Trov

Lacky at 2 or 3 seems right with Culpepper being the other. I would have Culpepper above Lacky, just because he has some experience in minors and track record. Lacky is all about the possible what he could do. Both play prime defensive position. Culpepper is expected to move of SS not because he cannot cut it, but we have Houston nipping at his heels to take spot. Not a bad problem to have. Tait there are concerns if he moves off Catcher. If he hits like he has, he still has some value at catcher, but if he gets moved to DH or 1B or somewhere else, his bat needs to improve. His power for his age is great, but he needs to do better job making contact overall. Still has time at his age, but if this continues next year he will be a huge disappointment.

The issue with "buying" right now is that it is such a sellers market. There is only 6 teams that will be looking to sell, there are a few teams that may be willing to shuffle around(trade from depth but buy where they need), and the rest will be full buyers. The fight for pen pitching will, as always around deadline, be what every buying team will be seeking, as you can never have enough. Top line starters will be few and far between. There are a couple of teams that 2 to 4 weeks ago would be sellers, but then they got hot. Mainly Boston and Detroit. Both were looking to win this season, so with recent surges I expect they will be buyers if they think they need it. I am all for buying, as long as it is pen help as that is where we need it. We have enough starters to get through season, maybe not be a top team in playoffs, but even if we got say Skubel, we still would need a huge pen increase to win.

Tait will not be at MLB by 2028, not unless a couple of things happen, one he learns how to not swing at everything, and two every other option is hurt. He is still very young, and will need time to develop. I bet he makes it to MLB in 2030, and he would still be only 23. He could crack in 2029, but no way in 2028.

I will have to fully admit I was 100% wrong on Clemons, and I am glad I was. I was calling for him to be DFA over the offseason and commented on many articles about him last year was just a fluke couple of hot stretches that would not carry into the year. However, he has been much more consistent this year not just red hot stretches with unplayable ones between. He is by far my biggest surprise and no way would we be at the level we are without him. I would also agree that Shelton has and his staff have been good overall. I am glad he is willing to change things up based on how guys are actually doing, not hoping the law of averages will play out. Yeah, he ran Wallner out longer than maybe he should, but sending down both Lewis and Wallner, moving Lee off SS, moving Keashall off 2nd, moving Lewis to 1B after he came back, and riding hot streaks of guys but then dropping them when it ended has been great.

The fact that the offense has been good, even with Jeffers on the IL for extended period, gives the team the ability to trade him. The question is for what? Do you trade for pen help now, or prospects down the road? I think if you can flip him for pitching you can control for several years that is the best trade. Larnach is one that I have said was a DFA guy, and they kept him and he has been good this year. If you can trade him for something I say do it. He is at the peak of his value for the Twins, but he is going to be 30 next year, doubt we sign him, and doubt he gets much more than a 1 year deal, maybe a vest option type thing from someone. He is not someone we should bank on being a long term option to take away from all our other many options in the system. Bell, I had a forum on if his offense outburst could give value to trade him, and most of the poster hear laughed at the notion. I still think there will be a team willing to take him on, but you are not getting a ton in return. Could we get a lower end pen guy for him, possibly, but nothing that move the needle either way. His offense has helped a ton this past month in half, but can you replace that with someone from AAA and use the DH as more rotation? I think Jeffers will get moved simply because he has most value and not likely to resign long term. He can be moved and have least impact, at least that is how the offense has been without him. The other two have guys behind them that can fill in, and might not be a big draw back if you can improve the pen enough.

I would agree the question of next year will play a large factor in their decision. It is not just about development, but about control. One of the questions that will need to be decided, if a player was on MLB 26 man roster at end of season, how will that be treated in terms of service time for any missed season? Being on the 40 man will make it that they cannot play anywhere, and that will be development issue, but being on 40 man and not on active 26 man roster will not accrue service time. The biggest talking points in this CBA is if there will be a cap or not, a floor or not, and when players hit free agency or earning more money before that. Depending on how stuff shakes out, you could lose a full year of team control on a guy like that. Now, depending on how thing shake out, it might not be an issue at all but without knowing the teams discussion internally on where they think the CBA will really fall, neither of the current proposals from either side will be agreed to any time soon.

This was part of the change of the FO. The old FO and managers had the have them put the ball in play and have a good defense plan. They would put defense at SS and 2nd above hitting. Then Falvey wanted power. He wanted better hitters that could hit for extra base hits over a defenders that would walk and hit singles. Overall it is about the balance. Rarely will you get elite at both, even in Buck's younger years of prime defense he was not an elite hitter all the time. Then you had HOF Mauer behind plate, easy to plug and play him. Overall though you need to decide who is the best player weighing their hitting and defense.

This game was a huge highlight as to why the ABS system is needed. Sure, it worked against the Twins, had it not been in place Ryan strikes out Altuve and ends the inning saving 5 runs. That shows how big a single missed call can be by an umpire. I used to argue with people that would talk about how "accurate" the umps were overall, like 90% or 95% correct. Except for they were like closer to coin flip on borderline calls. Others would still push back saying well it is just a few and they "even out" except for in a case like last game, where the call would have ended the inning and rally for Houston, and maybe turn the outcome to a win for the Twins. Getting a single call wrong on 0-0 pitch normally is not huge deal, but on 3-2 or a call that would end or continue an inning is always huge.

They will not give up much for sure. That is why I was suggesting some type of pen help. I am not expecting some top end guy, but a stable relief guy that may be 4th in line on their team, but would be 2nd on ours possibly might be out there. Bell is not making that much money, and a hot hitter can carry you for a month can make the difference between making the playoffs and not. If he fades in September, you keep him off your post season roster. I do not know what kind of market there is for him if any. I know it would not be a strong market overall. Do I expect a deal, no, because they are flirting with the idea of fighting for playoffs and if he is hot hitting they will want to keep him for the same reason another team might want him, because for July and August he might give you a few more wins. September he may get the DFA as he reverts back to sub replacement player.

