tony&rodney

Guess I already more or less said same thing .... there are issues within the Twins organization. The payroll figures are pretty much estimates. You use B-R at $134, Fangraphs is at $147, BaseballProspectus is at $142, and I also saw a $149 and $151. Reality suggests numbers in the $110-160M range. Others may see things differently and I won't complain if the payroll is above $200M. We remember that the Pohlads were actually visible and involved in both the Buxton and Correa signings. Ok. Mostly though, ownership is not involved in players acquisitions and roster builds. It seems difficult to understand that the front office doesn't have any idea about budgets, trends, and swings. There are always circumstances beyond our knowledge, such as media, BAM money, etc. Using BaseballProspectus the swing from 2021-now was up $10, up $19, down $25, up $15. There were probably reasons and/or justifications each time and it would be unusual if this was sprung on the front office. I have no idea but management in corporations usually doesn't operate day to day and have no idea of larger picture, but I don't know or care. The Twins have had the largest financial resources in their division in the Falvey era. Whether the swings in payroll created problems could be noteworthy. When I look over the team it seems to have the firm stamp of this front office though. My main point is that the Twins have not been very active in the trade market, which relates to the original idea that the Twins follow Tampa Bay and Cleveland in building their team. There have been opportunities. Finally, I'm not sure what free agents the Twins could or would have signed even with a larger budget. Rhys Hoskins and Jordan Montgomery were the big names two off-seasons ago. Looking at next year, there are two players worth signing - Alonso and Tucker. I wouldn't bet a penny that either has an interest in the Twins and the money would almost certainly be prohibitive for this market even at a larger payroll. Tommy Pham? Possible, like Bader. Who else? In sum, yes, a fresh start seems favorable and I would appreciate a dynamic change. However, this seems totally out of my realm and the Twins will still be a mid market team no matter what happens and the payrolls are likely to remain within the range of other mid-market teams.

No expectations. It just sounded good. Morris is a full year or two away from an opportunity. If everything goes well for him, the chance could be because of injury or due to a trade to another team.

Easy enough to agree with your statement. The Twins though are not currently in the lower reaches. Note - you didn't say they were. The lower reaches are below $120 million. The upper tier is near or above $200 million.

Severino is a DH. The team is already loaded with DH names and Severino doesn't make much contact against the better pitchers. Yunior seems like a fun guy but he is pretty much a AAA player. My guess.

I am totally in favor of ownership supporting good baseball moves. My confusion with this idea relates to who or what players one suggests as possibilities. Looking at two offseason back the main names on Twins Daily were Rhys Hoskins and Jordan Montgomery. These two did not interest me then and they are not a target for me now. This past offseason it seemed like there wasn't any consensus. I actually suggested Christian Walker at 3 years for $70M or something close to that or a trade with TB for Yandy Diaz. Initially I only wanted to sign Inglesias and made a number of trades. These were generally panned or ignored which seemed fair. Ok, the past is past. Looking at the FA crop for next offseason I just don't see players the Twins will sign, mostly because I believe the players have other destinations in mind (Alonso and Tucker). Yes, guys will sign for the most money, but who. So I'm all ears and curious to hear what players the Twins could have signed or might be a value next time around. It doesn't seem like a money thing.

Good luck to Luke Keaschall. He brings energy. While the young pup has been fighting it at AAA thus far from game to game, he does look for his pitch and makes himself a tough out. Find it hard to believe Correa needs to go on IL. Castro must be hurting worse than we thought or perhaps Larnach has a more significant injury than suspected as we have seen him hobbling. I guess we should hope the day off today and then the time in warmer Atlanta mean everyone is good to go. Someone needs to sent somewhere, nurse's office or AAA.

Wondered the same and see the announcement now, but was a little surprised. Keaschall has not had the type of at bats we might expect for a guy being called up. I haven't seen who goes down and wonder how he will be used.

Pretty sure Alcala would be claimed quickly. He has a good arm.

