bean5302

Texas Rangers rotation last year for the World Series. Nathan Eovaldi $17MM Jordan Montgomery $25MM Max Scherzer $43MM Andrew Heaney/Dane Dunning. Those top 3 guys are not back end starters.

Lots of praise for Lopez, but he didn't look sharp to me. He got outs he needed, and the Mariners couldn't string anything together, but a lot of that appeared to be luck based. Also not a fan of bringing Funderburk back out for the second inning again as he just doesn't seem to be cut out for going back to the mound after a break in the action. I don't have a great angle on home plate pitches, but it seems like Jeffers could have caught more than half the pitches after the 6th inning with his glove rather than letting them all bounce off the backstop to get it done, but it's hard to be terribly critical with the way he's been hitting. Jeffers just continues to crush baseballs, and while his xwOBA swears he's getting extremely lucky, it's his K rate which is most impressive to me. It's nothing like it used to be. Jeffers is only striking out in 17.5% of plate appearances this year. For a guy who has a career K rate near 30%, it's certainly eye opening. This team just always seems to have a spark waiting to happen. That catch by Correa off Miranda's glove was really fun to watch. Talk about awareness and concentration!

He's an absolute lock for Twins HoF. Any player who sticks with the team and is a regular player for 5 years is enshrined. Virtually a guarantee since the Twins have so very rarely actually held on to players more than 5 years throughout history. Once a player nears free agency, they've always been traded. That's how guys like Cuddyer get added.

So you're saying no discussions, speculation, analysis? Personally, digging into this kind of stuff is interesting, and Kirilloff's overall track record is getting pretty long now. 818 PA .254/.313/.416 OPS .729 wRC+ 102.

Kirilloff's tough to gauge. If he's at the .750 end of the spectrum, he'd probably be like short timer Nomar Mazara, but if he can hit at a .780 level, he'd be more like low cost journeyman for bad teams, CJ Cron. A lot may depend on whether or not teams reconsider Kirilloff as a viable corner OF as his defense at 1B has been rough and his bat honestly doesn't play at DH, IMHO. Brandon Belt is way better than Kirilloff so they're not comparable, but do keep in mind he's now a36, and I think the expectation around the league was Belt was going to be looking for a contract in the $10-12MM AAV range. A lot of fans want 2023 Kirilloff to return, I just don't buy his .374 BABIP against RHP last year. Kirilloff has a much better likelihood of being a consistent starter if he's playing outfield where a .750 OPS, and average defense can push his WAR to 1.5-2.0.

Cannot fathom the number of blackmail pics Margot must have on the front office and Baldelli. I'll be at the game today in the sun so it should be warm enough.

He has not been a #2-3. Ryan has been a #4. Career ERA / FIP / xFIP coming into this year? 4.05 / 4.01 / 4.01 For playoff caliber teams Ace = 0.00-3.40 #2 = 3.41-3.69 #3 = 3.70-3.94 #4 = 3.95-4.19 <--- Joe Ryan #5 = 4.20-4.49 Something like that.

I think Kirilloff will be just fine. Over a full year, I'd expect him to be in that .750-780 OPS range. About 10-15% better than league average vs. RHP like his career has shown. Kirilloff doesn't walk a ton and he hits a lot of line drives instead of fly balls. That'll mean his OBP will be good, not great, and his SLG will be good, not great.

