Doctor Gast

For years, I wanted a 3rd catcher where Vazquez could mentor & could relieve both Jeffers & Vazquez, but now that time has passed. IDK what the best avenue is now. Maybe get a promising young MLB-ready catcher that is a true catcher whose world is catching who can develop on their own Teel & Oscar Quero have done well on their own or maybe a catcher who have been developed by a good team like MIL. Those catchers seems reasonable. HOU & LAD are good developmental teams, their 3rd catchers are Salazar & Feducci, IMO, they could be good backup catchers & are cheap.

Too many fans can't fathom the importance of having a good catcher. If he hits OK then we're good. A good catcher can change the outlook of a team. Those good blocked catchers are very expensive. But that's where we need to go but now days you need 2 good catchers.

Jeffers is a weak-side tandem catcher, which means that he can excel when he's not used extensively & will wear down in the 2nd half. Vazquez will be gone & Jeffers will be exposed with nobody to back him up. Trade for a proven catcher is expensive, FAs are expensive, Young promising catchers to mentor aren't easy to get & take time to evolve into a good catcher. Plus, Boras is Jeffers' agent, who doesn't like extension & if they do extend, he tends to max out. IDK if the Twins can afford him. Then we have nobody & this is leverage for Boras.

Thanks, Seth. I was very leery of this trade when I saw C/1B, I thought. Oh, boy, not another pseudo catcher that'll never stick there. But you have calmed my concerns about him not sticking & could even excel there. I have little confidence in the Twins to develop catchers, but I have more hope that Jimenez could improve his hitting. Jimenez could become a MLBer, 6 yrs. from now. IDK if we need a catcher 6 yrs. from now, but how about now? This is the problem that needs to be addressed NOW!

Back in May, I remember a conversation with a member of TD. We were entering a series with SF. I told him the Twins were bad, Wallner was on the IL, I had given up on the Twins & that SF was going to sweep the Twins. Twins swept SF & began their 13-game winning streak. I was in the same mood before last night. Twins were bad, Buxton was hurt, and people were getting traded. I was clamoring for weeks that Keirsey should be sent down for weeks because he wasn't getting any regular ABs this season & he needed them to get into his rhythm. He started last night's game cold. Then a miracle happened, he put a good swing on a pitch to send the ball over the fence for a 2-0 lead. He also started a rally in the 9th with a single, with the end result of winning the game. Keirsey hadn't had any regular MLB since the winning streak when he got a couple of walk-offs. The Twins produced that 13-game winning streak through good pitching, good defense, good baserunning, clutch hitting & chemistry. Keirsey provides good defense, good baserunning, clutch hitting & chemistry. Twins seems to do well when he's in the game. I hope he continues to swing the bat like he did last night & get regular playing time. It was an exciting game.

I'm not as much a BP game fan as a long relief fan. IMO, a team must have at least one long RP. I don't understand starting Sands when we have so many SPs who can't go much more than 5 innings, with Raya & Prielipp being the closest to MLB, and I doubt they can go more than 3 innings when they come up. Focus should be long relief, not openers, because we have a ton of young SPs who can do that. The focus has to be long relief & get pitchers in that mindset. IMO, Adams isn't MLB-ready, so Sands is the logical choice. Long relief should be plan A, not a poorly planned plan C. Baldelli says he is in favor of long relief, but he doesn't incorporate it & when he does, it's usually mop-up. We started the season with a fragile rotation & now we are very shorthanded, even for incorporating BP games & desperately need help.

I've liked Sims since his interview with Seth. I enjoyed his competitiveness & the way he approaches the game. He's a cerebral pitcher, that'll keep him in the MLB when others more talented may fail.

I've been advocating for Keirsey to be sent down so he can get some regular ABs. Keirsey hasn't gotten a lot of hits but they're all clutch.

WOW! Keirsey with no regular ABs, comes up cold & hits a bomb. It doesn't get any better. Go Twins!

Some here think that if we get some high prospects, we can go to the World Series. Many high prospects don't make it to the MLB, The number decreases for those who make it yet don't stick. The number decrease yet more those who stick & are below average, decreases more for those who are mediocre, decrease more those who are above average, more those who are All-stars & more yet those who are superstars. Angels had 2 superstars & never made it to the postseason. CWS put together a whole bunch of young talents together (I think in '21) that some thought were WS-bound. That lasted one year & then went into the crapper. It takes a lot more than talent to make it to the WS. It takes a core with chemistry & luck. We are stuck with Correa, good or bad, We have to make the best of it & try to build off the core we have, IMO, it's our best shot. I rather have MLB-ready impact players than lotto tickets, no matter how high they are. Even with our expiring contracts that are in demand, I'd prefer to package up for MLB players that can contribute now.

Thanks Seth. Saints' pitchers put them in a big hole but the lineup got on base & hit each other in. Keaschal only got on base 1X out of 6 ABs, but that 1X was huge. Great offense even w/o Emma.

