LA Vikes Fan

Keaschall and Julien are both good ideas that I was thinking about. Julien has shown he can hit MLB pitching but couldn't adjust when the pitching adjusted. Not the first guy who has had that problem and had to go back to AAA. I feel like we should give Julien another shot. The issue is who goes to make room. I have a feeling that the trade deadline will tell us that. I also really like the idea of Keaschall having an everyday spot when he comes back. I remember reading that he played 1B in the minors so there's a potential spot without tying up the DH spot. I guess what I'd really like to see is France gone, traded if possible, with Julien and Keaschall both getting a shot in the second half. Unfortunately, that probably means a trade of Castro or Bader to make room. That's too high a price just to make room but I think you trade those guys unless you re-sign them now or know you have a very good shot or re-signing them in the offseason. It would not surprise me to see either or both of them traded by the deadline.

Agree with you here except I'm not thrilled with Clemens playing 1B. I realize he's the best we have other than France. Still, that .203/.293/.471 (.764)with 10 HRs in 148 PAS and a 27% SO rate stat line is pretty Dave Kingmanesqe. He's also 29 so it's hardy to see him getting a lot better although maybe he could hit .225 if he played regularly against RH pitching. Still pretty weak even though I love the power. I think the team missed the boat by not spending time teaching 1B to Larnach or Wallner in Spring Training, probably Larnach. We can't live with both of them in the OF defensively and they are going to get crowded out by Martin, Emma, Jenkins, etc. in the next 2-3 years. It would really help of one of them could play 1B, maybe even full time. If I'm wrong and one of them can play a little 1B, let's do it now.

First of all, I have to echo the other posters and say this is a really bad idea. Controllable catching is a very rare commodity. You wouldn't trade Jeffers if you intend to compete in the next 2-3 years. The message trading Jeffers sends is that the Twins are raising the white flag on 2025 AND 2026 at this year's deadline. Having said that, what about Noah Cardenas as the next man up in AAA? He's supposedly very strong defensively. He's also hitting some this year at both AA and AAA after admittedly a lousy 2024 at AA, following a strong 2023 in A+, with a .825 OPS in 100 ABs in AA and a .861 OPS so far in 40 ABs in AAA this year. I think he may be the future #2 catcher behind Jeffers next year, and wouldn't mind him getting an audition this year.

Two necessary changes for next week. First, no TBD on Friday. That's Ryan's 5th day after pitching Sunday, pitch him. Give him a longer break if he doesn't make the AS team as a replacement player. Bullpen game Saturday against Skenes. Maximize your chances to win Friday by pitching Ryan against Burrows. SWR against Heaney Sunday. Second, change up the batting order. Drop Correa to the 6 or 7 hole with Lewis in the 4 spot, Bader 5. Wallner 6 or 7, Lee 8. Catcher 9 if Vasquez, 7 or 8 if Jeffers. Hit guys where their recent hitting puts them, not on reputation.

Agreed. Keeping Bader will require a new contract. Probably in the 9-12m a year for 2-3 years range. Worth it? I think so but a tough call, assuming he wants to stay.

We need a 1B at the MLB level badly. I would argue that is the biggest hole in the current lineup. Is Sabato a quality 1B with the glove?

I hear you on Bader. He is a great fourth outfielder. I just think he wants to go someplace where he can start and/or make closer to 8 to 10m a year rather than 6 million a year. If they can re-sign him for two or three years at an appropriate price, I’d be fine with keeping him on the team. I just don’t think they can so I would like to get some value for him.

