Danchat

I'm not sure if it makes sense to hold on to him for the 2020 season. I did say the exact same thing about Duffey last year and I look pretty stupid for having that opinion now... so it'll be up to the coaching staff to figure out how to fix him.

I much rather have liked the game indoors, but that's just me. But as a casual fan, it was the first time there was real energy in that stadium, as all of the other games I've been to have been quiet snoozers.

I think the reason why teams are interested is because they see the high swing-and-miss rate he has and teams think they can fix up the warts. Despite the "nibbler" reputation he has here, he only had a 3.2 BB/9 and also has that same mark for his whole career. It's hard to predict how he'll do with his condition, but he'll be a quality option if he's healthy. I'd rather not take on that risk, and I wish him luck with whatever team signs him.

The only thing I don't like in this plan is giving Betances $25M after being unable to stay healthy. I feel like there's a high chance you barely get anything out of him on that deal. I love the Pomeranz deal, though. He was unhittable at times last year, and for that price, sign me up. I like the idea of moving Jordan Balazovic at this peak value. I know we need pitching, but pitching prospects can be pretty fickle, so selling high seems like a wise idea to me.

The Twins don't have the personnel to do it, so to hand more outs to opposing teams by getting outs on the bases isn't going to help us score more runs. Rosario's too slow, Kepler and Polanco have the speed but just aren't very good at it, Arraez & Adrianza have below average quickness for infielders... They could use a speedy 4th OF who could spell Buxton in CF and steal bases. With a 26 man roster next year, it'd be nice to have a pinch runner on the bench. (Basically what I'm saying is if they want to steal more bases next year, they need to add players who can do that.)

Holy crap, what a game! I expected them to lose by double-digits, but they won! That was the first time I went to a Gophers game that had a real sense of excitement.

I'm going to be at the game... I don't care that much about Gophers football, but at least this is a big game. I don't think the Gophers are going to win, being that they haven't beat any good teams yet, but I'm willing to give them a chance.

My humble opinion: Givens: RHP Jhoan Duran 2B/3B Travis Blankenhorn Duran has high upside and Blankenhorn has a chance to become a starting infielder in the near future. Both should be easy adds to the 40 man roster. Likely to Add: RHP Griffin Jax OF Luke Raley RHP Tom Hackimer Jax is one of those pitchers who stuffs the statline in the minors, but you have to wonder if he has the pitches to make it in the big leagues. I'd rather give him a chance to prove himself instead of letting another team draft him. Luke Raley is a borderline guy who probably won't end up as a starter, but might become a strong bench bat. I wouldn't hate it if they didn't add him, as I think he could make it through the Rule 5 draft. Hackimer put up some good numbers at AA last year and might wind up pitching the Twins at some point in 2020. He may be getting old, but nowadays it seems like relievers are breaking through at the MLB level in their late 20s. Likely not to add: CF Gilberto Celestino INF Wander Javier RHP Dakota Chalmers I don't think Celestino and Javier are going to get drafted, they're simply not close to being ready and had poor seasons last season. I just can't see a team plucking Javier and wasting a whole season he needs in the minors on a major league bench. Celestino had a good final month, but he's several years away at this point. I would guess they'd need to protect him next year. Chalmers has put his name on this list thanks to his play in the Fall League, but I don't think he's got a good enough track record to get poached. No thanks: 1B Zander Wiel RHP Jake Reed Wiel's stats look good, until you examine the aggregate and realize his numbers were actually below-average for AAA hitters. Anybody with a pulse can hit for .800+ OPS there. I like the guy, but he's in no danger of being drafted. Jake Reed probably should have been given a shot a couple years ago, but this front office clearly doesn't think much of him. He also had a poor 2019 season with the juiced ball ruining things for him. I would be fine if he's released at some point. I originally thought this list was going to be much longer, but with Stashak, Alcala, Graterol all on the 40 man and Davis & Diaz traded away, there's no longer a logjam.

We're a couple years away from this conversation, methinks. I'd like to Garver play a few games at 1B when he's not catching.

In my book, he’s a quality #2 starter and an incredibly important asset to this team. He may have the potential to be a true ace, but I’d like to see the team try to find another one. If they want to build a World Series caliber team, they’re gonna need a real #1.

I could see a one year deal with a FA catcher as a stopgap for when one of Jeffers/Rortvedt is ready. Tortuga is a solid 3rd catcher with options, I’d like to keep him in that role.

If the Twins want to move Sano to 1B - which I don't see happening, but it's in the realm of possibility - I would like signing Moustakas. You'd get a .800+ OPS with average 3B defense (3B is a hard position to play, so just average is good in my book) for not too much. Maybe 3 years, $45M? Just on paper I'd prefer Moustakas over bringing back Cron, but moving Sano to 1B may not be the best decision value-wise.

