bean5302

The Ishbia's stake in the White Sox has been known about since mid January at least, and obviously by MLB since 2021 as people buying into ownership in MLB franchises requires vetting. I'm sure the Ishbia's position was revealed to Twins ownership (if they didn't know about it prior) back in December. I'm sure there was plenty of hassle involved in the bidding process. Justin Ishbia apparently even approached former Twins players about being minority owners. It's a lot of effort and a lot of risk to their reputations to bail out and swap dance partners. I mean, I suppose the Ishbia's could have been playing the White Sox to get a better deal, but why not just pivot to buy the White Sox outright, then? Reinsdorf announced the team was for sale back in October of last year, and the Ishbia's purchase would still keep them as minority owners without control. It doesn't seem that productive to go through a full purchase and bidding process, put your name out there and then have to settle for part owner in a badly run franchise you're not controlling. It's also reported Reinsdorf approached the Ishbia's about increasing their stake through purchasing minority owner stakes (potentially investors who wanted out of the mess of a team), not the other way around. Though as I think you're eluding to, whatever is going to happen isn't going to be influenced by fans.

I do think it's possible the Pohlads have a different front runner (now) to buy the Twins. I also don't think it's a coincidence that an aging billionaire who will be flush with cash from a team sale like Glen Taylor lost the Timberwolves less than 2 weeks ago and the Ishbia's just now backed out. What I expect happened (pure speculation) is the Ishbia's were on the fast track to close the Twins deal until Taylor put in an aggressive bid well over the value of other offers out of desperation to maintain his ownership over a major sports franchise, and the Pohlads backtracked on the Ishbia plan. The Ishbia's then pivoted to increasing their ownership stake in the White Sox.

According to their website, there will be 5 non-repetitive white ball numbers between 1-69, and a red powerball between 1-26 drawn. The odds are about 292 million to 1 a ticket will be a grand prize winner.

Thanks @Brock Beauchamp, when the Ishbia's saw this, they pulled their bid...

The navy top with "MINNESOTA" AND the Twins baseball logo on the sleeve AND gray striped pants AND the lowercase "m" logo on the cap was used as a road alternate 1997-1999.

Funderburk was terrible last year, but it had to do with location. He wasn't placing his pitches remotely close to where he needed them. His stuff is very good, but if you can't throw strikes to hit your spots, it's a moot point.

Increased body weight = bad. More mass = more force exerted = more chance of injury. Muscle mass isn't as important as muscle strength. Anyway, hopefully Raya can remain healthy and improve his results this year in AAA by holding or improving his K% while also lowering his walk rate all while now allowing more hits vs. AA last year.

For people thinking the Ishbia's always wanted the Chicago White Sox and there was no interest in the Twins... yeah, I don't buy it. There is more growth potential in the White Sox; however, the Ishbia's are not setup to be controlling owners of that franchise as a result of them increasing their share at the moment. The status of "the 78" definitely played a role. The Pohlads drove too hard of a bargain to start or weren't willing to negotiate off their position when it became clear the Ishbia's were potentially going to pivot to the White Sox. Guaranteed scenarios are worth a lot more than non-guaranteed scenarios ($1 vs. $1), but apparently, the purchase price of the Twins was too hard to justify over the potential increased gains from the White Sox.

Why did Peter Siedler go nuts with payroll for the Padres? Why did Mike Illitch go nuts with the payroll for the Tigers? When billionaires / team owners are facing the end of their days, that crowning achievement and pursuit of happiness often shifts to winning a major sports championship. I have no doubt Taylor would be willing to spend big if he buys the Twins. I also have no doubt that Taylor's ownership would look a lot like the Angels' Arte Moreno. An overly involved owner who makes emotional, aggressive, and poor decisions when it comes to the roster, hamstringing the front office and creating a dysfunctional atmosphere.

