jmlease1

well, I don't think the Pohlads expected this to get done by Opening day, and I think you're right to still be skeptical that it will. I'm sure the payroll cuts were entirely about ensuring that the Pohlads didn't have to cash-flow anything into the franchise on their way out the door.

well, I don't think the Pohlads expected this to get done by Opening day, and I think you're right to still be skeptical that it will. I'm sure the payroll cuts were entirely about ensuring that the Pohlads didn't have to cash-flow anything into the franchise on their way out the door.

I can't not be excited about walker jenkins, who looks amazing. Should be fun to see him destroy AA pitching and roll up to Saint Paul. I do think it'll be a fun storyline to see where Eeles and McCusker end up. Both are unheralded players with plenty of doubters. But both are guys who took advantage of their opportunities and have moved forward and are making people take them seriously. They're great, fun stories and I'm rooting for them to keep producing. A starting pitcher breakout will be fun to look for, I think. we have a lot of depth in AA and AAA with starters that might be someone...or might not. It wouldn't surprise me at all if one of them comes into the season with a few more mph on their fastball, or better feel for the change or something that leads to more dominant performances. Cory Lewis is a guy I like a lot, and if he's healthy from the jump this year I think he's going to impress in saint Paul.

I can understand the fear. While I agree that it's highly unlikely to happen, for various reasons (the fact that we have a great stadium, there's a long term lease in place, the size of the Twin Cities market and potential reach into Iowa, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, the sizeable corporate base here, limited attractive alternatives, etc) anyone that lived through the contraction debacle is going to have a concern. Nashville, Charlotte, or Portland aren't unreasonable alternatives and have floated out there before. But it's still very unlikely. John Fisher had to really run things into the ground in Oakland in order to force his way out, and it took a long time of absolute trash product in an almost impossibly bad stadium with the Giants across the Bay to get him to Vegas. the fear is overblown IMHO, but I understand the reaction.

I'm definitely in the "can't happen soon enough" camp. I'm tired of the Pohlads as owners: for the most part they don't really care about baseball all that much, and while it might be a family business, for the most part the family haven't been all that active in running the club. (for the most part that's probably been good (having fewer nepotism hires), but it also means they're not as invested in its success) While they're not the worst owners around, they also haven't been particularly good. They were successful in leveraging a new stadium out of the public coffers, and while it's a great stadium and certainly improves the viewing experience over the Dome (which simply sucked for baseball outside of the noise for playoff games), ownership received more benefit from that than anyone. It's been more than 30 years since we won a title, and our playoff record since '91 became a national punchline. From a business standpoint they haven't exactly set the world on fire with expanding the fanbase, developing new revenue streams, and have failed repeatedly when it comes to the media side (botching an attempt to create their own channel, mishandling radio, staying behind the 8-ball on streaming, and fiddling while the RSNs burned just to name a few). In terms of popularity, they're behind the Vikings, Wild, and Wolves. The best thing that can be said about the Pohlad regime is that they didn't embarrass themselves in public (at least not after the contraction debacle), and while that puts them ahead of some, it's still thin gruel. They have been so cheap that getting up to a middle of the pack payroll felt like a gift from the heavens, which is pretty awful. Their unwillingness to spend when the club was well positioned to contend in 2024 puts them back in the rotten class. the next owners may turn out to be sleazebags, con artists, or incompetent...but the odds are pretty good they won't actually be worse than the Pohlads, who will leave with a legacy of "cheap, but not actively evil". Low bar to clear, IMHO. I'm betting the Ishbias have the inside track for a couple of reasons: 1) they've already been vetted by the NBA, so the skeletons have already been cleared out of the closets, 2) there's no question that they have real money (as opposed to what's been going on with the Wolves), and 3) Justin is known to actually love baseball. Maybe there's another huge money candidate or three out there that we're not hearing about, but this fits the profile of what MLB wants: exceptionally rich owners that aren't going to see the team as an asset to be flipped in 5 years. regardless, I'm willing to take a chance on new ownership rather than endure more of the same from the Pohlads, who simply don't care enough about the Twins as anything other than an asset to have them improve on the field, and have failed from a business perspective in pretty much every way except getting the public to build a stadium for them.

