Doc Munson

It cracks me up that pretty much EVERYONE in the clubhouse said they were surprised by the move. Which begs the question, which "surprised" player thought THEY were the one who was going to be sent down, or what player(s) were thinking their time with the Twins is short lived? Lets also nto forget that Larnach and Kirilloff are both also potentially back at some point, while neither is BETTER than Lewis, Larnach has at least proved himself ready as well. and with him on a rehab assignment should be back in LF sooner rather than later, so LF is not a place that will get Lewis AB's in the MLB. BAsed on Performance, the top of the list is Miranda. His .332 just is not currently cutting it. and no the .332 is not BA, it is not his OBP, it is not his slugging % it is his OPS!! LOL I am sure he may still be a quality MLB in the future, but right now, HE needs the reset at AAA. Based on potential positional transition: Urshela... I am not sure if he has options, would be more of a trade. While his overall offensive numbers aren't great, he plays a nice 3B, We are not married to him for the future, so maybe sacrificing some potential defense to get a bat like Lewis is the right move. and a somewhat brutal move of its own... Jorge Polanco. Polanco is a fan and clubhouse favorite, he is coming off All-Star season, and is very well cost controlled. Would be hard to move a longtime Twin, BUT his numbers are down, and 2B woudl be about the easiest transition from SS on the diamond.. One has to wonder how "nervous" Polanco was getting as well. Ultimately the right move is demote Miranda, possibly move Urshela to 1B and let Lewis play 3B

While it is still quite early and anything can happen for good or for bad, it looks like the Twins will be contending all year long. We have a potntial great problem to have. Is Lewis Legit? and if so what do we do there? The Twins will need pitching help along the way, as mentioned before our rotation consists of either unproven pitchers or reclamation projects with nearly all of them coming off of year(s) with very low innings. With Paddack already out for the season, Bundy struggling, we already have two holes to fill. Archer is still on a pitch count, and Baily missing time with a hammy.. Ryan has been solid, and Winder has done quite well filling in, We do have more young guys who could help fill in, but do we try and contend with young inexperienced pitchers? On the offensive side,,, Sano has been an even bigger dissapointment and then got injured, Kiriloff so far has not translated, Larnach started hitting well before going on the shelf temporarily, Buxton has been a stud, but again misses time. Correa started slowly, but has been coming on before getting hit in the hand by TWO pitches and going on DL. So what do the Twins do if we are actually contending, yet have a lot of holes to fill? Would it be borderline blasphemous to suggest trading Correa? Lets say Correa comes back and plays at MVP Correa level, do you trade him or run out the season with him? Yes he has said he would like to stay, but what else is he going to say right after signing a deal with opt outs after each year? It is a small sample size, but is Royce Lewis the real deal? could he be a viable future SS? Let's take a look at a best case scenario. The Twins are contending and Correa is playing very well. To me the best move i to actually trade Correa at the deadline. What can we leverage from our 1/2 season of Correa? Take a look at some contenders who could use an upgrade at SS. Cardinals: Would the Cardinals give up their top prospect in Jordan Walker for Correa? IF they would, then we should jump at that even if we need to actually ADD to the deal. Jordan Walker at 3B and Miranda at 1B for the future??? Yankees: Yes they have Kiner (from us), and he is playing OK, and yes they have "cant miss" prospects like Volpe and Peraza at AA & AAA, but they are both actually "missing" this year. They are on pace for 122 wins, so do they NEED an upgrade? What if the Twins would get a package of Jasson Dominguez and Luis Gil? Dominguez more of a project than Walker but has MASSIVE potential. Lets say you think Lewis is the real deal. I would love to hear opinions on what you do with Correa this year. DO you trade him? if so to who and for what? Do you keep him and demote Lewis back to AAA for the season? or move Lewis to a new position? Let me here your thoughts on the one truly intriguing position decision for the Twins.

And now I am reading memo's that say the increased pitching rosters will remain in effect until the END of May. Citing "player safety" in order to help "monitor players health". SO pretty much just as I figured, just the next step in babying the players. In the generation of players training year round do we REALLY need to "protect" players from injury?? When they already throw 1/2 the innings and 1/3 the pitches of pitchers from previous eras?

If this is not the definition of the AL Central I do not know what is. Twins in 1st place!!! with a.500 record. Just a couple of weeks in I think it is important to take a look at a significant season milestone. May 1st. May 1st is when the "skinny mirror" gets replaced with a normal one. You know those skinny mirrors, those mirrors that make you look skinnier, or "better" than you actually are. While I am very happy to be in first place, and I am thrilled, and surprised with the Twins pitching this year, The Twins, as have all teams, have greatly benefited from a 28 man roster, and the ability to carry extra pitchers, carrying extra pitchers allows you to rely more on the bullpen, This also allows you to baby your starters and not give them too many innings, or pitches at the start of the year. This is evident by Chris Archer's comments after his last start. after his last start he said he knew it was going to be a short start because he was target for 50-60 pitches.... FIFTY to SIXTY??? Normally I would be screaming at the top of my lungs how this is nto baseball. BUT given the "unique" rules this year (Although I can see MLB permanently going to a 28 man roster for the 1st month to "ease in pitchers") you have to play and take advantage of the rules that are in place. I am not slamming the Twins for taking advantage of them, I am saying the Twins may not be the pitching juggernaut they currently look like without them. As stated previously by me, and every other baseball fan with at least a modicum of intelligence, the Twins pitchers are a collection of young pitchers who have not thrown more than 120 innings, and veteran starters coming off injuries/poor performance who also have not thrown more than 120 innings recently. This can be very easily covered up with a 6 man rotation, and a 28 man roster to allow for short starts consistently. Again, EVERY team got this benefit, and also again Twins pitchers have been GREAT!!! Just brace yourself. the Twins will be hit harder than most with the rosters going back down to 26. This is because not only is the roster trimming down to 26, but if the Twins continue to go with a 6 man rotation (and really who do you take out??) then that means you can no longer allow your starters to go only 4-5 innings because your bullpen with get overworked. This then in turn puts more workload back on those inexperienced starters and veterans coming off injuries. We will have a much better idea of where we are at at the end of My than at the beginning. Maybe it is just the typical MN sports fan in me, but I am very excited and happy about our team, yet at the same time will not believe it and am waiting for the train wreck. But until that happens, I am choosing to say the Twins Roster is half full instead of half empty.

