chpettit19

Kody Clemens had a .440 OPS for the month of June until he popped 2 homers in the Seattle series at the end of the month to jump his OPS that month to .625. He was not good in June. Not at all. I'm not defending France at all. He should go. But Clemens did turn back into a pumpkin. For a month. And kept getting the same amount of plate appearances (2 fewer than in May). He's very much been Jekyll and Hyde. He was great in May. Unplayable in June. And then great to start July. Very few hitters are great all the time, but entire month stretches of being unplayable is unsustainable and a reason this team struggles so much. You can't have your "second most productive hitter" have a .440 OPS for a month. The fact that the Twins options for 1B in June were pumpkin Clemens and pumpkin France is the problem. Should Clemens get ABs over France? Absolutely. Should we be happy that Clemens is our best option? Absolutely not.

Which Kody Clemens are they getting? May? June? 1 week of July? If he keeps hitting he should keep playing. If he stops hitting he should stop playing. Let the play on the field determine things. Unfortunately, the team doesn't have enough talent/production to let competition rule right now. And this regime has never been all that into letting the play on the field dictate much anyways. As others have said, Keaschall should be back soon and take ABs from this Jeckell and Hyde 1B pairing. Kody had a great month of May and an unplayable month of June. Let his play dictate his playing time.

He did find out at the same time as everyone else. It was supposed to be Eugenio Suarez but he didn't do it because of the hit by pitch on the finger earlier so they added Stowers at the last second.

I love it. For what it is. It's not perfect, but it's many of the best baseball players on planet earth playing the game I love. Sure, guys make it who shouldn't every year because of opt outs and every team getting a rep, but such is life. It's good for the game to have a rep from every team to give more people a reason to watch and build a better national fan base. I would've been super disappointed as a kid to not have a Twin in the game. But the game gives us 1 place, once a year where you can see the game's best pitchers face the best hitters. You can see Pedro carve up Larkin, Walker, Sosa, McGwire, and Bagwell. Or Ripken slide over to SS one last time before going yard. Ichiro hit an inside-the-park homer. Torii rob Bonds and then have Bonds pick him up like he's a child. Not every year is great, and there could be some tweaks made to improve it, but I love it. For the same reason I love the WBC, give me anything that involves a large number of the best players on the planet in one place playing the best game in the world.

I only did the first 4 rounds when I was looking at this a couple weeks ago, but before this year there'd been 67 catchers taken in the first 4 rounds of the draft during Falvey's tenure. So, in 8 years, only 67 catchers were taken. With 30 teams in the league, that's essentially 2 catchers per team drafted over an 8-year period. The Twins were putting just as much early draft priority in catchers as the average team as they drafted 2 (Jeffers and Diaw) in that time. Number of catchers drafted in first 4 rounds by year: 2017: 6 2018: 8 2019: 6 2020: 8 2021: 8 2022: 10 2023: 8 2024: 13 There were 7 this year. So, now we're 74 catchers in 9 years. Now we're up to 2.46 per team so the Twins are just below average. Teams simply don't put a lot of early draft investment in catchers. I don't know the numbers for total catchers, so I don't know if the Twins are way behind on total catchers drafted. But the Twins don't seem to be alone in not drafting a lot of high round catchers. It's actually pretty darn universal. Catchers aren't exactly flying off the board early.

I'll believe there's new buyers when it's announced the team is sold. Until then I'll assume any and every report is the best PR work the Pohlads have done in years.

That's fun. In 2024, Seattle was 21st in runs scored, 1st in runs allowed. In 2023, Seattle was 12th in runs scored, 4th in runs allowed. In 2022, Seattle was 18th in runs scored, 7th in runs allowed. In 2021, Seattle was 23rd in runs scored, 14th in runs allowed. 1 above average run scoring team in there. 3 top 10 run preventing team, with 2 being top 5 Tied for the fewest runs allowed in all of baseball last year and won 3 more games than the Twins because they couldn't score runs. All you're doing is showing that OPS+ and ERA+ can't be compared and ERA+ doesn't shift drastically like OPS+ (logical since ERAs don't have as big of variances). And, yeah, they're been hitting better this year because they've put concerted effort into improving their offense because it's been costing them. And their rotation has been hurt so pitching has been worse. Makes sense.

