LA Vikes Fan

Based on last yer's results, particularly in the second half, you have to think that the first 3 hitters in next year's lineup are some combination of Buxton, Keaschall, and Martin. Why Martin? Because playing every day starting in August he had a .282 BA with a .374 OBP and 11 steals in 15 attempts in 181 ABs. No power. I know some of you don't like him for reasons that don't make a lot of sense to me IF he plays LF, where he got better as his playing time increased. Classic leadoff hitter profile. Still, we may not want to mess with Buxton since he did so well leading off but maybe he does fine more towards the middle of the order if he's prepped for it. It would be nice to get his power behind guys like Martin (.374 OBP) and Keaschall (.382 OBP in 182 ABs). If you did the lineup just based on their production last year, it seems like it would be Martin, Keaschall, Buxton, LH power hitter (Wallner? Larnach?) Jeffers/Lewis in some order, Lee and pray for rain. An obvious alternative would be to hit Martin 9, move Keaschall and Buxton up, and have a LH hitter in the 3 hole, but I don't think we currently have that LH hitter unless a guy comes up or in as a FA to hit there.

I was a little surprised they let Lawyerson go, but probably shouldn’t be. He is pretty fungible and already 27. I think Thomas Hatch actually has some potential. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was resigned on some kind of minor league deal. The next shoe to drop will be the interesting one, who do they add to the 40 men roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft? Pitchers tend to get drafted. more than hitters, so I would expect some of the young pitchers that have to go on will take at least three or four of the open seven spots. Losing Prielipp, Rojas, Klein, Morris, and/or Culppeper would be organizational losses, so I expect at least some if not all of them to be added back on. That may explain why Laweryson was dropped; they had to make space for these guys coming up behind him and still leave a couple open 40 man spots for relief pitchers they’re going to sign in the off-season

I like the Roden idea. I didn’t know that he could play there. I know they want to give him a chance to play regularly, so put him at 1B, bring up Gonzalez or Jenkins in RF with Wallner playing in RF a couple days a week and the primary DH. Not a bad look.

Interesting list, but I would take O'Hoppe off of it. He ahd a down year in 2025 but he had a good 2024 and the Angels publicly see him as their solution to the C spot for the next 5-8 years. He's not going to be available. Rortvedt should be, on the other had. He and Jonah Heim would be interesting possibilities.

Agree on Festa given his shoulder issues. He seems much more likely to be sent to the BP than Matthews or Prielipp. Matthews is close ato being an MLB starter and another year will tell us if he can be a viable near top of rotation starter or not. Prielipp has injury issues just like Festa but he's a high octane guy and a LH starter, a rare breed, so I think the Twins will stick him as a starter option for at least one more season. Another possible conversion is Marco Raya. He hasn't shown starter potential at AAA, so I would expect him to be sent to the BP and it looks like they tried that at the end of the year in AAA. It wouldn't surprise me if Andrew Morris and John Klein got some bullpen run in 2026. Finally, it will interesting to see if the Dodgers keep Brock Stewart on their very crowded 40 man roster. There might b a reunion possible there similar to the Thielbar, Rogers, and Coulombe possibilities.

I agree with this, and I think you and I are talking about different types of free agents. Josh Naylor gets paid and starts wherever he goes so he isn't coming to MN given the current state of the team. Same for closers like Kenley Jansen and Ryan Helsley. On the other hand, a promising or formerly good player who has hit a rough patch or someone coming off of injury might take a pillow contract or welcome a trade to MNM to get the chance to play and establish value. I would look into Devin Williams, Taylor Rogers and Phil Maton for the bullpen for example. Ryan Mountcastle or Tristan Casas might welcome a trade to MN where they have a chance to play 1B every day. There will be other guys non-tendered who are decent but haven't quite made it who will be available, much like Trevor Larnach. That's the kind of FA or trade candidate that we have a chance at IMHO.

