mikelink45
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Everything posted by mikelink45
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Twins Spring Battle: Zebby Matthews vs. Mick Abel
mikelink45 replied to Cody Christie's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
I would prefer a six man rotation to begin. Let them duel against real talent in meaningful games. Reduce the stress on Ryan's back, Ober's struggles, and SWR and Bradley's growth. -
A Look Around the AL Central - The Chicago White Sox
mikelink45 replied to Cory Moen's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
I like what they have done - I actually think they benefit by having Luis Roberts off the team. The Twins better step up because the White Sox are coming and we definitely do not want them to pass us.- 7 replies
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- shane smith
- munetaka murakami
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Good recap - glad you brought in Law's reasoning. I am less impressed with the top 20 than I was a few years ago which means they should be better than what have seen since the Kiriloff, Lewis, Miranda, Julien , Balazovic years.
- 11 replies
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- walker jenkins
- kaelen culpepper
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Maybe Ober is the SP that will need to go to the pen.
- 23 replies
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- bailey ober
- brooks lee
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A Look Around the AL Central: The Detroit Tigers
mikelink45 replied to Cory Moen's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
I am not a fan of WAR to judge SP. My question is, would you choose the pitcher to start a critical game? He has 8 years of post season experience. It does not matter to me if he is called an ACE or not, but I am not ready to equate Ryan and Valdez yet. -
Twins Daily 2026 Top Prospects: #1 Walker Jenkins
mikelink45 replied to Cody Christie's topic in Twins Minor League Talk
Durability is the number one issue. I want to see a stud prospect move in to the lineup and stay there, but Jenkins has Twins syndrome - too many injuries and too much time on the IL. Let's hope that changes - I want to see him on the team soon. -
Twins Daily 2026 Top Prospects: #2 Kaelen Culpepper, SS
mikelink45 replied to Lou Hennessy's topic in Twins Minor League Talk
Pressure on Brooks Lee with Culpepper and then Houston stacking up behind him. -
It seems like we have a team full of DHs! And I do not think that is a good thing. Your analyses have been really good but the product you are analyzing is not.
- 14 replies
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- josh bell
- trevor larnach
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Minnesota Twins 2026 Position Analysis: Right Field
mikelink45 replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
This is a tough one because I want Wallner to succeed, but I do not want us to make up stats and stories to overlook his failures. 22 HRs 40 RBIs see my comment to Linus. He was 8th among Twins in RBIs. I did not see the normal listing of player - backups - prospects, but I too would like to see Gonzales get an opportunity. However, I had to laugh at this quote about Gonzales because it reflects on the fact that Wallner is a bad fielder. And then I read That is not true - it is what we want him to be, it is what he was before last year. I always look forward to these position evaluations, but this one just does not ring true. -
Minnesota Twins 2026 Position Analysis: Right Field
mikelink45 replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
Sorry but he had as much chance to drive in runs as the other players in this lineup and he had 40 which meant he was behind Buxton, Lee Larnach, Lewis, Clemens, Jeffers and France. Are you telling me that Wallner kept coming up with the bases empty? -
We are getting to the exciting prospects. I certainly worry about his contact, OBP, Ks. Not sure this is a profile I am confident in, but he is young, he is close and it seems like evaluators all over baseball like him. Like all prospects I am wait and see. With the injuries he and Walker seem to have every year maybe we have a different platoon - not left and right, but healthy and on the IR. But I would love to see a good young hitter in the lineup.
