Doctor Gast

I think it's crazy, Nick, in the roster you put together. The highest-paid player on the Twins' payroll by far is Correa- $11M, & he doesn't even play for them.

IMO, all MLB teams work with some analytics, but IMO, CLE isn't driven to make analytical decisions; they are more fundamentally sound. much like MIL. This is what'd make Abernathy more attractive to me. I don't know if Rickie Weeks Jr, would be interested in managing the Twins, but sitting under MIL's Murphy would be awesome & I'd love to poach some of MIL's catching & pitching coaches.

What the Bomba Squad organically came to be, the Twins tried to artificially tweak all their hitters to max the HR totals. Instead of letting hitters find their own swing, which hindered their development. Although some hitters, like Larnach, had some early success, pitchers quickly adjusted, which forced players like Larnach to go to the other extreme of contact hitting to successfully adjust. Larnach had adjusted, which others have not, but as a result of fewer HRs. Poor fielding & fewer HRs are not optimal, I advocated trading players like Larnach when their trade value was high. I highly feel that Falvey had decent offers on players like Larnach, but these players' profiles were what Falvey targeted. Even before Falvey traded for redundant Outman & Roden I advocated for trading Larnach. I still feel we could get something for Larnach, but I don't trust Falvey to pull it off

I've stated this before that the Twins are going down the same road as ROXs. They had a good team but they mismanaged their money & spent too much. They had no money to improve the team, a FO who had no idea how to make trades, and poor player evaluation & development. The players became disgruntled & they ended up giving up some of their core for nothing. They ended up with a terrible team with no way to improve. Sounds familiar? I didn't trust Falvey to do the deadline sell-off. The poor player evaluation result of selling off valuable, proven assets was AAAA, redundant & undeveloped talent that won't be ready, or what condition that they'd become with the poor development. The glut of redundant players will create a 40-man crisis where we could lose viable MLB potential players because of Falvey's inability to trade these redundant players for players who could fill an important need. Falvey's continuation of the sell-off will magnify manifold times this crisis. With Falvey's incompetence, it appears that the Pohlads' goal is to set the MLB season's worst record, # of losing seasons & worst season attendance. Their goal should be to make money by economically put out a competitive team, not by continuing to sell off key players, making the team worse & players more disgruntled. The worse the team becomes more money they will lose, it's a vicious cycle. For the Pohlads to have a good team & make money, the 1st thing they needed to do was to fire Falvey, but the idiots promoted him. The Pohlads deserve to lose money, but not at the fans' expense.

I haven't written a blog for a long time. But I have an observation, & that's all it is an observation. My observation is how rich the Latin heritage is in modern MLB. Players like Roberto Clemente, Luiz Tiant & Orlando Cepeda quickly come to mind. Twins' early successful years were greatly influenced by players like Rod Carew, Tony Oliva, Camilo Pascual, Zoilo Versalles & Caezar Tovar, whom I loved to watch growing up. Throughout the years, we've had good Latin American players coming through the International Draft. Even recently, we had Luiz Arraez, Jorge Polanco, Jose Berrios, Miquel Sano, Jhuan Duran, & Jose Miranda, who were all very promising prospects & showed early signs of greatness. While Latin players have been a viable source of our winning formula, I have to ask why our roster lacks them? They seem to put some of these players in difficult conditions to hinder their success, While the Twins love to hold onto certain players who fit their profile (many who IMO, should have been traded), they seem to be quick to trade away our valuable Latin players. I also question their International Drafting philosophy, where they focus on quantity over quality, they throw a bunch against the wall & hope something sticks. Which IMO, makes it very difficult with the Twins developing based more on getting data to the prospects & let them figure it out & less on essential good personal coaching. They have also gotten away from scouting & focus on analytics, which IMO, especially hurt our international drafting. Now I'm not saying that the Twins are biased, but I'm saying that maybe the Twins' analytics don't favor the Latin players. I'm an old fart, I don't see baseball as fantasy baseball driven by biased stats or as HR Derby where whoever hits the most HRs wins. I love baseball because it's a strategic game played by human beings with emotions, variable intangibles & underlying conditions not hard & cold data void of all human elements. I see analytics is a valuable tool, but it should not drive the game. Latin Americans love baseball; they bring a lot to the game, and they shouldn't fall through the analytical cracks. Therefore, IMO, analytics should be put in it's place. Twins need to improve their scouting & developing, bilingual coaches should have a preference or maybe teach English better & integrate better. Buxton has expressed his desire to speak Spanish. Last but not least, IMO, I think the Twins' manager should be bilingual. This would be beneficial to provide continuity to the team. IMO, Nelson Cruz in some role should be a part of that.

I agree with D-man. DFA him & sign him on a MiLB contract. With our BP wide open, we should get a few pitchers that are looking for another chance, maybe some may actually break out. Prielipp should be focused in the BP & not waste his bullets at AAA while building him up as a starter.

