Doctor Gast

Payton Eeles, has good character & I'm following & cheering for him to have a chance to contribute to the Twins on the MLB level.

Bill Amick probably won't stick at 3B, but they'll stay with him there for as long as they can. He should make MLB as a 1Bman.

I was surprised to see Salas in AAA. Salas hasn't worked out SS. Sala has been moved all around the field. IMO Salas has catching in his DNA & is heavily influenced there. We are deep at 2B but have a need at catching & I have mentioned this before, Salas is worth a shot there.

That has been their slogan. But unless their 1st round picks have been no-brainers like Lewis, Lee & Jenkins, their best player evaluations have been unathletic big college bats. Thus plugging the system with 1B/ DH types. Twins tend not to trade their prospects which does not fill the holes to qualify this statement. Many of these draft selections have not worked out so instead of having a high surplus at 1B/DH to trade from we now have a hole.

Twins had for a long time steered far away from drafting high on pitchers, especially HS. Let others develop pitchers & we'd trade bats for pitchers. But now MN seems confident in their development of their young pitchers. Wisely focus on taking them slowly, keeping them healthy & on the field so they maintain their development. Now drafting higher will revolutionize their pitching & off the old unathletic, big bat focus. Now they need to focus on drafting college catchers higher.

I don't think trading trading Santana was prudent. If they couldn't extend him (which was a shame), IMO it'd have been better to keep Santana for that extra year. Then offer him a QO, and if he accepts great if not we get an extra nice draft selection.

I'm also a staunch believer in long relief. Too many times as far as I can remember, one of the biggest if not the biggest problem is the BP burning out which in turn burns out the rotation going into the home stretch & into the postseason. Last season Baldelli said he wanted to implement long relief. But his idea of long relief is extending RPs like Alcala from 1 to 2 innings. That's not my idea of long relief. My idea is going 3-4 innings to really help the pen. IMO Castellano will fit into this category as a mop-up guy. I'm not sure if Castellano would develop into anything more than that (I don't want to put that kind of pressure on him, which hasn't worked out in the past), so I'd like a bonafide long RP that can go in with games on the line to save the BP.

Julien gave Santana plenty of opportunities to make plays covering for him, yet it made me sick to see too many GBs getting by Santana on the 1B side because he was playing out of place. Keep Julien off of 2B, actually trade him while his value is up because I have doubts about him adjusting & if he does I doubt he'd profile at 1B. Put Lewis at 1B. People told me at TD that 2B is hard on your knees, I didn't believe it. Polanco turned down an offer from HOU because they wanted him to play 2B. He wants to get off 2B. So IMO 1B is a better option for Lewis, at least for the time being. 1B- Miranda, Lewis 2B- Lee, Martin, Castro 3B- Lewis, Lee, Castro SS- Correa, Lee, Castro DH- Larnach, Miranda LF- Castro, Keirsey, Martin CF- Buxton, Keirsey, Castro, RF- Wallner, Larnach, Castro C- Vazquez, Jeffers, ? If we still have Julien he's down in AAA, If Lee's bat doesn't look good in spring training he starts at AAA. Miranda kept at 1B/ DH will keep him healthy & productive.

I agree with Julien & Gasper, They'll end up playing far too much. but not the rest. Gasper was projected 0 zero playing time w/ BOS this season. But because he's Falvey's new acquisition, he's on Nick's active roster. It doesn't matter if they're good or not they'll get every opportunity to play. That's what I'm talking about. & that's what I like to avoid.

Spend $5M on a Margot or Gallo to block our players' playing time. No, save the money for something significant.

Only FA I was hoping for is now gone. Polanco at 1B would have been a win/win. Polanco & Twins could have been better off.

We have players we can trade. I have high hopes on Preilipp but until that happens we need a high-leverage LHRP. I wanted the Twins to target AJ Puk early last offseason, this season MIA still has Nardi, he is my target this season.

Good job Gregg, very interesting. I think there is some difference between FA & trade offseason & if you are buying or selling at the deadline. IMO if you want to dump salary like this year, you are at a disadvantage. Because when you put up a "fire sale sign" up, sit back & wait for other FOs give you a reasonable offer it's not going to happen. If you are proactive, you find many teams that need what you are selling & give them reasonable offers, IMO you are in a much better situation. Paddack for an example. He is the easiest player to replace with a cheaper replacement. His market was very high in the beginning of the offseason but now all those would be buyer have already filled out their rotation with FA SPs & trades. Now his market is practically zero. We were lucky with Odorizzi (TB) '19, & Lopez (MIA) '23 where they had a surplus of arms. TB was fortunate before with MN trades before filling out their SP & SS needs (Garza & Bartlett). MIA needed a bat. Disgruntal Maeda '20, LAD was desperate to move. These years when we were lucky we came up with successful seasons. The others years we were victim of being vulnerable to other FOs & to get something done they scrambled & made rash trades & resulting in failed seasons. Depending on luck & hope is no way to do business. Picking up quality FA SP like Lynn late usually ends up in a disgruntled & out of shape pitcher. Picking up any SP late is disruptive especially after spring training starts. We were lucky in '22 to sign Correa but because of bad trades & direction change it didn't result in any success. When we bought at the deadline we almost always lost. When we sold we normally came out on top. Sorry, Gregg. There is no discounting on any transaction.

I'm with you Capt. Bly. Something has to be done to help parity as far player availability. Revenue sharing is the key. Should the luxury tax be higher? I think so. And I think there should be a floor. The way that it is set up the FA players that are more in demand get all the money & those who don't, get comparably nothing, A higher luxury tax & a higher floor IMO would give more parity. Another thing, the World Series champs or any high-finishing team should not have a shot at a player like Sasaki. The Foreign draft should be operated more like the domestic draft. More than anything this what burns me. I know this is absurd, but IMO, there should be a limit on how many top-ranking Japanese players can be on a roster.

