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Absolute thievery if we get this win. Baltimore fans would (rightly) be beside themselves.

Jax didn't pitch on Tuesday (same with Duran)

Orioles doing their best Twins impression today

Who's this ump an why is his zone so tiny?

If I was to rank those from most concerned to least concerned.... Castro - Ignoring what the numbers are telling me, he just hasn't looked very good. The fact that the numbers back that up only adds to the concern. Concern meter at 7/10 SWR - I think most can agree that he punched a little above his weight last year. So, coming into 2025, I was completely on board with giving him a starting job, but also a bit skeptical of him being as effective as 2024. The skepticism seems to have been relatively warranted based on his first 1/4 of the season. His results have been slightly better (slightly lower ERA, slightly higher K rate), but the eye test and advanced numbers tell a different story. My concern is that he'll continue to give us average to below average results (5 IP. 2-3 runs allowed) and it'll block a higher upside option at AAA. Concern meter at 6/10 Hard Hit % - Not sure that an elevated HH% has translated to an elevated HR rate, but as the weather warms that might change a little. I think that's just kind of the type of pitching staff we have. Going to give up some hard hit balls, but if you limit the walks (Lowest in Baseball) and have a high strikeout rate (7th in baseball), then you'll mostly limit big damage. Add in the fact that the bullpen has a lot of depth and we have Festa and Matthews sitting in AAA if one of the pitchers really starts to give up big damage, I'm left largely unconcerned. Concern meter at 3/10 Varland - You're sort of double dipping here with the overall hard hit %. Varland specifically feels small sample-ey to me. Concern meter at 2/10 Bader - Love his defense. Love his attitude. His offense is a bonus. He can still be a valuable member of a playoff team batting 225. Concern meter at 1/10

Ironically... the longest post of the thread. I DO agree with you though, that at times Justin can get extremely long-winded.

Sometimes with Dazzle Dan on the call I'd rather watch and lose than listen and win, though. We are all stupider for hearing him break down the shift changes over the last couple years, on last nights broadcast. It's like he didn't even watch last year.

Are you allowed to listen?

Thanks for the article. This type of article is one of the reasons I'm a Gold Caretaker. Shining light on players that don't get a ton of light shone on them. Nobody is predicting anything for Amick even though some of the odd replies make it seem that way. They click on articles that they know they won't care about, just to comment negatively about them. Strange behavior.

I completely disagree with this assessment of what's happening. They don't care if the journeymen sit on the bench and get 2-6 plate appearances per week. They don't care about developing them. They've developed, and are what they are. They don't want Julien sitting on the bench, which is what he'd be doing if they kept him on the 26 man roster right now. They want him playing every day. That will happen at AAA.

Said another way.... See you next week Eddie!

That feels like more of a last-year problem. I don't feel like Eddie getting screwed by a large zone has really been the problem this year.

It's amazing how that 260 average managed to get him an OPS+ of 130, as a rookie, with no other discernable baseball skills.

I personally believe that his defense HAS improved greatly at 2B. He's now almost making plays that he wouldn't have been close to making in 2023. There's a curse in that though. Almost making a play usually looks worse than not even getting close. Ultimately he needs to hit though. And he's not. The "Eddie quirks" are easy to laugh at when he's hitting .300 with a .400 OBP, but the quirks just add to the pile of annoyances when he's hitting .200 with a .600 OPS

Yes. Yes. Let's carve out a brand new role, mid season, for our oft-injured, hugely-important, young potential star.

Twins will lead the league in Saves

Hilarious that the 2nd game that would ever be on Twins.TV won't be on. Hilarious in a "you can't make it up" kind of way.

Do we know how Twins.TV will work with nationally televised games? This Saturday, for example, the game is on FS1. Will it also be on Twins.TV? Will it be on the special channels set up on all of the cable/satellite services? Same question, but for the Apple TV games that we will inevitably get throughout the season.

Plus you gotta figure out if you're going to offer him arbitration in 2026! (90% joking)

I'm probably in the minority but I actually like this Dobnak move/decision. Makes a ton of sense in my mind.

As soon as we knew Castellanos wasn't making the team it seemed incredibly obvious that it was going to be Dobnak to fill that roll. They want someone to potentially eat innings, especially early in the season. Say what you will about Dobnak, but he's pretty effective in that role. That is how he was used this spring and he was effective doing it. As was stated above, due to his $3M guaranteed salary, if he does just a so-so job in that role, it's easy to DFA him, and have him get through waivers and back to AAA. If he does well in that role, then great, we've got a guy who can eat innings and keep our higher leverage relievers fresher than they have been the last couple years.

For the record, I predict Dobnak in the bullpen to start the season. They know they can get 3 innings out of him and that has extra value early in the season when they aren't pushing the SPs up to 100 pitches.

For the last few weeks I've had this sneaking suspicion that Paddack was going to show his health, then some decent team would be dealing with a lot of pitching injuries and would trade for him. Trading a SP right before the season is a little different than a RP, I think, so it feels like it's getting A LITTLE late in the game for that. But it still wouldn't shock me. Yankees? They seem like they are having big time SP health issues. Red Sox? They don't have the long term issues that the Yankees have, but lots of questionable statuses for pitchers right now. Astros? Some injury issues and Arrighetti is walking a batter per inning this spring. Padres? Mets? All of those teams feel like minor possibilities.

I'm not giving up on Martin, but I feel like we need to see Keirsey for a 2 month stretch to see if he's going to be a long term 4th/5th OF or if he's 40-man roster fodder. We've seen Martin for that long of a stretch and he's shown us pretty much what he is. A 5th OF who you don't really trust to play center and can play 2nd in a pinch, but you'll be cringing when you do it. If we're going to carry a 5th OF, I'd rather it be a guy who I'm perfectly happy seeing in CF. Having a late game defense of Buxton, Bader, and Keirsey sounds pretty appealing to me.

Co-signed. You hit all my points.