chpettit19

"But a bad season does not automatically create the need for a full rebuild." Agreed. But multiple bad seasons did, and the Twins f'ed it up by emphasizing a short-term PR boost by claiming they were trying this year and they'd play "meaningful games in September" over actually building a team that could play those meaningful games in some September. They've already started the rebuild. The problem was they never finished the rebuild. And now they can't because they have none of their best pieces to sell to finish the rebuild anymore.

If I were GM, this team would look very different today than it does. Some for the good, some for the bad. But if you're saying I'm a newly hired GM taking over for this offseason, I'm doing what I would've done for this season, turning it over to as much youth as I can. That's the challenge, though. If I'd been GM last offseason, I would've completed the rebuild. I would've traded Lopez, Ryan, and Jeffers. I would've had more youth to throw into the lineup and pitching staff now. But they didn't. And they've now limited their options moving forward and put themselves in a much worse spot than they needed to be. I wouldn't, and I hope they don't, compound the mistake of last offseason this season. I'm not running back the majority of a roster that has proven for years that it isn't good enough and pretending retaining, or adding, Bell level players is the solution. I'm going with youth everywhere I can and looking for actual difference makers to bring in from the outside, if possible. There's only a handful of hitters who could help. But I'd be swinging at Seiya Suzuki level bats on the free agent market, and Yandy Diaz level bats on the trade market, and wouldn't even be considering a Bell level bat.

"In the top three of almost every hitting category for the Twins" is not a high bar to clear. It's why this team has been bad more than good for a while. He's not a good enough hitter to be a DH. Fangraphs has 17 qualified hitters who were primarily DHs. Josh Bell is number 15 in wRC+ at 106. He's barely an above average hitter for any position. Having him as a DH is not how you build a successful team. Having him as one of your top 3 hitters is not how you build a successful team. It's why this team is never good.

Abreu is a free agent, FYI. No need to trade for him.

The team needs to be better about determining when he's healthy and when he isn't. But it's pretty unlikely they have any OFers who are better overall baseball players than Byron Buxton between now and the end of his contract. We certainly all hope Jenkins, Keaschall, and/or Emma get there, but the odds aren't in their favors. Buxton isn't stopping this club from being successful. The rest of the roster is.

That is kind of my point. Buxton being hurt, or being paid a very reasonable number, isn't why this team is bad. It's bad because the rest of the roster is bad. Obviously prefer he plays more, but this isn't some world series contender if he'd just play 150 games. Same as LA/Anaheim. They aren't the best team in baseball if only Mike Trout would play 150 games. They're bad teams who also happen to have a superstar who gets hurt more than anybody would like. But those injuries aren't what's stopping their FOs from building successful rosters.