Trade for Prospects - Castro, Paddack, Bader, Coulombe, and France. The return won't be great except maybe for the first two, but none of these guys are part of the 2026 team. I would try to re-sign Castro but I don't think he'll sign on the cusp of free agency and it's hard to commit to future payroll with the team up for sale. All of the trades are for prospects and I want as much quality as possible so I trade for better guys farther away if we can. None of the prospects we get are on the MLB roster until at least 2026. You could also substitute Stewart for Coulombe but we need to keep one and trade one. DFA/Use as Trade Add-Ons - Clemens, Wentz, Vasquez, Keirsey (or send him back to AAA). I don't think any team will want these guys but who knows, they might go as part of a package with one of the guys above. Catching is always hard to find so maybe some one will a want or need a catcher badly enough to give up something for Vasquez? Ahhh, probably not. Players back from Il - Matthews, Keaschall. Both are supposed to return in July so I assume they will do so, have their rehab at AAA and be back with the Twins. Up From AAA - Noah Cardenas (C), Travis Adams (RP/long man), Austin Martin (OF), Emmanuel Rodriguez (CF), Anthony Prato (UTL), Pierson Ohl (RP). C: Ryan Jeffers ($4.70M) 1B: Luke Keaschall ($0.80M) 2B: Brooks Lee ($0.80M) 3B: Royce Lewis ($2.30M) SS: Carlos Correa ($36.00M) LF: Trevor Larnach ($2.10M) CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M) RF: Matt Wallner ($0.80M) DH: Austin Martin ($0.80M) 4th OF: Emmanuel Rodriguez ($0.80M) Utility: Anthony Prato ($0.80M) Utility: Eduard Julien ($0.80M) Backup C: Noah Cardenas ($0.80M) NA: Dead Money Here ($0.00M) SP1: David Festa ($0.80M) SP2: Joe Ryan ($3.80M) SP3: Bailey Ober ($4.30M) SP4: Zebby Matthews ($0.80M) SP5: Simeon Woods Richardson ($0.80M) RP: Jhoan Duran ($3.70M) RP: Brock Stewart ($0.80M) RP: Griffin Jax ($2.60M) RP: Pierson Ohl ($0.80M) RP: Cole Sands ($0.80M) RP: Justin Topa ($1.30M) RP: Louie Varland ($0.80M) RP: Travis Adams ($0.80M) NA: Dead Money Here ($0.00M) Payroll is 38.90% under budget. This is the "let's play for 2026 and beyond and who knows, maybe we'll be this year's version of last year's Tigers" approach. Or it could be this year's version of last year's White Sox. The current group just isn't good enough to contend. This group might be or might not be either but let's find out.

We're heading toward the trade deadline and things are not going well, to put it mildly. Where does everyone think we'll be on August 1 and how will we get there? My view is that we should be playing for 2026 and beyond at this point. The current iteration of this team is unlikely to make the playoffs and very unlikely to do anything if they sneak into the postseason. We're also not trading for an impact vet with the team up for sale. I say we pivot to see what we have by trading vets for prospects and giving opportunity to others. Here are the steps: Trade for Prospects - Castro, Paddack, Bader, Coulombe, and France. The return won't be great except maybe for the first two, but none of these guys are part of the 2026 team. I would try to re-sign Castro but I don't think he'll sign on the cusp of free agency and it's hard to commit to future payroll with the team up for sale. All of the trades are for prospects and I want as much quality as possible so I trade for better guys farther away if we can. None of the prospects we get are on the MLB roster until at least 2026. You could also substitute Stewart for Coulombe but we need to keep one and trade one. DFA/Use as Trade Add-Ons - Clemens, Wentz, Vasquez, Keirsey (or send him back to AAA). I don't think any team will want these guys but who knows, they might go as part of a package with one of the guys above. Catching is always hard to find so maybe some one will a want or need a catcher badly enough to give up something for Vasquez? Ahhh, probably not. Players back from Il - Matthews, Keaschall. Both are supposed to return in July so I assume they will do so, have their rehab at AAA and be back with the Twins. Up From AAA - Noah Cardenas (C), Travis Adams (RP/long man), Austin Martin (OF), Emmanuel Rodriguez (CF), Anthony Prato (UTL), Pierson Ohl (RP). This is pretty much all we got at AAA. Miranda isn't hitting at all, Fitzgerald is 31 and not in our long term plans, and we saw what the team thinks of McCusker. I added Emma because he plays CF but could see McCusker with Martin the backup CF. It's not great if Buxton goes done but we're totally screwed for the year if Buxton goes down any way. I thought about Eeles for the UTL spot but went with Prato because he plays SS and Eeles doesn't. Besides Prato just turned 27 and if he's going to make the Show, now is the time. Eeles is only 25 and just came back from injury. Lineup on August 1 going forward: Keaschall - 1B Buxton - CF Larnach or Wallner - RF/LF/DH Lewis - 3B Correa - SS Lee - 2B Wallner or Larnach - RF/DH Jeffers or Cardenas - C Martin/Rodriguez - DH/OF Bench (all play 2-3 days a week) - Julien (1B/2B), Jeffers/Cardenas (C), Martin/Rodriguez (OF), Prato (SS/3B). Starting Pitchers: Ryan Ober Matthews Festa SWR Lopez takes over for whoever is injured or not performing when he comes back. If all are healthy and performing, low man goes to the bullpen. Bullpen: Duran (closer) Jax (high leverage/8th inning) Varland (high leverage/7th inning) Topa Stewart Adams Sands Ohl Funderburk Is this a great roster? Nope. Is this as good or maybe better than what we have now? maybe. Does this have a better chance of setting us up for 20026 and beyond while hopefully replenishing the farm? Absolutely. Let's find out what we got. This is the way to do it, IMHO. What do you guys think?

