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Doctor Gast

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Everything posted by Doctor Gast

  1. Doctor Gast
    I wouldn't trade anybody, especially Lewis. I see the change in the coaching staff as a big improvement for the team. I may consider trading Wallner, but I would rather see if he could breakout hitting under the new hitting coach.
  2. Doctor Gast
    Does Buxton care? Does he want to win? Yes, he does. Does Falvey care? Does he want to win? It'd be terrible if he didn't. Does he want to add with FAs? Yes, he does, but he is also covering his butt. IMO, FA isn't the answer either. Still, I'd hope that their statements would influence the Pohlads to keep everybody & we trade for needed pieces w/o adding too much in FA.
  3. Doctor Gast
    There is no comparison between Jeffers (1 year) to Rutschman (2 years). You are comparing a slightly below-average defensively/slightly above-average hitting catcher to an elite catcher, who slumped some to where he was, but still had good offense for a catcher. BAL will not easily trade Rutschman; it'd take a Ryan trade to maybe draw him away. If handled correctly, Rutschman will bounce back to have a great offensive season to go along with his elite defense. Jeffers has only 1 year left, Boras is his agent, so he's not coming back after next season. If they extend him for another year, he could be more expensive than Rutschman. Rutschman is a primary catcher; Jeffers is not. Yeah, I'd trade for him, even if we don't extend him, because he'll have a bounce-back year & we can trade him for a bundle.
  4. Doctor Gast
    They predicted in house Miranda as the starting 1Bman the last 2 yrs. but they decided to waste their defensive 1B magic on out house alternatives. I was all in favor of giving Miranda a chance but I pass on Clemens as the starting 1Bman, although I'm fine with him as a utility
  5. Doctor Gast
    I really like Shelton's staff much better than Baldelli's. My biggest concern was & still is the bench coach position. I was really hoping for someone like Charlie Greene (MIL BP coach). When 1st heard that Mark Hallberg, I thought "Moneyball"'s catcher turned catcher? But our guy didn't play catcher or 1B, I have red flags that he was part of SF Farhan Zaida's heavy analytics team. Hallberg's interview was a nice fluff job, but it gave me no idea how he coaches. Who's the coaching coach? We could have gone without a catching coach while we had Conger but our catching is a big mess, we have to have someone there who knows what he's doing.
  6. Doctor Gast
    Lewis went through a lot of personal trials with his injuries early in his career. As was said, he was very positive during this time because of his faith. Fans & media gave him a break. In the 2nd half of '23, he was healthy and was a major force, crescendoing through a successful team postseason. He hadn't put in a long season for a while, so in a healthier & longer '24 season, as he said, he ran out of gas. The media approached him & questioned him about his going through a slump. He said he doesn't do slumps. Mistaking his confidence for arrogance, the media had a field day with it. IMO, this was the start of the messing with his head. Along with bouts with Baldelli & taking what Correa said personally, started his slipping. He hates slumps, so he listened to everybody, which goofed him up more. Also, he was frustrated with not getting the help he wanted from the coaches. IMO. He was getting straightened out towards the end of the season. Also, I believe many of the problems have been resolved & Shelton going out of his way to initiate a conversation with him will go a long way. Whether Lewis is at a crossroad, IDK, but IMO Lewis is on his way back.
  7. Doctor Gast
    ,Buxton's offensive numbers have always been very good when healthy. The longer he's healthy the better he gets. He's been cautious in CF which affects his platinum glove eliteness. I'll take very good any day. He'll never be just average in CF as long as his contract runs. Ryan always tires in the 2nd half, if he doesn't get injured. He had a career high innings pitched, so, yeah, he tired. Nothing to get concerned about. Same with Jeffers, Twins will depend more on him with a big increase in innings. So, look for a big dip in the 2nd half, if he doesn't get hurt. The last 2 years, people have predicted that SWR will have a bad year, but he always adjusts & comes out on top. I predict he'll do the same this year. Clemens was bad when Twins picked him up. Unlike many in-house players, they gave him a chance & he took off with it. I like Clemens & wish him well, but I don't know him well enough to say either way.
  8. Doctor Gast
    Are you saying we're unlucky in love? Although it takes some luck in each, you have to put the work in each.
  9. Doctor Gast
    When investing in stocks, you buy low & sell high. IMO, there is no difference in whatever you deal in. Lopez's stock is low; you don't sell him, his stock will rise. Lopez has a stabilizing effect on the pitching staff, I wouldn't trade him.
