Ted Schwerzler

Through the beginning of the 2016 Major League Baseball season, the Minnesota Twins were the worst team in baseball. Paul Molitor's club lost their first nine games, and they were competing on a nightly basis with the Atlanta Braves to see who could pile up losses at a faster pace. Over the past 62 games though, the Twins have looked like a much better representation of what should have happened this season. Out of the gates, things were bad for the Twins. Through the end of June, Minnesota owned a -112 run differential and an ugly 25-53 record. It wasn't a much better situation than their 11-34 start through the initial 45 games of the season. A team that was expected to be carried by youngsters and supplemented by veterans had fallen flat in every imaginable way. Recently though, a significant corner has been turned. Sure, over the past few days in Cleveland, the Twins have set the world on fire. They've scored double-digit runs in three straight games for the first time dating back to 2010. Despite facing one of the best pitching teams in the big leagues, Minnesota has made waves with offense. It's not tied completely to the output in Cleveland though. Across their past 62 games, Paul Molitor's club has played what breaks down to .500 baseball. They are 32-30 in that span, and have been even better of late. Since July, Minnesota owns an 18-11 record and has outscored opponents by 44 runs. The turnaround has been drastic, but it's been more indicative of what should have been expected from the get go. Sure, Brian Dozier hitting over .300 since June 1 is probably something nobody saw coming. Max Kepler was expected to be a solid contributor, heck I called him a dark horse for the American League Rookie of the Year, but what he's doing now far surpasses those expectations. While the script has been completely flipped, it's the sum of those parts that lands somewhere that it really should be. Coming into the season, Minnesota was seen by many around Twins Territory as a potential playoff team. After making a late season run a year ago that was masked somewhat substantially by luck, the playoffs as a possibility may have been a fools errand from the get go. More realistically, this group could've been cast as a competitive club that hung right around the .500 mark for most of the season. The AL Central didn't have anybody that was seemingly going to light the world on fire, and Molitor's group could settle in somewhere in the middle. After getting off to such a poor start, the hole this team dug itself was substantial. If for no other reason, the struggle costing Terry Ryan his job was a necessary evil. The organization needs to clean house and build differently for the future. That being said, continuing at a blistering pace (as has been the case over the past month or so), is less important that simply staying the course. Should the Twins be able to finish out the final two months of the season playing competitive baseball and toeing the .500 line, you can look back at 2016 as a significantly different season than it appeared destined to be. While not at all where the club wants to be right now, there's a lot less negativity at this point than there was just a matter of weeks ago. In short, this Twins club is much more the team it was the past 62 games than it was the first 45. What remains over the course of the final 55 is yet to be determined, but continuing to fall somewhere in the middle ground is a pretty good bet. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

Kepler just really lets his bat run into the ball and it flies. He's not going to hit the 35+ he's on pace for over 162, but yeah, a 20 HR guy consistently is absolutely fair. Rosario still needs to refine his approach to me if he's going to be a lineup regular.

When looking at the 2016 Minnesota Twins, there's been plenty to be down about. The majority of the season has been spent in the cellar, and the club has failed to live up to its lofty expectations. Now in August though, the biggest storyline of late for this group is the emergence of Max Kepler. The German born prospect has burst onto the scene, and his power has been on full display. The question though is whether or not it should have been expected. Kepler was signed by the Twins as an amateur free agent and debuted in the organization at the age of 17 in the 2010 season. He played three seasons at the rookie level before heading to Cedar Rapids in 2013. At the end of 2015, Kepler made his major league debut with the Twins, and was considered to be a semi-regular contributor for Paul Molitor's team this season. Throughout his minor league tenure though, he flashed speed and positional flexibility. He displayed gap power, but had never hit more than 10 home runs in a single season (back in 2012 for Elizabethton). Looking back at some of Kepler's scouting grades as displayed by Fangraphs, there's plenty of room for the ceiling to be raised. On the 20-80 scouting scale, Kepler was seen as just a 45 future value player. His game power was graded out to top out at 50, in line with his raw power. Kepler has above average speed, but was always expected to play on the corners more than up the middle in the outfield. Fast forward to where we are now, and it's looking like a re-evaluation may be needed. Through 63 games with the Twins this season, Kepler owns a .903 OPS and has hit 15 home runs. Using ISO (which measures raw power by excluding singles), Kepler's .302 mark (had he qualified) is good enough for 3rd in the major leagues behind only David Ortiz (.319) and Jake Lamb (.305). What Kepler is doing though in hitting home runs, isn't a vastly different from his typical approach. At the plate, Kepler has hit for average at nearly every level in his big league career. His swing plane and quick hands allow him to get the bat head to the baseball, and then drive through the hitting zone at an accelerated pace. He can cover the inside of the plate, while sitting back on pitches and going the other was as well. As a whole, Kepler's approach has been conducive to gap power throughout his career, but more could have always been predicted. In the minor leagues, Kepler was doing most of the work. Although he'd face pitchers throwing in the mid to high 90s at times, that's typically not the norm. At contact point, it was Kepler's swing and bat providing most of the reaction force and energy put into the baseball. Now at the big league level, his quick hands still getting to the baseball, are meeting pitches in the mid 90s on a regular basis, and the result are balls put in play at a significantly harder speed. To further illustrate exactly what I'm explaining, we need to look no further than the launch angles of Max Kepler's home runs. Over the course of his 15 home runs hit during 2016, Kepler has hit just three home runs with a launch angle over 30 degrees. With 12 of his home runs coming in at launch angles below 30 degrees, he's also parked three dingers that have had launch angles below 20 degrees. What that tells us is that Kepler's point of contact cuts the ball in half, providing a more powerful line drive result as opposed to a looping longball. On top of his launch angle, Kepler's exit velocity numbers have been indicative of a line drive swing as well. Seven of his 15 homers have been hit with exit velocities over 100 miles per hour, with three of them clocking in at 105+. Looking at his production as a whole, Kepler has put 160 balls in play this season. 23 of them have had exit velocities over 105 mph, and he's yet to fly out on a single one of those occasions. When expanding the exit velocity to at least 100 mph, Kepler has hit 28% (44-160) of his batted balls at that speed. With 40.6% of his batted balls put in play with "hard" contact, Max Kepler ranks 24th among MLB hitters with at least 160 plate appearances. In the American League alone, that number ranks him 8th. Despite just a 15.8% line drive rate, Kepler has hit fly balls just 39.2% of the time, and 24.2% of the time those fly balls turn into home runs. Once again, his power reflects a compact and powerful swing that uses what effort pitchers put forth and translates it into results. At the end of the day, Max Kepler has been everything the Twins could have hoped for and more this season. His 15 home runs through 63 games give him a 39 HR/162 average. That's probably an unrealistic total to expect. What isn't unfair though, is to assume that if Kepler is able to repeat his consistent swing process while replicating his hand path and swing plane, plenty of consistently hard contact will be made. As we've seen thus far in 2016, that can lead to results that plenty likely would have considered out of reach. Max Kepler is dropping bombs all over major league ballparks right now, and if he continues to make contact as he has, you'd be foolish to bet on that ceasing any time soon. Please check out the article with full graphs over at Off The Baggy. Follow @tlschwerz

