Nashvilletwin

Please. Polanco and Kepler came up in 2016 and 2017. Buxton in 2015 and 2016. Rocco showed up in 2019. I will give you Jeffers, although his development seems to have stalled out last year after a great 2023. The others you mentioned have not transitioned into solid everyday players. Lewis is closet, but his hitting is now suspect and he’s a below average 3B. Wallner is still an platooner who isn’t allowed to hit against lefties. The Twins think so much of Miranda and Larnach that they brought in a couple of retreads to take their innings and ABs. Julien and Lee are in the same boat. The reason for the position player focus is because pitchers play one position (same as catcher so Jeffers falls in this category); thus, Rocco can’t screw them up by moving them all around the diamond. My point remains: the Rocco/Falvey regime is a death trap for top prospects.

Who said anything about farm systems? This discussion is about transitioning achieving minor leaguers and top professionally ranked prospects into everyday major league regulars. The Twins minor league system is fine, if not borderline outstanding. However, under Rocco/Falvey, successfully continuing that position player development at the major league level is a black hole. Lewis might love to be traded to a team, Angels or otherwise, that will develop him defensively at a set position and continue to build his broader skill set more effectively. The only problem would be the fight among the agents for the rest of our theoretical young core who would be fighting for their players to be the one traded.

Agree on Wallner, but he’s still a platoon player in Rocco’s scheme. So he still hasn’t really “made it” until he gets the reps in high leverage at bats. But he’s probably overperformed vis-a-vis expectations. We will see how 2025 turns out. I really like Wallner. The rest - Lewis, Miranda, Larnach, Martin, Julien (2023 version) and Lee have all underperformed relative to expectations. Not even close. I’m cheering for them all - they are a big part of the reason I’m interested.

Just do the guy a solid and trade him.

I specifically said position players. And the best position players who have “graduated” are Steer and Rooker. I guess you could say Arraez too. For the record, I have the under on Rodriguez and Keaschall. I hope I’m wrong.

At least he’d be close to home. Besides, it’d be hard to believe the Angel’s organization could be any worse developing young major league talent than the Twins. He’d get to play with Trout too, Nah, if Royce really wants to be a pretty big time star, he needs to get better and that likelihood probably increases in the grasp of another franchise. I mean, Kepler (decent hitter and strong fielder who played one position every day) is probably our best internally developed position player success story over the past decade and Royce has to aspire to more than that.

You are correct: “fingers crossed” says it all. There is no reason to expect this season to be any different than the past, so we might as well cross our fingers.

I saw the headline and I thought for a second Royce got traded to the Angels…lucky guy. Alas, not the case. Hope he’s healthy this year - he’s fun to watch and to cheer for.

Lewis was being compared to Trout - he can’t even hold his jock strap at this point. Lee was the eighth pick after a huge college career and was a consensus top 40 prospect. Most, if not all of the rest were top 100s or close - according to the professionals. If these types of players are not considered to be potential everyday major league starters, then who is? The sad truth is that you do not want to be a top prospect within the Twins organization. Right now, I’d wager every single one of those players, with maybe the exception of Lewis, would welcome a trade to any team that would truly make the investment in them to see what they can be. That’s what any young professional - in any pursuit - seeks. The Twins just won’t make that investment.

Yep, all of our highly touted “can’t missers” (Julien was more of a surprise, granted). That is seven players we have all been brainwashed into thinking they are our future core. The reality is that, although every single one of them was projected to be an everyday above average position player, there is a decent chance none of them will be. Btw, are they inherently poor fielders or is it because they’ve been moved around the diamond so much? Rocco and Falvey should write a book entitled How to Ruin a Can’t Miss Prospect”.

1. My point was about position players. 2. Ryan was mostly developed in the TB system, anyway. 3. Lewis is not a hit yet - he plays below average 3B (and we don’t even know if that is where he will stay) and his hitting still has a way to go in it’s consistency. Question for you: is Lewis where you think he should be or you’d hoped he be at this point? We can all agree he’s behind schedule for someone who was being compared to Mike Trout. Let’s just call it like it is - the Twins under Rocco and Falvey just stink at developing position players. The fact that some DNers look at Lewis as their big success story just proves it.

Thank you. You can also add in the confusion about what position Lewis will play. He’s played multiple spots and virtually every day on this thread there is discussion about him playing 3B, 2B, SS, and 1B (the OF experiment seems to be off the table, but who knows with Rocco et al). This is not how superstars are developed.

Royce Lewis is not a hit yet. I sure hope he becomes one though! Not one of these position players, throw in Wallner if you like as well, is a regular, non-platooning major leaguer playing a set position at a high level. Steer and Rooker are (but they made it playing on other teams). I’m not trying to be a Debby Downer, it’s just that there doesn’t seem to be a willingness to invest the reps (in the field at one position and at the plate against lefties and righties) in these young players. You can’t expect the big return, without putting in the investment. I have big hopes for Jenkins, but, sadly, have the under on ERod and Keaschall. The data is just not there to formulate a different opinion at this time.

Well, let’s face it, if Lee does “make” it, he’ll be the first “sure fire” Twins prospect to do so in years. So the odds are stacked against him as long as he is part of this organization. If 2025 is truly “make or break” for Lee, he’s way better off getting traded as soon as possible. BTW, feel free to insert Julien, Larnach, Miranda, Wallner, Martin and even Lewis in this category. ERod and Keaschall are next in line. Just keepin’ things real….

