LA Vikes Fan

Funderburk's line looks much better than his pitching. He did not look good at all.

Poor Pablo. Leaves down and is followed by Funderburk and Sands. Chances of holding the line se we can come back? Not so good.

Another fine Kepler AB. Thank goodness for the wild pitch. Kepler needs to be hitting 7 or 8, not 4. I'll throw in today's hot take - DFA Margot, option Wallner, call up Keirsey and Larnach, play Kirilloff at 1B, put those two in the OF.

Anyone else think Wallner may need a trip to AAA to re-find his swing? He didn't hit in the playoffs (8ABs, 5 SOs), didn't hit in ST, and now isn't hitting at all in the regular season (8ABs, 6 SOs). I know its early but he is really struggling. .

While I don't necessarily agree with your choice chpettit19, I think you accurately presented the choice. We could have signed a Hoskins type (assuming he would come here) at the expense of having a bench full of Miranda, Martin, Severino, Keirsey, Goodrum, Balazovic, etc. types at the end of the roster. Instead, the Twins spent the same money on Santana, Margot, and Farmer and is starting Santana and playing the other 2 quite a bit. I think the Twins strategy definitely raises the floor by giving you injury protection and proven performance, but it lowers the ceiling because you don't have the one big bat like Hoskins and you don't get the unexpected breakout of a young player. I think in this division it makes more sense to raise the floor but it's a close call. 90 wins should win this division; 87 probably will. Better to get that division win knowing that your bench will see limited time in the playoffs absent injury. I get it; it's the conservative approach that helps this year but not in 2025. Still, I have to wonder if we aren't selling ourselves a little short by not auditioning Miranda, Larnach, Lee, and Martin at 250-300 ABs apiece this year. Detroit is coming on and may be a real competitor next year. We'll need those guys next year because Kepler, Santana and Margot will be gone unless we sign some more retreads next year (unlikely with the jump in payroll coming in 2025 for the current group). I'm more of a "let's go for it this year with Correa and Buxton healthy because next year isn't promised" guy but I can see the other side and it is tempting. Too late now but other similar opportunities may arise.

Well, news just broke that Clevinger signed wiht the White Sox of all teams. The terms were not disclosed. Why he would go to a bottom dweller is a bit of a mystery. We may find out when we find out the terms.

The lack of news on Clevinger is odd. The Mets had a starter go down and they are supposedly talking with Julio Teheran. No one is reported to be negotiating or talking to Clevinger at all. He turned down a $12m option if memory serves. Maybe he just wants too much money?

Hilarious. I hope there's follow up during the season when scoreboard mistakes are made. I want to know if Sully is able to take Cunningham to the next level. Lord knows we need it; it's going to be a tight race this year. By the way, celerity look alike for Lou Hennessy - Richard Thomas as John-Boy on The Waltons.

Well said. The trade ws basically Polanco for Topa and Gonzalez. Seattle forced DeSclafani and $4m of his salary on the Twins, for which we received Bowen. If one looks at BTV, Topa is 7, Gonzalez 11, Bowen .4 (DeSclafani was 2.8 but he is effectively a negative number for the Twins this year), and Polanco is a 9.4. Throw in $4m effectively being paid by the Twins to take DeSclafani and the Twins are a little ahead. I know some of you don't like BTV but it is objective and fairly authoritative, certainly more than any of our own at best semi-informed analyses. Basically, Polanco for Gonzalez would have been a fair straight up trade and we got Topa and a flyer on top of that in return for taking on a $4m obligation. Not a bad deal at all., some might even call it good. There are a lot of moves the FO has made that one can criticize, but this isn't one of them.

I don't think Miranda is throwing across the diamond yet so I think he is limited to 1B/DH.

I like it. Get Julien and Castro in the lineup every day as the 1 and 9 hitters. Farmer can hit for Julien against a tough LH starter (would like to see Julien getting ABs against lesser LH pitching). Martin plays 3-4 days a week in LF while Kepler goes to DH to heal his knee bruise, then as the 4th OF replacement for guy who goes to DH for a half day off.

It would interesting to know if Lewis regularly had stretching training like yoga, pilates, or similar movements. If not, sounds like something that should be incorporated into this routine. I'm no professional quality athlete but can say that pilates in particular really helped me whine coming back from ACL surgery and in the years beyond.

