beckmt

Just pay him, and hope he can play full time. He wants to be here.

From what I have seen he lost control of the locker room. That is not a good thing. It may carry over here. Bad choice

sorry, but both should be in

Rodriquez was tagged with a QO. That probably puts him out of our price range.

Rodriguez was issued a QO, that should finish the Twins. Also Ray. You may have to go big or go home.

Both should be, but there are a lot of great players on this ballot. I feel Kaat should certainly be in. If Don Sutton got in (good but not great, how can Kaat not be in) couple of the old players make this tough. Buck O'Neill is a certainty in my mind, and Lefty Grove should be in. Tough field, Maury Wills will probably be elected and in my mind should not be.

Radon is too risky for the Twins. You have to give the young pitchers a chance. I can see signing Pineda and the trade with Miami if you can resign Buxton

I am also concerned about Enlow. A lot of potential there. Vallimont is a high risk high reward player, don't expect the Twins to protect h, but he could be the next on the list of why didn't we protect him. There are others who need to be discussed in more depth, and I for one would like to see more of the AAAA types gone

I can see adding one better than Pineda type. At some point you have to see what the kids can do. Some will make it, some will fail or fail the first time, but before 2023 we have know what we have. If the model totally fails, then we need a new front office. I don't think it will

You are selling Kirlloff and Laurach very short. If they fail then we are looking for an outfielder.

Part of the problem is the number of pitching prospects the Twins have. They must find out how many of them can stick. When you have the numbers the Twins have, my guess is that 2 - 3 will work out. That just leaves us with a need for a front line starter, unless you think the Twins farm system has that (it might). But if you are going to fill the holes with FA pitchers, how do you find out if any of the farm pitchers will work (and might be better)

I also prefer Knebel. Graveman is my second choice. We need one more good bullpen piece to help. And no to Colume.

I agree on two points, NL will probably have a DH. Twins have other options and players in the majors. We need to rotate them through the DH slot. We may also need the DH slot for Sano for about 1/2 the time.

A couple of issues here. I think you are correct on Miranda, assuming his bat will play here. As I hope the Twins sign buxton to an extension, you have more outfield prospects than positions. 1. Assumption Kirloff and Sano rotate between 1B and DH, with Kirloff in the outfield at times, this blocks up one position. And I would not give up on Sano this early, he could wind up being a game changer. Laurach is going to need a place to play unless he cannot cut it, too early to tell, but I doubt it. 2. By 2023 you are going to need a place for both Lewis and Martin. That to me would mean leaving Lewis at SS until other positions are sorted out. I like Martin (he like Arraez, can be a pest and put pressure on other teams, both by extending AB's, and running when be gets on). Will he hit enough, I am guessing yes. 3. That leaves you, with the Kepler issue. RIght now he does not have a lot of trade value, this all depends on buxton. If you extend Buxton, I would wait until late winter and see what he would bring. There is always going to be a cost controlled club (Miami, Tampa, Oakland, Cleveland), who would give you a pitcher if Kepler was packaged with another player. I can see this happening.

I think Rooker will be kept on the 40 man, and be optioned to St. Paul as a backup. Do not see the value here. I am much more interested in the pest hitters, then the 3 outcome types.

Pohlad's have always stepped up for a face of the franchise player. I hope they just pay Buxton. IF you trade him you might as well tear it down and rebuild. You have a lot of pitching coming in the next few years, so hopefully that will work like Cleveland and put the young player pieces in around this.

