stringer bell

Great stories and great rationale for all of the players, including "Country" Davidson. I have had many favorites as time has gone on--first Harmon, then Gaetti and Gagne and finally Cuddyer. I was a kid when the Twins moved here and Harmon was the kind of guy you looked up to as a father figure. Gaetti and Gagne weren't ever the best player on the championship teams (Gaetti was close), but they were essential pieces in those World Championship teams. They are roughly my age who I would have liked to hang out with as an adult. Cuddyer was/is the kind of guy I would have liked my daughters to bring home. Cuddyer is my all-time favorite though. He always put the team first and always was popular with his teammates. After he left the Twins, he was highly regarded by his subsequent teams and younger players were glowing in their praise. He played the game the right way.

A little late to the party here, but put me in the “Arraez is tradable” camp. Arraez is elite in making contact, has a very good idea of the strike zone and gets on base. All of the above skills are rare and in demand in this “three true outcomes” era. In addition, Luis has seen considerable action at three defensive positions—second, third and left—providing versatility. That gives him a lot of value, particularly with four years to go to free agency. The Twins have another player in the pipeline, Austin Martin, who approximates Arraez’ skills with more speed and who yet may develop power than Arraez will ever possess. Who knows? Perhaps Martin is the Twins’ shortstop of the future, although I’m not banking on that. Assuming that his contributions are replaceable and that his skills have value, combined with four years of team control, Luis Arraez should have a lot of value and net the Twins either frontline pitching or an everyday player (shortstop?). A couple more thoughts. If the Twins we’re to start the season with the current roster, Arraez would be my pick to be the Opening Day left fielder. Secondly, from both the eye test and BBRef fielding stats, Arraez is an okay defender at all three of the positions he played last year. Finally, and perhaps the deciding factor would be his durability. Troublesome knees usually don’t improve.

Vikings talent is good, but not overwhelming. The coach wasn’t able to get more out of them than .500 since Cousins was acquired. That’s enough for dismissal right there. The nepotism on the coaching staff required a playoff team for them (the coaching staff) to be retained. Didn’t happen. I think Spielman has an eye for talent, but the pieces never fit and the contract extensions to Smith and Cook don’t look smart. The acquisition of Cousins was make or break and they broke.

I think Sanó will be the team’s principal DH. Garver and Donaldson figure in as well as perhaps others. Kirilloff should be penciled in to start a majority of games at first, with some left or right field duty. When AK is in the outfield, Miggy would be the second choice at first. With an expiring contract, Sanó would be considered by many contenders at the trade deadline, if the Twins are not in the hunt. I don’t see the point in moving him now. One more point, I think Sanó works just as hard on his game as the next guy. He is a big man, but not sloppy out of shape. Getting sleeker might help, as it did for Abreu in Chicago, but Sano’s big league career has been limited most by inability to make contact and secondly by being a defensive liability.

I don’t have much information at my fingertips, but was such a list made last year? If so, where was Ober rated? My point is that pitchers seem to be more unpredictable than position players and anyone on this list could boom or bust. What is needed is volume and depth and I think the Twins are in pretty good shape in that regard.

I think the better example is Book, who played at Notre Dame, trying to come in and play against Miami on Monday. No QB besides Cousins is ready to face a division champ on the road, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Vikings kept it close on Sunday. Green Bay has won a bunch of close games. I’ve thought they were due to lose one (to Minnesota) before this news. Maybe they still will, but the road just got much tougher.

I think as an offensive player, Martin looks like a top of the order guy—high OBP, perhaps not much power and some base stealing speed. He definitely could be somewhere in the middle defensively (center, SS, 2B) or else corner OF. He could perhaps be a replacement for Arraez if he were traded or maybe create a really pesky top of the order if he and Arraez are in the lineup together. As far as a future corner OF is concerned, I wouldn’t rule out or minimize the future of Larnach. I think he’ll adjust and be a solid corner guy with plus power, perhaps as soon as 2022. Behind him, the Twins have several guys who may step up like Walter and Julien. Circling back to the OP, Austin is still a prospect, but he’s close to ready with a high floor. He offers skills the club lacks (speed, OBP) which would seem to make him more valuable to the Twins than most other teams. I guess there are scenarios where he is moved, but I think the price for his services would be quite high.

The pandemic and expanded schedule has led to bad football and so many injuries. Who really wants to see guys signed off the street (Washington and Baltimore) or young QBs who are obviously not ready (Book and Fromm) try to win games in December? To see the long injury lists for every team is truly sad.

After looking at the playoff scenarios, I think at least one 9-8 team will make the playoffs in the NFC. The Vikings apparently have the tiebreaker over both New Orleans and Philly and I believe they’re in with a three- way tie involving SF and either the Eagles or Saints. I don’t see New Orleans winning these last three games or Philadelphia winning out. The Vikings are listed as having an 11% chance to make the playoffs, but that is mostly because they’re big underdogs at Green Bay. If they win at Green Bay, I think they still get the #7 seed.

Without a real rooting interest, but having a fantasy team, it seems to me that talent is really even throughout the league, hence upsets almost every week. Good coaches and good QBs separate teams from the pack, but on any given Sunday………. Zimmer and Cousins don’t separate the Vikings and they don’t have substantially more talent than anyone. They should let Zim go and move on from Cousins.

There are definitely moves to be made. There literally aren’t five arms to man the rotation and there isn’t a major league shortstop on the current roster. Adding the minimum—say Jonathan Villar and Michael Pineda—yields a team that will not be a total embarrassment (IMO) somewhere between 70 and 80 wins. Add tw more dynamic arms than Pineda along with a league average shortstop and I believe the club will flirt with .5000 and maybe more.

Tomas Telis , who was a taxi squad addition to the Twins in May and spent the balance of the year at St. Paul, has signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers.

Harmon is #1 in my book, as well. I think in general this series that the earliest stars should be rated higher--Kaat, Tony-O and Killebrew in particular. Last I looked Harmon had over twice as many lifetime homers for the Twins as the second best on the list, and if his homers were added from his time with the Senators, the margin would be even greater.

I’d like to see Palacios get a chance. He had a nice comeback year at Wichita and if he could hit a little with some power and base running speed while being an average defender, that package would be better than what Simmons achieved. It’s all speculation at this point, but at his age a player goes from prospect to suspect pretty quick.

I don't think the idea of making a trade should be ruled out. From where I sit, the Twins right now have three players yet to make their MLB debut who would profile to being major league regulars as soon as next season (Martin, Lewis, Miranda) with Miranda looking like he could easily break camp with the big club. Add to that, a player without a defined position (Arraez) and there is redundancy at second, third and perhaps corner outfield. If they can trade redundant players for value at positions of need (pitching, shortstop) they should make a move. I don't fault the Twins for making some moves where they traded from perceived oversupply that haven't worked out--Wade for Anderson for example--I do fault them for choosing the wrong players. Hindsight says that they should have traded Cave and kept Wade.