Doc Munson

I have to confess I do not know how to feel about the lack of movement at the deadline.  I am glad we did not give up quality prospects in order to secure average MLB talent that will not significantly impact this years results. At the same time it is very disallusioning (is that a word?) to see we did absolutely NOTHING to address the blatant issues we have with this offense.
This disallusionment (again is that a word) makes me seriously consider how I want the rest of the year to go.  Am I not a "true" fan if a part of me wants us to collapse, IF that means that "Falvine" will be gone after this year? If it means other changes will happen? Such as Baldelli gone, Hitting coach gone, and we can install a new brand of baseball?  Is wanting short term failure for long term success mean I am not a "true fan"? 
 
I do not expect us to win every game, I do not expect us to spend on the best players in the game, I do not expect us to lead MLB in HR and batting average, and OPS, and SB. I do not expect us to lead MLB in ERA, WHIP, CGs etc.  I onyl want us to TRY!!!!
 
If we had a balanced lineup that we just need players to play better, then I coudl possibly understand, but we have built a flawed team, and if the FO cannot see that, and cannot seem to do things to admit a failure, fix it and move on, then it looks like we are not even trying.
We still have an extremely LH dominated lineup, we still hit LH pitching worst in baseball, we still have the players with the highest K rate in the history of baseball. We still have mediocre palyers blocking slightly better mediocre players that do not allow us to truly evaluate talent for next year. we still have middling talent ready to be out next wave.  
We still have Gallo on this team. Who takes away AB's from potentially both Wallner and Larnach. We still have an upcoming IF crunch to address when Lewis comes back in a  short bit.
We still have zero apparent plan going forward into next year to compete.  Gallo gone next year (addition by subtraction) Kepler, unless he stays on fire the rest of the year will be gone, Taylor is a FA, we have no established 3B at the moment for next year. With Kiriloff's injury we still have noone we can count on all year long at 1B next year, we are still handcuffed at DH as who knows if Buxton will be able to play the field next year. Our pitching still has Gray gone as a FA, if we think we will get a draft pick with a QO forget it. nobody will sign Gray to a multi year deal at his age with draft pick compensation tied to him, so we will lose him for nothing. If you cannot see that coming as a FO guy you should not be a FO guy. Maeda will be gone, Keuchle, if we add him will not be here next year.
 
At least the Indina made moves to improve the future while still being able to contend in this division!!
 
So back to my original question, is it OK to hope for a collapse if it means the longterm health (or at least a better chance at long term health) of the team I love?

My apologies for the repetitive posts, but as I was finishing my recent post I realized just how challenged the Twins will be shortly.  so many potential answers I am wondering what YOUR moves are?
Of course injuries and such always come nto play to resolve most issues, but.. sometime in teh near future the Twins will have a glut of players. Notice I didnt say a glut of All-Star calibur players, but a glut of players none the less.
OF:  There is the usual backlog of Gallo, Kepler, Wallner, Taylor, Castro (he will be IF & OF), Larnach.  That is 6 OF for 4 spots.
IF: Here is actually where it could get MORE interesting.  with Kirilloff, Julien, Correa, Farmer, Solano, Castro, and the pending returns of Polanco and Lewis  and eventually possibly Gordon, but thatis much later.  that is another  8 players for 5 maybe 6 spots
With DH being filled exclusively by Buxton who cannot play the field that gives little flexibility to mix AB;s.  That means 14 players for about 10 spots.
 
Put on your GM hats, how do YOU solve this?
Mine as I mentioned in previous post.
3 way trade with Angels and Yankees.
Yankees get: Anthony Rendon from Angels to fill their 3B need. Trevor Larnach from the Twins. Twins need to move a LH OF. Yanks wont touch Gallo, and with Kepler heating up we will not move him, and Wallner is too valuable to give away for a smallish return. That leaves Larnach... who I love. and his LH bat plays in Yankee Stadium
Angels get Josh Donaldson (they can immediately DFA him and still be saving money based on Rednon's contract being moved, and Yanks would require the moving of Donaldson on any deal) a pitcher from teh Twins.. Not 100% sure who I'd move maybe Kuechle? Twins also send Kyle Farmer to the Angels to take over 3B for them.
Twins get  Jordyn Adams (#25 prospect and super fast CF at AAA) from the Angels, and Luis Gil (#14 prospect from Yankees coming back from TJ and may be ready in September but would be a great bullpen arm going forward). Plus a PTBNL from each team based on if either team makes the playoffs.
 
This at least clear 2 spots and we have Adams for when rosters expand adn his blazing speed.  Then DFA Gallo (If the Angels wont take him in this trade).  and now you are down to 11 players for 10 spots which is quite manageable, and have CF protected for next year with Adams.
 
What are your moves?

This trade will help us on the periphery (did I spell/use that word correctly??)  LOL.
Willi Castro has shown the importance of speed.
The Angels are now keeping Ohtani and will be buyers (and will need pitching)
The Yankees need an upgrade at 3B!!
What ties these three things together?   Well a creative trade of course!!!
YANKEES GET: Anthony Rendon from the Angels
ANGELS GET: Josh Donaldson from the Yankees, Kyle Farmer and a starting pitcher.  maybe Dallas Kuchle? Maeda pitching too well to be the one to go, but maybe if we get even better value than this trade proposal then include him.
Twins GET:  Jordyn Adams from the Angels (Angels #25 prospect) and Luis Gil from the Yankees (Yanks #14 prospect).  Plus a PTBNL from each team. If the Yankees reach the playoffs this year then we get Roderick Arias, if they dont, then we get some high risk high upside single A pitcher.  and same with the Angels. we get a PTBNL based on if they make the playoffs.
 
WHY THIS WORKS...
FOR YANKEES: Rendon would a significant upgrade for the Yankees struggling offense, and lock in 3B for the next few years (assuming he would waive NT to go to Yankees). They really do not have much in the pipeline for the hot corner.  Trey Sweeney is by default the best option in the minors, and that is nto saying much.  The cost of this swap for this year for the Yankees is mitigated by being able to move off of Donaldson's  deal.
 
FOR THE ANGELS: This is a combo improve now and increase odds of retaining Ohtani move.  Who would you rather have on your roster? Rendon or Otani? by clearing Rendon's  $38M over the next 3 years, that makes a $50M Ohtani deal VERY affordable. Kyle Farmer is a quality 3B replacement this year,  This is an absolute no brainer for the Angels.  and maybe we incldue Trevor Larnach if Angels include Jo Adell, this would give Angels another healthy OF with potential, and we get a RH outfielder. The Angles can just DFA Donaldson and still save money, and use Farmer as the repalcement 3B. But again this move is 99.99% focused on putting the Angels in position to retain Ohtani after this year. they can immediately after this deal give Ohtani a 10 year $500M contract... AND AFFORD IT
 
FOR THE TWINS: Assuming we stay with the base deal, the Twins will be giving up very lttle. If we move Kuechle, that has zero impact. If we give up a differnt starter (not sure who) then Kuechle COULD be a good replacement if his rehab is for real. Giving up Farmer would have little overall impact because we will have a glut of players coming back soon.  Polanco, Gordon, Lewis.  and Julien and Castro are going nowhere, so what do you do??? little impact going out, and while not a TON of impact coming back in, this is the "around the edges" move the Twins FO has been talking about.  We get Adams with his electric speed. he can back up CF, or play primary CF down the stretch.  this also gives us flexibility/protection for CF next year. would be a great pinch runner down the stretch and into the playoffs.  Luis Gil, more than likely will not be back from TJ this year,  If he can come back still this year, he could be a good bullpen arm  that we need down the stretch, and into the future.  This deal gives us some upgrades without touching anything of importance.  Gies us upgrades, plus a couple younger, cheaper future pieces.
 
As I mentioned at the start, Castro has shown the impact of speed, if we get Adams, and DFA Gallo (or try and include him in the deal to the Angels for THEM to deal with)  and have Adams in CF, Castro in LF/utility, and when Lewis gets back that is 3 players who are a threat to steal on any pitch. 
 
 
 

This trade will help us on the periphery (did I spell/use that word correctly??)  LOL.
Willi Castro has shown the importance of speed.
The Angels are now keeping Ohtani and will be buyers (and will need pitching)
The Yankees need an upgrade at 3B!!
What ties these three things together?   Well a creative trade of course!!!
YANKEES GET: Anthony Rendon from the Angels
ANGELS GET: Josh Donaldson from the Yankees, Kyle Farmer and a starting pitcher.  maybe Dallas Kuchle? Maeda pitching too well to be the one to go, but maybe if we get even better value than this trade proposal then include him.
Twins GET:  Jordyn Adams from the Angels (Angels #25 prospect) and Luis Gil from the Yankees (Yanks #14 prospect).  Plus a PTBNL from each team. If the Yankees reach the playoffs this year then we get Roderick Arias, if they dont, then we get some high risk high upside single A pitcher.  and same with the Angels. we get a PTBNL based on if they make the playoffs.
 
WHY THIS WORKS...
FOR YANKEES: Rendon would a significant upgrade for the Yankees struggling offense, and lock in 3B for the next few years (assuming he would waive NT to go to Yankees). They really do not have much in the pipeline for the hot corner.  Trey Sweeney is by default the best option in the minors, and that is nto saying much.  The cost of this swap for this year for the Yankees is mitigated by being able to move off of Donaldson's  deal.
 
FOR THE ANGELS: This is a combo improve now and increase odds of retaining Ohtani move.  Who would you rather have on your roster? Rendon or Otani? by clearing Rendon's  $38M over the next 3 years, that makes a $50M Ohtani deal VERY affordable. Kyle Farmer is a quality 3B replacement this year,  This is an absolute no brainer for the Angels.  and maybe we incldue Trevor Larnach if Angels include Jo Adell, this would give Angels another healthy OF with potential, and we get a RH outfielder. The Angles can just DFA Donaldson and still save money, and use Farmer as the repalcement 3B. But again this move is 99.99% focused on putting the Angels in position to retain Ohtani after this year. they can immediately after this deal give Ohtani a 10 year $500M contract... AND AFFORD IT
 
FOR THE TWINS: Assuming we stay with the base deal, the Twins will be giving up very lttle. If we move Kuechle, that has zero impact. If we give up a differnt starter (not sure who) then Kuechle COULD be a good replacement if his rehab is for real. Giving up Farmer would have little overall impact because we will have a glut of players coming back soon.  Polanco, Gordon, Lewis.  and Julien and Castro are going nowhere, so what do you do??? little impact going out, and while not a TON of impact coming back in, this is the "around the edges" move the Twins FO has been talking about.  We get Adams with his electric speed. he can back up CF, or play primary CF down the stretch.  this also gives us flexibility/protection for CF next year. would be a great pinch runner down the stretch and into the playoffs.  Luis Gil, more than likely will not be back from TJ this year,  If he can come back still this year, he could be a good bullpen arm  that we need down the stretch, and into the future.  This deal gives us some upgrades without touching anything of importance.  Gies us upgrades, plus a couple younger, cheaper future pieces.
 
As I mentioned at the start, Castro has shown the impact of speed, if we get Adams, and DFA Gallo (or try and include him in the deal to the Angels for THEM to deal with)  and have Adams in CF, Castro in LF/utility, and when Lewis gets back that is 3 players who are a threat to steal on any pitch. 
 
 
 

Luckily we play in the AL Central, but is the Twins window of opportunity to contend slamming shut?
What will this team look like next year?  and no I am not looking to next year already!!  hehe, I am looking at next year to help determine what moves should be done at the trade deadline THIS year.
our FA after this year...
Joey Gallo (should be released anyways, but no way he is back next year)
Max Kepler (see above)
Michael Taylor.. HE has been a great signing, maybe we resign if cheap, but as of now a FA
Kenta Maeda 
Sonny Gray No chance he comes back.
Basically our entire starting OF and 40% of the rotation.  Granted Ober, Ryan, and Lopez are a good 3 to build around.
SO who do we have "plug -n-play" for OF next year?  cross fingers Buxton can play OF, Hope Wallner can show he is the real deal. Larnach hasn't been able to be consistent over long run, can Austin Martin get healthy and fulfill his promise? even if Emmanual Rodriguez can get things going in the minors he is still a bit off. Could we move AK to OF if we can upgrade 1b?? maybe but optimal.
My philosophy is SPEED SPEED SPEED!!!  OS my move at the deadline this year is to go after young near MLB ready prospects. This brings me once again to Jordyn Adams. His bat is finally coming around over the last year and a half, albeit at a hitter friendly ballpark. But a .264 avg and an .817 OPS with 33 steals against just 3 CS. he is a Gold Glove Calibur CF who could replace Taylor as the insurance against Buxton, and if Buxton can play CF, then we slide Adams to LF... or would a move to LF help Buxton????  his RH bat helps balance our lineup.
You put Adams in at #9 and potentially Royce Lewis at leadoff, and you have 2 burners back to back. You can really start playing some games with those two in order.  This works both this year and into the future,  This year can have Adams/Castro LF  Taylor/Adams CF, Wallner RF.
 
And Adams shouldnt cost TOO much... how about we send Kuechle and either Gallo or Kepler if they will take them.

