tony&rodney

Larnach definitely makes sense as a DH, but provides little defensive value and he doesn't really hit breaking balls from right handed pitchers consistently. I feel for Trevor and feel the Twins should allow him a shot at making a MLB roster on another team. The comments that suggest the Twins will not use a rookie as the 26th person are almost certainly correct. Despite that surety, I would favor one of Martin, Prato, Helman, and maybe even Kiersey Jr. for defense and pinch running. Save the payroll from pointless additions. Sure we all wanted a TOR guy, but the roster looks fine.

Ryan isn't the first guy to try and pitch through an injury because he was rolling along with only minor blips. Injuries often change technique in ways that expose the player. Ryan was exposed. We can say the same thing about Buxton, although that went on for the entire season. Without legs, Byron changed his swing. Ryan is fine. Another year of experience and more knowledge of hitters make him more conscious of where he needs to focus. Ryan doesn't exactly blow hitters away. He uses the aggressive nature of hitters against them. A full year of 180+ innings and 4.00 ERA can be expected. Ryan will be good this year.

The Dodgers were doing the same things just not as well, which is a major part of their outrage. Bellinger would be a good pinch hitter and late inning defensive player. JK. No way this happens.

If the Twins are serious about winning this year, just give the ball every fifth day to Louie Varland. Problem solved.

Think about adding some support for this assertion in order to avoid sounding like a bot.

Kepler is certainly gone after this season under any conditions. I would trade Kepler for George Kirby or Logan Gilbert. Seattle says no. I'm sure you have your reasons why you believe Montgomery would be a good addition for the Twins. We will not agree. Either way, we have zero say in the matter. From my seat Kepler makes the Twins a better team than Montgomery would. You would have a ton of support from others for your position though.

Well, Jenkins would like to handle the weather in Minnesota this April if it were up to him. The term kid's gloves is exactly how corporate baseball looks to protect, however simply, their financial assets. The real practical reason that finds many young prospects and valued veterans working through rehabilitation staying in Florida or Arizona is that the weather is more conducive to consistent daily work. This practice is now more than 100 years old and used by every franchise in baseball. It just is a prudent decision.

A long road still to travel. Good health first and then good luck.

Perhaps i stand alone as you might say, but I would not trade Kepler for Montgomery.

There really is very little question that Trevor Bauer is a low risk, high reward type of player. I don't believe the other players give a crap about any potential distractions from Trevor Bauer. They are actually grown adults. Ask yourself - why hasn't any MLB team signed Bauer? The pen is in the hands of corporate. What do you think the odds are?

There are basically two directions to consider. In both cases I will say that I have zero knowledge to verify any potential actions. 1. The Twins have some financial flexibility and sat on it all offseason to see how things played out and can now make an addition if a player can be brought to terms. Jordan Montgomery has had two solid seasons. Perhaps the Twins agree with many on Twins Daily that he would be a good signing. I am not a fan of Monty. Bellinger had a pretty good year for the Cubs. Can the Twins outbid the Cubs and other teams? Do they want a Correa like deal? If the money is there, Belly helps. Snell has won two CY Awards. He turned down a pile of money from the NYY. Do the Twins gamble there? Hmmm? That is about it for free agents. Odorizzi? 2. The money squeeze is a real thing. A budget of $125 million would be an absolute ceiling. Bauer? Maybe the financial situation was an issue in making a trade for Burnes too. In the case of money being tight .... the roster is set. The Twins had some options in the trade market. The prices for a controlled inexpensive starting pitcher of high value was too much for Falvey to pull the trigger. The Twins chose to trade Polanco for DeSclafani, Topa, Santana (essentially - Falvey's words), and two lottery tickets (A ball players). A pile of relief pitchers are on the market this year and the Twins picked up a handful. So there we are. Either one believes there is a significant pile of cash available to make a deal of some sort or the offseason is over because there is only about $1-3 million still left to spend on the 2024 budget. But ... like i said at the top, I don't know anything.

Well said and right on. When I saw the "expected" $170 million payroll figure last Fall from Bonnes, I thought "ok, what do i know. Maybe the Twins spend $150 million tops". About four days later after thinking about it for seven seconds I put out a team for $120 million because I saw $130 million as a ceiling. But then again, what do I know? The answer is straightforward - nothing. Aaron is best when he sticks to baseball. He has made me laugh and read his stuff since he lived on Chinese takeout in his mom's basement in Highland Park and was angry that the U of M didn't allow him to write for The Daily. Gleeman wrote what many Twins fans thought well before any baseball writers chimed in later on .... "Free Johan". Good times, good times.

Sure, might as well trade Kepler for Soto too as long as we are having fun. Then, with such a call for Luzardo, just send Farmer and Vazquez to Miami. Offseason complete, unless Snell will sign a minor league contract with a camp invite. Maybe X (formerly Twitter) means something.

Well, I tried to help you out by also including the detail and an explanation of the BAM money, but I'm not sure it stuck or was understood due to zero responses returned by comments, thumbs up/down, or whatever. The teams around baseball spent their extra money and moved on. I expected a budget of $125-130 million. Perhaps the ability of teams to keep all finances relatively private is an ongoing issue for many. I just care for baseball. I could care less for the owners except as a general "hope they are well" general thought. One thing that is bound to be true - if kids and younger people cannot turn on the television and watch a game of baseball - the audience for MLB will shrink eventually. A product that doesn't have a place in the market doesn't sell as well as one that is present and visible. For older people, such as myself, there is the radio or watching games the next day via mlb.com if the games are not available on tv. I don't need to see everything live, but I would bet the younger audience is less likely to have those habits. I wonder what the numbers show for radio listeners versus television viewers? The Twins can say whatever they want because they always do, but the media fiasco cannot be a sound business decision. A down season like 2022 might really punish the Twins at the gate and in potentil media deals going forward. But, like someone else has said, winning it all cures everything and erases every poor decision.

