stringer bell

Picking nits a little here, but I wouldn’t consider either Carew or Tovar part of the “early 60s” teams. Carew’s first season was ‘67 and Tovar had a “cup of coffee” in ‘65, but was a rookie in ‘66.

Two very good players in the first years of the Twins. Unfortunately, one of my most vivid memories of Battey is him being thrown out by the right fielder on a line-drive “single”. The outfielder was Lu Clinton, I believe. Battey was an All-Star and Gold Glove winner in an era when offensive numbers weren’t as high. Lenny Green led off almost every game for the Twins, but hit #2 in their very first game against the Yankees.

It seems that Miller's upside is tied to his ability to stay at SS. When the scouting report says "average speed", I wonder if he'll be able to stay at the position. Speed doesn't necessarily equal range as Simmons has shown and I also wonder about arm strength, any report on that? Finally, we have an older brother who is in MLB--he was a shortstop, but came to the Guardians as a second baseman (played one game at short) so I wonder if Noah would follow the same path as Owen.

Sure, Sanó as the primary DH makes sense. No matter where he has been put on the Diamond, he isn’t a good defender. There will be several occasions where he will log time at first base, but he is a threat with a bat in his hands. Some guys don’t adjust to being a full-time or almost full-time DH. I would hope Sanó adjusts to not playing in the field on a regular basis.

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.

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 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.

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.

I’d disagree that the position player roster is “solid and complete as is”. There is a gaping hole at SS and left field is unsettled. I think that the assumptions that Miranda and Kirilloff are ready to be big-league regulars are valid. If that is so, then there are extra players at second and third base. One of them could fill left field, at least on a platoon basis, and Kirilloff is passable in left as another option. I’m pretty sure the Twins will rotate several players through the DH role.

Well written Nick. There can be an argument that production was delayed and now we'll see excellent results from the guys listed in the piece and maybe from guys not listed. Baily Ober was not on many people's radar and he looks like a solid starter. To think that a couple of Twins' prospects with higher profiles could come in and contribute as soon as this year would make sense. With all the injuries that occurred last year, there would seem to be a crying need for short-term help to tide the team over in '22. Many of the prospective starters will be on innings limits as Ober was last year, and some will not step forward, that is just the way things go. Bundy is one piece, adding someone else and Pineda or taking a chance on Rodon would still make sense.

Miranda certainly looks like someone who should be looked on as having a very solid chance to be a productive hitter as well as someone capable of playing several positions adequately. If the FO is confident he can perform at that level, I would advocate using Arraez as a trade piece for a shortstop. There is redundancy between Miranda and Arraez in the positions they play while there might be some redundancy with Arraez and Martin (who would figure to break in sometime this year, as well) in their ability to lead off, reach base and play multiple positions. Failing to trade Arraez, it could work out that he would be a platoon left fielder, with Miranda getting the at-bats at third, second and DH.

I doubt that the Twins will be in the sweepstakes for Story or Correa. The Twins need a relatively sure thing to be at least a placeholder for in-house options Martin and Lewis (perhaps Palacios) and then they need to determine anyone of those candidates profile as an everyday shortstop, starting with what we hope will be some sort of normal spring training. With whoever they have slated for starting at shortstop, it would beneficial if he could transition into a utility player if Lewis/Martin shows he that they are ready. I have thought Jonathan Villar might be a good fit and I imagine there are some trade candidates who would fill the bill for the club.

I was thinking the same thing, but Morris was a Tiger and Blue Jay for longer than his time in Minnesota. Perhaps when I was spelling out the ex-Twin criteria it would also include that they played a majority of their time in the majors with the Twins.

I wanted to add this somewhere—MLB Trade Rumors has an item on the Buxton signing. Pretty complementary to both the Twins’ FO and Buxton.

