tony&rodney

Bud Selig promoted Sosa versus McGuire, where local broadcast were interrupted to bring us many of their at bats. Thus he managed to bring us the steroid era, which was conveniently then blamed on the players. Manfred has toyed with the rules and the ball. The 2019 season was warped when it was divulged that the Manfredball ball gave MLB its own powerball. Recently, Manfred decided to use his superball only at one stadium, which it was said "makes it fair for both teams". Thus Aaron Judge, who doesn't need any help, now has a few new records. For now, that has ceased but the precedent for screwing around with the ball itself is a Manfred legacy. Introducing a pitch clock, Requiring relievers to either finish an inning or face at least three hitters Limiting the number of pitchers a team can carry, Putting a guy on 2nd base to start extra innings. Restricting mound visits and pick-off attempts, and Embiggening the bases MLB had a clock rule for both batters and pitchers for 100 years. MLB would not allow umpires to enforce it. Didn't anyone ever wonder why games from college to college to minors to amateur ball always has timely play? The umpires enforce the rule to pitch and bat at those levels, which is also why MLB players never had any problem whatsoever adjusting to the Manfredclock. MLB has toyed with both roster size and how players can be shuttled back and forth from the minors and majors. When MLB weakened their roster rules, you get the mess of pitching changes and larger numbers of pitchers. The ultimate in Manfredball is the ghost runner. Hey, cool, we used that when we were kids. The players love it because the games end quicker. Managers love it the most because they don't need to make difficult decisions for using pitchers. Folks who don't want to watch any more get to go to bed. The larger bases make little difference. It's just another PR stunt. MLB did not make home plate larger. I do believe that the Yankees, among a few other teams, needed to be corralled with the mound visits. The endless throws to first were once dealt with by the opposing pitcher, so this rule may be fair. The rules about purposely taking out a fielder or catcher were long overdue. These were also once taken care of by the pitcher. I understand that Manfredball has fans. To me, Manfred, or more correctly his rules and influence, are part and parcel of why baseball is #4 amongst North American sports and soccer is still growing. It is almost as if the owners, by virtue of employing Manfred, are seeking the decline of their product. Proof that wealthy people don't necessarily know what they are doing or have much in the way of intelligence.

There are a host of opportunities out there right now. i just hope that Falvey didn't take his squad to South Africa for a safari and team building holiday. I mean the safaris are wonderful and team building is a swell idea. It just seems like he might want to be available this winter. Let's hope for two small trades that reduce payroll (Paddack, Vazquez) and a couple of sweet deals to add talent that also uses a glove or pitches.

Doyle is a real centerfielder, fun to watch.

I wish Kyle Farmer all the best.

A bit of a s&*t show, but a nice city and a beautiful stadium. The Rockies drew 600,000 more fans in 2024 than the Twins and their market is smaller. I don't get what the owner is thinking but Denver still supports the team.

Jackson Holliday had a rough intro to MLB and still carries a very high value. Jenkins is still young and hopefully starts at AA. Highly rated prospects get argued over incessantly. Jenkins value is really high right now but he isn't going anywhere. He is in a different class than recent Twins prospects. One might put him beside Byron Buxton as a hyped prospect, although they are not very similar. Jenkins, like most prospects gets compared to some pretty good ballplayers, such as Larry Walker, Kyle Tucker, and even a mention of Bryce Harper. I don't know about any of those but I'm going to watch his plate appearances to see how he handles things playing for Wichita.

He managed to land a strong contract with Colorado. Amazing.

Almost a wishing/reverse psychology manner of looking at the current situation. I would think Falvey & Sons are on the clock. The end product will determine if their days in MLB are numbered or not. As such, despite my complete inability to relate to how these guys put a team together, we should expect to see at least two significant trades. Does Falvey have what it takes? We are waiting to find out.

Manfred has caused enough problems without writers giving him more insane ideas. MLB needs a new commissioner, a new focus, and a turn away from gimmicks.

There are opportunities to both improve the team and reduce salary. Money is not a sledgehammer crushing the hopes of the team for 2025. The Twins will almost certainly open the season with the highest payroll in the AL Central. Falvey needs to make it work by finding the teams who are open for transactions. On a simple budget note, Chris Paddack has value to multiple teams at his $7.5 million contract for 2025, if all the Twins want is to get below $130M. We can be certain that teams are interested.

What were the chances that the Twins had any interest in Montas? Clearly he was going to sign for a seven figure salary. Whether that was $10M or higher, the Twins had zero interest in him due to cost. The Twins are almost certain to have a higher payroll than their Midwest brother, Milwaukee, and all of the AL Central teams. This means Falvey & Sons need to get on the phone.

