Riverbrian

I was going to go with 149... I think 150 is a little aggressive.

I never said "that he hasn't shown anything in the minors". I said ...he still hasn't shown us promotable numbers at AAA. I am not in the camp that wants him up yesterday and I am not in the camp that says "not all that great".

Brooks Lee has had an impressive fast rise through the system... that is why you, I and others are very excited about Brooks Lee. However... Can we exhibit just a little bit of patience and not punch that clock until we are absolutely sure he is the absolute best option to promote. If he is as good as everyone says he is or as good as his meteoric rise suggests he is... Can we at least consider the ramifications of future years of control because if he is as good as everyone says he is... those future years of control are HUGE. Can we at least try to calculate the cost of leap frogging players already on the 40 man roster like Martin for example. Brooks Lee doesn't have to be added to the 40 man until December 2025. If you add him to the roster this summer as a 23 year old... he will be a free agent sooner because his clock gets started. If you are going to start his clock... I'd rather he demonstrate promotable numbers in AAA first... I'd rather he demonstrate that he is the best option to call up first. I'd also like to consider Austin Martin and Yunior Severino as well... and Trevor Larnach. Those players are burning options right now... they have moved up in the queue. Larnach has one option left. If you promote Lee over Larnach... you might as well just throw Larnach away just so you can start the clock on Brooks Lee early. So... the early promotion of Lee not only cost you a year of control but it can cost you a player like Larnach because someone has to come off that 40 man to make room and you just took Larnach's last chance and gave it to Lee so why not Larnach. If Larnach keeps his roster spot but Lee got his opportunity. Larnach is now Nick Gordon next year... just plain out of options with no wiggle room remaining. So... please for the love of God... can we wait just a bit and make sure that Brooks Lee is out performing Larnach, Martin and Severino before we rush him into a big league uniform.

And it's great to have these guys in the nest. I love it. However... the Brooks Lee egg hasn't hatched yet and we still need to see what happens when Martin gets pushed out of the nest. Some of those birds get eaten by a hawk with a 90 plus slider. I was prepared for a Polanco trade... I was expecting Polanco plus a prospect for a better starter. We got the prospect instead. The Twins win the trade in terms of value. However... 2024? I need to see what happens next. There needs to be a next.

This must be granted

I agree with your thoughts on our young lefties and how they are utilized. Brooks Lee... I have the same expectation that everyone else does... Some day he will be an important member of the team... However... he doesn't have to be added to the 40 man until December and he still hasn't shown us promotable numbers at AAA. Do we really want to jettison someone off the 40 man in April to add Lee in April if Correa goes down for a stretch? Martin... Do we want Martin to short side platoon? I don't. I like our depth... I like it less today.

Polanco didn't need to be removed from the game. That another thing that makes Polanco great. Farmer may be better against lefties but I'll bet money that he faces more righties this year.

Budget is the only justification for the trade. If the budget says that this must happen... it must happen. Julien as a replacement or "position of depth" is not justification. Is Polanco only going to play 80 games this year? You can argue if Polanco is the 2nd best hitter on the club or the 11th best hitter on the club. The opinion is going to be subjective. My opinion... Royce Lewis is the best hitter on the club and he didn't play 80 games either. Polanco is #2 in my opinion. If Correa and Buxton jump back to what they should be... I will re-rank accordingly. Either way... we gave up one of our best bats and we certainly didn't get much back to help our 2024 club... but I will reserve judgement because I assume that more moves are coming. I didn't like the Garver trade and I expressed it at the time it happened but my complaints were premature because when it was all said and done... trading Garver got us out of the Donaldson contract and getting out of the Donaldson contract probably got us Correa so I am reserving judgement because I assume more moves are coming. But... as of today... we didn't significantly improve our pitching and our offense took a huge hit. If you are asking the question "how about when Polanco gets hurt" as a response to "If Farmer or Correa get hurt". You really don't understand my point. My point is this: You can set your opening day roster all pretty with a Julien/Farmer handcuff at 2B. You can Kirilloff/Miranda at 1B. You can Wallner/Whoever and it looks all pretty. The roster has that balance... everything is good... Now let's get through 162 games. My Point is that the prettiness of that perfect handcuffed roster goes away as soon as the injuries start. Once the injuries start and it will probably be as soon as April when they start happening... now you are signing Luplow types just to keep the platoon integrity in place. I don't want Miranda to be a short side platoon, I don't want Austin Martin to be a short side platoon. I want these players to develop the same as I'd like to see Julien, Kirilloff and Wallner develop. I mentioned Farmer or Correa specifically just to point out that if either of those two get hurt... Julien loses his handcuff at 2B because Farmer is no longer available... he is either hurt or every day at SS for Correa. However... if you want to talk about "when Polanco gets hurt". You are just making my point. Players get hurt... you need your depth because they get hurt. Julien could get hurt... He might go Miranda on us in his 2nd year. The team is weaker without Polanco. This club has depth... I'm very excited about that. What do you do when you have depth... you add players like Polanco. Instead... we just subtracted. We lost a top end hitter and our depth isn't as deep anymore. Budget... OK... I get it... if this move was necessary because of budget. It has to be. If it's because we have infielders coming out of ears... it's ok to have them coming out of your ears. Let them come out of our ears.

