MN_ExPat

Agree - the best comp is obvious: he’s Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs in The Natural.

Doesn't it always seem to come down to if they can learn to hit an MLB level breaking ball?
That being said, I couldn't be more excited in the present. (And he looks like he is right out of central casting for an MLB star in a movie :)

True… but the team can petition the league for an injury replacement, which the Commish’s office will usually grant. 

There is a reason to keep him and it’s pretty straightforward.  He’s healthy and can chew up a lot of innings down the stretch so more key figures can get rest.  That’s it.
 The rest of the regular season is about getting healthier and lining up the postseason roster and they need filler players to do that. I’m open to the argument that they should get a Martin or something else up to do that but this far down the line it’s not worth the ire of Boras and the clubhouse to cut a struggling .750 OPS player.  100 OPS+ is league average no matter how he got there.
I know it’s not what we would like or do as fantasy GMs but the reality is highly likely he is with us all year.  He probably won’t make the postseason roster but that doesn’t mean he’s not a helper down the stretch.
There’s also the qualifying offer still hanging out there.  I’m fully aware it’s drawing to an inside straight flush but if he gets hot in garbage time he could very easily go into the offseason as a 28-30 homer, .775 OPS guy in a season where he struggled mightily.  There is value there.  I don’t see it happening but I promise it’s a factor.  
 
 

From what I remember reading about Gallo leaving the Yankees, he pretty openly said that it had affected him personally when NY sports media and fans amplified the way he already knew, himself, that he wasn't performing. 
Between that and the context in the Post piece, which speculates "Gallo’s edginess that might not mix well with New York," I would interpret that "edginess" means more "being on edge," and less "has an edge that some teammates don't like." 

Gallo has not been used much lately and as long as the roster position is not needed it just isn't necessary to cut Joey. While I was totally opposed immediately to the signing of Gallo last winter, I'm not seeing any reason right now to DFA Gallo. Maybe things change and his roster spot is needed, but Luplow and a couple of relief pitchers are not really needed either. 
That said, I don't believe there is much call for him to be on a playoff roster.

Gosh. . . the NY media going out of their way to trash a guy that didn't play well for the Yankees?  I'm shocked.  Shocked I say!

I remember when Chris Davis completely lost how to hit major league pitching. At one point he was something like 0-50 to start a season. He was a 'k' machine like Gallo. Fans liked him...to a point, but when it became obvious he was taking up space, the patience wore thin. He used to be a HR machine but that disappeared. His huge contract was a millstone around the O's neck.
Gallo is not a bad guy. But he's not a good hitter. The HR's mask his deficiencies. And there have been very few HR's in the past 2 months...even meaningless ones. This is still a business...to field the best 26-28 ML players available. Don't feel Gallo is one of those 26-28 anymore.

Yeah, the Post. I don’t see him in the same category as Donaldson, so let’s not put him there. He hasn’t the same history. I did read a few things, though, that NY was hard on him mentally, both internally and externally, so perhaps that’s where the perceived prickliness came out with the press but I only heard supportive comments of him from teammates. He just doesn’t have the history Donaldson does, so, as I said, let’s not go there.
That said, it’s going to come down to a choice between Gallo or Luplow. I think Stevenson stays while MAT is out. One of Gallo or Luplow should go and I wonder if Luplow adds more value, even if just a hair.

Alex Kirilloff had another good game in his rehab for the St. Paul Saints, including a go-ahead single in the ninth inning. There have been no reports of health issues and Kirilloff has been on rehab with the Saints since approximately September 1st. It would seem that he is ready to be back with the Twins in time to see major league pitching for a while before the team starts the post season.
With the new rule limiting September rosters to 28 players (14 pitchers), someone will have to be taken off the roster to make room for AK. It would seem there are three choices: 1) Jordan Luplow, who has gotten platoon starts against left handed pitching. He's been unimpressive and does have a minor league option. 2) With fourteen pitchers and a bullpen that is mostly rested right now, the Twins could option a relief pitcher. 3) Joey Gallo plays the same positions as Kirilloff and except going 2-2 with a homer against a position player, only has one hit since his four for four day in Philadelphia. Joey's BA is well below .200 and his OPS is around league average. Gallo hasn't been regularly starting, even against right handed pitching with his usage mostly as a defensive replacement or the league's largest pinch runner.
Gallo can't be optioned, so the club would have to DFA him to make room for Kirilloff. Most of Twins' fan base is ready for Gallo to exit the scene. Gallo plays hard and when he does connect, hits the ball a long way, but I think it's time to say goodbye to Joey and his 43% strikeout rate. I don't know if the Twins front office agrees, but it is past time to move on.

I have the Twins trading or trying to trade Farmer after the season.  They have Lewis who can handle short in a pinch and Castro with Lee likely on the way and all three can bat righty if needed.  I think all three can likely match Farmer's .700 OPS.  With Martin, Severino, Rodriguez and Carmargo likely adds to the 40 man I just don't see room.
Also Martin and Celestino are almost identical players can they afford to have both on the 40 man? Martin would have a full three option years left, appears to have more power and runs as well as Celestino. Moving Celestino would make sense as well if you ask me.
I don't know what they do with Solano.  He is a clutch right handed bat and would be hard to replace.  How long he can keep this up is hard to say but since he doesn't need to play every day maybe the Twins can keep him fresh if they can hang onto him.

I'll correct myself--Fangraphs says that Larnach will still have an option in 2024. That increases his value, both to the Twins and other teams. 

