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Lewis is out for a good chunk of the year. Lee hasn't seen one major league pitch, MIranda is unproven at third base. Right now, they do not have a major league 3B. Putting a lot of unproven young guys at key positions is the textbook definition of a rebuild. Look at the roster as-is, and you will see a ton of 1-2 year guys. My comment was not to be taken as fact, but more of keeping the antennas up. We need to wait and see what happens with other higher salary guys: Kepler, Gray... there was some rumblings of Polanco being trade bait earlier this year. I am withholding further judgement until the entire offseason plays out

I don't think Arraez is a long term option at 3B, doubt his knees will hold up to the rigors. 1B may be the best fit for him.

A lot of logic in this response... But it feels like the return was a bit low. This move also smells to me of a rebuild, but I will withhold judgement. If we start seeing Kepler go for nothing and Polanco go... this ride will start to get very bumpy

I didn't know there was a demand to bring him back, this is the first I have heard of it.

The Twins will be in on Correa, but I don't think they will ultimately get him. I think the Twins familiarity with Correa is 90% of the reason they are willing to make a run at him. I can't see them making a real run at any of the other big name SS unless they can get them on a shorter term. The Twins shy away from long term contracts for guys they don't know. The Donaldson experiment was a bust, not because of his numbers, but because of him being a [insert expletive description here]. Anybody else they bring in will be for 2-3 years max.

Not a huge fan of the minimalistic look. Look cheap. M star hats are horrible. The "Twin CIties" jerseys are ok. Ambivalent to the rest. I am a huge fan of the baby blues. I am extremely disappointed they are not in the mix.

I would not argue if the Twins felt Pagan needed to go. However, I think they should keep him, put him in low-leverage situations and see if he can gain trust. With his stuff, he provides a modicum of insurance for the late inning guys. Paddack is extremely cheap. Both he an Mahle have a track record of success and warrant a pickup (as well as the perception of sunk cost in the trades if they release them) for a team starving for pitching. I can not come up with one reason for any of the others to be non-tendered. Letting any of those guys go for absolutely nothing makes zero sense.

Would you rather have Kepler at $10M or Renfroe at $11M? I am assuming Renfroe can't stay with a team because he is either a horrid defender or a horrid clubhouse presence. $11m is not a huge price tag for that kind of offensive output.

I continued to be shocked there is even a discussion of whether Urshela will be tendered a contract. In what world would the Twins just throw away a player who was one of their better offensive players last year, that plays a position of need in the system, and that has a relatively cost controlled contract on a one-year deal. On a larger note, looking through your list, all of these decisions are easy tenders. They all get offered. $35M for 8 players that should be positive contributors next year? Why is this even a discussion? Amazing...

Every name, every trade proposal, every potential signing needs to fall into one of two categories: 1) Upgrade 2) Depth I don't think Pham provides either for the Twins.

That is a big number considering the perceived generally poor condition of our minor league system at the moment.

I was just looking at Gallo the other day. I think he is a candidate for improvement in 2023, but this would be a fairly huge gamble by the FO. If you could get him on an incentive laden contract I would be ok. Something like 1/$5 with incentives based on AB. Gotta keep that batting average over .220 Signing him would provide a level of insurance for Gordon/Kepler...

If the Twins are going to spend player capital to acquire a player, the real question is if any of these guys are worth it. Happ would be nice, but will cost a ton in assets. If they are intent on making a trade, then I would rather they blow it up and go after a huge name that would help them, not nickel and dime on small step ups...

Urshela is not being non-tendered. That topic is lunacy. The only reason to look at non-tenders at this time is for potential 5th OF (which we don't need) or BP fliers. Not sure what is out there at this point, but nothing exciting ...

The only name I would consider here is Haniger, but only if the price is right. We don't need a full time DH and the Drury/Urshela comparison is close enough that I would run with what you know instead of gambling on the unknown. The FA outfield market is pretty slim this year Nimmo would be a great fit, but will probably be priced out of the Twins market. I would look at a make-good contract for Conforto. He still has upside and could be re-signed if he does well.

