bunsen82

They are putting as good of a product out there for 2 reasons. Pohlads to try to increase ticket sales. Falvey, trying to save his job. You have 2 different reasons as to why they are doing what they are doing even if it isn't the best option long term. Lets look at what we have. Guaranteed roster - Jeffers, Jackson, Bell, Clemens, Keashall, Lee, Lewis, Buxton Larnach, Wallner, Martin Bench, optioned or waived - Roden, Outman, Kriedler, Gasper, Fitzgerald, Julien I really think Roden is in the plans for this year. Larnach seems to be the most likely to be moved but this feels like a redux of Kyle Farmer. I'm not sure you get the value for Larnach. Someone may be willing to pay up more for a Roden, although more of his shine has rubbed off since the trade deadline. The more and more I think about, if you need to trade an outfielder, Wallner may be the better option. Granted if he does better in the 1st half he has more value. The outfield is a mess, but other than Roden in the bench, optioned or waived category, none of the other players have any value. My guess is we effectively run with the above with a utility player traded for or signed. With Rodriguez the 1st option to come up due to injury or underperformance.

If you are trading for the right time - Its Buxton and Ryan they are both at extremely high trade valuations. Keep Ober and Lopez and see if they show they are #2 or #1 pitchers again to increase their value.

I posted the drafts for each year. For relevancy sake the 2017-2019 drafts are really the only ones you can critique as those are the players who have either made the big leagues or washed out. On a surface level, those drafts are solid. You are missing a stud player. The reason most of those players you mentioned developed under Falvey is because it takes 3-5 years to go through the minors then you have up to 6 years of control. So you want to grade Falvey strictly on the 3 drafts I mentioned above and not give any credit for what is coming up through the farm system. Don't you understand the fallacy in your arguments. You won't give credit for Buxton, Kepler, Polanco (because they developed but weren't drafted under his watch) but you also won't give him any credit for developing what could be viewed as the #2-#5 farm system (even with trading the majority of the 2021 top picks). As to drafts - you are failing to understand that odds decrease as you pick later in the draft or you take someone with a higher ceiling but even less odds of hitting. High draft picks in good drafts is the easiest and most consistent way to find generational talent for a team. This isn't that difficult to comprehend. When you trade 5 of your top draft picks from the 2021 draft you most likely are not going to get a lot of benefit from that draft. You don't like Falvey. That is clear and we have had the disagreements before. I think Falvey on the draft side has actually been very very good especially the 2021 draft and moving forward.

For Posterity sake lets look at the drafts for players. 2017- Royce Lewis, Brent Rooker, pitchers = ober - although Rooker didn't do it for us that is a good draft 2018 - Larnach, Jeffers, pitchers Sands - again a solid draft class for position players 2019 - Wallner, Steer, Julian (Cavaco was the dud), pitchers - Cavaco, Gipson Long, Headrick, Laweryson Varland 2020 - Covid - 2021 - Noah Miller, CES, Fedko - Pitchers - Petty, Hajjar, Povich, Adams, Festa, Ohl - The issue with this class is the trading of the majority of the top of the class for help with the 2022 team. 2022 - Lee, Schobel, pitching - Priellip, Morris, Jones, Matthews, Lewis We will see what Lee becomes, but that is a ton of pitching talent. 2023 - Jenkins (looks like a stud), keaschall played like a stud, Winokur (high ceiling), pitching Soto - had a 1.9 ERA before shut down. 2024 - Culpepper (looks really good), Debarge, Amick, Diaw - Pitchers - Hill Those are really solid drafts. The 1 knock if any is the lack of true stud players. And Lewis is the bit of a whiff for me. The 2023 draft has the potential of being an elite class. That 2021 class was amazing how much talent came from it. The issue is traded a lot away. 2022 - appears to be very very good class. The pitching fell of a bit last year. I still think you have 2-3 MLB arms plus Lee. When you really dig into it your realize the drafting really hasn't been the issue and has a ton of really good talent in the 2021 - 2024 classes.

