Riverbrian’s 2027 Payroll Blueprint:

[Riverbrian]

If Tom is going to spend. 160 million. Go get em Tom.

This team has starting pitching depth. It has a hard throwing bullpen. It has 6 infielders who could all be starters. It has 5 outfielders who could all be starters. It' a roster built for 162 games.

Free Agents... Sato and Morejon (as a starter). I'm just putting names down to represent the types of players I'd want for 2027. Bauers can substitute for Sato. I just want a big bat at 1B to be brought in. Morejon can be replaced by Rogers or someone in the upper shelf of the available starting pitchers. If they want go get King that's fine with me. But, see if you can bring in a starter that is better than Ober or Kremer. We will need someone who join Bradley for 2028. 

Trade acquisitions Casey Schmitt, Jeremiah Estrada and Sam Bachman. Again... just representations of the type of players that I would like to acquire. Doesn't have to be Schmitt, Estrada or Bachman. I want a capable infielder. 

Larnach, Ober, Kremer, Wallner plus unnamed minor league players for trade capital. I would like to keep Wallner for another run at it but I know I would be crucified for it by Twinsdaily. Wallner had a bad couple of months... no doubt about that. But he had some great months for us before that. But, if I list him... too many want him gone so I didn't list him.

Keaschall is listed as the DH... but I would not have a permanent DH. The DH would be used to our talented depth into the lineup more often. We would have 11 players for 8 positions if you don't count the Catcher position which is it's own rotation.

More playing time goes to the players who are earning it. Less playing time for anyone who hits like Lewis did last year.

If we end up with 11 guys who are killing it. The manager will have a good problem because it won't matter who plays and the Twins will still win 100 games. Unfortunately... that won't happen. Someone is going to perform like Lewis or Wallner did last season. Someone is going to get hurt.

I'm not afraid of youth. I'm afraid of no safety nets if Culpepper really struggles or if anyone gets hurt. I'm afraid of asking role players to take on larger roles when players struggle or players get hurt so I don't want role players on the roster.

I'm afraid of not enough talent. I want too much talent be it realized or unrealized talent. I want too much talent. I want the manager to lose sleep at night because he has too many options. It can be done and this is how you build a team for 162 games and a team built for 162 teams is the first thing Tom Pohlad mentioned that we didn't have in the press conference about what went wrong in 2026. So here is a team built for 162 games. 

• C: Victor Caratini ($7.00M)
• 1B: Teruaki Sato ($26.00M)
• 2B: Kody Clemens ($3.60M)
• 3B: Brooks Lee ($1.00M)
• SS: Kaelen Culpepper ($1.00M)
• LF: Emmanuel Rodiguez ($1.00M)
• CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M)
• RF: Walker Jenkins ($1.00M)
• DH: Luke Keaschall ($1.00M)
• 4th OF: alan roden ($1.00M)
• Utility: Casey Schmitt ($2.50M)
• Utility: Royce Lewis ($5.10M)
• Backup C: Alex Jackson ($2.00M)
• POS: Add Dead Money Here ($0.00M)
• SP1: Pablo Lopez ($21.50M)
• SP2: Joe Ryan ($9.60M)
• SP3: Taj Bradley ($4.50M)
• SP4: Adrian Morejon ($20.00M)
• SP5: Connor Prielipp ($1.00M)
• RP: Jeff Hoffman ($7.25M)
• RP: Yoendrys Gomez ($2.30M)
• RP: Tommy Nance ($1.20M)
• RP: Cole Sands ($1.30M)
• RP: Kody Funderburk ($1.00M)
• RP: Jeremiah Estrada ($1.00M)
• RP: Andrew Morris ($1.00M)
• RP: sam bachman ($1.00M)
• POS: Add Dead Money Here ($10.00M)

Payroll is 9.91% over budget

[Linus]

I like the overall philosophy. Add a bat and some relievers which gives us a chance this year and builds towards the future. 

[tony&rodney]

Good roster and it looks fairly realistic to me. Thank you for submitting one. I count only 14 submitted rosters with many, many frequent TD voices absent. Thus, pleased to see you put up one

The idea of Sato is fun and I think Morejon is a good idea. I'm interested in how you acquired Schmitt, Estrada, and Bachman. They are all good acquisitions but the price for them is unclear to me. Did you trade Abel, Rojas, Matthews for them? Finally, what do you see in Wallner? He was a darling for almost everyone on Twins Daily before last year but his fans have abandoned him. Wallner is a pure DH and you state that you would not use a DH, so I was merely curious.

