Rod Carews Birthday

If we signed the right one. . . obviously. The problem is that there are too many that are not doing well, and yet teams (not just the Twins) have so much difficulty predicting it. I'm just not sure that they are not better off waiting until the trade deadline and picking up one or two there who appear to be having a good season in 2023. Still previous success, but more recent than last season and probably more reliable information. It almost seems to be random. Full disclosure: I wanted them to sign Kimbrel and also have a reunion with Fullmer. Those two make our guys look pretty good. I guess it's a good thing I'm not in charge!

When your 80 year old uncle offers you his 40 year old riding lawnmower that hasn't been started in "a while" for free.

This is fantastic! The last time there was more than one Twins pitcher in the conversation was back in the Santana, Liriano, and Nathan days! I'll never hold my breath for any pitcher to keep it up (although Santana was quite reliable), but I'm rooting hard for both of them.

I can't really argue that these players most definitely "struggled". There are plenty of others over the years - especially in the pitching department. I think it would be really interesting to find out which players' reputation with fans outshone their actual production on the field. I can think of a few, like Willians Astudillio, Nicky Punto, and Denny Hocking, but I'm sure there are more. Nothing against those guys, they were who we had at that moment in time, but there was definitely some time on the struggle bus for each of them.

It seems like the Twins are very streaky with their hitting. I don't know if there is a stat to say that, but the bats kind of go dead and one or two people hit. Then the next game, they go dead and one or two other people hit. Occasionally, there is a break out game - like against the Cubs, but more often it is the struggle to score three or more runs. It's kind of a zombie offense. If Polanco and Correa start to really hit well, that will help a lot, assuming others don't stop hitting. It's not so much a "big" bat that is needed, just a consistent one. They need a guy who is going to hit in two out of three games and have a few multi hit games. Just not sure who that could be that will become available this summer. The optimist in me is saying look how bad this offense is and yet we are in first place in the division because of excellent pitching (even with the bullpen situation not exactly clicking). The pessimist, however, says that it will lead to a quick exit from the playoffs.

This. Is. Exactly. True. Bullpens lose games. All the time. For every team. The best relief pitchers lose games. All the time. For every team. So do starting pitchers. If it were as easy as just throwing money at the problem, it would be an easy fix. It's not. What a world we must live in to have league leading starting pitching and a league average bullpen. I will sign up for that ten times out of ten.

There are a few things that seem likely here, but not everything is solid and much could always change. Particularly based on his outstanding defense this year, Correa seems likely to stay put at shortstop for the next few years. That’s the part I feel the most confident in. IF Lewis plays at the level we hope (and anything close to the SSS we saw last year), he could move into third base and never leave it. OK. Problem solved! However much we might hope it plays out that way, it’s possible that Lewis won’t pan out or will take a while to become a good third baseman with the bat and glove. Miranda seems like a good player once he gets himself righted in St. Paul. If that’s the case and Lewis works out, that’s where things get interesting. Is he a full time DH? That’s currently filled. Could he be trade bait? Is his value still high enough for that? Are we confident enough in Lewis, Lee, et al, that we are comfortable trading him? Miranda by himself isn’t going to bring in an ace starting pitcher, but he could be a nice part of a package, OR he might bring back a pretty solid relief pitcher. Brooks Lee is the latest prospect that many fans have gotten a bit too excited about. I think he is going to be excellent, but he needs some time in the minors to learn and polish skills before he becomes the franchise savior. Will he be a third baseman? First or second baseman? Outfielder? Time will tell, but for the next two years I don’t regard him as a major factor. If his performance forces the issue before then, it qualifies as a nice problem to have. Julien is a more difficult one to pinpoint. He appears to have the same defensive chops as Arraez/Miranda, so his best position might be DH. He could likely be an acceptable first or second baseman, but I don’t really see anything further up the food chain than that. An injury or a trade could help open up the answers to these questions, but more than anything, patience is key. I do like the way the future looks with these guys!

Indeed. Thanks for continuing to put these lists together and following them. For those of us that have limited exposure to the minor league side of things, the Twins Daily insight is invaluable. It really helps us track (and hope!) who's next!

That would indeed make them the masters of bad ideas! Maybe they could bring back Disco Demolition Night!

The Sox seem to be excellent and getting less out of more. Given the players, they really should be better. The sum of the White Sox parts is less than the whole of the team.

The juggling act was pretty impressive but what impressed me more was that arm. He caught the ball and while awkwardly getting up managed to “toss” the ball to first rather effortlessly. The guy is an athlete.

