tony&rodney

One thing that seems to help relief pitchers is knowing their roles. Despite the increasing idea that sometimes it is important to use a pitcher like Griffin Jax or Jhoan Duran in the 6th or 7th inning, this is a shift in routine. Leave that for the postseason. Pitchers like Tonkin, Sands, Alcala, Varland, and Stewart are best utilized in those situations. Jax and Duran are suited for the 9th inning.

Fun stuff. Interesting take to use Willi Castro as a DH when he never actually was used as a DH last year. The Guardians and Royals clearly are better off the bench than the other teams. Seems like picking teams one would choose the Tigers outfield and the Guardians bench. The DH position was not dominated by one player that I recall, with maybe a nod to David Fry of the Guardians. Thus far the comparison tells me that the Twins really relied on their pitching last year to finish above .500.

The biggest benefit will be that there is a lower base when increases are figured next year. The Twins may still pull of a couple of tranactions. Hays would be a decent addition to the roster. Still, I think the Twins are not adding via free agents.

Trevor Larnach gets no love. Gasper is pretty unlikely but I see what ZiPs did. Flip the corner outfielders too.

I'm likely on the short side of folks who still believe that Julien can turn his career around, hopefully this year. The reason I wrote "hoping for Eeles or Keaschall is because I don't see either of Lee or Lewis playing a good second base. I could be very wrong there. We have no idea how Eeles would do or even if he gets an opportunity. A combination of decent glove, some speed, and a guy who does not strike out would help the team. I'm not predicting the outcome but hoping for a positive push from below. The Twins who played second base last year were less than stellar.

ZiPS is always interesting to look over. Jeffers, and Lewis project to be mol the same with a 108 OPS+. My take has been simplified to who can catch the ball and give the team the best opportunity to score runs. Thus, I would stick Emmanuel in the lineup right away.

Quintana would fit in behind Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Festa, Woods Richardson, Matthews, and even Morris. I'm counting Paddack as a relief pitcher. The Twins would not offer Quintana a contract given their current staff.

The guesses are all over the place. I'm hoping he gets his shot and then we will shall have an answer.

Once upon a time Anderson put up some decent numbers for the Twins minor league teams, but the Twins didn't like something and he was traded to Miami. Nick has had some decent runs with a couple of teams but also suffered plenty of injuries. He wants to keep playing after the Royals let him go, so a spot in the Saints bullpen could work if there is room.

Chicago will likely leave Teel in the minor leagues for at least a couple of months, at least for control purposes. Right, it is pretty much impossible to predict the Twins infield. Correa at shortstop and then ..... whatever. Just using the guys who played for the Twins last year, we are unsure who plays where or even if it is an open competition. Perhaps Falvey has a set infield. There is just no way to know what that guy has in the plans.

Unless the Twins do something very surprising like trading Pablo Lopez I would expect any trades to send away more players than are returned as far as the 40 person roster is concerned. Whether it is a significant trade to bring in a solid player in a 2-1 or 3--1 transaction or if Chris Paddack is dealt for a prospect, the end result is more likely to open a spot on the 40 person roster.

Don't get all emo on us again.

Comparisons are always fun and people like to add a pile of analytics to claim which players ranks where. I'm wondering if you could pick a player at each position how you might choose. C) Salvy, Naylor Jeffers, Rogers, CWS / Need to consider both catchers really. 1B) Pasquantino, Keith, Santana, Miranda & CWS tie / Lewis fits at 1B. 2B) India, Torres, Guardians & Twins tie, CWS / Hoping for Eeles or Keaschall. 3B) Ramirez, Lewis, Detroit, KC, CWS / Detroit could still sign Bregman. He is perfect for Fenway. SS) Witt Jr., Correa, Rochio, Sweeney, CWS / Correa needs to stay healthy. Infield) Kansas City - easily, Cleveland, Minnesota, Detroit, CWS There are still a couple of months to go. Deals can be made.