Couldn’t agree more. It’s Rocco and his staff who bear the responsibility for turning highly ranked prospects (who have performed and developed through our own minor league system) into actual real major leaguers. You can add Wallner and Larnach to that list. At this point Rocco, et al are 0-7 in what arguably is their most important role.

Advice for this young man: be dedicated, listen closely and learn your craft through the Twins’ excellent minor league system. When you reach AA, have your agent start demanding a trade. Only reconsider if Falvey and Rocco are gone. This is your best chance to be a big time major leaguer.

Lots of great comments on the TD today about how the Twins refuse to develop their rising prospects. Instead, the focus is on creating defensively mediocre multi-positional platoon hitters. But let’s all be clear about one thing: this approach will never, ever change as long as Rocco is at the helm. Geez I hope he’s gone before Jenkins, ERod, and Keaschall appear. Time is running short……

The agents for every young prospect or current Twins position player should be begging the FO for a trade. The Twins model is practically always the same: get drafted, succeed through the system, get hyped in the press (including the TD), get called up, get stalled, get moved around the diamond and batting order, and enter platoon player purgatory. Rinse and repeat. If you want to be a full-time major leaguer - who learns to play one position at an exceptional level and to hit against both righties and lefties in high leverage situations with the chance for the big bucks contract - you’re better off trying your luck elsewhere. And, ironically, the Twins are better off moving you before your hype/promise turns into the stalled, platoon pigeon hole. Win - win.

Cue the thumbs downs and the derision, but each position player mentioned in this article - regardless of their pedigree, minor league success, or expectation - will not develop even close to their full potential as they attempt to transition into an everyday major leaguer as a Twin. It’s simply something this regime under Rocco and staff don’t do well (and it’s probably one of the most important priorities for smaller, mid - market teams). They might do other things pretty well (like developing talent through multiple minor league levels), but making top position player prospects into consistent, enduring above average major league starters is not one of them, even relative to overall league low success rates. There is a lot of talk on this site about trading prospects for proven talent. Sad to say, but moving position player prospects at or near their value apogees prior to their inevitable big league stagnation in the Twins organization is probably the best strategy until proven otherwise. The agents for these prospects should be working the front office to make that happen. If one of these players were my son, I’d welcome a trade with open arms as the history of success with the Twins just isn’t there.

2028? Why not September 2025? Or Opening Day 2026 at the latest?

Absolutely not true. I’ve written this several times on this site and will say it again: on a cash basis the Twins have been losing over tens of millions on an annual basis in the 2020s and could lose over $50MM this year. I have often written about the decisions the family needs to make every year to find the cash to keep supporting the business and the financial analysis required to warrant/justify that amount of funding. The Pohlads are not dumb. They are savvy investors and operators and have been successful across two generations with a third well on the way. Sure, they could sustain the losses while the equity values were climbing. But now, the certainty of those rising equity values - especially for small/mid market teams - is unclear. Said another way, the rate of return on the cash needed to annually fund the team has increased because the risk of the equity growth has risen. They have other better, more attractive investment opportunities. We all know the Pohlads have never been “vanity” owners. The decision to sell now should be a wake-up call to all of you; namely, the Twins as a business is not as attractive as you think. If it were - if the team were spewing out big cash flow every year - the Pohlads would be keeping it. But the franchise is not and that is why they are selling. For all of our sakes, I hope a “vanity” buyer does appear. But those are actually few and far between and especially for markets like the Twin Cities. Consequently, keep in mind, the new owners may likely be a consortium of investors and quite possibly with no ties to this community. Say what you want about the Pohlads, but they live, invest, create jobs, and support lots of charities in our state. We will be lucky to find those community ties in the new owners. In a state as provincial as Minnesota, those ties actually can be important. The Wilfs have done an excellent job developing those ties and are a great example of excellent leadership from an outside owner. Of course, the economics of the NFL are completely different than MLB (especially for a franchise like the Twins in a no salary cap league).

1. His record over the past several years is actually not that good and downright mediocre at best if one takes away the juiced ball season. 2. Rocco staying and firing a good part of his staff is embarrassing. Yeah, that’s right, blame this dumpster fire on someone else. The interns better watch out. 3. Among his many faults, is that Rocco is very poor at transitioning strong, promising minor league players into true blue major leaguers. There are a lot of reasons why this is the case. If the Pohlads’ business model is to compete as a small/mid market team, making the most out of your draft and minor league system is paramount. Rocco is simply a terrible fit for the business model. This is a huge Pohlad problem - not having the type of leader in place for the type of team you have. 4. We could’ve had Terry Francona? Seriously, he was back in play? 5. The “majority” of Twins fans want Rocco to stay? Really? I’d like to see the data on that one, especially among the high revenue super fan base. Maybe I missed the poll, but I’ll take the under on that claim.

Well, that’s bad news. The “resign” thing was tongue in cheek, btw; I know he’s not resigning.

I’m not sure what’s going to happen first: Rocco is fired or he preemptively resigns. Now he must really know how Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) was feeling before Amanda (Tatum O’Neal) showed up. Either way, he should be gone by Monday afternoon. Pathetic baseball. To be honest, I’m really amazed at just how badly this team has played since game 4 in Texas. I mean, they have been plain awful. Overall fun season. The team more or less kept us interested through 159 games (and I watched/mostly enjoyed 130+ of them). So the season ended five days early. That, in and of itself, is not a disaster. However, how poorly the team played at the end is truly disappointing. It would have been nice to see them play well when things really mattered. The off-season will have a sour taste until hope springs eternal again with the start of spring training…….

That was choice #3. Stay a fan and carp all you want. So carp away - it’s your right and I respect you for it. And, yes, Go Twins!