Jocko87

They talked about it on a recent Gleeman and the Geek. In the Twins minors last year the catchers were something like 57%, hitters 50% and pitchers 2 for 7. They don't even want the pitchers doing it, as evidenced by Coles poor challenge.

Let's give it another week or two. That's the dream scenario for leaving Wallner in the leadoff spot. Scrappy bottom of the order puts something together and he's the last guy you want to see coming up.

That was a very good at bat by Lee against Cole.

I have to assume some of the same things that caused the slump at the plate played a factor on defense as well. Worn down probably is harder on defense especially with the issues being seemingly concentration related. Regardless, the first month or two of the season will be a more true sample of his actual MLB defensive ability. He projected as solid defensively and bounced back from several setbacks along the way. I'm expecting a bounce back here.

Why would you make a move to announce a diminishment of his value before necessary? Same as Varland, you keep him stretched until you don't. Knocking on wood here, there haven't been a lot of spring injuries that might lead to moves. Don't close a door if you don't need to.

Ever have a “friend" who falls for a girl on tinder before they even meet? Lots of Twins fans did just that. It was the only vision they had, so it was the vision they fell in love with. And as the article points out, the reality often does not match the profile pictures.

The make or break on the season is the 2, 3 and 5 hitters in today's lineup. The three mentioned can't fill their shoes if they don't come through. If the 2, 3, 5 guys are solid these guys being solid takes the team to another level. But they can't break the season on their own.

I've been noodling on lineup construction all week while sitting on the beach and it isn't hard to have Wallner as far down as 6th if he isn't leadoff. Larnach is going to stay in the 3 hole area most likely. If I put a Julien type in the leadoff, Correa, Larnach, Buxton and Lewis before Wallner makes sense to me. He is the best hitter they have for facing the pitcher trying to catch his breath after the heart of the order. He's a game breaker, not a table setter. I'd almost put Larnach leadoff over him.

I think the ultimate tell is that the Twins just cut bait rather than trading him. If it was questionable in their eyes it's fine to move on from the guy while getting some sort of piece back. That said, other teams would have heard the same things so his value would be nothing if there was solid evidence. I guess they made the calculation that the goodwill of dealing with it swiftly was worth more than any trade return. All 23 year olds in a situation like this will need to do something to salvage a reputation and career so everything basically checks out here. Early reports were that the other team told on him. Unless they are false, it's all damage control.

So I heard that Ty France made the team today.

I voted 2nd base and assuming health for everyone. Lee or Julien might nail down the second base job but team MVP gets the opening day start there. Rocco is also aware of the dynamics and its easier to hold the start from Lee than Larnach. He earned the ovation he will get and Rocco will make sure he gets it in the field. For that reason he also gets the home opener at 2nd. Every other game is a question.

Tagging on to this, I don’t think the correct phrase is “back out”. Unless they had signed something we haven’t heard about, there isn’t anything to back out of. I don’t think money, especially anything less than a hundred or two million has any influence on this decision. What Chicago has the potential to be 10 years from now is very appealing, especially for someone who lives there and has the resources to see a vision through.

Now suddenly it's on Twins.TV today. Pretty tough to stand that up two days after the schedule comes out. Bizarre.

Feel free to @ me at any time. It's the only thing that makes any sense with the known facts. Without a firm indication they had something in place to sell the Sox shares the Ishbia offer had to be held at arms length. The fancy New York brokers they hired to take care of this, did not discount the possibility of the Sox being a factor. None of our sources are credible. Short of the actual decision maker, nobody knows anything.

This 100%. All "sources" in this matter should be treated as highly dubious. It is a very small group of people who actually knows what is going on and they ain't talking. Except for public effects. Unless your source is named Pohlad or the New York broker, you have nothing. And the New York broker ain't talking under strict fiduciary NDA.

This is a very fair point. If the obvious next step is for Justin to become control owner they will likely attempt the major overhaul needed and suddenly we have a big market powerhouse in division. It'll take a few years at least.

Sale might only go an inning, looks like just trying to get them both one look.

Wallner the lead off man. This changes everything.

