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Rod Carews Birthday

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Everything posted by Rod Carews Birthday

  1. I personally am glad that Torii Hunter took his name out of the mix. The expectations that would come with a former star player on his own team would likely be impossible to live up to, and he has no track record to suggest that he could do that. It would have the potential to be a bad situation for both the Twins and for Torii, and it would also likely tarnish Torii's good name/reputation/legacy with the team.
  2. The Twins batters were 11th worst in MLB for strikeouts. The Twins batters were 15th best in MLB for strikeouts. Pretty overall middle of the pack for both. Neither would seem to be an egregious problem.
  3. So what? If he plays mostly DH, the glove will play just fine there. In a down year, he still outhit weak groundout Kepler.
  4. Which is why many (most?) of the people on TD are advocating for him to be the full-time DH next year. That being said, a guy with a hamstring issue isn't exactly going to move like a gazelle out there. He admittedly was less than stellar in the field, but was much less bad in 2024. As a part time OF and most-time DH, that works fine.
  5. I recall some (more than a few, definitely not everyone) gnashing teeth over the loss of Max Kepler. It looks like at very least, Wallner has managed to do that, with probable upside available for the future. A meager success to be sure, but a small step in a good direction.
  6. Actually, here's another guy who had a down year after looking good the previous year. This guy recovered and although we traded him eventually (and sadly), he had a pretty nice career. AB G BA OPS+ Most of us aren't old enough to remember this guy though. We as fans are definitely too reactionary.
  7. Well, it was actually 336 AB's. If there aren't any ducks on the pond, it's hard to drive them in, and the Twins definitely didn't have many ducks on the pond in 2025. He's cheap. He has a good power bat. Outside of Buxton, we don't have anyone else like that. 2025 was his outlier season. It would be foolish to get rid of him now. I also wouldn't trade him unless I could really get someone to overpay. YMMV
  8. Mauer and Morneau might argue with you.
  9. I don’t disagree with much in your article. However, I might put in a middle ground between “good” and “bad”. Jeffers, while not hitting as many HR’s was still an above average ML hitter (108 OPS+) and Wallner, while not living up to lofty expectations, was also a solid overall hitter (110 OPS+). I think those two players can be counted on much more than the others on the naughty list. So at this point we have a black hole at 1B, a promising (although practically rookie) player at 2B, disappointments at SS and 3B. Yikes!
  10. I think that this is an important consideration. Point A: There is dissatisfaction in general about how things have been done in the organization. People’s reasons differ, but the dissatisfaction is very widespread. Point B: Six of eight candidates mentioned are current or former employees of the team. There may be others, but this is a starting point. Question: Is it really even plausible that six of the best candidates for the job are former or current employees? Cast the net a little (a lot) farther and wider!
  11. Agreed. It is bad faith on the part of the Twins to cheap out on payroll if (and we know it’s WHEN not if) they aren’t going to go all in with an amount of payroll that is ABOVE a normal amount of revenue in the future. Spend some money and try to win. It is a fallacy to think that we are tearing down to “build for the future”. It’s not in their DNA.
  12. Why do you feel that way? Wallner is pretty much our only power hitter besides Buxton. You can say that you want more team speed and defense, but someone in the lineup has to be able to hit the ball out of the park.
  13. I fear that the team is engaging in some nostalgic fantasy. The team wasn’t any better back then than they are now, and in many ways worse. Having those kinds of players on the team was largely a function of not being able to afford actual good players. Let’s not go that direction again.
  14. If you think Wallner would bring back something interesting, doesn’t that make him more important to have on the team than Martin and/or Roden, because they are basically roster filler, not starters. They may be useful, but not in a prominent role.
  15. Too early to crown Culpepper or Marek Houston. Lee is the guy there now. It is his to claim. I don’t think he will. By the end of the season we may be looking for a stopgap. I hope I’m wrong.
  16. This was a slam dunk. Ryan was excellent and deserving in any year. It's too bad that the competition wasn't a bit (or a lot) more fierce!
  17. Only the laws of diminished expectations make me say that the absolute max payroll I see for 2026 is $120M, with a likelihood that it will likely be less. $160M would be a much better place to be, but I'm not seeing it. More importantly, in order to field anything resembling a team for less than $120M, one or more of Lopez/Ryan/Buxton/Jeffers will need to be dealt for payroll space in order to even be functional as a team, as the team is below replacement level in multiple spots. We get excited about Martin and Clemens, but lets be realistic. Are they starters on a serious baseball team in the major leagues? I think not. We look ahead with anticipation that Jenkins, Culpepper, et al will be powerhouses, but again, being realistic, maybe one will be really good, another pretty solid, and others will be "wonder why that player missed after such a promising prospecthood." Every year posters point to the one or two low budget teams that make the playoffs as proof that you don't need to spend a lot to be good. In absolute terms, that's correct, but again, I'm a realist. There is a very high correlation between payroll and success in MLB. Yes, the right combination of young talent and a little luck can help a team overachieve a little, and yes, it is possible to bungle a high payroll into poor results (ahem. . . Mets), but the odds are stacked a certain way and getting the payroll to a competitive number will certainly help the results.
  18. Why would the Twins do that? They have at least TWO left-handed OF prospects that are well ahead of him in the system, plus a right-handed one (that actually is a better fit). IF they decide he’s a first baseman, AND he makes the transition well, AND he continues to hit, AND the Twins don’t lock up first base in another way, PERHAPS he will appear sometime in 2026, but surely not opening day. If he does, it means that the Twins have completely cheaped out, AND it probably wouldn’t be great for his development. If he has a decent AFL season, move him to 1B (and hope he develops more power) and put him at AAA. Let’s see what he can learn before we get too excited about his debut.
  19. Short answer: Yes. However, the job probably comes with tempered expectations for success. If I were signing up for the job, that is certainly something I would stress with my new employers. Unfortunately, for the new manager's resume, his career will start with a lot of ugly even with that grace from the front office. With Buxton, Ryan, and Lopez still on the team, they won't likely be 100 loss terrible, but if those guys are traded it could be a record setting bout of futility. An ridiculous amount needs to go right for them to even sniff .500 ball, and that's not the playoffs or truly competing. If they keep those guys and add something meaningful (plus a whole bullpen) they could potentially touch .500.
  20. Absolutely! I would hope that the Twins would want a better overall season (with much more consistency) from Julien if they imagined him to be a part of the future team. An average OPS+ isn’t very exciting, especially when it comes in fits and starts without consistency. In Julien’s first year, he was much better than that. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he will regain that pace. Clemens, on the other hand, may have some usefulness as a utility guy IF he can be more like the surge Kody than the scuffling one. Unfortunately, I think that the Twins will hand him a job next year and watch Clemens turn back into . . . . Kody Clemens. The Twins have done that many times in the past. Here we go again.
  21. I would argue that setting players up to make the transition from one level to the next is crucial to their success in the majors, and that IS ultimately the AAA manager’s job. No one actually cares about wins and losses in AAA. It’s all about development of skills and preparing them to be ready for the majors. It’s also where those missing fundamentals should be addressed, not from the major league manager’s bench.
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