I still stand by I would be ok with a Joe Ryan trade. I think at this point Buxton is not willing to be the only elite player on the team. This team is being built for 2028 and moving forward.

The only thing I wonder is if Clemens is being viewed as a 2nd baseman and Keaschall primarily outfield. You could then have a Bell and another 1st baseman. There are lots of 1st base DH players that need homes likely pretty cheaply contracts or trades.

Blah Blah Blah - its the same tired argument that has been used for years. We will attack saying not enough value from prospects - while ignoring Lewis, Jeffers, Buxton, Ober, Arraez, Kepler, Jax, Varland, Polanco ect. Prospects come from a variety of pools. There have been 2 high level picks, Cavaco #13 pick (total flame job) and Lewis (#1). Beyond that, due to Falvey having a record of over .500 overall a lot of the picks have been late in the 1st round - in a draft that has low probabilities of hitting. Its also ignoring the value of trades, for Ryan, Duran and Lopez. The Twins also changed their draft strategies in 2021 - focusing more on hit tool and athleticism. So it is not a surprise that since then not only are prospects arriving at the MLB level quickly - Keaschall and Lee (Keaschall looks really good but I am sure you will find a way to minimize that) - You have really solid prospects in Culpepper and Jenkins. We now have a #3 draft pick in a draft that should have a similar quality pick to Jenkins. The minors is loaded with pitching from Low A to AAA. This is the first time where I have felt we have a pitching pipeline that is well developed. We have continued to use draft capital like the trade of Petty for Gray to supplement the majors. Overall that trade turned out really really well. I like the long term projections - but go ahead and minimize what has been done because you are frustrated with the way that the Pohlads are managing the business. Ultimately that is what this comes down to. Unless they are going to spend more, it is going to be very difficult for the Twins to compete.

The only way this works is a straight up challenge trade of Vientos for Lewis. Would you want to do that? Lewis is a better defender than Vientos.

I have no idea what you were quoting from me 4 months ago lol. Correa though seemed to be slowing immensely. Got a bit of a jolt in Houston.

I want to look after 2021 and on. The early players have had MLB success other than Cavaco. The only top 5 pick is Jenkins and he looks by far like our best prospect and a building block for the future. Culpepper is an absolute stud especially for 21st pick. Noah miller will be a backup SS at mlb with no bat. Petty got us 2 years of Sonny Gray and Debarge who has some potential. Soto had a 1.9era before he was shut down. He is being criminally underrated on the prospect lists. Brooks Lee in a very weak class made it to MLB we will see if can start to adjust to the higher level. Quick and Houston we will see where they are next year. As good as Houston looked in A ball he struggled at high A but he may have wore down as well. His defense is legit. So we have a top 3 pick in what should be a very very good draft. LeBron to me appears to be a very safe pick with solid upside. Some have minimized Lombard. He has plus plus speed and power with above average defense. His questions are a bit of hit tool. I would say there is a better than 50/50 chance that Emerson or Cholosky is available at our pick.

Seems to be splitting hairs here. Would have been better off to state information will come out when it is available. It seemed to imply the information was completely off - which it was not. We had several individuals on this site bashing not only the original writer but also one of the writers here who posted an article based off the information.

So, I was just wondering, Twins claimed the information was incorrect on the minority owners, insinuating the Varde partners was incorrect. Varde was most certainly one of the minority owners. Were they trying to say what was wrong was that there were 3 partners. Seems rather obtuse to be claiming that article was inaccurate, when the primary premise of the article was that Varde was 1 of the minority owners.

