Doctor Gast

Neither am I. Miranda can really mash if you keep him healthy. Keep him from overusing his shoulder at 3B & keep him at 1B will do wonders & put him on the right track to reach his ceiling. That said I wouldn't count on not having any blimps along the way & I wouldn't count on Julien or Gasper to be a backup so we need a bonafide backup either in the system if not a cheap outside trade option. Jeffers does have the stamina to be even an equal tandem catcher so we need a bonafide promising young MLB-ready catcher to spell him & gain valuable experience to help ease him into a more demanding role in the future. We have no such player in the system so we need to trade for one. I'm not concerned about Bucks backup, Keirsey will be a much better & viable option both offensively & defensively than Margot. Castro was a bench player but he was overused at SS &CF which caused the crash, With Keirsey as CF backup that'll take a lot off of Castro's back & hopefully Correa & Lee will be healthier so Castro won't be as needed there, relieving more of Castro's burdens. So IMO will be better than ever. So if kept basically the same with minor upgrades I'd be very happy. If start messing with the core then we'll be in trouble.

The 2.5 catchers are not MLB-ready & shouldn't be counted on to contribute to this year's team. But even so, leave it up to Falvey he'll showcase his shiny new acquisitions by giving them every opportunity to play & keep playing even when they are lousy. Julien at 2B & Gasper as utility on our active roster, We are in deep trouble. If this is what we have to look forward to. We just as well pack it in. I hate this time of year because all offseason you hold your breath hoping that FO won't make any stupid moves. And then this is the time of year they spring it on you & it deflates you like a balloon.

Just wondering, are you a spy for the Mets?

I sincerely hope you are right ML Ready. It seems budget cuts, budgets cuts has been shoved down our throats for too long we tend to believe it. $135.4 could be closer to reality but it's lower than what I've been hearing. I suggested trading Paddack but a TD member said SD isn't interested in him.

I was hoping that MN had a legit shot at Sasaki & I think we could've if there were more & earlier preparations. It was a long shot but we can dream. If MN wasn't going to land Sasaki, I figured & hoped that SD was going to land Sasaki, but unfortunately for them, they didn't. After Sasaki, they finally had a market for Cease but now they need Cease, I don't want to begrudge you the right to dream on Cease & I respect your opinion, T&R. I might be wrong, there may be some legitimacy to this. I fault Falvey for making wrong evaluations & sticking with them for a long time (I could give you many examples but I won't bore you with them), When finally seeing the need, he tries to fix them with a bunch of fringe players. We needed a Cease last season to fill the Gray hole. Desclavani was our savior & trying to extend the rookies & Paddack's innings wasn't the answer. But this season the rookies have a year under their belts & Ober & Ryan have taken another step forward. IMO our pitching is in a good place. If we had all our bases covered & had WS aspirations & no budget limitations, Cease could put us over the top. We have to be very solid up the middle to compete. SS, check- CF check- 2B, check if we remove Julien from the equation- catcher, not by a long shot. Increasing Jeffers innings behind the plate dropped us down to #18th in catching. I've always thought Jeffers was only a backup catcher & each year he has proven me right, Every year when used as a backup he thrives, beyond that he falters, more innings beyond backup the more he falters. Still hoping that he'll become better doesn't make it so. We have to be realistic. For us to compete we need to add not subtract from catching. I appreciate you seeing the importance of catching & the addition of a future bonafide MLB catcher, like Jefferson Quero, Harry Ford or Endy Rodrigues. I could add to that list. We are only as strong as our weakest link. Catching is a very critical link, trading away Vazquez leaves us with backup Jeffers & a group of MLB wannabes will put us firmly in last place in MLB catching. When they finally wake up they'll sign an expensive inferior FA catcher that doesn't know our pitchers, wiping away any savings we gained by moving Vazquez. Gaining an inferior catcher to battle out of an impossible situation could raise us up in the bottom quarter. While not making a dent in the Pohlad's paramount budget-cutting from a significant deficit. We are adding $14M? (I don't see the Pohlads doing that). So IMO because of the devasted catching corp we don't have a chance to compete, thus making rental Cease a waste of money. To reiterate if we do nothing we still need & prioritize a bonafide future catcher. If we trade either Vazquez or Jeffers we need to prioritize 1 more to compensate. IMO FA catchers are a waste of money. If we can't develop catchers we need to trade for them.