I don't agree. With the good FA it will only come down to money if the Twins offer a significant over pay. Good players get paid wherever they go. If you're Josh Naylor and you get roughly the same offer from 3 or 4 teams including the Mariners, Astros, and the Twins, why on earth would you go to Minnesota? You wouldn't. You would go to the team that gives you the best chance to win and be in the playoffs. That isn't the Twins. In fact, you would probably take less to stay in Seattle because they actually competed for a WS berth in 2025 and might again in 2026 and probably take less to go to Houston and compete for the playoffs. Sorry, but I think your take that "money is the only thing" is way too cynical and not in line with the way things actually work.

I agree and that's the type of free agent for whom the Twins are attractive. They aren't attractive to high end players who will get paid regardless of where they go and will prefer to go to a team competing for the playoffs at the very least. That ain't your 2026 Minnesota Twins unless we catch lightning in a bottle multiple times. So forget Josh Naylor, think Miguel Andujar or a trade for Ryan Mountcastle. Forget Kenley Jansen or Ryan Helsley, think Devin Williams or Taylor Rogers. Forget Realmulto or even Danny Jansen, think Elias Diaz or, dare I say it, a reunion with Christian Vasquez. Those are the type of free agents we can get, assuming we can get any at all

I agree completely with this post. If you look at who’s available from the left side, these are really the three best options in our price range. We need at least one more left-handed bullpen piece, preferably two, to go with Funderburk. It really doesn’t matter whether they’re familiar faces or not, all three of them can be quality mid to late inning relievers. They also add some experience to a team that going to be very young on the position player side. All three will be easy flips at the trade deadline unless they’re injured or completely ineffective so the are low risk and provide some stability while we are developing some of the younger pitchers into MLB relievers. I’d be in favor of getting two of the three and would lean towards Coulombe and Rodgers, but Theibar would be OK.. I’m just worried that Father Time will get Caleb soon.

I’ve read that Washington wants to manage again and expects to be available by Spring Training.

Rowson with Ron Washington as his bench coach. Rowson develops hitters and sets culture of accountability. Wash teaches infielders and helps with in game strategy. Good blend and helps Twins their two weakest areas, hitting development and infield defense improvement.

Why would we sign Hoskins? He is over 30, below average with the bad, albeit with some power, and below average in the field. I get he’s better than Kody Clements, but there’s nothing about his profile that suggests he’s gonna do anything more and get us another win or two. Moving a team from 72-75 wins to 75-77 wins is effectively irrelevant. I just see zero reason to do this. I think we either have to move someone like Wallner to first base, sign a real first base as a free agent, or promote someone from the minors. Signing a mediocre at best veteran does absolutely nothing good for this team unless it’s a gold glove no hit mediocre veteran and I don’t want Carlos Santana back. Looking are real options, I’d love to see them try to sign Naylor, but I don’t think they’ll pay the freight and even if they offered it, why on earth would he come to the Twins? He’ll get paid wherever he goes, he’ll want to go to a contender. That ain’t likely to be the Twins in 2026. We could promote that hot shot first baseman in the minors we have… Oh, that’s right, we don’t have that guy unless it’s Fedko. So a free agent signing of a real quality player seemed very unlikely, and we got nobody coming up from the minors. So what’s the answer? This may be one of those situations where the answer is the least bad alternative. One alternative - We do have at least one good middle in fielder in the minors in Culpepper, so play him and move either Keaschall or Lee to first base. A second alternative would be to move Wallner out of right field, since we certainly have potentially hugh upside candidates in the minors to replace him there and see if he can play first base. Certainly not ideal, but probably as good an alternative as we have. After all that, I guess I’m in the move Matt Wallner at first base camp. It isn’t going to be pretty, and it may not work at all, but what is the other realistic alternative? Signing a quality 1B FA it’s just very unlikely for the simple reason that they won’t come here, and there is no minor league alternative. 2026 is a Development year anyway so let’s see if Wallner can play that position and, by the way, do it while hitting over .220.

You may be right, but can he hit enough to make it worthwhile even for 2026? The problem with playing him at second and Keaschall at first is you don’t develop Keaschall. Clements at best a stop gap, so that might help for 2026 but doesn’t get you going in the right direction longer term. This team is not likely to be a contender in 2026.

