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tony&rodney

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Everything posted by tony&rodney

  1. tony&rodney
    No argument that the Pohlads decided to cut back on the roster budget. It has been fairly established that after Grandma Pohlad died there was no interest in baseball within that family. They have other concerns, hobbies, duties, and interests. The inability of the people in charge of building a strong baseball roster failed mightily and that is where things went wrong. When the Twins lost to Houston in 2023 there were glaring needs/holes that needed to be addressed. The issues were ignored. Correa did what he could. His production wasn't very good this year but the systemic problems are directly attributable to the plans of the front office. A mishmash of slow, defensively challenged position players that struggle to hit wasn't ever going to work. Half a dozen DH types makes for a headache for the pitchers and the dilemma of who can the manager hide where. Correa was just a sideshow. Good for everyone that he can reset in Houston and that the Twins can move on. Also good that the Twins have a reminder each of the next 3 years of their deal ($11M+ to C4). So it goes. Things can get better with 2-4 really good trades in this coming winter.
  2. tony&rodney
    Yes.
  3. tony&rodney
    The weaknesses not only remain (slow, weak defenders that cannot run the bases or hit) but they are now arguably worse. The team added prospect pitchers and one A+ ball position player prospect (Tait). The Twins still need a stronger #1 catcher with Jeffers as the #2 guy. There is not anyone to play first base in the system. There is hope for Keaschall and Kaelen Culpepper to hold down the middle infield and Brooks Lee can be a decent utility player. The book on Royce Lewis is unfinished with Billy Amick a couple of years away (he is not yet a strong defender). The outfield has some potential if both Emmanuel Rodrigues and Walker Jenkins make the leap as every day corner outfielders next year with Buck between them, healthy and productive. Playing Wallner, Larnach, and Roden in the outfield is just hate on the pitchers. These guys and Gonzalez are pure DH's. Gonzalez is improving dramatically at the plate and projects as the most productive if he adds consistent power. Martin can be an effective reserve is used correctly. Looking above, it is clear that a rebuild has not really begun at all regarding position players because all of the players who the Twins plan or hope to fill positions were already in the system. The coming offseason will almost certainly result in further trades. The questions/speculations will revolve around the potential of the returns of position players/prospects for any or all of Jeffers, Lopez, Ryan, and Ober. Given how opposing GMs managed to get their player without giving up substantial players from their own organizations, we should be wary of the transactions. While any one deal completed might be seen in a positive light, the direction towards improving the offense, defense, and speed was ignored. The positive outlook on the deadline deals was strictly hoping for future excellence from the pitching additions with the exception of Tait. Watching Tait last night made me think positively that perhaps he and Winokur can arrive at the same time with high hopes for their potential as MLB stars. Until this coming winter ends and Spring Training begins we won't have any idea of the direction of this franchise. Will the Twins manage to find a Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery type player/prospect plus in trades? Can Falvey avoid adding more DH style guys? Trading Jeffers and 2 of the 3 starters should plug position player holes. That's the hope for 2026 and beyond. The coming trades are critical for the organization or it will be years before the team climbs above fifth place in the AL Central.
  4. tony&rodney
    Very doubtful.
  5. tony&rodney
    Fire the person who put those stats together. Someone needs to record different stats.
  6. tony&rodney
    Tristan Casas doesn't play first base. They put him there, but he is a pure DH. I want the incompetent defense to end and that requires ahletes who can field. Juan Soto is not a good outfielder but he doesn't usually botch the easy plays. Kurtz is a good first baseman now and will get much better. Boston will use Casas if he can hit 35-40 home runs. Yes, a guy like Kurtz is a dream. Maybe in another decade. The chaos of the Twins is chasing me off blogs and hopes due to the type of baseball favored by the front office. It's too much to take. Take care.
  7. tony&rodney
    Well, it is just a crazy idea. I totally understand why you and chpettit19 believe it is too much pitching and it isn't something the teams would discuss in any event. Still, I'll disagree and make that trade. K. Culpepper, Kurtz, Keaschall, Jenkins would be something to build on. Right now the Athletics offense is terrific, although they did lose Wilson to an injury. I suspect I will watch more minor league games than Twins. I know there have been down years but this team has been my worst Twins experience since April of 1961.
  8. tony&rodney
    Nothing makes me believe the Twins will be able to successfully trade for position players of note (athletes). The past record doesn't support any trust. Pitchers? Yes. Position players? No. When you respond that my crazy trade seems like too much it makes me think that others might think so too. That makes say - Do it. I am still rational and know this will not occur but I do wonder if the Twins actually can get a really good return for Ryan and Ober or if the return is players who can maybe mash as a DH or have high grades and no chance to play with their current organization. In other words - extra guys.
