Doctor Gast

Go Twins!

#1- I believe Cruz will play here as long as he can, doesn`t matter when they decide to do it. #2- Someone like J. Gray, I doubt it (Price, I hope not). Someone like Archer ,yes I hope so & that doesn`t mean we can`t seek someone like Gray nearer to the dead line. #3- Berrios, I hope so but doubt it

I pick Dobnak because he has a lower floor. That said I hope all ML ready minor leaguers get plenty of exposure

Love your analogy & article! For a long time I`ve seen the Pirates as a trading target & is worth a shot. I agree w/ ChrisKnutson, Archer can be had today & should be. Has his ship sailed off?(pun intended) I don`t think so. I believe he didn`t fit in their pitching philosophy & didn`t pitched to his strength. W/ Wes Johnson guidance he will maximize his potential very quickly. Chris Stratton, I believe they have given up on. He has the stuff to be become a very good pitcher but he probably will take a little longer. If Wes thinks he can work w/ him, he be a great project. Musgroove will be much harder to plunder, he`s young & have had success there. Their pitching coach will hold on tight on him so they build their core around. If he could be had it won`t be until later.

"Sat back on their laurels" isn`t the right expression but some weren`t ready to play. They were out of shape, nonchalant, came late to ST disgruntle because they didn`t get what they wanted out of FA, afraid of getting hurt etc. But the biggest difference from 2017 & 2018 was Tori Hunter, he was a great club house influence

Thanks for putting a face on the name. Hopefully when he gets some innings & finds consistency he`ll be ready for the bigs, Keep `em coming!

Great topic! I like how you brought up 2018. That year we also had high expectations coming off a surprise wild card spot 2017. 2018 we picked up Odo & Lance Lynn, we had a good line up, great defense, good SP & good BP. Then Santana came up w/ a minor finger problem. He was expected to be out for a short time & he never came back. We sat back on our lorales (?) & dug ourselves in a deep hole in the beginning of the season which we never recovered. Bailey & the young arms may be solid for part of the season but it`s very unlikely they`ll step up & be that solid # 3, it`d be irresponsible to depend on them for the entire season. There are too many intangibles where we need a high end # 3 to step up & do it for us. I absolutely agree that we need to give our young arm ML exposure & we need to be creative in doing that.

I remember the `92 Twins pitching rotation Smiley, Tapani, Erickson & Krueger. I had such high hopes for them. But I felt they got over extended (especially Smiley) & tanked & never lived up to that expectation. Last year I had even greater expectations for Berrios, Odorizzi, Gibson, Perez & Pineda & they exceeded my expectations. They were feeding off each other, it was wonderful! W/o this glorious run up to June, we wouldn`t have made it to the post season! The BP faltered & put a lot of pressure on this rotation & they ran out of gas at the end. This especially effected Gibson who had been fighting e coli & was still fighting colitis. Perez is not a strong starting pitcher & should not have been treated as one (he should have been used extensively in tandem if he didn`t want to go to the BP.) Pineda is a strong starting pitcher & him being used in tandem helped him to come on strong at the end. I`m not excited about this year rotation at all, I`m afraid Berrios, Odorizzi & the BP will be over extended. Yes, we have a fantastic line up, yes, we have a great BP, yes we have a few promising prospects that are not there yet. Our starting pitching overall is inferior. We need someone (by trade or otherwise) to bridge that gap especially in the beginning of the season. Again I suggest we need to be creative to keep our pitching staff fresh & hungry; using openers as often as possible, limit pitching count according to each pitchers limits. Rotating pitchers from the minors to the majors, this will give everyone rest they need & more experience & evaluations of up coming pitchers.

Totally agree except I don`t have as much faith in Bailey as you do. In the beginning of the season there`s a big gap between Berrios - Odorizzi & the rest of the pack. Berrios - Odorizzi are lined up & motivated to take an extra step forward but others are far behind. Pineda will help in the final push & hopefully Hill will be ready to roll by Sept.. Berrios - Odorizzi could be over worked by the time Oct. comes around. Graterol is in the BP & even if they change their mind he won`t be ready until later in the season. Could Walker be the one? Could we trade for some one else until a better prospect (John Gray) comes along? Could we win the division w/o trading for someone now? Yes I believe so but can we do that w/o over-taxing Berrios - Odorizzi? We need a strong rotation going into the post season & we need to address the 40 man roster problem before the off season

If Romero`s heart is in starting, I`d say give him a shot if this isn`t a problem then put him in a relief role. Whatever easiest for him to turn it around. Maybe a relief role in the ML would be better because Wes Johnson has more contact w/ him. The role that they`re putting Graterol, I`d rather see Romero. After he`s settled in they could ease him in starting

Being 4th prospect overall he must have a lot of potential. As a non-roster invitee w/ a commitment we can sign him when Hill goes on IL. w/o having to effect the 40 man. See what he & Wes can do, it could be a fantastic