It's been a unconventional season for the Minnesota Twins second basemen. While the club raced out to the worst record in the major leagues, it was Brian Dozier that was struggling right along with the majority of the group. Typically know to fade down the stretch, Dozier's bat didn't seem to ever make the transition to games that counted. Now he's turned a massive corner, but there's more to the narrative than the offensive production. Trying to overstate just how bad Dozier was for the Twins out of the gate it probably a fools errand. He was batting .191 to end the season's first month, and in the lead up to his eventual benching following the May 22nd game, he was batting a dismal .199/.284/.318. Paul Molitor sat Dozier down for the next two games, the final of which he made a late inning appearance in. There were calls for him to head back to Rochester (although never realistic), and patience had grown thin. It was there though that Dozier appeared to have turned a corner. Returning to the Twins lineup in his normal role on May 25, Dozier has since started all 60 of the games he's played in. Across that time, he's slashed .296/.367/.587 with 16 doubles, three triples, and 15 homers. With an OPS of .954 over the past two months, Dozier has been one of the Twins and baseball's most impressive hitters. Lost in all of the offensive production is just how drastic the disciplinary change Dozier has made at the plate has been. A season ago, Dozier set the Minnesota Twins single season record for strikeouts with 148. He'd never fanned more than 129 times in a season, and his 61 walks in 2015 were a significant drop-off from the 89 totaled just a season prior. This year though, Dozier has turned a corner in both departments. Through 105 games (playing in 100) Dozier has struck out on 73 occasions while walking 41 times. That puts him on pace to fan just 113 times (a career best), and draw 63 walks. The change in plate discipline has lent itself to a heightened level of productivity for the Twins second basemen. He's currently enjoying a career best .257 batting average while producing an .817 OPS, another career mark. Even with his troublesome mark, Dozier's improvements are evident in the numbers supporting the output. He's swinging and missing just 7.7% of the time (down from 9.0% in 2015), and he's chasing out of the zone just 27.7% of the time (just off of his 27.6% career mark set in 2014). At his core, Brian Dozier has an always will be a dead pull hitter. He sells out to generate power, and he's made a career out of it. In 2016, he's generating a career best 29.9% hard hit rate, while using the middle of the field 32.2% of the time (his highest since 2013). Although his spray chart is essentially a reflection of his career output, the ability to wait pitchers out, not swing and miss, and get his pitch has translated into a resurgence that could not have been predicted. I've been all over the place trying to figure Dozier out this season. The numbers early said to wait it out, while I wondered if his approach had become an all out sellout, and that he might be cooked. As the dust begins to settle though, it appeared all Dozier needed was for his approach to translate into results. Expecting a career .242 hitter to continue plugging away at a near .300 pace might be a tough ask. Right now though, Dozier has produced a 2.6 fWAR to lead the Twins, and is on pace to turn in his second best season as a big leaguer (behind only his All Star season). Should Dozier continue to show a greater plate discipline, he'll find himself with plenty of opportunities to get his pitch, and you can bet he'll deposit it into the left field bleachers more often than not. The production numbers have been great for the Twins two-bagger, but it's also been fun to see a big leaguer make the adjustment to dictate at bats, and force pitchers to make mistakes. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

The dust has settled and the Minnesota Twins have wrapped up the 2016 Major League Baseball trade deadline. In total, the interim GM Rob Antony made three moves, two of which were completed on the final day. First and foremost, the Twins flipped 2016 "All Star" Eduardo Nunez to the San Francisco Giants for Adalberto Mejia. Nunez was playing well above expectations this season for the Twins and needed to be moved. He fits as a utility guy on a winning team, and that's what the Twins were able to do with him. In getting Mejia back, the club picked up a top 100 prospect. That's something that would never have been expected to start the year, but the sellers have been doing well for themselves this season. On deadline day, Antony started out by dealing one of three players I opined were "must move" types. Fernando Abad was a shrewd pickup by former GM Terry Ryan, and had played himself into an ideal situation for Minnesota. Owning a sub 3.00 ERA and dominating lefties on the year, he gets to head to a playoff team and be a solid left-handed option for them. In return, the Twins get a guy they drafted back in 2009. Pat Light throws nearly 100 mph and has strikeout stuff. Unfortunately his control has been pretty awful, but he could show up in the Twins pen as early as 2016. Then there was the biggest move of the day for Minnesota. After being linked to the Los Angeles Angels all winter regarding Trevor Plouffe, the two clubs finally worked out a deal. This one however was focused solely around pitchers. The Twins shed Ricky Nolasco and his ugly contract, but had to throw in former top prospect Alex Meyer as well. In return, they get major league starter Hector Santiago, and Triple-A reliever Alan Busenitz. On the surface, I really dislike the final trade. Nolasco has been horrible for the Twins, and getting rid of his contract is a big plus. However, I still am of the belief that Alex Meyer has been poorly handled by the Twins and has more ability than he's been given the opportunity to show. Regardless, Hector Santiago is a nice parting gift from the Angels, and is a decent back end big league starter. He gives up way too many homers, but he's also got peripherals that are better together than what Nolasco has offered Minnesota. If the Angels are able to fix Meyer, which requires him being healthy and consistent, than this trade could look pretty bad. It's been met with a ton of praise in the twittersphere, and shedding Nolasco's contract is the big reason for that. At this point, it appeared Meyer wasn't going to get a shot with the Twins long term anyways, so I can work through my own demons in accepting the deal. To wrap up what the Twins did, we have to touch on the two pieces that were on my "must move" list and stayed put. Both Kurt Suzuki and Brandon Kintzler had little to no value for Minnesota now or going forward, and Antony failed to capitalize on that. Suzuki is a free agent at season's end, and being one of the hottest hitting catchers, should have been dealt for any return possible. Removing Kintzler from the 25 man would've given Minnesota the opportunity to promote Chargois, and now it appears that will have to wait. At the end of the day, Rob Antony's first (and likely only) trade deadline is going to draw positive reviews from most. I'll consider myself in the lukewarm to positive group. I'm glad the Twins moved Nunez and Abad, but think it's a pretty big miss not to unload both Suzuki and Kintzler. I can get behind the Nolasco deal if Meyer is really cooked, but can't yet bring myself to believe that. If this is Antony's one audition in doing this thing for real, he didn't take any steps backwards. His returns were about as expected in the sellers market. Regardless, the landscape for the Twins going forward is a very mediocre team that needs to see what it has for the year ahead. Continue to promote from within, and get those you're going to rely on a year from now ready. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

