LA Vikes Fan

That's a tough one because you may be right, and I think you probably are, but there isn't anyone out there to get. The best projected FA this offseason after Jeffers is Tyler Stephenson. He's good, hitting .251/.333/.425 with a 1.8 WAR so far this year, and an average defensive catcher. Sporttrac says his "value" next year is $7.5m. I'm guessing the market will value him at 2 years, roughly $20-25M or, since he just turned 30 yesterday, 3 or 4 years at an AAV of $10-15M. I don't think we're in on him at that price with Caratini's contract. After him, the quality falls off sharply to 36 year old Kyle Higashioka, 32 year old Carson Kelly, 34 year old Austin Hedges, and downhill from there. I'm glad we kept Jackson because I honestly think he's as good as any option presently scheduled to be available other than Stephenson and maybe Kelly.

This. Geez, the guy has played a total of 43 games in the OF in 2026 after playing all of 16 games there in the Minors. Add to that he's all of 23 years old in this first full season in the Bigs. Yet now we're able to say with certainty that he will always be a defensive liability, and seems "overmatched" at every position? Wow, I'm glad you guys were never my supervisor doing my evaluation. I guess perfection from game 1 is the standard. We all need to chill and give the guy a chance for Chrissakes. The eye test ells me that he is plenty athletic enough to be an above average corner OF. with LF the best because he's had TJ surgery and now has an average arm at best. We all talk about developing players. This is what developing players looks like, guys. Don't say you want to develop talent and then complain that it actually takes time to develop. Give him time to learn how to play the position. I completely agree with you on his position in the BA. Keaschall is our best hitter when you factor in his speed and baserunning. Not one of our best, our best. Hitting him 6 or 7 makes no sense to me. I understand Shelton when he says that they put too much on him by hitting him 3 early and he has produced better towards the back of the lineup. All true, but that was then and this is now. He's comfortable now. He has a .400 OBP since May. Move him up. My preferred spot would be 1 or 2 depending on where you want to put Buxton, with Lewis, Bell, Larnach, and Jeffers in the 3 -6 spots depending on who's hot and who isn't. Lee and Clemens (if we must play him every day, get Ross up and see if he can play) hold down the 7 and 8 spots depending on the handedness of the starter, and Culpepper hits 9. If Martin plays, he hits 9 and everyone moves up one. If Martin's hurt, then Roden and Jenkins hit 8 or 9 with Culpepper unless they break out and show they should move up. The season is getting away from us. The offense is in the tank. Shake it up and shake it up TODAY. Move Keaschall up. That's the easy move and it should actually help. Remember, he has a .400 OBP since May, has hit .301/.420/.452 OPS in his last 30 games (who says he has no power), and he had a .909 OPS in July, 1.017 so far in August. Why the heck is he hitting 6 or 7???? There may be other smart moves, like moving Buck down to 5 or 6 or permanently installing Lewis at 4, but let's at least grab the low hanging fruit. Keaschall should hit in the 1 or 2 hole starting NOW.

Any word on an IL stint for Martin? Agree with you on Jackson. He's the #2 catcher next year assuming Jeffers is gone. I hope he and Caratini can hold down the fort until Olivar, Lackey, and/or Tait is ready. They ain't much else out there to get.

Looks like this might be easier than I thought. Martin has a hamstring strain that one would think means at lezas 10 days on the shelf. Buxton does not look recovered from his injury. Il them both. Call up Jenkins out play CF every day. Call up Ben Ross to play 2B and make Clemens the UTL/4th OF. It's a start. Now get Rojas up and put him in the rotation, maybe in a piggy back with Matthews.

I’m right with you. I just did a blog post about getting some of our young guys some playing time this year. If Buxton and Martin are hurt, put them on the IL and call up Jenkins and Emma. DFA Kriedler and call up Ben Ross. Put Ross at second base and make Clemens the UTL. Sit Bell and give DH ABs to one of the young guys or to Clemens so Ross can play. Bring up Rojas, put him in the rotation, and put Ober in the bullpen. This team made a nice run by playing above their talent level, but that is now over. They are going to go, 1 – 5 or 2 – 4 against Atlanta and San Diego. Let’s get up these other guys and see if they can play.

