jmlease1

It's unlikely that Lackey is playing for the Twins in 2027, but the idea the Twins don't move prospects quickly through the organization is based more on hype and whining than evidence that they slow play their prospects substantially more than other organizations. Culpepper only played 1 full season in the minors, and in the equivalent of less than 2 full seasons worth of games moved 5 levels. (and would have been up in MLB sooner if he hadn't picked up an injury) Keaschall had a similar path and was aggressively promoted despite a significant arm injury. For all the complaining about waiting too long on Jenkins, he's still in MLB at 21. Twins move up prospects quickly that they think are ready for more. Won't be surprised at all if Houston starts next season in AAA and is looking at the Culpepper path. 2027 arrival is very very aggressive and seems unlikely just because he hasn't played a game above A-ball yet, catchers usually need time to develop their skill sets, and he was just drafted this year. Seems likely that he starts the season in AA in 2027, but his movement up will be based more on what he shows he can do and what he's ready for rather than the idea that the Twins have some organizational philosophy about not moving prospects quickly through the minors.

I'm very pleased with what we've seen from Winokur and Diaw upon promotion to AA. They're having nice seasons and are interesting prospects. It'll be interesting to see how aggressive the Twins are with promotion for them next season? Houston had a pretty brutal August (I'm going to guess he hit the wall a bit with his first full pro season) but it'd be great if he can put together a good September and finish the year on a strong note. The overall season has been quite good and I'm much less concerned about his bat now. I have trouble getting too excited about SBs in the minors, especially the low minors. Pitchers aren't doing a lot to hold runners on, the catchers are still developing so even ones with real arms aren't necessarily very accurate with them, and the inexperienced fielders aren't exactly polished up to handle every off-target throw and make a good tag. Kala'i Rosario stole 30+ bags in AA last season. He's not exactly running wild in Saint Paul and he's getting on base plenty. It's fun seeing a guy get 50 swipes, but how much does it really mean?

well, if that happens, it'll be really easy to complain about how bad the Twins are.

I assume it's still Rocco's fault...somehow. There is real potential for the rotation in 2027, and there's also real injury risk. It's nigh-impossible to make your rotation injury-proof; the big advantage the teams like the Mets & Dodgers have is when a pitcher goes down they can buy themselves out of jail in a season or less. When Pablo went out for the season, it's pretty hard for a team like the twins to just go drop $20M+ on the best FA pitcher available or to throw out a bunch of prospects to rent a guy from another team. Risk is simply part of the reality with starting pitching. What is likely the biggest problem for the Twins next season is having those depth spots if they lose 1-2 starters for more than a start or three. We went into 2026 thinking it was going to be Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Bradley, and SWR. But we also had Abel, Zebby, Prielipp, Rojas, and even Morris as options. (heck there were some people who thought Festa was going to be an option this year) So when Lopez couldn't get out of spring training, we had options. When SWR went sour, we had choices. When Abel went down...uh-oh. When Bradley went down... Lopez and Abel out for the season. Ryan missed significant time. SWR imploded. Ober has missed real time. Festa (unsurprisingly) never pitched. The depth got run over...and we don't have that same depth for 2027 in the minors. The ceiling is high on the 2027 rotation. Big injuries take the floor out from under the team. I like a rotation of Lopez, Bradley, Abel, Prielipp, and Kremer quite a bit (assuming Ryan gets dealt; if not the rotation is even better). But where's the depth? Zebby's out of options, so he's not waiting in AAA to step in. Festa might get another option but also might never pitch again. Morris may have found a home in the bullpen. So now we're talking Rojas and not a lot else.

There's something to be said for a player being able to just make all of the plays they're expected to make at a position. At 3B, Brooks Lee is definitely on that path; at SS his lack of range simply had too many balls going past him that he couldn't get to, as explained quite well in this piece. It's also quite a good sign that Lee has improved significantly every season as a hitter, and it's not like this year's stats are inflated by an unsustainable and uncharacteristic BABIP or something like that. There are definitely still areas in which he could improve, and after this season's general success hitting fastballs I would expect he'll see a lot fewer of them next year, so that will be an important adjustment. If he can figure out his RH swing that's probably the area where we could see the most impact. Another positive: he's not put up these numbers by having one outstanding month and then 2 crappy ones. He's been fairly consistent all season, regardless of the position he's played or what's going on for him in the field. Take a few more walks, chase fewer of those off-speed pitches low and away, be less crappy against LHP, and continue to hone your game at 3B...that's a quality starter.

