LA Vikes Fan

Cardenas makes the most sense to me for the extra spot, assuming one will go t a position player and 1 to a pitcher. I would like to see Fedko and Gonzalez get a shot but I just don't see it happening. As an earlier poster pointed out, the guys you might send down are the same guys you have to evaluate for 2026 (Julien, Outman, Martin). Question, I think that any call up, even September call ups, have to be on the 40 man roster. Is that true? If so, another barrier to someone like Cardenas, Fedko or Gaonzalez, although there's lots of chaff on our 40 man to dump.

I didn't see that next year is Rodriguez's last option year. If that's the case, he's got to be the 4th/5th OF next year behind Buxton, Jenkins, and Wallner, and it's a fight between Martin, Outman, and Fedko for the other backup OF job with Martin probably winning that job. On the catching side, I'm influenced by the change in Ryan's performance after losing Vasquez who kind of became his personal catcher. My point is we need a backup, can't be Micky Gasar (shudder), and Vasquez has the history and rapport with these pitchers. You're right that Genesis Cabrera and Blake Kriske at the very least should not be gracing a big league mound and that's the root problem. Still, I want a good catcher to team with Jeffers next year like Vasquez or Austin Hedges, not a good bat who also catches like Danny Jansen.I wh ishwe had someone ready at AAA but I just think we don't.

Well, this season's over except for the crying (like after last night), so a young(ish) man's thoughts turn to next season. What should that Opening Day roster look like? Here's my take. Couple of rules - you have to use guys we now have or, if you put in a trade or FA placeholder you have to identify who will be traded and you have to assume that the FA will be $8m a year or less. No signing Pete Alonso or William Contreras to fill the 1B or C hole. That's just a fantasy. Also, take out the idea that guys will be in AAA for a few weeks to suppress service time for this exercise or, if you think that's likely, your roster should be as of May 15 to take that out. My philosophy is to push young players quickly now while we're in a rebuild (and that's what this is). I completely reject the idea of signing guys like Harrison Bader, Jesse Winker, or Kiner-Falefa to fill holes to raise our floor so we're mediocre rather than bad. This team isn't a contender looking to patch a few holes; this is a speeded up rebuild. Now is the time to push the chips we have in and see what we got. For example, I love the idea of Walter Jenkins starting next year in LF. Let's see if he's ready in ST and if he shows well, which I think he will, play him now. My thought of the "push ahead to build quickly 2026 roster": OF - Buxton, Jenkins, Wallner, Martin, Fedko/Gonzalez/Rodriguez/Outman - I think it will be Outman to have the true backup CF but I don't think he lasts long. I'd give Fedko the first shot, then Rodriguez (if he's ever healthy), then Gonzalez. IF - Keaschall (1B), Lee (SS), Lewis (3B), K Culpepper (2B), Clemens (1B/2B/OF), Eeles/Holland (UTL). Same deal with Culpepper, if he shows in ST, he's the starting 2B with Eeles, Clemens, Martin, or Holland as plan B. Keaschall fills the 1B hole; he's stretched at 2B and is a bat first guy. C - Jeffers, Vasquez (yup, the team ERA since he got hurt shows his value) or vet glove first FA (say Austin Hedges, not Danny Jansen). This is the one area where I value glove and handling the staff/calling the game over bat because of the pitching staff changes. We also don't really have anyone else ready other than maaaybe Noah Cardenas and the FA list is either really expensive or really bad. SP - Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Matthews, Bradley. Zebby and Taj get the first crack with the AAA guys listed below up next. Too much talent there to give up or move either of them to the bullpen yet. Both have #2/3 starter potential and Zebby could be a #1 in time. RP - Topa, Sands, Hatch, Funderburk, Festa, SWR, Coulombe, Ohl/Lawyerson/FA/RP acquired by trading Larnach. Festa and Topa start as co-closers, Festa is closer by mid-season. On the FA front, I would definitely sign Coulombe and would shoot for our old friends Tyler Rogers and Zack Littel. I would also be talking to Jacob Junis and Kyle Finnegan. Devin Williams might be an interesting reclamation project after pitching great for Milwaukee and flaming our in New York if we can get him for $5-8M a year on a 1 year deal. Gone (or in AAA as Depth) - Larnach, Julien, Tonkin, Kriske, Cabrera, Gaspar, and Fitzgerald; Outman unless he hits or maybe right away if Emma comes up. AAA rotation - Abel, Prielipp, Rojas, Klein, CJ Culpepper, Morris, Raya. These guys plus Adams, Ohl, and Lewis are the AAA bullpen depth as well; Mike Peredes and Cade Bragg move up to AAA and could be callup candidates depending on how they do. No more throwing guys like Genesis Cabrera, Erasmo Ramirez, or Darren McCaughen into the bullpen. This team is more athletic, faster, but inexperienced and the bullpen is a question mark. Rotation is a real strength without injury and has real depth. On offense, run wild like they are now. Buxton and Keaschall should have 20+ stolen bases, Lee, Lewis, Martin, Wallner, Jenkins, and Culpepper should have at least 10. We're going to need to manufacture runs and now you have the pieces to do that. Help the bullpen and starters with a number 2 catcher like Vasquez or Hedges; Jeffers is the DH when he doesn't catch. Put Culpeper at 2B because Lee has come alive since becoming the starting SS. Really try hard to trade Larnach (plus prospect(s) if necessary) for an established average or better reliever or sign one as a FA. Hatch and SWR are 2 plus innings at a time guys. They cover the 4 or 5 inning starts and start on short notice when necessary. No more inning at a time in the middle innings. Bring back Coulombe and/or Taylor Rogers as the second/third LH. Topa, Sands, Festa, Funderburk, Coulombe, and the FA handle the late innings - bring your antacids. This team could win 85-90 games; it could win 70-75 games. Wide variation but more fun to watch and better positioned to get better as the year goes on. What do you think?

