tony&rodney

Falvey is determined to get his own personal three-peat: 2023, 2024, 2025 = boom; Falvey wins. I'm not sure how many people are familiar with the renown trauma physician Dr. Gabor Mate', a Hungarian-Canadian physician. I'm wondering what trauma Falvey endured.

Yes. I totally get that the New York teams, Philly, and LAD like to dictate the terms on trades to their benefit but it is a little unusual that the Yankees, Phillies, and Mets haven't pushed the Twins more for Buxton. Robert Jr. will cost those teams something good or the Whities are fools because they can always just keep him. The Chicago payroll is very low and any performance that shows promise by Robert Jr. brings in Southsiders to their park and creates trade interest at the same time. Luis is so unpredictable. Meanwhile Buck looks young and spry. Those teams overwhelm Falvey with an offer of prospects too good to walk away from and they have their centerfielder. I'm not necessarily advocating to trade Buxton but other teams should be pushing. What does it take? When the Twins say they are looking for a power bat, I wonder if the people who say those comments just go back home and watch football. I have seen nothing to indicate movement.

I'm mostly just a baseball fan but am more aware of hockey because my sons are Wild fans. From reading a dozen articles it looks like this trade will be a big boost to both teams. The Wild get one of the top players in the NHL, importantly an offensive defenseman, and the Canucks get a very talented 20 year old who can play right now, a very good young center, a promising young player, and a draft choice. A trade that works for both teams is the ideal situation. The trick for the Twins is to pound the pavement looking for that trade. Sitting around watching football won't help the Twins solve their unbalanced roster for 2026. There are options. Since money still seems to be an issue, trading one of their stars for prospects seems reasonable. Can Falvey call and make an offer like it appears the Wild did (the articles all indicate that the Wild guy initiated the conversation)? A number of people have suggested that the Twins need a 1B, hope for someone to backup SS, and want a RH bat. Move Luke to 1B, sign Bo Bichette for 2B, or let Bo play 1B and keep Luke at 2B. That takes care of 1B and the RH bat. Trade Joe Ryan, Marek Houston, and Kendry Rojas to Sacramento for Leo De Vries. SS is covered. Don't like that deal? Trade Bailey Ober and Kyle DeBarge for Jordan Lawler. Shortstop is covered. Sitting around while teams fill their needs will leave the Twins holding their bag of dollars wondering why they couldn't get anyone better than !@#$%^. Time to work Falvey. Oh, the above moves still leave the Twins with money to spend and below $110M.

Trevor Larnach played 1 game at 1B in the Cape Cod Summer League in 2017. Matt Wallner has never appeared in a game anywhere that is recorded as a first baseman. It is a sure thing that various coaches and managers worked out both of these guys at first base at some point over the years. If you have watched either play the ball on the base hits to them in the outfield you should have a rough idea why first base might be even less likely than shortstop for either of them. FWIW, shortstop isn't an option. Both Larnach and Wallner could thrive as everyday DH's.

I wish all the best for Carson McCusker. Japan is an awesome place and there is excellent baseball played in the NPB. Sendai is known as the city of trees.

The White Sox fell upon rough luck when Yoan Moncada crashed after outstanding 2019 and 2021 campaigns. Then, the Pale Hose suffered another expensive setback when the uber talented Luis Robert Jr. also fell apart after his great 2023 season. While Byron Buxton has had his fair share of injuries and poor luck, his performance is almost consistent compared to both of Moncada and Robert Jr., who were both quite expensive too. Luis Robert Jr. would be a decent gamble for a team with $20M to drop. The payoff could be enormous. I don't see any decent return coming back to the White Sox in a trade. The team salary is low so it makes sense for Chicago to hold Robert Jr. unless they can get a potentially useful player for him. If Robert Jr. suddenly turns into Buxton of 2025 the CWS can trade him for a better player or keep him for his last option year 2027. The Mets are the only team that i see taking the gamble right now. If I was running the White Sox I keep Robert Jr.

Put up your designs and thoughts as opposed to using ridicule. There can be quite a range of opinions and the thoughts are mostly split 50-50 on Twins Daily. State some specific ideas that you have or if you believe the Twins decisions are fine just say, the Twins are doing a great job of putting together their roster .... I like the current roster, etc. When you fail to offer a stance but attack you are painting yourself. I'm sure you have some solid ideas to share.

