Jocko87

I don't have a problem with guys like Pagan and Hoffman in the last spots as they both do have an upside to find that could be very valuable. Properly used, Pagan has a rubber arm and can just take the beating for 3-4 innings to save other guys in a lost cause game. My more pressing concern is that they will run them out there over and over and over in pressure situations and not adjust the approach or cut bait timely. They have a track record for this and it has to stop. I'm also a big fan of throwing a young starter in the bullpen to get them comfortable with getting major league hitters out out. Ober doesn't fit this profile as discussed many times and I'm not the person that can exactly say who does. I am pretty sure though than one of SWR, Winder, Festa, Sands etc would be more valuable and develop better in the bullpen than starting in the minors. They can still be a starter eventually but learning they can get ML outs is powerful. It reminds me very much of when Polanco came up from A ball when no one was available. There was plenty of chatter that he was picked as a guy that was a sacrificial 15-20 ranked prospect we would not mind losing. I guarantee he didn't see it that way and getting that taste and a couple big hits almost certainly altered his mindset and trajectory.

There's that golf thing in Saudi Arabia.

This is how you build a rotation. Sure, hitting on a Corbin Burnes in the 4th is nice and all, please keep trying for that but good depth is where its at. Quality in the depth is important and targeting solid 2s and 3s is the way to go. It will serve well in the long regular season with a legit chance that one of the 2s is pitching well enough to comfortably take on an ace in the playoffs. Winning a World Series takes a run of luck and all you can do is put yourself in a position to get lucky. Then, when you hit on a 4th round pick, or luck into a #5 draft pick stud your rotation is suddenly the Astros or Dodgers. I went down a baseball reference rabbit hole on the Guardians/Guardians pitching that young Falvey supposedly guru'd out of the ether. Never mind how the timelines don't quite line up with his front office tenure, its quite eye opening where the big names came from. Lets just say that by next year the Guardians fans will think he formed Joe Ryan with his own hands. His best pitching draft was probably on his way out the door in 2016 with Mackenzie at #42 and Bieber in the eeerr 4th round. Pulling for ya, Marco Raya, Andrew Morris.

It's not that you did a wrong thing, it how you react to doing the wrong thing. It's very tough for the young guy to stand up to the old guy also, ahem Beltran, senior personnel almost always get stiffer punishments. Two rules to live by as a hiring/firing manager.

I think both of them would be turning it down, even after this year. Lewis with the Boras factor and Lee would wait to drive the price up. We should certainly wait until we know how the draft plays out. One of the pitchers would be in line for this money first in my mind.

The Gallo signing makes more and more sense the more we talk about it.

The 47 yo bachelor part hits a little close to home. That's not discussed in North Dakota.

This is the time to get the potential ace, heres hoping one of them is there at #5. The thing about the #5 pick is that any college player they take they also have to look at where they fit within the current roster projections as we should expect them within the 1-2 year range. The ace would be the best for this but barring that it would almost have to be a college outfielder if they are thinking nearer term. I do like the high school angle if they don't project someone to be fast help. That prospect could anchor the next wave 3-4 years down the road. This is also a time where having a good relationship with Boras and Boras clients could be mysteriously handy. Lasts years wild card, Rocker, is a Boras guy (interesting Mets angle also). Both pitchers could very easily be Boras clients and we know he's not afraid to do whats needed to get his client what they are looking for. Unless they are set on 1-1, going somewhere on the rise where you can be in the league in 12 months would have to be appealing.

I would think it would be a no-brainer to bring him back at that production level. It would also help make Gallo a flip candidate at the deadline. Even if he was just solid .250 with some pop, $10m isn't outrageous. But I don't know that his production will matter so much in the decision to keep him or not. Performance of Wallner, Larnach et al. will probably be a bigger factor.