I applaud you for seeing a real need & giving a very viable solution. Even though trading Castro & compromising quality depth at some key positions, I'd make that trade for Rushing in a second. But one problem in moving Castro is he's not worth that much in the open market & Rushing is highly valued, we'd have to throw in a Festa to balance out the trade. Falvey wouldn't give up Festa for Molina in his prime. Another is, even though we are doing LAD another favor by taking RHRP Brasier off their hands & Rushing is blocked at catcher, they'll still want to hang onto Rushing for a sweetheart deal that'll pop up. If they have to, when they feel Rushing is ready, they'll put him in the OF & use him as a 3rd catcher. Altough LAD value versatility they looking to dump fan favorite Chris Taylor so I don't think would be interested in Castro. Surprising that SEA resigned Polanco after all the negative fanbase response. I was hoping to trade Julien there & picking up Polanco to help out at 1B. But it was a good contract for him.

SWR is underrated, his character & newer savant show he's better than most think. I'd put him higher.

Of course, Swanson isn't in charge of the team drafting, scouting & development but he should & IMO does have influence in the team scouting, drafting catchers & also in development. Before Swanson, NYY was terrible- After Swanson, one of the best for producing quality catchers. How much are Twins' focused on catching? The Directors of Scouting, Drafting & Development are told what to focus on. They need to be influenced by someone who has the baseball smarts on catching to aid in scouting, drafting & developing quality catchers. Swanson helped to develop Garver, Jeffers & Rortvedt. Who have we developed since that is decent? NYY changed its focus on catching & was transformed. The problem is the Twins put no importance on catching. If he slugs great, catching isn't important. They always draft low on catching. The condition of catching in the system is discouraging which tells me that scouting, drafting & developing quality catchers is a low priority. Of course, Conger & Frawley want great catchers but do they have what it takes to produce them? The results show they do not. The Twins don't care, they like them & no one is complaining they have their job for life & get promoted.

Thank you chpettit19 for getting to me. Swanson & Conger has pretty much the same duties that's what I thought all along. I googled Tanner Swanson & here's what I got—resourced The Athletic & Wikipedia. Tanner Swanson is heavily involved in the process of drafting catchers with the New York Yankees, where he serves as the catching coordinator; his expertise in developing catchers, means he plays a key role in identifying and evaluating potential catching prospects for the team during the draft. Key points about Tanner Swanson and his role in drafting catchers: Catching Specialist: Swanson is known for his deep knowledge and focus on catching techniques, having developed a reputation as a leading catching coach. Impact on Yankees Catching Prospects: He is credited with significantly improving the defensive abilities of young catchers in the Yankees organization, including players like Austin Wells. Draft Influence: Due to his expertise, Swanson likely provides valuable input to the Yankees scouting staff regarding the catching prospects they are considering in the draft. Before Swanson came to the NYY, their best catcher was Gary Sanchez, who was terrible, nobody wanted to pitch to him. Now Swanson has transformed the whole NYY catching system producing high-quality catchers. I criticized Conger for the Twins' lack of drafting & development of catchers, you told me he had nothing to do with that. Then I asked "Who does?" I figured that Swanson did. You told me that both Congers & Swanson are Catching coordinators which I thought, So I'll ask again if Congers isn't responsible for overall drafting impute & development for catchers who is? Is it this Tucker Frawley? Who'd I like to see overseeing catcher drafting & development is someone who permeates with the desire to produce elite catchers. I didn't get that from Frawley in the interview, I barely read any reference about catching. & I don't get that from Conger either. Someone who is a catching coordinator I'd like them to devote themselves solely to catching not split time as a 1B coach & assistant bench coach.

I don't count either. Cartaya could develop into something, but we shouldn't see him in '25.

If Jax isn't considered, IMO it's not a good idea to consider Sands.

Camargo is the 3rd catcher, I'm not comfortable with Camargo even with the Vazquez/ Jeffers tandem, to cover any amount of time if one of these guys goes down. IMO he's not MLB-ready, not able to contribute to the Twins in '25.

Schoop, was a teammate of Cruz, IMO his influence is what did it for us.

I didn't say that. I said you can't assume it. Different conditions have different results. For example, we knew Rogers, he was great if he wasn't pitched on consecutive games. At SD surprisingly he had a great beginning pitching on consecutive games but unsurprisingly after a while he cratered.

Those who initiated these transactions are public knowledge. Before the trade, Our catching core of Garver, Jeffers & Rortvedt was ranked as one of the league's top. If the core was kept together & the normal transition From Garver to Rortvedt would have kept them on top. Keeping them together with the Twins, would have better managed them as far as health & productivity. You can't assume that their injuries couldn't be avoided by remaining with the Twins. Falvey hand-picked Jeffers to be the Twins primary catcher. Jeffers as the backup, he's one the best but as the primary catcher he has failed miserably. I don't despise Falvey. I was a big fan of Falvine. Falvey was hired to create a pitching pipeline, the pipeline is now taking shape. But observing how he operates in everything else & him spinning his shortcomings I don't buy it & I won't let it slide. Thinking he's great in everything & letting him continue to operate the way he is, won't get us where we want to go.

I understand the concern. There's a big adjustment coming stateside. Once he makes that adjustment he can focus on the rest. '25 is a big year for him. IMO he'll come out on top, at least I hope so.