I can see that SD would like a LF, DH/1B, C, & SP, that makes sense. Cease is a SP but they don't want to pay his salary. If they don't want to take on Cease's salary why do they want to pay Vazquez's $10M. OK MN will pay down his salary to $5M so that's a $5M savings. From Cease's $14M that's a $9M increase. For over a year we hear our budget is $130M, we are supposedly around $12M over & instead of cutting they are adding $9M? That doesn't make sense. We need catching, trading away catching doesn't make sense but Twins probably don't care. We aren't situated for a postseason run, a rental would be a waste. SD can get a much cheaper catcher than Vazquez in a trade for Cease somewhere else. But what got me thinking is, trading Cease is a big deal, national media should be all over this but they aren't. They aren't taking this trade rumor very seriously. I hope that there isn't any weight to the Pablo trade rumors but you still hear them on national media. Why isn't this?

Great we agree on one point. IMO Everyone is lost & some are intimidated when they come onto MLB CF. If they are brought up solely as a CFer they may be better prepared but they still need to be mentored. Hunter praised Puckett for mentoring him, Span praised Hunter for mentoring him, and Revere praised Hunter & Span for their mentoring. Many pooh, pooh the importance of mentoring but I've heard too many testimonies (Trevor Plouffe always stresses the importance of mentoring) to counter that opinion. Martin has played some CF in college & MiLB but how much has he been really prepared to play there

A very interesting subject. Cody. IMO focusing on flexible athletic SS is a good strategy rather than focusing on unathletic big bats. Sano was quick for a big boy but he was never going to stick at SS. We have picked a lot of pseudo-SSs, with the focus more on bat than glove, we may not have any true SS. What I don't like is Twins pushing players where they have no right to be. Cave at CF, Polanco at SS, Kepler at CF, Julien at 2B, Martin at SS & etc. Lewis before could have transitioned to CF fine until they said you are our SS. Lewis over conditioned (plus his battle with ice) & hurt his ALC. They said you are our 3Bman to Miranda & he over conditioned & hurt his shoulder. In Martin's case, they should have taken him from SS much sooner & immediately given him time in CF to take advantage of his athleticism & become a very good utility player. Castro is a super utility player who is very important, to be a super utility player you have to be good at SS & CF logging a lot of hrs. there & corresponding positions. Martin is a natural 2Bman but needs more time at CF to become better as an utility player. When you have a true SS, CF or catcher I agree you have to capitalize on their talents & keep them at their position as much as possible. Proper evaluation is necessary to know who belongs in what roles.

I'm sorry to break this to you guys but I think all this is a ruse. IMO Preller called up Tingler to make up this story to increase interest in Cease & Twins, Vazquez. Besides a small blimp on MLBTrade Rumors, I've heard nothing on the national social media not even SD websites. No announcements or comments from the Twins, nothing, only TD & possibly Twins X have been buzzing. News like this concerning Cease would light up all national social media & TV, I just haven't seen it. From the beginning, the trade didn't make sense.

I'd love a clubhouse & lineup full of Arraezes, but IMO beyond his $14M is his Boras extension that the Twins weren't willing to put up with.

Oh, who has bewitched you?

The 1st sensible statement I've read in this thread.

My mistake & that explains my thought before that it'd be impossible to be a head catching coach, be the 1B coach & now asst. bench coach. So Conger is just the MLB catching coach. If you could do me the favor to inform me who has the vast catching experience & knowledge that is responsible for overlooking & instructing the MiLB catching coaches on how to develop our catchers plus other head catcher coach (or whatever you want to call him) duties? In other words, Tanner Swanson is the NYY director of catching, who's the Twins.