I absolutely want him to get work against leftys. Unequivocally. Without question. However, The Twins did not and therefore... we have what we have. Which isn't an adequate replacement for Polanco.

I'm going to reserve judgement until the off-season is over and the team heads north out of Florida. If this trade is the only move made... I'm not happy. If it frees up cash to make another move... OK... I'll wait. I will reserve judgement. Don't get me wrong... Polanco for Gabriel Gonzalez alone is probably a fair trade so the Twins did just fine value wise especially when they added a potential starter and what is hopefully a good bullpen arm in addition to Gabriel Gonzalez. However... since the bulk of the value in the trade coming back to the Twins is a prospect that might be with the club in 2026 at the earliest... I agree with John Bonnes... The Twins are weaker for this year on January 30, 2024 compared to January 29, 2024. 1. I will give DeSclafani the opportunity to be a good pitcher for us in 2024 because who knows... however... my initial reaction is he exactly what I didn't want to see landing on our shores... an innings eater. I don't want innings eaters... I don't want a Bundy type just chucking baseball after baseball to the tune of an upper 4 ERA. If he is Dylan Bundy like in 2024... we didn't improve our rotation... we hurt it. 2. Polanco was our 2nd best hitter in my opinion. Lewis #1... Polanco #2. No muss... No Fuss. No platoon... send him to the plate in the top 3 of the order. 3. Julien requires Farmer... Julien wasn't allowed to face lefthanders. He was not just platooned... he was violently platooned. He was taken out of the game before he even swung a bat against the Giants because they threw an opener for a single inning. Nearly every team has a left hander in the pen. Once they activate the lefty against Julien... he is done for the day. He won't be at the plate in the 9th inning when you need a Julien type hitter to deliver a key hit because he will have been removed from the game. I love Julien... Julien looks to be really really really good hitter but he can't adequately replace Polanco if you need a right handed hitting handcuff to keep Julien away from left handed pitchers. Now of course... maybe this year... they take the chains off and let Julien swing against the lefties. That'll make me happy but it will also piss me off because development was wasted at worst, delayed at best last year. OK... let's say that this year... they let him to face lefties... now you have removed the safety net in Polanco. You can come North out of Florida all pretty... Julien vs RH and Farmer vs LF but that prettiness doesn't last long. Injuries will mess you up. If Farmer or Correa get hurt... Farmer is no longer able to be that platoon bat. Yeah, they can call up Martin to be that short side handcuff... well... Now you screwing up Martin's development. I have no issue with the bullpen arm required. The Twins may have gotten more value because of the high ranked young prospect but 2024 is not better afterwards... it is worse. However... I'm going to wait until the off season concludes to reserve final judgement.

Don't get me wrong... I'd like a starter as well for the very reason you mention. All teams need what you talk about in that first paragraph. They all need starters beyond 5... and way beyond 5. But if I had to choose between the two and with the broadcast money as such and the lack of activity in late January... it certainly feels like I have to choose between the two. I'd take a hitter. I just feel that pitching is going to take a step back no matter what the front office does. The depth that both you and I want is going to have to come from the guys rising up the system. SWR, Festa and others we may not be talking about right now. If the pitching is going to take a step back and I think it will because repeating what they did last year will be hard to do... if not impossible... even if they add Corbin Burnes to the rotation. Our team ERA was pretty stellar last year. It'll be hard to match... if not impossible. Taking a cue from the Rangers... I'd like to load up on offense. Time it with Correa and Buxton coming back strong and see if the bats can overcome what should still be a competitive pitching staff but not as good as what we got last year. The Rangers had a 4.28 team ERA last year and a 3.83 in the post season. They had a lineup 1 through 9 that overcame it.

