stringer bell

Interesting—One trade is intradivisional and the other would be to reacquire a player the team traded away. I think those facts make each proposal much more unlikely. Steer has been an everyday player for the Reds, but could get crowded out by young talent. Pasquantino seems like a middle of the order guy for KC.

I hope Paddack is traded for one reason—that I won’t be needlessly frustrated by people misspelling his last name.

Salary relief.

IF Miranda can sustain what he did for pretty long stretches, having him at first would be fine. I’m also okay with Castro getting near-regular at-bats. Not comfortable slotting Lee as a backup. I hope he wins a job and thrives.

Paddack is worth about what he is getting paid this year, so giving up prospect capital for his services is an overpay. Perhaps Miami thinks they need a more veteran guy to protect their youngish arms and wants to take a flyer on Paddack. The Sheriff is one of those guys that has been hurting and recovering for most of his career. It's seems he hasn't found a groove since his rookie year. I think he could be better than fifth starter material or a bullpen guy if totally healthy and fully recovered, but it seems he never gets there.

I think it's more fair to look at both seasons that Julien played, with a bit more emphasis on the more recent season. His 709 plate appearances are the equivalent on one full-time season and his numbers are okay (106 OPS+) with a 2.5 WAR. Some very good players had bad seasons and Julien was undoubtedly pretty bad last year. He probably has to win back a position this spring, but it isn't out of the realm that he reverts to his 2023 form.

The defensive numbers are not great for Willi, but I believe if he isn't overused and sticks to 2B, LF and 3B, his defensive stats will be better. Castro is definitely stretched at shortstop and center field, but in '23 when he played a large majority of his time at third and left, he was very good.

An average major league center fielder is pretty doggone good. Bader, at age 30, was average according to the Fielding Bible (better from other sources). In house options would have been much worse and I'm not ready to sign on that Keirsey Jr. is a defensive marvel. As far as hitting, Bader's lifetime splits are a more appetizing .776 OPS in 676 plate appearances. Not a lefty killer, but good enough to get platoon starts, that is starting between and 35 to 45 games. Again, as with the entire team, it is my fervent wish that the manager recalibrates the pinch hitting calculus. Don't pinch-hit for superior hitters in the middle innings.

Margot WAS a high-end defensive CF until he was injured. I assume the front office thought that he would regain some speed in the second year of recovery, but he did not. If he could have been the kind of defender he was previously, he wouldn't have been a waste of roster space. I know, I know--"if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas".

I think Julien needs to win a spot although he he could be in as a 1B/2B/DH. I wonder if Tonkin survives this week, but most closer to the team seem to think he makes the Opening Day. It seems this really puts Keirsey Jr. out of consideration until one of the veteran center fielders gets injured.

Nit pick--Canha will be 36 in eight days. 2025 will be his age-36 season.

i wouldn't be surprised if the Twins have an offer out for Canha and it is in the $3M range. I wonder how much he is declining at age 36. I think the biggest roster gap would be filled by Canha, so it would probably help the team to add him. Not a great move, but a functional one.

Two things to remember are that he's 35 coming off arm surgery and that he has no options--he can't be taken off the roster without being exposed to being claimed. If he is the second lefty in a 'pen, having flexibility is important. That was his situation in Minnesota and when the Twins wanted him to start out in St. Paul (on a minor league contract) to start '23, he took advantage of the upward mobility clause in his contract.

There really isn't much there at third base in the system, although one of the shortstops or second basemen could move over there. It appears to me that whoever becomes the regular third baseman for the Twins this year (most likely Lee or Lewis) could probably stick there for several seasons because there really isn't anyone to push them out.

He'd be my pick to DFA right now. Not a huge loss if claimed and if he's not claimed, he might accept a DFA to St. Paul and be available to do what he does for the Twins later in the year.

