tony&rodney

1. Keep 162 games 2. Expand, realign, and play a balanced schedule within each league; keep AL & NL separate 3. Enforce 20 second pitch clock - this is done in milb, but may prove difficult, but the 30-60 seconds is unnecessary 4. Keep the umpires - they are human and make about the same mistakes as the players and managers 5. End blackouts and video restrictions 6. Allow trading of draft picks 7. Pay minor league players a living wage 8. Choose a commissioner interested in baseball (end h.s game doubleheaders and extra innings nonsense) Those are my eight but I do think MLB & MLBPA should focus on % of $ paid to players. Perhaps media money needs to be distributed more equitably, because local contracts create huge discrepancies, but this would require some difficult changes and is extremely unlikely. NFL shares all media but that is a different game.

I totally agree with DocBauer - it is obvious that Simmons is playing SS to help evaluate the young pitchers. This decision is easy to support. The usage of Cave is not clear as Gordon is younger and Refsnyder plays younger. Regardless, the Twins will have a different shortstop next season through either a trade or free agency. In the meantime it is good to see a few wins lately.

Trevor Story is not looking as desirable as Correa, Seager, or Semien, but that may be cause to land him on a one year contract. Simmons is getting plenty of usage and has done well in the field, but I'm thinking it is time to move on from him after this year closes.

Ryan will get a shot in September. Thorpe is the likely choice. The Twins need to make a call on Thorpe this offseason. If he cannot show good stuff and throws 85-88 mph, then he will be gone. If he is effective in a number of instances, he goes back into the mix. There are too many options to waffle long with Lewis Thorpe if he crashes, but he has worked hard to come back and deserves a shot at showing the team his skills.

It doesn't seem like the Twins are aiming for a $50-75 million payroll but it could happen. Twins Daily is restless because of the disaster that was April and May but I am still thinking that $140 million is likely too. Every player is available, a minimum of two pitchers need to come via free agency or trade as well as a few good relief pitchers and, hopefully, a shortstop added. Buxton is a key as well. Starting 2022 with four rookie starting pitchers is a long shot. We don't have to worry because someone else (Falvine) will take of everything.

Lewis Thorpe on Wednesday? He gets a shot to show?

Yup. All the games count.

Polanco has done decently at 2B and it may be good to leave him there. However, despite Jorge not fielding like Simmons, the Twins won with JP. The Twins need pitching and they need to score when runners get into scoring position, especially with less than two outs. The coming offseason will test management's skills in trading, signing, and making 40 man roster decisions. Shortstop is an area of need but it seems less important than pitching. Trevor Story seems to have had a tougher year than normal. Perhaps he can be enticed to sign for a year to re-establish his market. Marcus Semien has shown real worth but Toronto may outbid anyone to return him to an improving young team. There should be plenty of money to invest for 2022, but the Twins will want to make some trades too. I will understand if Simmons is brought back but it will seem like the Happ signing as a move made because another decision was not made. I'm not interested in having Simmons here next year. There is still plenty of season left to look at players from our system and others.

Understandable. I was really eager to see Nick Anderson and then .... poof, he was gone. However, this is the fate of a fan. I played for way too many years and just enjoy the game and all of the little stuff. When looking over players and guessing who will still be around it is only my thoughts and I am aware that management may not like some aspect of a player; we have to live with that. Don't let management ruin your enjoyment of the game of baseball, but know you will be ticked at how things are run by the corporations. Baseball is still fun for me and good entertainment.

I have seen Gordon play. I'm not being a harsh judge of him. The Twins will play whomever they decide to play. I will agree with your underlying question of why Gordon was used at shortstop for years but never given a real shot to show any skills at the MLB level. The post concerned his viability as a long term option and there are doubts about his future right now. The opinions on Twins Daily carry zero weight but his managers at AAA and MLB have a voice. You sound bitter about Gordon's opportunities right now and this will play out far away from our field.

