tony&rodney

Wallner improved to varying extents in each year since becoming a professional player. Perhaps his ability to adapt this season will be tested as never before but the Twins have quite a bit of hope riding on big Matt adjusting in positive ways.

Ok. Fair. We just totally disagree. No problem.

I appreciate that you and others are attempting to find ways to strengthen the team via trades and looking for ways to cut salary in the process. Thank you for your ideas. Walter Ford is a decent lottery ticket. Perhaps in a year the Twins have enough confidence in Lewis, Julien, Kirilloff, Lee, and others to look at trading Polanco for prospects. For now, Polanco is a key part of the Twins team as is Kepler. Winning the AL Central depends on their contributions. Only if a substantial player (Luzardo, Gilbert, Kirby) were returned in a major multi-player trade (take much more than JP/MK) should the Twins move either guy. DeSclafani is $12M, Urias is $4.7M. Neither players should be put on the 26 person roster because there are other players within the system already who are better. The Twins are in a bit of a spot. The players who might bring a desired pitcher are not the guys the Twins really want to trade and judging from the omission of their names from suggested deals neither do Twins fans. Seattle would be interested in Royce Lewis and maybe Brooks Lee. Miami and Milwaukee, same. Miami would also ask about Ryan Jeffers. So it gets difficult and unless a risky move is made, I can't see a big trade. What we do know is that one can never be certain and always expect the unknown. I don't have any suggestions except for lame attempts to pry away Edward Cabrera and he is not a sure thing with his lack of control. Quiet time.

Falvey would be nuts to trade Polanco for DeSclafani. He would slot just above Dobnak and earn $12M. Urias and Rojas had less than ten extra base hits last year. They are not good. Polanco on one leg is far better than either player. How on Earth are people finding ways to reduce the value of Jorge Polanco to such depths. DeSclafani, Urias, and Rojas would not help the Twins in any way. The Twins and Mariners do not match up unless Dipoto decides to pay dearly. He won't.

I don't believe Miami is trading Luzardo. I don't think the Twins will trade Brooks Lee. Of the young shortstop prospects (Holliday, Merill, Lawler, Mayer, Montgomery, Lee, and Williams) in MLB's top 20, Miami may see Lee as a player who projects to be a steady reliable guy who may also be available if Minnesota includes a few other pieces. Miami could use a shortstop but can also just fill from within, which is likely.

You do an excellent job of selling your favorite team, but i'm not buying the Mariner's improvements. Please don't bet too much on Seattle. I would bet the under. I don't believe the Mariners and Twins really match up in a trade unless Dipoto agrees to part with either of Gilbert or Kirby and that will not happen in my opinion. Just like last year, plenty of teams will ask about Kepler and Polanco but the Twins would be smart to hold them for the coming season. I hope the answer to the post is that Polanco does not get traded. Hey, we are only three months away from baseball.

The Twins really did receive outstanding work from the two catchers last season. While I would not put Jeffers so high on any list, I do believe that catching is severely underrated. The Vazquez-Jeffers combo worked really well and I would expect Baldelli to continue to alternate them this season. Don't fix what isn't broken. It would be nice if the Twins could get some solid work from Jair Camargo this year as well. We cannot expect another year where only two catchers are used in an entire year.

I'm not sure how "big value" made Julien a superstar. I did not intend to suggest that status. i was merely pointing out that his emergence at the front of the lineup was important for scoring runs. In my opinion, Julien is an important cog in the Twins lineup.

Tough to determine worth because it depends on the needs and views of another team. Totally abstract. The Twins should not be trading Emmanuel Rodriguez in any event and will not trade Walker Jenkins for anyone. Despite concerns among many Twins fans, Louie Varland is a very solid choice for the rotation and should not be overlooked or pushed to AAA for a guy like Clevinger. The Twins do have reasonable depth right now and need to be careful not to deplete their player resources. Any trade now has to be very clear in purpose.