Emmanuel is going to strike out, that is a given. He also has a significant boom or bust profile. Because of the potential boom the Twins need to let him play. I'm not seeing or thinking there is any reason for EmRod to marinate in AAA while people decide if he is going to make it or not. The defense is there. He has a really good glove and an ability to go get the ball. The bat is what the Twins want and he is ready right now. For me, he is a use or trade player. If the front office does not believe in Rodriguez then the trade value should return a strong player. The injury fear and the concerns about passivity at the plate can only be assuaged by playing time. It is now or never for Emmanuel.

Max Kepler was a decent player for the Twins. He never rose to All Star status, managing just to be a regular in the lineup. Perhaps Max is a poster for how hard it is to excell at baseball in the major leagues. The fans always expected and wanted more from Kepler than he could produce. I believe he was a solid player for the Twins. We just wanted much more. Miguel Sano was an enigma. The power was alluring. 2015 was his best performance. There were a host of issues that likely began with his recruitment. Sadly, Sano never managed to level out or improve enough to carve out a decade in MLB. The turbulence surrounding Miguel always seemed a little much, maybe unfair or fair-I don't know, and he never managed to get settled. I hope he has found contentment and peace in his life.

Calvin was more or less forced out and while his fear of bankruptcy may have been a little far fetched he did hold a real desire to provide for all of his relatives. The Twins were losing money he no longer could afford to lose. Calvin was old, in his 70s, and fighting health problems; he was ready to go and MLB wanted him out too. Hiring Andy MacPhail was a smart baseball move. There were a number of reasons the Twins rose in the 1980s, winning in 1987 and 1991. All of the reasons were important in my opinion. The strong players Calvin had in place, the hiring of MacPhail, Tom Kelly, and a few timely trades. Another factor, sometimes forgotten was the collusion of owners in restricting the free agent market that fed a couple of key players to the Twins. Jack Morris was a Twin via collusion. After the success of those years (late 1980s/early 1990s), Carl increasingly lost interest in the team and wanted out. TheDome had a firm lease and Minnesota had a strong judge that kept the team from leaving. MLB is a corporate world with little to no concern for humans besides finding paths to the money. Calvin was the last of his kind, a species now extinct.

It would be mildly surprising if Baltimore traded a key prospect for Dylan Cease. He will want to see his market as a free agent. Their best bet is to sign Flaherty. I, selfishly, want the Twins to hold Lopez. Luis Castillo can be really good but he can also be really mediocre. That said, Lopez has his down games as well. Seattle has a great park for pitchers

Seems like it should be an easy agreement from numerous discussions in the past. The Twins cannot remove one of their current MLB catchers until another one is on board. Jair Camargo isn't the answer and neither are Diego Cartaya or Mickey Gasper (now listed as an infielder).

FWIW, Carmargo is a better glove behind the plate at this moment in time than Cartaya. Take that for what it is worth and ask yourself what sense one could derive from a question which asks whether the Twins should consider trading either Jeffers or Vazquez. Note, nowhere here is there a push for Camargo. Also, worth remembering how the Twins viewed Camargo last summer in his time on the Twins roster. Finally, the trade for Cartaya was a decent play because the Twins have a year to see if the changes in lattitude results in some adjustments and growth for the young former Dodger prospect. Time and a new view can bring about positive results.

