Doctor Gast

Appreciate your response Seth. Getting Vazquez was a life saver because our in house catching is in a shambles. Jeffers is our top in house option, I see runners running on him all day, I rather not have him catch at all. He still has some good trade value, so why don't we trade for a very promising MLB ready catching prospect that Vasquez can mentor. Yes we have some depth but what kind of quality depth is it? And what kind of future depth do we have that can come in & command after Vazquez is gone? We are envisioning ourselves as a competing team so we need premier positions to have quality depth. At SS, CF & rotation we do with many high prospects at those position. At catching we have no quality depth & no high prospects ready to take over in the future. Carmargo has potential at catching & there is where he can make it to the MLB, So why do they have him playing other positions where we are loaded and has no chance of breaking in? They need to have Olivar & Carmargo fixed at catcher & focus all their attention to develop them to the best of their abilities to give us a chance to see these guys rise up to be at least serviceable at MLB level.

I'm in the same camp. Never like using our #1 pick on him, Twins priority was screwed up. Hope he figures it out unlike Sano & recoup something for him.

If there was no shift ban, I'd be interested in giving Julien a shot at 2B. But since there is a ban then Julien won't cut it and we need our best player with the best range & glove. Right now it's Polanco but when Lewis comes, it'll be him. I'd still give '23 to Polanco but afterwards I'd give it to Lewis full time. There's a lot reasons why I prefer Lewis at 2B, but the main reason for me is he'd be constantly a long side Correa. Constantly watching, learning to flow with him, getting feed back, what better way to learn & ease into becoming our future SS.

"Unfortunately, injury was the theme last year for Polanco, and he played in just 104 games after dealing with knee tendinitis." You make it sound like he had knee tendonitis all year which limited him to 104 games. In June he went on the IL (for the 1st time since his days at Cedar Rapids) for back stress. He was on the IL for about 2 weeks and didn't have anymore back problems. Best solution for knee tendonitis is rest but Polanco played thru it after he had injured his knee sliding home Aug. 15. That's what escalated the severity to point of missing the rest of the season. Everyone gets hurt, he's had about 5 months of rehab & treatment and he feels fine. This new trainer wants to be cautious which is fine but it's nothing to be worried about.

I'm a Polanco fan also and as of right now we don't have anyone that can really replace him. But when Lewis arrives I'll have to succumb to the idea that the hand writing is on the wall.

I've always said that Julien's best position is 1B. He has the glove, quickness & range to excel there. He could be our best 1B glove. Any where else IMO is sub par.

John Anderson is dear to me, U of MN is blessed to have such a coach who also builds character in his players. Thanks Alex for this appropriate article. I still have my '10 Big 10 Conference Champion cap. Go Gophers!

Julien is great, an Arraez with more speed & power. Yet 1B is his best position.

Thank you. I was confused with the correlation between the player & year

2012 Byron Buxton Outfielder Appling County High School (Baxley, Georgia) 2 [65] 2012 José Berríos Right-handed pitcher Papa Juan High School (Bayamón, Puerto Rico) 32§[s] [65] 2012 Luke Bard Right-handed pitcher Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Georgia) 42§[t] [65] 2013 Kohl Stewart Right-handed pitcher St. Pius X High School (Houston, Texas) 4 [66] 2014 Nick Gordon Shortstop Olympia High School (Orlando, Florida) 5 [67] 2015 Tyler Jay Left-handed pitcher University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, Illinois) 6 [68] 2016 Alex Kirilloff Outfielder Plum High School (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) 15 [69] 2017 Royce Lewis Shortstop JSerra Catholic High School (San Juan Capistrano, California) 1 [70] 2017 Brent Rooker Outfielder Mississippi State University (Mississippi State, Mississippi) 35 2018 Trevor Larnach Outfielder Oregon State University (Corvallis, Oregon) 20 [71] 2019 Keoni Cavaco Shortstop Eastlake High School (Chula Vista, California) 13 [72] 2020 Aaron Sabato First baseman University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) 27 [73] 2021 Chase Petty Right-handed pitcher Mainland Regional High School (Linwood, New Jersey) 26 [74] 2021 Noah Miller Shortstop Ozaukee High School (Fredonia, Wisconsin) 36§[s] [74] 2022 Brooks Lee Shortstop Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo, California) 8

Martin wasn't our pick in '22, who was ours?

Exactly, as Lee shot up being #8, '23 draft # 5 should top the list. Hopefully we won't have a draft pick so high again for a very long time, so we better make it count. Noah Miller will be right up there. Also we are pretty set in depth at premium positions SS & CF but at catcher we are starving, Some how we need to find one to place on this list.

FO aren't saying anything and you can't always trust what they say. So you have to decipher what's going on by what they do. So this signing is a bit of a shocker because you take this as little confidence in the existing INF. So where is the problem they aren't talking about. Most obvious is Kiriloff, they want to take him slow & let him rehab in AAA for awhile. OK but 1B is easy to fill w/o causing any depth problems & it's only temporary. Maybe they think Miranda can't stick at 3B & Farmer will be the steady 3B, therefore needing a INF utility. Maybe they want to be cautious with Polanco or even (heaven forbid Correa has an issue & can't trusted to play as many games. To me there's a combination of these options. In any scenario IMO Solano is gone by the end of July.

I guess I'm all for caution. It sure beats put them out there until they drop philosophy.

