tony&rodney

Terry Ryan could have walked into any job in baseball. The Phillies hired him the minute he was available. Ryan was a loyal employee and expert at his job. Profound and deep misunderstanding of how baseball works displayed in your comment. To be fair the game has complicated levels totally unknown for most. I will not add my own personal experiences to what Seth has written above, but simply state that there has been no finer man nor better baseball person in the Twins organization.

1987 was a fun season for Twins fans. Sitting a row in front of Lou Brock near the dugout along the third base line for Game One and Two of the World Series was a real treat for me. Despite the joy of those games and the first World Series win for the Twins, that '87 squad wasn't among the greatest of Twins teams from my perspective. Naturally, all personal definitions of greatest are personal, welcome and purely subjective. Mine too. Winning cannot be the be all, end all. Winning is the goal, for sure, but so many factors are well beyond any individual or team control and fate does play a roll as well. We should also remember that 1985, 1986, and 1987 were years where MLB owners were found guilty of collusion. Stuff happens and '87 was a glorious run for our Twins. Yet just how the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals or 2014 San Francisco Giants were elated to win the World Series, those victories don't necessarily put those teams among their best in franchise history.

I'm hoping Jenkins makes it up to Cedar Rapids by June so I can watch him play. There is a ton of hype for the young man but special players ignore the talk and focus on learning and producing. From my perspective, based only on a trove of other's judgments, Jenkins has Buxton talent. I don't ever remember Lewis receiving the accolades for his skills and talent that Buxton and Jenkins had going into the draft. Lewis received major praise for his personality. I think Mauer was a category of his own as an athlete. Terry Ryan said that Mauer could have been put directly into an MLB lineup after being drafted if played in the field as opposed to being a catcher. There is a sharp learning curve at catcher. Count me as one who is very excited to see how Walker Jenkins takes to his first full year of professional baseball.

Bert Blyleven was an absolute stud. Look up his numbers. Over 440 innings in his first two years and he was barely 19 years old when he debuted for the Twins. Bert went on to throw 242 complete games and 60 shutouts. Blyleven was a superstar. In 1973 Bert had 25 CG and 9 shutouts. It doesn't get any better really.

It is just possible that Falvey believes that the Twins best chance to win is with all of Polanco, Kepler, Vazquez, and Farmer on the team. He may wait to see if something pops up like the Brewers trading Burnes for Polanco and a pitcher. Who knows?

Yes, Miller has a slick glove. He is young still but needs to pick up some strength at the plate because the offense is lacking. Miller has had some stretches of decent at bats that provide hope for improvement.

Teams are looking to fill their positions of need/ways to improve the roster. There is time and any angst within Twins Daily folks can rest easy to know that Louie Varland can be a very good starting pitcher if Falvey is unable to swing a trade for a Corbin Burnes or equivalent.

Luke will get a chance to show his skills next at Cedar Rapids. He has competition in the middle infield within the system. A name that sometimes gets overlooked is the athletic Ben Ross. Should be a fun summer following the minor league guys.

Excellent choices. Fine gentlemen and outstanding baseball people. The Twins have been blessed to have some good humans working for the organization. Terry Ryan is one of them.

I believe that you have made your point that the Twins should trade Jorge Polanco asap in a bevy of comments. No problem that people have their thoughts. Too often I have stated that trading any player, which includes Polanco, makes sense if the deal makes the team better or more complete. Thus, there is no wall here that refutes all ideas related to trades including one that may include Polanco. The original post puts out what has clearly been the Twins position to date - MLB for MLB deals to satisfy needs for each team. Thus the conversation pretty much tells us that trades for prospects or using prospects is farfetched at this time. Depth was a big reason the Twins faltered badly in 2022. The team was structurally unsound and the trades made at the deadline were well intentioned but just ineffectual due to the lack of depth.. Last season the Twins received way less than expected from several of their starters but depth brought them into the playoffs. Depth will continue to be an important part of how Falvey builds a team. Yes, the Twins have a nice collection of guys to play second base. Falvey would say this is a good thing. Also you forgot to add two players who may contribute this season anywhere on the field, Anthony Prato and Michael Helman. Falvey is still looking for the trade that makes his team better as is every other team. Patience. The Twins are a far better team right now than they were on Opening Day last season.

That would be sweet if Royce Lewis was to blow up into an All Star player and superstar. There can be no doubt that he has worked extremely hard to recover from two excruciating setbacks with the ACL injuries and subsequent surgeries. He did the rehabilitation work needed to get back to MLB and certainly takes nothing for granted due to his journey.

That's good, i will take it.

