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minman1982

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Everything posted by minman1982

  1. minman1982
    I would like to see another year out of Soto but it would appear that his ceiling is potentially pretty high. As with any under 20 year old pitcher, the floor is also pretty low. What we can expect from Soto probably ranges from a solid number 2 on the high end to he never touches a ball on an MLB team on the low end. With Raya, I think the big concern is workload and durability. He probably has a lower ceiling as a result of this. I would think somewhere between MLB depth piece (a 4 or 5 guy in the rotation) to spot starter. His floor is considerably higher because I think his stuff will play at the major league level. A solid MLB reliever is probably his floor.
  2. minman1982
    It totally depends on when new ownership takes over. If the Twins have new owners by mid-season, then the first half is pretty important. Staying in contention would at least let us see how new ownership will be different than the Pohlads at the trade deadline. If the Twins don't get new owners until later in the season, I think that next off season will tell us a lot about the future of the team.
  3. minman1982
    Would Correa even want to go to New York (particularly the Mets after they offered him a big contract and backed out)? He has a full no trade clause. If he wants to stay in Minnesota, he can reject any trade offer that comes up.
  4. minman1982
    Given the financial constraints that ownership is imposing, I think it may have to be Miranda at first to start the season with Severino being the next man up. I would give Severino a chance to win the spot in Spring Training and if he performs, it is his spot. This is not my preferred solution (I would rather sign Santana to come back another year or make a trade to get someone solid) but it is probably the realistic solution.
  5. minman1982
    Maybe the Sox go into Detroit and sweep the Tigers. I won't bet any money on that but weirder things have happened. In other Minnesota sports news, the Vikings are somehow 3-0. These didn't look like fluke wins either. They have been dominant in each of these games. It is still early and there is plenty of time for the Vikings to Viking their way out of a good start but 3-0 from a team that no one expected to be good is fun.
  6. minman1982
    I am not confident that this team is going to even get in the playoffs. I would give the Tigers the inside track to get one of the two remaining playoff spot, they get the privilege of hosting the AAAA team from Chicago for their last three games and have been playing better than either the Twins or Royals down the stretch. Both the Twins and Royals have stunk the last few weeks. Schedule wise, the Twins might have a slightly more favorable schedule since they get a pretty bad Marlins team and than an Orioles team that should have punched their ticket to the playoffs by that point. The Royals have the Nats (who are doing better than the Marlins) and the Braves who may still be contending for their own playoff spot. I would bet the Tigers get in and then it is a coin flip between the Twins and Royals. I said last week that the Twins needed a series win in Boston to stay in the race. I did not predict the Royals getting swept over the weekend. The reality is that neither the Twins nor the Royals have played baseball that makes them playoff worthy over the last few weeks.
  7. minman1982
    Hopefully, the offense can get it together so that we could see Ober/Lopez/days off.
  8. minman1982
    Having Correa and Buxton on the shelf for a chunk of the second half hurt but I think the loss of Joe Ryan has really been devastating to this team. They were 63-50 when they lost Ryan in early August. Since losing Ryan, the team has been 17-23. The month of September has been especially brutal. We will see what happens in Boston but if the Twins don't take the series, I think their season is over.
  9. minman1982
    The MLB season is relentless. Think about it, 162 games over six months. The pressure to perform at your best day in and day out. For most of these guys, the knowledge that there is a guy in St. Paul waiting for you to stumble so they can have their shot. No one is one hundred percent right now. If you are eighty or ninety percent, you are probably leading the pack. Everyone is banged up in some way whether physically or mentally by this point in the season. Sometimes its the silly things (like a random sausage showing up in the clubhouse) that take your mind off the daily grind and help you to reset and refocus.
  10. minman1982
    What happens to Kepler after this year and who is going to replace him? Kepler is in the final year of his deal and I don't see the Twins resigning him at $10M/year. Any added positional flexibility will help going forward.