Luckily we play in the AL Central, but is the Twins window of opportunity to contend slamming shut?
What will this team look like next year?  and no I am not looking to next year already!!  hehe, I am looking at next year to help determine what moves should be done at the trade deadline THIS year.
our FA after this year...
Joey Gallo (should be released anyways, but no way he is back next year)
Max Kepler (see above)
Michael Taylor.. HE has been a great signing, maybe we resign if cheap, but as of now a FA
Kenta Maeda 
Sonny Gray No chance he comes back.
Basically our entire starting OF and 40% of the rotation.  Granted Ober, Ryan, and Lopez are a good 3 to build around.
SO who do we have "plug -n-play" for OF next year?  cross fingers Buxton can play OF, Hope Wallner can show he is the real deal. Larnach hasn't been able to be consistent over long run, can Austin Martin get healthy and fulfill his promise? even if Emmanual Rodriguez can get things going in the minors he is still a bit off. Could we move AK to OF if we can upgrade 1b?? maybe but optimal.
My philosophy is SPEED SPEED SPEED!!!  OS my move at the deadline this year is to go after young near MLB ready prospects. This brings me once again to Jordyn Adams. His bat is finally coming around over the last year and a half, albeit at a hitter friendly ballpark. But a .264 avg and an .817 OPS with 33 steals against just 3 CS. he is a Gold Glove Calibur CF who could replace Taylor as the insurance against Buxton, and if Buxton can play CF, then we slide Adams to LF... or would a move to LF help Buxton????  his RH bat helps balance our lineup.
You put Adams in at #9 and potentially Royce Lewis at leadoff, and you have 2 burners back to back. You can really start playing some games with those two in order.  This works both this year and into the future,  This year can have Adams/Castro LF  Taylor/Adams CF, Wallner RF.
 
And Adams shouldnt cost TOO much... how about we send Kuechle and either Gallo or Kepler if they will take them.

Does this FO, and Field Manager realize their jobs are the line? OR is this just a situation fo ..."thou doth protest too much"?  The insistence that the cures to our offensive woes are currently on this team are baffling. Of course you need to publicly back your guys... to a certain extent. You cannot continue to back your guys as they are setting ALL TIME strike out records, and other standards of offensive ineptness of historical nature.  So what do we do? and who is available?
I am not going to do a deep dive into who are sellers and what they are selling, instead just take a quick look on what our team can control.
the record setting ineptness on our offense means at a minimum the hitting coach goes. IF you have SOME guys striking out a tone and others not, then you can pin it on the players. when EVERYONE K's, then it is the general approach/hitting philosophy. And this ladies and gentlemen come from the hitting coach. Even changing hitting coach and our overall approach wont help too much, because our FO did the shopping and secured players who are all or nothing type hitters. which brings us to the players.
Gallo. Seems like a nice person, and can hit the HR. 15 HR at the break is ok in general, but for someone who has a .186 avg, K's at nearly a 50% clip and produces a total of 28 runs on those 15 HR it is no longer all that ok.  It was an interesting try, and he single handedly helped us win multiple games right out the gate, but he needs to go. No questions asked.
Buxton, while I just trashed Gallo, one could say that Buxton's numbers are in the same ballpark across the board, with even lower OPS, yes but he is signed long term, and no one will take that contract, so as much as it hurts him clogging up DH, he stays.
Kepler, he also needs to be gone... like yesterday. His K rate is not nearly as bad as the first two above, it is in fact someone decent at about. 25%,  We all thought the no shifts would be a boost for Kepler, but he is hitting just .207, and an unplayable .688 OPS. He plays a good defense and on a juggernaut of an offense, you could afford to keep him and bat him 7, but on this offense you cant. What makes it worse is that we are wasting the potential (and yes I hate that word too) of Matt Wallner as we continue to let Gallo (no future with this team even taking this year out of it) play over someone who COULD have a future, and couldn't perform worse.
And Here is the weird thing... on a team of epic offensive futility, I just laid out a case (with exception of Buxton, but sad he plugs up DH) of removing our top 3 HR hitters!!!  haha  That in and of itself shows how the "swing for the fences" style just doesn't work!!!
QUICK!!!  who is #3 on the team in RBI?  Yes, it is still Trevor Larnach!!!!  and he is only 7 back of the team lead.  Yes that should scare and depress you!!!  as well as "FAlvine".
Ultimately the Twins need to find their "Elly De La Cruz".  Of course players of that Calibur are generational, but what I am talking about a player with that attitude, A player that is going to say... "You know what... I am going to get on base and steal 2nd, 3rd, and Home in the span of 2 pitches".  We need to go away from the sell out for the HR, and go to a RUN RUN RUN  offensive philosophy. Give me a .260-.275 hitter who has the ability to steal bases on command...  AND give the green light at all times, over a high K high HR guy any day.
Put pressure on the pitcher incentivize guys to swing for doubles and we score a ton more runs... and HR will come naturally.
Heck, if nothing else, just go ahead and give DaShawn Keirsey a call up from our system. At 26 and his secodn stint at AA he is hitting over .300 (career .258) with 50-60 SB type speed.  Or trade fro Jordyn Adams from LA Angels, 
 
Just do SOMETHING!!!
We cannot just stand pat  and "hope" our guys will just magically turn it around. iF we do then not only is this season at risk, but we will go into 2024 with more questions than answers on the field, and have new openeings in FO and Head Coach to come in next year to start their own 2-3 year rebuild plan.

Does this FO, and Field Manager realize their jobs are the line? OR is this just a situation fo ..."thou doth protest too much"?  The insistence that the cures to our offensive woes are currently on this team are baffling. Of course you need to publicly back your guys... to a certain extent. You cannot continue to back your guys as they are setting ALL TIME strike out records, and other standards of offensive ineptness of historical nature.  So what do we do? and who is available?
I am not going to do a deep dive into who are sellers and what they are selling, instead just take a quick look on what our team can control.
the record setting ineptness on our offense means at a minimum the hitting coach goes. IF you have SOME guys striking out a tone and others not, then you can pin it on the players. when EVERYONE K's, then it is the general approach/hitting philosophy. And this ladies and gentlemen come from the hitting coach. Even changing hitting coach and our overall approach wont help too much, because our FO did the shopping and secured players who are all or nothing type hitters. which brings us to the players.
Gallo. Seems like a nice person, and can hit the HR. 15 HR at the break is ok in general, but for someone who has a .186 avg, K's at nearly a 50% clip and produces a total of 28 runs on those 15 HR it is no longer all that ok.  It was an interesting try, and he single handedly helped us win multiple games right out the gate, but he needs to go. No questions asked.
Buxton, while I just trashed Gallo, one could say that Buxton's numbers are in the same ballpark across the board, with even lower OPS, yes but he is signed long term, and no one will take that contract, so as much as it hurts him clogging up DH, he stays.
Kepler, he also needs to be gone... like yesterday. His K rate is not nearly as bad as the first two above, it is in fact someone decent at about. 25%,  We all thought the no shifts would be a boost for Kepler, but he is hitting just .207, and an unplayable .688 OPS. He plays a good defense and on a juggernaut of an offense, you could afford to keep him and bat him 7, but on this offense you cant. What makes it worse is that we are wasting the potential (and yes I hate that word too) of Matt Wallner as we continue to let Gallo (no future with this team even taking this year out of it) play over someone who COULD have a future, and couldn't perform worse.
And Here is the weird thing... on a team of epic offensive futility, I just laid out a case (with exception of Buxton, but sad he plugs up DH) of removing our top 3 HR hitters!!!  haha  That in and of itself shows how the "swing for the fences" style just doesn't work!!!
QUICK!!!  who is #3 on the team in RBI?  Yes, it is still Trevor Larnach!!!!  and he is only 7 back of the team lead.  Yes that should scare and depress you!!!  as well as "FAlvine".
Ultimately the Twins need to find their "Elly De La Cruz".  Of course players of that Calibur are generational, but what I am talking about a player with that attitude, A player that is going to say... "You know what... I am going to get on base and steal 2nd, 3rd, and Home in the span of 2 pitches".  We need to go away from the sell out for the HR, and go to a RUN RUN RUN  offensive philosophy. Give me a .260-.275 hitter who has the ability to steal bases on command...  AND give the green light at all times, over a high K high HR guy any day.
Put pressure on the pitcher incentivize guys to swing for doubles and we score a ton more runs... and HR will come naturally.
Heck, if nothing else, just go ahead and give DaShawn Keirsey a call up from our system. At 26 and his secodn stint at AA he is hitting over .300 (career .258) with 50-60 SB type speed.  Or trade fro Jordyn Adams from LA Angels, 
 
Just do SOMETHING!!!
We cannot just stand pat  and "hope" our guys will just magically turn it around. iF we do then not only is this season at risk, but we will go into 2024 with more questions than answers on the field, and have new openeings in FO and Head Coach to come in next year to start their own 2-3 year rebuild plan.

Does this FO, and Field Manager realize their jobs are the line? OR is this just a situation fo ..."thou doth protest too much"?  The insistence that the cures to our offensive woes are currently on this team are baffling. Of course you need to publicly back your guys... to a certain extent. You cannot continue to back your guys as they are setting ALL TIME strike out records, and other standards of offensive ineptness of historical nature.  So what do we do? and who is available?
I am not going to do a deep dive into who are sellers and what they are selling, instead just take a quick look on what our team can control.
the record setting ineptness on our offense means at a minimum the hitting coach goes. IF you have SOME guys striking out a tone and others not, then you can pin it on the players. when EVERYONE K's, then it is the general approach/hitting philosophy. And this ladies and gentlemen come from the hitting coach. Even changing hitting coach and our overall approach wont help too much, because our FO did the shopping and secured players who are all or nothing type hitters. which brings us to the players.
Gallo. Seems like a nice person, and can hit the HR. 15 HR at the break is ok in general, but for someone who has a .186 avg, K's at nearly a 50% clip and produces a total of 28 runs on those 15 HR it is no longer all that ok.  It was an interesting try, and he single handedly helped us win multiple games right out the gate, but he needs to go. No questions asked.
Buxton, while I just trashed Gallo, one could say that Buxton's numbers are in the same ballpark across the board, with even lower OPS, yes but he is signed long term, and no one will take that contract, so as much as it hurts him clogging up DH, he stays.
Kepler, he also needs to be gone... like yesterday. His K rate is not nearly as bad as the first two above, it is in fact someone decent at about. 25%,  We all thought the no shifts would be a boost for Kepler, but he is hitting just .207, and an unplayable .688 OPS. He plays a good defense and on a juggernaut of an offense, you could afford to keep him and bat him 7, but on this offense you cant. What makes it worse is that we are wasting the potential (and yes I hate that word too) of Matt Wallner as we continue to let Gallo (no future with this team even taking this year out of it) play over someone who COULD have a future, and couldn't perform worse.
And Here is the weird thing... on a team of epic offensive futility, I just laid out a case (with exception of Buxton, but sad he plugs up DH) of removing our top 3 HR hitters!!!  haha  That in and of itself shows how the "swing for the fences" style just doesn't work!!!
QUICK!!!  who is #3 on the team in RBI?  Yes, it is still Trevor Larnach!!!!  and he is only 7 back of the team lead.  Yes that should scare and depress you!!!  as well as "FAlvine".
Ultimately the Twins need to find their "Elly De La Cruz".  Of course players of that Calibur are generational, but what I am talking about a player with that attitude, A player that is going to say... "You know what... I am going to get on base and steal 2nd, 3rd, and Home in the span of 2 pitches".  We need to go away from the sell out for the HR, and go to a RUN RUN RUN  offensive philosophy. Give me a .260-.275 hitter who has the ability to steal bases on command...  AND give the green light at all times, over a high K high HR guy any day.
Put pressure on the pitcher incentivize guys to swing for doubles and we score a ton more runs... and HR will come naturally.
Heck, if nothing else, just go ahead and give DaShawn Keirsey a call up from our system. At 26 and his secodn stint at AA he is hitting over .300 (career .258) with 50-60 SB type speed.  Or trade fro Jordyn Adams from LA Angels, 
 
Just do SOMETHING!!!
We cannot just stand pat  and "hope" our guys will just magically turn it around. iF we do then not only is this season at risk, but we will go into 2024 with more questions than answers on the field, and have new openeings in FO and Head Coach to come in next year to start their own 2-3 year rebuild plan.

