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tony&rodney

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Everything posted by tony&rodney

  1. tony&rodney
    Seems doubtful that a player would consider signing a team friendly contract with a dysfunctional program. Players will demand very high numbers or wait until free agency. Perhaps the organization gets their act together this offseason and provides a reason for a couple of guys to listen to offers. Best bet is that highest bidder gets a signature. Ryan would start by asking for 6/$140M. Jeffers is one year from free agency. I'm not sure what number he could command, but he will want to find out. Back to the drawing board. We can wait until November to see how the playoffs end before the rebuild is put into place.
  2. tony&rodney
    Only thing to add is that the Twins should be listening on every player and talking with every team about potentially mutually beneficial trades. We should expect Royce Lewis to be the 3rd baseman next year. I don't think there will be any discussions about extensions for obvious reasons, the Twins would go low while Lewis would bet on himself. The Twins should find some competition for the infield.
  3. tony&rodney
    I'm thinking you are correct from a Twins past practice viewpoint. My sense tells me no thank you on all but Naylor.
  4. tony&rodney
    The hope is that the Twins and Lewis quickly agree, with one call or text, on $3M. Lewis has had a tough go of it in the last few years and his salary is mostly gained from the current system as opposed to his performance. Everyone is looking for a page to be turned for Royce in 2026. Hopefully the agent, Lewis, and the Twins agree quickly and the offseason is positive thoughts only.
  5. tony&rodney
    Snell, Glasnow, and Ohtani pitched enough during the regular season to be fully tuned up and they are healthy but they didn't put much wear and tear on their arms this year. Yamamoto pitched once a week all year, starting 30 games. He threw 173 innings and was more rested than most aces. These four, with Sasaki in relief, are an enormous plus for a team. Seldom has any team gone into the postseason with better pitching. Milwaukee faces an uphill fight. Yamamoto had everything working last night. I thought Milwaukee tried everything to get on base or push up his pitch count but when a pitcher throws two unhittable pitches to go up 0-2 in the count, baseball is very tough for the batters. The excellence of Blake Snell and Yamamoto has to be praised in those two outings.
  6. tony&rodney
    Ryan Jeffers, in sum (whether from data or just the eye), is an above average catcher. His value to the Twins should be apparent to all, specifically because the organization is thin at the position. There is no doubt in my mind that a few teams will be asking about Jeffers. The front office should listen. Before any consideration of moving Jeffers via trade, the Twins will need to acquire someone who they believe can handle backstop duties. The team also needs to add a veteran as well unless Jeffers is kept for another year. While there have been comments that trading good players for a part time catcher is not a good use of player assets, the Twins cannot limp along with sub par catchers next year as they did the last two months of this year.
  7. tony&rodney
    Interesting reads. I follow the minor leagues but don't often follow anyone in college, so these reports are good to read. Thank you.
  8. tony&rodney
    I admire how hard that franchise competes in a league playing with the U. S. dollar in a city that runs on CA dollars. Toronto is a fabulous city but they are in a tough place for revenues versus the big markets in the U.S. and yet they always go for it. Their manager is in a tough spot, for sure. I hope he stays/ I hope Toronto keeps him. The San Diego manager resigned due to the stress and strain on his mental health.
  9. tony&rodney
    Does Turang have experience with turning to let that pitch go off his hip? Ouch. Looked to me that it was headed for his back knee. Does that then become a Keaschall experience? Reactions ruled there and he was quick and smart to avoid the injury. If anything I was surprised he didn't take a timeout to remind himself of the situation. He was hunting a fastball but needed to lay off the high one. Easier to say than do ..... obviously. Good pitch. Great game.
  10. tony&rodney
    That would be harsh. The Blue Jays have had a good season after suffering through a pile of injuries. Toronto made quite a turnaround from last year.
