Greglw3

I agree about the errors but he had great range in the hole and after his throwing adjustment his throwing improved.

Fantastic News!!!

When Polanco’s ankle is healthy, he’s all-star shortstop. He had problems with too many errors, changed his throwing motion and made some spectacular plays in 2019 - great range. The beef with Falvey and Levine isn’t really defense, although this may be the worst Twins defense since I started following them as a young boy in 1964. The problem is that they leave these gaping holes in the rotation each year and then sit on their hands almost the entire winter, then settle for bargain basement types.

You make a strong case and sadly, I tend to agree. Accountability fr players and management.

Crazy like a Fox. Only great GM in Twins history was Andy McPhail.

And a very long rebuild it will be if they trade those two.

They've got to find that number in both cases. We need a foundation. Even if Buxton’s going to miss 50-60 games a season, 100 games of his dominance offensively and defensively is worth it. And they need a solid 4th OF-CF to fill in when he’s injured.

I agree. Put total priority on re-signing both. The Twins won’t get anywhere developing great prospects who mature after 3-4 years, then have to be traded because we can’t afford them. THat’s the old Montreal Expos model. I’m also reminded that when the Twins were forced to trade Johan Santana, they couldn’t get a good deal anywhere and practically gave him away.

I’m really happy for him and I like him a lot. His speed could add a new dimension to the team. At least he looks to be a 2nd legitimate stolen base option next to Buxton. I would like to see him get a lot of time at 2nd base and Polanco at SS. Despite the errors, I thought Polanco had nice range at SS when healthy. Arraez can still play the Marcin role but probably better.

They got a name for the winners in the world. Me, I need a name when I lose. They call Alabama the Crimson Tide. Call me Deacon Blues. Great article. You had me for most of it. Loved the Larnach quote!

I agree wholeheartedly on Polanco and Gordon for balance of 2021. I’d play Polanco at SS and Gordon at 2b.

I like your net roster much better than Falvey’s You covered some needed areas where they failed to act. Cave in LF was something I didn’t want but the ascension of Larnach and Kirilloff and the improvements in Buxton and Refsnyder have made it a moot point. However, I think the Twins record would be better with a competent MLB OF like Michael Brantley in LF before Larnach took over.

I’m in the re-tool for 22 category. Resign Buxton, if possible and Larnach, Kirilloff, Buxton and Refsnyder should be enough, plus Wichita has a couple of good OF prospects (Whitefield and De La Trinidad). Celestino should still have a nice future. I’m hoping Miranda could be ready for '22. Barring a SS signing, I think Polanco and Gordon will do for SS and 2B. I’d sign a quality competitor to Sano at 1B and look to Jeffers at C, esp. if Garver traded. Pitching should be the major focus this coming offseason. Quality pitching!!!

I would trade any and all of the players that you mentioned except I would try to resign Michael Pineda so as not to further weaken a weak pitching staff and I’d like to keep Trevor Rogers. I think the Twins would be surprised at how little Kepler returns but they should find out his value.

I couldn’t stop watching the Twins. I’ve been a fan for 57 years and followed good and bad teams. I do enjoy watching Kirilloff, Larnach and Gordon as keys to the future. I also take hope in the nice batch of prospects, mostly at Wichita like Jose Miranda.

I don’t want to trade our #1 pitching commodity on a pitching deprived Twins team already. If they just can’t sign him, then I guess they would have to. They need to step up on both Buxton and Berrios.

I agree with you. Those defensive metrics are dubious to me! Simmons doesn’t remind me of any of the great SSs, not even Greg Gagne and afar cry from Ozzie Smith.

I'd like to see him traded with Polanco moved back to SS and Nick Gordon manning 2B plus Arraez as super utility. I think that both offensively and defensively, Polanco is a premeir SS when healthy. And he’s starting to look healthy again!

Point taken.

I was only trying to make the point that the team needed MLB ready competition for our existing everyday players. I was most concerned with having someone ready that could replace Buxton and concerned about LF. I looked around and thought Brantley would be affordable for the Twins and would have been the starter on opening day. I see he’s hitting .304 with an .800 OPS and 121 OPS+ as of today. Bradley, while not a favorite was coming off what looked like a breakthrough season. I also was concerned about Donaldsons health and Sano’s drop-off and though Maikel Franco of the Royals could help. The idea is that I was trying to address insurance for the problems from Kepler’s BA to Buxton’s health struggles to no established LF, etc. My overriding point, backed up by Roy Smalley on his podcast was that the Twins had question marks at every position. And it’s played out that way. SMalley was asked for a win prediction and said 90. When people asked him why, he replied that the Twins had question marks all over the diamond. I’m only asking for a more aggressive approach from the FO. I do think they are to blame for the drop from 101 wins to the current losing record. Why couldn’t they have been as aggressive as the White Sox? Jim Pohlad has said that he was not averse to raising payroll if FO comes to him and says a guy will help. The area where they have really performed poorly is SP. I do give them credit for Maeda, hopefully he can return whole.

