Doctor Gast

I agree w/ Chris that trainers need to work closely with players in the off season conditioning, otherwise players are apt to get injured & burned out early. Last season with the lock out, coaches & trainer were prohibited to reach out to the players & spring training was cut short. That said, management should have known the risk to their pitchers & spread out their work load between SP, long RPs & short RPs. Keeping pitch counts lower than usual. Yet they relied heavily on poor short relief and over stretch their SPs while abandoning long relief. No wonder we had so many injuries & ineffectiveness. Players don't want to sit on the bench, Nelson Cruz realized latter in his career that diet, off season conditioning, not playing hurt & rest is crucial to longevity & seasonal productivity. Coaches need to ingrain this into each player. especially not playing hurt & not encouraging it. IMO Buxton's knee injury should have been dealt with right away, not avoiding the IL & playing well below 100% most of the time, not playing CF, keep aggravating the injury which caused a different injury. If a stint on the IL won't do it then have the surgery done right away. Polanco was playing hurt, well below his potential the 2nd half until he could no longer played & was lost for the season. Arraez was dogging it the 2nd half and his productivity plummeted and could have lost the Title if they hadn't given him a breather towards the end. Rest is essential for health, limiting injuries & ineffeciency. Especially in a lock-out season. Here again is poor management, we had the depth. If we had all our pitchers rested, healthy & strong for the post season & Buxton, Polanco and Arraez 100% together with Correa, this would have been a different story. Sports scientist should be more involved in trades that includes injured players, to avoid the lost of Mahle for the final stretch & Paddack for practically all of '22 & '23. Again poor management.

Houston has drafted heavily on the pitching prospect in the international draft and has done very well. Seems like especially in the past the Twins have focused on big bats which seems a waste not seeking high end pitching.

IMO Jeffers in my book was never to be our primary catcher. FA I like both Contreras & Narvaez the best. Trade- Murphy? Maybe if you don't mind giving up high prospects (I'd prefer not). TOR has 3 quality catchers, Jansen is most likely available, this my 1st choice. Plan A - Do a 3 way trade TOR/MIA/MN. Trade away Jeffers to MIA and receive Jansen from TOR. Sign Narvaez as back up. Plan B- sign Contreras & Jeffers as 2nd Plan C- sign Narvaez Plan D- is much more difficult ,( trade for Jansen) because TOR wants frontline pitching (we don't have).

Martin is a valuable asset to the Twins. He can get on base very frequently & not afraid to steal a base. He has also shown some flashes of power that will continue to increase as he gets stronger. He has shown when he's not hurting to be very impactful. But what's most valuable is his athleticism, He can play anywhere on the field, with our injury problem and his RH bat. IMO Martin could be MLB ready this spring to be an utility player if they choose to trade Urshela because he can sub 3B and 2B because we need more quality depth with this new shift ban. IMO Martin is too valuable to this Twins future to trade. I'd choose many others before him.

It's great that Isola is doing well and hope he's progress at catcher. And Julien is doing so well and being a stud. You can't help but think he's got a shot at MVP. Martin has put up some good #s but he has cooled off some from his blazing start. I'm concerned about him since he got HBP, I think he's hurting and thrown off his game. Do you know anything about that Steve? Pitchers are doing better than expected and happy about Olson's outing. Hope it's a turn around for him he deserves it.

Musgrove could have blossomed in MN, but after being stuck in PIT for years, he was stolen away by SD which IMO doesn't have a good coaching staff for pitchers. I'm sorry after the Pagan trade, it has soured me on any trade w/ SD. So no deal.

The Angels would want a front line pitcher or 2 (we don't have 1) and I wouldn't like to trade Lewis or Lee. So I don't think it'd ever work. My focus is to win not only to raise attendence.

I believe that story was leaked by Heyman's buddy Boras. Majority of Dodgers hate Correa, especially the club house. They will keep Trea Turner before they turn to Correa. I believe more than the Dodgers will focus on Judge as priority. NYY also dislike Correa plus they have 2 MLB ready SSs, so why will they sign Correa to a long term deal. And signing Judge has to be high priority.