Buxton agreed to a very friendly long term extension. Contrary to the hype, he loved it here. that's why he signed it. I can see Lewis turning it down & I'm pretty sure he will because this contract is similar to the Kepler & Polanco (international signings that IMO they took advantage of that) contracts but Lewis isn't an international and Boras is his agent. If does sign it's because he really really likes it here. not because he doubts himself. And I'd be very very happy

The contract is very team friendly, Nick. I usually don't like these kind of early extension but in Lewis's case & this contract to lock up Lewis for some extra control. He loves it here, we love him, I'm all for it. I can also see why the FO extended Paddack. Last year was lost, this year will be a wash. next year will be finding himself, his control, what he can & can't do. If everything is set to go in '25 should be his best year to prove himself before FA and FO would salvage at least one year.

This will be an awesome year! It's still very early. I like all 3 pitchers but who knows, like most I feel the Twins will lean towards an athletic 2 way position player. Skenes is the most interesting to me because of his character make up, his athleticism, his size, his arm & he's from LSU. Last year I was following Brady Neal a HS senior catcher draftee, he skipped the draft & went to LSU where he starts as a freshman. Then on I became interested in LSU. With Wes Johnson heading the program, I became a fan. Of course if our Gophers face off against LSU, my loyalty goes to my alma mater. As I stated in the Wes Johnson thread, I hope Wes can give us some heads up and pull in this & future drafts.

Many pundits believed Martin would never stick at SS, so why did the Twins make Martin suffer there & waste his time. They should have stuck him in CF to begin with, where he could have excelled & improved his value. Also last season he tinkered too much with his swing, towards the end of the season into AFL he found his groove & shown surprising pop. His RH bat is much welcomed in the OF. Even though it's crowded with his tool box full, he'll be a valuable asset. Which cannot be denied especially with his flexibility to be able to admirably fill in at 2B. His RH bat will also prevent someone that shouldn't be playing the OF from playing there. There is spot for Martin in the future winning Twins roster don't sell him short.

Thanks Ted, you made my day. I'm really excited what kind of #s Buck will come up with this season. I love his philosophy, hit the ball hard, nothing very complicated.

Your spot on again Nick. Couldn't agree with you more. Our farm has tremendous depth to come up to fill in, some areas we have a large glut of future MLBers. Except catching. I was very disappointed that they traded both Garver & Rortvedt. I'd have worked out a trade with Jeffers instead because #1) he had a tremendously much higher trade value than the 2 of them combined. #2) I never seen him as a starting catcher for any substantial amount of time especially this season I expect runners will run at will against him. The Jeffers/ Sanchez duo was absolutely terrible with in house options shedding no hope. IMO it's a waste of time having Vasquez mentoring Jeffers, we should have a bona vide MLB ready catching prospect behind him instead. Jeffers will be worthless soon if he's not traded. My break out player is Noah Miller because after he graduates from low A, his bat will come alive to accompany his elite glove at SS. Also Martin will jump back into the top 3. After moving on from tinkering with his swing, he seems to have found his groove. Plus if they move him from SS to CF his stock will rise. His RH bat will be welcomed there. If he really acclimates quickly to AAA & CF, with his elite OPS & base running (I also expect a jump in his slugging), He could push the envelope to lose his prospect status.

SD had Pagan & Paddack out there for a long time waiting for someone to bite, no one did. NYM who are notorious for taking a chance on risky arms looked into them & passed. Even considering the possible down time of Paddack they deemed it not worth it. This to me was a red flag. People often say stats are everything. Pagan's recent stats showed that he was terrible in any possible closing position and Duffy's downward trend showed that they should not be depended upon to close. It was very foolhardy to give up a proven back end RP to depend on these 2. Even if they had a hunch that they could correct them, they shouldn't left themselves this vulnerable. Most Twins fans are familiar with Rogers not being a classic closer. That he's not able to pitch back to back games while being effective. SD pitched Rodgers in back to back games on a constant basis. I am amazed that Rogers lasted as long as he did. Most teams value Rogers, that's why he got the contract that he did & others did not. I admit that I exaggerated when I said "everyone" because evidently you & the Twins did not.

IMO this trade was bad from the start. SD didn't know how to pitch Rogers. Even though he pitched great in the beginning, SD mismanagement eventually caught up to Rogers. Everybody knew that Paddack's arm was ready to fall off & Pagan couldn't close.

Could he ever regain these 2 ruptured pulleys in his finger? If not I doubt it but hope he can regain his old form of high GB rate. Rockies could use his caliber of pitching, I no longer think the Twins will.

I'm encouraged by Paparesta's cautious approach & management willingness to work with him. IMO injuries won't be an issue if they keep this approach throughout the season. I watched an interview with him & I was impressed by his knowledge & approach.

To begin the '23 season, IMO a piggy-back system would be beneficial for both SPs. Much like Pineda/ Perez did in '19 that worked very well. Like Pineda, Maeda is coming off TJ and like Perez, Ober needs to be eased into the starter role. By the time both are stretched out properly, maybe that question would be solved. But hopefully not because I hate to see any those 4 down. If we are fortunate, then we'll have a dilemma. I believe Maeda was used predominately as a RP at LAD. That's why Maeda was disgruntle w/ LAD and was their motivation of moving him. I agree with your logic of preference over Ober. Once Ober is acclimated with the rigor of being a MLB SP, he'll be a very good one.