This makes sense to me. We need to either re-sign or trade Castro and guys like him. A guy like Schlittler wouldn’t be a bad return. What could be had for Paddack, France, and/or Bader?

Not sure I agree with you IF there is a real need at SS on a contending team. There might be that need for the Yankees. Correa would stabilize SS on defense for them and they don't need his bat to play higher than 6 or 7 in the lineup. He would actually improve that team playing instead of Volpe. The question is whether they would give up someone like Volpe plus a prospect or a good prospect plus a solid one. Not sure that Correa could fetch that but it's worth inquiring. LA and the Mets have no real need so they wouldn't be willing to pay much.

I agree with Bigfork in the sense that absent a sale, it's unlikely anything much is going to happen.

One suggestion that interests me is to see if there's a market for Correa. Maybe trade him to NYY for Volpe or Lombard plus a real hitting or pitching, prospect at the AAA or AAA level, 1B or C preferred, although the Yankees don't really have any 1B prospect other than Ben Rice who is likely unavailable. The Mets might be another option. It's a timeline issue. Correa's got maybe through 2027 to be a real contributor. He may need to go to another team to be in contention in 2025 or 2026 so he may be open to the right kind of trade. I don't know that he has a lot of value outside of NY or LA given his contract, but it's certainly something worth exploring. .

I start with the premise that this year's team is unlikely to make the payoffs and even more unlikely to do anything if they squeak in. In my view, we are playing for next year more than this year. If you start there, trading France, Bader, Paddack and Castro makes a lot of sense since they are on expiring contracts. They are assets that cease being assets when the WS ends. As I said on another thread, I would try to re-sign all but France now and trade them if you can't re-sign them or at least think you will in the offseason, France is a nice player, very average in pretty much every way. That;s why Seattle cut him and he's the same guy in MN that he was in Seattle. 1B is the position that is in most need of an offensive upgrade. We have to do better for next year. The other reason to trade these guys is to open up playing time for others to see what you actually have for next year. Keaschall, Lewis, Lee, Larnach, and Wallner need to play every day if we're switching the core. Castro would be a nice addition to that core for the right price and we don't have a CF replacement for Bader so re-signing those two makes some sense at the right price. Matthews needs to pitch every 5th day and frankly Festa and SWR should too. These things don't happen if we have vets on expiring contracts playing out a non-competitive season. Maybe we get lucky and have a Detroit like run, maybe we fall on our faces. either way we learn a lot. We have to do this sometime, let's do it now.