This is a pretty big quandary. On one hand, his hitting has been quite good so far, some may not like the “style” of it, but the fact remains his stats are good. He has also been able to play the season so far with no injury issues. In addition to that, as the OP indicated, we have MAT to man center and not lose much defensively. By this metric, Buxton should stay at DH. HOWEVER, we are in essentially the same position as if Taylor were playing DH and Buxton were playing CF. CF is in good shape, but replacing Taylor (at DH/CF) would likely be an offensive upgrade, while also providing the occasional half-day off for people like Correa, Gallo, Polanco, etc. all of whom are better offensively (or should be) than Taylor. If the offense were rolling along, it wouldn’t really matter, but at the moment, every run generated is critical with the team hitting poorly the way it is. So by that metric, Buxton needs to play CF. So. . . . whether he stays at DH or moves back to CF really depends on whether you think he will stay healthy (or at least healthier) at DH. Buxton “playing” CF doesn’t help much if he misses 50% of the games for the rest of the season. In that scenario, DH Buxton is worth more than CF Buxton. If he could be healthy, this is a no-brainer, then he needs to play CF. THAT is the underlying question. I have no idea what will/could happen. The coaches and Buxton have a slightly better (but still uncertain) idea, but we have to trust their judgement on that. So far, they’ve kept him healthy so it’s hard to argue with them.

It's pretty tough to cut bait on a hitting coach (or if the top guy goes do all of the hitting coaches have to go?) and change gears in the middle of the season, especially when he has apparently won the respect of several players on the club. Probably the only way to do that is if you could replace him with a team legend with some coaching experience that everyone would immediately respect and work with, like Rod Carew or Tony Oliva if it was 1980's and 1990's. There is also the question of truly identifying the problem. Is it a player quality problem? Is it a coaching problem? Are they being taught the wrong things? Are they unable to do the things they are asked to do? If you pull the plug on the hitting coach and that's not the problem, you've likely made it worse. I think from the outside looking in it is VERY difficult to really make that determination. We just need to hope that someone inside the organization with the right information at hand can figure it out.

There does seem to be a bit of a temporary shortage of left side infielders. Moving Miranda to St. Paul was absolutely the right thing for him and for the team -- short and long term. Now that Farmer has returned, he could slot into 3rd, but that doesn't work so well with giving Correa time off, although Castro should be OK for a spot start at SS. Keeping Solano away from the left side would seem to be important, so sliding Polanco over to SS for a game would be OK in an emergency. Gallo at 3B seems like a break glass in case of emergency kind of situation. He's likely athletic enough but he hasn't played it enough to be proficient in the moment. Its funny, even though I'm looking at this like it must be an issue, this team does have an almost ridiculous amount of roster flexibility!

1. Royce Lewis 2. Brooks Lee 3. Louis Varland 4. Simeon Woods Richardson 5. Emmanuel Rodriguez 6. Edward Julien 7. Marco Raya 8. Jose Salas 9. David Festa 10. Jordan Balazovic 11. Matt Wallner 12. Conor Prielipp 13. Austin Martin 14. Matt Cantarino 15. Brent Headrick 16. Noah Miller 17. Yasser Mercedes 18. Tanner Schobel 19. Blayne Enlow 20. Andrew Cossetti

IF Varland is really good for most of the rest of this year, I would consider him a proven part of the rotation, but if he isn't that great it gets sticky. I think Headrick and SWR could be solid but they're not there yet. Regardless of how any of those pitchers pitch the rest of the season, assuming Gray keeps dominating (or even less than that actually), I would love to have him re-signed. The qualifying offer is a no brainer, but if he wants to test free agency he's going to certainly get a 3 year(or maybe 4) 20+per contract. They can pay him 20+ but the years scare me a lot for a pitcher of his age and nagging injury history. We'll see how it plays out!

I think they can win a division title. As others have stated, the division does not appear to be very strong. However, we have more pitching than I can remember us ever having (and I go back to Dave Goltz), which even with a little regression will carry us a long ways. The hitting situation isn't very good right now and yet we lead the division. A little regression (upward) to the mean for the offense will help us a lot and perhaps instead of fading at the end of the season, for a change we get a little better and position ourselves to do better in the playoffs. I know. . . wishful thinking, but that's what makes it fun!

You are comparing total careers. Cuddyer had a 15 year career that you are comparing to a 1 1/4 year career. MIranda was an OPS+ of 114 in his age 24 season. Cuddyer was an OPS+ of 97 in his (in only a small number of plate appearances), and didn't exceed 100 until his age 27 season, when he reached his Twins high of 124. Neither of them would or will be confused with Harmon Killebrew. Miranda needs a break, maybe temporarily while staying at the MLB level but more likely longer in St. Paul. Time for a reset.

