Minnesota Sports Forum

I have always been a fan. He seemed to be the forgotten guy of the trio of Buxton, Sano, and Kepler. He has been way more consistent than the other 2, but not setting the world on fire either. He was rumored to be part of a package or Archer last year, but nothing happened. He seems to be doing a little better this year than last year with less strikeouts, more walks, and better HR rate. His average is down a little but improved a ton vs LHP. Bad news he seems to regressed a bit against RHP.

He seems to settle into that solid, but not spectacular type player. Anyone else have an opinion? What should we project out of him moving forward?

Funny, I've been thinking about Max this week too, Bleed, but my thoughts are going in a different direction. I was quite high on him his first two seasons and expected him to take a big leap this year. But unfortunately his 3rd season is as mediocre as his first two. Yes, he is hitting lefties better, but now he struggles against righties. I'm afraid we know what we can expect out of Max, and to me a .746 OPS doesn't cut it for a corner OF. I'm not giving up on him, but I want him to be our 4th OF starting next season. I don't think the braintrust thinks Kirilloff or Rooker are ready yet, so I'm hoping they pick up a good bat in free agency to combine with Buxton and Rosario.

LST - I get where you are coming from and wonder if we can win with him in RF. I am not even sure where to rank this teams issues at this point, but I have not considered RF a big issue. 1B and 2B certainly seem to be ahead of RF for me at this point and I like the idea of Max being a 4th OF too, but not before addressing some other items. I do like that he made adjustments against LHP and I hope we see some more growth next year and that is the year he takes a leap.

Don't have much to say besides what you guys already covered. I was pretty Adamant that should've traded him for Archer if those rumors were true, but who knows. Archer would look awfully nice to Berrios right about now.

He is 25 and is finishing up his 2nd full season in the majors and is putting up some solid stats while being an above average defensive outfielder and 2.2 WAR overall. People including myself thought he was gonna break out this year but maybe this was just another solid year towards him taking the next step soon. Look at his splits by month (espcially OBP compared to last year) and you might be more encouraged. Let's see how he finishes up. July and August have been pretty good after a really bad June. His strikeout rate is down and his walk rate is up and he has a career high in walks already in this season in 401 ABs.

monsterpile wrote:He is 25 and is finishing up his 2nd full season in the majors and is putting up some solid stats while being an above average defensive outfielder and 2.2 WAR overall. People including myself thought he was gonna break out this year but maybe this was just another solid year towards him taking the next step soon. Look at his splits by month (espcially OBP compared to last year) and you might be more encouraged. Let's see how he finishes up. July and August have been pretty good after a really bad June. His strikeout rate is down and his walk rate is up and he has a career high in walks already in this season in 401 ABs.

I will say though even though I wanted him traded. We have to remember Max is kind of a different prospect because of his background he might take longer than most players to develope.

Good point about his background.

One thing I find very interesting is the Twins putting Kepler in CF the last few games. I mean it makes soem sense to put Cave and Kepler in different spots to see what they can do there. On the other hand if Kepler showed he was average to above average in CF...that would make his trade value jump up I would think. his bat right now as a CF would be plenty intriguing and like its been discussed there is a chance he improves. Maybe The Twins are also looking at him as a sort of backup plan beyond Cave if they need someone in CF since Buxton hasn't been reliable. July and August he is hitting .258 with 10 HR (20 extra base hits total) and over .350 OBP. The Twins continue to have some real outfield talent throughout the organization.

monsterpile wrote:One thing I find very interesting is the Twins putting Kepler in CF the last few games. I mean it makes soem sense to put Cave and Kepler in different spots to see what they can do there. On the other hand if Kepler showed he was average to above average in CF...that would make his trade value jump up I would think. his bat right now as a CF would be plenty intriguing and like its been discussed there is a chance he improves. Maybe The Twins are also looking at him as a sort of backup plan beyond Cave if they need someone in CF since Buxton hasn't been reliable. July and August he is hitting .258 with 10 HR (20 extra base hits total) and over .350 OBP. The Twins continue to have some real outfield talent throughout the organization.

I think Kepler was a CF most of his minor league career. Having Buxton moved him to RF, but he certainly can play CF. It is nice to have the flexibility.

Knee jerk reaction to Jake Cave homering in three consecutive games:

Might he be a better alternative to Kepler in RF starting out next season? I like how he plays in most facets of the game (power, baserunning, defense), although he hasn't shown he can hit lefties and has a poor K/BB ratio. Still, he hits the ball a long ways, and currently has an OPS almost 100 points higher than Kepler, and seems to be getting better as he adjust to MLB. I hear the arguments for Max's upside since he started playing baseball later than most guys, but he also seems to have plateaued at a mediocre level. Max is just on a one-year deal, so I would not be shocked if the Twins decided to move on from him. They might have to find someone to pair with Cave in RF if he continues to struggle against LHP though...Brent Rooker is a possibility, although this season he also hits RHP better than LHP.