tony&rodney

Welcome to Twins Daily. Walker would be an excellent addition, but the Twins would first have to massage away $25-30 million to create the payroll room. While nothing definitive has been stated concerning the 2025 budget, Falvey suggested the team needs to get "creative" to fit everyone in from the past squad. This can be taken as a small reduction or a similar roster budget is in play for 2025.

"The only obstacles to the Twins signing him will be cost, as he’ll command an AAV around $20 million, and demand, as he’s the second-best first baseman available." - discussing Christian Walker You answered the question right there. Look for a team payroll from $120-130 million, leaving the Twins to cut from their current collection of players. The Twins will need to reduce the numbers by about $25M before they can consider adding someone like Walker. However, Walker is the one good option out on the market.

The reports out of San Francisco were that DeSclafani was fried and needed surgery. There was something like a 5-10% or less chance that he would make it to April. This was not a secret as nondisclosure of a known injury can result in penalties. San Fran passed this knowledge to Seattle who passed it to Minnesota. The info was accurate and absolutely nobody was surprised when DeSclafani crashed in Spring Training. FWIW, he is looking to come back this season.

While I agree that 250 games of excellent production from Correa and Buxton, Lewis playing a full year at his best two week stretch, other guys making comebacks, and Emmanuel Rodriguez emerging as a savior would all help the Twins stay above .500, the comparison to Cleveland doesn't work. I have written in the past about the athleticism and potential of Cleveland's young players. They play defense better at six or more positions and it isn't very close. They are getting better too. Cleveland also suffered numerous injuries within their pitching staff. Yes, I do think the Twins can be a .500 team if all goes well with their current roster. Believe me when I say that I want the Twins to have a good 2025. Hope everything goes swimmingly. But .... just hoping doesn't seem like much of a plan to me.

Just curious here ... did you count on Desclafaini and/or Paddack? Ryan was a definite loss in my opinion. In terms of just 2024, I cannot imagine a world where a GM actually planned on any innings from DeSclafani and 90-110 innings of 4.50 ERA was the best scenario for Paddack. He reached his ceiling for 2024. On the other hand, Woods Richardson was a bit of an unexpected boost with 133.2 innings with a 4.17 ERA. Do you expect Paddack to be a significant factor in 2025, with like 110 innings at a 4.50 ERA? I'm just trying to figure out how the current roster works for next season. How do the Twins win 82 games next season?

It would shocking, frankly, to see the Twins sign a free agent reliever for more than $2M. When I saw that the Twins were almost completely absent from the list of potential teams listed behind the various free agents I took it to mean that the writers may have some information that the Twins will be keeping costs down.

I think you need to cut your roster budget down to between $120-130 million. Mine would be just under $120M.

Falvey spoke to reporters yesterday and stated that he likes the roster the way it is. He also hinted that there may need to be a move to get around financial realities. I think the term used was "creative', as in the Twins would reduce the roster costs through an action of some sort (DFA, non tender, trade). There is an article on The Athletic by Dan Hayes. While Falvey did his usual non-informational corporate thing, for me the gist of the interview suggested that Falvey already has his team except for a few minor financial adjustments. Most of the comments and articles on Twins Daily are fully in support of Falvey's stance, which means that the Twins are likely to roll it back minus a contract to bring the roster budget at or below $130 million. So the roster will almost certainly be: SP - Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Woods Richardson, Paddack; RP - Duran, Jax, Alcala, Topa, etc.; Position players - Vazquez, Jeffers, Miranda, Julien, Lewis, Lee, Correa, Castro, Larnach, Buxton, Wallner, plus two. I would guess that Castro is let go, but the Twins may trade Lopez instead to save even more money. My guesses are just that, but also take into account Falvey's previous years. My confusion with the "roll it back" stance is based on several factors. The Twins cannot expect to dominate the weakest teams to the extent that they did last season. The collapse in the last seven weeks was more of a reckoning or coming back to reality in my mind. The Twins had a poor record (among the worst in MLB) versus teams above .500. The Twins are a slow, poor base running team that is well below average defensively. The team looks unbalanced to me. How does a team overcome these realities to finish at or around .500 again using the same players and strategies? I will admit that I cannot understand Falvey's world. I'm just curious how 2025 will work in light of reader's comments and a similar stance from Derek Falvey. Ideas?

I nominate Payton Eeles and Emmanuel Rodriguez plus a mystery guy added from a trade.

Putting Emmanuel Rodriguez in LF and having DaShawn Keirsey Jr. available as an extra outfielder would go a long way toward improving the team. Not only would the Twins have capable backups for Byron Buxton but an entire fleet of pop ups and fly balls would now land in a glove and reduce the number of outs for the Twins pitchers.

Well said. AK really obliterated the ball in healthy stretches for St. Paul. Baseball is tough. Good article. Thanks.

Thank you. I will try to put it elsewhere next time.