1st I think you are putting too much trust in Maeda, he has never been a work horse & he's just coming back from a 2yr hiatus of recuperating from surgery. It'll be a while where he would be able to pitch 5 quality innings. I don't expect much of anything from Paddack when he returns. Which strengthens your case, that under this present philosophy of no long relief, then we do need another SP above the Gray Standard. But getting one from FA, I seriously doubt from this FO. And I don't blame them.

Joe Ryan is a very good pitcher he has a fantastic 4-seam FB and he's working on his slider that he credits Archer for getting it started. I think stamina is the key, after your rookie season you are building stamina. It's easy to miss your location or hang a pitch if you're tired. I think covid did effect his stamina so having covid & his rookie season behind him, he has a great foundation to work from. So I expect more quality innings from him in '23.

I'd say no to all 3. I was big for Basset last off season and wish FO would have made an effort to offer the A's a reasonable offer much like what the Mets did. Now he's too rich.

It seems like he's good at what he does. Hopes he has influence to turn down a trade if a pitcher isn't sound or intervene if a player is hurting & needs time off or put on the IL (Buxton, Polanco, Arraez) or establish a routine & schedule for a pitcher to optimize his production w/o getting hurt.

If they use Varland/ SWR the same way they used Ober/ Winder, I expect the same results. So which will have the most innings, the one who is rushed less will have the most innings.

Absolutely, he's one of my choices. If MIL is indeed rebuilding it'd take prospects, I'd try to swing a deal different than what you suggested that'd satisfy MIL while not hurt so much. MIA might be a easier partner because they probably be looking at MLB Players. Ryan, Gray and hopefully Mahle if his shoulder checks out (I'm banking on it) are the only ones that'll give us any significant innings. With fans expectations & absence of long relief mentality, we could be really hurting (both physically & situationally). Unfortunately we need a pitcher like Woodruff.

The chances that any SP prospect even make it to the MLB & be good is low. To begin your professional career and progress to be an ace, the odds are very high that you won't make it. So since SWR is the closest to MLB ready, I'd say he'd raised the highest. Yet becoming an ace is iffy.

IMO the international draft is exciting, thanks Jamie for bringing these prospects to our attention. They all look impressive. Like you said catching is an organizational need so I'm more interested in Silva. I'd like to see if we could draft a higher catcher. Castro seems pretty impressive but we have a lot of good hitting LH hitter corner OFs, his high asking price kinda put some hesitancy there. I'd like to see them draft a higher SP. But I trust that this scouting evaluations are right on and they're maximizing our options

I know that Correa said that he'll opt out but I think that there is chance he might not. Right now there is a lot of attention given to Judge. Anyone has any $ will keep their powder dry, meaning no one will spend any $ and focus all their $ in trying to land Judge. LAD will try to land Judge, that mean they'll let Trea Turner walk, which means more competition against Correa & him coming close to his goal. I can see Boras saying take the $35M this year (which he won't get on the open market) & try again next year when there won't be as much competition for SS. If he does opt out I think he could be available at a reasonable price. Comparable to Bogaert.

Very interesting take, Matt. Phillies snucked into the wild card game through the play-off change & any thing that Gibson had done was a deciding factor to help them there. Also the extra games PHL had to play to get to the World Series, shows real roster depth. HOU is there because they are good at cheating.

Polanco isn't the one to worry about unless you are thinking SS with his ankles & arm problem. Who we need to worry about is a 2nd rate SS that gets a HR here & there, that this FO might pick up and Arraez at 2B. To quote you "Correa defensive #s increased in the 2nd half after Polanco was hurt". Meaning when Polanco was healthy Correa didn't have to pick up any slack. Polanco will be 100% by the time the seasons starts & give us his above average defense at 2B, so you don't have to worry about that. My opinion the shift with Correa at SS & Polanco at 2B was a waste of Correa's ability and was counter productive.

The average MLB player doesn't steal, doesn't bunt, doesn't take an extra base, doesn't play defense and strikes out a lot. This isn't the standard that makes a competitive team. You'll end up forfeiting much more runs than you make. The shift ban will magnify this problem with a horrible mid INF, I don't care how many runs they may score. If we want to win we have to scrap the norm.

