Doc Munson

I am sure at this point WHOEVER the Twins woudl go and sign a good chunk of us will complain. At least it is a move, but does it really make sense? Gallo does not change the trajectory of the Twins, he could be decent, he could be good, but if he doesnt change the trajectory, is there really a reason to sing him? Don't we already have logjam... or at least a good number of options for OF/DH spots? Larnach, Kirilloff, Kepler, Wallner, We have Garlick (expendable) on the roster, we have players at AAA who are close as well. Since 2015 here are his BA... .204/.040/.209/.206/.253/.181/.199/.160 CAREER .199!!!! He hits less than Miguel Sano, actually strikes out MORE (if you can beleive that) so we pay him $11M. Where does Gallo play? RF is his best position. but we have Kepler. He could be DH, but didnt we want to get away from having a primary DH? If you say, well that makes Kepler expendable yoru nuts!!! We are now paying Gallo MORE then Kepler, Kepler's BAD years are .220, that is a career year for Gallo. I knwo batting average is not the biggest thing, but making contact and getting on base is!! Again, maybe Gallo has another career year at hits 40HR with a .230 avg. and you want to talk about health??? 2019 he played in 70 games, 2020 57, he did get in 153 games in 2021 and then 126 last year. So, no better than what we have (no better than Sano who we DFA), not a position of need, does not have a consistent history of playing 150 games. OF COURSE lets go ahead and pay him $11M!!! The banning the shift aint gonna do anything against K's. ANY sense that this FO has a clue is out the window... throw a low ball offer at Carlos Correa (relative to current market) and OVERPAY for Gallo. BRILLIANT!!! Lets not pay $13M for Noah Syndegaard, lets pay $11M for Joey Gallo. Regardless of the results Gallo does this year, he could be MVP and I will stand 100% by the call that this is a HORRIBLE signing and shows incompetence. Imagine that He was a draft pick and a prospect with the Rangers while Levine was in Texas just continues to show how myopic this FO is. There was obviously scouting that had Levine like him to draft him, is he still stuck on those old scouting reports? does he think he can get the "true potential" out of him? I challenge ANYONE to provide ANY solid, coherent defense that says this signing is anything but horrid. Anyways, LET's GO TWINS!!!

yeah, I doubt they would, it is just fun to theorize. :) BUT... now with teh signing of Rodon they are looking at an estimated payroll of close to $315M. as repeat offenders now hitting the third level penalty they are looking at $40-45M JUST IN PENALTIES, not to mention loss of draft picks and pool money to sign players. If they dump these contracts and save the nearly $80M, they are actually saving about $120M just this year, not to mention all the $ on future years, but yeah, I dont ACTUALLY see it happening

An number of players have in the past negotiated contract extensions prior to waiving their not trade clause. Is EXTENDING a contract different from just adding opt outs to an existing contract? I guess I would say that the slope has already been slippified if they can demand contract extensions to waive a NT clause. But I am by no means even remotely close to an expert.

REad any article, by any national or local NY writer. Yankees are desperately trying to move Donaldson's contract and Hick's contract. they want to shed $ (well, and 2 bad players LOL)

it happens all the time. and it is not a full renegotiation, it is just giving him opt outs, it actually BENEFITS him, so players union woudl not fight anything. players get various kickers or incentives to waive no trade clauses.

