Doctor Gast

Gotta love his speed & hitting. I really don't think he'll stick at SS. But as you said "Jose Salas, is a switch-hitting infielder with a lot of speed and a quality throwing arm that works well at any position he plays." 2B & 3B we're pretty deep, His speed works pretty well in the OF, I guess you can't have enough CF depth. We have right now Buxton, Celestino & Gordon. I won't bet that E Rod will stick there. But here's a thought, we are pretty set at INF & OF but we are hurting a lot catching. He comes from long line of MLB catchers & his brother is projected to be an elite MLB catcher. You hate to lose that speed aspect of his game but catching has to be in his blood. He should easily transition to catching, not to keep playing him there but just enough for him to have a feel there. If he does fill out, slow down & gain some power, where he no longer is profiled at CF, he can transition right into catching & excel. P.S. there's a reason why he chose INF over catching so management has to be sensitive to that. IMO Martin, Salas & Wallner are very equal, they have a lot of potential to be very good MLB players. I'd place Martin 1st of this trio because he's more advanced, (I believe he'd be even more advanced if he had played more OF, etc). And even though Wallner has a lot of raw talent in speed, arm & power & could have the greatest ceiling. Yet I'd place him behind these two because he needs a lot more time to gain instinct & develop those raw talents to realize that ceiling. Otherwise he'll be a so so RF/ DH. I'd think that those skills should have been imputed in him by now, but some take longer that others. Hopefully those development will eventually come.

I like Ryan very much, pretty much coming to MN as MiLB player. That came & showed us that he's a true MLB SP. He has that great FB and he's working on his slider. He'll continue to work on his secondary pitches & maybe Lopez can show him how to throw his CU. Then we'll have another Johan Santana on our hands, we can only dream. It's really great trading with teams like TB, MIA, LAD & CLE for SPs because they can afford to lose a trade & still come out ahead with so many great SPs coming up. This FO is great at selling at the deadline. I only wished they were more aggressive in their dealings with PIT, Reds & OAK when they were motivated to sell off their top of the rotation pieces. Although I've always loved the Ryan/ Cruz trade yet I really don't believe Cruz is washed up. The time Cruz left MN he was having eye problems. Also many players have floundered with the Twins, left & went onto to greatness. Yet there are other that had prospered here, left & floundered. I believe part of that is finding a key in different team that unlocks the untapped potential and also it's chemistry. A player that flounders after leaving MN isn't always because MN was lucky & got rid of a player at the right time. Sometimes it's because the chemistry isn't the same or a player had given their heart to MN & never recovered. I felt the chemistry with Cruz, the day I heard he was coming here. His time here was magical to the time he left. I wouldn't look at the stats and then his age & come to the conclusion he's done. I'd look at the underlying conditions & see that his eye problem is solved and that he takes good care of himself, if he'd return to MN the magic would return. Although I know that it'd be great to see him break many of his records in a Twins uniform. I also know we have a plethora of candidates that'd benefit from having time at DH. I wish Cruz well at SD. Even if Cruz won't make it back as a player, I wish he'd make it back as a coach & bring back that magic.

On paper Polanco always looks good in the line up. That's all they look at.

Moving Miranda to his MiLB position just opens up more opportunity to keep Miranda's bat in the line-up. I hope Miranda will work out at 3B but if not we have a very capable Farmer to take over & we try to fit him in at 1B or DH, which limits him as far his ABs.

It means more playing time for Gordon & Larnach makes the 40 man. Larnach probably will be DHing.

I believe Correa will shine with this shift ban, he'll arise to the challenge, throw & all. Polanco will be fine, Farmer will be fine, Miranda we'll have to see but IMO he'll be fine. The biggest challenge IMO is a 1B that normally let's the ball that's hit to the right of him go so the 2B can field it to start going after that ball. Also the 2B that has no range will be humiliated.

Being a very good switch hitter, IMO the Twins over depends on Polanco. You can plug him in with any pitcher & you can always expect a very good AB that's great in the clutch. That plus willing to play hurt has plagued Polanco. Polanco isn't injury prone, he just gets hurt like everyone but unlike everyone else he's trotted out to play out the season hurt. Everyone knows he's hurt because he's far from 100% but they still play him. Playing hurt drastically effects his stats that people go crazy over. If given the adequate time to recuperate his #s would be much better. I'm a fan of Polanco and he's still needed here. But I'm sad that his days are numbered here because it's more practical to see the Twins future to take over. Polanco has been underrated & under appreciated. Hope he has a great season that he's capable of & help the Twins win their 1st post season game for a very long time.

I believe I've read it in the Athletic but even though I've subscribed I can't get access to these old Athletic articles, I'm sorry I can't come up with any info. Here is an article which had some videos of him having success in AFL where he resorted back to the high leg kick https://www.mlb.com/news/royce-lewis-arizona-fall-league-homer-great-catch What I've read or maybe heard from an interview that he changed his swing to the toe-tap swing because his old swing was hurting his knee. He developed that swing during the off season while recuperating. I have no idea if the Twin staff suggested it or he came up with it all by himself. Either way that's the swing that he wanted to experiment with and it worked.

Lewis usually says yeah put me anywhere, I want to play. When Lewis said he prefer to play the INF, Lewis hates to say no, IMO that's him saying indirectly that he doesn't want to play the OF.

You beat me to the punch, buddy. The # of LHPs that we'll have to face is minimal. But I agree that we have our bases pretty much covered when we do. We need to get Taylor in as many games as we can.