I freely admit that I was one of those guys clinging to the hope that this year's Twins could not only make the playoffs; they could actually win the Central Division! Well, a 4-9 start to August and the unmasking of our deficiencies by getting swept at home by the Phillies has made the opposite point to me. We just aren't good enough, at least not with the current group. Our starting pitching is falling apart due to injury, and the offense is pretty futile. Doesn't leave one with much if any hope for 2026. So what do we do? I think we use the rest of 2026 to try out guys who could shore up positions for 2027. That means sitting or even cutting guys who will not be on the team next year where we have somebody to look at and playing the guys who we are going to need to start next year. That includes guys learning a new position.. Starting with what I think is next year's Opening Day lineup, Lee (3B), Culpepper (SS), and Lewis (1B or 2B) play every day. Pick a lane with Keaschall. Either he's a corner 0F or a 2B. DH is not a lane for a highly athletic, 23-year-old player. Anyone who suggests that needs to find a day job. Keaschall may in fact be our best hitter, he certainly has been the last two months, and he needs to play in the field every day somewhere. I'd prefer 2B despite how poorly he played there earlier because that's where the opening is, but I respect anyone who says he has to be a corner OF. Regardless of where you put him, call up Jenkins and give him some time to see if he's ready. Same for Roden, he's starting to come around. Give him some fairly consistent ABs. Unless you are going to move Keaschall back to 2B, call up Ben Ross. He is tearing up AAA, and is 25. Let's use the last six weeks to find out if he can be a UTL or even the starting 2B on next year's team. On the pitching side, call up Rojas and put him in the rotation in place of either Ober or Matthews. Ober can go to the bullpen as the long man with Adams heading back to AAA or Matthews can either go back to AAA, go to the bullpen, or go on the IL until his foot gets better. Work hard to sign Minter for at least 2027. Keep throwing Funderburk out there in high leverage situations, and keep Prielipp and Kremer in the rotation as long as you can. How would we create space? I think it's time to DFA a couple guys and bench a couple others. Kriedler has been a fun story but his ceiling is a good glove, no bat UTL. He probably passes through waivers and if he doesn't, no big loss. Much as I hate to say it, same for Taylor Rogers. In a sense, we might be doing him a favor by making him available to other teams. Maybe he'll get picked up by contender get a chance for another playoff run in this, his last year in the majors. Sit Bell and Larnach 3 days a week unless you're committed to bringing them back next year. Sit Clemens at least 3 days a week. I want him back next year as a very versatile UTL but his bat is way too streaky and inconsistent to give him a starting position. Sit or DH Buxton 3 days a week with the other 3 in CF. His body just isn't going to let him finish strong. I would recommend playing a young Catcher regularly but we don't have one ready to play yet. Let's create opportunity now while we can. There may be no spring training next year. I think if you do these things you can create find 4 plus days a week for Jenkins, Roden, and Ross, 5 days plus a week for Culpeper, and time for Emma when he comes up on 9/1. If you want to change out Roden for Emma, I'm fine with that. We also create a spot every fifth day in the rotation for Rojas. Time to find out if these guys can play. Now, not next spring, NOW. Who's with me?

