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Nashvilletwin

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Everything posted by Nashvilletwin

  1. Nashvilletwin
    Geez Louise……..
  2. Nashvilletwin
    Nothing unexpected about all of this. Re Polanco, for the time being just start Julien - he’s got way more upside anyway. I’m fairly tired of hearing about his defense. Let’s face it - this Twins team is going to need to score more runs than most of us TDers think if they are going to compete. Also, do the FO and the coaching staff have the courage to break camp with Ober in the rotation? Mahle or Maeda just may be our sixth starter.
  3. Nashvilletwin
    I’ll take the under on 175 innings out of Mahle this season…
  4. Nashvilletwin
    Sorry, but the Twins injury situation is already so bad it’s close to being like the woman who backed into the airplane propellor. Its getting much more clear that the FO has known for a while that Buxton, Polanco, and Kiriloff would need to be eased in at best - thus, Gallo, Taylor and Solano.
  5. Nashvilletwin
    I’m not quite there yet. The pieces certainly are there for a solid open window over the next half decade - as you eloquently pointed out partly by luck (getting Correa and Lee were both incredibly lucky and both could be the true anchors of this team during that window) and partly by competence. But this front office and coaching staff have yet to deliver one playoff game victory. They have not, for the most part, been able to develop the talent they’ve been given or acquired to the most of that talent’s abilities. The key to a good, long open window for our small/mid-market Twins will always be to capitalize on the young talent when still cheap while augmenting the team with select, more expensive FAs. We will see what our day-to-day operational leadership can do with the outstanding young talent now on the cusp, My advice to The Nephew is to demand accountability of his FO and coaching staff for the commitment of talent, capital, infrastructure, and opportunities our solid ownership provides them.
  6. Nashvilletwin
    Lots of keys to the season, but this certainly has to be one. Sure, the starting pitching is better, the bullpen has promise, and the offense, well, let’s just say, overall isn’t too exciting but maybe a few players break out/return to top prior form. Yet all of that won’t really matter if we continue to play with the poor fundamentals that have become the hallmark of Rocco’s teams. The roster looks better in many respects, but not so strong as to be able to overcome playing dumb baseball - we just aren’t that good.
  7. Nashvilletwin
    Quick predictions come Opening Day: Megill and Hoffman go to in AAA (unless Hoffman opts out). Moran and Santana (despite the walks) make the club. We see Henriquez next year (hate to say it, and dearly hope I’m wrong, but this is our Twins and fearing the worst just gives us a chance to be pleasantly surprised if it doesn’t happen).
  8. Nashvilletwin
    Barring injury (loud knock on wood), 2024 is virtually a no lose proposition as a Twins fan. We win, great - winning is always fun, We lose, we get to see Lee, Lewis, Julien, and Martin (plus others, including pitchers) sooner rather than later. That’s a lot of fun too. I guess the only downside case is if we kind of contend, the FO gets delusional about our chances, and we end of flailing while not seeing much of the youngsters.
  9. Nashvilletwin
    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.
  10. Nashvilletwin
    Yep, probably a pretty much a make or break season for this young man at this point. Go get ‘em Aaron, we are pulling for you. You can do it!
  11. Nashvilletwin
    That’s clearly the FO’s strategy and we shall see how it plays out. If the starting pitching stays healthy and the bullpen is superior, we should contend. But there should be no expectation that the bats of Gallo, Taylor, Kepler, Farmer and Solano are going to be what leads this team to a playoff win. It’s all about the pitching and the FO is just doing it’s best to add marginal, even hopeful, value with the position player decisions.
  12. Nashvilletwin
    I never said Julien or Lee were ready now or that Lewis and Kiriloff were healthy. But once those conditions are met for any of those four players, it’ll be disappointing to see Solano taking away valuable innings from them.
  13. Nashvilletwin
    Why in the world would we trade the ascending and better Gordon while keeping the descending Gallo, Kepler, Taylor and Solano, unless some superior (and I mean superior) offer comes in for Gordon that we can’t turn down? It makes no sense. If there is a trade among our likely opening day position player roster, I’d think it would be Kepler. But, at the moment, I agree with Ted that it likely means Larnach is sent to AAA to play everyday and rack up ABs. But as I said on the other thread, if Solano takes one inning away from a “ready” Julien or Lee, or a healthy Lewis or Kiriloff, it will be one inning too many. In addition, this must also mean that Martin is further back on the backup IFer list than we thought; after all, he can play 2B as well and is a RH bat. Martin must be an OFer now. Boy, these additions must be quite disheartening for our young guys banging on the door. Geez, we add another one year rental retread I have absolutely no interest in watching. I literally can’t wait to watch all of those Gallo, Taylor, Solano and Kepler ABs……what a snooze fest, lol.
  14. Nashvilletwin
    Another no more than one year rental player I have absolutely no interest in watching. If he takes one inning away from a “ready” Julien or Lee, or a healthy Lewis or Kiriloff, over the course of this season, it will be one inning too many. Yeah, it’s unclear who’s roster spot he takes out of the gate. Choices include: an injured Polanco, an injured Kiriloff, a traded Kepler, or a needing more innings and ABs so sent to AAA Larnach. Trading Gordon while keeping Gallo, Kepler, Taylor, Solano, or even Farmer would be insane - I don’t see it unless someone really, really covets Gordon by going Don Corleone on us (i.e. makes us an offer we can’t refuse).
