TopGunn#22

First off, I will say there is nothing "ridiculous" about this article. We may not agree with the premise of trading either Ryan or Ober (I'm in this camp) but this is what TD exists for during our off season...speculation about what moves the Twins might make. I'm sure there were zero Twins fans expecting a trade of Rod Carew following the 1978 season. He had won an MVP in 1977 and followed it up with another batting title in 1978. But it happened. I wouldn't be against the Twins exploring what Ryan and Ober could bring back. But I would make a different suggestion than dealing Ryan or Ober because I want the Twins to be contenders next season and they won't be without either of these guys. How about trading Simeon Woods-Richardson? I would certainly explore what I could get for him. I would replace him in the rotation by giving Griffin Jax a crack at joining Lopez, Ryan, Ober and the winner between Festa and Matthews. Could we get a solid catching prospect for SWR? Someone who could make Jeffers or Vasquez trade worthy? Could we get a serious RH bat for our outfield? Or a First Baseman? It's certainly something that should be considered. I would also disagree with Nick that Buxton should not be a trade candidate. He finally played 100 games for just the 2nd time in his career. But his power numbers were down and with Rocco's aversion to stealing bases his base stealing prowess is a non-factor with the Twins. Off loading a $15 million dollar contract for the Twins would be tremendous. To a team that needs a CF like the Dodgers it would be a drop in the bucket. This off season changes will be made. Some of them might be big changes. We should not rule anything out until the possibility has been explored. I wouldn't trade Ryan or Ober. I have shared some other ideas I would consider. But NOTHING should be off the table this off season.

The Tigers, like the Royals are for real. Their futures depend on how the Tigers ensure that Tarik Skubal remains as the Ace of their rotation and how long the Royals can hang on to Bobby Witt Jr. The big market teams will certainly be sniffing around trying to pry these guys away. Bobby Witt is a bona fide Superstar. he's destined to win an MVP. Tarik Skubal will probably win the 2024 A.L. CY Young Award and he looks good enough to win a couple more. Both the Royals and the Tigers have other emerging talent and in the case of the Royals, a solid vet in All Star Salvador Perez. But Witt Jr. and Skubal are the centerpieces of future. The Guardians have a Superstar in Jose Ramirez and an All World closer in Emmanuel Clase. And they always have solid rotations and good bullpens. They have a pitching pipeline that is the envy of baseball. Were the Pohlad's arrogant enough to think they could just cut $30 million in payroll and cruise to a Division Championship? Or did they just not care if the Twins successfully defended their 2023 Division Championship? Neither answer is acceptable. At some point, we will have new Twins ownership. How will that affect the budget for 2025? As someone else mentioned, budgets are not laws that need to be legislatively repealed. They are a guideline of what a business is planning for the coming year. But for those of us who have had to plan a budget for a business, we all realize that it's written in paper with a pencil with an eraser at the ready.

To me, Tonkin is the only obvious name that jumps out as a clear "no." I'm still willing to hang with Kirilloff for one more year. The rest of them, to me are obvious "YES's." I'd still look to deal a catcher, and if I could get Alcantara or Luzardo in a deal for Jeffers I'd consider it. I'd like to start with Vasquez with the Marlins and pick up a chunk of his salary, but I just don't think I could pry Alcantara or Luzardo away from them for anything less than Jeffers and probably Julien. If that's the case I'd ride with Vasquez for the final year of his deal and remake our catching anew in 2026. It might seem foolish to even consider trading Jeffers considering that there are still big questions with a number of our catching prospects in the minor leagues, but I think the Twins should make some discreet inquires and see what kind of deals are available. I always bring up Alcantara and Luzardo because the Marlins have absolutely no catching talent at the major league or minor league level and they have some young pitching that could replace an Alcantara or Luzardo. They have been rumored to be interested in either Jeffers or Vasquez. The rest of the Rule 5 names just don't move the needle for me. I'd be open to letting them all go.