The one discussion that actually does speak to some value... the controllable yesrs. I may be too focused on this year, since this is the only year we will have Correa. So i guess i figured that $35M could be spent on FA pitching, but yes with Bundy and Archer most likely not here next year, even with Winder, Balazovic, and other potential starters being a year closer, having another MLB capable pitcher locked in next year does make some sense. I guess though i still wouldnt have donebit at the expense of Rogers. If you cant have a dominant rotation, then need a doninant bullpen. Will be rooting for Paddack!!! Just wish we could have gotten him without Rogers. Oh well. And then the IMMEDIATE question is... Do we go with a 6 man? Or if we dont then who gets dropped?

So far nothing has moved me. I can see the need for pitching depth. I have also discussed how Archer and Bundy are risks coming back from injury and poor performance. AND Paddack may be an upgrade over Bundy, but not at the risk of losing an All-Star Closer. I HOPE Paddack realizes his potential, I also HOPE Bundy has a strong bounce back year, and HOPE Archer does as well. And the "pitching depth" community will undoubtedly, yet incorrectly scream "I told you so!!" When Archer/Bundy either get hurt or get moved out of the rotation for performance, but that misses the point here. My opinion isnt that Paddack isnt a decent pitcher, it is that the separation between him and our other #6-8 potential starters is not significant enough to move Rogers. And if you truly intend to win this year, then you do not worry about losing him in free agency "for nothing". you keep together the team that gives you the best chance to win. All of that being said, I am not a scout, my opiniosn are based on pure numbers on paper, and baseball is nto played on paper. He COULD be a much better pitcher than I think he is, and I guess if our scouts believe he is a significant enough improvement over Bundy/Archer then I can support the move. I just dont personally see it based on numbers.

This article is not meant for me to give MY opinion, I have done that in a previous post. This is to beg the fan base out there to help me understand how this move makes any sense except to cut costs (yet we are also sending cash considerations to SD as well). I liked Rooker, even though he is an "old" young guy and not much of a fit here. I don't have an issue moving him though. My question is why move an All-Star Closer who is a significant clubhouse presence and a fan favorite for an average at best pitcher a not significantly better than any of our other current starters. and here is where I need help understanding. Who is/should Paddack replace in the rotation? and how big of an upgrade is he over that pitcher? As I stated earlier, unless there is already an injury we have not heard about, the only one who gets moved out of the rotation is Bundy and is Paddack a significant enough upgrade over Bundy to warrant sending out Rogers? or do we go 6 man? But again this is not about my opinions. Help me understand, I legitimately cannot see the added value Paddack could bring. Please explain how this move makes sense and who gets impacted.

The Twins go all offseason barely touching on the rotation, then they make a move for Sonny Gray. Ok a decent move, but again trading away Chase Petty is only a good move if they make other good moves. Then with abotu a week or so to go before real games they sign Chris Archer. OK, doesnt really move the needle, but isnt a move that will hurt you. Now on the Eve of what would have been the Twins Opener there are strong indications the Twins are trying to get Chris Paddock from the Padres. NO. FULL STOP!! I don't care if you get him for a bag of used batting practice balls. He brings ZERO added value above what we already have available to us!!! It is crazy to say we are already flush with pitchers, BUT... we are already flush with THAT KIND of pitchers!!! We have 3 quality starters a 4th with potential and a 5th starter we can easily replace with Winder after his first few horrible starts. Top 3: Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober. Quality pitchers, 2 of the 3 unproven over the long haul, but still quality. 4th = Archer. yes a reclamation project a bit, but if you are selling hope, he can be a decent #4 with "flash games" where he dominates. 5th = Bundy is a joke. he will be out of the rotation and off the team by the end of May, but that will allow Winder to step right in. and we have a couple other potential starters who could use the first month to get in pitching shape as well. SO what does adding Paddock do? He doesnt replace the top 3, or even top 4. so that means Bundy goes. and even with all of the afore mentioned Bundy Bashing, he has been good in Spring. so you gonna replace him now?? It makes ZERO sense to bring in another pitcher unless it is a marked improvement over another pitcher. And Paddock simply isnt. By every single metric he is a pitcher who had a good rookie year and has gotten progressive worse each year after. PLUS has injury concerns with his pitching arm!!! What is even MORE alarming are the reports that we would consider moving Taylor Rodgers!!!!! Seriously??? I understand Jhoan "Splinker" Duran could be a bullpen stud, but to move Rodgers in a package for Paddock??? This could be rampant speculation, but if this happens the Twins better get some SERIOUS other compensation for Rodgers.

