Doctor Gast

I assume that they figure that Gray would be much easier to move. With them giving a last ditch effort to trade before putting him on waivers. Evidently they weren't asking much, strange no one bit

For now I'd keep both. Donaldson would be a great mentor for Miranda and at the end of the year I could see Sano turn the corner at adjusting away from that big swing / big SO style. IMO the trade deadline could be a better time to think trade for both of them.

Totally agree with Karbo. Tony Oliva is my all time favorite MLB player, he could it all. One time I told him this, he said I was his favorite fan. He should've been a politician

The more I think about it, I am open to trade Kepler together with Arraez to get a top of the rotation arm. To me Kepler is a gold glove RF which is very desirable, but corner OF you can get by with less. His hitting is the only ?, he needs to adapt to the non juiced ball and the defense & pitching adaptation to him. So far I haven't seen it which leaves me to doubt if he can. If we do, we need to address the abyss in the OF, Rooker and Larnach don't come close to fill it. We need to find a real CF to to play the corners and sub for Buxton. Rooker's glove is really bad, he's more suited at 1B and DH. So I'd trade him, he's not worth much but he might move the needle in a package deal . Larnach has a bright future but he's not ready to play fulltime, he'll platoon with another RH OF outside the organization that can field. Many fans exclaimed in the past that we had great depth in the OF. The quality wasn't there where we had reach from our INF (Arraez, Refsnyder and Gordon) because our OF wasn't getting it done.

One thing you can't fault him is determination.

Interesting. Wonder why the lowly Rangers let him go? And wonder who the Twins are going to let go before friday?

Thanks Cody, Reds could be a very good trading partner option. You've given us some very good options. I'm still dreaming of a Castillo trade, I like to dream big. His stock has come down some from it lofty perch so maybe a package could be put together. With Castellanos gone and pending DH, we might have some low cost pieces that they might be interested in plus any other needs they may have. Can Senzel really play CF or can he play there like Cave?

Andrew I really enjoy your articles, your gift of put supporting data into logic is refreshing. You have given us a lot of good prospects and I thank you. I too like Chris Taylor but as a FA he's going to be expensive and in the end LA will match any reasonable offer and he'll end up there. But IMO you've overlooked a problem that FO has overlooked for years, the Buxton substitute. It has cost us uncountable games throughout the years. So we need a real CF which can also play the corner OF, to step in CF when need be.. Celestino isn't ready and it'll be unfair to try. So according to your plan, defensively we not only have a below par LF and a well below par CF but also a well below RF when Buxton is out (which is always more than we expect). So trading away Kepler will cause a lot of problems for Buxton in not only help cover LF but now also RF. So this will cost us more games when Buxton is in the game and I can't see any way we can win any games when he's not. Hope you don't take this critique personally because this hole has been overlooked by many for years.

Thanks Neds for this blog. This is the 1st time I've notice your entrance if you are new, welcome. Our system is jam pack with these players yet last year they let a needed CF prospect (Baddo) go to add this DH type (Garlic) to the 40 man roster. This hording needs to be addressed and confronted. Although it has gotten better, our past draftees were abundant with this type. Their excuse were we can easily trade them in the future. Now they are saying nobody wants them. How can there be no market for a commodity which we are obsessed with. There has to be teams out there, like us, that don't put much importance on defense. They have been oblivious to the market and the needs of the organization. We have had many, many, too many to list opportunities which this FO have failed to pursue especially in trades. There is a market out there (though smaller than they originally expected), they just need to leave finally their comfort zone and put in the work. With the eminent DH coming to the NL, this FO needs to take the bull by the horns and take the fore front in this market. We have a lot of needs (especially SP) we can put together packages where we can slide these types into. So FO, I implore you to finally take advantage of the opportunities before you. We have a big problem with 40 man roster crunch because it is packed with this type. We are losing our needed undeveloped CF & pitcher prospects (Baddo, Wells, Clay and Colina to name a few) and it'll only get much worse if not addressed. Like you said Neds we have an abundance of candidates to fill this noncritical position. We need to trade any nonessential players that are worth anything. Arraez and Rooker are a liability on defense so they're our prime candidates. On TD report card (which was very good BTW) Arraez scored a B- while Kepler scored a C-. It's like their defense wasn't even considered. There are teams out there that do not look at defense they only look at bats. Both Arraez and Rooker have intriguing bats which would provide a decent market which in a package could net good pitching. I could go on but I think I've made my point and I wouldn't want to bore you.