I'm not expecting the "new" owners (when a sale finally does happen) to spend a ton to sign 3 high profile free agents. But I will say this: As soon as there is new ownership there will be a honeymoon period. Fans will be overjoyed that we are finally done with the Pohlad family and will be excited about what the new ownership group "might" do. In other words, the bar will be low for the first couple years for the new ownership group to regain the trust and enthusiasm of the fans. All this new ownership needs to do is push payroll back up to the $160 million dollar level by making a bold move or two to add talent to the roster. The Twins already have a plethora of guys who make league minimum or a little higher. Any new owner who takes a hard look at what Cleveland, Kansas City and Detroit are doing will realize that the Twins aren't too far behind them, but that a couple bold moves are needed to put the Twins in position to re-take the division crown. The Royals, Guardians and Tigers should force the Twins new ownership and quite possibly a new FO and manager (there is no requirement for new ownership to stick with someone else's "team") to step up to the plate and be ready to compete in what could be MLB's toughest division. New Twins ownership should welcome this competitive atmosphere.

DocBauer, I agree with everything you laid out. They have some LH guys with potential that could very well bounce back...Funderburk, Headrick, Moran. But I'd like to see one or two of them emerge as the solid #2 LH and find someone (who that is, neither you are I know at this point) to be the primary LHP for the bullpen. I must add that the idea of Jax getting a chance to be part of the rotation intrigues me. The only reason that would keep me from giving him a chance was if they were able to land a SP on a very team friendly contract that could be good enough to slot in at #3. There aren't many guys who would fit that profile. But as bad as the bullpen was at times this year, I think it has a chance to be pretty good next season if they aren't decimated by injuries and some guys bounce back.

I agree with bean. I have been one of the biggest hopeful (hopeless??) believers in Matt Canterino. He's kind of been my "Holy Grail." I keep waiting and searching for him to finally do something and it never materializes. I'm finally at the point where I'm ready to move on. As precious as 40-man roster spots are, I just can't see the Twins going into 2025 with Canterino on the 40-man or maybe even anywhere in our minor league system.

For a guy that can throw it 104 mph, I'm not concerned that Duran "lost 1 mph of fastball velo." The Twins have the talent available for a pretty good bullpen, but Rocco needs to have clearly defined roles and I just don't think he's capable of that. In the last week of the season, the Twins TV broadcast team put up a graphic that showed how Duran had pitched in "save" and "non-save" situations. His numbers were VERY GOOD while closing and VERY BAD when pitching in a non-save situation. Bringing Duran in for the 7th inning, in a close game, because it's a "high leverage:" situation is not the right way to use him. The Guardians don't bring Clase in for the 7th. No team with a top notch closer does this. The Twins need a manager who will define specific roles for each pitcher and execute this properly. Duran, Jax, Sands, Alcala, Varland, Topa, Stewart. That's the foundation for a pretty good BP. Stewart is a Wildcard because his history shows he will be good when you have him, but he's rarely available. Funderburk and Moran could be 2 LHP that are capable of a bounce back. But even with the foundation for a good bullpen I think the Twins need to go out and get TWO solid arms for the BP. One RH and one LH. I say TWO because I want to give Jax a shot at the rotation. I think he could very well be a Reynaldo Lopez/Seth Lugo type of guy. If he's able to slot in as the #3 SP, that allows the Twins to take the best of Festa, SWR and Matthews for the #5 spot and depth. I just don't like putting too many eggs in the basket of 2nd year pitchers, each of whom could be on a seasonal innings limit. If it doesn't work out (but I think it WILL) you still have a guy who is among the BEST 8th inning guys in baseball. One of the 2 RP's that the Twins would sign would need to be of a talent level that could cover the 8th inning. Stewart has shown he can handle the 8th when he's healthy. Varland has the potential, but I prefer guys like him and Alcala as 7th inning guys. I wouldn't trade Topa when keeping him gives us another viable option under contract. So the question to me is "who are some of the guys the Twins could consider adding to the talent we already have in our BP?" The last thing I would like to point out is that I believe the Twins and Duran need to throw his fastball more. It seemed he would get ahead of guys 0-2 or 1-2 and then instead of throwing some high heat, he would try a breaking pitch and give up a hit. He needs better command of his fastball, whether that's a 4-seamer or a cutter. Better command helps every pitcher. Duran needs the confidence to know he can hit his spot. He seemed unsure or incapable at times this last season.