I just read both our posts and I agree that we see things a different way. I think that we could understand each other better if we talked in a method of communication a little more immediate than a blog or forum. That being said, this is a wonderful web site. I love Twins Daily. Please don’t mistake my post. I love the Twins with a burning passion. Some of my views may be influenced by being an avid fan during the Calvin Griffith years and experiencing the pain of all the player losses once free agency hit. I think we may see things differently also because I grew up loving baseball when there were no SABR stats and I’m skeptical of them now, For example, In Eddie Rosario’s case, I saw an xWAR calculation that had him as a 3.1 in 2019. Then the formula docked him all the way down to 0.9 for defense. I thought and think that’s preposterous. Anyway, let’s agree we both want a strong Twins showing the rest of the year, whether that be by the veterans or we take heart in performances by players like Jose Miranda, Duran and Balazovic among others. I think the Wichita Wind Surge are very exciting and have my juices flowing. I see in Miranda a reminder of the young Gary Gaetti that I took great hope in when he was in AA. I agree to disagree on the FO moves. It did pain me to come to those conclusions because I was as high as anybody on them when they first came in.

JBJ slash 2020, the relevant season for last offseason .283./.354/.450. Oh and let go of Lance Lynn too. Lynn, Gibson, Hill and May and where are we now? It sounds like you think the FO has no responsibility for this collapse. We just disagree.

JBJ was good before that, last offseason he represented a big potential upgrade over Cave. You’re using 20-20 hindsight where I was suggesting names at the time that would have given the Twins a much better team if they played to past norms.. I’m just saying they replaced effective players with lesser ones. Eddie Rosario led the Twins in RBI over Cruz in 2019 and had 30+ HR. I think he was an overall competent OF with a big weapon that won some games in his throwing arm. Lus Eddie in a weak lineup is on pace for close to 90 RBIs, is hitting about league average and stolen 6 bases in 7 attempts. They replaced his production with Jake Cave’s utter haplessness. Brantley or Springer would have been the winning play. You say corner OF isn’t our problem but a wealth of AB went to sub .200 Cave and barely .200 Kepler, so I have to disagree with your statement. Had those AB given to Cave been given to Brantley or another proven hitter acquired by Falvey, we’d be in a lot better shape. Why minimize Rich Hill who you say is having a decent year? He has a 0.98 WHIP and 3.05 ERA. Replace Shoemaker with him and just that would make us close to .500. I take issue with you referring to Hill’s season as decent. It’s excellent and Falvey let him walk while resigning another over 40 year old. They let Gibson go and he’s 4-0 with a 2.06 ERA and 1.005 WHIP. Replace Happ and Shoemaker with two players that Falvey let go in Gibson and Hill and we’re probably above .500 right now. You conveniently left Gibson out of the discussion though I did find his late 2019 painful, I’m just using the same 20-20 you are on Bradley and all the others. Trevor May also counts. He was too good a pitcher to let go and replace with bargain basement types. He’s having a decent year and would have helped the very same bullpen that is a big reason we’re 12 games below .500. Last, Falvey has whiffed on every potential big name pitcher out there the last two offseasons but yet said they had a goal the last couple of seasons of winning the World Series. How can you do that without being aggressive enough to sign 1 or 2 of the plethora of strong pitchers available the last few years. They’ve been scrambling with unworthy rotations due to missing on so many game changing pitchers. They also let go of Eduardo Escobar who has had a great year since they traded him and Ryan Pressley’s return is questionable though it may turn out. Last they let two players who were a big part of the Bomba squad’s HR record walk away in Schoop and Cron who have both had at least strong stretches since they left. For me, I take solace in the apparently bright futures of Kirilloff and Larnach and of Nick Gordon. Hoping they keep Buxton and Berrios.

I think I was listening to Herb Carneal during that game. Gene Mauch my favorite Twins manager ever and I noticed his nephew hit his 21st HR in that game. Thanks for posting the box!