[Major League Ready]

I like it. 

I hope Tom Pohlad will back up his statements in a meaningful way.  

I will have to see it to believe it.  I don't believe they will spend unless the CBA requires it.

[tony&rodney]

16 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

I like it. 

I hope Tom Pohlad will back up his statements in a meaningful way.  

I will have to see it to believe it.  I don't believe they will spend unless the CBA requires it.

MLR? Did you post your roster?

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

Good roster and it looks fairly realistic to me. Thank you for submitting one. I count only 14 submitted rosters with many, many frequent TD voices absent. Thus, pleased to see you put up one

The idea of Sato is fun and I think Morejon is a good idea. I'm interested in how you acquired Schmitt, Estrada, and Bachman. They are all good acquisitions but the price for them is unclear to me. Did you trade Abel, Rojas, Matthews for them? Finally, what do you see in Wallner? He was a darling for almost everyone on Twins Daily before last year but his fans have abandoned him. Wallner is a pure DH and you state that you would not use a DH, so I was merely curious.

In regards to trades... there is no way I could possibly know what players could be acquired nor could I know how much so all I can do is list the types of players that I would like and hopefully the Twins acquire reasonably facsimiles... if not the real thing. 

Schmitt could be replaced with Lawlar for example. I'm just looking for young talent and young talent that could be acquired. 

I know that I have Larnach, Kremer and Ober has trade chips and if we need to add from the minor league system to finish off deals with whoever... then we need to add from the minor league system to get the deals done. However... I recognize my limitations on constructing specific trades that both parties would agree to because I have been nowhere near the rooms where these conversations take place.  

In regards to Wallner. I view him like I view Lewis right now. Too talented to just hand to another team to fix. Wallner and Lewis didn't earn it so they gotta earn it.  I'm making them the safety nets... safety nets who could win a job back. 

Last year Wallner had a horrible 135 PA's and everyone wants to throw him away. Prior to that his OPS was: ,776 - .894 - .877 and we want to throw him away over two real bad months? This is 40 home run potential. Yeah, he's older now but when his timing is on... he is at another level of exit velocity.

Meanwhile we are at 1,000 AB's of sub par with Lewis now but Wallner has to go?  

I don't use 4th or 5th OF terminology when describing players but give Wallner that last spot and see if he can help us win ball games. When it's his turn to play... I'd imagine DH would be the spot because Buxton, Jenkins and Emma are better defensive options. However... Wallner won't play every day so others can use the DH spot as well for more AB's to what is now a competitive team. 

I have Keaschall listed in the DH spot because the format of the tool demands one. However... I want Keaschall playing in the OF so he gets better at it. He's young... he's athletic... he will figure out the routes and jumps in time. I don't want to diminish Keaschall's future value by cementing him into the DH position. 

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, Major League Ready said:

I like it. 

I hope Tom Pohlad will back up his statements in a meaningful way.  

I will have to see it to believe it.  I don't believe they will spend unless the CBA requires it.

It's such a precarious time to be doing this stuff. Will the CBA change? Will it stay the same with minor changes? 

My plan is based on it staying the same with minor changes? 

If a Cap and Floor is implemented. My roster may not make any sense anymore. 

[tony&rodney]

22 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

In regards to trades... there is no way I could possibly know what players could be acquired nor could I know how much so all I can do is list the types of players that I would like and hopefully the Twins acquire reasonably facsimiles... if not the real thing. 

Schmitt could be replaced with Lawlar for example. I'm just looking for young talent and young talent that could be acquired. 

I know that I have Larnach, Kremer and Ober has trade chips and if we need to add from the minor league system to finish off deals with whoever... then we need to add from the minor league system to get the deals done. However... I recognize my limitations on constructing specific trades that both parties would agree to because I have been nowhere near the rooms where these conversations take place.  

In regards to Wallner. I view him like I view Lewis right now. Too talented to just hand to another team to fix. Wallner and Lewis didn't earn it so they gotta earn it.  I'm making them the safety nets... safety nets who could win a job back. 

Last year Wallner had a horrible 135 PA's and everyone wants to throw him away. Prior to that his OPS was: ,776 - .894 - .877 and we want to throw him away over two real bad months? This is 40 home run potential. Yeah, he's older now but when his timing is on... he is at another level of exit velocity.

Meanwhile we are at 1,000 AB's of sub par with Lewis now but Wallner has to go?  

I don't use 4th or 5th OF terminology when describing players but give Wallner that last spot and see if he can help us win ball games. When it's his turn to play... I'd imagine DH would be the spot because Buxton, Jenkins and Emma are better defensive options. However... Wallner won't play every day so others can use the DH spot as well for more AB's to what is now a competitive team. 