I'm also very curious how they plan to use Taylor off the bench. I could see him being a late inning weapon in a couple situations. -New extra inning rules finalized hopefully means they will be focusing on getting this damn run in with a purpose. Taylor should be a very good pinch runner with the ability to steal 3rd if needed. Maybe not quite Terrance Gore but he still has a lot of speed and always been a pretty good base runner. -Having the rest of the outfielders being solid at worst defensively will limit his chances as an automatic replacement in late innings and that's good as it keeps him free for the pitch running option. I am, however, kinda infatuated with the Gallo shift and what the Twins can do with a Buxton, Taylor, Kepler outfield alignment. Buxton can cover left and half of center (safer, covers more ground, less collisions) while Taylor and Kepler do a shallow/deep right field? I'm pretty sure they have more in mind for Taylor than just Buxton insurance and interested to see what it will be when the real games start. If they can use Lewis and Farmer as RH outfield options they may want to keep him in a more flexible role.

Ain't it grand to be having this discussion based on performance?

I believe this is where they were wrong last year. When he's hurt, don't. I know he didn't want to go on the DL and there was no depth behind him, but his knee situation was horribly mismanaged last year. Knee leads to hip and hip leads to more days off leads to shutting down for the same amount of time anyway. With the benefit of hindsight, a 6 week knee cleanup in May would likely have worked out much better. Hopefully the new trainer will make better decisions in these types of cases. An injury prone player trying to push through injuries seems counterproductive to me. The depth will help make those choices easier.

I used Taylor specifically because he is almost guaranteed to be around all year for defense and pinch running. He will get a ton of run especially before Lewis comes back. But yes, many options help make Gallo a very valuable asset around the deadline. I could easily see getting a return similar to what Nelson Cruz got.

Hoping he can approach these numbers to max his trade value. I can't see a scenario where he would be here next year, if he's raking he will be too expensive and if not he'll get flipped for BPA. Best case is Larnach/Taylor play well enough to make him expendable.

Still very early but it doesn’t look like a shortstop profiles at the #5 pick and I’d prefer taking a swing at one of the potential aces in that spot anyway. Lots of mocks have the outfielder from Florida which would be fine, just make sure it’s an impact player. After that pick, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them take a few more college shortstop types in the top 10 rounds. They seem to be stocking up on trade chips and everyone wants up the middle talent. Try to coach them up and keep the best ones for us. Simple, right?

About time the Twins joined the big boys. They are drafting for the purpose of trading now.

Also rooting for him but he profiles as the perfect looks interesting trade chip that can get over valued at the deadline. Better than even money we never see him in Minnesota as a Twin. He's at an unfortunate age in that unless he goes nuclear he will be stuck behind Correa, Lee, Lewis, Martin, Julian, Schobel etc but to old to be in the next wave of Salas, Noah Miller and whoever else is drafted.

The Gallen move didn't happen in my time machine, you may have a glitch. Lee came up in September to along with our new ace, Paul Skenes. Drafted with the 5th pick after his new agent Scott Boras floats signability issues to the first 4 teams, he comes up to pitch meaningful September innings out of the bullpen. While the move baffles KFAN caller Glen from Maple Grove as he can't find a way to criticize it, Skenes proves his Wes Johnson enhanced stuff plays in the bigs with 9 1/3 solid innings with 12 Ks and 3 walks. Alas, my time machine ran out of banana peels on September 14th, right before the start of a crucial 4 game set against the Pale Hosers with a 82-64 record.

I also like the idea of leaving Miranda mostly out of this mix and letting him focus on 3rd as he has a chance to stick there. Just settle in and mash, young man. A new position, even 1st base, makes last year all that more impressive.

As someone who hit every rung of the defensive spectrum ladder on true way down to finally settle in as a semi-competent 1st baseman I approve of this strategy. I never bought the argument that Mientkiewicz saved enough runs to make up for his lesser bat as much as I enjoyed watching him play. You would need horrible scattergun arms all over the infield for it to matter much. One of the underrated factors of Correas arm is that he throws easy to catch balls to first, even at 100mph. He is very good at the long skip that we defensively limited gloves love at 1st. The other infield arms are good enough it won't be a significant difference. If they think any of the prospects can't hang at 1st defensively they should trade them now before the rest of the league finds out. Whoever hits, plays. Good problem to have now that we have options that can hit.

