LA Vikes Fan

Good to know. i haven't had a chance to watch the games. It would be great if he could even be a .700 OPS guy because it sure looks like he can field CF and he's the only one outside of Buxton who can.

As I read this on the transaction wire, Vasquez came back for Camargo, and Margot came back for Helman. The Twins have announced Buxton will be back for Martin although that isn't yet reflected on the wire. I think that really only leaves two questions - who goes when Correa is ready to come back and when will that be? Has to be either Lee or Keirsey down unless there's an injury. I'm guessing that Keirsey may stay so we have a true CF to back up Buxton. Buck isn't 100% and will probably only play 3-4 games a week in the field with another as a DH. So who goes when Correa is ready (hopefully next week)? Unless an injury makes that decision, it looks like it will be Lee. Having said that, a hot streak at the plate by either Lee or Keirsey could change that decision. Lee will play more, so the chance to stay is in his hands.

Keirsey stays, Martin goes. Interesting choice. Guess defense matters.

Agree with riverbrian. IF they makes the playoffs (a big IF), the only 2 set starters as in go 6 plus innings are Lopez and Ober. Everyone else is mix and match, all hands on deck, be ready when called upon.

As a thought exercise, I just went through our lineup for tonight to list everyone who has an OPS over .700 over the last 30 games. The list? Wallner, Kyle Farmer, Larnach, Santana (barely) and Miranda (barely). Martin was close. No one else was really very close. I then took asway anyone who didn't have an OPS over .700 the last 15 games and there went Santana and Mirnada. Neither is even close over the last 15. Martin was close over 30 and above .700 over the last 15. I looked at Lewis and Castro on the bench to see if they qualify. Nope, not anywhere near close. Lewis and Castro are the worst hitters on the team over the last month and that's saying a lot with Julien and Vasquez on the roster. Lee has been even wore, he just hasn't been up for a month. The point of all this is just to show how hard it must be to construct a lineup when you have 3, maybe 4 hitters who have been even MLB average or slightly better over the last month. How many times have we seen Lewis or Castro come up with runners on in scoring position and watched them strike out? This team just doesn't have enough MLB ready hitting to be competitive unless some of these guys turn it around. I have very little confidence of that happening. The ironic thing is that when yo look at the actual performance numbers tonight's decision to play Farmer at 3B instead of Lewis not only makes sense, it's the absolute right decision. Who would have guessed that? Maybe Rocco isn't completely asleep after all.

I would add that there are at least 2 players playing out of position most games - whoever is playing SS and whoever is playing CF. The proposed backups for those positions were busts defensively - Farmer lost his range and Margot may never have had the range. Lee and Castro are not MLB level shortstops; Castro and Martin are not MLB level in CF (too early to know on Keirsey). A big part of why the defense is poor is because those two positions are not well manned. The Twins problem is that with the injuries they now have about 2/3 of a team if everything clicks - 4-5 guys that can hit, 2.5-3 starters, leaky up the middle defense, and about half a bullpen. That's if the players you have actually perform. When some of those guys don't - like Lewis and Julien in the lineup, SWR recently in the rotation, Alcala and Duran in the bullpen - there's no one who has any chance of steeping up to cover. While I think there's a lot to criticize about Baldelli, it's hard to see how anyone could do much more with what this team has right now. We've just run out of MLB level players.

I have been a Baldelli supporter as manager, but he clearly has to take a large share of the responsibility for this late-season collapse. I hope I'm wrong, but I've stopped watching the games on MLB TV or participating in the game threads because I'm pretty convinced that the Twins are in a death spiral that will end with them winning 82 to 84 games and finishing outside the playoffs. The biggest reason for that is the injuries, particularly the injury to Joe Ryan and consequent need to start Festa and Matthews every fifth day, guys who are not ready to be major league starting pitchers. Still, the second biggest reason is just a lack of fundamental play and fire from the team itself. They are just playing bad baseball and that has to be laid at the feet of the manager and assistant coaches. Their job is to get the players to execute, and it just isn't happening. Their job is also to recognize when players are not contributing and frankly be bloodless and heartless in only playing guys who are executing. I've been a big fan of playing the young guys to get them experience, but the last two weeks of made me realize that playing Lewis and Lee every day is likely to doom the season. They just aren't making a contribution. Now, I'm not sure that Helman, Martin and Keirsey would be any better but we certainly need to give that a try. Miranda also needs to be playing every day because he's one of the few guys that is hitting at all. I just feel like this coaching staff has not made a good effort at trying to adjust the roster. I recognize that the options are limited with so many guys out, but you still have to recognize when things are not working and make changes. My prediction is that the Twins will fade out of the playoffs and Rocco will be back next year with basically the same philosophy. It works if you don't have injuries, it doesn't if you do. I think the last three years have shown us that.

