Doctor Gast

I'm sorry Greggory, I'm not into funky. I'll hit only on one thing I don't like. If Campusano is broken Twins won't fix him & he won't catch Jeffers when he falls w/o a safety-net. Vazquez is expensive but he has a very valuable function, to stabilize the catching & pitching staff. Removing Vazquez & shuffling the expense to a less important function while disturbing the chemistry isn't worth it. It's the same creative formula that worked so terribly last season, I didn't like the smell then either. BTW I still enjoyed your article.

That is the mentality that killed us last season. "Oh! we can't make a trade to fill an important need because we can't give up "significant" prospects, We can trade important players to shed payroll, & with that savings we can waste it on frivolous salaries to pay players that do nothing for us." I'm not talking about "significant" prospects or young players. I'm talking about prospects & young players who have value who are redundant, not needed, and should be traded to acquire players who fill an important hole in our team that helps to win. What's more important? Twins winning or keep hoarding prospects in an already bloated farm? $3M is a lot of money in a tight budget with needs like extending key players. The main idea is to trim fat. You save $3M of fat (players that can be easily substituted by a cheaper player) here, $7.5M there & another $5M. Stop paying frivolous salaries on players we don't need. All this adds up so you don't have to cut muscle. To be "creative" isn't putting up a Fire Sale sign, sit back & expect to get a viable offer. Yes, this way your get offers on Paddack & Vazquez but all of them are crappy & they'll pick the least crappy and they probably won't get any offers on Dobnak. To be creative you have to be proactive, this is being passive. As I explained to DSL44, Our only hope is for this FO to be proactive. Case in point- LAD wanted Glasnow, and to get Glasnow they had to take Margot. In this case, LAD wisely didn't want Margot but they took him anyway knowing full well they were going to flip him (MN never flips the undesirable players they receive, they eat them, yet they are a constant target to be flipped to). To move Dobnak for a passive FO it's not only difficult it is impossible. That's why I'm calling for this FO to be proactive. I'm not asking MN to scam CO like we were. I'm asking MN to be proactive & offer CO a mutually beneficial offer. This is not an offer that I think this FO will do, it's an offer that I think they should do.

Bingo! Twins never approached LAD & said we really need Margot, let's make a deal. No, LAD didn't want Margot so they convinced the Twins that we needed Margot & gave a little incentive that TB gave them. From the beginning, I said we needed Margot like we needed a hole in our head. I sincerely believe that Dobnak can help CO (I always try to find out what the other teams' needs are before offering a trade). By giving CO added trade value (more than $3M) while filling their needs would incentivate them to give Dobnak a chance to help them.

Of course, no one will take a chance on Dobnak with a $3M price tag on him off waivers. But if you have an incentive to fill holes with a deficit trading value plus you can DFA him knowing no one will claim him, has it's advantages. Twins can move Dobnak if they have the initiative & true creativity to do so. But they probably have the same mindset as you. Since Dobnak is a bad investment, we can't make anyone take him. Vazquez is a bad investment why is there talk about trading him? Dobnak has some value for the Twins just not $3M worth. He has greater value for the Rox & given the right incentive, we can move him. You just have to get out of that negative mindset & try. not sit back & wait for ROX to make an offer.