Twins FO obviously is content with Bundy and Archer filling out the rotation. I am not nearly as rosy on the perspective of counting on them to anchor our rotation. I would love to be wrong however. As I have said in previous posts, the Sonny Gray move only makes sense if we end up making other significant moves, whether no or midseason. After all you do nto give away a potential arm (and personality to be a face of your franchise) like Petty in a "first move" without making final moves to ensure you are in the best position to succeed. Also as I have noted many times over, I beleive the crux of the Twins pitching plan all along has been to allow our young pitchers to takeover. Maybe not at the beginning of the year, but by the end of the year. Another concern I have shared is the relatiely few innings each of our rotation members have logged each year over the past 3 years. even if successful, 150 IP level will represent MASSIVE jumps in workload, adn with our "data dorks" running the team, they will be reluctant to hit those big jumps. so it is either 4-5 innings per start, or a number of our guys being shut down (or injured) for parts of the season. and this was BEFORE the Chris Archer signing. The preamble above is just to remind those of where our rotation sits. and remind people that even with the arrival of Archer, smart money says it is not enough. The two main trade pieces that remained seemed to be Manaea, and Montas. Manaea is off the board, so lets take a look at what Oakland got in return, if the Twins could have matched that, and whether the Twins makign a similar move would have been worth it. WHAT DID OAK GET.. #1 an 19 year old infield prospect with 55/40 scores for hit tool and power tool, and 50/50/50 for run, arm, field. so a decent infield prospect but not overly pricey in terms prospect quality. #12 prospect in SD. #2 #26 SD prospect in a 25 year old RHP. who split time between AA & AAA in 2021. with the following grades. FB=55 SLIDER =45 CHANGE =60 CONTROL =50. I am nto an advanced scout, but just looking at the scout rankings, and reading brief bios, I think a very comparable, if not better package, coudl have been doen by the Twins... Keoni Cavaco is still only 20, with toosl at 45/50/60/60/50. SO one could argue a better prospect. OR we could use 19 year old Noah Miller as a comp with his 55/45/50/55/55 comps. I mean we gave up our 2021 1st round pick for Gray, why not give up our comp balance pick for Manaea right??? Now for a comp for the 25 year old middling pitcher. HMMMM I wonder if the Twins have any "aging prospects" on the verge of MLB that are in their mid 20s? This one may be tough, btu I will dig deep!! Chris Vallimont, Blayne Enlow, Drew Strotman, Cole Sands, Louie Varland, Matt Canterino, Josh Winder, Jordan Balazovic, Jhoan Duran, Jor Ryan. Now of course there are names in their that I would not touch, but just including the list of pitchers who are all at least as good as the pitcher the A's acquired, and equally close to the majors. So with that it is pretty easy to conclude that the Twins COULD have matched or exceed that package SD sent to Oakland, without even flinching. Now the question is why wouldnt we? Wouldnt we rather have a Manaea over a Bundy? Why are the Twins standing pat when quality pitchers are beign made available for what appears to be very modest prospect returns?? But DANG!!!!! How fun is this going to be to watch Buxton and Correa this year!!

Signing Correa was a great move regardless of how long he is here. it is a move I screamed for for months. This bought the Twins FO a bit of time and good will. Yet the Twins are still an enigma, and you cannot clearly call them contenders or rebuilders yet. This is not a new take. We have some pieces that just don't quite fit, and a few that are missing. Just because they might not fit traditionally doesn't mean it can't work. It just shows inconsistent messaging and makes a fan think there is no true plan. Gary Sanchez: Doesn't quite fit. Sanchez is essentially a DH only. yes he will catch maybe 30-35% of the games, but he is a liability behind the plate until he proves otherwise. and with a young and/or erratic pitching staff (Ryan, Ober, and all of the soon to be starters = young. Archer, Bundy = erratic) you want him behind the plate as little as possible. Also both he and Jeffers are RH which means there is no natural R/L platoon. Yes this seemed to work with Jeffers and Garver, but none the less it still reduces flexibility. As a result we cannot open up the DH for other hitters against certain righties or lefties. Also this requires us to have a 3rd catcher on the club, because if we want Sanchez's bat in the lineup then we have both Jeffers & Sanchez in the starting lineup and otherwise risk losing the DH if something happens. having the primary DH also be the back up catcher is the LEAST flexible option you can have, short of pure DH like Cruz. it is almost the SAME as having Sanchez a pure DH... Which I thought we were getting away from in order to have more flexibility. This is why it shows a lack of clear strategy when putting together the team. Hopefully Sanchez significantly outslugs the alternatives... Rooker, Larnach, et al. but by simply not having Sanchez would provide significantly more positional flexibility when you have Sano (can be hot or cold) Kepler (can play a good OF but really hasn't had a strong overall offensive game in years) Kiriloff (unproven but loads of talent) Rooker, Larnach (redundant poor to average OF but potentially strong bats) and soon to be added, Martin. Pitching: missing I have said all offseason due to the lack of even TRYING to get any top FA pitchers, the Twins obviously have a plan that does not include bringing in additional pitchers. Their plan is MUST be to roll with multiple young arms. Again I am not saying I am against this, or that it will not work, but it clearly is not traditionally what teams who are saying they are contending do. Signing Archer is a nothingburger. I would love to have him turn back the clock and pitch like he did 5-7 years ago, and he MAY, but it is not realistic to bank on it, same with Bundy. At this point, with the Twins walking the fine line between contending and propping open the window to contend, it is clear the Twins will be waiting on any big pitching trades to see where they are by trade deadline. If we are contending, then Twins will pull the trigger and move some prospects for an Ace, or at least a #2 or 3 starter. At this point, why move prospect talent if you do not know if you will contend? Which brings us back to the Sonny Gray trade. You have to give something to get something. BUT giving up an arm like Chase Petty? to ONLY add one solid #2 starter in Gray, and not finish it off with a strong rotation??? Gray (or better could have/would have been there at the deadline). at $22M over 2 years, for a measly extra $3M per year, could have signed JON Gray... and still had a top arm in our system. and then if you want to make a trade deadline move can move him then. Trading your #1 draft pick, and arm talent like that should be done to secure the FINAL piece, not the FIRST piece... especially if you are not going to secure the SECOND piece. You can say that high school pitchers flame out significantly more often than they pan out. and I can agree with that. but why would you move someone with such upside, yet hold onto a bunch of prospects who still haven't fully panned out at 27 (Rooker) 25 (Larnach) 24 (Kirilloff... although he SHOULD this year) etc, that you do not have enough AB's for anyways? OF course may not get back top of the rotation starters for them, but stopping at just one #2 starter for a big arm is worse. It is not that the Twins FO should be slammed for making BAD moves, it is just they need to be questioned for making INCOMPLETE moves.