I want to agree with you and I'm not a fan of Simmons, but Gordon cannot play shortstop and Simmons can which means the move makes sense to see if Gordon can hit and play defense at other positions in AAA. Nick Gordon has had a tough go the past few years and he doesn't project to be more than a mediocre utility player at this point. Gordon and Tyler Jay were tough picks. Maybe the time in AAA will help Gordon find another gear.

Falvine duo will get their chance to rectify the pitching and roster this offseason and then there can be a more solid look at their ability to put together a quick return to competitive baseball. The Twins are loaded with prospects, suspects, and players that are duplicated on their roster with Jeffers/Garver as just one example. There are some good choices of free agents and an ability to make good trades. I would hope for two big signings, two minor signings, and two trades, one of which needs to be major. The repeat of past practices would be problematic.

The struggles with the 40 man roster are real. The Twins will want to be quite sure of their decisions on those players currently on their team before releasing them and the free agents they signed (Simmons and Colome) will finish the year. Thus, there will not be an opportunity for every player that we may want to see if they are not on the 40 man roster. The players I want to see playing are: Sano, Rooker, Polanco, Arraez, Donaldson, Larnach, Kepler, Refsnyder, and hopefully Buxton. I do want to see Ober, Jax, Ryan, and a few new faces pitching. Lastly, the comment made earlier about Rocco Baldelli and his adjustments is also interesting.

Buxton holds enormous value to any team with his unique skill set: speed, power, and instincts. Of course, the level of frustration is really high for the Twins and their fans because of the number of games where Byron actually suits up and plays. Buxton is the most frustrated of all. The injuries are annoying and they are all different. However, every team looks for one player with massive talent and the Twins have that player in Byron Buxton. A long term commitment is a gamble but his health and production could turn to MVP status; this can happen. A player with 50 speed will never cut it in CF, not even with good instincts. The best centerfielders all had great speed and that includes some Twins like Jimmie Hall, Kirby Puckett, Torii Hunter, and a few others. One must really be confused about the importance of good defense to believe that Cave or others will work for more than 20 games per year. Perhaps Royce Lewis becomes the CF option, but Austin Martin is unlikely in that position. The Twins need Byron Buxton to heal and play consistently if there is to be a return to relevant baseball at Target Field. The Twins should plan on Buxton to be in centerfield next season.

I have been a baseball fan all of my life or as far back as I can remember which does include the 1961 Twins. Because I played sports and coached also, I left watching tv sports, everything but baseball behind a long time ago. Football bores me. We all have different reasons for our habits and I enjoy the pitcher-batter confrontation. I do not have a tv any longer and now listen to the Twins games on the radio. I do watch about 5 games per week of other teams on mlb.com. The game is still worthwhile to me but there has been years of corporate influence that is annoying. Politics has always been a part of baseball. Why would we play the national anthem before each game or have the silly mid seventh inning patriotism? How many of you have those things every day at work? These don't bother me but we should know that politics has been in baseball for far longer than 100 years; not much change in that area. One specific area that has changed is the time between pitches. I hate legislating things but perhaps a simple pitch clock would help all of baseball. Nevertheless, a well-played 3-4 game is far superior to a sloppy 2-3 hour game. Lastly, it is certainly possible that the pandemic has changed the habits of many people. I just came in from cruising around in my kayak for three hours and wasn't bored for a second. Despite my utter disdain for the high school rules of Manfredball and that abomination, I will remain a baseball and Twins fan listening and watching some daily while keeping track of the boxscores.

The Twins have a multitude of options. I cannot think of any reason, at all, to be down on either Berrios or the Twins. The trade happened and we should just accept that both sides had legitimate ideas and reasons for their decisions. The pitching needs attention, which everyone agrees to on Twins Daily. The differences individuals have relates to their beliefs and thoughts on what the Twins should or can do. The Twins management will make their own analysis but the option to spend significantly does exist and trades can also occur. The opinions of each of us is mere entertainment so we propose our solutions which have some merit. Personally, I want the Twins to sign Rodon .... or Thor, but at least one major option to front the rotation. Next, I am hoping to trade for a pitcher or two - say Sandy Alcantara and Max Meyer and this might cost us Garver, Arraez, and Kepler. Maeda and two prospects could fill the rest of the spots and various prospects could be used as depth. One thing that should be noted, however, is that there will be some excellent options for the Twins to improve their pitching and team for 2022. A return to relevance would please everyone on Twins Daily.