I have Keaschall listed in the DH spot because the format of the tool demands one. However... I want Keaschall playing in the OF so he gets better at it. He's young... he's athletic... he will figure out the routes and jumps in time. I don't want to diminish Keaschall's future value by cementing him into the DH position. 

Thank you for the response. I appreciate it.

Agree that none of us has an idea about trades but the nature of the site is purely speculative so it can be worth guesses. I get you are not comfortable doing that though and respect it. You did put out specific names. I'm not ever serious about mine but rather just throwing out ideas.

Wallner? I think that decision was already made. A note on Wallner that might matter - he cannot hit any fastball at or above 95MPH. I do wish Wallner had been given a chance from the beginning to be only a DH. I'm not sure if that would have made any difference. 

Lewis? I have no idea what to do with Lewis. I advocated for trading him in November of 2023 and the reaction was  ..... ? (visceral). The mantra of earning it makes sense but when a team spends money it always seems like they stick with it too long.

Mainly I am really concerned that Zoll & TP just roll it back again because that is the past practice. Impossible to guess the budget too.

These blueprints were supposed to (imo) be a way for people to put out their rosters, defend their choices, and create conversations. After little participation in the last two years and mostly not useful comments, there are some better responses this year, but less than 20 people have put forth their rosters including many of the folks who are often very critical of others. I'm not sure why there is so little participation. Maybe the Blueprint needs to be in its own thread under Forums as opposed to just the last comment. Perhaps people don't know to go to place where the blueprints are found. 

[Major League Ready]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

MLR? Did you post your roster?

No.  I am pretty disenchanted and therefore just not giving it as much thought.  I am just disgusted because I think the organization absolutely could not have done a worse job of managing assets over the past couple of years.  They could have been really well-positioned had they managed in the model of Milwaukee or Tampa.

I also think Tom Pohlad's no half measures and we are dedicated to putting a winner on the field is just a bunch of BS.  How can you make that claim and continue to slash payroll.  The models for success were on display this fall.  He not only proved he does not understand those models but he also did a 180 in the midst of a rebuild which is the definition of incompetence.  

I never thought ownership was a big problem but I certainly do now.  

Having said all this ... I think my roster would conceptually be very similar to Riverbrian.

[Riverbrian]

43 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Thank you for the response. I appreciate it.

Agree that none of us has an idea about trades but the nature of the site is purely speculative so it can be worth guesses. I get you are not comfortable doing that though and respect it. You did put out specific names. I'm not ever serious about mine but rather just throwing out ideas.

Wallner? I think that decision was already made. A note on Wallner that might matter - he cannot hit any fastball at or above 95MPH. I do wish Wallner had been given a chance from the beginning to be only a DH. I'm not sure if that would have made any difference. 

Lewis? I have no idea what to do with Lewis. I advocated for trading him in November of 2023 and the reaction was  ..... ? (visceral). The mantra of earning it makes sense but when a team spends money it always seems like they stick with it too long.

Mainly I am really concerned that Zoll & TP just roll it back again because that is the past practice. Impossible to guess the budget too.

These blueprints were supposed to (imo) be a way for people to put out their rosters, defend their choices, and create conversations. After little participation in the last two years and mostly not useful comments, there are some better responses this year, but less than 20 people have put forth their rosters including many of the folks who are often very critical of others. I'm not sure why there is so little participation. Maybe the Blueprint needs to be in its own thread under Forums as opposed to just the last comment. Perhaps people don't know to go to place where the blueprints are found. 

With Wallner... I don't see the fastball issue. The high heat will get him but the high heat will get a lot of players. Granted... he is going to see more fastballs so the fastball is key but it's those off-speed pitches and the low and away breaking pitches that add to his overall K percentage. 

What I do see with Wallner is when is timing gets messed up. He gets painfully messed up and he has too many odd moving parts to his swing that all have to work for timing. So it's easy to get messed up.

His set up as always bugged me. He looks uncomfortable. It has a high tension coiled spring set up. When the pitch is delivered. His leg lift with his front foot is high like he's trying to the ball a million miles. His body goes back on the load and his leg lifts high to hit the ball 500 feet when major league fences don't require that for someone with his power. He doesn't need that big of a load.

Simplify it. Take the odd looking junk out of it. Study the swing of Yordan Alverez. Nice and simple and his timing issues could be greatly reduced. The more things you have to time the more chances to screw up along the way.   

