tony&rodney

The simple truth is that we just don't know what the front office is attempting to do with the Twins. This is the third year in a row (three peat) where few notable transactions have taken place. The goals are unclear but the effect of the last two offseasons shows a strategy of waiting for whatever is left over and hoping the guys needing jobs outperform. Along with that is a belief that the current rostered players can all produce All Star results. Thus we cannot know the goals the front office has for the team except a hodge podge of hopes, which are unclear. When you state the goal seems to wish for 72-75 wins, this is extremely fair. A number of folks on Twins Daily are being (in an admirable way) positive. Those comments go through the roster suggesting outcomes which reside near 100% outcomes for each player. Even so, these fantastic hopes result in a near .500 record. Why didn't the Twins trade Ryan? Lopez? Buxton? Jeffers? Those questions may be similar to why the Twins traded Duran, Jax, Varland, and Stewart. Given the state of the current roster, it is fair to wonder what happened. In sum, it sure looks like the Pohlads and Falvey feel like a 72-75 win team can be sold as competitive and open to explaining the lack of better results on bad luck and/or unforeseen circumstances when August rolls around. Perhaps this strategy works for many people/Twins fans. I'm happy for those who can accept this current roster because it allows them to see a path forward. While i generally see myself as ridiculously positive, a slow, defensively challenged roster that can't really hit for much and lacks a bullpen fails to excite me for the coming season. My sole hope will be with the rookies and players with only one year of experience. A wholesale move this coming July will only serve to highlight the current failures to act. I don't know if this front office understands how Milwaukee or Cleveland operate and no it doesn't make any difference if one once worked in those organizations. Go Rookies.

Can Pierson Ohl be a functional MLB pitcher? Hard to tell. What value do Edouard Julien, Tristan Gray, Ryan Kreidler, and James Outman possess that surpasses the potential of Ohl? Hard to see. My confidence in those who make these decisions has never been lower.

If you have a mlb.com TV account you can watch milb.com (minor league games). At least one could the last several years and hopefully this is continued this year. MLB has a habit of shooting itself in the foot. I think it will be interesting to watch how Tait develops as a catcher. He looked really rough last summer but players his age often improve dramatically when shown the tricks of the trade. Dasan Hill will be another guy to watch. The stuff looked good last summer but command and control is important. While I am hopeful that Walker Jenkins shows enough in Spring Training to be in the Opening Day Twins lineup, I'm not expecting that and the first guys called up are often in positions of need. Thus it is hard to identify a player that gets "best" prospect besides WJ. For example, does Andrew Morris make the roster? John Klein?

FWIW, Seranthony Dominguez was never a consideration for the Twins. The report of the Twins checking with his agent was similar to the call to Rogers' agent. The difference being that Rogers wants to reach 10 years of MLB service and having no other options. If the Twins were interested in better relief pitchers at market salaries they would have kept Duran and Jax.

This seems about right. There is always a chance that change can occur with several late trades but the long offseason of waiting ends pretty soon. The Twins will (seemingly) get their own three peat and it wasn't easy. The trades last July are harder to understand with the silence of this cold winter. Money? Hardly. One can spin the loss of Duran, Jax, Varland, and (yes) Stewart in multiple fashion. The promise of the players returned makes some sense. Money, however, cannot be a factor. Those four add less than $10M total, at most, to any budget beyond their replacements earning a minimum salary. Bell and Larnach alone cover that pittance. Performance? Hope springs eternal among baseball fans every spring. One can pick apart the departed but it is challenging to suggest the current unknown hurlers who will take their place. Pierson Ohl was cited by numerous parties as one to fill the back of the pen. He was just DFA'ed. An occasional reference is made to the most egregious weakness for the bullpen but it needs to be highlighted. The Twins are a very poor team defensively. When I considered how to improve the roster, my first emphasis was to acquire players who could turn batted balls into outs. The hope is that the players on the roster can improve drastically to reach an acceptable level of play in the field, perhaps even close to average. I can see some hope in a few but the physical challenges are too great for some. Defense impacts pitching far more than statistics can measure. As a Twins fan I will be hoping for a successful season of around 75 wins. I remember that things can happen. We can hope that several of Jenkins, Rodriguez, Gonzalez, Culpepper, Morris, and others arrive with a bang, earning ROY votes as Julien did a few years ago. We can hope that Keaschall, Lee, and Lewis have career years. We can hope the pitchers and Byron Buxton remain healthy and effective in their play. That is about all we can do. If the above doesn't occur, we are left hoping the team is sold and that the Pohlads take the front office with them to another world.

