Doc Munson

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

OK... how can we see on TV??? I give you righ tnow... 2 out top of teh 4th against the Angels... a pop out by the #9 hitter turns into a single as teh ball drops in between 3 Twins all watching. THAT is not playing with heart, or urgency, whatever you want to call it. If you are the manager trying to make sure your team is not quiitign on you... ONE of those three does not go out in the top of the 5th. I dont care who the manager picks, but SOMEONE has to taek teh message for the rest of teh team

oh yes you are right, if you cant quantify it, then it doesn't exist. hehe.

For those of you who have read any of my previous posts, I may at times be critical of decisions being made, whether that is Falvine, or Baldelli. I NEVER get personal. Watching the last few weeks though there is only one way I can describe this team. This team has NO HEART!!! I am not in the locker rooms and I am sure the players are "trying their best" but their is zero heart on this team. Yes there have been a ton of injuries, Yes we have back ups to the back ups in some postions. Still that is no excuse to not put up a fight. So we struggled a bit and dropped out of 1st place. No worries we had 8 games against Cleveland, we still controlled our own destiny. We lost I believe 7 of the 8. And we lost them in pathetic fashion. OK so we lost 7 of 8, at this point the season for all intents and purposes was done at that point. If we did not show any grit when losing to Cleveland, it is our loses to KC that demostrate we also have no heart. We just roll over and quit. This is NOT the sign of a championship team, and people associated with this should not be around next year!! I am speaking to you Baldelli. Yes, there are a ton of excuses. Injuries, roster construction, etc. and yes he had won the division multiple times, but the decision making this year was horrendous. How much of this was the FO and Falvine forcing his hand? I cannot say. But let's give Baldelli the benefit there, that he was forced to consistently take pitchers out of the game after 60-70 pitches. I could see that at the beginning of the year, when building arm strength. I can see that with pitchers who had proven they can no longer go 7 (Arhcer). But when you do not let pitchers build up innings or pitch counts over the course of the season the young pitchers will never learn to see a line up that dreaded 3rd time. ( I mean is a 27 year old Sandy Alcantara THAT much more advanced than the entire Twins rotation? where he can see a lineup a 3rd time and be just fine??? let alone throw 5 complete games and average over 7 innings per start?) So even if Baldelli was forced by above to limit innings. That cannot explain his pathetic decisions and use of the bullpen. and even if you can forgive that, the biggest failure is he has allowed, and nurtured a soft team to remain soft. Again I am not in the clubhouse, but can I see just ONE post game interview after a pathetic loss where he shows some anger? some frustration? some level of accountability towards his players? Some FIGHT??? I hate to give players a pass, but when you have weak leadership you get weak results. Was Buxton THAT big of difference? if so then he needs MVP votes. I thought Correa was known as a strong leader?? and maybe he was, but with no other team leaders hwo can one guy hold it together? Again from an outsiders persepctive. Gary Sanchez didnt show much leadership. Max Kepler Didnt show much leadership, the young guys cant be expected to fill the leadership void. Arraez seems to play with excitement or a chip, or at least a spark, may not be leadership, but at least it is with heart. Nick Gordon while he would make some defensive mistakes, semed to play with some heart, Miranda seemed almsot like a leader by default, while he put up decent numbers, you cannto expect a rookie to take control of a clubhouse or a team or set the tone (although Lewis was actually doing that as a rookie before he got hurt). This team a complete rebuild, and I do not think that is just a knee-jerk reaction to a bad stretch. Philosophically this team is not built to win. We have a couple strong arms in the back of the bullpen, we have the POTENTIAL for decent middle/long relief, if we do not over use them. We need to focus on starting pitchers who can go 7 innings consistently. Who really cares if they are nto as "dominant" the third time through the lineup??? They will still get the outs, and maybe they allow 1-2 runs the 3rd time through the lineup. but if they pitch a full 6th and 7th, and give up 2 additional runs, that should not impact the result of EVERY game. Many games we will be up more than those 2 runs, use that cushion to let pitchers learn and develop. There will be times where we are down by a good chunk of runs. No tthat we want to give up on a game, but if we are down, then who cares, let the pitcher learn and develop during "probable losses". This should be especially true for organizations who "manage by numbers". They make decisons based on Win Probability. the "probability" that a releiver will be more successful than a starter the third time through. Take that same focus on the flip side. if the "win probability" is low, then use that time to develop, I mean hey, your a "probably" going to lose anyways right??? We need to drastically change the culture. That starts with teh head coach (since Falvine aint going anywhere). And we should have PLENTY of cash to go after big time starters and players who have shown to care about winning. Correa aint staying around this mess. That is $35M Sano and his $10 are gone. (can give Kirilloff another shot at staying healthy at 1B?) Get rid of Kepler and his $8.5M nest year (replace with Wallner) Urshella (who was ok) clear his $6.5M by replacing him with Miranda multiple other smaller moves. CHANGE THE CULTURE!!!!