Oh, that's certainly my assumption on what it is. And I certainly understand the logic behind it. My problem with it is that the upside they're waiting on to reappear is so often league average, and while they're waiting on it to reappear they're getting unplayable results. Waiting out Royce Lewis' struggles because you think he's a star and once he's straightened out you're getting a .900 OPS bat? Cool. Give him a long runway. Waiting out a Kody Clemens or Ty France type month long .400-.600 OPS because you think they'll get back to a .675-.700 OPS? Not such a big fan of that. Sure, sometimes Kody Clemens will give you a magical month, turn back into a pumpkin, and then give you another 3 week stretch of random power surge. It's all a risk every time you make a roster cut decision. I'm guessing Dave Dombrowski isn't losing too much sleep over his Clemens decision, though.

? On this date 1 year ago Royce Lewis had a 1.039 OPS. Good for a 185 wRC+. He has absolutely not been bad at the plate for almost 1 and a 1/2 years. 8/20 last year was when it all fell apart for him. So, he's coming up on a year.

I'd hate the "we have too many young, lefty outfielders" reasoning completely. Baltimore has a ton of lefty outfielders (Mullins, Cowser, Kjerstad, Bradfield Jr, Beavers) and a big-time, switch-hitting catcher plus a top 10-15 global prospect who's a lefty hitting catcher. Their 2nd pick was a switch-hitting catcher. So, they didn't seem to care about adding another lefty catcher/outfielder plus another catcher to their mix (oh, and they took another lefty outfielder at #37). I don't care about positional fit in a system at all. Get the best talent. You never know what your team is going to look like in the future. Should never be a consideration, in my opinion. Get the best talent you can and figure it out from there. But I understand some people prefer to try to chase better system fits. And I don't expect Larnach to be around much longer, honestly. I don't think they'll pay his arb increases. I don't know why they didn't draft him, and we never will. There are a billion very good reasons for them to not draft him. They very simply could've thought Houston was the better overall player. That's a good enough reason. My understanding (and that could be totally wrong) was that he didn't catch anymore because he couldn't throw well enough after the broken scapula. Again, could be totally wrong, but that's what I thought it was. I don't think he'll be a good outfielder defensively so if there's no chance he catches it'd change my opinion on things, but my understanding was that he only stopped catching because of the injury and that him going back behind the plate was going to be mostly about a team's willingness to wait on him defensively even if the bat was ready.

Kody Clemens is a great example of the ping ponging you mention. Claiming he was their 2nd best hitter over the last 30 days is missing that he was one of their worst for most of the month of June. He had a .625 OPS in June with a .145 BA. He was awful the vast majority of that month. He hit 2 HRs in the Seattle series to help spike his OPS back up, but it'd been in the 400s for the 3 weeks before that. He had turned back into a pumpkin. Hardcore. But he was still getting significant playing time. Only 5 fewer PAs in June as his monster month of May. He's actually an example of them sticking with someone through struggles and believing they'll be good again and the last 3 weeks (since the start of that Seattle series) he's had an OPS of .924. Carried by 5 HRs. Or an example of them just not having a very talented team and not having anyone else to put out there. But after his 3 week stretch of .466 OPS to start June he didn't deserve any PAs. Ty France had a .784 OPS in those same 3 weeks. I generally agree with the stance that the Twins stick with guys they believe will perform for far too long during the season (typically the full season if they brought them in during the offseason), but Kody Clemens isn't the example you think he is. He should've been cut during June. But now he should be playing every day. Baseball is a weird sport. And this is a team seriously lacking in established talent.

If he's a 3 to 4 year minor league guy, we don't want him taking over for CC. College players who take 3 to 4 years to graduate from the minors are not guys you want as your everyday SS in the majors. If he's going to surpass Culpepper as the likely next everyday SS for the Minnesota Twins he's going to need to be here in 2027. Like Lee was here in 2024 after being drafted in 2022 and Culpepper is on pace to be here in 2026 (if not a cup of coffee in 2025) after being drafted in 2024.