The White Sox situation is far superior to the Twins' situation from a prospective owner's perspective. The market size is #2 on their interest list. The biggest item is going to be a new stadium. New stadiums increase property value in the new location by many times over. Prospective owners know where the new stadium is going first, don't they? They buy up the land around the new site, hold until the values skyrocket, then sell the properties for literally billions in fast profit. The White Sox ARE getting a new stadium. It remains to be seen if that stadium is going to be the 78 or Nashville, etc.

Terrible news for Twins fans looking for a clean break and a totally new ownership philosophy. I get the feeling the Pohlads screwed this up.

Looks a bit like Pat Meares as @Ben B stated.

As far as Alcala goes, yeah, he could definitely start in AAA. The Twins were quick to demote him throughout last year, and it certainly didn't seem like Baldelli or the front office changed how they felt about him towards the end of the year. Expecting management has suddenly seen the light now seems unrealistic. It was seemingly bizarre how frequently Alcala would go out, pitch a couple solid games only to be on the shuttle and stuck in St. Paul for the mandatory 2 weeks while less talented bullpen fillers were blowing games.

If Castellano doesn't truly impress the Twins coaches and management as a starter during Spring Training, it's easy to move him to the bullpen to get a good look at him for a month or two. If the Twins don't have any space in the bullpen for a low leverage arm, something has gone very crazy. Having Castellano come in and pitch a few innings in a blowout is hardly risky. There's just no point to making a selection in Rule 5 if you're not willing to even give the player a chance.

Julien is going to have to prove he will swing at pitches and make contact to extend plate appearances, even when the pitches he's seeing aren't his favorites. I think Julien's performance last year was actually a good part mental. Like Wallner's struggles early after getting some real bad strike calls to open the season. It's not like the Twins gave him much time to work through his struggles, either. Julien continued to hold his own through mid-May, and the Twins pulled the plug on him after literally 2 weeks of struggles. What a mind trip it must have been. One week "he's our guy!" 2 weeks later, "f that guy. loser. let's get Golden Child guaranteed RoY Brooks Lee up here!" A lot of people forget Julien started the season very well last year. Through April, 109 PA: .223/.330/.500 wRC+ 136 despite a lowly .269 BABIP. Oswing was 17% Zswing was 58%, 37% overall, and contact was 73%. Julien was only seeing 31% four seamers at that point, and he saw 29% for the rest of the year so it's not like pitchers changed their approach in terms of the type of pitches they were throwing him. Even May 1 through May 15 .243/.364/.270 wRC+94 after April, overall, the wheels really fell off. Julien opened up his swing zone a fair bit Oswing was 21% Zswing was 62%, 43% overall, contact was 71%. Julien's problems after April were not really related to offspeed and breaking pitches. He wasn't hitting fastballs anymore. From +8.5 to -2.1 in pitch type value for 4 seamers. Barrel rate and hard hit rates tanked along with exit velocity and balls were flat coming off his bat. Writing Julien entirely off at this point is a little crazy.

One long day drive if airfare spikes, too. Unfortunately, there isn't any tailgating in the area I'm aware of anymore. There used to be a couple places on Wazee St. where some folks would cookout. Not sure if that still happens. Still, it's felt like a 50/50 Twins/Rockies fanbase when I've gone in the past.

I have no expectations for Royce Lewis this year. With the way his performance struggles hit for the last couple months and the injuries hobbled him up all year, I'll remain hopeful, but not expectant. It's clear Lewis was not happy with the organization towards the end of the year, and the clubhouse wasn't a fun place to be for him, either. On top of that, the Twins got him to agree to a contract well below his arbitration value expectation so I'm not sure how bitter things are these days. It's hard to focus and excel in an environment where you're miserable so I hopeful things have mended a bit. He could be anything from a 1.0 WAR to 6.0 WAR guy. No idea.

Wouldn't it be great if we could ignore half the starts for pitchers and magically waive a wand over them to make them healthy? Your argument ignores what Paddack has been over his career to focus on who he is on his best days. It's an incredible cherry pick presented in a terribly manipulative fashion.

I love Coors Field, and attending Twins games there has always been a blast.