As a guy who grew up with Calvin Griffith as the owner and Howard Fox as the GM, a duo who invented the word "penurious" and then with the Pohlad's, another family who took the word "penurious" to a new level and a front office hack like Dave St. Peter, I am THRILLED at the news they will be selling the team. No, I'm not expecting Steve Cohen level payrolls. Absolutely NOT. I will give the Pohlad's credit for OK'ing the FA signing of Jack Morris prior to the 1991 season. Jack and the Twins gave us possibly the greatest season in Twins history, going from "worst to first" and beating the Braves in an all time great World Series. And then in true Pohlad form, after 1991, they refused to pay Jack Morris a fair salary for what he had helped the Twins accomplish and Morris instead signed with Toronto, the team we had beaten the previous season to go to the World Series. And what did Jack Morris do? He helped lead the Blue Jays to their first World Series triumph. In a nutshell, THAT was the Pohlad family. We as Twins fans have suffered under two family ownerships that rarely ever made a bold move to "go for it" at the trade deadline. Guys like Jack Morris, Chilli Davis, Shane Mack, or even a Carlos Correa were all off season moves. This last season's trade deadline was frustrating, but no more frustrating than the 2000's when we had two MVP's (Mauer & Morneau) a multiple CY Young Winner (Johan Santana) and the best closer in Twins history, (future Hall of Famer Joe Nathan) and not one of us can name any kind of significant trade deadline acquisition that made a difference. A decade of potential WASTED. It will be interesting to see who materializes as potential buyers. I wonder if A-Rod and Lorre would rather own a baseball team?? We have been sold this "small market" drivel for so long some of us actually believe it. The Twin Cities is TV market #15 in the nation. That's firmly middle of the pack in the professional sports world. The inability of the Pohlad family to ever actually leverage this is on them. They are bankers. They have absolutely no media savvy and it showed in their inability to leverage their TV market size and their lack of ever having an effective marketing strategy. You look at this Twins roster and how many league minimum contracts we have or extremely affordable contracts for pitchers like Ryan and Ober and you realize there is no way they can't be more efficient. This front office made the blunders of signing Vasquez to a 3-year $30 million dollar contract. Who signed off on that??? They calculated that Kyle Farmer was a "good value" at $6 million dollars per year. They overpaid Caleb Theilbar for 2 consecutive seasons as the most expensive arm in our bullpen. Whenever the new ownership group takes over there are going to be HUGE changes for the Twins. There will certainly be some mistakes made, but expect this to be Rocco's final season as Twins manager. Expect to see Falvey let go in addition to Dave St. Peter and a host of others. The new ownership group will want their own people in place. What will be key with the new ownership group, more than how much they decide to spend on payroll, will be who they choose to replace the people listed above. What infusion of bright, young baseball minds currently laboring for other franchises can they bring in to re-set the course of this Twins franchise. I'm hoping for a manager who not only utilizes analytics but who also has some baseball instincts. Who manages a more aggressive, exciting brand of baseball. Something resembling how the Brewers play the game, but with a payroll that should put our franchise several rungs above Milwaukee. I'm looking for a scouting and drafting department that starts to add more athleticism than we have previously. And I'm looking to a team that will continue to churn out home grown pitching with the hopes they can avoid the Matt Canterino "school of injuries." We are a team with some serious issues but one that is not bereft of talent and potential. I think the Pohlad's realized that they have so antagonized their fan base that they realized they weren't willing to spend the necessary payroll to correct the many bad trades and puzzling free agent acquisitions (Vasquez, Farmer, Gallo, Shoemaker, Happ etc...) to begin to regain that trust. We are the verge of a new era for Twins baseball. I don't expect a quick sale, but I also don't expect something as long, drawn out and convoluted as the Timberwolves situation. The new ownership could prove to be worse. But after having endured Calvin Griffith and the Pohlad family, I'll gladly take my chances with who that might be.

