LA Vikes Fan

Good question, not sure on any of these guys. Bullpen has actually been pretty good in May. The hitting and rotation, not so much.

While I would normally agree with you, who is that? Adams has already been optioned and the rest of the guys like Morris, Orze, and Gomez are part of the future bullpen hopefully. You could DFA Taylor Rogers I guess but I don’t see a lot of other candidates. Funderburk just came up and Banda has actually been good lately. I don’t think losing SWR is going to turn out to be a big loss. In fact, I would not be surprised if he is not claimed on waivers since he has no options left. I could also see him being claimed by a team desperate for starting pitching, pitching lousy there, and getting waived again. Hopefully he won’t get claimed and we wind up trying to work out his issues in Saint Paul.

I like this move, in part because if the message. This isn’t Rocco’s home of infinite patience any more. You get a chance but you need to produce. SWR was the worst regular starting pitcher in MLB this year and his lack of a dominant pitch made him an unlikely bullpen piece. If he’s claimed, maybe we can trade him for some other team’s project. For those of you wondering about Keaschall, he’s hitting .248/.353/.337 over the last 30, better over the last 7, and playing better defense. I agree that he’s close to the edge, but he hasn’t completely failed like the other three so he needs a little more time. I would like to see the same treatment of vets. Losing Topa and Garcia was a good first step. Bell should be next even if that means bringing up GG or Fedko. Culpepper should be up soon instead of Outman with Kreidler the backup CF. This year is for development and churn. It won’t be pretty or easy but it has to be done.

That’s true. The overall bullpen is substantially improved over the last month. The lack of a closer is a real problem though. They should commit to someone. I saw them try to commit to Morris without a lot of success. Let’s give Gomez a shot. Who’s closing in St Paul? Let’s give someone that experience in AAA as a possible closer in the second half.

I would give him another 2-3 weeks in the minors and if he's still hitting, I would bring him up, have him play 3d and move Lee and Keaschall as necessary. We need o take one more shot at catching him when he's playing well. Otherwise, trade him. The risk here is that we trade Lewis for a couple of prospects - his probable current worth - and he becomes a star somewhere else. I'm ok taking that risk if we aren't going to commit to playing him. To those here that don't want to make that commitment for whatever reason, I get the arguments and you may be right, but you also lose your ability to complain if he's traded and flourishes elsewhere. Lewis is at the crossroads now. I'd like to take the risk of tanking his trade value by playing hi from June 20 forward but I understand those who don't. But you gotta pick a lane and live with the result.

Agreed, particularly this strange need to play Gray out of position at SS when Kreidler is actually good there and is hitting better.

One other question. Has Ryan ever said he's unwilling to sign an extension with the Twins? I've seen that written here but I don't recall ever seeing Ryan himself or his agent say that, or say that he doesn't want to stay in Minnesota. That may be because I've just not seen everything so please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm wondering if he really is just not interested in staying or if that's just an assumption people are making. Obviously, if he's not interested in staying or signing an extension this gets to be a much easier decision. If there is no chance of keeping him, and the only question is can you get a better return at the 2026 deadline, the 2027 off-season, or the 2027 deadline. Then you find out what's available this year at the deadline and if it's not overwhelming, wait and trade him in the off-season.

By the way, I think this accurately expresses the real advantage big market teams have, especially the Dodgers. It's not just that they can pay for expensive players, it's that they can pay for several expensive players and absorb injuries to those players. Look at the Dodgers rotation. They are paying $25m plus to Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell, neither of whom is pitching currently. Glasnow has never pitched more than 134 innings in a season, Snell more than 134 innings only twice in his 10 year career. The Donders can afford to pay them even though they know they are unlikely to get more than half of a season out of either because they can also pay Yamamoto, Ohtani, and Sasaki, and either fill in with guys making $15-$20 million a year or from their farm system. They can pay for Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernandez without worrying how they will be impacted if one of them (like Betts this year) gets hurt or has a bad year. They just have a bigger margin to work with which makes consistent contention much more possible.