I like Max Kepler. However. . . I think that many people's (like mine) negative feelings about Kepler are that he looked to be a player on his way to a big career in 2019 at age 26 -- an age that seems much too early to peak. However, that was it. He has never been close to that player since and seems to have stagnated offensively. Is he worthless, useless, and without merit? No, he's not, but what seemed like the potential for greatness has certainly never been realized. He doesn't strike out a lot, which is great, I guess, but it isn't like he is hitting powerful line drives all over the field either. He won a game for us yesterday with a home run. That's great, but lots of players have hit a home run (or a double, like Nick Gordon) to win a game. That doesn't necessarily make him a world beater. He's a very good defensive outfielder. However, I'm a bit tired of hearing him referred to as a "centerfielder". He doesn't like to play centerfield, doesn't want to play centerfield, and has really only played centerfield on an emergency basis. He's a rightfielder. That isn't nothing, but a good rightfielder isn't as valuable as a good centerfielder (or catcher, or shortstop). I know that some of the prospects haven't developed into world beaters (yet), but I would prefer to have someone in rightfield that has potential to be something better (or at least as good as) than he has been before - someone on his way up. Kiriloff/Walner/Larnach might be that or they might not. I have no faith that Kepler will become a 3.0 or 4.0 WAR player (in 2019 it sure looked like he would do that consistently) after being barely a 2.0 WAR player the past three years, so I would rather see someone there who just might someday, particularly if Kepler has enough trade value to bring back something positive for this season.

I don't remember it specifically. If it was last night, there probably wasn't anyone on base. On Thursday in Chicago he had several "good" catches and then one really excellent one in foul territory by the wall after a very long run. I didn't think he would get there but he did. Maybe last night he was thinking "I'd better be more careful next time!" On Thursday when the outfield was Gallo, Taylor, and Kepler, I remember observing how easy they made it look out there. Sometimes when you are really good, even the tough catches look routine.

Hey! Tony Oliva is only a few years older!

There's really no blame here. When Rooker was a Twin (and a Padre, and a Royal) he couldn't put it together to be successful. That wasn't anyone's fault per se. He may or may not have done so now (SSS). He's not going to win the triple crown, but he certainly has the power to hit 30 home runs. Since he was once a Twin, I wish him the best and will root for him against the rest of the league!

Donnie Barrels has seemingly come back down to Earth hitting-wise, and he is no great shakes in the field. I could see them DFAing him and optioning Castro. I'd be surprised if Solano would pass through waivers, but that's OK. Good luck to him. A week ago I would have said it was time to cut bait on Gordon, but he seems to have some life lately. Maybe he's just a (REALLY) slow starter. He could do a lot to help the offense if started getting on base. So, it looks like we add Farmer and Kirilloff and subtract Solano and Castro over the next couple of weeks. I'm just not sure that Larnach is all that well served by time in AAA any more than Kiriloff. Not ever having been hit in the face with a baseball at anywhere near that speed, I wonder if Farmer will be having the yips a bit when he hits. An experience like that has got to be really hard to overcome.

I was watching today's game from some of the best seats I have ever had at Guaranteed Rate Field, right behind the Twin's dugout. The beginning of the game wasn't a thrill a minute, but the extra innings had enough excitement for at least two games with plenty of twists and turns. I agree with much of what was said in the recap, but I have a few details to add. I don't think that Pablo Lopez was really on top of his game today, which was frustrating. He just didn't seem to have the consistent stuff to slam the door on the hitters, even though he got several strikeouts and did have a string where he retired a bunch in a row. What was encouraging is that he got the job done while only allowing two runs in seven innings without his dominant stuff. It makes me very excited to see how effective he could be when he is really in control. It was a really good performance by a veteran pitcher who knows what he is doing. I'm extremely glad we extended him. He's going to be a cornerstone for a long time. It's hard to know what to think of the Twins' offensive effort. On one hand, there were a lot of hapless at bats and a lot of very aggressive swinging strikes and strikeouts, which speaks poorly of them. However, Giolito was dominant and looked a lot more like the pitcher he has been in the past rather than this year's version. Correa got ahold of one and Buxton (off a different pitcher) as well, but that was all there was until the last inning. The relief pitching was mostly pretty impressive. Say what you want about how many guys were on base, those were mostly intentional walks, the Twins had five (FIVE!!!!) pitchers give up one actual hit and one (fake, Manfred) run. They were all under serious pressure and responded by getting guys out and stranding the runners. A runner like Billy Hamilton can really impact a game (unless he has to bat). I was impressed all the way around, but especially by Stewart and Pagan(!) working their way around the runner on second. We need a deceptive relief pitcher like Aaron Bummer. When he came in and struck out the side the Twins' hitters were helpless. His delivery was such a shock to the system that no one knew what to do. I know his ERA is currently high, but that different look was really effective. Also, finding a way to have Colome and Peralta be traded from team to team just ahead of when we play them would be a nice gift as well. The White Sox just can't defend. Aside from the two errors, there were many plays that just should have been made more cleanly than they were. Thank you. Keep up the fine work. The Twins weren't flawless, but they really have some guys who can pick it. Sorry for the book report. Others may see it differently. Just one guy's observations. Go Twins!

Fair. I would maintain that they are likely permanently retired at this point, but you never know. Tony LaRussa was managing last year. . . OOF.