Jocko87

The most important thing is that they can perform well enough to deserve the spot on the 26 man roster. It starts there. What we are talking about is intangibles and side benefits which assumes they are performing at the appropriate level. It's two different discussions. Please understand, experience and time in seat does not automatically give someone these skills. Listing the players that have been around for a while is not a discussion of leadership. The reality is there is only room for about 4-5 guys like this, any more and messages get confused and diluted. Some do it on a more individual level, think Farmer and Julien, while the real top dogs effect the whole team (Correa, probably Pablo). Lewis may well be a tremendous leader and develop into a whole team guy, but he will likely always defer to Correa. (By the way, Correa has someone he defers to as well. That person may not even be in the organization. Baldelli certainly, but I'm sure there is someone else he turns to or tells him to straighten out.) Jackson and Santana would fit in the category of effecting their groups, bullpen and hitting/1B. Santana instantly assumes the role, Jackson will have to work into it. Track record and known quantity are important. Santana and Jackson are completely different as we know what Santana gives vs thinking Jackson will do it. From what I have heard about Jackson, he's been through some s**t. And that's valuable. One of the best things the Santana will bring is the type of at bat he takes. If he can help the kids through our biggest frustration point his time here will be valuable, even if he slips into a part time role. There are things that can only be explained by someone who has 8k+ MLB PA, or at least much easier translation. That he has those 8k PA, and the reputation of a leader and teacher is a very exciting fit for this roster. The goal is for AK and Miranda etc to be so good Santana is a part timer.

That's not how the military works, even in boot camp. With in two weeks of starting boot camp certain people are selected to fill leadership roles within your squad and assigned titles, roles and insignia on the uniform. Sgt Duckett is more CEO sorting his organization than a dictator that controls every move. Leadership roles are assigned and grown from the very beginning. Jay Jackson, Carlos Santana, Emilio Pagan are more like division yoeman, master at arms and port watch section leader, to borrow lingo from a past life. They are leadership roles. Then, when you get to a duty station and probably start in the toilet cleaning brigade, a guy who has been on station one single day longer than you is in charge of showing you how the mop buckets work. And so on goes the military leadership growth, until the model loses effectivness in the very upper levels, IMO. It's not an effective model for a sports team or most businesses, but the fundamentals are the same. Lewis might actually be, but he's an outlier. Even if he is, Correa will still box his ears if needed. Jax may be but he was one who was very fond of Pagan. Maybe he's ready to take the role from Pagan? Other than that it's easier to look at the 40 man and say who might be rather than who's not. I don't see too many in the mold that would be. Even alphas sort amongst themselves. That's why the timing of this is so critical. There are so many young guys being relied on that don't have any idea what they are getting in to that need a veteran hand to show the way. The Jackson's and Santana's have to produce, to be sure, but this roster is in a very impressionable state. It's very smart to control who is molding those impressions with your culture.

Popkins had two cups of coffee an AA, Santana has over 8100 major league plate appearances. I'm not one that would say you have to have that experience to coach or lead, quite the opposite in fact. What you have to do is figure out how to fill in your gaps. Popkins gap is experience. It's a hand in glove. I'm still wondering what happened in August when they had player only meetings and were dumping hitting plans. They started hitting after that. My gut tells me Popkins got a lot of feedback, that he's still here tells me he took it.

Probably Yunior since he's on the 40 man. Honestly, my favorite part of this signing is the partial coach aspect of it. Absolute professional hitter with all the traits we want to see come out of the young guys is a pretty good fit. All reports are that he is into the mentoring stuff too. It's not really measurable but if he's 0.700 OPS I gotta think he is sprinkling another 100 points around the lineup. He's a perfect pair with Popkins, new school coach and a guy that has been doing it forever. He helps fill Popkins lack of experience.

One of the few names I could spell. 😢

I have to say, I'm quite proud of the group reaction to this article. Nothing is perfect but we've got a pretty good thing going here. Embarrassment is just insecurities manifest in a different form. I don't blame anyone for these insecurities as they were well earned over the years but I'd hate to see someone miss out on the good times in the desperate search for perfect. The good times are here. The great times are coming.

