Riverbrian

I believe that Wallner could be promoted to one of the five guy spots. He would already be one of mine but they never ask for my advice. For Wallner to graduate to one of those vital five guy spots. All it would take is a 4th left handed hitter on the roster which would then eclipse the number of extra right handers who could take their place. It's really that simple. Building your roster to accommodate this extreme split has limitations and those limitations cause extreme limitations on how you build your roster. That's the lunacy of building your roster to fit this system. It requires a rigid template. You need to sign a Margot to keep Wallner away from lefties. You need to demote a Kepler because you signed Margot and he needs to be kept away from righties. You still need to play Margot against right handers because Buxton is always hurt. Of course... if the Twins were to add that 4th left handed hitter in let's say August. Wallner would be suddenly asked to do something that he wasn't allowed to do in March, April, May, June and July... not to mention 2024 and 2023. You are right... Kepler was one of the five guys to start the season in 2024. We had Kepler, Wallner, Julien and Kirilloff to start the season... too many lefties to keep them all clean. Kepler got demoted out of a five guy spot not because of his numbers at the time (even though they were not stellar) but because Julien crashed and burned reducing the number of left handed hitters to 3 and the right handed hitters still need to be fed. I have one wish for this off-season. I would like them to stop using this template.

This is a huge issue. That gets overlooked by way too many fans. The Twins have to develop talent. Have to... unequivocally have to. There is absolutely no debate... they have to. Every Margot, Farmer, Kepler, Gallo, Vazquez, Morrison that they bring in that struggles. Makes it a little bit harder to develop talent. Every Margot, Farmer, Kepler, Gallo, Vazquez, Morrison that they bring in that is allowed to keep struggling through the entire season... makes it even harder still to develop talent. Every left handed bat that isn't allowed to face left handers makes it harder still to develop talent. Every young right handed player that they short side platoon makes it harder still to develop talent. If the Twins fail to develop talent... We all know that we won't be signing an expensive free agent to fill that undeveloped space. The Twins are not going to sign a Freddie Freeman. We all know this. They have to develop a Freddie Freeman. That's the only way that we will have a Freddie Freeman on our roster. It's the only way that the Twins can remain at the very least competitive year after year. Buxton, Correa, Lewis and the gang of role players isn't going to work. I support this front office... That will support will stop quickly when I feel that development has stalled. I like what I'm seeing from the incoming arms. On the offensive side of the coin... I am getting close to feeling that we may need to be a patchwork of cheap vets to get through every season going forward. I will get a little bit closer to support losing doubt every time the expiring contract vet with the .600 OPS strolls to the plate in August with no competition allowed for his spot. I will keep getting closer to not trusting our development every time Larnach is pinch hit for because some guy named Daniel Lynch IV entered the game in the 4th inning just so (insert cheap vet here) can face Erceg in the ninth. I will get a little bit closer to being ready for a change at the top because of development issue perception every time a team with a .623 OPS in September is paralyzed with a stubborn willingness to go down with that ship instead of getting into that unproven player dingy hanging from the side of the roster. I will get a little bit closer to pulling my support any time that I don't feel there is competition for playing time with the younger player getting the short end of that stick.

I have no idea who or what Camargo is. I can only take my clues based upon actions. He was kept on the 40 man... That indicates value. He was on the 26 man roster for 20 games last season and was given 7 trips to the plate even though Vazquez was setting a pretty low bar to clear for playing time. That indicates very little value. As I watch the actions on Camargo. The actions are conflicted and therefore... So am I.

The outrighted don't interest me much. The players that remain on the 40 man are the ones that interest me. Jair Camargo is still on the 40 man. Helman and Kiersay are still on the 40 man. Of course... those 3 players could easily be off the 40 man as the team starts filling in the available space as the off-season progresses. At least for the moment... The Twins seem to feel those three have some value. They didn't have much value last year when we needed some players to step up.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe in order to remove Severino from the 40 man roster... he was exposed to the other 29 teams and is returning to the Twins because nobody claimed him for basically no cost at all. Therefore his trade value is pretty low if not none at all. Unless not having to keep him on the 40 man increased his value. Even if that is the case... Still can't see him as a needle mover.

Do not sign any innings eaters!!! Let the farm fill the spaces as needed.