  10. Doctor Gast
    I'm also happy to see Hawkins as the BP coach to help these young arms to make that transition to the BP. IMO, Festa, Prielipp, Raya & hopefully Canterino should be transitioned to short relief to begin with. Hopefully we start out with Ryan, Lopez, Ober & SWR (most of the time) should be in the regular rotation. Matthews, Bradley, Rojas & Abel could be rotated in the spot starter role out of long relief role as needed & whoever has the hot hand. Johann Santana started out in the BP & became a starter, IMO, many of these can do the same & thrive. IMO, Twins greatest pitching problem is the BP & rotation get overextended, resulting in pitchers running out of gas or ending up on the IL. There is an arm injury epidemic inside the MLB. MLB will confront this problem in the next labor meetings. IMO, a rotation of spot starting as needed & long relief to help to conserve, especially young arms. At the same time, using the young arms bullets more in the MLB, instead of in AAA. I'm all in favor of doing this for a long time.
  11. Doctor Gast
    After the Twins' successful '23 campaign, It didn't take long before Falvey proclaimed his "all-or-nothing" hitting approach was the key (which, in fact, it wasn't; our best hitters in the postseason didn't adhere to it). So in the beginning of the '24 season, Falvey declared that they were going to totally commit to his approach, heck with the offensive strikeouts. The team tanked coming out of the gates; fortunately, Baldelli did a about-face & abandoned Falvey's approach. Popkins did a great job getting the hitters back on track before going on a long winning streak. Popkin was a great asset for the Twins, but Falvey didn't care; he needed a scapegoat. Falvey didn't fool anybody who was paying attention. Beauregard came from the same origins as many of our good developers did, LAD. Again, he wasn't my 1st choice, but IMO, he could be the key who could turn around some of our problem hitters, unlike the last.
  12. Doctor Gast
    Twins OF need to go through a revision, A revision from raw power potential, SO prone, non-clutch, slow, poor glove & baserunner OFers to a good glove, rangy, good OBP, clutch hitter & wreak havoc on the basepath. So Buxton is a no-brainer, plus we'll never have enough for him in trade. Jenkins's upside is great. Emma checks all the boxes. These 3 are locks because they check the boxes & can hit for power. Martin checks the boxes & won't get enough in trade. All the rest we can trade. On top of the list is Larnach (for a RP or as an add-on), Wallner & Gonzalez (who are completely different hitters), we can get a lot in trade & they don't check the boxes. Rodon & Outman don't get on base enough. Keaschall could also play OF, so IMO, we could do a sell-off of these OFers like we did with the BP with a lot less impact, for players we need.
  13. Doctor Gast
    Even after that major sell-off, we still have a good core to build on, but it's nothing compared to what we had prior. There are 3 ways we can build off a core: #1 development, #2 trade & #3 FA, with a great system of player evaluation to help maximize every avenue. The best & cheapest way is development, preparing players for MLB & helping them to adapt once they arrive. Twins have a great wealth of redundant & hyped-up players that should be traded to fill holes & add depth to the roster. We are not a NY or LA team where we have a ton of money to burn on FA, so FA is not a real option to depend on. Yet there is where the Twins depend on. If only we had the money on that big pitcher or that big bat to target. We just have to trade off good assets, so we can afford a FA, (IMO, Falvey tends to overpay for players he targets) is not good business. We failed to build off our '23 core because we failed to develop, we failed in trading to fill our needs & our faulty player evaluation system failed to locate needs, finding the player to promote, trade or sign. So if we failed to build off the '23 core, how can we build off this fractured one? I'm not saying we need to rebuild. Because Falvey will be responsible for trading away Ryan, Lopez & Buxton; also in the development. I'm saying, for this team to improve, Falvey has to be removed from this equation somehow.
  14. Doctor Gast
    He's far from my 1st pick; nothing really screams out to me either way. Shelton, a former hitting coach, I have to trust that he knows what he's doing to revamp the Twins offense. My biggest concerns is with the catching, quality control & bench coach positions. IMO, they need to hit an HR there & do it quickly so they can help to evaluate & resolve the catching problem.
  15. Doctor Gast
    We are in a very difficult situation with our catching. I could see it years ago. Yet, the Twins fail to see the gravity of it. Twins had a perfect opportunity to help ease the situation when Rortvedt became available through the waiver line. Rortvedt is a former LH-hitting Twins catcher from Wisconsin. He's a proven MLB defensive catcher who has had his hitting thrown off wack but still IMO could improve. He put up an amazing .429/.500/.571 line in four games before Smith took over in the postseason for LAD. LAD had to let him go due to their ongoing roster crunch. Twins missed another one, Maybe they are counting on an expensive, inferior FA or a Cartaya or hoping Gasper will do the trick.
  16. Doctor Gast
    Thanks! Exactly, we need a GM who has the baseball smarts, ability to make good trades & the courage to go outside the "analytical box". That could revolutionize any team.
