Rod Carews Birthday

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?

It seems like I have missed something, but maybe I'm just not looking in the right place. Do we know what type of hip surgery he is going to have? A three to five month recovery isn't extreme, but it's more than a quick scope for sure. I wish him a successful surgery and a speedy, full recovery. That's best for Buxton and for the Twins.

So, the reality is that only about four regular players actually contributed something positive for the month. Yikes. That's not going to get it done.

Yes. From the outside it looks like that. We do need to remember that the front office has information and analysis that we don't have. That can sometimes color their decisions, and sometimes they're right (and other times they're not). I think that they have screwed up too often, but I don't think it's from a lack of seriousness at all.

Maybe, but this is kind of Monday morning quarterbacking. I know many were calling for them to be traded this past off season, but IF the two of them had remained healthy and had good years, this team would have likely been pretty competitive and probably a playoff team. I object to the notion that our job for the league is to develop/refine players so that we can trade them for prospects/suspects and other teams can benefit. We've messed that up too many times for me to get excited about trading the type of proven pitchers that we would desperately want to acquire -- not to mention the unlikelihood of ownership reinvesting the money saved into the team. "A bird in the hand. . . " That didn't happen, so obviously the answer is that they should have been traded. But again, hindsight is 20/20.

Two weeks of AB's are not going to be career altering one way or the other for Erod. This just doesn't rise to that level. FWIW I would have broken camp with Erod in the majors, but since his season got shredded shortly after that with injuries, I don't find this to be bizarre at all.

This. In the greater scheme of things, there is almost no difference between calling him up two weeks ago instead of now, EXCEPT they got him more at bats in St. Paul than he probably would have been able to get with the Twins. We all need to remember that the idea is long term viability, not short term results (see Wallner, Matt). There are plenty of things to be frustrated about with the owners and front office, this probably is a pretty low on the list.

Glad to see this happening, finally. Let's go! Would love to see some excitement in these last couple of weeks of the season.

For me it's because I think the overall picture of both in the defensive lineup is better with Erod at 1B and Keaschall in the OF. You're correct that if they both are in the game it doesn't matter what position they are playing from a hitting perspective. I just think that "Defense+" is more likely to be good this way from a team perspective if we're not watching Keaschall flail away on 20 plays per game at first base.

I do like the idea of outside links and analysis. One of the problems is that there are MANY websites out there that are AI driven and contain a degree of clickbait, stupidity, and triteness that make them a pretty big waste of time. That said, if you want to do the curating work and cull out the idiocy, it would be fantastic! I think that's what this is about, but I'm easily distracted and confused!

There is a lot of hand wringing in this comment section about what the Twins did or didn't do. Yes. There were some bad decisions -- some only in hindsight, but some should have been in foresight as well. There is plenty to argue about and quibble with there. However, the bigger and more important question is what do they do with Rodriguez moving forward. MAYBE he gets called up after the AAA season and gets a smattering of at bats (even if he plays full time). I'm not sure if that actually helps anyone, except by possibly exposing a few warts to the rest of the world if he doesn't hit immediately -- and with no time to recover. Look how many people here have somewhat soured on Walker Jenkins, even though the SSS means nothing at all in a first taste of the majors at his youthful age. He will be fine. It just may take longer than people want it to. MAYBE they send him to the AFL with a first baseman's glove and he rakes there -- that's always been a pretty solid indicator of future success. I've said before that moving him to 1B is an avenue that I would pursue, but many disagree with that, which is also understandable. MORE LIKELY he comes to Fort Myers for training camp next spring, hits well, and wins a spot out of spring training on the team. IF he does that, there are no issues. Who knows? He could be the AL ROY! IF he doesn't hit well in the spring, it makes it messier, but he has the kind of pedigree that demands that the Twins have some patience with him. MOSTLY, I think he has a solid future in MLB and the reports of his sudden demise have been greatly exaggerated. We'll know more of the answer to this next summer by about July.

That’s a reasonable take, but is Keaschall more easily hidden in LF or at 1B? Plus, and I’m WAY out over my skis now, I think ERod could be a monster defensive first baseman. I think Keaschall will get better at LF to the point where he won’t be a liability and his offensive profile doesn’t really fit at first base.

Sure. I get that, but it’s not like Justin Morneau wasn’t athletic. Imagine having an actual slugger who could move at first base for a few years rather than searching for a bargain free agent semi-bopper each year in free agency. Sometimes it works out well, but often, not so much.

Here's an out of the box thought. He's the new first baseman. He's plenty athletic to learn a position -- arguably a plus outfielder. If his hitting profile plays, he has a lot of pop and could be the slugging first baseman we haven't had since Morneau. Personally, I would rather squeeze out one of the other outfielders, but Erod is the guy who could probably pull it off -- and fix first base for five years. YMMV. Or maybe I've been drinking, but I like this idea more and more the more I think about it.