I think that's right. Do I mind it? Not at all, taking a flyer on a former high-value prospect at a position of need in the system seems like a decent enough idea. relatively low risk, potential high gain. Are they going to be able to fix his bat? Maybe, maybe not...but if they do it'll be a big win. Sometimes a player needs a fresh start. I don't think this fixes the Twins needs at catcher, but adding another guy into the mix at the top end of the minors is a start at least.

Seems like a fair list to me. I agree with the folks who think that Buxton earned his way back on with his performance last season, but I'm not going to lose my mind over it. It's awfully fun to see three starting pitchers in the top 5. I'm trying to recall a time before Pablo got here that we would have landed that way...and I'm struggling to think of the last time when 3 of our top 5 assets would have been starting pitchers going into the season. I'm so much happier with where the Twins are at for starting pitching now. We have guys that can be relied on at the top of the rotation, guys that should be seen as legit playoff starters that give your team a chance against basically anyone. That's a great place to start. I hope Royce can be healthy enough to showcase his talent and skill. He's got a ton of it, and the joy he plays with is a delight. Same goes for Buxton. They're some of the most fun twins I've ever watched, so easy to root for. I try not to get overly excited about Walker Jenkins, but it's hard. He's got all the pieces. i think he's going to crush AA this year and get himself up to Saint Paul. It's gonna be fun!

I don't think there's anything wrong with Eeles, but he's had relatively little exposure to professional and high level competition. he did great last season, and deserves a ton of credit for grinding his way into professional baseball moving all the way up to AAA already. I don't think it's crazy for the Twins to want to see him repeat it in AAA this season, maintaining those excellent hitting skills he put on display last season, showing he can keep making good hard contact consistently and seeing where his skills defensively land him. I'm definitely rooting for him. And he's definitely going to be pushing guys like Brooks Lee, Ed Julien, etc to play well or find him pushing for a chance. because you know he's got the motivation and drive! He jumped 4 levels in 1 season, which is remarkable. but right now Eeles is still a bit of an uncertainty, having only 1 season in MLB-sponsored professional baseball going into his age-25 season.

It's not that unusual for players to improve defensively in the MLB career if they get settled into a position. I'm not expecting him to turn into Kepler out there, but it's not unreasonable for him to slide up a little more towards average. (Martin I really don't know about; I thought he'd be better in the OF from the jump and he has the tools for it, so his poor performance in the OF was bit surprising and very disappointing. Wallner wasn't awful, but looked tentative or unsure at times, and that's the sort of thing that can improve with reps IMHO) Also, which is more likely: a player who has generated more than 2 bWAR in each of the past 2 seasons playing about half a season each in MLB generating 3-4 bWAR in 2025 at age 27, or sliding down to replacement level with a huge drop in power?

2020 was a tough year. And with so few picks, the twins aren't going to get back any value for missing on high draft choices with good development of late-round picks, which they've done in other drafts (like 2019). I'm still not sure what I think of Raya, who has talent, but has had a different kind of progression through the system, where they've handled his innings very carefully. I'm fond of Rosario, who I know is something of a longer shot to make it in MLB (he's not a good defender, he Ks a lot, he's not consistent, and now he's coming off a significant injury after just being ok in AA) but development is not linear so I'm holding out hope. I think a lot of us questioned the Sabato pick at the time. Coming on the heels of Cavaco, it was more than fair to wonder if they knew how to handle 1st round picks! It's definitely gone better since then: Petty yielded Sonny Gray, Brooks Lee has already made it to MLB, and Walker Jenkins looks awesome. the 2021 draft is the one where there's going to be the lowest yield from high draft picks (Twins have traded their top 5 selections: Petty, Miller, Hajjar, Povich, and CES) but still might get ok value out of the draft class as a whole with MacLeod, Adams, Festa, Ohl, and Nowlin still progressing as starters with Festa looking like a real find. MLB draft is tough.

Wallner belongs. He's pretty underrated by a lot of Twins fans because the K's aren't pretty when he's missing the ball, but at the end of the day he's put up an OPS+ of 139 in MLB to date with a ton of power, which is awfully good production for a corner OF. His arm will play nicely in RF, and I'm hoping he might improve defensively a bit with it being his only home outside of some action at DH. He can actually cover a surprising amount of ground, so with a little improvement on his route-running he can get up around average as a fielder. His stats won't show his complete defensive impact (how exactly do you show the number of baserunners that didn't go for an additional base because they feared Wallner's arm?) but he will be appreciated by his pitchers even if he doesn't have a ton of OF assists. The aesthetics may drive some Twins fans bonkers (I get it, 3K days are not fun to watch and he's never going to look particularly graceful in the field) but the dude can absolutely play and I'm looking forward to him getting 140 games in RF. He might not be Juan Soto (who is?) or Kyle Tucker but he certainly could be a borderline all-star if he gets a full season producing like he has over his MLB career to date. Very valuable to the Twins.

