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Nashvilletwin

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Everything posted by Nashvilletwin

  1. Nashvilletwin
    It’s happening…….! This is a great sign that the transition to a new young core is firmly on its way. The old young core of Rosario, Sano, Kepler, Polanco and, yes, even Buxton did ok, but not great. They were mostly competitive year-in and year- out and gave us one truly exciting season. But they could never provide any post-season magic. A couple of them (probably Rosario and Polanco) came close to reaching their potentials, but no one ever truly became a dependable, multi-year close to star player. 2023 should represent the end of that core’s window. A new core of Lewis, Lee, Kiriloff, Julien, Wallner, and Jeffers should be fully arriving in 2024. With Correa, a hopefully a productive Buxton, and some decent controllable depth on the bump, this new core should play competitive, exciting baseball and open wide a new window for several years. Perhaps a few others, like Larnach, Miranda, Martin, Gordon and Rodriguez (in ‘25) can join the band as well. The key to making this all a reality, of course, is that these young players continue to improve once making the bigs. It’s a fair question to ask whether Rocco is the leader to ensure that development not only happens, but is maximised to the greatest extent possible. As a die hard Twins fan, I’m still excited to see where this season ends up. But I’m also ready to get through this season of transition and “one and dones” to get to our exciting new era.
  2. Nashvilletwin
    Seriously, though, that’s sad news for Kiriloff. Get better soon, son. You deserve it.
  3. Nashvilletwin
    Yeah, horrible owners and franchise. Last time in the World Series was way back in 2016 for crying out loud. They haven’t won a playoff series, or a playoff game for that matter, since October 2022. They are so stupid and cheap they continue to retain the best manager in baseball year over year. Boy are they dumb. Yeah, dumb - like a fox. Despite the way the schedules roll out the last two months, let’s not count our division championship chickens before they hatch. We’ve all seen this movie before…
  4. Nashvilletwin
    Currently #58 in WAR among AL pitchers…. He did pitch very well yesterday though and here’s hoping he has a big last two months.
  5. Nashvilletwin
    Poor Larnach - the trade deadline came and went and he’s still stuck behind Gallo and Kepler. It doesn’t look like he’s going to get his chance for a sustained run in the bigs this year. Oh well, there’s always next year, but he is definitely starting to get old for the stage he is in at the moment for his career.
  6. Nashvilletwin
    Probably because Kiriloff is hurt; otherwise I’d think he’d be gone. BTW, third time in the past week or so, Gallo has been lifted for a pinch hitter late in the game facing a RH reliever. Btw, great move by Rocco. But if Gallo’s here mostly because of his bat, then this is a good indication that Rocco has lost faith. Really, it is time to move on.
  7. Nashvilletwin
    Thanks, but no thanks on any Yankees, especially one and dones. We haven’t had much success dipping in that well in the past and we still have not figured out how to get rid of the last one year rental we signed from them. The last thing we need to do is give the evil empire a cheap, controllable legitimate prospect who comes back to haunt us for years. (Sarcasm font implied - sort of).
  8. Nashvilletwin
    Thanks for the info on Prato and his development/resurgence. He may or may not be ready now or soon to be a true major leaguer. But certainly one take away from this article is how Prato is just another young player who comes to the Saints and finds his bat. One take away is the job that Spears and Gardenhire are doing.
  9. Nashvilletwin
    I certainly respect your view that keeping both Gray and Maeda is an option with merit - and probably the correct one if winning in ‘23 is the primary goal. It especially is the right choice for the FO and Rocco if winning a playoff game is needed to keep their jobs (which some speculate, but don’t really know). On the other hand, hopefully you can see (and respect) the alternative of trading one or the other also could also have merit. It’s not clear this team, given its performance to date even with a healthy Gray and Maeda, could be expected to win in the playoffs, let alone hold on to the division title. A unique opportunity to add a projectible quality major leaguer for years to come, let’s say at a position of need like a RHed CF or catcher or starting pitcher, might bring substantially more lasting value to the franchise. The Guardians just made a similar decision (except their pitcher had some control left!) yet are still not throwing in the towel this season. They just sold high in a seller’s market and sought to improve their team looking ahead of just the near term. There are years to go all in, years to sell big time and years to just be smart about the future. It’s not silly to think this year is the latter of the three - and that could include trading Gray or Maeda.
  10. Nashvilletwin
    Dastardly, thanks for this great report. Sounds like Dastardly Jr. knows his baseball - the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree I’d say! What a fun, memory making trip to take with your son. Wow.
  11. Nashvilletwin
    No - do not trade Larnach for a couple of middle aged two month rentals. Why in the world would we even consider that? Do we really think those two players are going to add that much to carrying us to the AL Central crown? To an actual playoff game victory? Are they that much of difference makers on our incredibly average/mediocre team? Next year Larnach will turn into an above average everyday player (like Steer and CES) for the Mets and we will have nothing. The only person hoping Larnach gets traded to the Mets is probably Larnach himself - get out of this Gallo/Kepler morass and find himself in situation where he gets a real chance to develop into a true major leaguer.
  12. Nashvilletwin
    Congrats Toby G - patience my friend, your day is coming and a cross town bus ticket might be on your desk sooner rather than later. The big club is soon going to need a manager whose strength is knowing how to develop young players.