Sending my support from SoCal brother, keep up the fight. My prayers are with you. Great sentiments and puts things in perspective. We sometimes forget how important it is to keep up the struggle. Fight on!

Anyone that says Wallner should be released or DFA'd doesn't know very much about baseball. He gets snapped up immediately and we will see him as the Oakland/Miami/Colorado/CWS All Star game rep hitting 35+ HRs a season.

I agree with your theory of pushing players now while we're in a rebuild (that's what this is). Love the idea of Jenkins starting next year in LF. I can't agree on Rodriguez. He's not ready and isn't ever healthy. My thought of the "push ahead to build quickly 2026 roister": OF - Buxton, Jenkins, Wallner, Martin, Fedko/Gonzalez/Outman IF - Keaschall (1B), Lee (SS), Lewis (3B), K Culpepper (2B), Clemens (1B/2B/OF), Eeles/Holland (UTL) C - Jeffers, Vasquez (yup, the team ERA since he got hurt shows his value) or vet glove first FA SP - Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Matthews, Bradley RP - Topa, Sands, Hatch, Funderburk, Festa, SWR, Coulombe, Ohl/Lawyerson/FA/RP acquired by trading Larnach. Festa and Topa start as co-closers, Festa is closer by mid-season. Gone (or in AAA as Depth) - Larnach, Julien, Tonkin, Kriske, Cabrera, Gaspar, Fitzgerald, Tonkin AAA rotation - Abel, Prielipp, Rojas, Klein, CJ Culpepper, Morris, Raya This team is more athletic, faster, but inexperienced and the bullpen is a question mark. Rotation is a real strength without injury and has real depth. On offense, run wild like they are now. Buxton and Keaschall should have 20+ stolen bases, Lee, Lews, Martin, Wallner, Jenkins, and Culpepper should have at least 10. We're going to need to manufacture runs and now you have the pieces to do that. Help the bullpen and starters with a number 2 catcher like Vasquez; Jeffers is the DH when he doesn't catch. Put Culpeper at 2B because Lee has come alive since becoming the starting SS. Really try hard to trade Larnach (plus prospect(s) if necessary) for an established average or better reliever or sign one as a FA. Hatch and SWR are 2 plus innings at a time guys. They cover the 4 or 5 inning starts and start on short notice when necessary. No more inning at a time in the middle innings. Bring back Coulombe as the second LH. Topa, Sands, Festa, Funderburk, Coulombe, and the FA handle the late innings - bring your antacids. This team could win 85-90 games; it could win 70-75 games. Wide variation but more fun to watch and better positioned to get better as the year goes on.

