Brandon

He is my pick too. He was not what I expected at all. Cartini was at least what we expected. The problem with him is he played too much. Wallner and Topa and Outman were cut short before too much more damage could occur. Gray at least drove in runs for the number of AB he received. Lewis is the LVP for players who played almost the entire season with the Twins. Or Cartini. But 0-7 record from SWR was hard to overcome. We were 77-78 outside of his decisions. We could have been a .500 team without him.

Starting 3 of Lopez, Ryan, and Bradley followed by an improving Preliepp and Kramer. With depth in Matthews and Rojas. With how deep and good the 6th and 7th starters are, how can this not be a top 5 rotation in the AL next season? Name 6 rotations that would be better in the AL?

They have a top 5 offense and average bullpen and a top 5 rotation. Fix the holes I listed and those get even better. I bet a team that good wins more than 90 games next year.

Except that with good health we are well positioned to compete next year. We have holes at C, 1B, maybe DH and 2 relievers so why create another hole by trading him in a year to go for it?

What's with the obsession to trade Joe Ryan? I see article after article for several years now with Joe Ryan trade offers. Did he wear his emotions on his sleeves once and suggested a trade and we never heard from him again on the subject or did he appear in trade rumors at the deadline and we just decided he must be traded? What's the story?

I will decide when and if to accept the Pohlad's efforts for the team. I think they do make a good point in that there are so many teams in Minnesota competing for the extra sports money from the community that there is so much the Twins can do as a team. As long as they are competitive, I am fine with what they do. I was happy with the trade deadline acquisitions.

I thought Klein was traded to the Bluejays. Ross is staying. He plays multiple positions, exactly what you want from an injury call up. Someone who can play the position of the injured player. Larnarch will be tendered or traded. A 120 OPS+ season is not being let go over 6.3 million. He can be 2/3 DH with 20 games in LF While, I believe they can trade Ober, he could be nontendered if they are worried he will throw slower next spring. Ober and Lewis are the fun debates here. Nance will be kept. They need relievers and he will cost what Topa did this year with similar expected results. Domo origato let go Sabato ...Domo.....(Styx reference) Wallner is out too but could he resign with St Paul Saints or try somewhere else. Parades, Acton, Orze, Anderson, Sands, Banda. All interchangeable. Depending on how many spots they need they can coin flip which one to keep and let go.

This ☝️ Also important to consider open spots and the plan for those spots. If we don't have a rule 5 draft this year we will be beneficiaries. But for KC you look and see the Twins paid 1.7 million and it costs them 100,000. Unless you find something better, what a steal of resources from a division rival. As a rule 5 being the 5th OF he gets 200 PA and 50 pinch runner opportunities and gets in 120-130 games.

Kreidler is a bench player with ++ defense and 80-90 OPS+. If he had 30-40 points to his average and he is likely a starter.

It looks like Lee did just enough to win the award this year but left enough room so he can win it again next year when he hits 40 HRs and wins a batting title. Clemens deserved to be on the list. Or honorable mention. Larnarch too.

The Varland trade doesn't seem so bad when you see how Rojas and Roden both performed this year. Roden had a good Average and Rojas a good ERA and 96 mph fastball. Rojas need to work on control but he can be a good reliever or get us 120 innings in the rotation next season as he increases his workload. We were not getting those kinds of innings from Varland. He is pen only. As we go into our next contention window Varland will be in arbitration and more costly while we have league minimum on two players who can contribute. The trade is lining up to favor us within a year. We weren't supposed to contend last year and by most years we didn't. The league came to our level not the other way around. That is why the Varland trade looks bad now but looking into tomorrow it will work out for both teams and more for us

The way Culpepper played SS and hit was a pretty good combo. It would be expensive to improve on him. What do you have in mind and wouldn't those resources be better spent elsewhere?

Maybe the crisis is if the Twins offer all 4 a QO so we get more draft picks but all 4 accept the offer and stay causing a spike in payroll and a Pohlad indigestion.

I don't see the crisis. If the Twins lose all 4 pitchers in FA, they still have a 5 man rotation for 2028. Maybe resign 1 of the FA starters to an extension so we have more depth but things look alright going into 2028.

Won't MLB look into why his starts take so much longer to complete this games and implement steps to speed up the game to keep it under 3 hours.