Nashvilletwin

Agreed (maybe Lewis is at 3B and Lee is 2B). Arraez and Julien are the 5th and 6th infielders. Four of the six play in the field, one dh’s, and one sits every day. In the OF, throw in Buxton, Gordon, and three of the Kiriloff, Larnach, Wallner, Martin, and Rodriguez sweepstakes. Jeffers and Vasquez at catcher. Those could be our primary thirteen position players in ‘24. The two losers of the OF sweepstakes plus Celestino, Urbina, and Sabato are core AAA backups. Kepler, Polanco, Farmer, Garlick, and Gallo are gone no later than the trade deadline - hopefully for pitching. That my friends presents a solid window for several years if we can get the pitching right.

Did the Dodgers’ manager yank him in the 5th after getting through the order for the 2nd time? Yeah, he wouldn’t be a fit for the Twins - he’d only last one start. Please note the italics font indicating sarcasm,

Agree, the Correa signing does have an impact - not only on the slots directly available, but also on the direction the team takes at the deadline. With Correa, if the Twins are in any way even remotely (i.e. delusionally) in the hunt for a playoff spot, this FO will be much less likely to pull the trigger on trading players like Polanco, Gallo and Farmer. Those three are the keys for Julien, Lee, and Martin (and Wallner for that matter) getting the ABs and innings they need to be ready for ‘24. In fact, they might even trade some of those young players to go all in on their Gray, Mahle, Maeda, Correa strategy for ‘23. Who knows - maybe it will be the right call. Without Correa, the FO might be more likely to grasp reality and develop/assess the young talent with meaningful major league experience.

Kiriloff is 1B in ‘24 only if Arraez is traded and Sabato doesn’t beat Kiriloff out. Otherwise, the ‘24 infield are these five players: Lee, Lewis, Julien, Miranda and Arraez (5) - it will be 6 total if Correa signs. ’24 outfield will be these six players: Buxton, Gordon, and four of Larnach, Kiriloff, Rodriguez, Wallner, Martin and Celestino. Only five total if Correa signs. With Jeffers and Vazquez, that makes 13 position players.

Hilarious. So true. Minnesotans are #1 in PA.

Gone by ‘24

Rodriguez is also a lefty. Buxton, Martin, Celestino and Urbina are the four right-handed bats of the nine. So without trades or FAs, it would be up to Martin, Celestino or Urbina to be a “decent-hitting RH bat”. My money is on Martin, but Celestino could very well be that player.

Thanks for the article. It feels like Celestino has been a bit of the forgotten man this off-season. Having said that, where does Celestino currently rank among our potential outfielders for ‘24? (IMHO, ‘24 and beyond are for what we should be building and any success in ‘23, which we all hope is a lot, would be delicious, unexpected gravy). For argument’s sake let’s just assume Kepler and Gallo are gone. Here’s one ranked pecking order for our ‘24 outfield: 1. Buxton. 2. Gordon (that’s right - he’s our #2 OFer and deserves it). 3. Larnach. 4. Kiriloff (sorry, Arraez and Miranda are manning 1B in ‘24). 5. Wallner. 6. Martin. 7. Rodriguez. 8. Celestino. 9. Urbina. So, assuming six of those players break camp with the team in ‘24 and no other FAs or trades, Celestino is right in there with a chance - injuries and failure to scale at the majors level are very possible, if not likely. So the key for Celestino, just like really all the players not named Buxton on that list, is to get the ABs and innings at the appropriate level to maximise development. Btw, with health and continued development, that list looks pretty darn good with a solid mix of power, speed, AVE/OBP, L/R batters, defense and low cost/controllability. If only Buxton could reliably stay on the field and be the true anchor of this group…..

No idea why we keep undervaluing Gordon. Not only is he producing, but he plays with great heart and energy. Also, there is no reason tho think he has peaked. At the moment he should be an everyday player on this ball club. Let’s see where he gets to - we have a pretty good idea who Gallo is….

Garver, Mitch Garver - lol. Thanks.

Couldn’t agree more Twodogs. If the Twins are either a) not in contention or b) not deluding themselves into thinking they are in contention, Jorge would likely be on the move. If he’s playing well and there is control for another season, he might bring back a quality piece for the next window. The chances are good that the base of the last core - Berrios, Polanco, Kepler, Sano, and even Gardner - are all gone by the end of June. Only Buxton would be left. IMHO, that’s ok - time to move on to the next young core.

How about Farmer and Pagan? For moving on from a young, impatient player, SD gets a quality veteran utility infielder and a relief pitcher who (according to advanced metrics ?) is very, very good. Our FO can’t be the only FO who thinks Pagan is the second coming, right? The entire league must see his greatness as well.

I actually like this trade if we think Kim is someone we’d like long-term. Highly likely Mahle won’t be here next year. Possible he pitches less than 125 innings this season anyway. SD might just hit the bid on that. Having said that, this FO would never pull the trigger on this trade. They are too invested in their Mahle, Gray, Maeda or bust strategy for ‘23. Too bad.

Throw in Gallo too and offer to keep him on our payroll. Lol

“I resolve in 2023 to stay healthy, get in enough MLB innings, and keep improving to prove that I will 100% no doubt be part of the Minnesota Twins roster breaking camp in 2024”. This is the single overriding resolution for each of the following: Lewis, Lee, Martin, Julien, Wallner, SWR, Varland, Balazovic, and Canterino (and, although they are not “prospects” per se, Miranda, Kiriloff, Larnach, Ober, Winder, and Alcala). Now, just imagine if our FO and coaching staff gave each of them the opportunity to make that resolution a reality and each one of them accomplished it…….