This had to happen. Promoting Funderburk was the right call so we had the extra LH reliever., Anything to avoid having to pitch Joey Wendel. I think the next move is Adams for Wendel and/or a switch to a 4 man rotation until the ASB. The 4 man rotation is my preference. By the way, I don't think the open hole in the rotation is until Saturday. All 4 remaining starters can pitch on regular rest Tuesday through Friday. The issue is Ryan and SWR on 3 days rest Saturday and Sunday. Then, with the Monday off day, everyone stays on regular rest until Saturday and Sunday the 12th and 13th where you'd have Festa and Paddack on 3 days rest. I would go with a 4 man rotation and bring up Adams as a long reliver/bulk man to cover any shorter starts. There just isn't anyone in AAA that deserves an MLB start right now.

Wow, a Kenny Jaye reference. I should be embarrassed that I know exactly who you're talking about, but I'm not. By the way, the very capable Kenny Jaye was originally "Sodbuster" Kenny Jaye. I see the Twins more as Nick Bockwinkel or Billy Robinson - good, but never quite good enough. Maybe someday we can be Verne Gagne or the Crusher. There's always hope.

Well, I was just writing a post about how this won't be popular, but I would put Ober on the Il and sign Kyle Gibson. I then learned that GIbson has signed a minor league deal with the Rays. Well, there goes that opportunity. We can't continue this way. Ober is off, he needs a rest and a re-set. He can go on the Il and then go on a rehab assignment in AAA without burning his last option. It seems very unlikely that he will "find it" if we just keep sending him out there. Who takes his place? Here are the options: We can IL Ober and bring up a replacement starter. I would go with Adams, but if Baker or Urena has actually looked good in AAA (the stats are not too kind), I could see them as a replacement. Maybe Prielipp or Paredes from AA? Yes, it will be a bullpen day after a short start but that's a better shot at a win than giving up 6-9 runs or more in 6 innings. Still, a pretty lousy option. I would really think about going with a 4 man rotation, IL'ing Ober, and bringing up 2 of Adams, Funderburk or Ohl from AAA after I also DFA Wentz. The only times before the ASB we will have guys on only 3 days rest instead of 4 are this Saturday and Sunday, July 4 and 5 - Ryan on Saturday, SWR on Sunday with the next Monday off, and then again on Saturday and Sunday July 11 and 12, the weekend before the ASB, with the Festa and Paddack each going on 3 days rest going into the 4 day ASB break. We can add a BP arm to help with the strain, really 2 if we DFA Went for someone who might actually help us, and actually pitch an MLB starter each game the rest of the way until the break. I think the best option is to go with a 4 man rotation and call up Adams as a long reliver, and dump Wentz for either Funderburk or Ohl. This gives us the best chance to compete going into the ASB.

I agree in this sense with both you and DocBauer - try to sign Castro and, if you can't, trade him. I like the idea of 2 years $16-17m, and I think it's as much or more than he could get as a FA in the offseason. I get testing FA if he thinks he can get more but let's make a competitive offer to keep him. We can re-sing him in the offseason but that's a real crapshoot since it only takes one overpaying team to stretch the market. This offseason is a little harder to predict than past years. The CBA expires after the 2026 season There may be a salary cap/harsher luxury tax/strike coming due to declining local TV revenues. I think we may underestimate how Diamond Sports overpaying for regional TV rights kept teams like the Twins afloat. Middle class players like Castro may be more receptive to certainty at a good number rather than take their chances for a great number with the risk of not getting that good number per year or good number of years. There may be some guys looking for 3 years at $8-10m plus this offseason who can't find jobs at that number and wind up on one year, $5-6m deals. . To me the big point is this - Make a decision on the expiring contract vets over the next 30 days. My view is try to keep Castro, Coulombe, Paddack, and Bader and trade the rest. To me, that means at least trying to trade France, Stewart, Vasquez, Topa, and Clemens. If Castro, Paddack, Coloumbe and Bader resist those overtures, test the trade market for them as well. Having said that, don't just trade them for a bucket of balls. This team isn't good enough to keep together just for a hoped for playoff run so at least see what these expiring assets are worth.

