Trov

I was thinking about how people had been big on Carson McCusker, even coming into the season, but now some are really big on him due to his hot start in AAA. He was an undrafted guy, after a pretty average college career and summer leagues. His first 2 years in independent ball was okay, again nothing crazy. Then at age 25 he is on fire independent league, leading to the signing of the Twins. He did fine moving up the leagues and was decent, but nothing crazy in A and AA. Then age 26 he has a decent time at AA and moves up to AAA. Now age 27 season he is crushing AAA causing many to call for him coming up expecting him to hit like that at MLB. He is now on TD 19th prospect. This is not a forum on McCusker and if he deserves to be on the list, but he is rising up the prospect list, because at age 27 he is starting to really show some talent. Now I want to look at someone else, I will not name him, as I am not saying he should be on a prospect list or anything, but want to compare his history and how people view him versus someone like McCusker. This guy crushed in college with over 1.100 OPS in his college time. McCusker was under .900 OPS in college. The second guy had more HR in 2 years in college than McCusker did in 4. The second guy was drafted high in draft, unlike McCusker being undrafted. The second guy was put on prospect list right away, he is now off it after spending several years in minors putting up OPS around .750 ish. He is putting up similar numbers to McCusker did in AA at age 26 season, .852 OPS. McCusker OPS was .848. I believe that even if the second guy finishes the year similar to McCusker and gets to AAA and starts off as hot as McCusker anyone will want to move him back into prospect lists, and will not be pushing to a call up, but still call the second guy a bust. The point I am trying to make is how if a guy is expected to be good, but struggles early, we write them off, even if they turn it around, but if they start off not good and becomes good later on we have hope they will be a diamond in the rough. Two players at similar age putting up similar numbers, I could do deeper in them just used OPS as a general, but they are all pretty close, but two different views in how fans think of them as possible prospects. Yes, player two would need to build off what is going on similar to McCusker, but if he does I still doubt fans will be high on him. The reverse though is true. If a guy like McCusker would have been drafted, maybe would have in the old 50 rounds, but if he did not do well after a year or two he would have been cut having to go independent ball route and until he tears it up like he did he would get no second chance. Where guy number two because of his draft status and his college number he is given several years of trying to figure it out.

Being sent down is not the end of a career. Sure, the returns have not been great, but assuming we would not have resigned Berrios, we would not have got anything in return anyways. Also, he has not been amazing or anything. He had a terrible 2022. His last 2 years were good but not ace level or anything. Last year Berrios was better than SWR, but not by a ton. SWR still young, could continue to grow. Could we have looked to move Berrios somewhere else and got a better deal, most likely, but do not act like we gave up a HOF pitcher or anything.

I honestly would say if you address number 1 then 3 and 4 will fix themselves. I would not know if the increase in velo is leading to less control, it would make some sense. If you are not a super fast guy, having great control is better. Mixing up locations, and keeping the hitters guessing helps. However, if you are falling behind, missing your spots you need to start grooving pitches allowing the hitters to tee off.

Okay, I think we are going a little overboard on Keaschall in this article. Yes, he came up and was great in his 19 ab, but it was 19. To talk about how we need to hold things together until his arm heals because he is some driving force is crazy. It was 19 AB. I remember Brooks Lee last year in his first few games was on a tear, only to become unplayable for times.

To say a team is failing to draft and develop players because the drafted WAR is not 50% is crazy. I agree that you cannot build your team through just FA, and the Twins have not done that. Much of their team is done through trades and drafting. On the current roster, about half were drafted by the team. However, that does not mean the rest were FA. Many were from trades when they were in the minors. In our pitchers on the current roster. Ober, Varland, Sands, and Jax were only ones we drafted. However, Ryan, SWR, Alcala, Duran, were guys traded for as minor league guys and developed in our system. Lopez, Paddock, and Topa were all traded as MLB guys, using players developed by the Twins. Specifically, Arraez, Rodgers, and Polanco, all of which trades have been decent for team. In terms of hitters similar about half were drafted by the team. There are a few that came in FA, but outside of CC none were major FA signings. Castro was a DFA guy they unlocked to be a valuable player. I am not saying Falvey is perfect, but judging a GM just by drafts is a terrible way to judge. They should be judged by the team they build, and if you can continue to have guys ready to fill in that is a good thing. You will never find a single GM that hits on every draft. Sometimes using those picks to help the current roster is good.

As a long time fan, going back to the TK days, I firmly believe knowing to hit the ball well the other way is very important to have success in the majors. I know many believe that pulling the ball for power is the best way to help the team the most. However, if you are dead pull all the time, that leaves large holes in your swing. I am not saying guys with power should look to slap the ball often. You can still drive oppo with power if you work on it. This makes the outside part of the plate not a dead zone. It also helps you not chase inside pitches off the plate, because you finally got an inside pitch after taking so many strikes away. Just showing a pitcher, and defense you can hit the ball the other way keeps them honest. I remember when Papi left he talked about how TK wanted him to hit the other way. Then in Boston after he got his chance he was well known for hitting the ball over or off the green monster for many hits in his career. Yes, he hit higher percentage to pull side, but without his ability to hit to left I would bet his numbers would have been much worse. If you have a plan to drive the ball the other way because you expect a pitch to do it on, you can pick up a lot of hits. Then you show you cannot just get a free easy pitch for strike out there, and get the pitcher to try to get you inside more, right in your power zone.