  11. minman1982
    Over the last month, the Twins have been playing about 0.500 baseball. Considering that two of the better hitters (Correa and Buxton) and one of the better pitchers (Ryan) have been on the IL, this isn't terrible. I think what makes this feel like such a gut punch is the fact that Cleveland has not been playing well either and the division crown is sitting there for the taking. If Cleveland had made it a ten or twelve game lead, I think the Twins would be counting their lucky stars that they are still in good position for a wild card berth. Kansas City has also been pretty underwhelming as of late. This weekend's Royals-Twins series will tell us about the state of both teams moving into the final weeks. The Tigers look like they are creeping up in the rear view mirror and if the Twins and/or Royals are not careful, the Tigers have enough time to make it interesting. They are only five games back with about three weeks to play and seem to be playing better than both the Twins and the Royals right now.
  12. minman1982
    If you look at the American League, the top four teams are New York, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Minnesota. The differences between these teams are small and I think it would be splitting hairs to rank them. Any one of the four could be the best team in the AL. On the National League side, you probably have Milwaukee, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia as the best teams. I might say that the Phillies are a hair better than the other two but it is still close. Of the seven best teams I listed, any one of them has a realistic shot at winning the World Series. It is short sighted to look at where this team is at and say "we can't afford to add anything here". This is the time to make an investment and go big. Take a risk. Getting back to the postseason and advancing further than last year is going to excite the fan base and bring people out to the ballpark. Maybe you take a loss this year to invest in your product and make it something that even fair weather fans want to cheer for. As for the broadcasting rights issues, the Twins should get as far away from Diamond Sports as possible after this year. MLB should be working with teams like the Twins to come up with a better solution.
  13. minman1982
    I would probably give Royce Lewis honorable mention. When he has been in uniform, he has been great. The problem is he hasn't been in uniform that often.
  14. minman1982
    Same here. What does Detmer provide for the Twins that they don't already have? An AAAA pitcher that can slot in as a 4-5 starter? The Twins have a few of those. A mediocre lefty out of the pen? The Twins have a few of those too. If the Twins are serious, they need to be acquiring someone that isn't on a bad team's scrap heap.
  15. minman1982
    I was there today and what a fun game to watch. The one thing that stands out to me is how deep the Twins offensive lineup is right now. It wasn't too many years ago where a couple of injuries was all it took to completely derail the offense. This weekend Brooks Lee got invited to the show and looked great today. Matt Wallner got the call from St. Paul today and he had a hit and an awesome catch in left. Jose Miranda came in for Farmer and hit the first pitch he saw. I hope Correa can avoid the IL (though, if he has to miss some time, at least the White Sox are a terrible baseball team). If I am an opposing pitcher, this is not a lineup I want to face right now. SWR looked solid, except for the second inning where he walked a couple of guys and ended up giving up some runs. The bullpen was good. Ryan looked good yesterday. This is going to be a fun team to watch down the stretch.
  16. minman1982
    I would rather have the Twins add a high impact relief pitcher or two before the deadline, unless there is an offer that is so good that you have to take it. Of these four, Snell costs too much, Verlander isn't leaving Houston, Cobb's hip surgery plus now sore shoulder are a real concern, and Blackburn is no better than the options currently at the back end of the Twins rotation or sitting in St. Paul.
  17. minman1982
    Could the Byron Buxton contract be a model for an extension here? A decent amount of guaranteed money with a lot of incentives that could make the contract a lot more valuable. Would Lewis take something like $80M/8yr with a bunch of incentives for playing time and performance where he could make $200M or $250M? Lewis is guaranteed to make some money, the team protects itself from Lewis not be able to play, and if Lewis stays healthy, he could get very rich.
  18. minman1982
    This should be a good test for this team against some good competition. Going 17-3 in the last twenty games has been fun to watch but you can still say that the Twins mainly took advantage of some bad teams in the White Sox and Angels. A series win would be the exclamation point on the last few weeks of baseball and a great way to head into the weekend facing Cleveland with first place in the AL Central on the line.
