LA Vikes Fan

Great idea, but the Dodgers just traded Pollack for Kimbrel so they’re short a 4th OF. I thunk Pillar makes the Dodger team.

Another good day on the mound for Smeltzer - 4 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 3 SO, 2 BB. My money is on Smeltzer to be an add on to the 40 man and to go north with the team, Either a waiver of Rooker or Enlow on the 60 day IL accomplishes the task.

Thats right, it was George “scrap iron” Godiski. He and Kenny could never beat the Vachon brothers - Butcher and Mad Dog- in a tag team match.

Wow, a Kenny 'Sodbuster' Jay reference. I think he was also known as the "scrappy" Kenny Jay or was that the scrappy Geroge Godaski?

Slight disagreement on OFs and pitchers. Catchers: Ryan Jeffers, Jose Godoy, Gary Sanchez Infielders: Miguel Sano, Jorge Polanco, Carlos Correa, Gio Urshela, Luis Arraez, Nick Gordon, Daniel Roberton (NRI) Outfielders: Alex Kirilloff, Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Kyle Garlick or FA RH OF, Jake Cave (NRI), Brent Rooker (IL) Pitchers: Sonny Gray, Bailey Ober, Joe Ryan, Dylan Bundy, Chris Archer, Taylor Rogers, Tyler Duffey, Caleb Thielbar, Jorge Alcala, Jharel Cotton, Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Joe Smith, Cody Stashak, Jovani Moran, Jhon Romero, Devin Smeltzer, Danny Coulombe (NRI), Jake Faria (NRI), Devin Smeltzer (NRI), Josh Winder (#1 starter in AAA) OF - Garlick or FA RH hitting OF from another team in, Rooker on IL to start season, then to AAA rehab assignment, then decision. Depends on if someone decent comes available. P - Smeltzer in as a long man, WInder as starter in St. Paul, although could see WInder as piggyback/long man on a 5 day schedule with Jax going down. I think they want Winder on a 5 day "starter Schedule" because he's the #6 starter. May need him sooner rather than later with the question marks around Bundy and Archer. I still think there's a possibility that Colulombe makes team instead of Stashak or Duran. 40 Man Issues - Enlow goes on 60 day IL as corresponding move for Smeltzer on 40 man. Corresponding move for Coulombe harder to find, does putting Rooker on 15 day IL open a spot? If not, maybe Rooker goes on 60 day IL or a trade happens. May need Rooker's 40 man spot for Garlick and my mythical FA RH OF from another team so Coloumbe may be out of luck absent an IL move for someone else. Then he's AAA depth.

Kepler will start in RF until Larnach or Celestino is ready to take over. Unfortunately his contact is too rich for the 4th OF spot, so he will then have to be cut, traded, or his contract re-done.

I agree, I don't see Sanchez as anything more than an occasional catcher, backup 1B, and DH. How much he plays depends entirely on how much he hits and he gets to DH a lot if he its, not catch. Godoy is the 2nd catcher - LH hitter, good defender.

I think Godoy makes the team as a 2nd/3rd Catcher while they decide if Sanchez can field the position well enough to play him behind the plate. That's probably why Sanchez is seeing significant time behind the plate during spring training. After the 1st month of the season, if Sanchez is hitting he stays as a right-handed bench bat/occasional catcher with Jeffers and Godoy doing most of the catching. I think this actually makes the most sense because no one is really being blocked; Larnach, Rooker and Miranda all need regular at bats to prove they belong and they won't get them on this roster. I think Larnach and Miranda are back up reasonably soon due to an injury and the ineffectiveness of someone else, I don't think much of Rooker as a long-term player for this team. That still leaves open the question of who's going to be the 4th outfielder/right-handed bat to be a reserve and replace Kepler if he once again can't hit left-handed pitching. It's starting to look more and more like Garlick will be that player but I'm hopeful that someone better will become available through waivers or a minor trade as we get closer to the start of the season and teams struggle with issues regarding their 40 man roster spots. Gordon is the backup centerfielder with Celestino playing CF every day in AAA until Buxton hits the injured list. Finally, I like Winder a lot but I think there is no room at the inn for him to be in the starting rotation. I think he goes AAA as the "6th starter" and is the 1st 1 up. I think they want to build up his innings as a starter and not put him in the bullpen since none of the 5 in the rotation are likely candidates for a "piggyback" situation. I would actually like to see Smeltzer make the team given his performance in spring training after last year's injury issues. We are going to need long relievers at the beginning of the season and he looks like the best one we have. Jax also makes the opening roster for the same reason. If I'm counting right, that means two of Stashack, Moran and Duran go down - my guess is Duran and Moran.

