LA Vikes Fan

I guess I have a different role in mind for him. I agree that having a guy in the BP who is only used for 3 plus innings and then who has to wait 4-6 days between outings isn't very useful. My thought would be to see if he can be a 2 inning middle guy pitching every 3rd day. He could be a bridge guy between our short starters Paredes and Preilipp and the late inning bullpen guys by covering the 5th and 6th or 6th and 7th innings. We could use those appearances to try to get him back on track to be a starter again next year. It would be better to have him work things out in AAA but with no options I doubt any team will get that chance. I think its worth a host and frankly, I don't see any better options in AAA with Funderburk and Raya now up.

I started a blog on that. I'm in, let's resign SWR and put him in the BP. We can create space by Iling/waiving/retiring Taylor Rogers. Great guy, franchise Icon, but Rogers is done. SWR was a decent pitcher as recently as last season. The way things are going we are going to need starters later this year and we already need BP help. Let's grab him, put him in the BP and see if we can figure out and fix what's wrong. It's worth a shot.

Hey, we may be on to something. Tonight's lineup has Clemens at 2B and Keaschall in RF. It also has Gray at SS but I'll let that moment of lunacy slide. Larnach is in LF with Martin on the bench. Fedko is getting coffee for the rest of the guys while waiting for his demotion back to AAA.

In an interesting and perhaps ironic twist, Toronto just designated SWR for assignment. Since going to Toronto, SWR has pitched 10 innings in three appearances, 2 3 inning appearances and one 4 inning appearance. His line is 4 hits, 7 walks, and 5 strikeouts. Whip of 1.10, FIP of 4.20. Middle/long relief only, no saves or save opportunities. He did finish one game so that suggests he was the mop up guy in a blowout. So here's the question - Do you pick SWR up on waivers to return to Minnesota? We won't get a chance to get him as a free agent because Toronto can assign him to AAA; he doesn't have previous DFAs or enough time to refuse the assignment. To get him, we either have to trade probably using the ubiquitous "cash considerations" or claim him on waivers. I say YES! Let's get him back and see if we can fix him in the bullpen. We make space by waving Taylor Rogers, putting him on the IL, or allowing him to retire with a nice press conference and sendoff ceremony. He is cooked. SWR was it good pitcher as recently as last year. This all assumes he's willing to go into the Bullpen. The recent DFA's by both the Twins and the Blue Jays does make me wonder if there is an attitude issue like "I'm a starter, not a reliever", but I have no information to support that. I say we grab him.

Now, here's something interesting. SWR just got DFA's by Toronto. Should we grab him back on waivers and move him to the Bullpen?

Ok, I see that. Basically make the OF a 5 man group between Buxton, Martin, Roden, Keaschall, and Larnach with Roden the backup CF. Play Keach 1-2 days a week at 2B, Clemens 5 days a week between 2B, 1B, DH, and 3B, and Gray becomes the 13th guy who doesn't play much.

Interesting twist, but it puts Laranch on the bench. Would probably have to wait until Larnach is traded (if he is) or Bell is gone and Laranch can be the DH.

Getting back to the current club, these numbers match the eye test and illustrate the real conundrum we have with Lewis, Lee, and Keaschall. I want to play them every day so we can see if their bats play at the MLB level but where? First, hitting is more important than fielding for every position except SS, C and maybe CF. You can find good fielders, Its MUCH harder to find quality hitters. First, I like the idea of playing Lewis at 1B and Lee and 3B. They both seem to be getting better and could/should be at least average or slightly at those spots. On a team bereft of middle of the order bats, you have to find a place for guys who can hit 20 plus HRs and drive in runs. The signs are there for both, so we have to find out if they can be that guy consistently. I really like the idea of moving Clemens to every day 2B if he can play there. Whither Keaschall? Well, we need a RH OF badly, Fedko ain't the guy, and GG is 22 and still hasn't mastered AAA. Maybe we should try Keasch in a 4 OF rotation with Buxton, Larnach, and Martin. Keasch can play 2B once a week when Clemens plays CF (unless Keaschall could play CF). This means more ABs for Clemens and Martin, less for Keasch which I don't love, but I think would improve the D. Also give us a place to play Culppeper when he's ready because he's not a great fielding SS for AAA, which means he will be even a less great fielding SS in MLB. Maybe 2B is his place to break in. SS is easy to fix on defense with Kreidler, but will he hit? So far, so good but his track record is abysmal. Still, he's only 28 and can hold down SS until Houston is ready in 2028 or so. Here's the basic lineup I would run with until the deadline: C- Caratini, Jackson, Jeffers briefly until he's traded (has to happen) IF - Lews (1B), Clemens (2B), Kriedler (SS), Lee (3B), Gray (UTL) OF - Buxton, Larnach, Martin, Keaschall DH - Bell Fedko stays until Jeffers comes back and then goes down. Culpepper can come up but only if we dump Gray. We will have to carry 3 catchers when Jeffers comes back because Jackson is out of options. He won't last 30 seconds on the waiver wire - teams are depurate for catching. Guys like Sandy Leon, Joey Bart, Austin Hedges, Aramis Garcia, and Kelbert Ruiz are on MLB rosters or have been in the last month. All of them can't hit water if they fell out of a boat and most of them are mediocre or even worse on D. Jackson can play the position and is hitting. No way he can be DFA'd and kept.

