LA Vikes Fan

I agree with all of that except the conclusion that he's a #1. He may be in the top 10-15 starters this year but that doesn't make him fit at least for my definition of a #1. I see a #1 starter as a guy who regularly pitches at least 180 innings a season (the standard is really 200 but the game has changed), ERA/FIP/Sierra all under 3.25, ERA ideally under 3, regularly pitches into the 7th and sometimes the 8th, gives team a real good chance to win 8 games out of 10 and almost always saves the bullpen. They have a clunker here or there but when it happens you're always surprised. There aren't 30 #1 starters in my opinion; there are probably about 10. Most teams don't have a #1. Yamamoto, Cole pre-injury, Skubal, Skenes, Crochet, those guys are #1 starters. Ohtani can be if he's injury free, Brown, Cease and Webb have been some years, deGrom and Sale used to be and may be coming back to that status. Thee are a few others that don't come right to mind. These are guys that when you see them lined up against your team you think, well, that's a loss, hope we can win the other two games. Ryan isn't there yet and probably won't ever be. Lopez was close and could be. That's my view anyway.

September 2026 unless they trade away a bunch of guys at the deadline and make August a tryout camp lie last year. Get his feet wet this year and let him compete for a roster spot during ST 2027. History tells us that its more likely than not that he will have some struggles and have to go back to AA at least once after he comes up. Let's get him acclimated to the pitching this year so he can go through those growing pains in the first half of next year and be ready to really contribute in the back half of 2027.

Well analyzed by Nick as usual. I agree with his bottom line. We basically have two quality relievers in Gomez and Morris, two adequate guys that can be in the back half of a decent bullpen in Orze and Rogers, an unknown in Raya, and three guys who really should be in AAA most of the season coming up only as necessary for injuries. That makes it hard to go on a long winning streak. I think the strategy is pretty obvious. We have a month before the trade deadline. We need to use that time to see whether there’s any reinforcements coming internally. That means getting CJ Culpepper, Rozek, Rojas, and maybe even Rashi up to the Twins. If we have reinforcements, those are probably the only possible guys along with Paredes if Ober comes back to the rotation and nobody else gets hurt.. Then by late July, we have some information about who we have, whether the team has a chance to be a dark horse WC contender, and how desperate the need. Jeffers will be traded if he’s healthy. We have to get one younger established MLB reliever as part of the return. If we can we also want to get one higher ceiling AAA starting pitching prospect that we can put in the bullpan for the rest of the year as well. We also look at some lower level trades that might let us a decent relief pitcher but I don’t hold out a lot of hope for anything more than that because of who we have to trade. Guys like Larnach and Bell might get you a pretty good sixth or seventh inning guy, but they’re not gonna get you quality late inning relief help. We also have to pray that neither Gomez or Morris gets hurt. i’m against trading Ryan before the off-season and I don’t think they will trade Ryan unless we fall out of whatever one defines as contention. And frankly, if we fall out of contention to get to the 85 wins or so it will take to be a wildcard this year, then I don’t think trading for relief help matters. In that case, trade Jeffers, Ryan, Bell, and Larnach for the highest quality baseball players you can get regardless of what position they play.

Good win. Still, two things. Lawyerson is reminding us why he cannot be an MLB pitcher. He simply does not throw enough strikes. He should go back down tomorrow and be replaced by either Culpepper or Rashi, or even Rosek. Gray cannot play shortstop. Gomez should’ve been out of that 9th then in 10 quick pitches. Instead he had to throw longer, work harder, and it’s going to come back to bite us. DFA Gray, promote Alan Roden, and make Kreidler the shortstop. Make those two changes please. Today.

I think the problem is that even if we backdated a 10 day IL stint for three days, Buxton wouldn't be available in York or against Cleveland. They must feel like he will be back and ready to play in one of those two series.

I completely agree with you on Fedko but I think they may keep him until Jeffers is ready to come back so they have someone to demote to make room on the 26 man roster. They can't demote Jackson because he is out of options and he will never survive waivers. With all the injuries to catchers in MLB there are at least 5 to 7 teams desperate for a passable backup or platoon catcher and Jackson fits that role, at least this year. I am with you though. I would send it down Fedko, have Roden meet the team in New York, and play him pretty regularly until Jeffers is ready to come back. I don't think he will be back until after the All-Star break so that gives you at least nine games to see what you have in Roden. Now you know what to do when Jeffers comes back, either demote Martin, send Roden back to AAA, or keep those two, make Kriedler the everyday SS and DFA Gray. I vote for the third option there but why not give Roden some run so you have some data to actually make an informed decision? Here's our chance guys.

I agree. It makes me wonder why we play Gray at SS instead of Kriedler. A good SS and CF elevates an entire defense, and bad defenders at either position drags everybody else down. We have the CF. Kriedler can be that SS; Gray cannot.

