Doctor Gast

Conger is 1st of all the catching coach, being the catching coach I'd hope he'd know & have a big impute in what kind of catchers the Twins need & how to develop those catchers. Is there someone else who's directly responsible for the catching department over him?

Our catching drafting & development has gone no where since he took over. Actually FO puts very little importance on catching defense. If they can hit a few HRs they're good we don't have to develop them defensively. So we don't have to have anyone good there.

???? Who's throwing stones I just asked a question. I'm not criticizing anyone for the signing, It had to be done. It worked out as far as I'm concerned. He just didn't adjust very well offensively to begin with. I think you are missing the point of my question.

Why did we sign expensive FA Vazquez in the 1st place? #1 we had & still don't have anyone in the system to be a back catcher except Jeffers. #2 Jeffers isn't a primary catcher, Jeffers is a very good hitting, average-ish defensive backup catcher with a below-average arm. But when asked to do primary catcher duties his production both offensively & especially defensively noticeably drops. You look at Jeffers's numbers throughout his career this observation is true. Jeffers 2 yrs. from now will be eligible for FA. My guess Falvey has planned from the start that Jeffers would be the Twins' future primary catcher. As Boras as his agent Jeffers will get top primary catcher dollar for a backup catcher. While we still need a good primary catcher. FA is too expensive, Conger still has done nothing to come up with a viable MLB-ready catcher prospect now or anytime soon. We needed to trade for a young MLB-ready catcher before but now is better than never. So who do we keep? let's look at the facts (not hope). '22 Jeffers was asked to do primary catcher duties- he crashed & burned, his trade value bottomed out to around 3. '23 signed Vazquez to take the burden off Jeffers- he excelled & his trade value raised to 28.5 (we should have traded him then). '24 declared primary catcher but duties were shared equally, Jeffers was used a lot as DH when he was hitting well. As the season dragged on, Jeffers #s again waned & his trade value dropped to 13.1. '25 if we trade Vazquez, Jeffers (not a primary catcher) for real will be asked to do primary catcher duties & Carmargo (not a backup catcher) will be asked to do backup duties. This scenario will produce '22-type results, is that worth shaving off $10M, minus the money that MN will have to pay down? Vazquez's defense has only gotten better longer he gets to know the pitchers & his hitting has gotten better. Again in trade, we'd have to pay down his salary. While Jeffers is still worth something, if held onto to do primary catching duties & resemble his '22 year, we'd might have to pay something to trade him when we finally realize he's not a primary catcher worth paying for an exuberant extension. For many this seems complicated but IMO it's very simple & I'd do it before. That is to trade Jeffers ($4.7M) while he's worth something, trade for a backup catcher (Joey Bart, PIT) & Drew Romo as the 3rd catcher to be the future catcher. I'd keep Vazquez to mentor these young catchers because I don't trust Conger to do his job. In '26, Vazquez would walk free & we'd be free from the $10M. For '25 besides Jeffers $4.7M we can also cut in other places like Paddack $7.5M.

We've had a lot of bad teams in the mid 70's through the early 80's when I had stopped watching them. There have to be worse ones in there.

Same sentiments, FDG. Matthew said the bad word to me, "spending". Because spending you'll have to trade away someone you need, to afford someone you don't need. We are rated as the best bullpen in some circles, the BP isn't a top priority. Although IMO we could use a high-leverage LHRP but we can trade for that from our declining valued players we need to move.

Just by subtraction, we are a better team without Margot. '24 Margot played bad ball all away around (one reason the Twins did so lousy). Plus blocking Keirsey & Martin from really helping the team. '25 w/o Margot, Keirsey & Martin should be finally free to be used advantageously as bench players. Keirsey will mainly sub Buxton & Martin wherever needed. That leaves Castro to mainly focus on LF, yet free to roam where needed but a lot less than last year. Whew! Larnach will back up the (LH) cOF positions. Kepler played Target Field's RF superbly but RF isn't a premium defensive position so defensively It's not as big of a problem as some let on. I'm impressed with Wallner's improvement in defense after many years of not improving. After Wallner adjusted to the league's adjustment to the Twins' philosophy. Wallner will be an improvement offensively. Where we'll really miss Kepler is his presence. As Tom presented on his podcast. in that games that Kepler played in they tended to win. Stats don't tell the whole story. We don't know when Emma will be able to advance into MLB, so when he does he'll make the Twins better. I don't see any holes. I see a much improved OF. We need to look elsewhere to focus on improving the Twins.

