Danchat

Would there have been a problem with starting Rojas in our AA system? I did not like the trade and am still very apprehensive about it, but it's definitely too early to call it a disaster. Roden gets a lot of flak here for looking bad in his first what, 40 PAs as a Twin? I do agree that some here discount Varland's importance for Toronto and pointing to his ERA wasn't great, but you are right to point out his critical role for them. He's gonna be a high leverage reliver for them with 5 years of cheap control, so Rojas and Roden have a lot to prove to be worth that.

I am bullish on Rojas, though I am curious why they were so aggressive with him pitching in AAA last year when he probably wasn't ready for it. The kid's got the stuff, now he's got to put it together - I'd anticipate he spends the whole season in AAA outside of a September cameo. If he flames out as a starter, he should be able to transition to the bullpen well and I wouldn't be surprised if he winds up as a high leverage reliever for us. Feels like there was a major jump in quality from Rojas compared to the rest of the prospects ranked so far. Maybe that's just me.

Yup, it was a really deep RB (especially compared to the 2026 class), Skattebo, Tuten, and Marks in the 4th along with Monangai and JCM in the 7th. So much so that I created this right after Day 3 wrapped up:

Allgeier might not be a perfect fit, but one of the reasons why I moved Mason was because he's a horrid pass protector and can't be out there on passing downs, whereas Allgeier had a very good season there. He's a downgrade from Mason as a pure runner, but KOC was only using Mason something like 30% of the snaps when Jones was healthy. Speaking of Greenard... Yeah, in this mock I didn't land a future TE to pair with Higbee but there are quite a few options in the draft. I don't get the fascination with post ACL Hock, 2026 is probably going to be his last year as a Viking anyways. He wasn't productive with Darnold, JJM, Wentz, or Brosmer. I threw around the idea of giving a 3 year deal to Otton or Okonkwo on the open market, but I opted for the placeholder in Higbee. I did pick up 3 picks in 27 - 2 4ths and a 5th. Nothing crazy, but it's at least something as I figure we might be trading up for a QB in next year's draft.

I don't like Murray all that much either (Jacoby Brissett had the Cardinals' passing game running better!), but there is upside to tap into unlike most other options. I think KOC was really taken aback with how much JJM struggled and had no answers until he simplified the offense, which took way too long. He just assumed he could smooth out JJM's rough spots and get him to play at a Darnold-like level by the end of the season. He's never coached up a young QB before, not with any prior coaching stops or here... looks like he needs a veteran to run his system. Speaking of which... Given how many QBs are likely to be in the 2027 class, I think we take another shot then. Just depends where we are picking... but I have almost zero faith in KOC to choose the right guy and coach him up.

The beatwriters have linked the Vikings to every single QB that's available which is absurd, it's not as if they're going to sign 3 of them. What is clear to me is that they want nothing to do with starting JJM in any 2026 games, as for the particular QB who will be the Week 1 starter... I think it's going to be one of the QBs that get cut and we pick them up for the vet minimum (with offsetting language making it nearly free). Kyler Murray or Geno Smith make the most sense to me, I think Mac Jones is out of the running due to his price. Kirk maybe, Rodgers is going back to Pittsburgh, Colts aren't letting Jones leave. The reports from the Saints are that no team has called them about Carr, so I don't think we are going after him. They just don't have the money to do something like outbid the Colts for Jones, they also need money to spend on other positions. It makes sense to take advantage of the discount QBs thanks to the ridiculous deals they previously signed and spend what (relative to the rest of the league) little money we have on other positions of need.

Here is a summary of my blueprint, there is an extended addition for anyone who wants it. The idea is to placate the Wilfs mandate to strive for contention and satisfy Kevin O'Connell's clear desire for a new QB to start the 2026 season. My goal will also be to get the roster younger where possible. Cuts TE Hockenson, RB Jones, C Kelly Re-signing P Wright 3/12.3M, LS DePaola and CB Moreau on vet minimum Restructures/Ext RT O'Neill - 3 year, $63M extension DT Hargrave - paycut/bonus to save $6M WR Jefferson - save around $11M via a bonus Trades ED Greenard to Bucs for their 2nd rounder RB Mason + future 7th to Chargers for their 6th rounder DL Allen (plus eating $4M of salary) to the Bears for their 7th rounder Free Agents QB Kyler Murray - vet minimum (assuming offsetting salary) S Alohi Gilman - 3/$27M ILB Leo Chenal - 3/$24M RB Tyler Allgeier - 3/$18M TE Tyler Higbee - 1/$5M ED Joshua Uche - 1/$5M Draft (still early in my draft process, the positions are more important than the actual players) Minor signings WR Tutu Atwell - 1/$2.5M ILB Willie Gay - 1/$2M OT Josh Jones - 2/$6M C Andre James, DL Jonathan Bullard, CB Darrell Baker Jr, QB Skylar Thompson - vet minimum I can post the contracts spreadsheet, but I think this is getting a little long. Let me know what you think!