I tend to agree with the arguments that this is only a collapse in terms of the context of being in the playoff hunt because of the poor overall performance of the AL and now not really being in there any longer because the twins have continued to be the twins of 2026 while other teams have performed better. We kind of are who we thought we were. Now, we would have been better positioned if Falvey hadn't nuked the bullpen and not bothered to try and rebuild it before he was ushered out of the building, and Zoll didn't do much to shore things up when he took full command either until the deadline. Maybe that's because the Tom & Jeremy Show took over too late, maybe they were mostly ok with the Falvey path until we got well into the season...who knows? The Pablo injury hurt a lot. Lowered the ceiling and the floor in one shot, which is what happens when a lower payroll team loses one of its highest paid and best players. The other injuries to Buxton and Ryan and Jeffers, while significant are more within the "well, injuries are going to happen" range, rather than the catastrophic. Shelton has been fine as a manager, generally. We tend to overrate managers when the team has success, and overly blame them when the team does poorly. I'm not sure there's been as much actual change in performance or orientation from Rocco to Sheltie as the people who have consistently trashed Rocco over the past few years would like to believe. If the Twins are running more it's because they have more players with speed. The defense still isn't good; Shelton didn't really change anything there, and he's got blind spots like everyone else (like his mysterious attachment to playing Larnach in LF when his attributes almost certain make him a better fit in RF and keaschall's best traits make him a better fit in LF, and Austin Martin had already shown he could be a quality defender in LF and simply never had the arm for RF...) I think there was a belief that the Twins were going to play better and be more consistent in August after shoring up weaknesses in the roster, and instead they've continued to be inconsistent and frustrating, with flashes of potential and increased expectations.

Keaschall is definitely on a 2 month heater. Brutal start to the season. Strange power outage in June. But crushing it in July & August. Deserving winner. But Culpepper sure looks like he'll get a few of these hitter of the month" awards. Heck of a start to the MLB career.

I'm really rooting for this guy. He's battled so many injuries, and I respect his determination to keep trying to pursue the dream. (By all accounts he's incredibly smart and certainly would have other opportunities) My expectations are zero. Hopefully he still can get back his velocity and be able to get guys out. That would be awesome. I think he'll likely end up in the bullpen at this point, but regardless: him getting back on the mound is a win for him. Hopefully he's back in the system next season, healthy and with a real opportunity in the high minors to get himself to MLB. Good luck to him. He's always been talented.

Me too. I have no expectations for him at this point, but I'm rooting for the dude. He's been through so much and worked so hard to keep trying to fulfill that dream. So talented and his career has been wrecked by injury. I'll never forgive those idiots at Rice. If he pitches a few games at some level this season that would be great.

Tait is having an interesting season. He's been inconsistent at the plate, but you can see the talent. But here's how young he is: this season he's only had 25 PA's against pitchers younger than him. Lackey is likely to fly past him in the minors; there's no question that he's the more polished player and ready for more advanced work. But there's a lot to like about Tait. Rodriguez just needs to stay healthy. I don't know that he's going to get a chance in MLB this season (or much of a meaningful one, anyways) which is a bummer; if they had succeeded in moving Larnach there would be greater opportunity. Hopefully he can get some reps in at winter ball or something and come into spring training ready to battle for a roster spot. The idea of our 4 primary OF being Buxton, Jenkins, Keaschall, and Rodriguez in some combination is pretty tasty. I'm still baffled as to why Winokur keeps playing so much SS, but maybe Houston hitting the wall is part of that. Regardless, I'm pretty pleased with how Winokur is going this season. Nice to see him rip another homer, and his ceiling still seems pretty dang high to me. Congrats to Danny De Andrade on finally getting up to AA; it seemed like he was getting passed over by everyone and might as well buy a house in Cedar Rapids...

Well, they smashed the Motor City Kitties pretty thoroughly. Nice to see the offense pile it up. Jenkins may not have gotten any hits, but I do like the way he takes ABs. Culpepper and Keaschall are rolling at the plate; nice to see the guys who have a real future with the team playing well. Not a stellar defensive game, but better so see the other team be on the short end of that stick for once. Max Clark is pretty good, we're going to be dealing with him for a long time.

