tony&rodney

Ronny Henriquez might be lost and he has some promise. Louie Varland has such opposite results. Seems like he could be a pitcher to evolve like Jax or like Sands did last year. The shift from starting pitcher to being a relief pitcher involves a fair amount of physical and mental adjustment. Can Varland make the needed changes to be effective? I'm less worried about the pitching than I am about the gloves or bats.

Manfred is nuts.

Carl was a businessman and loved everything about the corporate world. The Minnesota Twins were a steal of a deal and he recognized it. MLB put him in the seat and it has been a long ownership for the Pohlads. Running a big business may not be very interesting or suit the heirs. The time has come for the Pohlads to make an escape from so much public scrutiny about something they don't necessarily feel passionate about now/any more. As regards the question - perhaps Joe Pohlad and others are just letting Falvey & Sons run things at a set number. The proper answer is that we just don't know. So we wait it out.

So what I read is that Falvey has communication issues. A relative who is from another state, only really follows football, and reads the Falvey piece asks me, "So why are the Twins listening to offers on Carlos Correa? Do you think the Twins are going to trade Correa?" I respond - "I think it was just a little bit of mumbling that was misconstrued by people. I don't know what the Twins think about Correa." My relative - "Sounds like somebody is sending messages." Me - "Nah, just poor communication." Relative - "What about the Vikings?" Me - "No idea. I don't follow football but my son tells me they are going to the Super Bowl." ....... etc.

Kyle DeFarge must be up soon for an article. DeFarge doesn't have the size or power potential of Amick, but was projected to be a better hitter, much faster, stronger arm, and much better defender than Billy. While each player gets an opportunity to present their skills and I wish them all well, it would appear that players like Amick and DeFarge did well with their signing bonuses and now face a long road strewn with obstacles to climb toward MLB. I wouldn't bet on anything other than a possible utility role for a ceiling. Baseball is a tough sport.

Maybe the goal for 2025 is to repeat 2024. The Twins finished with 82 wins, not embarrassing at all. In that vein returning Santana is a good idea. Still, what about the money?

Was it the team that played better defense?

A brief note on Herr. He loved playing in St. Louis. It was a divorce he never saw coming or expected. His employment and life was changed totally and he couldn't adjust. I believe we occasionally underestimate the human side of situations. Herr just could not make the switch. He was willing to play for a minimum for St. Louis as opposed to making bank for Minnesota. Perhaps some of you have quit your job or changed careers to avoid a mandated move.

As a manager or even as a player I could evaluate every single ball in play. As a fan this is nearly impossible. The inability to make plays can be easily dismissed but the cumulative affect can be large. As an example, a player with 500 at bats with 125 hits bats .250 which may be respectable. That same player missing 25 plays is now effectively a .200 guy. It's not just the plays not made, it is the number of extra pitches, and even the pitcher attempting to strike out more guys. As such I lean hard towards players who can learn or already play good defense. The Twins were ok at the catcher position last year and I am fine with Buxton in centerfield when he is healthy, even if he is no longer really above average. I also can accept a couple of below average strong bat types. However, last year the Twins were below average in at least five positions and so I seek improvement there. Finally, I completely understand that there are people who feel that defense is not that important and that offense is where it is at. Carlos Santana had a pretty good year with the glove last year. Because first base is typically a position where a team seeks more offense, it is important for a calculation of the value of that defense versus the reduced bat. Personally, it seems like the Twins benefitted to the max from a resurgent Carlos Santana. Does another bet land heads up? I would not take that gamble. In any event, the financial ceiling may make resigning Santana a moot point. First base is a bit of an odd position too. While less athleticism may be required for fielding, footwork, quickness, and throwing as a whole compared to elsewhere in the infield, there are an entire pile of little tricks around the bag to learn. Strange as it might seem some players do not like fielding a ton of throws from fellow infielders, which automatically makes any potential shift to first base more difficult.

Twins fans would love to no longer have to read or hear about money as a factor in building the roster. This seems like it might be true and a dramatic change to these new "saviors" may alleviate the annual angst. I'm not understanding how this affects the roster being finalized for 2025. As a Twins fan, I'm hoping the 2025 roster lines up to be competitive with the three teams that finished above the Twins in 2024. Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, and Chicago all seem to have made a few decisions to improve their rosters. We are still waiting for our Twins and while we wait a few teams have filled holes to a point where the Twins no longer are very good partners in prospective deals. Right now I cannot see the Twins improving on their record from 2024 unless several of their young players step forward in a strong fashion. Sure, a sale of the team is very important for the future, but I'm not content to wait until 2026 or 2027.

The answer is maybe not.

Are you saying that people only need to work for 45 years now. When I was a .....