So here’s the conundrum. First, let’s identify the problem. Lewis was actually above average defensively at third base last year. The big below average player was Lee at shortstop and, to a lesser extent, Keaschall at second base. Keaschall absolutely can hit it and needs to be in the lineup basically every day. Lee, not so much. 1B is open, but Wallner is a statue in right field and Larnach can’t play defense anywhere.and neither has ever played 1B. So what do we do? Keaschall has to play and we don’t have anyone to replace him at second base. Still, I would think about moving him to first base but that doesn’t work. That leaves a gaping hole in the middle of your infield because Lee stunk at second base last year and you’d rather he was more of a utility player. That means probably going out into the Marketplace for two middle infielders or promoting Culpepper to the majors to start the season to fill at least one of the spots. I don’t think that’s likely because theyveill want to keep his service time open by waiting till at least May, and he hasn’t really played much at AAA yet. Eeles is completely unproven, and Fitzgerald can’t hit.There really is no internal solution to this problem. Given the lack of an internal solution, I think we’re going to see Lee at shortstop and a Keaschall at second base with some sort of fill-in at first base to start the season. I’m hopeful that Culpepper will be the starting shortstop by June with Lee a more utility type player. Keaschall needs a season at second base to see if he can actually play there. The only other option I see is to pick up a defense first veteran shortstop but the guys out there can’t hit.. No real good options here so I think this is the way to go. Unfortunately, that don’t help ground ball pitchers.

I agree this is depressing, but I think you added some players that we really never expected to be long-term contributors like McCusker, Fitzgerald, Gaspar, and Kiersey. I also don’t think the organization was expecting a big turnaround from Julien and Outman was a complete crapshoot. Those guys were never “core“ guys. They are more like the typical 40 man flotsam every team has.I also don’t think it’s fair to say Martin has been disappointing given his last two months. He may actually turn into a core player. What makes this depressing is that the real core guys that we expected to be every day players were Wallner, Miranda, Lewis, and Lee, and they all disappeared. Those are the 4 real disasters that make one wonder if there is a core going forward to build around.

This is something we all need to remember; Ryan‘s age. He won’t be a free agent until he’s 32. Signing him now to overpay him during his last two years of arbitration might be a way to get him to sign a 4 to 5 year deal with the team at a $18-20 million average annual value. Of course none of that matters if he wants out, and he may. If that’s the case, trade him for some immediate hitting relief and keep Lopez to mentor the young pitchers. Ryan to Boston for Walter Abreu, Payton Tolles, and Tristan Casas.

This. The difference now is that the 2026 team has the chance to have at least 2 guys who should start a playoff game, 3 if Ober gets his mojo back. That’s why we have an opportunity that we shouldn’t waste. The Dodgers are the current juggernaut because they have the best starting pitching, not because they out homer everybody. The Dodger bullpen is not good. Playoff games are primarily won by quality starting pitching. The Dodgers have it, The Reds, Padres, and Brewers do not. Phillies starters are good but not as good. Our rotation isn’t as deep but the top 2 are pretty damn good. That creates we a competitive opportunity that we shouldn’t waste. We need to find ways to score with what we have and what we may have is singles and speed.

I think you underrate Martin - he played the last two months well enough to be an everyday player on a good team. Roughly 2-2.5 WAR guy and that's if he doesn't get better with experience. Roden is a complete crapshoot, and so is Jenkins, GG and Emma. As I said in another post, i would dump both Outman and Keirsey (off the 40 man) and start the season with Buxton, Martin, Roden, and one of GG (my choice), Jenkins or Emma, and Wallner as the 5 OFs. Wallner is really the DH who plays in the OF 1 or at most 2 days a week. Clemens could stay as a backup 1B/2B/RF/LF/Dh who gets 200 ABs a year, mostly because we don't have anybody else. That's what I would do but I don't think that's what they are going to do. I think one of the youngish guys will get the shot, probably Roden first, and Outman will be the 4th OF out of ST. Why? Age and Service time. The Twins get an extra year of control over GG, Jenkins, and Emma if they wait until late April to bring them up. Not so with Roden. In ST Roden will be 26 (same for Fedko), Emma 22, GG and Jenkins 21. Those latter 3 probably start in AAA and then come up in May to see if they're ready assuming they start out well in St. Paul. Much as I don't like it, that is probably the smart way to play it to maximize control over young talent.

