Doctor Gast

Castellano IMO isn't a true long RP, he's the mop-up guy. A guy they put in when the game is out of reach. He needs to be mentally ready for that role. Yet most certainly a necessary role to save on the arms. As a true long RP who comes in early to keep us in the game & pitching multiple innings. Usually the pen get shot then the rotation before we get to the postseason if they aren't taken care of. I'd like it better if we could work out a trade to have him on the 40-man yet have options. But that's up to PHI.

I'd think after netting over a cool $billion they wouldn't split hairs over a million here or a million there.

For me hitter is much more difficult to choose. 1st I'd limit it to WS winners, still that list would be Harper, Mack, Brunasky, & Smalley. Brunasky sticks out more, Harper to hit like that as a catcher. Mack was the best pure hitter but it's between Brunasky & Smalley who I think they'll choose being linked to the Twins longer.

Ted Schwerzler is a professional writer. While with TD he wrote many insightful & memorable articles. During his time at TD, it was also obvious that his sources grew. There are many baseball writers out there who are much more well known, that I think are full of baloney. I hope that Ted is a little prejudiced but in this article, he has brought a more balanced view of this subject, whereas before social media consensus was saying MN has absolutely no chance so trade all your International bonus money to LAD. There might have been private conversations to big markets that he wasn't afraid of them, to keep negociations open to everybody but Wolfe's press conference, to my knowledge, didn't say that he wasn't afraid of big cities, to the contrary that smaller markets were more beneficial. Odds aren't 100% nor are they 0%, they're somewhere in between. You think it's 0, I like our odds much better than you. IMO MN clicks all the known boxes & maybe some unknown ones like there aren't any earthquakes or tsunamis in MN. It's a crap shoot but MLB has given us the money which is tied for the most, Who has the presentation that Sasaki likes best (IMO has purposely left out a lot of info just to cut the BS) is the winner. So it's in the Twins' best interest to pitch one doozy of a presentation. BTW Twins' pitching program isn't going anywhere no matter who owns the club.

Santana had a career year last season playing healthy because he was playing 1B & yet he's projected with 1.1 WAR/ 546 PA. I'm not a big fan of WAR because it doesn't take enough into account the defensive factor. But at 1B where defense isn't as much of a factor, it's much more reliable of a factor of player's worth. Yet Miranda who was coming off shoulder rehabilitation played a good chunk of his time at 3B. Like Kiriloff who came off shoulder rehabilitation (played a good chunk in the OF) hurt their backs. While healthy they were phenomenal but after they got hurt they tanked. Twins moved Keaschall to 1B (he never played there before professionally) to save his arm. Secret, keep Miranda healthy by keeping him at 1B. Even with a disappointing overall season, Miranda is projected at 1.5 WAR/ 455 PA. Forget about the social media hype that Santana has any factor in the clubhouse or that we have to have his glove. Do the math, IMO Santana's 1.1 is his ceiling & Miranda's 1.5 is a very low floor. 1B is not a defensive priority but it is to the Twins because they want Julien to look passable at 2B. Secret, keep Julien off 2B so we don't have to get an expensive defense 1st 1Bman. Better yet trade him because he's a liability both defensively & offensively because the league taken away his HR advantage even if he adjusts. Santana, no matter what social media & the Twins say, was a mistake for many reasons. Primarily, it was a lost year for Miranda's MLB experience at 1B which he could become better. It saddens me when I hear this nonsense of making this mistake all over again, of paying Santana $7M+ over multiple years when we have a much better player in Miranda for free!(?) Please Falvey this shouldn't even be an option in your head much less speak it out. Please TD bros. before smashing the thumbs down, take everything I said into account even though it goes against what you've been fed.

It's very hard to know what's in the head of the Twins. They shouldn't regret a player who fell into their laps, who's the center of the core that stabilized the INF & who was the main reason we broke the curse of winless playoff games. Many players I think they wouldn't trade, they trade. Many players they shouldn't trade for, they trade for & become a main stay blocking more deserving players. Many players they shouldn't sign they sign & give them sweet deals. Most things the Twins do surprise me. Somebody is feeding this kind of crap to the media, most likely it's the FO being creative. So maybe they do regret it or more likely they are getting really bad offers on their Fire Sale & Falvey is expanding it so he can have enough money to blow in FA, instead of economically investing it in our key players, who we'll end up losing.

