jorgenswest

I also looked at how teams utilized their bench in the AL. The Twins are fourth in using a player of the bench behind Chicago, Seattle and Detroit. Their players off the bench are second in OPS behind the Angels who have used their bench the least. They are fifth I. Stolen bases and tied for first in sacrifice hits. I a, not sure how to measure the impact on defense. There are a handful of players used 40 times off the bench. They all bring defense/speed skills and Myles Straw is among the leaders. Keirsey has been utilized 46 times from the bench. That leads the AL. I also looked to see how many players in each team had started over 100 games. The Royals have 5 players playing nearly every game. Most have at least 3. The only team without a player that has started 100 games is the Twins. Trevor Larnach has 96. Next are Correa and France at 91 so the trade deadline was not a factor in them reaching 100.

So far the best stat I can find to see how the team utilized the entire roster is games started and games subbed. I wondered which AL teams had the most players with significant starts. Teams have played about 112 so I cut it in half to 56 and took off 10% to allow for injury/illness and landed in 50. Royce Lewis has 52 and it seems he should be found in that group. The median for the AL is 9 players with 50 or more starts. There are four teams with more than 9 players. Two with 10 players and two with 12 players. The Rays are of the teams with 12 players. That didn’t surprise me. The other is the Twins.

I will make the assumption that two starts a week isn’t enough for development, if you are a young player getting 2 starts a week you are probably better off getting 5 or 6 starts in AAA. That makes me wonder if there are any teams making sure every player routinely gets 3 starts a week. I want to look at that model and roster construction. Is it heavy in platoon? If it is platoon do the left handed bats rarely get opportunities against left handed pitching? Are there a lot of players with positional flexibility? I want to see if it has led to success. In my search it would help if I had the metric “no appearance” so I would have three data points. I need games started, games off bench, and no appearance.

If it were Eeles instead of Fitzgerald I would be in on the development. If development gets a higher priority then the roster needs to match that goal. It doesn’t.

I have watched and am very aware that I have no idea. I remembered the wrong AAA pitcher praising his work behind the plate. It was Ohl after his July 10 performance. My optimism comes from Ohl’s comments. They are much more valuable to me than my eyes watching on TV.

We differ on Fitzgerald. No upside and decline will come soon. I would start Lee almost every game. He may not be a starting shortstop and they will need to fix that this winter. I am only interested in Gasper as a second catcher. Raya had great things to say about him behind the plate earlier this year otherwise I would join you in my skepticism.

@Riverbrian I don’t think I am with you here. He doesn’t control who is on the roster and right now there aren’t 13 players to develop. The four players Fangraphs list on the bench are 28 or over. Vazquez is 35. Fitzgerald at 31. I get that he is on the roster because they traded Correa and Castro and ran out of shortstops. I would rather Lee get every game there. Gasper is nearly 30. If they think they can develop him at catcher I am in. Give him two starts a week. Otherwise I want the opportunities at 1B, 2B and DH to go to others. The next guy on the bench is Keirsey. In the last 6 games he has started 3 and subbed in the other 2. My letter would go to Mr. Falvey or possibly Mr. Pohlad. I would wonder how long Vázquez, Fitzgerald, Ramirez, Tonkin, Topa and Urẽna will be in the roster. As for now I want to maximize the playing time for Martin, Clemens, Lewis, Lee, Roden, Wallner and even Julien. Should Martin, Clemens, Roden and Julien be counted on for a roster spot next year? Can Lee, Lewis and Wallner be counted on the starters next year? Can Gasper be a number 2 catcher?

Early in the week when there were rumors of at least 13 different Twins being moved. I didn’t think it was possible to do a good job of having conversations about that many players. I know the staff is big enough to handle all the calls but each negotiation must take several back and forths. I said then that they should focus on getting the best return for the 6 expiring contracts. Probably didn’t happen. Time to move on. Go Twins.

Nice win. Good use of Keirsey. I like the decision to bunt. Perfect execution by Clemens. Erasmo for the save. Battle on.

Another competitive game. I don’t see any tanking by anyone in the dugout. Deadline day hit me hard but it am not going to waste any more energy on it. It is a new day to battle and the men in the dugout appear to be battling.

If this is what it took to put the Pohlad’s in positions to seek the team I get the plan. They will need to rebuild the relief core but all of the guys they traded were inexpensive additions. They may have a trio of very good relievers among the many young starters. They can add a better bat than Correa’s with the savings in his contract. This plan works if… the team is reported to be sold before the end of the season so the new owners can give Falvey a direction forward the Correa savings are reinvested in the offense for multiple years as opposed to the one year team friendly veteran deals offered to several. That probably is best done by trade. The pitchers and catchers acquired in this deal and meet or exceed their future value. Some of the starters might find their way to late innings in the pen. I see that in Bradley. Does Falvey need to explain? Yes. It doesn’t need to happen though until the Pohlad’s are on their way out and we have new owners waiting on league approval. He is going to have to speak carefully until that deal is done. I am sure the Pohlad’s directed this tear down.

Thanks @Brock Beauchamp Both of these players have a reasonable shot at having a significant career. It doesn’t matter how they arrived on the Twins and whether I like the trade. They are Twins now and Roden is getting an opportunity that he wasn’t getting with the Jays. Maybe in a few years JaysCentre will be wondering how they could let Roden like we wonder about Rooker.