Uh huh, so you see the glass half empty and think Baldelli is terrible with bullpen management. Every bullpen has volatility and every year we see guys come out of nowhere to be huge contributors. There are precious few guys that can be counted on year after year and those guys make good money once they hit arbitration. The Twins have two guys with great stuff who have been durable in the last three years (Jax & Duran). They have three guys who have lost a lot of time to injuries, but have been effective when fully healthy (Topa, Stewart & Alcalá), plus they have a guy who was very good a year ago (Sands). Adding Coulombe, who had two really good years with the O's after being satisfactory previously for the Twins and A's gives them seven guys who can pitch in late innings. In addition to that, they have quite a few more good arms who may or may not amount to anything. I fully expect some missed time for the relief staff, particularly Alcalá, Stewart and Topa and wouldn't be surprised by regression from Sands or Coulombe, but there's a good amount of talent there to augment a solid starting rotation and there's depth in the minors. I said in an earlier comment that I think they've got a good BP with more than average injury risk. I'll stand by that. I have not tabbed them a the best bullpen in the majors or the AL or even the Central, but I think their BP will be a positive and I think adding Coulombe helps.

I think the Twins will choose the person to be exposed that will NOT be claimed. I know Funderburk and Headrick have value because of their handedness, Henriquez has value because of his relative youth and Canterino because of his upside, but somebody has to go. Maybe it will be a position player, but I still think it'll be a pitcher and we'll know shortly after Coulombe's signing is official.

The only way Castellano ends up in the minors is if the Twins make a deal with the Phillies, which will cost them either money or a prospect.

Agree that there can and should be plenty of room for a good left handed relief pitcher. The fact of the matter is that except for the elite ones, relief pitchers are really tough to predict. Alcalá had pretty good success last year, but didn't sustain it for a whole year, Stewart was lights out in 2023 (in limited innings) and Topa was also very good in 2023. If they also hit their ceiling along with Sands, Jax and Durán, it will be a very good, perhaps elite, bullpen. The Twins have assembled a very high upside bullpen at a very reasonable price. I think the BP carries more injury risk than most, which should lower projections and expectations.

For right now, they have to take someone off the 40-man roster and that means exposing them to being claimed by any team. In addition, if they DFA someone that has already had one DFA, that guy is free to declare free agency as opposed to being on the St. Paul roster.

There seems to be an imbalance in the 40-man roster, with 23 pitchers (counting Coulombe). I would expect they'll designate a pitcher in the short term. Tonkin and Henriquez don't have options.

First things first, they have a full 40-man roster. They need to trim someone to make room for Coulombe on the roster. As far as Opening Day spots, I still believe injury will take care of most of the excess arms, but decisions will have to be made.

84 is in the neighborhood. It's going to depend on injuries, of course. The Twins are counting on a lot of unproven players, which is why they shouldn't be favored to win the division.

Late in the game, I will put this payroll blueprint together. I've updated the salaries with the arb settlements. This is a very little changed roster--adding only first baseman/outfielder Connor Joe and choosing Gasper to win a utility spot over Edouard Julien. The principal center field backups would be Martin and Castro. Shortstop backup would be Castro or Lee. C: Ryan Jeffers ($4.55M) 1B: Jose Miranda ($0.80M) 2B: Brooks Lee ($0.80M) 3B: Royce Lewis ($1.63M) SS: Carlos Correa ($36.00M) LF: Trevor Larnach ($2.10M) CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M) RF: Matt Wallner ($0.80M) DH: Mickey Gasper ($0.80M) 4th OF: Austin Martin ($0.80M) Utility: Willi Castro ($6.40M) Utility: Connor Joe ($2.50M) Backup C: Christian Vazquez ($10.00M) NA: Dead Money Here ($0.00M) SP1: Pablo Lopez ($21.50M) SP2: Joe Ryan ($3.00M) SP3: Bailey Ober ($3.55M) SP4: Chris Paddack ($7.50M) SP5: Simeon Woods Richardson ($0.80M) RP: Jhoan Duran ($4.12M) RP: Brock Stewart ($0.87M) RP: Griffin Jax ($2.33M) RP: Jorge Alcala ($1.50M) RP: Cole Sands ($0.80M) RP: Justin Topa ($1.22M) RP: Louie Varland ($0.80M) RP: Kody Funderburk ($0.80M) NA: Dead Money Here ($3.00M) Payroll is 2.96% over budget

A lot of "facts not in evidence" IYAM. We can suppose that Miranda's slump came from throws at third base or maybe it was getting beaned or maybe it was general fatigue. Lee's performance might have suffered solely from his back issues or it might be something else. Again, it seems you've made up your mind on why all of these players struggled. I agree with most of it, but not all. I think it is time for Ryan Jeffers to step up to 2/3s usage as the catcher (about 100 games in the season).