  11. tony&rodney
    Who can consistently get outs? Those are the guys to fill the pen. Easy to see the relief pitching is wide open for next season. There are bound to be a dozen candidates out of Spring Training. Do the Twins sign 1-3 free agents? That adds possibilities, although it puts those guys in ink and increases the competition amongst the others. Guessing is always a trip: Sands, Funderburk, Adams, Ohl, Festa, Prielipp, Raya, Morris, Laweryson, maybe a couple of players acquired in trades, and maybe a couple of guys signed as free agents or rising from the pile of a spring training invite trial. A little of this, a little of that, and a fair group can emerge. We might as well be hopeful.
  12. tony&rodney
    What a crazy double play in Milwaukee. The umpires got everything correct. The players, coaches, and manager were all totally confused.
  13. tony&rodney
    I'm very familiar with the data. I won't argue with what those people have recorded. I also don't have to buy all of it. Defensive statistics are not very reliable nor do they do well on comparing players. I have stated this before and it bears repeating here. I'm aware that many people enjoy the play of Matt Wallner and use numerous data points to point out his value. I respect that opinion and those data points. While I believe Wallner would serve best as a pure DH, I also think many MLB clubs may see Wallner as many of the folks on Twins Daily. There should be options for a mutually beneficial trade. My position is that the Twins need better defenders in the field, more speed, and better bats; more talent. Naturally there will be data points and arguments aplenty on many players. I'm not a fan of his play in the field. As long as he is a Twins, he will be seen as an option for right field. You may have him there for all of the reasons you effectively choose to use in his support. That's fine. I would move him to DH or trade him for value. No argument but a separate viewpoint.
  14. tony&rodney
    Topa, in a fair effort, pitched 60 innings with 68 hits allowed, hit 4 batters, walked 18, and struck out 49. Let him go. He can be signed to a spring invite contract if available. The Twins could keep him because they should have plenty of room on the 40 person roster.
  15. tony&rodney
    I love prospects. Read my comments and you know that. Others are huge prospect fans as well. Still, as the Seattle announcer just stated after his 3 run HR a few minutes ago, "Playoff Polanco is my favorite Polanco." His performance this postseason is amazing.
  16. tony&rodney
    I'm not sure we are all ever going to agree on the Polanco trade. Seattle had openly asked for options to acquire Polanco on numerous occasions. The Twins were enamored by Julien and Lewis. Minnesota also wanted to add an experienced pitcher. They really didn't save any money. I'm not sure anything was learned. Gabriel Gonzalez was highly thought of because of his bat to ball skills. Seattle didn't much care if he was moved because he was unplayable in the field. I was very curious about GG and watched quite a few of his games. I was perplexed because I had never seen a worse fielder in professional baseball. Last offseason we were informed that Gonzalez played hurt most of 2024. So I put him down as a kid to watch. I'm not sure one can adequately state what an enormous leap Gonzalez took in 2025. Yes, his bat was wonderful and he even displayed some decent home run cuts. The leap was on defense. I'm certain I have never seen such a massive improvement. Gabby is still below average but he is playable and one must wonder if he can get to average or plus with more hard work with the glove. I must seen him (via milb.com) play at least 25-50 times this year and I was very impressed by his improvement. I think he is a year away but the Twins have a good guy in Gabriel Gonzalez. The improvements made by Gabby and his development might have been more unexpected than Jorge Polanco's 2025 season. People had some reason to believe that a severely hobbled player might heal up and return to some semblance of his former skill set. Seattle did. Nothing wrong with both teams finding success with these two players.
  17. tony&rodney
    The experienced player often has knowledge to give them an edge on younger players. Veterans are important in any job. This is a truism. You might feel better about young, inexperienced players/rookies if you reminded yourself that guys like Tony Oliva and Rod Carew were once rookies as were Mike Trout and Albert Pujols. Lest you think those days are gone, you might consider that Nick Kurtz was a rookie this year and Paul Skenes last year. The Guardians are a very young team. The Brewers rode a couple of guys who came up in the middle of the year. Don't close your mind to rookies or young players.
  18. tony&rodney
    So true, so without spending it is going to be an experiment.
