would also count Duran, Martin, SWR etc if they make it as farm system successes as they were prospect trades. These ranks are interesting but ultimately mean very little. The money is made on picking the right ones to keep and developing them once you have them in the building. Developing an 18th round pick into something that can be traded for a legit starting pitcher is a huge win.

Prolly, it doesn't matter how good the pizza is I'll eat it.

It's a pretty private club. You'll need the secret code word and knock.

Key point is that they have all relieved before, at some level. They do it all pre-season getting ready. We aren't reinventing the wheel here. Sure they probably won't be the first choice for a mid-inning appearance in the playoffs but they can certainly start a fresh inning anywhere in the game. They will know who's on tap for a given day and be ready, just like the rest of the pen. It's still pitching, we aren't asking them to DH.

The utility role that plays 5 or 6 times a week is a very high level role. So long as it's because they are trying to get him in the lineup rather than a who's left role I like it.

Martin is the prospect I’m happiest to see coming together. He fits the roster perfectly replacing the Nick Gordon role with more positional flexibility and options. Being right handed is a nice perk too. He’s also not a guy we are trying to mold into something useful, he’s a high pedigree guy who is trying to get healthy and do what he’s already been able to do. He has significant potential to be a great fit. He would probably play as much as Castro but not be exposed by to much playing time.

The 5th starter need is to start managing innings and setting up for the playoffs. The typical rotation is going to change in the next few weeks.

At some point they have to put him out there unless they are worried about a long term aggravation of the injury. He has to play there for the stretch run and if he goes down again so be it. I haven't read all the way through the thread yet but has anyone mentioned where we would put CES, Steer, Urshela and Arraez yet?

Its good to preserve his option.

I've been beating the Varland drum for a while now. No reason to believe it precludes future starting for him and its the only way he can make the postseason roster without a catastrophe. He also seems like a guy who can really pump it up in a short stint. Paddock would be a natural fit as well. Meada didn't come back last year because the team tanked. Had there been a playoff run Meada would have gotten a look and I don't see any non-medical reason why they wouldn't give Paddock some hitters. How he looks and feels decides how far it goes. If he's on track bring him back. Kuechel is a no. Can't strike anyone out, struggles controlling the running game, opposite of a firefighter. I can't think of a single game situation where I would want to use him our of the pen. I'm good with him hanging around for a while, making spot starts to eat innings and setup a post season rotation but I can't see him making the postseason roster. Meada is pitching too well to fool with. Depending on how Ryan comes back the rotation will be interesting. I could see him piggy back with someone but he needs to stay stretched out. Paddock and Varland would be enough to provide real options, just like making a trade™️. I still think the only way to make a run this year is to pitch our way through and we might as well throw all the arms at we can.

Agreed, but he'll still finish ahead of Gray and deservedly so. A mention that a guy pitching in his spare time is as good or better across the board than Gray is good context.

He's still available at +10,000 odds (appropriate) if you are so inclined. I'll keep my powder dry. I feel like a guy like Shohei Ohtani would deserve at least a mention. No shade on Sonny, haha, but he ain't in this conversation.

And couldn’t break 3 WAR. I also don’t need him to sign that same contract. It won’t be the money that stops it.

I'm not one prone to hyperbole and not reacting to one game. The Schwarber comp is a good one. He hits leadoff for a legit contender and can't catch a cold.

It also returned a 30 for 30 home run estimation. 108.2, 412ft and 38 degrees is caught 25% of the time in a bizarro galaxy. Those two facts don't add up. I've said it a million times. The teams that can process the data properly will be successful. Any team that takes the data as presented will fail. As in business, success is found in others mistakes. I firmly believe no major league team is using the public statcast data as presented to us rubes. They would be fools to.

A reminder that contracts and especially arbitrations are largely decided on the aggregate and by the end of this Gallo cycle the FO might look pretty good. Schwarber got 79m, Gallo might still get in QO range. Gallo is accumulating some money stats and can catch too.

I can't help but notice that Varland is on the same schedule as Kuechel. Wonder if its just a co-inkidink.

Great thread and great stories. I wouldn't have a place to tell this otherwise but it's nice to tell these things we remember vividly. I was born in a tiny town in SW North Dakota with no cable TV and antenna reception of 1.5 to 2.5 channels. What we had was KNDC, the mighty 1490, which carried Herb Carneal and the Twins. As I understand it, I was infatuated with baseball on the radio very early and while I can remember "sneaking" the radio under the pillow at night, that post dates this memory. My first and most vivid memory of the Twins and sports in general was the 1987 World Series. I turned 9 that October. I don't remember a single thing about the season, the series, the team or anything sports related. My interest had to have been radio related but you couldn't prove it by me. The thing I remember, like yesterday, was begging my mom to take me to grandma's house to watch a game as she had basic cable in her apartment. No idea which game I actually got to watch but it had to have been a weekend. A school night would not have been an option. I think it was one of the later games as the excitement built she may have relented but I have no idea. The other part of the memory is of my mom and grandma (dad's mom) sitting at the kitchen table waiting for the game to be over. I'm sure it was late and all the coffee and chit chat was exhausted and they were long ready for bed. Later in life I can recognize the feeling when a woman who is being exceptionally patient with my **** is ready to be done but I didn't know it at the time. I now know it was that same feeling. At the time I was oblivious and loving it, although I don't remember a thing about the game. We all know how that series finished and when I was 13 they won it again. Like so many Minnesota sports fans of my age (44) my expectations were damaged in a way we still can't fully understand. My relationship with baseball on the radio continued and at 15 I started working at that same radio station after school and in the summer evenings. If you are tracking along with the timeline that was John Gordon, who was great, and the 93-98 Twins, who were not. Somehow it didn't matter what the team did. Surely I tuned out quite a few blow outs and missed many a 10 second ID break and a few inning breaks as well. Fortunately in those days the feed still was live with crowd noise so it wasn't dead air. I still prefer baseball on the radio and with the advent of technology I've devised several ways to watch on TV with synced radio audio. I became a Twins fans literally because it was the only option and here I am. It's still the only option and it still doesn't matter if they are any good. Although I have my frustrations as we all do, I still follow every day. One day, I'll get that feeling again and this time I'll remember it. Bonus side story. Very similar situation with Saturday night WWF wrasslin. I would beg to stay up and watch because everyone would be talking about it at school Monday. Mom would say "I'll wake you up when it starts" Uh huh, sure she would. I was sleeping so good she would say. Then I got nothing for school on Monday. I did get to watch a few times but must have fallen for the same thing 100 times. 😂

I'm putting Varland in the bullpen in about 2 weeks. The starter depth will be less important the later we get and I'm very interested in him cutting it loose in a short stint. It's his only good route to the post season roster and he can start again next year.