Might have been Twins eat $5MM and get back a PTBNL. I could see Falvey holding out for more in that instance... or watching the pitching market skyrocket and overplaying his hand. Prices fell back down to Earth after an initial run up.

Why are we still living in 2019 for Chris Paddack? He is not a prospect. He is not a pitcher who has room for growth. There are reasons no teams in MLB really wanted him this past offseason. He has never, in his entire career: A) Pitched more than 140.2 innings. B) Had an ERA & FIP below 3.95 in the same season. Since his rookie season in 2019, he has never: A) Pitched more than 108.1 innings. B) Had an ERA below 4.73 as a starter C) Had a K/9 higher than 8.85 as a starter He's a #4-5, at best, if healthy. He doesn't strike many guys out, and he's no longer a ground ball guy so he gives up a ton of home runs. The Twins should trade him for a Snickers bar and salary relief if they can.

Every player is going to have a few bad plays. My eye test just saw a lot of balls which were catchable/stoppable fly past his glove because he wasn't willing to concede the base and prioritize catching the ball first, getting the out second. Like when Jake Cave used to dive for every ball within 20 feet of him.

So many moving parts right now. I think there's a very solid chance Castellano breaks camp on the big league team. The bullpen and rotation are both packed, but both have some flexibility with options available. Moving Festa and Sim to AAA wouldn't be unprecedented. Remember 2 years ago when the Twins had Ober and Varland starting the season in St. Paul to make room in the rotation? If Castallano impresses with his stuff/control in ST, and I do expect the Twins will be giving him a lot of looks, I could see him being in the rotation to start the season. Castallano was pitching 5-6 innings pretty much like clockwork from mid-May on last year. Down the stretch (AA) after the All Star Break 8 GS, 40.1 IP, 3.79 ERA, 3.55 FIP, 30.9% K, 5.6% BB, 0.99 WHIP, .280 BABIP 6.0+ innings 37.5% 5.0+ innings 87.5% Quality Start 37.5% (every time 6+ innings) Quality Start2 75% (5.0+ innings under 4.00 ERA) While not totally dominant, the numbers were impressive. Throw out the 1 bad start, and Castellano's numbers do look dominant, and he was regularly getting well into the 3rd TTO. 7 GS, 38.0 IP, 2.61 ERA, 2.88 FIP, 32.1% K, 5.5% BB, 0.87 WHIP, .246 BABIP

Kepler's PA/G against lefties declined pretty much every year from my recollection. 2019 = 1.83 (27.3%) 2020 = 1.61 (27.0%) 2021 = 1.82 (26.3%) 2022 = 1.75 (26.7%) 2023 = 1.49 (18.2%) 2024 = 1.40 (19.5%) Buxton 2019 = 1.84 (23.1%) 2020 = 1.88 (22.2%) 2021 = 2.53 (33.9%) 2022 = 2.43 (29.8%) 2023 = 2.31 (25.9%) 2024 = 2.19 (26.5%) Larnach PA/G 2021 = 1.75 (28.0%) 2022 = 1.57 (26.7%) 2023 = 1.64 (10.8%) 2024 = 1.28 (5.8%) Wallner PA/G 2022 = 1.64 (27.7%) 2023 = 1.70 (18.1%) 2024 = 1.58 (15.0%) Seems to me, Baldelli has grown more and more stringent on his platoon philosophy. Doesn't matter who it is, Baldelli would rather platoon them.

In a one year sample, Santana was outstanding in "1" metric (OAA), which was the same metric where he was a little above average in 2023. He was very good in "1" metric (DRS), which was the same metric where he was average just a couple years ago. UZR has him roughly league average for nearly a decade. OAA and DRS are wildly unstable metrics. As far as the eye test goes, I was not impressed with Santana. He would not move off the bag to catch balls. I don't care if the runner is safe. Santana not moving off the bag to stop balls changed rulings from what would have been "infield hit" with a runner on 1st to "E4" or "E5" or "E6" with a runner on 2nd plenty of times. I'm not concerned about Santana not manning 1B at all.