Well, after today's debacle the season is pretty close to officially over. It really is time to start planning for next year. To me, that means getting Jenkins a chance at the expense of Kody Clemens or Josh Bell. I would even think about benching Laranch or maybe putting him in a platoon as a DH with Bell. Bottom line, we really have to start planning for next year at this point. If we do that and still do something this year, bully for us, but it's not looking good. We are doing the right thing in a couple of spots - playing Culpepper pretty much every day at SS, same for Lee at 3B, and Lewis at 1B. That's 3/4 of next year's Opening Day IF. We need to decide what were going to do for next year at 2B. I don't think Clemens is the answer there given that he's already 30 and an incredibly streaky hitter, even for next year. I think he's a great, very versatile bench piece for 2027. Is it back to 2B for Keaschall? He's a key. He has shown himself to be quality MLB bat, maybe even an elite one with some experience. He has to play every day and DH is not the spot. If Keaschall's going to stay in the OF, he plays there every day so he gets experience and will be better in the field next year. If so, then find yourself a young 2B, or a 1B and move Lewis to 2B. Ben Ross has hit really well in AAA this year, maybe he needs a look at 2B. If Keaschall goes back to 2B, that opens up at bats for Roden or Jenkins. If that's not the case and Keisha was going to stay in the OF permanently, then think seriously about cutting back on Larnach's playing time in favor of Jenkins, Emma, or Roden, whoever you need to look at in the next six weeks. My point is we gave this a shot and made some low to medium wattage trades (all of which I thought were good), but the schedule got tougher and now we're 4-9 in August. We improved the bullpen but the starting pitching has fallen apart due to injury and the offense's fallen apart due to guys no longer playing over their heads. Let's admit what we are and use the rest of this year to evaluate guys for next year. Don't wait until spring training next year because there may not be one and because you have the opportunity now you a real evaluation against teams trying their best. We can create roster spots. Kriedler could be DFA'd. I like the guy but he is at best good glove UTL with a weak stick. He will probably pass through waivers and if he doesn't it really isn't that big a loss. That allows us to call up either Jenkins or Emma and see what they've got, with the other one coming up on September 1. Decrease the playing time for the guys unlikely to be on next season's roster like Bell and maybe Larnach and for the guys unlikely to be starting players next year like Clemens. Sit Buxton a little more so he can actually recover from injury. Like will be done on the pitching side in the bullpen. In the rotation, find a place for Rojas to start every fifth day. Either sit Matthews think about what to do with Obver. He can't be in your rotation next year with an 87 mile-per-hour fastball. It just doesn't work. Make him a long reliever and send Adams down or do something we all see coming, retire Taylor Rogers. Look, I was one of the ones with hope at the All-Star break even at the trade deadline. But now I see what many here have been saying; we just aren't good enough to even make the playoffs in a bad year like this one. Sometimes you just need to admit what you are and then you can move forward. Let's admit this group is not going to make the playoffs and audition a few guys now.

I say we bench Clemens (.186 BA for the last month, even worse lately), send Roden back to AAA, call up Jenkins, and move Keaschall back to second base. Defensively scary on the infield, but Jenkins improves the defense in the outfield. We need the bat. By the way, this also works with Roden - he’s also outhitting Clemens. I’d also re-organize the lineup so the guys that are actually hitting move up. Here’s my thought for the lineup starting Monday against RHs: Larnach LF Buxton CF Keaschall 2B Jeffers C Bell DH Lewis 1B Lee 3B Jenkins RF Culpepper SS I think you could put the 4, 5, and 6 hitters in any order depending on who’s hot and who’s not. The real point here is to get Keaschall’s bat and speed higher up in the lineup so you can run more and create more opportunities for the guys behind him. He has a .429 OBP the last 30 games and over.400 for the last 50. Against LHs, Martin starts but hits 9. Everyone else moves up one. Clemens and Kriedler are the UTLs and cover every position between the two of them. Caratini is the backup C, only plays that position and only two days a week. The other bench spot is the not playing half of the LF platoon. The offense is in a funk. It needs to be shaken up. Putting Jenkins in the lineup in place of Clemens is one thing and adjusting the order a little is another, one of them may actually help. Can’t keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results.

I think this is the issue. Who do you sit to get regular playing time for Jenkins? It’s not one of the current OFs. I think the answer is one a lot of folks here won’t like - bench Clemens, move Keaschall back to 2B, and play Jenkins in RF. That would be a major hit on the IF defense, but if Jenkins hits better than Clements, which seems like a real possibility given Clemens is hitting about .180 for the last 6 weeks, it would give the offense a shot in the arm. It would also improve the outfield defense so maybe it’s close to a wash defensively? Yeah, I know, not really, but the way we’re hitting we need the offensive boost right now more than the defensive boost.

