Doctor Gast

And that's mainly facing RHPs, How would (RH) Margot fare against mainly RHPs? Or Julien mainly against LHPs? How would rookie Martin fare if he had the same opportunity to face mainly opposite-handed pitchers as even most veterans do? Much better. Let's be fair here.

I was posting this as you quoted me. "CLE has progressed because they gave their young players a chance to progress, Not getting worthless veterans & signing inferior FAs." As I stated before protected Margot took the place that Martin should have had. Martin was much better than Margot (as you yourself stated). If Martin was allowed to play where he should have played (given to Margot) & Keirsey played where Martin played & Keirsey was better suited for. Everything would have flowed. But FO hung up on their darling Margot (more than winning) was the big reason why we played so poorly, nothing flowed. Martin wasn't stunted he was hindered, there's a big difference. Martin's difficult path with mixed outcomes & Julien's easy path with good outcomes as rookies. Right now if I had a choice who'd I like to keep between Julien & Martin, I'd keep Martin because #1 because of Julien +hype his trade value is much higher whereas Martin's -hype is much lower. #2 Martin is a much better athletic fielder, base runner, and better hitter because since the league has taken his HR advantage away from him & IMO he'll have difficulty reinventing himself & won't hit many HRs after that. I'm sorry you don't have the vision to see that Martin has a lot of potential.

I never said that they had a vendetta against Martin but because he never became the player they wanted he never became their darling & didn't care how they used him. I agree that Keirsey should have come up at the beginning, I've said that from the beginning. The reason that he didn't was that Margot held the 40 man roster spot that should have gone to him. Castro is a great utility player but when he'd play SS or CF over an extended time he started to slip both offensively & defensively. Because he had some tough times, is he a terrible player? No. Martin was also asked to play over his head. Does that make him a terrible player? No. That fact that Martin was asked to hit against RHPs is a tribute that he can hit RHPs better than most. And athleticism is the reason why the Twins put him in that situation & that eventually become very good at it. He has the spunk to be & excel as a MLBer. For b

I'm hopeful too but Castro had a lot more experience in the other positions prior. So far we have only Correa & Lee at SS if Castro is moved. When Correa & Lee get injured where'd we be? Castro's competent flexibility & durability is what made him Twins' MVP. Martin will become a very good utility player & might even be better at some things than Castro but overall he can't come close to replacing Castro any time soon IMO.

You lost me. which atrocious OF did they sign? Margot was not signed & they were disillusioned that he was great. Martin was drafted as an INF.

You totally missed my point. I was totally against Martin playing so much time in the MLB at CF, I was totally against the Twins pitting him primarily against RHPs, But the Twins needed a whipping boy & Martin was it. Martin was ready for the MLB but not the way he was abused. If Julien was thrust in the OF (not even CF) because he had played some in the MiLB & bat mainly against LHPs because we needed him to do that in his rookie season, would that be any different? Wouldn't he absolutely bomb? What I'm saying is if the Twins had handled Martin as they handled Margot or Julien we wouldn't be having this discussion but we'd be hailing Martin as a great athlete that helped us get into the playoffs. The Twins don't exist solely to help Martin develop to his fullest potential. They are there to help every player to their fullest potential. IMO they have failed at this & especially Martin they have so far hindered him. CLE has progressed because they gave their young players a chance to progress, Not getting worthless veterans & sign inferior FAs.

It appears to me that many times these bad acquirees were the result of scrambling around after not able to find or finalize on deals that the Twins needed. So to say that they did something they threw together a deal with very little research & without concern about medical records, with worse results as if they had done nothing. So how can we avoid this? Get a different FO !?

