rv78

$15M on a part-time player that only hit .207 is hurting the team more than Vazquez.

The Twins Face Tough Decisions To Make Impactful Trades I actually don't think it is really a tough decision. It does require a new way of thinking and an opposite approach to the predicament the FO has put themselves into. #1, You trade away two of the $10M veteran salaries that are the most easy to replace with cheaper younger talent. That's Polanco and Kepler. I keep the other $10M man Vazquez, because the catcher position is one of the hardest to fill and having 2 capable guys there is a good plan. I also feel Vazquez will bounce back with a good season as he has in the past whenever he had a down year. Freeing up $20M easily gives the FO $35M to work with. I sign the best Free Agent Starting Pitcher I can with a good chunk of that money. Yes, I know it is something they don't normally do but like I said, they need to take a different approach just this once. In the meantime I get prospects for Polanco and Kepler since the only teams likely interested in them are contending teams, not rebuilding teams. They aren't going to trade their better pitchers for hitters if they are contending or close to it, so I gladly take prospects. I have Lewis, Julien, CC, Kirilloff, Farmer, Castro, Gordon, Miranda, with Lee and Martin almost ready for the infield positions. Wallner, Buxton, Castro, Kirilloff, Larnach, Gordon and Martin can all play outfield. The biggest questionmark is Buck but that is a whole nother story that has been played to death. I seriously look at adding a Senzel, or bringing back Taylor, or even attempt to get Jung-Hoo Lee to bolster that outfield. $35M should get that done as long as they are smart with the money and don't over-pay like they did with Buck, CC and Gallo.

This is what I have been saying since they signed Dior Man and extended Injured Again Guy. The really BAD part of it, is that it is going to haunt them for 5 more years.

This. The kool-aid drinkers can't get past the Buxtons, Keplers, Correas, and Gallo types that the FO has bought into and they are really the ones that continue to plague this team. Just because they are the highest paid hitters on the team they think they are the best players and the Twins can't win without them, when in all reality, the Twins won despite them. Extending Buxton was a mistake. Signing Correa was ok but not at the level of Salary he received. $15-20M per year would have been more than enough for what he brings. Kepler has been 3+ years of over-pay for his production. Gallo was one of the worst over-pays in Twins history. A $1.8M Willi Castro out produced him. I'm not saying veterans aren't important. It's just unfortunate that most of the veterans that the Twins have the most money tied up in, just aren't worth the money invested in them.

"Doubling Wallner's numbers would have given the league more time to find and expose the holes in game," "I am a Wallner fan and understand he made adjustments throughout last season" Which is it? You say he would have been worse yet you say he made the adjustments. So, if he would have gotten twice as many at bats he wouldn't be able to make adjustments? The BlueJays and Astros exposed the holes in his game..... He got a total of 8 at bats. Scored a run and had 2 RBI's without getting a hit. Kepler had 23 at bats, scored 1 run and had ZERO RBI's. I'm just assuming here...... but if Wallner had been given 23 at bats his production would have been better than Keplers.

Kepler's 5 for 23 with 10 strikeouts wasn't anything to brag about either.

The Twins have gambled on Kepler for 9 seasons and he's paid-off in 1 & 1/2 total. Time to pass the torch.

RpR drinks the kool-aid. To make the rose colored glasses even brighter you have to ignore the young guys that actually got us to the playoffs and mention some of those that weren't even on the team in 2023. Meanwhile don't mention the veterans that did little to nothing to get us there, like Correa and Buxton and Gallo. $60M down the toilet in 2023. With the exception of about one and a half seasons of being good out of 9 seasons total, he thinks Kepler is going to make a difference. Double Wallners numbers so he would have got the same number of at bats as Kepler in 2023 and he out-produces Kepler. And that's using a good half season from Kepler. A normal year of him and it isn't even close.

Current payroll is $120M with a target of $135M max. With $10M from Keplers contract that's $25M available. need a little more for a longer term deal, trade Polanco too. Now you've got $35M to get the deal done. It's not rocket science.

It's comical how some people value a player based on one season, or one and a half seasons of a player actually being good. Kepler has played 9 seasons and has 1.5 that are worthy of being called good. Reminds me of Buxton and his 9 seasons of playing and having 1.5 seasons of good. Just because they are Twins and have been here for a while doesn't make them expendable or replaceable by someone who could and should and would be better. Crap, it only takes 2 good seasons out of 9 to be better than they are. The rose colored glasses some of you are wearing hasn't won us any championships and continuing to put faith in players like Kepler and Buxton to get us there is a lost cause. They just aren't consistant enough to count on and build around which is exactly what this FO tried to do and it has failed. A different direction is needed and trading Kepler and Polanco to free up salary for an Ace type pitcher should happen sooner rather than later if they are serious about cutting payroll and still contending in the central. It may not get them there in 2024 but it would be a step in the right direction. The youth movement needs to continue.