Congrats to Ben Ross, who has earned a chance to show what he can do. Maybe he's another guy who can beat up on minor league pitching and can't make the leap, but you never know and it's worth taking a look at him. His defensive flexibility is a nice feature, and he's a guy who can legit play all over the place, not just stand at a position and pretend he can cover it. Even if all he can do is punish the crap out of LHP he could end up being a useful platoon asset. I hope the Twins don't just let him rot on the bench and have him pinch run/defensive replacement late in games. Let him get some real ABs and see what happens. Be great if he shows enough to take Kreidler's job for next season.

I really don't know what to think about Rosario at this point. He swings hard, K's a lot, hits homers, plays poor defense, will swipe a bag if you don't hold him on, and might be a right-handed version of Matt Wallner? That's a useful player unless/until opposing pitchers find a clear weakness that they can exploit. He'll be despised around here because of the K's if he comes up, and he doesn't have Wallner's arm. But the Twins have needed RH thump to counter LHP... The gap between AAA and MLB is fairly significant, but there's an argument to be made that Rosario has been the best hitter for the Saints this season. (I'd still take Jenkins or Rodriguez, but Rosario has a higher OPS than either of them) Biggest argument against Rosario for that is he's only had 102 PA's in AAA, and that's just not a lot. He's been better in AAA than he was in AA so far this season. Again, is this just small sample size or is he figuring things out? I'm still a little skeptical. He kind of got passed over by Fedko (who has the advantage of being a quality OF) and while Fedko did nothing with the Twins...he didn't exactly get much opportunity either. But this is part of why I'd be pretty comfortable moving on from Larnach next season and playing "the kids" in the OF. Between Jenkins, Rodriguez, Gonzalez, Mendez, Fedko, and Rosario it's not like there aren't options especially with Keaschall needing to find a defensive home, and Martin maybe still being around too. Maybe Rosario is part of that mix? It'll be interesting to see if he gets added to the 40-man.

Bradley was really good, I thought. He really has been the ace of the staff and is having a career season. If he manages to tick that walk rate down a bit, he could be an all-star. I'm not enjoying seeing some of these position players trying to throw BP at the end of a blowout. 34 mph lobs are funny for one batter and then it's pretty tedious. But congrats to Walker Jenkins for parking one; they all count, no asterisks.

Twins should have plenty of options to support CF next season for sure. Jenkins is a legit CF, Rodriguez is as well. That should make it easier to ensure that Keaschall isn't stretched there and you have coverage for CF if/when Buxton goes down. It's a little sad to see so much negativity directed at Buxton. It's not like the dude is asking to get hurt, and if anything his willingness to play (which for some players would be called "gutty") through injury is being treated as a detriment. He's still as good a hitter as anyone on this team; even with his slump before going on the IL again he's got an OPS+ of 130. 130! Even with only 93 games he's got the highest bWAR on the roster. The lineup has 3 issues to address for 2027: How much are they willing to go with untested young players like Rodriguez to fill in holes like RF How much can they rely on Clemens at 2B (we've been pretty happy with him this season, but he's very streaky, hopeless against LHP, and even in a career year he's going to top out as an average to slightly above average regular) Is it worth rolling the dice on another try for Lewis at 1B (and maybe a little 2B)? The defense has shown signs of being good, but he's also another streaky hitter who has slowed down after his June blitz upon recall. Will he give the team enough or is that the spot to look to invest in? I think you have to go with youth in the OF in 2027, plus Buxton. Jenkins, Rodriguez, Keaschall, and one of Roden/Gonzalez/Mendez certainly gives you enough coverage for the OF and DH. The really hard questions are about 1B and 2B. Clemens is a nice floor-setter, but the ceiling isn't high. But if you believe in Marek Houston, 2B is probably where you project Culpepper to go, unless you're convinced Lee is hitting his ceiling. (Notably, Lee has hit about as well as Clemens, and is a fine 3B and is 5 years younger. Lee has improved every season he's been in MLB, so presuming he's peaked already seems...overly pessimistic) 1B is one of the easier spots to fill in FA, but are we going to do that much better than Royce or just spend more money? Would going into next season with a full offseason position Royce well to be good out the gate? Buxton, Keaschall, Jenkins, and Culpepper should be quality offensive players. Lee, Clemens, and Lewis should at least be average. That's a pretty good lineup, even if Caratini and/or Jackson is bad, especially if they get real contributions from Rodriguez (or Roden/Gonzalez/Mendez)