umterp23

Cant wait for the MLBPA to get involved and complain about one of theirs not getting the best deal agreed to. They will talk the narrative that the owners are starting a collusion tactic. Boras will point to himself as the agent of all agents and they are just screwing me. Good times, happy money for Boras and Correa and they still are waiting.

Another week and another correa would of, could of, should of story. The rinse cycle repeat is old. At this point, there is no way I would even come close to offer anything beyond 5 years for a contract. 5/$142.5 with Correa having an opt out after year 3 and Twins have trade no trade through 3 years and can have limited trade options in year 4 and full trade if he doesn't opt out. That takes to what age 33. You can structure the annual numbers to allow him to make more money in the first 3 years and reduced rate for final two. Opt out has to have some performance values added in so that he just doesn't walk because he wants to walk. Boras will never go with it but buyer beware since Correa chose to move on after year one. If he had stayed through his 3 years, he would be sitting pretty if Mets/Giants truly do walk away. Move on - Go Twins

Twins didn't lose out to Correa again per the title of this article. Correa and Boras had a plan that didn't involve the Twins this year or any future year. Twins aren't WS contenders and Correa wants more ring opportunities and a really big contract to boot. Twins can't provide the complete package. Correa said all the right things about the Twins to leave on a warm and fuzzy feeling. Twins on the other hand really needed to move on from Correa sooner than later and be "aggressive" in the market. Twins and FA spending aggressive can always be debated. Mets have an aggressive owner who will spend no matter what and doesn't give a you know what about luxury tax, truly means nothing to the ownership group. They are 2nd fiddle to the Yankees and now they want to buy their way to being top dog in the Big Apple. Good for them and Correa, the move is comical and just shows how broken MLB system is. Big dogs will almost always be big dogs and on occasion the lower end markets will catch lightning in a bottle and give the big F.U. to the big spenders at year end. Happy Holidays and my Xmas wish is now please move on from Correa articles.

Maybe it isn't physical but a chemical issue. Privacy concerns won't be released so to speak but would be very interesting if he "accidentally" took something he shouldn't during his fall/winter workouts to get ready for next year. He could then hang out the Tatis Jr and share stories on how they got caught. Happy Holidays

He isn't worth the money for that length of a contract. Boras and Carlos got what they wanted and it was never the Twins that would give it to him. He isn't worth the payday that he got, so no big loss. He wasn't going to resign here so all good. Twins FO will use the money as they see fit whether it's what we want.

Very fair deal for Buxton and the Twins. He is an outfielder and needs to be in the OF 80% of his playing time at a minimum. DH on occasion is a bonus. His true worth for the twins has be more defense the what we got this year and limit the Celestino impact. Gordon helps in other spots but Celestino doesn't warrant a full time roster spot at the Bigs level

Let's not forget that the Pirates who have the # 1 pick and don't really like to spend money, may not take the #1 on the board as they don't want to spend big money or their picks. So Twins picking at #5 is really like stealing a top 3 pick if things break their way. I'm a Terp grad so I got a chance to see Shaw play a few games last year and he is very fundamentally sound and has to college pop to his bat. He tore up the Cape Cod league this past summer, so he well on his way to becoming a great get for someone in the upcoming draft. Terps also have a really good lefty swinging catcher in Shliger who put himself on the map last spring and summer months. Shliger batted leadoff as the catcher had a wonderful spring. Go Twins

Throwing out runners is 50/50 proposition. Pitchers will be limited to the amount of times they throw over to a base to hold a runner is a rule that will make me chuckle. Catchers have to be in a position to throw a runner out. Twins love the idea of Jeffers with one leg out to frame low strikes. Problem #1 for throwing out a runner, no leverage to have a quick release with any strength behind. Low positioning behind the dish, PB or WP %'s increase exponentially. Is it all on Jeffers to control as a catcher, shouldn't be when your setup puts you in a bad spot to start with. 500 AB's at the MLB level, aged 25, one injury to wipe away his mini hot streak, 1st time father during IL stint and a guy who never had a dedicated catching coach until he was drafted. Too early to say he can't be a solid guy for the twins. Need a good rotational partner and let him mature some more before we say he sucks.