Correct. This was noted in March I believe. It is a service time issue more correctly. So Alcala is going to figure it out as a Twin or pitch elsewhere. He is a little bit maddening because his stuff is nearly unhittable at times but then he loses it at other times. Alcala gives managers joy or ulcers.

This.

I get the age comparisons and i could care less how old someone is when they get their opportunity, however, Gasper is not comparable to the athletic Misner or Mangum. Gasper seems like a good story until you realize that he still doesn't have a legitimate base hit in 45 plate appearances. Both "hits" were errors if we are fair (saw both routine plays). Gasper also does not have a position he can play nor can he run. Reality sucks some times. While I feel for the guy and know he has several fans among Twins Daily folks, I just don't get him on an MLB roster.

You are nicer than me. I want Morris to turn in a Roy Oswalt career.

This is what I saw. He looks out to me. Clear? I wouldn't say that. If my windows or glasses were that clear ..... Also, I hope nobody was hurt by a few comments on this play. I didn't see the harm.

I have to ask - how many times have you watched Andrew Morris pitch? He really doesn't have any comparisons to Chris Paddack. Paddack was seen as a rising star in 2018/2019 and throws a completely different assortment of pitches. Morris has surprised people with the increase in his velocity as have many pitchers all across the minor leagues. Over 99 mph yesterday with piles of 98 at will, although he should have dialed back at times. Morris will need to develop his pitches further before he is ready for MLB. What he does do well is keep the ball off the barrel. He may surprise people if he can get more movement on several pitches and come up with some better off speed. Here is pretty silly thought by me based on not much - Morris seems smart and tough, but needs to watch that his tough guy self doesn't get in the way of his smarts. Silly, right?

You may be correct that the Twins cannot afford Correa. I won't agree or disagree with that point. Fangraphs has the roster payroll at $147 million. Others sites have it higher, to $150+ M. Correa ($37.33M) plus Buxton ($15.17) = $52.5M, which is short of 36% of the total payroll. More importantly, this leaves about the same amount of money left (after CC & BB are paid) as Cleveland spends on their entire payroll. The composition of the roster is what determines the success of a team. Money becomes a factor once clubs are willing to spend well above the money spent by the Twins, Cardinals, and others in the $150M range. Aaron Gleeman has been consumed with holding the Pohlads accountable for their spending, but he has yet to examine the role of how the team has been built. The Pohlads bought the Twins to make money and it is surprising when people are startled by their business decisions considering that Carl is dead and his sons and grandchildren have other concerns. Pretty much everyone I know believes the Twins have struggled, to be kind, with public relations and marketing. The money spent in total though has been greater during the Falvey era than any of the other AL Central teams and our friends in Milwaukee as well. The focus should be on the folks who put together the team and make the roster and playing decisions. The general philosophy of what constitutes an exciting and competitive team would be a worthy examination. It would also most likely have some correlation to attendance. Personally I have no idea what the goals are for this front office, but I can see that the team struggles in some areas, such as defense and team speed, which could affect both success and how the public views the team (attendance). When I watch Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Tampa Bay I see a different type of baseball. Still, I watch the Twins and hope they win the World Series. Crazy, huh?

He grew the mustache so people wouldn't think he was 16 still. After yesterday maybe he will shave it off.

Great comp. I was trying to think of someone similar. I think Roy Oswalt is it. Wouldn't that be something if Morris could duplicate Oswalt?

The Twins cannot send down Alcala. They would have to put him on waivers if they don't keep him on the roster. He would be picked up immediately.

Excellent choice for an article. This kid has worked his butt off to improve. Morris was my #5 prospect in the Twins system coming into this year. He has shown increased velocity from his first start. My concerns in the first two games, where he went 5 innings each time without giving up any runs, was raised yesterday. The command within the strike zone has not been as sharp as it was last year and Morris needs both a greater difference between his hard and soft stuff and more movement on his pitches. I still believe he is a top prospect in the system. Yesterday's game included some poor fielding. Morris looked like he was totally frustrated by the defense, including a misplay he himself made, so he tried to blow everyone away with fastballs. It worked to close out the first two innings but the command was gone and the Baby Cubs swung away. Morris could have been through the first two innings without a run with good defense but he imploded thereafter. In some ways the outing may push Morris towards creating more differentiation in his offerings. He has an incredible arm and great promise going forward. Like both Festa and Matthews, Morris also needs to develop more stamina.