He's a 35 year old reliever who has topped out as a middle innings reliever and has considerable durability problems... and I would think he'd be at the end of most teams' bullpens. They shouldn't give him a long leash.

The testing has been crazy at every position, tons of guys are routinely landing in the top 1% of athleticism and now 4.4 speed seems like it's average. It's hard to say xyz player has flown up the draft board because so many had good combines that they can't all rise. He's not even the second most notable QB today, I was watching the drills and some Day 3/UDFA QBs in Taylen Green and Haynes King ran 4.37 and 4.47 40s. Oh, and Green is 6'6" and set the record for vertical leap for a QB. That's like multiple Taysom Hills in one draft class.

There's no need to keep a third catcher, and I think he can get through waivers with other teams not wanting to pay him that salary. He should be our top catcher in AAA.

Not surprising to see Rojas struggling... not good seeing Bradley had a horrid outing.

15 to 1, woof! It's not often you see a team score 15 runs on only 11 hits.

Methinks it is far to early to write any conclusions about the differences between Falvey and Zoll... not that I expect there to be many since Zoll replaced Levine and not a whole lot changed, but still. Falvey's only been gone a month.

I like Mendez, but the others aren't inspiring. The two pitchers look like their ceiling are as MLB relievers.

What's stopping us from being like the Brewers and Rays, who have similarly restrained payrolls? Might have something to do with not a single player drafted by the Falvey regime ever going to an All-Star game, and nearly zero international players developed...

Given what the majority of prospects that have come out of the Falvey era has churned out, being harsh is warranted. Most prospects fail in general, if that can't be put out as "even a possibility", then it's probably time to stop reading about prospects.

I actually like what they did with the catcher position going back to the trade deadline, finally getting some legitimate prospects in the farm system and finding a quality partner to Jeffers rather than crossing our fingers with Jackson and whatever unplayable AAA catchers we have in the system. On Jackson, I think makes it to AAA given a team would have to take on his salary. They can survive if one of Jeffers or Caratini goes down.

At least it's not his elbow or shoulder...

Two current Vikings have died in the last year and a half... just awful.

To be clear, the right move is to play Wallner every day and expect a rebound after what happened in 2025. This is absolutely not the time to trade low on him. Maybe? Shelton has been a manager for over 5 seasons, he already has an established track record. He may not be the exact same person he was in Pittsburgh, but I'm confused why I'm seeing some talk of Shelton being an unknown quantity.

When you strike out a lot and walk a lot, it makes sense that he doesn't hit in runners when they are on base. I think we sometimes prioritize OBP over batting average when hitting a single with runners on base is much more likely to get RBIs when a walk can only get you a RBI when the bases are loaded.

A little while back I had taken a look at that Michigan championship team, they had 11 games that they won by 20+ points and only had 3 one score games. JJM only averaged 22.5 attempts per game, but when you factor in that almost every game was over by halftime, it's not bad. The passing game personnel around him wasn't great, 0 NFL WRs and the OL was much better at run blocking than pass pro and none of them are starting anywhere in the NFL. He did have 2 TEs who are both starting in the NFL, alongside Corum the workhorse. His problems with not being ready for NFL speed leading to footwork/mechanical issues killing his accuracy which was not a problem in college outside of not having an accurate deep ball. Zero durability concerns in college, and the immaturity/mental issues weren't a thing either unless the Vikings missed that in their interviews with him that other teams did. He was also very good at not turning over the ball too. I still think he's a 1st round caliber player in hindsight, maybe late 1st and certainly not on the tier of Williams-Maye-Daniels. Plenty of 1st round picks just naturally bust when they undergo the transition from college to the NFL, and it looks like JJM is headed that way. If you don't think he's a 1st round prospect, then you also shouldn't think that a certain other prospect who was in a run-first offense that only threw the ball 23.6 times per game as his juggernaut team won the national title... his name is Fernando Mendoza and he's getting drafted #1 overall in a couple months. Obviously there are other differences between the two, but the point of my argument is if we're going to use passing volume in college to knock down QBs, then other good prospects are going to be downgraded for reasons out of their control.

I didn't realize he had a 1.51 WHIP last year... and only 3 1/3 innings per start, and he's already 25. I think we know how this ends, and it's unlikely to be in the MLB rotation.

AR is an extreme version of JJM... amazing arm, incredible athleticism, but can't hit the broad side of a boat and is even less durable. Unlike JJM he wasn't even that good in college.

Yup, and the one guy under 28 years old didn't look like he belonged in the majors in his first stint. They need to get some young arms going in the AAA pen to prep for the majors or we are going to be inking more 33+ year old relievers to one year deals again in 2027.