I'm with you on his abilities but I see Martin a tick higher, a good 4th OF on a good team. Starts a couple days a week when starters get a day off, can play for a week or two when someone is on the 10 day !L, defensive sub for a bat first guy, etc. He's got to learn to play a competent CF to be the true 4th OF but I think he's capable of that with work and opportunity. He's the 4th OF now and if a starter gets knocked out for the season we call up or trade for someone to replace that starter and Martin is still the 4th OF.

Agree with all of this, but I think you have to let this play out a little longer. You expect younger players to have peaks and valleys in their first full season. Having said that, Martin had a very high peak last two months of 2025 and the first month and 1/2 2026, and has had an incredibly deep valley until about a week ago. In the last seven games, he's had 16 ABs and is hitting .313/.353/.313, with only 1 strike out but only 1 walk. I think what really happened is that pitchers have realized that even if they throw him a mistake, he's not going to hurt them too badly. A middle middle fastball might get hit for a double but not a homerun, and most other hittable pitches are singles. If I am pitching to him I go ahead and challenge him, particularly if no one is on base. That's going to limit his ability to walk, which limits his OBP, and limits his value. Still, he is getting better again so I would let this play out a little longer. Keep in mind he is the second demotion from the outfield, Fedko goes before he goes since Fedko has shown to date that he cannot hit major league pitching. I think the timing is dependent on when and if Jeffers is coming back and how long we intend to keep him when he does before he is traded. Fedko is still on the roster give us someone to easily demote when Jeffers is activated. Jackson is out of options and will not survive waivers given how many catching injuries there have been and how desperate teams are for passable backup catchers. Sandy Leon had an MLB job for a month for goodness sakes. We want to keep Jackson to be the backup catcher once Jeffers is traded. I do think it's a fair question whether we should demote Martin in favor of Alan Roden. I suspect the team is waiting until they have a better read on when Jeffers will be ready and on whether we have any significant injuries before the ASB that would create an opportunity for Roden. My view would be DFA Gray, move Kreider to the full time SS spot, and call up Roden to play RF against RH pitching and CF every day Buxton sits. Fedko almost never plays until Jeffers comes back and then he is demoted to AAA. By then, hopefully we have some read on whether Roden is ready and can contribute and at what level, which then makes it easier to know what to do with Martin. Martin can be anything from a a guy who takes the old James Outman pinch runner/defensive replacement role, to that with a little more occasional OF start and pinch-hitting duties, to a short side platoon player, to a guy you make a longer run commitment to to work through his slump. Yes, then we don't really have a backup SS other than Lee but he was as good at SS as Gray is now so that really isn't a downgrade. What about Wallner you say? He comes up if and only if Bell is gone. Wallner is a DH who occasionally plays in the field. That role is currently taken.

I thought the original post reached accurate conclusions but I disagree with some of the things stated. Joe Ryan has been an very good #2 starter. He has not pitched like a #1 because he hasn't consistently pitched into the 7th inning and he has been too inconsistent. Last night was a very good example of both and not the only example. A #1 given a three run lead before he steps on the mound ruthlessly shuts down the other team, crushes their dreams, and go seven innings giving up one or two runs. I hope he stays but we really miss Pablo Lopez. Bad. He's a #1. The good news is the starting pitching has been much better than expected with all of the injuries. Bradley and Matthews have been revelations and it looks like Preilipp and Paredes may be MLB starters at a #2 or #3 and #4/5 level respectively. The offense has been better than I expected and I think that will continue and could even improve if a guy like Roden, Culpeper Emma, etc. comes up and hits. The bullpen stinks, although it is improving at least a little. The starting pitching injuries killed any chance of internal improvement. I think the plan all along was for two of Prielipp, Festa, Abel, Rojas, and Matthews to be in the pen covering late innings with the other 3 as the 5th, 6th, and 7th starters. Instead, those 5 are all either injured or rotation stalwarts and we're scrambling. Bad on the FO for not getting more depth for sure. Thank god they found Gomez. Some national outlets suggest he should be traded. Makes sense if you're rooting for another team or if you think he's a mirage. I see a 26 year old hard thrower who has shown he could be a closer and has multiple years of control left. Trading him for anything less than a proven middle of the order bat with multiple years of control left (good luck with that) would be insane. We need more Gomezes, not trade the one we have. The defense we started out with turned out worse than expected. I understand trying to see if Lee could handle SS and Keaschall 2B. Some had doubts, me included, but I don't thank anyone thought they would be this bad at those spots. At least we pivoted, although more slowly than one would like. I think the defense in its present configuration will be average in the second half, a big step up, and could be better than average if we would just install Kriedler at SS and leave him there every day. For Christsakes, he's far and away the best fielding SS we have and he can hit a little at least so far. Quit getting cute and playing matchups to get Gray in the lineup. He's a guy hitting .238 with a .631 OPS who can't play short. Play him, why exactly? WTF? Play Kriedler until Houston or Culpepper is ready. Set it and forget it. Finally, I think the biggest improvement made in the first half that will really show in the second half is the replacement of Rocco and Falvey with Shelton and Zoll. The latter two have shown much more flexibility, much more willingness to change and experiment, and Shelton seems to be able to run a cohesive team where the guys genuinely play hard for each other. This team is a work in progress and will be for the rest of the season. To be successful, Shelton has to adapt day-to-day and week to week, and Zoll has to be willing to promote aggressively, take chances, and ruthlessly cut and run when those chances don't work out. Luis Garcia wasn't going to work out and we knew it after he'd been in the team for a week, yet he stuck around for a month. Now Falvey wouldn't have cut him and Rocco would still be pitching him in high leverage situations so what we did is an improvement of sorts. It's just not enough of improvement. We can't do that and have any hope for success. Overall, we are what our records says we are – a slightly below average team with aspirations and the possibility of being a slightly above average team, but with the possibility of sinking to a well below average team. Starting pitching B+, hitting A-, defense D- improving with a C possibly in sight, Bullpen a D- hoping to someday be a C-. Manager A. Front office the B- but with a little tutoring and improvement, could be a B to B+. All adds up to a team that's gonna win between 75 and 85 games, and which could be anywhere in between. Hey, better than I expected.

