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Sano Donaldson Kirilloff Rooker I would certainly think at least 1 of those 4 will be moved. None of them are decent candidates to spend time in the minors, none of them have great defensive value anymore. I don't think there's too much question Sano is further down the depth chart than Kirilloff at this point. Sano melted the faces off defenseive coaches last year with a mind numbing, inconceivable -38.4 UZR/150 in 996 innings. They only asked Sano to cover third for 37 innings so the SSS factor is huge, but still... he posted a comic strip punchline -159.1 UZR/150. Over the course of a year at that 3B rate, Miguel Sano would be -15 WAR from defensive contribution only. Basically offsetting the two best players in baseball just with defense gaffs. Simply put, Sano is a beer league softball player when it comes to defensive skill at this point. When it comes to his bat, Sano isn't as bad. I disagree with any attempt to paint Sano as a valuable full time hitter, though. I'm not sure you can classify Sano as "streaky" either. He spends very long periods of time looking completely inept at the plate, followed by long periods where he's good enough to start at DH by basic stats alone, but it's not just Sano's streaks, it's the fact he's often an automatic out (slider, down and away = strike 3) whenever the opposing team really needs it. That's why Sano's WPA is consistently negative. When the Twins need him, he can't produce. All that said, there's nothing new about Sano here except the truly exceptionally embarrassing defense from somebody who once looked like a total stud. The Twins are probably stuck with Sano. Maybe another team will take him just based on how he performed in the second half, but I don't know about that. I think the Twins are looking to move Donaldson or Rooker at their earliest convenience.

I didn't like WPA much at first, but after investigating, I came around to value it far higher. The logic and implementation is sound. Unfortunately for your position, statisticians who are paid to actually know what they're talking about continue to advocate for the WPA and have offered strong correlations across WAR and great players.

No. It is not positively weighted for relief pitchers. It's weighted for plays which impact the outcome of the game one way or the other and it's why Miguel Sano keeps posting negative WPAs despite having positive WAR. Miguel Sano is an easy out when the game is on the line and other teams can employ strategy to effect the outcome of the game. If the Twins are down 12-1 and nobody is on base, a team isn't going to care who is pitching to Miguel Sano or whether they have a slider they can throw down and away. WPA is built on comparing players to averages. What is the average likelihood this play results in a positive outcome? It doesn't care if Roger Clemens, Mariano Rivera or Kevin Slowey is on the mound. Because Mariano Rivera was pitching when he was pitching (high leverage), the Yankees won far more games than the cumulative WAR would suggest. Rivera made pitches when it mattered the most. Also, Jack Morris is in the Hall of Fame because of perceived WPA, even though the arguments about his fake WPA have actually been debunked. The idea he regularly pitched up to or down to the competition and situation (Minnesota Vikings Syndrome)

I don't exactly agree with your line of thinking. If things went the way you suggest, there would be positions in the game wholly and totally unrepresented in the Hall of Fame. Some of the best of the best at what they were asked to do and whether or not they helped their teams win wouldn't be seen. So when Atlanta moved Hall of Famer John Smoltz to the bullpen he wasn't good enough to be a starter? Of course, Atlanta later recognized that mistake and moved him back into the rotation where he, again, dominated. You're going to tell me Trevor May wasn't good enough to be a starter when he was with the Twins? He certainly was. He was just better suited to dominate in the bullpen and the Twins had a bunch of arms logjamming the rotation. While many middle relievers fall into the mold of what you're saying... even some closers or setup guys, the main reason closers are in their position is they are dominant in a position which is incredibly valuable. Do you know who has the highest WPA of any pitcher in MLB by 18% from 1999-2014? Mariano Rivera. A reliever who wasn't any better than Joe Nathan was at Nathan's peak. While you may disagree and say getting the first batter in the game out is the same as getting the last batter out with the bases loaded and a 1 run lead is the same, I respectfully disagree as do a lot of people who have spend a lot of time and effort trying to figure out how to win baseball games. Here's how WPA looks for pitchers with 700+ IP from 1999-2014 Mariano Rivera (HoF) Roy Halladay (HoF) Pedro Martinez (HoF) JOE NATHAN Tim Hudson Randy Johnson (HoF) Johan Santana Billy Wagner (probable future HoF) Roy Oswalt Curt Schilling (probable future HoF, veterans) Felix Hernandez Clayton Kershaw (future HoF) Francisco Rodriguez CC Sabathia (probable future HoF) John Smoltz (HoF)

Kenda Maeda gave a quote/interview in Tokyo a couple weeks ago. This year looks unlikely for him. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220107/p2g/00m/0sp/057000c

So what if teams eat bad contracts and accept prospects and draft picks (competitive balance) to fill out their payroll? It accomplishes the rebuild faster, creates more opportunity for the veteran players, increases total spending and there's a chance the reclaimation/bad contract project has a rebound year and helps competitive play. I read it as a hard floor so far.