Mudcat Grant then Worthington

I'm a big fan of analytics, analytics has revolutionized MLB. Analytics is here to stay. Here is a rant by Will Clark. I especially don't like his language but he has something very important to say. & I hope the new owners will take note. https://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/will-clark-sf-giants-analysts-message-19822038.php As I said, Analytics has revolutionized MLB. But many have gone crazy with it, taking the heart and soul out of the game of Baseball and morphing it into a cold fantasy game driven by stats, where how things look on a spreadsheet is much more important than the reality of results. IMO Baseball needs to be managed (coaches, managers, FO, etc) by players who know & have a feel for the game while still having people to assist with the analytical part. Baseball is played by real people so there is are so many variables & intangibles that analytics can't analyze. Farhan Zaidi had striped SF of its tradition, along with its heart & soul & putting analytics front & center. IMO many teams have allowed analytics to take over the game. Prioritizing HRs & practically abandoning all other aspects of the game because HRs is what really counts in analytics. Managers can no longer go with their gut feelings. catchers are supposed to go by spreadsheets & transfer what analysts tell them to call, Forget about having a feel for the game or command of the field or be praised to be able to do so. The route that Farhan Zaidi took did not produce winners. Many teams are like SF where they have really good teams on paper but can't win. They often do weird things on the field & in the offseason but it makes perfect sense on paper. I don't consider myself as old school, I like the changes & ABS can't come soon enough. I love baseball, Buster Posey is a baseball guy, who loves the game & he has gut instincts that only baseball guys have. SF made the right call.

Cubs also signed Carson Kelly (C) which limits our options

Great article! That gives great hope. Loves these guys' attitude. Even though they won't takeover the Twins right away. Hope it affects how the FO reacts this offseason.

Hope the Pohlads would be as excited as everyone else & be very reasonable in their dealings. A change can't come quick enough. & hope that the brothers know more about baseball than the Pohlads.

Yes we aren't that far off. I was open to take on Bauer because I thought our clubhouse was solid enough, we really needed him, he was cheap, he had changed & he was a competitor. Right now IMO he isn't an option.

I thought Bill Amick would have been taken before we got him in the 2nd round which makes us fortunate. While Lewis still at 3B so far with Lee probably taking over, eventually Correa & Culpepper moving there. It'll be a pretty crowded position. But I wish him well, you never know what pans out at the end. It's good to know that we have him as a good option if & when we need him.

I'm sorry Greg, IMO clubhouse chemistry is super important, The change in clubhouse chemistry last season was the difference in correcting the plane in a nosedive & crashing. The loss of Polanco, now Kepler, later Vazquez maybe Correa or Lopez maybe more core players. And you think adding Grandal & Pham will help us? 1st their bad chemistry, 2nd they cost more than I'd want to pay for them & 3rd they aren't that good & IMO we can do much better elsewhere or in-house. Twins had great chemistry when they got Donaldson. But even so they couldn't take Donaldson & we took a big hit in trading him. But thanks for the interesting article.

If you follow me at all, you'll know that I'm very pro '23 core that did so well in the postseason that easily could be competitive with minor trades here & there to fill the holes this & last season & very much against Falvey's creativity of subtracting from the core, creating more holes while not filling prior holes & adding where we don't need it. I never said that they're never competitive, there are times when things fall into their laps but I don't count on them doing it independently on their own. Yet I remain hopeful every year that something could fall into their laps (Roki Sasaki) despite their bunglings.

We had a very competitive core that was very successful in '23. In '24 we were creative & tinkered with the core, traded needed players to afford players we didn't need. Where did that get us? Now they want to be more creative & disrupt more the core & bring in more outside players to fill positions that our own in-house players can do. We need a strong rotation, keep the core. Why do we want to weaken it? We need to be strong up the middle: Buxton & Keirsey at CF. Correa at SS, Lewis at 2B & Vazquez & Jeffers at catcher. We have been very fortunate at catcher that both Vazquez & Jeffers remain healthy because we have nobody who can cover them. If we eliminate Julien at 2B we'll become much better defensively. The right corners we have become more offensive. We have very good support group & people off the bench with Emma & Keaschall ready to be called up sometime during the season. IMO we need to stop being creative & make minor trades to fill our holes to supplement our core. Trade away our fat to make budget.

IMO they think about it, but have no idea how to do it. & are more concerned about playing their guys, do what's easiest & pushing their philosophy than winning.

Even before they traded Keel I thought Vazquez would be a good fit for them. I thought bundling both Vazquez & Paddack. But BOS would have their attention on more top-end SPs. IMO it's not a good idea to trade Vazquez because he's the foundation of the catching core, stabilizes the pitching, good leader, & we'd have to kick in a lot of money for someone to take him. Then spend money for a new inferior catcher who doesn't know the pitching staff. I'd rather trade Jeffers for many reasons I have stated many times before for a young promising MLB-ready catcher. IMO Vazquez isn't as interested in money as years, we can renegociate his contract for less per year.