You act like Jeffers is a poor defender at catcher, which really isn't borne out by his play. Jeffers is probably best suited to more of a job share at catcher to keep him healthy and shouldn't be looked at to play 130+ games at catcher, but he certainly can be the primary, getting 90-100 games there. Look at someone like Ben Rortvedt, who is a quality defensive player at catcher (and a poor hitter). Who do you think TB would make their primary catcher if they had both players? Pretty sure Jeffers would get more time...and would be substantially more productive, just like he was in 2024. the teams with the best success at catcher (Milwaukee, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Dodgers, KC, etc) all had catchers who could hit getting the majority of the time, rather than the defense-only guys. You just bump up on the ceiling too fast with guys like Rortvedt, who is a quality defender, but can't hit.

Hopefully. coming into a season without having any off-season surgeries and having a normal prep to a season will help position him to do better and stay stronger throughout the season. I expect the twins would have given him some breaks in August/September last season, but they were short on options with Miranda and Lee both fighting injuries, Castro being needed elsewhere (and being overused as well), etc. he might just need to get used to the grind.

Larnach is probably a bit high for me; he did well last season despite the turf toe, but he's got almost 1000 ABs now in MLB and there's been a lot of stretches where he's struggled. Maybe he's figure out how to survive against off-speed pitches, but maybe not. If he's healthy then he should be a useful player; he's not a bad fielder. Jeffers I might have higher. Catchers who can hit are really valuable and while he may not be able to hold up under a 125 game workload, he's still a solid backstop who can hit. So many catchers are just garbage at the plate, as either no contact or no power swingers that can't get on base enough and add nothing else on offense. Jeffers will take his walks and give you some pop and he's a really valuable player.

It's funny, we've become so accustomed to this being the narrative on the AL Central, but it's really not true any longer. CWS are bad. likely still the worst team in baseball. But the rest are not. The AL West is probably the weakest again this year: the A's are still bad, betting the under on the Angels is almost always a winning proposition, and I'm not exactly impressed with Texas. Seattle would look worse in a better division; they got crushed by everyone in the AL central except the dreadful CWS.

I kinda doubt Falvey has the team he wants: I'm sure he'd like to have brought in a RH slugging 1B/OF/DH type to shore up the lineup, but ownership isn't going to allow it with the budget. They're holding the line tightly on payroll, especially with the sale pending, almost certainly to make sure they extract as much profit as possible before finally moving on. It's so exhausting and frankly stupid, because this team has a lot of talent on it and with other teams like Cle and Det not making significant moves (and KC mostly just hanging on to what they have), there's still a window in the AL Central. Despite the collapse last season, the Twins weren't a bad team in 2024. Finished with a winning record and should have been able to hold a WC slot until wheels came off the wagon in Sept. Outside of Santana, we haven't lost anything significant. (Kepler wasn't good last season, Thielbar finished the year ok but hadn't been good for most of the season) There's several players that should be ripe for improvement over 2024 (Julien, Lee, Lewis) and others that will improve the team if they're simply able to play more for the Twins in 2025 (Wallner, Larnach, Correa, Buxton). There's a lot of depth in the pitching staff along with real top-end talent. It's incredibly disappointing that a team that should be able to compete under any reasonably objective assessment can't add anything to help push themselves over the top because ownership. They're desperately trying not to lose any money on the team, and through their short-sightedness they're probably going to lose more money because of such an uninspiring off-season. Early season ticket sales are going to be garbage because of the way the team finished and the fact that ownership has denied them the ability to improve. They'll probably find a way to somehow screw up the TV and streaming again too. It's too bad. I think this team is still going to be competitive even without a substantial move, unless they're forced to dump a bunch more salary so the Pohlads can improve their bottom line a little more.