Buxton playing CF for at a minimum 100 games. If his day off is a day off, then don't have him DH (give him the day off). Playing less than 1/2 the games in CF and DH on other days is not the full Buxton we need. While Celestino and Gordon were adequate in CF, they shouldn't be there more than Buxton. All the other stats will be there if he is CF controlling the pastures.

they won some playoff games which is better than what we can say

Offense is probably my least component I am worried about. You don't need a team of boppers 1-9 in the lineup to be successful. League avg for ding-dongs was 174, Twins finished +4 at 178. Cleveland Guardians had 127 total and only the lonely Tigers were worse. Pitching as measured by ERA gives us an idea of where teams were the strongest, thus small ball can win games. All 12 teams that made the playoffs were 3.87 or better for ERA (Toronto was the last team in at 3.87). Dodger and Astros were only team under 3.00. So Cleveland didn't have chicks who were digging the long ball but they were digging their balanced offense and Pitching to a tune of 3.46 which was 5th best in the league. Hell the Rays were 4th at 3.41 and they are consistently in the running for playoffs each year. Pitching and Defense wins games as they say. Do Twins have enough on that side?

Not a fan of the M hat at all for reasons already pointed out. Can live with them, road blue jersey is boring, don't see them wearing that one much. I do like the font for Minnesota on jersey, the cursive for Twins is pretty awful. Really Big and Really thin lettering doesn't look good. At least this wasn't the softball shorts and sleeveless Sox from years ago.

So Buxton "light" version.

Twins have to close the front door to the house of reclamation projects.

Lip service for sure. Time of the year where kids can dream that Santa money bags gives them a present they want under the tree. Correa will slow play the FA market till Boras gets him what he wants. I don't expect any movement for top guys till Judge breaks the bank.

Would agree on the defensive side of equation. I still think they way the have him setup behind the dish from a coaching perspective plays an important role. Not having a dedicated catching coach until he got to the twins has been interesting as well. He self taught himself the mechanics that got him drafted and going back and watching some UNC Wilmington highlights he wasn't in the sit on your ass crouch they have him in today. Kid sure is flexible though.

Rare air to get an elite catcher if Realmuto is the gold standard today. He is 31 years old I believe along with Contreras. So Twins showed their cards in regards to 30+ old catchers and how they internally feel about the position and age. Garver kind of proved the point by the trade and then he was done for the year with an injury about a month or so into the season. Jeffers has upside. Broken bone in thumb was really bad timing as he did show some flash in the couple weeks leading up to the injury and being shelved. So really has only 2 years of game action at MLB level with just over 500 at bats. This year will be the year to see how he has grown, matured and accepting of being a leader. Saw on his social media post he became a 1st time father during his injury time off. Congrats to him and his wife.

One IL stint for Jeffers and he now gets classified as oft-injured, spent much of the 2022 season on the shelf commentary from this article and other catching articles comments. Freak bullpen warmup injury causing the injury that he tried and played through for couple weeks having his best hitting spurt of the year during the first injured to finally being shelved by the staff. One IL stint and now it gets classified in Buxton level of always injured. Let's remember that Jeffers never had a dedicated catching coach through high school or at the UNC Wilmington in college. First guidance was with the Twins and they have put him in a sit on your ass type of receiving position. Not a great spot to be in to handle 50% of your job in throwing out baserunners. So until that changes with his receiving skills you will see some pass balls and some wild pitches. Last time I checked, stolen bases start with the pitching staff and a great throwing out runners saves the pitcher. Room for improvement for sure. Only catcher in the bigs that isn't on a rotation like every other team is Realmuto with Phillies. He caught over 250 more innings than next closest catcher in this year. Let's use him as the gold standard 130 Games at Starting Catcher - Caught Stealing 44% (league avg 24%) - 35 Wild Pitches - 2 PB and 8 Errors. His previous 2 years his caught stealing % was 25 and 24% which was 1% point from league average. This year and 2019 he was in mid to high 40's for caught stealing. So, big swing in 4 years but just shows that how much was on the pitchers on holding on guys, the pitch they stole on, the throw, etc. He is the standard. Can Jeffers be that type of guy? He has room to grow but I do like what I have seen so far. Playing everyday vs a rotation in my opinion gives a guy a chance to be get into a rhythm both offensively and defensively, regardless of the position. Twins catchers to date aren't put in those positions often.

Polanco, Kepler and Ober to Marlins for Lopez and a right handed OF bat.