see what I Did there? OK #1 most likely already been done tons of times, and B... yeah not the best one either way. hehe ANYWAYS... The Twins continue to lose position players at a fairly regular clip. Sano came back and was immediately done for the season, no big loss, but it was still a 40 man spot. Larnach has been down for over a month, and most likely not back until September, and will he need time to find his groove again?? Garlick was doing well then rib cartilage took him out. Buxton, has not played CF yet this month (with the exception of playing 1 inning after pinch hitting last night). Kepler is back after being out for a spell with the foot. With not adding any bats at the deadline, the Twins are very quickly running into the position of needing some reinforcements. Nick Gordon is playing very well, and hitting like a regular. So that helps. But we still need depth, and again 1 injury away from being short. The Twins will obviously not call up Wallner if he is not getting regular ABs. And he is just now starting to dig out of a post promotion slump, but if we take on 1 more injury, it HAS to be Wallner getting the call right?? IF not, who else?

Is there an opportunity for some future considerations as a result of the Soto trade to the Padres? Eric Hosmer had declined a trade, and now with Soto and his $ coming on, just how desperate are the Padres to move his contract? He is still a decent player. The Padres have given up a ton to get both Soto and Bell, this creates a huge logjam for their roster. Just how badly do the Padres want to resolve this? What if a team would take on Hosmer's deal if they throw in a James Wood or Luis Campusano? Woods is a young potential stud, Campusano is a near MLB ready catcher, which would be a position of need. Hosmer is owed "only" $13M each year over the next 3, assuming he does not opt out. That is not a brutal contract. It is less than we would be paying Sano, and with Kiriloff and his balky wrist now a question mark going forward and the possibility of Miranda going back to 3B next year, he could actually be a good fit.. Lets say Austin Martin and maybe a lower pitching prospect for Hosmer and one of Woods or Campusano and Joshua Mears. Would Hosmer waive his no trade to go to a "contender" in the Twins vs Washington?

Absolutely nothing to complain about here. very nice move. Get him for I think 2 more years. Yes other than thisyear he was a 5.00-6.00 ERA guy, but that was primarily as a starter. I do nto knwo his history, but the league is filled with failed starters who were dominant releivers. maybe beign able to focus on top 2 pitches means he will stay good, if nto elite, over teh next couple years as well. Nice move Falvne... nwo go and get JD MArtinez and Eovaldi

You like that one? you see what I did there? Yeah I know to be honest not really a fan of that pun either, but it fits so it stays. Twins are proving (and rightly so) that we are not in the running for any REAL big name FA. We just do not have the prospects or young players to move...Unless you want to try and flip Correa since he aint coming back and hope to sell AND contend. With just a 1 game lead in the division, and little chance of a WC if we lose the division, Twins are at risk of falling completely out of the playoff picture. As mentioned we don't have the prospects to make significant moves. and even though Correa wont resign anyways, the Twins not making any significant moves will give him ZERO reason to opt in. Which makes this an even BIGGER trade deadline than for most teams. There are some players available. and I like Rodon, but to me the play is to call the Red Sox and make a combo offer for rentals JD Martinez and Eovaldi. Due to them being rentals, AND expensive rentals, you wouldnt have to give up a ton for either. SO why not grab both?? How about something like Spencer Steer and Aaron Sabato for the pair. at 23 years old and only in High A Sabato doesnt seem to fit but has that power potential. Steer is darn near ML ready but with Polanco and Arraez here he is disposable. JD would bring a massive bat to this lineup, and Eovaldi is a proven starter. And on a side note (and this is the final time I will bring it up)... How this season has been going, and how the deadline is shaping up, Thsi is EXACTLY why moving Chase Petty was a mistake to start the year!!! YES Sonny Gray has been great when healthy, and yes we may not even be here without him, and yes we have him for another year, BUT even with him we are barely hanging on to the playoff spot, and now we are without one more top prospect that could have gotten us that top player. As I said when the trade happens. Moving Petty (a fresh #1 pick with a big arm) is ok to do... If it is the move that puts you over the top, NOT the move that just puts you in position to compete. Deadline is tomorrow, and there will be a ton of griping either way, but with the way our minor league pitchers have fared, and with the injuries to all of our 1st year player/prospects, I wont even blame Falvine, if they do little at this point. We have little to buy with. But what also will be interesting... how many of these subpar season pitching prospects are going to have to be protected on the 40 man and not be exposed to the Rule 5? Do we need to move any of them now to get SOMETHING for them anyways?