He's Ready

30 Teams... Only one team will win it all. Exiting from the playoffs hurts but it shouldn't ruin the September of meaningful baseball that had to be played to reach the playoffs or the playoffs themselves. Tomorrow never knows indeed: Enjoy the playoffs no matter what. As the Beatles once said: Turn off your mind Relax, and float downstream It is not dying It is not dying

I like it better to... However... we do have the advantage of 2023 numbers to guide those feelings much like we had 2022 numbers to guide how we felt about 2023 in the offseason. Those numbers in 2022 shifted in 2023 and it is reasonable to assume shifting will happen from 2023 to 2024 and not all of those shifts will be positive. I like that we have the depth to provide alternatives for injuries and poor performance so we are not forced to die by those things. I think we will need the depth... actually... I'm pretty sure we will need it. I have some concerns: Performance Consistency Concerns: Julien and Wallner had a strong 2023... so did Miranda in 2022. Lot of players take a step down in year two. It happened to Miranda. Julien and Wallner are not out of the woods. I know I say this a lot but Julien and Wallner did not face left handed pitchers last year. Kirilloff was also not allowed to face left handers last year. This is a big deal! If they start facing left handers... what happens? I think they should face left handers for development sake and I have said it often... please... please let them get some AB's against portsiders... but... even as I support that as loudly as I do... what happens? If they can't hit left handers... the overall numbers are going to come down. If they can't hit left handers or are not allowed to hit left handers... you can't look at them as a checked box. Can't trade Polanco because Julien is only there for 50% of the AB's. Bottom line is that they won't be getting 500 AB's this year unless they can hit left handers or at the very least... allowed to hit left handers. Kepler was below average for 2 and a half years prior to his very impressive post all-star break performance. I think below average is a kind way to put it... I think it's more accurate to say... 'not major league worthy". I'd like to think he has fixed whatever caused that 2.5 year slump. I hope so... but I won't be shocked to see him struggling again. Jeffers struggled in 2022 enough that the Twins spent 30 million for Vazquez. Vazquez started the season starting two games out of three. He hit bad enough that he is also a question mark. Buxton and Correa... Both those guys had bad years last year. It shook me confidence in both. I think they will be back and back strong in 2024 but they were certainly not back strong in 2023. Don't get me wrong... as I list the above concerns it may sound like I'm being negative but the truth is... I'm really more positive because I think we have the depth to plug holes as they develop. I'm just pointing out some places where the holes could develop. I have no offensive concerns with Lewis and Polanco. I think they will both hit when they are in uniform. As long as they stay healthy and that leads to: Health Concerns: Lewis, Buxton and Kirilloff have career long health issues. I can't imagine any of those 3 staying off the Disabled List because they never have. Polanco has added some injury concern to resume. So has Correa with the Giants and Mets passing on his medicals and is Planter injury last year. Not to mention... everyone is a healthy concern... it's 162 games. That was a long answer just to agree with you. I do like the 2024 lineup better than the 2023. I still want one more BIG bat.

Having no options remaining means he's got to play well and play well right now. His situation with the Twins is indeed tenuous.

I could see the Twins adding Miranda to the 26 man out of spring training to provide that right handed compliment. That certainly would match with the operational model of last year so I agree that your logic is possible based on last year's utilization. It would be a horrible move in my opinion but I'm sure my opinion won't stop them. Here's why I don't like the idea of adding Miranda for that role: 1. Miranda shouldn't be limited to a short side platoon role. Trade him if that is all they want out of him. He was our starting 3B last year... he was our starting 3B in 2023 based on his 2022. If Miranda didn't display himself as the future in 2022... I have to assume that the Twins would have thought twice about including both Steer and Encarnacion-Strand in the trade for Mahle. That's a pretty hard fall from grace for Jose Miranda and I hope the organization isn't that reactionary. 2. Miranda has options and would be better served rebuilding his value in AAA facing right handers and left handers and getting the call up when the injuries start to occur providing he gets himself back on track. 3. This is the scariest point of them all. In 2022: Miranda - 114 OPS+ Gordon - 111 OPS+ Both had significant injuries last year so I'm not sure how much of 2023 should be factored in. However... Not only do you reduce a 114 OPS+ Miranda to below part-time play in 2024 but in order to do so... you have to blow a 111 OPS+ out of the water to make it happen. That sounds expensive and unnecessary when Miranda has options. As for where does Gordon play. Everyone will stay healthy? Everyone is going to OPS .800 and can't afford to yield playing time? If they can't find playing time for Gordon... I'll assume the other players are healthy, killing it and that is keeping him glued to the bench. If that's the case... I'll purchase the playoff tickets right now. We got no concerns at all.