Matt, I think your plan may be better than what Falvey will come up with. Last season would have been easy to come up with a serious contender, having a tremendous core that broke the postseason curse pretty intact. The only real loss was Gray, which could have been resolved by trading away very good yet unnecessary young prospects & or players for an affordable top-end SP. That plus Ober & Ryan taking an expected step forward we'd have a more superior team than the original '23 team. But that wasn't done instead they invested in dead money (DeSclavani & Topa) & became overly dependent on Paddack & rookies. The 1st big mistake was announcing that we were having a Fire Sale, come & give us your best offer. Falvey should have kept his mouth shut & actively shopped our fat & dead money, I'd go to CO & strike a deal that'd greatly benefit them, we'd receive players we need & we'd be freed from Dobnak's dead $3M (CO desperately need SPs, Dobnak would fit in there being a GB SP or RP). Paddack has value & could be shopped w/o having to pay a penalty. Paddack ($7.5M) can easily be replaced with a more affordable one via trade. Or now we can have Jax take that SP spot & find an even more affordable high-leverage RP via trade. Now that SP hole from last year wasn't filled, it still needs to be filled via trade. I prefer Castro over Donovan. Castro is a true a true super utility player that adds valuable depth in premium mid-field positions, where Donovan mainly is good on cOF & 3B. W/o Castro valuable contributions up the middle IMO we wouldn't have recovered from our 1st slump. I hate Falvey's "creativity" (creativity is proactive not passive) which means comprimizing the core to frivolously pay for players we don't need. Opting out from better inhouse options for more expensive inferior outside players. This offseason from last we have lost some chemistry, the core has been compromised, the main hole from last season is still open that needs to be filled, Our essential young players missed out on 1 year of valuable experience. Falvey's weird analytics where 1B glove trumps the bat & catcher's bat trumps the glove. I like very much our core from '23 IMO we can still salvage a winning team but Zoll needs to override Falvey's creativity. Stop wasting money in FA & use that money to secure our future key players. I have total faith in this core but I have zero faith in Falvey. Even though we have a great core, because of Falvey's creativity I see us only getting worse. That said (I can't believe I'm saying this) IMO our best solution is to blow the whole thing up. Correa & Lopez are invaluable in the postseason but because of Falvey we'll never get there, So why pay for the luxury of having them? I know our farm system is so bloated from hoarding but we desperately need a primary catcher for not only now but the future & to fill it with depth there. Either way, I wouldn't trade Vazquez (no I'm not in love with him or his money), even with an analytical-driven team, yes mentorship is still valuable. Plus we'd have to give up a lot to move him. Jeffers is not a primary catcher now or in the future, So why keep him around to tempt Falvey to extend him with an exorbitant Boras salary? There is a big need & it would be easy to move him to obtain a very promising young MLB-ready in exchange. Either way, I'd trade Jeffers.

There exists quotes to support what I said. Again you add words I didn't say, I never said he ignored the coaches input. Do you have quotes to the contrary? Good question. You'll have to ask him.

I don't care if you subscribe to mentoring or not. Serious young players seek out more experienced players who have played the game, if they don't they are at a disadvantage. Yes, there are some not-so-good mentors & there are some bad mentees who have no potential & you can't make them into superstars. I'm not talking about Pinto-type young catchers, I'm talking about young catchers with real potential that has a strong desire to achieve, When listening to Jeffers, a lot of his changes in catching has came on his own not help from coaching.

I agree that the Twins paid too much for Vazquez in FA but that's what to be expected. Twins shouldn't have to suffer because of it. Vazquez was not acquired for his bat, he was acquired to pick up the pieces after '22 Jeffers crashed & burned after being depended upon to take over primary catcher duties. And that is what he has done. He has stabilized the catching, and the pitching & is a leader. Jeffers isn't a primary catcher & I have doubts that he can maintain equal tandem catching throughout the year. Adjusting to a new team, especially for a serious catcher is something very difficult. The main focus is to zone in on & establishing relationships with the pitchers, which takes a lot of time & effort. It's not surprising that Vazquez's hitting had taken a back seat. This year his hitting has gotten progressively better & that needs to be taken into consideration,. There has been a "Fire Sale" sign on Vazquez's back, expect other FOs to offer ridiculous offers. IMO a bad lotto ticket plus $5M to boot. And to try to avoid another '22, they pick up an inferior expensive FA, but to no avail, unless you pick up a catcher at least Vazquez's defensive caliber, "22 will happen all over again. For a team that confesses that it's in a contending mode that is totally unacceptable. I consider Vazquez as part of the core, To continue on the same path of chipping away at the core to afford players we don't need will not bring us to the destination we desire. We desperately need a very good young MLB-ready catcher for today & the future. Vazquez's mentoring provides the best avenue to help develop that catcher. After this season Vazquez will be gone with his $10M salary but he'll at least will help set a foundation for our prime position catcher,

Culpepper impressed me with defense at SS, he was a lot better than I expected, He's a very good line-drive hitter, with good contact & doesn't SO much. Leave him alone, don't bulk him out & try to make him into a slugger, he could be another Correa (Correa is big, isn't a slugger or runs fast but he has excellent instincts) if he doesn't sacrifice speed he does have for bulk.

The only player clear-cut to protect is Raya. Olivar has a lot of potential but his catching development is behind, which a good catcher-developing team could pick him up as an OFer while personally developing him as a catcher. His hitting has just arrived at AA so hitting hasn't been proven yet at the high MiLB level. Olivar has the potential to be a very good catcher which we desperately need. On the one hand, I'd like to keep him but on the other hand, if the Twins can't develop him, it'd be best for him if he went someplace where they can.

