Rod Carews Birthday

This. I think it's interesting that Brooks Lee has outperformed Royce Lewis in every meaningful statistical way -- all while attempting to play out of position/beyond his abilities for part of the season at SS. And yet, we think of Brooks Lee as "adequate" while we sit and dream on what we think Royce Lewis could become. I'm not a Lee fan, but I'll take him 9 times out of 10 over Lewis. Both Royce Lewis and Twins would be well served by a trade in the offseason. His value is much less than high, but he would be worth something/could possibly be combined with another trade candidate like Bailey Ober to get something a little bit worthwhile, like a serviceable bullpen piece.

Unfortunately, I fear that you might be correct. I would suggest that this would be a place for Tom Pohlad to "step up to the plate" and do something that is necessary to compete in 2027, and let's be fair, the QO for Jeffers is an overpay. Help is definitely on the way in the form of Vahn Lackey (and others), so a short term fairly substantial investment would do well to bridge that gap. We're not talking long-term commitment here -- just enough to keep the team competitive in the short-term.

On paper, much of what you suggest looks pretty good. Most importantly for planning purposes, it is easy to see the specific holes in this lineup. Caratini is fine for a backup catcher, but not for a starter/halftimer, that's hole #1. Clemens fits better as a bat off the bench with some pop who can play lots of places. As a number four hitter, he falls pretty far short, that's hole #2. Royce Lewis is likely the next weakest link. He was terrible, then he was excellent, then he was OK, and now he is back to lousy. I would try to find a way to trade him as a change of scenery candidate this winter, but he's hole #3. Emma Rodriguez is an unknown, but a worthwhile gamble to take, with the idea that if he doesn't make it, you can move Keaschall back to LF. I think he'll be frustrating at times with the strikeouts, but OK -- maybe a "rich man's Matt Wallner" because he can play defense. Also (always) unknown is Buxton's status. He's ours. Let's use him as much as possible. If/when he gets injured, we now have a backup fielder in place so that we are not suffering there. Both of these unknowns are worth rolling the dice on. Young players like Culpepper and Jenkins are ALWAYS unknowns, but again, worth rolling the dice on -- although we need to remember how promising we thought Lewis, Wallner, and Julien were back in 2023. I think this could be a pretty good lineup if things line up and there isn't an injury nightmare. Fixing hole #1 -- offer Jeffers that QO. He'll likely take it (hard to turn down that kind of money if you're a catcher). He's not awesome, and he isn't a 130 game a year catcher, but he's pretty darn solid and has a good track record. Then, in 2027, develop develop develop Lackey and the rest of the catcher crop in the minors so that you don't need Jeffers in 2028. Fixing hole #2 -- maybe you don't have to, if you believe that Houston isn't far away and you can move either Lee or Culpepper to 2nd base. There are worse things than "getting by" with Clemens. The bat piece could be fixed with a Bell-like signing, particularly if the signee could play in the field (maybe first base. . . . ) Fixing hole #3 -- Sign a serious hitter that can field the position. 30+ homeruns would make me look past a lot of defensive issues. Trade Lewis for something, maybe some bullpen help. I think this is some addition by subtraction, which probably isn't fair but the churn is a little too much to keep putting up with. YMMV, but I think this could be a way forward/offseason plan for 2027.

Hopefully fans will be patient with Jenkins in the beginning and not jump to ridiculous conclusions about "our next hall of famer" or "latest prospect bust". It would seem that he is destined to do well. Let's hope he stays healthy and becomes the star we are hoping for!

All other numbers being the same, one would assume that he's tipping something out there that is noticeable to people trying to figure it out. This article does a fantastic job of trying to figure out what that looks like. Bravo! I hope the Twins are also doing this (or that they're reading this article very closely!).

Yes. This is absolutely true. . . The struggle to locate other stuff is certainly real though, and the various websites aren't great about telling you where they are broadcast because in most cases they are in competition with each other.

This is really an excellent break down of the changes made for Kremer. Love it! Great article! Let's hope it sticks!

I'm guessing, and that's all I can do, it is likely because the Twins' pitchers are already doing the things that the team has in their toolbox, so to speak, and they aren't working for that player. Therefore, there isn't a next step for them that is readily within the wheelhouse of the coaches or the players (or they would likely have tried it). It is also possible that some of the things that they would like to try just aren't within the physical or mental capabilities of the players. In my (former, I'm retired) world as a music teacher, it was always interesting which students would respond to what coaching and in what way. The buy-in is critical, but that usually isn't a big problem, except in the case of some students who were doing pretty well already and thought they had all of the answers. Some would respond to instruction with "Oh, you mean like this?" and they would do it perfectly almost right away, as though they had never heard of this before. That was fun because it made me look really smart! Others would be confused or would lack the physical skill to carry out the change. In that case, you try another approach, or to say what you mean in another way with the hope that new words or new ways of looking at something would make a difference. Occasionally it did, but sometimes nothing would work, even after several trips back to the drawing board. I'm guessing the Twins' coaches experience the same types of things. Sigh. . .

I’d just be thrilled with “just” a Corey Koskie or Gary Gaetti!