Part of the problem with that is definitely the feeling that ownership would not reinvest the money, but would simply pocket the savings on their way out the door. I don't think it's a wise move to deal either Buxton (whose contract isn't really that burdensome) or Correa (who plays at an elite level at a position the Twins have had a lot of trouble filling), but it's not an unreasonable idea as a way to restructure the club and potentially avoid a late-season collapse. But I have zero faith that we'd get to reinvest anywhere near the salary savings that might be realized from a trade of their highest salaried players. It's good news for the Twins that the ownership in other AL Central cities seem to be adverse to investment in their clubs as well. I'm sure the losses in TV money are impacting those teams as well, and CWS needing a total rebuild is fortunate timing. Still doesn't let our ownership off the hook for choosing more operating profit over winning. I'm sick of this ownership group and can't wait for them to be gone. (Justin Ishbia might end up being a meddling shmuck, but at least he loves baseball, and he and his family are rich enough they don't need operating profits every year to maintain their lifestyle...or other businesses)

Because the "Rocco only does what his spreadsheet tells him" isn't "Baldelli uses analytics to inform his decisions", it's a pejorative that says he's a useless robot. It's entirely designed as an insult. I think you know that the twins don't have an elaborate decision tree set up on the iPad that tells Rocco what decision to make after every single AB throughout the game, but for the people that either don't like the use of analytics in baseball decision-making or just dislike Rocco this has become the cheap shot attack, repeated over and over again without any nuance or real accuracy, designed solely to denigrate the manager (and the front office) mostly because you don't like the way modern baseball is played. There's real areas to criticize Rocco's game management but the "he takes orders from a spreadsheet" one is consistently and spectacularly dumb IMHO. Criticism of late season collapses are absolutely allowed, but this is another one of those areas where people overrate the impact of managers in baseball. Maybe another manager would have been able to pull Royce Lewis out of his horrific slump or get Willi Castro going again, etc but I'm skeptical about any "new manager bounce" in baseball. Rocco and the coaches get some blame for not being able to find a lever to pull to get anyone out of their slumps, but the players should get most of the stick because too many of them just stunk and came up empty when they needed to. In 6 seasons, Rocco has 3 division titles, a .525 win %, and 3 playoff wins (including one short series). That's pretty good, but not out of line with the talent level of the team IMHO. Could/should any of those teams have done more? I'd say yes on the 2019 squad, maybe on 2021 group (who had more talent than a last place finish, but obviously the sell-off mattered). is it on Rocco that the 2019 team only scored 7 runs in 3 games in the playoffs? The record overall has been good.

The "baldelli/spreadsheet" insults are pretty tired. the collapses in 2022 and 2024 are pretty different. In 2022 the team literally ran out of MLB-quality players; we used 13 OFs that season, including an ill-famed cameo in CF by Royce Lewis. The team had a ton of injuries down the stretch and ran out of options in the minors. And they protected against that in the next season by adding veteran OF help, having players with more flexibility, and keeping some of the best prospects in the minors longer to ensure they didn't run out of depth in 2023. 2024 they actually weren't that bad off in terms of health: sure, there were guys battling some issues and we'd lost some important players, but the reality was the team just fell apart with multiple players falling into dreadful slumps with no time to correct. in 2022 we had 24 position players get in 12 or more games. In 2024, that number was just 17. Different situations entirely.

I don't mind these kinds of minor-league deals in order to raise the floor/provide emergency backups/etc. Where I get cranky is when they'd rather give AB after AB to a poor performing "veteran" rather than give a younger player with far more upside the chance and a long leash to get through the bumps. We'll see where this lands. I don't think he solves the problem and I'd definitely start Miranda and probably Julien over him (unless Julien shows up to spring training still paralyzed or flailing at the plate), but I'd have no problem with him as a backup if he looks very strong in spring training or as veteran AAA depth. I'm fine with taking flyers like this so long as they know when to cut bait. And I don't want a 32 year old journeyman with limited upside blocking a player like miranda (who still has real upside) because the vet needs less hand-holding or whatever. Unsure of the team's judgment on handling those marginal veteran players.

the 2023 team was very fun. I like winning, and the playoffs were amazing. Loved the starting pitching, Duran nuking people as the closer, and the sheer joy of Mr Grand Slam in the second half. But if you're pining for a return to the baseball of the late 70's early 80's with lots of bunting, starters throwing 300+ innings, and astro turf as far as the eye can see, then you're not going to have any fun watching baseball these days.

