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Dman

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  1. Dman
    True position players are rarely taken in Rule V and generally if taken would be younger. I'm just thinking that the Twins did protect Severino when he led his league in HR's that year and he didn't even have much defensive value, but he was younger. Fedko does have good 4th outfielder tools. It would be a toss up, but to your point rare that older position players get taken. Yeah I like GG for one of the corners as well.
  2. Dman
    Probably for the same reason they are playing the 29 year old Kody Clemens at the MLB level right now. Fedko is a right handed bat which they don't have many of that plays better defense than Wallner or Larnach. He can play center as well and has stolen 30 bases this year and he is younger than Outman with a much better K to BB ratio than Outman. I'd say lot's of reasons.
  3. Dman
    No walks for Bohorquez is huge. Nice to see him trusting his pitches in the zone. This is what I was expecting to see more from him this year. It took a bit longer to get there than I expected, but I'm still a believer that he can be a difference making arm. Fedko keeps this up and he going to force the Twins to add him to the 40 man. All the numbers are solid and he's been good all year. He's the athletic outfielder with some speed they have been looking for. Add in the power he is showing and it seems hard to ignore his potential.
  4. Dman
    I think that's true to some extent, but if you are a pitcher 24 or older I'd be more interested in getting my service time started than holding out to be a starter. You need to get through three non- arb years and then three more arb years before you can make the big, big bucks. I'd do whatever I can to get my service time started. There would always be a chance you could go back to starting if good enough out of the pen. We've seen more guys able to do that recently.
  5. Dman
    There is a bigger discussion that revolves around 40 man decisions as the Twins are about to have a ton of young arms (potentially 13) entrenched there in: David Festa Zebby Mathews Taj Bradley Mick Abel Kendry Rojas Connor Prielipp Andrew Morris CJ Culpepper Marco Raya Travis Adams Pierson Ohl Christian McCloud John Klein (Did not include Lewis because I think he can make it through Rule V without being taken) They can't use all those arms as starters. Someone needs to move over to the pen and if all those arms are added to the 40 man they need to be able to use some of them at the MLB level. They can't have too many of those arms stuck at the minor league level as they won't have room to add many veteran arms in the offseason. I still think Matthews should have more time as a starter. He had 10 K's last night and 3 earned runs through almost 6 innings to the bombers which isn't horrible by any stretch. He looks more like a mid rotation piece than pen arm to me. I have Matthews, Bradley, Abel and Rojas as potential starters. With Festa having shoulder issues and unable to barely go four innings he seems like the best bet to replace Varland IMO. Adams and Ohl are already likely pen arms that can be long men when needed. Morris, Prielipp and Klein are bubble starters for me. they could go either way. Raya, Culpepper and MaCleod I see as relievers. I agree with those that say this likely won't be seamless as it took Sands quite a while to get there and other arms never quite made it in Henriquez, Alcala, Winder, Moran etc. There is no guarantee all these arms work out even in the pen. This doesn't even include the likely possibility that the Twins trade one or more starting pitchers in the offseason. There is a lot to decipher in a short time frame as they need to decide how many of these arms they should keep on the 40 man and then who can best be moved to the pen and get up to speed quickly.
  6. Dman
    If Miller wasn't going to stick at short then Yeah I like Tait better. Also watching Tait more he has a pretty swing and with his exit velocities he should do some damage with the bat. I don't know if he sticks behind the plate or not, but if he does then just getting him alone would make this a good trade for the Twins. Getting Abel too would be a steal. Long way to go though so won't know on Tait for a while. I am curious as to what Seattle had to offer. I wonder if they didn't want to include Ford? It would seem that would have been a must for the Twins. I would have done Ford and Sloan or Farmello even though they are further away. Sloan would have looked good with Soto, Hill, Bohorquez and Barr coming up. That would have been a nice wave of young arms coming up together. If not Sloan then Farmello might be an answer for center field near the end of Buxton's contract. He could also stick in left or right if he moved early. I have to assume the Twins liked a near ready starter in Abel with a young bat that had elite bat speed and a strong arm for the catcher position. If they plan on Moving one of Pablo or Ryan that might have made more sense to have a near term starter whose close to ready. There definitely must have been some tension because it was reported that Philly backed of doing a Duran deal in favor of trying to get Jax. Not sure if that was Seattle upping their offer or Twins playing hardball, but it didn't look easy to get their two top 100 prospects for Duran.
  7. Dman
    Happy to see Hill get promoted. Will be good for him to see what kind of hitters he will face next year. Couldn't have really asked for much more from an 18 year old arm in his first year of pro ball. Culpepper and Jenkins are doing special things. Haven't been this excited about our young talent since the Buxton, Sano days. Hopefully both of those guys can handle things when they get to the MLB level. Some talented hitters would take this team a long way.
