PatPfund

I'd understand this article more if it was about Martin (who has no options left). Roden has an option, plays decent D, has 1B potential, and is a professional hitter. You give him a chance to make the club in ST, and if he doesn't, you send him to St Paul (where for instance, he can get time at 1B). Org depth isn't just the 4th bullpen arm in the Saints bullpen, sometimes it is a strong answer to changing needs at the MLB level. (Not like Buxton or Emma or Lewis have ever gotten injured, right?)

As a RH bat and potential 1B ability, he has value for an org that needs both. You bring him back unless you get real value for your #9 asset, and if you do, then make that deal. But you don't dump him just to make some deal.

They shouldn't offer arbitration to anyone they don't want on the roster next year. Speed-dialing around before the deadline won't do much either (why tell the Twins you want to trade for someone, when you can wait and sign them as a free agent without surrendering an asset? Also worth remembering that you won't have months and months to work out trades, because a lockout may close things down right down until spring training (which might be in early summer). I'd let Larnach (and Ober) go to FA, and keep in touch. I'd offer arb to Lewis and see if he can build on health to regain offensive potency, and start him at 1B.

No. Just no. And really? Is there an MLB club in history that created momentum by firing the manager every year even if they did a solid job? (That would be another 'no'.)

I guess you can (and people are) arguing about Jeffers as a 3 WAR player, but the overall point makes sense. This team is better than last year (assuming they don't go 1-16 to end the year) with a lot more spirit than at the end of Rocco's regime, But the improvement was capped immediately by losing Pablo at the start of camp, and the injuries mentioned in the OP. I don't see 2010 happening again, though, and a run-it-back team can't happen (Ryan trade? Buxton unavailable early and maybe late? Jeffers gone? Larnach gone? Bell gone? Wallner gone?). But a lot outside of WAR happened this year to give hope. A bunch of young players look like real big leaguers (Keaschall, Lee, Zebby), Prielipp stayed healthy (knock on wood) with another personal record IP count, Culpepper and Morris came up and have been pretty good, Jenkins got his feet wet (hopefully soon joined by Emma), Clemens stepped up at both the plate and playing around the field. If Jeffers isn't back (I'm not sure he won't take the QO), the rotation and 'pen seem the best place to spend some FA money; the org pitching cupboard in the high minors looks emptier than the position side.

I don't think Bill Parcells (or whoever said it) misunderstood anything with the 'best ability' quote. Abilities (or to put it another way, talents) are one of those things that can be honed, but most of it is out of a person's control. I played baseball for over 50 years, but all the practice in the world was never going to make me a pro-level (even minors). Being available to play is a critical ability; part self-care, part luck, part constitution. No knock on Buxton (whose contract, FYI, was priced on partial availability), but it is what it is. I hope he does the surgery sooner, but either way, Byron is usually a PT player, and he probably will be next year.

This is a problem of the Twins own making. Always was Emma's final option year, and he should have broken camp with the Twins in place of the terrible James Outman. Instead they send him down, he gets hurt (stupidly), and he's coming back late in the year. I like Roden's future, but it seems a pretty easy move to send down a .192 hitter, and call up someone you MUST know more about and NOW; a player who needs some MLB time before you need to make big decisions about him. (Even if Rodriguez is a trade option, you'd want to pump up the tires a little before selling him.) FYI, Jenkins has been fine but. not great, and is not running low on options, so calling him up should be a case of team need (and a need that runs lower than getting Emma some big league time).

I'm a big fan of Tom's, but Lewis's problem isn't where he plays defense, it's that he can't hit at an MLB level for ANY position, and hasn't for quite some time now. The Saints should play him at one spot and see if they can get him hitting in a fundamentally sound way. If they can to a level that Lewis is the best option at 3B, then call him back up. (Hopefully Lee, Culpepper, and Keaschall hit/play well enough to make it all a competition, but if Kreidler, Gray, and Clemens are the roadblocks then you probably aren't a serious big leaguer.) If he can't figure it out, he wouldn't be the first (or last) to have a brief run in MLB before fading away.

On the pitching side, the Twins will need to keep throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. On the position side I can say positive things about a lot of these players, but I'd also say the fact we have so many (Kreidler, Gray, Clemens, Outman) shows the weakness of our everyday lineup. It would be a lot better if two of those (Outman and Gray?) go away soon, and if minor leaguers can't force that to happen in the next couple months it is a worse sign for our future than which role player is here longer term.

I like Fedko, but Emmanuel Rodriguez is about to run out of options as a top 100 prospect who has NEVER been called up, so I don't have Kyler at the top of some "wronged" list. (Yeah, I know, injuries blah, blah, blah, but adding Emma to the 26-man over Outman coming out of spring training would have been both easy and timely.) Fedko will likely earn his shot in due time, and probably more as a Kody Clemens replacement than a straight OF (FYI, both Martin and Buxton hit RH really well, so that's not really a golden ticket any more). Had a chuckle or two at the Outman 'heating up' talk (dude always has a week or so to relight the hope, then he tanks). And comps like Rooker, and Culpepper who plays good D at positions of serious organizational need and is posting solid O numbers while three years younger than Fedko.)

I couldn't disagree more that the Twins didn't put him in position to succeed. They played him a lot, they gave him days off, now they're giving him reset time (again). The guy is 28 and getting (unplayably) worse in the field and at the plate. The Twins are doing due diligence with this trip to the minors; what Wallner needs to do to earn a trip back is be better than any other team option. Hope it happens, but right now I'd rank him well below Outman (and I'd DFA Outman), and if improvements don't come fairly soon, there are other Saints poised to push past Wallner in the call-up queue.

If the bullpen train is a wreck, I guess it doesn't matter if this is the boxcar with "closer" stenciled on it.

You aren't exactly going to get full value on a pitcher rushed to market after already missing time for a back injury then an elbow issue. By the time Ryan has come back, and (assuming he stays healthy) pitches long enough to re-establish consistently top form, you are likely within a few weeks of the trade deadline. Anything much earlier probably involves a health-risk discount.

It gets mentioned a lot because Larnach and Wallner (especially Wallner now that he seems to run with backhoe-like speed) are marginal-to-poor OFs, and 1B exists at the bottom of the defensive spectrum just above DH. It's great to say there are "real life reasons" they can't do it, but what are they? Lack of interest? Look, if Wallner can't hit he's out of baseball, but if he is gets back just a little bit (but not all the way to Nelson Cruz territory), he's going to need to play in the field, and he's not an OF any more. 1B isn't rocket science, but if he doesn't want to make the effort, maybe he can get a job selling Lady Kenmores at Sears.

Option Wallner to St Paul, and let him work on his swing and how to play 1B. And maybe try him in the bullpen there (used to be a pitcher; maybe a better road back there than as a hitter or especially an OF). Bring up Emma and start him. The time is also really short for Outman (I'd cut him today and start auditioning Saints OFs starting with Gabby). Bringing up an OF without sending one down also lets you move Mendez to AAA. Royce doesn't hit well enough for 1B; Twins should send him or Lee down to get better when they call up Culpepper.