What Would the Twins’ 2023 Roster Look Like if the TD Community Were in Charge of the Front Office?

[NeverSeenATwinsPlayoffWin]

Most discussions around the front office this season looked something like this:

Person one: "DFA Gallo, Kepler, Vazquez, Pagan, Winder, and MAT. Trade Gray, Maeda, and Castro for a bunch of 50-grade prospects. Then, call up a bunch of 20-year-olds from AA who are definitely ready for the MLB level. If the FO does not do this, they should be fired immediately."

Person two: "The Twins' FO is terrible. The Berrios and Pressly trades were awful, and we saw both of them in the playoffs. Yennier Cano is the best reliever in baseball, and the FO should have known that he was magically going to become a control artist. Imagine how good the Twins' lineup would look with Steer/Arraez."

Person three: "Trade for Bellinger, Scherzer, Hader, Soto, and Goldschmidt. Wallner, Julien, Lee, Kirilloff, Lewis, E-Rod, and Jenkins are all expendable commodities."

I'll admit that these are (slightly) overexaggerated but not too far off from the actual sentiments of site members. I myself probably fall within the third camp; I'm generally not as gung-ho on prospects, and I like risky trades. Let's examine what each (highly flawed) FO philosophy yields.

 

The AAA Championship Winner

Why have a competent major leaguer when you can have an 18-year-old in high-A with a marginally higher ceiling? Unless you have a .600 winning percentage at the deadline, you should have a total fire sale because your team obviously is not going to win in the playoffs:

Rotation: P Lopez, J Ryan, B Ober, L Varland, S Woods Richardson

Bullpen: J Duran, G Jax, B Stewart, B Headrick, C Sands, J Moran, J Balazovic, C Funderburk

INF/C: R Jeffers, C Williams, A Kirilloff, E Julien, C Correa, R Lewis, B Lee, J Camargo

OF/DH: M Wallner, T Larnach, A Martin, D Kiersey, B Buxton

Farm Ranking: 3rd

How it ends up for the Twins: After trading/DFAing every single player with less than a year left of control (and Thielbar/Farmer), the Twins won 64 games in 2023. The Twins ruin the development of several high-end prospects by being too aggressive with them. For the rest of the decade, the Twins are stuck in 70-80 win purgatory as they continually trade away their top performers.

 

The "We Should Have Kept This Guy" Whiner 

Making trades is bad because sometimes trades go badly. Minnesota sports is plagued by poor trades, so why would we ever make a trade again? Why love your team when you can love every player who is no longer on it?

Rotation: J Berrios, K Gibson, R Hill, L Lynn, L Gil

Bullpen: R Pressly, B Graterol, Y Cano, T Rogers, A Vazquez, T May, Z Littell, C Petty

INF/C: M Garver, G Sanchez, M Sano, L Arraez, C Encarnacion-Strand, S Steer, L Wade, E Escobar

OF/DH: E Rosario, A Hicks, B Rooker, L Raley, N Cruz

Farm Ranking: 15th

How it ends up for the Twins: The 2023 Twins ride an aging roster to a first-round playoff exit. Meanwhile, the FO's refusal to part ways with any players means that 40-year-old Miguel Sano makes the 2034 opening day roster because "If we waive him, he'll be the next David Ortiz." The refusal to make trades results in the Twins' pitching returning to early 2010s form.

 

The All-In Hopeless Optimist

Did you see that amazing 6-4 win on Friday against a tough team? Yeah, it doesn't matter that we lost the series, that win has inspired me to mortgage the entire future for a shot at a World Series this year because incremental progress is overrated. After all, going all-in on a mediocre roster worked so well for the Padres and Mets.

