Rod Carews Birthday

I think they have. They might not yet realize that their eventual home could be in the bullpen — or they aren’t ready to admit it. Unfortunately there is a “this guy is a failed starter” vibe to anyone in the bullpen, even if they are good bullpen arms. While that is true, it’s not really fair. Lots of relievers are worth more to their team than mediocre (or worse) starters. They need to be celebrated for who they are, not who we wished they could be. Duran and Jax are proof of that. A huge percentage of position players are drafted as “shortstops”, and while most of them wind up at other positions, do we think of them as failed as well? I think not.

This bullpen is scary, and that’s in the stalled on the tracks and seeing the train coming kind of way. It is possible that some of these guys will be pretty successful, but there just aren’t enough of them that will be good to really put together a coherent bullpen strategy. I feel reasonable about Sands and a potentially healthy Hendricks, but beyond those guys we’re betting on expired milk or guys that never were good. If Hendricks and Sands were the numbers 3 and 4 guys in the bullpen, I think we would be fine, but Ii’m not sure who in this group will potentially be better than them. OK. Rant over. Let’s play ball!

Lefthanded and breathing, the old adage goes.

Is that like saying a basketball player is “scrappy”? Or that a girl has a good personality?

Indeed. He needs some time at AAA to figure out what that’s like, how he fares against that level of competition, and stay healthy. Some things may change, both for the upside and the downside. There are consistently too high of expectations put on prospects, particularly on this site. Give him the year for development, and then let’s see what we have in 2027 — or even late summer 2026 for a little taste of the show, IF he’s ready.

M V P. . . M V P. . . M V P! Haha!

Short answer. . . NO.

I'm not sure what Emma has left to prove at AAA. The package is what it is and now we need to find out what it will be at the major league level. So far, nothing has really slowed him down. It will be tougher to maintain that production in the majors, but he looks up to the task. I'm not sure waiting any longer does anything more to prepare him. Bring him up and let him play left field, and we have our CF backup at the same time.

We shouldn’t read too much into spring training performances. They aren’t indicative of what is to follow. . . . Unless sometimes they are. Actually I find them ridiculously difficult to extrapolate to the good or the bad. I’m always nervous about Twins players and injuries. I’m not too nervous yet, but you’re correct. Their latest outings weren’t terrible, but they didn’t make me think they were indestructible either. At this point, I’m going to think in the long game and not worry yet, but your point is well taken.

Chris Colabello anyone? For about a month in 2014, he looked like he was going to be amazing. Well, that didn’t last long.

It’s pretty hard to figure out much from the playing time tally. They really are mixing it up to see everybody. I’m curious how things start to look toward the end of spring training. Maybe at that point some of the conclusions will be more obvious.

Just no. Wait until he arrives and succeeds before we throw a bunch of hype on him.

If the question is which of these players is most likely to have a substantial positive impact on the 2026 (and forward) Twins, then the top two are right on point. Royce Lewis is still flashing the upside, while definitely improving on the defensive side of the ball. Matt Wallner, in a down year for him, still was one of the Twins top contributors last year (I know, thinnest kid at fat camp, I know). Then it gets interesting for me. Zebby Matthews is probably the one with still the biggest swing in terms of range of outcomes. He might be a number 2, or a number 5, or maybe nothing in particular. However, I think he is a little misplaced on the list because he has the least MLB experience and so he deserves more time than the others, both for tantalizing potential and because we just need to see him pitch more. The next two, Lee and Bradley, I feel are entering put up or shut up status. Both were wildly hyped. Both have had quite a bit of experience and both have vastly underperformed the hype. The backup plan for Bradley might be bullpen arm, but the backup plan for Lee is ???????. I would be thrilled if ONE of these guys took a big step forward this year leaving only one as a bust. Understanding that the reason for the list is “Guys who used to be Top 100 guys” is why SWR is on the list (but then why is Wallner?), it’s hard for me not to think that he is the guy who “is what he is”, a #4/5 starter that is relatively consistent and nice to have around. I sort of think the same thing for Austin Martin. He’s not great, but he’s useful in many ways and is in that same “not bad and is what he is” category. Larnach is to me the ultimate AAAA guy. He’s got some hitting skill, but he has no defensive value. The hitting skill isn’t enough to keep him in the lineup at a corner spot, so unless he plays a position where the team really needs somebody (too bad he’s not a shortstop — but then neither is Brooks Lee), he’s not very useful nor very valuable. He’s also the guy with several built in replacements. The really scary thing that this article exposes is the fallacy of “top prospect” or “ranked prospect” status. Seven out of the eight of these guys were in that category and yet only about two or three seem like they could be good MLB players at this point. To me, “top 100 prospect” should show an upside of all-star or at least above average player and a downside of solid reliever, strong utility guy, or average starter in the field. However, as this shows, there are no guarantees out there and we just need to hope they can do something with these players.

