TNtwins85

Sonny Grey. ‘23

They made exactly the right moves for this team at that time. It was “aggressive” compared to most years in terms of acquiring talent compared to recent memory for a Twins team. As far as “giving it their all”, I believe that term can be lumped in with the term “tanking.” As in any team that doesn’t spend in the top 10 of the league is essentially “tanking” to all the semi-experts around here. Same can be said for “giving it their all” when a team that wasn’t expected to compete kinda does in which case they’re “giving it their all.” This confuses me as I’m not sure which term to believe. Are they “tanking” or “giving it their all?” Followed closely by, “they traded like 25% of the roster last year.” “They traded 30% of their roster at the fire sale!” ”They traded roughly 40% of their roster at last years fire sale!” ”They traded almost half the roster at last years fire sale!”

I was thinking that the whole time I was reading this. A collapse is what happened 2 years ago. This is simply a team that was surprising( as well as a league being surprising in the wrong reasons) and then simply coming back down to earth. This offense without a healthy Buxton was never gonna keep doing the things they were doing. They needed 3 red hot hitters to scrape .500 in June and July. They had zero in August and they played to the expected record. No collapse.

Mmmmm none of this is really true and even in a small sample size of 23 games. He’s a tick better as far as being comparable to what Culpepper and Houston did in their draft year. In watching a good portion of his games in both A and A+ he passes the eye test. His athleticism is superb. I wouldn’t give him a mulligan as far as performance as nobody that was drafted with him are doing any better and in most cases much worse in a small sample. The only comparable is maybe Drew Burress but that’s been driven by a high BABIP. Lots of K’s as well. I don’t know what else you’d like to see out of him at this point. He’s on track. Comparable to other Twins prospects in their draft year. Showing the skills he was drafted for. The Twins are not slow at promotions. That was the Terry Ryan regime 15 years ago. He’s doing everything he needs to. He’s fine. even if he starts next year at A+ he’s fine and is still on track for a 75th percentile outcome of being up by next September.

It was reported around the deadline that he was unlikely to accept the QO. Also, he’s been gearing up for this opportunity for a year. You don’t switch to Boras as your agent a year ahead of free agency and not plan on hitting the market. In the rare case he does that’s almost a perfect scenario. either way I don’t think you can get anything for Caratini unless a team is desperate in spring training.

I would tend to agree and yes, a Ryan Jeffers outcome would be a great outcome. Yet, let’s be honest. Vahn Lackey is wayyy more athletic, competed and thrived against much better competition in college. More polished defensively, better arm. He’s just better. Also, he’s showing exactly what he’s needed to show since being promoted. He’s on the same track as Culpepper and Houston with slightly better results. As far as talent and results he’s on the Jenkins level above the Culpepper/Houston level. ‘27 is pushing it yes, but possible as the article states. If he starts ‘27 in A+ and does just what he’s doing right now he’ll be in AA May/June. A red hot June/July gets him to St.Paul and at that point if he holds his own or better he’s in play for an August/September call up. That’s a 75th percentile outcome I believe with anything higher being he just completely dominates A+,AA and AAA. In which case he’s a top 5/10 prospect globally and gets called up June/July. Rare but possible.

Agreed, he’s shown subtle strides this year between MLB/AAA. If he can take another step in spring training he could be up there with Bradley and Abel to anchor this rotation for years to come. He could be a shutdown reliever but if he takes the next step in his command and limiting walks he could be your best SP come May/June of next year as well.

They’ve gotta do something to trim the fat off this roster. I don’t know if you can get anything for guys like Larnach, Wallner, Roden, Martin, Kremer, Ober or if you simply non tender them. Other than Riley Quick, the minors are not producing the next guys up. Mostly due to injury but it doesn’t seem they’ve had the next guys up emerge this year like other years. The next wave needs to emerge and that might mean packaging some position players and pitchers to bring in some AAA/AA pitchers with some upside who can be the next wave.

The Athletic survey people may be reasonable but like most they probably lack the ability and intellect to understand the issue on anything more than base level. Which is why they are reading the Athletic and taking their surveys in the first place. Speaking of dying industries….

Huh.

Can you please explain then how the league grows exponentially every year. Why teams have historically outpaced inflation by a factor of 11 in valuation. Why attendance for MLB games has risen year over year at a steady pace yet the average ticket price has only risen 260% compared to the NFL at 340% since ‘94 meaning the MLB is more affordable. Also the top valued franchises are littered with NFL and NBA teams. Why? Because they pocket the money they can’t spend on players. Yet still ask for publicity funded stadiums. But I guess that’s gonna create a more even playing field. So you’ve e been told over and over so you might as well believe it right? But Baseball is on the verge of collapse supposedly I guess huh? Why do you think they want a cap so bad? For the good of the game? That’s what they tell you so that must be the truth right? Just like the politicians that tell you they’ll make your life better but never seem to deliver. Hmmmm… seems to me you along with most have taken the bait without ever really looking into the real problem. You think the players are acting in bad faith because they don’t want a cap? Why don’t they want a cap? Because then they’re salaries are capped. The reason people watch the game. The players. When you really dig into it this could all be fixed without a cap/floor. But being creative doesn’t guarantee unfettered cash flow on the levels a cap/floor system would for owners. Is Baseball dying by your words? Absolutely not. Will it if they fight this to the end to get their guaranteed cash windfall. Well, if a lockout that results in losing games next season on the level even close to ‘94 the owners and players stand to lose billions of dollars. So I doubt it. Baseball can be made better yes. But a cap/floor doesn’t fix it in the way you’ve been programmed to think. And yes, you have been programmed to think that. Just like everything else.

Spending money just to spend money and appease fan interest for the last remaining legitimate free agent? I don’t believe for a second Zoll would approve that. Sounds to me Tom Pohlad asked Zoll if making a splash for this guy would be worth it. Zoll responds by saying if it’s a Correa esque deal at say 3 years $25-30M with 2 opt outs knowing Detroit may have a better deal in place if not other clubs too. It’s a shot in the dark. You don’t really want him which is why you don’t commit more years or money but it’s competitive based on off the field and sometimes on the field kerfuffles as well as being a 32 year old pitcher. A shot in the dark if you will. If you get him he probably lengthens your staff and you can probably rely on him at the very least with the numbers he’s put up this year. At best he’s a Cy Young caliber Ace. If you don’t, no harm and no foul. At the time you have a bevy of pitchers and a few with peak Valdez upside as cost controlled young guys. You can then tout you almost got him which is almost better than actually getting him. That’s what I believe happened.

He comes in next spring to be the 4th outfielder in a rotation with Buxton, Jenkins, and Keaschall.

When 2 of your 3 best OF’s are in AAA with an average OPS of .918 and instead you keep the guys you have already who have an average OPS of .713. That’s terrible. Not to mention the 2 guys at AAA are solid OF’s not only in the corners but can be solid CF’s as well. Also, they’re both younger and 2 of your top prospects. One of which is out of options come next year. Clemens is a great bounce around guy. You need that. Larnach and Roden, are we really thinking these guys are ever gonna be better than Jenkins and ERod? That’s the measuring stick. If they flop and need to go back to AAA then at least you were aggressive and went all in. Larnach and Roden… that’s not going all in. I expect Buxton on the IL and Jenkins up on Friday. If that’s not the case then I’m going to my back up team and focusing on the playoffs as the Twins are not serious.

As the great Ron Swanson once said, “ don’t half ass 2 things when you can whole ass one.”