No, the sky is definitely not falling, but a an organization it might as well be. the Twins are in the worst place possible an organization could be. in between reload and rebuild. I will try and stay on point and not go down the hole of Correa, but in all honesty it was a huge reality check. As much as the Twins wanted to make it seem like they actually COULD compete with other teams in the FA market, they simply can't... or maybe won't. The Twins 10 year $285M is typical "Twinspeak" for "we were really serious and in on him". I can't necessarily even blame the Twins, BUT with deals made to Judge, Turner and Boagarts. any offer that didnt start with a "3" was not even close to being competitive, and the Twisn knoew that. let alone an AAV of $28.5M?? Given the current market conditions, just simply calling it what it was, it was not a real offer. It was "We are REEEEEEEEEAAAALY interested in you and want to build a franchise around you... if you can do it for a 25% discount". but anyways.... that is over, and the question now is... what is next??? What can the Twins do? pieces have already come off the board. DO we make a run at Dansby? ok possibly, and should be cheaper, but at this put the same 10 yr $285 might not even get it done for gosh sake. the Twins will be in on him, but only for an AAV of about $22M, in other words, in it just enough to not be relevant. There are really few, if any, other position players that could make an impact, so assuming no Dansby, it is Farmer bridging to Lewis/Lee. from an offensive perspective, we are day old mashed potatoes. I am a perrenial optimist on Buxton, so I think he has a full healthy and productive season. but other than Buck?? Lets take a quick peak around the diamond. 1B = Kirilloff? Arraez?? Either way a decent player but nothing to write home about 2B = Polanco . another average to above average 2B, not moving any needles though. 3B = Miranda = OK the kid has potential, but it is just that potential, relying on potential kills. SS = Farmer = a serviceable but milqutoast player. Quick!!! Who did I just say our SS is?? 10:1 you had to look back, see!! RF = Kepler = assuming we keep him. a good defender but a liability at the plate, maybe he can improve with no more shifts, but more likely he benefits from no shifts on another team CF = Buck = You knwo I love him LF = Larnach? Wallner? G-Cinco? all a whole lot of "Meh" C = Jeffers and whats the new guys name? DH = One of the guys listed above frm other positons that may be able to hit 18-23 HR. A great big nothing burger on offense. Pitching you say? Well the only real upgrade out there is Rodon, and we just proved again how we will not dip our toes in the deep end of the pool. and to be honest, I wouldn't either here Two healthy years in a 10 year career do not a 5-6 year high AAV make!! stay away, but even if he is worth the money. He would be the lipstick to this lineups pig. WE actually have an OK rotation, but still could help it. But another signing tells you just how much the Twins will not sign FA pitching. Noah Syndergaard just signed a 1 year deal that could max out at $14.5 with incentives. If there was ever a contract that screamed Twins it would have been this, but they couldn't even get something like this done. SO given where we are at, what is oen to do? PUNT!! DO NOT trade top prospects for "mahle-like" pitching. lets take our lumps and "let teh kids play" Sonny Gray will not be on this team when we contend again. (Heck even if he had 3 more years of control he wouldn't) TRADE HIM Kenta Maeda also on teh last year, wont be here next year... TRADE HIM!! (although maybe at teh deadline, let him hopefully pitch well in teh first half. Max Kepler si getting pricy fo rproduction, we have plenty of redundant players behind him... TRADE HIM!! Again though maybe midseason as the no shift rule hopefully helps his numbers increasing value. I woudl say "insert any other 30+year old player" TRADE HIM, but that is the scary part, we have nobody else we can even trade!!! so 2023 has instant become a "throw all teh prospects against the wall and see what sticks" And the sad thing is if we do NOT trade Gray, Kepler, Maeda, etc. then we will be even FURTHER behind th e8 ball next year when they are both gone... BUT WAIT!!!! maybe... just maybe I stumbled upon the FO plan, we are just saving up all of our cash to make a "serious" run at Shohei next offseason!!!