I don't know if there is an easy place to get this information without slowly going though stats for a million players, but I would be curious who his comps (minor league comps) would be and what became of them. He seems a little unicornish at this point.

I'm not sure the right reaction for this. I completely agree with this statement, so a thumbs up or a heart is in order. However, I hate that it is happening, so a crying reaction or thumbs down is more appropriate. He's scrappy. Unfortunately as Charles Barkley said, it means he can't play - at least not well enough to hold down a MLB job full time.

I agree with this entirely. This is the part that I just can’t understand. If Roden continues to hit, there is absolutely NO reason to keep Outman around. Roden MAY not be as good in the field as Outman, but he too can back up CF, which takes away most of the juice from having Outman on the team over Roden.

The pure baseball fan in me is excited that he is “different” than the prototype corner outfielder. So much focus is put on home run power that guys like GG have trouble getting traction. However, if he continues to hit at the major league level the way he has in the minors, he will be plenty valuable and will have a long career.. I’m rooting for him to tear it up at AAA and force their hand. I’m also rooting for ERod to do the same thing. What a fine problem that would be to have!

Trade him please. Return isn’t important, but a decent reliever would be great. . Playing time is important for players with much more of a future with the team.

I'm NOT the expert on this, so take this as a pretty good educated guess and hearing a few things over the past few years. Twenty-five years ago or so, I think it was fairly common for contracts to be insured in order to lessen the risk for the team. I also know that it is extremely hard to collect on those insurance policies, as it really only kicks in for a full season missed, not someone who just has a lot of nagging injuries. However, I think as more TJ surgeries were happening to more players, the insurance companies were paying out more than they wanted to. Hence, they raised the price. . . a lot, so that now it is to the point that it really isn't financially feasible to insure contracts for teams.

Soto seems like a very interesting prospect with a lot to prove. On paper he looks like the real deal, but he hasn't really had the results so far in his career with the Twins, nor has he had the health to actually be on the field. I'm hoping he puts it all together, but I think it's going to take awhile before that happens.

I really like Pablo Lopez. He's been outstanding for the team. However, extending him for more years after 2027 is a major gamble, without a lot of guarantee for success. As has been pointed out by others, he's getting older, this is his second TJ, and his peripherals aren't what they once were. It's time to find the next front line pitcher, whether through the system or through trade. If you are actually going to extend somebody, I would extend Joe Ryan. I think he has another gear to reach and that he's going to find it sooner rather than later.

Perhaps not quite THAT important. I'm hoping it will be good baseball, but that depends on lots of loose ends coming together. That's why we play the games.

Mediocre is way more fun than terrible. I’ve been to a few White Sox games in the past couple of years. It’s ugly. Here’s the thing. You’ve got to work your way THROUGH mediocre to be good. I’d rather start there with that as the floor rather than hope we can get back to .500 in a couple years. Joe Ryan is a leader in the clubhouse because he’s a high caliber player. It comes with the territory and it doesn’t matter if we like it, he likes it, or anyone else does. The best performers in nearly any field are leaders on nearly any team of any kind — sports, business, education, health care, etc.

Bottom line is that they will need at least three high leverage level relievers in the bullpen to be successful, regardless of who takes over as closer. I feel pretty good about Cole Sands. . . well, that’s it. It’s possible Taylor Rogers and/or Liam Hendricks still have something left in the tank — at least they have had success in the past, but we’ll see. I think someone from the smoking scrap heap of bullpen arms may actually be pretty good, but it’s going to take some time for that to happen. First part of the season could be a little scary. By July, we may have something resembling a functional bullpen. Also. TRADE TREVOR LARNACH RIGHT NOW FOR ANY KIND OF BULLPEN ARM YOU CAN. It won’t be a star, but could be someone functional and that would be plenty useful right now.

I’m not sure I agree with that analogy. I would suggest that if you only have the $5, you probably shouldn’t be playing the lottery at all.