Major League Ready’s 2024 Payroll Blueprint

[Major League Ready]

1st choice Montgomery  /   2nd Choice Rodriguez  /  3rd Choice Sunny Gray,  I would go with Kiermaier a little over budget or even shed Farmer for Kiermaier.

Polanco is traded for the payroll space.

• C: Christian Vazquez ($10.00M)
• 1B: Alex Kirilloff ($1.70M)
• 2B: Edouard Julien ($10.50M)
• 3B: Royce Lewis ($0.77M)
• SS: Carlos Correa ($33.33M)
• LF: Matt Wallner ($0.77M)
• CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M)
• RF: Max Kepler ($10.00M)
• DH: Utility / Harrison Bader or MAT ($7M)
• 4th OF: Willi Castro ($3.20M)
• Utility: Trevor Larnach ($0.77M)
• Utility: Kyle Farmer ($6.60M)
• Backup C: Ryan Jeffers ($2.30M)
• SP1: Pablo Lopez ($8.25M)
• SP2: Joe Ryan ($0.77M)
• SP3: Bailey Ober ($0.77M)
• SP4: Chris Paddack ($2.53M)
• SP5: Jordan Montgomery ($24M)
• RP: Jhoan Duran ($0.77M)
• RP: Brock Stewart ($0.77M)
• RP: Griffin Jax ($0.77M)
• RP: Jorge Alcala ($1.00M)
• RP: Caleb Thielbar ($3.00M)
• RP: Louie Varland ($0.77M)
• RP: Jovani Moran ($0.77M)
• RP: Kody Funderburk ($0.77M)

Payroll is 2.08% under budget

[Mike Sixel]

Do you think they'll move Varland to RP? I don't know.....I think they keep him in AAA as first man up.

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, Major League Ready said:

1st choice Montgomery  /   2nd Choice Rodriguez  /  3rd Choice Sunny Gray,  I would go with Kiermaier a little over budget or even shed Farmer for Kiermaier.

Polanco is traded for the payroll space.

• C: Christian Vazquez ($10.00M)
• 1B: Alex Kirilloff ($1.70M)
• 2B: Edouard Julien ($10.50M)
• 3B: Royce Lewis ($0.77M)
• SS: Carlos Correa ($33.33M)
• LF: Matt Wallner ($0.77M)
• CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M)
• RF: Max Kepler ($10.00M)
• DH: Utility / Harrison Bader or MAT ($7M)
• 4th OF: Willi Castro ($3.20M)
• Utility: Trevor Larnach ($0.77M)
• Utility: Kyle Farmer ($6.60M)
• Backup C: Ryan Jeffers ($2.30M)
• SP1: Pablo Lopez ($8.25M)
• SP2: Joe Ryan ($0.77M)
• SP3: Bailey Ober ($0.77M)
• SP4: Chris Paddack ($2.53M)
• SP5: Jordan Montgomery ($24M)
• RP: Jhoan Duran ($0.77M)
• RP: Brock Stewart ($0.77M)
• RP: Griffin Jax ($0.77M)
• RP: Jorge Alcala ($1.00M)
• RP: Caleb Thielbar ($3.00M)
• RP: Louie Varland ($0.77M)
• RP: Jovani Moran ($0.77M)
• RP: Kody Funderburk ($0.77M)

Payroll is 2.08% under budget

I like this a lot!!!!

Montgomery is a HUGE add - even if we need to stretch to $26M (30 v. Gray at 34)

Bader doesn’t interest me…….I’d shuffle the I.D.’s to ‘23 reality until Buxton shows up for real, with knees that flex.

Castro - CF

Buxton - DH

Taylor - 4th OF

Gotta say I see somebody other than Larnach as last OF.…..Gordon? Youth guy?? Maybe Larnach?

Have been preaching for this Staff!!! ……maybe Balazovic instead of Moran?? Splitting hairs.

Lots of wins if this team is somewhat healthy!!

[JD-TWINS]

Just now, JD-TWINS said:

I like this a lot!!!!

Montgomery is a HUGE add - even if we need to stretch to $26M (30 v. Gray at 34)

Bader doesn’t interest me…….I’d shuffle the I.D.’s to ‘23 reality until Buxton shows up for real, with knees that flex.

Castro - CF

Buxton - DH

Taylor - 4th OF

Gotta say I see somebody other than Larnach as last OF.…..Gordon? Youth guy?? Maybe Larnach?

Have been preaching for this Staff!!! ……maybe Balazovic instead of Moran?? Splitting hairs.

Lots of wins if this team is somewhat healthy!!

LEE is coming by August 1!!!

[Jocko87]

Just prospects back for Polanco? I don’t think they make a trade without something for the big club but hard to see what it might be for purposes of this exercise. 