Stop gap mentality of the FO has to change which in turn should deliver the strong up the middle every team desires. Your high spending teams theoretically all have that today, Twins could be most likely will choose not to join a bidding war. As for Buxton he is the wild card as he should play 80-85% of all games and only 5% of those should be as a DH. if he isn't on the field, then we sure did lock him up for an awful long time as broken body DH. SS is next. Correa is betting on himself and why not? All stars want their guaranteed money as the agents chirp in their ear so they can get their cut. I don't like the fact that it would take probably 7 years to have that deal but then we blow up the payroll to address SP needs. We are not 1 SP stud acquisition away for the starting staff. That one stud will cost us dearly. Catcher to me is an important part of this equation. Growing up playing baseball thru college under some really good coaches, they preached strong up the middle all day long, starting with the catcher, then your starting pitcher, SS and CF. If you had 3 guys you can rely on out of the 4 you created continuity. The 4th was the pitching component. Brooks Lee is interesting. Let's say he is in spring training with the big club and you let him not only get his feet wet, you let him get soaked for a month. See what he can handle and how much he can handle it. If we swing and miss on Correa, do we really want to have a placeholder? I say no. Lewis is mid-season ready at best and even then you just don't know how he will hold up. Back in the 70's/early 80's a strong defensive player at short and light hitting at the plate was the norm. First big hitting/strong defender to change the philosophy was Ripken in Baltimore followed by Jeter/Rodriquez etc. Game has changed but as you say, the strong up the middle defense hasn't. It comes down to what do we want from the middles guys on offensive side of the ledger. We all wish for gold gloves and silver sluggers at each position as does everyone else in the league. Go Twins!

Move Kepler, Larnach and Winder in a package deal for Lopez would be a nice get. Not sold on Palacios or Celestino in any type of utility role. Gordon can be your 3rd/4th OF depending on what is happening. Remove Gordon from any IF utility role and allow him to settle on OF, work on that type of skill set/play only. Look for a Josh Bell type of Player than can fill in at 1st, emergency OF and a DH type of role. Miranda at 3rd, Urshela to man SS if we are playing waiting game on Lewis. No Cave or Garlick. Not sure what Kiriloff will give us with bad wrist 2 years running.

Urshela is your starting 3rd baseman next year. Miranda will rotate it as needed between 3rd base and 1st base. I'm not Kiriloff will be healthy and can play a full year with a bum wrist, 2 surgeries in 2 years, not good. Kiriloff and Larnach can battle it out for LF. Buxton can play 50% of time in CF with Gordon mopping up all over the field. Wallner and Kiriloff and rotate in right field. Since Correa won't be back, Urshela can hold the fort at SS and Miranda plays 3rd. I don't have faith that FO will get another bat in offseason, so you have Arraez at 1st as well. 2022 all over again for the fielding minus Correa.

No doubt in my mind he was opting out. When a pretty high level player can be courted like he is the man and make as much money as he can, opt out was the answer and he gave it to us so to speak. Reading the comments about what we do with the $30MM in savings if he is gone, a lot of assumptions/wishes that we are spending on high end pitching. Twins FO hasn't proven they will do that, especially this year with injury laden trades and "bad luck." Throw a number at him for 5 years, no opt outs and limited trade partners and see what happens. Bounce Sano, Archer, Bundy and Sanchez and see what $60MM can bring back. Then we cross our fingers that the FO makes some solid choices. Go Twins

On official twins mlb site in the section of injuries and transactions it reported Larnach now with sore wrist. I would think he is now done for the year.

So one stint to a the IL for Jeffers due to wild pitch in pregame bullpen warmup that led to a fracture in his throwing hand and you question durability. Farther from the truth on that weak statement. Plus you failed to mention that was his hottest streak of hitting during that stretch leading up to the team doctors finally figuring out he had a broken bone in his hand for 2 weeks since the original injury occurrence. Sanchez showed flashes but he is basically a veteran Jeffers that has multiple years in the bigs. Not a big time hitter, had maybe 2 really decent years early in his career. Yankees were pleased to get rid of him so let's not kid ourselves on Sanchez. Leon as a rental was awful. Hamilton has 1 hit and isn't big league material. Depth at catcher has to be addressed, as the minor league options are not impressive for developing in house. My biggest concern is the Trainers/Team doctors as a let down for this season. Seems like some failed diagnosis multiple times this year with a bunch of guys.