Why are we playing Clemens again? Is the occasional home run really worth it?

Agreed. Trading Jax and Duran for prospects, not matter how good, when each has 2+ years of control left only makes sense if you don't intend to compete for the next 3 years. Otherwise, you're trading away one of the hardest things to find and knee capping the 2026 and 2027 teams. I'm more optimistic than that. I would only even think about trading either for controllable MLB starting pitching that can be in the rotation from 2025-2027 and then make Varland the closer. Seems pretty unlikely. OTOH, if we do fall out of contention I would explore the market for Coulombe and Stewart. I know we don't have great replacements, so trading either is a bit of a white flag move. I wouldn't trade them if we are 5 games or more over .500 in late July with Matthews and Lopez coming back. If not, I would at least explore the market unless we are convinced they will be back next year. They might be worth a high ceiling A+ ball or a solid AA type prospect.

Michael Fulmer just got DFA’d by the Cubs. We can get him back and still win the trade! Actually, his stats make him look a heck of a lot better than Joey Wentz, that’s for sure.

I'll repeat what I said in another thread about Castro - either sign him or trade him. He's really the only one of the three where we can say we actually have a replacement in Keaschall. He's having a great year but I think the best way to view him is to average his stats from 2023-2025 (so far) - roughly .256/.340/.410 (.750) when you factor in that this year is only half way over. Add the speed and versatility and he has value. He's probably worth 8m to 10m a year on a 2 or 3 year contract to cover his age 29, 30 and 31 seasons. If he'll sign that, sign him. If not, market him. Wallner is still cheap relative to his production so he isn't available. Larnach could be, but we'd need a strong return for him and that mentioned in the article isn't enough. Besides, we very well may need Larnach to learn 1B for next year when France is gone. Let's be honest, this isn't working and hasn't worked since mid-2024. We need to fish or cut bait on the vets with some value that have expiring contracts and/or at the end of their careers - Castro, France, Bader, Paddack, Stewart, and Coulombe. I would try to re-sign Castro and Bader, the former for his versatility and production, the latter because we need Buxton insurance and don't have anyone else. Keep Paddack only if he'll sign for 1 or 2 years relatively cheap - something like 10m or less a year. The rest you trade IF you can get a decent return. Promote ERod and Funderburk, and once Keaschall and Lewis are back, demote Keirsey and lose Bride and Clemens (he's not a long term piece even if he's ok as the 26th man for now). Frankly, I would give Julien a shot at 1B now that he's hitting again in AAA and try to get an AA ball flier for Clemens if that's doable. Let's at least use this year to figure out next year. To me, that means Festa and SWR get starts until Matthews gets back and then one goes if there aren't any more injuries. If we trade Paddack, all three start until Lopez gets back. Lee, Larnach, Wallner, Lewis, and Keaschall play every day and ERod gets some real run starting in mid to late July. We need to add to the Buxton/Correa core in the field and the Lopez/Ryan core in the rotation. Find out this year if any of these guys can be that add. Don't play ok but not so good vets like France, Paddack, and Clemens unless we're going to commit to them longer term. Let's not chase a few wins by playing vets and wind up in this mediocre middle stage again next year.