It is hard to evaluate WAR to money paid. It is also hard to say early returns will pay full seasons dividends. It is possible France falls flat later in year, or Bader comes just a glove, unlikely that fades. We have seen pen guys falling apart. I am happy with what each has given, based on the money paid. However, what gets frustrating at times, is that I feel GM's see those as huge wins for the themselves, the look what I got for this price, I saw something no one else did. That is something we ran into with Ryan. Sure, the owners may be handcuffing the spending, but it leads to the owners saying well you did it before do it again. We have seen the bargain bin shopping fail many times. Yes, sometimes you get a good deal. Is France one of the best 1st base for the price yes. If we had more could we have gone out to sign someone else, that would be better overall, most likely. I personally wish we could have gone internal option, but sadly we have no 1st base guys ready to come up.

I personally am not huge on McCusker. He is about to be 27 and not made MLB yet. He strikes out at a very high rate, which is expected with a power hitter like he is showing. Yes, some guys can be late bloomers, but many times they have some expected upside to give them the time to develop. Two guys came to mind just based on their a little later call ups, and one really did not thrive until around 30. Now, I am not saying he will be either, as I said I am not big on him. However, Nelson Cruz was a guy that was not called up until 25, but he really did not become a regular MLB player until he was 28. He was up and down, not doing much for a few years. After he hit 30 he took off HR wise and was a reliable DH for a decade plus. Some will say this comp is crazy, but Aaron Judge really was a call up at 25, and just took off though. He was a 31 on top 100 list that year. His minor league numbers were similar to McCusker. I do not think people expect Judge to become what he did, I think playing in NY has helped with that short porch in RF. Judge was viewed by many as a top guy, maybe not MVP out the gate. Buck was number 2 prospect same year Judge was number 31 fyi. Point is, McCusker being 27 does not take him off the chance of having an MLB career for years, and he could take off right away, it has happened. I just would not be sold on it for him. I do think if he continues to hit like he is he will force a call up.

I remember seeing a ton of articles the last couple years about the need to call up a different prospect. He was a guy that hit very well in AAA, was an older prospect, but fans kept saying give him a shot, over and over. He finally was given some level of a shot, not regular at bats, but he may have shown why he was not given a shot at MLB. I would guess that the team has some serious concerns about McCusker at MLB level. His K-rate is very concerning. When you look at production in minors, it is hard to not look at the overall numbers and think that will translate to MLB. However, sometimes they are feasting on bad pitches, but do not have great at bats, and just making poor minor league pitching, but when they face MLB prospects at AAA they struggle. I am not saying McCusker will not have some success, and maybe he should get a shot at 1B or DH. However, right now Lewis will be filling DH most likely, or rotating several guys through the DH. Ty France has not been great by any stretch, but he has been average. McCusker move would say we expect he will be better than average.

Jenkins has had a ton of injuries in his career. The fact that an ankle sprain will take 2 full months from him is concerning to his ability to stay healthy and return from those injuries. It clearly must have been a serious sprain and I know they can linger, but he has had several other injuries in his minor league career. Might be another of the well if he can only stay healthy type guy for us and we keep wishing for health only to miss months of a season with brief moments of hot stretches.

I have not watched much this year. I would say for sure last year it would get frustrating to see him take a pitch well out of the zone that gets called a strike. I did see an at bat the other day were a pitch way out of zone is called a strike on him. It was not a strike 3, but it makes the hitter think well now I need to try to hit something I cannot hit or I will get rung up.

He is facing AAA pitching. Last year he pitched mostly in AA and was good. He had 1 start in AAA and was not good. The level of hitting is a big jump. Many are guys that are ready to get to MLB, fighting to get back there, or are fringe guys.

Hitting a player in the past did not create a beanball war, it was intentionally hitting a guy mainly in anger to giving up a HR or something. Just because 1 guy gets hit does not mean it was intentional. We all see balls get away from pitchers from time to time, and if pitchers could hit their target 100% of time that would be a very impressive feat.

The manager burns them out in college. That is what happens. He averaged 27 batters a game. With the fact that he struck out or walked or struck out 35% of them an average of say 5 pitches is pretty reasonable. That works out to 135 average pitches per start. There is a reason most teams are trying to keep pitchers under 100, and not just because 3rd trip through order. Rice clearly does not believe pitch counts will affect the arms, or they do not care.

There is no reason to send down a productive pitcher simply because you may have a little better guy. If Festa came in and dominated his starts to force a move, then we would talk about Paddock to pen versus SWR to minors. If SWR starts to falter, then it is worth talking about Festa taking over for him. I think the options point is huge though. Why use an option when he is pitching just fine at the MLB level? Use it if he falters and others clearly leap frog him, but not just to have someone who, right now, will be close to him. Additionally, something like that will sour any relationship they have with him. Meaning chance of getting him to take a deal to help the team will go out the window. It also sours how players feel about the team around the league. If you get known to be bad manager of people it hurts your ability to bring people over as FA.