Kindly rephrase.

Ok, thank you for the explanation. My thing is that I'm interested to hear what others think even if I may agree or disagree with one thing or another. FWIW, Pablo Lopez is less than two months older than Joe Ryan. Byron Buxton is 2 and a half years older than Ryan. I too enjoy watching Ryan pitch.

For those of us who have watched the Twins for the entirety of this front office regime, I think this comment is right on. Opportunities have been passed up and numerous easy options not taken. The Twins wait. To add to this, I am totally flummoxed as to why the Falvey put out statements pulling the Twins guys off the trade market. There is not and was not anything to gain from stating that Lopez, Buxton, and Ryan would be retained and the Twins would add around them. In late July it is fairly clear that ownership had a sit down with Falvey and directed a reduction in salary outlays. Falvey was to choose how that proceeded and he determined that the expiring contracts and moving Duran would satisfy the bosses. Thus teams called the Twins and a host of conversations took place where offers and counter offers were made and unexpected offers extended. The Twins spent the vast portion of that time working on the transaction with the Phillies, finally accepting Mick Abel as a replacement for their desired target Andrew Painter.Among the unexpected offers were ones for Joe Ryan and one for Louis Varland. The Twins listened to the Toronto offer and decided it was too good to be true ... deal done. There was hesitation on the Ryan offer and the clock ran out before negotiations could be completed. Meanwhile Jim Pohlad called the Houston owner and hammered out the Correa situation. Is there TD disagreement with the above? Fast forward from July 31 to now and I'm wondering why Falvey cannot be listening and in conversations with numerous teams about a variety of potential transactions. In fact there may be some talks going on. I don't know. However, why take the main choices off the menu? That would seem to undermine the team. Listening on Varland brought an offer which could not be refused according to Falvey (I would have refused). Keeping the lines of communication open might bring about several much better offers. WTF is going on in corporate headquarters when top management is hamstringing production? Adding to the team at this point of the offseason is still possible but the choices are getting slim and the prices seem to be rising too. I'll take Bo Bichette, Pete Fairbanks, Caleb Thielbar, and Ryan O'Hearn. There, the Twins have now adding a few guys around their core to help them a little bit.

This is the stance that half of the people chose in the poll and half are supporting in the comments. So. .... that is fine. It is a little confusing why you choose to add players around YOUNG core but then trade Buxton and Lopez at the trade deadline. This needs an explanation. At least I'm curious what you are thinking. Buxton is under contract for three more seasons. Lopez still has two more years on his contract. Both make a substantial amount of money on fair but earn slightly beneath market rates. To carry it further you say Ryan is the team's ace for the next five years. Ryan has two more years before free agency. If he is good, the Twins will need to beat the next highest bidder and the cost could easily reach $200M by the beginning of the 2028 season if Joe puts together solid seasons in 2026 and 2027. Will the Twins pay up?

This post and the comments within are a good reflection of the Minnesota Twins and their fans. The poll that showed an even split between those who believe a rebuild is needed versus those who want additions to what is rostered is clear from the comments. The discussion included numerous reasonable arguments from each side. If one takes the front office at their word, a decision to roll it back has already been made. All fans can do now is wait and watch for how the remainder of the offseason plays out.

Why did I scroll down the list? After O'Hearn and maybe Lowe it was just depressing. The money has to be enticing for these guys. They would enjoy joining the amateur senior mens leagues more than the grind of professional baseball, but it's tough to pass up the Twins calling and offering $1-5M for one more year in the major leagues. Professional baseball is a tough, competitive occupation that requires hours toiling at the lower levels, risking everything, and constantly dealing with failure. The love of the game makes it difficult to retire. I respect these guys immensely for their dedication and perseverance. I wish them well too. When a player like Gallo, Farmer, Margot, and others joins the Twins we know we will get whatever they have left. It isn't their fault if time has worn down the sinews and reflexes needed for baseball. They are giving it a last shot because $10M or $4M or $1M is their final time perhaps and the joy of a good game or run of success is still viable at times. The decision to sign the fading veteran makes perfect sense to fill out the edges of a competitive roster too because these players can provide bursts of solid play. When a team is counting on these guys to be regulars who lead the team, there is bound to be disappointment. Gary Sanchez works as a backup catcher for a team with a strong guy playing 110-120 games. As a 80 games guy? Not so much. The Twins have used these veteran reserve players in the twilight of their careers too often as regulars counted on to be productive and win games. Why do i want change when my team, the Minnesota Twins, is consistently devoted to mediocrity?

