Major League Ready

Have you heard of a guy named Walker Jenkins?

Kendle with another good game. 2 hits and a walk. This guy has my attention.

I think you hit it on the head. However, this was not a Falvey/Zoll decision, IMO. I think this was an ownership decision based on Tom Pohlad's statements and that Falvey had started down a rebuild path. I think Falvey told him that changing direction in the middle of a rebuild was the dumbest thing they could possibly do and Pohlad showed him the door.

They are not going to fix the defensive woes overnight, but I can see a scenario where it improves a lot by this time next year. Lee is average at 3B and Lewis should be just fine at 1B with a little more time. We are weak up the middle which of course is a real problem. However, I saw quite a bit at Culpepper at AAA and the eye test says he is above average. We badly need Houston's offense to continue to improve. If he could be here by July next year, Culpepper slides to 2B and the INF defense is not stellar but it's above average and strong up the middle. Now, the OF. We all expect Jenkins is going to be here soon and that's going to be a significant upgrade. The other guy we really need is to make the leap to the majors is Rodriguez. He gives us a strong defensive corner OFer and a backup CFer that can hit same hand pitching and run the bases. If those two guys join Buxton our OF defense improve vastly. The speed these young guys will bring will also improve our base running. I pray these young guys make it because this team will be a lot more fun to watch.

This team was really well-positioned to rebuild quickly. They had 5 young starters that needed playing time (Matthews / Abel / Prielipp / Festa and Rojas. SS was a huge need and they had a guy near ready. The OF was in a similar state and they had multiple guys near ready. Culpepper and Rodriguez could have been on the big club by July 1. Ryan and Jeffers could have returned impact players. If the reports on Tolle / Arias are true, going for it probably made the team weaker for the next 7 years. They could have brought back a very good pitching prospect for Jeffers and of course, they also gave up a couple of high ceiling prospects in trade for Hoffman and Kremer. Milwaukee and Tampa do not make these mistakes. This was a very foolish / short-term focused decision by ownership even if the Twins do manage to get the last WC spot.

He was really good in Cedar Rapids but he has been a beast since arriving in Wichita. He looks pretty good in the OF too. His stock is going to shoot up if he finishes the season strong,

The Brewers would have never passed up the chance to get something good for Jeffers. They traded Burnes in a year that they were expected to contend. Their practices are just far more effective for building sustainable success. They also seem to find a way to get significant contributions from players that fail elsewhere like Vaughn for example or Megill who we gave up on..

I have seen quite a bit of ross. He is a good defender and very versatile. I have been rooting for this guy forever because his versatility and quality defense would be an asset. Ross has had some great streaks bit I just don't think the bat will play at the ML level.

You just outlined a major portion of how these teams continue to put a very high quality product on the field despite a huge revenue deficit! I was thinking the exact same thing about Ryan as I wrote the previous post. IDK if it's true that they were offered Tolle and Arias but let's use that decision to forego that trade to compare and contrast. Instead of extending Joe Ryan, it's quite possible Tolle will be better for more years at far less money. Of course, we don't know that this will happen, but this type of exchange is what teams like Milwaukee or Minnesota have to do to combat the revenue disadvantage. Of course, Arias is one of the top 10 prospects in the game and he is a middle infielder which the Twins are short on. That alone would be a big swing in the potential to build a contender but let's take this a step further. The really interesting part is that this type of trade and this practice makes it feasible to spend on free agents. You might even be able to afford a Joe Ryan "type" player by making such a trade. In other words, they could have had both. That might be a stretch but the concept is reasonable. The Twins changed direction in the middle of a rebuild. It's also quite possible they could have gotten Eyanson or Lagrange for Jeffers. Instead, they gave up a couple pretty darn good prospects for a sub 500 team twice as likely to not make the playoffs than to make the playoffs. Tampa and Milwaukee do occasionally trade away prospects but as you point out they are able to because they maximize their assets by selling high and continually developing assets.