I agree that we have to many holes to fill by trade without guiding the system and I don't think we're close enough to make try to do that. I do think were close enough to where trading valuable asset, particularly one as valuable as Jeffers, should be or players who are to contribute this year or next year at the latest. I would be looking for players to add to this group, not just guys 3+ years away really will be ready to contribute until the next group. A good example was the trade of Duran. We got a pitcher was ready to help us now in Able plus an A ball guy. Tait may turn out to be a great player but there is a an equally good chance he will turn out to be a second catcher type, a complete bust or get have a career derailed by injury, and he isn't going to help us for at least three years. I'm fine with getting both types but at least one of the players coming back needs to be someone like Able, Roden, or Rojas, a player that at least theoretically can help us in the short term.

This. The Twins are not a bad team, but they aren't a good team either. By a good team, I mean a team that can make the playoffs and win a series or two. We are 1 game into the second half of the season and just finished a series with the two time WS champs who are the best team in baseball again this year. Good time to evaluate where we are. To me, the Twins are about 75% of a good team. They're currently short a least one starter, a middle of the order bat, a good fielding 2B, and about half a bullpen. Some of this is or may be internally fixable, some of it isn't: Starting pitching - Ober may be that quality 4th starter if he comes back after the ASB and/or Prielipp or even Paredes may be if they take that next step. Ryan, Bradley and Zebby all look like quality starters who can start a playoff game and Ryan is a #1 starter. This we might be able to fix internally. We won't be able to trade for this unless the Angels are dumb enough to put Detmers or Soriano on the block and no trades for rental starters. Middle of the Order bat - Maaaaybe Lewis or Keaschall can become this guy, but it doesn't look likely. Clemens is a nice player but he is NOT a middle of the order bat on a good team. He hits 6 on a good team. We need one of 3 things - (1) either Martin becomes a quality every day leadoff hitter with an above .370 OBP and Larnach becomes a quality #3 hitter by staying at or above where he is now -.296/.374/.419(.793) - with someone else hitting 3 against LH starters, (2) someone like Roden comes up and sets the world on fire; or (3) we trade for a middle of the order bat without giving up Ryan for it. Numbers 2 and 3 are pretty unlikely so this improvement has to come internally or not at all. The offense is good enough that we don't have to trade prospects for a bat unless we getting a young controllable bat back int the trade. Defense at 2B - I think Kriedler can play SS at an above average level or better. I think the only chance to get that at 2B is for either Culpeper to come and play 2B at a high level or Keaschall to continue to improve and get there. Color me skeptical on either happening this year but the internal solution is the only one we got. Find another 3-4 quality bullpen pieces - Could be a trade, could be internal. The cost of BP guys this deadline is going to be high and I don't think we're close enough to pay it. Raya, Funderburk, Rashi, Klein, etc. may be able to fill the gap but 50/50 or worse shot. That's where we are IMHO. It leaves me saying let's promote internally, see if we fill the gaps, hope to lucky this year and hit .500 or even sneak into a Wild card, and play for next year. Play the "young guys" and guys you'll have next year like Roden, Culpepper, and Emma, and play them 5 days a week. Don't trade for stop gap vets, only trade for younger guys that you can project contributing for at least the next 2-3 years. Take waiver fliers on 26 year olds with talent like Gomez, not on the Ian Hamiltons and Richard Loveladys of the world (both of whom are on MLB rosters by the way). Don't trade decent prospects for 2 month rentals you can't keep. Trade your rentals - Jeffers and maybe Bell - for guys at AAA who you can give a shot to in August or September, not 19 year olds in A ball. Run with what you got, promote aggressively, and push who you got. Guys will fail. If they do, replace them with the next guy (like Roden for Fedko), and create a culture of accountability and performance with no scholarships.

