Doctor Gast

I think Ryan hit a wall that caused his injury & made his pitches not as effective. Many made good points about how he needs to make his secondary pitches better. I believe he'll make the needed adjustments & him being one year stronger will make him an improved SP.

No matter how good Miranda will be in AAA or how bad Santana will be, Miranda will be stuck in AAA. Seems to me that Duran had some health & command problems too before he came up as RP. From what I've seen, I believe Canterino will master those problems too. Canterino, because of his friendship with Paddack, can advance much quicker in MLB being groomed by Paddack than in AAA.

Varland is in a different place than Ober was last season (Ober had a year up on Varland), Varland will not be able to come close to start 25 games. Nevertheless, he's MLB-ready, with Paddack & DeSclafani on limited innings, he'd be the ideal back half piggy-back combo & be ramped up that way. Most definitely Canterino won't be a MLB-ready SP this season but IMO he could be in the BP very quickly much like Paddack was (not that he shouldn't be eventually used the rotation). Again holding them back any amount of time is a waste because they advance much quicker pitching against MLB hitting. Miranda was hurt last year so those stats should be thrown out. What we need to look at is his '22 MLB stats.

Larnach has had a lot of positive hype. IMO they'll give him one more chance to prove himself & be traded if he can't he'll be forgotten & they'll bring up Martin.

Grichuk's bat might compare favorably to MAT but not his glove, glad we didn't pick him up. With Buck looking good, MAT might want a more full-time & longer contract than what the Twins want to offer. Yet if he can't find a better deal he'd be happy to return to MN. I'm happy we have a great BP but not happy with how the Twins have jammed-packed the 5th SP & RPs with newcomers taking up spots from pitchers who are MLB-ready like Varland & Canterino where they'll waste their bullets in AAA & 1B/DH where I'd like to see what Miranda can do instead of being sent down to & stuck in AAA. In the OF I'd like to see Larnach prove himself before they get an RH OF to take his place, They can hold back Martin for a little while to see where Larnach is at but if they bring someone in Larnach is toast. We have so many MLB-ready players, some of whom need to prove themselves and probably won't get that opportunity. IMO we can afford to wait in the beginning of the season, it's the postseason I'm concerned about.

IMO Lopez was underrated last year & should have gotten more recognition. At the end of the season, Lopez was arguably the best SP. Lopez should be one of those on the top of the list in '24. His durability should play a large role.

My hope is in Noah Miller. His glove is elite & his hitting will come along. Correa's hitting was horrid last season but his glove carried him. At SS IMO glove trumps bats. I'd rather have a very good glove that's average hitting than a very good bat that's average fielding at least at CF, SS & catching.

I never get tired of watching Johan pitch. Very comparable to Kofax who is a legend. He deserves to be in the HOF. MN should do everything they can to promote Santana to get into the HOF. Not only MN but NYM too, Santana was the 1st Met to throw a no-hitter ahead of other Mets who are in the HOF.

IMO the glove has something to do with it. I'd be all in favor if Julien was made the primary 1Bman last year & going into this season (where Kiriloff & Miranda has been in doubt) & give him a solid diet of LHPs to see how he does & if he can improve.

I'm very concerned about the shrinking MN baseball interest. I wrote a blog about this. I gave some suggestions & others gave some. At Twins Fest, there seems to be an increase in fan interest, They need to capitalize on this. I like the idea of free kids' tickets to help reach the younger market & other promotions. We also need to improve the team. The failure of doing that plus the blackouts, I'm fearful of not growing from this initial keen interest plus losing what has been gained. Unfortunately, that's the direction we're going.

For years they've tried to copy TB as far as their innings of short RPs. The problem was we didn't have the arms & the BP quickly burned out which then quickly put stress on rotation to be overstretched resulting in injuries & ineffectiveness for 1/2 the season going into the postseason doomed to fail. Years past FO would pick a reliever (Colume, Pagan & J Lopez) with the intention of showcasing them as the "closer". All of them could not handle the role even though constant persistence in doing so. This year our high leverage RPs are in place so there's no doubt there. Last season we had no major injuries in the rotation but both Ryan & Ober hit a wall at the end of the season. This season if they dial back on them it will definitely help their effectiveness. Paddack & especially DeSclafani need a lot of help not to mention Varland, SWR, Festa, or any other SP that comes up to replace them. For many years there has been famine in the BP but this year it has been an overabundance. We have a large influx of RPS to where it blocks some of our very capable in-house players much like Santana will limit the playing time & spot for Kiriloff & Miranda. I think that they think that quantity makes up for lack of quality this of off-season. I'd prefer the right number of RPs instead of famine or feast. BPs are volatile, yet it should be enough to get our rotation through the regular season in good shape but will our rotation be able to compete in the postseason?

Atlanta is a 1st rate team. It makes no sense to try to find someone to platoon with Kelenic when he has such good splits & there isn't anyone in-house good enough to platoon with. With more playing time those splits should only get better. But if anyone's splits aren't good & you have someone available to fill that slack. I'm all in for platooning especially if you don't have a roster spot crunch.