Sad to say that at $285M the Twins were never really serious. Anything of 10 years or less HAD to start with a 3 given other recent signings or again it is just posturing. Will have to see the specific annuals, but at some point MLB HAS to step in on these deals. given other deals, he was worth easily $35M per year over 10 (although at the same time NOONE is worht that much for baseball) but current climate dictates that. SO why would someone choose a 13 year $350M deal? just to play an extra 3 years??? heck just sign a new 3 year deal at the end of your 10 year for $5M per if all you want to do is play for 13 years. It is clear that years 10-13 are basically "funny money" or "funny years" to manipulate salary caps. No other reason would a player who could get a $35M AAV settle for less than $27M. If all he wanted was that $350M number, if that was the number people had to hit, then heck why not just give him a 20 year deal??? I do nto know why I am so frustrated... I was hoping to see a bigger MONSTER deal, something the Twins were impossible to match or beat beat us. but a $350M 13 year? at $26.9M AAV? Twins coudl have EASILY done that!!! frontloading the first 8 years at $35M each = $280M that leaves $70M over the last 5 or just a $14M average. That is a fair deal. you pay premium for his premium years, and you get the declining years at an appropriate discount. Again shows both that the Twins were never really in it, AND that Correa was never coming back and it was all just BS to keep the door open in case big markets wouldnt pay. The worst part, is nwo what?? All the top pitchign is gone (excpet Rodon) and even though reports are Twins are "seriously in on" Rodon... yeah no. They are "in" on him at $15M AAV. (that being said I woudlnt give a guy who barely strung to gether 2 healthy seasons 6 years at the money he will get. Are we going with Dansby? will be much cheaper, but other teams will pay more. Now the ONLY way we set ourselves up for ANY success in the future, is by essentially spending that money on horrible contracts that come paired with top prospect talent, and either buidl for a new window to open in 2 years, or overpaying in prospect value by flipping soem of the new found prospects for top young pitching. Example is the Yankee situation take on Hicks, Donaldson contracts, and Stanton's, if it means they also send top prospects like Volpe, Domiguez. then trade from our newly refilled middle infield prospect depth to get pitching

Yankees have intriguing prospects. but kepler wouldnt command them. cant add additional player value to Yankees to get better prospects, as we do not have anything that would match their value. would have to take on a bad contract or two (Yanks desperate to move Hicks & Donaldson contracts)... hmmm if only someone had a proposal that would get the twins multiple top prospects while trading Kepler to NY and Twins taking on contracts to do it. LOL.... again I know my proposal would NEVER happen, btu always fun pretending it would.

I know this will sound like "sour grapes" and I do not expect anyone to take a discount "just because". BUT... you can't sit there and whine and say.. "It's just like walking into Dior, you know the price, you just have to pay it, if I want something I just go in and buy it" or something like that. and then on the other hand go ahead and leverage different teams against each other to boost your price. Unless of course his price still just hasn't changed and hasn't been met. Again my frustration isn't about him potentially getting the mx he can get, it is about the hypocrisy of the comments vs the actions. Again the HUGE caveat of maybe his price truly just hasn't been met yet. Anything close to what he is reported to POSSIBLY get, I would not pay. Yes he can be a leader and a great teammate, and yes he is worth a lot, BUT at $400M you have to start thinking about replacement value.

