Blyleven2011

The pohlads should have had higher payrolls when they were more profitable and they wouldn't have lost so many fans  in the stands ...
Now they are losing money says Forbes  and now have a high payroll to try and gain the fans back with a better product ,,,
This really should have happened when target field opened or shortly after ,  after all the revenue they earned from the new stadium  we should have had a better product years ago   ....
If Forbes is right ....

The question is that baseball is a marathon and not a Sprint. Spring training is a time for optimism and it's nice that you come out with this strong feeling, but Kool-Aid is not on my beverage list. I'm content to watch and wait. Last year the first half season was good, the ending was not. I suggest a good glass of bourbon and just enjoy whatever happens without setting yourself up for possible disappointment

I hate the new Logo on the caps. Uniforms are OK, but I don't see how they will help the team in any way. For me it comes down to the actual product, the players and the way they perform.

I  hate to point out the obvious, but both Harris and Carroll played in the majors at age 21 and will play this whole season at age 22 (Harris the whole season and Carroll until August 21st). Harris was the rookie of the year and 13th in MVP voting. Lee will also play this whole season at 22 but has only played a handful of games above A+, so an extension for him should not happen and will not happen before the end of this season and only if he comes up at some point this season and shows the skills of a future all star. Royce Lewis likely won't play again until he is 24 (June 5th) and then will have to pick up where he left off last year. With that said at this point Lewis and Lee aren't close to Harris and Carroll and  we (Twins Fans) shouldn't be comparing them.

Hope springs eternal for some. The rest of us can see the writing on the wall that has been there for quite some time now. Buxton is a part-time player. Always has been and always will be. Even if he is healthy the plan now is to only let him play defense part-time. Settling for less is not a recipe for success. I hate scheduled rest for any player. There are off days. There is the voice of the player that can let his Manager know if he needs a day off. Is the communication between players and Manager that bad that they can't come to an agreement about this on a daily basis? There is no proof that days off prevent injury. So the Twins have the best defensive outfield in all of baseball. I will believe defense wins championships when it happens. Pitching and clutch hitting wins Championships. If you can't score, saving a run or two per game won't matter. Adding Gallo and Taylor who hit for a combined .210 clip last year does nothing to improve the offense, which was a huge sore spot due to the Twins inability to get a hit when they needed it. So far, in spring training the Twins are leading all of baseball in strikeouts. Doesn't appear they have solved anything offensively by adding the outfielders that they did. 

This is the best CF depth we've had for a very long time, maybe ever. Last year we finally had an adequate back-up to Buxton with Gordon & Celestino, after suffering for years with Cave. A decent cOF does not equate into an adequate CF. Also I'd like to state that Gallo's DRS was accumulated practically all  in cOF. 
Taylor is spectacular in CF, he's also having a good ST at the plate. Hoping that it carries over to the regular season. Hope is eternal so I hope Buxton can play plenty of CF while putting in the innings. Before Polanco was moved off SS, I thought CF would be Lewis's position. But after his ACL problem, I'm dead set against him playing anywhere in the OF. So anywhere I see anyone suggesting Lewis to play the OF, I will confront it.
The way he was running so fast & jump high to catch that ball, he cringed in pain when he came down before he hit the wall. With so few cases of ACL to really account for, yet I saw a study that states that OFers are more apt to tear an ACL than INFers. Yeah maybe you can tell Lewis to not run fast & don't jump for fly balls, be a regular OFer. But for Lewis that'd be impossible and you'd lose any edge you may have had. 

I'm old enough to remember when thrown out runner % was an important stat for a catcher, and 20-30% was elite.
Looking at baseball reference, 2 former Twin catchers with excellence in the area:
Kurt Suzuki at 23.5
and...
Gary Sanchez. 33.9.
 
Historically, Damien Miller, Terry Steinbach, Phil Roof, Butch Wynegar, Earl Battey excelled. Wynegar and Battey were over 40%
Back when speed was equal to power, pretty impressive.

Thanks, Ted for this article. All those negative stats that you quoted will greatly be magnified this year, as you stated, because of the rule changes. IMO pitch framing isn't that hard to learn and it should be obsolete soon. A dinger once in a while doesn't make up for Jeffers defensive deficiencies. 

I worry and hope with Kiriloff, but wonder why Wallner is not an option here too?  
My one comment on defense at 1B - it is the position that is involved in more action than any position except catcher and we should give it more defensive consideration.  

The current FO has treated 1B as a not needed defender there.  They will throw anyone over there.  This has been a clear plan that outside of Sabato, who has not been good in minors overall, they have no one you would slot into 1B in minors.  Over the last few years we have rotated several different people there.  
Personally, I do not like this plan, as a good defending 1B will save your team a ton of errors and extra bases.  It is not so much about the stops they make, but the way they field bad throws from other guys.  Sure, if a throw is good, just about any MLB talent should be able to play the position.  However, when you have a bad defender there you notice it.  However, clearly this FO feels you can live with a bad defender there in the long run as they have had no plan to address it. 
I would not be surprised at all if they give Julian some time there if he hits his way onto the roster and AK is not ready to play. 

Thanks Nick, always enjoy your perspective. Alex Kiriloff is the only one that Twins have given much time at 1B, except Sabato (which probably won't see any MLB time) . The others the Twins haven't been worried about it, that they can easily transition. (Except for full time 1B like Sabato, the Twins like to throw hopeful catchers there). Which is fine with me because Arraez who had 0 experience at 1B and is less athletic was able to transition on the fly & did fine. So those who are more experienced, more athletic & bigger should be  better.
Yet, I'd still like them see more time at 1B especially Julien. 1B isn't such a premium position IMO we have abundance of adequate depth there. For a long time I believe that Kiriloff won't make the active roster breaking camp. Because he started swinging late and they want to take him slow.