I'm not sure what the "consensus" on TD would be for giving Jax a chance to break into the rotation but I'm all for it. I think Jax has earned the opportunity. SP's always have more value than RP's and after what Lopez and Lugo accomplished this season I'd love to see Jax bring 5-6 innings of his "stuff" and his bulldog mentality to our rotation. This necessitates seeing a permanent transition of Louie Varland to a bullpen role. I'd still look to deal one of our catchers and maybe Julien to Miami for a return of Alcantara or Luzardo and STILL put Jax in the rotation. It's easier, budget wise, to add BP arms than top end rotation arms and I think the Twins can't just run it back in 2025 and expect a better result. I like the idea of Festa, Matthews and even SWR getting run as bullpen guys and if injuries occur, stretching them out to fill holes in the rotation. Many people forget that Johan Santana actually started out as a BP guy before he was so good we HAD to put him in the rotation. A rotation of (Alcantara or Luzardo), Lopez, Ryan, Jax and Ober has no weak link. A return to form of Duran and Varland blossoming in a BP role along with Acala, Stewart, Sands, and a return to form by Funderburk would allow the Twins to add one or two FA RP's who could be impactful. Offensively the hope is that in firing all 3 of our hitting coaches the Twins hitting philosophy will finally evolve into better "situational" hitting and less HR or strikeout. The Twins should build the pitching staff as I've laid out but they will have to take some risks with the lineup. They may need to go with a Miranda/Kirilloff platoon at 1B. They may have to ask more of Lewis and Lee than originally planned. There should be no doubt that Castro is re-signed at that $6.2 million dollar figure. He's just waaay too valuable in the role he plays. If the Twins felt is was necessary to retain Farmer at roughly the same salary, then it's a no-brainer to retain Castro. And now with the news that the Pohlad family is open to selling the team breaking there could/should be increased optimism that the Pohlad's may spend a little more on player salaries to insure that they are selling their asset at its highest value. I think the Pohlad family finally realized they have lost the fan base and they messed up SO bad that it would take several YEARS to build any trust or support back up. True to the bankers they are, they are going to cash their original $44 million dollar investment in for the $1.5 to $2 BILLION the team is worth now. We should expect nothing else from the Pohlad's. Let's hope whoever the new owners are, whenever the sale happens, will look at the Twins as a sports franchise and be more motivated by putting a competitive team on the field than what the net profitability of the ballclub is.

So bean has answered the question of where Twins catchers rank and they are middle of the pack and then downright horrible at throwing out base stealers (which is probably more on our pitchers ability to hold runners than on their throwing ability). I don't think Jeffers is any better than mediocre. I'd trade him to Miami for Sandy Alcantara or Jesus Luzardo. Then I'd deal Buxton to the Dodgers for Dalton Rushing. Rushing is blocked by All Star Will Smith. The Dodgers even had Rushing playing some outfield to see if they could get his bat up to the big leagues but they never pulled the trigger. The Dodgers need a CF. When was the last time you couldn't name who was playing CF for the Dodgers. They have a gaping hole there. Buxton's $15 million dollar contract would be a drop in a bucket to them. The Dodgers currently have 2 other highly rated minor league catchers in addition to Rushing so they would be dealing from a position of surplus. You'd add $10 million for Alcantara but subtract $15 million for Buxton and nearly $5 million for Jeffers. You'd get a highly rated young catcher and finish out the final season of Vasquez. If Rushing plays well in 2025 the Twins could always look to deal Vasquez at the trade deadline. You'd also create some space to add around the fringes, to the bullpen and a RH outfield bat.

I was 10 years old when Tiant won his first A.L. ERA title in 1968 with a 1.60 ERA. He was phenomenal that season but was over shadowed by Bob Gibson's historic 1968 season in the N.L. and Denny McClain's 30 win season in the A.L. The Twins were an extremely poorly run ballclub in those days. Not only did we see the decline of Tony Oliva and Harmon Killebrew beginning in 1972, but we also saw Jim Kaat get the same treatment as Tiant. In 1969, after the tremendous season Tiant had in 1968, on a poor Cleveland team, he went 9-20 with a 3.71 ERA. He also threw 250 innings that season and in starting 37 games gave up 37 HR's. His arm clearly wasn't right and he got by on guts and guile. Still, the Twins sensed an opportunity and traded for him, giving up Graig Nettles, Dean Chance and Ted Uhlaender for Tiant and Stan Williams. Williams was outstanding for the Twins in 1970 going 10-1 with a 1.99 ERA as the set up guy for Ron Perranoski. Tiant only threw 84 innings for the Twins but went 7-3. Kaat, on the other hand was having a great 1972 season going 10-2 with a 2.07 ERA before coming up with an arm issue. The Twins didn't have the patience to wait for either Tiant or Kaat to get healthy and let both pitchers go. So in 1972 Tiant went 15-6 for the Red Sox and won his 2nd A.L. ERA crown at 1.91. He then went on to be a 20 game winner and the Ace of the Red Sox throughout the 70's. Kaat went on to win 20 games in two seasons for White Sox in the 70's. Imagine a pitching staff with Tiant, Kaat, an emerging Bert Blyleven and Dave Goltz in the 70's for a club that had hitters like Rod Carew, Lyman Bostock, Larry Hisle and others. Tiant belongs in the HOF. Just wish he could have been alive to experience it.