Hmmm. Nick you do a really good job of supporting your point and I can see how one might see the additions this offseason to the relief corps as leading to a possible strategy change. However, I don't know about that and don't see it. From high school through any other leagues, teams use what ever combination of pitchers helps them to get the most outs. The major leagues have a cost-benefit concern which can impact how a team uses its available pitchers in addition to the limitations of talent within a system. The Twins had an offseason where the team took a step back on spending as did a few other teams. Relief pitchers were inexpensive to add. Does this necessarily effect how the team proceeds toward a goal of winning games? I think Seattle and Minnesota are similar to some extent. Each team has built strong bullpens that should make life difficult for teams to score runs. Seattle has the more heralded starting staff but Minnesota has a strong unit as well, perhaps just a notch behind the Mariners crew. Either way, the best pitchers on each team are the starting pitchers. The way to win the most games is to use your best pitchers to an optimum level to get the most outs. It would be unusual if the Twins or Mariners with their staffs were to restrict their starters from going deep into games when they are effective at gaining outs with relative ease. All of Lopez, Ryan, Ober, and Varland are capable of throwing 180 innings. Naturally, health is always a concern but this is true in the February workouts as well. Witness Verlander feeling a little punk right now. Neither Sonny Gray nor Kenta Maeda were particularly known as pitchers who would throw a pile of innings on a consistent basis from year to year. I would suggest that the Twins have great depth in the relief corps which should help the team avoid times when healthy bullpen options are limited. I fully expect the Twins to use their starters as much as last year if their health and effectiveness holds, which i speculate it will. The depth in the bullpen should protect from reliever burnouts later in the year.

I totally agree with this comparison. The concern with Paddack, which was voiced by both Perkins and Hawkins in an interview at TwinsFest, is that his innings and outings need to be closely monitored for stress. Hopefully he beats the over/under of 120 innings, but the Twins will want him healthy for 2025 too. There will be times to skip Paddack in the rotation, but I do think he replaces Maeda very nicely. Quickly, I state my appreciation to Maeda for his outings. He was mostly very good but had less room for error when his control was off as do all pitchers with less velocity. Paddack has good velocity and we hope he has an excellent year.

I'm not sure how to communicate with those who have so little faith in Louie Varland. He has a 4.40 MLB ERA. He compares to some extent to Bryce Miller with a 4.32 ERA and Bryan Woo with a 4.24 ERA, both of whom are seen as stalwarts after one season. I think I'm real close on those numbers. We can pick away at the differences but the main idea is that if a pitcher is ever to become a bonafide middle or even good backend member of a starting rotation, those guys needs to get the ball. Varland has the pitches, the stamina, and the work ethic to succeed. Anthony DeSclafani would fit just fine as a swingman in the bullpen. While teams need multiple starting pitchers during any given year, my pure speculation is that the Twins cannot count on Cleveland and Detroit to crater again this season. Last season, Mahle went down fast and Ober began his run of starts in late April. Varland does not need his innings monitored after reaching 150 in each of the last two years. The Twins best shot out of the gate is with their best pitchers.

The answer to all dilemmas and worries is Louie Varland. I may be a voice in the wilderness but it has spoken.

Doubt the Pohlads buy lottery tickets.

This is so true which is why I had hoped that the Twins would keep Polanco. So it goes. I'm just hoping for the best.

Varland is written in ink in the rotation for me. 180 innings of ball with somewhere in the vicinity of 4.00-4.50 ERA. He is in nearly the same spot as Ober was last year but the Twins do not have a Mahle this year. We each pick our guys, right?

When I have listened to Julien's interviews in the past it seemed like he was surprised to be playing major league baseball. Most players have it in their heads that they will be stars some day once they become really good in high school, some earlier. Trust me, I have heard that from a thousand players. Julien sounded different in a few interviews since the end of the season. I think he awoke to the possibilities for himself. I'm thinking Julien could bust out in a big way.

Actually, several people (including me) on Twins Daily were suggesting/ trying to pry Cabrera away from the Marlins the offseason before this one. The hope was that a blockbuster deal for Cabrera and Luzardo for Arraez could be done. Both players were not as highly thought of then, although they still carried a decent price. People also suggested Lopez but the consensus for many (influenced by BTV) was that the Marlins would want Arraez plus two more considerable pieces for Lopez. Most of my plans for 2023 centered on acquiring both Cabrera and Luzardo because I too believed that Miami would not trade Pablo. Shows you what we all know.

I'm just wondering if you are jousting/playing the grumpy old man Gladden routine where he gets down on everything as opposed to the excited happy Gladden who loves everyone and everything? Gladden's two routines can be funny, in a way. Or, do you feel the Twins will struggle to be a .500 team? The post is on the starting pitching. Would you take the five starters from last year versus the five from this year? 2023 = Gray, Lopez, Ryan, Mahle, Maeda? 2024 = Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Varland, Paddack?

I think that none of the above may be your initial choice. However, perhaps you want Lewis in the outfield, so there - click that box. I chose none of the above because the logjam is not apparent yet.