Others have correctly summarize the conundrum. The hard part for me is that if you trade him at the 2026 deadline to get prospects; not established major league players, prospects. That inevitably sets back the contention timeline by at least a year or two. Now maybe that's the reality anyway but I think this team is actually closer than that now. What this team really needs is an established middle of the order bat plays anywhere except centerfield, and a proven closer. We will not get either of those things if we trade Joe Ryan at the deadline. The most we will get are to prospects who could potentially become those two things in time with the amount of that time being in question. If it were up to me (and it clearly is not), I would take a different strategy. I would sign both Ryan and Lopez for at least three years if they would take that in five years if I had to do it and I would be willing to pay each of them $25-$30 million a year because that's the going price for pitchers of that quality. I would commit to those 2 and Bradley as the rotation core for the next 3-5 years. I would then trade one or two young up-and-coming type starters to a non-contending team that has a middle of the order bat to trade. For example, Mick Abel for Xavier Edwards or Heliot Ramos, maybe even two of them like Abel and Ramos for Zack Neto and Jo Adell or something like that. In other words, trade young cost controlled pitching for young cost controlled hitting. Be a deadline buyer, not a seller. Run a payroll that has 3 guys making 60% of the money - Ryan, Lopez, Buxton - and use the young hitters around them. If we can't do that, then I say wait for the off season to trade Ryan. The CBA negotiations may complicate things unfortunately, but in a normal off-season that's the one chance we would have to trade a Ryan for an established middle of the order bat plus a decent closer. We will not get that the deadline.

I think Clemens is in CF because they want LH bats in the lineup and they want to entrench Martin in RF. This is the latest in roster shuffling to improve the defense for the season. Martin is the everyday RF going forward and they want him to log some innings there while Larnach plays LF. IF, and its a big IF, Wallner comes back he's a DH only. Buck is the regular CF and they're seeing if Clemens can be a backup there in addition to Kreidler. I expect the next few weeks to play out with Lewis eventually back and Gray gone, Arcia and Kreidler at SS with Kreidler and Clemens the backup CF. IF they come back, Lewis is a DH/1B, Wallner is a DH. Outman goes when either GG or Culpepper is ready to come up. Bell is traded to create ABs for Lewis and/or Wallner if they show they deserve them.

Agreed. I think this is a great development and explains a lot of the improvement. Shelton and Zoll seem to be much more willing to remove/bench guys who are not performing and give opportunities to others. Under Rocco and Falvey it felt like a lot of guys were "on Scholarship", destined to start and keep their jobs regardless of performance. Would Topa and Garcia be gone under the old regime, replaced by Adams and Morris? Would they have moved Lee off of SS to 3B and demoted Lewis? I don't think so. Frankly, the changes in the current regime are a bit of fresh air. More importantly, they are these are among the necessary things you have to do to be competitive short term and to create a competitive environment long term. It's just like any other business.

Wow, lots of vitriol here. This article accurately points out one of the issues facing the Twins in the next couple of years - can you play Lewis, Lee and Keaschall in the IF when none of them can play SS? For right now, at least 2 of them can't hit so it's not a big issue but one hopes this becomes a big issue soon because they are all hitting and need to be in the lineup. We need all 3 to hit at the big-league level for the team to be good in next couple of years. There's unlikely to be room in the OF for any of them with Martin's emergence and Emma, Jenkins, GG, Roden, and Fedko all waiting in the wings. I think it's infield, DH, or bust for all three. I don't think the utility infielder role is really a great spot for any amount. Besides, Kreidler looks like the utility IF for now, if not the starting SS with Arcia as the IF UTL. I think one of the 3 needs to learn to play 1B. That spot will be open by 2028 for sure (Clemens is already 30 and frankly, he's decent but not great), and probably in 2027. Lewis is at AAA so it would be nice to see him try 1B now. Having said that, it may make the most sense long-term to transfer Keaschall there since he seems to be the worst defensive infielder of the three, but if that happens then either Lee or Lewis needs to learn to play 2B. Both have tried and neither it looked very good there, while Lee actually looks pretty good at 3B since moving there. Lewis at first base looks more like the long-term play.