IMO Teel wasn't their 1st choice. The trade was fair but CWS wanted much more, For some reason they settled for this trade. Keel has the potential to be a very valuable elite catcher. Edgar Quero can hit but is far inferior to Keel as far as the defensive side. IMO Quero is still a good catching prospect but needs to develop his defensive skills more.

IMO all 3 were the right move. W/o them we wouldn't have broken that long winless postseason curse. Isn't that worth something? They provided a valuable part of a core that should still be winning. Which is another story. It's not their fault that Falvey can't put together a winning team around them through essential trades. Right now they'd be gone & we'd have nothing if we hadn't signed them. Even though we can't win unfortunately, we still have valuable trade chips come deadline. It's so frustrating to see such a great core with an open window & an abundant farm that we can easily pull off minor trades to make this team a postseason winner, to abandon all of this.

Thank you RpR for your response & letting me know what you disagree with, At 1B & RF what is important is offense. With Wallner & Miranda, they provide more offense than we had last season. I'd like more depth there that's why I suggested to easily get Romy Gonzales (BOS) who has a very solid glove everywhere he plays & mashes LHPs. I like Kepler's defense & presence but his offense left a lot to be desired. Martin played terrific 2B in MiLB, he can do that on the MLB level, especially if he's left there.

Going into the Winter meetings, we are optimistic & hope the FO can put together a workable strategy going into the offseason. Like last offseason, they were going to be creative. I don't think they know what it means to be creative. It seems to me that they think that to be creative means dumping payroll so they can afford another Gallo, DeSclavani or Margot. IMO creativity is some action inspired to create a positive result. This "creativity" is neither active or positive as last year showing shows. I am depressed with end of the Winter meeting because I hear no positive strategy. Like we are going to work hard to cut fat. We are determined to find a new home for Dobnak, There's a market for Paddack, we are going trade Paddack, Jax will step up & be that top of the rotation we need to replace Paddack. We'll put a trade together to get LHRP high-leverage Nardi. There's a market for Jeffers so we can obtain our future catcher now. Vazquez is more interested in years than money so we'll renegotiate his contract. Our defense will be better because we no longer have Margot & finally Keirsey will man CF with Buck. We are moving Julien off 2B so we no longer have to have Correa & a GG 1B to cover for him. I believe we have a shot at Roki Sasaki & we'll do our darndest to convince him to come here. After a quiet Winter meeting, Falvey didn't say any of this he said "we are going to sit & wait." Lost veterans, Margot, Farmer, Santana & Kepler, didn't leave any holes. Only hole was created when Kiriloff retired. IMO Julien will be a liability both offensively & defensively now & needs to be traded. So we need to trade for a RH platoon which Romy Gonzales (BOS) could do in any position INF or OF but the focus would be 1B. Trading Correa as a main question leaving the Winter meeting? How depressing! That's waving a white flag which has very bad optics. Since there are no clear-cut objectives, even with a great core, I wouldn't doubt that come deadline we won't be in the wildcard race where trading Correa & Lopez would be sad to say inevitable. If this FO can't make simple trades to make this team a contender then why pay all this money for a non contender? I'm sure they also want to be on a contender. Instead of wasting this extra money on FA, when need to invest it into extending our key players.

Friend, Falvey's idea of being creative is putting everybody up for sale then sit back & wait. We'll get crappy deals for players we need to move & any good player they might offer a trade that looks good on paper but in reality, isn't. Then with the savings go out & get a Margot or Gallo. I know it doesn't make sense & that it's an oxymoron but that's how he thinks.

I hope you aren't advocating replacing Castro for Rosario by trading Castro. Looking through Baldelli's eyes, I see the logic in. Another player IMO who could fit even better is Romy Gonzales (BOS) Split G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB ROE BAbip tOPS+ sOPS+ vs RHP 46 86 83 9 18 3 1 0 13 5 1 1 22 .217 .221 .277 .498 23 2 0 0 2 0 1 .286 39 40 vs LHP 74 130 116 16 35 7 0 6 16 6 2 11 36 .302 .362 .517 .879 60 3 1 0 2 0 2 .382 142 146 He's also very good at PH .286 .372 .571 .944 He has a solid glove & played all over the INF last offseason & can play all over the OF but is projected to play very little in '25 mainly 1B, 3B & cOF. If we have to have a platoon in the OF & 1 INF platoon on the roster. IMO it makes more sense for 1 guy, not 2. He also only has a 1.5 surplus trade value & 4yrs. of control. Wouldn't doubt he has options.