jkcarew

Gant with 76 pitches to get through 4 inning…with only 3 base runners allowed. Positively Odorizzi-ish. #watchingpaintdry

Part of it’s the math and geography. The Cub have owned two-thirds of Chicago forever…and it’s the two-thirds with the most disposable income. The Metro area is just under 9 million. All Cubs owners have taken advantage of that…that’s why it took 100 years, and that might be why it takes another hundred. (I lived on the north side in the early 80’s)

Not as convinced as you (and many others) that Arraez is such a huge part of the future. He’s a BA and OBP guy, which is nice in our lineup. But not much else, unless you value his defensive flexibility. But, Larnach, Kirilloff, Martin, Lewis, Miranda. Every one promises either (way) more power or better defensive flexibility.

We agree!

My only worry is that Sawer Gipson-Long and Simeon Woods-Richardson will consume a total of 3 lines on the 40-man roster.

Thanks for this. Overall, it doesn’t seem that he’s particularly close…or at least not particularly close to being effective at the major league level given his secondary pitches are such works-in-progress.

It was a coincidence that they didn’t sign any other big ticket guys. And also a coincidence that they couldn’t trade him…for anything…at any point over the last 5 years when he was no longer Joe Mauer.

Not unless they get good value in a Buxton trade AND two of the young guys are good immediately.

No…this was another sad chapter, unique to the Twins. You didn’t need WAR to know that Puckett and Ripken and Mattingly were good, and you didn’t need it to know Davis was bad. Problem was, Davis was a big get (and “expensive”) in a trade for Smalley with the Yankees. Davis was ‘good’ with the Yankees. And more to the point, this was the Calvin Griffith Twins!! It took the new regime one disastrous year to move him out of leverage. And before the end of the 1986 season sited, he was dumped in a trade. During the 1970’s and first half of the 80’s, mlb modernized quite a bit, but you wouldn’t have seen it following the Twins.

“…given Buxton’s .903 OPS over the past three seasons…” I think you meant to say over his last 540 plate appearances. Sign him for a discount based on the health AND performance risk…or trade him before the season starts.

Mite be a bit early for that claim…it looks strong with 8 players in the majors, but 5 of those with negative bWAR at this point…and they’re all just getting their feet wet…and Miranda and Balazovic not having even dipped a tow yet. Bringing up the 2016 draft in this thread does, however, raise the question…why isn’t this article about Tyler Wells? ?

This thread very helpful…I’d think many of us were looking for an SWR update. Thanks.

This. Highly regarded (and healthy) college arms are in the minors 1-2 year…it’s going to be more like 3-4 for the high school guys. Plenty of time to be offered up twice (or more) for immediate help.

If Reed is a mistake, then they made it 3 times. He has been waived twice this year, each time being claimed by a team with a better record than the Twins. I think that’s a pretty firm “no”…in that this FO at least doesn’t think a mistake was made. Even guys like Ynoa…sure it’d be great to have that one back…but a very common sentiment on this site at the time is that the Twins should have gone bigger at that deadline. 90% here are going to complain if you aren’t willing to trade prospects at the deadline (when headed for the playoffs)…and 90% will complain that the trade was made when the prospect turns out to be good.

Dobnak started 5 games…and the numbers speak for themselves. And nobody proves their worth in spring training facing lineups peppered with minor leaguers. Nobody. I agree that he was serviceable in previous years, though, so maybe there’s hope. I’m not optimistic.

Not sure how I’m supposed to feel sorry for Dobnak. He was awful as a starter this year almost immediately. I’d venture a guess that he was happy to have an opportunity to move to the pen…not to mention very happy with the contract that the Twins gave him…and absolutely 100% didn’t have to or need to give him. To be fair to him, he’s still just 26 years old…so, there’s still a chance, I guess. And while the old-timers were around, they watched the Twins take 2 of 3 against the best team in the AL.

Honestly IMO, it’s a no-brained to DFA Dobnak. If someone wants his contract, fine…if not, he’s filler at AAA…the contract is nothing. If the prospects (and literally any FA) aren’t at least immediately as good (bad) as Dobnak, you’ve got bigger issues. I guess maybe they think he can be a useful bullpen arm. I don’t…unless you consider the guy who comes in and eats innings in blowouts ‘useful’. Keeping guys like this around simply because you gave them a contract, a small one at that, is exactly how losing organizations stay losing organizations. I don’t think you have both Rooker and Garlick on the 40- man, at least in 2022 (unless you move Sano, I suppose). That makes it tough to keep Garlick, even though he’s outperformed Rooker to this point. In general, I’m not high on 5-11 pitchers with any history of arm issues. But I suppose desperation warrants that you give Colina a chance.

Don’t understand how Garrit Cole was able to silence that lineup. Obviously, we just choked.?

Wow…lots of definitive opinions based on watching 4 innings. The swings and misses are encouraging. I’m pretty sure we’ll see him this year. If I were Buxton and had been out as long as he has, I’d want to see some AAA PA’s…not a lot, but some, before stepping in against the Major leaguers.

That’s funny stuff.

It’s a chasm. Unless you think Arraez is going to wRC+ 150-170 over a 5 year period like Carew or have multiple years in the 150-160 range like Gwynn…stealing 50 bases and hitting 12-17 home runs. Hundreds of players have put up nice batting averages immediately. And 99% didn’t end up Carew or Gwynn…and the vast majority didn’t come close. Those guy were both stronger and way faster than Arraez…not even in the same universe athletically. Arraez does great with what he has, and I’ll continue to enjoy what he brings to the club. I think you’re going to be wrong on Mauer. Well see.

His ceiling is nowhere near Carew or Gwynn. Doesn’t mean he isn’t good and can’t get better. And you’re going to be disappointed on that Mauer thing.

The K’s really aren’t the scariest thing with Larnach…it’s the lack of power/SLG. Larnach’s OBP this season….322…he shows good signs of discipline in the box. Kirilloff, who seems to get himself out at a high rate by swinging at pitcher’s pitches early in the count…his OBP was 299. But, Kirilloff makes up for it somewhat with the x-base pop. Both have a good ways to go.

The key to getting everything we want in this thread is trading Donaldson. As unlikely as that is given the contract…IF you could pull it off, it makes the concept of the Twins spending big on Buxton, a SS, and pitching at least within the realm of our dreams. With Donaldson on the books, no way do they shell out for those numbers and those years (tier one). Highly questionable they’d do all three even without Donaldson. Chances are, prospects will need to be traded somewhere along the line. Too many variables and not enough equations. Pure speculation. Arguably, they have redundancies everywhere…except CF and SS. It doesn’t have to be just prospects…some of the controlled guys have varying value that could be material in a package…(Polonco obviously…Kepler, Sano…Jeffers and Garver who are pretty redundant unless you’re willing to play one/both at 1B or DH.) People I could see included in packages… Buxton if it looks like you’re not going to sign him Lewis or Martin (not both…and neither if you don’t think Buxton is signing) Any of the other top 15 position prospect not named Lewis or Martin (including Miranda) One of Larnach, Kepler, or Kirilloff (Kirilloff the least likely, but you never know) Rooker (he has options, right?) One of Garver or Jeffers Sano if it looks like the first-baseman is Kirilloff, and they like Garver/Jeffers/Donaldson to DH Arraez if the return is high, Buxton signs, and they think Martin is ready Polonco if the return is high enough and you love your 2nd base options (whether Arraez, Martin, Lewis, etc) Etc, etc, etc