HarmonK03

The Twins do have an interesting situation with their outfielders. They have five outfielders in St. Paul that will probably be ready to play up here between now and early 2028 at the latest. And that doesn't include Wallner and Fedko. And if you add Keaschall and Roden to this mix, there are 7 players competing for basically two spots. Buxton is not going anywhere and Larnach and Martin are still here. So if you add in the DH spot as a place to rotate players thru, you have three spots. Yes they may not want to give up on this year but they are going to have to make some decisions, either now or this offseason. First not everyone of those guys will live up to expectations and may bomb completely. But how are they going to clear space by either moving players currently on the big league roster, i.e. Larnach and Bell. Or who do they trade of that group to strengthen other areas of the roster. And can they self scout well enough to move the right players, which has been a weakness of this organization. Even when everyone is healthy, they don't have enough AB's to go around at St. Paul and players will stagnate. And right now I don't think playing Mendez or Gonzalez at 1B is an option other than as backups. I am not moving off of Lewis unless he falls back the second half of the season.

I think they are in a tough spot with Roden. He has done nothing in his short time in the majors with both the Twins and Toronto. But he has had 170 AB's which is the same Martin has had over May and June. And many have said that Martin is not an every day player based on this, so is Roden who actually has not hit as well as Martin worth more of a look. Right now the only outfielder I would force into the lineup is Jenkins. I don't think Roden has earned it, and like you said he might be more of a fourth outfielder at best.

What has Roden done that would give him AB's over Keaschall.

I am not sure if you ever managed people. You give your staff parameters within which to operate and make decisions. And a good manager doesn't come out and say Jane or John made that decision when it doesn't work out, because they have the ultimate responsibility. This is how it sounded like Falvey managed. You make it sound like Zoll couldn't pick up the phone and talk without Falvey's approval. Zoll has been in this job formally for 3 years and probably informally for at least 5 years. He was not an innocent bystander as you seem to think,

There are a lot of assumptions in your comments. We do know Zoll had decision making authority under Falvey, he said so himself. Does Tom P. trust Zoll, who knows, but that is I where hold him more accountable for not bringing a senior baseball advisor in to advise and lead the process. Falvey had a close relationship with Joe, so the switch to Tom was potentially going to be rough. Your boss sets expectations for you, unreasonable or not, you have to deal with it. We all have done that in our careers. I have had bosses tell me not to follow GAAP, standard accounting practices for recognizing sales at month end. You find ways to deal with it or find a new job, that is the way the world works.

I am not in complete disagreement. But they have a dilemma with ERod being out of options after this year, they are going to have to make a decision. I feel Culpepper had played his way onto the roster, they were very slow in calling him up, then of course he got hurt. If Jenkins continues to hit, he will need to be up. I am not as high on Roden as others are on here, I think he is more of a fourth outfielder. I just want to get away from all the one year past their prime rentals or AAAA types. Prospects are not always finished products when they come up. And some of the learning is only going to occur in the majors. At some point you have to trust your player development. Some of these guys that may not be up here yet, are rated fairly well by different baseball sources, so there should be some value there. But you can't keep having players coming up at 25 or 26 getting their first look. Some of the recent youngsters they have broken this pattern and I hope they continue that.

Zoll was not promoted when Falvey left, he still has the title of General Manager, the only difference is there is no baseball executive over him now. Falvey left at the end of February but Zoll was very much a part of the decision making of this roster throughout the offseason, Falvey didn't sit at his desk and decree all his actions. He either consulted his key decision makers or they came to him with suggestions. We don't know who is the true architect of this roster, Falvey was ultimately responsible but I am betting Zoll's fingerprints are all over it. Last trade deadline, Falvey said that Zoll was leading many of the trade discussions which you would expect. Also when Zoll was hired, Falvey stated at the time that Zoll had been involved in the personnel decisions for the past few years. And it sounded like Levine was being left out of the decision making loop, which may have led to his leaving. So I am not letting Zoll off the hook for this mess of a roster. One last point if Tom P. is making any personnel decisions, Zoll should be out the door now. Zoll is the top baseball guy who is supposed to have knowledge of players and baseball operations, Tom P. isn't out there scouting and evaluating players. He should just be giving a yay or nay to any budget additions. Zoll is too tied to analytics, that is why I am advocating for an overhaul of this front office, they need a mix and it is not there. They laid off scouts last year, I didn't hear of analytics staff being laid off.