Lou, I agree that if we trade Vazquez, we need to bring someone in and extend our key players. I agree with Brandon that the $2M* saved isn't worth the loss of Vazquez's projected 1.3 WAR, leadership, handling of pitchers, defense & chemistry for Stallings's .2 WAR. Plus we don't need a backup catcher we need a primary catcher. * (IMO CO will offer Stallings $2.5 M & Stallings's preference is to return there so $3M is closer to what we'd have to offer. $10M - (5+3) = $2M). You also forgot to add that $5M that was given out in the budget, The money that you are spending on FA is a waste. Bell's $7M for .6 WAR compared to Miranda's $.77M for 1.8 WAR is ridiculous, How can we pay for extending our key players (which you didn't allow in your budget) if you are wasting all of it on FA? We have to resist FA & just say NO! NO to Bell, Stallings, Bieber & Mayza. Any holes we may have we need to fill with more reasonable player's salaries via trade from our rich farm. Let's not make the same mistakes as last season

"But let me have this hook (Vazquez has caught 150 innings more in total over the last two years in the Twins alternating setup, anyway)." Let me 1st say that Jeffers is very consistent. Look very closely, when Jeffers is in a backup catcher mode, he's one of the best hitting catchers there is & able to get some of his defense aspects around average. When he is asked to do primary catching duties, he's terrible. So Jeffers is very predictable. You can look at his entire career but just look at his last 3 years. '22 he was asked to do primary catching duties- he crashed & burned. Because of that in '23 Twins signed Vazquez to do primary catching duties (Vazquez caught about 150 more innings spread over the year)- Jeffers thrived. '24 Jeffers caught 1 more inning than Vazquez- after a while he plateaus & the longer he catches the worse his catching becomes especially his defense because he really has to work at it. I'm not against Jeffers but he doesn't have the stamina to be a primary catcher & even has some problems at the equal tandem role. We have to have a very good defensive primary catcher who can hit somewhat not only now but for the future, Jeffers isn't it. If this & next season Jeffers is depended for primary duty, I can tell exactly what'll happen. Boras is Jeffers agent & he'll be asking top primary catcher money for a backup catcher. If that happens we will have another bad salary we can't unload. Should Jeffers be traded? Jeffers should have been traded last season, he still has some hype where he's worth something this season but if he's kept as primary catcher together with Camargo. Jeffers will bomb & he'll be worthless to trade. We've been very lucky that both Vazquez & Jeffers have been healthy under this situation but IMO our #1 priority is having a future primary catcher subbing for them which we don't come close to having. I've been advocating for years to obtain a very good, possible elite young MLB ready catcher.

Vazquez, Correa, Buxton & Castro are the ones who cover the prime positions. So we need them to be better but I agree that there is still room for improvement.

If we had to trade any our young SPs it wouldn't be for a hitter. IMO our greatest need is a very good young MLB-ready catcher this the only way I'd do that. The only hitter I'd consider would be Ceddanne Rafaela & that'd be only if we blow the whole thing up.

Fascinating article, Al. Kitty is a very knowledgeable & wise baseball guy. I like most his statements on the '65 team could have done better with more single-hitting guys (I assume more clutch hitting & less strike-outs) & how there too much science that removes the soul of the game. IMO the most important part of the game is heart (the love, knowledge & feel for the game) which drives the analytical part. Focus on the analytical with bad philosophy is bad baseball. He's always pleasant & humble which is refreshing. All that made for a great broadcaster.

IMO we have no choice but to make Jax happy. Give him some time to adjust & see how it goes. If it doesn't work out then he can go back to the pen. Varland could be in the same boat where he needs to be put in the BP where he can excel until he develops his stuff. When he develops his stuff he could be given a chance, Cody had a nice article on to be proactive on some pitchers to the pen, We'd need to find a way to fill that big hole that Jax'll leave. I think Varland could take that step, It'll be a while before we can count on Canterino or Priellip to fill that role.

IMO, the main proponent to make this work is Moreno. If we get Moreno then we can sanely trade away Vazquez's salary. But honestly, what makes you think that AZ is open to trade him? Moreno is hurt, but why would AZ trade low on him unless there is something seriously wrong with him? Then maybe he's not the answer. I like how you trimmed the fat & I'd like to trade away Jeffers for a more economical backup. The money we save we can use to extend our key players to help keep our window open longer. I'd also keep Lopez over Gallen because under this concept of keeping the core together. If you trade one essential part of the core, IMO if we do that I'd blow the whole thing up & hope BOS is willing to trade Keal & Mayers.