This debate sounds a little like the one that was had back a few years, only the names then were Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario. Sano was going to be the next great Twins star and this guy named Rosario somehow usually managed to equal or better his output in the minors without nearly the fanfare (or movies about him). Then they got to the majors and Rosario managed to have more of a career (11.1 WAR vs. 8.0 WAR). He even had more career home runs, albeit in more at bats (which also says something). I'm not saying that either is destined for stardom and/or failure. That could happen to either or both of them. However, there is not some gigantic difference in what they have accomplished in the minor leagues that makes this call that obvious. Being older and out of options definitely does count for something in terms of suitability for roles and call ups. I'm fine with either of them called up, but if it is to be only one, I would choose to promote Rodriguez.

Just call out to the wind, and he will answer. . .

What? No Willians Astudillo reunion? That would be the funniest of all I think.

You would rather that they didn’t do any analysis? There’s a lot of recent evidence in the world that making judgements by the gut is a bad idea. I get it. He’s a hometown favorite and you liked him. I did too. I also like Rojas, and less so, Roden. Let’s give this trade a little time to breathe before we call it a win or a loss.

Apparently some here think that you can just add whoever you want for free. Reyes is a decent prospect - light years away from the majors. He has a nice OPS right now. So does Kyler Fedko. It didn’t make him a star either. I don’t think Kremer is a world beater, but he is an upgrade from the minor league guys that you would need to bring up in the event of injury/innings limits/ineffectiveness. The odds of Kremer not being cooked are probably better than the odds of Reyes becoming a good major leaguer. .

First of all, let me say that I did not like the trade at the time, nor am I enamored with it now. That said, it is WAY too soon for anything resembling a final verdict on the quality of the trade. This year, Varland has been amazing. Relief pitchers always have been and always will be very combustible. He might be excellent next year (or next week) or he might not. Time will tell. HOWEVER, there are some on this site talking about him as if he's a surefire hall of famer like Mariano Rivera. Slow down. Take it a day (or a year) at a time. As for Roden and Rojas, at this point Rojas is quite a bit better than Varland was at the comparable point in his career and Roden, while I think being overhyped, has been disappointing but is far from washed up. Might they both be gone in a year? Yup. Might one of them become a star, or at least pretty good and valuable? Yup. At this point Rojas has shown me enough for me to think that he might be at least Varland's equal, and if he can stick as a starter (No, he doesn't need to be Johan, or even Joe) he will probably be more valuable. Why does everyone have WIN a trade RIGHT NOW? I know we're all impatient for success, but these things do take some time to develop and evaluate.

He’s not a SS. The point is moot.

I also think that this would be a good starting point for Tom Pohlad to start investing in the team. It's not signing a $300M+ free agent, but it's a reasonable first major task.

I think this would be a fantastic idea. All pitcher contracts are risky, but even more risky is to not have good pitchers. If something like 6/$75M would get it done, that seems like a good ballpark to be in. It would cost the Twins some money in the near term but likely be a bargain on the back end.

Roden needs to start hitting pretty much immediately if he's going to stick on the Twins major league club. There are simply too many high upside guys on his heels (or is he on their heels actually) in AAA that are going to pass him up. You're absolutely correct in that he hasn't had enough at major league at bats to know who he will become, but the clock is ticking in a big way for him and he needs to do SOMETHING to earn some more at bats so he can prove it.

True. It's amazing that people don't realize that EVERY. SINGLE. PLAYER. in the major and minor leagues was a star at their previous level. Then they all continue to be stars. . . until they don't, and then we are disappointed. For some it happens immediately. For some it takes a year or two of teasing us. Some make it all the way to the majors before we find out that they aren't quite who we anticipated them to be. That being said, I like this group more than the last group, but there's a long way to go before we know how this will turn out.

It always cracks me up when the national guys like Passan come up with "Great Trade Targets" or "So and So Would Fill A Position of Great Need", without mentioning any concept of what the return would need to be. Anybody can do that -- and it sure gets clicks! You know, it would be great to trade for Shohei Ohtani - playoff starter and slugger. He would really fill some needs, especially if the Dodgers would pick up all of his deferred money because we threw in Austin Martin and Kody Clemens! That's not happening either.

As always, whether to pull the trigger depends on the return. The only way I trade Ryan at the deadline is if I think the return is a big overpay. It could happen, but only if there is some sort of bidding war for him — a bidding war (possibly with more participants) that might just as easily occur over the winter. Yes. He could be injured and ruin his value. Yes, it is unlikely that we will re-sign him. If you say that with every good player, then you effectively shorten your team control over your best players by one or two years. However, Joe Ryan is the obvious anchor on the pitching staff, and for all the fawning over Lopez (who I like A LOT), probably has been for the past couple of years. If we trade him at the deadline, we are absolutely flushing away what has been a pretty fun season with the team doing a little bit of overachieving. IF Tom Pohlad is serious about building a winner, now is not a great time to take a step backward. As for other players, again, it all depends on return. But I would definitely explore trading Larnach, Jeffers, and Martin. We have replacements on hand in Roden, Caratini/Jackson, and Keaschall, and if we can acquire pieces (ahem. . . relief pitching) that will help us down the stretch and beyond, we would be putting our efforts into areas of higher priority for now and building for next year.

Bradley is younger and better, with more years of control. Barring injury (which really can’t be factored in either way), It seems pretty likely that the Twins made a good call here. If Jax goes on to have some good success, there will be people here lamenting it. However, they forget that we can’t have them both, only one, and for my money, the best is Bradley.

Considering that two of those players haven’t even sniffed the majors yet, I would likely tap the brakes a bit. It would, however, be nice if we had some players develop and transition to the majors more seamlessly than we’ve had in the past. Let’s hope this all comes true.

It all depends on the return. Always. No exceptions.