1. My point was how Falvey chose to spend money, he did not spend what he had on an obvious need. He stated at the time of the signing that Bell was signed to be the starting first baseman. I am sorry but no other team would have gone into the season counting on Bell to be playing 1B. I am looking at the time the signings were made not today. 2. You can throw any amount out there you want for payroll but Falvey was not a low level employee, his job was to present plans to ownership of how to build winning teams. Other than when the budget was reduced at what seemed to be more last minute, he needed to anticipate and pivot. He knew the team was losing a major source of revenue but still advocated to sign Correa. If he thought payroll was going to continue to increase and planned for it, than he was not the person for the job to begin with. He took a swing and could not put the players needed around Correa for a winning team. Falvey was not good at his job and has put this team in a very tough spot. 3. Where ownership failed the front office in my opinion was not resolving the leadership issue last October as soon as the season ended. Not resolving it by late November did make it harder for the front office to plan, Businesses go thru uncertainty all the time, it it the job of leadership to plan accordingly But again we know he had at least $14m to spend and he watched all the top relievers be signed by other teams, that is undeniable. The bullpen needed to be the top priority. We have no way to know how Falvey would have any additional dollars he may have been allocated. But based on history, he has never given the bullpen priority over other areas. He has always thought he could build a bullpen internally and on the fly.

I get you want a larger payroll but you still have to operate within the resources given. Other GM's have been able to do it for other organizations. Last offseason there was at least $14m available to spend, but there were no dollars spent on the bullpen, an area of obvious need. The money instead went to Bell to be the starting first baseman and Caratini as the backup catcher after they had signed Jackson for the same role. At the time those signings were questionable at best. You have to believe that Zoll was a part of the decision making process and Falvey didn't make these signings in a vacuum. In fact Falvey has talked a lot that Zoll was very involved in and leading a lot of the trade discussions. I have seen nothing that tells me he is going to operate differently than Falvey and I think we need more experience leading the baseball operations. Especially to keep Tom P. on track, a good executive knows how to manage upward.

If the current regime is still in charge, I would be surprised he is up here by late 2028 and probably 2029 at the earliest. As mentioned in the article, this organization has been very conservative in bringing up prospects. Nothing has changed in this regard except for Falvey leaving. It is still the same people doing the evaluating and advising and I have not seen anything that tells me Zoll is operating much differently than Falvey.

I don't want to see any major moves from this team either buying or selling at the deadline. I get if they move on from Jeffers, I may not necessarily like it but would understand. But what is the direction of this team, there are all these supposed prospects in the minors, you either have to play them or trade them at some point. This team feels rudderless at the top and that is where I blame Tom P., he needed to either bring in Falvey's replacement or at least a senior advisor. Relying on Zoll, who is relatively inexperienced and appears to operate like Falvey is a mistake. And I don't want to see moves made either by buying or selling that could set this team back further. And I do not trust Zoll to make the right decisions to help the team today or in the future.

I don't think Gray is going anywhere, the Twins seem to value that he hits LH and that is about it. But they have favored him over Kreidler all year, I am not sure what is going to change. His performance has not warranted this kind of support. I am not sure if Roden deserves an opportunity to get time at 1B over Lewis or RF over Keaschall. It is a tough spot for him in that they traded for him and he should get a chance as he is now. But he is 3 for 14 which includes two hits in his first game. It is a SSS but he is also trending towards what he has done in his two prior stints in the majors.

Gray isn't going anywhere, the Twins see something in him that no other team or even Gray himself sees.