I don't think that's a fair assessment of Martin after last August and September. IF that's really who he is going forward, recognizing it's a SSS so it's a big IF, he's a 2-3 WAR player over the course of a season. The man hit .282/.374/.365 (.739), 106 OPS+ in 156 ABs over 50 games. 1 OAA in LF, 74th percentile sprint speed, no power. Classic lead off or #9 hitter on a good team. He's earned the starting LF job unless he gets hurt or craps out in ST. He is really the one find in last year's tryout camp after the deadline. You're right about Roden. He is a complete unknown at the MLB level, along with Fedko (who might/should get a shot at 1B in AAA or for the Twins), GG, Jenkins, and Emma. I think Roden will get the first shot and I hope all 5 get a real shot next year. Let's see if one of them can lock down a starting RF spot and another a 4th OF spot by August 1. I would start that process right out of the gate, with Outman only there at the beginning if we really need a backup CF and Keirsey on the DFA list re-signed to play at AAA. I would love to see an OF in July that's Buxton, Martin, and some combination of 2 of GG, Jenkins, and Emma mixed in. Wallner? He gets 350-400 ABs as the DH, and another 100 or so in RF playing once or twice a week as we rotate rest days. He either makes it on his bat, or he doesn't make it. He's shown enough to get at least a full year's run playing 5-6 days at a week, but we can't play him in the OF. He just isn't good enough there. He is potentially good enough to DH if he can hit 30 plus home runs and get his average up to .240 so he can actually drive in runs. If he can't do that, there really is no place for him on a good team. I try to trade Larnach for a relief pitcher or for another team's not quite good enough maybe guy like Ryan Mountcastle but I think it's more likely he gets non-tendered and moves on.

I think this is the planned starting OF coming out of ST. Buxton in CF, Martin in LF, Roden in RF, with Wallner as a RF/DH and either Outman, Clemens, or a cheap FA as the 4th/5th OF with the winner depending on whether they think that Roden and/or Martin can man CF 50-60 games a year. That really leaves open the possibility of GG, Jenkins and/or Emma coming up mid-season unless Buxton is healthy and Martin (likely if this august and September were any indication) and Roden (unknown) show they are everyday players.

MLB Trade Rumors and the New York Post are reporting that the Yankees have granted the Twins permission to speak with James Rowson about the managerial vacancy. They also mentioned Derek Shelton as a potential candidate with whom the Twins have spoken or are going to speak. I like all three candidates, but leans toward Shelton because he is prior managerial experience. What does the rest of the world think?

Breaking news from MLB Trade Rumors. The Yankees have granted the Twins permission to speak with James Rowson about their managerial vacancy. The news originally was attributed to the New York Post baseball reporters. They also report that the Twins have considered Derek Shelton and Ramon Vasquez as potential candidates. I frankly like all three possibilities, although I would lean more towards Shelton due to his managerial experience. What you guys think?

Laweryson and Festa should absolutely be in the bullpen from Day 1 next season. I agree that Laweryson has only a small sample size, but that isn't his fault and he really showed out in his SSS - 1.17 ERA, 7 SOs in 7.2 IP, 0.522 WHIP. Double his WHIP and ERA and he's still a back of the bullpen weapon. Festa could be the next closer with his stuff. More importantly, it doesn't look like his shoulder will hold up enough to start. Bring him back slowly next season by starting him out in the bullpen at least and keep him there if he's as good as I think he can be. Adams, Hatch, and Ohl fall into the same bucket for me. Overall not so good last year but showed enough in some appearances to get a shot. I'm betting at least one of them makes the team out of ST, maybe 2. My money is on Ohl. I see next year's starting bullpen as Sands, Festa, Topa, Laweryson, Funderburk, Ohl, and either 2 FAs or some combination of Adams, Hatch, Misiewicz, and maybe one of Matthews, Raya, or Preilip. Frankly, that's a pretty thin group so I'm hoping they sign at least 1 and really 2 experienced arms, including a guy like Williams, Moton, or Helsley on a pillow contract to close. Let's also give Danny Coulombe a call to be the second LH in the pen.