Well put. There really isn't any question that Wallner is a better player than Larnach. I would say that even if their salaries were reversed. Wallner is a guy you keep longer term, and even experiment with a position change (1B?) to make sure you keep him in the everyday lineup. By the way, Wallner is hitting .222/.319/.460 (.779) in 63 ABS against LH pitching this year, up from a .665 OPS against LHs last year, so he in fact may be an everyday player. I do have two nits though. First, you call Wallner a "middle of the order bat". Can't agree with you there. The man is hitting .215 with a .321 OBP. That is NOT a middle of the order bat unless this is the 70s in Chicago and Dave Kingman is what you got. I think it's a good bet that Wallner can become a middle of the order by raising his BA and OBP by 25-30 points or more to at least .240-.260/.350-.375. He went .259/.372 in a smaller sample size last year so I think he can and I really like the fact the Rocco has him in the #4 spot most days, but he ain't there yet on a consistent basis. Second, on a more positive note, I think he can be an above average base runner. I love that Rocco has changed his ways and we're running all over the place. Wallner can be part of that. He has the speed and instincts to steal 10-15 bags a year and consistently go from 1st to 3rd on singles. Wallner is a keeper. We should be looking at everyone on the roster and decide whether they can be part of a contending team. That's the standard; not whether they are the best you got at a position, whether they are good enough to play on a contending team and in what role. Wallner hits well enough to play on a contending team but he needs a different role as a 1B/part time OF/DH. I could even live with him in RF if he raises that BA and OBP 25 points, but only if you have a Buxton type in CF and an above average fielding LF. Can't play Wallner in RF and a Larnach type in LF.

What do you think about Keaschall at 1B and a combo of Martin, Clemens, and eventually Culpepper at 2B for 2026?

Was his sidekick Roundhouse Rodney? If that's true, I am really dating myself. Good thing since no woman would date me. Thank God I'm married.

Lauer is also . . . not good. Seriously though, how did this guy come in with an 8-2 record and ERA under 3? He's throwing batting practice.

Hey, you may be right about SWR. As a starter though, he can't go more than 5 innings on a good day and has too many games like tonight. In other words, we get a realtively low ceiling on a good night and a really low floor on a bad night, Add to that there are too many bad nights. I wonder if 6th starter long man is his best role. Either that or trade bait . . .

Wow, SWR is just . . . not good. Time for Thomas Hatch to come in piggyback style. I still like SWR in the bullpen better than the rotation.

That ball supposedly had a .660 expected batting average so I don't think you can fault Martin too much. Still, I agree he's not the greatest OF, which is weird for a guy who looks like a good athlete. I think we're seeing what Martin brings if he can do it consistently. 2 singles, 2 stolen bases. His highest and best use is as an on base machine. He's a long way from that now, but I think that's the plan. Unless he can find a way t have a .350 or better OBP, 4th OF is the ceiling.

Hey, lay off the unemployed. What do you call a person happy on a Monday? unemployed. Wow, being laid off is terrible. I never thought I'd lose my job as a psychic.

Wow, Varsho is freakin' good in CF. Is he looking for a backup job for next season?

All sounds good on paper., What would be the price of trading for a guy like Rutschman? Assuming we want to trade from surplus, what younger starting pitching would work? Would SWR plus a AA guy like CJ Culpepper be enough (or too much)? Festa or Abel on his own? How about either Festa on his own for Rutschman or Abel plus CJ (not Kaelon) Culpeper. What do you think?

I think we keep Lopez and Ryan unless Ryan can force his way out of town. Ober gets shopped, but not sure there's a big market or at least not enough to get us a bat unless we add a decent prospect. Assuming all 3 stay, I think next year's rotation is Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Matthews, and Bradley. I see Festa and SWR moving to the bullpen - SWR as a swing starter/long man with Hatch, Festa in a high leverage innings role, possibly as the closer. The AAA rotation in order of callup to the MLB to replace inured or ineffective starter (after moving SWR or Hatch to the rotation first) is Abel, Prielipp, Rojas, Andrew Morris, CJ Culpepper (up from AA). By the way, I think Hatch is forcing his way into the conversation. His 4 Twins appearances - (1) 4.IP, 0 ER, (2) 4.1 IP, 4 ER, (3) 5 IP, 1 ER, (4) 5 IP, 1 ER. Since joining the Twins he's had 1 start and 3 piggyback roles for a record of 2-0, 2.89 ERA, 1.29 WHIP - 18.2 innings, 6 earned runs. Three strong appearances, one bad one. Let's not sleep on him. He's in the BP next year for sure already (unless he implodes), and he might get a look as a starter.

Just a nit. I think you have the all season stats, not the "since I got traded" stats. Since joining the Rangers, Coulombe is 1-1, with a 4.50 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, Varland is 0-0, 5.59, 1.59 WHIP, Jax is 0-1, 8.59, 1.64 WHIP, Stewart 0-1, 4.91. 2.18 WHIP and on the IL with a shoulder injury (his 35 innings a year limit was reached). All bad. Coulombe and Stewart more likely than not to be available in the off season for not being on a 40 man roster. Duran though is 0-1, 1.17 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 7 saves in 8 chances. Very good. So, of the 5 relievers we traded, 5 have pretty much sucked with their new clubs but Duran has been golden.

