tony&rodney

Julien for Casas. Fresh start for both.

"The itinerary includes extended stays in places with no cellular service." That made me chuckle a little. Literally the only place on Earth where I have not had cellular service was in the U.S. However, to be fair, I have only been to 40 plus countries. St. Peter and Falvey should go together. Friendships are important.

My guess is that your numbers are reasonable, maybe a bit low. Joe Ryan will want market value. Dylan Cease signed for 7/$210M with some of the money deferred. Ryan will not get Cease money but not too far away. He, like others, will also listen to teams who have a fighting chance to win. Does that keep the Twins in the picture? I cannot answer that.

TwinsDr2021 and Nashevilletwin pretty much covered most views on the Twins starters. The one thing we don't know is how other clubs value any of the Twins starting pitchers. Last July effective relief pitchers were traded for Taj Bradley, Mick Abel, and Kendry Rojas. It would seem like Bradley, Abel, and Matthews might be looked on favorably for rotation spots ...... or as trade chips. We don't know the view. The reason many people, including me, have suggested trades is because the position side of the team is just plain deficient. Unless all of Luke Keaschall, Kaelen Culpepper, Emmanuel. Rodriguez, and Walker Jenkins are everyday players on Day 1, the team needs help. Josh Bell isn't help. I can agree that we have a good pitching staff. I can agree that there can never be too much pitching. I can agree that the Twins need all of their arms and give the inexperienced players some time to see what they have. That's all good ..... ..... except the Twins badly need guys to catch and throw behind the pitchers. The Twins badly need someone who can hit. The Twins need someone who can run. The Twins need talent on the position side of the roster. It is a classic Catch-22. There isn't an easy answer. Only the prospects hold any promise whatsoever of saving the team. That is why some of us on Twins Daily have suggested trades. We like our pitchers. It was just too painful to watch the folly of how the position guys fielded their positions. That necessitates some change. How? Who? That is where trades get suggested and frankly many of them have no chance and may be be slightly ridiculous. Rolling back the same basic roster as last September seems ridiculous too. On that Twins Daily is split. Are there options? They are dwindling. If Pablo Lopez was traded for a Jonah Tong, that hurts and may not even be possible. It also allows the Twins to sign Bo Bichette, a player who would stabilize the roster. If Joe Ryan was traded we would cry foul but there are options potentially to strengthen the team. A wild guess of a blockbuster sends Ryan, Bradley, Roden, and Rojas to Sacramento for Soderstrom and De Vries. All I'm saying is that the current roster is over matched and that there are options within a budget of $115M. I would love to see this current roster win the division and go on to win the World Series. I will be hoping for the best no matter how things play out. I'm just skeptical that rolling it back for a third year brings about a different result.

Apparently you are unfamiliar with the Twins rosters and payrolls in the last 9 years and not familiar with the current roster. It is nice of you to champion the current regime, but one has to actually have some knowledge of what players were instrumental in winning games. The Twins are now down to one position player that would be a consensus average or above average position player. Naturally, there are people who can make cases for two week stretches or future hopes for multiple other guys including all of: Jeffers, Jackson, Bell, Julien, etc. (one can fill in the remainder of the roster). Byron Buxton was drafted and developed by the prior front office. That's the Twins sole player worth a mention for now. The Twins have spent more money on payroll under the current front office than all of their division foes as well as spent considerably more money on players than Milwaukee and Tampa Bay among other clubs. In short there has not been a shortage of funds available for the current front office unless one insists on comparing the Twins to the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, and Phillies. The financial resources have been plentiful. Any outside evaluation of the Twins organization from 2016 to today easily concludes that the aging of players developed under Ryan/Smith/Anthony combined with poor roster decisions and an absence of successfully bringing talent from the minor leagues to the major league team (failure to develop pre-arb players) has resulted in the September 2025 Twins squad. The decline has been a combination of neglect, inability to evaluate talent, a risk adverse mindset, and some bad luck. The Rockies are as good as the Twins right now. There is always hope and the Twins have opportunities if they are interested in change. I remain hopeful for change. Everyone is capable of change for the better.

I would say it is really difficult to rate any organization's prospects. Boston has traded leftovers (35-40 rated) for players the Red Sox expect to be major contributors. A noted factor in the two trades Boston completed with St. Louis was taking on big salaries. those trades and others point to how teams view players from different clubs in vastly different ways. The Twins have seen the baseball blogs rate their organization anywhere from #2 to #15. As you state only Jeffers and Ober have arrived from the current front office efforts at developing players. This does raise a host of questions. I will just hope that all of Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Gabriel Gonzalez, Kaelen Culpepper, Connor Prielipp, and Andrew Morris get votes for Rookie of the Year. Hope for these guys is all we got.

In consideration of the defense and strikeouts expected from Vientos, I propose the Mets send us Vientos which satisfies the author and the Twins send the Mets the debt left from Carlos Correa.