  9. tony&rodney
    No takers.
  10. tony&rodney
    1. If you get rid of all cheaters, it leaves a retired Joe Mauer. The money isn't being re-distributed. I'm fine with Correa back to Houston. He needed to move to third base and the Twins weren't doing that. It is a good move for all. Things can and will get much worse. We can only hope the trades this winter bring in position player talent. 2. 9 years is enough. Falvey needs to go. 3. This was a total miss. Managers are fired because you can't fire the team, supposedly. Baldelli is still here because Falvey fired the team. Given a midnight deadline, there would have been 5 more players traded. The players were done with Rocco so Falvey got rid of the players. Unique in baseball history perhaps.
  11. tony&rodney
    Really? I do that trade all day, every day. Kurtz plays defense too and actually can go 1st to 3rd. I was just making a crazy idea. If there was even a remote chance that something like this would work, it should have been explored. Hell, add Raya. Kurtz is among the best young players in baseball.
  12. tony&rodney
    .... are all pure DH's on their best day. None of these players have any more value than Michael Tonkin. Without major changes to their swings and approach at the plate they will not be on an MLB team much longer.
  13. tony&rodney
    This is exactly what I too have been saying since the Twins lost to Houston in 2023. Nothing positive can happen until everything at the top changes.
  14. tony&rodney
    I think the Twins have something with these two guys. I'm still holding out long term hope for Winokur but the real sale this winter needs to target guys like Culpepper and Jenkins no matter the cost. Just for fun and with full knowledge that the offer would be turned down immediately by the Athletics , did you ever see my crazy trade idea? Ryan, Ober, Soto, Wallner or Larnach for Nick Kurtz.
  15. tony&rodney
    Really? Where is the evidence that Falvey has a plan? This is Year 9. Lane? What have we watched? The Twins have improved their starting pitching to an extent and after the trades the organization has a new pile of potentially useful arms. This is a positive. The position players? Pretty much nothing added in the way of fast, defensively skilled strong bats. The entire pile has an 18 year old catcher in A ball to hang its hat on. Some good hitters are more of the same: slow, weak or no glove, or struggle to hit. The ownership earns everlasting damnation for not caring, which is best proved not by the payroll but by continuing the employment of Falvey and Baldelli. Don't expect a sale until the price drops quite a bit. A rebuild can still occur by trading all of Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Jeffers, Lewis, and Buxton if he agrees. None of those players will be around in any event in 3 years. There should be value in those players to acquire actual talent. That talent can then be combined with Culpepper, Jenkins, and E. Rodriguez to move forward. The FO and manager issue remains though. Will all of the players named above be traded for pitchers and players not worthy of starting positions on other teams? Will we see additions that can run, field, and hit? Hard to trust the FO based on 9 years of their work. If the lane was to create chaos, a lane was clearly picked. If the idea was to build a team, it is crystal clear that a lane has not been chosen yet .... unless one really thinks that Falvey is trying to damage the franchise and i don't believe that is the case. He just isn't any good at his job.
  16. tony&rodney
    Lately I have been watching pretty much every plate appearance of K. Culpepper, Jenkins, and Gonzalez as well as trying to see how they look in the field. Culpepper has improved nearly every week. He owns his at bats driving the ball all over the park. The outs are well struck. There are only a few random wild swings. Kaelen looks ready to move up to St. Paul. There isn't a better middle infielder as a fielder or hitter in the system. Jenkins has turned it on lately. He has a sweet stroke at the plate as advertised and is slowly getting to more power. He definitely is growing into his body. He plays hard, which I love. Walker also looks solid in the outfield although he will certainly need to move to a corner to get the best value from his good glove. Perhaps the Twins (expect it) leave him at AA for the remainder of the season but he could learn quickly at AAA. Gonzalez is a bat to ball machine. Lately I have seen him go big on his swing several times with positive results. There may be a major league bat there if he can rein in some of his chasing pitches out of the zone. The glove has improved tremendously but his best position is still DH. That said, Gonzalez has looked better in the outfield than a couple of the Twins OF/DH guys. GG will stay in AA until next year I think.
  17. tony&rodney
    The Twins hope they found a catcher .... in 3-4 years. The trades returned some promising pitchers, but it did not return any fast, defensively skilled, competent bats. None. They did add a couple guys who can DH. So the same problems remain: slow, poor defense, can't hit. But ..... now there isn't a bullpen. The rebuild will need to come when all of Lopez, Ryan, and Ober are traded with perhaps Buxton and Lewis included as well.
  18. tony&rodney
    The Phillies had given up on getting him to add the changeup or harness his control. However, sometimes a change of scenery works and we can hope Abel settles in as a mid to back end rotation starter. He has good stuff but the control and struggles versus LH batters needs to be addressed by the coaching staff.