I think we keep him on the roster to preserve that last option and to be the RH hitting side of the LF platoon. He's picked it up lately so I don't think the situation is as dire as the post suggests. He's .246/.384/.386 (.770) over his last 30 games (57 ABs), .250/.342/.438 (.780) over the last 15 (32 ABs), and .316/.409/.579 (.988) over the last 7 (19 ABs, SSS). It looks more like he had a really bad stretch from mid-May to mid-July and is coming out of it. His month OPS tracks that - .971 in March, .892 in April, .588 in May, .507 in June, .766 in July, and .761 so far in August. That wide variation in performance is kind of standard from a player in his first taste of MLB. The real problem is he has a pretty narrow path to success - that .384 OBP over the last month is really what we need from him over a full season. This is his first full season in the Bigs and his overall .355 OBP for the season is some cause for optimism. You have to add to that the fact that there isn't anyone dominating in AAA and/or able to be the RH hitter in a LF platoon with Larnach. It seems to make more sense to send down Roden if we want Jenkins or Emma up to play regularly, or to wait and bring one of them up as the extra player on 9/1 if the goal is to just get their feet wet this year.

This could work. I think you've really identified the core question - can Jenkins provide a spark to the offense playing at the expense of Clemens and is it worth putting Keaschall at 2B 2-3 days a week to find out? I agree that Clemens has been the weak spot in the batting order for the last 5-6 weeks, albeit with an occasional key hit. I'm becoming more and more convinced that it's worth a shot. Get Keaschall reps at 2B today (an off day) so he remembers the basics, call up Jenkins tomorrow 8/15 and send down Roden (preserves Jenkins rookie status), and be ready to juggle a little so that Jenkins gets 4-5 days a week the next 2 weeks. Then play the hot hands. Emma can come up 9/1. Might be worth a try. Question is does this have better odds than playing things out with who we got? Tough call but that's why Zoll, Shelton, and the others get paid the big bucks. as for me, I'm willing to give this a try.

I'm not and that's not what I said. I said that Martin is a very productive player against LH pitching. And he is. He has an .809 OPS against lefties this year, .898 OPS last year. Could Jenkins or Emma be better? Over time, sure. In 2026? Highly unlikely. Most guys struggle when they first come up and neither Jenkins nor Emma is even really tearing up AAA. Not only that, both hit LH so they can't even really replace Martin in a platoon. Dropping Martin for Jenkins or Emma is much more likely to make the team worse this year than it is to make the team better. Those two will get their shot next year if they can stay healthy and Emma may get a look after Sept 1.

You are absolutely right. If we call up Jenkins for Roden, he gets maybe 10-15 ABs a week, if that. A day in CF for Buxton, a day in RF for Keaschall. Maybe a day in LF but who do you sit - Larnach with a .818 OPS against RHs or Martin with a .809 OPS against LHs? All of this for a guy with great potential who is likely to struggle mightily when he first comes up, and whose promotion could cause 40 man issues? Maybe if I thought Jenkins would come up and be a huge force down the stretch, I just don't think that's vey likely. I'm out.

Interestingly, the first of that happened. Buxton in, Jackson out. I'm with you, Roden down, Jenkins up gives us the best 13 although Roden has shown some signs lately. Big question is do we want Jenkins up if he's not going to play much? We've been over this and we can probably get this spot 2 days a week, maybe 3 , but not more unless we want to go down the stretch (1) sitting Buxton (our best player) more, (2) sitting Keaschall (our best hitter since July1) more, (3) take ABSs away from Larnach against RHs (.818 OPS) or Martin against RHs (.810 OPS), or (4) give Bell and Jeffers fewer ABs at DH. If this was May or June and we were still sorting out guys, I'd be in favor of some combination of those things to give Jenkins 3-4 games a week to see what we got. But it's not. We now need to max the playing time of the guys who played well in the sorting out period. Every win matters. That's what makes me hesitant. I'm willing to sacrifice Roden as the 13th guy, but I want Jenkins to get consistent ABs the rest of the season and the Twins might not have that. Keaschall's butchery at 2B really makes this hard. IF we look at what's happening, the guy who should give up ABs to Jenkins is Clemens. He's the guy not hitting, .186/,236/.364 (.600) over his last 118 ABs. That's a trend, not a slump. The problem is no one else can play 2B except Lewis, and none of these OFs plays 1B to my knowledge. We can replace Clemens with Kriedler but that doesn't help the offense. I wish Keaschall could play even a average 2B. If he could, it would be easier to call up Jenkins and play him every day in RF, same for Roden if they think he's the guy. I'm tempted to move Keaschall back to 2B (or 1B with Lewis the everyday 2B), call up Jenkins to be the everyday RF, and sit Clemens to be a UTL, but I just don't think we can take the defensive hit at 2B.