  17. Doctor Gast
    Many teams have wanted Buxton even when he had warts because they could see the elite player that he is. So you hear all this BS on social media before, that Buxton hated MN, that he wanted to leave. It was all lies! They like to bend things out of shape to fit their narrative, in the hope of making falsehood into reality. Thank God it didn't work! Now they want to bend out of shape his statement that he wants to play for a winner. In other words, he wants to win, period. Every player wants to win & play for a winner. Buxton's wanting to win & play for a winner isn't him saying he wants to leave MN. He is saying he wants to make MN into a winner. Twins fans don't fall for this BS again. We are blessed to have Buxton to be a Twin. Don't start thinking, who can we get for Buxton? Believe me, it will never be enough.
  18. Doctor Gast
    These 5 look promising. Jenkins (CF), Culpepper (SS), Tait (C), & Rodriguez (CF) show a lot of promise offensively. They also bring hope that could play their respective defensive position, but maybe not above average, except maybe Rodriguez. Although Tait has made progress with PHI defensively, but can MN continue that development? Hopefully, Jenkins & Rodriguez can get beyond their injuries bugs & put in full seasons. So far, haven't seen anything positive from Able on the MLB level yet. But I'm willing to have patience with him. MLB is a big leap, hope our coaches can bring these guys across the finish line in good shape.
  19. Doctor Gast
    It sure makes it a lot more difficult. Years of saying trust the process & not seeing the desired results, you'd hope it'd sink in. Where pride takes precedence over the well-being of the team. Falvey has totally deceived the Pohlads that they, under Falvey's supervision, they still wanted control after they sold the team as part of the stipulation of the sale. & thought after not selling the team, that it was the best scenario for the team. The resignation of Falvey isn't the total solution to the problem. We'd still need to find a GM with a balanced approach & the ability to make essential trades happen.
  20. Doctor Gast
    I liked Caratini; he was on my trade list a few years ago. I like his switch-hitting bat. But I think not only you have to see which-handed pitcher is pitching, but more importantly, which teams are running or not. I think we could pick up someone better via trade. If we weren't handicapped there.
  21. Doctor Gast
    The system is full of AAAA, undeveloped, unproven, mediocre & redundant players, which was greatly bloated due to the great sell-off. We could DFA a few more players from the 40 & still have plenty more room for these players. This year, we don't have any sure-fire no-brainers to protect like years past. But thanks to the sell-off, we have a ton of middle-of-the-road ones that make it difficult to protect them all. We lost Laweryson already, a promising pitcher that IMO, Twins thought would slip by. How many more of these types of players will be claimed? We have a huge glut of OFers, so we have to get busy to find other homes for many of them. Although Gabriel Gonzalez should be protected, yet because of his hype, he should be traded as soon as possible, so we can get as much as we can before he turns into a pumpkin. I'm all for keeping Fedco. Olivar as a catcher was very promising & valuable, but as an OFer he is worthless. It's a pity that the Twins couldn't develop him. Maybe someone else can. We have to protect as many promising prospects as we can now. & as more promising player opportunities come along, we start to DFA those who we can't trade. If we trade anyone else like Ryan, Lopez or Jeffers that'll only compound our existing problem.
  22. Doctor Gast
    One of my greatest frustrations with Falvey is when he goes out of his way to showcase his new acquisitions. Losers he picked up who were liabilities to the team, He constantly gives them opportunities when it's obvious they should be DFAed, while many of our in house players are neglected in those situations, compromising the team's performance & culture. And pitchers, especially in the BP, like acquisitions Coulume', J Lopez, & Pagan, & in house Duffy were elevated to closer, while they were able RPs but unable or not ready to close, yet kept being called to close. Levine proclaimed the Twins were going to piggy-backing when they acquired Bundy & Archer, who were what they were only good for. Then Twins turned around & said ALL pitchers had to go 7 innings.
  23. Doctor Gast
    He could be a MLB GG now. But his bat is lagging.
  24. Doctor Gast
    Preach it brother! I suggest SweetmusicViola for GM.
  25. Doctor Gast
    The team has had plenty of talent. That's why they are always ranked high & look so good on paper every year. The problem is the non continued development of the players once they arrive to MLB. Many come the MLB undeveloped & need further development, which they were not getting. I think Lewis kinda voiced that when he was frustrated that he wasn't getting the help he needed at 3B & hitting. Baldelli delegated to his coaches what Falvey wanted & the coaches coached everyone basically the same. I prefer the more direct & more individual approach. I'll voice again even though Baldelli & Shelton are friends & is familiar with Falvey. Shelton is different. I believe Molitor selected Shelton, then Baldelli selected him. Molitor & Baldelli are totally different but Shelton, IMO, strikes a good balance between the 2, What Shelton has said & his selecting Hawkins is a good start & are heading in the right direction. I'm willing to give Sheldon a pass, until he proves me wrong.
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