rv78

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.

The ONLY reason why freeing up money won't bring in a #2 starter is the Front Office's decision NOT to SPEND it on a #2 Free Agent starter. With both Polanco and Kepler being traded for prospects, promoting Martin and allocating 2B to Julien and Farmer, RF and LF to Wallner, Castro, Martin and possibly one of the prospects you just traded them for, you free up $20.5M for that starter. The problem child in all of the roster constraints is Buxton by his inability to be the CFer he was paid to be.

Timewise it doesn't matter with Polanco. Other teams already know the Twins have good depth at 2nd base. His value isn't any more now than it will be late spring training. The only way his value goes up is if 2 or more clubs get into a bidding war for him, and waiting for that to happen is the only chance you have of getting his true value in return.

So far the FO has made moves that don't move the needle. With the loss of Gray and Maeda they have gone backwards. Meanwhile other teams continue to take the cream of the crop. Nothing new here. It is the way this FO operates. A small playoff success last year has them thinking they are doing things the right way. Falvine has been in charge for 7 seasons going on 8 and have 3 playoff victories as their major accomplishments. Think about that for a minute. These guys continue to operate the same way each year thinking it works when it obviously doesn't. In past years we've been told they had plenty of dollars at their disposal to improve the team but always bypassed the expensive Free Agents in favor of trading away players, even batting champions (Arraez), for players of need (Lopez). Now we are told they need to trim the budget. The chance of them signing any significant Free Agent WILL NOT HAPPEN. They didn't do it when they had an almost unlimited payroll, why do any of you think it will happen when they are trimming payroll. It is ridiculous and insane to continue to think it will happen. The Twins are a 2nd or even 3rd tier team. Always have been, always will be. It's in their DNA and without a major change in ownership it won't change. They aren't going to spend like the Dodgers or Yankees even if they could.

Running is running. Jogging is less stressful than running. Which is MORE painful? Running the bases or running after balls hit in the outfield. Again, running is running. We are talking about pain, not stress. Where did I mention stress to the knee in my post? Hmmm... can't seem to find it anywere. Pain and stress are 2 different things. Don't confuse the two or twist my words to fit your narritive.

Here we go again. I will forever remember who Buxton is long after his career ends. A broken over-hyped player that did little to nothing to help the Twins win any meaningful games. I wonder how wrong you are about him being in so much pain he couldn't take the field defensively even once all season. I'd be willing to bet it was more of a managierial and FO decision not to play him there than it was his pain as the deciding factor. You can't tell me that runnning the bases was less painful than running in the outfield. If the FO had any smarts at all they would have shut him down completely by the All-Star break and had him undergo his follow up procedure then, making him even more ready for 2024. Not that that will probably make any difference..... Any betting man would figure he's going to get injured again anyway.

The first thing Rocco can do is look in the mirror and see who throws games away. Too many times he goes with a get away lineup on the last day of a series resting his best players. It costs them wins. If you are going to expect the players to try to win every game when they play then the Manager should be managing games that way too. You speak of his experience yet he constantly makes the same mistakes, batting guys that can't drive in runs in the middle of the lineup, putting guys in the leadoff spot that are terrible at getting on base, rarely if ever tries to advance runners, or never goes for 1 run when that is all they need, instead hoping for the 3 run homer when they can't even get 2 hits in an inning. Platooning and changing the lineup almost every day doesn't automatically make you a good manager. It makes you look like you don't know who to play and where to put them in the lineup.

If their bullpen philosophy is to bring in guys that are part of the dumpster diving variety then yes, he fits perfectly. The bullpen has always been low priority for this FO and the signing of Staumont proves they haven't changed their tune.

I say No. Go with Buxton in CF everyday and if he can't play there show Falvine the door. Constantly having to coverup mistakes does not make you a good GM. Then get Buck to agree to a trade and solve the problem once and for all. Only the Twins go into every season required to have a backup player for one of the players they are trying to build around. Sorry, the mistake is, trying to build a team around someone who rarely plays. If the budget is to undergo tightening and subtraction you don't waste that money on 2 players where one should be sufficient. Maybe they should trade for a #1 Ace Pitcher to play in case Pablo Lopez gets hurt and can't play. We know that's not going to happen but in theory it's the same thing they have to do with Buck every year and most of you see no problem with it. In fact, article after article gets written about who Buxtons backup should be. I think for once it should be Buxton and if he fails to stay healthy, ask him to retire.

LOL!

LOL!

While these 3, maintaining their level of play they displayed as rookies, is important. It will be even more important for the 2 highly paid superduds (Correa & Buxton) of 2023 to produce up to their expected level in 2024. Especially if the 3 rookies that outplayed them do regress. I know it is always a big IF, but IF Buxton can stay healthy and play at a level like he did in 2021 for a full season and IF Correa can play at a level like he did in 2021 or 2022 then the way Lewis, Wallner and Julien play won't NEED to be that prolific. The Twins need to get their moneys worth from those they are paying it to. Period!