tony&rodney

Baseball players work extremely hard to excel at their jobs and as shown years ago they would play for nearly nothing to stay in the game. Free agency changed the money but these athletes still had to earn their way up through the system. In ten years Correa would most certainly be thrilled to still be playing baseball and bringing home $10 million would just be an added bonus/treat.

The Marlins may be interested in a player for now (Kepler, Arraez types) and some guys who are pre-arb too (Miranda, Larnach, Kirillof, Martin types). They may be interested in an A ball player but that is too far down the road because Miami is building their team for this year and the next few seasons. Finally, if the Twins can only protect one player, it should be Emmanuel Rodriguez. The Twins should not listen on him.

It is a solid gamble at the correct time for the Twins because of the number of young players and health risks.

Correa on the team means less angst about shortstop and allows the players like Lee, Lewis, Martin, and Julien to hit/earn their way into the lineup instead of being given a slot. Still, health is needed as everyone has pointed out.

Something was amiss on the medical front, for sure. Correa should be good for all of six years. It is a gamble worth taking at this point with interest in the Twins waining.

Agree .... and my hope is that the Twins can make a trade for a starter like Edward Cabrera or Jesus Luzardo using players already on the expected 26 person roster.

Christian Vasquez cannot be traded until June 15. Plus, for the next year or two, Vasquez is a better option for the Twins at catcher. This is especially true with our young starters.

Bauer may get another chance in baseball, but it is really hard to see it. He has had more than 10 years of substantial issues in increasingly more complicated manners of behavior. The resume is out there for all teams to consider and it seems nearly impossible that an employer is looking to test their luck at this time. Maybe if he can somehow prove that his can adjust over the next ten years, then someone might say ok. It's none of my business and I don't care if someone wants to employ Bauer but my belief is he is done with baseball.

Trade Sonny Gray to San Diego for Dylan Lesko if you think San Diego is a good trade partner.

Sale doesn't seem likely and would be pretty much outside of the box for Falvey. Let Falvey concentrate on prying loose Edward Cabrera from the Marlins, a gamble worth taking.

Arraez or Miranda, Kirillof or Larnach, and Kepler for Cabrera and Luzardo should work for both teams. Perhaps add a Cavaco or Celestino from our side. That should help the Marlins with offense and strengthen the Twins pitching staff. It sure seems like the Twins will not move on anything until the entire Correa saga comes to a definitive end.

MLBTradeRumors has a post saying that Miami is listening on Lopez, Rogers, Luzardo, and Cabrera. They want bats and years of control. This is an opportunity for the Twins to pick up a guy (Cabrera) with massive upside. albeit a gamble. What is needed to complete this for the Marlins? Larnach or Kirilloff and Kepler for Cabrera. Add Ober and Martin going south with Miami sending Luzardo north? Hard to know what will work but there should be a match for at least Cabrera.

You make a good point but I would argue that the Twins ceiling could easily be $175M. Given their current roster I would make trades which actually brings the cost down. Large long terms contracts will always need a long term evaluation. Signing Correa without any other moves doesn't push the team far enough to justify the cost. Hopefully there are other ideas or moves to come in the near future. I also agree with what you argue about the value of the back half of large contracts. However, don't teams sign these contracts with this expectation because the front half balances out the deals in the teams' favor? The Hosmer and Hayward deals were totally panned immediately and who knew the mess of a situation that Cano would fall into. All of the other deals, like Mauer's, were a plus for the teams. I am generally opposed to large long term contracts because of all of the points you have argued in other posts. There is a time though and one deal I would have gambled on this winter is making an attempt on Carlos Rodon. I'm still quite ambivalent about Correa.

The Twins could use a player who hits for average and has power but also has a high on base percentage and might steal some bases. Julien is that guy and he can be moved around the infield (1B, 2B) when he isn't the DH. Put him in the lineup.

