Doctor Gast

No moves are better than bad ones. We are supposedly $12M over budget. I have 0 faith in Falvey on moving fat that we can easily replace with equal & cheaper players as to limit the damage. Falvey should have easily moved Paddack at the Winter Meetings. So that means Falvey moving valuable players at discount that won't be properly regained. As intelligent damage control we have to stay out of FA, every dollar wasted on FA will affect the loss of needed in-house core talent sacrificed. For many reasons no. Phillies signed Kepler for the same price as his last season's salary. Many teams including the Phillies needed Kepler. I was not in favor of giving Kepler away. But don't you think that Falvey could have given him away for a lotto ticket if he was crying so much that his hands were tied (because of the budget) to swing a significant deal?

Jeffers only has 1 more year after Vazquez. Catcher is one of the premium positions if not the most premium. You have the same attitude as Falvey. This isn't T-Ball, where you can put anyone at catcher & if he can hit, you're fine. Before we had Tanner Swanson who helped Garver & Jeffers to become passable defensively, we no longer have him. Jeffers isn't a starting catcher he can't handle catching every day for any extended time. '22 is a good example of that when he was put in primary catching he did poorly & shortly he got hurt. '23 we needed an expensive FA catcher to bail us out. Even in '24 in equal tandem his offense & defense declined longer he caught into the season. After Vazquez is gone, we don't need another backup catcher, We need a catcher that can handle the majority of the time behind the plate. Just because some teams put trust in a catcher maybe a HS catcher & they don't work out does that mean we should give up trying to produce viable catchers? & that they'll magically appear? They are many more examples of SPs that never work out does that mean we should give up trying to produce SPs & think magically they'll appear? Right now I don't see anybody in our system who are even close to a 3rd string MLB catcher. I agree that catching is a very demanding position that many can't maintain that production year after year & have shorter careers. Does that mean that our priority at catching should diminish? (But catching in tandem can help to extend their careers.) No, IMO the shorter the time that good catchers can catch, greater the priority is to produce good catchers so that we can constantly have very good catching prospects coming up to replace any fading catcher. Brewers are a good example of this. They have a very good core of catchers. I'd love if we had a pipeline of catchers, & trade off our excess. Because there's a large demand.

How refreshing! a Twin Owner who's invested in the team, who takes interest in how the team is run, who loves the game, who wants to grow the team & fanbase, who wants to win. Too bad we have we have to suffer through another offseason until that happens.

I really like this article. This is the type of article I really enjoy. I've kept close tabs on MIA for years while Lopez was still there. I advocated a Luzardo trade last offseason which made more sense because we had just lost Gray & had doubts about depth where it could get awfully thin & like Cody E said he's a fellow Venezuelan friend of Lopez & would like Pablo, be a great fit. But that didn't happen. When Thielbar was fading I quickly recommended Pukk who was very cheap. I put in a Luzardo/ Nardi offer at BTV earlier this offseason. The MIA offer is a just slight overpay but is common when buying established talent with prospects. I have cooled off on Luzardo because our rotation has improved over the year & Jax wanting a shot at SP would be a cheap solution to Paddack exodus. But I'm still very high on LHRP Nardi, I have MN #7 Gabriel Gonzales + Compensation pick for him.

Yeah, very high IQ is a good way to express what kind of pitcher he is. The way he trains, gets ready before the game and in-game adjustments. What impresses me about him is during the post-game interviews, it's not about him, it's about the catcher & players behind him.

I've been a big advocate for locking up our key players. We are very strapped for money & I'd greatly prefer to spend our money on extending our key players than spending it on the Margots & Gallos outsiders. When Lewis came up I was all for extending him because beyond the tools he possesses there are the intangibles that made him very valuable to the Twins. Even though of his injury setbacks which need to be figured into any transaction, he'd overcome those trials & still come out on top. I don't see those intangibles & character in E Rod or Jenkins so I'd hesitate to give out that preMLB extension. TB rarely gives out extensions but when they gave one to Wander Franco, that money completely changed his life for the worse. Sano was given a team-friendly extension, he became fat & lazy. Emma has a lot of potential but there is still some doubt in how he'll react to MLB pitching. Those doubts about his staying on the field, hitting & his maturity to handle that life-changing money make me even more hesitant. IMO there is no hurry for E Rod, it'd be prudish to be very patient with him before offering him an extension. There was the same talk about extending Kiriloff.

1st I'd like to say that I really like the writers at TD & I don't blame them for the stories they have to write. If I were a Cubs fan I'd be ecstatic but I'm a Twins fan & it's a terrible trade. You want us to trade away a key player who helped us to break the winless postseason curse, was our All-Star representative & MVP for a Keirsey-type player with Emma ready to come up & Jenkins at the door? If your objective is just dumping salary & you don't care if you are making the team worse so you can turn around & waste money on FAs like Gallo & Margot & make it worse yet. How insane or should I say creative can this team get?