I like your personal favorite. I've stated before that we should never trade Lewis, because of his many tangible & intangible qualities. But I'd trade him in a heart beat if management has any inkling of playing him in the OF. I'd rather lose him to another team than the risk of him losing his MLB career. Many say there's no difference in danger between the INF to OF and I'd kinda agree if the player has no knee problems. Running full blast, jumping high and coming down on that problem leg at that angel & force is like playing Russian Roulette which in Lewis case was the 1st attempt. Now w/ his 2nd operation, the gun has only a single chamber. I don't care if it doesn't fit your depth chart, you can't take that risk on Lewis.

Welcome John to TD. Martin was fine until they started to tinker with his swing, beginning of '22 , it really affected his ability to make contact. Towards the end of the '22 season, he went back to his old swing & he made a surge. He entered AFL with a bang & showed some pop. He'll continue to find his own way much like Buxton & Lewis & will flourish. Martin is an athletic player that can play most anywhere (although IMO is overstretched at SS) , which is a very valuable. An OB machine, whose not afraid to get hit (which I'd advise against because I'd hate to see him get hurt or have his rhythm thrown off). He's a terror on the bases which is exciting to see. As he develops I can see him gain some surprising pop. I can see him carry that AFL momentum into AAA, which will raise his stock considerably. Because he's not on the 40 man, there's no hurry bring him up unless things really blow up. Julien should that leap before him unless there's a need before Lewis is ready. His RH bat might come in handy in the OF next year. Because of his high versatility, I'd like hold onto him.

I like Urshela, he's a good 3B, I don't care what the #s say. To begin the off season the odds for us to land Correa was very low. We needed & still need a decent SS back up, Urshela is not a good back up so Farmer made a lot more sense. Our right side is all right handed hitters so keeping Urshela didn't make sense. We don't know how well Miranda will handle 3B, if he can't handle it then Farmer will have to man there. Miranda plays there only when Farmer need to play SS, until Lewis is ready to come up. Gallo was a mistake because he'll take ABs away from Gordon, Larnach and Wallner. If Kiriloff isn't ready, then Gallo probably makes the most sense at 1B but we have others that have some experience and IMO Julien could make that jump to MLB 1B. We have a log jam at corner OF LH bats. I'm not sure the shift ban will help Gallo that much. Even though we have log jam there, that's no reason to trade Kepler for peanuts. The shift ban is more likely to help Kepler. OF LH bats are a premium so I expect Kepler will be traded and probably Gallo.

Hi Seth, what kind of info can you or anyone else give me about Ricardo Olivar? I know he's mainly plays catcher but also plays OF, including CF. He had a pretty good FSL season at 20 yrs. old & was promoted to A. But have no idea how is his glove or arm. I believe his arm above average & his athleticism would produce a good glove at catcher. I'm looking for another big step from him this year & hope they focus him at the catcher position. I guess I'm hoping for an Endy Rodriguez type of break out.

I agree he's a solid prospect, much like Helman. But be very difficult for him to climb to overcome those ahead of him.

Nice to have another lady on the site. Looks like you have a lot of baseball in your blood. 🙂

I'm sure pulling for Correa as a Twin to put up the #s & advancing well in the PS. It'd be great to see another Twin in the HOF. Hope both Mauer & Correa be able to make it 1st ballad.

You're not nearly 70 yrs. old, are you? Melissa

Hi Seth, what kind of info can you or anyone else give me about Ricardo Olivar? I know he's mainly plays catcher but also plays OF, including CF. He had a pretty good FSL season at 20 yrs. old & was promoted to A. But have no idea how is his glove or arm. I believe his arm above average & his athleticism would produce a good glove at catcher. I'm looking for another big step from him & hope they focus him at the catcher position.

For sure the best defensive OF. Taking a way single here, double there throw in some triple & HR thefts for outs. Sure beats missing outs & let them turn into singles, doubles, triples & even HRs. Our kind of OF defense makes a lot of difference in won & lost games.

I'm a firm believer of having our future SP starting out as long relief/ spot starter. Ober, Winder, Varland and SWR are great candidates & should be used in this capacity on the MLB level. Ober should work himself into the rotation pretty quickly, Winder IMO won't get any higher that spot starter. It'd be pretty interesting to see how Varland & SWR do at this capacity before they graduate to the rotation.

Many teams want him, but try to get him on the cheap. Their need will be greater when he starts to hit better. But probably then they'll have to pay a premium.

I read the same thing, I thought there'd be stir in Twinsdom. I can see the point of what Falvey is saying. Our rotation & BP looks so much better than last year. I expect some kind of piggy-backing with Maeda & Ober. I'd like get Varland, Winder & SWR some regular time in the MLB via long relief/ spot starting. That's a lot of pitchers & not enough innings. If Falvey is in the market for RPs we won't advertise it. But if one fell in his lap he wouldn't pass up on him, I hope. You can't have enough quality BP pitchers.

I guess I'm mainly old school, I like digging into underlying conditions. But with overall comparison my favorite stat is bWAR. But day to day stuff I like the splits w/ BB reference.

I'm 100% behind you Cody. the rating is based on our need & how they are fulfilled. #1 need our starting SS hole- Correa filled that need quite nicely #2 need our starting catcher hole- Vazquez filled that hole #3 need our SP need- Lopez cleared the Gray line #4 need INF depth- Farmer can play anywhere including catcher, we could use him #5 need Buxton replacement upgrade- Taylor elite defense is welcomed #6 need Gallo ?- maybe 1B with a lot of hope that he'll come out his funk unlike Sano #7 need ?- Give Miranda a chance to blossom.