Does this FO, and Field Manager realize their jobs are the line? OR is this just a situation fo ..."thou doth protest too much"?  The insistence that the cures to our offensive woes are currently on this team are baffling. Of course you need to publicly back your guys... to a certain extent. You cannot continue to back your guys as they are setting ALL TIME strike out records, and other standards of offensive ineptness of historical nature.  So what do we do? and who is available?
I am not going to do a deep dive into who are sellers and what they are selling, instead just take a quick look on what our team can control.
the record setting ineptness on our offense means at a minimum the hitting coach goes. IF you have SOME guys striking out a tone and others not, then you can pin it on the players. when EVERYONE K's, then it is the general approach/hitting philosophy. And this ladies and gentlemen come from the hitting coach. Even changing hitting coach and our overall approach wont help too much, because our FO did the shopping and secured players who are all or nothing type hitters. which brings us to the players.
Gallo. Seems like a nice person, and can hit the HR. 15 HR at the break is ok in general, but for someone who has a .186 avg, K's at nearly a 50% clip and produces a total of 28 runs on those 15 HR it is no longer all that ok.  It was an interesting try, and he single handedly helped us win multiple games right out the gate, but he needs to go. No questions asked.
Buxton, while I just trashed Gallo, one could say that Buxton's numbers are in the same ballpark across the board, with even lower OPS, yes but he is signed long term, and no one will take that contract, so as much as it hurts him clogging up DH, he stays.
Kepler, he also needs to be gone... like yesterday. His K rate is not nearly as bad as the first two above, it is in fact someone decent at about. 25%,  We all thought the no shifts would be a boost for Kepler, but he is hitting just .207, and an unplayable .688 OPS. He plays a good defense and on a juggernaut of an offense, you could afford to keep him and bat him 7, but on this offense you cant. What makes it worse is that we are wasting the potential (and yes I hate that word too) of Matt Wallner as we continue to let Gallo (no future with this team even taking this year out of it) play over someone who COULD have a future, and couldn't perform worse.
And Here is the weird thing... on a team of epic offensive futility, I just laid out a case (with exception of Buxton, but sad he plugs up DH) of removing our top 3 HR hitters!!!  haha  That in and of itself shows how the "swing for the fences" style just doesn't work!!!
QUICK!!!  who is #3 on the team in RBI?  Yes, it is still Trevor Larnach!!!!  and he is only 7 back of the team lead.  Yes that should scare and depress you!!!  as well as "FAlvine".
Ultimately the Twins need to find their "Elly De La Cruz".  Of course players of that Calibur are generational, but what I am talking about a player with that attitude, A player that is going to say... "You know what... I am going to get on base and steal 2nd, 3rd, and Home in the span of 2 pitches".  We need to go away from the sell out for the HR, and go to a RUN RUN RUN  offensive philosophy. Give me a .260-.275 hitter who has the ability to steal bases on command...  AND give the green light at all times, over a high K high HR guy any day.
Put pressure on the pitcher incentivize guys to swing for doubles and we score a ton more runs... and HR will come naturally.
Heck, if nothing else, just go ahead and give DaShawn Keirsey a call up from our system. At 26 and his secodn stint at AA he is hitting over .300 (career .258) with 50-60 SB type speed.  Or trade fro Jordyn Adams from LA Angels, 
 
Just do SOMETHING!!!
We cannot just stand pat  and "hope" our guys will just magically turn it around. iF we do then not only is this season at risk, but we will go into 2024 with more questions than answers on the field, and have new openeings in FO and Head Coach to come in next year to start their own 2-3 year rebuild plan.

Does this FO, and Field Manager realize their jobs are the line? OR is this just a situation fo ..."thou doth protest too much"?  The insistence that the cures to our offensive woes are currently on this team are baffling. Of course you need to publicly back your guys... to a certain extent. You cannot continue to back your guys as they are setting ALL TIME strike out records, and other standards of offensive ineptness of historical nature.  So what do we do? and who is available?
I am not going to do a deep dive into who are sellers and what they are selling, instead just take a quick look on what our team can control.
the record setting ineptness on our offense means at a minimum the hitting coach goes. IF you have SOME guys striking out a tone and others not, then you can pin it on the players. when EVERYONE K's, then it is the general approach/hitting philosophy. And this ladies and gentlemen come from the hitting coach. Even changing hitting coach and our overall approach wont help too much, because our FO did the shopping and secured players who are all or nothing type hitters. which brings us to the players.
Gallo. Seems like a nice person, and can hit the HR. 15 HR at the break is ok in general, but for someone who has a .186 avg, K's at nearly a 50% clip and produces a total of 28 runs on those 15 HR it is no longer all that ok.  It was an interesting try, and he single handedly helped us win multiple games right out the gate, but he needs to go. No questions asked.
Buxton, while I just trashed Gallo, one could say that Buxton's numbers are in the same ballpark across the board, with even lower OPS, yes but he is signed long term, and no one will take that contract, so as much as it hurts him clogging up DH, he stays.
Kepler, he also needs to be gone... like yesterday. His K rate is not nearly as bad as the first two above, it is in fact someone decent at about. 25%,  We all thought the no shifts would be a boost for Kepler, but he is hitting just .207, and an unplayable .688 OPS. He plays a good defense and on a juggernaut of an offense, you could afford to keep him and bat him 7, but on this offense you cant. What makes it worse is that we are wasting the potential (and yes I hate that word too) of Matt Wallner as we continue to let Gallo (no future with this team even taking this year out of it) play over someone who COULD have a future, and couldn't perform worse.
And Here is the weird thing... on a team of epic offensive futility, I just laid out a case (with exception of Buxton, but sad he plugs up DH) of removing our top 3 HR hitters!!!  haha  That in and of itself shows how the "swing for the fences" style just doesn't work!!!
QUICK!!!  who is #3 on the team in RBI?  Yes, it is still Trevor Larnach!!!!  and he is only 7 back of the team lead.  Yes that should scare and depress you!!!  as well as "FAlvine".
Ultimately the Twins need to find their "Elly De La Cruz".  Of course players of that Calibur are generational, but what I am talking about a player with that attitude, A player that is going to say... "You know what... I am going to get on base and steal 2nd, 3rd, and Home in the span of 2 pitches".  We need to go away from the sell out for the HR, and go to a RUN RUN RUN  offensive philosophy. Give me a .260-.275 hitter who has the ability to steal bases on command...  AND give the green light at all times, over a high K high HR guy any day.
Put pressure on the pitcher incentivize guys to swing for doubles and we score a ton more runs... and HR will come naturally.
Heck, if nothing else, just go ahead and give DaShawn Keirsey a call up from our system. At 26 and his secodn stint at AA he is hitting over .300 (career .258) with 50-60 SB type speed.  Or trade fro Jordyn Adams from LA Angels, 
 
Just do SOMETHING!!!
We cannot just stand pat  and "hope" our guys will just magically turn it around. iF we do then not only is this season at risk, but we will go into 2024 with more questions than answers on the field, and have new openeings in FO and Head Coach to come in next year to start their own 2-3 year rebuild plan.

Does this FO, and Field Manager realize their jobs are the line? OR is this just a situation fo ..."thou doth protest too much"?  The insistence that the cures to our offensive woes are currently on this team are baffling. Of course you need to publicly back your guys... to a certain extent. You cannot continue to back your guys as they are setting ALL TIME strike out records, and other standards of offensive ineptness of historical nature.  So what do we do? and who is available?
I am not going to do a deep dive into who are sellers and what they are selling, instead just take a quick look on what our team can control.
the record setting ineptness on our offense means at a minimum the hitting coach goes. IF you have SOME guys striking out a tone and others not, then you can pin it on the players. when EVERYONE K's, then it is the general approach/hitting philosophy. And this ladies and gentlemen come from the hitting coach. Even changing hitting coach and our overall approach wont help too much, because our FO did the shopping and secured players who are all or nothing type hitters. which brings us to the players.
Gallo. Seems like a nice person, and can hit the HR. 15 HR at the break is ok in general, but for someone who has a .186 avg, K's at nearly a 50% clip and produces a total of 28 runs on those 15 HR it is no longer all that ok.  It was an interesting try, and he single handedly helped us win multiple games right out the gate, but he needs to go. No questions asked.
Buxton, while I just trashed Gallo, one could say that Buxton's numbers are in the same ballpark across the board, with even lower OPS, yes but he is signed long term, and no one will take that contract, so as much as it hurts him clogging up DH, he stays.
Kepler, he also needs to be gone... like yesterday. His K rate is not nearly as bad as the first two above, it is in fact someone decent at about. 25%,  We all thought the no shifts would be a boost for Kepler, but he is hitting just .207, and an unplayable .688 OPS. He plays a good defense and on a juggernaut of an offense, you could afford to keep him and bat him 7, but on this offense you cant. What makes it worse is that we are wasting the potential (and yes I hate that word too) of Matt Wallner as we continue to let Gallo (no future with this team even taking this year out of it) play over someone who COULD have a future, and couldn't perform worse.
And Here is the weird thing... on a team of epic offensive futility, I just laid out a case (with exception of Buxton, but sad he plugs up DH) of removing our top 3 HR hitters!!!  haha  That in and of itself shows how the "swing for the fences" style just doesn't work!!!
QUICK!!!  who is #3 on the team in RBI?  Yes, it is still Trevor Larnach!!!!  and he is only 7 back of the team lead.  Yes that should scare and depress you!!!  as well as "FAlvine".
Ultimately the Twins need to find their "Elly De La Cruz".  Of course players of that Calibur are generational, but what I am talking about a player with that attitude, A player that is going to say... "You know what... I am going to get on base and steal 2nd, 3rd, and Home in the span of 2 pitches".  We need to go away from the sell out for the HR, and go to a RUN RUN RUN  offensive philosophy. Give me a .260-.275 hitter who has the ability to steal bases on command...  AND give the green light at all times, over a high K high HR guy any day.
Put pressure on the pitcher incentivize guys to swing for doubles and we score a ton more runs... and HR will come naturally.
Heck, if nothing else, just go ahead and give DaShawn Keirsey a call up from our system. At 26 and his secodn stint at AA he is hitting over .300 (career .258) with 50-60 SB type speed.  Or trade fro Jordyn Adams from LA Angels, 
 
Just do SOMETHING!!!
We cannot just stand pat  and "hope" our guys will just magically turn it around. iF we do then not only is this season at risk, but we will go into 2024 with more questions than answers on the field, and have new openeings in FO and Head Coach to come in next year to start their own 2-3 year rebuild plan.

Does this FO, and Field Manager realize their jobs are the line? OR is this just a situation fo ..."thou doth protest too much"?  The insistence that the cures to our offensive woes are currently on this team are baffling. Of course you need to publicly back your guys... to a certain extent. You cannot continue to back your guys as they are setting ALL TIME strike out records, and other standards of offensive ineptness of historical nature.  So what do we do? and who is available?
I am not going to do a deep dive into who are sellers and what they are selling, instead just take a quick look on what our team can control.
the record setting ineptness on our offense means at a minimum the hitting coach goes. IF you have SOME guys striking out a tone and others not, then you can pin it on the players. when EVERYONE K's, then it is the general approach/hitting philosophy. And this ladies and gentlemen come from the hitting coach. Even changing hitting coach and our overall approach wont help too much, because our FO did the shopping and secured players who are all or nothing type hitters. which brings us to the players.
Gallo. Seems like a nice person, and can hit the HR. 15 HR at the break is ok in general, but for someone who has a .186 avg, K's at nearly a 50% clip and produces a total of 28 runs on those 15 HR it is no longer all that ok.  It was an interesting try, and he single handedly helped us win multiple games right out the gate, but he needs to go. No questions asked.
Buxton, while I just trashed Gallo, one could say that Buxton's numbers are in the same ballpark across the board, with even lower OPS, yes but he is signed long term, and no one will take that contract, so as much as it hurts him clogging up DH, he stays.
Kepler, he also needs to be gone... like yesterday. His K rate is not nearly as bad as the first two above, it is in fact someone decent at about. 25%,  We all thought the no shifts would be a boost for Kepler, but he is hitting just .207, and an unplayable .688 OPS. He plays a good defense and on a juggernaut of an offense, you could afford to keep him and bat him 7, but on this offense you cant. What makes it worse is that we are wasting the potential (and yes I hate that word too) of Matt Wallner as we continue to let Gallo (no future with this team even taking this year out of it) play over someone who COULD have a future, and couldn't perform worse.
And Here is the weird thing... on a team of epic offensive futility, I just laid out a case (with exception of Buxton, but sad he plugs up DH) of removing our top 3 HR hitters!!!  haha  That in and of itself shows how the "swing for the fences" style just doesn't work!!!
QUICK!!!  who is #3 on the team in RBI?  Yes, it is still Trevor Larnach!!!!  and he is only 7 back of the team lead.  Yes that should scare and depress you!!!  as well as "FAlvine".
Ultimately the Twins need to find their "Elly De La Cruz".  Of course players of that Calibur are generational, but what I am talking about a player with that attitude, A player that is going to say... "You know what... I am going to get on base and steal 2nd, 3rd, and Home in the span of 2 pitches".  We need to go away from the sell out for the HR, and go to a RUN RUN RUN  offensive philosophy. Give me a .260-.275 hitter who has the ability to steal bases on command...  AND give the green light at all times, over a high K high HR guy any day.
Put pressure on the pitcher incentivize guys to swing for doubles and we score a ton more runs... and HR will come naturally.
Heck, if nothing else, just go ahead and give DaShawn Keirsey a call up from our system. At 26 and his secodn stint at AA he is hitting over .300 (career .258) with 50-60 SB type speed.  Or trade fro Jordyn Adams from LA Angels, 
 
Just do SOMETHING!!!
We cannot just stand pat  and "hope" our guys will just magically turn it around. iF we do then not only is this season at risk, but we will go into 2024 with more questions than answers on the field, and have new openeings in FO and Head Coach to come in next year to start their own 2-3 year rebuild plan.