It's 19 names. but there aren't 19 potential Twins on that list. The $15M-$25M and up a year guys aren't coming to MN even if we would pay them that - they will get their money wherever they go so they're going to a winner, not a rebuilding team. The Japanese guys are too expensive and going to a place where there are Japanese people and culture, LA, SF, NY, Chi, Seattle. So eliminate Alonso, Naylor, O'Hearn, Hoskins, Murakami, and Okamoto from the list. Eliminate older guys who are declining, OFs being sent to 1B because the suck in the OF (why do that when we could have Larnach or Wallner switch), guys who can't hit and/or have only one skill and it ain't with the glove; they are all bad adds - Arraez, Andujar (also likely to get $10m plus), Goldschmidt, Moncada (he stinks guys), Santana, Turner, Bell, France, Wade, and Tellez. None of those guys make any sense at all to me. Besides, at least half of those guys are more than $5M a season. So who's left that might make sense? Yandi Diaz, Ryan Mountcastle and maaaybe Tristan Casas. Diaz can really hit but he was -5 OAA last year in the field as a 1B/Dh. How is that even possible at 1B? Epically bad. Mountcastle was a good hitter in 2023 (.780 OPS), average in 2024 (.733 OPS), and lousy in 2025 (.653 OPS), and is a dead average 0 OAA fielder. Maybe we can fix him? Casas is similar - declining since 2023 to a .580 OPS in 2025 in 99 ABs with some major injury concerns. Guys, it's ugly out there at 1B. I could see trying to trade for Mountcastle on the cheap (he's not a FA until 2027), so maybe trade one arb eligible alleged OF in Larnach for an arb eligible alleged 1B in Mountcastle? Neither can field much so maybe it's a fair deal. Maybe we can try to get Casas for Larnach in a trade of disappointing guys or as a throw in when trading Boston Joe Ryan? That's about it. We need to look at making someone we have as a 1B because there ain't much out there. Wallner and Larnach might not be good enough but it's worth a try.

While I wouldn't discount this kind of a trade of someone like Ober or even Jeffers or Lewis, let's not get too snide in our comments on the Polanco trade. When Polanco was traded, he was a broken down 29 year old making $10.5M, He physically could not even play 2B any more, much less a taxing position. He had very little value despite our fond memories of him when he could actually move. He then went to Seattle and became a DH with a .651 OPS in 2024. Posters here would have wanted him run out of town and Seattle only kept him because they couldn't get anyone else. He did rebound this year at age 31 and hit well for Seattle while still not being able to run or field a lick (89 games as DH, 38 at 2B, 5 at SS, 1 at 1B), -3 OAA, 37th percentile sprint speed. In return we got a competent/average reliever in Topa and the best hitting prospect in the Twins organization in Gabriel Gonzalez. GG is 21 and hit .329/.395/.513(.909) over 3 MiLB levels in 2025, including .316/.358/.504(.862) in 150 AAA PAs. He's likely our RF/DH by mid-season 2026 and out performed Emma AND Walker Jenkins at both AAA AND AAA last year. I know folks don't like to let the facts get in the way of a good "the FA is incompetent" rant but this isn't the hill to die on for that. It actually looks like a win/win trade so far if Gonzalez is even an average MLB player. Looks like he could be more. I love me some Jorge Polanco and I hope he is the World Series MVP but this was a smart trade. I could get behind a trade of a guy like Ober for a decent reliever and a high upside AA ball SS, or a solid AAA 1B prospect blocked in an organization. Ober might not be worth that much, but it's exactly the kind of trade we should be thinking about. I think the Polanco trade as a blueprint - fading MLB player for a reliever and high upside MiLB guy a year or two away - makes a whole bunch of sense for dealing with a replaceable guys like Ober.