This is an interesting thought experiment. 1B is a black hole. We NEED to find one internally from Wallner, Larnach, and Keaschall. All are less $$ than a free agent and all are frankly better hitters than a $5-$8m free agent. I put Larnach there and leave Keaschall at 2B, but I could see an argument to put Keaschall at 1B and someone from the Martin, Culpepper, and Eeles group at 2B. Castro coming back as a low cost 4 day a week UTl is intriguing but I didn't put that in. That's what he's good at and he has stunk since joining the Cubs with a .496 OPS so his market will not be as robust as we thought. Julien is gone, probably by off season release so he doesn't take up a 40 man spot. Same for Miranda. Here's where I think we are mid-season next year: 1B - Larnach (or Keaschall) 2B - Keaschall (or Culpepper) SS - Lee 3B - Lewis LF - Jenkins CF - Buxton RF - Fedko/Gabriel Gonzalez DH/OF - Wallner Bench - Clemens, Outman or Martin(need a backup CF), Culpepper, Cardenas or veteran back up C (could even be Vasquez again). Batting Order - Keaschall, Buxton, Wallner, Jeffers/Lewis, Lee, Lewis/Jeffers, Larnach, Fedko, Jenkins (or hit Jenkins 1 and move everyone else back 1). The 2023 Lewis hits 4th, the 2025 Lewis hits 6th or is gone for Culpepper. I'm hoping for the 2023 version to reappear. Emma would be great but he will be hurt. Gabriel Gonazalez may be ahead of Fedko, so one is in RF, the other in AAA.

I Looked to see what the "average" MLB numbers were and got this - .246/.324/.404 (.728) so you're right, Lee is a below average hitter overall right now. I do think we have to note that he is above average for the last 30 games in OBP and SLG and his average has been coming up recently. This coincides with him moving to his comfortable, preferred position at SS every day so that correlation may in fact be causation. I still have hope for Lee and his OAA over the last 25 games is a positive at SS. I think he's the every day SS next year. I went down the rabbit hole and looked at our guys who have been every day players this year and/or likely will or could be so next year absent a trade to see how the rank against average. It was interesting and changed my thinking a little bit. Above average in all categories - Buxton, Jeffers, Keashall (SSS). Above average in some, below in others - Wallner (good OBP,SLG,OPS, very bad BA). Average - Larnach almost exactly in everything - .243/.318/.417 (.725). Below average in pretty much everything - Clemens (Way below average in BA and OBP, above in SLG, below in OPS at .717), with Lewis, Martin, Julien, Outman, and of course Vasquez below in everything, sometimes way below. Leads me to two conclusions, one of which we all already knew, (1) Larnach isn't so bad and may need to stick around at 1B over Clemens or DH, and (2) there's lots of room for new guys.

I;ve always been the eternal optimist. By the way, the game is out I am the eternal optimist. Besides, with the game totally out of reach isn't it time for the traditional Clemens meaningless single?

This is classic bad team baseball. Score 3 to get back into the game and then give up 4 with 2 outs to be pushed back out of he game. I bet we get less than 3 more hits the rest of the way and lose by more than 7 runs. I don't blame the team for basically giving up at this point.

Wow, does Brooks Kriske stink on ice.

No, Patzky was correct, you missed the point. That's my fault for not being more clear. The point is that after 150ish at bats we really know very little about what Alan Roden can or will be. He could be anwhere between Keirsey or an All Star. Let's just pump the brakes on an instant analysis and let him play so we can find out. By the way, in Trout's first 123 ABs he hit .220/.281/.390 (.671) with 6 HRs, so that is a little better than Roden who is .191/.261/.294 (.555) with 2 HRs in 136 ABs. Frankly, with a .671 OPS and no injury Roden would be hitting 5th on this Twins team.

Finally some sanity from rdehering. Give Roden a chance for Chrissakes, He's all of what 150 MLB ABs, some of with a jammed thumb on which he has to have surgery. His MiLB track record and athleticism show exactly the type of player that this Board has been agitating for to replace Larnach (and/or Wallner). Look, none of us know if Roden will be the next Keirsey, Bader, Ozuna, or Trout. or somewhere in between. The good news is that his MiLB stats and profile suggest he could be an above average MLB regular. He should get a real shot next year to show what he can do based on his track record. Besides, who else we got?