All Things 2023 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

Donate To GopherHole

Twins Want to Keep Alex Kirilloff in Minors But He May Not Let Them​

Alex Kirilloff is yet to play a game for the Minnesota Twins this season, thanks to the same wrist injury he’s been dealing with and having surgeries on for the better part of his entire MLB career to this point.

Twins plan to keep Alex Kirilloff in minors after rehab assignment​

But last weekend, Kirilloff started a minor league rehab assignment at single-A Fort Myers, in his latest attempt to get back to the big leagues. Then last week, he was promoted to triple-A Saint Paul, seemingly one phone call away from joining his teammates across the river.

Not so fast, however. Multiple reports have come out over the last few days, saying that the Twins were planning to option Kirilloff to keep him in St. Paul, even when his rehab assignment came to a completion.

However, multiple team sources indicated Friday that the Twins may decide to option Kirilloff to St. Paul once his rehab assignment is over, an approach they also took in the middle of last season. To do so again would mean the 25-year-old former top prospect has been deemed healthy, but questions remain about his readiness to step back into a big-league lineup after so much missed time.
Aaron Gleeman – The Athletic
Click to expand...

Kirilloff dominating minor league competition​

But don’t tell Alex Kirilloff that he isn’t ready to get back into the Minnesota Twins’ everyday lineup. He’s hitting .360 with a 1.260 OPS in 8 minor league games since starting his rehab assignment. In his 4 games with the Saints, he’s hitting .462 with a 1.588 OPS. On Sunday, he put on a show, going 2 for 4 with two home runs and 5 RBI.

If Alex Kirilloff is healthy and feeling good, which he clearly seems to be, then the Twins need to get him back in the lineup ASAP. Their offense has been struggling most of the season and a good Kirilloff brings a consistent middle of the order bat that they desperately need.

I’m not sure if they are hesitating on Kirilloff’s call up for his own good or because they do not want to DFA Max Kepler. But no matter the reason, it’s no surprise that Alex could upend those plans. There isn’t a more pure hitter or sweeter swing on this roster than what Alex Kirilloff has.

We’ll see how this plays out. The Twins welcome the New York Yankees to Target Field on Monday night, for the first of three games.

www.minnesotasportsfan.com

Twins Want to Keep Alex Kirilloff in Minors But He May Not Let Them

Recent reports suggest that the Minnesota Twins plan to keep Alex Kirilloff in Triple-A, even after his rehab assignment but his hot streak says different.
www.minnesotasportsfan.com www.minnesotasportsfan.com

Win Twins!!
 

No Cole! We won't see him this series
 
Last edited:

howeda7 said:
What they should do is leave Gallo at 1B, put Buxton in CF and DH Kiriloff at least against RH pitching. Taylor's been nice and all but he does not need to play 159 games. Play him against lefties.
Click to expand...

I’m hoping/thinking Buck’s move back to the outfield may factor into this someway/somehow🤞
 

Kepler batting lead off again. He’s just too valuable to the team, even though they wanted to trade him for the last 5 months.
 

In our lineup tonite, only 2 hitters over 0.245. Polanco and Vazquez.

White Sox also have 2 batters in their lineup over .245 while Guardians have 5 over .245.

For perspective, Blue Jays have 5 regulars hitting over .295.
 
Last edited:


howeda7 said:
What they should do is leave Gallo at 1B, put Buxton in CF and DH Kiriloff at least against RH pitching. Taylor's been nice and all but he does not need to play 159 games. Play him against lefties.
Click to expand...
Ideally it would be Gallo LF, Buxton CF, Kepler RF, Kirilloff 1B and Larnach DH against righties.
 

BleedGopher said:

Twins Want to Keep Alex Kirilloff in Minors But He May Not Let Them​

Alex Kirilloff is yet to play a game for the Minnesota Twins this season, thanks to the same wrist injury he’s been dealing with and having surgeries on for the better part of his entire MLB career to this point.

Twins plan to keep Alex Kirilloff in minors after rehab assignment​

But last weekend, Kirilloff started a minor league rehab assignment at single-A Fort Myers, in his latest attempt to get back to the big leagues. Then last week, he was promoted to triple-A Saint Paul, seemingly one phone call away from joining his teammates across the river.

Not so fast, however. Multiple reports have come out over the last few days, saying that the Twins were planning to option Kirilloff to keep him in St. Paul, even when his rehab assignment came to a completion.


Kirilloff dominating minor league competition​

But don’t tell Alex Kirilloff that he isn’t ready to get back into the Minnesota Twins’ everyday lineup. He’s hitting .360 with a 1.260 OPS in 8 minor league games since starting his rehab assignment. In his 4 games with the Saints, he’s hitting .462 with a 1.588 OPS. On Sunday, he put on a show, going 2 for 4 with two home runs and 5 RBI.