I think his situation is tenuous. His injury last year wasn't helpful. Now I assume that moves will be made but if you look at the current roster. If the season started today. Does Gordon get a 26 man spot? If Yes What would it take to knock him off the roster? If we are trading offense for pitching. Doesn't the offensive subtraction make Gordon one player closer to safe harbor? I have no idea what is about to happen and the answer will reveal itself over time but right now... it looks like he has a spot with moves to come.

This isn't the first time that a starting pitching acquisition has been mentioned by the front office this off-season. I got to take them at their word since the message has been repeated. My expectation is that a starter will be acquired because they are actually saying that is what they are looking for. Personally... I'm more interested in a big bat joining the lineup but I won't argue with a big arm if that is what happens. Just please... please... make it big. Whatever direction you go... make it big. No Bundy's... I don't want to hear the term innings eater any more.

Any player on the 40 man roster is very very important. If a player is not important... that player should not be on the 40 man roster. 17 Players had at least 100 AB's last year. Last year... the opening day starting 9. DH-Buxton C-Vazquez 1B-Gallo 2B-Gordon 3B-Miranda SS-Correa LF- Larnach CF-Taylor RF-Kepler There were a total of 5,489 AB's for the entire team in 2023. The opening starting 9 totaled 2,636 AB's over the course of the season. That is 48% of all AB's. Only two players from the opening day lineup finished the season with an OPS higher than the league average of .734. Those two players were Kepler and Gallo and both of them were performing so badly in the first couple of months that I would have cut them both in June. I'll acknowledge that three injured players on opening day (Polanco, Kirilloff and Lewis) were probably considered starters and were above average performers once they put a uniform on but even if you factor in those three players... it can't be denied that our so called fringe players got us into the playoffs last year. Pitching... Well 18 different pitchers threw over 20 innings. So it's happening on both sides of the ledger. No 40 man spot should be wasted. Fringe doesn't last long. From the shadows to the spotlight in the blink of an eye.

Terry Ryan is one of us.

Player: I feel good about something Fanbase: We will make sure you don't.

Half Way? C'mon... It's just a half more. You can get here with me. Honestly... I just pulled that analogy out of my... umm... well... same place I pull most of my analogies out of. But, to continue to torture the analogy beyond recognition. You will find low priced vehicles mixed in with the high priced vehicles all with similar MPG's. The money spent is buying comfort, stylishness, other things. The Twins didn't choose a vehicle (whatever the price) because it got 10 miles to the gallon. They were hoping for 20 just like everybody else gets. They got 10 miles to the gallon and now they got to look at their driving behavior.

It would be sweet and I think possible with health. Major league organizations have 290 players in the system. Using rough math to simply lop off the 26 man roster for 264 players that clubs are trying to develop into major league players. They invest time and money... they pay coaches to coach, they use advanced technology, they have a staff of analysts and therapists and the majority of those 264 players are putting the work in with the goal to become what Royce Lewis has been thus far. Someone with a .900 plus OPS after 257 AB's. It has taken decades for this organization to produce someone like Royce Lewis. They put a lot of work in to produce someone like Royce Lewis. This organization lives or dies dependent upon producing players. He is under team control until 2029. No team can pay the equivalent of his value. Royce Lewis needs to go nowhere... he needs to stay in a Twins uniform.

Good Digging. Posters who look at not just the Twins but also the other teams to form a basis for opinions on the Twins will always get my attention and respect. Using a bizarre comparable that I like to use from time to time. To me the strikeout problem is like what happens with your gas mileage when you buy a truck or SUV. If you need to haul some stuff around (Power). You are going to sacrifice MPG's (Strikeouts) in order to haul that stuff around. It's alright... you need to haul stuff around so the low MPG is part of the deal. However... other teams were able to haul stuff around and get 20 MPG... The Twins were getting 10 MPG. The Twins need to remove that bike rack. Quit idling all the damn time. Check tire pressure and quit tromping on the accelerator.

I won't write off or overlook any of the 5 teams in the Central... even the White Sox. The Tigers have a lot of young talent and more young talent to try. The rotation isn't horrible. Dare I say... the rotation has upside.