The solutions, to this possible problem, proposed have a lot of holes that could hurt players more. For example, if you have a minimum amount of time a player needs to be on roster before DFA, this would lead teams to placing players on IL more frequent, then DFA when they get off. If you limit the amount of claims a team can make that will limit the MLB chances a player will get, because a team will be less likely to make a claim. Sometimes those guys that get claimed via the waiver wire work out well, look at Rooker, if a team had to risk not being able to make claims later on they may pass. The league did look at the pitching shuttle guys issue a few different ways, expanding the roster, and pitcher on IL being on for 15 days versus 10 for position players. Also, if you limit the number of options per year that does that. However, teams will continue to manipulate the rules to get pitchers with fresh arms rotated through. You need to balance the players interest of getting chance to find a team that wants them, but the teams ability to get rid of players they feel are not going to help them. This happens to mostly fringe pen pitchers. Sometimes though they find a team to stick with. If the players do not like it they can choose to not play the game too. They can go get a different job and not be forced to move around. They could just say I am done. If Blewett wants to not be bounced around he can retire.

Exactly, this generally works itself out because they generally have someone else that goes on IL. If for some reason, everyone is healthy, it will depend on how they are performing will depend on who gets sent down. Right now, Lee is not making it hard to stay on the team when Lewis comes back. Julien is not making at bats come his way all the time either. France has been decent but if he regresses that will easy open up First for someone. Wallner has been good before his injury. Larnach has not bee good, but picked it up the last few games, but he does not have long history of needing to get a long leash as either fielder or DH. I do find it interesting that since moving off DH to the filed is when his bat has increased. This is common for many players to have a dip in offense as a DH. Not sure how Lewis would do as DH.

Looks like he is a swing and a miss low risk move. Crazy how a guy who was a highly rated prospect just falls off a cliff on offense. Really the writing was on the wall with him. Yeah he could hit at A and high A overall, and only had K rates between 25% to 29%. It is a SSS this year but over 50% K rate is terrible. Once he went up to AA his power was gone for most part, and could not get hits. He is not known as a top defender. Without doing any actual scouting on him, I would guess he was good at hitting bad fastballs, but now that he is at higher level you have better fastballs and even better off speed and he has no clue how to handle a good breaking ball.

First, it is still very early, but the early returns on Ty France is encouraging. He was scooped up for 1 mil. Santana, was let go and signed for 12 mil, twice what he got last year. Due to budget issues that required a shift. France was the guy. Many, including myself, scoffed at the signing. He was coming off 2 terrible years and not a good defender. Now, he is not lighting the world on fire by any stretch, but he is playing at decent level. Santana is putting up similar numbers. I hope France can stay at or exceed his current level, but for the 1 mil dumpster dive, the early returns are good.

I think part of what the comments have address is how the team has changed to a slower three true outcome type team. I personally find that style of play boring. When I feel the was most exciting to watch was during the early 2000's run, I was too young for the WS years to really pay attention. I loved watching the highlight defense that Hunter and others would put up. We were on web gems on a daily. Then we would score runs by hitting the ball in play for hits and not just hoping for HR out of the whole line up. I get what is determined as winning baseball has changed, and the players and manager job is to win games, not create an entertaining product for fans, but the purpose of the game is to entertain us. Winning will get more eyes on the team, but winning ugly still is ugly baseball. Watching the team throw the ball around for errors, and having terrible weak at bats over and over just gets old.

Sounds like the wrist has been an issue all season so far, finally hit point he said no mas.

No team will have 3 deep at SS. Few teams will go that deep at 3b as well. OF are much easier to fill, outside CF. If CC is down long term we will need to get someone up that can fill in at 3b minimum. If not, Lee and Castro going to have to stick there for awhile. Lewis, Miranda and Martin all on IL hurt the depth a ton.

The team is ranked, by ESPN, as one of the most unwatchable teams. Right now I fully agree. I love baseball and used to watch just about every game I could. This year though, with real life stuff going on, to go with the terrible product they are putting on the field is making them not really watchable. I got free tickets, great seats in a week, but outside of that I have little plan to go to any games and will not go out of my way to watch them. Their offense is terrible. Their defense is terrible. Their pitching is good overall, but when you cannot score any runs, like last September, it will not carry the day. Watching guys just make dumb mistakes over and over the few times I do watch just makes me not want to watch. Even when we lose if the game is entertaining I am okay, but watching the team get no hits with RISP and really no hits at all, mostly striking out. Sadly, there is no top guys knocking on the door right now to look forward too. Our stars are not doing anything either. I am hoping they can turn it around but dang this is getting crazy.

Pretty sure Martin pulled a hamstring the other day and expected to miss several weeks.

As the post pointed out, it is still very early in season. We have plenty of time to turn things around. The teams that fired those managers clearly were bad teams. This team has the talent, but lets not forget there was an illness floating around the clubhouse. The fact that just about every hitter has done terrible to me gives some hope because not everyone will hit like that all year.