Does this FO, and Field Manager realize their jobs are the line? OR is this just a situation fo ..."thou doth protest too much"?  The insistence that the cures to our offensive woes are currently on this team are baffling. Of course you need to publicly back your guys... to a certain extent. You cannot continue to back your guys as they are setting ALL TIME strike out records, and other standards of offensive ineptness of historical nature.  So what do we do? and who is available?
I am not going to do a deep dive into who are sellers and what they are selling, instead just take a quick look on what our team can control.
the record setting ineptness on our offense means at a minimum the hitting coach goes. IF you have SOME guys striking out a tone and others not, then you can pin it on the players. when EVERYONE K's, then it is the general approach/hitting philosophy. And this ladies and gentlemen come from the hitting coach. Even changing hitting coach and our overall approach wont help too much, because our FO did the shopping and secured players who are all or nothing type hitters. which brings us to the players.
Gallo. Seems like a nice person, and can hit the HR. 15 HR at the break is ok in general, but for someone who has a .186 avg, K's at nearly a 50% clip and produces a total of 28 runs on those 15 HR it is no longer all that ok.  It was an interesting try, and he single handedly helped us win multiple games right out the gate, but he needs to go. No questions asked.
Buxton, while I just trashed Gallo, one could say that Buxton's numbers are in the same ballpark across the board, with even lower OPS, yes but he is signed long term, and no one will take that contract, so as much as it hurts him clogging up DH, he stays.
Kepler, he also needs to be gone... like yesterday. His K rate is not nearly as bad as the first two above, it is in fact someone decent at about. 25%,  We all thought the no shifts would be a boost for Kepler, but he is hitting just .207, and an unplayable .688 OPS. He plays a good defense and on a juggernaut of an offense, you could afford to keep him and bat him 7, but on this offense you cant. What makes it worse is that we are wasting the potential (and yes I hate that word too) of Matt Wallner as we continue to let Gallo (no future with this team even taking this year out of it) play over someone who COULD have a future, and couldn't perform worse.
And Here is the weird thing... on a team of epic offensive futility, I just laid out a case (with exception of Buxton, but sad he plugs up DH) of removing our top 3 HR hitters!!!  haha  That in and of itself shows how the "swing for the fences" style just doesn't work!!!
QUICK!!!  who is #3 on the team in RBI?  Yes, it is still Trevor Larnach!!!!  and he is only 7 back of the team lead.  Yes that should scare and depress you!!!  as well as "FAlvine".
Ultimately the Twins need to find their "Elly De La Cruz".  Of course players of that Calibur are generational, but what I am talking about a player with that attitude, A player that is going to say... "You know what... I am going to get on base and steal 2nd, 3rd, and Home in the span of 2 pitches".  We need to go away from the sell out for the HR, and go to a RUN RUN RUN  offensive philosophy. Give me a .260-.275 hitter who has the ability to steal bases on command...  AND give the green light at all times, over a high K high HR guy any day.
Put pressure on the pitcher incentivize guys to swing for doubles and we score a ton more runs... and HR will come naturally.
Heck, if nothing else, just go ahead and give DaShawn Keirsey a call up from our system. At 26 and his secodn stint at AA he is hitting over .300 (career .258) with 50-60 SB type speed.  Or trade fro Jordyn Adams from LA Angels, 
 
Just do SOMETHING!!!
We cannot just stand pat  and "hope" our guys will just magically turn it around. iF we do then not only is this season at risk, but we will go into 2024 with more questions than answers on the field, and have new openeings in FO and Head Coach to come in next year to start their own 2-3 year rebuild plan.

Does this FO, and Field Manager realize their jobs are the line? OR is this just a situation fo ..."thou doth protest too much"?  The insistence that the cures to our offensive woes are currently on this team are baffling. Of course you need to publicly back your guys... to a certain extent. You cannot continue to back your guys as they are setting ALL TIME strike out records, and other standards of offensive ineptness of historical nature.  So what do we do? and who is available?
I am not going to do a deep dive into who are sellers and what they are selling, instead just take a quick look on what our team can control.
the record setting ineptness on our offense means at a minimum the hitting coach goes. IF you have SOME guys striking out a tone and others not, then you can pin it on the players. when EVERYONE K's, then it is the general approach/hitting philosophy. And this ladies and gentlemen come from the hitting coach. Even changing hitting coach and our overall approach wont help too much, because our FO did the shopping and secured players who are all or nothing type hitters. which brings us to the players.
Gallo. Seems like a nice person, and can hit the HR. 15 HR at the break is ok in general, but for someone who has a .186 avg, K's at nearly a 50% clip and produces a total of 28 runs on those 15 HR it is no longer all that ok.  It was an interesting try, and he single handedly helped us win multiple games right out the gate, but he needs to go. No questions asked.
Buxton, while I just trashed Gallo, one could say that Buxton's numbers are in the same ballpark across the board, with even lower OPS, yes but he is signed long term, and no one will take that contract, so as much as it hurts him clogging up DH, he stays.
Kepler, he also needs to be gone... like yesterday. His K rate is not nearly as bad as the first two above, it is in fact someone decent at about. 25%,  We all thought the no shifts would be a boost for Kepler, but he is hitting just .207, and an unplayable .688 OPS. He plays a good defense and on a juggernaut of an offense, you could afford to keep him and bat him 7, but on this offense you cant. What makes it worse is that we are wasting the potential (and yes I hate that word too) of Matt Wallner as we continue to let Gallo (no future with this team even taking this year out of it) play over someone who COULD have a future, and couldn't perform worse.
And Here is the weird thing... on a team of epic offensive futility, I just laid out a case (with exception of Buxton, but sad he plugs up DH) of removing our top 3 HR hitters!!!  haha  That in and of itself shows how the "swing for the fences" style just doesn't work!!!
QUICK!!!  who is #3 on the team in RBI?  Yes, it is still Trevor Larnach!!!!  and he is only 7 back of the team lead.  Yes that should scare and depress you!!!  as well as "FAlvine".
Ultimately the Twins need to find their "Elly De La Cruz".  Of course players of that Calibur are generational, but what I am talking about a player with that attitude, A player that is going to say... "You know what... I am going to get on base and steal 2nd, 3rd, and Home in the span of 2 pitches".  We need to go away from the sell out for the HR, and go to a RUN RUN RUN  offensive philosophy. Give me a .260-.275 hitter who has the ability to steal bases on command...  AND give the green light at all times, over a high K high HR guy any day.
Put pressure on the pitcher incentivize guys to swing for doubles and we score a ton more runs... and HR will come naturally.
Heck, if nothing else, just go ahead and give DaShawn Keirsey a call up from our system. At 26 and his secodn stint at AA he is hitting over .300 (career .258) with 50-60 SB type speed.  Or trade fro Jordyn Adams from LA Angels, 
 
Just do SOMETHING!!!
We cannot just stand pat  and "hope" our guys will just magically turn it around. iF we do then not only is this season at risk, but we will go into 2024 with more questions than answers on the field, and have new openeings in FO and Head Coach to come in next year to start their own 2-3 year rebuild plan.

Does this FO, and Field Manager realize their jobs are the line? OR is this just a situation fo ..."thou doth protest too much"?  The insistence that the cures to our offensive woes are currently on this team are baffling. Of course you need to publicly back your guys... to a certain extent. You cannot continue to back your guys as they are setting ALL TIME strike out records, and other standards of offensive ineptness of historical nature.  So what do we do? and who is available?
I am not going to do a deep dive into who are sellers and what they are selling, instead just take a quick look on what our team can control.
the record setting ineptness on our offense means at a minimum the hitting coach goes. IF you have SOME guys striking out a tone and others not, then you can pin it on the players. when EVERYONE K's, then it is the general approach/hitting philosophy. And this ladies and gentlemen come from the hitting coach. Even changing hitting coach and our overall approach wont help too much, because our FO did the shopping and secured players who are all or nothing type hitters. which brings us to the players.
Gallo. Seems like a nice person, and can hit the HR. 15 HR at the break is ok in general, but for someone who has a .186 avg, K's at nearly a 50% clip and produces a total of 28 runs on those 15 HR it is no longer all that ok.  It was an interesting try, and he single handedly helped us win multiple games right out the gate, but he needs to go. No questions asked.
Buxton, while I just trashed Gallo, one could say that Buxton's numbers are in the same ballpark across the board, with even lower OPS, yes but he is signed long term, and no one will take that contract, so as much as it hurts him clogging up DH, he stays.
Kepler, he also needs to be gone... like yesterday. His K rate is not nearly as bad as the first two above, it is in fact someone decent at about. 25%,  We all thought the no shifts would be a boost for Kepler, but he is hitting just .207, and an unplayable .688 OPS. He plays a good defense and on a juggernaut of an offense, you could afford to keep him and bat him 7, but on this offense you cant. What makes it worse is that we are wasting the potential (and yes I hate that word too) of Matt Wallner as we continue to let Gallo (no future with this team even taking this year out of it) play over someone who COULD have a future, and couldn't perform worse.
And Here is the weird thing... on a team of epic offensive futility, I just laid out a case (with exception of Buxton, but sad he plugs up DH) of removing our top 3 HR hitters!!!  haha  That in and of itself shows how the "swing for the fences" style just doesn't work!!!
QUICK!!!  who is #3 on the team in RBI?  Yes, it is still Trevor Larnach!!!!  and he is only 7 back of the team lead.  Yes that should scare and depress you!!!  as well as "FAlvine".
Ultimately the Twins need to find their "Elly De La Cruz".  Of course players of that Calibur are generational, but what I am talking about a player with that attitude, A player that is going to say... "You know what... I am going to get on base and steal 2nd, 3rd, and Home in the span of 2 pitches".  We need to go away from the sell out for the HR, and go to a RUN RUN RUN  offensive philosophy. Give me a .260-.275 hitter who has the ability to steal bases on command...  AND give the green light at all times, over a high K high HR guy any day.
Put pressure on the pitcher incentivize guys to swing for doubles and we score a ton more runs... and HR will come naturally.
Heck, if nothing else, just go ahead and give DaShawn Keirsey a call up from our system. At 26 and his secodn stint at AA he is hitting over .300 (career .258) with 50-60 SB type speed.  Or trade fro Jordyn Adams from LA Angels, 
 
Just do SOMETHING!!!
We cannot just stand pat  and "hope" our guys will just magically turn it around. iF we do then not only is this season at risk, but we will go into 2024 with more questions than answers on the field, and have new openeings in FO and Head Coach to come in next year to start their own 2-3 year rebuild plan.

Hindsight is 20/20. Who knew our offense would be THIS pathetic? Plus we did need to improve our pitching. but lets take a look at some recent trades and the impact of each.
Lets get the big one out of the way early here.  Arraez for Lopez.  You have to give something to get something, and yes I think we all knew we were giving away the probable2023 batting champ, seriously??? .400???  Just imagine what he would be doing in our lineup?!?!!!  He would most likely be playing 1B so lets take a look at the Twins 1B stats. Arraez for Lopez (+prospects)
Twins 1B = 9 HR 32 RBI  35 BB 80 K  251/357/435 slash line for a .792 OPS. nto horrible  NOTE MLB does not assign Runs when sort by position, but Would assume we would be near the bottom.
Arraez =  2 HR  35 RBI  21 BB 15 K 400/450/490 slash line for a .940 OPS.  his 31 runs seems low for getting on base that much, but he gets on base!!!  and does not strike out!!
Lopex has been decent. not spectacular, but #2 in AL with  110K, he hsa a top 16 in AL WHIP at 1.14. ERA is pedestrian 4.4o before tonight's tough outing. We were able to extend him which has some value.  Overall a decent #3 starter for a batting champ hitting .400?  that is a bit tough.  BUT we did get 2 prospects as well.
 Jose Salas. 20 yr old SS at High A. struggling, but a top 10 prospect in our system.  Byron Chourio, 18 year old in Rookie league... TBD
RESULT? would still POSSIBLY do it, it had to be done but still hurt, now knowing how bad the offense is struggling it is a coinflip if I'd redo,  but fair enough.
Tyler Mahle Trade. This one was 2022 but still counts as it is impacting 2023.
Mahle had a huge injury risk before trading for him, so this is not revisionist history. this trade just straight up should not have been done!!! or at least not given up what we did.  What did we give up?
Spencer Steer. versatile player. we probably didn't have much room for him, but he is having a strong RC campaign in Cinci. but again, redundant here so I understand including him.  P Steve Hajjar, with all due respect to Steve, a bit of a nothing burger here.  But what made me throw my computer (figuratively) seeing this trade was the inclusion fo Christian Encarnacion Strand. This kid is a BEAST. and should have been untouchable. career .325/388/614 for a 1.002 OPS!!
This is a trade that should make GMs lose their jobs.  Without CES, I am ok with it. you trade a blocked above average prospect for a pitcher who is good when healthy but big injury concerns.  btu the CES makes this HORRID!!!
Another 2022 that Many of us saw falling completely apart before the first pitch was thrown was the Chris Paddack trade.
Paddack for Rogers and Rooker.  OK a bit of revisionist history here.  (on the Rooker side). I did actually receive a strike against me on Twins Daily here for my description on how easily his Paddack's health status would turn out.  I will not restate that here, but I will say it should have been very obvious!!!!
Paddack was a lost season injury waiting to happen, and he happened.  Rogers, that FIRST year was DOMINANT!!!  but we are talking about this year, so who cares about that. Rooker did finally establish himself this year, although coming back to earth a bit after hot start. But Paddack was lost fro 2022 and for 2023, so again  HORRID trade as this was totally foreseeable.
SO again a trade that may not get GMS fired, but should tighten the leash.
Jorge Lopez for prospects.  OK this one I cant really hammer the team on, it was a pretty good move at the time, and Lopez pitched fairly well last year, but where we stand now could be the worst of the lot.  Lopez has issues (on the field. I do not criticize players off the field). he is nto a major league pitcher. Yennier Cano, one fo the prospects given up is DOMINATING in Baltimore!!!  this alone makes it horrid in retrospect. Imagine Cano & Duran!!  Cade Povich seems like a decent prospect, a high K pitcher, most likely reliever in the bigs doing fairly well in Baltimore system. adn a couple others  (one to watch in the futur eis Juan Rojas currently 19 year old injured) but to me this is purely a Lopez/Cano deal, and as it sits now, we had HORRIBLE results.
 
