rv78

If you don't win it all, yes, you can call it a failure. Isn't that why they play? As a fan of any team in any sport I want my team to win it all. Do I expect them to win it every time? No. But I expect my team to try. How many players at the start of a season say to themselves, I hope to finish second? The Twins have failed so many times in the playoffs that fans were ecstatic that they finally won a game and a series. Woopie!! Mission accomplished. Finishing 2nd best accounts for nothing. This organization has lost sight of what the fans want. Instead they are satisfied with just giving them a team that is good, they don't care if it isn't good enough.

And when the Rays prove that strategy wins Championships, then and only then, does it become a good one.

You forgot the 4th way the Twins emulate the Rays. In 1998 Tampa Bay joined MLB. Since that time the Twins have just as many Championships as the Rays. ZERO!

The last 2 CFers for the Twins that showed any talent remotely comparable to Buxton were Puckett and Torii Hunter. They must have lived in a perfect world that didn't exist. They played everyday. Shame on me for expecting that out of the great Byron Buxton. Between Buck and Sano, they're two of the most highly OVER-RATED and OVER-HYPED players ever to put on a Twins uniform.

Some fans likely won’t be happy unless Buxton is playing every day in center field and performing at an All-Star level. Those aren’t realistic expectations at this point in his career, but there are performance milestones he can accomplish during the 2024 campaign. The Twins are better with a healthy Buxton in the lineup, as he can be one of baseball’s best players on both sides of the ball. Isn't that what one of the best players on both sides of the ball should be doing? Playing everyday? Darn me for expecting that. I'd hate for him to actually earn his $15M and incentives.

What would the offensive lineup of Twins players look like if they all had numbers from their best season? C-Jeffers = 335PA, 14HR, .276BA, .369OBP C-Vazquez = 345PA, .290BA, .330OBP 1B-Kirilloff = 281PA, .270BA, .348OBP 1B-Santana = 686PA, 34HR, .281BA, .397OBP 2B-Julien = 408PA, 16HR, .263BA, .381OBP 3B-Lewis = 239PA, 15HR, .309BA, .372OBP SS-Correa = 640PA, 26HR, .279BA .366OBP or 481PA, 24HR, .315BA, .391OBP OF-Wallner = 254PA, 14HR, .249BA, .370OBP OF-Buxton = 254PA, 19HR, .306BA, .358OBP or 511PA, 16HR, .253BA, .314OBP OF-Kepler = 596PA, 36HR, .252BA, .336OBP UT-Farmer = 529PA, 16HR, .263BA, .316OBP UT-Castro = 409PA, 33SB, .257BA, .339OBP There you have it.... the "best" of each player. Some are almost a guarantee they will never replicate it again, like Santana. There are those highly unlikely to ever do it again like Vazquez and Kepler. 2 players named Buxton and Correa need to perform like it, and the new core of Jeffers, Kirilloff, Julien, Lewis, and Wallner will need to continue with their success from last year. I'm more excited to see the 5 youngsters play and take over this team. What I don't want to see is another season of Buxton, Correa and Kepler drag this team down or hold them back like they did in 2023, and yes, Kepler did that for the first half of the year while Buck and C4 did it all year.

Anytime you load up on chances, you increase your odds that one of them works out in your favor, which has become the "Twins way" with this FO. Most all of their new bullpen arms are one year wonders or HR prone. Looks like clear sailing for a healthy Alcala.

I would be happy with his average yearly production for 162 games, .272BA, 27HR and 98RBI. Unfortunately I doubt he will be that productive considering Rocco will never let him play 162 games even IF he is 100% healthy every day of the season. Now with payroll limitations the Twins have their high priced player. They can only afford one and in a couple of years that might be too many. Add in Buxton at $15M, Pablo at $8M this year and $21.7M in 2025, 2026 and 2027 and a bunch of upcoming young players that will get even more expensive as the years roll by and this team won't be signing ANY $200M dollar Free Agents for quite a while. The more concerning question is..... who are the casualties going to be that they cannot afford to keep?

You may be right about Ortiz. I just remember sports writers talking about how he came to Boston and "learned" how to punish the ball off the green monster. I guess we can agree that if the Twins tried to make him a slap hitter then, and now they try to make everyone a power hitter that isn't, that they should accept what they have and just make them better at what they do best. Trying to make someone something they are not maybe isn't the best approach for the player or the team.