Quick thought would be that Cleveland, Tampa Bay, and Milwaukee all target more athleticism than the Twins and see defense as a strategy to include within the larger schemes. Those teams are also involved in trades. Someone could do a deep dive but I'm not seeing any similarities.

If you have mlb.com subscription AND the time, watch a couple of St. Paul Saints games via milb.com . Carson McCusker is a late developing player. He is a bigger version of Wallner. He has more power than Wallner, hits the ball consistently harder, is just as fast, is the same or better in the outfield, and has a good arm albeit not as strong as Wallner's arm. He lacks experience but is far and away the best player for the Saints at this time. If the Twins need a shortstop, they could use the Saints guy. He is slick in the field. Both Luke Keaschall and Emmanuel Rodriguez are off to rough starts. Each has a number of bleeders, broken bat, and infield hits. They are going to be fine but are off balance and out of sync at this moment. I have watched parts of most Saints games. missed a couple. Life in the frozen north, retired, and waiting to start summer projects - so I watch too much baseball. If I lived in Los Angeles i would go to a number of high school and college games every week. Last year I was in Las Vegas at a friend's house and went to 3-4 games a week for a month. Always better to be outside.

Bride came for cash out. Bride was a catcher but was booted to third base. Why does this feel like Mickey Gasper Jr.? Miami just released a player who deserves to start? We will hope, but ???

I cannot speak for the person who put the picture on this page, but I myself did not see anything clear. I put it on a freeze frame but the dirt obscures the image I saw. I might guess the shoe doesn't touch but cannot see it. It is totally possible that the video center had a different view and picture than we see on TV or via photograph. Someone can make a point without it being whining as well. My point on cleaning up the rules is not whining in my opinion. I would like to see the process expedited. 2 challenges, 10 seconds to make it, 30 seconds to determine. Bias creeps in naturally once some guy spends minutes looking over frames. MLB, announcers, and fans have been praising the pitch clock every single game yet there was a rule on the books for over 100 years that required batters and pitchers to be in the box and make a pitch in a certain amount of time. MLB refused to allow umpires to enforce it though. Currently we see, on a daily basis, how players abuse the pitchcom. Or am I the only one who doesn't have problems with a remote device once every hour. I don't care which club is hurt or benefits, Manfredball is not a positive move. Next year or the year after we will almost certainly get an ABS challenge system. Again totally bogus. There will be huge mistakes made and bad calls made but teams will be out of challenges. I have already seen several egregious calls in minor league games by umpires who seemed pissed off and made calls after the challenges were used up that were not defendable in any fashion. FWIW, I have advocated for a system of financial rewards for umpires that reach a very high level of competence. Those who need further training receive it and those who do not meet a mark get demoted. MLB is a huge business and there would be a strong supply of excellent umpires if the best made MLB player minimum salaries. Currently I believe umpires in MLB are better than they were 25 years ago. I don't think this is whining. I believe it is an idea for making improvements.

Clearly an assumption was made on the call versus Bader. MLB struggles will technology. I'll say it again: 2 challenges per game (none of this late game b.s. exception nonsense), 10 seconds for manager to challenge, and 30 seconds for reviewers to overturn or call stays the same.

We shall find out by Friday if Wallner needs to be replaced. Currently the best option available is a near Wallner clone, Carson McCusker. McCusker has been steadily improving with his swing decisions and nobody hits the ball harder. He has a pretty quick bat considering his size. He is not a great defender but he is basically Wallner. He does seem like he is getting better reads on fly balls. Both Emmanuel Rodriguez and Luke Keaschall look a little off balance and out of time right now. I turned off the game at 0-6 because the Saints were playing poorly in the field; no errors recorded but half a dozen misplays/mistakes.