stringer bell

Megill looked good yesterday, probably the only guy in competition for one of the last spots that has so far (I think Moran is a near-lock so I am not considering him). I hope someone(s) steps up and that Winder and Henriquez get healthy.

Agree. It looked like Alcala was throwing high 80s meatballs yesterday. I didn’t see a single pitch with velo above 90. It is early and he is coming back from surgery and missing virtually a whole season, but I’m not confident that he will help the club early.

With his R/L splits, Farmer should be starting against lefties all the time. Not as a good for him to fill in against right handers. He’ll get quite a few at-bats filling in anyway. I guess I’d prefer him at third and Miranda at first.

The best thing for the bullpen would be success from the current deep and relatively experienced rotation. Two things the Twins FO and field staff had to like about Pagan were his willingness to take the ball on consecutive days and ability to throw multiple innings. I hope that Pagan is infrequently used in high-leverage situations. The last two or three in the bullpen already look a bit shaky (I know it's early!). Alcala gave up several base runners, Megill got knocked around and both Winder and Henriquez are dealing with arm ailments.

The injuries to Larnach and Miranda are concerning, of course. I'm sure that in Spring Training, the Twins aren't going to take any chances with anyone. Any complaints about having competent veterans on board bring me back to last year when the not-ready Wallner plus Cave, Celestino and Contreras were playing regularly in the outfield. I'd much rather have major leaguers playing and if the prospects come through, they will get their chance. If Rocco can get the veterans at-bats where they have the best chance of success, they will be fine, but I doubt the club will suddenly believe they are foundations of the team. There is a jumble of young, ready or nearly-ready position players without clear places where they will play. It's up to the field staff and front office to handle this, but the time is in the future. Goodness, guys like Kirilloff and Larnach haven't established themselves and a bad season could change the opinion of Miranda and Gordon.

My thought was that the Dodgers might be interested in Gordon to fill Rojas’ utility role, with Rojas moving in as the primary SS.

As far as strategy for extra innings goes, I don't think a bunt is in order very often if you are on the road. First of all, playing for a one-run lead when the opponent will get a runner on second with none out really isn't a great percentage play. Secondly, there aren't many good-enough bunters to get that runner to third and quite often two strikes or an out will be given up without advancing the runner. Third, and probably most important, getting the runner to third with one out is far from a guarantee that he'll score. Strikeouts are at historic highs, infield flies seem to be up as well and I have to believe that it is far less than 50% of the time that when a runner on third base and one out the runner is scored without benefit of a hit.

I think with a larger sample size that the "ghost runner" rule would hurt the Twins because of the makeup of the team and the flaws therein. They were far below average the past two years at advancing runners with outs and hitting with runners in scoring position. They were noted as among the very worst base running teams and their team speed is quite a bit below league average so stealing a run to score a win was pretty unlikely to happen. When it comes to the pitching side, their candidates for pitching the extra innings were not high velocity and strikeout guys and mostly right handed, so the chance of advancing a runner on a pulled ground out would be a bit higher than average. That said, the rule is the same for everyone and really the key thing will be good hitting with runners on and a deep enough bullpen that the guy who goes out for the tenth or eleventh is as good a shot as the opponents for throwing a goose egg.

Minor league contracts don't bother me much at all. Santana, OTOH, bothers me some, in that he takes a spot on the 40-man roster and has no options. There will be plenty of transactions, but right now the current 40-man is tight and several players that are pretty desirable could be lost to get a relief pitcher or catcher on the active roster.

Definitions seem to be the debate here. Positionless would infer that there isn't a position where the player can thrive or least defend acceptably. Utility would be where the player can defend acceptably at multiple positions. Positional flexibility would infer that the player can defend acceptably at multiple positions. Clearly, the organization doesn't want to bring a bunch of positionless players (DHs) on board. It seems the headline is misleading. I'd be willing to predict that Austin Martin, Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee all will play more games at other positions than shortstop, at least as long as they are playing for the Twins. I don't think that is a failure of the organization, but rather a plan of keeping players at the high end of the defensive spectrum as long as possible. The three guys I mentioned haven't played many games outside of shortstop and that is a concern because they all could be in the majors this year.