If I'm reading this right, Lee is making more contact, elevating the ball more, chasing less, whiffing less, and striking out less, while his swing speed is down and he is barreling the ball less often. Wow, that sounds like the profile of a guy whose batting average and OBP are both going to go up and should be expected to go up. A duck snort or seeing eye grounder to the opposite field counts just as much as a line drive single to the pull side. More balls in play, higher BA. Less chase, less whiff, less SOs, higher OBP. Really, the only outlier is the rise in SLG. But then, I realize that a ground ball double down the line counts just as much as a line drive in the gap or shot off the wall and it all starts to make sense. What's happening is he's putting the ball in play more and whiffing less, so he's sacrificing a little power/sting for more contact. Sounds like a positive, not a negative. To me, the only outlier here is the HRs. That may be the result of experience. He now knows which balls he can drive, sees them better and takes that shot when its available rather than swinging for the fences all the time. Sounds like a maturing hitter. His HR rate vs. times he swings for HRs is probably up (don't know how you would measure that), he just doesn't swing for the fences as often because he sees the balls he can drive better. Look, I love me some analytics but sometimes we put too much weight on small indicators. I'm no engineering whiz, but what I see is a player who now a has enough ABs to recognize how he's being pitched and can react accordingly. Can he be a consistent .270 plus./.325 plus/.450 plus guy with 25 or more HRs a year? Maybe. Is he likely to at least be a .245/.310/.450 guy with around 20 HRs a year? I think he 's showing us the answer is Yes. The former is a borderline All Star who hits 3, 4,or 5, the latter a solid starting player who hits 5 or 6, lengthens the lineup, and is an important part of a contending team. I'd love the former but I'm very good with the latter and I think that's what Lee is or is very close to becoming.

I hear that but who goes now that Buxton is back? Jackson is probably the only other alternative unless there's an injury.

Gotta think the corresponding move tomorrow is Roden back to AAA. Just waiting to see if there's an injury tonight before making the call. My guess is they'll keep Jackson because they need him for 2027. He'll get claimed on waivers and has an arb year left so the claiming team can keep him for next year if they want, probably for less than $2m. They've kept him this long, hard to see why they'd change now just to keep Roden in the "guy who never plays" spot on the roster.

Ninjaed myself. Just saw that Buxton has been activated for the game. No corresponding move yet since they get the extra player. Assumedly Roden goes down tomorrow unless there's an injury.

MLB is giving both teams an extra position player for the contest, adding to another rule change to the game. Saw this in the post. Any word on who will the extra position player? Buxton back early, call up of Jenkins?

Good points. The 40 man roster is not an issue this year but I see your point on the future. Your post reminds me that roster management is pretty complicated and not for the faint of heart. A good GM always has to be thinking at least one season ahead, if not two seasons, all while competing for talent against 29 other FOs all trying to do the same thing. It's easy to criticize roster management when there's too many LH OFs on the 40 man or too many "DH types" on the 26 man roster but it's a heck of a lot harder to find a solution. I think a lot of us here just focus on the next game or the next week or the next month and forget about some of these issues. I'm beginning to think that being the GM of a MLB team is actually not a job that a nutless monkey could do, it actually requires some real talent and effort. Who knew. Thanks for the reality check.

