RaoulDuke

Dobnak was a real surprise and pitched well, seems like he could be a legit 4/5 if he can improve his breaking stuff. He should be the front runner for an in house back of the rotation spot. Smeltzer came up really big against some tough teams, he strikes me as a Duensing/ Duffey type that has success early as a starter but is more effective as a reliever long term. Thorpe is more raw but has way more stuff, I think he could turn into a real pitcher. He needs control but the breaking stuff is good and there seems to be velocity to realize. Graterol has impressive stuff. He should get every chance to be a starter. 98-100 on a sinker and 4 seam, slider with bite, and a serviceable changeup is a damn good start. He needs to really make the slider a weapon and the change a consistent pitch. Keep him starting if he doesn't earn an immediate spot in the MLB rotation, this is the best chance in the system at top end starter don't waste it just letting him throw gas out of the pen. Next seasons rotation in my dream land would be 1 - Cole I dont care the cost (this won't happen so top line addition via trade) 2 - Berrios 3 - Solid Free Agent Vet (Odorizzi fits well here) 4 - Pineda 5 - Graterol/ Dobnak/ Thorpe whoever wins it

I turned it off after the grand slam. This season was awesome to watch but every flaw has been hyper exposed in the last 2 games and it is super deflating. Its kind of hard to be mad because no one really expected them to be in this spot at the beginning of the year. They planned and made moves according to the expectation they could be in the wild card mix 85-90 wins. They built an offense to feast on the weak pitching in the central and a staff to minimize damage. The division turned out way worse than anyone imagined and a bunch of stuff went right for the Twins. So many things went way better than expected and all the sudden they had the HR record and 101 wins. Then they had to face a real, experienced, deep, vet team in the playoffs and it disintegrated. Hopefully this is a hard lesson taken to heart, the window is open but there is a lot of work to be done to be a real threat. The rotation needs an ace period. Pay whatever it costs money or prospect wise if it doesn't hurt you haven't gone after a talented enough pitcher. The pen needs 2 more setup+ level nasty guys, at least 1 needs to be a vet. It also needs a nasty loogy. The disparity vs the NY pen the last 2 playoff trips has been the biggest factor in getting dominated. The offense feasted on weak teams and it showed a lack of discipline/ approach when really challenged. Can't expect to win on a pitchers mistakes when you don't force them to make the mistakes. I love Rocco as a manager and have faith he can be the guy but being down 0-2 and having not used one of your 2 best starters and 2 of your best relievers is pretty damning.

The Twins pitching just looked over matched in this game, its disheartening to be at deja vu. When was the last good playoff performance from a Twins starter? Santana? The Yankees are not that much better a team but their players are calm and ready for the moment because they have been there before, they thrive by abusing the other teams inexpierence. This staff needs some arms that have already handled the pressure. Berrios didn't have his curve so I had no problem with him getting pulled. Going Littel/ Stashak/ Duffey with all of zero playoff innings between them was not a smart move. I am really not sold on this pen, everyone keeps citing the 2nd half numbers but I think that is a lot of small sample size mixed with playing some bad teams well into their tank. Rodgers is legit, albeit not playoff seasoned, and Romo is a well seasoned vet in his twilight run but outside of that I don't really trust any of them vs NY in the playoffs. Gibson and Stashak should be no where near this roster, Littel and Smeltzer are mop up guys, May and Duffey are middle to 7th inning guys with little to no playoff xp, Graterol throws 100 and has potential but has zero mlb xp. Dobnak better bring his good **** tomorrow because the series is hanging on him eating some innings which is another major issue. He has been great for the couple months hes been up and may well step up, but the Twins year is hanging largely on a former non prospect who started the year in A ball and has 28 innings of Mlb experience. Any game they win in this post season is seems like they will need to hope to get 2 innings out of Rodgers and 1 out of Romo.