I guess you could be correct. That doesn't really sound like a plan to me though. I'm concerned that the Twins were 20 games below even versus decent teams and built some of their record by obliterating the White Sox. That doesn't seem likely to be repeatable to the same degree. The underlying faults seem to need attention, slow team speed. This greatly affects both sides of the ball, particularly defense. It is also noteworthy that the Twins are not really a power hitting team either. I guess I didn't see a meltdown as much as a reckoning. However, your position is the majority viewpoint apparently and I will not be surprised at all if the Twins are very similar next season. There is always hope.

Seth, perhaps Brock can float an article over on your Brewer site asking what the Beer faithful feel about an exchange of Quero and Williams for Jeffers and Lee?

Yes, I posted this same stuff nearly four hours ago. I guess TD deleted it. I don't think there are any real surprises in this group.

Two relief pitchers get "Twins" behind their names as guesses, Andrew Kittredge (2/$14M) and Spencer Turnbull (1/$7M). These guys have some contacts and the Twins don't look like they are expected to sign any free agents of note. Both of the above would seem like a stretch to most of us at Twins Daily. I guess that leaves two options. 1. The Twins roll with the players currently in the organization; or 2. Falvey makes deals. I found it interesting that the Twins were basically shut out by the projections/guesses on MLBTR. Teams like the Royals, Tigers, Mariners, Reds, Pirates, Orioles, and A's had their names littered across the writer's guesses.

The Twins sent Dobnak, Winder, Duarte, Blewett, and Severino to be reassigned. They are off the 40 person roster now.

Brooks Lee has a very high floor, regular infielder (most likely at third base) who projects to hold down a lineup spot in MLB for a number of years. I would attempt to trade Brooks Lee for Jeferson Quero of Milwaukee. Both teams would be super reluctant to give up their young budding players but this also fills a need for both teams. Furthermore, I would ask about extending the deal to include Ryan Jeffers and Louie Varland while Milwaukee sends back Devin Williams. I like Brooks Lee but am hoping to find infielders with better foot speed and a higher defensive ceiling. However, I doubt that the Twins are active this winter, although it seems they should be looking to upgrade the roster. Keeping Brooks Lee, I would put him at third base and bat him in the nine hole. I think he will flourish in time. That time could be this year.

This is an easy one to answer. I would take the $1M, buy NVDA, and now I have $3M.

Keep those 2025 roster projections below $135 million. Oh, and also try not to feel too sorry for billionaires.

Miranda is a hitter by trade. This is why he has been moved up the line and why many see him as a reasonable player to fill first base. The 2024 Twins were horrible on defense and on the bases. They committed few errors because the fielders couldn't get to the batted balls in play. To me, this is a problem. To be fair I was a pitcher and never liked needing to get four or more outs each inning. It results in many more thrown pitches and has a cumulative negative effect on the entire pitching staff. I understand and accept the opinion that many people do not believe that fielding is that important. Jose Miranda is weak at first base. He is actually better at third base but still poor. I could actually see him improving more at third base than at first base because the hot corner is more instinctual. Then again, Miranda is pretty slow too. I would keep Miranda unless another team feels he fits their needs and offers the Twins somebody that Minnesota wants in return. Jose fits fine as a DH and is useful as a reserve as well. Who plays first base then? I don't know. That is Falvey's problem. I would move Royce Lewis to first base, which has already been almost universally rejected by those on TD.

I just don't understand this defense, however it is constructed, of a trade that did absolutely nothing to improve the 2024 team. There have been dozens of comments and replies that have covered all angles of the trade with Seattle last winter. The Twins received two minor leaguers (I have watched both), Justin Topa, and Anthony DeSclafaini in the trade. How did this exchange make the Twins a better team is what I asked myself. I'm not looking for a return response from anyone because this is a dead subject. I would only ask that each person satisfy themselves with their reasoning. Disagreement is a positive thing on many occasions because we see separate sides to an issue. I think everyone has sufficiently explained their positions and have their views and it was a good conversation. This is one of the joys of Twins Daily. I'm looking forward to how individuals on Twins Daily construct a team for 2025 on a budget of somewhere between $115-135 million. In such an exercise, I am interested in knowing how the rosters constructed may have the ability to improve the prospects of the 2025 team being 1. more interesting and 2. more successful. Further, I am hoping that everyone can avoid all talk of the constraints of payroll and the Pohlads. The Twins are competing initially with their AL Central foes. While winning playoff series remains an important goal, winning the division or getting into the playoffs is a first step. Management of the roster is crucial to taking that step. I wonder how this will be accomplished?

Leading off and playing left field ... Emmanuel Rodriguez. Latin America is flush with baseball players and the Twins are involved. A few worth watching this summer via milb.com, Adrian Bohorquez and Eduardo Beltre. There are others as well.

So you are saying that if the Twins had plans to keep Polanco they would still have tendered Farmer. Ok. I guess we disagree and you could be correct. It doesn't matter really. I Thought I remembered Farmer being surprised that he was tendered a contract. It's all good though.

I won't correct you. Those whom are fixed on knowing how Polanco was going to perform have their position. I accept the differences of opinion. Keeping Farmer and trading Polanco was related per Falvey. It's all good. I am curious what you are predicting for Royce Lewis and Edouard Julien for 2025?