First, you have the burdens reversed. You need to make a compelling argument to bring an untested player up, it's not on the FO to make a compelling to keep a productive player around. Untested players are always a crapshoot. Most fail overall, is a very high percentage struggle in their initial call up. Still the compelling argument is there, at least for Martin, Martin vs. LH Pitching: 2026 MLB stats - .258/.409(!)/.400 (.809), in 120 ABS/146 PAs, overall 13.4% BB rate (Elite), 18.1% SO rate( Solid), 12-19 in SBs. 2025 MLB stats - .346/.404(!)/.481 (.885) in 52ABs/57 PAs, overall 12.4% BB rate (Elite), 17.4% SO rate (Solid), 11-15 in SBs. Overall 2025/2026 vs. LH pitching - 49/178 for a .284 BA, slash line (approx.) .284/.406/.435 (.841), overall 13% BB rate, 17.8% SO rate, 23-34 in SBs (67.6%). Overall (2025-2026) - 111/433 for .256 BA, slash line (approx.) .256/.362/.348 (.710). So, over 2 seasons with about 1 full season's worth of plate appearance (498 PAs), Martin has been a very good to elite hitter against LH pitching and overall a solid 4th OF against all pitching with good speed but limited power. I think he is in average to above average outfielder, but I recognize that others disagree. Overall, that's a guy who always starts against LH starters and is valuable RH pinch hitter against a LH reliever, key with the 3 batter minimum rule. Martin is a solid MLB player who belongs on a competitive roster. He's earned his spot so far and he's a great short side of a platoon. He's not yet a solid starter overall but he's heading in that direction with an established floor of a solid 4th OF. How about Emma and Jenkins? Great potential for sure. I believe in both, especially Jenkins. Still, the road is littered with guys how have great potential but never made it (see Jared Kalenic, Cristian Pache and a whole host of others). History tells us that it is more likely than not they will struggle when they first come up so for 2026, Martin is by far the better and safer bet. As for Roden, I tend to agree with you. If the question was calling up one of those two and sending Roden down I would be right there with you. But that's not the question. Roden is on the MLB roster just until Buxton returns, at which point he's optioned to AAA unless there is an injury. He is not holding up either Emma or Jenkins.

This tracks with what we've all seen - Gomez is effective, but hardly dominant. Still, I'll take any guy who can go 17 for 17 in saves. I agree that this is probably why they traded for Hoffman and tried to get Abreu before him. There are very few guys who are consistently good in save situations. Most contending teams have 2 guys who can be the closer and ride the hot hand. Very few closers stay hot forever. We went from none after trading away 1 (Duran) and it turns out 2 (Varland) closers, to 1 from the waiver wire (Gomez), to a 2nd from a trade (Hoffman), with Morris lurking in the background as maybe a 3rd. Falvey and Joe get a lot of justified criticism for last year's selloff and failure to rebuild the BP in the off season. I like the trade returns (YMMV), but there's no excuse for the pathetic bullpen "rebuild" last off season. Conversely, Zoll and Tom should get some credit for rebuilding the bullpen on the fly in about 2/3 of a season. That ain't easy to do and I think they've pulled it off. We now have a top half, maybe even top 10 BP that can even be better in the post season by adding Matthews and Rojas to the mix over Adams and Rogers. Never thought I'd see that this year. Gotta give 'em credit.

The 40 man situation is a real consideration but it's not a real barrier. We have 2 easy moves. First, Fedko is out for the year but he has not year been put on the IL. Put him on the 60 day Il and you have a spot. The second is to DFA Tristan Gray. If he passes through waivers he stays; if not, he goes. He's probably not part of next year's team any way so no big whoop one way or the other. I think they have purposely not put Fedko on the 60 day IL so they have the flexibility to create a 40 man spot to add a guy from AAA or a pitcher they get on waivers. Fedko is gone until at least May 2027 - torn ACL, MCL, and LCL, the terrible triad - so he can be moved at any time. No barrier from the 40 man to bringing up Jenkins any time they want to do so.

Isn't it likely that Emma gets a 4th option year? I understand the rule to be that a player who has not had five "full professional seasons" (at least 90 days on active major or minor league roster) before using up the third option will get a 4th option year. I've read several places that Emma is likely to get that extra year. I ask because a lot of the call to bring him up seems to be driven by the idea that he is out of options so we need to see him this year. I question whether that's accurate although Gleeman says that he was told by a source in the league office that Emma doesn't qualify for a 4th option year, so what do I know. Doesn't change my thought process anyway. Jenkins is clearly the better choice IMHO. He has been crushing the ball since returning from the IL and showing the one thing previously missing, power. He is also the better defensive player and can play CF, something we need for the 1 to 2 days a week Buxton is not going to play there. Conversely, Emma just came back after 100 days on IL, and has a 37% (!) Strike out rate this year after two years above 30%. He is going to wind up with a 35 to 40% strikeout rate in the majors when he first comes up. That's unplayable. You can't have a hole like that in your lineup the matter how much he walks. The ironic thing about this debate is I don't think either one of them is coming up unless there's an injury. Buxton will replace Roden, as he should, and I think the Twins are going to try to keep Alex Jackson on the roster so they have him for next year. If we put him on waivers and someone claims him, which seems pretty likely, they get him next year too because he has one arbitration year remaining. I hear the argument that there are other guys out there like him we can get for next year, and that may be right, but I think they go with the devil they know. Also, it's hard to find another place to put a call up with the way Martin hits left-handed pitching (.800+ OPS this year, 898 OPS last year), and as well as Larnach has been playing before the recent slump. We have to keep Kreidler so we have a second shortstop. We can't put Lee back there if Culpepper doesn't make it. There just may be no room at the end unless there's an injury. But let's face it, there always is an injury, so it's still a fun debate. Watch, someone will get hurt and the team will bring up Wallner.

