Rod Carews Birthday

Yes. They all need to go. Period. Larnach -- we've got OFers that can produce at least as much AND play better defense. Ober -- eventually the smoke and mirrors routine just won't work. It's coming sooner, not later. Lewis -- please stop giving the guy a scholarship based on a few at bats his first year. He's just not capable of being good enough consistently. ------------------ Solutions. . . I'll start with an out of the box one -- put Erod at 1B. He's much more athletic than Lewis at this point and miles more athletic than most of the team. He's an excellent defensive outfielder, but I'd bet he could pull it off. AND he could be a slugging first baseman. We could use that. Kremer and Ober are similar players, but I have more faith in Kremer at this point going forward. Having them both seems like a really bad plan. There are young guys that need the spot. Next year's OF is Buxton, Keaschall, Jenkins. All are more talented than Larnach and if you put Keaschall in LF, he might be pretty good at defense. Fourth outfielder could be Clemens or Gonzalez.

I share the bewilderment about Erod not being called up yet, however, I don't really think they have written him off. My guess is that based on his style of hitting, he has a little bit of Jose Miranda freezer burn on him. Similar style, uber-patient, may be scaring them off -- even though he's a much better athlete and much better defender. I'm not sure we won't see him yet for a cameo, but there is fear (everywhere -- even here on TD) that it won't work in MLB. It's also possible that they want him to remain a mystery because they think that they can sell "what might be" to a trade partner. OR it could just be that they want him to have as many at bats as possible because of the time missed and they don't think they can get him as many in MLB. I personally think he can and will be successful. His chance will come next spring. I'm not willing to wager on it, but it wouldn't surprise me if he had a better season than Jenkins next summer.

One can quibble with the WAR totals for players depending upon the source used, however, the fact remains that this is a team full of "OK" players -- which is actually better than some of the bad players we've had in the past. "OK" doesn't really get you very far in the playoffs. Someone (or several someones) needs to rise to the top and be that dependable 4 or 5 WAR player in order to get the job done, and I don't see a lot of candidates there right now. A healthy Jeffers, Buxton, and Ryan could have done it this year, but of the rest, I'm not sure who is possible. Maybe down the road a Culpepper or Jenkins 4-5 WAR year is possible, but they're not likely on the cusp at this point. Lee and Clemens look pretty maxed out. Lewis doesn't look like he's going to put it together. Keaschall will lose too many points defensively. Pablo will be coming off of (major) injury next year. The struggle continues. . .

This is likely wishful thinking. The AJ type package was a complete fleecing of the Giants and generally speaking, teams don't sign up for that. Yes. We would love to have a near hall of fame reliever, a serviceable starter, and an outstanding starter who had a short career for a rental catcher. Wanting that doesn't make it so.

This is the ultimate in speculative and premature. Take a breath. IF everyone returns healthy. . . AND everyone pitches up to their ability, . . like the most dominant month of their entire career. . . AND nothing else weird happens. . . ETC., ETC., ETC., Many teams have dominant rotations on paper, but it usually doesn't work out that way. In the Twins' case, they have way more question marks than answers a this point. I personally would be thrilled with a top 10 rotation, but fear it is more likely average -- which is actually a lot better than what we are now.

Collapse? I’m not sure that’s applicable here. The Twins have been a slightly below average team all season. They’ve never fallen way back and they’ve never pulled out above .500. It seems a little more dramatic than that because the season has been full of little 3-4 game winning streaks nd 3-4 game losing streaks. So, the real question is “Who’s responsible for the team being consistently mediocre?” I’m not sure pointing fingers is going to change much or that it’s nearly that cut and dried. Everything plays a part and hopefully better decisions get made so that better things can happen next year. In the meantime, I’m still going to root for the Twins to pull a rabbit out of their hat and sneak into the playoffs this year. I’m not proud. I’ll take it any way I can!

He’s 21. He just needs to survive at this point. It’s a “free” get your feet wet moment for a guy who we hope is going to be a star player for the team. Even if he “answers” one or more of those questions, we should have learned in the past that small sample size answers aren’t really answers. Ask future all-stars Julien, Lewis, and Wallner.

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.