The #9 hole hitter is easy to me - it's Kepler. Good speed, decent OBP, occasional power, low average. Don't want him hitting in the top 6 because his low batting average hurts us from capitalizing on run scoring opportunities. Since we want to tur over the lineup to the top 3 or 4 with men on base, he's the best asset in the 9 hole.

It's really a 5 man bench to me with one of them filling the DH role every day. Sanchez is a lock unless we can find a way to trade him. I would love to trade him for a RP because he's the one blocking Miranda, Larnach, et al. He's too big a defensive liability to play behind the plate often and he doesn't hit enough to regularly DH. Let's face it, we got stuck with Sanchez as the price for the Yankees eating all of Donaldson's contract. The problem is there's no market for him so Twins will try to get him hitting again like it's 2107 or 2019 before they give up. Arraez is also a lock for the reasons in the article. I hope he's the DH a whole lot more often than Sanchez. I think the last 3 are Gordon, Godoy and either Garlick or a player not currently on the team who hits RH and plays a passable LF/RF. We need Gordon to back up the middle IF and CF, and Godoy as the 2nd not 3rd Catcher (that's Sanchez). We need a RH hitting OF to play against lefties for Kepler and give Kirilloff a break. We don't have that guy yet. Rooker is a butcher in the field and can't hit. Send him to AAA. Garlick is another poor OF but he can hit LH pitching. He isn't really good enough to make the team and I think we will be looking for an upgrade if one becomes available when cuts start happening next week. I'm not just sure one will be available. Larnach and Miranda need to be playing regularly. They go to AAA unless there's a significant trade. Both will be up playing regularly for the Twins at some point this season due to injury or ineffectiveness of others. Rooker also goes to AAA but I think he's unlikely to be an MLB player so he's the third or 4th call up and may wind up with another team before season's end as a trade add or lost on waivers.

Why Rooker on the 28 man? Has he shown something in ST other than what we saw last year? He should be in AAA learning to control the strike zone and honing his swing. He was good but not great in 2019, his last year in the minors - good counting stats with a .933 OPS but 95 SOs in 274 PAs. (33.5%). Guys that SO 33.5% in AAA are going to SO 33% in the Majors like Rooker did in 2021. Can't play a guy who strikes out 33% unless he hits 35+ HRs or ha a >850 OPS, and you can't play that guy, Sano, and Sanchez. Rooker has not yet completely conquered the minors or forced his way up. Send him down. It's likely he will get through waivers if that's necessary. I say there are 2 much better choices. One is to keep Godoy as the 2nd C so that Sanchez (3rd C) doesn't see the field much and only DHs 2 or 3 times a week. Godoy hits LH, is pretty good defensively and project to a .687 OPS - not great but not horrible for a Catcher. The other is to to keep up Miranda if we can find him some playing time somewhere, maybe LF. He did force his way up last year with his performance. He deserves a shot. Let's reward performance and actually fill our roster needs. Miranda has performed. Godoy fills a need. Rooker does neither.

Agreed. To me "competitive" means over .500 at the break with a shot at winning 85-88 games. I think this team is good enough to do that and maybe a little more. I also think this team could fall flat on its face and win 72-75 games again. My over/under is 83 wins.

Interesting that Thorpe cleared waivers.... Is it possible that we all overestimated the value of one of our prospects again? Glad we were able to keep him in the organization. Seems like there has to be a MLB pitcher in there some where.

