jmlease1

I think Rodriguez should be strongly considered for a mid-season promotion to AAA, especially if he keeps hitting like this. Goodness, he's been better in AA than he was in high A. Sure, the Texas League is a hitter's environment, but he's 21 and crushing it. He still strikes out a lot, but when you're drawing almost as many walks as Ks, hitting .280 and have an OPS of 1.054...are we really that worried about the K's?

I hope that they continue to give him more; at a certain point he has to show he can throw 80+ pitches and be effective if he's going to stay as a starter. He did great in this outing, and that's good. But he's so hard to evaluate when he's still only throwing 50-60 pitches and 3-4 innings. Love seeing Jenkins, Lee, and Cory Lewis all on the stat sheet. Love seeing the injured guys getting back into it. Lewis is probably going to need several starts to get going and get ramped up, but just seeing him throwing again is good news.

Love seeing the Twins working counts and drawing walks like this. Texas is lucky we didn't blow this one out. Good things will continue to come if we keep piling on the baserunners. Good that Paddack was able to grind through 5; hopefully the velocity bounces back, but you have to expect days like this for a guy coming off a substantial injury. The fact that he was able to get through without his best stuff and keep us in the game is good news, I think. The blast from Kirilloff sure helped. Hopefully he gets on a bit of a run and the hits pile up for him. I still believe in his talent; when he's going well it's as sweet a swing as you'll see and he can hammer hits all over the park. Keep it rolling!

A good win, but I wanted to chuck the plate umpire into the Mississippi with the sequence in the bottom 3rd into the top of the 4th, because it's the kind of inconsistency that drives me absolutely batty (and clearly our hitters too). Ump expanded the zone putting our hitters in a hole with pitches that did not look like strikes and hadn't been called as strikes earlier in the game (especially on the inside part of the plate to LH hitters); down 0-2 they were in a real problem against the low changeup as they're trying to cover the whole (and what they saw as very wide) plate. Top 4, Ober is throwing pitches in the same spots...and not getting the same calls. It didn't end up mattering, but it's so aggravating. Morneau doesn't go after umpires that much, but he was on it. Glad to see Kirilloff pound a homer. He's been scrabbling for a month and needed this. Hopefully he can get back to smashing line drives. 10 hits and 5 walks is usually going to score more than 3 runs, and the approach at the plate was good by the offense. Excellent work by the bullpen to nail down the win. Okert having a weird season; he's pitched pretty well overall and has a solid ERA+...but has also managed to blow 5 saves already. He's been death against LH, but he needs to limit the damage against RH better or he going to be restricted in what he can do for us. Good work in this game, though.

because RBIs are a relevant stat. (not that it really matters, but your pace is way off unless you're assuming Correa misses significant time again the rest of the season) You've said yourself that he's one of the best defenders we've had since Gagne (who last played for the Twins in 1992); the only other one in this range was Simmons, who couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. He's the best hitter we've at at SS in franchise history (Smalley is the only other real contender). I would argue that any downgrade in his defense is based on the rules change that forces the infielders to position themselves on the dirt. He's been penalized by the league, but hasn't actually gotten any worse. It's too bad, because his arm is awesome at SS and he could make plays on guys who were sure that they were going to beat out the grounder, and they took some of that away to...get more soft singles and give an advantage to fast infielders who can't throw? Banning the shift was fine, expanding the bases and limiting pickoffs to invigorate the running game worked, but telling infielders with great arms they can't play back is dumb.

I think they'll be making more of the promotion decisions in June; while I wouldn't mind advancing the calendar a bit I'm not going to get super upset if they stay on a June timeline. Culpepper and Nowlin were both very good, and they're intriguing prospects. It'd be nice to have a LH starter in the mix, but Nowlin still has things to work on. I think either him or Ohl would make sense to move to AAA, which opens space for Culpepper in Wichita (and Cory Lewis on his return). I like the wave that's coming through in AA with the pitchers, going to be interesting to see how that winnows out. You have to assume that not all of them are going to keep doing this well, but it sure would be an awesome problem to have. Walker Jenkins is too good to play in rookie ball...which is awesome. Hammy looks fine, hopefully it doesn't give him any more trouble. No objections to the Twins being cautious in working him back, though: he's a special player. get him right, and let him wreak havoc upon his enemies! Lee will bear watching. Back injuries can be tricky and everything can be going great and then it flares again. Hopefully he's feeling good, feeling strong and can put it past him. I'm looking forward to having him in Saint Paul ASAP.