If you read the comments, you basically know my positions. In any event, it is best to speak for your own voice and avoid casting another's voice. I read your posts and often find sound thought in your comments just as I also find thoughtfulness in some other's comments. I find disagreement a common factor in life. What I do not find sound is to set strong judgments against others, which is all too ironically a sort of judgment in and of itself. i apolagize for that. You be you but your best comments are when you just make your points.

Not fair to me (speaking only for myself).

Curious why this was surprising to you.

Roki Sasaki is a lottery ticket. One cannot win without a ticket. The Twins just need to put themsleves forward as an interested entity. I would think that around 100 hours of work would be sufficient to prepare a proper introduction (of the opportunities available as a Twin) to the young man and his agent. The meeting itself might only last an hour or two at most. It is winter. The front office has time. The agent will give everyone Sasaki's decision. Just do it.

Tom, it is worth noting that MLB did not approve Mark Cuban at one point. Recently, it seems like the club owners have been less about rejecting individual owners. Cohen was approved. You might not remember that only Carl Pohlad was allowed to buy the Twins among the roughly four other groups of people interested in buying the Twins in 1984. While Carl had the most most money his bid was actually slightly lower. MLB did not allow Calvin to sell to the others. Hopefully this recent "talk" bears fruit. My fear is that the process will not be completed in time to affect the 2025 Twins. While the Pohlads have not exactly endeared themselves to many franchise followers, it is interesting that most people give a pass to the front office. I would suggest that the product on the field is on the front office. I don't see how it can be totally ignored that the Twins most often carry a larger payroll than their AL Central foes and certainly more than their NL Central neighbors in Milwaukee. The Pohlads have always struck me as uninterested in baseball and even business to a degree. Carl was the businessman in the family and he is long gone. It is my understanding that the Pohlads are trying to divest and allow for a final distribution of corporate assets, freeing the family members to pursue their own interests in a fashion that does not spill on to other relatives. I did meet Carl several times and he was not a fan of baseball but generally a nice man and genial. For the benefit of most everyone, it would be sweet if a sale went as quickly as buying a house. In the meantime, perhaps the front office can put in some time on roster matters and make a few changes to improve the 2025 Twins team.

Congratulations to these fine performers. This list makes it clear what the core of the team is at this time, besides our two handsomely paid faces of the team. The bonuses should, indeed, lend a little sparkle to the holidays for the deserving players.

Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul newspaper wrote an article. .... the Twins are only halfway through their lease. The team must play their home games at Target Field. The Twins were forced, against their will, to honor the Metrodome lease by the courts. No, an owner cannot just break the lease. The baseball club ultimately answers to MLB. The team could move after the thirty year lease expires. Look online and read up on it.

The Twins should not trade any of Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Festa, SWR, Matthews, Morris, or Raya unless the return value is obviously substantial. There are MLB teams crying for pitchers.

You answered your own question. Tampa Bay would want prospects or someone pre-arb. They will not be interested in Paddack or Castro.

Seems like the Cubs just put a ton of confidence in Matt Shaw. This is a great trade if you view that Shaw is displacing both Paredes and Smith, who are very good ball players. The Cubs also have Cade Horton waiting his turn. Good trade for Houston as well. I like this deal all around.

#1. Correa? Keep him. He is our shortstop. #2. Reduce payroll. Find the best deals out there that subtract Chris Paddack ($7.5M) and Willi Castro ($6.2M). If payroll is fine as is - keep them both. #3. a) Bribe the Diamondbacks into trading Jordan Lawler. Who know what that takes? Duran, Castro, and K. Culpepper? b) Trade Brooks Lee for Jeferson Quero. Now the team has a catcher for the future. c) Discuss Jarren Duran with the Red Sox. No deal, no problem. d) If no Duran in LF, hand it to Emmanuel Rodriguez. e) Take a serious look at guys like Luke Keaschall and Payton Eeles in Spring Training to evaluate their abilities to function in MLB either now or in a year. Team is better and payroll problem is solved with C4 still in place. Trust your players, especially the pitchers who will be happy to have defenders behind them like Lawler and Rodriguez.

Billy Amick had 77 plate appearances for the A ball Ft. Myers team as a 21 year old. Paul Molitor had 556 plate in his age 21 year old rookie season for the MLB Milwaukee Brewers, which was followed by 645 PA, a .322 BA, and a .842 OPS in his sophomore jinx campaign. The Twins will be elated if Billy Amick puts up those numbers in MLB next season. No pressure though. I certainly hope Amick does well.

More satire, of a sort. In case anyone actually pays attention, Keaschall has more value alone than Arraez (whom I love to watch bat) and San Diego will not take on salary (Paddack-$7.5M & Vazquez-$10M). Perhaps the Padres listen on a trade of Joe Ryan for Dylan Cease to reduce payroll, but the Twins are counting dollars too. Plus Cease has one year before FA as compared to three for Ryan.