MMMordabito

My grandfather had one of them, just spelled different ... The ole' Gleaner K

He's obviously had a rough ride so far in his career. 100 IP and a BB% under 12 would be a good start. The FO surely believes in him after swinging a trade when he was down and adding him to the 40 with the less than pretty numbers so far. The Twins need a guy like him or Bailey Ober or Tyler Wells to work out in this mid-level market. Injuries suck.

Yeah, it's gotten out of hand so much that unless I see Seth, Nick or Parker as the author -> 90% skip

Love it, but I'm not caught up to the final season. Sam Elliot and Danny Masterson keep me laughing continuously. I could see the show being on a loop in my garage some day when I'm an old grumpy dude.

Is Jose Berrios not an impact starter? Perhaps the title should read "new impact starter". I don't think the Twins are done on the MiLB contract side of things. They are just being patient for the right deal. I count eight starts that will need to be covered for Pineda, and that's with not skipping the fifth starter early to setup the available top three (Berrios, Odorizzi, Bailey) for the first series with Cleveland. That also assumes that none of Dobnak, Smeltzer and Thorpe pitch well enough to be handed the ball every fifth day with any hope of being competitive. Honestly, I think it would be a worst case scenario for the Twins to lose the season on those eight starts and the five that the fifth guy will get in the same time frame. Yes, everything could go completely wrong, but I think the Twins will slug their way to at least 6-7 in those 13 games, even if replacement level pitching is all they get. I'm hopeful that Dobnak will be at least a 4.0 FIP pitcher and the Twins will ink a couple minor league contracts that will combine with Thorpe and Smeltzer to take care of those other starts until Pineda returns. I'm also looking forward to some possible creativity with the use of the young "starters" and the deep pen. They may have said that Graterol would work out of the pen, but they haven't said anything about the length of those appearances. This may be turning into a pet idea of mine, but again I will say, "Go look at Ryan Yarbrough's line." There's more than one way to skin a cat. For me, Hill is just a lottery ticket purchased with someone else's money. Someone could argue that the $3 mill opportunity cost could have been used to nail down getting Walker, but that's just robbing Peter to pay Paul, imo. As far as the available deadline options not costing less than what a trade candidate would cost now, you do have time to evaluate a Dobnak or make sure you aren't the one paying an injured or declining Lester. That has a bit of value.

Only on Twins Daily will you continually read suggestions about trading Eddie Rosario in one place while also constantly reading about acquiring the even more OBP-challenged and slowing Kevin Pillar in another. Bananas.

Probably need a 7th option, because something needs to replace those overpriced, disgusting Soul Bowls they were peddling last year. I was hopeful on that item, but the delivery was terrible. I also wonder if the Boomstick will be back. I don't know how many times I passed by that stand and there were 8-10 laying on the griddle and nobody in line.

Haha ... Nick Gordon is comp'd to Gardy. If he gets called up, will he get ejected regularly and call his teammates Donaldy, Sanosy, Arraezy and Jorgy?

Except on Wednesday afternoons, then everyone on the bench will play so we can lose a quick game and get the hell out of there.

The answer to this is probably based on how much the Twins still view Marwin as depth to the middle-infield positions. He only played 27 innings at 2B/SS in 2019. Obviously, the Donaldson signing cuts into innings at the corners where Donaldson and Sano will get the lion's share. Does that mean that Gonzalez moves up the depth chart in the middle infield? I'm not sure. That's where I could see Gordon being affected by it.

They'll need that fifth guy early in the season though. @ Seattle and then probably vs. Oakland, if they want the top three to go vs. Cleveland.

The one thing going for Arraez there is the way they present the players on the ballot. It usually shows something like Batting Average/HR/RBI/SB. Arraez could very well lead the pack in Batting Average. UZR and what not are not presented, so his defense will be hidden to the average jackass.

... and then there were 22. Santiago to the Tigers. Adjustment needed for over/under on 2020 bombas.

I agree that the best players should play, but Baldelli's management style with all the built-in rest probably lends itself to Riverbrian's playing time idea. In a perfect world, it would mean 10 guys with 145 games, instead of 9 with 162 games. Of course, there will be injuries and decline that will change those numbers. Also, the catcher position is going to be it's own animal. I'd bet that the well-rested 10/11 will collectively give you a better outcome, than the superior yet physically drained 9/10.