 Michael Taylor for 2 prospects.  Thi sone is a good trade, adn look sbetter when seeing how we are not going to play Buxton in CF (or does this make it worse? would we play Buck in CF if we didnt have Taylor???)  overall a good trade so far.
 
So overall I have to say:
Michael Taylor = B+
Jorge Lopez = D possibyl F based on current situation
Paddack = D (if we gace up more I would have given a F-
Mahle = F-
Pablo Lopez = C- (you knew what it would look like but had to do it)
Overall trade grade for FO = D  maybe D+ due to Michael Taylor.
So that begs the question... why should we trust this FO when making Moves that NEED to happen??
Becasue overall any moves will be addition by subtraction.
Future Move #1:  DFA Kepler. Ok go ahead and see if you can get cash considerations for him, but he has ZERO trade value. replace him with Wallner.
Future Move #2 DFA/trade Gallo. so he has a DECENT OPS. but his K rate and .192 avg just cant play.
Future Move #3 Trade Sonny Gray...  wait WHAT???  yes you heard me. he is about the only thing of value to trade on this team. He will not be back next year as he will command more than the Twins will be willing to pay. plus he HATES the short leashes pitchers get here with the Twins so he will choose elsewhere for same/less money. if we QO offer him in teh offseason, he will go unsigned anyways, as he will be 34 and nobody will give him a multi year deal at $20M+ with a QO tag associated.  so lets trade him now get some value. as this team is currently constructed he is a luxury. a #1 starter on a bad team.  yes we may win this bad division, but only to get bumped in first round (possibly swept again) we can get these same results without him, so trade him and get value!!!
Future move #4 Buxton must play CF!!  Who cares if he stays healthy if he isnt producing? and we are losing with him in the lineup now so who cares ifhe gets injured and misses time by playing in OF.  AT LEAST 2 games a week he needs to be in CF. if it doesnt give the TEAM a spark, it could give the FANS a spark.
Future move #5 Royce Lewis needs to play EVERY DAY!!  (assuming he is healthy, and I am guessing they doing "load management" with his 2 knee surgeries, but again at least give FANS a spark.
 
I am leaving it with on field moves for now, but would not be opposed to losing hitting coach (high number of K's across the board speaks to team approach), trainer (we brought in a training guru but how many hammies have we had this year and other DL stints???) Head Coach (cannot pull starters after 75 pitches, cannot pinch hit a sub .200 hitter for your hottest hitter, cannot set a lineup against an "opener" only to pinch-hit for your starting DH after 2 innings.  and of course based on the trading scorecard GMs cannot trade away quality players for pitchers with known injury histories and expect history to not repeat itself.
 
 
WOW that went way longer than I anticipated!!!! LOL

Hindsight is 20/20. Who knew our offense would be THIS pathetic? Plus we did need to improve our pitching. but lets take a look at some recent trades and the impact of each.
Lets get the big one out of the way early here.  Arraez for Lopez.  You have to give something to get something, and yes I think we all knew we were giving away the probable2023 batting champ, seriously??? .400???  Just imagine what he would be doing in our lineup?!?!!!  He would most likely be playing 1B so lets take a look at the Twins 1B stats. Arraez for Lopez (+prospects)
Twins 1B = 9 HR 32 RBI  35 BB 80 K  251/357/435 slash line for a .792 OPS. nto horrible  NOTE MLB does not assign Runs when sort by position, but Would assume we would be near the bottom.
Arraez =  2 HR  35 RBI  21 BB 15 K 400/450/490 slash line for a .940 OPS.  his 31 runs seems low for getting on base that much, but he gets on base!!!  and does not strike out!!
Lopex has been decent. not spectacular, but #2 in AL with  110K, he hsa a top 16 in AL WHIP at 1.14. ERA is pedestrian 4.4o before tonight's tough outing. We were able to extend him which has some value.  Overall a decent #3 starter for a batting champ hitting .400?  that is a bit tough.  BUT we did get 2 prospects as well.
 Jose Salas. 20 yr old SS at High A. struggling, but a top 10 prospect in our system.  Byron Chourio, 18 year old in Rookie league... TBD
RESULT? would still POSSIBLY do it, it had to be done but still hurt, now knowing how bad the offense is struggling it is a coinflip if I'd redo,  but fair enough.
Tyler Mahle Trade. This one was 2022 but still counts as it is impacting 2023.
Mahle had a huge injury risk before trading for him, so this is not revisionist history. this trade just straight up should not have been done!!! or at least not given up what we did.  What did we give up?
Spencer Steer. versatile player. we probably didn't have much room for him, but he is having a strong RC campaign in Cinci. but again, redundant here so I understand including him.  P Steve Hajjar, with all due respect to Steve, a bit of a nothing burger here.  But what made me throw my computer (figuratively) seeing this trade was the inclusion fo Christian Encarnacion Strand. This kid is a BEAST. and should have been untouchable. career .325/388/614 for a 1.002 OPS!!
This is a trade that should make GMs lose their jobs.  Without CES, I am ok with it. you trade a blocked above average prospect for a pitcher who is good when healthy but big injury concerns.  btu the CES makes this HORRID!!!
Another 2022 that Many of us saw falling completely apart before the first pitch was thrown was the Chris Paddack trade.
Paddack for Rogers and Rooker.  OK a bit of revisionist history here.  (on the Rooker side). I did actually receive a strike against me on Twins Daily here for my description on how easily his Paddack's health status would turn out.  I will not restate that here, but I will say it should have been very obvious!!!!
Paddack was a lost season injury waiting to happen, and he happened.  Rogers, that FIRST year was DOMINANT!!!  but we are talking about this year, so who cares about that. Rooker did finally establish himself this year, although coming back to earth a bit after hot start. But Paddack was lost fro 2022 and for 2023, so again  HORRID trade as this was totally foreseeable.
SO again a trade that may not get GMS fired, but should tighten the leash.
Jorge Lopez for prospects.  OK this one I cant really hammer the team on, it was a pretty good move at the time, and Lopez pitched fairly well last year, but where we stand now could be the worst of the lot.  Lopez has issues (on the field. I do not criticize players off the field). he is nto a major league pitcher. Yennier Cano, one fo the prospects given up is DOMINATING in Baltimore!!!  this alone makes it horrid in retrospect. Imagine Cano & Duran!!  Cade Povich seems like a decent prospect, a high K pitcher, most likely reliever in the bigs doing fairly well in Baltimore system. adn a couple others  (one to watch in the futur eis Juan Rojas currently 19 year old injured) but to me this is purely a Lopez/Cano deal, and as it sits now, we had HORRIBLE results.
 
 Michael Taylor for 2 prospects.  Thi sone is a good trade, adn look sbetter when seeing how we are not going to play Buxton in CF (or does this make it worse? would we play Buck in CF if we didnt have Taylor???)  overall a good trade so far.
 
So overall I have to say:
Michael Taylor = B+
Jorge Lopez = D possibyl F based on current situation
Paddack = D (if we gace up more I would have given a F-
Mahle = F-
Pablo Lopez = C- (you knew what it would look like but had to do it)
Overall trade grade for FO = D  maybe D+ due to Michael Taylor.
So that begs the question... why should we trust this FO when making Moves that NEED to happen??
Becasue overall any moves will be addition by subtraction.
Future Move #1:  DFA Kepler. Ok go ahead and see if you can get cash considerations for him, but he has ZERO trade value. replace him with Wallner.
Future Move #2 DFA/trade Gallo. so he has a DECENT OPS. but his K rate and .192 avg just cant play.
Future Move #3 Trade Sonny Gray...  wait WHAT???  yes you heard me. he is about the only thing of value to trade on this team. He will not be back next year as he will command more than the Twins will be willing to pay. plus he HATES the short leashes pitchers get here with the Twins so he will choose elsewhere for same/less money. if we QO offer him in teh offseason, he will go unsigned anyways, as he will be 34 and nobody will give him a multi year deal at $20M+ with a QO tag associated.  so lets trade him now get some value. as this team is currently constructed he is a luxury. a #1 starter on a bad team.  yes we may win this bad division, but only to get bumped in first round (possibly swept again) we can get these same results without him, so trade him and get value!!!
Future move #4 Buxton must play CF!!  Who cares if he stays healthy if he isnt producing? and we are losing with him in the lineup now so who cares ifhe gets injured and misses time by playing in OF.  AT LEAST 2 games a week he needs to be in CF. if it doesnt give the TEAM a spark, it could give the FANS a spark.
Future move #5 Royce Lewis needs to play EVERY DAY!!  (assuming he is healthy, and I am guessing they doing "load management" with his 2 knee surgeries, but again at least give FANS a spark.
 
I am leaving it with on field moves for now, but would not be opposed to losing hitting coach (high number of K's across the board speaks to team approach), trainer (we brought in a training guru but how many hammies have we had this year and other DL stints???) Head Coach (cannot pull starters after 75 pitches, cannot pinch hit a sub .200 hitter for your hottest hitter, cannot set a lineup against an "opener" only to pinch-hit for your starting DH after 2 innings.  and of course based on the trading scorecard GMs cannot trade away quality players for pitchers with known injury histories and expect history to not repeat itself.
 
 
WOW that went way longer than I anticipated!!!! LOL

Hindsight is 20/20. Who knew our offense would be THIS pathetic? Plus we did need to improve our pitching. but lets take a look at some recent trades and the impact of each.
Lets get the big one out of the way early here.  Arraez for Lopez.  You have to give something to get something, and yes I think we all knew we were giving away the probable2023 batting champ, seriously??? .400???  Just imagine what he would be doing in our lineup?!?!!!  He would most likely be playing 1B so lets take a look at the Twins 1B stats. Arraez for Lopez (+prospects)
Twins 1B = 9 HR 32 RBI  35 BB 80 K  251/357/435 slash line for a .792 OPS. nto horrible  NOTE MLB does not assign Runs when sort by position, but Would assume we would be near the bottom.
Arraez =  2 HR  35 RBI  21 BB 15 K 400/450/490 slash line for a .940 OPS.  his 31 runs seems low for getting on base that much, but he gets on base!!!  and does not strike out!!
Lopex has been decent. not spectacular, but #2 in AL with  110K, he hsa a top 16 in AL WHIP at 1.14. ERA is pedestrian 4.4o before tonight's tough outing. We were able to extend him which has some value.  Overall a decent #3 starter for a batting champ hitting .400?  that is a bit tough.  BUT we did get 2 prospects as well.
 Jose Salas. 20 yr old SS at High A. struggling, but a top 10 prospect in our system.  Byron Chourio, 18 year old in Rookie league... TBD
RESULT? would still POSSIBLY do it, it had to be done but still hurt, now knowing how bad the offense is struggling it is a coinflip if I'd redo,  but fair enough.
Tyler Mahle Trade. This one was 2022 but still counts as it is impacting 2023.
Mahle had a huge injury risk before trading for him, so this is not revisionist history. this trade just straight up should not have been done!!! or at least not given up what we did.  What did we give up?
Spencer Steer. versatile player. we probably didn't have much room for him, but he is having a strong RC campaign in Cinci. but again, redundant here so I understand including him.  P Steve Hajjar, with all due respect to Steve, a bit of a nothing burger here.  But what made me throw my computer (figuratively) seeing this trade was the inclusion fo Christian Encarnacion Strand. This kid is a BEAST. and should have been untouchable. career .325/388/614 for a 1.002 OPS!!
This is a trade that should make GMs lose their jobs.  Without CES, I am ok with it. you trade a blocked above average prospect for a pitcher who is good when healthy but big injury concerns.  btu the CES makes this HORRID!!!
Another 2022 that Many of us saw falling completely apart before the first pitch was thrown was the Chris Paddack trade.
Paddack for Rogers and Rooker.  OK a bit of revisionist history here.  (on the Rooker side). I did actually receive a strike against me on Twins Daily here for my description on how easily his Paddack's health status would turn out.  I will not restate that here, but I will say it should have been very obvious!!!!
Paddack was a lost season injury waiting to happen, and he happened.  Rogers, that FIRST year was DOMINANT!!!  but we are talking about this year, so who cares about that. Rooker did finally establish himself this year, although coming back to earth a bit after hot start. But Paddack was lost fro 2022 and for 2023, so again  HORRID trade as this was totally foreseeable.
SO again a trade that may not get GMS fired, but should tighten the leash.
Jorge Lopez for prospects.  OK this one I cant really hammer the team on, it was a pretty good move at the time, and Lopez pitched fairly well last year, but where we stand now could be the worst of the lot.  Lopez has issues (on the field. I do not criticize players off the field). he is nto a major league pitcher. Yennier Cano, one fo the prospects given up is DOMINATING in Baltimore!!!  this alone makes it horrid in retrospect. Imagine Cano & Duran!!  Cade Povich seems like a decent prospect, a high K pitcher, most likely reliever in the bigs doing fairly well in Baltimore system. adn a couple others  (one to watch in the futur eis Juan Rojas currently 19 year old injured) but to me this is purely a Lopez/Cano deal, and as it sits now, we had HORRIBLE results.
 