Not so easy to be “on the shuttle” when he has no options. If he is DFAed any club can claim him and if unclaimed he may be able to claim free agency. That would be the case whenever he would be sent down.

The rules are the rules. The Twins may have already made roster changes that will benefit them in extra inning games. First, they have at least one backup OF who could pinch run (Taylor and/or Gordon) and they have what profiles to an excellent bench with pinch hit possibilities to give a platoon advantage in those run-scoring opportunities. I would hope there would be improvement in those situational hitting instances in extras. That was the most glaring problem last year.

Using Buxton as the DH frequently bugs me because he is such a great defender. I know it is about keeping him healthy. I also know that using him (too) frequently last year was an attempt to get him through the season with an ongoing knee injury. I am not sure if he needs that DH time this year to protect that injury or anything else that is an ongoing issue. Hopefully, this year, using Buck at DH is a way to give him a half-day off for rest. In that case, it shouldn't be more than 10-20% of the games. I agree that the poorer defenders would be optimum DHs. That would include Miranda most likely, but really no one else as long as health isn't affecting their ability to defend. I have believed that Farmer should be in the lineup most frequently at third base against left handed pitching, with Miranda either moving to first base or DH. As far as having a "permanent" DH, they need to be really good offensive players. Being a full-time DH implies the player can no longer adequately play a defensive position (think Giancarlo Stanton's misadventures at Target Field last year) and provides no place to get other good offensive players off their feet for a break or to deal with nagging injuries. There aren't many guys like Thome or Cruz to fill the full-time DH role and giving the role to a younger player diminishes their value long-term.

Great to hear these reports. Between John's report here and Gleeman and the Geek, there were lots of nuggets of information. Good--Maeda looks pretty good and has recovered virtually all of his velocity, Mahle also has gotten his velocity up. Not good--Balazovic will behind due to the broken jaw, Josh Winder is a ways behind because of off-season shoulder issues and Ronny Henriquez has been set back by pain near his elbow. Neutral--Kirilloff, Buxton and Polanco all seem to be slower ramping up with Kirilloff the furthest from playing in a game.

I’ve said on other threads that I’m not a fan of all the acquisitions, Gallo in particular. However, having experienced and versatile bench players like Farmer and Solano provides the Twins with flexibility and short side platoon ability. I do think having veterans in part-time roles is better than using rookies. I’m not a big fan of the outfield construction, but the best players should get the most time. I hope the younger guys make themselves regulars, but the Twins seem to have a Plan B. What I don’t want to see is fielding AAA player throughout the outfield as they had last year.

Are you referring to Kepler and Gallo? If so, I don't know that calling them "low ceiling vets" is the best term. Neither guy is old (Kepler just turned 30, Gallo is 29) and both have had All-Star worthy seasons, although their last two seasons have been subpar. If you're referring to Solano, I pretty much agree. However, the problem is that Gordon, Gallo, Kepler and (indirectly) Kirilloff are all competing to get the ABs that Larnach could/should get. Is Larnach better than all of those guys, some of those guys or none of those guys? If he isn't better than any, he really should be in St. Paul. Personally, I think Larnach can be as good as Kepler has been in his 26-30 years and also be a more complete player than Gallo. Whether he makes the team out of Spring Training or not, he almost certainly will get a shot to prove himself this year. Like Kirilloff, he needs to be both productive and healthy or others may pass him by.

IIRC, the Twins have said they aren't converting Winder (or Sands) into bullpen arms at this point. Where Winder falls in starting pitcher depth is an interesting question. He might be right after Ober or he might be behind Varland and Woods Richardson. Winder has had persistent impingement issues and I wonder how best to deal with them (bullpen? limited innings?).