1. Extend Buxton. If we could get the base done (13 -15 million range), I would urge Jim Pohlad to step and and ok the incentives to make it work. I am guessing this may be up to 10 million a year. With Buxton's WAR return, this should be done. Second issue is that most articles I have read from links on other sites, want Buxton for decent but underwhelming returns, That would be a major mistake. 2. Donaldson will not bring enough back in a trade, and the Twins would have to eat a fair amount of money (10 - 15 million) to bring back much of anything or package him with another asset we would probably not like to lose. I see him staying here. 3. Much as I dislike it, we need pitching. That means sending either Garver or Jeffers with another asset or two, to acquire a mid level starter from either Oakland or Miami. There may be another club to deal with, I know Oakland does not need a catcher, but several clubs do. 4. As stated elsewhere Kepler has little value at this time, he will be here unless needed as a sweetner to make a deal for pitching happen. 5. I seem to value Arraez more than most, so will run with him for another year, unless bowled over with an offer. Let's start Catchers Probably Garver (Jeffers goes in the Miami deal) Rortvedt Possibly a pickup if FA for backup 1B/DH Sano/Kirloff 2B Polonco/ Arreaz SS FA/ Gordon 3B Donaldson, Miranda OF Buxton, Kepler, Laurach, Celstino or Rooker (other one in St. Paul to start) Starting Pitching Pickup in deal for a catcher(Hopefully one from Miami) Ober, Ryan, Pineda (resign), Winder (might as well use his bullets here) Relievers Rodgers, Alcala, Duffey, Minaya, Thielbar, Moran, Garza Jr. (maybe Cano, this group will change as the year goes on) Rest of 40 man one of Celstino or rooker, Balazovich, Duran, Jax or Garza, Jr, Strotman, may Dobnak (if not traded), Maeda, possibly Gant (but not sold on him as I believe he has to make the 26 or be lost). Adds enlow, Sands, Palacios, Severino That comes to 37 - 38 by my count and leaves several openings and possible room for other moves or a more major trade. If nothing changes there will be 2 more adds before the rule 5 and a lot of shuffling after. Feel this gives us our best chance for next year without sacrificing the future. Expect Duran or Balazovich to be up next year (possibly Cano or other relievers). This team should be competitive but would need a major starting pitching upgrade to take on the White Sox. I would look at Rodon as a possibility to sign as an FA (might not be as expensive and could be 2 - 4 year term. with fade in second half, might not be issued a QO from Chicago. Stroman of the Mets would be another candidate, but would be more money. Do not want any over 30 filler as this will just block spots from youngsters we need to look at next year. Several of you might disagree with the drops, I have decided to give Jax or Garza Jr. or Gant, to be a bulk pitcher in the long relief/mop role, with the chance it could become something bigger. They probably have 1/2 season to prove they belong before Duran, Balazovich, Sands and others start arriving. Maybe even Varland. I am not a great fan of using pitchers bullets in the minors when they could help the major league club. Let the fun begin.

My feeling about Colume is that he is great on an average or below average team, but not as good if the expectations are high. Don't want this side show again.

Twins have a ton of close minor league talent and no way of knowing how good any of it is. You have to give some of it a chance. I do believe in resigning Pineda, one more FA, and rotating through the upper level good prospects. We might be able to do without the FA, but that would ask a lot of the system this year. I think to get one of the 5 SS, you have to resign Buxton and sign a very good FA pitcher. Otherwise why would one of the top SS come here to play on an average team. Seager is not going back to LA unless they part with Trea Turner, otherwise what do the Dodgers do with Lux? Sieman is too big a recession chance too early in his contract. Twins will not pay Correa, do not want Baez (who has the same issue as many of the Twins players), Story and Seager seem to be the best options for both money and length of contract if you want to go this route. Like the idea of a trade, but like other sites talking about Buxton for pennies on the dollar, the trades I have seen have almost no chance of happening. Modesci is interesting, but the price might well be higher than you think. Maybe it is doable, seems to be a decent idea, but would have to be more than many posters here think to get it done.

If you don't add a couple or three quality arms, you are punting on 2022. I agree we need to look at the young pitchers, but the bulk of them did not pitch major innings in 2021. You must assume most will be on innings limits in 2022 (starters). Relievers are mainly another year away. We might get 1 - 2 in 2022, but counting on them is dangerous. That being said, we are going to have to look at a lot of them next year, because 40 man roster crunch is going to get us, and we can't afford to give away more talent. That may mean making a riskier trade or two to send out more players and get closer players to the majors back.

If that's all he wants, please pay the man

I agree Buxton is first, but hopefully we are only talking incentives from the base contract that was floated. It is doable. I like Seager, since the Dodgers will probably let him walk. Twins need bullpen and 1 very good starter. That is doable, so we shall see.

Some of the argument is about command and control. Movement and ability to locate the fastball on the top edge of the zone is very important. As many pitchers have proven lack of movement just means a lot of doubles and homers when the fastball gets caught up to.

Movement to me is the key, along with command. A 98 MPH fastball with no movement will eventually get hammered. A 93 MPH fastball with a lot of movement is a big issue to batters. With Mario Rivera most players knew what was coming, with the movement they still could not hit it.

There are some leagues in the Twin Cities if anyone is interested, I can put you in touch with a couple people. I was in for over 30 years until my wife objected to the time spent.