I think they sent Rojas down to stretch him out as a starter and to work on his control. There really isn't anybody in AAA ready to come up and start in the Bigs if there's another injury, and it looks like Ober and Able are both at least a few weeks away. We need a starter in waiting at AAA. I think Rojas is going to be that guy. If he stretches out and dominates there over the next 3-4 weeks, that also gives the Twins the option of bringing him up to start and moving Paredes or Prielipp to the bullpen. Moving Rojas back to AAA makes sense to me if that's the plan.

You're right, its starting. Raya and Funderburk up. Voth DFA'd. Rojas optioned to St. Paul. My guess is that Rojas went down to build up innings so he can potentially come back as a starter after the ASB for Paredes or even Prielipp, each of whom then goes to the bullpen. Also gives us some more starter depth in case of another injury and gives Rojas a chance to work on his control. This tells us that Abel and Ober are not near returning to the rotation. If they were, we'd keep Rojas in the bullpen. I don't think he went to St. Paul to work on bullpen innings.

We don't have to make room for Kreidler to start at SS. We got nobody else. Culpeper is on the IL at AAA and he's at least a week or more before returning. Then, he ahs to have a week or two to knock the rust off before he'd even be ready for a call up. Lee is a lousy SS and Gray is even worse, something I didn't think was even possible. Ross is a UTL who just got to AAA and Arcia is a 32 year old has been with no future. There just isn't anyone else right now to credibly put out there at SS and there won't be for a month so let's take the time now to find out if Kreidler can be the answer. If not, we haven't lost anything. I agree with your sentiments on Keaschall and would extend them to Lewis at 1B and Lee at 3B. Ride them this year and see if they can be the long term answer. You won't know unless you try.

Agreed and I would add that Bader for Hendry Mendez looks like it might be a big win for the Twins.

Yeah, I think many here are being a little too impatient on Keaschall and assuming what he is today is what he'll always be. The much more likely result is improvement at the plate and in the field. The question is how much improvement and how fast. The idea that we should bench him and play Arcia, a 32 year old has been with a .657 OPS and no future (and that OPS is an improvement over his last 2 years), is beyond absurd. This year is about developing the core, not trying to patch together 78 wins instead of 75. We've got to play guys like Keaschall, Lee, Lewis, Martin, and Culpepper and Roden (both soon), and pitch Morris, Rojas, Prielipp, Gomez, Funderburk, and Paredes (Adams doesn't look like he has it). Later this year there may be chance for guys like Emma, GG, Ross, Klein, and/or Jenkins (I think Fedko's chance is slipping away; he may just not be good enough). We need to find out what we have and find out now, not next year or the year after that, or there will never be a good year. We will always be experimenting. Do it now and get it over with. I do disagree with you on Kreidler. He's only 28 so he has some runway (29 in December) and it looks to me like he already is an above average fielding SS. The question is his bat but the guy stands at .282/.365/.506(.871) after 85 ABs this year. This marked improvement is after overhauling his swing and hitting well in AAA last year, especially in St. Paul. I know its a small sample size and may just be a never repeated hot streak and I know he was awful in his first 180 MLB ABs from 2022-05. Still, the bad batting is also a SSS. Frankly if Kreidler can field at an above average to elite level, and it looks like he can, I want him on the team as the starting SS even if his BA and OBP each drop 20 points and his SLG drops 50 so he's at .260/.345/.450 and on the team as a UTL even if his OPS drops to .700-.725. He's one of the guys auditioning for a long(ish) term job for the Twins. He needs to play every day at SS. We can find a place for Culpepper by moving Keasch to the OF, Lee or Lewis to a UTL spot or by just having those 5 guys play 4 spots with one of them as the DH or getting the day off. We may have caught lightning in a bottle with Kreidler. Let's play it out and see if he can sustain this level of play or even something close to it.

If it does, let's do it.

If we could trade Larnach for Bradley Rodriguez, I would do it in a heartbeat. I'd even throw in a 20 to 30 prospect to get it done, especially if they add an A Ball lottery ticket. Rodriguez has a 2.10 ERA , a 1.19 WHIP, a 2.67 FIP, and a 3.60 SIERRA. He's 22 years old in his second year in the Bigs. Something like Larnach and Amick. Ross, or Rosario for Rodriguez and an A ball guy with upside would be fine by me. That's exactly the kind of deal where it makes sense to trade Larnach.