The Minnesota Twins have taken their lumps for the majority of the 2016 Major League Baseball season. Racing towards 100 loses, the results have been anything but favorable for Paul Molitor's club. There have been some individual bright spots though, and one of the quietest comes in the form of first basemen Kennys Vargas. After Byung Ho Park was signed over the offseason, the Twins logjam at first base and designated hitter only got more complicated. Miguel Sano, Joe Mauer, and Park all presented moths to feed. After Park struggled and was sent packing to Triple-A Rochester, it was Vargas who took over in the interim. What's happened since however, is that Kennys Vargas has grabbed the job with a stranglehold, and appears determined to keep it. Looking at expectations of Vargas, I've long considered him a bench bat. He's a mediocre first basemen, and his swing and miss tendencies have never looked like they'll equate to a guy who can get on base. Surprisingly though, Vargas has bucked that trend this season. Now, let's preface all of this with the fact that Vargas' time with the Twins in 2016 has totaled an 18 game sample size. However, those 18 games have been significantly better than anything we've seen from him before. To set the stage, here's his first 18 games at the big league level each of the past three seasons: 2014: .292 3 HR 19/3 K/BB 2015: .194 1 HR 21/5 K/BB 2016: .333 4 HR 18/13 K/BB Power and average numbers aside, the final ratio is of the utmost importance. In his time with the Twins this season, Vargas has displayed a level of plate discipline that we've yet to see from him. He's striking out in 24.3% of the time this season, which is a new career best, but his walk rate has been incredible. After walking just 5.1% of the time in 2014, and 4.9% a year ago, he's currently walking 17.6% of the time in 2016. That number is in line with what he's done at Triple-A, and would no doubt help to bolster all of his production at the big league level. Then there's how he is putting the ball in play. Prior to this season, Vargas' hard hit percentage has topped out at 30.8%. He's also never had a HR/FB rate better than 17.9%. In 2016, he's making hard contact 44.2% of the time while his fly balls are leaving the yard 22.2% of the time. Both are career highs and significant jumps from where he has been previously. Now, there's some reason to believe that this all may be a mirage. First and foremost, it's an 18 game sample size. Secondly though, Vargas is currently enjoying the fruits of a .410 BABIP. That level of production isn't realistic to sustain, but the secondary numbers suggest that Vargas could continue to be an asset. If he's going to work counts, draw walks, and demolish baseballs when putting them in the field of play, his average will continue to be well above where it has been previously. At the end of the day, Kennys Vargas' opportunity came at the expense of Byung Ho Park being sent to Triple-A. Right now, Park is mashing for Rochester and is begging for a call up. As long as Vargas is producing though, the Twins are going to be hard pressed to remove him from the lineup. With him being out of options a year from now, it's important that he continue to show value in every chance he gets. Hopefully the next 18 games are as good as the first 18 have been for Kennys. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

It's July 2016 and there's a significant contingent of people that are willing to describe Eduardo Nunez first and foremost as an All Star. They aren't wrong, but it's also far from indicative as to what kind of baseball player he is. Somehow though, in his first move as Interim General Manager of the Minnesota Twins, Rob Antony turned that phrase (and Nunez), into a top 100 prospect prior to the August 1 trade deadline. The San Francisco Giants were looking for a utility player that could fill in at third base while Matt Duffy is coming back from an injury. Passing up on the likes of Steve Pearce (who has played just 12 MLB games at the hot corner) the Giants landed on Nunez. By definition, they landed an All Star, but it's hard not to be excited about how the Twins orchestrated this maneuver. An All Star for no other reason than the mandatory Major League Baseball rule that every team have a representative at the mid-summer classic, Nunez has been worth just 1.6 fWAR on the season. He's hit well above his career average, but his line since June 1st equates to a paltry .680 OPS. Despite an incredibly strong start, Nunez has regressed back towards his career average, and really, he's sunk below even that. Defensively, the hope is that Nunez can fill in for the Giants while they nurse guys back from injury, and then turn into a super utility role. As a regular, he's far from reliable. Nunez doesn't have a single infield position in which he hasn't tallied a negative defensive runs saved mark over his career. His defense in fact, is simply why he's been cast as little more than a bench bat and utility player for the bulk of his time in the majors. At 29 years old, and with his best moments likely behind him, Nunez was never going to be a part of the Twins future. His value to the club had run it's course, and the best thing to do was clear way for more effective additions to the 25 man roster. The thought was opening up a spot for a player such as Jorge Polanco, no matter what the return, makes moving Nunez a win. Rob Antony did better than that though. In a situation where he could have been happy with a warm body or a bag of balls, Antony turned Nunez into a top 100 prospect. Adalberto Mejia was recently ranked as the 91st best prospect in baseball by Baseball America. He was graded out as the Giants 7th best prospect by MLB Pipeline, and he's supposedly got a three pitch mix that should equate into a back end of the rotation starter. There's potential that he reaches the big leagues this year, and even if he doesn't expecting Mejia to compete for a 2017 rotation spot seems more than plausible. I had long suggested that Nunez belonged as a utility player on a winning team. He was a luxury that the Twins didn't need, nor did they have room for. Destined for at least 90 losses, a mediocre utility player that parlayed a good couple of months into an All Star appearance is not a necessity. With future pieces being held back, removing Nunez from the 25 man was an absolute must. Sometimes the benefit of a trade is simply clearing space, and Minnesota could've been happy accomplishing just that in dealing their helmet-losing utility man. Instead, allowing Nunez to paint himself into a top 100 prospect with some project ability, this looks about as good as it can get for Antony and the Twins. Now the question becomes, who's next. Fernando Abad and Brandon Kintzler both fit similar molds to Nunez. Neither are future pieces, and there's relief arms ready. Moving them to open the roster up needs to be a priority, but if Antony can spin anymore value there, well then it wouldn't be the first time right? For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

Absolutely. I think lower ceiling than the group, but yeah, I'd have him and Wimmers up in short order.