88-74, win division, #3 seed in playoffs. I see them winning the first round of the playoffs and being competitive in round 2 but ultimately losing in the ALDS, probably to the Yankees. By midseason Margot, Kepler, and Santana are traded or hurt, replaced by Miranda, Larnach, and Martin, as the Twins lean into a youth movement since the rest of the division does very little to challenge them. Varland is in the bullpen by July as the #2 closer, replaced in the rotation by a combination of SWR, a replacement level veteran or two like Odo or Vince Vasquez, and Festa. Detroit comes on in the second half to provide some competition but ultimately wins 82-83 games. Division much more competitive in 2025 with Detroit an 85-90 win team and KC improving to .500.

The one thing I'd like to see the Twins have is a decent veteran starter in AAA like Odo or even Brad Keller. Clevinger turned down a $12m option so I'm guessing that he will only sign a MLB contract with maybe taking a 6 week ramp up time in AAA. I think that would actually work for the Twins since one of the starting five is probably going to be heard or ineffective by mid May and, by the way, Varland has been hammered his last two times out in spring training. I'm hoping that they're reaching out to Clevinger to see if they can't sign him to a one-year deal with an opt out.

I think this battle is about the richer players vs. the poorer players played out against a background of uncertain and perhaps declining TV revenues which totally upsets the business model for each of the teams. For many years now, the MLBPA and Boras have believed that paying ever increasing salaries to the high end players rebounds to the benefit of the average and lower and players whose salaries get pulled up by the ever hiding higher salaries on top. What's happened now is that virtuous cycle no longer appears to be working. The top is still getting paid very well on longer-term contracts, but only the real top, not the possibly or sometimes top like Snell and Montgomery. Snell is doing well but is not getting the long term guarantees because he has not been a consistently top performer; I think Montgomery has the same problem. The middle class in MLB is getting squeezed economically. There's really no reason for a team like the Twins or the 8 to 10 with lower revenues to pay a solid major league veteran $10-$15 million a year are a middle-of-the-road pitcher $15-$20 million a year unless you think you are in World Series contention. The CBA incentivizes those teams to spend that money on their farm systems and play younger, cheaper players in the hope you catch lightning in a bottle and have stars while they are still on cheaper contracts. The day of the eight year average veteran being in high demand and getting paid well (by baseball standards, by real person standards they're all paid well) is at least temporarily over. There simply no incentive for an average team to pay Michael Lorenzen $10-15 million a year for two years unless they think he is part of a group that will get them over the top. The middle-class ballplayer is not getting much of the rewards. The rewards are primarily going to the top and that's going to create tension in the union made up primarily of middle-class, lower class, and minor-league ballplayers. Clark and Boras are identified as favoring the high end players rather than the middle class or minor-league players. I think that's the tension here and it is not going to go away anytime soon.

Losing Francona is a big loss for Cleveland. He alone is worth 4-5 wins a year. I say the Guardians win around 77-80 games and are in a dogfight with KC for 3rd in the division. Detroit wins 82-86 games and presses the Twins all year.

I'd be pretty happy with these except for Buxton. I see him as a .250-.260 hitter, not the .228 they have for him. I actually agree with the projections for the 4 young guys - solid to good to very good (Lewis) but not outstanding. i do think Julien will hit better than .250 but not a lot better. I'd take his .370 projected OPS and .407 SLG every day of the week. I'd love to see Kepler and Kirilloff meet their projections. Both might be a little high. The one that I think is unfortunately the most accurate and a little scary is Santana. .229/.324/.416 (.740) is just not good enough for your regular 1B. I really wonder about him and I hope that Rocco doesn't just stick with him if he doesn't hit instead of giving Kirilloff the experience there or moving Julien over and bringing Lee up if neither one of them hits. I'll take the starters as projected. Would love to see all 5 with sub 4.00 ERAs but don't think we will. I agree that we will see at least 25-30 starts by someone other than the top 5 listed. We need to find veteran reinforcement. Clevinger, Keller, and Barria are still out there as far as I know . . . Also, Julio Teheran and Drew Pomeranz just become available through opt-outs. Let's get one of these guys, put him in AAA until May 15 and reassess then.

Actually, now that more time has passed this Cleavinger Idea might work. He isn't ready to break with the MLB club having missed spring training. Give him a 1 year MLB deal with an opt out on May 15. He spends 6 weeks in AAA building p and showing he's ready to go. The chances are at least 50/50 by May 15 we have at least one starter who need an IL stint or is ineffective. If not, he opts out and goes somewhere else. Same logic would apply to guys like Julio Teheran, Brad Keller, or even Johnny Cueto.

I hear you but I think the real choice is Clevinger in the rotation with Varland in St. Paul, or Varland in the rotation with a veteran AAAA guy like Odo or Brad Keller as the 1st line of depth in St. Paul. I like Varland in the rotation better, but I also like him better as the AAA depth. Tough call.