Going to the FA well, will mean trading a needed player like Castro or maybe Correa. I'd rather keep our more valuable players & forego FAs. To take Buxton away from CF to put him at DH would be an absolute waste & self-defeating. Martin only played CF because Margot wasn't the player that he was hyped to be. I was against acquiring Margot & I'm against getting any outside player when we have a very capable Keirsey who has proved himself at AAA the last 2yrs. We lost 1 yr. of establishing Keirsey at the MLB, that was an absolute shame. The short time that Keirsey spent in MLB his value shot up. The only sensible thing to do is to commit to Keirsey & let him show us what he can do in the very short time he has. For at least out of respect to one of our players that put in that necessary effort in our system. Another thing, lets say we sign a FA & put him on the active roster & he absolutely bombs like Margot. No matter how bad that player is he'll remain getting playing time & he'll block Emma when he's ready to come up. Last year we kept on getting these stupid (creative) suggestions through out the offseason. I figured that it was only for discussion purposes. They aren't that stupid to ever do such crazy things to make us worse! To my surprise they followed through on those suggestions. And where did that get us? A 4th place AL Central Division finish. I'm not underestimating how creative they can get. To tell you the truth I'm sick tired of all this creativity. Let's try something new, like common sense.

I was impressed with him in his interview with Seth. Not knowing what he had, I sensed who he is. A hungry young man with a deep desire to be the best that he can be. he won me over, Even with that speed bump the year prior I knew he'd come back. Come back he did, he shone in his time in MLB keeping us in every game he started. Pitching 147 innings with most of them in MLB in '24 was much more than the 113 innings he pitched in AAA the year before. Being stretched much more than he should have been, he didn't break although the quality of his pitches waned the last several games he pitched bringing down his stats. Like you said he's young, he has a lot of time to hone his skills & grow. I can't tell you what his ceiling is but I can tell you that he'll be a very good asset for us & has a bright future.

Why is " we have to get an expensive FA" so ingrained in our psyche? Are you willing to trade a Correa just so we can acquire these guys? Why do I get that "Margot" feeling when I see Laureano? or Rhys Hoskins when I see France? They are the same type of guys. The league has figured out the all-or-nothing types, that's why production at DH, 1B & cOF are way down throughout the league in '24 because these type of players packed these positions. I don't expect a quick or significant adjustment from these hitters. So FO when you get this urge just say NO. We can't afford the money, needed talent lost & expensive unnecessary talent gained. Miranda will be our most productive 1Bman we have had in years. 1 more year removed from a shoulder injury & secured at 1B, I see a much healthier Miranda, who hits well all pitchers & even better against RHPs. But I do see a need for a safety net there, so I'll plug (RH) Romy Gonzales (BOS) again. Last year he absolutely mashed LHPs, great PHer, cheap to obtain, cheap to maintain, He's a very solid glove so when not needed at 1B he can platoon anywhere in the INF or OF so we don't have to have an extra roster spot & he's available for 4yrs.

If you read my blog more carefully you'll see that I've nothing but praise for analytics. The problem isn't analytics, it's the people who overly use them & bypass the human element with its underlying conditions, intangibles & gut feelings. If you put garbage philosophy in the computer you get garbage out. Many stats have bias baked into them & you have to take them with a grain of salt. La Russa's old school doesn't fit into today's game & Zaidi has gone to the other end of the spectrum. There has to be balance & common sense. As I stated, the game has changed, baseball is a game of constant adjusting but there are things that shouldn't change like the importance of relationships, tradition, culture, chemistry, hard work, fundamentals & the human element in navigating the decision-making. Posey has a very brutal uphill row to hoe. LAD, SD & AZ have a large advantage over them to overcome. I expect a long process to compete with them.

I enjoy much more a game when a player is taking that extra base, stealing a base & shaking up the pitcher. What is boring to me is a player hits a HR when it doesn't matter & strikes out when it does which happens far too often for the Twins. What's not fair is too many people look at OPS, a player gets a bunch of singles & steal a bunch of bases which is just as good as hitting doubles, triples or even a HRs but according to OPS it's just a single. We have to valuate more baserunning & athletic pure hitting. Focus on fast athletic hitters who have these qualities. Martin will improve his BRV as he settles in & is put in better situations to shine.

As a RH bat/ safety net I've advocated Romy Gonzales (BOS) who just mashes LHPs. He's also a very solid glove who can cover 1B or anywhere in the INF or OF. He's cheap & has 4 yrs. of availibility.

I don't expect that owners know everything about how to run a team. But I hope they know enough about baseball & are invested enough to know if those you hire are doing a good job or not, I believe Justin does. He makes a living by buying poor companies & revamping them into well-run ones. IMO at the same time it won't be just a business to them. Looking forward to them making the Twins into an exciting team again. Hoping for a smooth & quick transition.

Neither. Miranda is our best option. Quit trying to force something that doesn't make sense.