The Twins did not "develop" Joe Ryan. He's been largely the same pitcher as he was when they got him. He was a MLB-ready pitcher with an excellent fastball and questionable breaking/offspeed stuff. He's the same as he was. The Twins have tinkered here and there with Ryan, changing his pitch mix, and it usually takes scouting reports a couple months to catch up to whatever the Twins added. Then batters tee off on Ryan. That's been the historical M.O. Maybe this year's tinkering will work out? The Twins may have stumbled into a recipe for success with SWR, but it took them years to get it done on a pitcher who was acquired and was thought to be near MLB ready at the time. If Woods-Richarson is able to fully develop into a mid-rotation pitcher, the Twins will get some credit there. Cleveland was known for great pitching, and while that pitching didn't necessarily come from a draft/development pipeline model, young, effective, cost controlled starting pitching was the hallmark of the franchise, and it doesn't take a genius to connect the dots. The Twins' front office had been relatively successful at developing position players. Kepler, Sano, Buxton, Rosario, Polanco, and Hicks were all previous regime draft/signings who had developed into MLB players. The Twins had not been successful at developing pitchers post 2006's Francisco Liriano. SPs Gibson and Berrios came from Smith/Ryan as well, but Berrios wasn't ready yet and Gibson never developed into the ace the organization and fans hoped to see. Pretty thin pickings. Pitching had been the reason the Twins had been struggling. There are ways to be competitive without a draft/development pitching pipeline, but for a small or mid market team, controllable, relatively inexpensive starters is required. You can trade for MLB ready guys (Joe Ryan) or you can trade for prospects and finish them (Woods Richardson) or develop them (Duran). The problem with the approach is the risk tolerance. High ceiling starting pitching prospects are extremely expensive so if your organization isn't successful at developing them, you burn all your prospect/player capital quickly, and in order to maintain your team, your payroll skyrockets to levels which cannot be sustained (see 2024 Twins). As of right now, there is ONE SINGLE MLB caliber starting pitcher Falvey's regime has developed in 7 years on the job. Bailey Ober. Unsustainable.

I read that only I didn't take the reckless leap you did because: A) I wasn't there. B) I didn't hear the exchange, tone, inflection. C) It was a corroboration of a statement by a woman. D) I don't know about DSP's relationship with Meka. E) Reckless statements like the one you made are self-centered serving the purpose of signaling your virtue at the cost of possibly unfairly damaging the reputation and life of another human being.

Where you predicted part of the reason she left the Twins was because DSP was awkward and inappropriate about women even though you hadn't read that? That's certainly how I read your comment.

What an absolutely reckless statement.

Non issue. Pitcher who leaves the game with the lead after coming into the game tied or losing gets the win. If you want to fix it, remove the win stat altogether. Problem solved. Nobody gets a win or a loss. Guess the starter can get "holds" then.

That's all great... is there a blackout at the stadium, too? Pretty sure the Twins can still how ads on the scoreboard, but it's probably more effective if fans actually attended the games.

It is to an extent. The Twins jersey numbers and text having only one "clean" color with the color matching thread on the uniforms is a disaster. The numbers and text look flat, and like cheap as hell iron-on stickers because there is no depth without outlining the letters with contrast. Joe Pohlad's design team creating a uniform like a mobile app is the problem here. Have you seen the powder blues? They'd be passable without the ugly giant Cooperstown emblem.

So far, so good! I was a big proponent of SWR years ago before his inability to replicate his mechanics sank his ship. The biggest problem I have from his struggles with mechanical issues for 7 years. It's smacks of arrogance and laziness to me. Like a player who refuses to keep themselves in shape until their game suffers. Woods-Richardson has had bouts of dominant pitching in the past so it'll take a couple months before I buy in. In the meantime, I'll continue to root for him, and hope he's turned the corner.

I'd imagine his leash is very long at this point. How could it not be without the Twins having any legitimate starters pushing Woods-Richardson? Woods-Richardson sticking in the rotation also wipes a lot of egg off Falvey's face from the Berrios transaction in a year where Falvey is on the hot seat in the final year of his contract.