Adaptability is what baseball is all about. I'm excited that the pitching has made that conclusion. I can't understand why the hitting side has resisted the need to adapt. A good hitter is one who is able to adapt to what the pitchers are doing against him.

Understand where you're coming from. I'm willing to invest in Lewis because I know what kind of person he is. Each time he gets struck down he gets up that much stronger & better both physically & characterwise. His past injuries are leverage & will be considered in the contract.

This is the 1st time I've seen this guy do an interview. I was impressed that he'd decided to do Canterino. I believe he was impressed as I was with Canterino. I'm excited to see what Canterino can do. Aram mentions not wasting your bullets in AAA. That's how I feel about our guys, I'd rather see our guys that are ready to pitch in the MLB to pitch in MLB not tally their pitch count down in AAA. Even if it means pitching long relief/ spot starting, Canterino also mentioned his relationship with Paddack & how impactful it was. I don't think Canterino likes the idea of pitching in relief but that might be the best route for him to break in the MLB. Being close to Paddack should help Canterino make that adjustment to the MLB smoother especially if he starts out in relief because Paddack pitched some in relief at the end of the season.

IMO Santana is a waste of money, I'd go with Miranda instead but since they got him, they'll play him there, We need Kiriloff there as soon as possible.

When we ever get some money that's where I'd want to invest it, in Royce Lewis long term.

I think they want to take Kiriloff slow coming off a sore shoulder. This could mean primary DH to begin with then 1B when his shoulder is 100% I hope he'd be able to get over to the OF if needed & to get some more ABs in.

I forgot the link

I've always enjoyed Seth's interviews at Twins Daily which he gets into players' heads. Here is an interview by Aram Leighton, (I really enjoy his evaluations.) with Matt Canterino. Through this interview, I could see Canterino's intelligence, methodicalism & the control he has over his mind & body. The interview gets into the physics & mechanics of how he throws his pitches, I thought some of my TD friends might like to watch it. Enjoy

Because the Twins took on this project he takes priority over Varland until his wheels fall off. It's the way it is.

I think it surprising how raw talented Wallner, fast, strong arm & has power has only developed his power these years with the Twins. He's fast but doesn't get good jumps off the ball or run good routes, He has a good arm but is not disciplined if given a different approach his hitting could improve. Wallner has the tools to become a superstar. Larnach was once a highly sought prospect with the Twins & led the team in RBIs at the beginning of last year. Is now lucky to be on the roster now because Gordon was traded. SOs are the problem of many Twins but Larnach has a big problem with off-speed especially curveballs. Once Martin is ready Larnach is gone. Castro will have his share of playing time in CF against RHPs & LF against LHPs. Martin will be a much-needed RH-hitting spark plug in the OF.

The Twins flood national social media with their hype especially when they fall short of the main goal of making the team better. We started this off-season in great shape, like I said we have a great core to build upon & I share your enthusiasm about them. I think I'm more optimistic of our inhouse players like Miranda than you are. But I'm less optimistic about the flurry of additions at 5th SP, BP & 1B/DH which are a "dime a dozen" where they think that they can make up quality with quantity & the fans will buy it. We have a good rotation & IMO Ryan & Ober will continue to improve but we lost Gray who is a #1 SP & I'm not sure that Ryan or Ober have it in their upside this season or ever to fill that void. Yes our BP is toward the top of MLB but TX won the World Series with a poor BP. This means BP isn't as important as premium positions SP, CF, SS & catching to win a World Series. SP we need approvement, CF hopefully we're OK, SS we're fine, but at catching even with the addition of Vazquez we are ranked #15 (there is some bias with HRs over defense in WAR & the bulk of WAR came from Jeffers bat) defense should be the focus at catching, here is where we need help. With the addition of Santana, we are ranked at the bottom of 1B & DH. But IMO Kiriloff & Miranda will outshine Santana & later when Julien is moved to 1B/DH we'll be towards the top & Santana will go the way of Gallo, set aside. Last year we led the AL in HRs yet the Twins believe the only way to get better is by getting more big bats. Big bats that strike out more. We don't need more HRs when we don't need them in blowout games but by gaining many more wins in close games by clutch hitting and not striking out (which we set a new MLB record) what didn't help us by trading away that has been years our best clutch hitter. We have a great line-up but the Twins hitting philosophy is killing us. Unless we ditch this philosophy we won't advance in the postseason.

I second that motion, Miller's defensive prowess at a premium position is enough as long as he can get OB enough w/o striking out a lot.

We have a great core, & hope Correa & Buxton to be healthy at least for the postseason. Last season I could see the great benifit of trading for Lopez. I could see a great year from Lewis & a good year from Julien, I could see Vazquez to stabilize our rotation & improve our catching defense, I could see Duran continue his dominance, I could see Ryan & Ober make steady improvements & I could see Paparesta transforming our health dilema. I could see a pathway to win in the postseason. I can see us continue in these advantages but we have suffered some losses & we haven't cover those losses. IMO we haven't improve but have gotten worse. Yes we got some middle relief help but that's not enough. A lot of your premises is based on hope & hype & that's not enough. I wish I could share your optimism NJ, but I just can't see it.