No chance this wasn’t covered as an option by the Twins. Those surprised aren’t people that would be in the know, Even Falvey is on a need to know basis. Things like this are why they hired that fancy pants New York firm to handle things. Until they got word that Ishbia sold his Sox shares, he was just another guy. He can’t present a serious offer without accounting for that factor. It sounds surprising to outsiders but perfectly obvious if you are in the room.

The most important nugget in the White Sox Athletic article is the nugget that Riensdorf isn't the majority owner, only the controlling owner. They are thinking he only owns something like 19% but he ain't telling. That's make everything make sense. Not only does he already own a piece of the Sox, the price to be in charge is much, much lower. He'd have to buy all of the Twins but only another 15-20% of the Sox. If Riensdorf isn't on board, and they seem to be pushing back, hostile takeover coming soon. He's only got to buy out a few guys. He was never serious about the Twins.

Why? Really, why? The most obvious answer is right in front of your face. The guy with the current stake in the White Sox used another team for sale to get what he wanted all along. But but but pohlads. He's never been the only guy, just the only public guy. Why? See above. This is an interesting development but ultimately means nothing. Any rumors you got a month late about an opening day announcement probably had this in mind anyway. Reports of "scrambling" in Twins land are highly suspect to me. Who is scrambled? Hayes says Ft Myers but guess what? I'll bet nobody that matters is in Ft Myers right now. "Team officials" are not involved in this question. They might very well be surprised. This is news of one possible buyer not actually being a buyer. Don't read anything more into it.

I've been working out a similar list to this and the article lately. The most important thing about it is that not everything is required, just enough of each category to add up to consistently play well. My version is grouped in 3's, maybe influenced by the big three, maybe not. 1-The big three stay healthy and productive. 2-Three rotation stalwarts for the entire season 3-Three bullpen stalwarts for the entire season 4-Three young hitters take a significant step forward I've left names out on purpose. Other than the big three, any can fill almost any spot. It doesn't necessarily have to be the same guy the entire season. Should one of the current top three starting pitchers goes down and SWR/Festa/Zebby steps in with minimal disruption, that counts. One of the younger hitters could step into a big three role. That would count for item 1 and 4. My totally made up metric tracks roughly with the number of wins. If by some miracle they hit all 12, 120 wins (ok, maybe not). But 8-9 of these categories checked off is an easy 90 wins. If they only get 6-7, 80 wins is possible. It's volatile, but there is significant upside. Should one of these categories have zero items checked, it would completely alter the math but I'm willing to take that chance. This is also a great recipe to take to the post season. If all 12 items are hitting together, they can play at a 100+ win pace.

For the same reason defensive stats are years behind offense. You have to score to win and offense dictates the pace, defense can only react. Agreed it’s completely game situation dependent for any given moment but I’m thinking more long term. Assuming equal pitching, who wins a game or long series of games between excellent hitters that are below average defenders or a team of excellent defenders that are below average hitters? I’m at about 60-40 for the hitters.

I’m old enough to remember many discussions of not needing Dougie M to hit because he saved so many runs on defense. A run is a run after all. Truth is, a scored run is worth more than prevented run but there is a scale to balance. I’m not terribly worried about the defense at first, (says the former poor fielding first baseman). I think Miranda could actually be quite decent but it will come down to who hits. None of them are going to be bad enough to be unplayable and guys like Correa will adjust their expectations of what they can try. It’s a hitting position.

Dan Hayes just had a piece about some of the adjustments they are making in camp. First two rounds of BP is everyone hits the other way. It’s a start and they are working fundamentals much more than before-even though it sounds basic to me. No mention of bunting practice though, which is a basic skill of the game in my opinion. In fact, Rocco mentioned it negatively. But control the darn bat head. I look at it like pitchers fielding practice. Everyone does it, kinda hates it but knows they need it, then take it less seriously than they should and then it loses the Yankees a World Series, potentially. Focusing on hitting it hard the other way can do most of the same things as a bunt with an extra damage potential but sometimes you just have to get runner over. They should at least be putting the thought in a defenses calculus.