jmlease1

Bradley had to battle through it, but dang he's got good stuff. Hopefully he can get deeper in games. Nice to see Royce crack one. He's a confidence player, so that could be the sort of thing that gets him on a roll. Was nice to see him swipe a bag too. Bullpen got it done. Funderburk was a bit unlucky; neither hit he gave up was especially hard hit. Good win.

I wasn't 100% sure where they were going to start Culpepper this season; it's great to see that they thought he was ready for AAA and even better for him to get out to a fast start. He's looking legit. The last step is the hardest, but Culpepper has smashed every challenge so far. Prospect summary is off though: Rodriguez was 0-4 with a run, a walk, and a K, not 0-5 with 2 K's.

Would not have minded seeing Klein on the MLB roster from the jump, but I think he will get chances to relieve this season if he keeps refining his pitching. He's got a power arm and we need more of that from the right side in the bullpen, so there will be opportunities.

He also has an agent that prefers to let players go to free agency, especially guys who have made enough or are eligible to make enough through arbitration that they're already set for life. Sucks to be a franchise that people treat as the stepping stone.

Love Joe Ryan. Really fun pitcher to watch work. Wish we could extend him.

At least there was a Byron Buxton triple to watch. That's always fun.

only teams that don't hype their prospects and hope guys break out are ones with payrolls over $200M.

I think Roden has to be listed as a loser out of this camp. He never really had much of a chance to earn a spot on the roster, despite having nothing left to do in AAA. His option year and Outman's lack of one is sending him to Saint Paul rather than give him a real chance to see if he can be an impact hitter. It's funny to see Wallner mentioned here, but it says something about how a sector of Twins fans view him. He's been a quality hitter over his MLB career, but his style is so despised by some that at any sign of trouble the pitchforks get sharpened and the torches lit. There was never any real chance that Wallner was going to be dismissed from his starting role, but you had people around here immediately jumping on a slow start to the spring training as "proof" that the Twins should move on from him.

Because being a wonderful defender means his hitting will improve? Look, I hope everyone is right and he becomes at least an acceptable hitter, but the early returns should make people nervous. His defense made him worth taking a flier on, and it's possible that will be enough to get him up to MLB. As a mid-first round pick...why not? Maybe the struggles in Cedar Rapids was just long season challenges. Maybe it was the stress of having to move...again. Maybe it was just small sample size. But maybe he's not a good hitter once you give him a wooden bat and take him out of the Wake Forest bandbox. I hope I'm wrong. I'd love nothing better than for him to hit .280-.300, take some walks and pop a few doubles if/when someone hangs a breaking ball or grooves a fastball. Notably, Greg Gagne never hit below .270 in A-ball, was in AA at 20, and hit quite well for a SS in those days for 2 seasons at AAA before installing himself at SS in the Twin Cities.

Props to Shelton for recognizing that "best shape of his life" needs to be retired.

That's a real possibility. Just because someone is playing doesn't mean they're truly healthy, and you do see with many injuries that it takes a long time to fully trust in it again. While I don't expect Wallner to be "good" defensively, landing back to where he was would be very helpful

Zero chance Houston is playing SS for the Twins in 2027 unless disasters have happened injury-wise. He simply has not shown he can hit, and he might not be in AAA in 2027 if he doesn't show real improvement at the plate. I get that everyone loves his D (and it's excellent), but he'd make Kreidler look like a fine hitter in comparison right now. To me this isn't a make-or-break season for Lee in terms of his baseball career, but it will likely show more about what his path is. If he takes a big leap forward at the plate, he'll stay on the path to be a starting infielder, even if it's not at SS. If he takes a solid step forward defensively while making modest improvements at the plate, he'll stay on that starting path. If the D doesn't improve at SS and he doesn't take much of a step forward at the plate, then he likely starts shifting towards a utility role. It's not the sort of thing where he's off the roster next season or heading overseas to play if this season doesn't go great: he's still cheap and shown some useful skills. But whether he's seen as a potential starter or a bench guy going forward is probably going to be clearer after this season. I hope he hits and figures out how to lay off pitches that he can make contact with, but not do anything with.