I wonder if the blueprint for the future of the rotation is to be like the Cleveland Indians - develop internal options that can come in be shockingly good. Mike Clevinger, Shane Bieber, and Zach Plesac are just a few of the guys they've been able to pump out of their system lately. I would like to see the Twins be able to do with the guys they have coming up from the minor league pipeline. That aside, they absolutely need to add pitching this offseason. Nab a free agent, trade for a guy, work on a reclamation project - they've got a lot of money to spend, so go out there and spend it wisely and prudently.

Speaking of Twins on the move, it sounds like bench coach Derek Shelton is going to get a manager gig, possibly in Pittsburgh or for the Mets.

Ugh, yeah, I wouldn't mind passing on that deal. Woof. If anyone is going to reporting this type of stuff, it'd probably be Wolfson, not Reusse. Old Pat would be ripping the front office left and right in that article.

I'd like to see the Twins rack up some wins on teams above .500, the total win count isn't quite as important since there's so many teams in the AL that are hoisting the white flag. The only two teams that the Twins had an above .500 record against that were quality opponents were Tampa Bay and Houston... which was ironically the other two teams in the playoffs.

I totally agree with you, but even if Mike Minor or Marcus Stroman start today's game, I think we still lose because the hitting was so poor.

The Twins have stunk it up in the playoffs in real life, but would they do the same in Strat-O-Matic land? Let's find out! - GAME SUMMARY - The Twins got a double from Polanco in the first inning, and he moved to 3rd on an error that let Rosario reach, but they failed to knock any runs in. The Yankees had the same fate, as they left the bases loaded in the first after a Judge single, Encarncion double, and a Stanton walk. - The fireworks began in the second inning; Gonzalez took a walk, which was immediately followed by a Cron HR. Then, with 2 outs, Mitch Garver launched one out of the park. The Twins took a 3-0 lead, and the Yankees couldn't do anything in the bottom of the 2nd to strike back. - Nelson Cruz sent a bomba over the fence in the third, making it 4-0. In the bottom half, Berrios struck out the side, which was impressive against Judge-Gardner-Encarnacion. I imagine this would have shut up the New Yorker crowd. - After an uneventful 4th inning, Polanco singled in the top of the 5th and Cruz advanced him to 2nd on a groundout. The Yankees then pulled James Paxton for Chad Green, but that move proved to be a poor one as Eddie Rosario immediately hit a 2 run homer, making it 6-0. - The Yankees finally struck back in the 6th inning, as Encarnacion and Torres collected solo HRs of their own, and I yanked Berrios after getting 5.1 innings with just 2 earned runs, which was mission accomplished in my humble opinion. I relied on Duffey to finish the inning. That was a mistake, as he gave up a double to Sanchez, single to Urshela, and an RBI single to LaMahieu. I called on Romo to save the inning and he did, and we went on to the 7th inning with a 6-3 Twins lead. - The Twins increased their lead in the 7th on Tommy Kahnle, thanks to a Rosario single and a whopping 3 walks, making it 7-3. Sergio Romo gave up no baserunners in the bottom of the 7th. - Things got even better in the 8th, as Zach Britton walked the bases full. Rosario hit into a fielder's choice, nabbing one more run, and then Kepler swatted out a 3 run HR that broke this one wide open, MIN 11-3. The Yankees were not going to recover from this fatal blow. - For the lulz I sent out Graterol to pitch the 8th and 9th and he didn't even give up a run. Take that, dirty Yanks! - BOX SCORE - I'll tell you what, I wasn't expecting the Twins to win here. They've been a pathetic 2-5 in my simulations (I did a couple that I didn't report on in the past couple months), but they showed up today. And thus, unless the Twins make an unprecedented run in the ALDS, that will be my last Strat-O-Matic simulation of the year. I hoped you enjoyed this little mini-series.

Schoop has a .900+ OPS against lefties and on paper would be a good matchup against Paxton. Schoop's only useful against lefties, so if he's not starting against Paxton, I don't understand why he's on the roster.

Ugh... it's just more of the same. Hitters needed to step up and they didn't, defense was poor, pitching was poor. Trying to get through the game with Stashak and Gibson just made no sense to me... yuck. I did predict the Yankees would win this series in four games, so I suppose this is what I expected, but I was hoping for a 12-10 game... not a 10-4 one.

Graterol just turned 21 and has pitched only 52 innings above single A. He's really not ready to take on MLB pitching. He still has a ways to go to work on his pitches and mix speeds effectively. All he needs is time and good health, and those K numbers will increase.

A couple notes not related to Arraez: the Yankees did not hit a HR last night, leaving us one behind them. We are also just 2 games behind NY... we almost caught them for the 2nd seed.

I don't think he takes that at this point. If Sano puts together a full season like 2019, he's going to be foregoing a lot of money in free agency.

It doesn't seem like the Giants are at fault, at least from what I've read. It sucks that this injury has developed when it did, but I'd just chalk it up to bad luck.

Thorpe recently went 5 innings, he seems to be stretched out enough to go 5-6 tops. Graterol hasn't thrown that many innings since his shoulder injury, he can probably go 2 innings tops.