Here is an idea - trade Wallner and Julien to Pittsburgh for Jared Jones. Push Larnach to DH/PH only.

I will be quite interested in watching Houston this coming season. I read about his defense on TD and wonder if the people lauding his glove have watched him at least two dozen times. I only saw Houston play a half dozen games via milb.com. (I don't put much stock in curated video clips that highlight players. I prefer to see them in action and watching in person, very difficult to impractical, is even better. When watching in person I feel it takes a dozen games to see what one needs to see to fairly evaluate a player.) He looked fine defensively but not especially noteworthy. Houston looked totally overmatched at the plate in almost every plate appearance. Now, I do not consider my minimal experience worth making any judgment of Marek Houston on any facet of his game. The views were too incomplete to even make a call of any sort of his talent going forward. Additionally, I believe that it can be quite difficult for a player signing out of college to play their best baseball in August and September if you remember that their college workouts began the previous September; it is a long season. Thus I'm taking a wait and see approach and hoping to see the best of Marek Houston this summer. I'm hoping that the prediction of Houston being a fast rising prospect comes true. We shall see.

In the next few weeks publications will roll out their Top 100 Prospects lists. The Twins will have 3-4 players on most lists, but only three seem to be consensus picks. Jenkins, Rodriguez, and Culpepper will find a spot on most lists. I'm expecting both Connor Prielipp and Gabriel Gonzalez to fit in on the back end of a few lists. Three prospects among the Top 100 doesn't seem to be much evidence of a top farm system lending legitimacy to those who put the Twins in the middle ten of MLB teams as far as prospects. The last several years I have watched a ton of minor league baseball, too much. The names discussed here are all possible to push up behind Walker Jenkins. Emmanuel Rodriguez is a concern due to his inability to avoid injury, but if he can stay healthy he belongs in the lineup. His athleticism and competitive streak makes comparisons to guys like Julien silly. E is ready. I would put him behind Jenkins. Gabriel Gonzalez made more improvements last season than any player in the organization. He is not a good defensive player but looked as good as or better than Wallner or Larnach in the outfield. The guy can hit and he plays with a certain chip on his shoulder with some wicked swings at times. The Twins will make him force his way on to the roster but don't bet against him. Kaelen Culpepper needs a little more time I think. He was fantastic last summer for Wichita. He may be pushing for a lineup position by July. His defense is better right now than anyone the Twins put at 2B, 3B, or SS. Kaelen plays an athletic game and really improved at driving the ball last summer. A major concern of mine is how the Twins front office evaluates and decides who plays where for their MLB team. I understand that many support the current roster configuration but I'm unable to understand how so many DH's fit on any one roster. Both Jenkins and Rodriguez would immediately improve the defense but I'm afraid the front office will find reasons to put Josh Bell at first base and Matt Wallner in right field. It becomes difficult to be a Twins fan as the front office collects players that cannot fill positions at the AAA level as the offseason moves along. I'm not too concerned about Kreidler, Gray, Outman, etc. because they are similar to Fitzgerald and Keirsey Jr. I would prefer some drastic attempts at change via a couple of trades, but it isn't looking like that is in the cards.

Tre' Morgan from the Rays for Jeffers and Travis Adams? Tampa Bay has a couple of young guys ahead of him. The Twins say no because Morgan plays defense and doesn't hit enough home runs or strike out often?