I like, don't love, the Houston pick. I probably would've gone Irish if there's any chance he's a catcher (I think his arm and the ABS system coming means he can catch if you're willing to wait 2 years even with the bat being ready in 1), but am happy with the Houston pick. No real problem with it, as this team very much needs more defense and athleticism. Love the Quick pick. Dial in his release point to improve his command and tunneling and you may have a font-line starting pitcher. Seems like a sturdy floor as a flame throwing reliever if he can't ever lock in the command. Appreciate the upside play on some of the best raw power in the class with Young, but just am not a big fan of 40 hit tool guys. No real problem with the pick at that point of the draft as it's mile high potential if he can figure out the contact and how to pick up spin, but he's just not my type of prospect. I prefer contact guys who you teach how to lift the ball more over guys you have to teach how to hit the ball. But huge upside if he can put it together. Ellwanger is a lot like Quick in that there's high octane stuff there already and you have to dial in the command. He feels like more of a reliever to me, and I may even have a relatively short leash on him trying to figure it out as a starter, but it's certainly a live arm. Even if he turns out to be a reliever, he could be a quick mover with that stuff and be the next shutdown arm out of the pen. Solid first day. I don't get overly excited or hateful on draft picks. It's all a crap shoot in every draft. I can see the logic in every pick and a route to success for all of them. That's all I can ask for.

I like getting an athlete and stud defender with what appears to be real contact skills. It also would've been really hard for me to pass up Irish if I thought he could be up as a catcher within 2 years. I didn't think there'd be any chance he'd be there. I'm not aware of the story about him making inappropriate statements so I'm not sure what to think about that. That could certainly change my mind on things. But without any knowledge of it, so just looking at it from a baseball perspective, that's a tough one for me. I'm happy with this pick. We need more 2 way players. So many more. Hard to complain about getting one of the best fielders in the draft who also looks to have some of the best hand eye coordination and contact skills.

Keith Law notes he has 8 inches of difference on his release point for his slider. Likely why he doesn't get as good of results as you'd expect from his stuff. He's tipping his pitches. If the Twins can get that straightened out and get him to a consistent release point it could be huge for him. Love going after an arm with such high octane stuff and seeing if they can corral it. Huge upside if they can.

The Pirates may trade Paul Skenes, but it won't be until after the 2027 season. His value is too high so there's no deal possible that is mutually beneficial for both organizations until after that point. It's pointless to talk about until then. Paul Skenes is a Pirate for at least 2 more seasons. And there's no reason they can't build their team to a successful one in that time.

Not sure why Chicago would do the Duran for Teel deal. 6 years of Teel is far more valuable to a rebuilding team than 2.5 years of a closer. Unless they think they can spin Duran into more than Teel. In which case I'd prefer the Twins spin him into more than Teel. I'm not a huge Larnach, Lee, or Raya guy, but all 3 for Matthews is WAY too much. The Twins already have Kaelen Culpepper. Don't need to trade 3 guys for the faster, worse hitting version. I'm good trading all 3 of those guys, but that isn't the return I'd want. Do like the idea of moving a bunch of the expiring deals and getting the team faster, just don't think your 2 big deals are the right deals.

If this is who he is moving forward, then that contract is a massive weight around the payroll's neck. If he plays like he did last year before he got hurt, I disagree and I don't think it kills the team. The Twins need players like healthy 2024 Correa. The Twins can afford a contract like his. They can't afford a miss on a contract like his. The longer he goes without anyone saying he's playing through injury this year the more and more concerning it gets that this is who he is now, and that's a major concern. I disagree that it has to equal blowing it all up, though. If you can get somebody to eat most of that deal, I'd do that if I they think this is who he is. But even if they can't, I don't think you have to blow it up. I think you trade anyone who's not part of the future this deadline and give every AB to somebody who may be so they can gain experience and you can learn something about them. Then you trade one of Lopez, Ryan, or Ober (if he comes back and dominates the last 2 months) this offseason for immediate position player help. I think there's moves to be made to better balance the roster for 2026 and 2027. This team has pitching. June got ugly for a while, but I think the overall pitching talent on this team is good enough to compete. I think you can move a little of it to better balance things and give it a go for 2026 before blowing it up.