If Alex Kirilloff is healthy and feeling good, which he clearly seems to be, then the Twins need to get him back in the lineup ASAP. Their offense has been struggling most of the season and a good Kirilloff brings a consistent middle of the order bat that they desperately need.

I’m not sure if they are hesitating on Kirilloff’s call up for his own good or because they do not want to DFA Max Kepler. But no matter the reason, it’s no surprise that Alex could upend those plans. There isn’t a more pure hitter or sweeter swing on this roster than what Alex Kirilloff has.

We’ll see how this plays out. The Twins welcome the New York Yankees to Target Field on Monday night, for the first of three games.

www.minnesotasportsfan.com

Twins Want to Keep Alex Kirilloff in Minors But He May Not Let Them

Recent reports suggest that the Minnesota Twins plan to keep Alex Kirilloff in Triple-A, even after his rehab assignment but his hot streak says different.
www.minnesotasportsfan.com www.minnesotasportsfan.com

Win Twins!!
Click to expand...
Keeping him in the minors is ridiculous. In the short-term he replaces Willi Castro. Once Farmer comes back, show Gordon or Kepler the door. Kepler would likely clear waivers anyway and if he doesn't, oh well.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
I’m hoping/thinking Buck’s move back to the outfield may factor into this someway/somehow🤞
Click to expand...
I wish that would happen. I just wish they would move on from Kepler. You have a glut of left handed hitting corner outfielders that are younger and cheaper not to mention Julien. Just cut bait with the guy and move on.

If they send Larnach back down to AAA what is he going to learn? The guy has 500 at bats in the majors he’s not going to learn anything by sending him down. He can’t hit off speed stuff and that’s not going to change.

If they option Kiriloff back my worry is there are only so many swings in that wrist each year. Why have them waste swings in AAA when he could do the same thing in the majors.
 

From the Parkinglot said:
I wish that would happen. I just wish they would move on from Kepler. You have a glut of left handed hitting corner outfielders that are younger and cheaper not to mention Julien. Just cut bait with the guy and move on.

If they send Larnach back down to AAA what is he going to learn? The guy has 500 at bats in the majors he’s not going to learn anything by sending him down. He can’t hit off speed stuff and that’s not going to change.



If they option Kiriloff back my worry is there are only so many swings in that wrist each year. Why have them waste swings in AAA when he could do the same thing in the majors.
Click to expand...

Guys do improve and Larnach can learn to hit off speed pitches - those ABs have been over three seasons, he’s been hurt all three seasons snd last year he was playing through sports hernias - that’s what his surgery was for last year - he had two of them.

AK hasn’t been eligible to come off the 60 day DL yet - I believe that is early next week (per The Athletic) - so we’ll see what happens then.

The info about AK was leaked by someone and that article originated in The Athletic yesterday (they got it from someone), as I was going to post bit later today.

I think they should drop Kepler, if no injuries pop up between now and then.

Forbearance Grasshopper🤠
 



howeda7 said:
Keeping him in the minors is ridiculous. In the short-term he replaces Willi Castro. Once Farmer comes back, show Gordon or Kepler the door. Kepler would likely clear waivers anyway and if he doesn't, oh well.
Click to expand...
From the Parkinglot said:
If they option Kiriloff back my worry is there are only so many swings in that wrist each year. Why have them waste swings in AAA when he could do the same thing in the majors.
Click to expand...
I don't have any problem at all in management wanting to keep Kiriloff with the Saints for a while longer.

- Only played 45 MLB games last year, with 144 ABs
- Last MLB AB July 30 (9 months ago)
- Unique surgery

Keeping him down there for a while to make make sure he can sustain success without a setback over a couple weeks sounds completely logical to me.
 

Ope3 said:
I don't have any problem at all in management wanting to keep Kiriloff with the Saints for a while longer.

- Only played 45 MLB games last year, with 144 ABs
- Last MLB AB July 30 (9 months ago)
- Unique surgery

Keeping him down there for a while to make make sure he can sustain success without a setback over a couple weeks sounds completely logical to me.
Click to expand...
He's already been there for a couple weeks. Seems fine. Sure he might get hurt. What's the difference if he gets hurt in St Paul or at Target Field?
 


howeda7 said:
He's already been there for a couple weeks. Seems fine. Sure he might get hurt. What's the difference if he gets hurt in St Paul or at Target Field?
Click to expand...

well, just to argue the point: AK was brought along very slowly in spring training. He hasn't had a lot of AB's yet against live in-game pitching. and they are going to be careful with his situation.