This is an interesting exercise because it forces us all to look at the organization as a whole. I would normally be in the camp of "trade the vets with value and play the young(ish), up and coming guys". Unfortunately, I think were already doing that to the extent it is possible by playing Castro, Wallner, Lee, and Larnach every day, and pitching Festa, SWR, and Varland regularly. A review of what we can have in the minors and where they are in their development frankly led me to the conclusion that we are frankly doing almost as much as we can in terms of promoting guys and giving them a shot. That leads to the obvious question – we can blow it up but for who? This is where the continued struggles of Julien, Miranda, and ERod really hurt. They should be the guys taking over for our more fungible players like Bride, Clemens, and Keirsey, but they are either struggling in AAA or hurt. Some of the problems will play themselves out. Bride and Keirsey will be gone as soon as Lewis and Keschall come back from injury. Clemens is one sustained AAA hot streak by either Julien or Miranda away from hitting the DFA wire himself. There is no one to replace Vasquez so that will have to wait until the off-season. I would either re–sign Paddack on a value incentive laden contract or, if we can't do that, trade him if we can get any sort of value for him, assuming Matthews is back by the trade deadline to take his spot in the rotation. So what should we do? I think that starts with recognizing who and where this team is; an average to slightly above average club when all of the primary players are healthy and available but without enough depth to withstand significant injury, particularly to the starting pitching staff. This team went in the tank last year when Joe Ryan got hurt. This team went into the tank this year when Pablo Lopez got hurt. That tells you we cannot withstand an injury to an important starting pitcher. Below is what I would do for the rest of this season. Unfortunately, it's probably not enough and that's because we just don't have enough good players at the AAA level to have a lot of confidence about turning over the roster. I think we need to do at least this much going to the off-season to have some idea of where we are. (1) Make a decision about next year for the 4 key players on expiring contracts – Castro, France, Paddack, and Bader. I would try to sign Castro now and trade him if we cannot re-sign him, keep Bader for the rest of the year and think about re-signing him in the off-season, and trade France. Paddack is a much harder decision because quality starting pitchers even in the #4 hole are so hard to find and he has shown flashes of fitting that definition. I would shop him in late July assuming Matthews is back. (2) Play the players we will need to step up to compete next season and play them almost every day. That's Wallner, Larnach, Lee, Lewis, and Keaschall in the field, Matthews, Festa, SWR, Varland, and Funderburk on the mound. Give ERod some run this year starting in mid July. I don't see another player in AAA ready for that run but if you think there is one, same deal. This also applies to Kaleb Culpepper; if he does well in AA, bring him up in August and see if he can play at the big league level. If these guys perform well and that helps this year, great. If not, take your lumps now to find out what you have. (3) Find out whether Julien and Miranda can be salvaged. Both have one thing going for them that all of our other "prospects" do not; they have had success at the major-league level. Both need to be on the big club in the second half and playing some. My thought is they can be the first base platoon once France is traded. (4) Pitch SWR and Festa every fifth day until Matthews returns. Chances are we will be down a starter due to injury but if not, SWR and Festa are pitching for one spot once Matthews is ready to go. The point is to find out if any or all of those three can actually be rotation pieces next year. I think our biggest problem is that we have been unwilling to pick a direction and have been left in this purgatory of the mediocre middle. I think the direction is obvious. We have to shift to a new core based on the players listed above above plus Buxton, Correa, Jeffers, Duran, and Jax. Essentially every other veteran is fungible. Next season is too late to make the shift. We need to do it for the second half of the season and ride with it. It may be ugly, but it's pretty ugly now and there is little to no hope for improvement. We need plan for next year's roster and not worry about sneaking into the playoffs this year. We just aren't good enough to be contenders.

I hear that, Mike. I’m torn between trying to get better short term and just recognizing this year for what it probably is - a lost cause. If it is you’re right, play the young guys and see what you have. Anybody you would bring up?

How about picking up our old friend Kyle Gibson? He opted out of a minor league deal with the Rays. He was bad at the beginning of the season with Baltimore after being a signee late in spring training, and seems to have gotten it back together in AAA. Last year was 8-8 with a 4.24 ERA in 179 innings for St. Louis. Not great but better than throwing SWA and Festa our there and that's before thinking Ober may need an IL stint. Classic back end innings eater but gives you a chance. I think he's worth a shot given where our pitching is right now.