Your painting realism over idealist dreams.

None of Sasaki, Verlander, or Scherzer would sign a contract to pitch with Casas, Lewis, and Miranda wearing gloves behind them. The idea of one DH playing the on the infield is tolerable. Putting multiple DH's in the field is a no-no to free agent pitchers. The contracts would need to include stupid money, well beyond a level anyone else would match. The Twins have very little to offer Sasaki in the way of income via endorsements or a notable Japanese community. Would i like the Twins to make an attempt? Yes, by all means. Offer the maximum amount and aggressively seek corporate help for endorsements too. Realism is a thing though. Before the Twins can approach Sasaki, they need to make a few moves to fix their defense.

It is 2024. You went to a number of Twins games and watched them play in the field. You also watched their opponents as well. You worked hard to construct a pile of numbers to make the Twins look average. Now you hear your brain tell you that what you witnessed was not compatible with the statistics that were created. It's the offseason now and the overwhelming consensus is to roll it back in 2025 with the same team as 2024, minus the free agents Kepler, Santana, Farmer, and Thielbar. The fans believe. The stats you constructed will work better next time. You don't need to watch because you can look over the best analytics to explain everything. You accept the fate of the team. All praise to AI.

Satchel Paige, "Don't look back ...." There are people who may need this article to explain the story because they are unfamiliar with Brent Rooker and his time as a Twin. So good post for that reason alone. For those who are familiar with this tale, let bygones be bygones.

Maybe the pitchers who get batters out (lowest WHIP) is the best idea. Seems pretty worthless to have a roster spot taken up by a LOOGY in 2025. Tanner Scott would work. JK. $.

I'm pretty sure Hays gets $5 million or more. Does that eliminate the Twins as an option?

Was just referring to his baseball career. Garbe was quite an athlete and good student who took what he learned to find success in his life. He is living in Moses Lake, Washington running a construction company. Playing professional baseball is really an extremely tough job.

Where have you gone B. J. Garbe?

Seems like this coming year will be really exciting for watching Walker Jenkins. Everything will be predicated on how Jenkins adapts this year. Worth remembering that Mauer spent an extra year in the minor leagues because he needed more work as a catcher and the Twins had an excellent catcher in A. J. Gardy said on numerous occasions that Mauer was MLB ready as a batter as a 20 year old. Will Jenkins be ready at 20 or 21 years old? I'm not worried about the entire idea of putting too many expectations on the young man. These elite athletes have had eyeballs on them since they became teenagers. Signing for $7.14 miilion as a top draft choice, you can be sure that Jenkins has extremely high goals for himself and has a system of checks and balances in his life to keep everything under control.

The thoughts on whether Emmanuel Rodriguez needs to show himself as ready in St. Paul versus those of us who would like the Twins to put him in the lineup is pretty much an endless loop of basic opinions. What I think should be clear is that a few people believe that there are sometimes players whose talents separate themselves from the vast majority of prospects. There are zero current Twins who I would advocated for skipping AAA. That doesn't mean ER is a sure thing at all but I'm seeing him as a Twin more than a Saint. It is easy to understand the usual stance of more time in AAA, but this time I will simply disagree even if the path is one Falvey surely chooses.

Personally, I have more confidence in the pitching than the position players. I see a need for the Twins to upgrade the defense behind the pitchers with a minimum of one new outfielder and one new infielder. The current roster does not meet an average level of play in the field forcing the hitters to produce at very rates and the pitchers to throw more pitches and record more outs than should be expected. A player who does meet the standard, Carlos Correa, may be the key, whether he is traded or kept. The Twins need him at the plate and in the field yet his salary seems to stop the Twins from getting creative. We have already discussed Correa but I wonder how the Twins can proceed with him or without him. Perhaps when Soto and 2-3 more FA starting pitchers sign their contracts there will be discussions and some movement across baseball. I hope the Twins see fit to improve their roster.

For that matter, one wonders whether Caleb Thielbar returns, healthy and ready to pitch?

Consistency is a good thing.

Very strange response from you. You are the king of all stats, buried up to your eyeballs with so many interesting comparisons, lists, and never-ending assortments of analytics, many quite relevant and others missing first person knowledge. Now you drop a name many of us are very familiar with. a guy who had great athletic promise but never accomplished much of anything except to flash potential in spurts. I'll leave the stats to you. Why choose Benson is my question? How do you see Benson in Jenkins? I'm genuinely curious. They are both hyped prospects, but I can't see it. What am i missing?