I'm not like many who think that if a team looks good on paper, then we're good. Not looking at the underlying conditions. Yeah, we look good on paper. But ignore the fact that Ober started the season sicker than a dog & an impinged hip. Ryan was on the IL for the 2nd half of last season. Paddack has a history of arm problems & is still recovering from TJ, we are too dependent on rookies SWR (who went down to AAA to find himself), Matthews, (was still on the IL) & Festa, (who quickly started the season with a fatigued arm) & very quickly it became obvious that we had nobody in AAA who resemble a SP that could come up. I looked at our rotation as fragile that needed to be properly managed The last SP I'd thought would go down was Lopez. Yet he was our 1st real casualty. Red flags & alarms should have gone off but nothing, crickets. But hey, man, we still look good on paper. Our rotation became unraveled & we went into a swoon that we really haven't recovered from. Ryan has been steady, SWR & Festa have regained some of their footing & Paddack has pitched some good games here & there but where has that gotten us? To win games we have to have constant pitching & not have to put in a situation where we have to depend on an Adams. In the beginning of the season, I'm not only looking at past stats but look at the future condition of the rotation coming postseason. I'm not looking at how we look on paper but how many SPs we will have on IL & others who will be worn down that can't pitch quality innings come postseason. I like to compare a person who focuses on past stats as a driver who drives a car & is always looking back & fail to see what's around & ahead of them. He's an accident ready to happen. Twins can look at the stats & say we look good on paper, we don't need anybody. They can look at Kyle Gibson, who started the season w/o spring training & ramping up time, got thrown into the fire & unsurprisingly got burned; say he's bad not worth our time. & fail to see who he is & what he can do to help us. Gibson got some ramp up time at TB AAA & was very good, when he left to become a FA. Gibson isn't going to blow you away w/ his velo or stuff but he's going to give you steady veteran quality innings that the Twins needed. He's also give you that mentor that have been there & done that, that stabilizing presence to anchor the young SP when things start to unravel. Somebody to eat innings so nobody will get overextended. Gibson retired not because he thought he no longer had it but because of the teams like the Twins that felt they didn't need him. I've been listening to Kyle Gibson on STL podcasts. Gibson is a good, very enjoyable to listen to & honest person. He said he was ready & able to pitch & that it wasn't the reason why he retired. Twins could have used him not only what he could do on the field but also his presence on the field, in the dugout & in the clubhouse. Gibson has always been well like by Twins players, which goes beyond stats.

Roxs still exists after '27 but I don't expect them to do much.

Of course, you can't get a Quero or Teel just for Bader, But you could package Bader or settle for a young promising #3 catcher instead.

My point is negotiations. What are our needs & projecting those needs to buyers. A few teams need a player like Bader at the deadline, so you negotiate for a player who can contribute next year. Just because Bader is probably leaving, so what good if take the easy way out & say ok I'll take a prospect that may contribute 2 yrs, down the road after our window is closed? Or another OFer who probably won't get a chance? I would rather not base my work on luck & hope but focus on what should work.

It's true, if I want to compete, I'd want to trade my lotto ticket than my MLB-ready player. So that's why social media & buying team are putting lotto tickets out there as targets for MN. MIA & CWS are rebuilding, so yeah, they want prospects but we are not rebuilding, we still want to compete next year. How can we do that with MiLB players? CWS has stated that they were willing to trade one of their outstanding rookie catchers, LAD, I've heard stated that they're willing to trade Rushing under certain conditions. Many of the trades that have happened have been MLB player for MLB player. There are young MLB SPs that haven't been established yet, teams that want to win now should be willing to trade them for established veteran players. But some teams need to find roster spots so they'd rather trade MLB players. If we aren't rebuilding, then to compete, we need to target promising young MLB-ready players, mainly those who had some experience & success. Otherwise, I won't trade. I may take a promising player in AAA or AA that'd could come up yet this year for an expiring contract.

The rotation is in shambles. How can we expect to compete under these conditions? To depend on Adams? Where's our help after Lopez went down?

I think he's on paternal leave too.

Prospects! Are we in a retool or a rebuild? It doesn't make sense to rebuild, so why do we want redundant prospects? We need young MLB-ready players to shore up weak areas, to fuel our rebrand after Falvey is gone. Social media & teams want to give us their prospects, but I sure don't want them. IMO, Twins are stupid to take them.

Tigers are swooning, like the Twins did last year. Twins need to do what the Tigers did last season. Shore up the rotation & catching & go for it. Get the players fired up. Where's the fire?

Me too. I was listening to a LAD deadline discussion. LAD didn't want to be involved in the deadline at all, to begin the season. But their BP has been very disappointing so they're looking for some help. But they're not going to make a big splash as some of us thought they might. 2 top names were Stewart & Coulombe, not Jax or Duran. Like I've been saying all this time, I'm not interested in lotto tickets. I'd be interested in LAD's 3rd catcher Hunter Feducci & promising young MLB LHP Justin Wrobleski as the base & maybe a wild card low-level pitching prospect (LHP Jakob Wright). They could bolster our catching & rotation right now.

De Vries is too far away, MIL will never trade Jesus Made, LAD isn't going to make a big splash & OF is our strongest & deepest position for years. Why keep bloating our system with redundant prospects? Falvey has wasted 2 years. of our open window, Why keep kicking the can down the road with redundant prospects? We are fragile at catching & SPs (even more if we trade Ryan). IMO, our best chance to get anywhere is with this core. The core isn't the problem; it's Falvey & Co. How about if we trade our management for MIL's? If we have the chance to switch out our management next season, we have to try to keep our core together.

I was all fired up, hoping the Twins would wake up & go on a tear & put some of this trade talk behind us. But no, completely dead, like they have given up. Poor defense & terrible clutch hitting.

Good one.

I really enjoy listening to interviews with intelligent baseball people who know what they are talking about instead of scripted BS from people that have no idea.