Wasn't Duffey a closer when they drafted him? I seem to remember he was part of the wave of college relievers the TR regime drafted to try to turn into starters. Is he the last one of those guys left in the org now? Jay was the biggest name because of his draft slot but there was Duffey/ Melotakis?/ someone I am forgetting/ and Burdi who they kept a reliever. As a starter he only had the + curve as a weapon, the fastball played down at lower speeds, and the change was never really there. As a reliever the nasty curve/ mid 90s fastball combo plays well. I wonder where he could have been now had they never messed with him being a starter, because he has certainly found something after some experience in the pen.

This is an approach the previous Twins regime didn't seem to utilize, so it is great to see it is in play now. Maximize the guys with truly special arms, get them in the MLB and let them pitch. Young velocity driven pitchers are an, if not the, hottest commodity in the mlb. 98-100 mph is a rare and fragile thing that needs to be capitalized on. You can wait for that arm to hopefully fully develop secondary stuff or you can throw their prime at mlb hitters. It is downright silly to bank on a move like this being successful however. This team needed to add a top level reliever and should have done it despite the cost. Romo was a nice move, Dyson was good in theory, even if both work out better than expected they severely lack a shut down RH.

I can see Sano being in this discussion as well, his value is down some but the potential is there. Romero had me giddy last year, I really didn't think he would fall off so far. I wouldn't mind getting value out of him now before he reaches full Alex Meyer level. Gordon is on the upswing finally, and there is middle infield depth in the system. I think he is most likely moved.

There are tens of us!

I wonder if he could be rented for Gordon + a low minors pitcher? Adding Smith would probably cost a top 3-6 guy as well.

That is an awesome article. It is very promising to see some of the concepts and practices being used here, and the results are obviously showing.

Definitely a bullpen delivery at the moment, but this seems like the somewhat unorthodox kind of guy Cleveland has done well developing.

This series was fun to watch. The playoff feeling was real vs another good team. Smeltzer was super impressive, the kid can obviously pitch and I don't see how he doesn't get a real shot now, at least at a pen spot. I came away believing in the offense and defense but the holes in the pen showed. Come playoff time If Rodgers isn't lights out they are super thin, if Parker doesn't have his split going they are done. They require a top line reliever, realistically they need two.

This team is awesome. I haven't felt this excited about a team in years. I think its for real, I am all in (don't break my heart again MN sports lol). Modern approach, league leading players, talented depth. Spend what it takes and get a big RH bullpen arm to pair with Rodgers!

The need for pitching regards playoff matchups, this staff is built to win the division behind the good offense. Come playoff time Odorizzi/ Perez/ Gibson don't match up great as your 2nd starter. Then pen is the biggest area of concern, they need a closer level righty to pair with Rodgers.

For me its Rosario, he is the right combination of unique/ animated/ good. The team has also taken on an aggressive style that plays him up. I think Cruz deserves a lot of credit as the vet clubhouse leader as well. I imagine he is easier for these guys to all get behind than a quiet Mauer or country Dozier.

Odorizzi interests me as a bullpen guy as well. It seems like his stuff could play up if he wasn't trying to hold back and it would certainly minimize his weakness of getting out of the 5th. There isn't enough depth at SP to do it though. Maybe if Gonzalvez wasn't hurt or they hadn't messed with Romero, even then its thin.

Gibson has had an interesting career to watch progress. I think the Gardenhire/ Anderson regime messed him up some. They picked him as a college arm that they thought could move quick, big heavy fastball as the main plus. The sinker was that regimes holy grail and they focused everything on his. He became a good prospect and moved quick throwing worm burners. Then the injury, by then they were starving for homegrown pitchers and it was a big blow. When healthy again they rushed him again on just his sinker. Gibson looked like just another back of the rotation sinker guy and I always wondered what the hell had made him a 1st round pick or if it had never returned after the surgery. Gibson made some progress on his own and had 1 decent year Out goes Rick Anderson and in 2015 Gibson starts growing suddenly and has his best year. He starts throwing a 93 mph 4 seam up in the zone, his slider becomes an out pitch, hes now striking people out and not just endlessly nibbling, suddenly he becomes a good pitcher. There is obviously way more to why he has broke out but I think being developed poorly was a big part of what was holding him back. Sometimes I wonder what Scott Baker could of done if he was a prospect now/ how much damage did the old twins way do to him.