Rage rather than reasons in here. Dave St. Peter needs a different role. He's been talking about his inability to improve attendance and consistently missing the mark on expectations for 5 years now. Let me help the masses out here. Joe Pohlad got hamstrung this past offseason. When nobody bought seasons after the playoff run last year and the Twins lost money for the 3rd of 4 years, the rest of the family reigned him in. That's what happened if you read between the lines. The re-branding Joe oversaw was a colossal failure. The new jerseys feel/look like something you'd get for $20 at TJ Maxx. The new logo inspires most people to think "Marlins" or "Mariners," and the family decided to stick by Dave St. Peter despite him being inept at discovering what fans want now for the better part of a decade, and ownership was rewarded with this catastrophic failure in the TV deal. Could a TV deal have possibly been worse? I'd argue no. It was the worst imaginable outcome for the Twins. A combination of Joe Pohlad and Dave St. Peter has been devastating. No longer are fans apathetic to the Twins, they're now seriously pissed off. As Joe Pohlad is a "brand" guy, you have to expect he was involved in the shifting away from Dick Bremer, but with the expectation Dave St. Peter would at least be able to get some sort of non-catastrophically stupid TV deal done so the Twins might be seen and appeal to a wider audience. Nope. When DSP flopped at his job yet again, the risky and off-putting move probably initiated by Pohlad was exposed to a worse case scenario. Compounding that, ownership then reigned Joe in. It's a mess, and the dwindling fanbase that has supported the team is taking it in the face. When it comes to the Twins' payroll, it's fine. $130MM is fine for a mid-market team. The team's been losing money and has spent $300MM over the prior 2 years, but revenues have not covered the expenditures. This whole year looks like a housecleaning is being set up to me. Dave St. Peter. Derek Falvey. They're both undoubtedly on the hottest of hot seats.

Brands advertise with Comca$t Comca$t pays Bally Sports North Bally Sports North pays the Twins There are some sponsors at the stadium itself, but I'm not sure how much the Twins actually make from sponsored advertising directly.

Yep. The MLB package has the Twins blacked out if you live in ND, SD, MN, IA or parts of WI. It's absolutely insane.

SWR has made the most of his velocity improvement in a year where he was nearly written off. Glad to see him stepping up! Heck of a game.

Festa is doing exactly what I expected him to do once he started throwing strikes. He's getting exposed. First 4 starts (high walk rates) 1.46 ERA, 3.87 FIP, 10.95 K/9 (27.3%), 8.03 BB/9 (20.0%), WHIP 1.70, BABIP .345, 0 HR Last 3 starts (good walk rates) 6.17 ERA, 5.17 FIP, 17.74 K/9 (45.1%), 2.31 BB/9 (5.9%), WHIP 1.46, BABIP .500, 4 HR You might think the .500 BABIP is unlucky, but in the minors, it's just as likely to mean hitters are just raking against a pitcher who can't keep batters off balance.

For me, it's about 3.25-3.50hrs. 20min to drive/park/walk in, 2.75hr game time. I go to about 1 game per series (20-25 games a year) which averages out to 1 per week. I do not stay extra innings. Back when I was in Maple Grove, it was tougher. I knew a girl who went to almost all the games in a full season package, but those people often live walking distance to the stadiums. Most people who have full seasons split the package with others (which is actively facilitated by the Twins). I think it's pretty rare to see somebody attend almost all the games.

I remember when Rortvedt was drafted, he was considered a bat first catcher, but coming up through the minors he got a lot of attention and accolades from the defensive side. https://www.si.com/mlb/yankees/news/new-york-yankees-catcher-ben-rortvedt-dynamic-defender-catching-coordinator-tanner-swanson SI had an article on him after the Twins traded him to the Yankees. I agree that Jeffers is an average defensive catcher. So was Garver. Lots of complaints about those guys when it came to a wild pitch that didn't get blocked or whatever, but Jeffers was average in terms of inning between passed balls or wild pitches, framing, and probably being a little below average catching base runners attempting to steal. Nothing stood out as great, nothing stood out as really poor. Jeffers is on a hot streak completely out of line with his history with almost a 50% reduction in his strikeout rate. It feels like Brent Rooker's April last year, but if Jeffers can keep the K rate down, he'll be elite.

I think the last time I was watching the "GameDay" info on MLB.com it came with radio announcers as well. Plus a lot of information about the game, pitch placement, fielder positions, etc.