I stand corrected. Thought a 3/4ths vote was needed. Thank you for the correction. Think the owners made this mess and the owners will need to fix their problems. When the owners gave the Dodgers a special exemption from the regular revenue sharing it put a billion dollars of pure profit into the club's pockets over a decade and since then additional monies from new sources continue to flow, unshared, into the vault of the LAD account. I guess I don't really care that much about the specifics or even the outcomes given the current state of the world. I'm sorry for commenting on it. Actually think i shouldn't be commenting any longer on TD. My baseball addiction needs to be restricted. While I have not been a fan of restrictions on player's salaries or even a fan of caps, even I can see that the sport has a problem when one player can make as much as the entire 26 person roster of another team. When caps are suggested I wonder how that would work. If the Dodgers are at $400M, does that mean the minimum is set at $200M? Seems like things went a little haywire after factors of three were passed. Other than the Twins I always liked the Dodgers as Sandy Koufax was my favorite non Twins player. Last season the Dodgers had a ridiculous number of injuries and struggles and they still won the World Series. I, for one, would not be surprised if good health combined with excellent performances allowed the Dodgers to win 122 or more games. I don't have an answer .... nothing. What do you think should happen?

A majority of owners can demand that ALL ticket revenues and media monies (both local and national) are pooled and divided. This is similar to what most every sports league does. Teams can differentiate themselves and benefit financially by selling stadium ads, uniform ads, and private boxes. These decisions are totally on the owners. The justification for most every sports league is that games cannot be played without two teams and leagues cannot survive without multiple teams. A vote for total and complete revenue sharing divided equally amongst all teams would benefit players and reduce the vast, comical differences between most baseball clubs and the Dodgers plus a couple of others. The only prerogative for those few teams would be to break away and start their own league, which would cause the end of the Sherman Anti-Trust Exemption and be difficult to say the least. The current problems were initiated by the owners and only the owners can resolve the chasm in the finances between the few and the rest. It really is that simple .... but it isn't what many expect to happen.

I wouldn't trade for Matt Shaw if the price was Royce and either of Ober/SWR. I would send Larnach and Julien, which is just disrespectful on my part. No to Shaw.

I should add to why I say no to the Cubs and the packages they might offer. All of those guys could be stars or regulars but I'm expecting more busts and players like Lewis and Wallner are now. Can Lewis and Wallner take a leap in production and make an All Star team? Yes, they can but it isn't something to count on imho. I want more. Holding Ryan seems foolish given his current value and the likelihood of the Twins being a .500 team this year. It is a risk that Falvey will take though. As stated earlier it is totally possible that no team is willing to trade anything worthy of a deal for Ryan. We cannot know that situation. A couple of wild ideas, dismissed by many on previous occasions, are to suggest ideas to Detroit or West Sacramento. All trades contain risks. I would bundle Ryan with Alan Roden, Marek Houston, and Charlee Soto to Detroit for Max Clark. I would make the same offer to the A's for Leodalis De Vries. I would offer Royce Lewis, Taj Bradley, and either of Festa or Matthews for De Vries as another option. Of course, both teams may have zero interest in those deals and the Twins as well as many of their fans may see those ideas as crazed. Joe Ryan is my favorite player to watch on the Twins but this team is going nowhere without an influx of talent. The piles of Abel and that sort of player may work out brilliantly but I'm reaching higher. The Twins tried to coax Andrew Painter away from the Phillies and failed. They need to reboot and keep looking for transactions that changes the dynamics of their current roster.

Connor Prielipp would be pleased with reaching the major leagues. He has had to overcome several arm injuries. Prielipp is 25 years old. Putting him in the MLB bullpen now or in the rotation later is just a dream for him. I have watched Prielipp pitch on numerous occasions. He needs a long look in spring Training to determine where he fits. I'm a little surprised by the comments suggesting Prielipp is a top of the rotation starter. Yes, he has some good pitches, but he is rated pretty commonly as a 50 pitcher. This puts him well outside any Top 100 lists and he doesn't receive mention among top 10 left-handed pitchers. Could he develop into more than what he is? We all hope so, but that is the same for all of Festa, Morris, Abel, etc. The Twins have a handful of young pitchers who might develop their skills to rise to the front of a rotation. They do not currently have anyone who stands out among the masses of minor league hopefuls. Joe Ryan developed into a solid MLB pitcher. That seems to be the hope for a gaggle of Twins guys. Until they develop their skills, these guys need opportunity. For more than a few, the minor leagues have served its purpose and the time has come to meet the challenge of MLB bats. Prielipp feels like one of those guys who needs to find his way at the highest level.

