Doctor Gast

Lewis has turned 3B from a ? to one of our strongest positions. As long as Lewis stays at 3B & away from CF, Lewis will remain in such a good place physically. Farmer should spend most of his time platooning Julien at 2B. Castro should spend most of his time in the OF. Miranda IMO shouldn't be depended upon at 3B. Lewis should have the lion's share at 3B, even with some regression Lewis should be a All-Star,

Yankees are weird. Derek Jeter was pretty good defensively early in his career where he won 4 WS in his 1st 5yrs. Later in his career he wasn't so good, when DRS came about he scored terribly, But when scored his best DRS at +3 the Yanks won their 5th WS with Jeter. IMO later in his career, Jeter became distracted & had trouble with routine plays but in clutch situations, he made the fantastic clutch defensive plays that everyone remembers. The NYY should have moved Jeter off SS & had A Rod there instead.

I think the main reason they kept Vazquez is that all competitive teams already have their top defensive catcher set. Those that aren't competitive don't want to spend that much money on Vazquez especially him having a down year offensively. Which is a poor reason.

Never understood why they signed Gallo in the 1st place. Except that Gallo is the type of hitter they like. And the pushback on the SOs has forced them to go after less SO-type hitters SEA traded away some of their high HRs/ SO hitters & obtained more clutch hitters. It's clutch hitters that win games. That's where the focus should be.

SPs that are pulled early on back to back really take a toll on 1 inning RPs. I really like the idea.

I am overjoyed that they kept both not only because they are better defensively than their primary player ahead of them but also their character & their ability to mentor. I admire Farmer when he got HBP in the face and came back quickly and never missed a beat. I admired Vazquez for not complaining publicly when he who had World Series experience, sat out of the postseason in favor of a catcher who had none. After a year of adapting & getting to know his pitchers, he'll bounce back this season. I'd be happier if the Twins stood pat & kept Polanco.

It's good to keep the rotation rested but also concerned about overstretching certain high-leverage arms as to cause injury or inefficiency. That's why I like long relief, I think we have pitchers can do very well there.

Undeveloped means drafted as a high-contact prospect who has not been developed as one.

I'm not talking about warm bodies but desperate viable contributers. But I agree we have plenty of in-house depth.

What do you think of starting transitioning Duran now?

There have been a few successful RPs that are transitioning into SPs this season, A J Puk (MIA) & D L Hall (MIL) to name a couple. I look at our situation & doubt we'll get that 2nd postseason SP. A trade doesn't seem possible anymore, FA is out of the question, I don't trust a deadline acquisition is a good idea. There's hope that Ryan & or Ober will take that big step, but what if they don't? We need a 2nd postseason SP to advance in the postseason. I'm not for switching Duran to the rotation but I'm entertaining that idea now. Let's say halfway through the season Ryan & Ober haven't progressed enough to fill that spot & Jax, Steward, Thielbar, & Canterino have established themselves as high-leverage RPs with Varland available to pitch there for the postseason, Would you be open for Duran to transition into that 2nd postseason SP? IMO you wouldn't have to convince Duran. Texas won the World Series with a poor BP. Would you risk it? I'm curious what everybody thinks.

Varland didn't have any experience until last year. SWR & Headricks have gotten their feet wet. Festa & Canterino are soon ready, I'm a strong believer in giving our promising SPs who have graduated from AAA a role in long relief to gather MLB experience. I agree with Cory & Brian we need a frontline SP. Yet, I'm not against signing anyone desperate, to a minor league contract

Welcome to the club. The Twins' requirement to catch is you can't be fast (can't waste speed on catching) & have some pop in your bat & want to catch. Better the pop better the catcher. That's why they are so high on Jeffers, & all our top-catching depth are not even ranked in MN top prospect list. A serious contending team has to be serious about it's catching defense proficiency. If Vazquez is gone we'd sink pretty fast.

Are you down on Jeffers? Why? I'm not baiting you.

I wouldn't mind a line-up full of Arraez-type hitters. Miller was drafted as a high-contact hitter, what I heard from a Dodger site that they expect to increase Miller's already good walk percentage & develop that high-contact hitter. Miller is still young there is no rush to bring him up. But when he's ready & hitting(maybe '26 or later), Correa would be ready to move to 3rd, Lee at 2B. At that time we'd have to decide if Lewis could be transitioned to the OF. It's good to keep your options open. But I'm not confident that the Twins could develop him into a contact hitter so maybe it's for the best. but sad.