September would be waiting vastly too long in my opinion. Boshers, Abad, and Kintzler do nothing for this club a year from now. Also don't get how you exclude Reed when he's clearly a large part of that group as well. Burdi is in the group, but needs to get healthy. Wimmers should be up this year. Bard is a nice piece, but he's been mediocre down at High-A and is well advanced age wise there. There's other names in front of his.

A season ago, the Minnesota Twins had one of the worst bullpens in baseball. Just narrowly missing out on the playoffs, a better relief corps could have been enough to get them over the hump. This season there were some holdovers and some dart throws to the pen, but no player has been more important, both in reality and principle, than Taylor Rogers. Rogers, a 25 year old rookie, has now pitched 35.1 innings for Paul Molitor's club. An 11th round draft pick out of Kentucky in the 2012 Major League Baseball draft, Rogers went from minor league starter to big league reliever. Posting strong numbers at Double and Triple-A the past two seasons, Rogers looked deserving of a chance, but one that likely was destined to come in the pen. If there's been something that's held true over his minor league career, it's been a level of consistency from Rogers. At Double-A New Britain in 2014, Rogers posted a 7.0 K/9 with a 2.3 BB/9 to total a 3.29 ERA. He followed that up a season ago with Triple-A Rochester to the tune of a 6.5 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, and a 3.98 ERA. Although nothing necessarily stood out as dominant, it was apparent that Rogers had honed his stuff to the level that he was able to compete as he rose the organization ladder. In reaching the big leagues though, it's in the pen that Rogers has taken a step forward. Generally, pitchers will watch their numbers play up in relief. Being able to throw harder for a shorter period of time, the results generally improve. I've pegged Rogers as a solid relief option for the Twins for a while now, and through this season, he's made good on that bet. Thus far, the former Wildcat owns a 2.80 ERA and has pushed his strikeout rate to 9.2 per 9 while decreasing his walk total to just 1.3 BB/9. in the midst of his impressive big league performance, Rogers owned a 16.0 scoreless inning streak, and struck out 18 while walking just one over that time frame. To summarize, Taylor Rogers has been nothing short of exceptional for the Twins. As I mentioned earlier though, Rogers signifies more than just a success story for Minnesota. He's part of a bigger puzzle piece that both Paul Molitor and the organization have to be willing to rely upon. Taylor Rogers is a product of development with the Twins, and one that has resulted in a quality relief arm. The reality is that there are significantly more on the way, but none that are being given the same belief or opportunity. Just a level down, the Twins have J.T. Chargois dominating Triple-A. He was the lone organizational representative in the Futures Game, and he has the makings of a future closer. Through 100 games on the season, Minnesota has allowed Chargois just two big league outs. Despite owning a 1.12 ERA with an 11.0 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 at Rochester, Chargois opportunities has yet to be recalled. Another level down, Trevor Hildenberger, Zack Jones, and Jake Reed are experiencing similar success at Double-A Chattanooga. Working as the closer, Hildenberger owns a 0.70 ERA, has tallied 16 saves, and is striking out more than 10 per nine innings. Jones, now healthy after returning from the Brewers organization following a Rule 5 selection, owns a 1.26 ERA through 14.1 IP. His 10+ K/9 has also played well in the Southern League. Rounding out the group, Reed owns a 3.88 ERA, that has been a 2.54 ERA across his last 28.1 IP. In totality, the three of them have consistently outperformed the competition of their current level. If Rogers has taught the Twins anything, it's that they need to trust their own process (or part of it). Minnesota has failed to develop a quality starter for quite some time now (here's to hoping Jose Berrios breaks that trend), but the relief options have been promising. Michael Tonkin was underutilized a season ago, but didn't have the ceiling of any of the aforementioned names either. Now though, with a bad team and mediocre pen, it's time to promote more of those from the lineage of Rogers. There's no reason Hildenberger, Jones, and Reed aren't at Triple-A. There's reason to suggest that they could even make the leap to the big league level at this point. Chargois should be up and given run as well. Through 100 games, the Twins haven't been very good, and the ship isn't going to be turned around. A season from now though, it's these names that should anchor what could be a pen comprised of arms with much higher ceilings, and getting them situated now makes way too much sense. Minnesota had some nice hits on players like Buddy Boshers, Fernando Abad, and Brandon Kintzler, but they mean little going forward. It's time to trust the process that Taylor Rogers is proving has worked, and take off the training wheels hitched to some very projectable pieces that will be incredibly valuable in the years ahead. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

Yeah it's a big jump, but I'm not sure you can trust JRM to be capable right now.

It's been widely known since the beginning of the 2016 Major League Baseball season that this would be David Ortiz's last. No, not because he went on a city tour a la Kobe Bryant or Derek Jeter. Instead, simply because Ortiz suggested he'd hand them up. Recently, he wrote a piece on The Player's Tribune thanking Minnesota, where it all began. Really though, it's Minnesota that should be thanking him. You see, without David Ortiz, the Minnesota Twins and Major League Baseball would look vastly different. And for the most part, the argument should be for the worse. David Ortiz played 455 games in a Twins uniform. He owned an uninspiring .266/.348/.461 slash line and totaled just 58 homers in that time span. To summarize, Ortiz's time with the Twins was about as lackluster as the stadium the ball club played in. Then it happened, Terry Ryan's worst mistake as General Manager of the Twins. He let David Ortiz go. Ortiz went on to finish 5th in the MVP voting the next season for the Boston Red Sox. To date, he owns a .290/.386/.571 line with Boston. He's amassed 469 homers, over 2,000 hits, nearly 1,500 RBI, and he's currently leading the league in doubles, slugging, and OPS at the age of 40. Everything David Ortiz has done for the Red Sox has trumped his time in Minnesota. But then there's this. David Ortiz provided more to the Twins, and baseball as a whole, than can be quantified in a stat column. For Minnesota, he became the black eye that some franchises need. After Terry Ryan had made that grave mistake, it was allowed to haunt Minnesota for years to come. Even now in 2016, Ortiz's name is brought up nearly every time a young player is DFA'd. Most recently, Oswaldo Arcia was given this treatment. Something along the lines of not wanting a guy to become "the next David Ortiz" is normally muttered around Twins Territory, and it no doubt causes pause within the front office as well. If it takes a massive mistake to make a group of people think twice, well then that's what Ortiz did for the collection of Twins front office personnel. Then there's what he did for baseball. When he came to Minnesota, he was known as David Arias. Eventually becoming David Ortiz, and more importantly Big Papi, Ortiz had a flair for the dramatic. Creator of majestic long balls and booming home runs, he was everything the sport needed. Whether or not you want to tie PEDs to Ortiz, the fact remains that baseball necessarily welcomed the era. Post lockout and needing a revitalizing, Bud Selig saw his sport drew in fans because well, everyone digs the long ball. We'll never know definitively one way or another if Big Papi used PEDs, but it doesn't really matter. Baseball needed drugs to reclaim its relevance among the sports culture, and Ortiz's ability to make ballparks look small only helped to accelerate the movement. He was the Giancarlo Stanton, before the Marlins slugger was even Mike. Finally, there's what David Ortiz did for latin players, and this country as a whole. In Boston, Big Papi found a home. He had a city that embraced him, and in turn, he embraced the city. Not only does Ortiz love Boston though, he loves this country. Working tirelessly from his time in Minnesota up until where he is today to speak the language and understand the culture, it's apparent Ortiz is proud of this country, and has adopted it as his own. In the wake of the Boston Bombing's, it was Ortiz who took the mic. He uttered a few choice words, and declared that this in fact was "our" city, and that he was as much a part of it, as it was him. As David Arias became David Ortiz, and eventually Big Papi, the trio will all ride off into the sunset. Bitterness for what could have been in a Twins uniform has grown tired long ago. It's Ortiz that has given everything of himself to the sport, and this country, and at the end of the day is deserving of that thanks. For as much as the sport has done for you David Ortiz, thank you for doing equally as much for it. Now, please take it easy on the Twins for the rest of the year. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