  8. Dman
    I don't disagree, but I wasn't really thinking of him as a "true" utility player. More like Mookie in that he could play any position the team needs him to play. Granted up the middle positions are the most important, but if guys get hurt he might be a better option somewhere else and he has the skills to help your team that way. It's a rare skillset IMO and makes him more valuable than a player that can only really play one position well.
  9. Dman
    Yeah I agree with this article. I don't see Correa as any kind of villain. A lot of it has been tough injury luck which seemed to exacerbate a defensive decline. I still think he could be an .800 OPS bat or close to it and play decent defense at third. I mean that's why Houston wanted him back. He's still a good player just not 33M per year good and that's why Houston made Minnesota pay that down. I know Correa is going to be solid player and yet I am fine moving on as well. It's not like both sides weren't trying to make things work, but it just didn't seem like things have been working that well. He was an absolute rally killer earlier in the year and he was supposed to be the guy who lifted this team. Honestly he really looked old and slow this year. The only potential value left would have been his bat which was starting to come around just before the deadline. We have Royce at third, Correa admitted short wasn't his best spot anymore so likely Culpepper there eventually. Second looks like Keaschall. there wasn't really gonna be a good spot for him in the future. If anything his body failed him in his time here more often than not. I think him being home will help him a lot. He has a good history in Houston, lot's of support. I just think he is going to perform better there. I wanted him here badly, but in the end it just didn't seem like the fit worked as well as hoped. I wish him the best and I'm sure he wishes the same for Minnesota. Sometimes things don't work out the way we think they should. I think that is what happened.
  10. Dman
    I guess if you don't see him fulfilling his potential a trade would make sense, but the Twins are and have been starved for actual athletes in the field with above average traits that letting one of the few they have go doesn't make much sense to me. A 60 runner with 60 power that can play multiple positions. I'm not trading that away, but that's just one guy's opinion. You look at Clemens and his .220 batting average and near .800 OPS and if Winokur's could do that with plus defense at any outfield position, plus the ability to play any infield position and that could be a star player right there. He would be a very rare player to be able to do all of that. Would be hard to trade that away.
  11. Dman
    Yeah if Winokur can finish the year strong he can make a believer out of me. .840 to .850 OPS's for a 20 year old at high A would be really, really good. AA would be a good strong challenge for him next year. I know some don't love him at short, but I think he is fine. I don't see him as an elite defender there, but certainly someone who can solidly play the position. I don't mind him splitting time there as it would allow him to fill a Willie Castro type role with the Twins if needed. Still as things stand he will have more value in the outfield going forward. I agree that lot's of bats struggle in the cold weather to start the season. Hard to concentrate when cold and hard to feel loose in the cold. Still a sub .600 OPS is pretty bad. I give him a pass as it was the start of a new level for him as well. If he has even an league average or slightly below bat I don't think you trade a guy like this. If he can hit just .250 with his power he could be a 5 tool player. You don't trade guys like that. If he can't hit he won't make it so it's boom or bust IMO. Right now it looks like boom but there is a ways to go. AA is hard on hitters and AAA even harder. Then the toughest jump of all MLB. He's been young for the level every year and adjusted in the second half so far. If he keeps doing that Twins scouts are going to look really, really good for finding him late in the draft.
  12. Dman
    That is good to know. Probably explains the walks. I think it is a good idea for him to work on a sweeper. He has good vertical movement so if he can add some horizontal movement for strike three that could help him tremendously. He seems to have an electric arm, just needs better control.
  13. Dman
    Winokur had an .800 OPS in July and so far he is doing the same in August. I wonder if that will be enough for them to move him up AA next year. Hopefully this is his break out with the bat. Nice to see Gabby with the long ball. AAA seems to have been a challenge for him at least at the start here. It's hard to keep a good bat down though. If Abel is wondering why he is still in AAA he just needs to look at the 4 walks in the Box score. I don't know what it is going to take for him to find some consistency, but that seems to be the only thing holding him back. It's impressive stuff but if you want to get guys to chase you have to through strikes as well.
  14. Dman
    Somebody forgot to tell these guys they were supposed to lose a bunch of games. Wow! Didn't see this coming. I kind of thought Keaschall would have a hard time being effective coming back from the broken arm and given the results at AAA. I guess I couldn't have been more wrong. When that guy dials it in he means business. It is still early, but he has that look of a star in the making. We sure could use one.
  15. Dman
    I agree Gasper looks overmatched more often than not, but he is walking 10% of the time and only striking out 24% of the time. He's not completely helpless up there. His quality of contact though is really, really bad. He isn't barreling much of anything. Only 7 hits so far and 6 of them are singles. Why do they keep giving him a try. Because his AAA stats are really good all the way around and they think given time they will translate at the MLB level. At this point I guess they don't have much to lose, but it is painful to watch some of his at bats. Personally he just doesn't seem to have a good feel for getting his bat to the ball with the stuff they are giving him.
