bunsen82

So did they trade him for money or my guess is a reliever they liked better than anyone in the rule V.

Say what you will, Falvey has built up a pretty strong Minor League system. Is it good enough to get us to where we want to go in 3-4 years - maybe. I really wonder when the tear down order was decided. I think 1-2 deals were expected, and then in the last 24 hours they said sell these 9 players. The biggest issue I have with the Pohlads is the complete change of directions that seems to occur under their leadership. 2021-2022 - We are going for a WS 2023- Cut Payroll 2025 - Player Purge 2026 - December 6th ish - Notify Falvey they are willing to give money to add some to the roster this year (previously had been on hold). This is an absolutely idiotic way to run a business. Its also stupid how they built up so much debt in the organization. Just like the tank for the top 3 draft pick, which it did come out, what the Twins were hoping for was a top 3 pick (yes 1 or 2 would have been great) , 3 ultimately was the spot they didn't want to go lower than. We need as many elite players as possible and you need to hit on them. I am fine if someone trades for Ryan now. However he tends to perform very well in the 1st half of the season, so ultimately I don't think you lose much by send him at the deadline. However his value has already reduced for 68 to like 52 or 54. The value will continue to reduce the longer you go. Lopez and Ober I would love to see perform well this year. Ober is 1 even if we are doing well I could see traded at the deadline.

I am actually ok with the complete blow up idea, the issue is you have to be able to put it back together by 2027. You are going to lose a lot of the casual even long term fans though. I would say trade Ryan and Buxton if he is wanting to leave. This could occur at trade deadline time though too. There is a part of me that wishes the Twins would pick a lane. mediocrity only gets you so far. The only thing I will say is the minors is much deeper than 2021, however if you are going to need that system to basically rebuild a team, it can't be used as much for trade capital. To be fair I did name Martin/Roden/Larnach for 1 position. At best 1 is mostly getting regular run. Overall its still a mediocre lineup at best. Keaschall, Buxton and maybe Wallner and Lewis are the only ones that would scare the opposition. It begins to change if some of the prospects start coming up and performing well, but again that relies on some hope. We will see what happens. I don't think the roster as a whole will be bad, but it won't be great or solid either. Maybe they trade Ryan and/or Buxton or Lopez at the deadline. We will see.

@chpettit19 I ran through the rest of the games. Consistently 3 AAAA players in my opinion most games. If you want to look at an ugly lineup go look at Sept28th - Martin, McCusker, Fitzgerald, Vazquez, and Outman (oofta).

They will now its a question who is available at the pick and who do they pick. Do they go with a more polished pitcher with a lower ceiling, or do they go with someone with some legit talent, but control or pitch mix issues? We will see shortly.

I can't tell you how the roster pans out. I do think Larnach gets traded. maybe with a prospect for a reliever. It does sound like they want to add a legit veteran bat (I hope so). Ultimately I think the lineups just by themselves will be better than what we were running out there on a nightly basis the last 2 months. There is a difference between have 2-3 questionable bats as your bench and giving them regular run to see if they can be a positive for your team in the future vs running them more as bench players. I am ok with Alex Jackson getting 35 games vs Vasquez at 80. I am ok with Martin getting 60-80 games especially if the bat continues to perform. Running a legit lineup most nights gives you a better chance to win. Running with a legit bullpen, will allow you to win more. Having a SP staff that knows they have a legit chance to win, will probably have them perform better. Having a coaching staff that wants to win - I think Falvey told Baldelli the plan was to lose a lot of games at the end of the season. Its also why I think Falvey felt bad when Pohlads fired him. I am not saying it was the wrong decision. I think it was time for new blood/old blood. I can't say with certainty it will be better. You have a fair argument to say expecting players to play better doesn't give you warm fuzzies. I think with better coaching, putting players in better situations, and running fewer AAAA players in games they will be better offensively. You can have your opinion I can have mine. We generally run into this conundrum where I tend to be a little bit more rosy in my prognostications and you more pessimistic its fine. Its just the way we see things.

Roden/Larnach/Martin was 1 position. I didn't have a DH as I believe that is the bat they plan to add to the team. I showed the lineups. The 1 game where they ran a AAAA lineup they won - the rest they were running 3 AAAA bats most games. I think even you can admit the overall lineups will be better next year that what we ended with at the end of the season. I also do think some of the players will improve and the team needed a new batting philosophy in my opinion. We need to teach the fundamentals, if we are going to more of a piranha approach, we have to be willing to steal, we have to lay down bunts, we have to be able to execute a squeeze, learning to put a ball in play rather than just swing for the fence (I am looking at you Lewis). Little things matter more than even ability in my opinion. We will see what comes. I do see the team ending with around 80 wins. Not anything great. They could end up better, they could end up a lot worse.

I felt McCusker had potential- but long run likely not as an outfielder for the Twins in the future. He can likely make some decent money overseas.

Twins dropped McCusker.

I think I only have 1 questionable bat in my primary lineup? Or am I wrong with that Chpettit - and I currently have that spot being covered by Larnach as well.

To be fair I am giving them a competition - I think you can run 1 batter a game with a questionable bat, 2 max. You are running 3-4 AAAA batters a game you are going to lose a lot of games. To be fair I said there were more players, those were just the ones off of the top of my head.