I like Garver; it's fun to watch him swing the bat. His skills may be highly valued by other teams as well and the Twins should be on the lookout for pitching above all else. Garver may be more valuable to the Twins as trade bait than behind the plate, because that is the state of the Twins pitching right now. Prospects can fill the last two spots in a rotation if they are good but good teams need proven pitching in the top three positions. Currently the Twins only have Maeda, a solid #3. Polanco, on the other hand, holds more value to the Twins because of his versatility and friendly contract.

This is all a little premature to speculate on the offseason but also a natural consequence for fans supporting a team in a lost season. Thus, the floor for me would be signing a top free agent, trading for a solid pitcher, Maeda as a #3, and two pitchers from the field to fill out the rotation. The FA will require more than $100 million and the trade may be at a steep price. For sure, the Twins will need to be active or tear it all down. Happ, Shoemaker, and Colome didn't cut it and neither will similar signings.

The Twins finally managed to get a Garza back.

Cody, you are a busy poster. I appreciate your ideas but you have taken the Twins down to a $30-50 million payroll and I'm not convinced that anyone will give up top ten talent for these four. Perhaps a dose of positive thinking keeps Buxton, Donaldson, and Rogers. I'm wondering if the Marlins might find Kepler an interesting add, if we also suggest Arraez, Garver, and maybe Dobnak for Sandy Alcantara and Max Meyer. What I do agree with is the idea that the Twins need to be active this coming offseason.

We should note that Polanco was in the lineup, for whatever reason, while obviously injured and this is likely because the Twins had nobody else to play. It was painful to watch Jorge spin as he swung in deference to the ankle but the Twins did not shut him down as has happened with so many other players; I don't believe he was just being tough but left the decisions to the manager. It is difficult to say what options the Twins viewed. Perhaps in retrospect Ehire Adrianza should have been the regular with Polanco put on the IL, but it sure wasn't clear to me that management thought about sitting down Polanco in 2019 and 2020. It is really good to see Polanco looking good again.

Rodon would be a good pitcher to sign as a free agent. I propose, with no knowledge of Miami's wishes, a trade of Garver, Arraez, Kepler, and maybe some fill like Barnes and/or Smeltzer for Sandy Alcantara and Max Meyer. I am not sure if Gausman or the others would be a good sign for the expected $100+ million fee. Rodon seems like he could pitch forever now that he is past surgery and rehab and flourishing this year with the Sox. The Twins need to sign a minimum of one decent pitcher, this we know.

The Blue Jays got exactly what they wanted in Jose Berrios and thus the Twins were able to receive two highly rated prospects in return. Austin Martin may develop, quickly, into a real fine MLB player and we hope he does as soon as next season. However, Martin was not going to play ahead of Bichette or Springer and thus his value was higher for others than to Toronto. I don't think Toronto was down on Martin as a prospect. The Twins could use Austin Martin in LF if Buxton returns to full health. Byron has had a real tough time with injuries but most of them are unrelated and he could, absolutely, bounce back to be a 140+ games per year star. Power in CF allows for a line drive hitter in LF, and Martin could be that player. The Twins still need two pitchers though.

Bailey Ober has been pretty much dissected on this blog. He has had injuries, he does not project as a top three piece, he has shown well so far, and the Twins are managing his appearances. If Ober can continue to pitch as he has and lengthen out to 7 innings next year with the current results, the Twins have a gem of a #5 pitcher; that's good. Perhaps the auditions will uncover a #4 rotational piece. Then if Maeda can hold down the #3 spot, the Twins only need to add the two top pieces for a solid rotation. I like Ober.

Things sure turned bad from April to July. I agree that it is time to look at those players who might be members of the next competitive team, which means to cast off those who have proven their ineffectiveness.