There haven't been any exhibition games played yet, but all teams are in Spring Training and there aren't a bunch of free agents left to be signed. The Twins hope to bounce back from consecutive injury-scarred disappointing seasons and make the postseason. Here is my prediction for the 26-man roster that will play Opening Day in Kansas City on March 30th: Starting pitchers (5): Pablo Lopez, Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Tyler Mahle, Kenta Maeda. All five acquired by trade from other organizations. All but Ryan have injury concerns. First alternate starter figures is to Bailey Ober, with Louis Varland an Simeon Woods Richardson also waiting in the wings. Bullpen (8): Jorge Alcala, Jhoan Duran, Ronny Henriquez, Griffin Jax, Jorge Lopez, Jovani Moran, Emilio Pagan, Caleb Thielbar. Alcala missed almost all of 2022 and it remains to be seen if he will be ready to contribute. The choices here for the last two spots in the 'pen are Moran (mostly effective last year with the Twins, less so in AAA) and Henriquez, who had a cup of coffee with the Twins after compiling less than dominant numbers in St. Paul. The choice of Henriquez is a pick to provide multiple inning outings from a bullpen member. Moran looks like he could take a step forward and be a late-inning arm, but he's not established. The last two cut (and two most likely to make the club) in my prediction are Trevor Megill and Danny Coulombe. Pitchers with options in the 'pen will most likely be up and down several times--that would include Megill, Henriquez and Moran and perhaps Alcala. Catcher (2): Christian Vazquez, Ryan Jeffers. Really no competition here. The questions going forward are how will playing time be split up and if either Vazquez or Jeffers spends time as a DH. The Twins have three AAA catchers with major league experience--Tony Wolters, Grayson Greiner and Chance Sisco. Infield (6): Alex Kirilloff, Jorge Polanco, Carlos Correa, Jorge Miranda, Kyle Farmer, Donovan Solano. There are injury questions around both Polanco and Kirilloff. If either one is placed on the Injured List, Nick Gordon and perhaps Joey Gallo might get some infield time. Barring injury, it would be huge upset for someone else to make the team at the expense of the six infielders listed. Outfield (5): Byron Buxton, Joey Gallo, Nick Gordon, Max Kepler, Michael A. Taylor. Gallo and Gordon might see some time in the infield. Buxton is coming off knee surgery and may be built up slowly this year. There has been much speculation about Kepler's future with the Twins, but he's still here. Trevor Larnach (also coming off an injury) will probably have the opportunity to play himself onto the team. If there is a disabling position player injury in Spring Training, I would think Larnach makes the club as a DH/corner outfielder. Also in the mix is Matt Wallner, who made his big league debut last year in September. There is a significant amount of change from last year. I am predicting that five players will make their Twins' debut in Kansas City. There will be injuries and many more players will see time with the major league club. As many have commented, there is depth in the rotation and among the position players. There will be injuries and the depth will be tested at some points through the season. A lot of players will get a chance to show their skills before the season is over. There aren't many surprises listed in these predictions. Personally, I think that a nearly set roster is a good thing. I can't wait for the games to start and see what this group of players can do.

Actually, that's two questions: 1) Better than Garlick? Not sure, but certainly he'll be viewed as more than a specialist as Garlick was. Solano has put up respectable numbers against right handers and has positional flexibility (first, second and third). 2) Better for Larnach to play every day? Trevor hasn't put a ton of time in at AAA, but I do believe he is ready to stay in the majors. Given all of the injuries this club has suffered in the past two years, I would expect the 14th best position player would spend a large majority of his time in Minnesota. Incidentally, with the acquisition of Solano, it seems to me that any injury, other than to a catcher would allow the Twins to promote the best player. With all of the positional flexibility they have, they can move people around at the major league level to cover an injury to anyone.

Trade Rumors reported that the move is official, with Paddack on the 60-day IL.

MLB teams don’t put minor leaguers like Canterino on the major league 60-day IL. That would give him big league pay and service time.

Solano has more than seven years of service. He can't be optioned without his consent. While he didn't sign early, he has a big league bat and positional flexibility. Injuries are going to happen, without question. Last year, Gordon didn't have a path to anything resembling regular duty, but ended with over 400 plate appearances. Hopefully, the injuries won't be as extensive this year, but a guy like Solano will most likely stick on the roster as long as he is healthy and reasonably productive.

It’s a major league contract and he can’t be optioned without his consent. He will be on the Opening Day roster, I’m sure. Solano has hit well enough to be a viable option as a platoon DH and he’s played all over the infield.

The position player most likely sent to the minors is Larnach. Of course, a disabling injury would make space for Larnach and Solano.

Either of Paddack or Lewis can go on the 60-day IL. No need for a trade to make 40-man room.