  13. Nashvilletwin
    Yeah, let’s continue to decimate our prospect lists in order to prop up this clearly mediocre team and mortgage the future for an 0.500 team hoping to catch lightning in a bottle during the playoffs. Sorry, but it would take more than one trade (and therefore giving up a lot of future talent) to make this team even a decent long shot bet to make any sort of impact in the playoffs. It’s not the smart move - some years it might be, but this year it is not. Having said that, anyone who is not currently in the running to be an impact player on this team starting as early as ‘24 and possibly running through ‘26 and beyond should be on the block. If we can move those players AND make this season’s team stronger, than that would truly be a win-win, However, we should be satisfied if these types of moves set us up for greater success next season and beyond. Besides, if we trade some of the players who won’t be here next year, it’s likely that the team won’t be overly negatively impacted this season given how the team has played to date. Let’s not give up this season, but let’s certainly not mortgage a brighter future.
  14. Nashvilletwin
    So, you agree. Julien is a platoon player. Got it.
  15. Nashvilletwin
    Jeffers is clearly an important piece of the.next young (i.e cheap and controllable) core. Add him to Julien, Kiriloff, Lewis, Lee and hopefully some combo of Wallner, Larnach and/or Gordon as key position players in the ‘24 lineup.
  16. Nashvilletwin
    Julien still nothing but a platoon player. He can’t be the next Arraez until he plays everyday - even against lefties. He still has time - he’s young.
  17. Nashvilletwin
    Sell vs. buy? Ah, the eternal question of the day. There is no reason to quit on this season. Zero. But that also doesn’t mean that this is the team for which we should mortgage the future. So decisions over the next three days need to keep those two somewhat conflicting considerations in mind and find some sort of balance. So let’s start with the following: any player who realistically is looked at as being a key cog in ‘24 and beyond does not get moved (unless we are blown away, because everything has a price, right?). So, IMHO, no one on the top ten or so of our prospect list gets moved. Anyone not being viewed as part of the ‘24 and beyond Twins is fully on the block - but moving any such player has to be viewed by potential value gained this year and beyond vs. potential value lost the rest of this season. This can be a tough call and it’s not easy to necessarily get right (see the trade of the supposedly blocked Steer and CES for Mahle, for example). It’s not clear who is on this list - possibilities/certainties include (from biggest potential return): Gray, Maeda, Polanco, Kepler, Solano, Castro, Taylor, Gordon, Larnach, Windner, and Gallo. Beyond the first three or four names, there’s not much value to get back. Conclusion: it will be a quiet deadline. Also, as an aside, last night was the 2nd time in a week Gallo was PHed for late in the game with A RHer ON THE MOUND. That speaks volumes IMHO.
  18. Nashvilletwin
    Agree - probably not this year. CF (ideally a RHed bat CFer) is our biggest hole in the system at the moment and, as you point out, Lewis playing substantial time in CF in ‘24 makes the most sense. We will eventually see if Rodriguez and/or Jenkins can fill that position, which might mean, as you might have been implying, that then Lewis could even become a corner outfielder. But sometime in ‘24, assuming Buxton is our primary DH, our best lineup might include infielders Lee, Kiriloff, Julien, CC, Polanco (if he’s not moved), and Farmer. Lewis would provide the best value in this scenario by manning CF. As a side note, to truly get our best offense in the lineup, Kiriloff might also need to play some corner OF (assuming Julien and/or Polanco get time at 1B).
  19. Nashvilletwin
    Funny, I was just saying that to my son-in law. Haha
  20. Nashvilletwin
    Not a good answer at this point in the season. The Gallo experiment is over. The FO lost that bet. Time to make a change
  21. Nashvilletwin
    How in the world is Gallo getting ABs and not Larnach?
  22. Nashvilletwin
    Exactly. Would we rather have Kepler for 1/3rd of a season or four more years of Larnach? It’s not even close. Before we jettison Larnach and/or Wallner, we need to keep in mind that Kepler, Gallo, and possibly Castro, Taylor and/or Gordon will not be here next year. At the moment Larnach and Wallner are part of our corner outfield solution, even if neither or just one of them are an everyday starter. It’s not time to sell Larnach. Rather, it’s the opposite: it’s time to invest in Larnach.
  23. Nashvilletwin
    You are correct - any prospect that becomes an everyday starter as a big leaguer should be viewed as an excellent outcome. It’s just really hard. But you must admit, #2 and #3 prospects should have a higher probability of success than lower ones - even those ranked as low as Steer and CES. Who knows? But personally I’d rather take the prospect of facing Gio one more time late in the year with the ChiSox eliminated than the prospect of facing whatever two of Lee, Rodriguez or Jenkins become for years in the future. But the real point of my post is that teams like the Angels can make these kinds of trades while it’s a lot riskier for franchises like the Twins.
  24. Nashvilletwin
    On one hand, the Gray for Petty trade is looking like a win-win type of deal for both teams: Gray has performed very well here and Petty is developing very nicely (last time I checked) into a pitcher consistent with his draft status. I can’t knock the FO for that result. However, on the other hand, if we knew we would never win a playoff game during Gray’s tenure here, would that change the calculus at all? I know it’s hard to look at trades in that way - in a vacuum that trade looks great; however, if the ultimate goal isn’t reached and the future is then somewhat mortgaged, then in a broader sense, the trade might not look as good. Let’s hope that’s not the case, but IF it comes to pass, I’d think I’d rather have Petty now than the past two seasons of Gray. Here’s hoping that Gray wins one or more playoff games this year to make that trade really pay off!
  25. Nashvilletwin
    Angels #2 and #3 prospects. They might not be as highly ranked as our ours, but think Rodriguez and Jenkins types. Should we make such a trade for another one and done rental? The Angels are going all in - I’ll take the under that this trade puts them over the top. But they don’t care as much, because they can buy themselves out of it. We cannot. Sure, we are “taking care of business” in the AL central this year. Obviously any thing can happen in the playoffs. But IMHO, this season’s roster is not worth depleting our prospects depth via a trade like this. Instead, it’s better we keep investing in our prospects so we build even stronger rosters and continue to “take care of business” in the Central for years to come.
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