Lot of good points there Rosterman!

There was a time when the Minnesota Twins could consider catcher as one of the least concerning positions on their roster. That time period ended when Joe Mauer suffered a traumatic brain injury that forced him to switch positions. Now, as the organization looks to solidify their backstop, more questions than answers are currently present. In 2016, Kurt Suzuki has re-emerged as a viable option. After a 2014 season in which Suzuki was named to his first All Star Game, the Twins rewarded their free agent acquisition with a contract extension. It went as expected for the most part, poorly, until recently. prematurely rewarded, Suzuki has begun to make good on his long term deal with the Twins. Now through around 90 games in 2016, Suzuki is slashing .288/.326/.428, which puts him at the offensive ceiling of his career. This story and narrative isn't about Suzuki though, instead, it's a cautionary tale of what's next. Suzuki is likely going to be traded by the Twins prior to August 1st, and if he isn't he becomes a free agent following this season. Behind Suzuki is where things get murky. At the big league level, the Twins have Juan Centeno. He's a 26 year old that was drafted in the 32nd round of the 2007 MLB draft by the Mets. He's played in just 51 games at the big league level, and his .233/.275/.360 slash line for the Twins this season is probably the best that can ever be expected. He's got poor receiving skills and has looked overmatched at times behind the dish this season. He's caught just 11% of would be base stealers, which is terrible, and only compounds the problem. That brings us to John Ryan Murphy, who the Twins grabbed in return for Aaron Hicks this last offseason. The trade hasn't gone well for either party. Hicks is batting below the Mendoza Line through 79 games for the Yankees and Murphy is at Triple-A for the Twins. Outside of a brief stint that looked like things were coming together, Murphy hasn't hit in Rochester either. He owns a .202/.264/.287 slash line through 55 Triple-A games and he's caught just 18% of base stealers. We've made it through the two top rungs of the organization, and a realistic catching answer for the Twins is completely non existent. When things were going well for Minnesota behind the plate, the position was producing offensively as well as throwing out would be base stealers at right around a 30% clip (leading the league twice from 2007-13). Trying to replace what Joe Mauer was is never going to happen, but finding some sort of stability is an absolute must. Further down the line, the Twins have a few prospect options. Stuart Turner has long been considered the defensive-ready option. He's thrown out 36% of base stealers this season, but he hasn't hit a lick. Batting just .229/.329/.361 this year, and owning a career .239/.327/.350, it's hard to imagine he'll be ready to be leaned on any time soon. His battery mate, Mitch Garver, has actually emerged even more so this season. He owns a .797 OPS and has thrown out 51% of would be base stealers. Garver is a guy that probably deserves a chance sooner rather than later. If there's a frustration at the position, it's still the way in which Minnesota handled John Hicks. After being nabbed off of waivers from the Mariners, the Twins released him so they could add David Murphy to the 40 man roster. Murphy instead chose to retire. Since joining the Tigers organization, Hicks has hit .289/.344/.452 at Triple-A. He's caught over 40% of would be base stealers, and would be an immensely better option at the MLB level than Centeno has proved to be. I don't know that he's a big league starter, but Minnesota would have been hard pressed to scoff at the idea of finding out. Over the offseason, the Twins will absolutely have to figure some things out. Suzuki won't be around, and that means the questions will get louder. I've opined that former prospect Wilson Ramos may be worth spending on over the winter, but it won't be cheap with the incredible season he's had for the Washington Nationals. Suggesting a drastic step may not be the best idea, but pieces will begin to move once the Suzuki era ends. If that is prior to the trade deadline as it should be, Garver may be best suited to take his place. If you want to leave Centeno in the picture, I can understand why. Murphy hasn't earned a promotion, but the role is likely going to be between himself and Garver for in house options a year from now. Regardless of how things shake out, there's significantly more questions than answers right now for the Twins behind the dish. Minnesota is going to have to come up with some plans, and in a relative hurry. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

Not to mention, if you want guys taking pay cuts, are you going to retroactively throw millions at players making pennies on the dollar while being among the best in the game? Let's do better than suggesting ludicrous actions because we're mad Joe Mauer doesn't hit MOAR HOMERS

I'd respond with reason to this, but given the tonality and subject matter, I'd assume that would fall upon deaf ears. Instead, I'll just thank you for reading.