Not a fan of talk radio or tv talking heads generally (because most are essentially/eventually forced to become or are shock jock types) but Rocco does a good job of explaining what he does, which is communication. Another thing that seems to come off, that he would likely agree with, is that he is still learning and that is a good thing. The questions about Rocco and the perception of him being a robotic person are sort of dehumanizing. This general thought of a baseball manager going along in games throughout a season staring at analytics and making calls based on strict numerical thoughts is simplistic. I'm not a huge fan of Malcolm Gladwell despite reading his books but even before his summation of "it takes 10,000 hours" to get a handle on a job, I believed that every job has skills that others cannot really understand completely. Rocco has a ton of knowledge that we could never imagine or at least I could not despite coaching and playing for decades. There is still room for growth for Rocco and sometimes it seemed like Francona brought his team several wins just by his presence. Of course this is impossible to categorize. Still good interview by Baldelli and people should watch it if they are interested in how Baldelli manages the Twins. The Twins will make a trade if it benefits their team but I'm not so sure we should expect a challenge type deal like the Lopez-Arraez transaction. My current thinking is that other teams need to meet the Twins needs if they are to reap the value in a deal for a Twins player who is important to their team's goals. I like the Twins position right now.

Varland is my pitcher of choice.

The Twins aren't exactly deep in outfielders. Kepler is the best outfielder on the club right now. Houston would be crazy to trade Javier. Abreu is a really tough relief pitcher. I don't know how any trade would work with Houston. Never say never.

The balanced use of Jeffers and Vazquez may have been a huge part of Jeffer's success last season. Keeping the playing time near 60/40 may work again this year and fans can expect Vazquez to even add a bit more offensively. On another note, the Twins certainly could use a few better catchers in their system, although it may be tough to deal for a solid prospect.

Not to defend anything about the comment that you comment on but ..... Does Tampa Bay seem to get some production from 5 rookies every year? Curious.

Boras is really good at his job and he keeps his team of employees constantly searching for positions for any client of his corporation. The goal of an agent is to combine choice and contract for the athlete. Again and again we see Boras find teams willing to pay for guys. Sometimes that happens quickly and at other times Boras and his clients are patient while the market and teams come to a position of filling the roster. Joey Gallo signing with Washington is an amazing contract. Did that seem likely to you? The Twins and Falvey are not too affected by Boras and his guys this year really. Chapman doesn't fit into the same category as Polanco and/or Farmer. The others are in separate price points and fill different needs for teams as well. My take is that the Twins were never in on any free agent pitcher. I'm not sure that the teams who desire the Twins players are looking to sign those expensive names either. Every year seems different to me. The Twins have some valuable players they are willing to move in a deal that makes their team better and there are probably a few teams that are interested still in a transaction. The sticking point is cost and whether teams want to gamble a little. The never ending trade chatter last winter involving Max Kepler seems to be repeating itself. However, this year the names of Polanco, Farmer, and Vazquez join Kepler in discussions.. The Twins are in a good position with their roster. It is still possible that another team which needs one or more of those Twins guys to move their team up a notch in their hopes of competing within their divisions comes calling and meets Falvey's prices.

You are likely correct that the Brewers want to win the NL Central. Curious why the Brewers would even think about trading Williams when they are trying to win. They won't be eliminated by the deadline. They should be within reach, maybe eight games out at worst. The money thing is real for the Twins. We can wish for this and that but it is clear that finance appears in the plan. Without worries/concerns, the Twins might have pursued Matt Moore, Michael Wacha, or other reasonable contracts. We continue to hear that the Twins will make a MLB for MLB trade if it makes the team stronger. Polanco could go in such a scenario. However, moving Jorge just pushes the roster figure down if the player returning cost less and the Twins do not send money in a deal. Folks should not be surprised by a final number for the roster to sit around $110-120 million if not lower. Who knows?

The Arraez who won an AL batting title followed by an NL batting title, had over 600 PA in consecutive years, and led Miami to the playoffs last season? Same guy? If he did that with such bad knees the last two years, what can he do for an encore?

A most deserving choice. Excellent. Congratulations Joe.

Good luck to Miguel Sano.

Scot Boras is an amazing player agent. Simply the best. This contract .....

I'm continually amazed at how little knowledge many folks have about the rigors of catching. As a left-handed pitcher i had a ton of very poor catchers and a few great ones but i respected their position. Then one day when i was near 40 (men's league0 our catchers were missing (injured or could not make it) and I suited up. I wound up catching over a 100 games and gained a mild test of the stress of the position. I think I lost a handful of toenails and the knees took a beating too. Ten years of catching is easily twenty years at any other position.

Is it ok if I remind you that many picked the Mets to go undefeated last year? Also, don't bet against Kansas City when they make trips to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers in mid June or in late September when the Royals close out the campaign in Atlanta. Houston can verify those odds from last season.