Hall of Needs a New Method of Election.

Neither Sands nor Woods-Richardson are bullpen candidates right now. Chase Petty and Jordan Balazovic are much more likely to shift to the bullpen than Sands or Woods-Richardson in my opinion, not that I'd label either one of those guys as "destined for the bullpen."

With Steer being a 2B/3B and his bat being what I would call "adequate" in AA at age 23, I'm not convinced he's not a MiLB depth. I don't know as I'd rank Steer above Palacios.

No. Celestino's speed is probably a 50-60 tool. He's just fast enough to be an effective center fielder, not a great one. I don't know where the expectation Celestino will be a below average hitter is coming from. He was 22 last year and had no time in AAA before the Twins threw him to the wolves at the MLB level. Celestino rebounded from his meager 62 plate appearance MLB struggles to OPS .827 at AAA at age 22. Writing off his bat as below average is very premature.

Notably, the Twins ranked 20th of 30 teams in UZR in 2019 where they ranked DEAD LAST at shortstop by 6.7 runs. Polanco's metrics looked great at shortstop in the shortened 2020 when his fielding percentage was dramatically higher than any other time in his career. The Twins also deploy a far higher shift rate than average teams which inflates defensive value in many metrics meaning players like Polanco get extra credit for plays Brent Rooker could make at shortstop. Polanco is poor at shortstop, and that's a well established thing. It's also known by the Twins, which is why they mercifully ended the experiment and moved him to 2B last year. The only possible argument for Polanco at shortstop is "defense doesn't matter." The only reason I could potentially accept defense not mattering is it hasn't mattered as much over the past few years because of the increase of 3 true outcome plate appearances and aggressive shifting; however, MLB owners are actively pushing rules changes which would challenge the 3 outcome hitter dominance and there's certainly grumbling about the shift. Even then, the argument goes together with "I don't care if prospects get playing time" which I would only accept if the Twins were legitimately eyeing competitive play next year (and I see no signs they are.)

Two division titles are proof that a team can technically succeed in by far the weakest division in baseball with Polanco dragging them down at shortstop if they have enough talent to overcome Polanco's limitations. The single year in Polanco's entire career where he was good enough to earn a starting shortstop job was 2019. That year, he put together an All Star worthy 4.1 fWAR. He's never produced more than 1.6 fWAR in another season at shortstop. That's well below average and considering his lack of physical talent when it comes to his arm, he's certainly worse at shortstop than 2nd base. Second base is worth +2.5 positional runs. Shortstop is worth +7.5. I'd be more than willing to bet Polanco's physical limitations more than makes up for the positional value at shortstop. All that aside, the Twins are not likely to compete this coming year. With Falvey already talking about starting Austin Martin at shortstop, along with other options like Gordon, Palacios and Arraez, there is no need to shift around one of the most important and tenured players on the Twins just to fill holes as if he's some sort of utility player anyway.

...and they finished under .500 with prime Bert Blyleven, Rod Carew and Harmon Killebrew in 1971. Polanco cannot cover shortstop effectively and the Twins have several years of proof of that. He has to rush to make plays by being aggressive in the hopes to cover up for his lack of arm strength. While his results at 2B weren't great last year (again with the rock glove) there is at least the hope he can stop rushing and be smoother at a position he has the physical skills to play.

All you have to do is look at Griffen Jax's peripherals to know luck got him through the first innings, not skill. First time through the order his ERA is 3.41, but his FIP is 5.10 and xFIP was 5.36.

This article is stupid. Polanco is not and has never been a shortstop. Even with everything Polanco has done to improve his game at a position he is incapable of covering, he's still a very poor shortstop. No shortstop in the past 20 years has a lower UZR/150 with the equivalent of 3 years at the position. Polanco stands alone as the worst starting shortstop in the past 20 years. Why not just put Miguel Sano at shortstop?