About a year ago it seems like the organization made a large pivot in strategy and seemingly are addressing several of the long held valid gripes dedicated fans have had. I'm split on how much can be attributed to the new owner in charge, our new assistant GM Correa or the combination of the two. A strong voice in a new ear is very persuasive. Boras is also giving good advise to help his clients. I don't count the first Correa signing as the change seems to have followed that. They were still trying Archer and Bundy at the time after all. It really started with being aggressive with prospects at the deadline. Even though it didn't work perfectly the moves were exactly what was needed for the season. While the offseason felt like a meandering walk in the woods at times they got their guy at every turn somehow. They deserve massive credit for that even if you want to poke holes in how they did it. I have a very different opinion of the Mets situation that can't be discussed in open media but the Twins nailed the value of the player from the start. They won an awkward situation with their approach. I struggle to see how anyone gives the offseason less than an A. In game changes remain to be seen but they are openly talking about adjusting the approach. Brooks Lee will see MLB action in the Bregman role if he stays on track. They have flipped to embrace trading value they have developed (hitters) to fill holes, mainly starting pitching. The #5 pick this year has a chance to be an ace that we could see in September or early next year. I expect them to draft several more college shortstop types after that not to being waiting in the wings but to trade to fill needs. We have roster debates where the winner will have to be playing well rather than options available. Old Twins do none of this, even under this front office. I will readily admit that they have been lucky in a few areas. The draft with Lee falling in our laps and the 5th pick this year were very fortunate. The Correa situation involved a lot of good luck and karma. Having all the injured assets seemingly past the worst of it at the same time is fortunate. None of that matters when evaluating the front office. In business, we are judged only superficiality by results. The proper judgement and evaluation is in the process and doing the right things to position yourselves when luck strikes and take advantage. The Skor North season preview did a pretty good job of laying out why they are so pessimistic about the organization but failed to mention or realize that the team had made a meaningful significant change in nearly every item they mentioned. It felt like Mackey wants in but Buy stock in this organization. They are hitting the peak of the competence/luck curve and are positioned as well as anyone for the next 5 years.

The obvious comp is Alex Bregman? Very similar profiles and skillsets and hopefully trajectories. Bregman had 49 MLB games in his second pro season, at all sorts of positions because Correa was at SS. Huh. I wonder how Correa would compare them?

There were several times last year where pushing that one run across wins a damn game. I counted 6 in a quick scan and it felt low from my memory watching. It was painful watching a home run approach when old school would win the game. I’m hopeful that the rule being permanent will force teams to look deeper into the analytics of the situation and train some situational hitting back in. My hypothesis would be that when you really dig into the analytics of getting that run in to win a game the old school way will fare really well. Stealing 3rd is also going to be very popular in extra innings if you have a good bench move available. Taylor might be that guy on his off days and Lewis if he’s able to run free. It doesn’t have to be Terrance Gore anymore. To me the analytics aren’t so much about processing data, it’s about which data to use in a given situation. Rocco left me confused many times last year in these situations. I feel the same way in football when they throw a goal line fade when three sneaks are available. Just score the damn run.

Lots of good talk about player development and rightly so but I think the main thing we should be discussing in relation to the Twins drafting/player development strategy is that they appear to be pivoting from a draft and develop for every spot organization into a draft the best prospects and trade to fill needs organization. The next 6 years for sure are win now mode and prospects will be sacrificed for the good of the big league team. This will end up being a lot of college shortstops, center fielders and pitchers. I think they have adjusted a bit and we wont see many more Sabato type picks going forward. Versatility trades well.

Except for $20 insert shortstop and for peanuts insert starting pitcher or literally any other position. Get to work meme makers. What a great problem to have and a welcome change in approach from the organization. Do not be surprised if the #5 pick this year is another shortstop either. I don't know the draft board, maybe its the second round pick. Get talent, turn it into what fits best. I love it. I also love Brooks. I got to watch one of the AA playoff games from behind the dugout last year and the dude is impressive. I'm speaking mostly from a body language standpoint here, many others will do the on field. Hugely impressive to watch him interact with a new team in the playoffs after what had to be a whirlwind year. Obvious coaches kid and carries an uncommon confidence that damn few would have in that situation. Also took the loss hard, harder than his new teammates. Selfishly I'm hoping to watch him play in Wichita for a good long time but want that to be because everyone on the big squad is healthy and raking. I'm going to enjoy it while I can.