I do think that Jackson makes a good backup catcher. Hell, he'd be a good starter if he could hit. At all. Maybe we'll get lucky and his breakout last year will turn out to be real. It will be interesting to see what they do once Jeffers is ready to come back, especially if Jackson is hitting a little and Caratini is not. If we assume that Jeffers is likely to be traded by the deadline, which seems likely to me, we don't want to potentially lose Jackson by exposing him to waivers or a DFA release. My guess is we will carry 3 catchers for awhile so Jeffers can show he's healthy and we can keep Jackson as the second (or 1st) catcher once Jeffers is gone. I'd love to see the Twins sign Jeffers but as a Boras client, it seems very likely he will want to test free agency after he season so getting something for him is the logical way to go. Nothing prevents the Twins from re-signing him as a free agent after the season. Well, nothing except Ownership, I guess.

He had a good AB in the 9th today and hit a line drive up the middle. You can see progress. Still too many pops to the right side though. Give him another month and then decide whether to send him down to reset.

It would make sense that he’s having an adjustment period with the changes he’s made. He is on the upswing and I think he’ll get back to being a quality hitter by July. The harder part is where do you play him? He isn’t great at second base and while Arcia is not a long-term solution, he and Kreidler are showing the value of Good middle infield defense. Lee will get every chance to nail down 3B, with Lewis still in the wings, and Mendez and GG (plus Fedko) are being groomed for 1B because there is no room in the OF long term, particularly with Martin’s emergence as a good to very good every day outfielder. It looks like Keaschall’s only real opportunity is at second base and he hasn’t shown well there yet. I’d be curious as to what the analytics say about his fielding because if that doesn’t get better, his hitting may not matter.

I enjoyed the article, but I just don’t think there’s much there. It all depends on one defines the word “future”. If that means this year and next only, Clemens is part of that future as a starter this year and reserve next year but that’s likely it unless he can hit a little better, like .260/.349/450. I don’t think he can. Kreidler can’t hit, but is younger and fields well enough that he could be a 2 to 3 year utility infielder if he could even hit .220. Gray and Jackson are already over 30 and once again, neither can hit. Gray is gone this year and Jackson may make it to next year because the Twins don’t have any other catchers but my guess is they trade Jeffers at the deadline and also trade for a catcher to match with Caratini. The guy who has a chance to make it is Gomez. He will get a full year run this season barring injury and the Twins have no other viable options. At age 26, I could see him around for the next four or five years in a mid to high leverage role in the bullpen. I doubt if he’s the closer, but I think we could see him pitching a lot in the seventh and eighth in the next few years. As an aside, it’s great to see the Twins doing exactly what they should do right now by auditioning players who could help them out in the future. Let’s see if Brooks Lee can play third base and hit well enough to be a lineup fixture in the five or six hole in the batting order. Let’s see if Gomez, Morris, Adams, and eventually Klein can be part of a bullpen. We are hopefully only a few weeks away from Culpepper coming up and playing shortstop for most of the rest of the season and maybe Lewis getting some run at first or second base. Can Prielipp, Abel, and Rojas start in a quality rotation? Can GG hit MLB pitching? How about Emma and Jenkins? We need to know the answer to most of these questions by the end of this season. If even half of them turned out to be yes, this could be a very fun and exciting team to watch.

I think Shelton is doing a terrific job. He’s giving young guys a shot in tough situations, not afraid to bench vets that aren’t performing, and it looks like he’s really put together a tight, unified team. There’s no chance Rocco would’ve moved Lee to third base where he belongs and set up a chance for Culpepper to come up and play short later in the year. Look, this is not a contending team, but if Shelton can get this team to around .500, while giving the young guys a chance to play to see what we have and set ourselves up for the future,that’s a good job of managing. Also, good to see the front office be willing to pull the plug on struggling guys like Wallner and Lewis. Even better, they cut Topa and Garcia so that Rojas, Morris, and Adams can all stay in the bigs and learn their craft. Don’t think that would’ve happened with Falvey still in charge. Good to see.

Looks like Gonzalez in LF, Bell at 1B, Clemens in RF, Kreidler at SS, and Lee at 3B. Trying a lot of new things tonight. Wouldn't surprise me if the new SS/3B combination got a run to see how it works. Probably improves the defense...