  19. tony&rodney
    So far, in this discussion, the most creative and likely best suggestion put forth is using Austin Martin at first base. Doubt it is even considered but that seems much more likely to succeed than some other choices. Wallner was a pitcher in college. He has a big arm. He struggles to get the ball from his glove to throwing and has a distinct dislike for cutoff guys. Check out his assist totals. Teams run at will on him. I have had this conversation with two third base coaches. He might be really good at DH if relieved of the bother of owning a glove. Neither Wallner nor Larnach are first baseman, although Larnach played one inning there in the Cape Cod Summer League once upon a time. I think the coaches and managers know. I looked over the list of available first baseman before the season ended and numerous times since. Pete Alonso is on record as wanting 7 years. He is pretty brutal at the bag but if he will sign a 7/$84M contract, ok. Unlikely or impossible. My choice would be Josh Naylor at 4/$80M. Maybe add a signing bonus of $6M. He might get more but that is the limit for my budget of $111M for the 26 person roster. Naylor will not get less than $20M on multiple years. Lewis makes sense to an extent as does Jeffers but the Twins need to then fill those positions. Maybe Keaschall is the best choice. Trades? Tre' Morgan can pick it and is a contact hitter. Maybe he is decent. FA? O'Hearn is the only choice besides Naylor. At this point it is impossible to know what direction the front office is headed but there should be funds for a splash and first base is a hole in the organization. I love that they are teaching Mendez to play the position and will wait to see how that works, but he is 2 years away. The last choice is Kyler Fedko. He is reasonable athletic and quick. Last season he figured out quite a bit with his bat. Hard to know if he can make the leap. The creative choice is Austin Martin. I never thought of that but he is very familiar with the speed of the infield and how everything works. He is also quick. I'm still reading though to wait for a better option. Give me Naylor.
  20. tony&rodney
    Does anyone else find it inconceivable (cue-"I don't think that word ....") that no coach or manager has ever experimented with either of Wallner or Larnach at first base? The results were ....? I have been collecting thumb's down on a consistent basis by suggesting that Matt Wallner has more value in trade (from a team that needs his power) than he does as a Twin. I want to eat my words but it seems unlikely. The guy can hit bombs but in the field he is vastly overrated. My fear as a Twins fan is that Falvey goes 3-3 (2023, 2024, 2025) on decisions that the roster now has all the talent it needs to win. We have watched this before. Will he play it again? It would be his own personal three-peat. Or ...... hey, maybe this current roster wins the 2026 World Series with Matt Wallner playing first base. I'm goofing around with the 2026 Twins 26 person roster at $111 million. It includes Josh Naylor on a 4/$80M contract, which may not be high enough to get him to sign. There is my first baseman. I'm also wondering if Tampa Bay can be coerced into trading Tre' Morgan. He is not quite ready yet and is not a power hitter, but he would provide outstanding defense, hit for a fair average, and put the ball in play to give the team more than it has now.
  21. tony&rodney
    Thank you for an attempt at explaining BTV. I heard that Skubal was basically the same as Ryan which is strange. I'm firmly in the camp which wants change, specifically to a more athletic defensively-oriented position group. The players who interest me from the Red Sox are Rafaela, Arias, and Durran. I'm not buying Durran's high value. However, I would demand quite a bit from Boston because I like some other options. The Mets might work but I'm not keen at all on Williams. I do like McLean but the Twins need position players. Keeping Ryan is also an option but I do believe the team needs to make several trades at a minimum. The payroll should not be an issue because $110M is very doable. While there are voices calling for $130-150M, the focus needs to be on talent. Hopefully, the Twins can identify players and teams where mutually beneficial trades take place. It will be devastating if the team does nothing.
  22. tony&rodney
    FWIW, a true blow it up will result in a 26 person payroll below $25M. That would be extreme.
  23. tony&rodney
    That would be a dream. I think there is only one Witt Jr.
  24. tony&rodney
    McGonigle is looking tough but the Tigers almost surely want him to fit in the infield as soon as next season. There is plenty of projection left in Parker Meadows future and he is already an elite centerfielder with crazy athletic talent. Max Clark might have trouble breaking into the Tigers outfield but he has a potentially fabulous future. I love the way Javy Baez plays defense. At the very least it is worth a discussion and exploration of mutually beneficial ideas.
  25. tony&rodney
    Nothing close to accurate about this table.
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