We beat the Braves P&L to death already this off-season. I'm more interested in the thought exercise that is trying to look at the organizations that we would buy/sell/hold similar to a stock. Buying complicates it for the thought exercise as we would spend the rest of the winter setting a starting value so I'll propose a scenario. You get a card for Christmas from Grandma and this year, instead of a $2 bill, its a stock certificate in a MLB baseball team. She signs the card "I've had this forever but you're the baseball fan so I trust you will know what to do with it." It's real money too, $100k of stock. Per her wishes, you can do anything you want with it. I'm holding Twins. Along with Dodgers, Yankees, Orioles, Rangers and Braves for sure, just off the top of my head. Red Sox? Not sure I want to ride the dip but there should be long term value. And so on, there are several that would be interesting beer conversations. Selling several as soon as I can, most of them are obvious. The Royals are a VC flip, paint and carpet. As @Riverbrian adroitly pointed out, the Padres were the same thing, just with nicer countertops. An obvious sucker bet that could have been magical if it hit. Betting on a dying billionaire who obviously wants something isn't the worst investment, you just have to know when to get out.

Rioting huh?

It's an interesting way to think about it though. What teams in MLB would you rather own stock in? I'll give you the Braves, Dodgers, Orioles and Rangers. I initially thought D-backs but they are a lot older than you think and getting expensive. They have pitching though so maybe. Lots of fun variables to discuss, just like stocks. I'm not buying Royals stock, to stay on topic, for darn sure.

If you guys were thinking like fiduciaries you would be championing them for putting out a damn good product at a lower cost than all their competitors. You would also be championing them for not making bad deals just because some loud activist investors are yelling or other businesses are making bad purchases. Course, that would be if you were actually thinking like fiduciaries. In the meantime, be fans, responsible fans. Stock goes up!

Embarrassed by a team that finished 31 games behind our boys last year? They have a lot of ground to make up, they better spend! Seriously, this is our response to the Bobby Witt news? There are many ways that conversation could go, but this is certainly a choice. And that's what it is, a choice. An editorial decision to harp on the same old tropes. Ermahgod "self imposed" payroll limitations. What if the majority of the fan base isn't as riled up as the media about a few million bucks here and there? What if the majority of the fan base enjoys having a really good winning team regardless of the payroll? What if the majority of the fan base recognizes that the team has shelled out more money and played in deeper waters than ever before? What if the media are actually the baddies? I'd like to see Randballstu write that article. It's easy to lampoon Earl in Anoka (he does deserve it, after all) but what if Earl is the way he is because of who is telling him what to be mad at? We should be extremely excited for this year and beyond but some would have us believe it's worse than 2011 because they haven't manifested another ace out of the blue. F it, seasons over Jerry, seasons over. I understand this is Minnesota we are talking about but we are allowed to have nice things. We have a nice thing, enjoy it. I hope I didn't offend, my "self-imposed" restraint is working overtime right now.

Farmer is a necessity, not a luxury. In the Twins case, shortstop is the least important thing he does. He backstops every youngster in the lineup. That's worth 6m. Also as an aside, I'm starting to get the feeling the Orioles are getting Snell or Montgomery. No sources, just a feeling. That's a super team in both leagues, they still need major contributions from most of the question marks and add a starting pitcher. The deadline makes sense to me bt they can't ever be done tinkering. If all the kids are alright Farmer has value at the deadline for someone backfilling an injury. Not so much now.

Skews the average. Lewis ain't Soto.

Third baseman get bigger contracts than left fielders. That's it.

It appears they are taking this path, at least for now. Relievers being so volatile, they have about 6-7 options behind Duran to be 3-4 studs.

🤣 filling up fast!