I think you can find 2 or 3 games a week for another outfielder, probably not 4. Is that enough? Think it through. Six games a week, 18 "games" a week in the OF. Buxton takes at least 4, probably 5, with one game on the bench and one game as the DH. Bell takes the rest of the games as the DH, maybe ceding one more to Jeffers when Caratini is catching. No more slack at the DH spot other than maybe 1 game a week for the outfielders. Bell leads the team in RBIs and has been hitting well lately. There is absolutely no world in which he doesn't start at DH at least 4 or 5 games a week, most likely 5, and 6 on the weeks without an off day. Keaschall has been our best hitter since July 1 by far. He gets 5 games a week, frankly maybe all 6. They are not going to play him at 2B again because of his atrocious defense unless there's an emergency or an injury. Larnach is slumping right now for sure, but still has an on-base percentage over .360 and a track record of being able to hit RH MLB pitching. Martin has an over.800 OPS against LH pitching this year and it was over .890 last year so he is the platoon guy against LH pitching. All of this compares to two guys who have potential, but neither of whom is tearing up AAA, and have no MLB track record. They are complete unknowns at the MLB level. I would argue that Emma is very likely to initially fail at the MLB level since he has an over 30% strikeout rate in AAA, over 37% this year, so he is likely to be a 35% to 40% strikeout guy or more for a while until he gets his feet wet. He also just came back after 100 days off so he needs at least two weeks to knock the rust off before he's of any likely value at all. I don't think he helps us much at all this year. So where does that leave us? Depends on what you do with Larnach and Martin. You start with 18 available games in the OF and at least 10 of those go to Buxton and Keaschall, maybe 11. That leaves 8 and Larnach gets at least 4 of those 8. So, you could get 4 games a week for another guy if you never play Martin but why would you do that when he has a very good track record against LH pitching and Jenkins and Emma both hit LH and have no track record at all? At most, you would reduce his role and that of Larnach, or play Buxton in CF only four days a week, to give them one of them a 2 or 3, maaaaybe 4 day a week role. There is no way you can find playing time for both of them unless you send Martin down, thereby blowing all of his options rather than saving his last one for next season, or one of the other 3 0Fs is benched or gets hurt. I actually think it might be worth it to try to get Jenkins a few games in mid August just to see if he can be that instant spark kind of guy, but you would have to do that at the expense of playing time for Larnach and Martin. And I am talking about a very short, instant response type of experiment. Give him 20 AB's and if he takes off, he keeps playing. If not, he either goes back down or sits on the bench. As long as we are still in contention for a playoff spot, you can't bring a guy up and start force-feeding him ABs if you have competent options at his positions. It's not fair to the rest of the team because you're basically punting a little on this year unless the new guy hits right off the bat. That doesn't happen very often. Moreover, Buxton is taking Roden's roster spot this weekend so you have to either waive Jackson, which screws you up at catcher for next year unless you somehow magically re-sign Jeffers, or demote Martin who both doesn't deserve it and then will have no options left for next year. So for me, is Jenkins worth a call up and a short-term experiment? Sure, but only if someone goes on the IL to open up the roster spot. And that can be anybody since there is enough positional flexibility to move guys around. Emma hasn't earned it and has been hurt most of the year so he's a hard no less injuries open up a second spot. Otherwise, there is no room at the Inn.