Both mlb.com and mlbtraderumors.com cover all MLB teams in a relatively neutral fashion. Dan Hayes of The Athletic also works to be a fair reporter on Twins news. in October (or was it November?) of 2023, the Twins put out their brain dead statement that the payroll budget would be cut. Leaving passion and general disgust with the idea aside, one could understand that the one time BAM money and the failure of the RSN deal portended a fall of cash in that ultimately could result in reducing cash out. It happened and we were not happy at all. Unhappy. Sometimes reality sucks. At the close of the 2024 season there were pointed and repeated questions about the status of the 2025 player payroll. The club responded that no further cuts would occur. From there the Twins just ignored and refused to discuss financial matters. From a distant viewpoint there was zero reason to do so because it was a lose-lose conversation. Many people seethed at the debacle of the 2024 season and put the entire record as a consequence of the reduced payroll. The screams of "We need to sign Jordan Montgomery" or "The Twins need Rhys Hoskins" are still echoing. Fast forward to this offseason and every article has claimed some form of "self-imposed" payroll comment, even when a post had zero to do with finances. It was/is absurd and reflected poorly. The team is for sale. The revenue is still impacted by the media money decline. The Pohlads want a sale to go though asap as much as those fans who are managing to hold ire at such impressive levels. The payment of salaries for 2025 will fall to a new ownership. A reduction or increase in payroll does not affect them in any manner. It is pretty much common sense that no major free agent signings were going to occur under the current status-team for sale. Likewise, a teardown was similarly not going to take place. The roster shuffling was always going to revolve around any transactions that the front office managed to complete. Falvey has latitude to make changes but he was never going to deal for the sake of change, only if the deals made the team stronger. Crickets thus far is not actually surprising despite my wanting to see a few deals. The idea that suddenly the Twins might not cut payroll for 2025 is only news to those who steadfastly refused to pay attention, listen to or read the actual comments from the Twins, or more likely were so enraptured with their rage from the 2023 cuts that only a mantra could soothe the pain. I'm hoping this sale goes through today so that I don't have to stumble through the anger against the Pohlads when I'm trying to read an article on prospects or ways in which a pitcher may improve next season. When the sale is complete I will think - good riddance - and hope the Pohlads are absent from Twins Daily articles.

Catcher? None have high floors. Shortstop? Kaelen Culpepper could stick as could Danny De Andrade. The sleeper here is slightly improbable but should not be counted out - Brandon Winokur. There are questions at these two positions, no doubt. This is why i proposed, in the past, that the Twins go hard after Jeferson Quero of Milwaukee (cost ? B. Lee) and Jordan Lawler of Arizona (cost ? J. Duran and one of J. Miranda or E. Julien). However, I don't think the Snakes or Brewers oblige.

I'm pretty bullish on the Twins actually. I rather like their pitching. The only wish for me was that the front office would be willing to go a bit overboard on a couple of gambles for young players who are capable of filling an organizational weakness. Neither players may even be available but I would overpay for both. The current top prospects are very close to earning lineup slots. Jenkins may be a year away, but I'm hoping big time to see some success from Emmanuel, Luke, and Payton this year. The farm system may clock in among the middle third in MLB but there are players itching to show their stuff. Let it be.

The key point on any additions should hinge on whether the new guy is better than the guy being replaced or pushed down. I'm struggling to come up with free agent starting pitchers or position players beyond a big ticket and that isn't realistic. A relief pitcher is possible. Does Yates sign to be a set up reliever?

The LH/RH bat depends on the severity of the splits and whether the Twins brain trust will allow a LH bat to play every day. Emmanuel Rodriguez (like the honey badger) - he don't care. I think Basallo is a possible minor version of Yordan Alvarez. Mayo (future) and Westburg (now) are really good but they each strike out quite a bit. Seems like the K's need to be watched as closely as the LH bats. FWIW, Larnach and Wallner may be ready to face LH pitchers too. I think the Twins must give that a long trial run because (discussed much) the past strategy has hurt as much as helped. Kjerstad is going to be really good (IMO) but he overflows the bucket already present (Larnach, Wallner, Keisey Jr., Rodriguez, Jenkins), so I agree the interest won't be there from the Twins side.

We sure have to be impressed with how dedicated and hard working Brent Rooker has been in his pursuit of a baseball career. This is especially noteworthy in his ability to handle repeated failure and the lack of belief from separate organizations. The rebound to his current standing is laudable. I'm impressed.