[tony&rodney]

Ok, adding Montgomery is a good get. 

What seems a little unusual is that this team has 24 of 26 Twins returning. I'm ok with that but it sure unlikely. Have teams generally returned a 92%+ from one year to the next from their system?

[Major League Ready]

1 hour ago, JD-TWINS said:

I like this a lot!!!!

Montgomery is a HUGE add - even if we need to stretch to $26M (30 v. Gray at 34)

Bader doesn’t interest me…….I’d shuffle the I.D.’s to ‘23 reality until Buxton shows up for real, with knees that flex.

Castro - CF

Buxton - DH

Taylor - 4th OF

Gotta say I see somebody other than Larnach as last OF.…..Gordon? Youth guy?? Maybe Larnach?

Have been preaching for this Staff!!! ……maybe Balazovic instead of Moran?? Splitting hairs.

Lots of wins if this team is somewhat healthy!!

I meant to substitute someone else for Larnach.  The reason I went with Bader is his career OPS against LHP is 823.  I was pondering what to do with that final bench spot and simply forgot to make the change.  What if Buxton can actually play the OF?  If that happened, you could go a few different ways with that last bench spot.  

My dream scenario is Lee or Severino mash at AAA and get brought up before June 1.  That roster looks really deep if that happens and we still should have hope Miranda finds it.

I would like to see them stretch the budget a little more and get a solid LH RP and as Mike pointed out it probably makes more sense to keep Varland stretched out in AAA.

[Major League Ready]

37 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

Just prospects back for Polanco? I don’t think they make a trade without something for the big club but hard to see what it might be for purposes of this exercise. 

If they can get a top SP, I believe they will move Polanco for the payroll space.  I doubt they get an established SP.  If they can get a good RP that fits in easy enough as would a RH OFer.  However, I would be they would take a good prospect package if they need the payroll space which will be just fine by me because it means they landed a top pitcher.

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, Major League Ready said:

If they can get a top SP, I believe they will move Polanco for the payroll space.  I doubt they get an established SP.  If they can get a good RP that fits in easy enough as would a RH OFer.  However, I would be they would take a good prospect package if they need the payroll space which will be just fine by me because it means they landed a top pitcher.

Ya. What contender is trading for Polanco and giving up major league players? Get a couple really good prospects, or one elite one. 

[Vanimal46]

Nice plan MLR! The primary difference between your desire and mine is you want the big contract ($24 million) to go to a SP, and I want it to go to the best position player not named Shohei Ohtani. Either way, we both agree that there are enough funds to make a big splash for an impact player this offseason. Fun discussions to be had this offseason! 

[Major League Ready]

12 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Nice plan MLR! The primary difference between your desire and mine is you want the big contract ($24 million) to go to a SP, and I want it to go to the best position player not named Shohei Ohtani. Either way, we both agree that there are enough funds to make a big splash for an impact player this offseason. Fun discussions to be had this offseason! 

Bellinger is great but here is the thing ... There are 7 really good SPs plus Ohtani and 1 (Bellinger) truly impactful hitter in this FA class.  I think Bellinger lands a crazy deal.  It could be one of those deals that hurts the team for several years and landing Bellinger seems even more improbable than the twins doing what it takes to land a top SP.

[Vanimal46]

20 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

Bellinger is great but here is the thing ... There are 7 really good SPs plus Ohtani and 1 (Bellinger) truly impactful hitter in this FA class.  I think Bellinger lands a crazy deal.  It could be one of those deals that hurts the team for several years and landing Bellinger seems even more improbable than the twins doing what it takes to land a top SP.

Agreed. There are more impact SP available than impact bats in this FA class. If the bidding for Bellinger gets out of hand, then we should pivot to the SP free agents. I think the Twins' best chance at landing Bellinger is if they make an aggressive offer right away in the offseason. The big players will be busy making their bids for Ohtani. Bellinger may choose to wait for Ohtani to set the market, and the other teams who lost on Ohtani to bid on him. 

[TwinsAce]

• 2B: Edouard Julien ($10.50M)
  Of note - you'd actually end up over $10 million under the budget since Julien's number was still Polanco's number. :)

[Major League Ready]

1 hour ago, TwinsAce said:

• 2B: Edouard Julien ($10.50M)
  Of note - you'd actually end up over $10 million under the budget since Julien's number was still Polanco's number. :)

Thanks.  That leaves room to upgrade from Bader to Kiermaier and add a RP.  However, I am not convinced they will spend $150M. wish we had a better idea how much the TV revenue they will be able to replace, especially long-term,  You have to believe they would be more apt to take it in the shorts this year if these changes provide an opportunity to grow revenue long-term.