The budget is unknown but we should not be surprised by anything from $115-135M. I just don't expect the Twins to sign a FA starting pitcher. I would like the Twins to sign Hoskins for a year, but he will likely get a larger contract than the Twins are comfortable paying and get multiple years. I think the Twins would be a good team for him to put up great numbers this year, which might solidify his next contract. I have expected the increase for Lopez and small bump next year for Correa (fangraphs) plus the impending arb increases to affect decisions this year. From the start of the offseason, I have believed the Twins to focus on inexpensive additions with the potential movement of any of Polanco, Kepler, Farmer to only occur if the return made sense now. Depending on how we see Lewis, Julien, Lee, Kirilloff, and others progress, the Twins may look to trade Polanco later in the season.

Ray was not being counted on for this season. The pitcher who came over from SF, DeSclafani, is a starter. That makes six starters. I don't really think the Mariners and Twins match up unless it is a major deal, which I do not expect. We should not be underestimating the worth of Kepler and Polanco.

I don't believe the Twins were willing to trade Kepler for less than a strong return, so Dipoto turned elsewhere. Smart move by Falvey. Also, despite the beliefs by some that Seattle was sound with their 2B/3B, clearly Dipoto did not and is looking for a link before the Mariners try Ryan Bliss. Fangraphs likes the Mariners, take the under until they get a bat.

Wonder how the Twins are looking at fitting both Brooks Lee and Royce Lewis into the same lineup? I don't see either as fitting at second base but many others do. Lewis would be a good first baseman in my opinion. Seems like a thought to push off into the future right now. Twins Daily and folks around the organization seem to think Lewis is a superstar and is off limits. Just wonder about how other teams feel and whether they have probed about Lewis? Scoring runs is huge and thus Julien has big value.

Moving Kepler and/or Polanco without a significant return would weaken the team quite a bit. I would love for the Twins to sign Montgomery (or Snell), but these type of large money, long term deals for free agent pitchers is a near zero chance for the Twins by practice and design. Removing money from the roster doesn't change the thought process in my opinion, but I do agree that adding either Monty or Snell would be nice. We just don't know if the Twins are looking to use a roster budget of $100-125 this year and going forward. A guy like John Brebbia might help. If there is $12-15M available, Rhys Hoskins would be a sweet addition, but again .... money.

We all like that idea. Money happens though.

All about the money. Stroman would be a good deal for $5M, so he is not much of an option. Soler would be a good DH, but the Twins will keep that position flexible. Duvall - no. Hoskins would be delicious but .... the money. John Brebbia might be our winning ticket.

Fun lists to see and interesting view of the Twins system. I cannot disagree with how players are ranked on this list as the criteria is mostly a future value judgment and speculative exercise. Prospect and system value lists always draw my attention. Jeffers has a surprising position. It is interesting to me, however, that many fans are more future focused when discussing options for the coming season. The results of looking ahead often diminish the actual accomplishments and skills of current players. Memories of Fernando Rodney, Michael Restovich, and dozens of others always come to mind. I must admit that I have been impressed by the seemingly universal fabulous acclaim for the skills and potential of Walker Jenkins. He is seen as being a superior prospect to where current Twins such as Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton, and Royce Lewis stood once upon a time and is seen as clearly above Brooks Lee as a prospect in terms of talent. Will he be a more athletic Bryce Harper? Heady stuff.

I'm in full agreement with this statement. The goal is to score runs. The batters are doing everything they can to hit the ball. Velocity does make a difference. Hitters can punish 85-90 mph fastballs and fight off a few breaking pitches, but on those occasions where the pitcher is throwing near triple digits on the edges of the zone (up and in or down and away), life as a hitter becomes very difficult. Sliders are ridiculous. I think one of the greatest pitching duels of recent times was Ohtani versus Trout in the WBC last March. The best hitters in the world has a very tough task when facing the best pitchers in the world. Julien is about the best offense the Twins have at this time and I'm thinking he improves quite a bit from last year to this season ...... or at least I hope so. His development will depend on his disciplined decisions within the zone.

