LA Vikes Fan

Excellent comment. Looking at someone’s year long statistics when they’re just arriving at the Major league level can be very misleading . Morris has definitely improved since he joined the big club. I personally think that he and Gomez have a better than 50/50 probability of developing into solid to very good late inning relievers and Gomez could actually be a closer. Banda is what he always has been with the Dodgers, a decent, but not great left-handed reliever who struggles with right handed hitting. He’s definitely worth keeping around, I wouldn’t trade him at the deadline unless we have someone to replace him, but he’s not the answer to our need for at least one more dependable late inning arm. The Twins really need another solid late inning guy. Rodgers, Lawyerson, and Orze maybe be decent middle relievers, but but they are definitely not that guy. Adams and Lawrence should be pitching in AAA or for somebody else. My hope is that Rojas will come back and be that back end force from the left side that we need. I really think the bullpen is not that far off from actually being pretty good. Lose Adams and Lawrence, and replace them with Rojas as a late inning guy and Paredes as your primary Long man and you actually have a decent bullpen.

It does, you’re right. My bad. I guess I agree with you pretty much entirely.

I agree with the OP except for keeping Jeffers. He's a free agent at the end of the year so trade him for hopefully a good AA prospect type or two. Nothing prevents us from re-signing him as a free agent, so we haven't really lost a lot other than the chance to make a QO. I would absolutely keep Ryan unless blown away by an offer that includes a cost controlled middle of the order bat. Do not trade him for just prospects. His value will be high in the off season, and I don't buy that we will get "more" at this year's trade deadline than in the off season. Play the "kids", keep Ryan in the rotation so you have some stability, and hope for a run. If you don't get one, at least you've sorted out the players from the pretenders. Whatever you do, don't play guys that aren't going to be here for the at least the next 2 years. That means goodbye Bell, goodbye Larnach, Lawrence, and Gray, and maybe goodbye Taylor Rogers and Ober.

I think that's the play and the reason that Fedko for Arcia makes sense. I think Gray and Kreidler will be a rough platoon at SS. Gray has a fielding run value of -3 and a range value of -2 according to Baseball Savant, Kreidler -2 and 0, with Gray having the better arm. In other words, Gray is slightly below average and Kreidler is average there. I have to say the eye test tells me that Kreidler is much better at SS but what do I know. It seems like Fedko's shot is to be the 4th OF playing in a corner against LH pitching instead of Larnach (and subbing for him when they bring in LH relivers), moving Martin down one since he isn't hitting. Fedko should get his first shot tonight against a LH starter. Bigger picture, there's a real opportunity here. If we believe in the Lewis resurgence, this team has 4, maybe 5 guys worth hitting every day - Buxton, Clemens, Lewis, Lee, and maybe Keaschall if the last 2 weeks continue. Everything else is open. If he can hit, there are plenty of places to play him. I hope they give him a real run over the next 2-3 weeks and see what we got.

Good for him getting an opportunity. I see him getting his at bats at the expense of Martin, who is really scuffling. Clemens is .286/.315/.569 over his last 116 ABs, better over the last 50, and Lewis is raking so those 2 play every day at 1B and RF. With Keaschall showing signs of life, Kriedler plays SS and Gray is the UTL. Lee needs some days off. Fedko fits in as a platoon mate for Larnach and Martin moves to the bench as a pinch runner/defensive replacement.

I think a lot of Morris' recent problems are because of inconsistent control and command more than anything else. When he misses, he misses by foot or more, not an inch or two. The last two times I've seen him pitch he threw uncompetitive pitches in every at bat – the kind of pitches nobody would ever swing at. That lessens his margin for error on all of his other pitches pretty dramatically and gives hitters a chance to be very selective. Bradley has the same problem. When you look in an effective pitcher like Ryan you notice that his balls are typically a few inches out of the strike zone and are at least somewhat tempting. Guys like Morris and Bradley throw breaking balls that are foot high, spike changeups, throw fastballs 2 feet inside or outside, etc. - Pitches that just have no chance of ever tempting a batter to swing the bat or causing any concern. The good news I think this is fixable with time and experience. Some of this is nerves and overthrowing, some of it is not trusting your stuff in critical situations. Look, I would say that Morris is potentially part of the bullpen solution. We need to keep throwing him out there to gain experience and confidence. That goes for a lot of other guys on this team. This year is going to be ugly at times as we try to develop players and some of those ugly moments are to come in Morris is on the mound.