Interesting article. It's always fun to propose and discuss possible trades. That said, I'm 100% in the "No Way I'm Making a Trade Like This" camp. EVERY major league baseball team needs starting pitching. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. You can't just cavalierly say the Twins don't need Jax in the rotation. Plus, Jax is our most consistent pitcher. I'm not parting with him in virtually any circumstance. So let's say the Twins give Jax a chance at starting like the Royals did with Seth Lugo and the Braves did with Reynaldo Lopez. Here's your rotation: Lopez, Ryan, Jax, Ober, (Festa, SWR, Matthews). That's pretty darn solid. And teams that get solid starting pitching are always "in the game." This would create a problem in the bullpen. You've just taken your most reliable pitcher and put him in your rotation. I will point out that it's much easier to add bullpen arms than rotation arms, especially when your ownership group is more concerned with profitability than on field success. I also do not think it's worth giving up Jax for an outfielder (even though he hits right-handed) when you've got a host of OF prospects getting closer to the major leagues led by Emmanuel Rodriguez and Walker Jenkins. We're talking about a PLATOON option for our OF. Not a fulltime player. For our most consistent pitcher who has the potential upside of being an All Star caliber pitcher. And if you doubt that Jax has that potential, simply look at what Lopez and Lugo accomplished this past season. Neither of them has had the success out of the BP that Jax has (Lugo is close). Find a better RH outfield bat than Margot this time. Give Jax a shot at the rotation. Fill in the BP with quality options.

It's not really a "rebuild" if the foundation of your team is essentially already built on young talent ascending to the big league team. But I think much of the frustration of Twins fans is in the apparent lack of progress of many of these young players and the continued injury problems YOUNG guys seem to have. Shouldn't those "young bodies" be more limber and less prone to muscle pulls etc... Is it a flaw in their training regimen ??? I will also beg to differ with Nick on the prospect of trading either Correa or Buxton. Given a trade to a contending club, I don't think either player would waive their no trade clause. I don't believe Correa would be traded, but I DO believe the chance exists for Buxton. Byron finally played 100 games for the 2nd time in his career and while the batting average was a pleasant surprise and the defense was excellent the power was a little light and face it, his speed in terms of stolen bases has always been a non issue with the Twins given Rocco's aversion to stealing bases. His salary is a mere $15 million dollars per year. WE make a big deal about that, but there are a LOT of teams who look at that as a drop in the bucket. It may have been back in August that I suggested a possible trade of Buxton to the L.A. Dodgers. I won't PAY for the Baseball Trade Values tool but I had fun using it while it was free. As a result, I don't know what "surplus value" various players have but I have to believe that Buxton built back a good deal of his negative value. The Dodgers need a legit CF. $15 million a year is nothing to them. If they would part with one of their young SP's and one of their highly rated minor league catchers who is ready for the big leagues but blocked by Will Smith, I'd make that trade. I won't name specific players because I have no idea what would be reasonable based on the BBTV's system. But I remember how the Pablo Lopez for Luis Arraez trade was graded and it strongly favored the Twins. I look at Ryan Jeffers 2023 season and see it as an outlier. If I made this Buxton trade to the Dodgers and got a promising young catcher to pair with Vasquez and a young SP, my next move would be to turn around and make a deal with Miami centered around Jeffers for a SP like Luzardo or Alcantara. The deal could be Jeffers and Julien for one of those two SP's and something else. Good pitching can keep teams in games night in and night out. If you PITCH, you will always COMPETE. We have enough power to score runs and with a new hitting coach coming in (Nelson Cruz? Justin Morneau?) we may finally become better than an atrocious "situational hitting" team. We have young OF's on the way with Emm-Rod and Walker Jenkins. We have Wallner and Larnach ascending. I would dump Buxton's contract with an eye on acquiring more pitching and adding one more reliable bullpen arm to a bullpen with Jax, Duran and Sands and hopefully Alcala and Varland. It's not a "rebuild." It's a "re-tooling."