Ugly. Two questions for those of us who can't watch the games. Did Wallner actually look good at the plate or did he get a scratch hit? Am I wrong or is Duarte looking very good as a long man this spring? Maybe he's the guy who stays instead of Sands. And finally, I feel for Eddie and Vargas for having to play on that team to keep their careers going (less for Gallo). It's going to be a very long year for the Nats and those two guys are probably long gone before that team turns it around.

I get it and hadn't really considered Lee not being on the 40 man as a factor, which it clearly is. I suspect they would give Larnach first shot if there's a need in the OF. I personally think Lee is closer to be ready so I would go a different way but I do understand giving Larnach as much play as possible in his last option year. I'm actually thinking they'd like Laranch to show something and then trade him at the deadline as part of a package for pitching. Like I said, I've been driving the "pump the Brakes on Lee" train all off season. I'm more open to him because I think Lee has shown considerable improvement at the plate and I am concerned that we are over reliant on 4 very unproven bats in Lewis, Julien, Jeffers, and Wallner. I have great confidence in Lewis, some confidence in Julien and Jeffers, and Wallner scares me for the reasons I put in my earlier post. I have no confidence is Margot as a season long solution, some in Castro but not a lot (and why make him a LF when his best value is his versatility), and I don't see a lot in AAA to come up and play every day given Larnach's past struggles. I'm just looking for alternatives. Most years I wouldn't care because losing a few winnable games here and there doesn't matter if you're not a contender but this year we are in my view. I see Lee as the best alternative.

Agreed on Lee not going to the OF but the OF could still effect when he comes up to the Twins. Right now, Wallner isn't hitting. At all. Hopefully that changes quickly. IF it doesn't and IF Kirilloff is hitting (or if Margot or Kepler gets hurt), one obvious solution is to send Wallner down to AAA to work out his issues, move Kirilloff to LF or to the OF with Wallenr if it's an injury situation, move Julien to IB (where he apparently is getting work in ST), and bring up Lee to play 2B. That would actually be my preferred plan to deal with a corner OF issue over playing Margot or even Castro every day. No one is suggesting Brooks Lee play OF. I am suggesting, however, that he is the first one up whether the need is in the OF or the IF, because a hitting Kirilloff is the best OF solution in the short term.

Are you talking about Wallner, Kirilloff, or both? Wallner had a great 2023 overall but he hit .208 in August, .209 in July, rebounded in September (always a tough projection month given the number of ABs against bad teams' AAA pitching), and went 0-8 in the playoffs with 5 SOs. He's 2-35 in ST. That suggest he's seeing an adjustment from good pitching and hasn't been able to adjust back yet. I'm in favor of giving him 4-6 weeks to adjust but I wonder if he'll be ale to do so. Lots of guys go up and down their first couple of years. I think it's waaaaay to early to anoint Wallner as one of our best hitters. He's an intriguing guy who could be a quality MLB hitter but we won't know that until at least the end of this year and probably not until next year. I think there is at least a 50/50 chance that Wallner will need a MiLB stint this year to get back into a groove. This team can contend - we can't use a lot of MLB ABs on unestablished guys trying to find their groove. That's what AAA is for. Kirilloff is just an injury waiting to happen. I feel for the guy but shoulder and wrist issues are very troubling and just not good for long term success. I fully expect him to spend at least one or two 10 day IL stints this year. Add in his less than stellar glove work so far - maybe he'll improve, Julien has - and I think counting on him for the long term is very risky. My point is that Lee will be up sooner rather than later, and the most likely reason will be to replace Kirilloff or Wallner IMHO. I'm been king of the "pump the brakes" on him but his ST performance has shown me that he's closer to ready than I thought.

Wallner has had a very bad spring and has 2 options remaining. Lee has had a very good spring and has all his options. I think Lee goes down to AAA to start the season and Wallner gets a month or so to turn it around. Once we pass the date where calling up Lee loses a year of control, which I think is about May 15, Lee is back if Wallner isn't hitting or Kirilloff is hurt yet again. Lee moves to 2B, Julien to 1B with Santana, and either Kirilloff or Wallner mans LF with Castro while the other one is on the Il again (Kirilloff) or back in AAA working on his swing (Wallner). I'd say let's do that now based on ST results but you can't count on ST results to carry over and losing a year of control on Lee isn't worth it.

Agreed. Two years at $5-6m a year? Sign me up. Unfortunately, he won't take that. More likely to take 2 years at $8-10M a year. Tougher call with Varland ready to go this year. Probably better to bring in AAAA depth like Brad Keller.