I agree that its now time to get up the young guys Contending this season is not happening. A more realistic goal would be to play .500 ball in the second half and finish with about 76-78 wins. We've essentially brought up every pitcher with a chance and will still be doing that as Adams, Funderburk, Klein, etc. ride the train. Time to start with the position players. The two that seem to make the most sense are Culpeper at SS and Fedko as an OF/1B. I'd get Fedko up this week replacing Kreidler. I'd then choose between Gray and Arcia as my utility IF, DFA and hope to trade the other by month end for a lottery ticket and bring up Culpepper by the end of next week. Then, play Culpeper, Lee, and Keaschall pretty much every day, and get as many ABs for Fedko as possible. It's time to find out what we have. for the next few years. Gray and Arcia an re not part of the next few years. Frankly, Clemens and Bell aren't either but Clemens is hitting and playing D so we should keep him in the lineup and Bell we need to get going so we can trade him for a lottery ticket next month.

Lewis is starting at 2B today. I think he will see time there, an occasional day at 3B to give Lee a break, and as a DH. I think Clemens is the 1B for the foreseeable future given that he can actually field the position and is hitting well. I expect to see. Keaschall at 2B and LF, occasional DH. I think the loser in all of this from playing time standpoint will be Josh Bell who I think they’re probably actively trying to trade. Any word on who is taking Outman’s open 40 man spot? Might be time for Fedko to get a look.

By the way, the DFA of Outman should also create a 40 min spot, I believe. It will be interesting to see if they fill that with Fedko and call him up, as another pitcher, or what the plan is.

Royce Lewis is starting at 2B today. Clemens at 1B, Keaschall on the bench.

See above.

So if we go Fedko for Outman, where and how often does Fedko play? It would make sense if the idea is to rotate 3 guys (Larnach, Martin, Fedko) through LF and RF, with Fedko also getting some time at 1B. It doesn't make sense to have Fedko be a late inning pinch runner/defensive role like Outman is now. That role would go to Kreidler. This would also limit the ABs for Clemens some and would potentially move Bell down the pecking order as well. All makes sense to me.

Martin has value at the MLB level. The real question is whether that value is as a starter or 4th outfielder. I don't think any of us thought he would hit even 15 HRs a year, so his value has to come from getting on base and playing good defense. The defense appears to be there. He's a starter it he can get his batting average to around .280 with a .350 OBP, a 4th OF if those numbers are closer to .250/.325. I still bet on the former, but I could see him being the latter. Both are valuable. I do think the Twins are doing exactly what they should do with Martin this year. Play him and see what we have. That means playing him through slumps for awhile to see if he can come out of them. Same for Lee, same for Keaschall. We did the same thing with Lewis and Wallner but they could never come out of their slumps so they did the right thing and sent them down. It looks like Lewis may be back sometime in June. On the pitching side, same thing with Morris, Prielipp, Matthews, Gomez, Orze, Lawyerson, Klein, Adams, and with Rojas and Abel when they come back. This is an evaluation year. It's going to have its ugly moments but we have to go through this to find out what we've got.

Nice write up, especially for guys like me that don't know a lot about the guys in the lower minors. It's unfortunate we don't have more guys at the AAA or even AA level that are worthy of being in this article., Also, excellent use of the word "cromulent". It is a truly underrated word that simply does not get enough exposure.

SWR's fall is so hard and came so fast it makes one wonder if there isn't something more going on like an injury or a personal issue that is effecting his performance. If that's not the case, I don't think the Twins had any real other option here. They could not continue to run him out every fifth day as a starter and maintain any credibility with the clubhouse. I think they're trying to create a culture of "performance matters", hence the demotions of Lewis and Wallner, and the DFAs of Topa and Garcia (all of which might not have happened if Falvey was still in charge by the way). If performance matters, SWR was clearly not performing and could not be allowed to stay on scholarship. Why not in the bullpen? We all keep writing how this bullpen is a bunch of mediocre pitchers, and lacks high velocity guys or guys with one outstanding pitch. So here's another mediocre or worse pitcher without high velocity or any one outstanding pitch and we're complaining they didn't put him in the bullpen? SWR was DFA'd because his performance was terrible and the Twins are trying to win games. It's just a simple as that. It does suck that he is out of options and we couldn't send him to AAA and try to see if he could recapture his form, but that's the way the system works. If we want to get better, have to be willing to part with people who aren't helping the team. SWR was not helping the team. By the way, I haven't read anything about him being claimed on waivers. Does anybody know any different? I think the process still has a few days to play out but who knows, maybe no one else will want him now either and he can be sent to AAA. I'd be very surprised to see another team pick him up and put him in the rotation, so I think the only shot is a bad team throwing him in the bullpen to see if they can figure out his problems. That's kind of a waste of a roster spot for a guy who's upside is your fifth starter so I wouldn't be shocked if he went unclaimed.