You have no idea who Keirsey is, do you? He's no MAT of old so you write him off. You are guessing & you're wrong. He's a well above-average fielder & that is for sure & will play well at the MLB level. Maintaining a .760 OPS through each level for a CFer at each level & last year at AAA a .845 OPS is pretty darn good. He has hit at each level, he will hit at the MLB, How fast & how well we don't know. He is a 0 risk/ possible high reward, He won't block Emma from joining the club, an outside Margot will even if he stinks. We have nothing to lose with Keirsey. If he comes up & breaks out we have some options when Emma comes up, like maybe trading Larnach. He proves he's a MLBer hitter (IMO will happen) he can be a valuable LH CFer with options or a trade piece. For sure his glove plays, if his bat doesn't, `we lose nothing & rush Emma through. You are like everyone else including the Twins, so this isn't pointed at you, I'm just ranting.

They were lucky with MAT & in '24 they wanted to resign him & sign Hoskins, we were lucky they didn't. Gasper is an acquisition that does nothing. We'd been much better off last season with Keirsey instead of Margot or MAT. Keirsey is a true CFer who dominated AAA & deserves the right to prove himself on the MLB level as a LH option to sub Buxton. I don't want to take any chances on any more Margot/ Gallo types. I don't have any doubts about Keirsey. Who I do have doubts about is Miranda's backup, Julien & Gasper shouldn't be counted on. But it's all about politics.

How would the Twins have fared in the NL West? Let's compare apples to apples. "You can blame Preller for putting together a lousy player evaluation & development team or fault him for being quick to trade undeveloped talent which I tend to agree with you".- My quotation I agree that it's Preller's job is to delegate the right people in drafting, player evaluation & development & he's responsible. Like, so often I complain about Falvey or even Conger, and you come back with it's not their job. Who's responsible for catching development that knows what they are doing if not Conger & Falvey? Now getting back to GMs, GM don't delegate buying or selling players that's their job. Do you blame Preller for trading Soto? You want to debate me about if Preller was a good GM or not, I don't care that's not my point. My point that you missed is that I appreciate him for being proactive.

He didn't do anything then because MIA approached him. Just Lopez for Arraez was a great trade but Falvey didn't want to trade until MIA included Salas & Courios, which could have jeopardized the trade. Glad it didn't.

IMO the best way to keep the window open is to maintain the core. If we compromise it & the chemistry we close the door. Catching in our system has been ignored. Drafting & development seem nonexistent. Jeffers was privileged to sit under Tanner Swanson but what has Conger done? Yankees have been trading catchers left & right. We are sitting at #18 at the MLB catching department with our tandem & zero depth & they want to subtract from that? Jeffers can't even handle equal tandem w/o tiring halfway through the season. If they can't draft & develop promising young bonafide catchers, then they have to trade for them, like years ago. Obtaining fringe non-MLB-ready catchers to our already fringe non-MLB-ready catchers doesn't cut it. Catching is a foundation for any competitive team, we need to strengthen it now for now & the future.

I think you can come up with a pretty good list on any GM even Falvey, who never initiates big trades, the only time he did was with Mahle & J Lopez (not Jennifer) & he fell on his face & has become gun-shy. You can blame Preller for putting together a lousy player evaluation & development team or fault him for being quick to trade undeveloped talent which I tend to agree with you or even bad luck. Falvey sometimes likes to trade for a fringe player (Cave) that comes well short of a need (CF backup) giving up an undeveloped talent (Gill). Right now we have a big need at MLB catching depth. The Twins finally addressed the problem by trading for a LAD reject Cartaya who has potential but LAD didn't have the patience to wait another year or roster spot. Cartaya's progress has been slow in the upper MiLB & he just started AAA. Cartaya can be a MLB backup catcher but not this year. For an undeveloped pitcher Vazquez, the fact that LAD is interested in him, makes me wonder. One thing that I can't fault him is him being proactive. If there is a need he doesn't sit around & wait for another FO to initiate a deal, he goes out there makes it happen. He doesn't get a bunch of fringe players to throw against the wall hoping one will kind of stick, He goes after bonafide solutions.

