jmlease1

It's the easiest position to fill, so I'm not too terribly worried about it right now. They're probably going to want to invest a high draft pick there in the next year or two just to keep the pipeline going, but right now they're in excellent shape. Finding playing time for everyone who has shown they are MLB-ready (Rooker, Cave, Kirilloff, Wade, and Larnach) is going to be the biggest problem. I like that problem.

Doesn't this kind of worst-case scenario assumption mean that no position group is an area of strength? You can do this same exercise for every position group. But in comparison to other teams in MLB, the Twins catching situation is a strength: they have two players that have shown they can start consistently. They have backup options in AA & AAA and if things start going catastrophically bad, they have La Tortuga available to jump in and carry some weight, even if the team doesn't see him as a regular. Heck the Twins even have an A-ball guy with some promise. How many other teams are in this position? Half of MLB last year had garbage backups. The hated Yankees are more worried than the Twins are at catcher, and they have a 2-time all-star there. But Sanchez was as bad as Garver at the plate and worse in the field, and they don't have anything worth talking about as a backup.

I'm still a fan of Rortvedt, even if Jeffers has clearly flown past him in the rankings. Defensively, he's good enough to play right now, so if he can hit enough he'll be a great backup for the Twins in the future as a lefty bat to give either Garver or Jeffers a break. Catcher is an area of strength right now, which is a huge turnaround from just a few years ago. It's a great example of how position depth can change rapidly. in 2017 Garver wasn't seen as much of a prospect, we had nothing in the system that anyone was high on, we were signing FA catchers in their 30's to start in MLB...we were so thin back then people were concerned that Stuart Turner got taken in the Rule 5 draft. Now? Catcher looks strong.

I appreciate the fact that even after more than three decades in the booth, Dick continues to put in the work to grow and change as a broadcaster. While he's still not as comfortable as I might like in terms of advanced stats, he doesn't ignore them like many broadcasters of his generation, nor does he denigrate them (unlike some of his booth partners). Must be that St. Cloud State education! (seriously, though: SCSU has an absolutely elite mass comm program)

I don't think getting moved to the 'pen is a good excuse for screwing up your visa and carelessly mucking about with weed. Romero blew up his own career in MLB, and it's too bad. Maybe he'll get it together in Japan, but it's telling that he literally had no real opportunity in MLB.

I think it's fair to be concerned that Garver's 2019 had something to do with the juiced ball they were using. He was so much better at age 28 than in any other MLB season that it's fair to consider that it may have been a fluke year. It's great that there are some advanced stats to show that the great hitter might still be in there, and I'm reluctant to put too much stock in anything from the short COVID season, especially when a lot of hitters struggled...but the concern is real. Now, even if he hits more like 2018 if he defends like 2019-2020 he's still a very solid catcher and contributor for the team. I think he'll bounce back...I just don't know how high the rebound will be.

yeah, I'm guessing that his visa issue still isn't resolved or the Twins wouldn't have cut him. So it's looking doubtful that he plays in 2021, after not playing in 2020, and not playing well in 2019...maybe he can get his life squared away and I hope for his sake he does. But his MLB chances may have slipped away.

Twins are a bit top-heavy at 2B right now; all of their best options there are either already in MLB or sitting at AAA. So in the short term there's no real worries here. When you drop down into A ball there really isn't anyone coming along at the position that you get all that excited about...but 2B is also another one of those positions where you see a lot of guys get drafted at SS and then drop down on the defensive spectrum to 2B if they're not showing it at SS, so...who knows? I think you'll see the Twins continuing to draft guys at SS with what they see as a strong hit tool and react from there. I'm ok with that strategy. I feel bad for Nick Gordon. He's a good player, he was coming into the season ready for a shot in MLB, and then COVID wiped out his year. He's just snake-bit. Frankly, we could have used him last year to take some pressure off Arraez when he got dinged up and might have been able to do the same for Polanco. He may have missed his window in MN and his stock is low because of not playing much. I still think he's a good MLB player who will hit for average as either a utility guy or starting 2B.

Not too worried about organizational depth at 1B; it's another position where it's fairly easy for a player to move down the defensive chart to fill in, and as we've seen with guys like CJ Cron, there are usually affordable guys on the FA market if you need a transition year or two before a minor league candidate is ready to step in. Sano will be fine there, especially once he gets more game experience to know when he should attack a ball and when to let one go. I think he's got the glove skills to be solid at digging balls out of the dirt and there's no question he's a big target over there. Defensively he can get up to average if he keeps working at it, but his hit tool is more than good enough for it to not matter. Yes, he racks up tons of Ks but he also gets plenty of walks and HRs. I don't want an entire lineup of boom/bust guys like Sano but I'm happy to have Sano. Kirilloff or Rooker both look to have the capacity to fill in there, Garver has the ability to play there...we're in fine shape at 1B in the short-to-medium term. Long term...who knows. That just depends on whether guys that aren't even drafted yet pan out.