I'm not sure what people think Buxton has stopped the Twins from doing. Buxton has not been the Twins' problem, their complete and utter lack of development for a decade has been their problem. Their complete inability to get offense from "bat first" positions where they've fielded some of the worst fielders in MLB has been their problem. You don't even need Jenkins or Emma level prospects for CF depth, just average ones. Somebody who can go out and field CF at a high level when Buxton gets hurt. Don't need to be a star, just somebody who can go get it in CF. People point at MAT as the time the Twins got adequate "Buxton insurance." I'd add Bader. But those aren't star level, expensive guys. Those aren't guys that are crazy difficult to produce in house. They're glove first guys who had outlier offensive seasons in MN. They were Buxton insurance because of their gloves, and you cross your fingers on the bat. The Twins not being able to develop a Petey Halpin, Jacob Young, Kyle freaking Isbel, or Victor Scott is their problem. Those aren't guys you need to have on your roster all the time or give crazy playing time to. His contract is not some $30 mil/year thing stopping the Twins from filling other roster spots. If they could produce any semblance of a glove first CFer from their own system, they don't have a huge problem. A CFer who hits like Buxton is a luxury that gives you the chance to go to another level. When you have the mix of corner bats the Twins have run out there, then suddenly you need your CFer to be a star. If the Twins could have done the very manageable task of producing glove first CF depth and getting actual top-5-in-a-good-lineup bats from bat first positions, they'd have been sitting in a very good spot. But they couldn't. Ronald Acuna Jr isn't exactly a pillar of health. Better than Buxton, but certainly no iron man. Atlanta seems to find a way to survive while they waste a whopping 17 mil a year on that glass man. It's almost like they had a quality roster around him instead of having such a drastic "stars and scrubs" situation. They don't need another MVP candidate as "Acuna insurance," they just need to have a good overall roster. Just like the Twins don't need another All Star CFer as Buxton insurance, they just need a good overall roster. I wish Buxton's body could've held up. I wish he could've played more games. But Buxton isn't the Twins problem, the rest of their roster is. Would I do an extension now? No. Definitely not for 20 mil a pop. But I also don't get the argument that he's holding the team back or they need to move on from him in any way. 80 games of a star is better than 0 games of a star. 50 games of a star are better than 0 games of a star. I hope Jenkins, Emma, Keaschall, and all the other prospects/young players hit their ceilings. I hope they all become HoFers. But they won't. And there's plenty of ABs to be had in this lineup that you don't need to move Buxton to get those guys in there. If those 3 all become All Star, or better, OFers for the Twins in the next couple years and they rotate through the DH spot with Buxton so the Twins have 4 All Star OFers while they're all healthy, it'll be the best problem this organization has ever had. If a crazy thing happens, and they aren't all All Stars, having Buxton for as many games as he can give will be better than not having him at all.

I don't disagree that Jenkins likely isn't long for CF, but Dalton Varsho disagrees with the idea that "league average runners don't belong in CF." The extra speed is obviously very helpful, but you can certainly still thrive there with Jenkins' wheels.

Without reading the article, the answer to the question in the title is "Yes." Unequivocally, YES!

Competitive September games, baby!

Keaschall has actually played 1B. I'd go with him way before I'd move a legitimate CFer all the way down the defensive spectrum.

Not confused at all about Emma not being called up. They aren't going to call him up and put him on the bench like they did with Gabby. And they aren't ready to sit Larnach or Bell enough to give Jenkins and Emma all the ABs. Even if that should be the move at this point. As for his time in MN being done, I don't think so. His trade value is not likely to be very high. I'm positive the Twins would get numerous buy low offers from rebuilding teams looking to grab a top 100 prospect for almost nothing. The Twins aren't DFAing him as those same teams would be ecstatic to grab him for actually nothing, and give him a season to see if he looks like an MLBer. Their only play with him is to put him on the opening day roster and give him a month of everyday ABs and see how he looks.

Their range and athleticism are pretty similar, but Houston's hands are noticeably better. That is a real factor, too. Being able to get to the same number of balls is 1 thing, the other is catching them. I believe Houston would catch a higher number of the balls he reaches. And he isn't Keaschall throwing the ball. If Houston hits enough to be an MLBer, he's the SS and Culpepper is the 2B. Houston isn't considered "the best defensive prospect in the system" despite his arm. His arm is part of that. He can let it rip pretty well himself. Sorry, I'm not putting the "elite defender at the major-league level" at 2B because the other guy has maybe a slightly better arm. And that's all it'd be, slightly better. Houston is the SS if he's a major leaguer, and I don't think it's a particularly close call.

See above.

I'm fine with that, too. Just pointing out that sending guys back to AAA, even elite prospects, is not some crazy idea that no other team does. It happens all the time. Jackson Merrill was hitting .280/.336/.360/.696 after his first month+ and 110 PAs. Chourio was worse at .206/.257/.351/.608 and struggled even more his 2nd month. Jenkins is at .125/.263/.281/.544. If he ends with a sub-.600 OPS, it's entirely reasonable to start him in AAA with Keaschall-Buxton-Emma across the outfield. Not predicting he does that, and if he gets it up to .650+, he should absolutely start the season in the majors. But his numbers are really, really bad right now. AAA should absolutely be on the table if they don't improve. He controls his own destiny there.