Very good point ML Ready. TB & CLE are smaller market are good models but I'd like to extend our players much more than they do. The Twins won't be able to compete with ATL that's understood as far as the ability to extend players. Granted that ATL is a larger market (where does MSP fit in?), my point is not to focus our money on FA but to extend our own key players.

I agree with you Matt, that Donovan is a very good utility player. But I'd prefer Castro because he's better at SS & CF, giving us even more flexibility & better team chemistry. IMO he won't be available. To quote you. "Trading for Donovan would probably mean moving on from Castro, but getting extra team control, a few more dollars to spend," I wrote a blog here about how to create a successful team by emulating other successful teams. All those teams I mentioned had some common characteristics, and they were very good player evaluation and development together with the ability to pull off needed trades without being dependent on FA. The team I wanted to emulate the most was mid-market team ATL because they focused on extending key players to keep the core and chemistry intact to maintain continuity and success. I would like to add that there is a team that I don't want to emulate, and that is the Colorado Rockies. They are terrible in player evaluation & development, terrible in managing their money by overpaying FAs especially bad ones & great players like Arenado & Marquez. They had a great season with their core but the following seasons, although they had spent a ton of money, they had no money at all to spend & had nobody to trade so they did nothing in the offseason. Arenado was a very rich dude now but he wasn't happy, because the team wasn't getting any better & he became disgruntled. Then the dismantling of the core began & although they didn't rebuild their team, their team plummeted. The dispersed core never achieved their former glory. Bad at player evaluation & development, frivolously spending their allotted money, bad trades, not filling important holes therefore making the team weaker instead of better, dismantling of their core, beginning of disgruntle players, does that sound familiar? Our problem isn't the core, we have players & prospects we can trade, trading needed players isn't the answer. Quit trying to emulate CO & try to be more like ATL.

That is your opinion. What are you basing that opinion on, Mr Bean? For someone who lives & dies by specific stats, I'm surprised. Keirsey has done everything we asked him to do at AAA & then some. Are you basing his hitting by his very small MLB beginning sample size? I'm further surprised. There is a process to development & each is different. Holliday with a larger sample size was absolutely terrible does that mean that BAL should give up on him? Or do you think we should pick up another Margot to further screw up the development of our prospects? Stats are good only to a point & if you are dealing with projected players in a Fantasy Baseball game. Stats that are comprised to come to a bias personal result with no applications to underlying conditions & untangible effects in the real world. Just by stats alone Keirsey deserves a long look & commitment. But beyond that we need to look at character. I love to watch Seth's interviews. I wasn't big on SWR until I watched him on Seth's interview, And now I'm a big believer in SWR even when everyone else gave up on him, I've listened to early reporter's interview with Lewis, from then on I believed in Lewis & capable of great things even when he couldn't do what the Twins wanted him to do. Martin hasn't become the power hitting SS model that the Twins wanted to shove him into but still he has value that can help the Twins. The Twins have always put Martin in impossible situations & expect him to be a high profiled veteran. This season I hope the Twins will give the speedy, fiesty, OB machine & base-path terror a reasonable opportunity to succeed, After I watched Seth's interview with Keirsey & saw his character I've become a believer. I don't put a lot of stock in stats or what social media says. I put stock in what I see & know who the players are. I don't expect to see Keirsey's bat to set the MLB on fire (although he could) but I do expect that he has the talent to be the greatest glove to ever sub Buxton. Again Keirsey deserves to have the opportunity to be a bench player as a rookie & that's what the standard should be, a rookie bench player not an all-star starting CFer that fans put on him expecting him to fail.

Keirsey is a bona fide CF and is a very good sub to Buxton. Buxton is coming off a 100-game season that he can build upon. Emma isn't that far behind to possibly help out. Throwing out Margot we have a very good perspective for this season.

30 MLBer that played in 150+ innings. I bet most of them are 1Bmen &DHs. How many are catchers or CFers? Not many I wager.