Yes, less Gallo and Gray, payroll is less. Replacing Gallo is not needed. Replacing Gray is. Lopez is more of a #2 starter than an Ace. Paddack cannot be relied upon for a full season coming off TJ surgery. That leaves Ryan and Ober as the only other 2 starters with Lopez that you would consider as sure things. History has shown us that it's very probable that 1 of those 3 will not pitch an entire season. Detroit is getting better and if the Twins don't continue to put the gas on the pedal they will overtake them, if not in 2024 then 2025. One #1 starter like Gray must be signed if they are going to repeat as division champs. They need the young kids like Wallner, Julien, Lewis, Larnach, Kirilloff, Miranda to get at bats and continue to get better. More of the future is just around the corner with guys like Lee, Jenkins, Miller, Rodriguez coming soon. I don't trade from an area without a lot of depth and the Twins don't have it at catcher if they trade Vazquez. One injury to Jeffers and without Vazquez they are in a dire situation immediately. They have a lot of 2B and CO. Trading Polanco and Kepler would free up twice as much salary as trading one Vazquez and they have multiple players that can play 2B and RF. Anything else is just wasted effort though if they don't get another front line starting pitcher. That should be priority #1 even if it's the only thing they do.

That 2023 Carlos Correa deal is what is leading to the Twins cutting payroll. Overspending eventually leads to cuts and the biggest overspend goes to the guy with the highest payroll. In 2023 Correa was about the 15th ranked SS in the majors and he was paid like he was top 3. Add in Buxtons $15M for being a "half the time DH" and you've got the two biggest flushes down the toilet of cash in Twins history.

Maybe the Twins can get Buxton to agree to a trade freeing up $15+M in salary so they can actually go out and get a full-time CF that is worth having on the roster. Then this problem that they have to deal with every year would go away.

After acquiring Joey Gallo last year for $11M they don't have to worry about "appearing to be smart". That ship has sailed.

Seattle wants Polanco? Really? I read the article and it didn't say anywhere that they specifically name Polanco as a target. I think you are stretching just a bit.

Moving Polanco and/or Kepler makes a lot more sense. All 3 have the same salary obligation and would free up the same amount of money. Unless Vazquez is clamoring to be traded I keep him and move one or both of the other 2.

#1 reason not to do it. They are both too expensive. #2 reason not to do it, Goldschmidt is past his prime and could see a significant drop off in production. 2023 started to show that already. #3 reason not to do it, Alonso had a BA of .217 last year. Maybe it's an anomaly but the Twins already have enough of those players that try to bash and give away at bats swinging for the fences. #4 reason not to do it, Replacing Gray and Maeda should be priority #1. I would add that another rotation spot is very questionable by counting on Paddack to hold it for the whole season just coming off TJ surgery. This team doesn't even make it back to the playoffs without adding 1 or 2 quality starters in some way, and I'm not sure that Pablo Lopez can be considered an Ace just yet given his past history. Yes his last 2 seasons have been very good but let's not jump on the wagon and say he'll never regress. It happens.

This is the year for the Twins FO to change philosophy and sign a Free Agent picther instead of trading for one. If they are going to get a true Sonny Gray replacement, and by that I mean at least a #2 guy for the rotation, the costs in prospects that the Twins will have to send in return is just too high. The current payroll is around $120M with a max amount, we are told, being $135M. So they have $15M to work with. If it was me, I trade Polanco for prospects and free up another $10M. Now I've got $25M to use on a front line FA Pitcher. To me this is the simplest solution that doesn't cost any prospects. In fact I gain prospects from the Polanco trade.

So the Twins have the guys that can make pitchers better? Just a few tweaks and those middle of the pack rotation guys can be much better. If all it takes is a few tweaks other teams would do it. How about tweaking the pitchers we have and make them better. That would be cheaper. Sorry but those types of comments make me laugh. It's like the Twins are the only team that can fix players that are struggling. Which leads me to say, go big or go home. Stay away from the players that need tweaking, I think they tried that with Gallo and we all know how that turned out. The Twins already have enough of those types of players.

Saying Buxton "could" be exceptional is a stretch. He has a career batting average of .239. Outside of his defense which may never be the same, ever again, he's been pretty much average and of course, is trending in the wrong direction.

No. At this point I roll with Kirilloff at 1B. If and I know that's a big IF, he can stay healthy and get a full season in, he's a .270, 20HR, 80RBI hitter. A #2 Starter and the problem in CF is a bigger concern.

None of the above. Let's continue the youth movement on the team and stay away from the washed up veterans. If the Gallo signing didn't teach us that, nothing will.

Normally I don't get too high on a part-time player but knowing that we are stuck with Rocco managing this team for the forseeable future and his penchant for analytics to the tune of platooning his players on a daily basis, Senzel would be a terrific RH bat upgrade over rostering players like Garlick or Luplow. Not sure what it would take to get him. I see he made just under $2M last year. He could be platooned with Wallner in LF and more insurance for CF.

If the Twins aren't able to trade Polanco, Julien becomes a significant factor in a trade. If Arraez was expendable last year with Polanco on the team, then Julien could be the guy this year. With Brooks Lee on the cusp of making the club in 2024 that's 3 players that have 2B covered. What happens if Miranda shows in spring training that he is back to being healthy and is knocking the cover off the ball. They could give Miranda his 3B spot back and Lewis could play 2B also. It's the deepest position that the Twins have. No way they will keep all of those players.

Unfortunately 2 of the players that need to be traded to really improve the offense on this team and free up salary can't be traded due to their no-trade clauses. The FO really botched those 2 deals. Now they have little to no wiggle room if they really need to cut salary which puts this team in a bind. I still see either Polanco or Kepler being traded. Maybe a 3 way trade can be done where they go to a contending team that really needs them, that team then sends a prospect or 2 to a 3rd team and that 3rd team sends us a pitcher that we need. That way all teams get what they need and it doesn't cost us any of our highly regarded prospects.