Martin was thrown into an impossible situation, where he was stuck at SS in the MiLB. Then in the MLB thrown raw into CF on a steady basis, because he was much better than Margot & be an utility player which demands a lot of experience at varies positions where he basically had none because he had been stuck at SS during his time in the MiLB. Plus because of Margot, the RH hitter was commanded to have a steady diet of RHPs (that many veterans are not expected to do) & expect him to perform like a seasoned veteran that has been playing CF & UTIL his entire career facing only LHPs. THIS IS NOT HOW YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO EASE YOUR ROOKIES INTO THE MLB! Martin isn't a seasoned CF vet, so don't don't put him in that standard. He's the rawest form of a rookie you can get, that is the standard you need to have. Did Martin make a lot of mistakes being a raw rookie that he was? Yes, he did. Don't blame Martin because he's raw, blame the Twins! Did Martin also make a few great plays? Yes, he did. Martin is a very athletic player who can be the spark plug the Twins desperately need. He's an OB machine that can raze havoc on the base paths & shake up pitchers if the Twins put him in situations where he can do so. The Twins put too much time into trying to make Martin into someone he wasn't, While not capitalizing on who he is, who can be a great asset to this team. The Twins have beaten down Martin where many rookies or veterans matter of fact don't get back up. But because of Martin's spunkiness, he'll get right back up. Obtaining Margot was a huge mistake & greatly hindered Martin's progress but now w/o Margot, Martin can thrive & show us who he really is. DON"T GIVE UP ON HIM!

There's a lot that goes into a trade that influences them. Like need & surplus. Deadline trades are ridiculously high for buyers. I turn down about 85% of all Twins offers that are not mine.

Paddack is due $7.5MM,

I filled in your ?s & added Wallner Joe Ryan? 33.3 Chris Paddack? - 1.6 Jorge Alcala? 0 Brock Stewart? 7.1 Michael Tonkin? 0 Justin Topa? 9.8 Randy Dobnak? -4 Willi Castro? 15.1 Trevor Larnach? 14.5 Alex Kirilloff? -1.6 Kyle Farmer? no longer listed as a Twin Matt Wallner 42.2

Santana has been starting 1B forever, of course, his defense is good. Miranda has yet been given any significant time at 1B. Give Miranda significant time at 1B & see him improve & finally raise the WAR at 1B. Miranda should be the one at 1B, if you want to trade cheap Miranda, who do you want to fill 1B? an expensive FA lotto ticket? Where we have to trade another much-needed player to eliminate his salary. Miranda's value has risen but he hasn't come close to peak yet. Don't trade Miranda.

Popkins marching orders were to keep the Twins' high variant lineup in step to the "plan" (the constant all-or-nothing hitting approach) when that didn't work out he was blamed for it. Popkin had helped many from the high variant lineup to be true to themselves & develop into better hitters. Popkins was well respected in the Twins clubhouse. His firing was a sham.

Agreed Paddack isn't a slam dunk, he still has some value. His name has been floated around in trade talks & IMO he is, unlike others mentioned, replaceable. We could possibly find someone just as good & cheaper on the trade market & if they are good at spotting pitchers on waivers.

Thank you Cody for voicing my sentiments & stating common sense in chaos. Is Vazquez an overpay? Yes he is that's Falvey's fault. Is he indispensable to the Twins? Yes, he is. We need to cut fat not muscle. There are a few places we need to cut that won't affect the Twins but cutting Vazquez will drastically affect the Twins. Keeping Vazquez will solve our catching problem for '25 but how about the future? Jeffers hasn't & probably will never develop into a primary catcher remotely.

I've been advocating this for years. Jeffers & Carmargo are not our capable future. MIL, BOS, SEA, LAD, BAL & CO are good places to look. But is Falvey capable of closing on one? We have the players to trade, do it