You all make valid points, but I think you’re missing an important part of the analysis – what do we get in return and how does this go down in the clubhouse. We have a number of players that we hope will want to stay with the Twins long-term. We can’t make trades that show we are giving up on the season again and expect these guys to want to stick around when they get the chance to leave. We cannot trade Larnach for prospects or frankly anybody that doesn’t immediately join the major league roster and make a contribution. If we do, the clubhouse is going to see it as a vote of no confidence and it’s likely we will collapse again. Nobody wants to be on that team long-term. So while I get the arguments for trading Larnach and think they have some validity, I only do it if we can get quality major league help back. The perfect trade, of course, would be Larnach for a quality relief pitcher with closing experience, even if we have to throw in a mid-level prospect to make that happen. Bottom line, unless we’re getting a guy who is immediately on the 26 man roster and either playing regularly or making a real contribution in the bullpen, I say you wait till the off-season to trade him.

I’ve seen some interesting content here about position players ready for promotion, trading specific guys, and some potential position changes, but I don’t remember seeing much that solves the real problem for this year’s Twins – fixing the Bullpen. You hear talk about trading for relief pitchers at the deadline, but that’s going to be very expensive this year in terms of prospects and only has about a 50/50 chance of success. History is littered with trades for relievers that didn’t work out. I want to fix the problem internally, not hope we get lucky externally unless Boston will trade us Chapman for a decent AA prospect and an A ball lottery ticket. Good luck with that. I’d love to see some analysis on the guys in our system who we think could come up and help the bullpen now. And by now, I mean, call them up today or tomorrow and give them a month-long run before the deadline to see if they can be part of the answer. I start with the premise that there are a minimum of three open spots. Voth will be DFAd today if he hasn’t been already, Adams doesn’t look ready and may never be ready, and painful as it is to say our old friend Taylor Rogers should either go on the IL or retire. He’s cooked. There are three open spots minimum. I leave Preilipp, Rojas, and Paredes to cover the fourth and fifth starter/long man reliever spots and I think Orze is very shaky, but I leave him for now to be replaced when Sands is ready to pitch. Gomez, Banda, and Morris are the late inning guys. I also don’t think Ober or Able will be ready in the next month to either help in the bullpen or hold down a starting spot and kick Paredes into the pen. I actually think when Able is ready to come back that the bullpen may be the better place to put him for the rest of this year given his elbow issues and I would seriously think about making him the closer. I have one other criteria. No pitcher over 30 with no options. I want guys 28 or younger that can be part of a long-term bullpen, not Band-Aids we grab off the waiver wires. Even though the Gomez experience turned out to be positive, most of them aren’t. Based on all that, I say we promote Funderburk, CJ, Culpepper, and John Klein to replace Voth, Adams and Rogers. Today or tomorrow. Funderburk was very good the second half of last year and his slow start this year may be the result of his wife’s illness and the new child as much as anything to do with his pitching . I think Culpepper and Klein are the best of the rest at AAA, although Roznek is intriguing. That’s my attempted solution to our biggest problem, but some of you guys know a lot more about what’s available in the system that I do. What does everybody else think?

I think this makes the most sense. I would send down Gray rather than Fedko. I would keep up Martin since he did have a good start to the season and showed last year he can hit major-league pitching, but I do see an argument for sending Martin down for a "reset". Still, Martin is a very good defensive outfielder in the corners and has hit in the past, something neither Gray or Fedko has really done at the major-league level. I question whether Fedko is a major-league player and I don't think he's going to get enough at bats on this team to find out unless we force the issue. His best chance of getting a real tryout is if we fall out of contention and trade somebody. Otherwise, Fedko may be more the kind of guy you throw in on the trade to get somebody else from another team but he needs to get playing time for us to find that out. Playing time should not be a problem if we replace Gray with Roden. We all tend to think about one guy per position but the reality is that basically you need at least 12 guys for the eight positions plus DH and all 12 should get fairly regular playing time - 9 regulars, 1 utility outfielder, 1 utility infielder, and a second catcher. I think you call up Roden and he gets regular time (4-5 days a week) in right field with LF a Larnach/Martin platoon. Clemens can play 4 to 5 days a week by being a super utility IF playing 2 to 3 days a week split between 1B and 2B, at least one day in CF, and another at 3B or this 5th day can be another day of Clemens at 1B with Lewis at 3B. Lee becomes the backup SS and Kreidler plays a lot. Clemens can get another day in the corner outfield on the days Roden sits. Martin and Fedko essentially become the 4th/5th OFs as shortside platoon players in the corners against LH starters and also as late inning defensive replacements/pinch-hitters/pinch runners. The DH spot is open a day or two a week when Bell sits (he never goes in the field). This way the "regulars" play five days a week, everybody gets an extra day off to stay fresh, we can handle the 7 game weeks with guys who have been playing some, and we actually have some pinch-hitting bats available. Wallner is tougher because he's such a poor outfielder but he's had hitting success in the past. I really think he's going to have to wait until there is either an injury or Bell is traded to open up the daily DH position. It's a real conundrum because I think we really have to see this year whether Wallner can be part of the long-term plan since we know Bell is not, and it's hard to see that if he doesn't get up and get regular at bats. He also can't hit left-handed pitching so he's not really a complete replacement for Bell and we don't really have a right-handed hitter that can be the DH against left-handed pitching unless we take some risk and give Jackson that role or give it to Martin or Fedko. Wallner's situation really got worse because Larnach has played so well this year that he's made a good case as a slightly better than average starting MLB OF. At this point, there just is no room at the Inn for Wallner in the outfield. So bottom line is I would get Roden up and get him up now at the expense of Gray. Gray said he was planning on retiring if he didn't make the team out of spring training so he may retire but if he does his utility infielder at AAA role goes to Arcia if we need to call someone up for injury help. More likely, the next move is Culppeper forces his way up at the expense of whichever one of Martin and Fedko gives us the least value, i.e., whichever one hits gets to stay.