Assumes facts not in evidence. Emma has neutral splits so far in his professional career and demonstrated that he has the ability to hit LHP even as a LH batter. The Twins sit LH in MLB that have shown they are less effective against LHP. I'd say it's pretty likely they'll give E-Rod a shot to hit lefties consistently until he shows he can't. I really don't understand why people oppose platooning when a hitter is clearly worse against same-sided pitching. Did we learn nothing from watching Jacque Jones struggle mightily against LHP?

is this satire? Correa has an OPS+ of 133 as of 5/24. That's outstanding, especially at SS. From 1999-2023 guess how many times the Twins primary SS had an OPS+ of 130 or better? Once, by Carlos Correa in 2022. Number of times with an OPS+ over 120? Twice. (2019 Polanco). Number of times Twins SS had an OPS+ under 100 (aka, league average hitting)? 19 times. In 25 years before this season we had SS with an OPS+ above league average exactly 6 times (and half the time they were barely scraping over the line). The package of hitting and defense Correa brings is massive. I'm thrilled to have a top SS like Correa. he looks healthy this season and is playing great.

nice to have an injury update covering the entire system in one place. not so nice to have it be such a lengthy list! looking forward to seeing a few guys come off it like Jenkins, Lee, and Lewis (x2).

Keaschall is making it look like he doesn't have anything left to learn in A-ball and should probably get a promotion to AA fairly soon. pretty impressive at 21. Glad to see Doncon moving up as well and looking forward to seeing how he performs. It's great to see Matthews having strong early success at AA. Happy 24th, mah dude! happy to have him out of A-ball and going against better hitters and working in a hitter-friendly environment in the Texas League. If he's able to thrive there it's a good sign, because there should be plenty of hitters who are advanced enough to be a challenge. So far, it's been about as good as you could possibly ask. Wichita has 5 interesting starting pitching prospects right now with Matthews, Raya, Ohl, Nowlin, and Morris and that's without Lewis throwing an inning. Fun group, glad to see them all in AA.

Yeah, I found that baffling as well. I moved Prielipp off my top 20 completely; it doesn't matter how much talent you have if you never play. Much like Canterino. I'm rooting for them both and I have on their upside, but as prospects they both fall off the list for me. I dinged Lewis some since he hasn't pitched yet this season, and as a college pitcher showing success at AA quickly is fairly important for his future prospects, but not as much, since he's still expected to pitch this season (so far) and this is his first bout with injury. There's a lot of talent on the Twins prospect list; hopefully they'll be able to shake some of the injury bug and show what they're capable of.

he's got a good fastball when he only has to throw it for about an inning. Jax couldn't make in MLB as a starter and they already tried it. he might do a little better now having refined his slider, but his fastball would almost certainly drop off. He's become a great bullpen arm. Trying to reverse course with these guys almost never works and would almost certainly do little to help the rotation while simultaneously weakening the bullpen. Seems extremely bad.