Josh Bell is doing what Josh Bell does, gets hot when weather warms. He is doing very well in June, and just as his career has shown June through August he is a different hitter than the early spring and fall months. Twins have a glut of AAA that could come up and fill his roll. Even if the Twins feel they can compete for playoffs, it still might be worth trading Bell while he is looking like a good DH/1B shot, for some type of bullpen help. He will never fetch a huge return, but it is one of those sell while he is hot, and you have depth to fill that roll.

I am in same boat on Sabato. He is still young enough that he could come up and have a decent enough career. I point to Nelson Cruz a guy that got late start to career but his bat was good enough in his 30's he had a nice career. Cruz did not have his first full season at MLB until he was 28, and he did have half season at 26, and quarter at 27, but they were not good overall. It was not until 28 that he finally broke out. Also look at recently Brent Rooker at age 28 finally getting full shot at MLB level, after a few failed chances earlier on, to finally have 3 decent to very good seasons. This year not so much, but his injured now. Point is, there is history of 28 year old guys finally getting a shot and putting together a couple of decent seasons. Do I expect Sabato to be Cruz, no, but could he put up a decent year or two like Rooker, sure he could.

So MLB throws out yet another proposal that will get a hard no at this point from players, under the argument we are doing it for the fans. The highlights are shorter contracts, hard caps(with small amount of players sounds like could go over the cap), max contracts, and no deferred money. I see two things worth discussing for a fan, is a max contract and shorter contracts the way to go? The length of contracts would be 5 years for moving to another team, and 6 years if remaining with your team. This is similar to NBA that has a 4 and 5 year caps, with max numbers. One thing it has done for NBA is actually lead to a lot more player movement. I personally not a huge fan of player movement as much, but keeping players on their teams longer. The max contracts, combined with hard cap, which players will never agree too either, would help with not allowing one team from buying up all the talent and having it spread out much more. Similar to NBA it would lead to more players staying with teams because of getting that extra year. I do think a cap, hard or soft, with max contracts would block teams from buying up, or trading for all the talent. Do I think the players will ever agree to it, not a chance. If the MLB thinks this will lead to agreement they are crazy. From both sides they appear to be miles apart on a deal and there will be a stoppage. The question will be for how long, and who will blink first? The players have a war chest, but that eventually will run out. The owners have more money than the players, but they also are business people and do not like to throw money away. By not having games, that is money they are not making and they will still have to pay certain expenses. Minor league players still need to get paid, front office people, managers, and other overhead will still come out. Yes, the large chunk of players pay will not be done, or expenses related to that, but there are many expenses not related to those that need to be paid. How long will owners dump money not taking any in? How long will players not earn money depleting their war chest? If the owners wanted to hold out, they could longer, they have the billions. Will they? Will they stand united? What will happen if it becomes prolonged? Bryce Harper talked to press about how missing games would be terrible for baseball. That is true, with rise of other competing sports and ability to get entertained by other sports these days, baseball cannot just simply say, we are baseball we are supreme. But that works both ways for players and owners. Owners, if they lose money they can right it off, or declare bankruptcy. Players, if there is no money coming in they have to figure out something else. The owners will be fine overall financially, and can handle not earning from baseball. None of the owners these days just make money from owning a team, most it is a side thing.

"Another First-Round Success Story?" Hard to call anything a success until they break into the majors and do it there consistently. Sure, it is great to play well in majors and be high on prospect lists, but if you flop in the majors then who cares. Even when you have a good year, that does not make it a success, you need multiple years. Three years ago we would be saying Lewis was a success story, and so was Wallner, but both got sent down to AAA this year. Yes, Lewis has made a bit of a bounce back and maybe a return star status, but still only 17 games since returning. So no a success yet, just hopefully will be. I am excited to see both Houston and Culpepper in coming years, playing SS and 3b hitting near top of line up.

I am far from some MLB draft guy, mostly because just about every one is a crap shoot. Sure there are some that every says is a cannot miss All-Star, a few that come to mind are Griffy, A-Rod, Harper, and I am sure there was a few more where people were right on that. However, most of the time you never know and the number 1 can be a bust and the number 20 or later becomes the best one in the draft. That being said, I have read up on Lackey and the sounds of it his bat is expected to play at MLB level no matter what, and he has ability to move off catcher if a team wants too. So drafting him is for his bat, and if he can stay at catch great, but could get moved to 3B or corner OF spot it sounds like as possible long term plan. I get the compare SS to C as generally high ranked catchers do not always pan out, and their shelf life is limited. I would not be surprised if Sox do go Lackey as his bat is strong, and if they think he can stick at catcher and move quickly they may want him being they are devoid of catching right now. I am never a fan of drafting of need, but they have shown some strong infield play so going a fast moving SS could be good, but less of a pressing need. Their top prospect is a SS/3b. Sox have done some crazy things. If Lackey does go, number 1, then it will be interesting to see what Tampa does. Will they go college or prep SS, or go pitcher? I think they will be less likely to go Cholowsky if Sox pass on him, but you never know. If Cholowsky falls to Twins no way they pass on him, which will be real interesting on what we do with all the recent college SS. I always say, never can have too many SS though, they are valuable in trades, or can move to any other position than Catcher generally.

I am sure Houston gets moved soon, he has nothing left to show at High A. Hopefully he adjusts quickly to AA and earns himself a spring training invite next year.