He's certainly a future option at 3B, which much like 2B frequently has players who were drafted at SS drop down the defensive spectrum, rather than necessarily having all guys who were drafted at 3B. It's so hard to assess where the team's franchise depth is right now with the minors not getting a season last year to assess anyone's development. I like Miranda, but he needs to show better plate discipline in drawing walks to continue to rise. Who knows where he's at on developing that skill? Blankenhorn is a reasonable depth option for this year and a strong contender to fill the super-utility role as he can fill at 2B (a bit stretched there, but playable), 3B and both corner spots. We'll see if he can hit enough to be a long-term fill in anywhere.

So the Twins would need to sell low on Garver, hand over a top prospect (and I doubt the Cubs would settle for Rooker), add maybe a lottery ticket guy from A-ball, and take on all of Darvish's contract to make this work? And we're betting on a guy who is 34 years old, has an injury history, and has only been a 5 bWAR player once in his career. That's a big bet to place that 2021 Yu will be as good as pandemic season Yu was.

This was always going to happen. All the ChiSox prospects will be projected to improve, all of the Twins players will be projected to regress. Mysteriously, Maeda will be derided as a short-season wonder who can't actually be a Cy Young candidate/#1 pitcher and the Twins should just trade all their good players to New York for 50 cents on the dollar and start rebuilding. There will be zero love for the Twins by the pundit class this year.

Since it's a minor league contract, I think he's seen as a utility knife in the case of a LOT of injuries to the INF. There are multiple guys ahead of him on the depth charts, but the Twins are stashing him cheaply in the minors for a year in the even that Arraez, Donaldson, Polanco, AND someone like Blankenhorn are all out with injury at the same time, so rather than scramble on the FA market mid-season they have a guy in their system already that can go to work. And maybe they see something in him that they can work on with him in terms of his hitting or defense to make him more of an asset. That's the best case scenario; worst case is he's an acceptable fill-in if the infield gets really hammered with a bunch of injuries. It's depth for the depth so you aren't forced to rush in someone like Royce Lewis if you're not sure he's ready (but he's also not a guy who block Lewis if he is). This is the kind of move that I think good organizations make every year as a matter of course to cover contingencies. It's not sexy and you can't rely on these sorts of moves as the only thing the team does, but as part of the overall plan it's the kind of move that makes sense to me. Always give yourself options. Always look for ways to raise the floor and the ceiling.

I think it's a reasonable option if they can't work out a mutually acceptable deal on Cruz. Nelson Cruz is special and worth allocating a position to...not a lot of other guys that are worth that that the Twins could likely bring in. And his intangibles as a clubhouse leader play into that, and why he's maybe worth more to the Twins than to others. With Rooker, Kirilloff, and Larnach pushing for ABs, this is not a bad option. I have a fair amount of faith in the FO these days, so I think they'll be considering this seriously as they make all of their calculations.

Twitchy was a heck of a reliever, but I think his biggest problem for the Hall is the fact that he overlapped with Mariano and while I do think he reached that level during his peak, Mariano's peak was much much longer. Add that in with the fact that voters are still struggling with how to evaluate relievers as part of the Hall, I think someone with a high peak, but relatively short one as an elite reliever is going to have trouble. If Nathan had transitioned to relief in his early 20's instead of at age 28 I think his case would be much stronger. Billy Wagner is a heck of a reliever and a great comp for Nathan. Elite relievers who never got signature post-season moments, long runs, or titles and so aren't getting much consideration. I gotta say...I'd take either Wagner or Nathan over Lee Smith, who is in the Hall.

yes, he's a Hall of Famer. I suspect he won't get in on the first ballot, in part because there's still a bundle of voters that haven't been purged yet that believe in not voting for guys on the first ballot unless they meet some other undefinable characteristics for being in the "inner circle". I wish he'd gotten that deserved Gold Glove for one of his seasons at 1B; that last piece of hardware would have sealed it for some voters, especially because it's one of those things that doesn't happen, guys winning a GG at 2 different positions. But the hardware is there, the batting titles are there, the MVP & all-stars...the decline was sudden, but he was still productive at 1B. It wasn't like he stopped contributing, and the 2018 season was pretty darn good. The only thing guys like Bill Dickey or Mickey Cochrane have on Joe is rings; the only thing Gabby Hartnett has on him is longevity (and Mauer's peak was definitely higher) and all of those guys are deserving Hall of Famers. Piazza was a bigger slugger, but Mauer did everything else as well if not better, making them about equal as well. Heck, Mauer was right in the same lane as the immortal Yogi Berra excepting post-season heroics. Mauer is in the same class of players as Dickey, Cochrane, Hartnett, and Piazza. That's an easy Hall of Fame player. If the rule is you don't get in unless you're Johnny Bench or Pudge Rodriguez...then you're not electing another catcher for a very long time, if ever. Mauer was fantastic by any test and should go in first ballot. I can't penalize him for not having the rings; that was a team failure. Mauer did everything that was asked of him and was a wonderful player. He even turned into a terrific clubhouse leader in his later years mentoring a young team. I'm on Team Joe, always will be.