 Michael Taylor for 2 prospects.  Thi sone is a good trade, adn look sbetter when seeing how we are not going to play Buxton in CF (or does this make it worse? would we play Buck in CF if we didnt have Taylor???)  overall a good trade so far.
 
So overall I have to say:
Michael Taylor = B+
Jorge Lopez = D possibyl F based on current situation
Paddack = D (if we gace up more I would have given a F-
Mahle = F-
Pablo Lopez = C- (you knew what it would look like but had to do it)
Overall trade grade for FO = D  maybe D+ due to Michael Taylor.
So that begs the question... why should we trust this FO when making Moves that NEED to happen??
Becasue overall any moves will be addition by subtraction.
Future Move #1:  DFA Kepler. Ok go ahead and see if you can get cash considerations for him, but he has ZERO trade value. replace him with Wallner.
Future Move #2 DFA/trade Gallo. so he has a DECENT OPS. but his K rate and .192 avg just cant play.
Future Move #3 Trade Sonny Gray...  wait WHAT???  yes you heard me. he is about the only thing of value to trade on this team. He will not be back next year as he will command more than the Twins will be willing to pay. plus he HATES the short leashes pitchers get here with the Twins so he will choose elsewhere for same/less money. if we QO offer him in teh offseason, he will go unsigned anyways, as he will be 34 and nobody will give him a multi year deal at $20M+ with a QO tag associated.  so lets trade him now get some value. as this team is currently constructed he is a luxury. a #1 starter on a bad team.  yes we may win this bad division, but only to get bumped in first round (possibly swept again) we can get these same results without him, so trade him and get value!!!
Future move #4 Buxton must play CF!!  Who cares if he stays healthy if he isnt producing? and we are losing with him in the lineup now so who cares ifhe gets injured and misses time by playing in OF.  AT LEAST 2 games a week he needs to be in CF. if it doesnt give the TEAM a spark, it could give the FANS a spark.
Future move #5 Royce Lewis needs to play EVERY DAY!!  (assuming he is healthy, and I am guessing they doing "load management" with his 2 knee surgeries, but again at least give FANS a spark.
 
I am leaving it with on field moves for now, but would not be opposed to losing hitting coach (high number of K's across the board speaks to team approach), trainer (we brought in a training guru but how many hammies have we had this year and other DL stints???) Head Coach (cannot pull starters after 75 pitches, cannot pinch hit a sub .200 hitter for your hottest hitter, cannot set a lineup against an "opener" only to pinch-hit for your starting DH after 2 innings.  and of course based on the trading scorecard GMs cannot trade away quality players for pitchers with known injury histories and expect history to not repeat itself.
 
 
WOW that went way longer than I anticipated!!!! LOL

Hindsight is 20/20. Who knew our offense would be THIS pathetic? Plus we did need to improve our pitching. but lets take a look at some recent trades and the impact of each.
Lets get the big one out of the way early here.  Arraez for Lopez.  You have to give something to get something, and yes I think we all knew we were giving away the probable2023 batting champ, seriously??? .400???  Just imagine what he would be doing in our lineup?!?!!!  He would most likely be playing 1B so lets take a look at the Twins 1B stats. Arraez for Lopez (+prospects)
Twins 1B = 9 HR 32 RBI  35 BB 80 K  251/357/435 slash line for a .792 OPS. nto horrible  NOTE MLB does not assign Runs when sort by position, but Would assume we would be near the bottom.
Arraez =  2 HR  35 RBI  21 BB 15 K 400/450/490 slash line for a .940 OPS.  his 31 runs seems low for getting on base that much, but he gets on base!!!  and does not strike out!!
Lopex has been decent. not spectacular, but #2 in AL with  110K, he hsa a top 16 in AL WHIP at 1.14. ERA is pedestrian 4.4o before tonight's tough outing. We were able to extend him which has some value.  Overall a decent #3 starter for a batting champ hitting .400?  that is a bit tough.  BUT we did get 2 prospects as well.
 Jose Salas. 20 yr old SS at High A. struggling, but a top 10 prospect in our system.  Byron Chourio, 18 year old in Rookie league... TBD
RESULT? would still POSSIBLY do it, it had to be done but still hurt, now knowing how bad the offense is struggling it is a coinflip if I'd redo,  but fair enough.
Tyler Mahle Trade. This one was 2022 but still counts as it is impacting 2023.
Mahle had a huge injury risk before trading for him, so this is not revisionist history. this trade just straight up should not have been done!!! or at least not given up what we did.  What did we give up?
Spencer Steer. versatile player. we probably didn't have much room for him, but he is having a strong RC campaign in Cinci. but again, redundant here so I understand including him.  P Steve Hajjar, with all due respect to Steve, a bit of a nothing burger here.  But what made me throw my computer (figuratively) seeing this trade was the inclusion fo Christian Encarnacion Strand. This kid is a BEAST. and should have been untouchable. career .325/388/614 for a 1.002 OPS!!
This is a trade that should make GMs lose their jobs.  Without CES, I am ok with it. you trade a blocked above average prospect for a pitcher who is good when healthy but big injury concerns.  btu the CES makes this HORRID!!!
Another 2022 that Many of us saw falling completely apart before the first pitch was thrown was the Chris Paddack trade.
Paddack for Rogers and Rooker.  OK a bit of revisionist history here.  (on the Rooker side). I did actually receive a strike against me on Twins Daily here for my description on how easily his Paddack's health status would turn out.  I will not restate that here, but I will say it should have been very obvious!!!!
Paddack was a lost season injury waiting to happen, and he happened.  Rogers, that FIRST year was DOMINANT!!!  but we are talking about this year, so who cares about that. Rooker did finally establish himself this year, although coming back to earth a bit after hot start. But Paddack was lost fro 2022 and for 2023, so again  HORRID trade as this was totally foreseeable.
SO again a trade that may not get GMS fired, but should tighten the leash.
Jorge Lopez for prospects.  OK this one I cant really hammer the team on, it was a pretty good move at the time, and Lopez pitched fairly well last year, but where we stand now could be the worst of the lot.  Lopez has issues (on the field. I do not criticize players off the field). he is nto a major league pitcher. Yennier Cano, one fo the prospects given up is DOMINATING in Baltimore!!!  this alone makes it horrid in retrospect. Imagine Cano & Duran!!  Cade Povich seems like a decent prospect, a high K pitcher, most likely reliever in the bigs doing fairly well in Baltimore system. adn a couple others  (one to watch in the futur eis Juan Rojas currently 19 year old injured) but to me this is purely a Lopez/Cano deal, and as it sits now, we had HORRIBLE results.
 
 Michael Taylor for 2 prospects.  Thi sone is a good trade, adn look sbetter when seeing how we are not going to play Buxton in CF (or does this make it worse? would we play Buck in CF if we didnt have Taylor???)  overall a good trade so far.
 
So overall I have to say:
Michael Taylor = B+
Jorge Lopez = D possibyl F based on current situation
Paddack = D (if we gace up more I would have given a F-
Mahle = F-
Pablo Lopez = C- (you knew what it would look like but had to do it)
Overall trade grade for FO = D  maybe D+ due to Michael Taylor.
So that begs the question... why should we trust this FO when making Moves that NEED to happen??
Becasue overall any moves will be addition by subtraction.
Future Move #1:  DFA Kepler. Ok go ahead and see if you can get cash considerations for him, but he has ZERO trade value. replace him with Wallner.
Future Move #2 DFA/trade Gallo. so he has a DECENT OPS. but his K rate and .192 avg just cant play.
Future Move #3 Trade Sonny Gray...  wait WHAT???  yes you heard me. he is about the only thing of value to trade on this team. He will not be back next year as he will command more than the Twins will be willing to pay. plus he HATES the short leashes pitchers get here with the Twins so he will choose elsewhere for same/less money. if we QO offer him in teh offseason, he will go unsigned anyways, as he will be 34 and nobody will give him a multi year deal at $20M+ with a QO tag associated.  so lets trade him now get some value. as this team is currently constructed he is a luxury. a #1 starter on a bad team.  yes we may win this bad division, but only to get bumped in first round (possibly swept again) we can get these same results without him, so trade him and get value!!!
Future move #4 Buxton must play CF!!  Who cares if he stays healthy if he isnt producing? and we are losing with him in the lineup now so who cares ifhe gets injured and misses time by playing in OF.  AT LEAST 2 games a week he needs to be in CF. if it doesnt give the TEAM a spark, it could give the FANS a spark.
Future move #5 Royce Lewis needs to play EVERY DAY!!  (assuming he is healthy, and I am guessing they doing "load management" with his 2 knee surgeries, but again at least give FANS a spark.
 
I am leaving it with on field moves for now, but would not be opposed to losing hitting coach (high number of K's across the board speaks to team approach), trainer (we brought in a training guru but how many hammies have we had this year and other DL stints???) Head Coach (cannot pull starters after 75 pitches, cannot pinch hit a sub .200 hitter for your hottest hitter, cannot set a lineup against an "opener" only to pinch-hit for your starting DH after 2 innings.  and of course based on the trading scorecard GMs cannot trade away quality players for pitchers with known injury histories and expect history to not repeat itself.
 
 
WOW that went way longer than I anticipated!!!! LOL

Hindsight is 20/20. Who knew our offense would be THIS pathetic? Plus we did need to improve our pitching. but lets take a look at some recent trades and the impact of each.
Lets get the big one out of the way early here.  Arraez for Lopez.  You have to give something to get something, and yes I think we all knew we were giving away the probable2023 batting champ, seriously??? .400???  Just imagine what he would be doing in our lineup?!?!!!  He would most likely be playing 1B so lets take a look at the Twins 1B stats. Arraez for Lopez (+prospects)
Twins 1B = 9 HR 32 RBI  35 BB 80 K  251/357/435 slash line for a .792 OPS. nto horrible  NOTE MLB does not assign Runs when sort by position, but Would assume we would be near the bottom.
Arraez =  2 HR  35 RBI  21 BB 15 K 400/450/490 slash line for a .940 OPS.  his 31 runs seems low for getting on base that much, but he gets on base!!!  and does not strike out!!
Lopex has been decent. not spectacular, but #2 in AL with  110K, he hsa a top 16 in AL WHIP at 1.14. ERA is pedestrian 4.4o before tonight's tough outing. We were able to extend him which has some value.  Overall a decent #3 starter for a batting champ hitting .400?  that is a bit tough.  BUT we did get 2 prospects as well.
 Jose Salas. 20 yr old SS at High A. struggling, but a top 10 prospect in our system.  Byron Chourio, 18 year old in Rookie league... TBD
RESULT? would still POSSIBLY do it, it had to be done but still hurt, now knowing how bad the offense is struggling it is a coinflip if I'd redo,  but fair enough.
Tyler Mahle Trade. This one was 2022 but still counts as it is impacting 2023.
Mahle had a huge injury risk before trading for him, so this is not revisionist history. this trade just straight up should not have been done!!! or at least not given up what we did.  What did we give up?
Spencer Steer. versatile player. we probably didn't have much room for him, but he is having a strong RC campaign in Cinci. but again, redundant here so I understand including him.  P Steve Hajjar, with all due respect to Steve, a bit of a nothing burger here.  But what made me throw my computer (figuratively) seeing this trade was the inclusion fo Christian Encarnacion Strand. This kid is a BEAST. and should have been untouchable. career .325/388/614 for a 1.002 OPS!!
This is a trade that should make GMs lose their jobs.  Without CES, I am ok with it. you trade a blocked above average prospect for a pitcher who is good when healthy but big injury concerns.  btu the CES makes this HORRID!!!
Another 2022 that Many of us saw falling completely apart before the first pitch was thrown was the Chris Paddack trade.
Paddack for Rogers and Rooker.  OK a bit of revisionist history here.  (on the Rooker side). I did actually receive a strike against me on Twins Daily here for my description on how easily his Paddack's health status would turn out.  I will not restate that here, but I will say it should have been very obvious!!!!
Paddack was a lost season injury waiting to happen, and he happened.  Rogers, that FIRST year was DOMINANT!!!  but we are talking about this year, so who cares about that. Rooker did finally establish himself this year, although coming back to earth a bit after hot start. But Paddack was lost fro 2022 and for 2023, so again  HORRID trade as this was totally foreseeable.
SO again a trade that may not get GMS fired, but should tighten the leash.
Jorge Lopez for prospects.  OK this one I cant really hammer the team on, it was a pretty good move at the time, and Lopez pitched fairly well last year, but where we stand now could be the worst of the lot.  Lopez has issues (on the field. I do not criticize players off the field). he is nto a major league pitcher. Yennier Cano, one fo the prospects given up is DOMINATING in Baltimore!!!  this alone makes it horrid in retrospect. Imagine Cano & Duran!!  Cade Povich seems like a decent prospect, a high K pitcher, most likely reliever in the bigs doing fairly well in Baltimore system. adn a couple others  (one to watch in the futur eis Juan Rojas currently 19 year old injured) but to me this is purely a Lopez/Cano deal, and as it sits now, we had HORRIBLE results.
 