  16. Dman
    Yeah I thought that was an interesting decision. I guess they had seen Outman hit one out yesterday so maybe they were scared he might run into one? Still Outman would be just as likely to swing and miss at everything they threw at him. Just keep it out of the zone and I bet they could have gotten him to chase. You trade a guy who who has contact issues to pitch to a guy who is a contact hitter. I don't know. It felt like they got the odds backwards there. Must have been one of those non spreadsheet go with your gut moves? I guess Gonzalez had been struggling with the AAA junk that gets thrown so maybe they thought he might panic there and he did to some degree as he came out swinging at everything. The thing is though taking your chances with a guy who generally connects on stuff in or out of the zone seemed like the wrong way to go there. Especially when they could have pitched to a guy whose bat can rarely find the baseball. He has a 40% K rate at St Paul. I am happy they did it that way though.
  17. Dman
    I know it is a small sample size, but for a guy with supposed swing and miss issue JP Smith has been hitting almost everything. Hate to get too excited, but he is only 20 and he hits everything hard. This level is looking too easy for him right now. A very promising start for Mr. Smith. Nice to see Morris back even if only for two innings of no hit ball. AAA needs arms. Jenkins with a really nice night at the plate and I believe it was against some lefty arms as well. So that was nice to see. Gallagher with a better outing his second time out. 7 K's and no walks. Looking like the pitching profile the Twins like. His first pro year making it all the way to AA is impressive. Will need to keep an eye on him.
  18. Dman
    I totally agree. Just not making outs and getting on base is important. There is a place for all kinds of talent. It's just that power rules. There is a lot to like about Houston and I think he is going to be a good hitter because he seems to cover the plate really well. The only potential issue I have is that in the draft there are only only so many players that have star potential. Power is a big part of star potential and when you are picking at 16 you want to try and find a guy with traits that will make him better than the average MLB player. Without power Houston might end up a utility player and I would want more than that at pick 16. Other teams have shortstops that can hit for power and play short so if the Twins want to win they have to find players that will be better than other teams players. Otherwise it's a losing battle. There is lot's of time left for Houston to develop more power and given what has been said about him I believe he will. We won't know much until the end of next year as to the likelihood of that happening. It took Spencer Steer three years to get there. Martin is still trying to get there As I mentioned above power is such an important part of the game they will have him working on it. right now they just want him to get comfortable and do what he does which appears to be getting on base at a healthy clip. If you want the Twins to be winners then you should want them to try and develop power in all their players as it will help them win more games and increase their chances at a world series title.
  19. Dman
    I just can't see the Twins extending a 30 year old arm. It seems to go against the org's philosophy IMO. They seem more likely to try and sell high or let him fall off the table. If it's just club options for Ober I don't see that being a great incentive to sign unless he does feel he's cooked but then it is bad deal for the Twins. I don't see an Ober deal getting done. I like the idea of a Keaschall deal, but is he the guy you do it for? You have Culpepper and Jenkins on the way. Culpepper could be the more valuable player since he plays short. Jenkins is younger and would be more in line for a deal like that as you would hate to see him on the market in his late 20's. There was a time a deal like that made sense for Lewis and look at where things are at right now with him. There's plenty of risk involved in early signings. Still I could see them doing it for Keaschall. They have loved the player he is since college. He has great makeup and is an intense competitor. If you think his arm is gonna be OK I'd see if he wants to do a deal. He has all the traits they need with speed, likely plus defense at 2nd, good eye at the plate, good contact skills and power. There's a lot to like, but the Twins have never done one of these deals before so it seems unlikely to me.
  20. Dman
    JP Smith came in as a pretty unheralded player. I thought the profile was a lot of swing and miss even in the zone IIRC. The one game I watched him he seemed like a tough out and he hit everything hard. He is a very solid muscular guy that can take big swings. Hard to gain much knowledge at A ball but he seems to be passing the first test which see the ball hit the ball and in his case hit the ball hard. I wouldn't be surprised if they move him up at the end of next week. We'll have to see how Fedko does as at AAA, but a spot on the 40 man seems to be between him and McCusker IMO. McCusker has cooled off considerably since his MLB debut. This past month I think he had a .600 OPS. He has a career 30% or more K rate and under 10% walk rate with a really powerful home run stroke. Fedko has been around a 15% walk rate and 20% K rate for his minor league career and has just recently shown the HR power that makes players difference makers in the high minors. Fedko has a really nice batting line runs well and led AA in Home runs with 20 of them. We'll have to see how well that translates to AAA, but right now he looks like the better bat and overall player than McCusker. Not sure if he would be rule V'd, but if he keeps this up they might not want to take that chance. Especially with so few right handed outfield bats in the system. It's so hard to know with guys like this as Prato had a huge year, one year only to turn back into a pumpkin. Now McCusker seems to be doing the same thing. Really hard to know, but there is a lot to like about Fedko's profile right now.