Maybe A-Rod and his partner would rather own the Twins...

I agree, EVERY year is a year a manager should be on the hot seat, unless you're Dave Roberts. I don't think Rocco has any more rope because they have fired their entire set of batting coaches. I think it makes it that much easier to clean house if there is another disappointing year like this one. I'm really surprised that 3rd Base coach Watkins is still employed. If the Twins get off to a slow start in April & May we could see the hammer come down hard. At that point Target Field will be a mausoleum and Rocco would be the convenient scapegoat. If that is the case, and I'm Glenn Taylor, I'm calling the Pohlad's and making an offer.

At this point I don't think AK has any trade value. The other thing to consider is that Santana, who played for 5x the salary AK had is NOT going to be willing to re-sign with the Twins for a discount. Especially if he wins a Gold Glove. Personally, for me, I just can't seem to allow myself to give up on Alex Kirilloff. THAT SWING.... I think he's eminently worthy of another chance at 1.8 million. Look, we carried a terribly ineffective Caleb Thielbar at almost twice that salary this past season. Kyle Farmer for far more. The payroll blunders this front office made this past season were epic. I will agree on this: This coming 2025 season will be Alex Kirilloff's last chance to make an impact with the Minnesota Twins. Guys like Emmanuel Rodriguez and Walker Jenkins are just on the edge of the horizon and will be pushing guys like Kirilloff out if he doesn't have a resounding bounce back season. This off season has a LOT of questions that need answers. From whoever will replace Falvey to our managerial approach, our hitting philosophy, player payroll, acquisitions and final roster determinations. The only thing we know for sure is that the Pohlad family will still own the Twins. At this point the Pohlad family has lost their fan base. Maybe they realize this but maybe they are clueless. After all, David St. Peter is still a part of this mess. They have fans that want to watch them on TV but who can't. They are an ownership group who are clearly not universally liked or respected. Contrast them with the Wilf family who own the Vikings. Do they realize this baseball business they operate is at a crossroads? This off season will be very interesting indeed.

Just got back from a trip to Italy with my wife and thankfully missed the last 10 games of the season. There was a guy in our group who was a Reds fan from Cincy. We talked about what a good fit Francona would be for both the Twins and the Reds. I wasn't surprised the Reds won out there. The Twins and Reds are actually very similar teams. Both have young, up and coming position players and pitchers. Both have suffered tremendously from injuries to key players and pitchers. Both had key young players fall flat on their faces after a promising 2024. I have to call out Matthew for his "strong vocal minority" statement. Nice try. It's "strong" and it's "vocal" but it's absolutely NOT a minority. Most good managers have clearly defined roles for their players. Whether it's the bullpen or the lineup, players thrive under a clearly defined structure that plays to their strengths. Rocco is the most disorganized manager I've ever seen for the Twins in this regard. I would say that a bullpen, based on how this season unfolded, that would employ Duran as the closer, Jax as the 8th inning setup guy and Cole Sands as the 7th inning guy would have thrived. Clearly defined roles. Instead, we had games where Duran came in in the 7th or 8th inning in a non save situation. Near the end of the season the TV broadcast put up a graphic that showed Duran's effectiveness in "save" and "non-save" situations. It was stunning. He's a beast when it's a "save" and terrible in the "non-save" situation. I understand the theory of "leverage" situations, but when you're a slave to the spreadsheet, that leads to a disorganized mish-mash of bullpen roles. Wallner and Larnach showed some real progress this season while other young players regressed badly. I don't think young guys can develop in a system where they are in the lineup to begin a game and then when the opposing manager removes his right handed "opener" and inserts a lefty our current manager removes the young LH hitter for a pinch hitter in the 2nd or 3rd inning. THAT is not conducive to development. Not every young LH hitter is destined to be Rod Carew or Tony Oliva, but they will only learn to hit lefty's by facing them. Finally, we chop a bunch of coaches but leave Watkins as our 3rd base coach??? How many rallies does Watkins have to kill before we realize he's not the guy for that job?? Just bring Toby Gardenhire up as a manager in waiting and put him at 3B. That's what he's currently doing as the Saints manager. So, No. This is not a "vocal minority." We had a chance at Francona (who our FO should be quite familiar and comfortable with) and with the immediate vote of confidence for Rocco took ourselves out of the running. I don't doubt for a minute that the reason was the Pohlad's didn't want to pay 2 managers firing Rocco/hiring Francona. In Minnesota, the competition for sports revenue is intense. The Twins are being effectively boxed out by the Vikings and T-Wolves. On a scale of 1-10 right now, how excited is the Minnesota sports fan for the Vikings (currently at 4-0) and the T-Wolves? How excited are they for the Twins off season and outlook for 2025? You couldn't have a more stark contrast. And the Twins are on the wrong side of it.