It runs parallel to the theory of swing for the fences, which more often than not results in swings and misses, and weak grounders. Sano could have been a decent hitter had he taken the "swing hard on every pitch" approach and thrown it into the garbage can. Someone as strong as he was could have hit 40 HR a year if he would have toned his swing down a bit and concentrated on just making contact. Austin Martin was pushed into trying to be more of a power hitter by coaches and it cost him a year of development in the minors, finally realizing that he isn't the type of hitter the Twins were trying to make him. He only started to hit decent again when he went back to being a singles/doubles hitter using all fields and not a HomeRun hitter. My guess is if Ortiz had stayed in the Twins organization he wouldn't have learned to hit to the opposite field and would have been a sliver of the hitter he ended up as, being in Boston and punishing the green monster with doubles off of his left handed bat. Compare any good hitter that using the whole field, like an Arraez and then look at a Max Kepler who tries to pull almost everything. Not hard to see which ones are the better hitters.

Yep, Add in the fact that Pablo could easily regress a bit and Ober being the same with Paddack and now DeSclafani not really being able to be counted on and the rotation is anything but solid. I heard the other day that KC is going to be in contention for the division. That looks to be a huge stretch but if there is some talk of them improving that much, the division won't be that easy to win this year. Let's see how the rotation looks June 1. I'll be willing to bet it won't be the starting 5 that everyone is predicting.

If DeSclafani isn't an option to go at the start of the season they better have a Plan B ready. After the first 9 days of their schedule where they have 3 days off in those 9 days, they'll play 25 games in 26 days. A 5 man rotation will be needed. 1 slip up by another one of their 4 starters and they'll be dipping pretty deep into the well almost immediately. How many bullpen games can they put together to save the rotation if 1 of the main 4 starters goes down too? Seems they are banking on Pablo being as good as last year, Ryan and Ober being better and Paddack being able to pitch an entire season with only having the #5 spot to worry about, when in reality is..... Pablo might regress from last year. Ryan and Ober may never get any better, Paddack might not last a month or two and #5 is already in question. Good luck boys!

Unfortunately pretty much anyone can contribute. Even Joey Gallo..... Did he make the Twins better or did he take at bats away from someone (Wallner) who could have helped them even more. Not to mention that his $11M salary could have been spent on something better. I liken the efforts of this FO to dumpster diving in hopes of catching lightning in a bottle. In case anyone hasn't noticed, Carlos Santana is NOT an average hitter anymore. The last 3 seasons he's hit .222. Is that really someone you want taking at bats away from Kirilloff who hit .270 last year. Everyone knows Rocco will platoon those two guys every chance he gets. Santana is just Joey Gallo/version 2. And the bullpen arms they added are either one year wonders (Topa, Jackson, Staumont) or HR prone (Okert). Nothing like taking chances there. Margot will be fine if he is just a backup to Buck but if he ends up having to cover for him everyday due to another Buck injury, it will be a step backward as well. Last but not least is DeSclafani and Paddack in for Gray and Maeda. That is not even close to being a better situation.

Pretty sure he won't be in CF more than 80 times. Rocco will see to that. That means if he's healthy he'll be at DH and we know how productive he is there. Pfffft. He says he's finally without pain in his knee. He's played about 7 other seasons without that same knee pain and he couldn't stay on the field in most of them either. It's just a matter of time before the injury bug bites him again. He attracts that bug like flies to a manure pile.

Plantar fasciitis can be a chronic issue that reoccurs. There's no quarantee that his ankle will remain durable. The Giants and Mets didn't want to take the chance. Year 1 of the 6 year mega deal wasn't a win for the Twins. Years 2-6 are still TBD. If and only when he performs like a superstar will I get on the Correa Kool-Aid. I haven't seen it yet.

This team pays 2 players (Correa and Buxton) a 3rd of their payroll. Add in the raises Correa and Pablo Lopez get in 2025 and those 3 will get more than half of the current payroll. Start adding players like Lewis, Jeffers, Duran, Ryan, Ober, Jax and you have a serious payroll situation coming. You could say they are in trouble. Add in guys like Wallner, Miranda and Julien and some big decisions need to be made about the future of this club. Yes, Kepler will likely be gone as well as Vazquez, two $10M contracts, but $20M doesn't cover the 9 young guys I listed very well and the big 3 will still be here taking the cream of the pie. With the way this club operates it is very likely that 4 or 5 of the 9 young players I listed will be traded or lost via free agency and the next core of players in the minors will need to step up. All of this means the FO will NOT be handing out any more Correa type contracts to any type of Free Agent until he is off the books and the FO had better start getting creative in dealing with the likes of Lewis, Jeffers, Duran, and do it soon, or they'll be too late.

I say get MAT. We need his .220 BA and .278 OBP bat in the lineup. We don't have anyone in AAA that is nearly that good.

Why not? A Base salary with incentives would reward the player when he plays a lot and does well and pays him an average salary when he doesn't. Nothing wrong with that for the team or the player. It's a win, win. If a player doesn't like it to the point he won't sign, that would be a red flag to me and I wouldn't want him on my team. It's simple and fair to both. Do you really think Correa was worth $33M last year? I bet if you ask him he'd even tell you he wasn't.