These sorts of extensions are an interesting move in that they're probably a win-win for both sides...but players who meet or exceed their expectations will feel underpaid (and possibly be bitter about it) at the back end, and players who get injured/bust will be vastly overpaid and fans will be bitter about it in smaller markets where the sunk costs hurt you more. But we're talking about guaranteed, life-altering, generational wealth, which is why it's not a bad move for the player. It reduces your ceiling on early career earnings, but it raises the floor substantially and still puts you in a position to be a free agent before you turn 30. (and if you're a star at that point, you'll get another big payday) The team gets cost certainty through the arbitration years and saves some money if the player produces like an all-star. They also don't have to go through the arbitration process and run down one of their core players and risk any hard feelings that way. They don't have to worry about the player being bitter about producing at a high level and getting closer to the league minimum. There's more risk for the team, but there are benefits. The fascinating spot is trying to find that balance point where the team feels certain enough about the player's prospects but the player isn't so certain of their immortality that both sides come together on it. Kirilloff's hit tool is as sure a thing as a prospect as I've seen since Joe Mauer...but if he blows out his knee he could be Jason Kubel part deux. Or worse. I'd explore the conversation with Kirilloff, especially because I am pretty certain that Rosario gets non-tendered. But it's probably the most challenging decision a front office has to make these days, and not a simple one for some players either.

What are the odds that arbitration gives Eddie Rosario a 3% raise? This is the fundamental issue with arbitration and why the Joc comp still doesn't matter: Peterson lost his arbitration case but still got a raise of better than 50%. When was the last time someone went to arbitration and didn't get a substantial % raise? The only way Rosario signs for $8M is if his management becomes convinced there's no market for him as a free agent if the Twins non-tender him. But what are the odds that a) they're thinking that, or eddie is willing to accept that? Players have egos too and are certainly going to be convinced of their own talent. Pride gets in the way and messes with people (the classic example is Latrell Sprewell, who rejected a reasonable contract for an aging veteran...and then never played again). Eddie's probably looking at his season and thinking he deserves a raise, and a multi-year contract. The Twins are looking at a guy who is getting expensive and may have topped out for his ability. I imagine the Twins are waiting as long as possible before a tender decision to see what they can see from the market...but I still see him getting non-tendered and then him signing elsewhere, because once the Twins make the call that they're not going to give him a 20-50% raise, pride will get in the way and regardless of what the market looks like he won't come back here even if it means signing for less in another market.

I was a little surprised at Ober, but the Twins may have seen him as a guy who could have been grabbed by a rebuilding team and stashed in the 'pen for a year. Rortvedt was the right call, IMHO. He's got some things to iron out as a hitter to become anything more than a defensive backup, but he's ready to receive right now and considering how many rough catching situations there are out there right now, I'm pretty confident a team would have grabbed him because of his skills behind the plate and worried about his hit tool later. Hard to know if anyone is going to take a flyer on Griffin Jax; he might be MLB-ready...but with no minor league season, who knows? He's probably the only one left on the list that's a major concern. I like Jose Miranda, but MLB roster spots are valuable and I'm just not sure a team is going to want to use one for the entire season on him.

I think Torii needed 2 of his 3.5 bWAR seasons to be more like 7-8 bWAR seasons. and another 2 of those 3 bWAR seasons to be 5 bWAR. He was a 5-time all-star, and some of those were a little questionable. He never had a top 5 MVP finish, and frankly never deserved one. Torii only got MVP votes in 5 seasons and only once finished higher than 15th...and didn't really deserve to finish 6th that year, either. Torii was very good and really valuable for a long time (having 12 straight seasons where you put up at least 3 bWAR is really valuable!), but the peak was never there. Not enough all-star quality seasons, no MVP caliber seasons...he's kind of the epitome of the Hall of Very Good.

Not a great field for starting pitching, lots of questions. The good thing is, the Twins aren't as desperate to get a top-end guy. I'd be happy to bring Odorizzi back, but even healthy we kinda know where his ceiling is going to be: 5 quality innings, unlikely to go 7 more than 1-2 times in a season. As a 4th starter that's fine, but how much do you want to pay for it? Frankly, I kinda wanna take a flyer on Kluber this year rather than bring back Rich Hill.