 Michael Taylor for 2 prospects.  Thi sone is a good trade, adn look sbetter when seeing how we are not going to play Buxton in CF (or does this make it worse? would we play Buck in CF if we didnt have Taylor???)  overall a good trade so far.
 
So overall I have to say:
Michael Taylor = B+
Jorge Lopez = D possibyl F based on current situation
Paddack = D (if we gace up more I would have given a F-
Mahle = F-
Pablo Lopez = C- (you knew what it would look like but had to do it)
Overall trade grade for FO = D  maybe D+ due to Michael Taylor.
So that begs the question... why should we trust this FO when making Moves that NEED to happen??
Becasue overall any moves will be addition by subtraction.
Future Move #1:  DFA Kepler. Ok go ahead and see if you can get cash considerations for him, but he has ZERO trade value. replace him with Wallner.
Future Move #2 DFA/trade Gallo. so he has a DECENT OPS. but his K rate and .192 avg just cant play.
Future Move #3 Trade Sonny Gray...  wait WHAT???  yes you heard me. he is about the only thing of value to trade on this team. He will not be back next year as he will command more than the Twins will be willing to pay. plus he HATES the short leashes pitchers get here with the Twins so he will choose elsewhere for same/less money. if we QO offer him in teh offseason, he will go unsigned anyways, as he will be 34 and nobody will give him a multi year deal at $20M+ with a QO tag associated.  so lets trade him now get some value. as this team is currently constructed he is a luxury. a #1 starter on a bad team.  yes we may win this bad division, but only to get bumped in first round (possibly swept again) we can get these same results without him, so trade him and get value!!!
Future move #4 Buxton must play CF!!  Who cares if he stays healthy if he isnt producing? and we are losing with him in the lineup now so who cares ifhe gets injured and misses time by playing in OF.  AT LEAST 2 games a week he needs to be in CF. if it doesnt give the TEAM a spark, it could give the FANS a spark.
Future move #5 Royce Lewis needs to play EVERY DAY!!  (assuming he is healthy, and I am guessing they doing "load management" with his 2 knee surgeries, but again at least give FANS a spark.
 
I am leaving it with on field moves for now, but would not be opposed to losing hitting coach (high number of K's across the board speaks to team approach), trainer (we brought in a training guru but how many hammies have we had this year and other DL stints???) Head Coach (cannot pull starters after 75 pitches, cannot pinch hit a sub .200 hitter for your hottest hitter, cannot set a lineup against an "opener" only to pinch-hit for your starting DH after 2 innings.  and of course based on the trading scorecard GMs cannot trade away quality players for pitchers with known injury histories and expect history to not repeat itself.
 
 
WOW that went way longer than I anticipated!!!! LOL

Hindsight is 20/20. Who knew our offense would be THIS pathetic? Plus we did need to improve our pitching. but lets take a look at some recent trades and the impact of each.
Lets get the big one out of the way early here.  Arraez for Lopez.  You have to give something to get something, and yes I think we all knew we were giving away the probable2023 batting champ, seriously??? .400???  Just imagine what he would be doing in our lineup?!?!!!  He would most likely be playing 1B so lets take a look at the Twins 1B stats. Arraez for Lopez (+prospects)
Twins 1B = 9 HR 32 RBI  35 BB 80 K  251/357/435 slash line for a .792 OPS. nto horrible  NOTE MLB does not assign Runs when sort by position, but Would assume we would be near the bottom.
Arraez =  2 HR  35 RBI  21 BB 15 K 400/450/490 slash line for a .940 OPS.  his 31 runs seems low for getting on base that much, but he gets on base!!!  and does not strike out!!
Lopex has been decent. not spectacular, but #2 in AL with  110K, he hsa a top 16 in AL WHIP at 1.14. ERA is pedestrian 4.4o before tonight's tough outing. We were able to extend him which has some value.  Overall a decent #3 starter for a batting champ hitting .400?  that is a bit tough.  BUT we did get 2 prospects as well.
 Jose Salas. 20 yr old SS at High A. struggling, but a top 10 prospect in our system.  Byron Chourio, 18 year old in Rookie league... TBD
RESULT? would still POSSIBLY do it, it had to be done but still hurt, now knowing how bad the offense is struggling it is a coinflip if I'd redo,  but fair enough.
Tyler Mahle Trade. This one was 2022 but still counts as it is impacting 2023.
Mahle had a huge injury risk before trading for him, so this is not revisionist history. this trade just straight up should not have been done!!! or at least not given up what we did.  What did we give up?
Spencer Steer. versatile player. we probably didn't have much room for him, but he is having a strong RC campaign in Cinci. but again, redundant here so I understand including him.  P Steve Hajjar, with all due respect to Steve, a bit of a nothing burger here.  But what made me throw my computer (figuratively) seeing this trade was the inclusion fo Christian Encarnacion Strand. This kid is a BEAST. and should have been untouchable. career .325/388/614 for a 1.002 OPS!!
This is a trade that should make GMs lose their jobs.  Without CES, I am ok with it. you trade a blocked above average prospect for a pitcher who is good when healthy but big injury concerns.  btu the CES makes this HORRID!!!
Another 2022 that Many of us saw falling completely apart before the first pitch was thrown was the Chris Paddack trade.
Paddack for Rogers and Rooker.  OK a bit of revisionist history here.  (on the Rooker side). I did actually receive a strike against me on Twins Daily here for my description on how easily his Paddack's health status would turn out.  I will not restate that here, but I will say it should have been very obvious!!!!
Paddack was a lost season injury waiting to happen, and he happened.  Rogers, that FIRST year was DOMINANT!!!  but we are talking about this year, so who cares about that. Rooker did finally establish himself this year, although coming back to earth a bit after hot start. But Paddack was lost fro 2022 and for 2023, so again  HORRID trade as this was totally foreseeable.
SO again a trade that may not get GMS fired, but should tighten the leash.
Jorge Lopez for prospects.  OK this one I cant really hammer the team on, it was a pretty good move at the time, and Lopez pitched fairly well last year, but where we stand now could be the worst of the lot.  Lopez has issues (on the field. I do not criticize players off the field). he is nto a major league pitcher. Yennier Cano, one fo the prospects given up is DOMINATING in Baltimore!!!  this alone makes it horrid in retrospect. Imagine Cano & Duran!!  Cade Povich seems like a decent prospect, a high K pitcher, most likely reliever in the bigs doing fairly well in Baltimore system. adn a couple others  (one to watch in the futur eis Juan Rojas currently 19 year old injured) but to me this is purely a Lopez/Cano deal, and as it sits now, we had HORRIBLE results.
 
 Michael Taylor for 2 prospects.  Thi sone is a good trade, adn look sbetter when seeing how we are not going to play Buxton in CF (or does this make it worse? would we play Buck in CF if we didnt have Taylor???)  overall a good trade so far.
 
So overall I have to say:
Michael Taylor = B+
Jorge Lopez = D possibyl F based on current situation
Paddack = D (if we gace up more I would have given a F-
Mahle = F-
Pablo Lopez = C- (you knew what it would look like but had to do it)
Overall trade grade for FO = D  maybe D+ due to Michael Taylor.
So that begs the question... why should we trust this FO when making Moves that NEED to happen??
Becasue overall any moves will be addition by subtraction.
Future Move #1:  DFA Kepler. Ok go ahead and see if you can get cash considerations for him, but he has ZERO trade value. replace him with Wallner.
Future Move #2 DFA/trade Gallo. so he has a DECENT OPS. but his K rate and .192 avg just cant play.
Future Move #3 Trade Sonny Gray...  wait WHAT???  yes you heard me. he is about the only thing of value to trade on this team. He will not be back next year as he will command more than the Twins will be willing to pay. plus he HATES the short leashes pitchers get here with the Twins so he will choose elsewhere for same/less money. if we QO offer him in teh offseason, he will go unsigned anyways, as he will be 34 and nobody will give him a multi year deal at $20M+ with a QO tag associated.  so lets trade him now get some value. as this team is currently constructed he is a luxury. a #1 starter on a bad team.  yes we may win this bad division, but only to get bumped in first round (possibly swept again) we can get these same results without him, so trade him and get value!!!
Future move #4 Buxton must play CF!!  Who cares if he stays healthy if he isnt producing? and we are losing with him in the lineup now so who cares ifhe gets injured and misses time by playing in OF.  AT LEAST 2 games a week he needs to be in CF. if it doesnt give the TEAM a spark, it could give the FANS a spark.
Future move #5 Royce Lewis needs to play EVERY DAY!!  (assuming he is healthy, and I am guessing they doing "load management" with his 2 knee surgeries, but again at least give FANS a spark.
 
I am leaving it with on field moves for now, but would not be opposed to losing hitting coach (high number of K's across the board speaks to team approach), trainer (we brought in a training guru but how many hammies have we had this year and other DL stints???) Head Coach (cannot pull starters after 75 pitches, cannot pinch hit a sub .200 hitter for your hottest hitter, cannot set a lineup against an "opener" only to pinch-hit for your starting DH after 2 innings.  and of course based on the trading scorecard GMs cannot trade away quality players for pitchers with known injury histories and expect history to not repeat itself.
 
 
WOW that went way longer than I anticipated!!!! LOL

Hindsight is 20/20. Who knew our offense would be THIS pathetic? Plus we did need to improve our pitching. but lets take a look at some recent trades and the impact of each.
Lets get the big one out of the way early here.  Arraez for Lopez.  You have to give something to get something, and yes I think we all knew we were giving away the probable2023 batting champ, seriously??? .400???  Just imagine what he would be doing in our lineup?!?!!!  He would most likely be playing 1B so lets take a look at the Twins 1B stats. Arraez for Lopez (+prospects)
Twins 1B = 9 HR 32 RBI  35 BB 80 K  251/357/435 slash line for a .792 OPS. nto horrible  NOTE MLB does not assign Runs when sort by position, but Would assume we would be near the bottom.
Arraez =  2 HR  35 RBI  21 BB 15 K 400/450/490 slash line for a .940 OPS.  his 31 runs seems low for getting on base that much, but he gets on base!!!  and does not strike out!!
Lopex has been decent. not spectacular, but #2 in AL with  110K, he hsa a top 16 in AL WHIP at 1.14. ERA is pedestrian 4.4o before tonight's tough outing. We were able to extend him which has some value.  Overall a decent #3 starter for a batting champ hitting .400?  that is a bit tough.  BUT we did get 2 prospects as well.
 Jose Salas. 20 yr old SS at High A. struggling, but a top 10 prospect in our system.  Byron Chourio, 18 year old in Rookie league... TBD
RESULT? would still POSSIBLY do it, it had to be done but still hurt, now knowing how bad the offense is struggling it is a coinflip if I'd redo,  but fair enough.
Tyler Mahle Trade. This one was 2022 but still counts as it is impacting 2023.
Mahle had a huge injury risk before trading for him, so this is not revisionist history. this trade just straight up should not have been done!!! or at least not given up what we did.  What did we give up?
Spencer Steer. versatile player. we probably didn't have much room for him, but he is having a strong RC campaign in Cinci. but again, redundant here so I understand including him.  P Steve Hajjar, with all due respect to Steve, a bit of a nothing burger here.  But what made me throw my computer (figuratively) seeing this trade was the inclusion fo Christian Encarnacion Strand. This kid is a BEAST. and should have been untouchable. career .325/388/614 for a 1.002 OPS!!
This is a trade that should make GMs lose their jobs.  Without CES, I am ok with it. you trade a blocked above average prospect for a pitcher who is good when healthy but big injury concerns.  btu the CES makes this HORRID!!!
Another 2022 that Many of us saw falling completely apart before the first pitch was thrown was the Chris Paddack trade.
Paddack for Rogers and Rooker.  OK a bit of revisionist history here.  (on the Rooker side). I did actually receive a strike against me on Twins Daily here for my description on how easily his Paddack's health status would turn out.  I will not restate that here, but I will say it should have been very obvious!!!!
Paddack was a lost season injury waiting to happen, and he happened.  Rogers, that FIRST year was DOMINANT!!!  but we are talking about this year, so who cares about that. Rooker did finally establish himself this year, although coming back to earth a bit after hot start. But Paddack was lost fro 2022 and for 2023, so again  HORRID trade as this was totally foreseeable.
SO again a trade that may not get GMS fired, but should tighten the leash.
Jorge Lopez for prospects.  OK this one I cant really hammer the team on, it was a pretty good move at the time, and Lopez pitched fairly well last year, but where we stand now could be the worst of the lot.  Lopez has issues (on the field. I do not criticize players off the field). he is nto a major league pitcher. Yennier Cano, one fo the prospects given up is DOMINATING in Baltimore!!!  this alone makes it horrid in retrospect. Imagine Cano & Duran!!  Cade Povich seems like a decent prospect, a high K pitcher, most likely reliever in the bigs doing fairly well in Baltimore system. adn a couple others  (one to watch in the futur eis Juan Rojas currently 19 year old injured) but to me this is purely a Lopez/Cano deal, and as it sits now, we had HORRIBLE results.
 