A trip down memory lane would reveal that Joe Mauer the catcher is a player both the Minnesota Twins and Major League Baseball miss. He was one of the best to ever play the position, and his bat combined with his glove, made him one of the most athletic backstops ever. Concussions and injuries ended that narrative way too soon, but Mauer is emerging in his new home now as well. That whole elite athlete narrative, well Mauer personifies it. Turning down a scholarship to go and play quarterback for Florida State, he went on to be the 1st overall pick in the 2001 Major League Baseball draft. After starting his career as a catcher, he's quickly transitioned into being one of the best at his new position as well. Now in his third full season playing first base, Mauer appears to have unlocked a new level. Of course there's always going to be some detractors for Mauer at first. Offensively, he's miscast as a corner infielder. He's not the home run threat a 28-bomb season in the Metrodome made him out to be. His doubles prowess has even been sapped in recent seasons (and significantly in 2016). Regardless, it's his glove over at first that might trump all of that. Through 62 games at first base this season, Mauer has been worth 5 defensive runs saved. It surpasses his previous career high of 4 in 2014, despite having played in 100 games total at first that year. His 3.0 Ultimate Zone Rating is also the best of his career, and with a previous high of 1.5 UZR, it's not particularly close. Among first basemen, only two have better DRS numbers than Mauer. Both in the National League, Anthony Rizzo (8) and Brandon Belt (6) have posted higher totals than Mauer. Among American League competition, Mauer has been tied by the likes of the Rangers Mitch Moreland, and the Orioles Chris Davis. No one else in the AL has more than 3 DRS. Also, among those atop the leaderboard, Mauer has played 100-200 less innings in the field. Having been used as the Twins designated hitter 23 times in 2016, he's missed some considerable time in the field. In terms of Ultimate Zone Rating, which measures a result against statistical data suggesting what the result should have been in relation to "average," Mauer is seen favorably as well. He's 4th in all of baseball among first basemen, and only the Tigers Miguel Cabrera (5.8) and Rangers Moreland (4.6) have better marks. Both using you'd define as the eye test, and sabermetric results, Mauer's leather has put on a fine display at first base this season. A season ago, the American League Gold Glove winner at first base was the Royals Eric Hosmer. He posted one DRS and a 1.0 UZR across 154 games started at the position. Among qualified players, those numbers were 6th and 4th respectively. What Hosmer did do a season ago was play nearly 200 more innings than any other first basemen in the AL (Joe Mauer was second). It's pretty widely accepted that the Rawlings Gold Glove awards generally snub the most deserving players. Not quite the mockery that is All Star fan voting, the Gold Glove awards get it wrong almost as equally often as they get it right. Whether a flashy player wins, or a less deserving candidate is selected, the numbers typically don't seem to agree with the results. That leaves how things shake out very much up to chance. Whether or not Joe Mauer wins a Gold Glove or not is far from a certain thing either way. Thus far into the 2016 season however, he's got as good of a claim as anyone to taking one home, and it'd be far from a shock if he does. What was once one of the best catcher's the game of baseball has ever seen, Mauer is currently one of the best defensive first basemen in the land. It's not a batting title, he won't have a ton of home runs, he's probably not going to hit .300, and the Twins really are having a tough year. When the dust settles though. Joe Mauer winning a Gold Glove, three years into taking up a new position, at the age of 33 would be hardly anything to scoff at. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

Thanks for the kind words!

There's a saying that goes something like, "No one knows you're clueless until you open your mouth and remove all doubt." On July 18, 2016 the Minnesota Twins fired long time General Manager Terry Ryan. It was a much needed move, and one that could have been made a long time ago. But then Jim Pohlad spoke, and so did Dave St. Peter. Pohlad is the owner of the Minnesota Twins. He's one of the most disconnected, at least based on appearances, in the world of sports. On May 6, 2016. he was featured in the Star Tribune by columnist Chip Scoggins for calling the entirety of the organization a "Total System Failure." The problem is, he wasn't wrong, but he still appears to not have much of an idea what that actually means. That whole opening your mouth and removing doubt bit, it couldn't have been more on display than when Pohlad explained his baseball understanding of other front offices around the big leagues. When asked if he had studied or looked at what other teams are doing in setting up their organization structures and the success of them, he muttered, "Yes I have. I’ve gone through all the media guides and looked at titles and structures and the emerging trends of president of baseball operations or whatever. Yes, I’ve studied that.” Sorry Jim, but you'll probably want to do a bit better than perusing some media guides to have any clue about the effectiveness of organization you currently oversee. In his press conference following the firing of Terry Ryan, Pohlad didn't offer just one head scratching comment though. He talked of his desire to promote from within, how that's something he and the Twins have always felt good about doing. It's a direct contradiction to the "Total System Failure" comments, and it's tone deaf to the reality that Rob Antony, St. Peter, and even Pohlad himself are all part of the problem that has the Twins where they are. At this point, the Twins have taken a massive baby step. While that's seemingly an oxymoron, it adequately describes what's currently going on. Firing a GM that has long underperformed is indicative of Minnesota coming to grips with a change that was long overdue. Ryan wasn't allowed to simply bow out (even though he was given a month to craft his exit), but instead was fired. A message was sent that the Twins do have a slight shred of accountability left within the organization. That's where the other part of the narrative comes into play however, the change can't end there. Simply hiring from within, rather than using the opportunity to make sweeping changes, would be a catastrophic missuse of the massive part of this equation. If making the initial move was the baby step, it is in the follow up that the future direction and turnaround of the Twins lies. Following the push forward, the Twins may have already slipped up once, and they simply can't afford to do it again. With both Pohlad and St. Peter handcuffing their future GM to current manager Paul Molitor, the Twins have failed to get out of their own way from the start. It may not hamper the quality of the final candidate, but it sure stacks the deck against them from the onset. Molitor doesn't have the equity in the managerial game to be given the safety net that he has now, and his 2016 season has all but wiped away any semblance of in game acumen that was displayed a year ago. Right now, the organizational structure for the Twins is headlined by an out-of-touch owner and a haughty President. Both Pohlad and St. Peter are more a part of the problem than they will ever signify the solution. As they work to right the ship, owning that, and ceasing a trickle down effect is going to need to be part of the process. For the first time since the early 90's, Minnesota has a chance to make an organizational shift that leverages a strong system begging to win. A missed opportunity could be catastrophic, and as we've seen before, there's no telling how long the organization may need to wait to get it right. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