If you're talking about the best Twin not in the HoF I'd say it's Mauer, Oliva, Santana, then maybe Hunter. The first three are worthy, IMHO and are a distinct cut above Torii, much as a I love him Kaat is a complicated question...he's always felt borderline to me as a pitcher; a lot of his case hinges on his reputation as a great glove man, otherwise I think he doesn't get this kind of consideration. He wasn't a great run preventer and didn't have a lot of great seasons, but had quite a few good seasons and ate tons of innings. I might put Hunter ahead of him. Nathan is also complicated: we still don't have great ways to measure relievers. Once he made the shift to the pen, Nathan wasn't just good, he was dominant. The only reason he's not talked about as the best reliever of his era was he overlapped with Rivera, who he matched fairly well with for more than the occasional season...but Rivera sustained it while Nathan really only had 9 great seasons as a reliever; Mariano had 17. I think it's a fair argument that Nathan didn't do it long enough. If SF had figured out that he should have been a reliever immediately...but they didn't, so Hunter is ahead of him too. I loved both of these great 1Bs, Morneau and Hrbek but neither goes ahead of Hunter for me. Morneau got smashed down by that damn concussion and the injuries kept him from having the kind of length you'd need to go past Hunter. Hrbek was healthier and stayed consistently excellent at the plate for most of his career. (I still struggle with defensive numbers at 1B; bRef doesn't think much of Hrbek as a defender and would have Morneau about as good. Scouting and the eye test I think disagrees with that, especially early in their careers.) Hunter was a heck of a player, just not quite HoF.

Torii was an excellent player and had a long run where he basically didn't turn in a bad season (12 years or so in a row is impressive). He didn't have much of a decline period (last two seasons didn't add anything to his resume) and was a clubhouse leader for most of his career as well. The problem Torii has is he wasn't quite good enough to get to a bunch of milestones as a hitter, and was a bit overrated as a defender. (He won 9 Gold Gloves and defense is a huge part of his reputation...but he probably only deserved about half of those) He also didn't really have any signature seasons where he really tore it up; there's just no serious MVP-caliber seasons in there. There have been worse players elected, but Torii just doesn't quite fall into the same class. He was a wonderful player, very good for a long time. A deserving all-star a few times. But I wouldn't vote for him for the Hall, as much as I loved him as a player. Let's comp him to Kirby Puckett, another beloved Twins CF: they're bWAR is almost identical, but Kirby amassed his in 7 fewer seasons. Torii won more GG's, but Kirby also had 6 Silver Sluggers to go with it. Kirby had a couple of MVP-caliber seasons (arguably was robbed in 1992) and Torii never got to that peak. Kirby was still a quality player when his career was cut short, and won two WS, having a legendary Game 6 that is inscribed in baseball lore. Torii never got there. Torii's just a cut below the HoF for me. Andruw Jones is an interesting comp as well: similar length of career, a bit similar in defensive reputation...but Jones was legitimately elite for the start of his career in ways that Torii just doesn't match. Jones has 62.7 bWAR vs 50.7 for Hunter, and again: Jones played fewer seasons (2). Hunter was a more consistent player, especially on offense, but Jones had a much higher peak. I think it's clear that Jones was a better player for most of his career. Jones fell apart after 30 and Torii kept rolling along well into his 30's, but Jones' 20's were so incredible that he stands a cut above. Torii Hunter had a great career, was a wonderful player, but he wouldn't get my HoF vote.

Larnach is a terrific hitter and I think he's going to be an excellent player. But it's not that hard to see what Kirilloff has gotten more hype and appears to be ahead in the Twins rankings. 1) Kirilloff is a year younger, but has more ABs at AA than Larnach 2) Kirilloff had a season where he put up video-game numbers, even when going through a mid-season promotion. Larnach has never had a bad hitting season for the Twins, but has also never had a professional season quite like Kirilloff's 2018. Larnach was the better hitter in 2019 at AA, but was also healthier. Now, that's a significant chip to Larnach's total: health is a significant asset. While it's generally not in the player's control, and isn't necessarily projectable...staying healthy is a heck of an asset. They're both really exciting hitters. It's going to be really fun to see which one of them is the better power producer over time. Larnach's readiness as a hitter is one of the reasons the Twins aren't going to give away the farm for Nelson Cruz and are very comfortable letting Eddie Rosario move on. He's going to be a good MLB hitter and has the potential to be an all-star bat.

I know this is focused on console games, but HardBall for the C64 was awesome. (I never played the Genesis version that was ported over, but for PC baseball, HardBall! was the best, a huge leap forward.)