rv78

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.

González's calling card is his bat, so don't be surprised if he can unlock a new gear with the Twins' player development staff, who are known to accentuate hitting prospects' strengths. Yes, that's why we have so many players at the major league level who hit .230 or less.

So it is better to have a veteran who is washed up, aka Gallo, then to give a rookie those at bats. Has Larnach, Miranda, Gordon, even a player like Celestino been given a reasonable chance to succede at the major league level? Not hardly, yet the FO goes out and gets guys like Gallo, and now Santana, who have no future with the club and all it does is hold the young players back from getting the playing time they need. How much better would the Twins have been in 2023 had Wallner been given the playing time that Gallo got? It was a poor decision to sign Gallo and an even more stupid one to give him $11M. With no WS ring in 2023, the better choice would have been to play your young players than to choke out another year with washed up veterans. (Gallo, Beckham, Hamilton, Garlick, Archer, Joe Smith, Bundy, Minaya). If you are going to commit to the now then totally commit and bring in veterans that are good, in their prime, and will make a difference. If you are going to commit to building a roster from within, then commit to using your young players and let them get the experience they need. This FO is trying to do both and will never accomplish either by taking a half-a$$ approach both ways.

If Gallo was worth $11M then Kepler should be worth 15. I can see an extension happening. This FO doesn't look in the rear view mirror. Just look at the players they sign and extend. Most have histories of injuries or just not being very good players on a consistant basis. Sure they maybe had 1 good season in their career or were good 6 years ago before their 4-5 seasons of playing injured half the time, so they are targets for this FO. Kepler fits that narrative also. 1.5 good seasons in his 9 year career is plenty good for these guys. He's perfect.

If a #2 pitcher is not in the works they: 1. Better plan on scoring a lot more runs than they did last year. 2. Hope that Ryan and/or Ober improve over last year 3. Hope the bullpen becomes "lights out" like the Royals had in their WS run in 2015. 4. All of the above.

All players struggle at times. The difference between the veterans and the rookies is the option to send them to AAA. Tom Kelly once said a player needs 1500 at bats at the major league level before you really know if he can hit or not. I think too many times when a young player is struggling they get sent down too soon or don't get enough regular playing time. It doesn't take a genius to figure that if they are playing full-time in AAA and performing well and then get brought up to the bigs and get platooned to death like Rocco does, that they won't play as well. Sure the competition is tougher but it doesn't help if your timing is disrupted by NOT playing every day, confidence slowly slips away and the pressure to perform increases dramatically. Not everyone can handle that and if your Manager doesn't show any confidence in you that makes it even worse. Veterans don't have the pressure. I'm sure Correa isn't losing any sleep at night hitting .230 for the season. His job is about as secure as his contract. That isn't the same for a rookie.

If that is the case then Gallo, Correa, Taylor, Vazquez, Buxton and the 1st half version of Kepler shouldn't have been on the major league roster in 2023.

A LOT of revenue has to do with the product you produce. In 1988, a year after the Twins 1987 World Series title they drew over 3 Million fans. It was a great product on the field to watch and the fans responded. The first 2 years in Target Field they also drew over 3M fans. Why because people wanted to see the new ballpark. Now the Twins have a hard time even drawing 2 million fans. Sometimes you get what you pay for when revenue is to be considered. Let's see, having 1 million more fans come to games wouldn't COST anything extra but it would generate ummm..... $50 per ticket plus another $20 in concessions = $70M a year. Not to mention the extra profits for all of the businesses around Target Field and maybe a TV deal that someone would actually be interested in since they provide that TOP quality product that is required for that type of deal. Is NOT putting the best product on the field that you can really important? You best believe it, but they don't care and it shows.

Santana, who turns 38 in April, showed serious decline in some key hitting metrics last year, going from a .372 xwOBA in 2022 (88th percentile) to .305 in 2023 (23rd percentile). His exit velocity, barrel rate, and hard-hit rate all fell off the table. This is what worries me. It would appear his bat is toast and at 38 he's unlikely to get it back. Some guys need to retire (like Gallo, even tho he hasn't yet) and Santana's time has come. But if there are teams willing to give you 1 more payday I guess I can't blame him, which I don't, I blame the ding-dongs in the Twins FO for signings like this. It has been said, with Roccos penchant for playing matchups Santana will get plenty of at bats, more then he deserves. Just like Gallo. And just like Gallo you don't let an $11M player sit on the bench unless you completely fall off the deep end, and in Santana's case at $5.25M he won't be sitting either. If Kirilloff is hitting well Santana will still get his playing time and Kirilloff may end up in the OF. There you go, there's your other outfielder you've all been clamoring for.

Having really good players makes you a great Manager. Win and you look spectacular, lose and you look terrible. Almost every good Manager you listed had some excellent players that helped lead their teams to Championships. We can even go back to 2019 when the Twins led the league in HR's and won 101 games. The players made that team, not Rocco. But it made Rocco look like a really good Manager in his first season. In 2021 and 2022 you saw how good the team was.... not very. And in 2023 they finally managed to win the division again, due to Sonny Gary and Pablo Lopez. Not Rocco. Most Managers are just along for the ride.

If fixes were easy they'd have been made already in a 33 year old pitcher. I find it comical that when the Twins acquire a player that has issues the writers here at Twins Daily think the Twins can just "fix" their problems and turn them into a player that is better than who they were previously. If that was really the case, their coaches would be so highly sought of that they'd be bought out by other teams. If I remember correctly, the last pitching coach Wes Johnson, went back to coaching in college.