If you believe that the -0.5 WAR defines that player and who they will be for the rest of the season at this point in May...then no, there's no point in playing them or likely having them on the roster any longer. but this is where MLB roster management gets very challenging, because players aren't static and having a rough first 2 months doesn't necessarily mean they're bad for good. the Max Kepler example is instructive: Kepler in May of 2023 looked a lot like the left-hand version of Margot. Couldn't hit his weight, wasn't great in the field, only played RF...a lot of people (including me) were ready to move on. And we were wrong: Kepler was great in the second half and huge contributor to the team. The other side of it was Gallo, who after a hot start just stopped making any consistent contact, drove everyone crazy with the whiffs, and his OF defense had declined some as well. We wanted him gone...and we were right. He never really got any better, but stuck around because of the injuries and was left off the postseason roster. Do you know for sure exactly who Margot is? Do you know for sure that he's going to be helpless against RHP, mediocre against LHP, and no real value added in the OF for the rest of the season? that's the conundrum for the Twins right now, and I presume why they're going to keep playing him against LHP to see if he can add value and is worth keeping. because the other options are hoping Wallner or Larnach can handle LHP or that Martin (who has not played to his ability in the OF and been sadly fairly similar to Margot in production) is ready for another go. the only reason Margot got left in after Corbin left was because the game was looking out of reach, otherwise we would have seen Larnach (who has cooled off substantially and has been pretty bad during this losing streak). It's not about making him smile. It's about trying to get as much data as possible to see whether there's something worth keeping once guys get healthy. I still lean towards no, but let's see how it goes until Lewis is back.

Thrilled to see Brooks Lee (and Walker Jenkins) back to active duty. Looking forward to seeing how Morris does in AA; guessing he might have had some nerves to start the game, lol. he still did ok. I'm intrigued by Yasser Mercedes. he's off to a heck of a start in rookie ball this year, but maybe I just get overly excited about players who hit triples. (They're so fun!)

no, they are saying that Baldelli isn't managing every regular season game like it's a playoff game. The roster is different in the regular season and you have to play the long game when it's still May. The season doesn't end if you lose 2 of the next 3 and you simply can't get through a season if you work everyone to death in May rather than try to extract value out of every part of your roster. Margot has been bad this season and that acquisition isn't looking good. But against a LHP, he's not a terrible option when you look at our outfield. Kirilloff has been struggling and Kepler has always been much weaker against LHP, so if you want to give Kepler a bit of a break...it's all reasonable. Baldelli doesn't control the 26-man roster (or the 40-man). I'm sure he has input, but the final say is with the front office, and they're not ready to cut bait on Margot. Trying to find ways to use him that will help the team and/or not hurt the team is Baldelli's job. remember, refusing to ever play a guy on the roster can cause clubhouse problems too. And if they can get Margot going to where he's value-added against LHP, there's at least a role for him. Defensively he looked better last night too. I'm still not a fan, and I think as the roster gets healthier with Lewis getting closer you need to think hard about whether he's worth hanging on to...but for now, you need to still use your whole roster. Nice to see the team steal a couple of bases last night. There are some good runners on this squad and I'd like to see them attack the bases more. Of course, this requires guys to get on base consistently.

Walker Jenkins Talent is massive, not downgrading him for injuryBrooks Lee See above.Emmanuel Rodriguez tempting to move him up since he's playing and producing so well.David Festa Looking more MLB-ready all the timeMarco Raya Can't move him up higher without more innings, but the talent is thereGabriel Gonzalez lot of upside here, but is already doing good things in high A at 20Charlee Soto long way to go, but big-time abilityBrandon Winokur high ceiling...might be lower floorLuke Keaschall having a fine yearTanner Schobel AA has been harder on himZebby Matthews Has to be on the list with his performance. Might deserve to be higher.Danny De Andrade D is good...will need to hit better. But moved up every year and earned it.Yasser Mercedes super young but super talentedKala'i Rosario hasn't exactly crushed it in AA, but still has a talented batAustin Martin last time on the list, I think? he can play in MLBCory Lewis The injury is worrisome and pushes him downRayne Doncon good hitter, will likely move to 3B at some pointSimeon Woods Richardson probably his last time on the list too...Jaylen Nowlin still has things to work on, but has held his own in the Texas LeagueRubel Cespedes probably too old for some, but he's been hitting the heck out of the ball. Lot of good prospects in the Twins system. They also have guys who won't be seen as high-end prospects, but will have legit MLB potential by the time they get to AA and AAA. Had to downgrade some guys for injury: can't have Canterino or Prielipp on here at this point; they just aren't pitching. Toughest omission? Probably Pierson Ohl, who is doing well in AA and has gotten it done at pretty much every stop. but there are fair questions whether his stuff will hold up.