Not sure what will happen, top of the 6th. Will Buxton coem out of the game? they are down a ton so I am guessing he will be taken out for "rest" since the game is out of hand, BUT beware!!!! If you DVR the game watch his AB in the 6th. he reinjures the knee on the second pitch of the AB. He CLEARLY injures the knee on the swing. Then in every subsequent pitch he is flexing it, bending it, doing little jumps and he cant seem to handle any pressure/torque on the knee especially the one he struck out on. Maybe it is nothing, maybe he plays CF the rest fo the game. But I am guessing he comes out of the lineup and will be put on actual IL instead of just load management. If this happens, then what do the Twins do? Do they suddenly become sellers? and move Correa for a possible haul? Immediately cut bait on Sano? thatAB in the 6th just really scared me!!!

the last power hitting player the Twins gave up on just got inducted into the hall of fame. do it again and the outcome will be worse than the curse of the bambino and the Cubbies Curse of the Billy Goat, combined. Oswaldo Arcia was inducted into the HOF???

I LOVE IT!!! Great comments everyone. LOL and to paraphrase most comments, yes I also agree that it will not happen. It was just fun putting toegther the THEORETICAL rationale, how it COULD happen. lol. And to see all of these glorious replies!!! Keep on havin fun!!!!

Maybe I am just looking for something to gripe about after another walkoff loss. I got off work only to walk into the bottom of the 9th. in a 6-6 game there are probably NUMEROUS things you could point to that could have lost the game. And what I am pointing to is probably LEAST valid among the reasons for the loss, it is more of a philosophical complaint. Why do you use biggest bullpen arm in the 8th of a 6-6 game on the road as opposed to the 9th??? Now sure if Duran had a quick 8th he most likely comes back out, and yes if Duffey pitched the 8th like he did the 9th we still would have lost, and yes,, Duffey has been great lately, and yes... I may just be too "old school", but you have a CLOSER for a reason, use him as such. the 8th was not a "high leverage" situation to justify burning Duran n the 8th, and while Duffey has been good he has had TWO save opportunities during that run and 5 all year. Duran on the other hand ... OK it just FEELS like he has had more... surprisingly Duran has only had 2 save opportunities since June as well, but Duran just SEEMS like the 9th inning guy. with Duran having an ERA a full run and a half lower. While the result may have been the same, the feeling is MUCH different. IF Duran and Duffey had swapped places, and Duran blew the game, then it would have felt like... "UGH!! we just got beat by a better team" or "UGH Duran was just off tonight" losing the way we did screams of "we lost because we dont know how to manage a frickin ballgame!!" it feels like incompetence... Again, a loss is a loss, but why does this loss "FEEL" so different? Or am I just looking for a lawn to yell at someone to get off of?

Is there a rationale for the Twins to get into the Juan Soto sweepstakes?? While I am not officially predicting this ( I have retired from teh predicting game immediately after predicting the Correa signing... going out undefeated!! hehe). There COULD be a path to Soto. First, The Twins inked Correa to a 3 year deal at $35.1M AAV. Assuming the Twins would be comfortable if Correa would opt in to those last 2 years, and were being used SOLELY as a leverage play, that means the Twins are OK opening up the books a bit. IF Correa were to get moved, his 2 years and $70.2M total due him would be freed up. IF the Twins were willing to give Correa $70.2M over the next 2 years then you would think they would be ok paying Soto $60-70M (in arb cases) over the next 2 years. That right there takes the "small market" argument out of the equation. Now it comes down to what the TWins would have to give up. We start no place else than Correa himself. While he CAN opt out, if the Nats were willing to lock up Soto with $440M, then maybe they would be willing to offer a similar deal to Correa, who would undoubtedly take that deal (or even something a little less) since he is a few years older. Obviously a straight up Correa/Soto isnt enough, so what else would it take? Nat's have said they want 4-5 top prospects or young controllable MLB talent in return. Lets say Correa is good enough to be worth 2 players. that leaves another 2-3 players to pick. Would they have interest in Sano? if so we include him, if not then no worries we move Urshela to SS, Miranda to 3B and Sano/Kirilloff/Arraez a 1B/DH platoon. Assuming not interested in Sano, lets add Spencer Steer for near MLB ready 2B, Noah Miller for a more future/potential player, a young player like Nick Gordon, and a top 10 pitching prospect. This reloads the Twins, allows us to still contend this year, and help address some of the positional overlap. With a set OF rotation of Soto, Buxton, Kepler. an IF of Miranda, Urshela, Polanco, Kirilloff/Sano The Twins can keep Soto for a year to a year and a half and and then still trade him for a massive haul after 2023. Again I am not saying it WILL happen, I am just saying it COULD happen