Gonzales is overrated, IMO he's comparable to Austudillo in style, except Austudillo hustled, Gonzales doesn't, Austudillo has a better glove & made better contact, SO rate. I don't see him ever making the Twins. He hasn't done anything yet to put him in my top 20.

That is my reasoning also. That's not that they can't work on their secondary pitches while they are in the pen. IMO like Duran as soon it was apparent that he couldn't be a starter, they should have made that conclusion a long time ago with Canterino, even though he had the repertoire. I would say the same for Priellip, that his arm isn't healthy enough, he should thrown in the pen last season until his arm should say otherwise. I completely agree on how they have used Raya, he has the stuff but doesn't have the arm to be a SP. That's why he has been able to move up the ladder w/o getting hurt. If he can maintain his stuff through AAA. I can see him being an opener for the Twins towards the end of the season to help out the rotation. Like Jax, Varland has the arm but not the stuff. I was totally against Varland wasting his bullets in AAA, while the Twins needed him in the pen. Jax could be experimented in the rotation now as Varland could once he figure his stuff out.

Good point JW, the injury history changes things a bit.

Losing our only true veteran SP would be a big blow to the stability of the rotation. Alcala would not be as esteemed to Boston as he is to MN & Pena is a long way away. I'm sorry Boston would laugh in your face. IMO Boston highly esteems Mayers & they need Bernadino. The trade balance highly favors MN. To get Mayers Boston has to be extremely desperate & the Twins will have to blow them away with an offer they can't refuse plus remember we have Falvey. The way that Falvey is handling our open window. I'd blow the whole thing up! Suppose Boston has a good shot early in the season & is desperate & most likely we're out of the playoffs. In that case, they come to us & say we'll trade you Mayers & Teel for Lopez, Correa, Jeffers & Duran- I under the circumstances would do it, because I don't see us making the postseason for awhile after Falvey is done doing his thing. Maybe after new ownership, Lewis becomes the new team leader & new FO; another window would eventually open.

Duran is part of the successful '23 core. I'd hate to trade him. Falvey's creativity means keeping players we need to trade & trading away players we need. Missing our real needs & wasting the Twins' allotted money on players that we don't need. We have a great core (with only 1 real need, viable SP) & a top farm system that we can easily use to fill that need. Again this year our competitive window is wide open, with our farm ripe for trading for a viable SP or any other small need that pops up as last year. Falvey wants to continue on his creativity that's means continuing to compromise the core to afford players we don't need, not filling necessary holes and squandering another year of an open window. So we shouldn't trade Duran this offseason. Sad to say, the path we are going we will never be in the running for the postseason (& they'll blame it on the budget). We can trade Duran at the deadline. Our farm is bloated but we are in desperate need of Kyle Teal we'd have the leverage (it won't be easy & expensive) but I doubt Falvey could pull it off. Maybe after Falvey is gone another window might open up(?)

I agree with you but Castro also add extra value being a switch hitter where we have players who are good against LHPs but are lousy against RHPs & vise versa, But he is steady against both adding quality depth at many positions.

Adjusting is the name of the game, & the game will dictate how you adjust. IMO the game has shown that he needs to adapt his baserunning. I agree that Buxton needs to learn to adjust his hitting. Buxton has made adjustments in CF to keep him there but he is still elite in CF. Being still elite it's not time for him to move off CF, CF is where we can get the most value from him. IMO Buxton should stick in CF because he's the best & can outplay Emma & Walker there for the remainder of his career. Right now I can see Emma good enough subbing Buxton in CF but not good enough to replace him. I have my doubts that Walker can logically stick at CF or even how long Emma can.

Castro could be our full-time LFer & improve our WAR there, but the fact that he can fill in at RF, 3B, 2B, CF or SS does not make him less valuable, it makes him much more valuable. especially throw in that he switch-hits make him even more valuable. Castro was key to our success in '23 & was our MVP this last season. The thing is that he's not a full-time SS, & his extended time there wore him down. Castro is irreplaceable, we don't have a single person in our organization that can do what he does & w/o him IMO we not achieved what we did in '23 & wouldn't ever be in consideration for the postseason in '24. Instead of wasting our money on outside players, we should use that money to extend him. He one I consider core & should not be traded. We'd never get what he's worth to us.