I don’t have a first-hand story of a mother of a minor leaguer, but I do have a second-hand story. Several years ago, at the Macy’s parade on Thanksgiving, the woman next to asked about my Twins gear. She told me her son, Aaron Slegers was a minor league pitcher in the Twins system. She told me about his high school and college career and how Aaron had moved up the Twins minor league chain. Also she talked about his off season workouts. Slegers made the majors with the Twins and has since pitched with the Rays and Angels.

How many HOFers does that make for the Twins? I consider them to be ex-Twins if they wouldn't have been elected without their time in Minnesota. There is Harmon, Rodney, Kirby, Bert, and now Tony-O and Kitty. All but Kirby were on the team for all or parts of the seasons from 1970-1973.

This was on the day in 2020 when spring training was canceled. I ran into Tony on my way back to my car when I saw no one was on the fields. Nice man!

Given the way Gordon and, to a lesser extent, Martin have been handled, it seems that the only internal candidate to be a regular shortstop for the Twins is Lewis. Royce has a long ways to go to prove he can a)hit major league pitching and b)handle regular shortstop duties. He certainly can't be counted on to start the season as the Twins' shortstop and I think it would be foolish to bet the farm that Lewis will contribute at all this year as a shortstop. The Twins need someone to step in next year and, in my estimation that guy will not come from the system. If the Twins want to spend big bucks on a Trevor Story, I think it is nearly certain they will not bring in any more than one starting pitcher after the lockout is over, and the most likely is Michael Pineda. I think an acquisition of a Freddy Galvis or Jonathan Villar might be prudent, offering a decent player who can be signed for a year or two and able to move into a utility role if an internal option steps up. IMHO, the Twins chances of contending next year are a long shot, but not impossible. They would need to hit on just about every choice they make and have some surprises. They need to at least patch the shortstop hole and add starting pitchers to even have hope and it might be true that hope is what the team is selling this winter.

???? Magill? They claimed him and immediately non-tendered him? Is there something I’m missing?

Too many 30+ out of options guys on the 40-man. Coulombe is a “no” for me and probably Cotton, as well.

From the outside, I don't extend Coulombe and probably Cotton, precisely because it would put too many meh relievers on the 40-man roster. I really like what I saw of Minaya in the second half of the season last year, so I would advocate for the Twins to extend him. Non-tendering either or both of Cotton and Coulombe and then signing them to minor league contracts might make sense and they likely would be added at some point in 2022. With the Rule V draft coming up and several free agents on the board available to fill holes for the Twins, I think reducing the number on the 40-man roster is necessary and getting a couple of marginal relievers off the list makes sense.

I think that almost every manager succeeds or fails on the basis of things not seen by the fans (example Jace Tingler in SD). In those areas, I believe Baldelli is solid. He has the respect of the players and as someone not far removed from playing, he probably has more understanding and empathy for the modern player. Rocco seems to wear well over the course of a long season. Obviously, he's not perfect and some players aren't going to respond well to his laid-back (public) approach. Further, he's made some glaring tactical mistakes. IMHO, two areas where Rocco has not been aggressive enough is pinch-runners and defensive replacements. Part of that may be the roster he had, but I saw Nick Gordon sitting on the bench too many times with a tying or winning run on base and one of the Twins' slow runners on base. Having a double bonus of running for Sano and having a better first baseman in the game never happened that I recall and there were opportunities for that to happen. With the gift runner rule, taking out a slow runner for the tying or lead run makes more sense because said slugger seldom got another chance to hit. Management of the pitching staff, I think, was pretty good. He didn't overwork his bullpen despite many, many short starts from the rotation and by and large, he put pitchers in positions they could succeed. As I mentioned earlier, the baseball season is a long grind. We, as fans and particularly on game threads, want to see our guys win every game and go to the nth degree to do some on each and every contest. Players and managers know that it really doesn't work that way for six months. I think Rocco did a good job managing for the whole season, not trying to win one game and lose two more by eliminating players for future games. I think his seat will be warmer if and when the 2022 season gets going if the Twins disappoint again. Let's hope the front office gives him an improved roster and that the team is competitive this season and beyond.