bunsen82

I've always said the firesale was to ensure a higher draft pick.

First off Varland is the 1 trade I have consistently said I wish we wouldn't have done. He could have been the closer we needed. However lets look at the big picture. Last year he was a 0 WAR after the trade deadline. With a good month he has a .9 WAR. We received 2 decent prospects an outfielder that shows some decent bat skills, ok defense, but is now on his 2nd minor injury stint since being with the Twins. Rojas - has some real talent. This trade as it stands now still slightly favors the Twins. However had Varland remained on the Twins last year, I don't think its inconceivable we win 4-6 more games and we likely aren't picking 3 in this draft. All of this ties together. If Varland was in this bullpen he would really solidify it. We don't have that 1 shut down guy we need.

Yep. The thing is everyone knows the advantage it gives.

Coors field - .324/.405/.810 Everywhere else - .243/.333/.712 He still has a -.3 WAR even with his hot start.

You could say that again . . . 🤣

This is best case outcome. The Twins acting on the hint of discomfort/inflammation to make sure it doesn't become a bigger issue.

You have pitchers throwing harder and with more velocity than they ever had. Now - it didn't appear to be a any decrease in velocity - so if you want to take a good view that is one. Now is there a motion change that has caused a little more torque on that elbow, that has caused the inflammation. If so then the Twins may need to tweak his delivery. If its a tear, then Tommy John is potentially on the table. I'm not going to go overboard until we here more on if there is a tear or not.

We have some competent arms. Something we didn't have in the bullpen at the end of the season last year. Its amazing how much of a difference that makes. Even still, there are still some question marks. Banda is as of yet is not looking like he was worth the international money. Orze has been quite the find so far. I thought there would be some decent AAAA pitchers in AAA but so far they have really struggled so far this year. Other than some players getting healthy like and Adams, Festa, Laweryson . . . this appears to be the group for now.

LOL - okay . . . . yes something needs to change with Wallner - did you mean to respond to my post haha.

On a value chart Painter would have cost Jax and Duran. There was no way we were getting Painter for Duran. Painter has more upside even now, but I really like Abel and I stated it last summer on stats and performance I might actually take Abel over Painter heads up. Alas thats not the discussion LOL. The case with Abel is he has always done better at his next level his second year. He is still going to have issues with walks and control from time to time. I think he got strikeouts on 4-5 different pitches. 4 seamer, change, slider, sweeper (aren't these the same Lol) and curve. He was throwing any of his pitches for strikes and if you got to 2 strikes last night you were in a difficult spot. For someone who is 6'5" throwing up to 97 (96.8 rounded up LOL) - Plus 4 other legit pitches, I think we are going to be very very happy. For Abel its all going to come down to control. If the secondaries are not working then the fastball can get teed up. For the rest of the game, some of our players that have struggled to start the season have gotten hot, Buxton, Lee and Keaschall. We have several solid hitters this year. So far we are only sending 1 person to the box on a regular basis with no chance in Outman. The overall depth of the team looks good. With 3 strong SP in Ryan, Abel and Bradley, and 2 solid ones in Ober and SWR - it should set this team up to be competitive all year long. I will still continue to pine for Varland LOL.

Seriously . . . We think this version is better exactly why??? This team is the team Falvey and him created. Remember this is the guy who effectively told Falvey you will be the fall guy if this doesn't go well and Falvey was like, yeah I'm not going to stick around for this. This Pohlad said he was go big or go home. He also said we would have some big additions after the Caratini and Bell signing specifically in the bullpen (also after we had signed back Rogers). We signed some dfa relievers and traded some international cash for Banda. That this team has done well has no reflection and whether Tom is good or not. I am still open minded. Even still at least Joe opened the purse strings once. I don't see that happening with Tom and his angel investors.

The only thing on gray is even last year was showing he was striking the ball well with good exit velocities. 2 home runs in 20 at bats is the definition of small sample size. He was showing some things under the hood that the bat could be an asset. At this point I hope he can keep succeeding more so that he can reap a bit of the rewards financially and otherwise for toiling for years as a minor league. He gets about $4200 every day he is active. League year is something like 182 days.

To be fair the big leads have allowed Shelton to be much more judicious in leaving them out there, especially with a bullpen that has been overworked. Shelton has tried to get every out he can with the starters. With this bullpen its a necessity.

If you want a hot take, in his current form Lewis is not an asset to the team. The defense is subpar, the hitting is predicated on hitting home runs. There are way too many empty at bats. As bad as Lee has been at short, some of Lewis's throws have left me the same way about Lewis at 3rd.

For the issues with risp the last 2 years- this team in the last week has tried to even out those statistics. Bell has someone at 2 base and its almost as if he is willing a hit. Also he could easily have 2 more rbi as 2 players were held at 3rd that could have scored just in the last week. Tristan Gray also has 2 of his biggest hits with bases loaded , and the other with 2 on. This will likely level out. We do have a solid offensive team, that in short sample sizes appears to be stronger against lefty pitching than the past 2 years, and we we have an above average hitting lineup. We have a poor defensive team, and a bullpen that is greater than the sum of its parts. We were on the verge of the bullpen imploding 4-5 days ago from overuse. We have had a wicked stretch of scheduling. Now there are some positives on the horizon - 1 Culpepper will improve our defense and likely be a better offensive weapon at the shortstop position. We have a lot of young talent available for the outfield. So far they aren't hitting great in AAA, but Jenkins general takes a bit before he warms up. In either case this bullpen is no version of a competent postseason staff and the trades to get it there would be difficult. How would we view this team if Varland was our closer? As I have said since the offseason, this is a .500 ish team.