Doctor Gast

In my heart I believe Sano is on the right track! Cruz should be proud of what Sano is showing, the new mind set & everything. W/ the new mind set & if he could shorten that swing when he`s in a hole plus the new relationship w/ hitting guru Donaldson; there`s no limit what he can do!

You took the words right out of my mouth! Cleveland has established a pitching factory! The ability to draft, trade for young raw potential talent & create aces! They don`t depend on going after old past pitchers hoping for a bounce back or had 1 good partial season. Emmanuel Clase is a diamond in the rough that Cleveland could see & develop. Expect great things from him! Cranking out aces puts them in a position to be able to trade for any weakness they may have & more prospects.That`s what I aspire for the Twins. The Twins aren`t there yet so they may have to go after bounce backs to compete now So don`t count Cleveland out yet! As long they still have that old factory operating

I love Donaldson`s passion, his enthusiasm, his swagger; I love it when a manager stick up for his players (it`s crucial) but I think it`s wise for a player to show restraint especially when he`s in the wrong. Only exception is when a pitcher intentionally goes after a hitter then I think the whole bench should come out. Most cases it`s the manager responsibility to dispute any calls. I`m sorry I`m not familiar w/ any of Donaldson`s spats but If any occasion that a pitcher went after him that would be my favorite

I noticed that Archer`s trading value has 3x since Christmas via baseballtradevalues.com. So looks like many think that Archer will rebound this year w/ different coaching staff. If this keeps up, Archer will no longer be a bargain

Thought the same, I wouldn`t check out anything for free what this writer would write

W/ ST approaching plan C will do, invite some non roster Walker & or Woods . & What`s the deal w/ Hill? I thought he already signed. It sounds like here there is still an option. I liked Hills signing better than Bailey ( though not guaranteed, there`s better upside) & he was excited to be a mentor to the staff.

That`s what I`m saying. I know that the Rockies don`t want to give up their play off hopes. But for the Rockies get someone like Kris Bryant in exchange for Arenado is very unlikely. If the Rockies can`t compete w/ Arenado (one of the best 3B if not the best) they certainly can`t compete w/o him. The Rockies are strapped for money thru the Arenado contract & some bad deals they can`t go out & get FAs they don`t have the farm to go out & trade. I see them similar to Pittsburgh in this respect. Sooner or later they`ll have to wake up & see what everyone already knows that they won`t compete this year or in the future until they rebuild. To rebuild they need to trade for prospects & believe Jon Gray will be 1 of the 1st.

A lot of people would like to trade Rosario because they don`t like his defense but do we have anyone below him that can hit better than him & play better LF? I don`t think so! This year Rosario`s goal is to improve his defense & be more patient at the plate. He has the tools to be a good or even great LF, if he determines to do so. Our prospects need to work on their defense, we need our prospect play both ways well. Our goal shouldn`t be make them all DH, that`s for older players who have paid their dues. I agree we need someone who can substitute at CF. Kepler is good but I`d rather keep him at RF. So Lewis is our best option right now & I`d like Donaldson get a hold of Lewis`s swing & do something w/ it. W/ the log jam in the outfield. the only solution is to trade them for impact pitching

Great talent! He should be rated higher but I believe he`ll rise up in the ranks shortly & be acclaimed thru out the league

He has proven that he can play, unless he has some scoop on the `17 & `19 Yankees it doesn`t involve us but I see where you`re coming from

Yes, great job! Wish Harper well

Ted Schwerzler wrote a great article that the Twins need to target the Pirates as a great trade possibility now. I totally agree! But I`d like to present possibly another in the near future & that`s the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies had a losing record last year, well out of contention of any play off possibility. This off season they didn`t do anything but yet they believe they still have a chance to make it this year, so they said they don`t want to trade. Now w/ the Arenado situation, I believe they will have to trade him. I believe Arenado really wants to win it all so he finally woke up & realized that the Rockies aren`t going anywhere therefore he wants out. He has an opt out option after next year & when the FO realizes that he`s going that route they have no choice other than to trade him. W/o Arenado & a very weak farm system they`ll have to take the route of rebuilding. https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/its-time-to-break-up-the-rockies/ That brings up Jon Gray, he`s been compared as the next Gerrit Cole https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-sports/twins-daily-finding-the-next-gerrit-cole-a-rocky-proposition Since this article I`ve been dreaming of a Jon Gray trade. Gerrit Cole wasn`t that great w/ the Pirates but when he arrived at the Astros his career took off. If we get Gray I believe he`ll become an ace for us. Although I don`t know for sure ,I`ve heard he`s not satisfied at Colorado. I know Colorado is looking for a high prospect catcher but hopefully they`ll get it when they trade Arenado so we don`t have to use our high catching prospect. Then we can trade pitching & outfield prospects. It`ll cost us a couple of high prospects. Many teams will be after him so we need to be ready What do you think?

Go Twins!

Most definitely! He did everything that was mentioned, hit, steal bases, score runs, hit w/ runners on, play everywhere plus he did everything to get on base, I remembered him always leaning to get hit by a pitch just to get on base, to help win a game. He must`ve had a high OBP

#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

A sad day, how we`ve missed Johan Santana! Can Berrios fill his shoes? Hope so

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

Agreed, except switching Polanco (SH) & Donaldson (RH). Maybe bring Garver up against Lefties. Definitely Arraez at lead-off we need his bat & put in a defensive replacement in late innings if needed

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!

WOW! I`d put Lewis in the same boat except Lewis is younger. Senzel is tooo expensive!

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