Doctor Gast

Horse trading is an art of making shrewd negotiations. In the MLB, TB is well known when a player reach a high value, they put them on the market and maximize their return (w/ no emotions). This year, on the buying side, SD has displayed very good horse trading. Although they lost on the Snell trade to TB, they fleeced the Cubs out of Darvich, they completely plundered the Pirates out of Musgrove. SD saw that the Cubs & PIT is very motivated to sell & they exploited their situation. MN's off season is made up of finding pitchers that nobody wants & retreads that they know that they can tweak & signing economical positional players. To give them credit they have pretty good success at it. W/ FA's that they value they tend to over pay. Making trades, they seem not able to see the opportunities that are out there. For a long time I`ve advocated to take advantage on obtaining pitchers from PIT. PIT has the ability to see pitching talent but unable to untap it. Musgrove is under valued & under paid, he has good stuff & a lot of potential when fully developed a great trading target. Musgrove was offered to MN for Larnach which is fair but MN tend to over value their bats (Example: Rosario) so they lose out on opportunities. Even though they didn't want to give Larnach they should have counter offered w/ lesser prospects, PIT has shown they would have accepted any offer. 3 years of Musgrove talent & upside at $4.2 MM (for a couple lower prospects) or 1 year of Happ at $8 MM? Happ is LHP that our dominate RH hitting division will clobber (especially CW). What is done is done but we can still try to approach the Cubs for Baez to finalize on an opportunity. Also I notice that if they have a trading target they usually cave on the opponent's demand. I like this FO but wish they had a little more horse trading in them.

I like Bryant but our only real need for him is being a great platoon with Donaldson, that would be expensive and not fair to him. Baez makes much more sense, with his talent and ties to Berrios, I'd like to get extentions with both of them. This should be top priority for FO. Cubs are motivated to trim the budget and gain prospects, they'd lose out if they keep him. FO needs to be aggressive in open communications and be creative to get the deal done. Meaning if we don't have all the Cubs want, go to a 3rd party. We can't let another one slip away. Baez will be cheap since it's his last year and poor 2020. No top prospects, probably a couple of low ones. Please get it done

Yeahyabetcha are you making a bid for Gonzalez? The point that I was making was that our focus has to be on critical positions,C,SS and CF. C is covered,SS we need an upgrade(suggestion:Baez with Adrianza subbing) CF we need a better back up(suggestion:Pillar and can start at LF). Once we cover our critical positions we can get by with inferior subs at less critical positions. Corner OF options Kiriloff Cave Wade Larnach Rooker Astudillo Arraez 3B options Adrianza Astudillo Arraez 2B Arraez Adrianza Astudillo 1B Kiriloff Rooker Larnach Astudillo Arraez- if he has no experience he can learn We have a lot of options. We can get by without Gonzalez's slightly superior glove at those positions My focus is fielding a World Series caliber team

It's interesting that the FO was interested in Yates. They signed also Springer. Because of his connection with Brantley. They could also get him

Looks like Quintana is going to the Angels

I agree with everyone. It was a terrible trade. Ramos was a very capable back up to Mauer. I can understand the idea behind the trade but the content is unbelievably imbalanced,they could have done much better. Trades like this helps to see why they are gun shy about going after big name relievers.

I don't like bashing of players. Gonzalez is a good player but we don't need him. The non critical positions that he plays can be more economically substituted internally. It scares me that he's even on their radar. & not focused on critical needs on critical positions! We are starved for news but not this news

To get to the PS we have get past CWS. CWS are loaded w/ RH bats that can hammer LHP. I think Wes can do something w/ him but IMO we can do better w/ more bang for the buck

Agreed, K Marte is a stud and AR will be hesitant to trade him but with their position you hope they'd consider it

My choice would be Odo of the 2. Odo has more value but I don't see FO going after either. I believe they'll go with less salary with more upside. They might go after an under paid pitcher through trade.