I am not sure how much of a "bust" Sano truly is. He has had a modicum of success, and will continue to have opportunities for the next few years. I think we as fans view him as a bust because we had these huge expectations that he didn't meet. IMO, the biggest Twins draft busts are: Adam Johnson - drafted too high (full disclosure, I was at his one home start, so I may be a bit jaded). Kohl Stewart - was supposed to be a ready made starter. BJ Garbe - #5 pick, never made it past AA Honorable mentions: Tim Belcher - #1 pick, didn't sign, went on to have a strong career Travis Lee - #2 pick, Twins didn't sign him, another good career

This is such a huge part of the process. Even with the upside, most of these players have little risk of being drafted because they will not stick on the MLB roster the entire year. The Twins still have fond memories of their Rule 5 picks, but the reality is that these drafts rarely amount to anything. Consider this article from 2018: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryandavis/2018/12/17/looking-back-on-the-10-greatest-rule-5-picks-of-all-time/?sh=15e0f07c92b1 There are a few exciting names there, but when you get in depth, you realize there really isn't a huge amount of risk here. This is the top 10 out of hundreds and hundreds of picks. The Twins have four spots. Protect your top four guys that you believe will have the best chance of impacting the team and move on.

Could you please expand on your stance? Everything I have seen or heard regarding Sonny Gray pitching longer into games is 100% against it, As an example, here is an article from August of this year: https://zonecoverage.com/2022/mn-twins-news/sonny-gray-must-pitch-more-efficiently-to-avoid-the-early-hook/ I have seen other articles providing similar types of data. This isn't just a Twins thing either, the Reds were also doing it. I can't seem to find anybody (other than a frustrated Sonny Gray) that can show the data supporting him pitching longer and would love to hear a counter-argument.

Every manager does. They are very aware of statistics, it keeps the players happy. Players have been managing around the save for decades.

This is the one solid argument I agree with on Rocco's BP usage. Knowing you are coming in when (insert SP here) gets to their pitch limit, or Duran knowing he will be coming in at high stress times. That being said, I think the sheer number of pitchers they had to use this year made that extremely difficult.

Poor, poor Bill James. Based on many of the comments here, it sounds like if the majority of TD readers had their way, they would go back in time and make Bill James "disappear"... I have been wondering for a long time why everybody seems to blame all of the bad things that happened this year on "Rocco's overreliance on analytics". Does he use analytics? Sure... so does everybody else in baseball (not to mention football, basketball, hockey, curling, and any other activity that analytics can give you an advantage). But why the attack on the analytics usage? More directly, why the attack on specific parts of his analytic usage? Defensive shifts General defensive placement Pinch hitting Lineups Defensive replacement All of these rely (to some degree) on advanced analytics. Rarely are any of these discussed here. The vitriol is always around pitching usage, but really seems to stem from Sonny Gray's complaining about not being allowed to go through the third time of the order and some relievers pitching poorly in the middle of the season. The problem with analytics is the same problem with everything else: it is not 100% accurate. But they do increase your chances. I remember the comments when Gardenhire was the manager: He never uses analytics!! The Twins are light years behind on metric usage!! How quickly the pendulum swings... Call me a Rocco apologist. That's fine. I have said many times before I have no clue if Rocco is a good manager. Too many variables the general public knows nothing about. What I would actually like to hear are logical arguments that Rocco's reliance on analytics actually cost the Twins games, not the emotional responses that come with the Twins collapsing.

And that is the rest of the story. Thanks Mike!

I have a mint 1989 Donruss Ken Griffey Jr rookie card I will add to the pile....

So the owners throwing $20m per year for 60 innings of relief work is sane? Look at every article about the Edwin Diaz signing and the first thing they quote is his Save total. Owners drive all. They historically have paid for Saves, not Holds. Managers will hold off bringing in closers in non-save situations. How many times have we seen the closer warming up in the bottom of the 8th with a 1 run lead, see his team hit a 3 run HR, then get sat down because it is no longer a save situation? One of the reasons to do that is to make sure his closer doesn't "waste" an appearance in a non-save situation. Saves=dollars. So yeah, the owners do hold some accountability here.

Closer - The most overrated position in baseball Save - The most overrated stat Check out this article: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/687462-mlb-closers-blowing-games-late-but-closer-role-and-save-stat-still-overrated It is over 10 years old, but still holds true. Good relievers are good relievers, bad relievers are bad relievers. Would you rather have Duran come in during a tie game in the 7th with runners on base, or would you rather have him come in to start the 9th inning with nobody on base and a 3 run lead? Managers have played into this because more saves means bigger contracts (stupid owners) for the players. Thanks Tony LaRussa! I am happy to see that analytics is helping to change reliever usage, focusing on high leverage situations instead of a fairly useless stat. The Save needs to join the Game Winning RBI. Everything should be a Hold. I think this explains my stance on the Twins Closer by committee discussion...