There is going to be a lot of frustrated fans if Romero is in the AAA bullpen.

On the one broadcast I have caught so far the Phillies old school announcers were blasting the catcher for doing this, so I am all for it! This spring has really brought me hope for this organization and the way it has quickly modernized. Get them low strikes for Berrios curves.

I think its between Adrianza and Cave. Cave is way more promising a player but Adrianza is the only real + glove shortstop on the team. I prefer Cave but they may want the defense.

I think this team is still well below what they could be comfortably spending. I don't necessarily agree with, but I understand, the lack of big spending this off season. I think they will spend when the team shows they are ready to contend. This roster is a lot of gamble, this year is about seeing what they really have in Buxton/ Sano and seeing if they can hit on some guys like Schoop. Honestly this insurance/ super utility signing for good money gives me hope on the payroll front, they could have just gambled on things working out. If they are willing to do this deal logically/ probably/ hopefully there should be another addition to the pitching staff. Buxton - Can he stay healthy/ Hit above the mendoza line? Sano - Can he stay healthy? Not strike out half the time? Stick at 3rd for abit? Schoop - Is he the player from 17 or 18? Cron - Can he produce and not Lomo it up after a good year? Rosario - Can he find consistency and keep it up? Kepler - Can he breakout? Polanco - Can he lock down shortstop? Gonzalez provides a reliable answer to those questions when some inevitably fail.

I like this move a lot. The team as constructed is betting on a lot of bounce back and improvement, Marwin covers a ton of gaps when that plan inevitably fails somewhere. Tortuga starts in the minors, Austin gotta be gone, it comes down to Cave/ Adrianza. Cave is a much more promising player and a nice backup to Buxton but Adrianza is the only guy on the roster that can really be a plus defender at short. I prefer to keep cave but I think they will probably go with the defense. Sign Keuchel or Kimbrel and lets make a real attempt at the central!

The use of Garver is interesting. They must really not think he can be an everyday catcher defensively, he has got a lot of Ryan Doumit to his game. Wilson is getting run because he handles the pitchers well, we are in development days now so I don't mind them playing his toothpick bat to help the pitchers out. Watching him attempt to hit is painful but watching him work with Berrios is a thing of beauty. Grandal would be a nice addition, he can catch the main share and is a good platoon partner for Garver.

Magill must be getting the full experience of Matt Belisle's veteran savvy knowledge leadership. Eventually he will have absorbed it all and will be allowed to pitch again while Mr. Belisle can finally be put out to pasture ride off into the sunset.

I think this was the right move. Unlike Buxton (though his hitting would certainly benefit from some minors time as well) Sano's value is entirely in him crushing the ball and he is doing very little of that. Work hard on conditioning, or the leg is going to be a recurring issue. First base/ dh is coming soon but he still has to run the bases and not injure himself doing so. Work hard on attitude, your spot isn't guarenteed because of potential. Be humble and let the challenge drive you to be better. Work hardest on approach, its currently very broken. When Sano came up at first I was most impressed with how patient he was for a young guy. Pitchers wanted to nibble to avoid him, exploit his youth and let him get himself out like rookies are prone to. He waited them out like a pro letting them get behind in the count and forcing them to walk him or throw hittable pitches. No doubt the league found weaknesses and adjusted, now he needs to do the same. Currently he is getting eaten alive chasing low and away and is checking his swings wayyy more than I have ever seen any baseball player do. Nothing good is going to come from checking your swing. It either means he was purely guessing and had no way to adjust or his mechanics are so messed up he has to start every swing that early to make any contact. I think he will get it back, there is a monster hitter buried in there buried by bad habits. A good kick in the ass/ reality check was overdue.

Bobby "Big Hoss" Wilson!!!!