Deep breath and trying to be optimistic Bradley hasn’t been tried in relief. Maybe he will follow the path of Varland and Jax. Rojas has really strong strikeout and walk rates in the minors and is a lefty. Outman has very strong exit velocities that are not a match for his .105 and .208 BABiPs in the last two seasons. He is a solid outfielder even in center field. Abel has the arm talent to be a playoff caliber starter or maybe a high quality late inning reliever. Mendez at 21 in AA has some really good bat to ball skills Gallagher in AA at 22 adds another good arm to the system Roden has always hit well in the minors Tait will stick at catcher. His caught stealing number are fine. He is 18 and in high A with a good bat. He will be the long term solution at catcher. Horn has a lot of left handed arm talent as he works back from Tommy John. Jimenez can be that #2 defense first catcher behind Tiat long term. Villoria at 16 was a recent international signing. He was third I. Their list of signing bonus money. The new owners have an opportunity to take that savings on the Correa contract and invest in a better bat than Correa. It could be through free agency but the best road is in trade this off season from the prospect capital. Maybe it is a trade for and extend of bat nearing the end of their control.

Competitive game of baseball. I appreciate the players that made it possible. I am not going to slam any of these men who have worked so hard to get here. They just need to fight and play competitively every day. I think Baldelli put out the best players he had and the players are playing for their future. That’s not tanking. I have no interest in competing for a draft spot. There are two months of baseball left. Those games matter. Keep battling. They Pohlad’s stopped fighting to win in 2023. They hurt this franchise and community with every day that they remain. I have no respect for people that won’t battle.

We have to do better than equating people to scrap. Ramirez and Urena have fought hard to be in the majors. They have stuck through it moving their families so many times. They have fought through injuries to continue to pursue this dream. I hope they seize this opportunity.

Yesterday was a rough day for me. I have been fighting cancer for 5 years and this spring it had metastasized. I continue to fight every day. Up at 4:30 to do my stretch, strength and balance work followed by a 5 mile run. With that fight I feel pretty good and have a high energy level in spite of all the meds. Baseball helps keep me going. There are still many more games ahead of me and they matter so much more than a championship. That final Twins trade of Varland set off a trigger in me. We had Varland through 2030. While at a large family gathering as the news kept rolling that 2030 hit hard. The odds are against me that I will be around in 2030. Thinking of the Twins led me to thinking of my first grandchild due in January. I can handle missing the next championship but I got pretty choked at the thought of what I will miss with my granddaughter. Byron, Ryan, Kody, Royce, Matt, Trevor, Brooks, Christian, DeShawn, Joe, Pablo, Bailey, Simeon, David, Zebby, Cole and Justin I appreciate your fight. No one can make it to the major leagues without fighting everyday. You have fought through slumps. You have fought through injury. We will need your fight more than ever now. To the rest putting on that Twins uniform. I appreciate you. You have fought hard for this opportunity. Use this opportunity to make your mark in the major leagues. Fight to get better every day. Mr. Falvey and Mr. Baldelli I need you to put up a fight. Make every day matter. Make every game matter. I am counting on you. To the Pohlad’s, you have stopped fighting. This is a concept that I can’t grasp. Every day I wake up excited to take on the day and fight for the next. You wake up every day as owners of a Major League Baseball team. How can you not be driven to fight for their success? I don’t get it. I do appreciate what Carl did for this franchise and what your family did for the community but you have stopped fighting. Please step aside and let someone else lead this franchise. We need a fighter because every day and every game matters. I will be watching.

If there is a perspective owner they must have approved of every trade today,

Outman will be too old by the time they are competitive again and block players who need to be playing before then. Hopefully they can trade him today and get a lottery ticket that has a chance to help in 2030. Cash would have been a better return. They need to lose with the young players.

I really believe there is a huge difference between a #3 prospect and number #56. The #56 is closer to the #300 than number in value. Players with that elite prospect status rarely get traded. Elite players with three or more years of service time rarely get traded.the A’s and Padres found that match.

The A’s outplayed the Twins. After Clase dropped out there were two closers left. The A’s got the number 3 prospect. If the Twins stand steady with their demands they would get a better return. As @Mike Sixel suggests I don’t think they get the number 3 prospect. Can they get Salas though who is the #2 catcher and should be ready next year? If the Padres are willing to give up the number three prospect I think they are willing to give up the prospects behind him. If that Padres Miller deal happen and Duran is the only one left do the Phillies give up Painter? I don’t see how this an be viewed as any thing but a failure. Maybe the Twins are smarter than everyone and Abel is ready to join Ryan and Lopez as playoff caliber starters next year while Tait is ready to start in 2027.

Any prospective owner should be really upset at the Duran deal. I don’t want the owner who is not upset. I want one that was going to add for 26 and 27. Now the first task is to add to the top of the bullpen. Jax is too old to be counted on and Varland is the guy you would need on the put out the fire role. He has been as important as Duran coming in with runners in scoring position later in games. They need him in that role.

Don’t disagree. I think the two year value went down to what they received today. It wasn’t enough. Players with three years control don’t get moved at the deadline because they are too expensive. They get moved when teams take less than they are worth. If the Twins are looking for relief help next year and they aren’t getting significant help from these two they won’t get a Duran back in trade. It is easy to trade a Duran. It is very hard to acquire one.

Fine. No deal. Tait needs to be a Jeffers level starter in 27 or they should have traded with someone else.

I know they could get a B deal next year and keep Duran. If the argument is he might get injured then they might as well trade any playoff caliber player because they might be injured in the future.

They caved. There was a report that the Phillies were out because the Twins insisted on Painter. The Twins had the leverage. They did not need to trade Duran unless they were blown away. They didn’t get the catcher they need for 27. They didn’t get a starter that projects to be playoff level in 26 or 27. If you deal Duran for this much control the grade should be an A. If it is not an A grade it is an F. Absolute failure. The only way this is a good deal is when Abel is above league average and playoff quality starter next year and Tait is ready to replace Jeffers when he hits free agency in 27. When that happens I will be back to eat crow. Until then it is a failure.