I'm familar with that story. 3B isn't the biggest need of CO & they are stuck with players that 1B is the only place they can play, so they wouldn't be interested in Miranda. Jeffers & Topa has much more hype & CO would be more interested in them. I don't think Alcala wouldn't drum as much interest than Jeffers & Topa which would make Dobnak more interesting to at least fill in the back of the rotation. They'll fill their bigger needs. CO has more money than we do. Why do we want to trade 2 of our better-valued players? While creating a hole at 1B? This trade addresses more than picking up a very good young catcher. It's about cutting fat so that we don't have to cut anymore muscle that affects our productivity & chemistry. Have extra money so we can extend key players & yes create a solid catching base for now & the future.

Rockies don't like to rebuild, even though they should have a long time ago, so they aren't looking for prospects. They didn't want to pick Dobnak up on the waiver wire because they didn't want to pay his salary without receiving any compensation. The value of Jeffers & Topa versus the value of undervalued Romo & Carrigg, compensated for Dobnak. Receiving Jeffers & Topa is much cheaper than going to FA which they normally do plus pay a premium for pitchers & $4M for Dobnak isn't bad if he comes through for them which is likely. The trade makes CO stronger & would cut their payroll. You just have to sell it. They should buy it.

Twins haven't been able to develop catchers since Tanner Swanson. Get rid of Conger & find a good one. Since the Twins can't develop catchers then they have to go to expensive FA (Vazquez) or trade. Catching is a premium position where defense really matters. So trading away Vazquez would be suicide, I don't trust Carmargo or Jeffers to go the innings that'd be required of them. For reasons I explained many times before I'd trade Jeffers. We'd forego Jeffers's $4.7M this year & Vazquez's $10M next year. There are many desirable young MLB-ready catchers out there but they are all very expensive in trade value. There's one underrated young MLB catcher, Drew Romo (CO) that has the tools to become an above-average catcher, majoring more in defense. He's a switch-hitter that caught in 95 games in AAA with pretty good results hitting & got in 16 games at the MLB level (catching in 111 games shows stamina). Romo has been CO's future catcher but Black has been leaning towards Hunter Goodman lately. Both are expected to share catching duties for '25 but rumors have it that CO wants to acquire a veteran possibly sign Stallings back. CO is lacking in many areas, but 3 of the worst areas are C, RP & SP. My suggestion is trading Dobnak ($4M, SP), who I've always thought be a good fit for CO along with Jeffers ($4.7M) & Topa ($1.2M, RP) for prospects, Romo & Cole Carrigg, who I think has all the tools & character to be an excellent catcher. I'd prefer not to put Romo in a spot of obligating to start so many games & again I don't trust Carmargo so I'd also like to trade for (PIT) Joey Bart. Joey Bart was one of my low-risk trade candidates last season that PIT picked up for nothing & became a very productive catcher for them. He could help in tandem with Vazquez plus giving plenty of opportunity for Romo to come up & help out. I'd trade Paddack to HOU. #1 Paddack is Texan, #2 HOU needs SPs, #3 we can find a replacement in the trade market & #4 $7.5M that HOU can afford. To even out the trade I'd throw in Severino which HOU also needs some help at 1B & 3M much more than we do. In exchange, we could pick up a lotto ticket. In these trades, we'd clear $16.4M for this season while $10M will come off the books next season. Without compromising the integrity of our core, Having $ to sign extensions to our key players instead of trading them away. Win/ win situation for all parties & we'd secure our future catching depth for years to come so we can compete for a World Series during that time. I like that idea better than trading away our core & continue on the path that helps us to compete with CWS for the cellar.

Like most of these dilemmas you posted, they aren't dilemmas. It's a no-brainer, you tender him. But the question is, is he the Twins' primary catcher of the future? The answer to that question is no. Jeffers is an above-average hitter, especially for a catcher. He adapts to the pitchers that he hits against pretty well when they adapted to the Twins' style of hitting HR. but the adjustment has taken away that HR edge. He works hard at his defense to the point where he's average-ish. He has a below-average arm that very little he can do about that. The reason for his roller-coaster results is directly linked to his workload & being depended upon to be the primary catcher. He does well when he has backup catcher duties that show up in the stats. But when given more than that of backup duties, his production wanes, primarily in his defense. You need a lot of stamina to be a primary catcher & Jeffers doesn't have it, along with a below average arm. This season the catching was very close to half & half but the extra DH duties might have been too much for him. I have advocated for years to pick up a better prospect catcher to be our future Twins primary catcher. Jeffers has 2 more year left, Twins appear to be stuck on him that means with Boras as his agent, he going demand a ridiculous amount of money to extend him as a backup catcher. Quit wasting our time with Jeffers. He had great trade value last year & has dropped significantly but I still believe we need to trade Jeffers because we can't afford him as a backup catcher. Late is better than never to obtain a MLB-ready prospect to get ready to be the primary catcher for next year after Vazquez leaves. This year we can take $4.7 M off the books next year $10 M.