Clemens had a few very bad seasons while getting plenty of quality ABs on different teams; he had a good season with MN. I knew Varland was going to become a very good RP, but the Twins traded him. IMO, a player has to be on the team last season & finished with the Twins. Martin is the best candidate, plus he had a pretty good season. Martin should have gotten the award.

My point isn't if Suzuki can be an excellent manager or not. He doesn't have any managing experience; I just don't know. I have more faith that Posey would know. So if Posey thinks that he has what it takes to be a good manager, he'll hire him, then he's off the table. If Posey doesn't think so, then he won't. In that case, I don't think MN should hire him either. Falvey will be creative again by waiting & scraping the bottom of the barrel.

I've liked Suzuki as an offensive catcher. I'm not sure how that will translate into managing or even coaching. An elite defensive catcher who is a leader & has a good perspective of how the game is played is a big plus in managing. Although I'd love a manager who has those traits, I don't think most catchers these days have those characteristics. If Suzuki has those traits, Posey will hire him; if he doesn't, he won't. & if he doesn't, then I don't want the Twins hiring him. At this point, IMO, it doesn't really matter because the main problem still exists.

With Falvey and a proven core, MN hasn't been a competitive team. MN will be one of the worst team next year, with Falvey at the helm, no matter what he does. So it'd be a waste of money to sign a FA. SS, especially at the MLB level, is very challenging, while the glove & instincts are not valued by MN, as long as he has a big bat. Lee doesn't even have the big bat. But he'll have to do until we get someone else at the helm who appreciates the SS position. I have questioned Lee's health, defense & offense, but he has improved. IMO, he'll continue to improve.

Polanco was a solid SS in '17 he had 5.5 defensive fWAR. In '19 1st half. Polanco made the All-Star game & was one of the favorites to win the MVP. He didn't have the ankles to play SS & his 2nd half #s dipped especially defensively. He ended up with 3.3 fWAR & #12 in AL MVP votes. Offseason, he had ankle surgery. In '20, played SS on sore ankles & had another offseason ankle surgery. Finally moved off SS in '21, he had a career best 4 fWAR. '22 he was having a great 1st half until he hurt his back & was the 1st time he landed on the IL athough he often played hurt. He bounced back until he injured his knee. He played on that injured knee for around 2 months when he could no longer take the field. Twins screwed up Polanco knee & seriously damaged his career. When mainly healthy, he puts up 20 offensive fWAR ('19, '21, '25) & always a clutch hitter. We desperately needed him, especially '23, '24 & '25, to add to our offense & postseason memories.

The most important focus point is having the most competitive team with what we have to spend. Following the NY model of going after expensive big slugging & high-velo FAs is foolhardy. But that is what Twins & Twins' fans dream is at. Go sign another expensive Donaldson, Gallo, Vazquez or pick up another salary dump like DeSclavani, & Margot.Twins say they'll focus on development. What a novel idea! Why hasn't anyone thought of that before? Instead of muddling through analytically weird philosophies, where player evaluation & fundamental development were ignored. I hope they do find quality development people. I hope they keep Lopez, Ryan & Jeffers. I'm not sure that Ryan wants to stay. This is Jeffers last year, they normally trade these guys. It makes total sense since he is a Boras agent. But Falvey short-sightedness he has done nothing to shore up any depth.

I haven't seen anyone so drunk on Falvey's Kool-Aid. They are so oblivious to reality. They don't have the pieces; they had the pieces that did well in the postseason in '23, but they failed to build off that core & allowed the core to fracture. That failure had to have a devastating effect on club culture. What makes them think that they can make anything out of the unproven pieces they have now when they couldn't with a proven one? They have a terrible player evaluation & are not able to develop their players to their full potential. So how can they believe that the sell-off return of redundant & undeveloped players & not really filling any real needs, be able to produce anything satisfactory? They had a plan, it didn't work. They don't care about coming up with a plan that works; they want to keep the same plan & be able to spin a plan that they'll try to sell to the fanbase again. IMO, that won't fly for most intelligent fans. They constantly say one thing & do the opposite. Falvey said he takes full personal responsibility. Great! That means resign, not fire anybody. Tom Pohlad was more direct than Joe: “It’s been 34 years since the World Series … That’s unacceptable. The fans are totally justified to think it’s unacceptable.” Great! If it's unacceptable. Then the teardown needed to be managerial from top to bottom not the roster. The only thing the Pohlads understand is money, So until the attendance becomes so bad & they understand that no cosmetic move, won't move the needle. They have to face the real problem that they & Falvey have no idea what they are doing. Carl didn't know anything about baseball but he had the instinct of knowing who knew what they were talking about, & those who didn't. IMO, Carl would not have hired Falvey.