Rotation: P Lopez, J Verlander, S Gray, B Snell, J Ryan

Bullpen: J Duran, J Hader, G Jax, B Stewart, A Chapman, C Thielbar, B Ober, K Maeda

INF/C: R Jeffers, C Vazquez, P Goldschmidt, J Candelario, C Correa, J Polanco, K Farmer, D Solano

OF/DH: M Kepler, C Bellinger, W Castro, M Taylor, B Buxton

Farm Ranking: 30th

How it ends up for the Twins: After winning 99 games, the 2023 Twins make it to the World Series and play a game seven against Atlanta. While leading 27-20 in the bottom of the 8th, injury call-up Bary Granderson strikes out with three men on, despite batting 1.000 prior to this AB. The Braves score seven runs off of known choker Aroldis Chapman, and the Twins go on to lose 30-27 in extras. The Pohlads file for bankruptcy after the Twins have to pay the luxury tax and the team is sold to a "legitimate businessman" who moves the team to Mexico City. Lewis, Lee, Jenkins, Kirilloff, Julien, and Wallner all end up as Hall of Famers on their new teams.

 

I really respect the discourse we have on this site, I just wanted to have a little bit of fun imagining where the Twins would be if they were run by our overreactions. If you want to poke fun at any other kind of overreaction, those will be greatly appreciated. 

[ashbury]

Instead of critiquing other posters, maybe do some introspection.

Me, I wouldn't have given up Chase Petty two years ago.  Game Two of the Wild Card with Sonny Gray on the mound convinced me of my misjudgment..

[NeverSeenATwinsPlayoffWin]

1 hour ago, ashbury said:

Instead of critiquing other posters, maybe do some introspection.

Me, I wouldn't have given up Chase Petty two years ago.  Game Two of the Wild Card with Sonny Gray on the mound convinced me of my misjudgment..

You may have missed the part where I identified myself as a member of the third group, which led to the worst outcome. I also used the language "our overreactions" in the last paragraph, placing myself within the group of people who overreact to front-office decisions. 

I understand that you may feel a little attacked, but being able to laugh at yourself and not take yourself too seriously is important. It seems pointless to critique me for poking fun at normal human reactions/sentiments, which I myself have. I already did the introspection- it's how I wrote half of the post.

[old nurse]

1 hour ago, ashbury said:

Instead of critiquing other posters, maybe do some introspection.

Me, I wouldn't have given up Chase Petty two years ago.  Game Two of the Wild Card with Sonny Gray on the mound convinced me of my misjudgment..

Then there was game three with Houston. 

[Jocko87]

I love this question! 

I for one am really missing Cash Considerations, I was really excited to see them in crunch time.  Mark my words, we will rue the day.  Great baseball name as well.

Great post!

[lecroy24fan]

9 hours ago, Jocko87 said:

I love this question! 

I for one am really missing Cash Considerations, I was really excited to see them in crunch time.  Mark my words, we will rue the day.  Great baseball name as well.

Great post!

Not as great of a name as PTBNL.

[weitz41]

Gave me a good laugh. I'm somewhere between AAA champ and hopeless optimist. I tend to like aggressive trade deadlines, but we have to WIN every trade...You know like that future hall of farmer for this Olive Garden gift certificate. 

[Linus]

I know this is supposed to be fun and certainly there can be some interesting ideas and opinions expressed. However there are a LOT of really knowledgeable posters on this site. 

[Craig Arko]

Something like this, I suppose.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

What I think my first GM rodeo would look like:

 

actual:

[Riverbrian]

 With the wide variety of opinions expressed by the Twinsdaily community.

A leader from the community would have to be selected to consolidate those opinions.

That selected leader would be torn to pieces by the very same Twinsdaily community that did the selecting.    

[Trov]

I think it was a bit of hyperbole, but for most part that is accurate in how most people address moves.  Some fans feel if you are not favored to win the WS you should sell anyone with value, or you need to buy to get there.  Well, Atlanta was by far the favored team, see how that turned out for them.  In AL the two highest season winners lost early on.  In baseball, the "best" team does not always win the post season, it is a crazy game. 

I think you also missed the camp of spend like crazy on FA every year like the Padres, because it worked so well for them. I personally find the FO approach very level headed.  They balance future with present. They are willing to part with guys that will take longer to develop if they can supplement roster now, or they will part ways with prospects if they have others to fill in for them. Sure, sometimes you get things wrong, but overall I feel like the FO has done a decent job of keeping the farm system chugging out talent while having a team that can win. Will they be favored to win the WS, no, but that never means they will win.  The two the Twins have won they were never favored in any round. AZ has a chance to win and they were not favored in any round either.