Wallner's defense will be interesting. He was far worse last season in RF than he's ever been before, but it wasn't just one thing that tanked him. So was it just a bad year, hampered in part by injuries and maybe him dragging his struggles at the plate into the field? Is it correctable where he goes back to be below average (but acceptable) instead of just kinda bad? I'm not going to pretend he's a good defender, but if he can get back to what he was the previous 2 seasons, both offensively & defensively, the only people who will be complaining about Wallner are the ones who hate K's so much they'd rather cut him than play him. Modest improvements from several guys would be impactful, even if it doesn't move them up to being plus defensively. But some of it is going to be challenging based on the roster design.

When you lump Wallner in with Larnach you lose credibility. They're simply not the same player in terms of style or value. Wallner has been far more productive than Larnach. (this is like the Sano v Kepler debates, where people kept trying to argue that Kepler was as good a hitter as Sano entirely because they didn't like Sano's K's....)

If Houston's hit tool is an honorable mention then either our system is utterly bereft of quality hitters or we need to change how we rank & evaluate them. Because right now, even excusing him from needing any power production, he needs a lot of work. He looked totally overmatched in his brief stint at High A and his total production in the minors doesn't scream top hit tool.

I think there's a fair amount of opportunity for Keaschall to improve defensively at 2B with reps. Because of injuries, he really hasn't gotten a lot of time there, and he has the physical tools to be at least average. Playing Martin more in LF would help; he looked good there last season in a limited role and has the speed and range to get to a lot of balls. (Even if Outman's defense in CF has slipped, he should be better than he showed out last season in the corners, right?) Lee's range is a concern still: maybe he's gotten quicker and can position himself better? Might be asking too much. He does seem to make the plays he gets to at least, which is more than you can say about some. But it's not a strong defensive team. It could get stronger fairly quickly if they hadn't committed to Larnach and formed a weird attachment to Outman, but we are where we are. (moving Wallner/Bell to DH and letting a better fielder take their spot consistently, whether it's Clemens or Rodriguez would have been nice) Lewis looked like a good defender at 3B last season at least? It was good to see him not drag his problems with the bat into the field, at least. I'd be more willing to accept the poor defense if they made up for it with superior hitting. We'll see if enough of the bats are strong enough to live with their limitations. Seems questionable.

with this roster construction, though, you have 1 of 2 choices vs LHP. stick one of them in-between a couple of righties higher in the lineup and roll the dice that it doesn't kill a rally, or stack a couple of them at the bottom and take an inning off. Wallner might be the least bad choice of our LH hitting OF/1B/DH types, because Clemens is unplayable vs LHP, Larnach stinks at it too, and does anyone have faith in Outman? one of them seemingly has to start against LHP. Which ain't great.

Always funny to see professional athletes lie about their height.

I'm sure the Twins prefer him at 2B, and I'm aware he didn't play there last season. But I suspect he'd pick up the glove and run out there in a minute if asked, and he'd probably be credible. If Arcia is the backup infielder, it would be interesting to see whether they would have him slide in at 3B if Royce goes down or have Lee do it and move in Arcia at SS? neither is unreasonable, but I suspect it'll depend on how well lee is doing at SS... I'd rather have Martin playing more in LF: he's got the ability to be quite good there defensively and can add on the bases. Larnach can't add anything but hitting. I'd also prefer to make Outman superfluous, but I could see them playing him in LF and DHing Larnach in order to justify keeping him. While I think Outman won't hit once we're past ST...I could be wrong? If he hits, he could add in LF too...I just don't think he'll hit and he'll linger on the roster until June...not hitting.

It'll be interesting to see if they split the RH bats up at the top of the order? I could see them going Keaschall, Larnach, Buxton, Wallner, Lewis, Bell, Jeffers, Clemens/Outman, and Lee against RHP Again LHP maybe it's Keaschall, Martin, Buxton, Wallner, Lewis, Bell, Jeffers, Caratini, and Lee? I think Keaschall gets the first chance at leadoff, and I'm fine with that. Would rather have Buxton lower down where he's more likely to have opportunities with runners on base? Martin is a reasonable choice too, but I think they'll give Keaschall the first bite and they're still likely to give Larnach et al more ABs in the OF to let Martin take the job. It'll be interesting. I'm going to be very interested to see how aggressive this roster is on the bases; they have some guys with speed, but also some real plodders.