Other than the Seattle Mariners, I think every single team in MLB has qualified for the playoffs in the past 8 years and a vast majority in the past 5. Atlanta ($127MM) vs. Houston ($171MM) Los Angeles ($286MM) vs. Tampa Bay ($78MM) Washington ($162MM) vs. Houston ($160MM) Los Angeles ($186MM) vs. Boston ($236MM) Los Angeles ($242MM) vs. Houston ($124MM) Chicago ($117MM) vs. Cleveland ($86MM) New York ($101MM) vs. Kansas City ($114MM) San Francisco ($154MM) vs. Kansas City ($92MM) St. Louis ($115MM) vs. Boston ($151MM) San Francisco ($118MM) vs. Detroit ($132MM) Over the past 10 years, the median opening day payroll (from Stevetheump.com) for teams in the World Series is $130MM.

Puckett didn't win any championships. The teams Puckett played on won those championships.

It's all up to the owners to make proposals I see. Honestly, there appear to be two sides for fans to take. 1) I don't like businesspeople with lots of money because I don't have lots of money. Therefore, wealthy businesspeople are evil and everything they do is bad. They have infinite money because they have a lot more than me and therefore, they shouldn't try to effectively run businesses. They should just do whatever players want! 2) The MLBPA proposals undermine the competitive balance of the sport, don't make any economic sense or accomplish the goals they've laid out and would result in the game being less entertaining. Their proposals are unreasonable and will damage MLB if owners accepted them.

The $100MM floor is to eliminate the tank/rebuild cycle. Tank/rebuild is viable method for teams, but it's not viable for the sport as a whole. $100MM is not too much for what MLB considers to be the minimal viable market and the floor would be used to push new stadiums, new ownership or moving franchises like Pittsburgh, Oakland and Tampa Bay. Not to mention the teams who do not engage in the tank/rebuild method are sick and tired of financing the teams who do run unacceptably low payrolls. The AL Central is as small market as it gets overall. Here are the max opening day payrolls by team. Detroit = $200MM (2017) Kansas City = $143MM (2017) Cleveland = $135MM (2018) Chicago = $129MM (2021) Minnesota = $129MM (2018)

I don't even need to read the article. This one isn't remotely close. Rod Carew.

To be frank, I consider the Twins Hall of Fame to be pretty embarrassing. It shows how pathetic the ownership of this franchise has been. Basically anybody with more than 3 years on the team is a shoe-in. The number of truly great Twins players is pretty short.

Yep. Greene was a potential shortstop. In addition, Greene had better control and is quite a bit taller than Petty with less a less violent delivery. I think the reports out say Petty honestly has a better slider, but Greene had 3 legit pitches where Petty's changeup was kind of a question mark. The top of the 2017 draft has largely been a bust to this point. Royce Lewis (AA), poor performance Hunter Greene (AAA), mediocre performance MacKinzie Gore (AAA), poor performance Brendan McKay (MLB), 1 year -0.2 bWAR Kyle Wright (MLB), 4 years, -0.5 bWAR career, best season 0.3 bWAR (2020) Austin Beck (AAA), poor performance Pavin Smith (MLB), 2 years, 0.0 bWAR career, best season 0.2 bWAR (2020) Adam Hasely (MLB), 3 years, 1.5 bWAR career, best season 1.8 bWAR (2019) Keston Hiura (MLB), 3 years, 0.6 bWAR career, best season 1.9 bWAR (2019) Jo Adell (MLB), 2 years, -1.2 bWAR career, best season 0.3 bWAR (2021) None of the top 10 picks has much accomplishment to their name. None of them have produced more than a single positive bWAR season and all of them have a negative bWAR season if they've made it to MLB.

We'll know how his pitches play quickly this year. The true aces out there generally move up through the minors very quickly. If Petty's fastball and slider are as good as advertised and he can throw the changeup, he should arrive 2024 at the latest. It'll be very exciting to see how his performance looks against a far higher level of competition in Ft. Myers than he was seeing in high school.

I think one thing is pretty certain, we'll know a lot more about Alcala and Celestino this year. Honestly, I think this is a make or break season for Falvey and his staff. Lewis, Cavaco, Larnach, Rooker. At least a couple of those guys need to really show up. One of either Martin or Woods-Richardson, too. Then there are the pitching prospects. We need a couple of Falvey's drafted prospects to perform at the MLB level as well.