I'm trying to think of a contact hitter in the last twenty years who hit a bunch of doubles and triples. Barry Bonds? Would you say he was a contact hitter? There must be someone else. Never thought of anyone who hit balls in the gap over over the heads of the outfielders as contact hitters. Oh well.

Fouling off pitches regularly on purpose isn't really a thing. We can forget about it .... one less item to worry about.

Lot of love for Lewis. Sure hope the weight of expectations after only 280 MLB plate appearances aren't too overwhelming.

Sorry .... just wanted to add one thing. Look at the zone charts of a couple of batters and then Julien on mlb.com. You will see that Julien has zero home runs on pitches out of the zone, he has very few hits on pitches out of the zone, and his quality of contact out of the strike zone is poor. When you look at any number of other hitters you will see vastly different results. Others have some success swinging at borderline pitches. Julien won't last long in the big leagues swinging at pitches out of or on the edge of the strike zone. He knows what he is doing.

Those were different times. I remember pitching to those hitters. It was almost always the easiest outs of any game. The batters would be swinging for contact and bounce one back to the mound or hit a meek dribbler for an automatic out to an infielder or weakly pop out. For me, pitching in the 60s and 70s was easier than pitching in the 90s because of those weak two strike swings. My success as a hitter was compromised by my contact-oriented swing with two strikes, which I often felt affected my confidence as a batter. I always hit a very weak .300 and was more a defensive player and pitcher as a result. I do think that batters can be forceful and still slightly more attuned to making contact with two strikes and this was a big change in the game several decades ago. I expect Julien will make some very slight adjustments this season and punishing more pitches completely in the zone may be seen more often. I don't want to see him offering at those pitches at the edge of the zone or just off of the plate. Julien is a force at the plate and the strike zone mastery is his gold.

The point of an at bat is to get on base or be a person to score runs. Julien is better at offense than any other Twin at this time. His strength is to force pitchers to come to him, which he does exceptionally well. Julien also does punish pitches within the strike zone. His weakness is making solid contact on pitches out of the strike zone, thus he takes those pitches. To swing at pitches off the plate would negate his strength as a hitter. The called third strikes off of the plate are not a problem. I would expect that Julien does improve on those pitches wholly in the strike zone with two strikes. It is important to remember that his exposure to baseball at a highly competitive level has only occurred in the last half dozen years. A player like Brooks Lee or Royce Lewis, for two examples, have a decade of experience against competitive players. Julien is relatively inexperienced and still is learning. The question really is how far he can improve in all areas of his game. There are generally three types of hitters that pitchers do not like to face. One is a guy who smashes the ball so hard and just seems frightening, Like Miguel Sano or Giancarlo Stanton. They are scary. Next are guys who hit line drives all over the place on your best pitches and worse on pitches out of the strike zone. Vladimir Guerrero comes to mind. The third is a guy who takes a ton of pitches and is very difficult to get out but can also go yard on you at any time. This is Julien. The Twins do not have either of the other two hitters at this time. Watch Julien bat against Verlander in the playoffs and look at Justin's face. He is, arguably, the best pitcher of this generation and Julien totally owns those at bats. Can julien maintain and even improve this season? This is the question, but right now he is the best offensive player on the team.

The suggestion looks like it makes sense, except that the Twins are not going to part with either Festa or Raya and are short on outfielders. Wallner may or may not evolve but his power, speed, arm, and the lack of a ready replacement make him unlikely in a trade. I'm accepting these ideas as honest attempts to find a way for the Twins to fill in for the loss of Sonny Gray, but they also weaken the team for this season. Perhaps the only player not counted on right now is Brooks Lee. I don't even believe the Twins are willing to trade him. An extreme move would be Lewis for Kirby .... nah. We better get excited about Louie Varland. He's our guy.