I could live with Pham in left field. The only way I would do something like that though is if they also trade Kepler. Wallner could move to RF. They'd save about another $4M trading Kepler and signing Pham for $6M. Offensively he'd be about the same as Kepler albeit from the right side. With the money saved moving both Polanco and Kepler they'd have about $11M extra to use, hopefully on a Sonny Gray replacement..... not another DeSclafani.

Unless this trade helps make another one happen it does little to help the Twins. I agree with most of Doctor Gast and his view with one exception. Trading Polanco for a top prospect wouldn't have been bad. Problem was they didn't get that "Top" prospect. Looking at the trade they got an aging .500 level type starting pitcher that has health issues. Does that sound familiar? (Mahle) They got an older relief pitcher that has had 1 good season in the majors in his career. In fact, outside of last season he had only thrown 18 innings total in the 3 years before that. That's his MLB history folks. Hardly anything to bank on there. Does that sound familar? (JLopez) They got a good prospect, not a top prospect and another throw in player that are a dime a dozen. Numbers for cash are being thrown around from 5 to 8 million. If they are saving $8M with this deal, they accomplished their main goal. To cut payroll. Remember when Falvine was hired, they said there goal was to make the Twins a perennial contender? That was 8 years ago and they have 3 playoff wins to their name. If they weren't in the easiest division in baseball they wouldn't even be making the playoffs. These guys are a joke. They haven't developed 1 Ace type pitcher for the organization. Isn't that what they were known for in Cleveland? Zilch there. Disco is 1 thing ...... insurance for Paddack. Neither can be relied upon for a full season. Varland hasn't shown he is ready, other than for a bullpen role, which is where 90% of the Twins minor league starters end up if they make it to the majors. The goal each year should be to make your Major League roster better. They haven't done that .... yet.

LOL. The goal is for him to play 80 games in CF. I'm sure the goal last season was to get him in CF too. The goal when Falvine took over was to build a perrenial contender. Took 8 years for them to win a playoff game. I find it hard to believe they are serious about any "goals" that they tell the fans except for the one goal.... to spend less money.

The only "exit velocity" that was important with Gallo and Sano was when they left the team. It really wasn't fast enough.

With the spending that the Dodgers displayed so far this off-season the future of major league baseball could be heading down a path that it will never recover from. Small market or mid-market won't matter, They'll all be lower tier teams that won't be able to compete against them. Hope you are happy to go watch them try to win a regular season game because if they get in the playoffs the big spenders will give them ZERO chance at a WS ring. '87 and '91 will be all there ever will be.

Has he really helped the Twins? Really? Is Correa and his $200M dollar contract really going to help them? Or is it going to hurt them........... over the long term? If we continue to get a Correa that hits .230 and leads the league in hitting into doubleplays then he is grossly overpaid. Before we start singing praise for Boras "helping" the Twins lets see how the so-called superstar Correa does for a few more seasons. His 2023 season was far from being "superstar" caliber. And how about that other Boras client named Joey Gallo? Wasn't that a great move by Boras in "helping" the Twins? ONE OF THE WORST SIGNINGS EVER. Why didn't the signing of that Boras client get mentioned in this article? Boras has hurt the Twins, and in more ways than what actually shows up on the Twins roster. Raising and establishing prices for players to the point that small market teams can't afford them impacts the game. It might be good for his clients but is it good for the game? The verdict of him helping the Twins in any way so far, is very debatable.

There is nothing wrong with a signing like this for depth IF you are improving the team with OTHER signings that make the team better. My point was..... they aren't doing that and the better players ARE available, you implied otherwise.

Umm.............. there are a lot of guys better that ARE currently "available". It's this Front Offices decision NOT to go after them and add them to the team now or having already have done so. Waiting isn't always the best option. This is a snore move at the dumpster diving level just like every other move they have made so far this off-season. Gee, let's get excited!

Exactly. According to Nick he is the poor man's Michael Taylor. The Twins are now considered poor.

Promote Martin from AAA and quit wasting money and roster spots on washed up veterans.

The ONLY reason he is a Twin is because TWO other teams bailed on him. His real dedication to being a Twin was 1 year. Yes he had choices...... He could have stayed after his first year but opted out. Puckett could have left for more money but chose NOT to. BIG difference.

If all you need to do to get in the hall is play defense then he has a shot. When you factor in his bat he isn't good enough. Has only hit .300 or better once in his entire career and that was in a season when he only had a little more than 400 AB's. Has never hit 30 HR's in a season, has never had 100 RBI's. Can't steal bases. I just don't see it. If being ROY and being elected to a couple All-Star games makes you a HOFer then there are a lot of guys that should be there that aren't. He's got to finish his career at a higher level that he's never played at to be worthy. And he shouldn't be a Twins HOFer either. He's not a Twin by choice, only by chance.

Unfortunately with Rocco at the helm they won't be making any significant changes. What we saw last year was minor to his willingness to change. Cris E said it best with Rocco's own career being hampered by injuries his management style is to protect and rest........ even if it costs them wins. Lewis and Buxton could both steal 30+ bases a year if healthy but Rocco will baby them going forward. In Buxtons case resting him doesn't matter. You can pull an oblique swinging for the fences. Does that change his management style? No. Had Rocco been Manager for Lou Brock, Ricky Henderson or Vince Coleman they would have only gotten half the stolen bases they ended up with. Course, they would have been on the bench resting at least 2 days every week.

Could they.......yes, would they........maybe, should they......... The Twins.......no. Could the Dodgers flip Ohtani to the Twins?...... Yes, should they......... maybe, would they.......The Dodgers....... no.