Rod Carews Birthday

Non tender Ober. The $7M or so saved will get a good reliever - better than Ober would be out of the pen. Kremer is your #5. The other spot besides the big three should be one of Prielipp/Abel/ Matthews, with two held as backup in St Paul

In a ridiculously small sample size of one game, how did Sabato look with the glove? Did he look lumbering or comfortable? It would be wonderful if he could be the first baseman (assuming his bat plays, which it may not in the majors) next year.

I think that it's time for the Twins to part ways with Royce Lewis. His offense is well below par and his defense has been "acceptable" at best, but really only if his offense were better. I'm not sure what value he has left, possibly for a bullpen arm or for another team's change of scenery candidate? Or, as a throw in to a larger deal if there is one to be made. As other posters have indicated, his bat really doesn't play at first base, and if things go according to plan, the move to second base is only a stopgap until (hopefully) Marek Houston comes up -- and not a great stopgap at that. At best, he's a utility infielder who can move around and play acceptable defense, but we already have a guy like that in Clemens, who is probably a more flexible defender and seems to be a better bat. I'm also not sure that Lewis would adapt well to a utility role off the bench. Right now, I think he still looks in the mirror and sees himself as a star(ter). I say give him a chance to do that on somebody else's team.

OK. So you clearly think it IS ridiculous to bring him back based on performance. That's fair. I do choose to argue the overall stat line, and I know that there are MUCH worse ways to spend money than on Josh Bell. I'm not actually advocating for his return because he no longer fits the roster, but I don't think that money was thrown out the window. YMMV

It's not ridiculous. He was certainly productive, he seems like a good guy. and I would rather have him than Larnach. $10M seems like a pretty steep price though for a team with a small payroll. That being said, I think that the team is better served to have the DH spot open for a rotation of players (like Buxton) and the additional flexibility on the bench that having a full-time DH prevents. I just hope we have enough good hitters to make that true. Thank him for his excellent service and wish him well on his next stop.

They can ask, but someone has to want to trade for them. I can't imagine that both of their values are pretty far gone at this point. As for bringing up Sabato, why not? He won't be worse that Lewis right now.

15.5 WAR in the first five years of his career. Might sign up for that, but not sure if the situation is the same. Although, as I said, weird career for sure. I worry that we might "ruin" Lackey by pushing him too much early (see Gomez, Carlos, who took a few years to straighten his career out after being pushed up because we had no options. In this situation, I would actually be more curious if Diaw is closer to major league ready (albeit with a much lower ceiling) than Lackey. Less concerned with messing up his development and hopefully Lackey could show up in 2028.

Maybe, but what a weird career he had. If I remember correctly, they brought him straight up from A ball. He looked like he might be a major star his first few years for us, had a couple of good years for the Yankees, and was pretty much done at age 29. Not sure bringing him up early was what caused it, but it was certainly weird. Lackey certainly has more experience than Wynegar did, but I'm not sure the situation is the same in the league now as it was then.

If only any of these guys were ready to be starting catcher for the Twins next season. The team is quite lacking in candidates for that gig.

This. We all have bosses. Sometimes that gets forgotten.

Maybe. . . but I don’t really think that’s the best plan for the Twins or for Buxton. Early in his career, he played the outfield like a man possessed. However, in the past few years he’s become much more cognizant of his body and the damage that he can do to it by running into walls, etc. At the moment, he’s undoubtedly our best CF, as well as one of the best in the league. Whether that continues following hip surgery is far from certain, and that should be the deciding factor. The thought of being “proactive” about his health by having him play CF is I think a little overstated. He still needs to run and slide and hit and twist as a DH, albeit less than in CF. The other factor is that he has generally not done particularly well as a full time DH. Why? Is it because he was (partially) injured? Maybe. Is it because he’s just not wired to sit on the bench and bat four times or so per game with no other real involvement? I think more likely, and I get that completely. It’s not a personal failure, it’s how he’s wired. All of this being said, I do think that Jenkins/Rodriguez are probably both solid CFers in the short term. They don’t have Buxton’s speed, but seem to be solid fielders — perhaps not to the Puckett, Hunter, Buxton level, but acceptable at least. You don’t always get to have a gold glover in CF. We probably need to get used to that.

So glad to see him finally overcoming the injuries enough to make his debut -- and what a fine debut it was! Given his power pedigree I wasn't necessarily shocked by the home run, although it's an awesome story for him. What made me most excited was the outfield assist. I guess he wasn't intimidated or hesitant out there! There are going to be some up and down days and weeks that will require some patience, but I would love to be able to write his name in the lineup in pen for the next five years.

Take a breath. Pretty sure you know as well as I do that there is a lot of really bad AI crap out there in the media. I was looking for a real source. Thank you for providing one.

Thank you! That’s an article I missed. I too would highly regard that source. It always makes me nervous when people say “AI says”.

THATS how we’re researching this? Surgery of the hip is like saying pain in the torso or cancer of the insides. Is there actually real info to be had?