10th- Martin 5, Roden/Julien 4, Gasper 3, Fitzgerald 4 11th - Julien 3, Fitzgerald/Martin 3 12th - Martin 4, Roden 1, Gasper 3, Julien 3 Fitgerald 3 ( What a throwaway game - 4 AAAA batters) 13th - Roden 4 (1st decent lineup and a win) 14th - Martin 5, Roden 4, Julien/Gasper 4

Go look at the lineups Chpettit- those lineups are not MLB lineups we were running out there.

Lets just go a quick run through the 1st week of games after the deadline. 3rd - Martin 5 at bats, Julien 4, Vazquez 4 4th - Martin 4, Roden 3, Julien 3 5th - Martin 4, Vazquez 3 6th - Roden 5, Julien/Martin 4, Gasper 4 8th - Roden 5, Julien/Martin 3, Gasper 3 9th - Martin -5, McCusker 3, Gasper 3, Roden 3 You are going to have players you are seeing if they are big league players but we were running 3 or more questionable at bats most game. Yes Vazquez got hurt, but then Pereda and Outman started getting a lot more run. Of the players we gave an opportunity to, Martin does look like a usable player.

Have you ever coached baseball? Anyways I have helped on Little League all stars and travel ball. We were running early last season in travel ball with an 11-12 man line up. The bottom 3 were effectively empty at bats. We just couldn't generate enough offense. We would get to those 3 and you would effectively lose an entire inning. Yes they were just 25% of the at bats. We were generally only getting through the lineup 2 times. We then did a tournament where we had lost a player and 2 were gone for all stars. We had a 9 man lineup with 1 questionable at bat. We were getting through the lineup 3-4 times. Kids were getting more at bats, they were confident and we played so much better. We effectively run 6 innings vs a 9 inning game. As to the game if we kept doing the math my guess is we were running at least 2 at bats every game of questionable at bats and some 3. If you are running 2-3 questionable at bats in a lineup a game - you are shortening your lineup and potential run production so much. Just my opinion. Those other 7 batters can be much more productive when they know they have more support and they have 3-4 at bats to do damage rather than 2-3. Plus you are putting so much more stress on the opposing teams pitching staff rather than effectively giving them 6-9 guaranteed outs.

Are these the same reports announcing Verde as the new limited partners?

I think we can find a bullpen arm or at least 1 to try out. Lets be real, no one is picking up Julien, Kriedler, or Outman. And if they are they are easily replaceable by trade or waiver wire acquisition.

Here is a question - so Rule 5 is 2 rounds. Would you drop both Kriedler. Pick up a pitcher in the 1st and in the 2nd round and pick up Noah Miller to be your backup shortstop. No bat solid glove.

Yes I do.

I still anticipate 1 closer/fireman type. Rogers, Jansen, Fairbanks. Then 1 more solid reliever traded for or signed. I would be ok with a reunion for Theilbar or Coloumbe Bullpen 1. Fairbanks (2 yrs 20 million) 2. Sands 3. Theilbar ( yrs 5 million) 4. Orze 5. Funderburk 6. Topa 7. Klein 8. Ohl/Adams/Morris/Raya ect. So yes the 19 blown leads after the deadline - I expect to be cut down significantly with a similarly constructed bullpen. The bats weren't that bad for the primary players after the deadline. It was the 4-5 deadweight players we continued to give run and a lot of empty at bats too, and yes I expect the majority of those players to be off the 40 man by the end of the offseason. Gasper will be gone. I expect 1 more power bat signing (although likely a misnomer for the $ range they are looking at). 1 of Kreidler or Outman will be off the 40 man or 26 man roster - I would not be surprised if 1 is on. Julien has 1 last gasp left before he is likely booted from the 40 man as well. C. Jeffers 1st Clemens 2nd Keaschall SS - Lee/???? 3rd Lewis CF - Buxton RF - Wallner LF - Roden/Larnach/Martin To me Lee is the biggest question mark and most likely underperformer for the position. If he can be a 1-2 WAR player - and Lewis decides to not pull everything - yes I do think this team could be a very solid team. You have reinforcements and new blood coming in Rodriguez, Jenkins, and Culpepper. The starters look legit. As to empty at bats in August and September - Vazquez 27, Gasper 67, Kiersey 7, Fitzgerald 50, Outman 104, Roden 40, Perada 40. There is probably a few more. That is 335 at bats to waiver level players. That isn't even including Clemens who was a waiver wire claim. If you enter with the philosophy the goal was to lose a lot to get a better pick then yes you can see a path forward to some solid baseball. Especially with the starters we have.

The only concern I have is the relief market free agents has already been incredibly picked over. If you are going to get a closer- the best value left is Fairbanks who has a wide spectrum of expected salaries- some thinking needing a 2 year 18-20 million deal - other 3 years 43 million.

Emerson has the best hit tool of anyone in the draft in my opinion.

Monegro I think has the highest upside, and the best potential to convert to reliever and increase his stuff. 6'4" - a fastball that dies during his outings, a pretty good curveball, slider and splitter. Good stats at each level he has played at. The only position player I think is interesting is Susac, but he would need to be the backup catcher and I just don't see that happening.

It appears they like Adams, Klein, Morris, and Ohl better. I don't have many concerns on the pitcher 40 man list. There is a very real possibility we pick some up in the rule 5 draft as well. Right now I would take Monegro, Burkhalter or Mullins over any other prospect we have unprotected.

Honestly, I am not worried about any of the players be picked and then being kept. Other than Culpepper and Fedko, the majority are a long ways from the majors. At best Fedko seems to be a 4th outfielder.