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Nashvilletwin

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Everything posted by Nashvilletwin

  1. 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!
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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).
  6. Nashvilletwin
    Gordon was probably the number one spark plug on this team through the late mid-season doldrums last season, Against righties, he should be our starting LF over Kepler or Larnach until someone beats him out for that job.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Nashvilletwin
    100% correct. You really just never know with bullpens over the course of a season.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. Nashvilletwin
    We can only hope so. Rocco’s (or any Twins’ manager given our small to mid-market positioning) two primary objectives are: a) be an above average in-game manager whose day-to-day managerial decisions on the field lead to more net wins than losses; and b) demonstrably develop his players - most importantly, the young talent he’s given from our minor league system - into the best major leaguers they can be. We shall see if Rocco can make the necessary adjustments - whether though his style or staff - to meet those objectives. At least he seems to admit changes are needed.
  14. 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”.
  15. 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…..
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. Nashvilletwin
    I’d take .210 right now…..lol
  19. Nashvilletwin
    Actually, a very weak offensive team has Gallo, Kepler, Taylor and Farmer in the lineup. But you make a great point: a lot of these players are unproven. To that end: a) it’s important we get them the innings to see not only what we have in them, but also accelerate their development; b) it’s more than likely not all of them will turn out due to injury or difficulty making the grade - that is why having 10 of them on league minimum provides the financial flexibility to go get the key one or two FAs (think Vasquez, not Gallo) to augment the roster as needed; and c) we will have other fine young players who will be knocking on the door, including a couple as soon as late ‘24 or ‘25 (i.e. Rodriguez, Salas and Miller). The future is bright.
  20. Nashvilletwin
    Your 2024 Minnesota Twins Position Players (13) Starting infielders: Correa, Miranda, Lewis, Lee. Starting outfielders: Buxton, Gordon, Larnach. Starting catcher: Vasquez Designated Hitter: Kiriloff Bench players: Julien, Martin, Wallner, Jeffers. Summary Three core veterans, five multi year young players, five essentially full-time first year players. Ten players essentially on league minimum; all thirteen under team control through 2025 and twelve under team control through at least 2027. Excellent combination of power, OBP/BA, L/R. Strong defensively, particularly up the middle. Superior positional flexibility. Mediocre, but acceptable, basebath speed. This is the new, exciting position player core coming soon to the Twin Cities to bring multiple AL Pennants, at least one additional World Series title, and year after year drawing 2+ million fans to Target Field. Please Falvey, Rocco and Injury God - don’t screw this up.
  21. Nashvilletwin
    Winder, SWR and Varland should get themselves ready - they are going to get lots of chances this season….
  22. Nashvilletwin
    All the better!
  23. Nashvilletwin
    I agree that the FO has made some fairly big bets to put together a team that should be able to compete in the weak AL Central. The base of any success is more than likely going to be the performance of the starting rotation - more specifically, Mahle, Lopez, and Maeda. This team as currently comprised is a one year wager on that rotation. Next year, it’s very likely we see big turnover as a new young core comes in. Where I disagree is on the more interesting part. I know I’m in the minority, but there is nothing “more interesting” about watching Gallo, Kepler, Taylor, Farmer, and even Polanco (oh how I hope Polanco has a huge year and I’m wrong about him). (As an aside, Vasquez is marginally “more interesting” than Sanchez, but hardly dial moving). There’s nothing new to see in those players - we all know who they pretty much are - and what we have seen from them recently hasn’t been overly interesting. Any or all could essentially be looked at as “one year rentals” (or less) depending on how the season goes. This team better win or this season could get really boring very quickly - only to be saved in the second half by the arrival of Lee, Lewis, Julien, Martin, Wallner, Varland, SWR, Winder, etc.
  24. Nashvilletwin
    Anchored by Correa, Buxton, Vasquez, Ryan and Duran, a new golden age of Twins baseball could be fast approaching - if we can just keep all of our young talent (those still in the minors and those early in their majors careers) healthy and on trajectory. Sure we want to win in ‘23 - the FO has bet big that the theoretical starting rotation will lead the way. But if all Rocco and his staff really accomplished in this season was to ensure tangible, sustainable development into true above average or star major leaguers from the young talent they will/should coach this year (Miranda, Kiriloff, Larnach, Gordon, Jeffers, Lewis, Lee, Julien, Martin, Wallner, Ryan, Ober, Winder, SWR, Varland, Duran, Jax, Moran, and Alcala), we all should be pleased as punch. Can you just imagine this core with Rodriguez, Raya, Prielipp, Canterino, Salas, and Miller ready to join the mix in ‘25? Can you imagine the possibilities if our coaching staff actually turned out to be way above average at keeping player development going after reaching the majors? Things could get really interesting, fun and exciting around Twins Land pretty darn soon. I hope Rocco and his staff are up to their part of the plan.
  25. Nashvilletwin
    Fair enough! Let’s just hope role ultimately can get settled on the field by the quality of play.
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