We have talked about the scenario the Twins will be in once Sano and his rehab stint come to an end. Well that time has come. There is clearly only one move. But before we go there, lets take a quick look at why it is the only clear choice. MOVE SANO?: We could just DFA Sano. There is no way this happens his "potential" is still just too teasing. We will also not trade Sano, as his trade value is absolutely rock bottom. No contending team will roll the dice on him if it means giving up anything from there system. no rebuilding team will take on the large team option for next year. So Sano is going nowhere. lets look positionally... 1B: Arraez is an All Star and a spark plug Where else is he going to get consistent AB? wont be SS (Correa) 2B (Polanco) or 3B (Urshela/Miranda). He is not going to the OF. so 1B it is. He is controlled for 3 more seasons and a potential batting champ. You also do not trade a player like this. Kirilloff hid platoon mate is also now hitting well. Kirilloff has options, but with all of the up and downs of Kirilloff's young career you do nto throw him back down when he is finally starting to hit well. NOTE>>> AS typing Kepler just came out of the game after a HBP on the foot... could this change everything??? well see, but lets continue as is... DH: This is a platoon/rest position for the Twins. Buxton just got PRP injection, and will have had nearly 2 weeks of rest (with an All Star appearance in teh middle) so maybe he comes back and will be able ot play more in the field down the stretch, but as of now he will be DH at least 1 out of every 3 games. Then there are AB's for Miranda, and of course as mentioned above both Arraez and Kiriloff BOTH cant play 1B at the same time. SO where does Sano fit in here? OF: Outfield would be a natural area to move Kiriloff to free up some ABs, but who do you move? Kepler (assuming no foot/toe injury) is not going to get moved. Buxton?? to reference a borderline good movie that I still haven't figured out just how good it is or isnt... NOPE. That leaves Gordon. Gordon is out of options so you risk losing him by trying to send him down. Gordon has clearly played well enough to not risk losing. I see him as a piece of the future. As far as starters go there is no room at the inn. 3B: the final position that could be ancilarily (is that a word?) impacted. and the only move that makes sense. Ursehla is the only one now mentioned who would be the most expendable. Yes he is still ARB eligible, but he is not a part of the core future Twins. He would not command a strong return, but maybe getting "just enough" back makes sense. Miranda can slide in at 3B. this now leaves Arraez, Kirilloff, Sano in a 3 way rotation between 1B/DH. Of course all of this becomes moot, or at least delayed should say Kepler have a broken toe that requires a DL stint. then Kiriloff moves to OF opening the spot for Sano. So how moveable is Urshela? He would upgrade the Mets 3B (apologies to Escobar who I love). Urshela = .261/.307/.408 Escobar = .219/.273/.388 How about a Urshela for Thomas Szapucki deal straight up? He could be a nice addition back in NY with the Yankees. Donaldson = .229/.313/.395 Falefa (SS) = .271/.316/.322 If the Yankees want to be in on Soto, there is a good chance they would/could include Gleyber Torres, as well as other near MLB ready infield prospects. I am sure Yanks would love to have Urshela back. What would we get for him from Yanks? That would all depend on what the Yankees will give up for Soto (and they will get Soto) I would say to basically just taking a flier on a young prospect with one standout tool. Or heck even a return swap of Rortvedt at C. Baltimore is actually now in contention and Urshela could fit in well there. Regardless of trade destination, this is the move. Trade of Urshela is the right move all the way around.

Well so much for that Stupid Rangers!!! outside of top 2-3 picks, Rocker will easily be the most productive MLB to come out of this draft. A July Draft and a September Bullpen call up and then next year a midyear call up to teh rotation for good would have been a great play. My understanding is Rocker will start out at AA Frisco.