Jax can fly him home whenever he wants,

Dobnak isn't very well-liked at TD. Twins is a very good pitching organization & they see value in keeping him. If he is absolutely not a MLB pitcher he'd be gone no matter what we owe him. I see very little hope for Dobnak here at MN. But there are many teams who are far worse, with until recently ROX has been the worst. IMO Dobnak is a fit there, maybe some SP, RP at the very least the same way the Twins have been using him. There can be a book written filled with players who have been deemed unfit for MLB & even MiLB & come back & become credible MLBers with a team that takes a chance on them.

What Justin does, isn't any different than buying a house, fixing it up then flipping it only a much larger scale with companies.

I've said it a lot, players are like stocks. When you see an excellent solid company if you have a chance to buy low you jump on it. I don't care about his past injuries or past slump. I look at the person, a guy who can bounce back from anything, a guy like Correa who can eventually rally the troops, a leader who has a good grasp of the game. Unless the Twins go crazy & put him in the OF IMO his big injuries are behind him. This is the time to invest in Lewis, not when he has put in a full year of MVP baseball. Stop wasting money on expensive FA, invest it in extending our key players before we lose them. Lewis is the 1st I'd extend.

I consider core players as a combination of players who have proven themselves in '23 as valuable, foundational, leaders, and winners, who work well together. Those who are still with the Twins are Correa, Buxton, Lopez, Lewis, Ober, Ryan, Castro, Duran, Jax & Vazquez. IMO a winning formula If we trade any of them it'd greatly affect the continuity of the team.

I heard that Santana wanted a 3yr deal (he's probably tired of 1 yr deals & figures he'll try for more), which I agree it doesn't make sense & he's not going to get it, IMO once we get up the middle set we don't need a GG at 1B & aim much higher with offense.

Yeah, I really want him, We have to really show him that he's very much wanted & needed here. & make every legal effort to make it worth his while.

We should send you Tom, I like your Japanese & enthusiasm. From the beginning, I've been advocating for Roki Sasaki, I placed him right away on my TD blueprint. We are famous for our MN nice, with Sasaki we can become perennial contenders & hopefully throw in a WS. You'll be hailed as our main hero, You can have your own chef. There is no threat whatsoever of earthquakes or tsunamis. We have the highest International bonus money. Our pitching program is one of the tops. So our focus is to make you the best you can be as a pitcher & a person. Let us know if you need anything. We'll try very hard to make you feel right a home. I'd have the scenery of our beautiful nature filled with streams & lakes filled with beautiful blue eyes blonds & relaxing music. I'd show expectant enthusiasm, not meh, we won't get you anyway.

You don't cast a net in the creek behind your house in Mpls. & expect a big walleye to wander into your net. you go where the walleyes are. 1st see where the fat (an expensive player that can easily be replaced) is. Then, for example, Rox needs pitching desperately & they have holes everywhere. You go make an offer that generously fills a couple of their holes & you throw in Dobnak, who also fills a hole. There's a good market for Paddack, go & find them & make a deal. Don't expect by putting up a Fire Sale sign up, FOs will come flocking to you & offer big juicy trades that fill our needs. Don't trade away players we need, especially in the core, so to sign an expensive player we don't need. Falvey wants Santana to come back, after a career year, he's projected at a 1.1 WAR, which is his high ceiling. Miranda is projected at 1.5 WAR & that's his low floor. Santana wants a 3-year deal at +$7M, we can't afford his years or money, Miranda is free. Defense was a problem last year, the focus has to be up the middle. Margot is gone & Keirsey finally gets his chance & especially shines defensively. CF is resolved. Our biggest hole is 2B., Julien is a liability both defensively & offensively now, trade him. We can start Lewis, Lee, Castro, or even Martin, with Keaschall in the wings, we don't need him. Even with Vazquez defensively, we are in the bottom half of the league. We have to seriously look for an upgrade not only now but especially for the future. There are a few options out there, go & deal for them. IMO we could use a platoon/safety net at 1B. My target is low valued Romy Gonzales (BOS), he has 4yrs availability, absolutely mashes LHPs & very solid defensively who can play anywhere in the INF or OF. So if he's not needed at 1B (hopefully) he can platoon at RF or anywhere. Go & deal for him Our BP is packed with non option pitchers. I'm in favor of moving Jax to the rotation to replace Paddack. Our rotation should be pretty much set. We need a LHRP, we need to target Nardi (MIA), go & deal for him. Once settled in the BP Varland will take off & needs to be placed on the active roster. I love our core, don't touch the core, resist & stay out of FA. With minor changes via trades, we can be postseason battlers. FO creativity didn't work last season, it won't work this season. Don't sit around & wait. Just Go & Do It!

I'm with you Fire. By all means trade for him & put him on the 40-man. IMO it'd be beneficial all the way around. Castellano as mop-up might not work out & him having options gives us more options.