Romero has the stuff. It weird that some pitchers can get batters to chase after their breaking balls & others the batters are able to lay off. Romero is one of the unfortunate ones. I don`t know if he`s telegraphing or he`s too predictable. So some how he needs to throw breaking balls for strike & mix it up a little & hopefully become the pitcher he`s capable of becoming w/us

Totally agree w/ what have been written which in the long run & everything considered Donaldson will prove to everyone that he`s worth every penny he`ll get. He seems like a great mentor. He can help so much to teach our young hitters w/ his refined compact swing. Sano to shorten his swing & Lewis to find his style that works

When I 1st saw Sano play I was amazed how quick he was for a big man. w/ a full spring training he`d be fine at 1B or 3B. But I think it`s best having him at 1B because of his leg especially in the long run. At 1B he still needs to be careful. I still remember Harmon making that transition from 3B to 1B, at the all-star game he hurt himself making a long stretch.

It`ll be interesting how the new arms will fare & that includes the ones who will be ready to make that jump this year

Congrats to a great player & person! You deserve to be there! long live M&Ms

Unless Astudillo really turns it around I`d go w/ Cave. It`d give Astudillo more time to work on his plate discipline. I like the idea of keeping Kepler in RF & having a purer CF like Jarrod Dyson, can we 1st put him AAA w/o needing to putting him on the 40 man? Hopefully we can trade some players off the 40 man. Gordon definitely not although I see him improving this year, he`ll take awhile to adjust to the ML & won`t be much more than average. I`d like to see him traded, he could fit better in a different org. Like I stated in a different article w/ the Twins flexibility of covering all the bases, couldn`t we bring up an extra pitcher & be more creative w/ the rotation?

We were definitely saved by the Rain because up to then we were definitely below par. Using grade C as no change, looking at SP where was the greater change & impact. Grading Gibson- Bailey at no higher than D+. Gibson had shown great progress in the last 2yrs. if not for illness last year would have been phenomenal. Now that he has that under control he has much more upside. Perez-Hall both you won`t get a full year but because of more uncertainty I rate C- . Castro-Avila are similar but I rate Castro better C-. Les impact Dyson- Clippard I give a B+. Donaldson although he`s a A+ player for me to give this trade-off an A+ Cron would have to be a dog off, & def. which he isn`t. Because of the Donaldson-Cron impact I`d rate it a B+ . Overall a B-, very happy overall SP as I see a bigger regression, we could use an upgrade

It`s wonderful to have a "plethora" (this has been a very popular word it seems in the last several years) of very versatile players. Gonzalez filled in for Sano in the beginning of last year on a full time basis & he did a fantastic job! Adrianza has proved himself. Astudillo has shown he has potential but needs work on especially his plate discipline, if he`s devoted as I think he is, he`ll overcome this . Lewis has great potential to be a great utility player until he settles in a position,plus we have a ton of outfield & pitching talent just aching to play in the majors. This said, I have 2 comments. 1st forgive me Wes but I have difficulty starting Graterol in the pen. It`s easier to convert a starter into a reliever than vise versa. Gaterol should nave the opportunity in preseason & later in the minors to work on his secondary pitches & I also put Romero in this category if it`s not too late. We have several pitchers who have came up from the minors & have proven they can play in the majors. They should be given this open BP slot unless they some how fall apart. Gaterol should be given every opportunity to start on the majors level as soon as possible. I don`t think exposure is a problem w/ Gaterol 2nd w/ all these versatile players I think we could carry less positional players & carry more pitchers to use more creativity. 3rd use a rotating system from minors to majors to actively use our talent to give the young ones more experience & rest to the more experience

Gonzalez is a very good acquisition he came in a pinch when Sano was injured & did very well thru out the year even though he had a late start! This year he`ll be more settled. Balance is the key I believe. Sano seems like he`s more patient at the plate but I believe he could shorten his swing when he has 1 or 2 strikes. He`s so strong he could still hit it out. Kepler seems to have found his groove. Rosario could be more patient & Astudillo most definitely

https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/its-time-to-break-up-the-rockies/ this could quickly become fire sale! A great opportunity for Twins

I live in Brazil & I don`t get a lot of rumors on what the Twins FO is doing so I`d appreciate it if anybody can tell me how serious the FO is in seeking a pitching trade? & possibles. TD is my primary Twins source

I can see that. Also AR & CO we know they won`t be in it but they have hopes. If things get ugly w/ Arenado, CO could be out of it sooner than we think

Everybody would like these veterans to succeed but Bailey`s prediction is that he`ll recede & don`t know if his style will do well here. Hopefully Hall will recover enough for one more hurrah but at his age it`s not guaranteed. I`m not putting my hope on them

I tend to agree w/all except #2 is the most difficult. I believe Arraez`s bat is for real but his defense will keep him off the allstars. Now that they`ll keep an eye on cheating we should win a play-off series & who knows they might make it to the Big One if they get that impact pitcher!