Oh, for sure. Every prospect has questions until about midway through year 3 and then I'm pretty comfortable calling them established. It's all a guessing game and playing the odds. I just like his odds better than most other prospect's odds. I don't do "blocked." No such thing as "blocked." Mookie Betts wasn't "blocked" by Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts. Jackson Merrill wasn't "blocked" by Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts (man, that got "blocks" a lot of studs), Ha-Seong Kim, Jake Cronenworth, and Fernando Tatis Jr. Who in turn wasn't blocking the Padres from bringing in Bogaerts. Jordan Walker wasn't "blocked" by Nolan Arenado. Carlos Correa wasn't "blocked" from signing with the Mets by Francisco Lindor. Alex Rodriguez wasn't "blocked" by Jeter when he joined the Yanks. Samuel Basallo isn't "blocked" by Adley Rustchman. Dalton Rushing isn't "blocked" by Will Smith. Harry Ford isn't "blocked" by Cal Raleigh. Guys move positions. As much as it makes heads explode around here, it's how things work. Nobody is ever blocked. But I understand that names get mentioned because some fans believe that players get blocked. Agreed. The Twins reluctance to move players in a shifting of the roster is what's holding things back. It's a challenge, and not a simple maneuver to pull off, but one that can be done. There are moves to be made and ways to better balance the roster. Maybe it isn't reluctance, maybe it's a lack of ability to make the moves happen. I don't know. Either way, they aren't doing it and their roster has become too one sided. But the Orioles and Mariners show it isn't as easy as we sometimes make it seem on here. The Twins aren't the only team struggling with this. I don't want to make it sound like I think it's a simple task. But it being challenging doesn't change the results at the end of the day. They've had long enough to establish their team and the results are all that matter now. Challenging or not. Put out better results or they need to get somebody else in there who can.

I don't disagree with that plan. I think we've actually discussed it before. It's why I wouldn't be in any rush to trade Ryan now. That's what I'd do with the rest of 2025, too. And 2026 and 2027 are the target window I'm looking at, too. Or I'd be pushing for a full rebuild and I'd be all over these boards saying they should blow the whole thing up and trade everybody. Part of my 2026 and 2027 plan includes trading one of the arms, though. I'm all for seeing what they have in the system. Gaining data and giving experience. But I think it'd be naive and too much wishful thinking to go into 2026 with only guys currently in the org and more low cost, 1-year vets on the position player side. Seattle has been showing us for years what happens when you have all pitching and no offense. It doesn't work. If Ober comes back and looks like his old self then trade him if you think Lopez and Ryan have to stay. He'd bring a worthy return. If not, it has to be one of Ryan or Lopez. Because you need to bring in more talent on the offensive side to open this window more. Festa, Zebby, and SWR need to be able to step up. The system needs to produce. Or it's all doomed. So, since they need offense from outside the org to help, and they can't afford to add free agent offense. And they need their internal pitching prospects to step up anyways. The only path to truly opening that window for 2026 and 2027 is by trading one of Lopez, Ryan, or Ober. And Ober's name comes off that list if he doesn't come back and dominate. Otherwise, I see no reason to go into 2026 expecting anything other than what we've seen for 2024 and 2025. And if 2026 goes the same way, it's full rebuild time because you can't go into 2027 with all those guys on 1-year deals and this entire wave of prospects already in the bigs. There's no more waiting, in my view. At least 1 tough decision needs to be made before 2026 to better balance this roster.

I'd get the best return I can on the offensive side of things. I think Basallo is an offensive weapon who happens to also be a catcher. He'd be my number 1 target. Rushing I threw in there because I know people around here love to target catching in every trade. Basallo would catch, DH, and play 1B for me if I acquired him. Don't think there's any chance Baltimore trades him, but I'd ask nicely anyways. But, otherwise, yes, we agree. I don't care about position. Get a shortstop if they're the best player. The Twins need offense. And defense. And base running. They need position player talent. The catcher names was just to throw the hounds a bone. I do think Basallo is an answer to multiple Twins questions, though. I think he's an absolute star that I'd start 162 games, including a bunch at catcher.

Making up for that Chris Archer debacle.