  19. tony&rodney
    Great. We got pitchers. Who is going to field the ball if they only strike out 33% of the hitters? How are the Twins going to score runs? But, yes the pitchers look promising. That is true.
  20. tony&rodney
    Yah but .... one 18 year old catching prospect in a ball to help the position side? I'm not enamored (said too many times) of slow corner outfielders. I want a Jarren Duran type player in the corner. Turn anything in the air into an out and hit for extra bases but steal second base on the singles, all the while playing all out. I would trade Joe Ryan for that. No more DH guys.
  21. tony&rodney
    Is there though? As you know, I was/am a fan of the Twins making changes. The team is slow, plays poor defense, does not run the bases well, and they don't hit despite having too many DH only bats. They did not fix any of those issues. Tait is a possibility 3 years from now. A few others are possible corner outfielders/DH types. They added a ton of pitchers but stripped the bullpen of 4 guys with years left. I am not opposed to trading any player but the return needs to be a guy. That guy should be someone who projects to start, play defense, and be athletic. Some of the pitchers added have some promise. The position side is weak. We are still going to depend on guys you mentioned: Keaschall, EmRod, Jenkins with health from Buck and coming out parties from Lewis and Lee. I don't see a single position player that was added as the type of player I would target. Thus, I'm suggesting the rebuild hasn't started but will this November.
  22. tony&rodney
    We are all flailing and guessing at this point. The team is in total disarray. 1. I don't believe for 1 second that there is an imminent buyer. Put yourself there .... would you want a total sell-off before you buy or would you prefer to direct player movement. 2. The team still has the same exact problems as it did a week ago. The Twins are slow, play poor defense, and can't hit. Now we added the problem of having a shortage of MLB quality bullpen arms. 3. Based purely on how things went it seems probable that the Twins were negotiating so fiercely with Houston that they forgot about trading Vazquez, Ryan, and Lopez. 4. Nobody wanted Wallner or Larnach? Oof. This offseason I hope team speed, defense, and hitting is addressed. I have no idea how.
  23. tony&rodney
    I'm going to copy/paste what i put elsewhere. It isn't that the movement that is a problem, it is the direction. As stated below, the rebuild hasn't started. We did see a teardown. Those are different. In both November of 2023 and 2024 the Twins faced the same problems as they did one week ago. The team as a whole was slow, affecting both base running and defense. The team had too many DH only players. The defense was poor, which is not good for the pitchers because they feel that the only sure out is a strikeout. The team lacked extra base power, The team needed a better offense. After a historic round of trades, the problems remain. The strength of the team was pitching. So 7 pitchers were added after subtracting the top 5 bullpen arms. Only one decent far away from seeing the majors catcher was added. The other four bats are repetitive to those currently in the system. Really, the teardown happened quickly. The rebuild has yet to be started. Who goes after this season from among Lopez, Ryan, and Ober? Traditionally teams do not keep players with less than 3 years of control who make money above the minimum. For now it looks like the Twins will need some amazing emergences from players already in the system. What can the Twins expect next year from Noah Cardenas, Luke Keaschall, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and Walker Jenkins? Can Brooks Lee and Royce Lewis become consistently decent every day baseball players? Can Buxton continue as a decent centerfielder and remain healthy? Can Wallner learn to hit and be a fair DH only? Can players like Martin, Keirsey Jr., and Julien make reasonable contributions as part time players?
  24. tony&rodney
    In both November of 2023 and 2024 the Twins faced the same problems as they did one week ago. The team as a whole was slow, affecting both base running and defense. The team had too many DH only players. The defense was poor, which is not good for the pitchers because they feel that the only sure out is a strikeout. The team lacked extra base power, The team needed a better offense. After a historic round of trades, the problems remain. The strength of the team was pitching. So 7 pitchers were added after subtracting the top 5 bullpen arms. Only one decent far away from seeing the majors catcher was added. The other four bats are repetitive to those currently in the system. Really, the teardown happened quickly. The rebuild has yet to be started. Who goes after this season from among Lopez, Ryan, and Ober? Traditionally teams do not keep players with less than 3 years of control who make money above the minimum. For now it looks like the Twins will need some amazing emergences from players already in the system. What can the Twins expect next year from Noah Cardenas, Luke Keaschall, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and Walker Jenkins? Can Brooks Lee and Royce Lewis become consistently decent every day baseball players? Can Buxton continue as a decent centerfielder and remain healthy? Can Wallner learn to hit and be a fair DH only? Can players like Martin, Keirsey Jr., and Julien make reasonable contributions as part time players?
  25. tony&rodney
    It is pretty weird but this may have some truth.
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