Looking at recent stats, I agree w/ you pretty much, Tom. By stats I'd probably rate Richards lower & Archer higher but both have a much higher ceiling than what the stats show. I agree that if 2020 was a normal year, Richards would've had time to stretch out & find his rhythm but that didn't happen. Also if he hadn't wasted time by trying to work thru his injury & got the TJ surgery, , he wouldn't be labeled as injury prone. Archer had a lot of hype at TB, but still needed a lot development. TB didn't want to wait for him to develop when they could dump him at his high demand. At PIT they have a good eye for pitchers but don't have the ability to develop them (I'm sad that the FO hasn't taken advantage of this flaw by scooping up their available pitchers). In fact they made Archer to go to his inferior pitches & did nothing for his development. Archer has a few tweaks that need to be done but is well worth the effort by Wes. His prognosis is very good just a matter of time for him get to 100%, get stretched out & work out what needs to be tweaked I doubt that the FO will find a reasonable high/mid-rotation pitcher on the FA so I hope they trade for one. But my 1st choice Musgrove has been taken. Richards & Archer are both low risk & high reward projects.

Was very disappointed that the FO didn't take up the opportunity on Musgrove. He's indeed has a lot of untapped talent that Wes could work w/, comes pretty cheap & showed interest in a fair trade. They were interested in Larnach, a LH corner OF bat that we have abundance of but had no hesitation in trading our promising top pitching prospect.

Chris Archer has an elite 4 seamer & slider plus an above average change up. Like I said before J Santana can perfect his circle change up. He gets a lot of SOs so what's his problem? It has been said that he tip off his pitches. How is he doing that? I read a great article about "mirroring", it's throwing your pitches as close as possible to the same arm angle. Example, spin a pitch one way you get a rising fast ball the other way you get a slider, little to no spin a change up. There by the hitters can't guess what's coming. Much of Bieber & Hill's success is striving to perfect this technic. I'm not an expert but it seems that Archer could be throwing his pitches at different arm angles therefore a hitter that focuses on arm angles & Archer's pitches can be able to determine what he's throwing & unload on the pitch. If Archer can work on mirroring, have Wes up tick his FB & pitch selection & improve on his change up, he'd be awsome.

Mikelink wrote a blog "SS factory", it got me thinking. To my knowledge we haven't a legit home grown SS since Zoilo Versalles when they came over from Washington. All our great SS came out of the organization. Wouldn't it be better if they came from within? What's the problem? My 1st guess is we don't draft pure SSs but athletic bats that happen to play SS. That's not bad because they end up some other position but we still have a hole at SS. We have to draft some pure SSs that can hit. 2nd we don't develop SSs.Tanner developed bats into legit catchers. As crucial as SS is we need special instructers to develop them. I've been critical of Gordon & Javier but maybe it's not their fault.Maybe we need to recruit better instructors from other more successful teams which produce great SS, maybe the Cubs. 3rd we need mentors. Kirby Puckett wasn't built to be a CF but w/ heart, hard work & a student of his field (CF) he became a HOFer. His best attribute was that he was a mentor. He mentored Tori Hunter which mentored Denard Span which mentored Ben Revere. Unfornately they traded both Span & Revere at the same time which ended the mentorship. Aaron Hicks & Byron Buxton have alot of potential but I think they could've used a mentor.

Love your article Lucas. I think Marquez is great! But it'll be difficult to pull him away from CO. It'll be expensive w/ prospects & salary. It'll be worth it if you can get the $ to balance the budget. We should give Arrietta a shot. PIT Stranton has one of the highest spin rate in MLB but PIT hasn't been able to untap that talent. What do you think Lucas ? is he worth a shot? I believe PIT has an eye for good pitching but have no idea how to develop it. So I'd like to grab anything that comes out of there. Musgrove is under rated & paid, I'd rather FO pursue him. It'd take a lot less prospects & salary costs.