Can the Twins pin their hopes for 2025 on Brooks Lee. No they can't. They need decent insurance. They need competition for each and every roster spot. They need to avoid all eggs in one basket. The worst thing they can do is just hand him the job out of spring training Que Sara Sara.

Willi Castro was super utility last year. Super Utility is a utility guy who plays every day. Willi led the team in PA's with 635 of them. That is a problem in my opinion. I don't have a problem with Castro being on the roster but when we turn him into the most valuable player on the team he becomes a problem. It speaks volumes that Castro and Santana were the only two Twins who had enough AB's to qualify for a batting title. Those 635 PA's for Castro was tied for 51st in all of baseball. Tied with Nolen Arenado and Yordan Alvarez. Of those 54 players in the top 51 in plate appearances. Only 6 had a lower OPS than Castro in 2025. The Twins haven't been healthy at the top end for year after year after year. No reason to expect anything different this year. The 4th and 5th spot with in the Five Guy group needs to be addressed because of hte injury history of spots 1, 2 and 3. I'm doubtful that Castro is good enough for the role.

Santana was a decent ball player last year. I wasn't very excited about his addition last year while still OK with it. However, he did a decent job... let's say slightly above average job which is much better then the below average play we got from others on the roster. Am I ok with another year of Santana... Yeah I am... but only kind of OK with it. His numbers certainly fit the role you have planned for him. But... I just don't see him remaining in that role and if he stays healthy his utilization would increase significantly and he will just be another kick the can down the road year of addressing the position longer term. With the assumed financial constraints. This off-season is going to be either: Insane with lots of player movement via trade as the roster is completely retooled or this off-season is going to be as boring as it could possibly get with someone like Santana being the most exciting thing that happens. I don't see a lot of middle ground.

I know where Five Guys is located in Grand Forks. In a strip mall by Kohl's near Target on the south end of town. Tasty Burger but kind of pricey so I don't go that often but I know where it is if I need Five Guys. The Twins need Five Guys... Do they know where to find Five Guys... Can they Afford Five Guys? They need Five Guys for the rotation. They need Five Guys for the 40 man with it currently sitting at 35. But... those will not be my focus. It is important for all of us to understand that the Twins will need Five Guys who will play most days by not being subject to platoon. Last Year... Buxton, Correa, Lewis, Castro and Santana were the Five Guys. Buxton, Correa and Lewis are often injured. They ranked 7th, 8th and 10th on the team in Plate Appearances. Where are these Five Guys currently located for the Twins. These Five guys should be the players who carry your team. They are the everyday Five Guys. Is Castro talented enough to be one of the five everyday guys? Is Miranda the fifth of the Five Guys? Is it Lee? Will Lee even break camp with the club out of spring training? We know that Wallner, Larnach or Julien are not eligible for one of the Five Guy spots due to severe platooning restrictions. And we know it's not the three right handed bats that they will roster to platoon with Wallner, Larnach or Julien. Those spots will go to the Margot and Farmer replacements that the Twins are obligated to sign to keep the platoon integrity intact. Can the Twins find Five Guys who can be every day leaders? Can they afford the expensive burger? If there is one thing that scares me this offseason. It's those Five Guys. 3 players that could carry you but are often injured and an over relied upon Castro and you are still one short.

The Orioles are retaining O'Hearn. Miranda has thus far been more effective against right handed pitchers and thus far has been a bad short side platoon option.

Those debates can happen with any player... especially from us in the Twinsdaily crowd. Those debates will continue on into the future with other players. Gabriel Gonzalez included in the trade indicates to me at least decent value in the eyes of Seattle and in the eyes of Minnesota because of what was paid by Seattle and what Minnesota asked for. Hindsight can justify the questioning by us in Twinsdaily land. Hindsight can even determine weather Seattle was wrong or Minnesota was wrong or maybe both were wrong in the end. In my opinion... At the time of the trade... Polanco was a player who didn't need to be platooned and we needed at least 5 of those upper end types of players who didn't need to be platooned and we had no budget to work with. Yeah... He may have been an injury risk just like Lewis, Correa and Buxton consistently are but we needed those upper end guys because this was a team trying to win today... not rebuild with more prospects. We need those 5 upper end guys... Especially if we were going to commit 6 out of 11 spots to players to serve platoon roles. Polanco may have tanked this year in Seattle and not been an upper end guy. But at the time of the trade. Seattle and Minnesota didn't know that he would tank. Minnesota then spread the Polanco money around to players who were not upper end guys. Anyway... I can see your logic of getting all prospects. I hope you can see my logic by saying that we needed an upper end guy instead.