I think Fairbanks is about as cold a place as there is in the U. S.

I can live with a signing of Ryan O'Hearn. I would want him for 3/$30M if possible. Your number is likely right on. I had Pete Fairbanks and an inexpensive lefty like Thielbar on my roster all along. I would trade both Ober and Larnach despite really liking both players. That decision is more about money. The major difference in my thinking is that I'm cashing in Joe Ryan and going all in to entice the A's into trading De Vries to the Twins. With Ober, Larnach, and Ryan's cash, I can add Bo Bichette. We both know that is a no-no. So it goes for Twins fans.

This is an aggressive response to people who might have different thoughts. Different opinions don't need to be seen as complaints. Try not to paint with such a broad brush. There is quite a wide assortment of thoughts and opinions on this site. I match your experience, I'm old as hell. I also played Senior Mens Ball against dozens of former MLB players including matchups a dozen plus times against Mike Marshall (Cy Young-1974). I agree totally with your statement about believing. What does it all mean for commenting on Twins Daily. In my case -nothing. Talent is huge in MLB because the margins are so minor. We once had a guy join our men's team 8 weeks after he was DFA'ed by the Orioles. He had lost control of his pitches and they wandered right back into the hitting zone and so after a couple of years of up and down, he was done, released and not picked up. Seven weeks later his wife told to get out of the house because he was moping and join a local team, which he did. He talked about the fine line quite a bit. The Twins were 70-92 last season and they lost Duran, Jax, Varland, Bader, France, Coulombe, and so forth. Do you believe the Twins style of baseball was worthwhile last season: station to station, missing the cutoff way too often, and so on? Can this same group recover to win 75-81 games? What would you do coach? I'm quite positive about a few of the coaching changes but am admittedly biased. I'm also a believer in Jenkins on Day 1 of the 2026 season. I'm generally pretty positive but also examine the overall product and see that some change is needed which is where i get critical. I'm also not a fan of giving regular jobs to over the hill vets who are clearly declining (Gallo, Margot, etc.) and those players were once upon a time very good players. What do you think? Instead of attacking, lay out your proposals. I'm sure you have some worthy ideas to share. That is a positive about sites like this that is worth participating in from time to time.

If you are correct and I think that past practices suggests that you are correct, then this will be another sorry decision. Just a mindless guess - Ryan O'Hearn gets 2/$25M.

Cory nailed it .... depends. The core is: Lopez, Buxton, Correa's salary, Jeffers, and Ryan. Go ahead and add Lewis if you desire. That group of six cost $62M if my math is correct. From there, build around these guys. Six minimum salaried relief pitchers (you get to choose) and two minimum salaried starting pitchers (pick from SWR, Abel, Festa, Bradley, Matthews, Morris, etc.) adds $6.4M. Seven position players (Jackson, Keaschall, Lee, Wallner, Martin, Roden, Jenkins) at minimum adds another $5.6M. The baseline of $74M with a $110M ceiling makes things tough because $36M ain't what it used to be back in the day. So how to build? Need one starter (Ober is on books, but could be traded), 2 relief pitchers, and three position players (Larnach is on the books, but could be traded). If Ober and Larnach are kept that adds $9M, leaving $27M for the remaining four players, two position players and two relievers. If both Ober and Larnach are off the roster, $36M is for six players. $36M is not a bad sum of money. That is $6M per player. Herein lies the problem if one looks at past decisions in filling in the roster. Keeping Ober and/or Larnach is fine. Now you have $27M. How would people complete the puzzle? You need 2 relief pitchers and four position fellows. I'm greedy so I am going big on one guy, Bo Bichette for 8/$200M at $25M per year. Yes, yes I know this has zero chance of being done. I also traded both Ober and Larnach, sadly, because the budget is $110M and not $120M. I still need five more players and have only $11M to get them. My three other position players are all minimum guys, so $2.4M total which leaves me only $8.6M for two relief pitchers. If I want to spend more someone needs to be traded from the sacred list or there isn't room for Bichette. I will stop here because the idea is finished. A decent team can be assembled but it requires some movement. Sitting around and thinking, woe is me, won't work. Waiting isn't much of a strategy either because soon all of your choices are made for you. Last year the Twins signed three players who absolutely delivered for the team: Harrison Bader, Ty France, and Danny Coulombe. Will Falvey pull off that trick again? It is here I remind people that with those positive additions and their best in MLB bullpen (jk), the team went 70-92. Is that a goal for 2026? I'm signing Bichette to build around the current roster and trying to stretch the rest. In my model I did trade someone and added a decent relief pitcher. In reality that pitcher will probably be gone before I hit save. Good luck yourselves.