The Twins started to trade from the core last season with terrible results. To continue down this path we could just as well tear everything down. That's means adding more to the huge glut of prospects we already have so that doesn't make sense either. Our core isn't the problem, it's management. Let's trade them away, it makes more sense. The players that should be traded aren't on this list. The others that should be traded are redundant prospects. Let's stop hoarding prospects. The '23 core is who finally got us success in the post-season. We need to add to it via trade not chip away at it & compromise the chemistry & talent that it possesses. The plan to dismantle the core is more like a plan to give CWS competition for the cellar than a serious plan to take the division & extend to what we did in '23.

Remember that beyond MN not getting anything for '24, they threw in $8MM. OMG, we didn't save any money, it's absolutely crazy to me.

I agree it's a no-brainer, When used right he's very efficient & he needs to be in our pen

Our biggest problems were philosophies, not filling in holes (if you don't fill holes the boat sinks) & was made weaker. I wouldn't look to trade any of these. because they are necessary to have a good team. Holes that need to be filled are minor so we can accomplish it without using any of these players. We have been very lucky with the health of our catching tandem. We need very much a future catcher & they are not cheap so I might consider trading any of these but I'd try to trade Julien & Gonzales or any redundant prospects 1st.

Yeah, it was a lose/ lose/ lose. SEA lost, MN lost but mainly Polanco lost. Being removed from where his heart was to a nightmare had to be torture. MN didn't get anything to help us last season, if they had flipped Gonzales & Topa we would have gotten something out of it but alas they didn't & the longer they hold onto Gonzales we'd get nothing. I'm in the camp to bring back Polanco he'd be a great comeback player if the price is right. I love to watch MLB highlights with Polanco making that great play at 2B. We missed his leadership and clutch hits. We need a starting full-time 2B; Julien doesn't cut it. He'd also be great at 1B.

Miranda could easily be developed into a full-time 1Bman & become our best producer there since Cron during the juiced ball. Lewis could be a very good 1B if he not put at 2B. The train has already past on Julien. He needs to be traded while he still has some hype value. With our budget crunch & important players under scrutiny, we absolutely can't afford a lotto ticket in FA.

Makes more sense but even Jeffers is too old for them. Only competitive teams would be interested in Jeffers. Maybe Jeffers & Julien for Kyle Teel?

Thank you Eric for bringing our biggest problem to light. I've complained about the Twins catching situation since Garver & Rortvedt were traded. & the Twins have done nothing about drafting & developing good overall catchers so after Vazquez is gone we are going to really be hurting. Sign an expensive mediocre catcher won't fix anything. Jeffers is an above-average hitting & average-ish defensive backup catcher if asked more than that his efficiency will drop. Rushing has been on my sights for a while. He's blocked, a good hitter, moves around pretty well, has a pretty good arm, has a good head on him & a leader. LAD has him focusing at other positions which sets him back a little on his development but he has all the tools. LAD has less needs now than they had earlier so it'd be harder to find a match. Other teams that have great catching prospects that are blocked are Harry Ford (SEA), Jefferson Quero & (MIL) Samuel Bassalo (BAL) to name a few off the top of my head, They are all MLB ready & will be expensive but are worth it. I really like Ethan Salas (SD) but won't be ready for next year. An underrated catching prospect that I've been keeping an eye on has been Drew Romo (CO). He has all the tools & characteristics to be an above average all-around catcher & Cole Carrigg both for less than any one of the other. Carrigg can be an excellent catcher, very athletic, strong arm, good hitter & fiery.

MIA will never trade for Vazquez even if you add players to it, They are looking only for young players