IMO here is SD not able to develop Clase & was a nobody. I give TX credit for eyeing him & developing him (I had an eye on Clase while in TX, hoping that we could land him). I criticize TX for developing him & then letting him go for Kluber, who didn't amount to anything there.

He can't control how SD or other teams develop players, he has to trust what his player evaluations tell him & some long shots turned out, but some more certain ones didn't, A lot of it is out of his control, his job is to buy & sell & that what he does. Some blame him for Endy Rodrigues? To land Musgrove, PIT had their eye on this cheap insignificant Met's catcher, Preller went out of his way to intise him away from NYM to land Musgrove. IMO the SD trade pieces weren't that great but this cheap insignificant Mets Endy Rodrigues was a gem, you can only credit the PIT catcher evaluater. Some blame him for Rooker, could he help it that they couldn't develop him? Some blame Falvey for Mahle I don't (unless he knew about his condition & ignored it), I applaud him for trying.

I remember someone texted that SD didn't want Paddack in return. To me that seems strange, they brought him through the system, they gave him to us broken, we invested time & money into him to fix him. He's good to go, they need him & now they don't want him?

AJ Preller is a great GM. He's a wheeler-dealer, someone who can actually be creative, initiate & close on essential deals which I appreciate the most in a GM. I can't see the Cease for Vazquez deal ever working out, I know many will disagree with what I'm about to suggest, I'm not texting for them but those that might be more realistic & who could appreciate a good trade. What the Twins need most is a bonafide promising young MLB-ready catcher. My suggestion is Preller put together a 3-way trade involving SD/ NYY/ CWS. Basically, SD trades Cease & Arraez to NYY, CWS trades Roberts to NYY & Teel to SD, and NYY gives CWS a bunch of high prospects. Then Preller approaches the Twins for a Teel for a catcher trade. My hope is in Preller's ability to pull this off. Teel is very promising & MLB-ready and could justifiably cover as a 2nd catcher (not what Falvey has whipped up). Where CWS could hesitate to trade us Teel directly but secretly via SD they could. We can debate who that catcher should be but this trade would help us this year & for many years to come. This could be a great opportunity to use Preller's ability for our benefit because I have no faith in Falvey to pull something like this off,

Maybe you you know what from the same mold means, it means the same kind. If I say Arraez is from the same mold as Carew, doesn't mean that he's a fix for HOF. Because so many people are so hung up about WAR, Molina might not make it on the 1st ballot although he's one of the all-time greats. I didn't say hitting wasn't important, I said hitting is super important for DH, 1B & cOFers. Hitting isn't important for pitchers it never was. A good catcher adds so much more than their hitting to highly influence a game. I'm sorry if you can't see it. AGAIN my guidelines aren't the point here, that needs to be debated. They are only guidelines that can be adjusted to show how to look at the importance of OPS in each position.

"As I explained earlier with RiverBrian," .2 I take it you didn't go back to read that. So I'll answer your question. Simple answer no. The tandem of Vazquez/ Jeffers we are #18 in catching. We need to add not subtract. If you eliminate either that will extremely effect our catching corp. For reference, Jeffers in '22 when he was called on for primary catching duties of catching every day quickly faltered & ended up on the IL, he ended up with .9 WAR. As is using Jeffers's .9 WAR & him landing on the IL, that'll put all the weight on the fringe catchers that have no right to be in the MLB, that'll produce negative WAR. Looking at projections of every team for '25 at catching that'd put MN firmly in last place. SEA who had the best rotation & catching core, didn't make it to the '24 postseason. How can you think with Cease & the worst catching corp we can even come close to compete in '25? Let me add that Cartaya has potential but needs to be progressed slowly. If rushed, you'd not only wreck his '25 but maybe even his career. WAR is a terrible way to evaluate a defensive catcher, wherever you got that -.2 WAR you can throw in the garbage. I can say more but I'll stop here.