JD-TWINS

Rojas is 23 & Varland is 28……..Louie was in the Minors with essentially just a fastball at age 23 (age 23-26, nothing special!…….just a sentimental favorite of Minnesotans) ……..maybe wait until Rojas gets through age 24 season before passing a black & white judgement? Duran is fantastic, FO makes moves on Veterans often because Ownership doesn’t want to be involved with a probable Big Contract. Duran is 28 & Mick Abel is 24 ….. Tait is 19…….”prospects” don’t make an immediate impact on a club. and no, they don’t all work out. On July 23, I don’t hear too many at TD complaining about the Jax for Bradley trade - right? Griffin Jax is 31 & Taj Bradley is 25.

Need Taj to come up Big on Thursday! Get the split with Cleveland and take 4 of 6 in homestand ……. back to .500 and trying to maneuver an acquisition or two.🤞

Trade Caratini now - release Bell at end of season, possible deadline trade piece. (i.e. Bell & Wallner to Pittsburgh - O’Neil Cruz on 60 day IL recently)……….Caratini & Bell are $14M combined. Helps use payroll elsewhere, maybe Jeffers with $23M QO? If Bell is traded with some other piece……hopefully, an arm comes back. Larnach slots at DH for 75% of games v. every RH pitcher. Moving Bell, as you mention, opens a slot for a potential young OF. Payroll has to expand in ‘27 ……spent $155 - $160M in ‘23……can’t repeatedly be $105M! If Larnach continues his current play he’ll get $9M, or close, in arbitration……he makes $4.5M now. Ober’s value is TBD. I like moving Bell & one of the 2 Catchers at deadline……..come up with some prospect (2 young guys & Wallner or Roden) package to obtain Luis Arraez…….the salaries traded pay at same level that Arraez $12M pays over remainder of season. ….. Larnach to DH - Arraez at 2B - Clemens and Keaschall man the corners in OF. Much more consistent output from Arraez in the 3 hole protecting Buxton batting 2nd! Arraez back in the Twin’s dugout would help ease the sting of Bell & one of Catchers being traded.

I agree on trading Caratini with high value for him……he’s under contract next year…. more leverage for immediate help. Offer Jeffers QO. Do we think there’s a spending floor for ownership? If yes, the may still be a chance to extend Jeffers past next year. ……. Assuming Lackey is in play for ‘28 so 1 more year of Jeffers seems to be sufficient. A spending floor changes things!……..Bell will be gone as well in ‘27…….Caratini & Bell make a combined $14M …… add that to Jeffers current $6M and you’re close to QO $$$ Hoping Caratini’s knee is OK - he looked pretty tender leaving the game tonight!

TWINS A.L. leading offense since winning Friday …… 2 - 1 - 4 - 2 runs over last 4 games. Starting pitching hasn’t kept the game close 2-3 times over that stretch. Cannot expect to win games if they don’t score at least 4 runs per game - 5 is probably more realistic. Need Cole Sands back and in form ASAP. IMO, Rojas should be used just like Morris - 1 inning at a time, 3-4 days per week. Gotta be able to handle that 40-70 pitch regimen per week! Parades was running out of gas …. pitched well (was effective) for 2 plus innings. As Prielipp & Sands come back over next 5-10 days, who gets demoted from current PEN? Have a whole bunch of games v. Tigers - A’s - Royals - Orioles - Angels - Giants in next 9 weeks…..get to 1 or 2 under .500 by 7/30…..still have a shot.

TWINS A.L. leading offense since winning Friday …… 2 - 1 - 4 - 2 runs over last 4 games. Starting pitching hasn’t kept the game close 2-3 times over that stretch. Cannot expect to win games if they don’t score at least 4 runs per game - 5 is probably more realistic. Need Cole Sands back and in form ASAP. IMO, Rojas should be used just like Morris - 1 inning at a time, 3-4 days per week. Gotta be able to handle that 40-70 pitch regimen per week! Parades was running out of gas …. pitched well (was effective) for 2 plus innings. As Prielipp & Sands come back over next 5-10 days, who gets demoted from current PEN?

Trade Wallner for whatever - absolutely! Trade all veterans that can play and don’t make the minimum, so “we can see” if young guys can play - I do not understand. If Rodriguez stayed healthy and performed for a consistent stretch, he’d be on the Big Club …… If Jenkins was tearing up AAA pitching he’d be on the Big Club ……. if Gonzalez was hitting anywhere near what he did last year, he’d be on the Big Club. None of them are doing that and that’s how one gets promoted. Fedko didn’t get called up because he was part of some trade or because he was a high draft pick …….. he was hitting so well they had to give him a shot. Roden, same as Fedko. Roden was throw in last year on the Varland for Rojas trade. Roden is nothing special….. he’s a 2026 version of Steve Brye……he’s OK but more than likely, nothing will come of him. IF, and I don’t profess to have a crystal ball, the Labor/Ownership negotiations go as many think, there will be a “spending floor” for each Team. With a handful of Veterans left on the Roster, who is the Team going to pay to get to the floor? Will they pay 1st & 2nd year guys $6M a piece? ……. I saw one proposed level was at $175M. A floor may not come to fruition or the number may be $125M - who knows? I’m just tired of fans at TD, after being disappointed in ownership lack of spending in off-season, acting like having guys on the roster that make $4M - $10M are some anvil around the Team’s neck. I don’t get it at all.