In regards to Fedko, I think the stats are a little misleading. He started four games in nearly a month he was up here. He went 12 days without an AB, which may be a better reason to have a veteran in this role, but that is tough for anyone to be in that spot. Of his strikeouts, 4 of the 8 were in his last two games after he had been sitting. You could tell he was pressing and his at bats did look better when he first came up. I don't know if it would have translated to success but I don't think you can make any conclusions about whether he could play up here or not. People on here keep talking about late bloomers when they talk about Kreidler or Gray or any of the other AAAA types they like to churn thru, why wouldn't that potentially apply to Fedko. And they did have a chance to use him when Buxton was unable to play. A defense of Kreidler at SS and Fedko in CF would have been better than Kreidler in CF and Gray at SS. At least it would have been a little run to see if there might something there. The thing I liked about TK is he found a way to use everyone to keep them sharp without hurting the team. The day they brought in Fedko for Buxton after the first inning is the reason TK kept his players sharp for just that sort of a situation. But yet Fedko hadn't had an AB in 12 days, very few would have had success in that situation.

If Culpepper is called up it needs to be as the starting shortstop especially if it is Kreidler in front of him. Kreidler is not an everyday player. We need him now until Culpepper is healthy but he has cooled down the more he plays. But do the Twins value Kreidler more than Gray, I still don't think that question has been answered.

Defense should be the defining criteria on who should be playing between those two. Neither one is going to hit, so if they are going to emphasize defense it should be Kriedler. Otherwise why make all the other moves they made, it doesn't help with their credibility as decision makers.

Agree but Gray does play, he plays more than Kreidler. We need to find the pictures he has on someone and take them away.

Keaschall will be the RF when Buxton is back, not utility unless they call up Jenkins. My comment was about when the rosters expand, I was using Fedko's role as an example of the position player they would call up, it would be that role. They still have to be on the 40 man roster and as of today it would probably be Fedko, but a lot can change between now and then.

So why would they stop playing the odds if they aren't calling up Culpepper when he is healthy. Neither Gray or Kriedler are everyday players, so why not go with the defense. Again I see nothing that says Gray will be demoted and there is no reason for them to keep him up here.. Calling up Arcia unless there is an injury is just rearranging the chairs on the Titanic. He has nothing to offer anymore and 29 other teams agreed in June when he was available. I still suspect that it will be Kreidler that goes down before Gray, especially now that they have Keaschall to cover CF when needed.

I hope it's not Arcia, he has no business on a contending team. He has nothing left to offer at the the major leagues except for the 5th or 6th option as an injury replacement. No one claimed him when he was available in June. Culpepper needs to be up here when healthy and Kreidler can be the utilty. My guess for the extra player would be Fedko or someone similar to be a pinch runner and defensive replacement.

Bell typically cools off in August which is why contending teams have had no interest in him the last few years. I hope he continues his June production but history says it is unlikely. Roster sizes only increase by 2 to 28 now and typically one is a pitcher. So you aren't going to get reinforcements in September or be able to take a look at younger guys like in the past.

Caratini has never started at catcher more than 87 games and that was 5 years ago. Comparing him to any other catcher is apples and oranges.

He's been up a week and has 3 hits. Let's see some consistent production before we appoint him our next superstar. He has struggled in the past in his short stints in the major leagues. We just don't know yet what he can do.

Do we really know what the Twins think about Gray. Many on here think his roster spot is in jeopardy but yet he again played two of the three games this weekend. Beside the platoon advantage, they seem to favor him over Kreidler and it truly baffles me.

Why would you give Roden playing time over Keaschall or Larnach. He is 3 for 14 since coming back with 2 of those hits in his first game. It is a SSS but he is trending towards his other two stints in the big leagues. I understand giving him some run especially now with Buxton out, but I am not sure he is going to be any more than a 4th OF or at worst is a AAAA type player. If they are truly trying to contend, Roden is not a player who has earned playing time. And I would advocate for keeping Larnach, why would you give up that production if you truly think you are contending.