The rough estimate of times that people on Twins Daily have mentioned that Matt Wallner could possibly hit 40 home runs is easily beyond 50 in various comments. Mayo and Wallner can be seen as mirrors to some extent. Do I buy that? If you read the comments you know that answer. A team of DH types appeals to many people. There is a place in every lineup for a DH, one. How do you view a team full of DH types?

The article reads like a tongue in cheek comment on how unbalanced the Twins current roster sits. Buxton and a hoard of DH's on the position side and questions behind the four starters on the pitching staff. At least that was what I understood the author to say. The roster may be effed up now but there are opportunities for change in small and, if interested, larger ways. Doing nearly nothing doesn't seem like an option but it does seem like the plan. Hope, wait, hope.

It is a good idea. I'm not certain there is any interest from the Twins front office. The current picture seems to indicate that the front office feels like they have already put together their dream team. We can hope though.

How serious can T3 be if he was in charge since the close of the season? As of right now the moves, press conferences, and statements are just a joke. Who has been fooled thus far? To be fair, major changes can still take place in the next 6 weeks. We can remain hopeful. It is all one can do.

This is a strange idea. The Twins just signed Josh Bell and stated he will play first base. Bell cannot be traded until sometime after the 2026 season is in motion (?-June 15). Additionally, it is a big expense for a team out of money. Lastly, Walker plays defense. He is not the type of player the Twins go after on most occasions. The Twins have options ...... if they are interested. We have seen numerous players signed and various teams have made trades while Alex Jackson remains the big deal for our team so far. Money is a reality but not necessarily limiting the Twins in deals. Pittsburgh has made several trades and is still looking for more bats. The Twins have an excess of DH players and signing Bell adds to their options at DH. Falvey should be looking to deal with Pittsburgh. I'm not seeing any real interest thus far, except for from people on TD.

You live in Coral Gables? Have you seen Lombard play?

Is it remotely expected or even possible/realistic for the Twins to add relievers at a cost that exceeds what they traded away?

The Twins traded Duran, Jax, Varland, and Stewart last July. It would be quite unexpected for the Twins to add anyone to the bullpen besides a couple of late free agent relievers for a combined $5M given those trades. Spring Training will be a free-for-all for those eight spots in the pen. Sands, Topa, and Funderburk had some good days and some struggles. Orze was ok for Tampa Bay. Those four could well fill the bottom four spots. It is anyone's guess who fills out the top four slots. Hopefully it is the best four arms available. Avoiding injuries will be critical to the pitchers who might fit for the bullpen. My guess today is that David Festa and Zebby Matthews are two of the guys and two of Connor Prielipp, Marco Raya, and John Klein fill the other two spots. Andrew Morris may be an option as well. The favorites to earn a chair may be Pierson Ohl and Travis Adams. I'm expecting Mick Abel to be the #6 starting pitcher behind Taj Bradley and Simeon Woods Richardson, who should hold down the back of the starting rotation. While the bullpen looks shaky, the major concern for the Twins continues to be weakness of the position players. Based on the current roster the Twins could have as many as five DH's in the lineup. The bullpen is not a major problem. Before people can push the narrative of a weak bullpen it is necessary to put gloves in the field who turn ground balls and fly balls into outs.

Thank you. i was just curious and like to see other people's thoughts. FWIW, The Red Sox don't have a RH to trade, maybe a prospect. Of course, I also have no idea how Boston views Ryan or Lopez.

Ok. Can you explain if you would trade Pablo at all? When you say straight up is that a shortage from Boston's or Minnesota's side. Are you interested in the basic trade is my curiosity; moving Lopez but adding Duran? Why or why not?

Thank you for your thoughts. I hope you know that I wasn't advocating to trade Lopez. I was asking a question from the following comment by Fatbat. I don't know if he favored a trade, so I asked the question. "Duran is in Boston for a long time!! Nothing outside of Pablo or Ryan will get Duran." - from comment by Fatbat. I thought it was a fair comment so I was curious. Your comment (above in gray- LA Vikes Fan) prefers Abreu and offers Ober plus. I'm wondering why Boston, which is flush with #4-5 starting pitchers but really in need of someone to slot above Sonny Gray, would acquire Ober. I would suggest they are only interested if the Twins talk Ryan or Lopez. I'm not sure Boston fits as a trade partner unless acquiring Jarren Duran for Pablo Lopez plus maybe Charlee Soto is 1) a possibility and 2) part of a couple of additional moves. As I stated elsewhere all of these ideas should indicate in some fashion that change is possible, yet we know that slightly more than half of Twins Daily disagrees with that notion. Status quo is also the position of the MN Twins.