Happy Birthday RiverBrian !!!

That's a good point 1985Fan. The situational hitting on this team has been and still is atrocious. It's not just that they can't get the clutch 2-out hit. It's that they strike out SO MUCH and seldom ever make a "productive out" by advancing the runner on 2nd base with nobody out to 3rd base. We don't bunt. We don't hit-and-run. We rarely steal bases. We are seldom are aggressive on the base paths. These are all "in-game" situations that we consistently fail at that are frustrating. We need a philosophical change in how we approach these situations at bat by at bat. We seem to be a team of "guess hitters." Julien looks completely out of synch. Buxton seems to "pre-determine" that he's going to swing at whatever the 2-0 pitch is because "it's gotta be a good pitch to hit...right??"

GREAT point LambchoP !! AJ Puk should have been at the top of our "shopping list" for all the reasons you just stated. Yet he wasn't. The comparison of the Twins and Padres is excellent. We are two, very similar franchises heading in different directions. They really ARE what we COULD be. Maybe that's because the Padres realize that they are in the same division as the mighty Dodgers. And a Giants organization that spends as well. You have the D-Backs, who miraculously made it to the World Series last year. San Diego can't take anything for granted. And then you have the often maligned A.L. Central, which now seems to have 4 teams capable of making some noise. Three of those teams are doing everything they can to win the division or make the playoffs. We know who they are, and the Twins are not one of them. We had a similar thread in which I expressed my frustration for accountability. Is it ownership or the front office? The front office, when given the chance has made some truly BAD moves. They clearly, if given the opportunity, have a lot of cognitive dissonance when it comes to making trades. The back and forth the fan base gets from ownership and the front office as to who ultimately determines what moves are made is frustrating. Ownership "says" Falvey & Levine are free to do what is needed to better the team and the front office "says" ownership is not holding them back. But then you acquire Trevor Richards at the deadline and act like you brought in Mariano Rivera. My frustration with this lack of accountability is obvious. The bottom line is that when there is any doubt, you go to the top. Ownership is the real problem with this franchise. They run the Twins like they would a bank. The Twins are not a bank. Nobody has feelings for Wells Fargo like they do for the Twins. I'm frustrated with ownership but I know we're probably stuck with them. I'm frustrated with the front office because they have an Eddie Julien batting average on trades. I'm frustrated with Rocco because he manages by spread sheet and seems to have no feel for the game. But even if the Twins cleaned house and brought in Terry Francona to manage (a proven winner). If they replaced the entire front office...we'd STILL be stuck with the Pohlad's. Maybe we could succeed with a better manager and a front office with a better track record on trades. But with the Pohlad's...maybe not.

There is no doubt a position change is in Correa's future at some time during his contract. But I think he's our SS next season for sure. He still makes plays few SS's can make. Brooks Lee is the obvious heir-apparent at short, but he will probably be playing 2B next year and SS on days Correa DH's. In 2 or 3 years, when a change seems more possible, why not a move to 2B?? One thing Correa has that Ernie Banks didn't is an absolute cannon for an arm. I'd like to see Correa making the throw from 2B on a double play. First baseman DO need to make throws on relays, but it seems less and less nowadays. Correa as a 2B would still be involved in a lot of relay throws. Who knows? Maybe Danny Andrade has a big year next year and barges into the "SS of the Future" discussion, allowing Lee to stay at 2B or move to 3B. Culpepper may continue to shine and advance more quickly than we anticipate. He's already turning heads. Next year for sure, Correa is the primary SS. Possibly even in 2026. But 2 years from now, with the way the Twins draft SS's we may have an excellent replacement ready to roll.

