Not trading him during the off season made no sense to me. With the shift gone, it wouldn't have been hard to convince a team to take a shot at him in a trade. Now, he's back to negative value.
MLB: ***2026 Minnesota Twins***
- Thread starter Marcelason78
- Start date
Not a lot but certainly more than the bag of peanuts they got trading Gio.
Frankly, he's been tremendous all year. I don't trust it to last and would love for them to trade him while he is rolling, but if not, he's serving a useful purpose.
He got destroyed having to come in in the third inning against the Red Sox when Maeda got hurt, but other than that he's got a 0.53 ERA in 11 appearances and not just mop up duty. There have been some high leverage situations. Mines that one game, his WHIP would be 0.70 so its not like he's getting in trouble and luckily getting out of it.
He's #2 on the team in WPA for relievers and minus the one game, he'd be #1 by far. He'd be top 20 in the league without that one outing and as it is, comes in at #58, which is really solid.
And to those of you who say its not fair that I throw out his bad game and not everyone elses, I guarantee no one else has a single game that so significantly skews the numbers
I think you are discounting his defensive value. Yeah, he doesn't give you the offense you want from a corner outfielder, but he's never been worse than slightly below average hitter overall and he provides tremendous value on the defense. His worst average WAR in the last 3 years has been 1.8, which isn't lighting the world on fire, but I wouldn't call it bench guy. He's also cheapish. Andrew Benintendi got a 5 year, $75 contract for slightly more offensive productivity and a worse WAR.
That said, they have depth so a trade would be fine, but I certainly would not dump him for anything.
True, he was bad in 2020, but otherwise has been an OK starter.
I agree, and actually thought rather than get a Taylor they could try to get another stick they can play in right and slide Kepler over to CF at times. He’s been fine in CF in my opinion when he plays. But I also thought they’d DH Buck a lot, but not almost exclusively.
And Kepler certainly isn’t terrible by any means, and I’d rather have him than what they would probably get in a trade.
It’s crazy to think in 2019 how awesome he was. He was looking like one of those untouchable guys you build around.
I think he’s said he doesn’t like and won’t play center regularly. I can’t remember where I heard that but I know I heard that awhile back. Might have been from gleeman and the geek.
Really great and needed display of offense over the weekend. Looking at the schedule really up until the All Star break...it's pretty brutal. We play a ton of teams with winning records or division leaders (Toronto, both LA's, Milwaukee, Tampa, Baltimore) and really the only "bad" team in that stretch is another series with KC. If they can get to the break with even around a .500 record, the schedule in the second half is a lot more friendly with several games against teams like the A's and Rockies along with several series against AL Central teams.
There was hope that the rule change with the shift would help Max. It hasn’t. I think it’s time to put Gallo in RF, Larnach in LF, and Kirilloff at FB.
And get Lewis through rehab in the next few weeks and send Gordon packing.
Two or three years ago I thought Max had the potential to be one of my favorite Twins. Him being injured might end up being the end of his meaningful tenure with the team if things play out like what you listed. Disappointing as I really did think the shift rules might help him.
Phil Cuzzi sucks. He also might be reaching Angel Hernandez level of competence as an umpire.
That‘s a tough blown strike call for the Twins with the bases loaded in the 10th.
Down the road a few years, they’ll be allowed to contest that call to see if the computer confirms.
Hottest hitting player on the team at the plate and the ump just handcuffed him. No excuse for that.
I haven't followed the automated/computer ball and strike systems very closely. As a replay/challenge system do they try to be exactly on the edges of the plate and top/bottom of the zone? It seems to me the best system would be to have an umpire calling balls and strikes, but an almost instant replay system that changes a strike to a ball or vise versa if it is an inch or two outside or inside the zone. Basically trying to give recourse for 'blown' calls but not changing calls that are by fractions around the edges.
The 1st pitch that was up and away and is a tough view for an umpire in the slot. You could give Cuzzi some slack on call, but he gave up too early on tracking the pitch and didn't read the catcher's glove on the late tailing of the pitch. The 2nd one was no excuse. He had a complete view of the pitch. He is either really bad or on a power trip to show up AK, or maybe both.
Cuzzi's mechanics are also crappy on the 3rd pitch. He sets up too high with his eye level at AK's shoulders instead of top of the strike zone. He doesn't stop moving his head long enough to accurately process the pitch. Then the biggest issue is that he calls the pitch way too quickly. Good umpires establish a tempo and rhythm that helps them make consistent calls. One of our local UIC's always taught beginning umpires to see the pitch, hear the pitch, call the pitch.
I think the first step MLB will take is to give each team three plate challenges per game. And based on what we’re seeing right now, there is ample opportunity to easily win three per game.
I’d be curious if MLB is currently using the computerized system to grade how the umps are doing. Those consistently missing the strike zone should not be in the big leagues, and at least nowhere near the playoffs