Watched most of Festa's start.  He did have some general trouble finding his locations, particularly with his breaking ball, but he also seemed to have some issues with the automatic K zone.
There was one particular at bat where he threw 4 straight pitches belt high over the plate and ended up with a 4 pitch walk.  He was visibly baffled after that one.  It seemed like he eventually started mostly working at the bottom of the zone, even with his fastball, which is typically more effective at the top of the zone.  I'm still encouraged by how his stuff played when he got it in the zone.
The hitters that spent a lot of time in AAA and the majors have apparently commented on how they learned to just not offer at anything up in AAA since the top of the zone was so different from the typical zone in the majors.  I think there are still some kinks to work out before we see it in the majors.  From my understanding, the zone is determined for each player by taking measurements, but I don't know exactly how this is done.  Presumably they use the rulebook definition while they are in their batting stance, but that seems like it would give hitters a lot of incentive to alter their stance a bit when taking measurements to get a smaller zone.  I think the rulebook probably needs to be changed for an automatic zone, and they have to find a reasonable anatomical marker in standing position that is fair for hitters and pitchers.
Anyway, Lee also had a nice play deep in the hole at short.  He looks like he would be a serviceable SS in the majors, but it'll be interesting to see where he can find a spot next year with Correa and Lewis currently manning the left side.  I think Martin now has to be pretty much a full-time outfielder.  The Twins just have too many better options in AAA and the majors for the infield spots.
 

Very easy - Moran with a forearm strain. IL-60 and Martin's is in. Or if Buxton is totally shut down. A lengthy discussion of this on TD ended with the commissioner basically rubber stamps these post-September moves from within the organization.

For me, it was great to see Paddock has his velocity up.  He was a 95 mph guy in 2021.  Dropped to 93.5 mph last year.  Now it looks like he's already back to 95 - fantastic!  If you step back and squint....there is a pitching pipeline coming through for next year:
1.)  Paddock
2.)  Varland
3.)  Festa
4.)  Enlow
5.)  Canterino
6.)  Raya
7.)  Ohl
8.)  Nowlin
9.)  Lewis
10.)  Culpepper
Plus whatever emerges from our recent draft.  Some of those guys will be competing for starting spots next year and others might be ready to fill in our bullpen.

Ho hum. Just another 2-hit night.  

Paddack cam out of the game with two outs and two runners on base. The relief pitcher gave up a three run home run, which accounted for Paddack's two runs.
Emmanuel Rodriguez is good but still young and prone to giving away at bats with long swings. Exciting prospect for sure.
Michael Helman strikes me as a player that could be useful on a MLB roster. Austin Martin is an athlete, hopefully in CF next year.
Twins Daily does an amazing job with these minor league recaps of the games. If I'm up late I grab the computer specifically to look for the summaries or love to grab a cup of coffee and go directly to the minor league reports early in the morning. 
I have been watching multiple games on milb.com whenever possible. Saints comeback was explosive.
Thank you for the write-ups.

We probably don't say it enough: these MiLB reports are very much appreciated! One think I'd like to see you add at the end, right below the PROSPECT SUMMARY, is a REHAB SUMMARY, and within it include both the day's line and total line since the start of his rehab. It would currently include Kirilloff and Paddack for sure but could also include Buxton, even though his rehab was temporarily halted. Thanks for all you do!

These highlights of Martin in CF seem to show he is really good out there. Now, hopefully he never forgets how many outs there are. Still not counting him out as an add to the 40 man and being on the playoff runner mostly as a pinch runner.

You are correct, other teams now know his batting style, but his fielding is still a Keyston Cops routine.
It does not matter if he makes the play, eventually , the extra time it takes him to throw to first, is all some batters need to beat the throw.
His throws to first need a large First Baseman to stop them from being a wild throw.
In the Post-Season, i hope he is a DH, or replaced during the game when fielding skill counts.

Julien is not an excellent defender and may never be one. However, he has made the plays. He does look stiff and obviously, from the comments from many on TD, he makes some fan nervous when the ball is hit to him. Still, the outs are made and nobody has been safe at first base yet because Julien took too long to throw the ball. His feeds to second base and turns on double plays are shaky as well but, again, the outs are made. Worrying is just wishing for bad luck. I'm hoping that Julien, and several other Twins, improve defensively. In the meantime, I'm watching to see if the outs are made. As rough as Julien has looked, the plays have been made thus far.

I'm not saying Julien is a plus defender but I think when he came up he was worried about making mistakes and thinking too much which is understandable. Now that he has garnered confidence he's free to just react to the ball. All he has to be is an average defender and Julien is good as gold. 

Three bad games out of four?  Big deal.  Just keep in mind that a .300 hitter fails 7 times in every 10 at bats.

Ah, please stop saying his fielding has improved. Are you watching games? Last night Correa had to save him again on a double play because he got his feet tangled up and got the ball out of his glove late. Correa saved it with a rifle throw. He is not improving. Plus now he has had three 3 strike-out games out of the last 4. Teams may be on to him. Maybe another year in St. Paul next year would help.

Good to see Julien's defensive stats improve.  It was mentioned in other TD threads that were ripping him for his defense that he could be our next Corey Koskie and work is butt off on the defensive end to improve.  Now it looks like he has on track for that kind of progress.
The Twins traded Arreaz because they had multiple options, not just Julien, for 2B.  If Julien had busted out, they still had Martin, Lee, Lewis in addition to vets like Polanco, Farmer and Solano for that spot.  Having true depth, allowed the FO to take the risk of moving Arreaz with less downside.
I recommend not trading Julien this off-season.  Let's let him adjust offensively and improve defensively to more accurately gage what we have here.  If he turns out to be a gem, as I suspect, we can keep him or trade him for a front-line starter like we did with Arreaz.