You are the King of Satire !! Well done once again.

Much like how I felt with Mike Taylor and Donny Solano last year, I feel the same about Santana. You were able to get a career year out of Taylor and Solano but they weren't likely to repeat those (and they didn't) and with Santana approaching 39 years old you just can't bring him back. As others have said, the $5-$8 million that would be spent on Santana needs to go to our pitching staff. You probably can't get a good SP for that money unless a real solid SP is willing to sign for the M.L. minimum, but you could look to shore up a bullpen with a couple of veteran arms to go with Jax, Duran and Sands. The Twins plan all along has been to begin promoting their young players. Miranda, Julien and Kirilloff (if he can ever stay healthy) should be the plan at 1B. Correa at SS, with Lewis and Lee to play 2B/3B will be the plan with Castro backing each of them up. The outfield will have Buxton, flanked by Larnach and Wallner with the need to acquire a RH bat that is capable of playing all 3 OF positions. Martin hasn't done enough to just hand him that spot. They at least need to explore what options are available. Somewhere in there is possibly a spot for Emmanuel Rodriguez, but not until All Star game or August 1st. This late season collapse is sharpening the focus on many changes that need to happen this off-season. As others have said, even if we make the playoffs, the likelihood of a first round defeat is high. I think our aspirations for this season were higher than a first round exit. If the Twins FAIL to make the playoffs, then some big changes need to happen. This is similar to the end of the Zimmer/Spielman regime with the Vikings. It was time for a change of leadership, philosophy and strategy. If the Twins fail to make the playoffs, BIG changes need to happen.

If there is a Silver Lining in this late season collapse it might be that we can bid farewell to Watkins as the 3B coach (and hopefully promote someone like Toby Gardenhire as the new one). We can contemplate whether the Twins ownership will replace Rocco "Mr. Spreadsheet" Baldelli as manager and Pete Maki as the pitching coach. Maybe get a hitting coach that can do a better job of teaching situational hitting. We strikeout too much and we do not move baserunners well. This is obvious with the large number of runners we leave on base. If the Twins do not make the playoffs, changes are in order. Unfortunately, we can forget about replacing ownership. We're stuck with the Pohlad's. But this manager and this front office have left the Twins in a situation where we're depending on 3 rookies in the starting rotation and a bullpen that has had only TWO reliable performers ALL YEAR (Griffin Jax and Cole Sands) and some hitters that just can't hit. And look, somebody has to be held responsible. Either the Pohlad's are not letting the FO plug holes by limiting the money that can be spent, OR, the front office doesn't see the holes or understand the reasons they should have been more proactive. SOMEBODY needs to be held accountable. This back and forth that the Pohlad's are more than willing to spend if the right opportunity presents itself, yet we're cutting payroll as a priority and the front office's big move at the deadline was to bring in retread Trevor Richards just screams "LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY." Which is it? Do the the Pohlad's WANT to spend or want to CUT? Does the the front office HAVE the ability to make any move they deem necessary? Or they can't because of budget constraints?? Which is it?? It's harder to find an honest answer to that, than it is to actually know where Kamala Harris stands on various issues or to know what her economic plan for the next 4 years IS. Cleveland, Kansas City and Detroit ALL made some aggressive moves at the deadline. We brought in Trevor Richards. To which Twins fans were left feeling like Charlie Brown felt in "The Great Pumpkin" when his friends looked in their Trick or Treat bags and said "I got a Snickers bar," I got a Hershey bar," and Charlie looked in his bag and said "I got a ROCK." (and maybe in this case...I got a Rocco !!)

Nothing this FO or ownership or manager does nowadays inspires much confidence in me. I understand they are much smarter than me. Goodness, they have spreadsheet after spreadsheet to prove it.