The more and more sources I speak with, the more I am convinced the Twins will be taking pitcher Kumar Rocker at #8 in the draft Saturday. Is this picking based on NEED vs best player? maybe, But I still like the pick. Assuming his shoulder is good to go then he would be a nice pick. He was at one point he was in the running for 1.1 last year. Ultimately going #10 to the Mets. SO assuming health, he is a legit top 10 pick. Combine that with the fact that the Twins need significant upgrades in pen, and this makes it an even more realistic move. If you factor in what the Twins would give up from the system to get a top bullpen arm you are looking at something most likely around a top 10-15 prospect, then the Twins could keep some prospects while getting a power arm in the pen. Make no mistake, Kumar is a starting pitcher!! and a team like the Twins does not spend on top FA pitching, we need to draft and develop. and Rocker has a chance to be a very nice starting pitcher in the future. SO it will just be a bonus to get him for the stretch drive as well. I am no scout, I cant tell you anything about the players available in the draft other than what I read other places. But at #8 the Twins are not gettign a consensus stud like Druw Jones. MLB.com has the Twins currently taking 3B/OF Jacob Berry (or OF Gavin Cross as an alternate) both College hitters. I have no clue if either are "cant miss" have big bats or what. Maybe they will be the next Mike Trouts for all I know, but If we can get a potential top of the rotation starter of the future AND get immediate bullpen help for a contending team, then Kumar is the pick for me!! Draft picks are crapshoots. Here are all of the "good" picks frm #8-15 in the last 10 drafts... (with the actual 8th pick) 2012 #8 Mark Appel 2013 #8 Hunter Dozier 2014 #8 Kyle Freeland #13 Trea Turner 2015 #8 Carson Fullmer 2016 #8 Cal Quantril #11 Kyle Lewis #15 Kirilloff 2017 #8 Adam Haseley 2018 #8 Carter Stewart 2019 #8 Josh Jung 2020 #8 Reid Detmers 2021 #8 Benny Montgomery. While some of these drafts are still too early to tell. How many #8's have been major league impact.. or even quality players? Jacob Berry, or anyone else the Twins may take, may be the next Aaron Judge, but odds say no. So why not take an arm that most people who DO know what they are talking about say plays AS IS in a MLB bullpen this year.

OK Twins fans, lets see if we can get some unique ideas on how to improve the MLB All Star experience. You are the Commissioner for a Day, You can make unilateral decisions on the All Star Game (OK I know he can't, but let's pretend). Here are a couple of mine. 1) a hitting "skills" competition. MLB has the HR Derby which is the equivalent to the Slam Dunk contest. But what is MLB's Skilsl Competition? How about a point based challenge with team and individual winners. Batters get points based on if they would have gotten a hit. How do you do that? First you take teh average size of each MLB position player. Second you take the average range of each MLB position player. You use these dimensions to develop "blacked out areas" which would be outs. on the infield you could build mini walls or nets that encompass the space a typical infielder would be able to cover, and as high as the typical infielder could leap for a liner. Thos are placed in the infield. You hit them your out, you get it past them and you get a hit (insert point total here) For the outfield you could either do the same, just create markings on the ground, or even funner yet, have baskets on wheels with remote controls to position and chase after balls. these could be controlled by the opposing teams. for each ball caught it subtracts points, and fo reach base hit they get points. (or you could just put live players in the outfield but that could just create potential for injury. You could then add all sorts of fun things. you could have "Money Balls" where a section of the field is identified JUST before each pitch, where if the batter is able to get a hit to that area of the field they get bonus points. This would help reward the players like Arraez and other hitters who are PURE hitters, and put the ball where it is needed based on skill. Heck could even raise money for charity by having each of the sections or nets sponsored corproately. OK so nto completely fleshed out, but something different from a "skills" perspective would be fun. 2) A community involved HR Derby. Fans can come and pay like $10-20 to get a bucket of 10 balls. fans also register as a fan of a specific team. the fans HR then get put into either an NL bucket or an AL bucket. whichever bucket ends up with the most fan HR has that team with the tiebreaker advantage. This eliminates the extra inning games, which while can be fun, are pointless in an exhibition. ALSO having to prepare for extra innings means some players are "kept in reserve" in case it goes extra and do not get to participate in what may be their ONLY All Star game appearance. This makes the fans feel part of the game. PLUS you can do a "Split the Pot" type thing, where all of the money goes into a pot. for each HR hit that fan gets an entry into a drawing to Split the Pot. When the winner is drawn they get half the money in the pot, and the team that they registered as a fan for gets the other half to go their Team Community Fund. You could have a children's HR fence and an Adults HR fence. The children's HR fence still counts towards the tie breaker, but obviously under 18 cannot get entry to win money. Can you imagine being a 10 year old and you hitting HR could help your favorite team/player win the All Satr Game!!! How cool would that be!! As far as the game goes... inning by inning, not sure I would change it, I like that it is as close to a real gaem as any All Star game is. So those are my goofy thoughts. What would you do to change the All Star game... the actual game, the weekend experience, the selection process, etc.????