I'm a big fan of Lewis, there's no doubt in my mind that he has what it takes to be a super star. 2021 was very important for Lewis, to finally get his chance at the Bigs at some time and to be mentored by the best was euphoric. To me no injury was so traumatic in 2021 for the Twins as was his. Part of his undoing was his over exuberance in his training. I think part of his maturation is to be able to discipline himself, much like Rosario needed to. I hope he comes back completely healthy, but I think it'll be a long process to get back in the groove and learn his position and to be adequate there. I don't know if a year is long enough with even a chance it might not ever happen. So I think looking at more than a year for a temporary SS might be prudent.

Thanks Nash for putting together this report card. My grading would be a little different because I'd grade strictly by results and how they handled their positions. I'd disregard potential and grade Kiriloff a C and Larnach C-. I also think you were harsh on Astudilo. #1 he's not an OF, like Arraez he's utility and should be graded as such. League avg. this year is around .240 so this year he's avg. with a little power. Utility is hard to grade but he has shown that he'd absolutely play anywhere to help the Twins. This I'd grade him a C+. I also agree that he'd be gone unfortunately this year. Also I'd put more importance on defense than you have. Although Kepler's batting performance was well below expectations, his defense remains golden glove standard. This I'd raise him up to C+

It shouldn't be a pet peeve, Stinger . We should never stop learning from others, we never really arrive, we could always need an extra pair of eyes, an encouragement to focus on what needs to be done and help us to get back on track. Granted a veteran like Donaldson need minimal help but a veteran like Simmons could use a lot of help to get back on track with his hitting. Some veteran need to be retaught on things they were taught wrong. I know some well accomplished veteran pitchers that could use help from Wes Johnson and Johan Santana.

Andrelton Simmons at 3M, I'd jump all over that. I don't care about a player's skin color, religion, political affiliations or if he believes in UFOs and leprechauns, what matters to me is can he play SS? I believe most owners would concur with me and bet on a Simmons to bounce back on his hitting and he'd go much higher than 3M and still be a steal at 2X that. With a new hitting coach, I can see his hitting could be higher than his average and as always with a tight budget he makes a lot of sense. To me he doesn't seem like a difficult person to be around.

Thanks Nick for showing what a retooling might look like and appropriately near Halloween. It scared the **** out of me! Getting rid of Buxton and putting Kepler in CF is a nightmare. Kepler is a huge down grade from Buxton and putting Kepler in CF fulltime is creating another Polanco effect. Over extending Kepler at CF will more than likely create increase injuries and keep Kepler from breaking out with his hitting and even continue to spiral down. CF isn't his natural position keep him in RF. Focusing on FA and trading Buxton, tells me that you don't trust FO to be able to initiate big trades or negotiate a fair deal with Buxton. I tend to agree with you but I'm hoping that they will surprise me, since they are coming back. Also I doubt that Ray or Baez (especially now w/o Berrios) would come here as they'd prefer a larger market and a team what they see as a contender. The only avenue I see is trading for top players to plug our biggest holes. This takes away the players preference of not coming here, minimize payroll, reduces redundancy and the 40 man crunch. I hate to see us lose needed undeveloped prospect potential for nothing while hording potential DH types. I don't see the need to shake up the core, we have a very good core. Many times we come back from a losing seasons w/o shaking up the core instead filling appropriate holes, change coaching or management. My hope is that the new hitting coach will help facilitate our hitters coming out of their ruts. My trades would not be core for prospects but upgrading our crucial positions & depth of those positions. With packages that would include mainly non essential and redundant players at less crucial positions which we have in abundance. Which would also help give us more flexibility on our 40 man roster. I would not trade Donaldson because I wouldn't want to put a lot of pressure on Miranda to step up and produce right away (we saw how that worked out) that should happen very quickly if Arraez is full time 3B. Miranda is very close but still I'd like him ease in there. He'll have a lot of opportunities even with Donaldson and I like Donaldson mentoring him. At trade deadline there should be more opportunities to trade Donaldson and Sano if need be. It's a gutsy move to try to slide Rogers through waivers. Although I applaud the attempt, still I flinch because we haven't had that much luck doing that with good players. Oops you aren't expecting him to pass waivers, sorry.

Thank you Ted for showing the positive side. I'm grateful we have a very good team and that we even have a team, where we almost lost it at the end of the Twinkie Era. God bless Carl Pohlad. We have had very good opportunities as you said, we only need to capitalize on them.