That really just happened. In the middle of the 2016 season, just weeks before the non-waiver trade deadline, the Minnesota Twins made one of the most monumental moves in franchise history. Terry Ryan's time as General Manager has finally come to an end. In the midst of a near guaranteed 90 loss season, Jim Pohlad has finally seen enough. When it comes to baseball minds, there are few better in the game than Terry Ryan. He is an adept talent evaluator, a great person for the sport, and arguably an even better person. I'm not a journalist, and I don't pretend to have even the slightest semblance of a relationship with the Twins former head honcho. I've interacted with him in limited amounts during spring training trips, and he's always been great, but he's far from someone I know. What I do know however, is that as big as the decision to remove Terry Ryan from his duties at the General Manager of the Minnesota Twins is for him, it's even more earth shattering for the organization. This is a man who has become the Twins as equally as they've become him. If there have been constants in life over the past 20 years, it's death, taxes, and Terry Ryan as the face of Twins baseball. In deciding to turn the page, the Twins have in turn done something that was absolutely needed for themselves. The organization and front office had become one that the sport had passed by. Minnesota couldn't have been further from the industry leaders, and despite the talented youth throughout the organization, those expected to unleash it in the most balanced form consistently have failed. Terry Ryan had failed, Rob Antony had failed, and those on down the line had failed. For now, Antony will take over. It's the middle of the season, and the Twins wouldn't be doing themselves any favors to make a rushed decision on who the next man in charge is. Presumably, Antony won't be granted anything higher than his immediate interim label, and that's absolutely for the better. With pieces at their disposal, whoever is handed the task of turning the Twins around will have some pretty attractive assets to work with. There's going to be plenty of moving pieces for a while. The initial decision comes as a shock to both those inside of the organization, as well as plenty around Twins Territory. While not saying it wasn't warranted, the removal of Terry Ryan at the current time is quite the blindside. The future remains bright however, and maybe even more so with a more capable party in charge. As the dust settles, July 18, 2016 will likely go down as one of the most monumental days in Twins history. Not only did the Pohlad family step away from a company figurehead, but they also chose to do so on their own actions, and for the betterment of the ball club as a whole. While being a massive shift, it's a baby step, but one that lands in what has to be considered the correct direction. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

Was told by a pretty credible source that there's some belief it could be an ordering issue, and he's between orders. Has been using the round knob, but should be switching back.

About a week ago, I wrote a piece about baseball embracing a new piece of technology. As hitters have gone up to the plate for the last hundred or so years using a relatively similar form of lumber, the baseball bat has become dated technology. As local journalists around the Twin Cities reported on Kurt Suzuki's adaptation to a new way of hitting, I was interested to learn more. The previous piece highlighted the bat in which those aforementioned journalists (Cold Omaha and Pioneer Press) dissected Kurt Suzuki's use of. After writing in a broader sense last week about acceptance of the Axe Bat in Major League Baseball, I wanted to know more. Having already talked with Hugh Tompkin's of Baden Sports, I wanted to see first hand what it was that was different about the tool Dustin Pedroia, Kurt Suzuki, and now Mookie Betts were brandishing. With the M271 Pro Hard Maple Axe Bat in my possession, it was time to go hands on. Obviously I don't have anywhere near the level of baseball skill that professionals using the new product do. I last played competitive baseball as a Freshman in college before heading into 400 meter sprints in track and field. That said, I have played baseball at a relatively high level for the majority of my life, and most importantly, have used more than my fair share of different bats. Initially taking the Axe Bat to the cage, I wanted to get a feel for what my eyes could already see. The most advantageous piece to the Axe Bat is the handle. Regardless of having a lack of ball tracking ability in a batting cage, feeling the swing, responsiveness of the handle, and difference of the bat as a whole was more than doable. It was in the cage that Tompkins quote to me in my initial story, "We set out to build a better mouse trap," rang true. The Axe Bat's handle is modeled simply after an axe. With the swinging motion utilized to chop down a tree, the axe handle has less desire to free rotate through your grip. Designed to sit comfortable within the contours of your hand, through the swing plane and into my follow through, the Axe Bat seemed to sit still. It was a smooth cut time in and time out, while allowing my grip to have a place that suggested "home" on the bat. Having accomplished the initial feel for the new stick in the cage, I took to another test on an actual diamond. Facing batting practice pitching, I'm not sure that I was expecting significantly different results, and that's probably for the best. The Axe Bat isn't a case of a slow pitch or BBCOR bat in which a different level of "pop" is achieved due to the technology. Instead, I was hoping that the same level of results as witness by any other wood bat would be produced. As stated above, what Baden Sports did with the Axe Bat was far from reinventing the wheel; they just made the wheel better. Going through multiple rounds of batting practice, I couldn't help but think bat to my discussion with Tompkins and Baden PR guy Matt Peterson. In describing the bat making process, both touched on the ability to create a completely customized bat. With their pro players, the hitting zone, sweet spot, and barrel are all calculated based upon swing planes and each player's path to the ball. Because the Axe Bat is cut on a CNC machine, the grain of the wood can then be tailored to make the hitting zone on the bat the most optimum place for the batter to make contact with a pitch. Surely my bat doesn't have this level of exact specifications tailored to it, but in swinging it repeatedly, it became apparent how beneficial achieving that could be. With the contact point on my Axe Bat remaining relatively similar due to my consistent grip, a small set of tweaks would no doubt heighten the level of personalization that's already achievable simply by keeping a consistent grip. Now having used the Axe Bat for what's amounted to right around a week and a half, I've been able to put some significant cuts on it. The bat itself has held up to the same degree as any other top of the line wood bat should be expected to, but it's been the one minor difference that keeps resonating with me. The grip, and challenge of the status quo, suggests that this should be the way in which every professional hitter is attacking the game. At some point, the round knob of a baseball bat became outdated. The technology is over a century old, and until now, no one challenged for a way to do it any better. Since the emergence of Baden Sports' Axe Bat, it's seemingly a disadvantage to continue utilizing something that has been surpassed in relevance. For whatever reason, comfort, consistency, or otherwise, it will take a while for the growth of the Axe Bat to catch fire. Thus far Baden Sports has gone with a completely organic model, and up until the signing of Mookie Betts, they had no endorsers. It's by design though, and that's because the bat speaks for itself. Sooner or later, more and more big leaguers will have to start wondering why they continue to use round knobbed baseball bats. As they level to the point of answering, "Because we always have," a shift should then take place. The Axe Bat has done more than just create a better mouse trap, it's reinvented the standard at the plate for the game of baseball. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