More and more it is looking like the "Nuclear Option" is the only way the Twins will ever improve. With rumors now circulating of Yankees in on Correa as well as other big spenders, and rumors circulating about a $400M contract. the Twins must SPRINT to the door and get out!!! That is very sad, as I was actually thinking the Twins actually get a decent deal done around the $300-320M mark. I had shared an option in previous posts, and it nwo onyl seems even MORE the right way to go. HELP THE YANKEES!!! Joel Sherman is saying he believes the Yankees will release Stanton in a couple of years, that is eating MILLIONS, if this is potentially true, then why no let him go NOW and NOT have to pay millions. Yankees signed Judge, if they want Correa at nearly $400M, AND want Rodon in the rotation, we can still help make this happen, but because it would be waiving the white flag on Correa it would have to be even sweeter for us!!! AS mentioned in other posts, we take on... 1) Stanton and his large remaining contract. but we renegotiate opt outs for him after EVERY year in order for him to waive his NT clause. 2) Donaldson, but the Yankees remain on the hook for any potential $6M mutual option that may get picked up in 2024.. No, I don't want Donaldson, but we flip him for a one f those big nachos in a batting helmet. Someone would take him on, especially if they could get him for FREE next year. Maybe Boston?? Donaldson gets to stick it to the yanks and if he plays for Boston while getting paid by Yanks, that is always fun!! 3) Aaron Hicks and his remaining contract. would be tough sledding being able to flip this deal, and would be on the books in future years at $10M as well. (BUT IF WE CAN GET VALUE ITS DOABLE) That is about $63M Those are the bad contracts we have to eat. Now for good stuff. In order to incentivize us to take on all those years and dollars, and more importantly allowing the Yankees the freedom to go after Correa AND Rodon. , the Twins also get... 1) Luis Severino, and his 1 year of control at $15M. This gives us a potential Ace, yes he has health issues, but we are only committed for 1 year, and if he proves healthy its a steal. PLUS it frees up another $15M for the Yanks bringing the cash clearance to about $78M (EASILY enough for Rodon and Correa!!!) 2) Anthony Volpe... Untouchable you say?? well if you sign Correa then Volpe is redundant. plus we demand big time prospects for clearing teh cap space!! 3) speaking of big time prospects, we also demand Jasson Dominguez. again have to give up big pieces to get big pieces 4) Luis Gil. Gil is a big armed prospect (former Twins prospect) who is MLB ready and would add more depth 5) Final piece is either Roderick Arias or Josh Breaux. Arias is a high ceiling infielder you can never get enough of, and Breaux is an MLB ready young catcher (albeit not LH). What do the Twins give up??? the answer is basically very little. let say Kepler, I mean he is a LH with Yankee Stadium 81 games per year. and then maybe throw in Arraez (like an All-Star batting champ is a throw in). Maybe a prospect going back to make it look more even SO why does this work for both? Simple;; Yankees: It allows the Yankees to clear bad contracts of players they want gone in Hicks and Donaldson, It gets them out of the Stanton contract and he has never really fit in NY. and it allows them the roster and cap space to sign both Correa and Rodon without impacting luxury tax. They are set up for the foreseeable future, and can afford to move prospects who are now blocked, and after all... "prospects are suspects until proven otherwise". The Yankees are currently at an estimated $248M payroll, signing either or both of Correa/Rodon would push them crazily past the highest penalty tier, and as repeat offenders would pay an additional $40+M in penalties, not to mention the loss of bonus pools and draft picks. Why do the Twins do this? OK so lets assume we are able to somehow flip Donaldson, for little to nothing in return. Maybe even sending a marginal prospect away in addition. That is a wash. swapping Arraez & Kepler for Severino is essentially a wash financially after Arraez Arb win. so that means teh Twins are taking on a net $42M dollars which brings the estimated payroll to just $135M which is still $14M below last years payroll!! and what do we get for this payroll? we get a big RH bat we need who would be primary DH but could play some OF (and with the chance he may opt out at any year releasing us from paying him to teh end). We get a crowd favorite back (but for how long would he be a crowd favorite now) who can play backup CF. we get to add a potential dominat arm to the rotaion, AND we get absolute stud prospects in Volpe, Dominguez, Arias, to go with our already good list of prospects. This sets us up to have the next wave of cheap young players to extend a window or use as trade material for the young top pitcher we cannot afford on the FA market. Imagine a lineup in 1.5 years of Volpe, Lewis, Dominguez, Miranda, Buxton, Stanton and if Kirilloff can hit potential and get rid of that wrist, and if Wallner/Larnach can hit. That is a great young lineup!!! yes, this seems crazy, but seriously, if we lose out on Correa, what else you gonna do to make an impact?

Id send him to NYY for Luis Severino

Um, I quit counting at game 27, at which there were a total of 6 games where a Twins starter completed 6 innings. and not one where they completed 7. Maybe all of them came between May 11th and 31st. LOL AND a number of those 5 inning or even 5+, or even 6 full inning starts pitchers were pulled with 60,70,80 pitches. I guess we must just be looking at different box scores?

well I guess great minds think alike. hehe would love to see yours!!

I guess I keep forgetting how poor of a fielder Arraez is.