  21. Dman
    These young guys are bringing some energy. They really seem to be connected and rooting for each other to succeed. Kind of looks like a brotherhood in the dugout when the camera heads there. Keaschall sure seems like he might have that "it" factor. So intense and into the game just love watching him in the field and at the plate. Kind of felt like Lugo got Ober'd in Minnesota. Just couldn't catch a break. The young bats were all over his stuff.
  22. Dman
    I agree with you. I think the article is a bit doomy and gloomy. While I think Lee is OK defensively at short I do agree with the article that Lee's offense doesn't look MLB worthy unless he can tap into more power. He looks best suited in a utility role at best right now. We'll see if that outlook improves as the season moves on. Still I think he is a solid option there for now. I do think Culpepper is the future though. While I don't disagree the jump to MLB from the minors is a huge one, Culpepper does exhibit some traits that bode well for success. One he can hit balls low in the zone. Two he can hit for power, three he can steal bases and four he is going to move all the way from High A to AAA in his first pro season so he will be young when he joins the team next year. Despite the difficulty I wouldn't sell Culpepper short especially after what we have seen from Keaschall who followed a similar track. Culpepper's defense will be fine at short maybe not elite, but should be very good non the less. I think this team has enough at short to stick with the young guys. The only way this works with a lower payroll is if the kids make it anyway. Give them a shot and run with it.
  23. Dman
    I wanted the Correa signing and felt at the time he might be able to push the team to new heights. The cupboard was bare in the minors at short and short felt like the missing piece on the team. Whatever the reason it just never became a good fit. Injuries a drop off in defense and offense left us no better off than before. Both sides tried to make things work, but sometimes things just don't work out. I still think he can be effective in Houston. His bat was bouncing back albeit with little to no power, but he wasn't swinging as wildly and able to go the other way. I think as he gains more confidence the power will come back. I think he can be a decent 3rd baseman as well especially for 20M per year. Still he wasn't going to be a good future fit for this team. Lewis is at third. They have Lee who can play shortstop short term until Culpepper is ready and they have Keaschall for second base. There wasn't going to really be room for an aging player taking up 30M per year on the team. With the news that payroll appears to be back to around 100M they needed that contract mostly off the books and they got that done. I think just all around it was time for Correa and Twins to move on.
  24. Dman
    Bottom line, I think mainly because it is really hard to get hits at the major league level. With the game on the line would you rather have two doubles or two singles? Or one single or one home run? the singles don't net you anything. So when you hit the ball you want it to count and thus power rules the baseball world. Want more examples. No one even really seems to care who the batting champ is anymore. They are far more interested in who has the highest OPS and the players that make the big bucks are players with power Otani, Judge, Soto to name a few. Want further evidence and you could look at Arraez versus Kody Clemens. Arraez has the higher batting average. He walks more than he strikes out granted he only walks at a 4% clip but K's at 2.5% clip which is just unreal. Probably the best contact hitter out there. Clemens hits for a lessor average. Strikes out more than he walks, but he hits for much more power. 12HR's to Arraez's 6 in fewer at bat's. Arraez's OPS is .723 and Clemens is .777. Don't like OPS try WAR. Arraez has .6 WAR and Clemens 1.2 and he has played in half the amount of Games as Arraez. Want to go strictly offense with WRC+ Arraez is 106 and Clemens is 112. By almost any measure of advanced stats Clemens comes out better than Arraez except for batting average. The conclusion: without power even a journeyman player can be seen as more valuable than a player with a high batting average that just hits singles and gets on base. I'm not saying a player like Arraez has no value. Just less value than someone who can hit with power and hit more home runs. Getting on base and not making outs is important, but baseball has statistically proven that power is the most valuable tool as it helps you score more runs. That is why everyone cares about power potential.
  25. Dman
    This is what I was I thinking as well. I don't think August is the time to call him up, but why not September when rosters expand. He has to be added to the 40 man this year anyway. Just add him early and get his debut jitters out of the way. Let him see what MLB pitching is really like and then go from there. I think that makes a fair bit of sense if you want him to hit the ground running in 2026. I'm fine if they don't do it as well and they might not if they are more concerned about service time than getting him MLB experience. It will be up to the front office and how they view 2026 IMO. If they don't see the team competing in 2026 because they plan on more trades or a larger tear down then maybe it doesn't matter if they give him time at the end 2025 or not. He'll have most of 2026 to try to break in anyway if they plan a larger tear down.
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