He has to hit like 2021 Miranda for anything to matter. He's even a tough trade chip if he's not hitting. Soler is the type of outfield bat we would want, but he doesn't have options and significantly clogs roster movement. Quite suddenly, all the guys with options are guys that aren't going anywhere. Castro is the only bench player with options and he's unlikely to move unless he slumps like crazy. I'm a huge proponent of the idea that these clogs work themselves out in time but setting the roster up with no flexibility really hurts the clog working itself out. The hard truth is that the RH outfield thump has to come from Buxton. All other options are different type hitters, unless Miranda comes to life. Farmer is the other outfield option I'm trying to manifest. He would be decent enough in left to be an option after Lee comes up. So if I'm convinced the RH left fielder is currently in the organization, who is the most likely? Castro and Martin, probably. Bubba will get more run than we like. Micheal Helman is a dark horse. Of these options, both Miranda and Farmer would hit lefties better and are on the 40 man. Prato was one I didn't think of. There are options and clogging the 26 man is a tough place to be with so many kids running around.

This also includes the days Correa is DH'ing. He'll figure it out. The RH outfield bat is coming from inside the house.

I've been trying to speak it back into existence ever since! 😂 To be clear, I mean play left field in the hang out by the fence and throw the ball to Correa if it comes to you kind of defense. Kinda like Soler. Where else is he going to play?

I doubt he's traded at all at this point. I think he sticks all year as there isn't an option that can replace him on both sides of the ball outside Bellinger. I still want to know what happened in the come to Jesus meeting he had with Rocco mid season. He's been an all star ever since. So long as Rocco still has his full attention, he's a key cog for the squad. A full season of the second half version is worth a qualifying offer as well. Keep him.

Starting pitching is certainly one way to do it. Another is a dominant bullpen, which they are taking a stab at. The 15 Royals were game over with a lead in the 5th. With the extra days off in the playoffs the bullpen guys can go every game where the starter has to perform for several innings at once and you still need to pitch the other games. Duran, Jax, Stewart, Theilbar, one of the new guys and playoff Varland can cover a lot of postseason innings. Ryan, Ober and Paddack do have the ability to get 4-5 postseason innings even if they aren't the 8 inning horses.

They are already in a spot where they probably need to do something with Gordon so they have some of the flexibility they love so much. Part of signing another bat is the 26 man spot that puts a real crimp on how that can rotate the kids through. If you are going to kill a spot that can be rotated with options, it has to be a Soler or better to make the jam worth it.

Be prepared to wait a couple of months for that shoe. However many months away the trade deadline is, that long. To me, I think a lot of my questions are answered and as a strategy I can see the plan. The biggest thing this front office needs right now is time. Time to figure out the TV deal. Time to understand how good Paddack, Ober and Varland can be. Time to understand which prospects need to be moved on from and who is untouchable. Time for Miranda and AK to show they are healthy and hitting. Time for some of their targets to fall out of the playoff race. Time to see what the rest of the division looks like. This is a team that can easily win the division, as currently constructed. This gives them a luxury of being able to wait. I fully agree that another front line starter is needed for the postseason, but we aren't starting the postseason for a while. The plan, as I see it, is that they are building the bullpen in preparation for that unit to absorb more innings than last year. This makes sense as Paddack, Ober and Varland should all have some sort of innings limitations. Disco fits that same pattern. I'm sure they have ideas that he can be a solid rotation piece but he's not a playoff lynch pin. Just as we saw last year, the moves in the postseason are different than the regular season and the players needs for each are different. He's going to eat innings at a solid level which is very valuable in the regular season. As I see the roster now, they don't have room for another vet stuck to the 26 man without significantly comprising their ability to rotate the kids from AAA. Sorry in advance, Nick Gordon. The deadline makes far to much sense for the next move. Let's get the spring started.

What about what I said that made you think we were going to see him play good defense? I said exactly the opposite but don't let that stop you. We know he's not going to be good with the glove anywhere, might as well put him in the least impactful spot.

He was down a bit last year but still career .825 OPS against lefties. The defense is good enough for 30 spot starts in left against lefties. He's going to catch what he gets to, be in the right place and throw to the correct base. They will have to keep him around as everyone's backup but he's to good a bat to just sit and wait. I still think Miranda can play good enough defense in left if he's hitting. Play deep, get it back in. We would all stomach Soler out there but he would hit much higher than the cut off line. It's the one position where defense is meh.