Prove It: Two Former Top Twins Prospects Fighting for 2025 Roster Openings

[DJL44]

4 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Off the top of my head there is no world in which I'd bet Varland is better than Kyle Gibson. 

Gibson is 36 and his past 3 seasons posted an ERA+ of 86, 79 and 82 (WAR of 0.9, 0.4 and 0.3). You must not think much of Louie Varland.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

On 4/5/2024 at 1:17 PM, DJL44 said:

Try to find a good, free agent starting pitcher for 1 year $13.25M. Here's this list who signed for that (or less) this offseason:

Kyle Gibson

Lance Lynn

Luis Severino

Wade Miley

Jakob Junis

Martin Perez

James Paxton

Alex Wood

Are any of them better than Louie Varland?

Good free agent pitchers cost $20M+ a season over multiple seasons.

It depends on one's definition of "good". I prefer using the criteria of "Who is better than Varland." How many of these Free Agent SP's listed above would you rather have starting for the Twins instead of Varland? Plus it keeps Varland from being the # 6 guy, when inevitably needed, who will probably be Festa or SWR.  

[tarheeltwinsfan]

On 4/5/2024 at 1:17 PM, DJL44 said:

Try to find a good, free agent starting pitcher for 1 year $13.25M. Here's this list who signed for that (or less) this offseason:

Kyle Gibson

Lance Lynn

Luis Severino

Wade Miley

Jakob Junis

Martin Perez

James Paxton

Alex Wood

Are any of them better than Louie Varland?

Good free agent pitchers cost $20M+ a season over multiple seasons.

The Twins will get to bat against lefty James Paxton tonight. So far (one game - 5 innings, 5 K's,  zero earned runs), Paxton has been good. I hope he implodes tonight, but I would rather have Paxton than Varland as the Twin's 5th starter. 

[jorgenswest]

On 4/3/2024 at 4:27 PM, DocBauer said:

In short, yes, there is still opportunity for both Larnach and Miranda. Though I think Miranda is the safer bet of the two, at least for the long haul.

This is the last mention of Miranda and Larnach I found about 30 posts back. Thank @DocBauer. 

They will both get a shot this year and I think are as likely to have a significant career as Wallner. I haven’t given up on Miranda as a 3B but he was marginal before shoulder injury and may never get it back to 100%. They need Larnach’s bat against right handed pitching. I hope he is back healthy in AAA soon.