I am going to throw in a little support for your point. The charts below show the acquisition method for the 2026 Rays who are on a 100 win pace and the Brewers who have the best record in MLB. AaP stands for acquired as prospect. This covers any form of acquisition where the player has not produced More than 1.5 WAR in a given season. These teams don't draft better than the Twins. The develop better than us and yhey do a lot better job acquiring prospects. 2026 Rays (100 Win Pace) Acquired WAR 2026 Brewers Acquired WAR Junior Caminero AaP 4.2 Brice Turang Drafted 4.2 Jonathan Aranda Intl 2.5 Jake Bauers AaP 2.3 Yandy Díaz AaP 2.4 Garrett Mitchell Drafted 2.3 Chandler Simpson Drafted 2 Jackson Chourio Intl 2.3 Jonny DeLuca AaP 1.5 Joey Ortiz AaP 1.6 Victor Mesa Jr. AaP 1.2 William Contreras Trade 1.5 Gary Sánchez FA 1.2 Pitchers Cooper Pratt Drafted Drafted Drew Rasmussen AaP 3.7 Andrew Vaughn AaP 1.2 Nick Martinez FA 2.3 Jacob Misiorowski Drafted 5.1 Shane McClanahan Drafted 2.2 Trevor Megill AaP 2.2 Ian Seymour Drafted 1.4 Kyle Harrison AaP 2.1 Bryan Baker AaP 1.2 Shane Drohan AaP 2 Aaron Ashby Drafted 1.5 Logan Henderson Drafted 1.4 # Acquired by: WAR % of WAR Brandon Woodruff Drafted 3 Drafted 5.6 23% Chad Patrick AaP AaP 1 International Draft 2.5 10% Acquired by: 6 Acquired as Prospect 14.2 58% 6 Drafted 15.7 47% 0 Trade for Proven 0 0% 1 International Draft 2.3 7% 1 Free Agent 2.3 9% 7 Acquired as Prospect 12.6 38% TOTALS 24.6 100% 1 Trade for Proven 1.5 5% 1 Free Agent 1.2 4%

He fits fine as a 4th OFer, starter against LHP, and late inning replacement / pinch runner. If there is a problem, it's not Martin, it's the construction of other parts of the roster.

Several of us have been saying Lee looks like an average player since he was hyped in the minors. What do you know ... His wRC+ is exactly average and so are his defensive metrics. He is an average player which is just fine if he is hitting 7th or 8th.

I used to complain about them drafting unathletic marginal defenders pretty much every year. They have had more defensive emphasis the last few years but it takes a while for those changes to impact the ML team. Look at the position players drafted in the early rounds over the past 3 years. Lackey this year. Houston last year and Culpepper and DeBarge in 2024. They also took Young and Amick in early rounds and they were not drafted for defense. I guess it's possibly Young could become a decent 3B with that arm. Jenkins, Keashall, and Winokur in 2023. The defensive competence should steadily rise over the next couple years.

It's definitely WAR adjacent. wRC+ is of course weighted runs created as compared to league average. DRS is defensive Runs Saved. Combine them and you have something close to what @Tony&Rodney was describing. This requires more scrutiny than I am inclined to invest.

The Twins will likely need to come in at least 2nd in the division because it is likely 3 teams will come out of the East. Over the past 50 games the Twins win % is .540, the White Sox .560 and the Tigers .580. The Twins are going to need to keep pace with the Sox and Tigers during this stretch or dominate both teams head to head.

This is really interesting. I was thinking they could create a new stat that started with wRC+ and then subtracted runs gained or lost defensively. I have not given it enough thought to have a strong opinion on if such a stat would have merit. DRS has its deficiencies, but the combined stat would provide a way to make the comparison you suggest.

Completely agree. Wallner and Sabato's offensive production is diminished by their defensive ineptitude. I was Simply making the point that Jenkins offensive production is not screaming he needs to be promoted. Culpepper had very similar offensive numbers and he is not inspiring confidence out of the gate. BTW .... I was very happy to see Culpepper promoted because the other option is Kreidler and Culpepper is likely to be at least as good offensively.

Massey has very good range but a weak arm. I don't think we would be gaining anything over Clemens or Keashall at 2B and Keashall has the potentially to be quite a bit better offensively. This is just a short-term view. By mid-season next year, they hopefully have Culpepper at 2B and Houston at SS. The OF is Buxton, Jenkins, and Rodriguez. Now that's a team that can play defense and run the bases.

His FB velocity is 90-92 so that will be an issue but his command is good. Maybe they could pull a little more velo out of him as a RP.

His OPS is 150 points lower than Wallner and Sabato. He ranks 12th in OPS among Saints players. His numbers are decent and he has been a little better lately, but I would not characterize his production as demanding a spot on the MLB roster.

Gallagher is a RHP.

If the goal is mediocrity .... Then yes. He has proven he knows how to perpetuate the mediocre performance we have seen on the field in the vast majority of the last 20 seasons.

I am not ready to declare Rojas an all-star just yet and I did not see the need to pull that trigger at the time. However, I have watched Rojas quite a bit in STP and he definitely could become the stud you predict. If that happens, it will, have been a good trade. Let's check back in about two years.

Agreed. My take on Clemmons is that we are in good shape if he plays a Willi Castro type of role, meaning the first guy off the bench. A guy who can step right in and deliver above average offense and average defense is a valuable piece of a winning team. Plus, he plays hard and he is pretty darn good in the clutch.

Clemens is at least league average defensively at multiple positions. IDK why he gets disrespected.