However... I've coached youth baseball. I am in no way qualified to break down a major league swing.  

[Riverbrian]

12 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

No.  I am pretty disenchanted and therefore just not giving it as much thought.  I am just disgusted because I think the organization absolutely could not have done a worse job of managing assets over the past couple of years.  They could have been really well-positioned had they managed in the model of Milwaukee or Tampa.

I also think Tom Pohlad's no half measures and we are dedicated to putting a winner on the field is just a bunch of BS.  How can you make that claim and continue to slash payroll.  The models for success were on display this fall.  He not only proved he does not understand those models but he also did a 180 in the midst of a rebuild which is the definition of incompetence.  

I never thought ownership was a big problem but I certainly do now.  

Having said all this ... I think my roster would conceptually be very similar to Riverbrian.

Hang in there. The past is the past. It's all about the future. I'm hoping that Tom was sincere when he says he realizes that last years squad wasn't built for 162.

Because he's right. It wasn't.  

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, Riverbrian said:

With Wallner... I don't see the fastball issue. The high heat will get him but the high heat will get a lot of players. Granted... he is going to see more fastballs so the fastball is key but it's those off-speed pitches and the low and away breaking pitches that add to his overall K percentage. 

What I do see with Wallner is when is timing gets messed up. He gets painfully messed up and he has too many odd moving parts to his swing that all have to work for timing. So it's easy to get messed up.

His set up as always bugged me. He looks uncomfortable. It has a high tension coiled spring set up. When the pitch is delivered. His leg lift with his front foot is high like he's trying to the ball a million miles. His body goes back on the load and his leg lifts high to hit the ball 500 feet when major league fences don't require that for someone with his power. He doesn't need that big of a load.

Simplify it. Take the odd looking junk out of it. Study the swing of Yordan Alverez. Nice and simple and his timing issues could be greatly reduced. The more things you have to time the more chances to screw up along the way.   

However... I've coached youth baseball. I am in no way qualified to break down a major league swing.  

Can only tell you - the Twins tried everything.

[Vanimal46]

Sato and Morejon are the 2 FAs I'm most intrigued by. Sato solves the revolving door at 1B for years. Morejon I think will transition back to the rotation and be a Michael King type... Rock solid 2/3 in a playoff rotation. 

I have zero expectations Tom P is going to pony up the money to do it... But if he does I will be over the moon. As I'm reading through the various resources posting their FA rankings and contract projections, I'm excited about the amount of solid LH pitching relievers, and relievers in general. Just need to pick the right one... Easier said than done with relievers. 

[Riverbrian]

21 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Can only tell you - the Twins tried everything.

I'm sure they have... it's why they have coaches on staff. 

Has Matt? I don't know... I assume he's putting in the work in but who knows.

Maybe he isn't and that's why he's a candidate to be kicked off the team despite a high .800 OPS not that long ago. 

It sure seems that two bad months last year erased two pretty good years in very quick fashion.

Keep this in mind. The Twins didn't feel this way about him in March. They liked him enough to leave spring training with Wallner the everyday RF. A team that was declared going for it by the owner. They all looked around the room... someone said Wallner RF... and the people in that room gave a thumbs up. 

He wasn't even on the list to be platooned. They believed in him... 34 games later... They didn't anymore. That's a sudden fall from grace. That's North and South Pole. That's a front office missing by as large a margin as possible in terms of assessment and having nowhere to turn to to replace him. Other than role players of course.

Those players they rostered to do one specific thing well that could never fulfill the expectations of what Wallner was supposed to be.    

My blueprint is an attempt to eliminate that. 

    

[Riverbrian]

35 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Sato and Morejon are the 2 FAs I'm most intrigued by. Sato solves the revolving door at 1B for years. Morejon I think will transition back to the rotation and be a Michael King type... Rock solid 2/3 in a playoff rotation. 

I have zero expectations Tom P is going to pony up the money to do it... But if he does I will be over the moon. As I'm reading through the various resources posting their FA rankings and contract projections, I'm excited about the amount of solid LH pitching relievers, and relievers in general. Just need to pick the right one... Easier said than done with relievers. 

Never saw Sato play but... if the Twins could find a Murikami type bat.

A Murikami type bat is exactly what this team needs. If they are going for it. 

My expectation that Twins will get this done? 

About the same expectation... that I'm buying a Maserati this year in 2027.    

 

[weitz41]

I really like the Sato, Morejon (as a starter) and Schmitt additions. My only complaint and its minor is I think the BP needs a bit more added. But that could also happen Aug 1st if things go well.