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LastOnePicked

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Everything posted by LastOnePicked

  1. Wait, what? Twins fans wanted better than Desclafani in the rotation. He appeared to be a huge injury risk, and even if moderately healthy wouldn't make even a drop in covering the gaps left by Gray and Maeda. And ... those fans were 100% right. That was $4m wasted by a team that has now shifted to counting pennies.
  2. Our bad luck with top prospects is insane at this point. Just insane. Pulling for Royce's full recovery, but it is not exactly easy being a Twins fan at this point.
  3. On any team, this would be a letdown. On a team that is fighting to keep open a window of contention, while dealing with the prospect of massive payroll cuts in the years ahead, this is ... worse. Twins fans have been hoping for something big to happen for this franchise. Instead, the most talented spark plugs keep cracking. Others have a better attitude on this. But I'm sick of baseball at this point. Sick of watching big market teams pad their rosters with free agents while we have to pray our top prospects don't get totally derailed by fluke injuries. Life isn't fair. Everybody understands that. Baseball is our escape, though. Baseball should be fun. This isn't fun.
  4. I'm confused. Didn't the Twins already leverage the farm system in trading for Gray, Mahle and Jorge Lopez? Gray worked out perfectly well. Mahle and Lopez were disastrous. But perhaps they didn't leverage the system again in the offseason because there's just not much potentially-expendable talent left in the system. I think it was a HUGE mistake not signing a free agent starter this offseason, and it may force them into another foolish deadline trade come late summer.
  5. Please no. This is costly in terms of the future, and this FO does not have the knack for being a successful buyer in deadline trades. Build depth now.
  6. I'm not worried. Maybe I should be, but the Twins really seem to have players focus on ramping up slowly and making incremental adjustments in ST. I don't think there's much of a correlation between the way they're playing now and the way they'll play when the season starts.
  7. Why on Earth would you weaken the farm system (including losing potentially-expendable up-the-middle talent you might actually need as a bargaining chip come the trade deadline) when you could have simply signed MAT, who offers a little pop and Gold Glove defense? My first reaction? This is not a good move.
  8. Find someone who loves you the way Seth loves Twins baseball. I personally enjoy payroll talk - and even trying to put a little pressure on boosting the roster through free agency - but I also value that there's some real optimism and appreciation for the team. I hope they meet your/our hopes.
  9. I think the idea is to *create new fans* through a championship run. The base of fans is strong here, but it's not nearly enough to grow revenue. Just another reason why winning when you can is important. Or, as I've said many times, just go into total rebuild mode. These guys should really pick a lane, because it's hard to see how this nibbling .500 approach brings home a pennant.
  10. For years, I thought the lack of a killer instinct on this team was attributable to the coaching staff and FO. Now I think it goes much higher. No one with a desire to see a championship-winning team would take this approach to payroll after last season. I guess winning the Wild Card series was good enough in their eyes.
  11. If not a strawman, this is at least close to one. At the very least a subtle mischaracterization of probably most TDers thoughts. 1) Since the Twins do not release actual figures on their total costs, income or profit, no one here has a clear picture if they are now or have ever been running the team at a cash loss. 2) A baseball team is a prestige item, not something to build a portfolio around. And the capital appreciation in and of itself is immense. And nothing boosts that appreciation like fan support and brand enthusiasm. And nothing boosts fan support like winning. And, it turns out, you have to spend money to make money. I don't think it's their "civic duty" to boost their payroll to or above last year's level, no. But it's also not our duty to cheer for or financially support a team that won't maintain or boost spending when the window of contention has cracked back open.
  12. I just really really really really think they need another reliable #2-#3 starter. This rotation has very little depth, and very few reinforcements are waiting in the wings. I get the sense they think they can swing a trade near the deadline, but those are high cost and high risk.
  13. I'm starting to wonder if we're going to get some bullpen starts this year. Like, a lot of them.
  14. This. I get the points Nick is raising. I also like these Twins a lot. I'm hoping that the skepticism I feel creeping back in can be pushed off for another year. BUT ... it's a manager's job to manage talent. In fact, in an age where on-field decisions about length of starts and lineups can be dictated by the front office, the manager's interpersonal leadership skills are even more important. That work cannot always be handed to a veteran. I'm just hoping that Falvey/Levine aren't choosing "clubhouse character" over raw talent. It's your staff's job to shape that talent into professional skill. There are no nice-guy awards for super-harmonious teams - there's only the World Series trophy. I'd like to see that come here again.
  15. We'll see how this works out for them. Sounds like they took the rebuild seriously, which is what teams should do. You lose big for awhile, you save, you build a young core, you try to spend more and win big when the core matures. It'll be interesting to contrast that with the Twins approach, where you make a single big FA splash signing, you work trades and you otherwise nibble and try to perennially hover around .500 and see if the breaks bounce your way into and through the postseason. We'll just have to see which organizational philosophy leads to greater success in 2024 and beyond.
  16. Hmm. Substantially superior? If Julian, Wallner and Lewis can adjust and stay healthy, maybe. But the rotation is substantially inferior, and that usually sets the table for success. Bullpen looks okay. Lineup looks slightly above average. Speed looks below average. Defense appears average. Rotation is clearly below average. That doesn't lead me to the same optimism.
  17. It seems Falvey/Levine are addicted to trading second basemen. Look out, Julien. Jokes aside, I kinda like this trade. Polanco has been hit with the injury bug pretty regularly recently, and Gonzalez could help offset a SP deal including one of our prominent OF prospects. I hope Polanco has a tremendous year in Seattle. But I like that the FO is willing to take these kinds of calculated risks.
  18. Uh-oh. TD is already starting to run the "losing-ain't-so-bad," and "we'll-always-have-the-Sonny-Gray-pickoff-play" articles even before Spring Training starts. Can't we have a little chest thumping at the start of the year? Can't we hold out a little hope for a blockbuster-ish trade for a #2 starter? 😀
  19. There is not enough wood in the whole of North America to make me feel comfortable starting Buxton in CF again. But I'll knock until my knuckles bleed if that'll help.
  20. Okay, fine ... he's my pick to click. He may be a poor man's MAT, but we are poor and we won't have MAT. I say he's gonna do very well in 2024 as a bench CF option. Calling it.
  21. I love Buxton. None of this is his fault. But ... we've been here before, gang. Many, many times before.
  22. It's always amazing what top front offices can do in this game. Sure, there's some luck peppered in, but it usually follows on the heels of good decisions. That's why, more than any single player, I've wanted the Twins to acquire a top-tier front office. What they have now is good, but not outstanding. And they've had enough history here now to make that call.
  23. Absolutely. I was looking forward to getting all huffy about losing Kiersey. Now what am I going to gripe about?
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