The remaining relief pitching market . . . is lets say questionable. Relievers seemed to be going at or slightly above anticipated contracts. 1. Pete Fairbanks - best known name on the list, has Raynauds - so most likely not an option for the Twins (struggles in cold weather). Unless willing to try to only pitch in warmer games. Appears to be wanting warmer climate or dome. Struggled more last year, Rays declined an $11 million option. Likely contract 2 for $22 million. 2. Dominguez - solid relief for Mets this year. 1 yr 10.7 million 3. Paddack - yuck most likely still viewed as a starting pitcher 1 year $10 million 4. Johnson - Solid set up man for Atlanta 1 yr 8 million 5. David Robertson - old, struggled last year but had no preseason. 1 yr 6 million. 6. Hunter Harvey - injured last year 1 yr 5.5 million 7. Kahnle - 4 era for detroit 1 yr 5 million 8-10 Loaisiga, Suter Sewald all around 4.5 million 11. Coulombe - struggled for texas - 1 yr 4 million 12-25 Chafin, Webb, Armstrong, Stanek, Junis, Taylor Rogers, King, Kinley, Barlow, Neris, Newcomb, Lucchesi - Between $1.5 million and $4 million There is maybe - 2-3 moderate leverage arms after Fairbanks and Dominguez. Robertson is older than dirt, but didn't have preseason last year. Maybe a buy low candidate for 1 year. I am fine with a reunion with Coulombe and Rogers. However, looking at this - I am tempted more and more to go with the youth movement. Get 1 more reliever, maybe put the rest into another hitter and roll with what we got. It may fall apart - but dumping $15 million in money into those players doesn't look to be a great option either.

I think the ideal future infield involves Lee at 3rd, Culpepper at SS, and Keashall at 2nd. Lee needs to improve defense and OPS this year in a meaningful way. You still have some options internally that could allow Lee to be traded or used as a utility player.

Susac played in a bandbox in AAA. In either case, I would have kept Susac and potentially traded Jeffers and ran with Susac/Jackson and Pereda. They are all a tad below average but between the 3 you have some depth and 1 of the 3 could flash and show to be a long term option. To me Susac has more value than a lottery ticket. Giants agreed as well. We will see, he is likely nothing but it would have been an interesting strategy.

he had a .220/.290/.473 slash line last year and a .6 WAR in 90 at bats. Certainly better than what we got from Vasquez.

We are paying Bell $5.75 million for this year, likely half of what Arraez will get this year. If we want Arraez we could still get him, not sure where you would put him though.

Well because they said they were going to try him out there. Someone here said his defense in outfield was better than 2nd. Our best prospects may be outfielders, but they aren’t up yet, Larnach has a high probability of getting traded and I feel better with Keashall in right or left than Roden or Wallner. Even still it isn’t great.

I am willing to bet he will outperform, like France, Clemens, and Santana before him. I wonder if we would treat him as a true DH, pick up another true defensive 1st baseman, have Clemens as the second baseman and Keaschall as an outfielder.

Jackson showed in SSS he was more selective and did more damage on the hits he had. If he can continue or dare I say improve more which he found something that worked and has improved his selectiveness each of the last 3 years, I am certain he will provide more pop than we got from Vasquez. He has a good arm so I am pretty satisfied with him as the backup,

To be fair yes he touched 1, but not the 3.4 he put up. I am hoping for a statistical outlier. Is it hopeful yes, and you are correct Bader provided defense and offense. Like we have both discussed, playing for a mediocre team isn't in the best interests of an organization operating like a small market team, The blow up scenario is the best option. Even the owners can't stomach the fan upheaval on that so we continue with this buy and sell yo-yo and .500 ish records.

Bader hadn't touched a 1 War since 2022. Even still statistical outliers are not normal performance.

As stated, probably overstated the AAV slightly. A 2-3 WAR even DH bat would get $10 million though for 2-3 years.

It impacted but not in the way that was expected. In Mets signing and moving Polanco to 1st base, it limited the options for the other 1st baseman free agents with Baltimore most likely wanting to now trade a 1st baseman. Not that Josh Bell is an elite hitter, he is a solid MLB hitter that hopefully will have a solid season for the Twins.

To be fair, other teams and agents said the Twins front office suddenly reversed course right before winter meetings. Falvey even mentioned as much talking with free agents and telling them their plans had changed. This is as much about the owners being fickle as anything, and progress on the minority owners.