So letting him play a few more games at AAA and get more AB's doesn't seem like a bad idea. Let him play 4 or 5 days in a row and see how the wrist feels.

the Twins also have to figure out what to do with the roster. I know a lot of people want to dump Kepler, but I just don't see the Twins releasing Kepler. they will try to get something in return.

Don't forget - thanks to BSN's ownership being in bankruptcy, the Twins are not getting their normal payments for local cable TV rights. for the season, that comes to roughly $43-million. depending on which source you believe, that amounts to anywhere from 16 to 20% of the team's annual revenue. So they are not going to eat Kepler's salary unless it's a last resort.
 



short ornery norwegian said:
well, just to argue the point: AK was brought along very slowly in spring training. He hasn't had a lot of AB's yet against live in-game pitching. and they are going to be careful with his situation.

So letting him play a few more games at AAA and get more AB's doesn't seem like a bad idea. Let him play 4 or 5 days in a row and see how the wrist feels.

the Twins also have to figure out what to do with the roster. I know a lot of people want to dump Kepler, but I just don't see the Twins releasing Kepler. they will try to get something in return.

Don't forget - thanks to BSN's ownership being in bankruptcy, the Twins are not getting their normal payments for local cable TV rights. for the season, that comes to roughly $43-million. depending on which source you believe, that amounts to anywhere from 16 to 20% of the team's annual revenue. So they are not going to eat Kepler's salary unless it's a last resort.
Click to expand...
Regarding Kepler's salary, it seems more likely that someone would claim him on waivers and pay his $$ than give us prospects AND eat his salary. And I'm pretty sure he has options left, so there's no risk to putting him through waivers. Either someone claims him and you save the $$ or he goes to AAA. Same thing that happened with Sano last year.
 

howeda7 said:
He's already been there for a couple weeks. Seems fine. Sure he might get hurt. What's the difference if he gets hurt in St Paul or at Target Field?
Click to expand...
No, he's only been with St Paul for a total of 4 games and has a grand total of 25 ABs combined with Ft Meyers. Given the time off, I think more ABs seem like a good idea to carry that over to the Show.

Adding to that if it is going to require another player getting DFAd, I think it warrants some assurance that his wrist can handle playing more than 8 games total.

Having a good weekend vs Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to me doesn't scream GET HIM TO MPLS NOW.
 


AL Central worst division in baseball with a 42-66 (.389) record. Next worst is NL West 50-64 (.436).
 

Ope3 said:
No, he's only been with St Paul for a total of 4 games and has a grand total of 25 ABs combined with Ft Meyers. Given the time off, I think more ABs seem like a good idea to carry that over to the Show.

Adding to that if it is going to require another player getting DFAd, I think it warrants some assurance that his wrist can handle playing more than 8 games total.

Having a good weekend vs Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to me doesn't scream GET HIM TO MPLS NOW.
Click to expand...
He also participated in a decent amount of Spring Training. If you want to give him another few days fine, but the notion of keeping him in the minors past that because there's no spot for him is dumb. And if they're doing it to try and get back a year of team control that's also pretty sad.
 

golf said:
AL Central worst division in baseball with a 42-66 (.389) record. Next worst is NL West 50-64 (.436).
Click to expand...

We need not apologize for our division. Twins have benefited from being in the AL Central, Wolves have been significantly hurt by being in the West, especially during the KG Era.

Here's to a very weak AL Central!

Win Twins!!
 

Noah Miller .805 ops. Brooks Lee .761 ops.
Miller is a level lower but also 10 months younger. Brooks Lee gets all the love but maybe Miller not far behind him.

(On another note, love tonight's uniforms 🙂)
 

I’m sorry but that was not well played by Max on the judge double. The BSN guys are really sucking up tonight to the twins. I wonder if that’s because they ain’t paying the twins anymore.
 



howeda7 said:
He also participated in a decent amount of Spring Training. If you want to give him another few days fine, but the notion of keeping him in the minors past that because there's no spot for him is dumb. And if they're doing it to try and get back a year of team control that's also pretty sad.
Click to expand...
After the 20 days is up (max rehab assignment) if he's producing and appears fit, then I agree they should bring him up, even if it means letting go of someone for good.

If there's any doubt, I also understand the desire to keep him down a little while longer.
 

Just saw on the scroll that old friend Brent Rooker hit homer #5 tonight. Checked his stats and a 1.122 ops in 45 atbats with Oakland. Good for him.
 

Don't understand why teams don't put their left fielder between first and second to defend Kepler
 

Yankee defense atrocious tonight. Channeling the White Sox.
 

This is a tightrope of a 8th and 9th inning for the twins. It was two innings of everyday Eddie.

A 3 hour game, this would have 4 hours without the pitch clock.
 


Ober being sent down, corresponding move tomorrow. Guessing it’s Sands or hopefully Winder is ready.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom