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tony&rodney

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Everything posted by tony&rodney

  1. tony&rodney
    Every single time I mention this I get a pile of thumbs down, but the reality hasn't changed at all and it won't. The Twins have a payroll that is tops in their division and considerably higher than the NL Central division champion Milwaukee Brewers. I would love a payroll at $150-200M. Sure. Why not? Not going to happen. The Pohlads have never even heard of Mickey Gasper or Mike Ford. They have nothing to do with players added to the roster unless you count the two big contracts of Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa. Remember that Detroit, Cleveland, Kansas City, and Milwaukee all have a few players with big contracts too. The guys who make the roster decisions are in the front office. They don't have anything to do with ownership. Yes, they have a payroll budget. So does every single team. A new ownership, which we all hope occurrs asap, will also set a payroll ceiling. If one is a diehard fan of the 20 teams that have dollars below the top ten, you depend on the front office for a competitive roster. Hello Cleveland and Tampa Bay. If one wants to see your team sign Juan Soto, become an avid fan of the New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, or Texan teams. There are opportunities to trade or acquire players. It happens frequently. Last trade deadline, A.J. Puk was obtainable. Last week, Jesus Luzardo was available for a song. I do not criticize the front office for passing on those players if they did not see a fit, which was their choice. I do think there are deals to be made. Hopefully, a few acquisitions are made for players who can improve the Twins roster in 2025.
  2. tony&rodney
    Of course you know that the Twins are well above their AL Central brethren as well as Milwaukee when it comes to payroll spending. The Twins are in the middle of MLB in payroll. Not everything is about money. All teams are restricted by money. Pity the poor Dodgers signing a new free agent and paying double due to the CBT penalties. Mike Ford is a good addition for St. Paul. A pile of injuries could see him play at Target Field.
  3. tony&rodney
    Falvey seems to struggle with this as you suggest. One wonders why. Do other POBO's or GM's read Falvey? I just don't understand the guy at all .... more bewildered than negative. I don't get his ideas.
  4. tony&rodney
    The team is for sale, thus all non players are lame duck pending a sale. Who even knows how much the Pohlads are involved. If the team sells change may happen, or not. In any business of size it is hard to fire everyone.
  5. tony&rodney
    If the Twins sit Emmanuel when a left-handed pitcher is on the mound, then you will know it is not analytics but insanity. EmRod doesn't care which hand a pitcher uses. He swings and misses or crushes the ball against either hand.
  6. tony&rodney
    Put Emmanuel Rodriguez in left field. Trevor Larnach can DH and play some outfield, maybe even a little first base from time to time. Move Royce Lewis to first base and let him mash with having to dive around as a 2B/3B player. Third base goes to Brooks Lee. Perhaps he earns his name a little bit. Second base? Well, see what happens between Willi Castro, Payton Eeles, Luke Keaschall, and Austin Martin. Turns out Greggory Masterson was correct. This is easier than we were making it.
  7. tony&rodney
    When you meet with your boss several times per day and their ideas are clearly communicated to you in detail with examples and various scenarios, you always go back to your post thinking that you make all the final decisions but it was good to talk with someone to see what they think. Right? One would hope that the team is reassessing any number of factors in how they proceed. We have read repeatedly that the debacle the last weeks of August and September overshadowed that the Twins were among the best teams in baseball. Perhaps the Twins might assess the record versus teams with winning records as opposed to their performance against teams like the White Sox. Al the games count. This is true. Do the Twins make plans to go 23-3 versus CHW, LAA, and SACA's in this coming year to balance their expectations of an 0-15 record against NYY, BAL, and ATL? So yes, I'm hoping there are conversations and a reassessment of the roster, team, strategies, and plans for 2025 in hopes of some improvement on the field if not necessarily in the won-loss column.
  8. tony&rodney
    A real gutsy player and one who provided amazing value to the Twins over his time playing for Minnesota. Considering how many players tanked last season and knowing the entire roster cannot be purged it seemed like there might be another year for Caleb. Apparently the reality of last season and Thielbar's age meant it was time to move on. Good luck to Thielbar. I sure hope he is a star for the Cubs and enjoys pitching in Wrigley Field. Chicago is a great city.
  9. tony&rodney
    Well, I'm not exactly issuing support for Vazquez. Cleveland, among other teams, has a preference for catchers who catch. How well they hit is secondary. The Guardians have Ramirez but not a pile of guys getting MVP votes or pitchers getting CYA tallies. Per the post, if the Twins could trade Vazquez for McCann the idea might swim. Who will take Vazquez and his contract? No one might be the answer. As it is the Twins have a tandem that has worked for the past two years. Vazquez's contract expires after this year and then the Twins will have a new catcher. When one considers the Twins at 1B, 2B, 3B, LF, RF, and DH the catching situation almost looks stable. Eventually the Twins will need to make a move for a catcher. I have proposed several ideas which may have been lame or otherwise not feasible but they were reasonable for both teams to an extent. Until Falvey sees fit, the Twins will need to prosper with Vazquez's bat in the lineup half the time. It's the reality that Falvey chose.
  10. tony&rodney
    Winokur made so many improvements last year. His speed, athleticism, and potential make him the ultimate prospect with an unbelievably high ceiling even while his floor could be A+ ball; crazy disparate outcomes possible. I'm excited to see his progression this year.
  11. tony&rodney
    My initial reaction after drifting through the article was wondering how the writer came up with those two names. The Dodgers do this trade every day. Reading through the comments I wondered what ideas people might have as a response. Somehow it seems Duran has lost value, which I don't see.
  12. tony&rodney
    Forever, at least in my lifetime, coaches have worked with catchers to "receive" the ball as quietly as possible. I was a pitcher, but caught some and was shown a few tricks. Coaches worked quite a bit with catchers on setup and receiving; a series of flips. I don't believe we should dismiss that there are several calls made each game due to proper catching but the measurement of it and comments by announcers has been a little out there. LaTroy Hawkins has discussed this on air several times. He gets pretty disgusted and dismissive actually. His comment goes something along the lines that stealing a strike is just bad umpiring. He does go on to explain that catchers work very hard to be smooth and also explains how frustrating it is for a pitcher to throw to a catcher who jerks all over the place and even obstructs the umpire. This post asks about picking up McCann and that seems like a slim odds deal. Gasper is AAA support only. I would almost expect a trade of Lopez before Vazquez is moved. I don't want that at all. Do wish the Twins would consider making a trade for a catching prospect, but have no idea what. I just throw out stuff like Brooks Lee for Jeferson Quero or Varland, Miranda/Julien for Harry Ford as thoughts and guesses.
  13. tony&rodney
    Every time I tuned into a Connor Prielipp game he looked dominant .... until he faded. 2025 will determine his future and I expect it to show by June. Injury? Starter? Relief? I'm going to tune in.
  14. tony&rodney
    Catching is a skill and the concept of strikes being called because the umpires are fooled can only be measured poorly. Umpires are human so mistakes are made and they also are very familiar with the catchers so there is going to be some natural bias on close pitches on a few seldom delayed calls.. With strike zone accuracies in the mid to upper 90% range umpires are really good at their jobs. Nevertheless, we have catchers posing as they receive the ball. If you ever umpired a game where the pitchers can throw in the 80s or better with an occasional decent breaking ball you understand that the umpire actually cannot see the catcher's glove. The focus is on the ball. The best umpires pay no attention to the catcher.
  15. tony&rodney
    I was there. It was hilarious.
  16. tony&rodney
    Agree that the employees do evaluate and that it is tough. My issue with the Twins is that often we see similar players filling roles, good hit/less glove. This along with overlap, which I try not to second guess because I'm not a fan of that. There are players best suited to utility roles. Farmer and Castro come to mind. They are good because they can step in as regulars for an injured player. The Twins carried both last year plus multiple guys who played the same positions. There is no such thing as too much depth on one hand but there are also opportunities to trade when the overlap involves players who are too similar. Naturally this is difficult. The trade of Arraez was a good example of a good trade. The Polanco trade was bungled, not because of the loss of Jorge or the poor return but because he should have been bundled with one or two others for a significant guy or sent solely for a prospect. So it is complex, that is for sure. An example of gambles by division foes are the Guardians trading Naylor and Gimenez and the White Sox trading Crochet. These trades were not about money, they were done to improve their teams. Sorry for the sloppy ramble.
  17. tony&rodney
    Long before the trendy and inexact science of "framing", there were catchers who always had a job because they can catch. Drew Butera was one such guy and long before him, Phil Roof and Andy Echebarren (RIP) among others. Catching is really hard and brutal on the body. A fair amount of wild pitches are caught or stopped by the best catchers. These statistics are impossible to quantify because one wild pitch bounces in the dirt while another goes five feet over the head of the umpire. The people who can tell you who the best catchers are mostly keep their mouth shut in the interest of the team. Pitchers know. Everyone wants a Joe Mauer behind the plate because he stops everything and then grabs a bat and hits too. Teams make difficult choices based on their pitching staffs and options. Houston rode the worst hitter in baseball, Martin Maldonado, simply because he could catch the ball. Once his catching and throwing deteriorated, he was replaced. The Twins have a fair catching tandem for now. They don't need to dump Vazquez for payroll considerations. If the budget calls for a slight decrease, there are a number of teams that will take Chris Paddack, which solves the financial problem if there even is one. A much bigger concern is next year. Without catchers, the game doesn't work. I think it is past time for the Twins to make a few moves to bring in a catching prospect or two. They may need to overpay to get on the front side of this void in the organization.
  18. tony&rodney
    The Houston Astros and Martin Maldonado might disagree with you. I'm not real familiar with McCann's catching skills so I'll leave that to someone else to determine. A pitcher needs to have confidence in their catcher or stuff goes south in a hurry. Every manager looks for a catcher who can hit and catch, winning teams focus on catchers who catch. The bat is a bonus.
  19. tony&rodney
    I'm not calling for specific trades. My point is that there needs to be talent evaluation to determine the manner in which to best improve the team. This seems like it is part of the job of a front office. My frustration last offseason was that the Twins had some players who held value to other teams and there seemed like opportunities to acquire needs to improve the roster. Holding all of the players because you believe they will all contribute might work but then again it might not. Last season Julien and Kirilloff were among the players who didn't work out. Nobody is counting on Julien right now. Will there be someone we believe should be a regular falter this year due to holes in their game? I guess I see the Twins as more reactive than proactive and it seems like there are opportunities out there.
  20. tony&rodney
    Winning usually is the answer to increased attendance. There may be other factors though. Last summer I was at a game in August that somewhat personified the 2024 season. The opponent made all the plays, took the extra base, and put the bat on the ball. The Twins missed several plays, took one base at a time, and came out of their shoes a couple of times where contact was called for. It was actually a good game but the fans left frustrated and one could hear numerous comments walking out of the stadium. Winning is the most important factor but clean fundamental baseball would help too.
  21. tony&rodney
    The Vikings, Wild, Timberwolves, and Loons sold out every game last season. At least that is what the internet tells me. The Twins averaged just over 24,000 per game at Target Field, capacity 39,504. There is room for improvement.
  22. tony&rodney
    Of course, we do not know if the Twins are looking to change their current setup at the catching position. Much of the conversation is directed at removing the $10M contract for next season due Christian Vazquez. There has yet to be any quotes or even hints that the Twins must remove payroll or are putting Vazquez out there. At least I have not seen it, which doesn't mean you haven't. Absolutely nothing on MLBTradeRumors. All of the speculation comes from writers disgruntled about the reduction in payroll from 2023 to 2024, which is in the past. Gleeman continues to lead this charade. If the Twins are looking for a catcher, they have an entire assortment of players to trade that I believe other teams would be interested in acquiring for their team. Many of us on Twins Daily have concocted reasonable trades that would ostensibly benefit both teams. Falvey likes his guys right now. That can change too. Gasper replaces Williams.
  23. tony&rodney
    Yes, this reads like a preview of the White Sox precipitous fall. Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton are here to stay a few more years due to the no trade clause. If the Twins brain trust have any fears whatsoever about Matt Wallner, there are several teams looking for a right fielder. Pittsburgh would probably send over Jared Jones. Somebody in the organization should have a handle on evaluating the talent and from there the team stands pat or makes some deals. The other side of this equation suggests that other teams see little to no value in discussing transactions with Minnesota due to the paucity of talent on their roster. That doesn't seem realistic. I'm guessing that the front office sees a roster that bottomed out in 2024 and there is an expectation of improvement across the roster, which is why we have not seen any moves.
  24. tony&rodney
    I'm confused why anyone would believe that a utility infielder who has caught some will somehow replace Jair Camargo much less Christian Vazquez. The past two years have taught us that Ryan Jeffers does a decent job when his playing time is managed. Pushing Jeffers has not worked out and a Gasper experiment could be a disaster for Jeffers and the pitching staff. The idea that Falvey is not allowed to make any moves is ridiculous. The only news has been that the team expected to remain at the same payroll level for 2025. There are always options. If a budget has been set at anywhere from $120-140M, the Twins can maneuver around to roster the team that they desire. I will grant that a budget below $110M would necessitate a couple of deals that weaken the team. However, there are still options to exchange minimum or low level salaries to fill positions if that is what the front office desires. Nothing has changed as far as the catching situation. Until the Twins acquire a catcher, they cannot move Vazquez or Jeffers. I think Moran was traded because the Twins didn't care for him. Gasper is AAA depth.
  25. tony&rodney
    1A. Attendance hinges on factors like access (people can watch games on TV), folks talking (hot starts help), good baseball (hitting, pitching, running, fielding), and weather among other things. 1B. Do the Twins need new players, owners, front office? Need? No. Whatever helps though. I don't expect new owners or front office or many new players for 2025. 2. Falvey has the team he wants. The Twins can win if the players are productive and healthy. These are big ifs. The only established starters are Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton. Jeffers and Vazquez are a capable catching tandem. Willi Castro has shown himself to be versatile but was abused playing regularly as a shortstop or centerfielder. All of the others can be ok. 3. There are rookies who could step forward. The Twins need to keep an open mind in Spring Training. Emmanuel Rodriguez and Payton Eeles are not betting favorites but if the talent is there, let them play. The Twin only won their division in 2023 because some rookies stepped up. 4. All of Miranda, Julien, Martin, Lee, Lewis, Larnach, and Wallner are too close to being rookies to be considered established. There is some talent and it is up to the coaches/manager to put them in the correct position and then up to the players to prove they are worth a spot. 5. There is enough pitching. 6. The Twins haven't pursued a left-handed pitcher, thus it doesn't seem terribly important. Sure, a couple of high quality lefties would be nice, but pitchers just need to get outs. Lastly, despite great frustration at ownership it is past time to for folks, particularly the players, to clear the idea that the Twins are playing short due to budget constraints of any sort. Focus on the positive and complete the play at hand. An excuse extended is a weakness exposed. Recently I read that the Twins aren't expected to add any players this offseason because they can't and the team faces long odds of competing next season. I think this is a lazy comment laying groundwork for a disappointing year. The Twins have the talent to win. The direction and motivation has to be holistic effort. Falvey seems to really like the roster and from the top down perhaps that ideal can be adopted.
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