bean5302

Sonny Gray's contract was heavily backloaded. He only got paid $10MM in his first year from the Cardinals so that's a big part of this. Essentially, Boston bought Gray for 1yr and $21MM or 2yrs and $41MM. With Gray's FIP in 2024 being 3.12 and 2025 being 3.39, it doesn't bode very well for older veterans. That said, Dylan Cease just got $200MM.

.150/.250/.300 with a 10% BB rate and 50% K rate. That'll be Emma in the big show, in between his frequent IL trips. He's already burned 2 options and hasn't made an appearance. He's been utterly overwhelmed in his last two spring trainings. I wouldn't put Emma in the top 10 for Twins prospects. Even AAA pitchers throw nothing but junk at him because he'll swing at it. His walk rate is propped up by pitchers not even trying to hit the zone. That's been my view of him anyway. Make a mistake, and Rodriguez can hurt you, but if you don't make a big mistake, he's an easy out.

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Martin has also been slow to develop with years of uninspiring play at AA-AAA, no power, a long history of poor defensive instincts, and he couldn't hold his own for his first 257 PA at MLB when he was age 25. He seems to be a pretty good contact hitter, but he's got a lot of the plate he doesn't cover well in terms of production so there's plenty of room for regression. Martin's ceiling is hard capped due to his maybe 30 grade game power. While there seems to be some overzealous annointing of Keaschall, there's more upside there because Keaschall is only 23 next year and he has a bit more pop. I actually think Keaschall and Martin seem to have a pretty similar skill set on paper, but he was playing at age 22 where Martin was playing at age 26 with about 1,000 PA of high minors experience under his belt last year. If I'm Shelton, I'd be hoping somebody shows something in Spring Training. I wouldn't be comfortable with Martin, Outman or Roden as a starter out of the gate for a team with any aspirations to compete. Emma will get a look in Spring Training (I so hope they trade him before then) and that should wipe out any trade value Emma has when he K's 50% of the time again, now having already burned 2 options without making his case to see any MLB action.

Fans don't care about the names on jerseys in general. Attendance went up after Joe Mauer retired. Attendance went up after Johan Santana left. Attendance went up after Kirby Puckett retired. Outside of some extremely rare cases (Ohtani), fans do not pay money to see players. Fans pay money for the game day experience. The players do not matter to baseball. Sure wins and losses matter, but they also don't matter nearly as much as just having a fun atmosphere. Attendance is a chicken vs egg thing. High attendance makes the event more exciting which in turn makes it more attractive to ticket buyers. Fun ambiance, big crowds, good giveaways, those are what bring fans to the game.

No. You tell me. I provided plenty of strong evidence (playoff apperance rate, championship appearance rate, World Series appearance rate) which shows baseball is extremely competitive. Then you ask for more evidence, which is just internet code for you don't have any credible evidence to provide in support of your position, but you're unwilling to accept any debate in regard to the validity of your unfounded opinion.

It's because many Twins fans think the Twins aren't winning World Series' because of disparity in expenditures. Right now, there are multiple ways to be competitive in baseball. The Twins are lousy at all of them.

What's this competitive imbalance you're speaking of? AL East Teams having made the playoffs last 3 years. 5/5 AL Central Teams having made the playoffs last 3 years. 4/5 AL West Teams having made the playoffs last 3 years. 3/5 NL East Teams having made the playoffs last 3 years. 4/5 NL Central Teams having made the playoffs last 3 years. 3/5 NL West Teams having made the playoffs last 3 years. 3/5 22 of 30 MLB teams have been to the playoffs in the past 3 years. The AL Championship Series has 0 repeat teams for the past 3 years. The NL Championship Series has 1 repeat team for the past 3 years. The World Series has 1 repeat team in the past 3 years and only 2 repeat teams in the past 6 years. Dodgers x3, Astros x2, Diamondbacks, Rangers, Yankees, Phillies, , Rays, Braves, Blue Jays

So long as the Pohlads remain the owners, and remain unwilling to hold leadership accountable, this team doesn't have a snowballs chance in the fiery afterlife of making it to the World Series. The problem is Falvey and beyond that, the Pohlads themselves.

The MLBPA is vehemently opposed to cap to the point of single minded focus. Even broaching the topic would take a lengthy strike. Aside from that, I don't think the Twins are at a major competitive disadvantage. MLB continues to be the most competitive sport among the big 4, all without a salary cap. Salary caps just make teams with good and bad leadership more extreme in the success/failure, IMHO.

Jeffers is a 2 WAR catcher as of recently, and any extension would be for his age 30+ seasons. I think the Twins would be wise to pursue a short extension with him, but I think it remains open to debate on whether or not Jeffers would want to sign one with Minnesota given the disarray of things and how close he is to free agency. I certainly wouldn't go more than 2 years on an extension (which would lock him up for 3 years including the upcoming season). I'm not sure why so many fans are convinced Jeffers is a top hitting catcher, but his xwOBA is fairly steady at about .315 which would put him well outside that description. 2023 was a mirage, and his raw power looks to be declining a little to just above average. He's a solid need for the Twins since they've got nothing to replace him.