I like it in the sense that we now have at least some cover if Bundy, Ober or Ryan flame out early. Sounds like Winder starts the season in AAA and is the first call up in the case of injury or ineffectiveness. Prevents us from having to have 3 guys who are basically rookies in the top 5. There will be plenty of opportunities for Winder, Balazovic and Duran this season with innings limitations, ineffectiveness, and injury. Those 3 can start out in AAA and sort themselves out in order in the Minors. Besides, there is some potential upside here. Archer is 3 years away from being an effective MLB starter, with 2018 the last last decent year. He lost most of 2019 to a shoulder injury, and then part of 2020 and all of 2021 to a hip injury (likely because he changed his motion due to the shoulder issue). IF that's now all ok, a big IF, maybe he rebounds to a 3.75-4.25 ERA, 130-150 IP performance like he used to have before the injury. Not great, but plenty good enough for a #5 starter.

Arraez is the issue, high OBP but poor running speed makes it hard to hit him in front of Buxton, Polanco and Correa to start off the game. We want the top three guys free to wreak havoc on the bases when possible. How about hitting Arraez on the #6 or #7 hole and putting Kepler in the #9 hole, aka the second leadoff spot? Something like this - Buxton (CF), Polanco (2B), Correa (SS), Kirilloff (LF), Sano (1B), Urshela/Miranda (3B/DH), Arraez/Miranda (3B/DH), Jeffers/Sanchez/Godoy (C), Kepler (RF). Kepler's decent but not great OBP skills should open up more RBI opportunities for the front 1/3 of the order, and it helps hide his low batting average. It also makes it easier to play bench players without changing the batting order much - Gordon, Larnach or whoever is the 4th OF, and Miranda slot in where Kepler, Urshela or Arraez is, etc. You could get the same result by leading off Kepler but he doesn't have the OBP for the leadoff spot yet it's pretty good for a #9 guy. He also will be after the high SO/low OBP catching group so it's likely he will come up with no one base a lot if not most of the time. It's also a reflection of what Kepler is as a player - excellent defense, occasional power, low BA player, who walks a lot and runs well. Not good enough to hit in the front 6 of a solid batting order but good enough to start and play a lot, especially against RH pitching,

What about Smeltzer making the team as an opener/5thstrater/long reliever? He seems to be having a very good spring. HE also went 3 innings last time out. Glad to see you don't have CHi Chi Gonzalez on the team. I actually think there was thought that he cold be a #5 starter. They're actually stretching him out and he started against ATL. God help us if he gets any time on the big league level...

I'm becoming less and less concerned about the Twins not trading for another starter. I agree with many of the other posters here, I think a combination of a lot of teams with interest plus the Twins signing Correa has raised the price significantly. I might be willing to part with two top 20 prospects for Montas for two years, but not for one year of Maneaa. When I hear Oakland might want three prospects and realize they are not going to be interested in any sort of veteran player like Arraez (too expensive, bad knees), Kepler or Sano (both too expensive), I lose interest quickly. I know we would like to maximize our window now while Correa is here for one year, but it isn't worth losing our long-term future to do that. My prediction is that the Twin will either sign Johnny Cueto or plan on Winder being the fifth man in the rotation. I am fine with either approach frankly depending on whether Winder is ready to go now or could use another month or two in AAA to refine his pitching. Either Bundy or Cueto will break down or be ineffective and there will be plenty of chances for Winder to come back if we sign Cueto. Still, part of me wants to just put Winder in the rotation and see how it goes during the first month or so since you get to carry extra pitchers anyway. We can also trade for another back end starter during the deadline if we really need one then.

I think you're right in the sense that this is it for Rooker. He either makes it this year or is included as a trade throw-in or waived. How has he looked so far in ST?

I don't agree. I think the design is clear if this is the roster. Kirilloff is the Opening Day LF and plays there most of the time with Sano at 1B and the DH spot a rotation between Arraez, Urshela, Sanchez, and guys getting a partial rest day. There is no room at the Inn to play Arraez and Urshela regularly, and really play Sanchez much at all, unless Sano is the primary 1B. The 4th OF is a tough call. Gordon could be the 4th OF/ 2nd IF utility if the team thinks he can continue to improve in the OF. He might be valuable because of positional flexibility with a 4 man bench, one of whom is the 2nd C, one is Arraez or Urshela, and one is Sanchez. Classic 3 catchers or an additional OF debate. Might be better to have a "true" 4th OF who can play CF and hit RH but we don't have that guy. I think the bottom line is that Kirilloff is the LF and Larnach and Rooker start the season in AAA or are part of a trade package for pitching. Gordon and Garlick fight it out for 4th OF unless we can pick up someone else.