No, it wouldn't have. There was a reason the Twins never called him up. Yunior Severino was never that kind of prospect. He was never bringing back a "Joe Ryan like proven major league starter." Major League teams aren't just looking at Fangraphs, sorting by HR leaders and saying "I'll take this guy, he must be good." I mean, sure they could've included him in a package with Brooks Lee and Royce Lewis in 2023 and brought back a proven MLB starter, but Yunior himself wasn't the kind of prospect to front that package. He was never a top 20 system prospect let alone a top 100 prospect. You're comparing him to way different types of prospects. Chase Petty had just been drafted out of high school when he was traded. I don't know what he's going to be, and that trade worked out exactly as the Twins wanted it to, couldn't have asked for more, but it's right on track for the Reds, too. Saying he "finally made his debut" is super misleading. A high school kid making it to the bigs in 4 years isn't bad at all. Not super elite, but not some sort of failing. He's 22 years old. I'm pretty sure the Reds are quite happy with how that trade is trending on their side as well. I don't think they've given up on the 22-year-old after 6 innings in the majors.

I can understand this argument, but the same argument can be made about Jax and Duran closing out games. And Ober providing them with a 3rd playoff starter. Now we've taken out all their truly valuable trade chips and I just don't see a way to truly impact change on the position player side. And, in my opinion, without real change on the position player side you're not competing in 2026 or 2027 anyways and then all you've done is hold onto these guys and get 5 comp picks in return and this org has doomed itself. I'm positive Cleveland fans didn't want to see Francisco Lindor traded. Or Corey Kluber. Tampa fans thought there was no way they could compete without Blake Snell. And then Tyler Glasnow. Milwaukee fans were convinced they were doomed without Corbin Burnes, especially with Brandon Woodruff injured. I get the fear, I really do. I just think you're essentially saying "they've failed to develop any real position player talent so far, but they're going to make it happen in the next 2 years." Unless you see another way to get that side of the team to improve. Which I'm open to, but haven't seen anyone even attempt to suggest how to do it. I reject the idea that trading a singular starting pitcher means it has to be a full rebuild. And if it does actually mean that then I'd argue this team needs a full rebuild because it's 1 injury away from each of the next 2 seasons being completely and utterly destroyed. Whether or not this front office can pull off the right trade is one question, but if you can build a package around a Dalton Rushing or Samuel Basallo type MLB ready catcher plus other pieces I don't see why trading one of these starting pitchers has to destroy this team. They have to get the trade right, and it's never fun trading your studs. But letting all these arms leave for comp picks in 2 years is a far worse outcome than trading one or 2 for way more than comp picks. But the Twins have to be able to develop talent or none of anything works. Festa, Zebby, and SWR have to be able to back fill to some extent. Is Festa figuring it out? If he is, trading Ryan, Lopez, or Ober now or in the offseason is the right move to compete in 2026 and 2027, in my opinion.

FYI Crochet was controlled through 2026 when he was dealt. And he's 26, Joe is 29. Hunter Brown is more valuable than Ryan. I don't think Seattle trades Bryan Woo to MN for Ryan straight up. Or George Kirby. Detroit hangs up on Falvey if he offers Ryan for Jobe straight up. Or Olson. Joe Ryan is not the 2nd most valuable trade asset in the American League. The Tigers have 3 pitchers alone who are more valuable than him. Joe Ryan has never made it through a full season maintaining this kind of performance. I'm not saying the Twins should trade him, but he's not Crochet who was an ace for a full season and is 3 years younger with only "half" a season less control. We need to be more realistic about who Joe Ryan is. As somebody else mentioned earlier in the thread, we need to very much consider that this is an outlier season for Joe. He's never done this for a full season. He's a full 1.4 bWAR ahead of any full season he's ever had already. Again, not saying they should be looking to trade Joe Ryan right now. And he's very valuable. But he's absolutely not the 2nd most valuable trade piece in the American league. Those were just the pitchers I could think of off the top of my head. Ryan is good and valuable, but let's be a little more realistic about who he is. And if this half season has truly vaulted him to the Tarik Skubal stratosphere of trade value, then I change my stance and the Twins should be shopping him hard because he's not that valuable of a player and they'd be selling him for more than he's actually worth and they'd actually have a chance to rebuild this thing while they still have Lopez, Ober, Jax, and Duran under control.