Monday Morning Minnesota: The “Youth Movement” Edition
· Yahoo Sports
Last week was a mixed bag for the Twins. After wrapping up the trade deadline by picking up a couple of additions to the pitching staff, they promptly dropped two straight series. Then they got the bad news that Joe Ryan was heading to the injured list due to a glute strain, but the youth movement has arrived, with the promotion of Kaelen Culpepper to the major league roster. Culpepper showed off in his first game, hitting a homer and showing some of the power potential that he has developed in the past year in the minors.
Surprisingly, despite the poor week in terms of wins and losses, the team is still only 1.5 games out of the final wild card spot.
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The Past Week on Twinkie Town:
- Check out The Feed, where you can add your discussions about the Twins!
- We’re starting a new segment called Daily Questions! Provide your opinion on the Twins and debate with the community!
- Game threads and recaps are back! Commiserate with your fellow fans as we experience the season together.
- Zach Koenig debates the main question facing MLB for these upcoming CBA negotiations – would the league be better off with a salary cap and floor?
- Aidan O’Brien updates his list of the Twins’ Top 40 prospects for the month of August.
- Ben Jones grades the Twins’ trade deadline moves.
Elsewhere in Twins Territory:
- Aaron Gleeman at AaronGleeman.com looks at how Royce Lewis and Matt Wallner’s career trajectories have changed since their demotions earlier in the year.
- Dan Hayes at The Athletic provides some insights into the Twins’ front office during the trade deadline.
- Bobby Nightengale at the Star Tribune looks at the busy week of negotiations, both successful and failed, during the trade deadline.
- Chris Schad at Zone Coverage looks at where Luke Keaschall fits in the Twins’ roster.
In the World of Baseball:
- The Rays continue to top the AL, extending their lead to 5.5 games over the Yankees. The Red Sox, who have had a pretty unprecedented turnaround in the past month, now find themselves third in the league and in the second wild card spot. The White Sox and Astros are the current division leaders in the Central and West, respectively, and the Rangers hold the third wild card spot right now, although they are only 0.5 games behind the Astros, so that spot will likely flip-flop for the rest of the season. The Tigers, Twins, Guardians, and Orioles are all within 2 games of the final wild card spot.
- The NL is a bit clearer-cut, with Milwaukee, Atlanta, and Los Angeles all clearly ahead of the next-best team in their division. The Cubs, Diamondbacks, and Phillies are currently in the wild card spots.
- Dan Szymborski at Fangraphs looks at whether Yordan Alvarez can really get the Triple Crown this year.
- It came at the Twins’ expense, but Jacob Misiorowski is now the second-quickest pitcher to reach 200 strikeouts in a season. Casey Drotter at MLB.com has more on the Miz’s start on Sunday.
- Anthony Castrovince at MLB.com looks at a peculiar trend for the 2026 season – the year of the lefty batter.