So should we try for an ace or not? How should we go about it?  (cont)
I think right now we can sit pat with what we have. IMO we can get by in the regular season very easily with what we have. But if you are desperate for an ace right now the least expensive route is signing Trevor Bauer. IMO isn't a bad option. Bauer is very debatable which has been debated here extensively. He'll be cheap, if he doesn't work out we can let him go w/o being out much but if he does work out we could have our ace to start the post season.
If we can wait until next year, our next core will start to be MLB ready then we can trade some of our regulars that these prospects can replace (for example unfortunately Polanco). 2 yrs. ago I advocated trading Maeda, Kiriloff & Jeffers in a 3 way trade for Castillo, IMO CIN would have gone for it. I also advocated for Musgrove (PIT).

It's certainly a reasonable roster, but I'm still pretty disappointed in all the spots given to lackluster vets instead of the hungry, more talented young players. Solano, Taylor, Farmer and Kepler? Ugh, it should have been two of those guys tops with the higher ceiling young guys fighting each other for the last two spots.

Will Polanco be on the twins roster in 2024 ...
Go ask Correa as he is part of the plan in who stays and who goes ...
I like Polanco and always have , a switch hitter is a plus , if your going to replace him apples to apples then brook Lee is the  one to take away Polanco's job , Julien isn't a solid defender , Lewis has a strong arm for third , Martin is most likely destined for the outfield  ...
Polanco will have a solid season  in 2023 if his health remains ...
 

I sure hope so  , it's encouraging that Gibson went through the same procedure  and came through with an outstanding career ...

The signing of Correa is looking better every day.  He is a top tier SS, a great mentor for the younger players, and it appears that he is also an assistant coach and assistant general manager.

Lee has been very fortunate. The year he got hurt was during covid. Being a coach's kid he has a very good understanding of who he is. So he won't take everything in, he'll take in what is pertinent to who he is & let everything else roll off him. Plus his great ability to adapt, I expect him to have even better year. 
Being a switch hitter, he'll bring a great LH bat to left side of the INF. He'll be a great asset very soon. He'll settle in at 3B & be a HOF next to his name sake.

I hope I’m still around to see Julien (like several others) when the FO finally let’s him play for the varsity team. Who knows when that will happen. In the meantime I will try to stay awake with all the one year rentals comprising our roster.

No real surprise that they are looking for pitching on tge cheap side again  , maybe 1 of  Santana or hoffman makes the roster out of spring training  ....
Or they are both dfa'd  and pass through waviers and then are depth at AAA ....
Where is the confidence in our prospects , there going to be old man before they get an opportunity  ...

Players will shift positions based on how they grow into their bodies.  I know that this may not be a popular view, but once their body is set, I have always felt that they should lock into one position and learn it well.  I believe the reason that we see poor defense is that players have not had enough reps at the position they are at.
I get that we need some flexibility and will always have a few utility players, but when you get an A+ player at a position, no need to move him around to gain flexibility at the expense of good fielding.  Since we have adopted this multi-position strategy, how many gold gloves have Twins players won?  Only Buxton because he has remained at CF and become great there.

Sorry Cody, I don't like the term position-less players when describing players like Lewis. Because it's not true, they are multi-positional. If their main position is blocked then they jump to another one. To me a position-less player is someone who can hit & can play 1B/ DH but if their position is blocked so they're stuck.
But I know what you mean, yet that's a little different from drafting a big bat at SS or CF knowing full well they won't stick. We have to draft athletic types that can field because if we draft a big bat that can't hit, they're stuck in the lower levels.

Right! His job is to get guys out in jams & not give up HR that inflate ERA to 4.00……..speaking of “any relief pitcher”…maybe we should inform López & Pagan about this rule of thumb!

It took Thielbar to leave MLB, but he never gave up baseball. He figured it out playing small ball. . Some find the key early, some later & some give up & never do. Fortunately Thielbar never gave up & he came back on the Twins radar & is pitching his best stuff for us. Have another great season Caleb!

What everyone is missing is how successful the Reds have been.  They did have a winning record in 2013 and have been the Little Red Machine ever since.  Of course if we could be as lucky as the Yankees were when they annually grabbed the best players off the Athletics 
 
Here is a quote from Baseball Almanac, "
Of course, the Yankees were the richest and most resourceful club in baseball, then as now, and they found a way to ensure a continuous supply of good players. They managed to turn one of their American League rivals, the Kansas City Athletics, into a virtual farm team.
How did this happen? Connie Mack's family sold the Philadelphia Athletics in 1954, and Yankee principal owner Dan Topping arranged for one of his business friends, Arnold Johnson, to buy the A's and move the team to Kansas City . It's still unclear how much influence the Yankee ownership held over the A's, but the two teams then embarked on a six-year series of trades. These trades, as we shall see, almost always favored the Yankees .
The Yankees, in fact, rarely traded players with any other team in this six-year period. From 1955 to 1960, the Yankees gained many outstanding players from Kansas City, and managed to give only marginal value in return. It must have worked, since the Yankees won four more pennants in a row beginning in 1955, while the new Kansas City team struggled to stay out of last place."

Guessing hes a guy they'll DFA before opening day, hope he clears waivers and then send him to St.Paul to be ready for the two-way shuttle to Target Field.