I guess I wasn't clear. I want to trade Ryan (if we do) for guys that are in the Majors in 2027, developing into guys who can help us win in 2028-2032. In other words, a high upside prospect that's ready to develop in the Majors - think the hitting equivalent of Abel with more experience, not Mendez or Tait. I think the goal is to get guys who help make the division/wild card competitive window crack open a bit next year or 2028 and help us be competitive to win the division/make noise in the playoffs by 2028/2029. That's trading for someone who is ready to get jump in their whole body wet now but needs some MLB struggles/seasoning before they can be meaningful contributors. It takes at least a year of roughly full time MLB play before someone becomes a meaningful contributor, usually two. I want that development year in the Bigs to be 2027, not 2029. I'm thinking someone analogous to Martin at the start of this year but with higher upside, plus a reliever of the same ilk, guys who can be regulars in 2027. Martin is undergoing his development year now in the hope he can be a meaningful consistent contributor in the front half of the lineup in 2027. Same for Keaschall. What I don't want to do is trade Ryan for the equivalent of couple Eduardo Taits; guys with high upsides who won't arrive in the Majors until 2029 or 2030. Those trades just push out the competitive window farther. If we want to trade for someone that can help us win now, we have to wait until the off season and hope to trade Ryan plus for an cost controlled established middle of the order bat. Those bats aren't available at the deadline. I also don't think we get that for Ryan.

I still cling to the probably forlorn hope that Ryan can be re-signed by the Twins. In the more likely event that they can't get him to stay or simply won't pay the freight, trading him is the only other logical answer. The questions is - trade him at the 2026 trade deadline or in the off season? Or, put more accurately IMO, when can you get not just high upside talent but high upside talent that is ready to go into the Majors right away? I don't think we should trade him for guys in A or even AA Ball unless the latter is someone who can skip AAA and come straight to the parent club. We shouldn't be trading Ryan for guys that can help us in 2029 and beyond; we should be trading for guys that can play something close to full-time in 2027 and be foundational pieces in 2028 and beyond. Ideally, we should trade him for one or more cost controlled players that have already shown they can hit MLB pitching to a least a certain extent that have been upside of being a middle of the order bat. That may be a more likely scenario in the off-season than at the deadline when teams tend to only want to trade away high upside players that are least a couple of years away. To me, that is an inadequate return. If that's all that's offered, I would wait until the off-season. This is of course all complicated by the impending lockout and what happens to people's contracts if there is no 2027 season or shortened one, if they change the free agency rules, if there's a cap and floor system, etc. Frankly, I think that impacts everybody's trade value in Ryan's position since there's no guarantee that you're actually trading for a guy for a full 2027 season. I think that may make deadline trays a little less interesting for guys like Ryan.

It may be time to get Ryan comfortable with Jackson behind the plate. He and Caratini do not seem in sync. Jackson is the better defensive catcher, at least by reputation, and may turn out to be the better hitter. I'd like to see more Jackson and less Caratini for a month and see what we've got in Jackson. Both could be trade chips if Jeffers isn't traded. If he is, and he should be if he isn't staying, we need to know if Jackson can be part of a catching tandem next year. Play him more now while we have the chance with Jeffers out.

I'd agree if he was healthy, but he's not. Jeffers has a broken hamate in his left wrist and won't even begin swinging a bat until mid-June, not in the lineup until early to mid-July. The history with that injury tells that players usually suffer a major power drop off and lingering pain for 2-3 moths after returning to the lineup. They eventually recover their power but it takes half a season. His contract runs out after this season so the acquiring team gets the rehab time but not the recovery. In other words, this injury really hit his value. He probably is a top 5 catcher in baseball, but not until next year after his contract expires and when he could be playing anywhere regardless of who acquires him. Jeffers is worth a couple of solid prospects right now, neither in the top 10 of a system, nothing more. Think Ryan Gallagher plus Hendry Mendez as a top end. To me, getting a controlled guy who has a short track record of an under 4 ERA as a MLB starter like Mlodzinski would be a strong return for half a season of a diminished Jeffers.

I like the idea of trading Jeffers early and recognize his value went down with the broken hamate, but I just don't think the Pirates want a guy they can't re-sign either after the season. If they do, I'd really seriously consider this since trading Jeffers at the deadline is likely to net prospects only, and not any in the top 10 in a system. More likely one in the 11-15 range, and one in the 25-30 range. How about a prospect less than GG, but on the next level? Maybe Hendry Mendez or Ryan Gallagher?

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.