The idea when you need to right size is to cut fat. But last offseason Falvey's idea is to cut heart & soul, (the chemistry wasn't the same this year) & keep the fat plus add more fat to replace the vital missing parts. Now he wants to continue by cutting muscle while keeping fat. He has grown quite fond of the fat because it's his fat. FOs like to leak & hype up their ideas via social media. I hate the ideas that are floating around because they are cutting muscle (their value will continue to go up). Trading Castro, Ryan, Lopez, Duran & even Vazquez we are trading away muscle that'll drastically change the Twins' outlook for the worse. Yes, Vazquez is expensive & I'd like a better & cheaper solution but we don't have one. The alternative is disastrous. What's the fat I'm alluding to? The fat that has been hyped up that their trade value was very high last season but has since become significantly lower & is still dropping, that needs to be traded as soon as possible. One is Ryan Jeffers. He's a good hitting backup catcher who given sufficient rest can hit well & be an average defensive catcher. But when put into a resemblance of primary duties, 1st his defensive crashes & later his hitting wanes. Last offseason he was worth around $35M surplus trade value by BBTV, he's now worth $13M & if Vazquez is traded Jeffers would crash (as before) and be lucky to be worth $5M. A promising. underrated, defensive, MLB-ready young catcher should have been obtained to become our future catcher a long time ago. Jeffers will become a FA in a couple of years & Boras is his agent. As Falvey's hand-picked & only option for primary catcher, we have no option other than signing him to a very outrageous extension for a backup catcher! Another is Julien. His future was never at 2B, we had much better options there. His trade value peaked & was comparable to Jeffers & he was not needed & should have been traded to fill in holes. The league has the book out on him & has taken away his HR advantage so he needs to reinvent himself as a contact hitter or be another Sano which he no longer profiles as a 1Bman. He still has retained most of his hyped value, so he has to go before his value tanks. He is one of Falvey's failed-hitting philosophy darlings, who still find it hard to trade but he definitely needs to be sooner the better. Gabriel Gonzales was really hyped & his prospect trade value was high. He'll never make the MLB as a Twin, trade him before his value tanks. Paddack is one of Falvey's trade mistakes that was extended to somehow justify his actions. This one I do agree with. A lot of. money has been spent to keep him around. We can find a cheaper replacement & he wouldn't be missed. There is some talk about Larnach for a RH counterpart. LH hitters are a premium so I'd hold onto him unless I'm blown away with a deal. Also about Miranda & Kiriloff. I definitely hold onto them because they are great hitters who should finally get a bona fide shot at 1B. We cannot replace Castro, do you know how hard it is to find a player of his caliber? A lot of have been asked of Martin but to ask him to replace Castro is too much! Martin needs to be broken in easier than what he has been asked to do w/o adding more. Who'll sub at SS when Correa & Lee are down? Severino has played many positions not because he's flexible & good at them but because he has failed at them & is mainly asked to play 1B. People loved his bat, but I have my doubts that he can achieve what he has before now the pitchers have adjusted. Castro should have been extended last season, Now he'll be more expensive but a lot less than Jeffers.

NY & LA have big money to throw around in FA, money is not a problem. Where mid-small markets, they have to focus on player evaluation, development, initiate necessary trades & if they have any money left over use it to extend their own valuable players. If mid-small market FOs don't have the ability to initiate trades they want more money to waste in FA.

I agree with you Top Gun. I'd love to give Jax an opportunity to prove himself as a SP and IMO there's a good chance he could become a darn good one. A high-leverage set-up man isn't an easy position to shove someone into if they haven't been properly prepared. You could set them up to fail which I'd like to eliminate. I'd like the Twins maximize more the high-leverage candidates from last season. If they had, I think Jax would feel better about leaving the BP. By chance he doesn't succeed as a SP he'd return to the BP with greater conviction knowing he tried.