  19. minman1982
    Off to Toronto for three, then back to Target Field to host the Yankees for three, and then off to Cleveland for three. The next ten days should tell us a lot about who the Twins really are. I would be happy with the Twins going 6-3 over that stretch but would be okay with 5-4.
  20. minman1982
    How often has someone played for nine seasons with the Twins? I am not too surprised that he has worked his way up the leaderboards since it seems like anyone who has the talent to stick around is either traded or allowed to leave before or when they hit free agency. If you are around long enough, you are going to start putting up enough counting stats to move up the list. Also, at 31, Kepler may still have some productive seasons in front of him.
  21. minman1982
    I don't think moving Duran out of the bullpen makes any sense. Having him potentially available every day (or every other day) is going to be far more useful to this team than another 5-inning starter. Having a bullpen headlined by Duran, Jax, and Stewart is a huge advantage late in the game. With that said, I could see using Duran (or Jax) as an opener in a must win game. If the choices are start Paddack or open with Duran, I would probably open with Duran. Are there any updates on Canterino? I know he hurt his shoulder back in March but haven't heard anything since. Maybe he can find a spot on the team. It is possible possible that Varland does some work in St. Paul and comes back to contribute later this season. Maybe he takes the long bullpen type role again. If you are looking for a 5-inning starter, there will certainly be something available that won't cost much down the road. While I dream of the Twins making a splashy trade for a true top end starter, I am not holding my breath.
  22. minman1982
    While neither the Angels nor the White Sox are the cream of the MLB crop (a combined 15-39), a six game win streak is a six game win streak. With a three game visit to Chicago up next on Monday, the Twins have a nice ten game streak against sub-par opponents. It is nice to see them take advantage of the opportunity, get some guys back from injury (Duran soon?), build some confidence at the plate, and string together some wins. I will be interested to see how this carries over when the Red Sox and Mariners come to town next week weekend and the following week.
  23. minman1982
    Good for Sano for earning himself a second chance. It was clear by about this time in 2022 that his time with the Twins was quickly coming to an end. I looked up his stats on Baseball Reference for the last three seasons he was a Twin (2020-2022). Here is what his stat line looks like 208 games played 808 plate appearances 716 at bats 148 hits 36 2B 44 HR 0.207 batting average 0.289 OBP 0.441 SLG 1 K every 2.4 AB 3.5 K per BB $30.25 M in salary
  24. minman1982
    Nice way to start the series and take care of a team that is barely MLB caliber. The Twins needed a convincing win tonight. There is this saying "hitting is contagious". I hope there is some truth there because there will be plenty of chances to get the ball rolling against this Sox squad that looks down right putrid. I am not a big believer in "momentum" but the Twins need something to bounce their way and winning three or sweeping all four with the Sox would be a good way to start the week.
  25. minman1982
    Out of curiosity, I looked up Michael A. Taylor's career stats to see how 2023 compared to the rest of his career. Taylor is a career .239 hitter with 95 home runs and 949 strikeouts over 2915 at bats over his ten year career. Last season, he hit more homeruns but also for a lower average and more strikeouts. He has a career OPS+ of 82. Last season, his OPS+ was 94 (his career best OPS+ is 104 in 2017). For comparison, Margot is a career .255 hitter with 52 homeruns and 509 strikeouts over 2612 at bats during his eight years in the Majors. Last season, he was basically right at his career average for performance. His career OPS+ is 92 (career high coincidentally also 104 in 2022). Both are capable backup center fielders. Margot probably gets a few more hits and puts the ball in play more. Taylor hits a few more homeruns and strikes out twice as much. Neither will be an MVP caliber player this season. The goal clearly seems to be let Buxton play CF since a healthy Buxton is definitely better than either of these guys. I am glad they didn't re-sign Gallo. Outside of a couple of homeruns, he is a complete black hole on offense. If they wanted a Gallo, they might as well re-sign Sano to a minor league contract and see what he can do.
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