Switch out Lewis, Balazovic and Rooker for Gordon, Sands and Raley. If the Twins are taking on that much salary and the Red Sox want younger cost controlled players, then that's about all they should get. I just don't see the FO taking a mile, after being given an inch with the Donaldson deal though.

Astudillo has been fun to watch, but I think his opportunities might be numbered. He's a good player to have come up hot out of the shoot when you go 78-84 and only have one other player in the lineup with a .800+ OPS, but talent progression and talent injection to the lineup kind of render his services unnecessary for the most part. Gonzalez and Adrianza are exponentially better defensive super-subs, so I just don't see the innings or PAs for him.

Creativity in how to use Graterol to get meaningful outs (I guess they're all meaningful but at different levels) is needed in this situation. I'm definitely not in the camp of "just throw him out there until is arm falls off", but I don't think a hard innings limit should be penned in right out of the gate. Steal a page from Dave Roberts or Craig Counsell and give him different situations to use his talents. Thinking out loud, I can envision a Hader/Maeda combination weapon of some kind.

I did the Twins Pass last season, and if you go a lot and don't necessarily need a seat, I think it's a good value. It isn't for everyone, but I like that it's available. https://www.mlb.com/twins/tickets/specials/twins-pass?partnerId=it-979471-7382-1371918 10% off, if you commit between 1/21 and 2/12. It comes out to $3.38/game if you go to every eligible game (Home Opener not included). I went to 20-something games last season, so it ended up being about $15ish last season at $50 a month. I obviously didn't max the value, but it was a one-time bargain hunt and I never had to worry about having a ticket. The free Chick-fil-a sandwiches every time they hit at least one double made the value even better (of course that was true for every ticket holder).

I went to a Slayer concert at Roy Wilkins Auditorium once and my friend told me they played the entire Reign in Blood album. As we left the concert hall, I witnessed a couple other concert-goers. There was a medium-build guy and his friend who was a big, strong, bald guy with a long full goatee. Medium-build guy: "That was the best concert that I've seen." Big guy: (Grabbing the other by the shoulders and looking him square in the eyes) "NO, that was the ONLY concert!"

The Nationals did it. Worked.

I'd go with "Reign in Blood" - Slayer When do pitchers and catchers report?

Rortvedt and Ober should end up on that too list if they stay healthy. The Twins need to trade some of this depth. On the other hand, not many selections this year, so this could all be eye of the beholder.

Just because I'm seeing this a lot in the threads .... Arraez having a sophmore slump at the plate seems very unlikely to me. I just haven't seen many come up with that kind of bat and zone control. He really can't be shifted effectively, and he's incredibly patient on top of it all. His defense leaves me wondering if he shouldn't be an unorthodox DH, but I will be blindsided if he suddenly can't hit for any measurable amount of time.

Buxton - 3 years Kepler - 5 years Donaldson - 5 years Polanco - 6 years Arraez - 5 years Sano - 4 years Garver - 4 years Until 2023, the Twins need to replace three "starters" on offense. Rosario and Cruz are actual starters, and I am including Gonzalez. It's better if the team has a Gonzalez type. Raley, Larnach, Rooker, Kirilloff, Lewis, Gordon, Blankenhorn and Celestino aren't all going to find spots on this team barring catastrophe. At least half of them need to be moved. Only Lewis and Blankehorn might profile as a Gonzalez type, and I'm sure that would look on the surface as a failure for Lewis. It might not be the worst way for him to start his career though. I'm not sure that Blankenhorn will have the defensive chops to be a super-sub. They should really sell from this ridiculous outfield depth and get some pitching. I definitely have a tendency to say to myself, "No, no, not my precious Kirilloff!" However, max value via trade needs to occur. I would let them start their MiLB seasons and hope that a couple take off and then move them as soon as max value can be had. Unless a prospect is projected to take his turn on the mound every five games, he shouldn't be having the "untouchable" label at this point. Balazovic may be the only guy in that category right now.

This model probably doesn't work with the way the Twins are currently constructed. The White Sox and Astros doing this is a completely different scenario. All three of those guys should now be viewed primarily as what they can get back in a trade for starting pitching. I'm not saying trade all three of them, but they shouldn't be off limits at all.