I can see the logic in this thinking. And I can agree that in hindsight trading for all prospects would have been better than what actually happened. At the very least... by making prospects the entire return in the deal. There may have been money left over to add someone at the trade deadline and that may have provided some 2024 benefit. However... With that said... in consideration of where the Twins were in the competitive cycle. Coming off a decent playoff performance with lots of young talent taking up a decent chunk of the roster. The timing for off loading a good MLB player for future benefit would have been wrong and therefore even though it may have been better than what actually happened... it was still a bad idea.

You are spot on. At the time... it might have been difficult to see how Farmer was connected to the Polanco trade. I didn't see it at first but it didn't take long to eventually see it. After the dust settled... you could see that Farmer was indeed clearly connected. Once Farmers 2024 role was clearly defined, you can see that he was clearly connected to the Polanco trade. Once you look at his 6 million cost swimming upstream against a downstream budget... you can see that he was clearly connected to the Polanco trade. Others can debate the shallow waters of weather the trade itself was a win or loss. Gabriel Gonzalez by himself may make this trade a win for the Twins. However, in order to trade the Polonco 10 million... you had to keep the Farmer 6 million and then add the DeSclafani 4 Million and the Margot 4 million and the Santana 5.5 million (which we both can acknowledge in hindsight that Santana worked out). The team spent 19.5 million to shed 10 million. If the Twins won the trade... OK... maybe they did but Farmer, Margot and DeSclafani negated the trade win. You see it. Good luck with the folks in the shallow waters who don't.

I'll let others debate the winners and losers of the trade. To me... it was always about the following question. In the context of where the Twins were in the competitive window. Did it make sense to roster one bigger better piece or break that bigger better piece into multiple lesser pieces? If you don't understand that question. Your response will matter very little to me. Just keep debating who won the deal with others. Don't look at the question with hindsight... look at the question at the time of the trade. If you had the ability to predict Polanco's downfall due to injury or age. Good for you. That's impressive. Seattle didn't know what you knew. They gave up a lot for Polanco. The Twins won the trade based on what Seattle gave up. I will not use hindsight. AT THE TIME OF THE TRADE. It was my contention that Polanco was the best player involved in the trade. And the best player out of the players who were acquired with the money saved in the trade. Even after knowing how it turned out with hindsight... it doesn't change the question I had at the time in the current context of the Twins. Did it make sense to roster one bigger better piece or break that bigger better piece into multiple lesser pieces? If anyone wants to talk about log jams... Just don't. If anyone wants to talk about how Cleveland, Tampa and Oakland built their roster over and over again... just don't. I wasn't sure while it was happening but I was drug through the mud for just asking the question and forced to defend the other side. As of November 2024. as we get ready to build for 2025 with the full benefit of hindsight. I believe the Twins won the trade and I believe we absolutely shouldn't have made the trade, If you don't understand how I feel both ways... Go back to the bolded question.

Pay the exorbitant inflated price for a catcher who will only play 60% of the time. Regardless if they trade or sign a catcher... it will be an inflated painful price to pay. If the catcher you acquire is not expensive... he will be a catcher that no one or very few teams want. It's the bill come due for not developing your own. It's paying 10 Dollars for a dozen eggs because you don't have chickens. You don't want to roll the dice on a John Ryan Murphy type. I don't either... he will cost you an Aaron Hicks type. Do you want better than J.R. Murphy. He will cost you more.

I would too!!! The Dodgers won't... They'd laugh.

Yep... Rookie Michael Busch from Inver Grove Heights who hit 21 dingers for the Cubs in his first year. Moved to create roster space after acquiring Teoscar. Dodgers said that he didn't belong in AAA but had no room for him on the major league roster so they picked up a couple of real young players age 19 and 18 who have no roster requirements. Must be nice to have a farm system overflowing like that and have that farm system while consistently drafting late in every round.