I don't think Arcia not playing 3B in ST means much: He can probably slide over there without needing much prep, but Brooks Lee can slide down there if needed, and Clemens can fill in there too if/when Lewis gets hurt. Sure, these are not terribly compelling options, but if lewis doesn't hit at 3B this season we have bigger issues than who back him up. I prefer Arcia to Gray by a lot. Gray looks like a rotten hitter and his defense doesn't impress me much either. Hopefully neither are used much... The Larnach deal still baffles me. He'd better hit, because the roster spot is almost as valuable as the $5M. I hope they're right about Outman. I don't think they are. I would love to be wrong, but I'd rather see Roden or Rodriguez in that spot.

LOL, you're using "losing" Paddack as support for why the rotation will top out at mediocre? I'd much rather have Abel in the rotation than Paddack! But again, the issue isn't what the most likely outcome will be for the rotation, it's whether or not the "at best" outcome will be for them. There are real talents in this rotation that have high upsides.

Clearly, you and I use "at best" differently. It might end up being a mediocre rotation, but if Abel kicks butt and Bradley is quality there's nothing mediocre about it as a unit. Ober didn't have a good season in 2025, but still put up a bWAR of 1.1 and had a Game Score of 50+ in 16 of his 26 starts. That's pretty comparable to most teams 5th best starter. It's still disappointing, and means he'll likely be moving on rather than keep paying him if he can't get it back, but it's not a disaster if guys like Abel & Bradley are able to fill his previous role.

I don't mind the team taking a flyer on vets like Urshela and Chafin to see if they have anything left. I just get worried when their "veteran-ness" gets them extra credit that their performance doesn't merit. Seems like the right decisions here: Chafin didn't have the velo and we have plenty of LHP options for the bullpen. Urshela wasn't hitting, is limited on defense, and is unlikely to find the fountain of youth during the season. If his bat was back, he might have been an interesting replacement for Clemens as a RH hitter, but if he's not hitting, he doesn't fit. I'm a little more surprised that Hendriks didn't stick, but the Twins were clearly looking at more than just his velo in making a call on him, and I'm fine with that. I'd much rather the Twins roll with the younger players at this point, so no complaints in letting these vets go. Maybe they'll catch on elsewhere, but all of them look a bit washed.

I'm not expecting a WS title either, but your projections on the rotation make little sense to me. There may be question marks about the rotation because Bradley & Abel are unproven and Ober's velocity is down, but the upside isn't "mediocre". Ryan, as noted, is an all-star. SWR gets knocked a lot, but is still actually quite young for his experience and has pitched well for the Twins: other teams would have loved to had a guy like him pitching as their 4th starter. Ober isn't a #2 starter any longer if he can't get his velocity back, but as a 4th or 5th starter he can still be additive (with the shortage of competent starting pitching in MLB, the bar for a 4th or 5th starter is lower than most people realize). But Bradley and Abel have very high upside. Both have the talent and the stuff to be playoff caliber starters, and if his control gets to where it was in ST, then Abel has ace written all over him. That puts the ceiling awfully high...not mediocre. Are they going to get there this season? That's less likely: between injuries, inexperience, and just luck expecting a 90th percentile result from everyone is silly. But even the floor for this team's rotation is pretty solid and the best case scenario has Abel looking like a young ace, paired with an experienced all-star in Ryan, with Bradley chewing up innings and being a playoff caliber starter as your 3rd guy. There's still more upside to be found in SWR as well, and while expecting Ober to rediscover his velo at this point may be pie in the sky, if the expectation is for him to eat innings and hold down the 5th spot....he's probably viable even if he mostly repeats 2025. Add in the depth we have in AAA and they actually have the ability to survive even more injuries than we've already suffered. I like the rotation. There's volatility in it with younger pitchers that aren't proven yet...but the upside is quite high. They might flunk out (I personally think there's people around here rooting for that, since the top prospects were picked under the Falvey regime) but they are at least worth watching and have real upside. Very glad Abel is getting his chance: he earned it.