My feeling is that MIA would prefer trading away some one from their established rotation to make room for their upcoming talent. MIA could be a little desperate to cover some of their holes (like catching) where they'd accept a reasonable package. A package better suits us because we can help clean up our 40 man roster mess. But I'd be happy with any stud from their stable. If we can get U of M star Meyers I'd be over joyed

Love your blueprint, Cory. Love you going out and getting quality pitching via trade, I believe that's the ticket. Love that you saw all the holes and filled them. BTV is a good tool to get a general idea of trade value but teams have a little different view of player values. Arraez/ Flaherty is an overpay but STL really loves Flaherty so it going to take an overpay. There are other options with MIA and OAK that also could be pursued. The way that you approached this, is spot on. As you say it's flexible, you can substitute the players with other comparable names and it still works and you balanced the budget. If I was the owner of the Twins, I'd hire you to be my FO. I don't trust this FO to be as creative as you.

Thanks Tom to bring this to rememberance, I really liked both Garcia and Kintzler and was disappointed to see them go. Kintzler was our best RP and Garcia had fit very well and was about to take off as a Twin in the short time he was with us. If the FO had stuck to their original plan and kept both of them and find a good deal to bolster the team we could have been in the driver's seat. BTW pretty good catch by Rosario. He came through when he had to. I wasn't so sure he was going to make it when he took his eye off the ball to check the wall but he did and helped save the game. Love to see under dog ATL beat cheater HOU.

It's something how some players make difficult plays look easy and get overlooked and others make easy plays look hard and people are in awe.

Pretty good crew. The one that caught my eye was Festa. I see a lot of room to develop and grow. When he makes it to the Majors, we can have a (F)festa. * * festa in portuguese means party.

The ones that were nominated I'm sure are excellent RFs but yes he got snubbed. If you look at everything Kepler would debatably be the top choice. I don't trust the formulas in which a player is evaluated but I agree with Ace that Kepler dominated. Judging players by errors is archaic, IMO Statcast should be the standard even for the INF. If a player can't make the makeable out, I don't care how few errors he make.

Cody you picked an explosive topic. I like Arraez, there is no one who can match his ability to put the bat on the ball. But I'm on the trade Arraez side for reasons I'll list. #1 Although trade stock has slide a bit his stock is overrated and is one of highest on the club (to get much needed top notch pitching, he's the prime candidate to headline a trade). #2 He's a liability on defense and on the bases. #3 Offensively a good defense can shut him down. As defenses get to know him their OF will play him "in" because of his weak bat, even if he hits the ball over their heads they normally can run underneath it. INF can play him deep because he's slow. Thus greatly reducing his field of play. #4 He's expendable, the only position where he won't hurt us defensively is DH. He's not a typical DH and we have ton of players that fit in this category. #5 Injuries, as stated he's got bad knees, which will continue affect his performance & playing time. Last year I advocated to trade him for pitching when his stock was up there. Now his value has slipped and will continue to slip until he'll be worthless to trade. I don't see any avenue for him to retain any of his present value. Here we have an opportunity to put him in a package to get quality pitching. Pull the trigger.

Hope robo ump will be quickly adapted by MLB.

Welcome Dave. I miss the Metrodome too. Time spent with family and doing the "wave". The Metrodome was our X factor. We won most of our home post season games. The '87 & '91 WS we won all our home games and lost (I believe) all our away games.

Again I concur with your evaluations but with Simmons you let outside opinions effect your grading. Defense I grade him at least an A. His range, understanding of his position and his command of the INF are excellent. His hitting in the beginning of season was very good and towards the end wasn't bad. But the long period after his sickness and lay off, he was terrible. Taking all this into consideration I grade his hitting a D. His base running is pretty good. So I grade him overall a B- . I'm grading strictly by performance, I didn't take into considerations him not playing last year or him being sick and laid off or lack of hitting instruction to get him back on track. My concern about Simmons (when he 1st came to the Twins) was his ankles. How dependable would he be to keep Polanco away from SS so he could thrive at 2B. He did that, he allowed Polanco to recover and blossom at 2B. Polanco also learned from him. Simmons stock is low because of his hitting. If you have any idea about stocks, you don't buy good stocks when they are high but when they are low. Although I was hesitant to sign him last season, I would not this season. His endurance will be better and since they demoted their hitting coach. I'm betting his hitting will return to his prior avg. of .270.