Castro has earned a little stick for his defensive lapses recently. But he's still been good overall. I was happy to see the twins draw some walks against the Yankees, but apparently right now it's an either/or situation with the offense: walks or hits, but not both! Not great. Offense has really looked flat the last 2 games. 7 or 8 baserunners a game simply isn't enough. (This is not news) I'm not panicking or anything, but it's really annoying to lose to the Yankees. I hate losing to the ChiSox the most, but then it's the damned Yankees. (probably followed by Cleveland?) I hate the arrogance and entitlement of the franchise, I hate how the media treats every midwest club that plays them as automatically being lesser, unworthy of attention or interest. I hate the fact that they can make stupid trades and signings and simply buy their way out of it. (I do love the fact that they haven't won a pennant or a title in 15 years, though, despite all their money. because it burns their fans up) Hope the Twins can at least avoid the sweep. we're right in the division race, and I'd hate for a sweep to the damned Yankees to make people turn on this team again. because it feels like there's a portion of the fanbase that's looking for a reason to trash the club again, and that's really no fun at all.

Here's the thing though: if you focus on the downside/negatives for your pitching prospects, every team's prospect list is going to look pretty crap. Someone coming in from the outside who ready your list above would think the twins pitching prospects have little hope and low value...and that's simply not the case. Festa still has an issue with BB/9 that he needs to show he can correct. His last 5 starts have been significantly better in that respect than his first 3 starts of the year, so it's looking up....but reading this you'd think he was trending down. Raya is still a starter; the fact that you don't approve of the development path they have him on related to his pitch counts doesn't change the fact that the organization and baseball professionals still slot him as a starter. Soto is 18 with a flamethrower for an arm that they skipped past rookie ball. Culpepper only has 4 starts this season. the BB/9 is too high, but he's also still (like Festa) been successful at limiting runs. Lewis (as noted) is hurt. Sadly, that happens with pitching prospects. A lot. Same with Canterino and Prielipp. (arguably neither is a prospect any longer because of their health...but let me know when you find a team that has less than 3 of their top 12-15 pitching prospects with injury issues.) Morris: you started with the negative again (he's repeating a level) in order to downgrade any accomplishment he's made this year, apparently. Yes, he's repeating the level this season...but he also got an early promotion last season and he's hardly old for the level. Matthews: basically the only guy on the list so far you didn't put a strike on (though the "fingers crossed" comment suggests you don't have confidence in him) SWR: arguably, the comment about his rookie status is a suggestion that he doesn't count, but overall, this is fairly neutral Lares: "holding his own"? he's got a 2.19 ERA and a WHIP of 1.014 at age 20. is keeping the ball in the park nicely too. Bowen: The BB/9 isn't great, but it's much more sustainable when you don't give up hits. 5.6 H/9 is great. He's a little older and should advance fast, but he's moved up a level both years as a pro. If you look at the upside of all of these prospects, you get a very different picture than looking at the downside/flaws. An accurate representation should likely land somewhere in the middle. Twins seem to have a philosophy of pitcher development in bulk, probably knowing that there are going to be injuries and bumps along the way. they'll take a risk on a high impact arm with an injury history (Canterino, Prielipp) but also load up on college pitchers from lesser known schools with characteristics they think they can develop (Festa, Lewis, Matthews, Culpepper). Lot of guys on this list that have a chance to pitch in MLB. But if the standard for a pipeline is having a potential "ace" at every level, I think you're always going to be disappointed. Much as you will if your first instinct is to look for the downside to every prospect.

they used to defer to veterans preference on this, and now they're being more directive, and it's hard to believe that spending a few games in AAA (or even Ft. Myers) so you can get your timing tested in game situations and show you can actually run in a game environment is a bad idea for almost any of them.