Polanco was playing hurt for at least half the season, that's not on him that on management for not addressing the problem. All that was needed a couple of days off, at most a short stay on the IL. But they let it go until he was out for the season. He'll be good as new come spring training, you make it look that he's washed up (not true). I don't trust any defensive stats that grades Arraez & Gordon as average. Heaven help us if we depend on these stats. Yes Arraez can field a GB when it's hit right at him when he's in shallow RF but he has no range. If you have no range you have no business at 2B. If Lux was so bad at 2B, why is it rumored that Lux might be promoted to SS? I trust LAD judgement & developement than any defensive stat or even GG

Big name FAs are at best a crapshoot. FAs are rated by their stats the prior year, what are the odds that they are going to have better years with you? Not very good, the odds are that they'll have worse years, the degree of worse will vary. Looking at only stats you'll never come out ahead. So you have to look beyond stats to underlying conditions. Debating w/ Nash Walker last off season, I ceded to him that Rodon would be a good FA target. CWS old school manager La Russa wanted his SPs to go as deep as possible & Rodon couldn't go as deep as he wanted w/o injury & ineffectiveness (IMO that's why CWS let him go). Even w/ the injury risk, I ceded that if Rodon was dialed back & managed right, he be a good fit for MN. Now Rodon will be expensive with many bidding on him.

I understand my friend. But this is the lowest it has ever been. Yes it could be lower next year depending what kind of year he might have & the # of years on his contract but it could be a little higher. But this isn't the main reason my main reason is my 2nd reason. 2nd reason is we have no one capable to replace him right now. The 2 you mention are terrible, the shift helped to hide some of their warts. But now with the shift banned and possible lost of Correa, our INF will become a laughing stock & extreme embarassment to the team & fans, not to mention a deep hole we'll be in, Until they throw untested prospects in there and it'll be '21 all over again. Last year would have been a better year because he had a great year in '21 and his trade value was close to what he was worth. And we had Royce Lewis on the cusp to enter MLB and we had Correa to take up any gap. Reading Twins News today, I get the feeling that Correa is gone. I don't care about any hype that people spin, Arraez & Gordon are terrible at 2B. Any combo of them & throw in unready prospects will be disasterous like it was in '21. I get the feeling that management hasn't learned anything from the last couple of years. And this season will be another wasted season.

It's an absolute shame the way that mangement ran Polo to the ground. When he 1st shown signs of injury they should have started to give him a break on the IL to rest his knee besides the treatment they may have given him. 2 months of well below 100% production until he was lost for the season, is unexcuseable. The 2nd half is when he normally really turns it on when he's healthy. 1st reason why we shouldn't trade him now is. Besides the lost production he lost when we really needed it, he lost trade value. Too many people trade when their stock is down, that the exactly when not to sell. Polanco is well below his true trade value, so I wouldn't think about trading him. You trade someone when they are rated above their true value. I advocated to trade Maeda in the '20/'21 off season because his trade value was inflated, to trade for a bona fide ace. 2nd reason is we have no one capable to replace him right now. The 2 you mention are terrible, the shift helped to hide some of their warts. But now with the shift banned and possible lost of Correa, our INF will become a laughing stock & extreme embarassment to the team & fans, not to mention a deep hole we'll be in, Until they throw untested prospects in there and it'll be '21 all over again. Yes we have needs that we should trade for but our best bet is someone that has an inflated trade value & who's not essential defensively. I like Polo but when the prospects have gotten their feet wet & has shown that they are ready both defensively & offensively & Polo's trade value is where it should be then we can think about trade. But not now!

Our contract with Maeda is the same one that the LAD had & they used Maeda extensively in the BP. Coming off surgery recovery, I wouldn't count on Maeda to save our rotation as some think, He is better served in the BP. I don't count on Paddack at all for 2023, and like you said T&R that he might not be useful until '25. We shouldn't caught up on hype but look at reality. Beyond Gray, Mahle & Ryan we look weak as far innings are concerned. Snydergaard has all the hype but he has been injured a lot. He'll be riskier than others that we'll tried to revamp, So no thanks.