When I heard that NYY were interested in Kluber, I figured that was final nail to put to death MN hopes of landing him

SS factory? Who could Mike be talking about? It couldn't be our Twins? To my knowledge they haven't produced a bona fide SS since Zoilo Versalles. Prospects usually don't pan out and leave or move to a different position. Polanco became an all star because of his bat not his glove. He's a 2B but was thrust at SS when we traded Escobar. It seems that any good SS we've had, we gotten thru trade. Lewis is a good SS but will he stay there? Why can't we produce our own SS, Mike? It's a question that needs to be asked. Thank you Mike for bringing this to our attention.

Nice to know that Astudillo can play LF but rather see him more at 3B or C

International signings are always hopeful. Hoping to find a prospects that we missed out on the others venues. Hoping to find a great SS that can stick and some potential starters. Rather also quality over quantity

I've rethought my position on getting a super utility player as my solution to this problem. Although it'd be a simple one but is it the best? My concern is how effective are they at SS and CF? I hesitated to look at a 4th OF because we have so many. But if we sign a 4th OF that can be a great back up to Buxton, Pillar or JBJ IMO is a better idea and we can trade our excess OFs for a SS(Baez) and a SP. We can get Adrianza as an utility

If FO obtains both an upgrade SS & a 4th OF that can sub adequately Buxton, I'd go w/ LaStella ( I love his bat ). That is if you can convince him to settle for utility (I doubt he will). So right now as it stands my vote goes to Hernandez. Besides his glove & clutch hitting (which the Twins need desperatly), he wants to prove he can start every day. Which means he can hit if given the opportunity. Like Maeda he's motivated to prove everyone wrong. So I'll bet on Hernandez. Also he wants only a yr. contract.

Exactly the showcase was a lose/lose situation. The Twins were one of the front runners on Kluber but now they may be out

It's good that we can disagree & not be disagreeable. # 1) The Twins have found the secret of a successful BP. Find pitchers that they can work w/ & tweak them plus bring up AAAA pitchers & rotate them in & out. As much as I'd like to see FO sign Brad Hand, they've made a policy not to sign big name relievers. #2) We have an excellent rotation core , even w/ injuries of Bailey, Hill & Odo they were able to keep it together. & here again they like to find pitchers w/ high upside which they can tweak. They aren't going after a high FA because they don't have the $ . #3) DH isn't a need, we have big bats, small gloves up the ying/yang. That said my Plan A is to resign Cruz to an agreeable contract. Not because of his bat but because his role model, mentoring & clubhouse effect. Plan B DH by committee #4) The most crucial positions are CF & SS Jeremy Frank @MLBRandomStats Best player individual winning percentage in 2019 (minimum 75 games played): .693 Byron Buxton (52-23 record) .679 Jake Marisnick (53-25) .667 Chris Taylor (60-30) .663 Gio Urshela (53-27) .658 Corey Seager (50-26) If you look at this list, 4 of 5 are CF or SS. The exception is Urshela (3B). All these players are glove 1st, bat 2nd. Buxton when playing we are dominate, when not we have a losing record. Polanco was an all-star not because of his glove but because of his bat. I`m not bashing Polanco, contraire I'm a big fan. He's not a SS or utility, he's a 2B. He has over extending himself & he can't continue this psychological & physical stress. His performance has & can continue to fall. A strong & deep middle field strengthens our pitching. From snagging a fly ball to scooping a grounder. Dobnak's ground balls are scooped up when Donaldson is playing , they go through when he's not. When his grounders go through, he has to change from his groove to trying to SO batters w/ finesse, which causes problems. The lack of middle depth is the problem. We can't solve every problem by throwing a bat it. Right now w/ SS & Super utility that are available we need to strike at this opportunity to resolve this problem. Lewis is our only hope internally which makes him all the more valuable to us. I believe we can solve this mid-field crises & all others. I believe that FO will pick a high-end pitcher before trade deadline

I'd say he was nothing to write home about because they didn't

Kluber pitched today and looked pretty impressive. There was 25 teams watching so there could be some competition in signing him. Hope they do