I WANT him to be good, but it is just still a confusing fit. So we are back to a R/R catching platoon??? That is not a fault of Sanchez, it just doesnt make sense. at least with Rotvedt we had a L/R, but then again without that trade we wouldnt have cleared $ for Correa. Thsi was a much better article than I thought it was going to be. so well done there. But still show slittle more than just pure HOPE he will improve. And what makes him even MORE dangerous, being such a poor pitch framer... and such a poor pitch CATCHER, is that he will be handling a predominantly young pitching staff. That is a very scary conbination. I think the best to hope for is that he can "click" with at least 1 pitcher, and be a personal catcher to at least 1 starting pitcher. That will give him catching duties for about 20% of the games or 32 games catching per season, and the rest at DH. So 32 games caught from plus add in another 10-15 games on top of that, leaves 115-130 for starting catcher Jeffers. THAT kind of split I can live with. AND that implies that Jeffers himself can establish himself firmly as a starting catcher. But I would be insanely happy for a 120/32 gaem split for DH/catcher for Sanchez. We will have a very succesful season with those splts. Those splits would indicate 2 things. #1 that Jeffers HAS indeed shown to be a starting catcher. #2 (to a lesser degree) That Sano is hitting/playing well enough to NOT get pushed off 1B.

OK 2 things... #1 I take it all back!!!! #2 I TOLD YOU SO!!! lol Litereally as I was typing my most ramblng missive to date slamming the Twins for doing nothing they do THIS!!! Also though, in that same missive (and in others) I was the first to call this move!!! read back yoully find them!! WOW!!! INSTANT contenders!!! Nowgo get Montas... but back to me being the only one to call this shot (on the heels of calling the trade Donaldson shot). the defense on teh left side is now the best in bsaeball, Urshela, and Correa. What a great "bridge" to Lewis!! LOL Correa and BUxton #1 and #2 overall draft picks in the same draft on teh same team, in their prime. has that ever happend?? AS you can I cannot formcomplete thoughts but just bumping from one to the other due toexcitement!!!

