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Finlander

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Everything posted by Finlander

  1. Finlander
    With the thin catching market and the addition of the DH to NL, I do admit wondering what kind of pitching might have been obtained in return for a package including Garver.
  2. Finlander
    The Twins needed to improve defensively - they are no longer the La Bombas. IKF plugs the shortstop hole, also has experience at 2B and 3B (gold glove there) and even C, and he will add some speed to the team as well. We will miss Garver's bat. But he is 5 years older than IKF, and he has had some injuries in recent years. We will improve a bit defensively at C with Jeffers and Rortvert. We also added a minor league pitcher (with middle tier upside at best) to add to system depth. I'd say the trade helps both teams, and in the spirit of fair trading to encourage "repeat business", I'd grade this deal as a B.
  3. Finlander
    If Kepler has a decent first half this year he'd make a nice trade chip. By then, maybe someone like Larnach would be better prepared to take over a corner OF spot. It seemed our OF prospects were rushed after letting Eddie R go last year and injuries occurred. Hopefully this year the corner OF production becomes more solid. Kepler has to rebound before he is of value in a trade, even with that friendly contract.
  4. Finlander
    Lewis and Enlow at least have some upside to look forward to assessing as they recover from injuries. Cavaco, on the other hand, looks like the next Levi Michael. Career rate of 1.3-1.5 Ks per game paired with a miniscule OPS won't get it done. Might be best if he was a throw-in lottery ticket dealt to another team.
  5. Finlander
    Several of the pitching prospects dealt with arm injuries in the minors last year, so I can't see counting on them right away in a major league rotation. Throwing all the kids out there this year could waste a year of a good and proven offensive lineup. Rotation help is needed from elsewhere to fill at least 2 slots. We don't yet have the major league pitching horsepower to keep the team afloat, much less competitive. I'm not a fan of the "throw all the prospects into the rotation and see what sticks" approach. I'd like to see some healthy dominance from them in AAA first. Dobnak will also have to factor into the staff somehow. The Twins had signed him to a 4 year deal and I suspect they will give him every opportunity to justify that investment, whether as a starter or a bulk guy/long reliever.
  6. Finlander
    It may be off-topic a bit, as the following didn't actually become Twins prospects, but I still remember the frustration of the team failing to sign some high picks like Tim Belcher, Oddibe McDowell, Jason Varitek, and Travis Lee years ago.
  7. Finlander
    The lockout was inevitable, and that should have prompted some changes in strategy this off-season from the late cycle bargain shopping usually employed. I may be wrong, but it seemed the Twins FO was caught by surprise with the flurry of early FA signings prior to the lockout. And now, with trades and signings stalled indefinitely, we'll have a lot of competition with time on their hands scouring the field for "bargains". The lockout came as no surprise. So I am a bit concerned that we didn't see a bit of a strategy shift to front load more roster activity. Bundy and Cotton so far. We'll see what happens this spring.
  8. Finlander
    I think you pretty much nailed it, although the order could be debatable (I agree with a prior poster about Cruz/Pineda, mainly because of Pineda's surprise suspension). I think a ton of feedback could be generated from an article about the 5 WORST moves, but let's stay positive!. I'm anxious to see how the Berrios trade eventually pans out...
  9. Finlander
    Arraez plays the DH better than anyone else on the roster. His contact skills approach Boggs/Gwynn/Carew territory. When is the last time the Twins had a prospect like that? Mauer likely. I don't know the extent of his knee issue, but I have to believe that at 24 years old there is still some physical development possible to improve his knees and maybe add power in the process. He is a proven hitter in MLB with an elite eye. Too many of the "can't miss" prospects become AAAA players. I'd keep the hitting savant. To shop for pitching I'd prefer seeing JD packaged with a "stud" minor league prospect who hasn't proven anything in the bigs yet, add Kepler if needed.
  10. Finlander
    I'd consider Graterol a top prospect traded by the Twins..
  11. Finlander
    IMO Martin seems to have a more developed pure hit tool than Lewis. It's still early in their pro careers, understood. Also, the primary asset of Lewis, his plus-plus speed, may be impacted by his knee injury. So all of this bears watching in the spring once baseball resumes. Given this, of the two prospects I'd be more comfortable seeing Lewis moved than Martin.
  12. Finlander
    Many of the so called prospects were injured at some point last year - that, and the Covid interruption to their careers, hasn't helped progress on any supposed "plan". I'm not sure if they have a plan for pitching, but I would hope it doesn't rely on major innings from injured prospects from last year. I'm concerned that the timeline for a wave of pitching improvement falls too late to take advantage of where the position player window is. To match these up, either we need to get a couple of short term veteran pitchers while the prospect pitchers get innings in AAA and build confidence and strength, or veteran position players like Kepler, Garver, Polanco, Donaldson will have to be traded for prospects that line up better with expected arrivals of our own prospects. I personally would like to see the team reward the Polanco/Buxton/Garver/Sano service time by getting a couple of short term pitchers via trade and fighting a good fight within the division.
  13. Finlander
    Would love to see Twins target Glasnow in a trade - Tampa won't be happy about paying him while he's rehabbing, and he has the talent to be an ace for anyone. Perfect buy-kinda-low opportunity, although he'll still be spendy. Love to beat Yanks/Dodgers/Boston to him. We could also take Kiermeier as our Buxton backup to give TB more salary relief. Love to get Taylor Walls added to maybe plug our hole at SS - a big package. We could start with Larnach/Lewis/Duran to get their attention. There has been much talk about us lining up well with Miami as a trade partner. But I wouldn't forget about the other Florida team, Tampa. They have some interesting pieces.