Have Always Loved Kris Bryant!! maybe between Buxton and Bryant they could get a combined full season of AB's hehe

My immediate response was... HUH???? Trade Urshela to free up a 40 man spot, and then immediately trade a prospect you just protected to secure Farmer? But you have put me at ease a bit. not bad move overall I guess. As long as he was not traded for to take Urshela's place at 3b. This Since it is SOO early in offseason I am not going to try and figure out "what this trade means" in the way of how it impacts other potential signings. There may be others I would have used to take up a 40 man roster spot, but not a bad move. Your article calmed me down on it, nice job. hehe

With the deadline for finalizing 40 man roster in advance of the Rule 5, There are some very cheap, low risk high reward type players out there. These are right in teh Twins wheelhouse. Gamble on the cheap and see if you hit the lottery. So the first one isn't a FA or rule 5 but he is the type of player that COULD be. 1B/OF Dom Smiht of the Mets. Dom is a GG caliber 1B. This kid actually CAN hit. He has just never been given consistent ABs in a consistent position in the field being behind Pete Alonso on teh Mets depth chart. Between 2019 & 2020 while playing in 139 games (close enough to a full season equivalent). he hit .299 with a .936 OPS. 31 doubles and 21 HR. and struck out less than 25% of the time. Now at 27 years old, he is no longer a "cornerstone" player for the Mets and could be had relatively cheaply via trade. Why do we need him? I mean we have Kiriloff coming back healthy (hopefully), we have Miranda (possibly.. unless 3B opens up) Arraez was an AS 1B, but is he true 1B? I would have no problem getting Smith even if it meant Kiriloff is "blocked". The next 2 are both available ot be plucked from teh Angels. First is Touki TOussaint. Touki was DFA'd to make room on 40 man roster. CLAIM HIM!!!! He has been flashy and dominant in short stretches in his career. He is a perfect Twin. he can start or relieve. His control is his main issue, but he also has a big lively arm. GO ahead an claim him. Low risk high reward. FInally an even bigger stretch, is to make a claim via the Rule 5 draft. Draft Jordyn Adams. an OF from the Angels system. Normally I would say this type of move should ONLY be done by a non contending team. Taking a flier on a player who is clearly not ready for the big leagues, but keep him as a bench player anyways. Who cares if you lose? you get a potential player put him on roster all year and then develop him the following years. He does strike out a bit, but after striking out nearly 42% of the time last year he cut that rate down to just under 29% his .238 avg still leaves something ot be desired, but it was an improvement over his .217 the year before... AND he improved from .228 to .249 after the promotion to AA. Bu treally there is one reason he should be in play. His truly elite speed, a true 80 on a 10-80 scouting scale. With upcoming rule changes shifting more of a focus back to a speed and hitting game vs pure power game, these are the kind of players you want to have. Claim him, let him take a bench role, and 4th/5th OF type slot. perfect pinch runner, and his defense is elite in the OF with his speed. (arm not as much), but again SPEED SPEED SPEED!!!!. Let him be a back up, occasional starter and bat him 9th. He could be a Jarod Dyson type player. just an absolute pest a pinch runner where you scream from the dugout "GO ON THE NEXT PITCH" and he can still swipe the bag. Do NOT underestimate the difference the bigger bases will make when it comes to the value of speedsters. Bunt hits will be at there highest total in decades, stolen bases will too. And hey, you catch lightning in a bottle and he is a Akil Baddoo type. These moves will cost next to nothing from a payroll perspective. And these are exactly the kind of players you build a TEAM with. they wont be starters (Dom would), but they will contribute. and seriously who do we have that would be any significantly better than them? a Adams will cost you a Garlick, but if we are relying on Garlick our season is tanked anyways.

