twinkiesfan11

Love the 40 man roster considerations in your plan. One of the many hard lessons this FO needs to take from this disaster of a year is that they have done a very poor job scouting internally. I would hope to see a philosophy change going forward favoring keeping the protection fringe prospects over fringe veterans for the Rule V draft. Akil Badoo and Tyler Wells as recent examples wouldn't have saved this mess of a season but would have definitely been some bright spots to provide hope for better days ahead. In hindsight losing them both for nothing so Jake Cave, Shaun Anderson and others could remain on the roster is inexcusable.

I'd argue that this administration should get a bit of a pass on the SP development due to the timing of COVID relative to the development cycle of most of the top SP prospects. Had 2020 been a normal season Balazovich, Duran, Chambers (looked a lot more promising a year ago), possibly even Sands, Canterino, Enlow and Winder could have debuted late 2020 or early 2021. It sure appears that these developmental delays necessitated the Happ and Shoemaker signings. The point is that it's not like the well is dry, there is strong depth of SP talent in the organization and close to major league ready aside from some 2021 injury setbacks. Same goes for Kirilloff, Larnach and honestly Lewis as well. All three could have potentially reached the majors in 2020 resulting in a lot more certainty both short-term and long-term on the roster. Regarding keys to contention, I disagree with a lot of what you propose. I believe if this team is to be competitive in 2022 and 2023 it is absolutely critical to retain both Buxton and Berrios. There is no way in my opinion that trading either will return high enough level talent that will be impactful at the major league level in the next two years to offset the production Buxton and Berrios would theoretically provide. I really feel strongly that it's an either/or scenario, either get them both re-signed and continue building around them or tear it all down and rebuild with an eye toward probably 2024.

Weathers + one of Gore/Abrams/Hassell + Rosario or Mears + Probably a lotto ticket like Medina or Acosta could be interesting. Any Berrios + Rogers to Padres trade that doesn't return one of Gore/Abrams/Hassell would seem like a fail. I'm no expert though so who knows?

If a rebuild is the direction this is headed then the FO just needs to get as much talent in return as they can. If Buxton, Kepler, Donaldson and others are leaving they'll need high end position player prospects and not like the pitching pipeline is in poor shape.

Voted Unsure. There have been lots of glowing reports about the infrastructure this FO has put in place and all of the highly respected individuals they've hired at various levels. Putting the right people, culture and processes in place are the keys to success in any organization and prior to 2021 there were tangible signs of all those good things. It's hard to do but important to not let this disaster of a season sway overall opinion of performance too much. I see two routes to salvaging this FO's legacy. 1. Work out deals to keep Buxton and Berrios WHILE surrounding them with a talented and competitive team. 2. Swallow pride, make the tough decisions and blow this team up while there are still a lot of valuable pieces to trade. The worst outcome in my opinion would be minor trades at the deadline, fielding another middling team in 2022 and losing Buxton and Berrios to free agency. That would be a fireable offense IMO

All indications are that there have been multiple years of fruitless and challenging extension negotiations with Buxton and Berrios. These are the two most important players on this roster, besides these two the best hitter was a 41 year old DH followed by an injury prone 35 year old 3B. The rest of the starting rotation is aging, injury prone and underperforming. 2020 couldn't have come at a worse time stunting the growth of upper level prospects that the Twins clearly were planning to be contributing as soon as late 2020 (Lewis, Kirilloff, Larnach, Balazovich, Duran, etc). The delayed arrival of key prospects combined with aging of key veterans and underperformance/injuries to others seems to necessitate a reset. This is the epitome of a crossroads situation, If Falvey and Levine are confident they can get deals done with Buxton and Berrios re-signed I'm sure there would be a strategy in place to re-load to compete again in 2022 and 2023. If they don't think they can get it done they absolutely need to blow this roster up and maximize the return while a lot of these players are still highly valued by other teams, especially with the CBA up in the air. This is an opportunity to either lock up two potential franchise players or re-load for a hopefully quick rebuild and return to competitive baseball with a new generation of players.

Yep, my bad. If the Mets were open to that type of deal I'd rather have Matt Allen + one of Crow-Armstrong or Baty. Probably Crow-Armstrong if the proposed Blue Jays trade was also in the works. But talent is talent, if the Twins can acquire multiple prospects of this level it's a win.

Replace Matt Allen with either Crow-Armstrong or Baty and I'd be on board with all three trades. Feels like a rebuild is coming, these three moves would be a hell of a way to kick that effort off.

Ok - wrong term, I wonder if Buxton rejecting an extension would trigger selling off on the current veteran core and a full rebuild. Agreed with Brock also, not likely all moving at the deadline.

Honestly based on the press leaks over the past few weeks it feels like the following is taking place. Apologies for not tracking down sources for all of these but appears most have likely read them. 1. Twins are trying to extend Byron Buxton. 2. Twins decision on Berrios may somewhat depend on Buxton? Berrios’s most recent statement didn’t sound like an offer had been made recently? Pohlad stated that there is plenty of budget for both. 3. The Twins seem to be trying to move Josh Donaldson but sounds like are willing to eat contract/seeking prospect capital. Is he a problem in the clubhouse or just doesn’t fit their revised anticipated window? 4. They seem to be actively shopping all expiring contracts. I can’t help but wonder if the FO’s feeling and approach to all of this is that if they have accepted that Berrios is going to free agency no matter what and cannot be counted on/should assume will be gone beyond 2022. If Buxton rejects the extension offer this team will likely not be competitive in 2023 and 2022 is even a stretch with Berrios and Buxton still aboard. Could Buxton rejecting an extension set off a fairly major fire sale including all of the expiring players, Buxton, Berrios, Donaldson, Maeda, Rogers, Kepler, etc?

I think a focus of the re-load effort should be on replacing some players with extensive injury histories with players that have historically been more durable. I love Arraez as much as anyone but his knees are a ticking time bomb and he doesn't seem to be durable enough to be an everyday player or athletic enough to be an asset anywhere defensively. If the Twins are approached with a strong offer for him they should absolutely give it strong consideration, especially with the positional depth in the organization as you've pointed out.

On a serious note - In honor of Kyle Garlick making the team it feels like the world needs a Garlick Mashed Tator T-Shirt from SotaStick

BA Posted their first 2021-2022 International Signings big board this morning. The Twins are linked to the player expected to land the 15th largest signing bonus. He’s a center fielder born in Puerto Rico and living in the Dominican Republic. He profiles as one of the top power speed players in the class. Really cool video on him below.

If the Darvish, Snell, Lindor, Arrenado trades are any indication of what it would take to acquire a high salary player in this uncertain, reduced revenue market I’d definitely be calling on Price. I can’t imagine it would take anyone in the top 20 prospects to acquire and could probably get the Dodgers to eat some salary as well.

One more veteran would sure be nice for stability. Would love to see Clippard back.