Play GG at 1B instead of Clemens or in LF tonight instead of Larnach against the LH starter.

Hey, let's play him tonight against the LH and maybe one other game this weekend against a RH and see what we have. It would be enough to get a good read on whether he's viable or completely overmatched, valuable information going forward. Who knows, there may be an injury, illness, or some other situation that causes a need for him to stay so let's find out in the next three days whether or not he has the ability to help. I know he's been playing some 1B at AAA so a semi-platoon with him playing 2 days a week at 1B and 1-2 days a week in the OF could work. This is very possible given Clemens ability to play 2B, Keaschall's ineffectiveness at the plate, and Larnach's current slump. Let's give him enough of a chance to see if that makes sense in the short term or something to be considered later in the season.

I recognize this is the height of optimism, but I tend to agree with Matthew. Let’s define “competitive“ as 85 wins, which would give us a chance to make the playoffs. The Twins are really only about four players away from that level. The starting rotation is plenty good enough to get us to 85 wins or even 90. The bullpen is getting better, but it’s basically two quality late inning relievers short. The lineup is three guys short, but hopefully we will getting one of them back when Jeffers is ready to play in six weeks. Keaschall could be another. In short, one above average hittter and two bullpen options from the minors could make this team competitive. Yes, and pigs could fly. Told you I was an optimist.

Clemens is fine for now and filling a hole. I actually wouldn’t mind him as one of the four bench players since he can play respectable first, second, and probably third base, and a decent corner outfield. I think the hard issue here is that he really shouldn’t be starting, but we simply don’t have anybody else. I would love to see them bring up Gonzalez as a right handed hitting part tim 1B/OF/DH playing 3-4 days a week and see what he has at this stage in his career. It may be a rush, given that he hit Great last year and not so much this year. If they want to wait with him, maybe Sabato deserves at least one shot before he ages out. I know neither of those sound like great options, but it seems to me that this is the year to find out what we have.

There will be plenty of opportunities for Culpepper this summer. Gray is falling off, Arcia is a complete wild card, and that’s before any possible injuries. Keaschall is also scuffling although a little better lately, and he may wind up being that RH corner OF we need given all of our OF prospects are hurt or scuffling. Also, we need to find out if Lee can be a long term SS this year. I expect that something will provide Culpepper an opportunity in the next 3-6 weeks. I agree with taking the time to let him develop until then. He needs to be up no later than July though

That is an interesting play, although I think the better play might be to put Lee at second base with Keaschall moving over to first. You could almost experiment with something like that now with Kreidler playing shortstop where he looked very good defensively in spring training. That might tell you if Lee and Keaschall can be a decent right side of the infield for you when Culpepper is ready to come up and play short. I kind of hate to do it right now since Lee has really taken to the shortstop position and by the metrics his defensive markedly improved to average over the last month. Unlikely he’ll ever be more than average at SS though.

This is an interesting take about moving Clemens to 2B, where he would likely be better than Keashall in the field. The problem is we then have no 1B and there is no one in the Minors likely to help. Clemens is 2 OAA and Bell is a butcher at 1B. Besides, Keaschall is only 23 and could/should improve with reps. So overall, interesting idea but I don't thank it works right now. Something to think about come mid-season if Keaschall still isn't playing well and GG starts to hit and play 1B every day in AAA. By the way the "league average OPS" by position at Stat Muse (https://www.statmuse.com/mlb/ask/what-is-league-average-ops-this-season-by-position) is .777 at 1B, and .684 at 2B. Clemens is .739. Comparison of Twins "starters" with this average by position - Jeffers .941/Caratini .520 - C avg. .671, Keaschall .600 - 2B avg. 2B .682, Lee .720 - SS avg. .710, Lewis .559/Gray .676 - 3B avg. .674, Larnach .779, LF avg. .719, Buxton .899, CF avg. .675, Martin .883, RF avg. .730 (Wallner was .551), Bell .607, DH avg. 736. Sure shows the weak spots -DH, 1B, 2B, 3B. Also shows how well Jeffers and the OF is playing, especially when you consider all 3 OFs are even or positive in OAA -Buxton +4, Larnach +1, Martin +1 (surprising, thought he would be higher).