I was hoping you would mention someone else but you're right with maybe one exception. Rashi has a low ERA, but not a great or even much of a MLB track record. I've never seen the guy pitch. Is there anything there?

Sadly, I think you're right. Larnach probably needs to be a 4th OF/DH playing 5 days a week but 3-4 of them as the DH. Of course then what do you do with Bell now and, if he's traded, Wallner? Bottom line is we need his bat in the lineup so we gotta play him somewhere. LF or maybe RF is the logical and maybe only available spot

YOu may be right about Culppeper. I would also like to see Rozek get a shot in the bullpen. He's already 30 and is not in anybody's plans as to future rotation piece so let's see if he can help us now. You mentioned there are two relievers performing well in St. Paul. Who are the? Where they are, let's get them appear and see if they can perform well at the major-league level.

I completely agree. One of the refreshing things about this season has been Twins' willingness to change when things aren't working, something that Rocco and Falvey always seemed unwilling to do. We tried Lee at SS. He couldn't cut it in the field, so we moved him to 3B where he may turn into an above average regular. Same with Keaschall. Paredes showed more than we expected so now he has a rotation spot, not just a bulk role after an opener. We've brought up players, we've sent down players who aren't performing. We went on the waiver wire for relief pitchers and actually found one (out of about five) who can actually perform and be an important part of the bullpen. We have moved guys around the diamond to improve the defense. Shelton and Zoll are trying to make the team better; they aren't just sitting back and hoping that doing the same thing will lead to different results. I think the big take away from the first half of the season is that this team could actually compete for a Wild Card spot this year if they can even just get to having an average bullpen. I don't think we can get there just with calling up guys may have or just when Sands returns. We are going to have to make trades for bullpen guys. I wonder if it's worth doing it because teams are going to want some of our better prospects for older bullpen pitchers. I'm a relentless optimist but even I don't think we have a chance of doing anything in the playoffs even if we could miraculously sneak in. Any trade for bullpen piece should be for a guy under 30 with a future if we're giving up a decent or better prospect. Still, it's been a lot more fun to watch than I expected.

Guys, it sure looks like 85 wins gets you into the postseason this year. 83 wins might be good enough. 85 wins means going 45-32 starting Monday for the rest of the season. Right now we're 1-0 on that quest. So I'm saying there's a chance ... In all seriousness, there still is a chance IMO. I think Cody's right, the 25 games from yesterday through July 31 will tell us if we can seize that chance. If we go 15-10 to get to .500, we have a shot. If we can't even do that, it's over. Play the young guys around Buxton, Bell and Clemens, promote relievers until you find at least one who can actually throw strikes coming out of the pen, and see if there's a shot. If there is, trade for a reliever or 3. If not, shut it down and use Aug 1-3 to trade the short term spare parts like Bell and Rogers, trade Larnach if you can get value for him, and see if anybody will give you even a 40-45 rated AA guy for Wallner. Shot or not, you still trade Jeffers for a real starting pitcher prospect, plus relief pitching help and/or an MLB ready 2B. Keep Ryan to potentially trade in the off season.

I have to agree on Adams. He’s just not good enough at this point in his career. I say send him down and call up CJ Culpepper or even Rashi. He might not be any better, but it would be hard for him to be worse.

