farmerguychris

I like Max. But - his inconsistency makes me uninterested in bringing him back when we have alternatives who are cheaper, and have at least as high of floor as he has waiting in the wings. However, I agree with the article - with this FO history of keeping vets longer than they should, I fear they will pick that option up. I felt that even before he started hitting recently, and I think this only confirms that fear. I still hope they can pick it up and trade him allowing us to use that $10M elsewhere.

Wish you would do something like this in Ft. Myers during spring training too.

I think the term 'trust', is an interesting choice for this headline. Fact is - it doesn't matter if we (as fans) trust them or not. The ownership's opinion of them is all that matters. While we openly question many of their moves - or lack of moves - it is not 'trust' that is under evaluation IMO - instead the word I might use may be 'do I have confidence' in the F.O. Do they get it 'right' more often than other teams F.O. teams. I think the jury is still out. Something this team has done since their arrival is to try and get 'bargains' by hoping below market contracts for oft injured players we might never otherwise get. That doesn't really seem to be working well I'm sad to say, but I understand why they want to go that route - swing big and hope for the best MAY be a better plan than signing lower ceiling guys who may stay healthy would be a good subject to dig more into.

I don't think we could have sold off enough to become a serious world series contender. With that said, my goal remains to be to win ONE playoff game. Yes, we need to get there first, but one post season victory is still within reach, and be a milestone we haven't accomplished in 20 years. We didn't get any weaker in our farm system, and can still improve by having players like Lewis come back, and getting rid of dead weight in players like Gallo (addition by subtraction). Now if they do any cuts like letting Gallo go is the question. I fear they will not.

Yes - and we should sell. Can still win 1 playoff game this year while getting something back on our expiring contracts instead of nothing at the end of the year.

Yes - our goal this year should be to win 1 playoff game. We can do that while still building for the future if we let Gray and Maeda go. Focus on next year after the recent Royals series. Sell high.

I would prefer doing nothing than moving on from one of our top 3 future guys - that is my biggest fear.

I was on the fence about being buyers or sellers - Now, I'm in the seller column. We won't be able to trade for enough players to win in the postseason if our regulars can't even win 1 game against someone like the Royals. Trade away expiring contracts and build for next year. We could still back into the playoffs, maybe even win a game (reasonable goal for the Twins) and hopefully benefit next season from our guys who could simply walk after this year.

Just like Kepler - one brief hot stretch does not eliminate 3+ years of below the line performance. Maybe we can trade both of them while they're hot for more than they're worth.

Why would we trade a guy who can be part of our future when we have the 'current' guys failing? Trade or cut Kepler and Gallo and let Larnach and Wallner play the corners with hopefully a right handed guy acquired for the current 2. Larnach (mostly due to injury) hasn't shown us a full year of what he can do. Gallo and Kepler have.

So are you recommending we should do nothing, or that we will do nothing?

Kepler or Gallo may be cut if my option. We have enough left handed corner outfielders in the minors who are ready to step in at the big club level and we wouldn't miss much production by having Larnach or Wallner in there instead.

Give me a right handed corner outfielder who can hit lefties and maybe another left handed pen pitcher.

I just can't imagine trading any of our top 5 prospects this year for a right handed bat or pen help. Anyone interested in Kepler or Gallo and we can just take the other team's right handed version of that player? Low floor, middle upside?

Eh - What else ya got?

He's pretty much a perfect Super Utility Player for us. Can play nearly any position in the field, and not a butcher at the plate. I think in the spring it will be between Gordon, Martin and Castro for the 12th and 13th bench spots. None may be exceptional regulars, but the ability to play anywhere and hold their own at the plate will be what determines who stays and who plays in St. Paul. Should be a good spring battle.

Brooks LeeMatt WallnerWalker JenkinsEmmanuel RodriguezAustin MartinCharlee SotoLuke KeaschallSimeon Woods RichardsonConnor PrielippBrandon WinokurMarco RayaDavid FestaYasser MercedesJose SalasJordan BalazovicNoah MillerBrent HeadrickMatt CanterinoJose RodriguezBlayne Enlow

They'd be fools to at least not listen to offers. They don't need to be the sellers here, they can sit and see what others try to sell them for him and see if it makes sense long term.

No thanks. Not a big fan of giving up anyone to help the pen. We can improve the pen without letting anyone important go by just letting Pagan walk.

My favorite part of this article was where we tell Kepler to go play center. Wish I could tell my bosses what I do, and what I do not prefer to do. Since he's not producing in the batters box the way we need him to, we should at least get more from him in the field. He has the ability to play CF and we need him there.

Agreed about Bellinger. We're only one injury away from having a non-CF starting in that role everyday. On an expiring contract I'd be open to tossing them an offer on him. Don't see a benefit of trading any of our top 20 prospects for him - hoping the cubs just want a salary dump perhaps?

I do not want to trade any more young talent for short term rentals. I would be open to trading away expiring contracts for players under control, but only a step away from the big leagues. Think even if we lost a couple players like Gray or Solano, we could still win at least 1 playoff game, and still won't likely win a playoff series -but at least we would be still building for the future.

I've thought about this for awhile, so seems like a good time to ask - Do we want our players to make the All Star Team? 1 - They need the rest more than they need the recognition right? 2 - With arbitration negotiations coming up yearly, and these hearings overseen by non-baseball people - wouldn't it be better for our payroll to have players not make all star teams, thus not expecting to be paid more each year? Maybe its only a few million over the course of a season - but a few million could help us upgrade from some of our players like Pagan couldn't it? Would have been nice to see Duran in there closing out the all star game, but would prefer to not risk injury to one of our few pen pitchers having a good year.

Rocco is fine. Managers get too much credit when things go great, and too much blame when they go poorly. We are a .500 team just like the analytics predicted we would be before the season.

I feel blame goes in this order: 1 - Players. These are professionals who got to the top level in the world with their talents. They shouldn't need a ton of coaching by this point in their careers - just some tweeks. 2 - The F.O, They assembled the roster they wanted. They wanted to keep Pagan, and they signed the players who are slumping. Maybe their scouting skills aren't as good as they think they are. 3 - The coaches - These guys were hired (yes, by Rocco) to help with the above mentioned 'tweeks' to the professional players. They need to be able to communicate in a way each player understands, which may be different player to player. However, again, at this level they are working with pros who have the talent to succeed at this level already and generally have a track record to prove that statement. 4- Rocco. I know a lot of casual Twins fans don't like his demeanor. He's too calm, that he doesn't show any fire like Gardy used to. I admit, I liked the fire Gardy shows - but does being a red-ass lead to more victories? Rocco can only play the players the FO gives him. Rocco can only keep low leverage relievers out of high leverage situations so often when he only has 3 decent relievers and nearly every game has high leverage situations because our professional hitters can't hit. Rocco doesn't influence that Buxton isn't playing in the field - this decision came from doctors and the F.O. Rocco doesn't make any medical decisions (he only went to high school, do you think they'll let him give medical opinions)? Maybe I'm a bit of a Rocco apologist, but we shouldn't hold him accountable for decisions he simply does not make and too frequently I see posts here that blame him for choices he doesn't have any influence over.