SWR has impressed me as a competitor & mature since listening to Seth's interview. His maturity is beyond his just turning 25. It's very difficult to project his upside because of his constant adjusting & evolution that keeps raising his bar. I never doubted him being able anchor the backend of the rotation. Martin had to fight the Twins' objective of making him into a player who he isn't. Martin is a spark plug, contact hitter, OB machine, terror on the basepath, 2B man. For years, they tried to convert him to a power-hitting SS., Before he was promoted to AAA, he went back to his old swing, & they played him mainly 2B; during this time, he had his best production. '24, Margot was a total flop, Martin was no OFer, but he was thrown into the OF, with no training & changed his swing again. This type of development at the MLB level is disastrous. Although Martin is a 2Bman, he has played very little there, His improvement has come due to his returning back to his old swing (again) & him adjusting to the OF. Twins advancement depends on their reevaluation of priority away from the slow, defense-deficient, SO tendency, power hitters to players more like Martin. I like Clemens & he serves a purpose of clutch hitting, LH-hitting, 1Bman. He's a good clubhouse guy that's hard to dismiss. I was ready to give up on Funderburg, but he has been quietly changing my mind. BTW the player he has replaced (Thielbar) had miraculous season with the Cubs.

IMO, Molina has done the most to make STL a top contender during all those years of dominance. & could be the best candidate. However, what I've heard is that Pujols is at the top of the list of candidates.

Was Baldelli the main problem? No. Was Baldelli the scapegoat? Yes, he was. Falvey was the main problem. Falvey said he'll take personal responsibility for the failure. How did he do that? He fired Baldelli!? How is that taking personal responsibility for the fiasco? He should have resigned. Should Baldelli have been fired? IMO, yes. If Falvey doesn't resign, does it make any difference? No, it doesn't. Falvey signed Baldelli & Baldelli is very aligned with Falvey. Falvey will pick the next manager who'll most likely be like Baldelli or worse, especially if Falvey wants a say in the coaches the next manager will select.

Skip Schmacher, IMO, was our best candidate. He signed with TX. Congratulations to them for having the talent to see talent.

Buck is MVP on many levels. He has my vote, hands down. If Falvey had made a minimal effort in supporting the core, Buck's effort would not have been for nought.

Thank you. After they officially fired Washington, I saw that. Pujols will be a good manager. IMO, Pujols will also be in the STL running.

Thanks for the info. Very happy that Rortvedt, Theilbar & Rogers are having a nice postseason. Wish they were still with the Twins, along with Polanco, Varland, Duran, Berrios, Gil and Bader

As I stated before, Falvey's desire to have a say in the coaching staff will eliminate any serious manager candidate, that'll leave managers that any serious team don't want. Pretty much the Falvey's creative strategy in FA & trade proceedings (I'm being facetious). LAA might have the upper hand with Tori Hunter (unfortunately). Result, Falvey will hire another Baldelli or worse. Nats seem to be more serious & intelligent in winning than the Twins. So, I'd rank them ahead of MN as far as a more favorable landing spot.

Falvey must have written that statement for Joe because it's full of BS. I got news for you. It has been determined that taking in BS is bad for your health. We've been suffering for a long time. When Falvey had a serious postseason team fall into his lap, he has squandered that opportunity by failing to maintain the core, build on that core by shrewd player evaluations, development & trades. Now that the league has figured Falvey out; they know they can wait him out; they spin fancy stats that he falls for with bad salary dumps. Some bad FAs. If Falvey can't do anything with a proven core how can we believe that he can do anything with an unproven one? Depending a lot on development that they has failed since '19. Only when he is gone & get someone in that knows what he's doing can we start hope for some relief.

Fascinating, you explained any doubts I had. A lot of red flags were raised when Festa was diagnosed with a fatigued arm so early in the season. I trust Paparesta if his advice was taken in the beginning. The rotation was fragile due to the many red flags throughout from the beginning. Those red flags should have been addressed more efficiently.

Mendez isn't good in the OF, so they move him to 1B, He doesn't hit HRs, so he doesn't fit the 1B profile & doesn't run fast. With a broken Miranda, we really need a 1Bman but IMO, Mendez isn't the guy, at least not now.

Ever since Falvey headed the Twins, everything was occult. We had no idea who was responsible for this or who was responsible for that. So Falvey could take credit for what he didn't do or not take the blame for what he did. I just discovered that Zoll was responsible for the hiring of Tanner Swanson, Wes Johnson, Maki & Drew MacPhail, which leads me to think that a lot of the right things that happened in the beginning, Falvey had nothing to do with. & after '19, I've seen Falvey taking more & more credit & control of the team. & as things start to unravel due to this process. More & more excuses he'd come up with to divert from his inadequacy. He substituted good coaches with poor ones, created bad philosophies & poor player evaluation & development. During this time, I've criticized him, in the hope he'd change. After the '23/'24 offseason, Falvey's inability to improve the Twins & actually made them worse, I clamored for Falvey's firing, but he was not. After the '24 season, Falvey again wasn't fired but was promoted to President of Baseball Opps! How can Pohlads promote Falvey, when he couldn't handle being FO? In an interview, Doogey was asked, "Why was Falvey not fired?" He said that he was in bed with the Pohlads. The way that he said it made me wonder about the context. Nevertheless, it seems that it'd take something very drastic to happen before the Pohlads would do the right thing & fire Falvey. Under this pretense, things will get much worse before they get better.