Unfortunately todays game doesn't resemble anything of the past. The game has become too analytic. Every pitch, throw, hit, run, walk, stolen base, HR, error, hotdog and bag of peanuts is looked at and broken down into analytics. Players are playing a different game now. It has become more specialized. Starters are not expected to pitch a game "as long as they can". Now give me 5 or 6 and as soon as you have 2 guys get on base in the 5th or 6th inning the Manager thinks they are done and they get pulled, especially if you are near the 100 pitch count. Qualifications for the Hall need to be different just as the game is, "now different". The Hall is about representing the best players of their time, it is not nor should it be comparing players of present day to players from the past.

Every contract, especially long-term ones, should be loaded with incentives based on games played and performance. I'm sick of watching players getting paid like superstars and performing like average joes or worse.

I will admit there is some truth in what you say, such as "but he wouldn't have come to MN for that money, he wants to win." If you are going to pay 2 players superstar money even if it is part-time superstar money because Buxton only plays part-time, ($15M for a player that plays about half the time equates into $30M full-time) they need to perform when they are on the field. You can look at any of the players you mention and compare them to Correa and Buxton, dollar wise and performance/production wise, also look at how many All-Star games they have been named to, or times they were in consideration/vote for the MVP. Big difference. How many seasons has Correa and Buxton even hit .300? Compare that to the guys you named. Big Difference. Unfortunately C4 and Buck only compare in the dollar catagory, nothing else. I'd gladly live with a player being injured once or twice if they performed like the guys you mentioned. Throw in the injury issue and it makes expensive contracts to highly paid players even more expensive. I realize Buxton is an extreme example but having to have a full-time backup player for a starter is bad, but it is even worse when it is every year. It isn't just the cost of the extra salary but it also takes up a roster spot. Tell me how many times "depth" has won a Championship and how many times "performance" has won it? It's obvious which way this FO is trying to make the team better and it isn't with good talented players that perform. I wonder how willing Correa would have been to sign that $200M contract, knowing the Twins were not going to go "all in" when they finally end their playoff fiasco. Maybe that's why guys like Freeman "don't want to come here", they want to win. They want to play for a team that is committed. A team that looks for players that aren't injured and actually perform when they play. A team that doesn't have to trade away a batting Champion for a good pitcher. Wouldn't signing a good free agent pitcher and keeping your best hitter be a better plan? Why not strengthen your team instead of sacrificing one thing to gain another. That's the type of move you make because you are failing at the thing you need or are too stubborn to admit your approach is wrong and change it. Would it kill this organization to sign a top Free Agent pitcher just once and keep their good players instead of trading away one to get another? At the start of the off-season we were told they are cutting payroll yet there is plenty of money to sign washed up veterans and depth type players but little to no money to sign really good players that can make a difference. Maybe it is only because those players don't want to come here. Why? I'll tell you why... no commitment to winning. That first statement from the FO at the start of the off-season proves it just as much as the type of players they bring in.

And no replacement for Sonny. If depth wins Championships then the Twins are getting close. Now if they would only get some really good players that make a difference, we might have something to crow about.

Questions for you to consider..... instead of the Twins spending the dollars on older veterans to provide depth, they would spend it on 1 or 2 really good players in their prime, difference makers. Wouldn't they be a better team? Wouldn't those dollars be put to better use? Instead of investing in pitchers with injuries, like Mahle, Paddack, now DeSclafani, rewarding an always and forever injured Buxton with a $15M per year extension and so on.... Do you really think this organization does a good job allocating their payroll dollars? I think they could do a lot better, a whole lot better. This FO takes a lot of chances on injured players. Too many to my liking. How many times does that decision have to fail before they change their ways. Or won't they ever? Sure there are injuries to players all the time, but when you continually invest in players that are that way, you are only asking for failure.

I am not OK with how they spent the dollars. There are too many decline phase veterans I fear they will not release if they drop any further. I would not have tendered Farmer. I would not have signed Santana. I would not have taken whatever they are paying for DeSclafani’s contract. I would have taken those dollars and spent it on one single player preferably a starter but an everyday bat would fit also. A bat or stater that would push others down in the line up or rotation. The remaining holes would be filled from within. This! Exactly. I understand the need for depth but spending dollars for depth instead of spending dollars to make your team better is a choice. Maybe the injury plagued season of 2021 has this FO going too far in the direction of depth and they are now over-looking the path to get better.

The cat that is still in the bag is also Paddack. Most everyone here considers him to be a lock in the rotation this season. He's got one of the 5 slots locked up, Right? He's not going to show any ill effects of his TJ surgery. He's never thrown more than 140 innings in his 5 year career and that was 5 years ago. His 5.40 ERA last year with the Twins in his limited time back does NOT represent something to "bank" on. You are correct in questioning DeSclafani and his health, but he isn't being counted on as much as Paddack, who is just as much in question.