Trade Jeffers, keep Larnach. Caratini and Jackson look like a decent pair behind the plate and Jeffers is going into free agency after the season. Try to get bullpen help for Jeffers, hopefully a young AA starter who can apprentice in the BP this year. I agree though, trade him to the NL, not to the Yankees. I can't believe I'm typing this but I would keep Larnach. The vaunted AAA OFs aren't going to be ready this year except for Roden and maybe Emma if he can ever get healthy for more than 3 weeks at a time. Fedko doesn't look good so far (admittedly a very SSS) and Martin has fallen victim to Outman disease. There's room in the OF even with Larnach here and there's no guarantee that any of the AAA guys will keep his OPS over .775 for a long period like Larnach has. He's actually a bargain at less than $5m a year. He still can't hit LH pitching so maybe give GG a shot as his platoon partner but other than that, the guy has performed. You keep guys who perform.

Amen, Brother. Lawrence is the worst pitcher of all of the flotsam and jetsam we've tried in the bullpen this year. I figured he was gone with the way Shelton pulled him from Saturday's game where we lead 16-2 and he gave up 5 runs in 2/3 of an inning. He couldn't get out there fast enough and he looked like he was cursing under his breath. He wouldn't even look at Lawrence when he took the ball. If you can't even get a couple of decent innings out of a guy when up 14 ruins and the other team is pulling its regulars, then when can you pitch him? We were operating one guy short in the bullpen until Lawrence was replaced. That's not fair to the manager, and not fair to a team that's playing hard and trying to win and stay relevant. Thank God he's gone.

I think we have to keep Jackson. I expect them to trade Jeffers before the deadline for Pitching, including hopefully at least one MLB ready reliever, Caratini and Jackson are the tandem for the rest of the year barring injury. Also, keep in mind we can't send Jackson down because he's out of options and he will be claimed if waived, so I don't think we have any choice but to keep him on the big club.

This. The guy has something of a pedigree; he was Detroit's opening day CF two years ago. He looks reasonably competent in the batter's box, and better than competent at SS. He should be playing SS every day. He deserves the shot the way he's played. More importantly, the pitchers deserve a chance to pitch before a competent MLB IF, at least at SS. Look, the name of this position is "hold down SS until Culpepper or Marek Houston is ready". Kreidler has won the job. Give him a real shot to hold it down.

The logical to trade candidates are Rogers and Jeffers. Rogers is the classic aging reliever who's had some success but may be in his last year and doesn't figure in anybody's long-term plans. Plus, he is left-handed and breathing which means a lot. The problem was trading him and suggests not much you can get for him so I bet he stays. With Jeffers, I would make an effort to sign him but in the much more likely event that he wants to test free agency, we really have no choice but to trade him for prospects. We've seen what the team looks like without him and it's not that bad. Ryan and Bell are little more interesting. I'm think you could get just as much for Ryan in the off-season as you can now, particularly from wealthy team that thinks they can re-sign him. Or you can get now is multiple high-end prospects, in the off-season you might actually be a major-league player. Bell has been hitting well lately but it's just hard to see that we can get much for him. I'm not sure for whom we are trying to open up at bats by trading Bell. The question is whether you want to bring Wallner back. There are too many outfielders ahead of him now to give him any realistic innings anywhere other than DH, so I could see trade Bell for the minimal expected return to Wallner the chance to show he can hit enough to stick around. Other than that, you can see training Banda but he is friends with Shelton and I just don't think they're going to trade him given that he's been effective now for about six weeks. Larnach just doesn't have a big enough market to make it worth trading him, and the rest of the guys stay in my view.