Not sure this is really true; Wallner and Larnach both came up as corner OF and have played about to expectations defensively. Lewis was a SS in the minors and slotted in just fine at 3B. Miranda has needed to learn 3B on the job, but there's also about where the opportunity was for him as he came up in the minors: his preferred position was 2B, but we had a bunch of guys there. Julien had been playing 2B in the minors, but barely had more than 2 years in the minors before coming up to MLB. The missed minor league year in 2020 messed up development for a lot of guys. It's just not that unusual for prospects to move around defensively as teams always want to try and keep them at the more demanding defensive position as long as they reasonably can. I think Martin will be fine in the OF, and I'm ok with him going back down when Buxton comes back. (and props to the Twins for having Buck do a rehab stint in Saint Paul, regardless of whether he likes it or not) Hopefully he'll play CF-LF in Saint Paul to get more comfortable there. I'd have given him more time in CF over LF (he's played it a lot more in the minors and done well there) but that's the way it goes. He's far from a lost cause

Compared to Delmon Young and some of the other nonsense (Willingham and his 4 feet of range!) we've run out in the outfield, I'm not worried about Martin.

Excellent start by Ohl. Interesting pitcher: doesn't walk a lot of guys, keeps the ball in the park, and looks like someone who can chew up a bunch of innings. I'll be watching where his H/9 lands at the end of the season; if he's keeping it around 8 or so I think that'll be a good sign. Would not be surprised at all if he gets some time at AAA this season; he's already got 125 innings at AA now and he's been effective. He's not overwhelming or anything, but he's been getting it done. Great to see him rack up 10 K's! E-Rod just rolls along, doesn't he? Seems to know the strike zone pretty darn well. he doesn't seem to have problems hitting against LHP either, which would be exciting if his relatively neutral splits continue. Not bad at all for guy at 21 in AA. If he's able to refine his approach to make a little more contact on pitches he deigns to swing at...goodness he's going to be a heck of a hitter.

I'm really happy to see Festa doing better in limiting the free passes recently, but until he gets the BB/9 under 4 it's still a fair concern. That said, he clearly has the pitches to compete and I expect to see him debut in MLB some time this season. I think I ranked him 5th in my Twins prospect ratings? This is what you want from your player development group, to be able to build up a late round pick into a viable MLB player. It's great scouting too, because he wasn't exactly destroying the competition at Seton Hall; he had a fine senior season, but just ok K rates, not a ton of innings to judge from, etc. But they saw something they could build with and have increased his velocity where he can compete. I think he'll be competing for a rotation spot in 2025.

I hate the Yankees. I've always hated the Yankees. I hate losing to the Yankees. I hate tuning into a national baseball broadcast when the Twins are playing the Yankees and they spend the first 14 minutes of the pre-game only talking about the Yankees, and then give the Twins 6 minutes (and show they don't know very much about the Twins either, spending more time on Carlos Santana than Ryan Jeffers). Last segment was a dumb betting angle, and of course 2 of the 3 bets were about the Yankees. I now hate TBS almost as much as I hate the Yankees. not a good game for the Twins. Castro was really rough out there and the whole OF defense was unimpressive. Paddack was disappointing; just too hittable and struggled to finish guys off. The bullpen did well to give the team a chance, but the offense was very meek. I'm increasingly concerned about the Twins inability to draw walks; we're bottom 5 in baseball in BB/G and we need more baserunners. Not getting a single walk last night really hurt. I hope the easy grounders and fly balls were more aesthetically pleasing enough for people, but I'd rather draw some free passes and start filling up the basepaths

yeah, I saw this too. I'd like more information on it, but there seems to be some on-field and off-field reasons that Alcala is not favored by the organization and it's almost certainly more than just the manager. But there hasn't been much that's gotten out about it, other than Disco Dan mentioning the bit about not covering home. From a performance perspective, he's been effective in 1 inning stints and can't seem to go 2 innings. the option issue (and his prior lack of health/availability) I'm sure are part of why he's getting bounced up and down, but there's more going on here that they're not saying.