There have been a number of wild posts that are not based in any sort of reality. This is another of those. Twins should sign Verlander, Correa (I would prefer Turner but let's stick with Correa), and Judge. Because of course it is only that easy. lol... But.., they CAN afford it. Reason #1, Verlander's deal will be no more than 3 years, so that will come and go before you know it and not impact long-term roster building. the other 2... well that is a different story. Reason #2 A with any other Twins roster, we do not have many other big contracts on the books, and we have some young guys coming up who will be on the cheap for a few years. 3B = Miranda has 5 years of control 1B/OF = Kirilloff, Larnach, Wallner 1 or 2 of these guys should stick around for the next 4-5 years on the cheap. CF = Buxton is here, and contract could be pricey, but that just means he is playing MVP caliber, 2B = Arraez the batting title and AS will give him a good raise but still 3 years of ARB. (And could be a great trade piece in another year with another big season, if Lee/Lewis ready) Prospects = Speaking of Lee & Lewis. Lee is a recent draft pick but showing he is the real deal and should/could move fast. the "should" is other organizations would fast track him, the "could" is because, well this is the Twins and he is not 24 yet so he may not be ready. where to play??? 2B? 3B? SS? OF? Dsposables = Kepler, Polanco (sorry, but yes this one hurts me too) Neither are overly expensive, btu there are just simply better, more cost effective options. As mentioned, Kirilloff, Wallner, Larnach all could put up similar, if nto superior offensive numbers at a lesser salary. Defense maybe not, but if we get Judge then really this is moot. But Kepler should be gone regardless. Polanco was still a quality player, and I would not give ANY thoughts of moving him if it were for Arraez, Lewis & Lee. Arraez played 1B out of necessity. That is not a long term home. neither is 3B with Wallner, or SS with Correa (or Lewis or Lee) so if we keep Polanco, then where exactly does the AL batting leader get his ABs? This is why you mov a fairly valuable 2B in Polanco for some more young pitching.. Onthe pitching side we have few big contracts. as well. Sonny Gray for $12.7 is chump change for an ace. Maeda at $3M+ incentives, Ryan & Ober are both still pre-arb. and lets say Mahle gets a small raise to about $7M in arb. that is a 5 man rotation totaling around $24M. So roughly (leaving holes for the three mentioned above) using MLBTraderumors ARB estimates 1B = Kiriloff = $750k 2B = Arraez = $5M SS = ?? 3B = Miranda = $750K LF = Larnach/Gordon = $750K CF = BUxton =$15M RF = ?? C = Jeffers =$750K DH = Wallner = $750K That is a lineup minus SS & RF for around $24M Combine that with a rotation of around $24M and factor in a bullpen for around $10-12M. and you have a good young team at about $58-60M with 3 holes left to fill. Assuming a similar year end total of about $160M. and that leaves about $90M (after filling other bench roles) Now plug Correa and Judge into that lineup and it is a scary good lineup. plug Verlander into the top of this rotation and if Ryan continues to pitch well (and has Verlander as a mentor) that bumps Sonny Gray to our #2 starter, Rayn is a phenomenal #3, Maeda as a #4 is outstanding, and Mahle/Ober as a #5/6. yeah Ill take that. Of course this WON'T happen.. All am saying is it COULD!!

I believe I had shared this thought last year, If I hadn't., I thought I'd throw it out there for your thoughts While a draft lottery for the top 6 positions is at least a start to preventing tanking, still there is an incentive to losing. Albeit not as great as before, btu ask any team, would you rather have a16.5% chance (like teams with worst records) or a 0.9% chance like the Twins have. I am guessing any GM that wants to rebuild will take the 16.5% chance and tank. The way to prevent tanking is not to just disincentivize tanking but rewarding winning. Fielding a poor club with a small payroll is a CHOICE, it is not something that just happens. While low payrolls do nto 100% guarantee poor results (see Guardians) it does correlate pretty darn well. of the 3 teams with teh best shot at the #1 pick (16.5%) they finished 30, 27 & 19 in payroll. In order to incentivize winning, you simply have a MLB Draft Tourney at the end of the season. However, you want to do it. Single elimination tourney, All best of 3, heck even a 2 game series with run differential as a tie breaker. You have the best team to NOT make the playoffs get byes. and they get home field for all games. The winner gets the #1 overall pick, the loser of "title" game gets 2nd, Winner and loser of 3rd/4th place game/series get 3rd/4th. and all other are based on how they finished in the draft tourney (come up with whatever rules you want, they can't be any more random than a lottery anyways, LOL). This incentivizes winning, which would drive up payrolls, Before the start of the season do you think the A's, O's (surprised everyone a year early) Pittsburgh really thought they would contend? No, they were content having micro sized payrolls knowing they would get top draft picks to boost their future. Do you think they would stay at $61-85M team payroll if they thought that would field them a team that would get them the 10th overall pick in the MLB Draft? OF course not. And on the plus side, a MLB Draft Tourney currently does not exist, which means TV contracts for these games also do not exist, which mean it is yet another money-making TV contract they can put out to the highest bidder. Make more money AND prevent tanking by incentivizing winning??? Now THAT is a win/win. I am curious, how exciting do you think a single elimination tourney for the top draft pick would be? Would you be interested in watching your team in such a tourney?

