Cris E

Drafting is hard. There are some years where almost no one emerges as a star from the whole thing. In 2003 eight of the first rounders never played an MLB game.

The Royce they drafted was awesome and not second guessed. Of course that was before a series of major injuries that may have robbed him of some of his skills. You may as well be talking about two separate players at this point.

They'd also probably want to have Culpepper ready to move up. He's not exactly kicking the door down and they've got a utility player platoon up now to cover for him in the short term.

I think this winter Lewis went out of the system and had someone new help him with his swing. But he's got to be honest with himself and respect the numbers since he came back from that last IL trip. He's just not right, either because he's still hurt or he has lost some physical capacity or he's just lost his swing. He's got himself psyched out right now and he's got to clear his mind and take a fresh look. It's time to go back and figure out what he can do and how to build a major league swing with those pieces. It all needs a look, from where he stands and holds his hands down to leg strength, reaction times and basic physical metrics. Right now he's so lost I'd go so far as to check his vision.

Enough with the "Miranda isn't any good" trope. It is utterly wrong. His career was derailed by a pitch to the head. This is clear as day. Some day San Diego may end up with an excellent hitter as a result of the chance they're taking by carrying him for a year or two. Best of luck to them.

Re-sign or resign (ourselves to not signing him?)

So 58% grounders and a .421 BABIP? My first question was "Yuck, who is playing infield in CR?" Well that would be Marek Houston, Danny de Andrade and Brandon Winokur, a group of SS prospects that should be pretty decent with the glove (or at least not represent any kind of Jullien/Miranda Hide A Bat games.) I haven't seen any games from down there but I imagine things should not be like this. What's the opinion of someone who has watched this team? How are they playing? Hill just had a big gap between his last two starts (4/28 and 5/10), what was the reason for that? But things looked better when he came back, so let's hope he took a reset and figured something out.

You don't bring the kids you care about up until they have a place to play regularly. ERod sitting around for a month waiting to take Outman's 20 AB makes no sense. If you bring him up it has to be to get 20 AB a week, where he can get in a groove, not be looking over his shoulder and sweating every out, have confidence that the team wants to see his game over time. Outman is Buxton's caddy and the guy waiting for those ABs is going to sit a lot. ERod and Jenkins and Gonzalez should be playing at least five games a week, so to make a space for those guys you need an injury, a complete washout at the MLB level or a trade. I don't care about the Fedkos of the world, and even Rodan is older and at a point where it's produce or step back, but our 22 year olds need to keep ascending, and to do that they need regular playing time. The front office has to have to balls to make a call on the guys that aren't earning their keep. Martin seems to have stepped up when given his chance last year and this spring. Rodan deserves a shot next. Outman has not passed the test. The best thing to do with him is pass him through waivers, where he'll be claimed or not.

As mentioned above, there are lots of differences that both increased and decreased what the Pohlads could get. - The Padres lost their TV deal in 2024, just a year before the Twins did, for very similar dollars. It was leaked that it cost them approximately $50m that first season, leading directly to more borrowing. The impact on the Twins was likely very similar, except that the Padres payroll was twice ours and they continued to win as we chopped ours down by 20%. - There's so much more money in SoCal. People are used to spending a couple hundred bucks on entertainment out there, as opposed to $100 dinner tab being an event in MN. New owners are certain they can get more of it, or at least keep claiming their share in tickets, concessions, parking and gear. - The Padres were carrying $300m in debt as well as $150m cash callbacks in recent years. Those were just rolled up as line items and accepted whereas no one was willing to do that in a Twins deal. I think a lot comes down to culture, and the cheap folk living in the cold north are not as numerous or free with their money as the Californians. You don't lose a quarter of the schedule to April rain and September chill out there, and we go out in our short, precious summer rather than stay home to watch baseball on TV. There is a reason that the Central divisions do not feature the star power of the coasts, and it's because we don't have the money and density and weather of the coasts. But they still should have been able to sell this team. The player names come and go, just about any contract can be traded or bought out, and you can fire every single person in an org down to the parking lot attendants if you think the losing culture is too much to over come. Which is my long way of saying I think the family really wanted piles of money from the team while staying involved much more than they wanted to sell it completely. There are lots of rich folks around, but the Pohlads like being the bigshots that saved baseball and own a team. No Dayton or Carlson can say that. Alas, I think they are still rich enough to want the bragging rights more than the money from a sale right now.

Trick question: Shelty's a vampire.

They put up nine the other night. You just never know about this offense.

It's 30 degrees. Guys are only good for the first few batters out of the pen and then they get cold. Just keep trooping through the warm hands.

There's a fan watching with alcohol.

Buxton got 7 AB during the WBC. I'm glad they all feel patriotic about that thing, and the games were fun, but it totally messes with preparing for the MLB season. A bunch of players have gotten off to rough starts and Buck is Exhibit #1.

Not at all. Catchers are hard to develop, having to not just hit but master the art of calling a game while somehow staying healthy at a demanding position. But having two good candidates at Cedar Rapids means that in 28 or 29 we should be in high cotton.

Jackson was a backup, insurance, and they knew he couldn't be an every day catcher. That little flareup last summer wasn't real. When they could get Caratini for cheap they pounced and solved next year as well. He is an average hitter, which is above average at catcher, and makes complete sense. He's only in play at 1B because they did not move anyone else over to DH or 1B. That's a completely separate problem, and one they needed to address. They have other options and they are not employing them, so he's a 1B for now. In that regard this is dumb, but having Caratini for 2027 is not dumb at all.

The Twins have had amazing luck in how healthy their catchers have been over the past 3-5 years. We've gone years at a time without a third viable receiver on the 40 man, and it wasn't exposed until last summer when both Jeffers and Vasquez went out at the same time. Boy howdy, that was gawdawful. They now have a decent second guy (who is going to catch at least a third of the games) plus there's a glove in AAA with MLB experience. And on the days Jeffers catches against a leftie, Caratini is just sitting there. So is it worse to let him exist only as a backup catcher, or to compare him to the other guys on the roster and play him if he's a better option? My opinion is that eventually he's going to be the barely average hitter he's always been and someone will take the position away from him, but we're in week 1 and tings haven't shaken out yet. Buxton missed most of spring training and is slowly working his eye into game shape, so the need for RH hitters will relax a bit when he starts carrying his share of the offence.

"I asked." Beautiful.

This is exactly where Brock Stewart came from, so don't get too proud to recycle. On the other hand, this is also where we met Josh Staumont, Caleb Boushley, Dylan Floro, Thomas Hatch, Joey Wentz, Genesis Cabrera...

WTH, Cruz is hating his life right now.

Gray could pull away with the team RBI lead here.

So tired of Clemens.

Most Daddy's Boy type players don't get drafted in the first round. He was a legit first rounder when chosen.

So is it strikeouts or HR or average? You don't care if he's above average since anyone who isn't Raleigh or Judge or Killebrew is hot garbage? He had a year with some injuries and was still an average hitter. The rest of his career has been well above average. If you want to reject the stats and say he's not your kind of hitter then say that, but the league is full of these guys today and you are out of step.

The active gaslighting shows some serious contempt for Twins fans. "We're going for it. Watch the results. We have money for the right guy." The payroll speaks more loudly, it enunciates, it is clear. If you give good effort MIN fans are pretty laid back. But the lying, that's no good. Sell the team.