bean5302

When I was looking at his play (mostly through metrics) I think DeBarge was holding his own at SS so it's pretty natural he plays up at 2B. Great news for him to win a Gold Glove! When it comes to scouting reports, nothing is inaccurate as defensive grades, haha. It's so difficult to separate how a player looks while fielding vs. how a player actually performs while fielding.

Agreed. Twins ownership has made an competitive amount of resources available, overall. Of course, ownership has also made lousy decisions on when to spend like the big cut after 2023. Most team owners are willing to open the wallets and double-down when it comes to the competitive window as a tool to increase revenues. What we don't know, and almost certainly never will is whether or not Falvey has asked for more and ownership has said no. Falvey is on record saying that hasn't happened, but those comments are not credible IMHO. The Mets spent $400MM last year and missed the playoffs. Cleveland, Detroit, Seattle, Milwaukee all spent fairly similar to the Twins. Boston, Houston, and the Yankees spent similar in percentage of revenue vs. payroll.

Sounds like you put your own spin on my aggregation of commentors and fans I've spoken with. Fans are angry at ownership. Am I wrong about that? I think my perception of that is correct. Fans also believe Derek Falvey is the biggest problem, not the manager, and they'd like the Pohlads to do their job and fire him. Again, I don't think I'm wrong about that. Some fans are all about hiring a Tom Kelly-ish manager who focuses on fundamentals with the idea the manager will transform a hapless, fundmental-less fielding group who haven't been using solid fundamentals for years into great fielders quickly. I might be misinterpreting this, but I don't think this is plausible. I agree a manager has the power to make a difference, but the difference is going to take time. It won't be immediately transformative. As for me, I'm mad because I feel ownership personally screwed me over. I also 100% believe even if there was a manager who existed who could change the direction of the franchise, Falvey would never have hired them because Falvey wants puppets. Still, from my perspective, it would have been nice to see a hire who wasn't an obvious crony.

Falvey never brings guys back. It's an admission he was wrong about a player's talent and his ego can't handle it.

I said the same thing about Hunter. No idea if he's any good as a manager. Nobody knows if there is a manager out there who would make a huge difference to the team. I sincerely doubt there's a manager who can implement organizational philosophy changes or take D+ fielders and transform them into B+ fielders. Or a manager with Spidey-sense who knows exactly when to pull a pitcher. Being well regarded and liked has no bearing on whether or not a manager is good. A good leader identifies opportunities to improve, gets buy-in from the team, and pushes the entire team in a more efficient direction. Sometimes kicking and screaming through rough transisions. Even if there was such a manager, Falvey wouldn't allow them the autonomy to exercise their philosophy. That said, fans were desperate for hope there would be a hint that could happen. Their unreasonable hopes were dashed.

The answer to this is "yes." There are thousands of players, including well known players who would like to have a contract with the Minnesota Twins. Especially rebound players. Going to a team without a lot of pressure in a mediocre division means there's a good chance I'll either be in the playoffs or traded to a team who is going to the playoffs. Veteran who is a long term, big dollar contract candidate? Absolutely not, but throw enough money at them, and most will take it.

Yes. I do think there's a good chance this organization will bring him back. Should they? Obviously not.

I think the article is totally logical. I think the article is also tone deaf because I believe it misses the point. Fans are angry because they already know Shelton isn't going to change anything. I don't think anybody is angry at Shelton. The fans are furious with the Pohlad family because fans know Falvey is the problem. Like many others, I believe Falvey thinks he's way smarter than everybody else with little evidence to support he's even on par with the median as a strategiest. There was some sort of desperate hope a change would be made which would indicate Falvey has finally been humbled a bit, that there was light at the end of the tunnel for this organization even with the incompetent Pohlads at the top. Shelton was absolute proof there is no change. This franchise is exactly what it has been, and headed in the very same direction as it was. I'm not an ex-player. I'm an ex-season ticket holder. I don't hate the Pohlads, I don't hate Shelton, and I don't hate Falvey. That said, I am furious with ownership because they're not doing their job as owners. They have very little true responsibility. Hold the front office accountable, provide resources to run the team. That's it. This ownership group absolutely refuses even the smallest iota of the former, and isn't particularly savvy on the later. I want to be able to attend games with an atmosphere again. To be able to share my love of baseball with others who are actually willing to experience it. I don't see that improving. There isn't any talent for understanding fans in the entire Twins organization from what I've seen. Too many mediocre front office employee experiences, no consideration for season ticket holders needs, not even asking the right *^*&^&*^ questions on surveys.

He is going to be a puppet. There is no question about that. Falvey made the hire because he knows Shelton will make a good puppet. Even looking back at managerial tendencies, Shelton is like a clone of Baldelli.

Torii Hunter didn't even want to begin the formal interview process with the Twins after initial discussion with Falvey.

Yeah, that never happens with the Twins except guys like Zebby Matthews where that literally just happened.

Blue dotted line is velocity. There are more than a couple articles out there which paint a very bleak outlook for Ober regaining velocity. Theoretically possible, but regaining lost velocity past age 30 isn't common. He'd be expected to naturally start declining velocity, even if his mechanics/hip were great.

Firing Baldelli and hiring Shelton is just some meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Shelton will be another Falvey puppet who will exercise the ever changing failures of Falvey's philosophies. I don't understand why this signals a rebuild. The Pirates have been run absolutely nothing like the Twins. A manager at the MLB level teaching fundamental baseball practices makes no sense. If players haven't been developed properly in the minors, it's on the GM/PoBO (Falvey). Trying to fix all the poor fundamentals at the MLB level is an impossible task. The best we can hope for is an inclination to try reverse the bad habits the Twins system has instilled.