I'm going to be very disappointed if the Twins settle for an Oriole. Just not a fan of Mountcastle. I understand there are others and it is possible that Ryan O'Hearn is a decent signing. Do you think the Twins will sign O'Hearn?

You may be overrating Jordan Westburg and underrating Joe Ryan somewhat. Westburg has some promise as a hitter but has yet to show himself adequately and he is not very good in the field. He is 27 before next season starts. Ryan is one of the top 20 starting pitchers in baseball. I can see the Mets, Dodgers, Red Sox, Tigers, and a few others as trading partners for Ryan but not Baltimore. I do like to read your ideas. Joe Ryan should remain a Twin unless he is part of a deal that returns a top player or prospect. When last season ended I was immediately curious whether a Ryan, Roden, Soto trade for Tyler Soderstrom could be possible. Soderstrom was really good at first base after being shifted away from catching. He then moved to left field for Nick Kurtz, where Tyler was surprisingly effective in the field. The A's are trying to sign all of their young players to long term contracts. Butler and Rooker are taken care of and they are in talks with Shea Langeliers, Nick Kurtz, Jacob Wilson, and Tyler Soderstrom now. Leodalis De Vries might be impossible to pry away but it is worth a try. I'm offering a pile: Ryan, Marek Houston, and Kendry Rojas. Shoot for the moon.

Well, I did say I like Morris more than Mayo and also said Baltimore would be smart to do that trade. I don't think the Orioles do the deal. I have watched Morris quite a few times. He is close to being a contributor for an MLB team. I would never trade SWR for Mayo. Also, Mayo could be a 30-45 home run hitter for a decade. I do like gamble trades though.

Polanco will be a big, big improvement at first base from what the Mets rolled out there last season .... at least with the glove.

The guys in charge need to be willing to make a mistake. Nobody can know the outcome of trades for years unless something really drastic or stupid happens. The Wild brought in one of the top ten players in the NHL. That trade is brilliant and it could blow up on the Wild. There isn't any position player close to available like that no matter what in MLB. However there are options. I have put this elsewhere - trade Joe Ryan ++ (Kendry Rojas, Alan Roden) to WS A's for Leodalis De Vries. That would be a definite gamble and we have no idea if the Athletics would listen. Another idea with less impact would be to trade Ober for Mayo. I'm still very hopeful of the Twins making an attempt to severely overpay for Jared Jones from Pittsburgh. The point is that there are options. My hopes have been scaled way back from November. I'm still hopeful of 2-3 trades and the signing of 2 relievers. However, I really doubt the Twins consider signing any relief pitcher of note.

Mayo is similar in some ways to Matt Wallner. The difference is that Big Matt has already shown that he is capable of reaching a .800 OPS despite his struggles. Mayo hasn't shown anything. He is all projection but no longer 22 years old. I'm not saying Mayo is old (he is not/24) but Coby is a big gamble. I'm guessing there is a slightly larger value to Wallner. A Bailey Ober for Coby Mayo trade almost certainly benefits the Orioles. Mountcastle? Please no. People can ignore those Ryan or Lopez rumors which are almost surely an East Coast idea. Look up what Mets and Yankee fans are sending to Detroit for Tarik Skubal if you need a good laugh. Edit to add. I think the Orioles would be smart to offer Coby Mayo to the Twins for Andrew Morris and Kyle DeBarge. I wouldn't take that trade if i was the Twins GM because I like Morris, but I'm sure plenty of other people on TD would see it as a good move.

Curious you choose Royce Lewis for shortstop. The Twins drafted him and named him a shortstop but he played third base behind a better defensive shortstop much of high school. He also never made much of an impression in the minor leagues. Royce looked much better at third base late last year. I'm hoping he continues to improve and with health he begins to hit consistently. Brooks Lee makes the routine plays but his best position is third base. His range at second base is poor. Until such time as someone better comes along, it is going to be Brooks at shortstop.