Thank you for weighing in on the idea someone above proposed. I merely asked the guy if he would trade Lopez for Duran. That brought a thumb down from mickster. How does one click a thumb down on a question? There was zero opinion, refutation or support for the idea but rather a question. Pablo Lopez is valued by the Twins and many of their fans. A majority do not want to see Lopez traded, no matter what the return is for the Twins. The Red Sox may not trade Duran for any package. That is unclear. They also have too many outfielders to give all of them regular playing time. This has resulted in Wilyer Abreu being platooned and he has subsequently struggled when facing LH pitching. Boston would accept the right deals for Ryan or Lopez but the Twins probably don't have a good match there. A trade for Duran or Abreu adds another LH corner outfield bat to Larnach, Wallner, Roden, Outman, Rodriguez, Jenkins. The removal of Lopez's salary does present possibilities for the club though. The Twins should consider making a few changes. I don't know if Lopez plus Charlee Soto for Jarren Duran works but it does add offense to the Twins club. What does that mean for Austin Martin? The savings of $14M (Lopez-Duran) can be supplemented by trading Trevor Larnach to create spending options. Trading Ober would add even more financial capital. If one accepts the guessed $115M ceiling for a roster budget, moving Lopez and Larnach while adding Duran leaves about $33M to spend. That is Bo Bichette plus a reliever money. This is just to say that there are options and a budget of $110-115M is not limiting. Refusal to be creative is limiting. That is where the Twins have been for three years now. So it goes. I'm still hoping.

Would you trade Pablo for Duran?

This is what stops most conversations on Twins Daily. Half want change, half are pretty content with nearly all of the roster. Many people choose to blame the Pohlads. The Pohlads cannot satisfy Twins fans until they win and they cannot win when the club's objective is to be mediocre. This is a very fair statement. I can accept good entertainment from a team. The Athletics were fun to watch last year. The Twins were fun in 1977, for just a local example. The really discouraging news from Tom Pohlad was his informing us that he has been, basically, in charge since last season ended. So .... Eric Orze, Alex Jackson, Josh Bell, and Falvey is still handling baseball decisions. Good luck with that. Where to start? Remove Falvey from all baseball decisions of any kind or type. Hire a baseball man and let them work. I'm in that bottom half of the split as shown by a series of fairly even polls concerning the direction the Twins should take. My preference is for guys who can hit, run, catch, and throw. There is a fresh post today asking about how the Twins can acquire Coby Mayo, a player the 53% prefer. The Twins clearly are run by the same baseball philosophies as the 53% of people polled on Twins Daily. That suggests the Twins carry on with their current practices and hope for a different result. Thus, the Pohlads are doing what many of the fans want. They have just bungled public relations, which as one comment suggested would heal over if there is ever continual quiet from ownership. While my preferences might be different and there may be many who agree with me, the court of public opinion still favors the status quo. There will not be significant change at this time. It's just a reality.

Coby Mayo's shine as a prospect was his promise as a power hitting corner infielder/DH. Mayo doesn't project to hit for average, is pretty slow, has defensive shortcomings but has a big arm and that power. He hasn't shown much in a brief run with Orioles. That makes Mayo a logical choice for the Twins style of baseball. He would fit in well with Jeffers, Bell, Julien, Larnach, and Wallner. What would it cost? The options are plentiful. Pick a guy with talent that doesn't fit as a Twins because of too much speed or a good arm. The author made Festa and Morris one of the options. People in Baltimore would be delighted with that deal. Emmanuel Rodriguez doesn't seem very popular because he can run and play defense, so add him too. Coby Mayo is a Twins type of player and he could hit 40 home runs like Wallner. Can the author or someone explain this statement, "The Twins' apparent shift toward challenge-style trades." Apparently I missed something. Was that the trade that brought Alex Jackson?

Don't have a clue what Falvey has to do with the business side but he is clearly way over his head on the baseball side. I cannot imagine that he has less numerical sense than he has baseball knowledge. The style of play, the unbalanced, awkward roster construction, and his inability to evaluate are simply a matter of record. Does he have a few successes? Yes, but he rode the previous admin players all the way down to Buxton with the largest budgets among all AL Central Division clubs and still struggled. The last three years of indecision have just been painful. Let Falvey run the business side. Don't let him have any say whatsoever in anything baseball related.

The honeymoon is over tomorrow. The Twins desperately need a new person to make roster and transaction decisions. If Tom Pohlad cannot make that simple change which doesn't involve firing anyone but merely a clear division of duties, then he is just another Talking Head, "You may ask yourself, Well how did I get here?" Can he do it? He's on the clock. Hold your money and don't gamble boys.

Sadly, this appears to be the case. This always works, but waiting until the results are in for a third straight year seems a little bit insane. My guess is that Time has already told but someone wasn't paying attention as time passed them by and the barometer has been thus far ignored despite the storm clouds of ineptitude. Yet, still, we hope.