Have to agree. Lee hasn't really shown that he can handle SS at an MLB level. He's also not really hitting. I'm not a big fan of Farmer but we may be seeing a Farmer/Castro platoon at SS for awhile. especially since Castro can't hit water if he fell out of a boat RH.

Castro had to get a day or two off. He's hitting under .200 for the last month, under .100 for the two weeks. I hope he's out for 2 of these 3 games. He's gassed. Lee hasn't looked great in the field, either. I am glad to see Wallner and Larnach get some run in the corners against LH pitching. I would like to see Helman get some ABS but it's more important for us to see if Wallner and Larnach can be every day players. Those 2 are the starting corner OFs in 2025, Helman maybe a 5th OF or utility guy.

It's sad to see Kepler go out this way but there is a silver lining. The most likely scenario for next year was Kepler gone with Wallner and Laranach in the corner OF spots most days, maybe platooning some with a RH bat to start against LH pitching. I expect that to be the result the rest of the way with Castro in the IF/Super UTL role, and Martin and Keirsey in CF. This allows Lewis to DH more and still stay in the lineup. I think that's what we're going to see in September with Correa, Buxton, Margot, and Kepler back in late September, if at all. All these injuries do give us a jump on next year and in a year where .500 ball the rest of the way is highly likely to get us into the playoffs. With all that said, it's very hard to see Kepler's career end this way. He was never a star but he was a steady contributor and a class act.

One look at Kepler's performance in the last 15 games should have told them he wasn't going to come back at even 80% after a couple of days off. He wasn't hitting at all, wasn't running the bases well, and even his defensive range was down. He was providing very little value to the team. He needs at least 10 days. I wouldn't be surprised if he's out for 3 weeks or so. I suspect that it will be at least September 16 to 20 before we see any of Buxton, Correa, Kepler, or Margot ready to play. It will likely be the playoffs before we see Correa, assuming that we are actually in the playoffs.

I agree that Thielbar has bounced back some, but only to pretty average and wildly inconsistent. He is not a guy that we would trust in a playoff game with a lead; he is more the guy that comes in when you're down three in the seventh. He's not going to help this bullpen much in critical situations.

Congratulations to Keirsey on getting this opportunity. A real opportunity may be right in front of him. Who is going to play CF now that Buxton's hip problem has reactivated and he is out for at least another week or two, perhaps longer? It looks like Margot won't be back anytime soon and can't play centerfield anyway.. The choices are Castro and Martin. Castro is hitting.154/.254/.308 (.562) over the last 30 games and even worse over the last 15 games if that's possible. Castro is completely gassed and needs at least a week where he only plays a couple of games. Martin is a little better at.284/.361/.365 (.726) over the last 30, but he has no power and has tailed off over the last 10 games or so. I'm hopeful and would love to see Rocco lean into youth and play a platoon of Keirsey and Martin in CF every day. I would put Willie C on the bench for at least a couple of days and then slowly work him back in, primarily at 2B with some time at SS. Brooks Lee has been an adventure in short and he's not hitting much either. Play Wallner and Larnach most every day with a little Helman mixed in as the corner outfielders and play Lewis, Santana, and Miranda as the 3B/1B/DH most every day. Our chances of winning the division are now pretty small, and the teams behind us playing just as poorly as we are so our chances of falling out of playoff position are getting smaller by the day. Besides, even if we make the playoffs with this lineup we are not going anywhere. Let's use this time to get a jump on next season and give these guys some experience. Many of us agitated for the removal of some of the vets so that the young guys can play. I know we were thinking about Margot and Farmer, not Buxton and Correa. Still, we should take advantage of this opportunity. This team is really going to have trouble scoring runs for a while with a lineup that every night is going to feature at least 3-4 players who have spent time in the minor leagues the season. Still, it's what we got and we gotta roll with it. Glue Farmer to the bench as an occasional pinch-hitter and late inning defensive replacement at 2B, platoon Keirsey and Martin in CF, and use this opportunity to get maximum ABs for Wallner, Larnach, Miranda, Julien, Keirsey, Martin, and Helman (in that order). Let's at least find out what we got for next year as we slowly but surely implode through September.

I think in both cases you're seeing players who are frustrated and mad at themselves for not being able to be there for the team in a critical situation.