This is actually a big blow. Banda had 18th St. scoreless appearances before giving up the two run homer to Colorado. FranklY, the BP just got a lot thinner.

Agreed. This is a no-brainer. Paredes should stay and be a multi-inning reliever in the bullpen. He can take Adams' spot. He could also pitch some short relief to keep him sharp. In any event, when we look at the Twins roster and minor-league system and we tried to decide who are the eight best pitchers to put in that bullpen, Paredes is easily in the top 8 and he should be there. In fact, Ober's return should definitely help the bullpen precisely because Paredes can now be part of the bullpen.

I think the Twins see real potential with Keaschall and are trying to find a spot where he can maximize that potential. He's only 23. and has hit .268/.349/.3685 (.717) in 456 ABs, with 52 walks and only 77 SOs. That's 508 plate appearances, basically 85-90% of one season's worth of regular time, and he has a .717 OPS, 10.2% BB rate, and a 15.2% SO rate. He has speed and a .349 OBP. That's a decent regular NOW, and he is more likely than not going to get better with more experience. He has shown hitting competence at the MLB level while Emma, Jenkins, and GG are still trying to conquer AAA. Now, playing him in the OF may be holding back Roden who actually has conquered AAA, but I would argue its Fedko being on the roster and rostering a DH only player like Bell is what is keeping Roden down for now. There is absolutely no reason why the Twins don't demote Fedko, promote Roden, and find Roden 15-20 ABs a week. Even better, demote Fedko, trade Bell, and now you have space to give a bunch of guys regular ABs. This season should be about finding the core for next year and beyond. Keaschall could be an integral part of that core, he could be a bench guy, he could be a AAAA player. We will never know if he is a keeper if he doesn't play. He's shown that 2B isn't going to be his long-term spot. I applaud Shelton for trying him in RF and giving him ABs. This is the year to find out if he can make it now. Same for Lee, same for Lewis, same for Kriedler. The jury is still out on all of these guys. PLAY THEM and FIND OUT.

Any word on Banda? Assuming he’s now out through the ASB, time to get either Rojas back or promote CJ Culpepper or, in my view, do both. I would promote Culpepper to replace Funderburk. Rojas comes up as an injury replacement for Banda who goes on the IL, otherwise both Rojas and Lawyerson have to stay down in AAA until their 15 days are up before they can come back. I understand they would like to stretch out Rojas as a starter, but it looks like Ober is close. I would rather have Rojas as a late inning reliever for this season and stretching back out for next year. When Ober comes back, Parades can move to the bullpen and Adams can go back down. Here’s what I would do for the upcoming road trip. Roden or Wallner comes up for Fedko. Which ever one comes up plays RF in Houston since they’re starting three right handed pitchers. I go with Roden since I have no interest in seeing Wallner try to field in the outfield again. Rojas and Culpepper come up for Banda and Funderburk for some bullpen help.

Well, looks like the two new BP callups are not going to provide much bullpen help. Both not only got hammered, but threw at least 50% un competitive pitches. You cannot survive at the major league level, throwing pitches that are a foot out of the strike zone. They will just sit there, wait you out, take their walks, and hammer anything that actually comes in.You guys have a great rest of the game. I’m out.

I was one of the guys that said maybe Funderburk is as good as he was last year and it was a sick wife and new baby that was causing him to lose focus.I admit now I was wrong. He just isn’t good enough to pitch at this level. Pitched two days in a row, isn’t available tomorrow, so send him back down and replace him. Leave him there this time.

I now remember why we cut Funderburk. He isn’t good. Can’t throw enough strikes.

Agree Mike, except on Ryan. Have to trade Jeffers and makes sense to trade Larnach, Bell, and Wallner (if anyone will trade for him). Bell and Wallner can be traded for prospects, but I do expect at least one MLB ready reliever for. Larnach or I don’t trade him. Someone floated Larnach and a 20-30 prospect to the Padres for 22 year old reliever Bradley Rodriguez plus maybe an A ball lottery ticket. That’s the kind of deal you want for him and I would do that deal in a heartbeat. Im not trading Ryan unless blown away by MLB talent coming back. We can trade him for high-end prospects in the off-season, no need to do it now. The return isn’t gonna be much better at the deadline for someone at his level. I say keep him and then if he cannot be resigned, trade him this the off-season. Also, I’m not trading Clemens. He has a lot of control years left, has value because of his versatility, and you’re not gonna get much for him at the deadline. He’s worth more to us than he is to other teams. Other than that, I’m with you.

Player of the game was Andrew Morris. Came in with the ghost runner on second, made the great defensive play, and shut them down. He’s been inconsistent but he may be a keeper. Has the closer mentality.