We could just take a defensively limited player with no bat and put them at SS. They need to be a really hyped prospect to be accepted by the fan base, though. Also helps if their dad is a coach, I hear.

Comparing the lineups, pretty much identical in age. 2023 Player 2026 Player 2023 Age 2026 Age Position Ryan Jeffers Same 26 29 C Donovan Solano Kody Clemens 35 30 1B Edouard Julien Luke Keaschall 24 23 2B Carlos Correa Brooks Lee 28 25 SS Royce Lewis Same 24 27 3B Joey Gallo Austin Martin 29 27 LF Michael A. Taylor Byron Buxton 32 32 CF Max Kepler Matt Wallner 30 28 RF Byron Buxton Trevor Larnach 29 29 DH Avg 29 28 Rotation more of the same 2023 Player 2026 Player 2023 Age 2026 Age Position Sonny Gray SWR 33 25 SP Pablo Lopez Same 27 30 SP Joe Ryan Same 27 30 SP Bailey Ober Same 27 30 SP Kenta Maeda Taj Bradley 35 25 SP Avg 30 29 I'd imagine the frustration is with the quality of the "young" (not young) players.

Yep. 99% Canterino's career is already over. It was nice of the Twins to bring him back on a MiLB deal so his rehab can be handled within the sports team medical world. I have sincere doubts he'll ever throw a professional regular season pitch again.

Backup center fielder? Bleday makes Austin Martin look like a gold glove CF. If the Twins want a backup center fielder, they need it to come from Emma. Either via trade (my preference) or watching him flop miserably at the plate still pretending he'll be able to hit MLB pitching (not my preference).

2020 = a19 University of Alabama 4GS - National season canceled 2021 = a20 UCL tear, lost season, Tommy John 2022 = a21 UCL surgery recovery, throwing program/drafted 2023 = a22 confirmed the Tommy John surgery failed, UCL brace surgery 2024 = a23 mid-season return R -> A+ 2025 = a24 A+ -> AA -> AAA Prielipp had pretty much the worst possible timing on the UCL tear, and the surgery to repair it was seemingly botched so he had to have a followup surgery. He moved up aggressively last year, and I think the Twins handled him with kid gloves too much in 2024 by not sending him to the AFL to get some innings, but Prielipp pitched 82.2 innings last year reliably and durably. There's too much negativity around Prielipp, especially considering the lack of concern about a 120-130 inning full-season guy like SWR.

Raya doesn't have enough control to be effective at the MLB level with the stuff he has. I think he's a 6 pitch guy if I remember right. I think he's going to have to narrow down the offerings and get more consistent to have a shot. Preilipp is a universal top 100 prospect at this point. He'll have to demonstrate better control in his second full season after turning from UCL surgery. It'll be interesting to see how the Twins use him next season. Falvey is on record indicating he thinks Prielipp is a reliever while Zoll wants him as a starter.

Not sure about Larnach. He'd make $4.7MM in arbitration (projected by MLBTR) or $3.25MM by Spotrac's projection, but the Twins have been pretty reliable at avoiding arbitration for a substantially lower amount. I'd guess the Twins can sign Larnach for $2.5-3.0MM. That's absolute chump change for a league average bat with some emergency versatility. Larnach has great baseball instincts, he just doesn't have the physical tools to excel in the outfield. If anybody was a great candidate for a 1B tryout, it would have been him, but I haven't heard anything about him working out there. I'd rather keep him at a lower dollar amount.

Historically, Falvey overplays his hand and winds up hanging onto players he needed to trade until after report dates, then finds himself out of suitors. This relegates him to bargain bin shopping and he's unable to address the teams obvious needs as a result.

The Twins are right in the middle for revenue vs. salary in MLB. The 50% split is targeted as that's close to the break even point. From paying front office employees, faciliites, coaches, managers, marketing, giveaways, vendor management, etc, there are an enormous amount of costs associated with running a baseball team.

Hunter wouldn't get my nod for HoF 2yrs 5.0+ WAR 4yrs 4.0+ WAR 12yrs 3.0+ WAR Basically, he was a very good player (borderline All Star) consistently for a very long time. He had a couple peak years where he was lock for All Star caliber, but nothing really above that IMHO.

Falvey has failed miserably at developing. Positional WAR 2025 Terry Ryan 32% Derek Falvey 48% Non-Twins Draft 20% Pitching WAR 2025 Terry Ryan 9% Derek Falvey 34% Non-Twins Draft 57% As I recall, Terry Ryan and Bill Smith's guys were still providing the majority of "home grown" talent until the last year or two. Embarrassing.

Falvey has been a pretty lousy GM/President. The Pohlads gave him the assets he needed, and Falvey squandered them every time.

https://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200111/16_khoom_twins/index.shtml Crump ruled the way he did because the Minnesota Twins were considered part of the community and this was more than just a typical tenant vs landlord dispute. If it was just a tenant/landlord issue, the Twins could have just bought out their lease and rolled out of town.