The owners all felt sorry for LAD after the ridiculous bankruptcy of that club over a decade ago. Subsequently, the owners gave special privileges to the Dodgers whereby they did not have to share their revenue share in the same fashion as others. That little deal made the Dodgers big bucks, not petty cash like the Yankees or Mets make. So, once again, it is on the owners. Will they force revenue sharing beyond the current system or not? A few people have attempted to cast the MLBPA and the players in a bad light. MLB players make good money, that is true. MLB players also take home less of a percentage of total revenue than the other sports. I don't think much will leak out as the owners argue over money. I doubt they will lock out the players either because their addiction to cash flow is too dear to their hearts.

Matt Shaw is just another name in a host of ideas that were floated as potential hoped for acquisitions. Those thoughts flowed from fans who saw early on that Joe Ryan had value that could give the Twins a shot at a really good prospect. Shaw would be at the low end of any desires. One lens views multiple players returned as better than a compensation pick in 2028. The side that believes in shooting high may be unrealistic. I would propose reaching higher and only accepting a Matt Shaw (who may well turn into a fine baseball player) when and if it is clear that no team is willing to gamble real talent for Joe Ryan and the Twins cannot work out a deal. Perhaps all top contenders see no big improvement from acquiring Ryan in a pricey deal, but that seems unusual. Teams like Detroit, West Sacramento, and the Mets among other teams seem like decent trade partners. However it takes two to finalize any deals. It does seem like the front office has their dream team already so talking about trades may be ludicrous. No deal with the Cubs. No to Matt Shaw.

"The Twins only have one position player of absolute certainty, which makes me believe Byron Buxton belongs at the top of the list. Likewise only Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan rate highly among the pitchers. These lists are always interesting and fun with some thoughtful words attached to the players. I have no quibble with the posts or the order. I am just identifying the obvious 3 true MLB players on the roster who would fit in on any club." - my previous post Apologies for the confusion. Three players that obviously fit in on any club. Merely adding that the lists are worth a look. We know there are clubs that would take any number of guys. Colorado is one team. I was just highlighting the three who fit anywhere. I think you might agree there may be some teams that might not roster the other 23 players. But again, maybe that is off base. Thinking why the Twins cannot draw any interest from other teams in their rostered players, but obviously that is largely unknown by fans. Again, meant to highlight 3 guys.

The Twins only have one position player of absolute certainty, which makes me believe Byron Buxton belongs at the top of the list. Likewise only Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan rate highly among the pitchers. These lists are always interesting and fun with some thoughtful words attached to the players. I have no quibble with the posts or the order. I am just identifying the obvious 3 true MLB players on the roster who would fit in on any club. Looking at organizational players over a five year span likely puts Walker Jenkins, the #3 draft pick in July of 2026, potentially the #1 pick in July of 2027, Kaelen Culpepper, and Luke Keaschall at the top of the lists.

Thinking further on these three players, I can see why many multiple viewpoints can be presented. Wallner has shown pop and a solid OPS, but is easily questioned due to his proclivity to K, miss time time with injuries, and his fails as an outfielder. I don't think it is Wallner's fault that the Twins put him in RF when he is a pure DH. There is still some hope for Wallner but he is also very easy to dismiss. I'm hoping he is the everyday DH and does well. Lewis had some shooting star moments in 2023 which are apparently frozen in the minds of many fans. We all hope that Lewis returns some day. Lewis did show better health and was good enough at third base last season. The general thought seems to be that he has little value on the trade market but could blossom under a new manager and fresh coaching. Lewis may be a stretch but there is reasonable hope there for belief. Lee had a little bit of a rough go of it in 2025, both at the plate and in the field. It seems a bit tough to forget that Lee was in his first full MLB season. I think he is a good bet to improve in all areas. That said, Brooks is slow and does not project to be a standout shortstop. He will have to do until a better option arrives. One common comment places Lee at second base. This is somewhat confusing since his range there is poor and speed is more needed at second than at a reflex position like third base. Lee has decent first reactions and most scouts saw him as a third baseman if his bat played. He doesn't have the requisite physical skills to play second base. In any event, I'm expecting a much better showing from Brooks Lee in 2026 even if he is driven to be a utility infielder in a couple of years when a good shortstop takes over.

