Sielk

Interesting ideas. But in general I like the concept of the worst teams getting rewarded with a high draft pick. Helps to create equality. (Not that MLB will ever be close to equality without a salary cap). Therefore the last two suggestions don't excite me that much. And I don't think a lottery really stops teams from tanking. I am also huge hockey fan. Just take a look at the Arizona Coyotes this season. They are as horrible as baseball's worst tanking teams. Here's another idea: How about moving down a team's pick when they have been bad for a while? Like, in the first year they finish in the bottom five they get their pick, but if they have been in that range for multiple years in a row, their pick gets moved down. Someone would have to iron out the details but maybe that would at least stop these super long tanking rebuilds. Yes, dear Orioles, I'm looking at you...

In each divisional series the team I liked better lost. Except for the Astros - White Sox series, I guess, but that's just because I despise both. I will cheer for Eddie and the Braves, I think. But honestly, I'm not too interested anymore with these teams. Time for hockey!

I don't want to trade Garver. Catcher is a position of strength right now. But would it remain one if your catchers are Jeffers/Rortvedt/new acquisition? I'm not convinced that Jeffers could just replace Garver right now. I hate to say this, because Luis Arraez has been my favorite player these last three years, but it might make sense to trade him. 2B/3B is really a strength of this team. Between Polanco, Donaldson (who you probably can't trade), Miranda and Arraez you already have four players for two spots. And while there are always some injuries, we already saw that little logjam this season when the lack of regular playing time was probably one of the reasons why Miranda wasn't called up. Speaking of injuries, let's talk about Arráez'. He has already missed a lot of time because of his knees. Even when he has been on the field, the injuries have caused some extended slumps we haven't seen from him before. A Luis Arraez who hits .330 is a special hitter. If he hits only .280 with no power and bad defense? Not so much. That doesn't mean the Twins should just dump him. But right now he is still only one season removed from hitting .320. If another team is willing to bet on his health and offers them a good return, they should maybe pull the trigger instead of banking on better health in the future. If you wait longer and it goes poorly, his value might plummet rather quickly. Ugh, I really hated writing this...

Except the final result...

So, who do you hate less, the Sox or the Astros? I honestly wasn't sure before I started watching but I can't really bring myself to root for the Sox. They must have annoyed me this year more than I thought when it's enough to make me root for the cheaters instead. Anyway, I hope the winner is swept by the Rays in humiliating fashion in the ALCS.

I am as stunned as everyone else. I have been rather forgiving of all the mistakes this FO has made this year, but this... The likes of Nick Vincent and Kyle Barraclough are still on this roster. The FO can't seriously believe they're better than Colina? The only explanation I can come up with and that even remotely makes sense to me is Colina's injury being much worse than previously believed. So bad that the Twins don't think he can ever be an effective Major League pitcher again. But if they still believed in him and just wanted to sneak him off the roster, this move is a major blunder.

Just allow the pitcher to throw anyway, regardless of where the batter is. As long as pitchers are allowed to wait 30 seconds or more with their pitch it's only fair to allow batters to step out and ask for time. You can't expect them to keep up their concentration for such an extended time. But asking hitters to be ready for 15 seconds should be doable. If they're not in the box and ready to hit the incoming pitch, it's their fault. But pitch clocks can't come soon enough, if you ask me.

It's the home whites for me. When I read the article, I felt like Griffin Jax said exactly what I was thinking. I really like white uniforms in all sports, not only baseball. They just look so clean and in regard to uniforms, I am also a bit of a tradionalist, I guess. I also like the cream pinstripe uniforms but for some reason pinstripe uniforms only look good to me when players are wearing their socks high. Too much of a pajama look otherwise. But that's probably just me being weird.

I would love Seager or Correa. If they can't get one of the top tier SS I also like the Chris Taylor option. A lot of comments here along the lines of "I don't want them to spend so much money on a SS, I want pitching." While that's fine in theory it disregards the fact that the Twins actually need to convince any FA to sign here. You can't just say "I want a pitcher" if all good pitchers say no. And the SP free agent class seems far weaker compared to all the shortstops that are available, so there will probably be a lot of competition. If the Twins find a real top tier SS who is willing to sign here for a reasonable amount they should just do it instead of waiting for another FA who might never sign or a prospect who may never reach his ceiling.

Or waiting for the trainer.

Joe Ryan is fun to watch. TB probably couldn't find a way to get all of their prospects on the 40-man roster and was willing to overpay. But what a return for Cruz. And I gotta say, I am positively surprised by his slider and changeup. The scouting reports made it sound like these were not really MLB quality but he has thrown some very nasty looking ones.

Agree, it's great to see. He was certainly put in an unfair situation when they called him up way too early. But apparently he took it as a learning experience and is now hitting better than he ever did before. I still hope they can extend Buxton. But if they indeed accomplish that I wonder if Kepler could be on the trading block instead. In fact I could see Celestino fill the Kepler role on this team as an okay hitting outfielder that backs up Buxton in center and plays the corner otherwise (if they keep Buck and trade Kepler, that is). Maybe not right away but in the long term.

At this point I would like to just give Winder a shot as part of the rotation. The Twins probably won't do it, they rarely seem to be aggressive with promotions unless an injury at the major league level forces them to be. But he has been a consistent performer, has a deep arsenal, control over it and throws 95-97 mph from what I have heard. I feel like he has the least amount of question marks of all the top SP prospects we have in the high minors and I wouldn't be surprised if he performs relatively well right away. Ober should be a lock and the Twins are too thin at SP to not have Ryan in the rotation as well. Even if he struggles, would you rather have a Happ/Shoemaker type starting over him? Regarding Dobnak, I would prefer to have him as a 6th starter at least on opening day. Injuries will come soon enough and I like him better as depth than someone you pencil in.

Yes, very encouraging. After the last outing that was my main concern, but if he can keep up 92-93 mph through an entire start, I am totally fine with that.