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Berrios 10 WAR with Twins in six seasons, 6.9 WAR in five seasons with Toronto 55-43 4.08 era Twins, 53 - 39 4.09 Jays. Richardson 12 - 10 4.21
- 16 replies
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- jesus luzardo
- jose berrios
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Minnesota Twins 2026 Position Analysis: Center Field
mikelink45 replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
If Buxton gets injured and will be out for any extended time the prospects are the only thing that makes sense!- 17 replies
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- byron buxton
- walker jenkins
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Minnesota Twins 2026 Position Analysis: Left Field
mikelink45 replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
At this point I am fine with Martin starting - I like him better than Roden and Outman, but I am still waiting on Rodriguez, Walker, and Gonzales.- 32 replies
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- trevor larnach
- austin martin
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Minnesota Twins 2026 Position Analysis: Left Field
mikelink45 replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
No I do not want Martin or Larnach starting. Neither of them give me the production I want. I am fine with Martin as fourth OF.- 32 replies
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- trevor larnach
- austin martin
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Twins Daily 2026 Top Prospects: #4 Eduardo Tait
mikelink45 replied to Greggory Masterson's topic in Twins Minor League Talk
I love potential but I like to see players have more track record before getting in the top ten. There are players in the 11 - 20 range I would move up to the top and wait to see if the young and unproven can earn the higher ranking. -
Twins Daily 2026 Top Prospects: #5 Connor Prielipp, LHP
mikelink45 replied to Steve Lein's topic in Twins Minor League Talk
He is 25 - these are not the stats I want for the number 5 prospect. There are better names in previous lower level posts. Not a believer. Stuff doesn't count if it doesn't produce. -
I like these updates. As I have posted before I am not a big believer in ST stats. Are the opposing pitchers trying out new pitches? Are they facing the A or B team when they get their hits, Too many variables but fun none-the-less.
- 17 replies
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- bailey ober
- brooks lee
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Minnesota Twins 2026 Position Analysis: Left Field
mikelink45 replied to Nick Nelson's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
The theme for LF is waiting for the prospects - no one else is exciting or particularly good.- 32 replies
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- trevor larnach
- austin martin
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You are right Schafer is not one I remember at all. The others I would just as soon forget. Who will it be this year? Outman, Roden, Wagaman, Kreidler, Gray, Arcia???
- 20 replies
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- logan morrison
- jordan schafer
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Revisiting Twins Daily's Top-20 Prospects From 2022
mikelink45 replied to Cody Christie's topic in Twins Minor League Talk
Ryan rose, SWR plugged a rotation slot, Lewis came up strong and fizzled, Sands has come up to be a serviceable if over rated RP, Martin is hanging on and we all wish for Emma! That is 6 of 20. Probably an average outcome since on 15 - 20% of prospects make it to the majors (MLB.com) and we had 33% of this list - actually more because Miranda and Celestino both made it and then failed.- 6 replies
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- austin martin
- royce lewis
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Ranking Minnesota’s Post-Hype Prospects
mikelink45 replied to Cody Christie's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
This was a fun exercise - I do not put Zebby, SWR on the list. I look for them to have better years this season. SWR Larnach 29 replacement level Martin 26 replacement level SWR 25 performing as good #4/5 starter Taj Bradley 24 still young enough and with enough talent to become a regular SP Brooks Lee 25 - 2 seasons - starting SS and below replacement at bat and in field. This is key year for him. Zebby Matthews 25 - 2 seasons, poor results, high whip for a played known for control. Key year for him, he was my favorite while in the minors Matt Wallner 28 - good power, no rbis. A big disappointment to me. I looked at the top RBI guys - in the top 20 Schwaber - number 1 with 132 - had the lowest BA but it was still 240. Brooks Lee, who is getting a lot of criticism had 66 RBIs and Lewis 50. Wallner had 40 and ranked 228 among all batters. I know RBIs don't count for many of you, but scoring runs is still the name of the game. Clemens with almost as many ABs had 52 - same as Lewis. Larnach we are also down on had 60. Jeffers and Ty France also had more and of course Buxton led the team. So I don't want to hear that he did not have enough players on the bases. I really hoped Matt would be a stud, but HR with bases empty and when the game is already out of hand does not impress. Royce Lewis 26 (thought he was older) had an OPS+ of 83. That is bad. It ranked 14 on the team last year. He has to be better Mr I don't slump seems to have had a slump since his first year. I had to look at ages - Wallner and Lewis are the oldest - for me the patience is limited at this point and if someone wants them I make the trade.- 19 replies
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- royce lewis
- matt wallner
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