I am not an expert on the MLB CBA, but I am wondering if something like this would be legal... Could the Twins and Correa come to an agreement where he opts in for 2023, and teh Twins agree to allow him to negotiate with other teams for a long term contract? Hasnt something like this happened before with disgruntled (not the case with Correa, he just wants long term deal) players who "demand trades"? Maybe it is only in other sports, like NBA, but I could swear I remember stories of where teams allow players to speak with other teams to try and get trades done. and they basically pre-negotiate new deals in advance of a trade. If this IS legal, then Correa coudl lock in a guarantee 1 year deal at another $35M, and then still negotiate with other teams. and then if he finds a team who is willing to give him the long term deal he wants he comes back to the Twins who either get to match it, or finalize a trade. Correa gets a guaranteed starting point (and possibly some leverage), and the Twins position themselves to still get a fairly decent haul in a trade. its a win/win. But I guess if it was legal, it would have been done already.

OK, Honestly I really do not enjoy being critical or a pessimist. But I nearly did a spit-take when I saw Dave St Peter give the Twins FO and "Falvine" "High Marks". Seriously, from what benchmark can you give this FO high marks? Can you blame them for the injuries and the failures down the stretch? Well yeah, at least a little bit. They trade for TWO starting pitchers that had injury histories. Anyone could see Paddack's injury coming, and it was called here and many other places at the time fo the trade. No Monday Mornign QBing here. Mahle had his shoulder. yet we gave away some good prospects for pitchers with injury histories, so yes, you can. They did sign some OK pitchers, Archer, even though could not go past 4 innings was serviceable most fo the year, and Bundy was also serviceable. but nothing overly exciting, and neither at this point is on the Twins moving forward, so still left in the same position pitching wise as last offseason (ok maybe a little better, should have Ryan, Ober, Gray, Maeda) Our position players are in a state of flux at best. Kudos for signing Correa, but he is gone. Sanchez and Urshela were decent, and you cant fault them for Buxtons contract, that was a pretty good signing, regardless of what BUxton does. A couple good young players, Miranda.. Coudl Wallner be decent? otherwise top prospects busted for various reasons injury Kiriloff, Lewis, Larnach, and some just didnt pan out. So we made some decent moves, and our Major league club overall was good but fell completely off map at the end with little momentum or positivity going into th e offseason. SO maybe they receive "marks" but "high marks" they were average at best!! Well maybe they have put our Minor League program in a stronger position... Well MLB has our system ranked 23rd. down from #12 as recently as 202 mid-season rankings. and #8 in 2019 with (Lewis, Kirilloff, Graterol, Balazovic, Larnach as the keys). So you sign ONE top of the shelf FA, who will be gone after this year, a couple pitchers off the scrap heap, deal some top talent for injured pitchers (and one quality starter in Gray) to field a below .500 team, all while dropping your minor league system from #9 to #23 and that earns High Marks? I just have oen question... Mr. St. Peter, can you do my next performance appraisal for my end of year bonus???