I hate being so negative. I REALLY DO!!! hehe I know it sure may not seem that way to those of you who have read a number of my other posts. Butit is just so frustrating. WE say we are going to compete but it loosk we are making moves (or lack of moves) with no apparent overall plan. If our plan is simply to go with the young pitchers we have and use as a developmental year, I am cool with that, but at least come out and SAY IT!!! Now they cant say "We see this as a developmental year" but they can come out and say "We plan on contending this year, and we think our quality young pitchers are the ones that are going to help us contend this year!" We still have an overall junk rotation. at least from a "We plan on being competitive" standpoint. Sonny Gray is a quality starter. he is the #1 on this staff, maybe a #2.5 on others, but still he is good. He gives me hope. Joe Ryan. I really like this kid, I think he can be quite good. he is a plus. BUT if I have to be nitpick He still is unproven. was great over 5 starts and he has pitched well in teh minors so their is hope. Nothing you can rely on yet, but you can hope. Bailey Ober. SEE ABOVE. except insert "kinda" for "really" Hope but cautious. Again unproven Dylan Bundy. Where is my puke emoji. Watch him prove me wrong, but I just don't see it. Wait... WHAT??? we can give him $4M but cant give Pineda $5.5M? SEE BELOW. Jax/Strotman/Dobank/Thorpe/Smeltzer. Just no. SO there you have it!!! Now we still could make one of those Oakland trades. and really it doesn't matter WHEN you make moves, as long as you make them, but LETS FRICKIN MAKE THEM ALREADY!! Anyways... Here is teh Twins being Twins part. As I mentioned in another piece the Twins always come out of the woodwork AFTER a player signs elsewhere to claim they had interest and tried. Well Michael Pineda just signed with Detroit for a $5.5M base. Pineda expressed a strong desire to return. Pineda, while not the most dominant and most reliable still posted a sub 4 ERA and was the only Twins pitcher you could consistently count on to go at least 6 full innings. yet we cant even spend $5.5M on him? What will the Twins come up with as the reason for why they didn't sign him??? or why Pineda "chose to go elsewhere"? With regards to Story, I hate to break it to the Storyobos out there but the recent comments mean he aint coming here. #1 he said he is open to a short term position switch to sign. He does not have to switch positions for the Twins. so Cue #1 there. Cue #2 is he said he wants to sign with a contender. NOPE. and the original indicator...he had turned down multiple offers of $100M. If you actually thought the Twins would spend $100M on him your nuts. SO now, this makes the Yankee deal even more questionable. You solve the SS spot only to make it a big question mark again and get back the same type of 3B, and a redundant catcher... who by the way cant catch. That was a beautiful trade!!! lets create a hole (ss) downgrade at 2 other positions in order to save some money that we are not going to spend elsewhere... but yeah "We plan on contending". Now you will hear how we were "in on" Story and he just got "better offers" elsewhere, but the truth is we never had a chance. There is one move, and one move only that could garner ANY amount of optimism from most Twins fans. That is to dole out a record contract to sign Correa. a Montas trade does nothing. We still have a hole at SS, we still have a platoon of 2 RH catchers, one of which cant catch. The Twins should shock the world and give Correa a "Seager" deal. and then STILL trade for Montas. I know has gotten very long winded, but there makes a lot of sense for a Correa signing. Look at who would/could have on our roster over the next handful of years... 3B = Miranda Pre-arb deals. (Urshela gone) SS Correa Massive deal. 2B = Polanco,very team friendly deal. 1B = Kirilloff Pre-arb years. (Sano gone) RF = Larnach pre-arb years (Kepler gone) LF = Martin/ Lewis pre-arb years. CF Buxton big contract but only other big one. PITCHING>>> Ryan = pre-arb years Ober =Pre arb years. Balazovic pre-arb Strotman... Do I really have to list EVERY near MLB arm we have??? You get the gist We can have a full rotation of young controllable arms, and young controllable high ceiling position players. paired around 2 mega superstars in Buxton and Correa. But to close this rambling nonsense, I wouldnt even mind, and would kind alike to see us just go young, give Lewis SS out of Spring, go with all fo our young arms... JUST FRICKIN SAY IT!!!

How embarrassed am I??? Immediately after posting this the Twins make a move to solidify everything. I guess I should have just trusted that Falvine know what they are doing. I cant wait to hear the Chant starting on opening day going right on through to the World Series... "Chi- Chi!!! Chi-Chi!!! Chi-Chi!!"

What exactly is the Twins FO waiting on to fill out our roster? From the outside looking in it seems to most that we still need at least 1 more pitcher, we need a SS, and bullpen help never hurts. Yes, I understand it take two to tango, and of course we hear all over the place that the Twins are "talking" to this team or that FA, but seriously??? sitting with a payroll of just $72M (prolly closer to $90M when you add in the final pre-arb salaries) which means we have between $30-50M to spend, just to get mirror last years level. Are we once again nickel and diming other teams and FA? Are we once again going to hear how the Twins were "in on", or "had interest in" or "had made offers to" different pitchers ONLY AFTER THEY SIGN ELSEWHERE??? It is easy to claim interest after the fact. If we truly want to contend, it is OK to occasionally overspend if it allows you at actually get quality pieces and contend. You dont always have to spend 80 cents on the dollar. Michael Pineda is still unsigned. Obviously there are reasons why any unsigned player is still unsigned. with the exception of the few at the top if they arent signed yet, that means noone else is really beating down the doors to sign them. and there are most likely reasons. Michael Pineda is still out there. While not a game changer and not ultra reliable for the long run, when he has pitched he has given us quality innings. Why not bring him back??? can get him cheap and if he can give us innings on the front end, we will have our young kids ready on the back end of the season. Jake Arrieta is still available. While HORRID over the last year plus, why not take a low cost flier? His TRUE value is not necessarily any innings he can provide, but to serve as a role model of the work ethic needed for our young guys. Johnny Cueto. He is older but still serviceable. On the position player front, while I do NOT want the Twins to sign Trevor Story unless it is a 1 year deal mainly for his defense, can we get going with setting our infield already???? Story has reportedly previously turned down multiple $100M contract offers. If this is what it will take ot get him, then RUN AWAY!!! if his ask drops down and he is wiling to take a 1 year "prove it" deal to show he can hit outside of Coors as well, then get him, but lets go already!!! Unless of course we are hoping one of the youngsters actually turns out to be ready. We are less than 3 weeks from opening day, and do not have a full 5 quality starters, and do not have a set SS, We do not REALLY have a settled catching situation, can you REALLY plan on putting Sanchez behind the dish to control a young rotation even is a split role??? At this point we might as well just throw record contract out to Carlos Correa, we have little future commitments!! so could afford him and Buxton even with his incentives. Obviously we are resetting our "core". Sano not so much "core" so we wont have to be paying him his FA money. we have Buxton locked up, Polanco is still locked in, we will be having 5-6 years of control on 3B = Miranda, OF = Lewis and/or Martin. 1B = Kirilloff and/or Larnach. We are positioning ourselves to have a god young pitching rotation, with a potential full pre-arb rotation by next year with Ryan, Ober, Balazovich, Winder, Canterino, Woods RIchardson et all, you know the group by now. So if we are actually looking to contend, and we look to teh future and see most near FA contracts gone, and we have the talent to win with at AA & AAA, then lets overspend and get Correa, or for heck sakes overspend in prospects to get BOTH Manea and Montas. Just DO SOMETHING!!!!!!!!