I think this is looking more and more accurate. Varland simply doesn't appear to have the consistency or temperament to be a starter at this point in his career. More importantly, it doesn't look like that's changing or improving over time. Conversely, he looks outstanding in 1 or 2 inning appearances. Time to put him in the bullpen for the rest of the season. If we have another injury in the rotation, we are just going to have to go to spot starts or bullpen games once a turn. He can help the bullpen but he's killing the rotation.

Varland up, Castillo optioned to St. Paul. I'm a little surprised that Castillo still has options remaining at his age but apparently so.

They may be trying to to push Pablo back to Friday to start against KC. They could pitch Matthews Thursday on 4 days rest since he pitched Saturday, give Pablo an extra day, and go Lopez, Ober, SWR in KC.

You might be right. Given his versatility he would be a better fit IF he can hit. It also helps that he hits RH. I would like to see him as a replacement for Farmer, but I think that's unlikely.

I think that is part of the price we're playing 3 rookies in the rotation. Holding runners on is a skill that develops over time.

What's interesting to me is Wallner is becoming the LH hitting OF who plays against LH pitching at some expense to Kepler. He also sometimes stays in when the other team switches to a LH reliever, whereas Larnach almost never does. His OPS is up to .721 against LH pitching, albeit with a weak .190/.292/.429 slash line. For reference, Larnach has a .423 OPS against left handers and Kepler has a .721 OPS against them. Oddly, Kepler is actually hitting better against southpaws than against RH pitching this year in a much smaller sample size. It looks to me like they are trying to see if Wallner can be an everyday OF to replace Kepler next year. Laranch is looking more like a platoon OF. Is Larnach Joey Gallo? Looks like it will be pretty similar. I think Wallner will hit for a higher average with the same basic OPS. Gallo had an OPS in the high .800s to the low .900s in 2017-2019, down in 2020, .806 again in 2021, and then fell off a cliff. Always had a high 30s% to 40% SO rate and a high walk rate. Sounds a lot like Wallner. Maybe he improves and gets his SO rate down to 30-33%. I see him settling in as a .250/.370/.510 guy who strikes out around a third of the time. Nothing wrong with that. It can really help to have one of those guys in the lineup … but you can only have one.

I agree with this, not as a philosophy but because of the people involved. Duran is best in a 9th/10th inning closer or tied situation; not so good outside of that. Jax is more versatile. I would use Jax the way Rocco used him yesterday, to face the meat of the other team's order whether that's in the 6th, 7th or 8th of a close game, or even the 9th inning of a tie game. I wouldn't get myself tied to a Jax in the 8th, Duran in the 9th mold.

I think we are seeing this year's roster already this year. It will be the same players with the possibility of one new, cheap bat or one, new cheap reliever. Here is the 2025 roster that I see: OF - Buxton, Larnach, Wallner, Martin (no Margot or Kepler) IF - Correa, Lewis, Miranda, Lee, Julien (no Farmer or Santana) UTL - Castro C - Jeffers, Vasquez SP - Lopez, Ryan, Ober, SWR, 1 of Paddack, Festa, Matthews, Varland - the 3 who don't make it are the Saints' top 3 starters. No permanent move to the BP yet for Varland. He gets one more shot to show he can be a MLB starter. BP - Jax, Duran, Sands, Alcala, Henriquez, Stewart, 2 of Funderburk, Thielbar, Winder, Blewett. Likely to be one added to this group as a FA on a minor league contract. The rest are in AAA. I see room for one more position player and maybe a reliever. The position player will either be Kirilloff (spot now that Santana is gone), a multi position guy like Helman, or a veteran RH bat that can play 1B and OF. The reliever will be an opportunity thing. IF there is an opportunity through a minor league contract signing or cheap vet we take it, otherwise we run back the same group. I think this is going to be a boring off season. The FO has spent this year setting up next year and we are there. Could be a fun team.

I'm actually hoping that they start Helman today since Tampa Bay is starting a left-hander. You know it will either be Farmer, Helman, or I guess maybe Lewis at 2B, although the latter seems very unlikely. Let's give this guy a chance to get his feet wet now and find out if he can help us down the stretch before Buxton is ready to come back and displace someone from the roster.

This. We're back to scoring most of our runs by way of the HR and not scratching out runs. Of course, a lot of that is we don't have a lot of speed as a team but we're not doing a great job stringing together hits to get a run here and run there. That to me is our biggest offense of weakness. That is a classic weakness a young team; pressing with runners on base. Right now, Larnach seems to be the big exception. It would really help if one of the other young guys in the middle the lineup like Lewis or Miranda could get hot with runners in scoring position.

The offense is sputtering right now. We need the better bat. Helman may be up simply because he’s a better hitter. With Castro now available to play CF, his positional flexibility also helps.