All three are definitely question marks. The Twins mol know that when healthy Buxton is a positive and Jeffers is their catcher. There is a belief in Keaschall and he may be lumped to some extent in with the other inexperienced players. Guys like Jackson, Bell, Clemens, and any other vets will surprise us if they provide value. That leaves Lee, Wallner, and Lewis. Meanwhile it looks like Trevor Larnach has been shuffled to the side. So many questions for the position players.

Couple thoughts ... too early for any determination of Marek Houston imo. Crowning someone best shortstop in minor leagues is done by most every fan base. Who knows at this point. He has a good glove, this we know. Christian Vazquez had quite a decline at the plate and people felt he no longer fit due to that demise. Catching is easily the most important defensive position in baseball of the 8 positions on the field. A really good shortstop, like Joey Ortiz, has to worry if their OPS falls below .600. I'm just guessing there won't be a place for a .180 BA on any team from a shortstop. There are options that include good, plainly adequate, gloves who can hit a bit.

Any post that includes Wander Javier automatically receives a thumbs up. Jeffers holds 100% of the leverage. There are a few teams that would gladly trade for Jeffers. Lee? Rough start but he is all the Twins have at shortstop. Ober can come back from injury. I like the Twins inexperienced starters and thought a Ober-Lawler deal made some sense. Guess we just hope he is 2024 Ober. Prielipp? If other starting pitchers can begin their careers as relief pitchers, why can't Prielipp? He turns 25 this week, still young. Exposure to MLB bats out of the pen would help Connor refine his pitches and teach him sequencing. I tried to catch most of his starts on milb.com and found him toying with hitters and getting away from pitching at times. He needs a challenge.

Marek Houston seems very similar to Noah Miller with the main difference, worth noting, being that Houston comes out of a top college program versus Miller being signed out of a Wisconsin high school. Either way, Houston has only one year of minor league baseball thus far and while it is true his glove was fine the bat was needy. I only watched Houston about 4-5 times, not enough to be overly impressed by anything except for how overmatched he was versus the pitchers. I don't believe I can make any fair statement on him as acclimation to professional baseball is a huge task. At this time his body of work is still from Wake Forest. Hopefully a full offseason allows Houston to adapt more smoothly to the minor leagues. We shouldn't (at least I don't) hold his 2025 pro debut against him. Houston wouldn't be the first guy to have a rough summer in their first go at pro ball after a long college season. Similarly, while I like the optimism shown on Twins Daily regarding the glove, we should let Houston play a full year before proclamations that were heaped on Noah Miller. I'm optimistic and eager to see how Marek plays in 2026.

The only thing a player can do to grab a place in the lineup is to perform at a high level on a consistent basis. We cannot know how the players themselves feel about how the Twins franchise is run, but there must be be some befuddlement based on the past practices. The discussion regarding Austin Martin seems very similar to much of what has filled Twins Daily this offseason. The plans seem to be based on a pile of "ifs". The only way the Twins team can manage to salvage the organization is if a large percentage of unknowns perform at a maximum level. Currently the Twins have one position player who is a known. They have two starting pitchers who are knowns. I'm quite bullish on a number of Twins prospects. I'm also thinking positively about a few rostered players. I'm hoping Austin Martin gets a fair shake, but have no idea how the club views him.

Wondering why the Twins would spend more than $2-4M on a relief pitcher when they traded away their three best relievers. Anything could happen but the odds have to be low on the Twins signing established relievers.