Where do you get your rankings? Are you using someone elses? or are these your evaluations? Lewis seems to be insanely high. The highest I see him ranked was at 55, and most have him at 50. so a current 60 seems high, and a future 70 seems a bit insane. would be nice if Cavaco would ever reach his potential, would be a good trade piece

This one may take a while to understand, and may need another move as well. I can understand moving Donaldson, heck I have even thrown out my own trade scenarios regarding him, but I would have thought we would have returned some pitching for him, not just clearing salary commitments. There MUST be a second (or third if you think the Kiner-Falefa trade was setting this up) shoe to drop here. Trading Donaldson... This could be a hard sell while also trying to claim we are going to contend, but really you cannot fault the FO for wanting to get out from his remaining years. But still you would think we would have targeted pitching for him. Trading Rortveldt... This really is a low impact move, a bit of a throw in in my eyes. but one that is a touch confusing becasue we got back another RH catcher, losing the R/L platoon options. Plus SAnchez isnt much behind the plate. Tradign Kiner-Falefa... This is very confusing, as he was actually a perfect fit for what we needed. This is where the main TBD comes into play. How do we fill SS now? We get... Gio Urshela, This isnt a BAD get as he can play a decent 3B and has a good bat. He can also play some SS as well so there is a bit of flexibility there. Gary Sanchez... Here is the MASSIVE quesion mark. Some reports indicate he is not part of the Twins future, some say he is. If he stays with teh Twins The Twins are looking set up to be a feast or famine offense... Sanchez and Sano are two High power, MEGA high K RH hitters. and Sanchez is a potential liability behind the plate. There HAS to be follow up move/trade or two here right?? If teh follow up is a Trevor Story signing, I will be INCREDIBLY pissed off. If the follow up is another mega deal taking on the contracts of Wil Myers and Eric Hosmer and having Prospect CJ Abrams also come our way for something like Gary Sanchez and Max Kepler then I am all for it!!!! Anyways... thoughts on the trade? or what comes next?? Canyou think of a rationale I cant for this?

This is a heart vs mind trade... my heart HATES IT!!! my mind can justify it. Prospects are suspects until proven otherwise., especially HS pitchers, but still... DANG!!! I would be more of a fan if this was the move that would put us over the top vs just getting a SP when we need 2-3 of them. I would be much more in favor if this was part of a bigger trade that would also get us Luis Castillo.

This is a weird (but good) trade in my opinion. Yes I too like Garver, and think he could have helped bring offensive thump to our lineup. and no I do not think Jeffers is necessarily ready for a FT role, and no I do not think we have particularly strong platoon options with Jeffers. So why do I sorta like the deal? HE is a very solid player at multiple positions. He will obviously start at SS for us at the beginning of the year, but he could also play 3B, and maybe a little catcher. Very solid defender at 3B & SS. But what intrigues me the most about this deal is what it says about OTHER positions. #1 we need pitching. We didn't sign anyone of note prior to lock out. We didn't secure Rodon post lock out, and my sources say we didn't even consider making an offer. So we don't make any moves toward a pitcher, and we trade one of our most tradeable assets for infield help (although we needed a SS). This speaks to priorities. You would THINK that pitching would be the priority with us having basically 3 starters as we sit. The fact that the Twins are not acting like pitching is a priority, is because they don't think it is. Why would this be? Obviously the answer... or THEIR answer, is because we have what we need in house with young pitchers. If you don't sign FA pitching, and you use trade chips to acquire non-pitchers, then that screams that you already have at least SOME of the pitching you need in house. #2 OR... you can still address pitching. Combine this trade, with increased CBT and Universal DH, and you have all of the makings of a Josh Donaldson trade. With Kiner-Falefa to play 3B until Miranda is ready. Can you think of an NL team, newly in need of a DH, that has deep pitching, for whom Donaldson has played (and loved his time there) and who is about to lose a big dollar face of the franchise 1B bat to the Dodgers? Here is a hint. it rhymes with Atlanta Braves. There is now a logical move to be made with Donaldson, AND can finally help address pitching. Trade Donaldson to the Braves for Touki Toussaint and Kyle Muller. Neither are really proven MLB pitchers, but Touki has had flashes of brilliance at the MLB level, and Muller would be just another near MLB prospect. but it would at least make a move towards pitching. Overall this was a decent yet curious use of potential trade assets. What other moves do you see this potentially leading to? or what doyou think this says about our pitching situation?