To best capitalise on our emerging core (and for Falvey’s future with the Twins), the starting rotation in ‘24 at a minimum should include: a) Ryan, b) the reupped winner of the Mahle, Maeda, Gray sweepstakes, and c) at least two of Ober, Winder, SWR, Varland, and Balazovic. Best case scenario is that three of the youngsters make it and we end of with four quality starters on minimum contracts and under control. That way, if we somehow screw up the Mahle/Maeda/Gray sweepstakes (either all three aren’t very good or none of them want to stay here), we still have more than enough capital to commit to a strong #2 type in next year’s FA market.

Yes. If that last paragraph came to fruition (btw, I’d add in Wallner and Balazovic) we’d pretty much know exactly what we have in NINE young position players and an additional FOUR young starters. We know what we have in Buxton, Jeffers, Vasquez, Arraez, and Ryan. (Note: Kepler, Gallo, Farmer, Garlick, and most possibly Polanco are not part of the next core). Let’s see what transpires in the Gray, Maeda, and Mahle extension sweepstakes (btw, I have the under on 350 combined innings thrown by those three) and we will have plenty of cash to round out any holes that become apparent next offseason. And yes, this team would be really fun to watch and will likely be the only reason many of us tune in come late June.

Question: what is the biggest difference between the ‘21 Vikes and the ‘22 Vikes? Zimmer gone, KOC in. We want to win more close games? Particularly with our roster that could be very generously described as “average”? Start with playing with excellent fundamentals and “steal” more wins than loses via better in-game management. That begins and ends with Rocco.

Both

Bassitt and Tyler Anderson (3/$39) if we possibly could’ve attracted them (which is not clear). Two veteran #2/3 equivalents both pitching 180 innings (FYI, Ryan had the most IPs for the Twins last year with 147; Gray had 120). Both likely to be better than Mahle and Maeda this year. Both would be solid anchors for the ‘24-25 window approaching - unlike in all probability Gray, Mahle or Maeda. Paired with Ryan and the two winners of the Ober, Winder, SWR, Varland, Balazovic bake-off that’s a very competitive starting staff for less than $40MM. Alas, we wasted our time on CC and signed Joey Gallo instead. Oh well.

I don’t think this totally crazy. Lots of rumours that the other owners are mad because he’s making such a joke of the luxury tax. Plenty of talk among fans and owners that the Correa signing was bad for the league.

Seriously, this looks a lot more like what our 2024 lineup will/should be. By ‘26 half these players will have moved on most likely. But it’s fun to think about. Where is Gordon? I have no idea why we keep selling short our most productive outfielder who’s just hitting his stride. Agree with comments that Julien is primarily at 2B. Doesn’t really matter: our IF would be Lee, Lewis, Julien, Arraez, Miranda and Kiriloff with great positional flexibility (at each position, including DH). Essentially 4-5 of those players will start every game. Our OF could be Buxton, Gordon, Larnach, Wallner and Martin. Add Jeffers and Vasquez (or his replacement) and those are your 13 position players. Again, seriously, why isn’t this our ‘24 lineup, if not our August/September ‘23 lineup? This is what our new window starts to look like. This lineup has a great mix of power, average, speed, fielding, and positional flexibility. It’s also young and cheap - allowing for cash to be spent on pitching and/or select veterans. With the right manager, this team would be very competitive and fun to watch - i.e. a great draw for fans. Just don’t screw it up FO.

A lot of great points in this post! Agree that the transition has been happening and it has had fits (Kiriloff, Larnach and Jeffers) and starts (Arraez, Miranda, and Gordon). Vasquez is a good hedge on Jeffers for the next several years. Just as Farmer is for Lewis this season. The key now is to make sure we use 2023 to see what we have in Lee, Lewis, Julien, Wallner, Martin, Larnach and Kiriloff. That’s seven players Assuming 1) Buxton is in for 100 games/year in CF and some additional DH starts, 2) the three of Arraez, Miranda, and Gordon continue their progression, and 3) Polanco rebounds, we need at least four of those seven to emerge as bonafide big leaguers by the end of the season. All seven could! If we reach that goal of four to seven proving themselves, we will be in a great spot for ‘24-25 at a minimum. Let’s just make sure we give those seven every opportunity to reach that goal. Gallo and Kepler do not help in that assessment. Re the starting staff, with a little foresight we could have started to build a strong staff for ‘24 and ‘25 in this off-season’s FA market. We didn’t. We shall see what is available next season. But we can’t extend Mahle now until we see what he has to offer after last season’s end of year debacle (I’ve got the under). We will essentially be having a bake-off this season between Ober, Winder, Varland, and SWR for at least two starting spots in ‘24. All four could succeed, but I’d take two right now. If we can extend one of Mahle, Maeda and Gray, we’d have four starter spots (Ryan is the fourth) locked up for ‘24 with some help on the farm available (the two losers of the bake-off and Balazovic, et al). A competitive window could be approaching. We need good leadership, coaching and opportunity to maximise the possibilities.

I’m a little torn on Polanco. He could still have a bounce back year and be a solid veteran presence.

No - good point. Just less possibly. And they too are part of the postponement.