Yes, Vazquez's is expensive, but that's the price you pay when you don't develop your own. We signed Vazquez because we desperately needed defensive catching because it was obvious that Jeffers was overwhelmed when given the primary duties. When Vazquez is gone we are faced with the same problem we had before we signed him. Again looking for an expensive average FA catcher to shore up Jeffers with modest results. Vazquez has only been a band-aid to cover up our real problem that'll only get worse. Do you think we can trade for a decent defensive catcher who can cover for Jeffers? Most teams that have them want to keep them. I doubt that Falvey can wrangle one away. IMO catching is our biggest problem, when you rip away that band-aid things will get ugly fairly fast like in '22. 1B- will finally work itself out now that we allow our own a chance. Miranda & Kiriloff should be given the chance at 1B where they can settle in & learn the position, thrive & establish themselves & 1B for the Twins. In the long run, Lewis could be figured at 1B. We should have good WAR production finally at the position. 2B- Julien has improved his range at 2B, That he's getting to balls that normally bleed their way past him before. But he's not making the plays. He's still low on the 2B totem pole where Lee, Castro, Martin & probably Lewis is ahead of him. Julien's problem is the pitchers have taken away his HR edge, where he needs to reset to be a different type of hitter that won't hit a bunch of HRs if not he'll challenge Sano in SOs. 2B has never been his future & now he no longer profiles at 1B. So the only solution is to trade him while he still has some hype. 3B- Some combination of Lewis, Lee, Miranda & Castro. We are sitting pretty at 3B. SS- we did well here in WAR this season with Correa, Castro & Lee. Of course, the longer Correa can start at SS the better. CF- much like SS we did well in WAR this season with Buxton, Castro & Martin, Here again, the longer that Buxton can start the better, But w/o Margot we have a much better sub in Keirsey which'll be better by far our situation all the way around. LF- Larnach, Castro, Martin, & Keirsey RF- Wallner will be the mainstay there. Larnach, Castro & Martin as depth. We have only Buxton, Castro & Martin as the only RH hitters but we'll be fine the few times we face LHPs and we also have Helman if needed. SPs- Same as last year but more experienced, we need to keep our rotation together, forget about trading them. except maybe Paddack & Topa if we need to. There are others I'd trade before them. RPs- Pretty much the same as last year We have come into this offseason worse than last offseason, which is sad. We need to get better every year not worse even with the budget crunch. That puts pressure on the FO to economize. stop with frivolous FA salaries, keep the valued core together & make the right trades finally.

Good points Cody. IMO Jax is a viable option for easing back into a SP to possibly replace Paddack. But for this to happen, I'd like to see our set-up role more established. IMO Duran has done better in the closer role & should be left there. Sands has made great strides in the role but is he ready to take on the primary role? If Alcala was used properly he'd have proven himself but he was not which leaves some doubt. Stewart is great when healthy but can he be counted on? I have doubt on Topa's ability & durability to be a set-up man. Varland & Paddack wasn't used enough this season to know how they'll be in the BP. Because there's so much uncertainty in the set-up role, I'd not take the chance of moving Jax off the position.

I'm with you Greggory, WAR doesn't tell the whole story. If you hit a bunch of HRs, you'll have high WAR (no defense or hitting are necessary) otherwise you have to be exceptional in defense (especially in a prime position) or hitting to amount to anything. Let alone the very important intangibles that are not included. Castro's intangible flexibility in playing multiple positions well & switch-hitting is huge in filling in where he's needed when someone is injured, that's why he's the Twins MVP. Valuable players are someone you hang onto, not trade away to cut salary. You find other ways to do it, like not spending on frivolous salaries & making sensible & necessary trades instead of going to FA. Cutting salary wasn't to blame for our bad season because trades could easily be had to fill our holes. But the decisions that were made to do it, were critical in the chemistry & gaps in positions. But where cut in salary hurt, was not extending players like Castro last offseason where it'll cost us more in the long run to extend them or even losing them (which will continue to contribute to the team's decent).

"getting production out of guys you haven’t heard of is sort of their calling card" Many analytics called CLE lucky because they hit in the clutch in close games. IMO clutch hitting is an art form that can be acquired & CLE has acquired it, there's no luck involved unless you don't help develop it. CLE knows how to develop & manage their players. Except for their constant abuse of overusing their elite BP. It has amazed me that they held together throughout the season w/o major injuries. much less the postseason. It was evident that they were gassed during the postseason which stymied their advancement in the postseason. It seems to me that nothing much changed with the Twins so I expect CLE, DET & KC will be a handful and will be harder to play against than this year. Unless somebody falls into Falvey's lap, I expect the same result.

Bryan was on my mind too, when I saw what his next brother was doing in the postseason. Hope the Twins learned from Martin's wasted years & try him out in LF as soon as possible. IMO Bryan's day is coming if they don't force him to hit HRs. Get him to be a good hitter then let him naturally develop his power.

BA for one at that time.