Good evaluators can look at a player & see the future. Twins only look at big bats That's who they draft (Rooker, Sabato, Cavaco, Larnach etc.), their development is focused on how many HRs they squeeze out of every player and sign worthless FAs like Gallo. Doncon, I read his scouting report. Twins made Sano their "moonshot" poster child, All that fame went to his head. Their focus was to have Sano hit his 500' moonshots. That focused swing killed him as a hitter. People like to put the "emotional attachment" label on me, but that doesn't fly. Because I place value on defense up the middle & you favor the Twins view that big bats solve everything. Sure, I'd like a GG SS with a big bat (depending on how prolific his SO rate is) but any competitive team knows that gloves trump bats up the middle. cOF, 1B/ DH yeah sure bats trump gloves. People accused me of being emotional attached to Polanco. No it was just a bad trade because we didn't filled any needs & we lost a lot. But if we traded Polanco in combination with other players for Harry Ford (C/ SEA) I'd be 100% in, This emotional attachment is just a ploy to make me look irrational. I'm not into social media so I'm not persuaded by people who have agendas. I observe, put pieces together and make a reasonable assumption. that's very rational. I think the Twins should hire you to evaluate talent. It won't do any good because they'll give away all those who I give high marks to.

I was an advocate to get Margot when he was good, less expensive & we really needed him. Now he's not the same OFer that he was, more expensive although TB is flipping most of the tab and Buck is healthier than he has been for years, Castro is a very capable Buxton sub with Martin waiting in the wings with all his talents & others. I think everybody here knows where I stand on Miller. Doncon is a Sano-type SS, who's a liability defensively wherever he plays so he'll end up at 1B/ DH & he'll be developed into a strike-out machine. He'll add to our large glut. Miller is an undeveloped contact hitter who happens to be the minor league GG. IMO there's no comparison, Miller is by far more valuable & LAD is not dumb they can see it, and that's why they targeted him. I like Margot but not at the expense of Miller.

I appreciate your sarcasm. Fatbat. I realize that maybe 95% of my TD brothers & the Twins staff can't appreciate my appreciation of Noah. People love big bats, But in reality, have you noticed how many acclaimed All-Star SSs get moved off of SS in their prime because their bats can't overcome the lack in their gloves? After Correa we need someone to shine at SS. Lewis & Lee are good, but their glove isn't as good as Miller's. Twins have drafted tons of SSs, How many ever make it at SS (I never considered Polanco as a SS)? The % has to be close to nil. We will likely draft 2 more SS in ‘24 that will have the same or better chance as Noah. That has to be another one of your jokes. IDK if I've ever seen anyone in the Twins' system with a glove as good as Miller's or if there has been anyone who has won the minor leagues GG at SS. I trust LAD's evaluation & development so that's some consolation.

I'm sorry Ted, I was pretty blunt. Like you said it's pretty full and Twins don't like to break camp with non-roster players, especially non-pitchers. Many times non-roster players tear it up & greatly outshine their roster counterpart only be sent down to AAA. I don't see these guys tearing it up down there. I don't think the Twins really need these guys but I see the Twins call them up to give them a taste of MLB

Julien talents & future has always been 1B that's where he should have been playing from the beginning. With Julien at 1B we wouldn't have redundantly signed Santana. Having switch-hitting Lee at 2B now & in the future makes us a much better team. No way we trade him. Santana is the problem, it's him who takes away valuable ABs from our players. I doubt we can trade Santana, -Kiriloff & Miranda aren't worth that much- Julien trade value has peaked or is close to it but by himself, he won't be able to obtain a SP we need. So hold Lee at AAA until we need him which is probably sometime after the AS game. Move Julien to primary 1B/DH (Julien will have a lot easier time transitioning to 1B than 2B) together with Kiriloff, Kiriloff DH/ RF/ 1B, Miranda 1B & Santana as a safety net (if he's healthy & producing) hopefully if all players are playing well he sits on the bench wasting the $ we gave him like Gallo.

No way

We had only one pressing need going into the offseason & that was 1 postseason SP to improve our team this year. All other positions were well-covered by our own players. We didn't have to worry about losing our Central Division Champion title so our focus is on postseason. The Bally situation affected our FA money. So Snell & Montgomery was out of the question & even if they'd ever want to come to MN. IMO a trade would have been possible (much like the Arraez/ Lopez) if they had pulled that off I'd give them a A+. If they had done nothing I'd give them a C. The additions did nothing but backed fill & replaced capable inhouse players that needed the MLB experience. Those positions were often filled with waiver-wire, minor-league contracts & low FA pick-up at most But trading away a healthy, clutch hitting, club leader Polanco weakened us considerably. Even if Topa contributes, I'd still have to grade this offseason an F because they let Noah Miller slip away.

Thanks Mark. I'm pretty frustrated, it's hard for me to listen to any Twins podcast with all the hype going on. I listen more to other teams' podcasts, especially those with promising catching. It has been refreshing to listen to them give an actual scouting report, stating that this prospect blocks pitches really well, throws out runners at a high rate, able to handle the rotation, or have a keen sense of what's going on around them. I'm expecting to give this a rest. Maybe start up again next year. :)

Not good. Why am I not surprised?

Thanks RPR. Arraez is having a slow start but we all know he'll turn it around. & Rortvedt is having a good spring.