Serious about competing? Can the offense, with Buxton back, continue to score enough to win games? Roden & CJ Culpepper (whatever combination necessary) for A.J. Minter of the Mets. He’s a Free Agent at year end but will be sought after in 10 days or so! This would bump Funderburk and Rogers to 6th and 7th inning appearances. A solid replacement for Banda’s role! (.950 WHIP & 1.80 ERA) Minter - Sands - Paredes - Funderburk or Rojas - Rogers - Morris - Gomez - Nance or Go? ….., Raya is a maybe when rosters expand?

Will Buxton be back and ready this week? Exchange somebody for Roden from AAA. They play Royals & A’s at home…..6 games, after 4 in Cleveland. Split in Cleveland and win 4 of 6 at home and back at .500 and IN it enough to buy. 2 runs Saturday & 1 run Sunday……… need Buxton and others need to perform. Trading Larnach &/or Clemens helps nothing. Trading Bell & a prospect arm & Roden for real PEN help makes sense to open the DH spot for Jeffers/Caratini. No decisions until after the home stand ending July 30.

Who?? Jenkins is 21 & fringe ready at best. Culpepper is hurt. Rodriguez is always hurt. Roden IS up. Gonzalez isn’t exactly on fire.

Certainly there’s a chance for regression. Red Sox & O’s have to play Yankees & Rays………… & each other (10 more times)……… those circumstances will help keep them around .500. Red Sox have won 13 in a row …….. a correction will take place soon, at least a moderate correction.

Roden - 25 yrs ………mediocre ……. throw in with Rojas ……. I have no expectations, hence no concerns. Emma - 23 yrs ……… not available or just not available, year after year …… am tired about hearing of his “promise as a hitter” …… he strikes out 30+% of the time at AAA - doesn’t seem to profile well for The Show! I am sure he cannot contribute if he can only be healthy for 53 games per year ….. that’s his average over pieces of 6 seasons in the Minors. Gonzalez - 22 years …….. “MiLB hitter of the year” for the Twins in ‘25. Has slumped in ‘26 by comparison. If he gets it figured out by end of next summer, that’s good w/me. Hardly “aging”.

Rojas at Age 23 ……..he’s in MLB and in 8 games with a 2.79 ERA to date. Louis Varland at age 23 ……. in MiLB trying to develop a second pitch. Age 24 - 5 games with TWINS and goes 1-1 with a 3.81 ERA Age 25 - 17 games with TWINS and he goes 4-3 with a 4.83 ERA Age 26 - 16 games he was 0-6 and had a 7.71 ERA Age 27 - 74 games … he goes 4-3 with a 2.97 ERA …… should be noted that he pitched in 23 games for the Blue Jays and he had an ERA of 4.94. …….pitched a lot, with pretty decent results in Post Season. Age 28 - he’s flourishing and dominant! His ERA is 1.08 over 45 games with a record of 3-3. The detail is here to show, that even though Louie is from Minnesota, he hasn’t always been fantastic…….. at 23 he was NOT in MLB and at 26 he looked like he might wash out……. How about giving ROJAS a chance to be successful??

I do not see any sound reason to trade Larnach either…….everyone wants a new shiny toy …….. bored with .289/.379OBP & 129 OPS+……. makes zero sense. He’s the perfect DH & occasional OF for ‘27, v. RH pitching. He’s 29 & in the middle of a player’s prime……although ”he’s old” here at TD. “Bring up Emma……bring up Roden…..” Emma is never healthy & available to play and he strikes out at a high rate……… we’ve seen Roden, he’s not bad but he doesn’t move the needle enough to justify trading Larnach either - right? Jenkins isn’t going to play more than one OF spot at a time whenever he’s ready. To me, after drafting Lackey, the Catcher position is set for numerous years. Didn’t have Tait at this time last year ……… he can be traded w/o affecting any grand plan! Roden - Emma - Tait - Mendez ……. all can be traded for NOW help as a starter/reliever/worthwhile position player - whoever is deemed a helpful addition. I would like to hang on to Gonzalez & obviously, Jenkins, Culpepper, & Houston …… Lackey. Anyone else can be traded for some potential impact player. Luis Arraez makes sense! I live in Cincinnati and most times I’ve seen Speer play since ‘23 I’ve wished he was still with the TWINS. He can play 5 positions and is excellent at 1B - decent in LF & 3B - 2B & RF are seldom seen. He was voted Team’s MVP in ‘23. He’s been hot and cold for stretches since then but his flexibility is used so the Reds can get other bats in the line-up & those other bats only play 1 position - not because he doesn’t hit well enough……. he’s got a .770 OPS & 16 HR this year. …… it’ll be his 4th straight year, starting as a Rookie, that he’ll have 20 HR or more & he’s averaged about 85 RBI in his first 3 years……. he strikes out more than he should.

IF Team has to throw Ryan & Bradley last two days v. Texas to get in, absolutely! Scary, but absolutely!