I will absolutely HATE it!! yet at the same time I will not notice a darn thing, Attending a game you will not notice a difference. Watching on TV however, for at least the first half of the year we will be INUNDATED by the TV announcers talking about it CONSTANTLY. we will not be able to avoid it. announcers thin it is their job to over explain EVERYTHING. they will compare this to that, try and come up with statistics fo statistics of statistics to show the impact of the clock both in length of games and how it impacts each and every pitcher and hitter individually. That is my only real fear of the change. just let the game play. there is no need to explain the rule changes.

It is great news to hear that MLB & MLBPA are getting closer to a deal, but the early info on INTL draft and the QO are very confusing. Basically what it means is that NEITHER side actually really care about either of these issues, and as a result were holding up baseball for absolutely no reason. SO what is this grand bargain that was struck between MLB & MLBPA? Well according to Jeff Passan, they have agreed to get this...a new deadline... LOL they have agreed to a July 25th deadline to figure out how an International Draft would work. an agreement on an international draft will be tied to the Qualifying Offer and drat picks associated with that. OK fair enough, but what happens if they are unable to get an agreement?? NOTHING!!!!! not a gosh darn thing... LITTERALLY!!! IF they do not come to an agreement, then they simply go back to what the current QO rules are, and simply go back to what the current international signing rules are. SO the results of one of the bigger sticking points is "MEH, well lets just kick it down the road, and if we dont agree on anything no big deal, we will just do nothing, and go back to what it was, BUT we can still agree to ruin baseball for the fans right?? ok , good" Ridiculous All this being said, my hypocritical self will be happy as heck and positive as heck once baseball is back. LOL

I like many fans am frustrated with MLB & MLBPA. Both sides are equally to blame. I have shared ideas on how to end the stalemate in previous posts. One of the simplest that touches on multiple aspects (tanking, draft, "pre-arb" player pool) Is simply to have a Draft Tournament. With all teams not making the playoffs playing in a single elimination tournament to decide the top draft pick and subsequent draft order. This hits on tanking and the draft, the additional new TV rights to these games could be used to fund the gap in the "pre-arb" player pool. or fund the WHOLE THING!!! A win for MLBPA for getting the compensation they claim they want for young players, and MLB saves by using "new" money to fund it and not costing them any of the current revenues they are offering to fund the pool with. But what I really want to share on this discussion, is how truly disingenuous the MLBPA really is. They SAY they are fighting for the younger players to earn more, they SAY this is not about the big stars but the "average guy" and the 30+yr old veteran. If this is true then they would not be fighting over CBT threshold, but fighting for a salary FLOOR, but that discussion was thrown out almost immediately. Lets ask ourselves. who benefits from a higher CBT threshold? Is it the average team? NO. it is the big market teams, with just a handful of of team willing and/or able to exceed the threshold, or even get CLOSE to it. Most teams have not comeclose to the current threshold because they cannot afford it. SO by raising the CBT threshold, will teams automatically spend more? Of course not!!! That is liek an average person saying... "hmmm, I that car dealer would finance that new 2021 vehicle for me at $50K max sales price, but I just cant afford it. BUT WAIT!!! the 2022 version they will finance me for up to $75K!!! OK ILL BUY IT!!!" Obviosuly raising the CBT threshold only impacts a handful of teams. But since we are focusing on the MLBPA here, ask yourself, "what kind of player is most likely to be impacted by increasing the CBT threshold"? Is it the average payer? is it the pre-arb? NO itis the superstar. MLB teams will go over the cap... ANY CAP, or spend UP TO the cap to sign players like Carlos Correa, Max SCherzer, Corey Seager, Kris Bryant, etc. But would a team go over the cap to sign a player like say, Eddie Rosario, Jorge Soler, heck, even a player like Anthony Rizzo? OF course not. What will happen will be the rich get richer. the superstars instead of signing $30M AAV will get $36M AAV. They will still eat up most of money available, and again leave the average player, especially the 30+yr old veteran to settle for the leftovers. It is either that or teams use the underpaid "pre-arbs". NOW, if there were a $100M salary FLOOR as opposed to top end CBT, NOW players would paid evenly. The top players mentioned above will still get their mega deals, because rich teams will spend regardless. Now that the lower revenue teams MUST spend, they will be forced to spend more on the average player. The team MUST spend the money anyways, whether they are planning to compete or rebuild. so now a rebuilding team can actually OVERPAY the 30+ yr old veteran. Teams would "overspend" on short 1-2 year deals. a player like Rizzo now could easily receive a $20M deal somewhere for 1 yr (or more) because again the money must be spent, and why not spend it on a contract that will be coming off the books by the next year? Also if a team MUST spend the money anyways, and do not want to pay a veteran to take AB's away from younger players, then they would "overpay" or at least increase the pay to their own young players. Take a team like Baltimore. lets say Adley Rutchsman is on the big league roster (and he should). If the Orioles are currently sitting well under the $100M threshold, would it not behoove them to pay Adley $10-20M or more this year if they have to spend the money anyways?? it helps build loyalty from teh players part, so nwo when he reaches Free Agency he may be more willing to give a "hometown discount" to stay. "Overpaying" pre-arb players becasue the money must be spent anyways woudl also then reduce the need of the "pre-arb pool". A salary floor helps ALL, an increase in CBT only helps the superstars. the fact that the union is fighting for the wrong one shows their true colors. The proof is in the pudding. over the last 6 years, with INCREASING CBT thresholds, the average MLB salary has DECREASED!! Just like other sports it has been and always will be a star driven league. and I don't even have an issue with that. but at least have the integrity to either say what you are actually fighting for, or actually fight for the things you say you are for. Interested to hear thoughts