  15. Nashvilletwin
    Completely agree - Moran is the guy who could make a big leap this year into a reliable, high leverage option. Henriquez will be a solid addition to our pen relatively soon and a key cog in the young core ‘24 pen alongside Duran, Alcala, Moran and Jax (that’s a pretty good core five) and hopefully Lopez too.
  16. Nashvilletwin
    Other than his supposedly lack of power - which can be overcome at the plate with BA, OBP, BARISP and SBs - there is no reason that Martin is not in the mix for a starting corner OF job next season along with Gordon, Larnach, and Wallner. 2B is more of a long shot if Lee/Lewis and Julien are ahead of him in the queue. Martin has top of the order plate and running skills. Also, I agree with Dave the Dastardly - get him a position and let him run with it. Martin, in my book, remains, at this moment, a better overall prospect than Salas.
  17. Nashvilletwin
    Here is another way to categorize our top 20 (barring injury): Can’t Miss - All Star Potential - Lee, Lewis Solid MLB Starter - Julien, SWR, Varland, Henriquez (RP) Starter Potential, Likely MLBer - Salas, Martin, Miller, Wallner, Canterino, Festa Huge Ceiling Lottery Pick - ERodriguez, Raya, Prielipp, Mercedes, JRodriguez More to Prove/Potential Utility Player - Urbina, Schobel, Balazovic That’s 17 players with true MLB starter potential, split between ten position players and seven pitchers. However, there are no catchers. There is a good rollout of timing between those ready soon (‘23 and ‘24) and those coming later (‘25 and ‘26). The five lotteries offer big, big upside. Together with a couple of key veterans (Correa, Buxton), some solid existing MLB young talent (Ryan, Ober, Duran, Alcala, Moran, Jax, Miranda, Kiriloff, Larnach, Gordon, Vasquez and Jeffers), and the financial flexibility to add key FAs and/or veterans via trades to fill holes, the future looks pretty solid overall for a fun to watch and competitive franchise for the next five plus years. BTW, last year I chose Canterino. This year I’m not choosing to avoid jinxing anyone.
  18. Nashvilletwin
    100% correct. You really just never know with bullpens over the course of a season.
  19. Nashvilletwin
    We shall see about our bullpen - there are plenty of questions and not just about Pagan: Is Lopez really going to be a reliable high leverage option (personally, I think this is the biggest risk - not Pagan)? When and will Alcala reach dependability? Was poor Jax just overused, or was his later in the season decline a harbinger that the league was figuring him out? Thielbar is a solid lefty, but is another year older an issue? Will Moran continue his solid trajectory as a reliable, improving 25 year old option? Can Megill improve upon his 2022 campaign? Our bullpen looks as solid as any in recent years. No doubt. But bullpens can be fleeting, fickle things and this year it won’t just be Pagan’s performance that will make or break the bullpen’s season. In fact, a rebound from Pagan could be huge if some of the questions above don’t to turn out to be favourably answered.
  20. Nashvilletwin
    Reasonably above or below ERA or FIP won’t be the key to the success of our five pencilled in starters (and by extension quite possibly the success of the team) this season. The key is going to be their innings pitched.
  21. Nashvilletwin
    No need to worry about Ober getting innings - if healthy, he will get every opportunity to get in the maximum starts his ramp up in ‘23 allows. There just is so little chance our expected five starters stay heathy. Personally, I’m expecting Gray, Mahle, and Lopez to all need some time off this season and Maeda won’t get fully ramped up until 1/4 - 1/3 of the season if all goes well anyway. Also, depending on if, or how close, we are to competing, a couple of our impending ‘24 starters might be traded by the deadline anyway. I expect the number of our “primary” starters this year to actually be more like 7-8 with Ober and Maeda rounding out the top 6. Remember, an incredibly important sub goal to this season is to see what we have in Ober, Varland, Winder, and SWR and to get them ready for the ‘24 campaign - so all should see plenty of big league action this year even if there are limited injuries or departures within the “top five”.
  22. Nashvilletwin
    Thanks for the update Nick. The “on ramp” to being fully ready for opening day seems a bit congested already, but other than concerns re Polanco and Kiriloff - both of whom are incredibly important to our offensive success this season - overall not that bad for week one. Really good news on Mahle, Larnach, and Lewis. We all have anticipated that Maeda and Alcala probably would be eased in over the first 1/4 - 1/3 of the season anyway and Paddock is primarily a ‘24 wager. And, alas, Buxton is Buxton…..
  23. Nashvilletwin
    Good strategy with our next 4-5 starter candidates - keep them as starters as it’s highly likely we will need them all sometime this year (possibly often) and beyond for sure. The Saints’ lineup pretty much from top to bottom could be a lot of fun to watch this year.
  24. Nashvilletwin
    Lee is as close to a “can’t miss” prospect as the Twins have had in several years - son of a coach, high baseball acumen, raked at every level with both power and OBP, and plenty good in the field. Baseball flows through this kid’s veins. I can’t wait to cheer for this kid and tune in to watch every one of his ABs.
  25. Nashvilletwin
    I’d take .210 right now…..lol
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