 Michael Taylor for 2 prospects.  Thi sone is a good trade, adn look sbetter when seeing how we are not going to play Buxton in CF (or does this make it worse? would we play Buck in CF if we didnt have Taylor???)  overall a good trade so far.
 
So overall I have to say:
Michael Taylor = B+
Jorge Lopez = D possibyl F based on current situation
Paddack = D (if we gace up more I would have given a F-
Mahle = F-
Pablo Lopez = C- (you knew what it would look like but had to do it)
Overall trade grade for FO = D  maybe D+ due to Michael Taylor.
So that begs the question... why should we trust this FO when making Moves that NEED to happen??
Becasue overall any moves will be addition by subtraction.
Future Move #1:  DFA Kepler. Ok go ahead and see if you can get cash considerations for him, but he has ZERO trade value. replace him with Wallner.
Future Move #2 DFA/trade Gallo. so he has a DECENT OPS. but his K rate and .192 avg just cant play.
Future Move #3 Trade Sonny Gray...  wait WHAT???  yes you heard me. he is about the only thing of value to trade on this team. He will not be back next year as he will command more than the Twins will be willing to pay. plus he HATES the short leashes pitchers get here with the Twins so he will choose elsewhere for same/less money. if we QO offer him in teh offseason, he will go unsigned anyways, as he will be 34 and nobody will give him a multi year deal at $20M+ with a QO tag associated.  so lets trade him now get some value. as this team is currently constructed he is a luxury. a #1 starter on a bad team.  yes we may win this bad division, but only to get bumped in first round (possibly swept again) we can get these same results without him, so trade him and get value!!!
Future move #4 Buxton must play CF!!  Who cares if he stays healthy if he isnt producing? and we are losing with him in the lineup now so who cares ifhe gets injured and misses time by playing in OF.  AT LEAST 2 games a week he needs to be in CF. if it doesnt give the TEAM a spark, it could give the FANS a spark.
Future move #5 Royce Lewis needs to play EVERY DAY!!  (assuming he is healthy, and I am guessing they doing "load management" with his 2 knee surgeries, but again at least give FANS a spark.
 
I am leaving it with on field moves for now, but would not be opposed to losing hitting coach (high number of K's across the board speaks to team approach), trainer (we brought in a training guru but how many hammies have we had this year and other DL stints???) Head Coach (cannot pull starters after 75 pitches, cannot pinch hit a sub .200 hitter for your hottest hitter, cannot set a lineup against an "opener" only to pinch-hit for your starting DH after 2 innings.  and of course based on the trading scorecard GMs cannot trade away quality players for pitchers with known injury histories and expect history to not repeat itself.
 
 
WOW that went way longer than I anticipated!!!! LOL

Hindsight is 20/20. Who knew our offense would be THIS pathetic? Plus we did need to improve our pitching. but lets take a look at some recent trades and the impact of each.
Lets get the big one out of the way early here.  Arraez for Lopez.  You have to give something to get something, and yes I think we all knew we were giving away the probable2023 batting champ, seriously??? .400???  Just imagine what he would be doing in our lineup?!?!!!  He would most likely be playing 1B so lets take a look at the Twins 1B stats. Arraez for Lopez (+prospects)
Twins 1B = 9 HR 32 RBI  35 BB 80 K  251/357/435 slash line for a .792 OPS. nto horrible  NOTE MLB does not assign Runs when sort by position, but Would assume we would be near the bottom.
Arraez =  2 HR  35 RBI  21 BB 15 K 400/450/490 slash line for a .940 OPS.  his 31 runs seems low for getting on base that much, but he gets on base!!!  and does not strike out!!
Lopex has been decent. not spectacular, but #2 in AL with  110K, he hsa a top 16 in AL WHIP at 1.14. ERA is pedestrian 4.4o before tonight's tough outing. We were able to extend him which has some value.  Overall a decent #3 starter for a batting champ hitting .400?  that is a bit tough.  BUT we did get 2 prospects as well.
 Jose Salas. 20 yr old SS at High A. struggling, but a top 10 prospect in our system.  Byron Chourio, 18 year old in Rookie league... TBD
RESULT? would still POSSIBLY do it, it had to be done but still hurt, now knowing how bad the offense is struggling it is a coinflip if I'd redo,  but fair enough.
Tyler Mahle Trade. This one was 2022 but still counts as it is impacting 2023.
Mahle had a huge injury risk before trading for him, so this is not revisionist history. this trade just straight up should not have been done!!! or at least not given up what we did.  What did we give up?
Spencer Steer. versatile player. we probably didn't have much room for him, but he is having a strong RC campaign in Cinci. but again, redundant here so I understand including him.  P Steve Hajjar, with all due respect to Steve, a bit of a nothing burger here.  But what made me throw my computer (figuratively) seeing this trade was the inclusion fo Christian Encarnacion Strand. This kid is a BEAST. and should have been untouchable. career .325/388/614 for a 1.002 OPS!!
This is a trade that should make GMs lose their jobs.  Without CES, I am ok with it. you trade a blocked above average prospect for a pitcher who is good when healthy but big injury concerns.  btu the CES makes this HORRID!!!
Another 2022 that Many of us saw falling completely apart before the first pitch was thrown was the Chris Paddack trade.
Paddack for Rogers and Rooker.  OK a bit of revisionist history here.  (on the Rooker side). I did actually receive a strike against me on Twins Daily here for my description on how easily his Paddack's health status would turn out.  I will not restate that here, but I will say it should have been very obvious!!!!
Paddack was a lost season injury waiting to happen, and he happened.  Rogers, that FIRST year was DOMINANT!!!  but we are talking about this year, so who cares about that. Rooker did finally establish himself this year, although coming back to earth a bit after hot start. But Paddack was lost fro 2022 and for 2023, so again  HORRID trade as this was totally foreseeable.
SO again a trade that may not get GMS fired, but should tighten the leash.
Jorge Lopez for prospects.  OK this one I cant really hammer the team on, it was a pretty good move at the time, and Lopez pitched fairly well last year, but where we stand now could be the worst of the lot.  Lopez has issues (on the field. I do not criticize players off the field). he is nto a major league pitcher. Yennier Cano, one fo the prospects given up is DOMINATING in Baltimore!!!  this alone makes it horrid in retrospect. Imagine Cano & Duran!!  Cade Povich seems like a decent prospect, a high K pitcher, most likely reliever in the bigs doing fairly well in Baltimore system. adn a couple others  (one to watch in the futur eis Juan Rojas currently 19 year old injured) but to me this is purely a Lopez/Cano deal, and as it sits now, we had HORRIBLE results.
 
 Michael Taylor for 2 prospects.  Thi sone is a good trade, adn look sbetter when seeing how we are not going to play Buxton in CF (or does this make it worse? would we play Buck in CF if we didnt have Taylor???)  overall a good trade so far.
 
So overall I have to say:
Michael Taylor = B+
Jorge Lopez = D possibyl F based on current situation
Paddack = D (if we gace up more I would have given a F-
Mahle = F-
Pablo Lopez = C- (you knew what it would look like but had to do it)
Overall trade grade for FO = D  maybe D+ due to Michael Taylor.
So that begs the question... why should we trust this FO when making Moves that NEED to happen??
Becasue overall any moves will be addition by subtraction.
Future Move #1:  DFA Kepler. Ok go ahead and see if you can get cash considerations for him, but he has ZERO trade value. replace him with Wallner.
Future Move #2 DFA/trade Gallo. so he has a DECENT OPS. but his K rate and .192 avg just cant play.
Future Move #3 Trade Sonny Gray...  wait WHAT???  yes you heard me. he is about the only thing of value to trade on this team. He will not be back next year as he will command more than the Twins will be willing to pay. plus he HATES the short leashes pitchers get here with the Twins so he will choose elsewhere for same/less money. if we QO offer him in teh offseason, he will go unsigned anyways, as he will be 34 and nobody will give him a multi year deal at $20M+ with a QO tag associated.  so lets trade him now get some value. as this team is currently constructed he is a luxury. a #1 starter on a bad team.  yes we may win this bad division, but only to get bumped in first round (possibly swept again) we can get these same results without him, so trade him and get value!!!
Future move #4 Buxton must play CF!!  Who cares if he stays healthy if he isnt producing? and we are losing with him in the lineup now so who cares ifhe gets injured and misses time by playing in OF.  AT LEAST 2 games a week he needs to be in CF. if it doesnt give the TEAM a spark, it could give the FANS a spark.
Future move #5 Royce Lewis needs to play EVERY DAY!!  (assuming he is healthy, and I am guessing they doing "load management" with his 2 knee surgeries, but again at least give FANS a spark.
 
I am leaving it with on field moves for now, but would not be opposed to losing hitting coach (high number of K's across the board speaks to team approach), trainer (we brought in a training guru but how many hammies have we had this year and other DL stints???) Head Coach (cannot pull starters after 75 pitches, cannot pinch hit a sub .200 hitter for your hottest hitter, cannot set a lineup against an "opener" only to pinch-hit for your starting DH after 2 innings.  and of course based on the trading scorecard GMs cannot trade away quality players for pitchers with known injury histories and expect history to not repeat itself.
 
 
WOW that went way longer than I anticipated!!!! LOL

The Twins will need all of their starting pitching depth, and then some more than likely.  Even the healthiest teams use 6-7 starters over the course of a full season.  Factoring in recent injury woes for Twins pitchers and one thinks the Twins will use 6-7 starters easily this year. But lets assume the Twins keep a 5 man rotation.  With the Twins most likely using 6-7, there will still be 4-5 "Primary starters".  and 2-3 that will either be short term starters, sporadic starters, or spot starters.  
We have some obvious Primary Starters locked in.  Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, and Pablo Lopez  are locks.
Lets go ahead and assume that Tyler Mahle  is fully healthy and will be good to go. that is a 4th no brainer.  So who is, or better yet who SHOULD be #5?
I can tell you right who IS, or WILL be #5, and that is Kenta Maeda. The Twins will be banking on Maeda being the All Star level pitcher he was in 11 games in the Covid shortened 2020 season. Where in 11 games he went 66 innings, good for a 6+ inning average with 80K against 10 BB a 2.70 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP.
But... SHOULD he be th e5th starter? and is it reasonable to expect that after a year+ off? His career averages are a 3.87 ERA  just under a 4:1  K:BB rate,  a 9.85K/9  and a 1.14 WHIP.  Those are still very good numbers anyone would love to have in the rotation.
That being said, in albeit a much shorter sample size, Ober has career numbers of 3.82 ERA, just under a 5:1 K rate, a 9K/9IP and a 1.15 WHIP..
If we go by the numbers,  it says they are both equally effective starting pitchers. And the question you must ask then is... "IF they are both equal, and  both interchangeable for each other, then who should be the 5th starter?"
"Common sense" or maybe more accurately "traditional thinking" says it should be Maeda, as Ober still has options.  But should he???
I would argue we need to look longer term. Any player CAN be resigned this offseason, so in theory ANY of our starters could be back, BUT... in reality we will not resign everyone, and we actually have only Randy Dobnak and Chris Paddack under contract for next year. Of course Joe Gray will be here, and will still have rights to Lopez, BUT the only sure things are Dobnak and Paddack.  Most likely Sonny Gray and Maeda will be gone.
With that in mind, I think the correct way to look at things, assuming both pitchers should give roughly the same results is to go with the pitcher who will still be here going forward and continue to give him the experience and build up he will need for next year. This way next year is not his first "full year" in the rotation and is not as much of a question mark.
Secondly while predominately a starter in LA, Maeda did also show he can be very successful out of the bullpen, and if you are a cheapskate you can save millions in bonuses paid to Maeda with him in a relief/PT starter situation.
The clear way of thinking screams the 5th starter needs to be Ober vs Maeda.