The Minnesota Twins this year are in position to change MLB!! For a team that has claimed a desire to contend in 2022 it has very little in the way of pitching, and has shown little to no interest in the FA agent crop of pitchers. SO how can a team with current starters slotted in as Dylan Bundy, Joe Ryan, and Bailey Ober? Dylan Bundy has only thrown over 162 innings twice in his career and that was 2017-2018. and coming off seasons of 65 (Covid) and 90 innings. He cannot be counted on to take on a bunch of innings. Joe Ryan has never thrown over 123 innings... ZERO in 2020 (covid) and just 92 between AAA & MLB last year. even a 50% increase is still less than 150 innings. Bailey Ober never threw more than 80 innigns in any season prior to last year when he set a highwater mark of 92 innigns between minors and MLB. again another 50% increase get to only 150 innings. So the three pitchers we have on our team assuming 32 starts per year will pitch les than 5 innings on average. Our minor league pitching that is near MLB ready or MLB ready are... Jordan Balazovic... 23... coming off career high 97 innings Jhoan Duran... 24... coming off injury 100IP in 2018 & 115 IP 2019 but 0 2020 and just 16 in 2021. Simeon Woods Richardson... 21... innings max of 106 in 2019 with 0 in 2020 and 53 in 2021 Josh Winder... 25... a respectable 125 IP in 2019 but again 0 in 2020 and 72 in 2021 Matt Canterino... 24... never more than 25 in his 3 seasons including 23 in 2021 Drew Strotman... 25... finally cracked 100 after never throwing more than 50 IP with 112 in 2021. SO... you see most of our prospects are at the age where they should be contributing to a MLB (usualyl 23, 24) this includes. Balazovic, Duran, Winder, Canterino, Strotman. This all begs the question... How do we get these guys to the big leagues before they are "too old" But yet not ONE indiviudally seems fully ready by if nothign else at least pitch/innings count to be a starting pitcher full time? Sure, we can move a couple to the bullpen. BUT on a team like the Twins, who love analytics, and seemingly never let their pitchers face a batter a third time, you will see the Twins go with 1, MAYBE 2 traditional starters (once we resign Pineda) and the rest will be piggy backed pitching "teams" Twins will have 8 starters. with the #3, #4, #5 starters all pitching in the "buddy system" with each one going a max of 4 innings. The theory being that if each starter can go 4 innings, then that leaves just 1 inning for the back of the bullpen to take care of, so as a result you do not need a ton of relievers. You just have your top 3 power arms in the bullpen. So you have a pitching 13 man pitching staff of 8 starters, 3 back end relievers and 2 "wild cards" or specialists. This is a move I HATE!!! but this WILL happen in 2022, and the sad thing as I want the Twins to succeed, then I have to want this to succeed, and if it does then in the copy cat league we have, more teams will do it and we will lose more and more of "traditional" ball.

I thought for just a brief second we may actualyl have an ORIGINAL, UNIQUE article here. you touched on it for just a quick second Cody when you said the Twins FO didnt have a whisper on any FA pitcher. Thsi makes me more happy than if we DID try and get pitchers and failed. this at least tells me that whether I agree with it or not, the Twins FO ACTUALLY HAS A PLAN for once!!! hehe. Sure there were pitchers I wanted like Jon Gray and maybe Stroman, but this at least means the FO has their plan and it never included FA signings. I think they are confident that Pineda will ultimately resgin. This means either the trade option was the way they were going the entire time, or actually I think more likely... I think they fancy themselves the new TB Rays. where they can develop pitching. I said before and I thin i still agree with myself (although not 100%) that with a combination of #1 a large number of quality arms nearing MLB ready, #2 A majority of them being on some sort of innings limit, and #3 the Twins LOVING (and me HATING) analytics and not letting our pitchers go past 5 innings anyways... we will see or #5 starter be actually TWO young propsects piggybacking each other, with each pitchers going 3-4 innings. and I acually wouldnt be too shocked to see us end up with TWO sets of piggy backing starters!!! Now THERE is an article for someone!!! fewer "general relievers" and more "piggy back starters" with 3-4 back end of the rotation power arms.

If the A's include the "perpetualyl injured but really though if he can stay healthy this year" guy in AJ Puk, then I would consider this deal. I love the upside of Duran, but all the TWins will do is make him a releiver anyways. and at least getting back equally powerful arm that is equally injury prone in Puk would help offset that risk. Cavaco still has upside, but he is a diem a dozen upside. we have 6 others exactly like him. Although if I remember correctly wasnt he compared to A-rod after being drafted??? So that leaves Arraez & Strotman. Arraez is a nice bat, but how many innings is he really going to play? with Nick Gordon also here as a potential utility guy I am not sure how yo manage AB's around both Gordon and Arraez (assuming we get a decent SS option). and then there is Strotman. I have no strong opinion, except maybe he is similar to a number of other decent to good pitchign prospects we have, SO if I Do not see Cavaco making it to the bigs with others ahead of him. and I see Duran and his big yet injured arm swapped with Puk and his big yet injured arm, then I ask... woudl I do Arraez and Strotman for Montas? and the answer is an unsexy yes.