Solid report these five are important to any success possible for the Twins in 2023. Most people would agree that Buxton and Polanco will produce given good health, and all of Kepler, Gallo, and Vasquez could surprise us with their performances. Arraez will hit. That leaves one guy who is not spoken for - Nick Gordon. He also needs to prove himself, although his case is different. Gordon had a fine year last year and seems capable of even better numbers, yet because he faced so many challenges and took such a slow path to regular work he will need to prove he belongs in the lineup on a daily basis. As far as those in the post, they each have different expectations. Jeffers should be able to relax as a backup to Vasquez and hopefully he is able to improve his at bats as well as his blocking with Vasquez as a tutor. I see Ryan as the perfect #4 guy for our starting rotation and his consistency would be welcome there. He can develop without the pressure of being a top guy. Ober fits right behind Ryan as a #5. Hopefully Ober remains healthy. There really isn't any reason to be so careful with the big guy any longer. Either Ober is ready to handle a full load or he gets replaced by another potentially positive starter, Varland. The Twins and their fans should have a good idea of where Kirillof stands by June 1. It would be optimum for the team and their fans if Kirilloff can replicate his Saints run last season in MLB starting in April, but a little patience may be necessary to allow for the rust to be removed. Either way, We should have an answer on Alex by June. With Gallo, Kepler, Gordon, Garlick, and Wallner available to play corner outfield and the potential to throw Celestino and Kirilloff into the mix, it is difficult to see where Trevor Larnach fits with the Twins. I expect him to open the year in St. Paul if he is not used a piece in a trade. Perhaps the Twins move several other players to open an option for Larnach as well. Larnach seems ready to get regular at bats and it may need to happen with another team. If he begins in AAA, I sure hope he rakes to force his way into a regular lineup spot for someone.

This reads similar to an article about Royce Lewis just a few years back. One side comment - errors at the minor league level are not solid indicators of whether a player can actually succeed at a position. Lateral movement, reads, hands, reflexes, release, and arm are better indicators of future competence.

Enlow may be gone soon.

Manfredball is horse manure, especially the ghost runner.

Manfred and the owners are content with what they have and display little interest, judging from their actions, in growing the game. Simply put, baseball either doesn't have competent overall leadership and vision or perhaps it is not interested.

Winter is long.

This is the song that never ends. It goes on and never ends ......

A good MLB team must be able to sign and develop players via the draft and the Latin America route, identify free agents to sign, and acquire players via trade. Using all three avenues is optimal but if a team is able to be superior at a couple of the three options, there is hope. Where are the Twins in these scenarios? A number of general managers and team presidents of player operations have been very aggressive in trading, lost their jobs, and been recycled with other teams. I am wondering what has made Falvey so reticent to pull off a major trade or acquisition using players from their current roster. Perhaps other teams have zero interest in Twins players or maybe the Pohlads dictate more control than seems rational considering their business model. Either way, Twins fans wait and hope to escape the mediocrity that plagued the past two seasons.

Joe Ryan is a top ten asset, in my opinion, because he could be a very consistently good pitcher. We could see another five years of seasons as good or better than last year from Ryan. That said, I do view him as an excellent #4 or decent #3 pitcher in a starting rotation. If the Twins can acquire or develop a pitcher with more than two years of control remaining to slot into the #1 or #2 positions, they would be among the team's best assets.

Julien seems close, maybe closer than we expect. The one thing that stood out to me about Julien's at bats is how well he controlled the pitcher-batter engagement. Julien could benefit from looking to do more damage early in counts, but he is one player I expect to benefit from the better umpiring at the MLB level. He needs a home defensively or perhaps breaks in as a DH. I am ready to see Julien get an opportunity this season.

You are not wrong in your assessment. The best players usually have some degree of risk. The Twins have totally eschewed the risk of long term contracts for their own reasons, right or wrong not being important, which will mean a list such as Nick has put together. The balance of healthy/unhealthy makes us question the probability of success for the team at the very least.