In a word, "nope" is almost certainly the answer. Virtually no MLB starter can be successful throwing 89mph fastballs, and Ober was in that range towards the end of 2025. He'll be in his age 31 season next year, too, so expectations the velo even makes it back to 90mph and stays there is a little dicey. Ober was throwing 91-92mph in 2024. That's where he needs to be to be successful. The amount of time an MLB hitter has to react and read pitches when throwing sub-90 makes it very unlikely pitchers can be successful in this era.

Deleware North handles concessions. Many of the concession stands are staffed largely by volunteers for some reason.

Klein is a23 at AAA, exit velo was a little higher than I'd like at 88.4, but the BABIP of .373 was the ERA killer. Gave up a lot of fly balls, but generated a lot of pop ups too. Bottom line, age 23 and AAA with a 28.2% K rate. Keep him until you know more asbout what you've got. Looks like he was 94-96mph on his 4 seamer in his last start. He's a 5 pitch guy with 4 seam, sinker, cutter, curve and changeup. Tonkin, McCusker, Keirsey are all easy cuts. Gasper, Julien, Miranda are pretty easy too.

I don't have much faith in Derek Falvey's budget priority decision making.

I'd be surprised if the Twins non-tendered Larnach, to be honest. At $4.7MM estimated, he's still pretty dang cheap. A heck of a lot less expensive than a guy like Rhys Hoskins if Larnach can play 1B or still cheap enough to be a 1 WAR DH. The reasonably priced offseason free agent options just look pretty weak.

https://www.mlb.com/rockies/video/2016-draft-bo-bichette-2b-c625727583 I stand corrected on Lewis playing 2B previously. I thought he stated he had never played on that side of the field even in high school. Sounds like I was mistaken or he lied.

Pretty simple. Go back to being a strictly platoon bat. Last year, Larnach was a full time player who had 118 plate appearances against lefties where he put up an OPS of .608 or wRC+ 71. Larnach put up a wRC+ 110 vs. righties in 2025. Good enough to be in the margin of error. It's clear he made some adjustments to his plate approach or swing as he flipped his fastball vs. changeup performance on its head. In 2024, like previous seasons, Larnach was strongly shielded from lefties with only 23 plate appearances. As far as a rebound, Larnach has basically been replacement level across his entire career save for a career year last year where he still wasn't really worth a full time position because must be platooned to be effective and he hasn't been able to handle a defensive position.

As noted above, the Twins are not a small market team, and they haven't been run like a small market team since the opening of Target Field. For all the bellyaching from fans about the cheap Pohlads, the team hasn't run an opening day total payroll under $100MM in the last decade. https://www.stevetheump.com/Payrolls.htm The Astros are a large market team who committed to a multi-year complete overhaul and rebuild, and it paid massive dividends, but they have enormous revenue capabilities to sustain long term success with minimal rebuilding now that they've righted the ship. They're not a good comp for Minnesota. I think it remains to be seen how the true welfare franchises like Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay will strategize into the future as the larger market profitable teams like the Yankees and Dodgers get more and more agitated. If we look back at World Series rebuild teams and their successes (last rebuild): 2025 Toronto Blue Jays (2019) 2024 No Rebuild Teams 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks (2022), Texas Rangers (2021) 2022 Philadelphia Phillies (2018), Houston Astros (2016) 2021 Atlanta Braves (2019), Houston Astros (2016) It's pretty clear a non-large market team almost certainly needs to have a rebuild if they want to aim for the World Series. How big the rebuild/retool needs to be is pretty much going to be determined based on the market size of the team. Probably something like: Huge market (Dodgers, Yankees, etc) no rebuild needed Large market (1-2 years) Mid market (2-3 years) Small market (3-5 years) The competitive window once the build process starts is shorter for smaller market teams as well. Something like: Large market (5+ years) Mid market (3-4 years) Small market (2-3 years)

26 guys on a roster. 6 years of team control. that's 4.3 new guys a year required. Some come from free agency, some come from extensions, some come from trades, but they all need to come from somewhere.

All trades should be judged based on actual results vs. expectations. All of them. Every single one of them because the front office gets paid millions of dollars annually to be smarter than fans.

While you may feel your personal opinion is better than BTV, that tool has been consistently accurate in determining what other teams are willing to pay. Right now, Ober has a 16.6 surplus value. In line with probably an org #3-5 prospect, something in the borderline top 100. It's a catastrophic decline from where he was at the beginning of 2025 (on par with Joe Ryan at +50ish). Twins fans are consistently inaccurate in their assessment of the team's talent, overvaluing the players they like and undervaluing the players they don't. Given Ober's modest value today, I don't see him as a good candidate to be traded. The Twins are better off hanging into him, hoping he rebounds and trying to cash out mid season, IMHO.

Winokur is going to look awkward. He's super tall and lanky which is going to make his movement look slow and awkward as his stride length and speed will be dramatically different from your typical 6'0" SS. Being 6'6" tall means he's going to need to stay very low so he can overcome the leverage his height will have in inertia. I'm glad to see everybody at TD has already slotted every SS prospect in as a future MVP and all that, but it's pretty rare to see them work out in reality. Especially with a team that doesn't know how to coach fundamental defense.