well, the idea that a manager can't be effective if they're in the last year of their contract is a myth that's been promulgated by...managers and coaches, across almost every sport. It's self-serving at best, complete BS at worst. But I'm not all that surprised that an extension hasn't happened for several reasons. The team had an epic collapse to end the season, the second one in three years (although Baldelli was hardly to blame for the first one) and it's not unfair to wonder whether he was starting to lose his grip on the team. With the current ownership group selling the team, not extending the manager is a gift to the next ownership group, who may want to put their own guy in place, not because it's always the smart decision but it's just the sort of thing new owners do. new owners always want to make a splash, show they're in control, that there's a new sheriff in town, blah blah blah ownershipcakes. Picking a new manager is a nice high profile move, and usually easier than anything on the player side of it. I think Baldelli is...fine. When his players are healthy and playing well, he looks great, and when they're not he doesn't. he's not a disaster, despite the loathing he engenders from some of the folks around here (the hatred is almost comical at times, especially as people make up things about him to fit their narrative, pretend to be able to read his mind, or act as if the modern style of baseball is something uniquely related to "Baldelli Ball" or something). he was overrated when he won Manager of the Year (which much like in the NFL goes to the manager who is believed to have overachieved from what their perceived talent was in the preseason more than any kind of objective "best"), underrated when the team finished last, and falls into the mushy middle of baseball managers. In terms of managers that win more games than they "should" because of their consistently superior game management; that number is perishingly small, and most fans drastically overestimate the impact of managerial in-game decisions. A lot of what constitutes the modern managerial role is behind the scenes in handling the egos, player development, strain of the long grinding season, etc and fans have less information about that now (despite the internet) than ever, because players are much more carefully handled by their own management teams and management doesn't talk about it. I won't be crushed if Baldelli gets moved on by a new ownership (he's plenty rich, he'll be just fine), but i won't be rejoicing either. (Baldelli is fine and baseball managers are frequently overrated).

Free agents are flying off the board while we sit back because the ownership hamstrung the front office by cutting $30M+ from the payroll. If ownership is setting the payroll at $130 when it should be at $150-160 because the billionaires need more cash to prop up their other businesses, that ain't the fault of the front office. And the idea that Buxton would be a backup on anything but a handful of teams is a contender for the Preposterous Statement of the Year Award. I'll give you Judge & Duran, but Rodriguez and Merrill were healthier, not better. I'll hear arguments on Varsho, but Buxton hits a heck of lot better. Doyle? healthier, not better. It's incredibly hard to find a player who can defend in CF and hit like Byron Buxton. Want to claim Buxton is a "backup"? name names that would start over him on a "real" team.

How many teams move a player down the defensive spectrum before they have to? And if players are moving down early, then they're frequently flawed as defenders at any position. If you draft someone out of HS or college at 1B, they'd better be able to hit a ton. The reality defense at 1B just isn't as important as hitting at 1B. Carlos Santana's Gold Glove this year was great, but it would have been pretty hollow if he'd put up a 90 OPS+. Just like Max Kepler's 2021-2022 stretch where he was an average starter, but below average offensively and drove people insane with all those 4 bouncers to 2B... I'm pretty sure Royce Lewis could play a fine 1B with his good glove, but his bat is more valuable if he's able to hit at 2B or 3B and defend reasonably. I think the Twins were always pretty positive on Kirilloff's ability to play 1B, but when was he ever healthy enough to actually play it? His lack of health and (understandable) inability to hit through some awful injury problems kept him from ever settling in. Twins brought in Santana because they couldn't count on Kirilloff staying healthy, not because they didn't think he could evolve into a functional 1B.

because he's currently their best player? and while we could certainly use $20M to improve at say 1B/DH...do you really think that signing Pete Alonso to handle that role will actually make up for the loss of Correa's production? I mean, who else are we signing? or is that 420M getting eaten up with someone else's "bad" contract in return? Look, you could still have a winning Twins club without Correa if you signed Alonso and he played well, Lewis stays healthy and produces, Buxton stays healthy and produces, Lee has a breakout season, Julian returns to form, the pitching staff stays steady/improves, etc. But the risk goes up and the margin for error shrinks. And taking a player who produces like an all-star off the roster and replacing him with a couple of average starters doesn't move the needle much for this team. Might be different if Royce was coming off a healthy season where he finished strong or Lee had already had his breakout. But that's not where we are.