  14. Finlander
    Agreed with Greglw3, a revolving door in LF is not a good solution. I wouldn't count on our corner "depth" either, as quite often prospects are actually suspects. Much of that depth, besides aging rookie Rooker, are LH hitters. So I do like the idea of Bryant as a primary and proven LF for us, with the versatility to spell players at other positions. As the article notes, he has been more durable than people realize, so his "injury-prone" rep is not very accurate. His floor and ceiling both seem to be much higher than anything else we could throw out there internally. It's hard to believe that at this time last year we were considered the team to beat in the division, with Chicago expected to contend with us. We end the season with a SP rotation of names we hadn't really heard of. And our former LF becomes the World Series MVP. What a year.
  15. Finlander
    Ok, yet another LH hitting corner OF. Hmm.... He did have some intriguing power/speed skills a few years ago. Best I can guess is the Twins think they may be able to rehab him and rebuild those skills enough to flip him this summer in a minor deal. I sure don't think he's the answer to backfill in RF if Kepler is dealt.
  16. Finlander
    I'd have no issue with Rodon on a 2 year deal with a 3rd year option if the medicals are solid. The guy was a 3rd overall draft pick, behind Aiken and Kolek (neither of which panned out) and he showed last year how nasty his stuff can be. And he threw a no-hitter. I'd love to see the Twins get him, plus trade for another good starter (Montas?), and sign Pineda as well. They need pitching. I believe Pineda would be a good safety net for Ober, Ryan, or the Bundy experiment. If they all do well, maybe Pineda could transition to the pen, as he is essentially a two pitch pitcher who throws strikes. Or we could trade one pitcher midseason if the staff health holds up.
  17. Finlander
    Twins have been a little spoiled in past years with catchers who could also hit pretty well (Earl Battey, Brian Harper, Tim Laudner, Joe Mauer, Garver to name a few). I don't see them settling for a defense-only catcher as their #1. I'd like to see the Twins go with Garver starting, Rortvedt as their #2 and play Jeffers every day in AAA until his bat comes around, then look at various trade options (whether it includes Jeffers, Garver, or Rortvedt) to try acquiring more pitching at midseason.
  18. Finlander
    Having an unproven rookie shortstop learn on the job at the major league level is not appealing to pitchers that are considering whether to sign here. And nobody seems certain that Lewis is a defensive fit at SS anyway. Speed is arguably Royce's primary tool, and blowing out an ACL will impact that until it is rehabbed fully. The quick bursts, cuts, jumps and pivots required for fielding at SS will all be tough on a knee that is still mending. IMO we need a good veteran SS placeholder for at least this year. If Lewis is burning up the minors we could bring him up near midseason to learn under the veteran - IF it looks like he stays at shortstop while in the minors.
  19. Finlander
    Attention K-Mart shoppers, we have another blue light special...
  20. Finlander
    Great signing and very creative contract for a generational talent. Buxton is betting on himself to remain healthy, and he gets a good base salary to acknowledge his skills and contributions up to this point. "..including Buxton’s $9 million in the 2022 payroll, the Twins are up to $77 million in payroll. They now have roughly $50 million to spend on 3 starting pitchers, a shortstop, and a reliever or two." Last year's budget was affected by uncertainty stemming from the pandemic. Is this year's budget stuck at the 125-130MM range? With all the pieces needed (I'd argue LF also should be addressed), we shouldn't settle for stopgaps and placeholders at positions like SP and SS if the Twins truly expect to return to contention.
  21. Finlander
    Nope. Don't start emptying the farm. Not for a 1 year #3 pitcher with major injury issues for a Twins team that so far doesn't appear to be in contention. Montas would be a better get. I'd rather see how our supposed stud farm pitchers fare.
  22. Finlander
    If the Twins discuss an expanded trade with Oakland that would bring a pitcher or two over in addition to Chapman, then the chance for being in contention increases substantially, and a move for Chapman makes more sense. Kirrillov, Martin, Larnach, Duran, Lewis, Enlow, Miranda et al should not be deemed untouchable, but hopefully we wouldn't lose more than 2 of our top 10 prospects. I'm not a fan of a deal for only Chapman. We need help up the middle.
  23. Finlander
    Quite a "whack a mole" exercise. I think if the pitching moves had been better, the defense of Simmons would have been more recognized. I think his signing was done to attract FA pitchers here with our improved D. However, he couldn't field moon shots to the seats. I do think he should have been vetted about his thoughts on vaccination prior to signing. Covid definitely affected his play. It will be interesting to see how the health of Royce Lewis is next spring, as that could affect whether the Twins jump into the market to sign one of the SS biggies. And I hope they can get their pitching targets right this time if they look at FAs again.
  24. Finlander
    Losing Everyday Eddie might have been more of an impact than expected. Nobody has stepped in to pick up the RBI slack except maybe Buxton when he was moved to the 4 hole for a bit. Lack of a legit and consistent cleanup hitter with some fire seems to be the huge issue with lineup.
  25. Finlander
    If he can get to 45-50 dingers this year then he's got a good shot. I think he'd take a WS ring over hitting 500 though.
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