Both Judge and Ohtani are having potentially historic seasons, which one would you give MVP to? Judge: Has hit 60, will break the AL (and TRUE) HR mark of 61. He also while absolutely running away with HR and RBI title could be having a triple crown season. Leads league in... HR, RBI, BB, AVG (as of yesterday), OBP, SLugging, OPS, WRC+, XBH, WAR, and has 16 SB. plus Yankees are in 1st place, with him being the major reason why. Ohtani: While "just" a DH when hitting has added value as a 2 way player. P 203 K, 2.47 ERA, 14 W, which is 21% of team wins. HITTER 4th in HR w/ 34 at 92 RBI with abotu 12 games to go. could be 1st ever 200K/100RBI player!!! How can a 15 win, sub 2.50 ERA, 200K, 35 (or if he gets to 40HR), 100 RBI pitcher/Hitter NOT win MVP? yet it could happen. ONE historic season will nto be MVP. Who is your vote for MVP? Kills me to say, but I think mine is Judge

Everyone has their own opinions, and I LOVE debating each side. In discussion one commenter (Seth Stohs) Who I love reading his stuff and so should you!!! look up his posts they are great!!! basically asked "what does "no heart" look like on TV"? Well, win or lose against teh Angels tonight we are being shown the answer. Yes people can make errors. That is not playign without heart, but allowing errors to compoun dis a part of that. I luned in late, and literally turned on the game right as the #9 hitter made contact in teh top of the 4th. It is now the top of the 5th. so one inning. This is what I have seen. I will again preface this with I hadnt seen teh first 4 innings, so we could have done soem great things!! #9 hitter pops up to short right-center. High, lazy pop-up. Palacios (2B) Celestino (CF) Wallner (RF) all slowly jog toward teh ball and each watch it drop untouched in the middle of them. Now they are all young, and have not played a ton at the major league level, let alone with each other. But you HAVE to have a major league standard, and comin off teh heels of losing 17 of 23 and riding a 6 game losing streak, including 4 straight against even WORSE teams, you cannot allow this. SOMEONE of that group of three had to be removed from the game, if for no other reason than to say "This is not acceptable". I dont care who it is. I would pick whoever you think can handle that "tough love" I would choose either Celestino or Wallner. This ultimately did not result in runs scoring, but that is not the point. THEN to start the next inning, we decide to pull Joe Ryan after 4 innings and 69 pitches. Here is where my "I didnt watch the earlier parts" comes in, maybe he was injuerd, maybe he was struggling, but thisis where you build heart!! While we want to win, what is the consequence of a loss now? Now is when creating a culture, settign teh standard is more important than any single win. This is when you let Ryan stay out there exactly BECAUSE he may not have his best stuff. NOW is the time you let him work through struggles, in a meaningless game, so that when there is a game that DOES mean something he knows he has been through games without his "A stuff" and can still get innings and win. This is an opportunity to let your coaching staff see what the kid has when he has 80-90-God forbid 100 pitches with subpar stuff. THEN... Same inning, lazy fly to left field, Cave comes in to make the catch and it pops out of his glove into the stands for a double. Again mistakes can happen, (and to be fair to Cave he did bust his ass on a triple) But in the span of 1 inning you see poor play in the field, perceived lack of hustle, or communication, poor (in my mind) managing decisions, and THIS is why it looks liek we have a team playing without passion or without heart, no pride, or just no understanding of what is acceptable, ro no consequences for not meeting expectations. Just plain ol' bad baseball to watch. And of course this could just be one bad inning in a season long battle and even the best team have innings like these, This just seems to be the exception rather than the norm. And it makes me sad.

And this does not go towards "heart" and obviously I am not int the dugout, and dont knwo the players personally, BUT... What is teh productive reaon to pull Joe Ryan after 4 innings and 69 pitches? Yes you want to win, but at this point in the season development is more important. Thsi is EXACTLY the type of game you let your starting pitcher work. let him learn how to pitch if he doesnt have his best stuff, let him learn through adversity. SEE what they kid has after 80-90-God forbid 100 pitches.. There is ZERO value added with the decision to pull your young starter in this game. Let him demonstrate a "bullgod" mentality.

and aint mad atcha. hehe I like most of your takes. and DANG I am a bad typer. maybe my lack of double checking my typing shows MY lack of effort or heart?? LOL