I'm not quite as pessimistic as gunnarthor, but I'm certainly hoping that we are not looking at the final roster. We are a minimum of one starter short and that number increases f any of Bundy, Ober or Ryan blow up or someone gets hurt. I understand there talking to Johnny Cueto who is fine insurance, but not enough by himself. We need an established starter to stick in the number 2 hole. I think were done in the bullpen. I do remain hopeful. I think the FO earned some leeway with their moves this off-season. Let's hope they've got another one up their sleeve for pitching. Let's hope it's not signed Johnny Cueto go forward. Then we're really hoping that someone like Winder, Balazovic or Canterino is ready to go this year.

Cueto would be a smart fallback. This could also be a negotiating ploy; let Oakland know that the Twins are going to pivot to Cueto if Oakland doesn't take the offer on the table. I do think these negotiations get to a point where one team has made its "best and final" offer and the other team starts shopping to see if they can do better than that offer. I kind of wonder if that Twins are in that spot now and signaling to Oakland that if their offer is not accepted in a reasonably short period of time that they will simply withdraw the offer and move on to Johnny Cueto. They pivoted once before so that gives the team some credibility to say they would pivot again. Interesting times.

I live in LA and turned on the 11 pm Pacific time version of Sports Center on ESPN when they announced the move by teasing the announcement at the beginning. I actually stayed up to watch until about 15 minutes in the show to make sure I had heard it right. I then checked the sports websites to be sure ESPN wasn't pulling my leg and checked again in the morning to make sure it was actually happening. I'm still curbing my excitement until I read that Correa has actually put pen to paper and shown up at Spring Training. Good stuff. Now go get Montas.

I think Sabermetrics have their place and can make baseball more fun to follow but they aren't the be all and end all of a player's value. Reading those stats helps you understand why some guys are more or less valuable than one would think from the naked eye and helps the players do things that maximize their contributions to the team. Where I strongly disagree with the stat heads is that they sometimes forget that these guys aren't robots, they're human beings. Their true value to the tam cannot be quantified by statistics, not matter how robust or analytical. They have to be treated like the flawed humans they are (like all of us), and be managed with due regard to their egos, psyches, and spirit to allow them to reach their full potential. The sum of the whole can be greater than the individual parts added together and these stats sometimes miss that. Advanced Stats have their place as part of evaluating players but they are only part of the puzzle and, in my view, less than half of the full picture. Fun stuff and part of the data that can lead to the answer, but Sabermetrics are not the answer by themselves.

Two really great qotes in that article. The first is from Polanco saying we are going to be a really good team. That’s buy in from your BEST player and a guy who can lead the others. You start there and now this team is going to expect to win, not just hope they can win. Second is from Lewis saying he’s not upset but it would be a different story if he was on the big league team. That’s a guy who wants to OWN the shortstop position and thinks that he’s good enough to play with the likes of Carlos Correa. That’s the kind of guy you want as your best prospect. It’s amazing how getting a player like this can improve the outlook and attitude of your entire team. Now, let’s get a pitcher!

This is unbelievable! I live in LA and was just getting ready to go to bed late last night when this came across my phone. I have to congratulate the FO on this. Now the Donelson deal makes sense. Yes, we still need at least one good starting pitcher and probably one decent to good reliever to make this work but at least there’s hope. As for the lineup, I have a slightly different take: 3B Arraez CF Buxton 2B Polanco SS Correa LF Kiriloff DH Urshela IB Sano RF Kepler C Jeffers By the way, I think there are two more moves coming. One is to trade prospect capital for a starting pitcher either with the A’s, Marlins, or maybe even the Reds. The second is to sign another outfielder to either start in left field or be the fourth outfielder. I think that Michael Conforto, Kevin Pillar, and Tommy Pham are all still available and I’m guessing prices are starting to come down since they haven’t yet landed that contract. May not happen, but after last night a guy can dream….