Coming into the 2016 Major League Baseball season, the Twins outfield was expected to have plenty of youth. Phenom Byron Buxton had taken over in center field, while slugger Miguel Sano was being asked to play in right. Expectations for Buxton to compete in the Rookie of the Year race were there, and the Twins had high hopes. Through the first half, it's been the guy who came up last, Max Kepler, that may have stolen the show. Making his MLB debut on September 27, 2015, Max Kepler had seen the bright lights and big stadiums a year ago. This time though, it wasn't a September cup of coffee, and with the way that Minnesota's outfield had shifted, there was absolutely room for him to stay. Kepler received a quick call from the Twins this season. After playing in just two games for Triple-A Rochester, he was summoned to the show. A brief seven game stint in which he was only giving 12 at bats quickly saw him back down on the farm. When he returned to Rochester, he did what he has done most of his minor league career, he hit. Slashing .288/.380/.471 across 28 games, Kepler had again earned the Twins attention and was given the call. Fast forward to today, and Max Kepler has been up with the Twins during his second stint of the season for 36 games. His slash line of .244/.322/.496 leaves room for improvement, but that .818 OPS is indicative of a guy that's given Paul Molitor much more than he could have imagined. Through 150 plate appearances since his promotion, Kepler has nine doubles and eight home runs. His 33 runs batted rank fourth on the club, and behind only Brian Dozier, Eduardo Nunez, and Miguel Sano (all guys that have spent the entire season in the big leagues). If you've been following me on Twitter for any amount of time (if you're not, you're missing out), you know that I've been high on Kepler for quite some time. While I have always suggested that Buxton has the higher ceiling and will likely see more accolades over his career, it's Kepler who's the consistent and projectable star. With All Star level talent, Kepler is far more than just a guy to fill out a spot on the 25 man roster. When trying to figure out the formula for success that Kepler is currently operating under, it's hard to look much further than his smooth stroke. With hands that get to, and drive through the baseball, his swing plane produces gap power that plays all over the field. Thus far this season, he's making hard contact just under 40% of the time. His pull tendencies aren't heavy using the center of the field a solid 37% of the time. Generating line drives with just under 19% of his batted balls, the power generation from him driving through the ball has equated to an incredible 19% of his fly balls leaving the yard. Not a traditional power hitter, there's no doubt the Twins and Kepler himself would like to see his 79.1% contact rate rise some. In doing so, he'll see a relatively significant boost in his batting average. The fact that he's swung at pitches outside of the zone just 30% of the time, and missed only 9.2% of the time suggests that he'll barrel the ball more often as he acclimates to the big league level. As things stand currently, Kepler has put himself in a very good position. He's erupted onto the Twins scene and he's making a name for himself. There's plenty of room for improvement, and he's got just under 80 games left ahead of him to continue to accomplish that. Kepler is going to need to keep making tweaks and see the results follow if he's going to make a serious Rookie of the Year push. Regardless, he's been given the keys to right field for the Twins, and settling in for 2017 is a must. As Byron Buxton starts to turn a corner in the final stretch of the 2016 season, he'll have a teammate that is just a bit ahead of him in that process. Kepler has been an exciting development for Minnesota this season, but if it was unexpected, you were looking in the wrong places all along. The son of German ballet dancers, Max Kepler has arrived, and the show has only just begun. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

A season ago, the Minnesota Twins finished 83-79, just missing a playoff berth for the first time since 2010. While the season was a significant turnaround from the four straight 90 loss campaigns that preceded it, the final result was one that seemed somewhat of a mirage. Fast forward to where we are now, and the lack of consistency that was an underlying message a year earlier, has once against been this club's biggest problem. In 2015, Paul Molitor amassed 83 victories in his first year at the helm. A respectable total in and of itself, it was backed by just two winning months over the course of the season. A 20-7 May set the ton, and had it not been for a 15-13 September, the Twins very likely could've been staring at year another sub .500 mark. Coming into 2016, the expectation was that, despite the luck that had been bolstering outcomes for Minnesota, the playoffs seemed like a realistic venture. Although a handful of things would need to break in their favor, the Twins competing for the Wild Card was not out of the question. Then, again, consistency failed Molitor, Terry Ryan, and the entirety of the organization throughout the season's first 88 games. Prior to the All Star Break, Minnesota's lone winning month is the current one (July). At 7-3 through the first 10 games, the Twins have also raced out to a +41 run differential. On the season, outside of July, the club owns a -112 run differential and an ugly 25-53 record. As much as the nice play of late has been a position, Molitor's group absolutely needs to find the middle ground going forward. Over the course of the season's first 78 games, the Twins scored 4.1 runs per game while giving up 5.5. During the recent ten game stretch, they've plated 7.8 runs per game while allowing just 3.7. The drastic swing between the two polar opposite ends of the spectrum is not an enviable position to be in. It took Minnesota 70 games to score double digits for the first time this season, and then they went on to do so four more times over their last eight games. At 4.97, the Twins have the worst team ERA in the American League thus far. They've allowed opposing batters to hit .283 (also dead last) off of them, and they've also surrendered a league worst 119 homers. Being at the bottom of the barrel in pitching categories is a trend that the Twins need to abandon in the worst way. On the offensive side of things, Minnesota has done better, but still has significant room for improvement. Their 395 runs ranks 10th in the AL, as does their .253 batting average. Minnesota fins themselves 9th with 105 homers while being tied for 5th in the league with 743 strikeouts. It's not the doom and gloom that the mound has produced, but for a team expected to be powered by offense, there's a lot to be desired. As we've seen over the course of the past couple of weeks, the youth movement is starting to happen. Miguel Sano has returned from the DL with an affinity for the longball. Max Kepler is one of the best things Minnesota has going for it, and Byron Buxton is starting to figure things out at the plate. Offensively, it's the youth that has powered the resurgence, and that needs to continue. On the mound however, the Twins have a few more questions to answer. While Ervin Santana has been incredible of late, it's probably in the club's best interest to deal him. In doing so, they'll be looking to Jose Berrios to help carry the load. Despite struggling in his debut, an emergence along the lines of Kepler's would be far from a shock. What's more important however, is that the pen continues to be bolstered by the young arms. Taylor Rogers' effectiveness has been far from unexpected this season. he owns a 2.93 ERA and has struck out 9.4 per nine while walking just 1.3 per nine. Looking like a fixture of what should hopefully be an improved relief corps in the not so distant future, he needs some friends. Asking J.T. Chargois, Jake Reed, and Mason Melotakis to join him before the season is done is probably a big ask. It's one Minnesota should explore though, and hopefully find some solid results with. We've seen Twins teams in back-to-back years that have been virtually polar opposites of each other. A year ago, luck carried Minnesota to a record that masked a ton of their deficiencies. Now in 2016, youth was relied upon too heavily too early, and things crashed and burned. As the club needs to find a middle ground roster wise, so too does the production need to follow. In order to emerge as a playoff team once again, and maybe as early as 2017, Molitor's club doesn't need to be the best at everything. In fact, they really don't need to be great at anything. What the focus has to be is on being solid across the board. The Twins can't afford to be among the league's worst in any categories. Find the middle ground, exploit a niche, and stay there. The future is in the hands of the developed prospects residing in the Twins organization. Making it a bright one relies upon a level of consistency that has been absent among the organization for quite some time. In a lost season, finish out the slate pushing for that middle ground is as good of a goal as any. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

Should a guy that has put together a sub .500 career record and 13 of 20 losing seasons truly as revered as you/public makes him out to be at times?