Agreed Anything is better than paying the inflated prices for upside. Catchers are not 162 game players. Does anyone here want to give up a potential 162 game guy like Jenkins or Erod for Rushing? That's the kind of price tag. Or a Pablo Lopez for Rushing... that's the kind of price tag. Catchers typically don't hit the ball that well so even if they Barnhart their way through the catching problem they created by not creating... the offensive drop off isn't that stark when compared to other catchers playing the position across the league. If you do happen to find a catcher that can hit the ball and defend. That player still won't be a 162 game player. 120 games is typical top end for the best of the best at the position but they will cost as much as the 162 game guy. Just grab a defensive guy at low dollar and live with the offense. It's exactly what they are doing with Vazquez to the tune of 10 million bucks that we don't have.

I agree... I'd install Camargo if he's the best you got and live with it. I'd prefer that to paying the prices for someone who might play in 90 games if healthy. The problem is Camargo being the best you got. The problem is no competition for a .575 OPS.

Rushing is going to be super expensive to acquire. Painfully super expensive. Catcher's are consistent overpays to acquire. To pay what the Dodgers would require is what Ashbury calls a failure tax or stupidity tax. It's the tax you have to pay when you fail to develop your own. With catchers being consistent overpays. The Twins need to take advantage of the market instead of being victims of the market. Just take a look what the Dodgers have done in catcher development over the years. There current catching tandem Smith and Barnes were both home grown. They currently have Rushing and Cartaya close to major league ready and three or 4 in the lower minors that look promising. Two starting current starting catchers came from the Dodgers system. Keibert Ruiz with the Nationals who the Dodgers used to acquire Turner and Scherzer and Connor Wong with the Red Sox who was part of the Mookie Betts trade. Jair Camargo who is currently our #3 was also part of the Betts deal indirectly. In a similar time frame the Twins have developed 3 catchers with some value. Jeffers of course. Along with Garver and Rortvedt who were both traded so the Twins could shed the Donaldson contract which is no easy accomplishment. Since those 3... The Twins development has gone dry. Dry at a position where the market prices are high and if you can't cash in on the market prices... you must pay the market prices. Catching has been a organization failure.

I have said this for years. The Dodgers are bullet proof and they are the only organization that I would be willing to call bullet proof. If they don't make the playoffs in a given year... I'll be shocked. They are the only team that would shock me if they didn't make the playoffs in a given year. Does anyone ever wonder how a team that consistently drafts at the end of each round can build a farm that is consistently producing high quality fruits and vegetables? They grew quite a few pineapples. Jordan Alvarez came from the Dodgers, Oneil Cruz came from the Dodgers, Seager, Urias, Bellinger, Buehler, Will Smith have come from the Farm amongst quite a few others. More recently... Busch was a Dodger and a pretty nice looking prospect for the Cubs. Pepiot and Deluca brought Glasnow to town. Verdugo, Downs and Wong was enough to bring Mookie Betts to town. Ruiz and Grey brought Turner and Scherzer to town. I'm not diminishing the money they spent which the Twins will never come close to competing with... But while you are watching the money and focusing on it... you are missing what the Dodgers are doing without money... with pure simple player development. Creating players that not only help the team when they are needed but creating players that other teams want that they use to acquire players. They trade prospects all the time and always have a bus load coming every single year. Again I'm not diminishing the money spent... that kind of money is a huge advantage to the teams who can spend money. But... Please... While you are watching the money... please take note of the bad money as it falls off the back of the truck... along with all that cheap talent that they grew themselves. Development and Money is a tough combination for teams to compete with. The Dodgers are top of the league in both. Which = Bulletproof. It's why the Angels can't do it with money alone. They just can't seem to develop anyone who helps them or interests other teams in a trade. What can the Twins do that is Dodger like? DEVELOP TALENT!!!

BABIP is an interesting stat to play around with. Taking the Home Runs and strikeouts out is like taking the shoe laces out of shoes and checking out the shoe itself. After checking it out... I just put the shoe laces back in for a better shoe experience. The shoe laces are just to important for evaluation of the shoe. Because home runs really really matter and those strikeouts are the untied shoe lace that sent me into the bushes last week.

Yeah But... The Twins can't afford 6m for what Farmer produces. The Twins can afford the major league minimum for what Julien produces.