joefish

Well, I will say I feel more confident about Paddack going into 2024 than I did Maeda coming into 2023. Just for comparison’s sake 

What depth?
With the exception of Lewis, none of the rookies has been good enough to not have to worry about ending up with some other team.
I do not venture into the pitching morass but they have gone from very good to another crap-shoot.
Defense is good with the people they had last year; if the Front Office is going to be as cheap as some here imply, Joey Gallo could be back for fielding skills (put in late innings when defense really counts).
All the -- Twins should -- talk is -- If I were in charge -- so opinions differ and are neither here -nor-there.
I would rather they pick-up, some how, a very good veteran for Center Field (Taylor is fine) and do the pitching crap-shoot, but that may not work for squat either.

Considering that he is 6 years younger than gray and that gray was never like gray ‘24, along with Paddack having better raw stuff than ever post TJ, I’d say its a good bet that Paddack has a great chance at being a front line starter in the next 3 years. Hence my statement. I stand by it. 

Agree - Paddack has a higher ceiling than Maeda. 

That bar is still significantly lower than I want this team to jump over.
Unless they only care about winning a terrible division, they need to trade for a Sonny Gray replacement. I get that you may not get Cy Young runner up results, but they need two pitchers they can feel confident in to start games 1 and 2 of the post season series. That's not Ryan, Ober, Paddock, Varland, Montas, Wiley, Shoemaker, Bundy, Maeda or any of these other nice mid-to-back end pieces.

The feeling I got was when they mentioned looking to clear Kepler, Polanco, Farmer & Vazquez salary due to trade, to me it sounds that the salary they cut from trading these guys they will go out & look for a FAs. If this is their focus then this is a recipe for disaster. Trying to find a SP to replace Gray in FA won't work it never has. Trading anyone of these players especially Vazquez will create a big hole if they are looking to trade all of them the hole will be insurmountable. If they want to destroy the Twins & their fanbase this would be good way to do it. 
Just when you see them making good off season trades with Gray & Lopez you think they finally got things right. I hope I don't see them go back to their old pitiful ways.

I appreciate your insight. I believe that the Twins should hold on to Julien over Lee. There's still time for him show improvement, but Lee just hasn't performed at a level that shows to me he will be a star at the plate in the majors. He's been solid, but just for comparison, Julien had a career minor league OPS of .924. As I stated Brooks Lee has yet to top .850 with any team he's been a part of. Julien also has an .840 OPS in the majors. My point being why dump the young guy who has proven he can hit at every level in favor of the guy who you drafted high so you hope he can hit?

Gotta give Louie another chance as a starter. He'll still be a really good bullpen piece later. We, and everyone else on the planet, needs starters more.

Too soon to move him to the bullpen. Give him another shot in the rotation. They need starting pitching pretty desperately right now after losing Gray and Maeda.
I'd rather take a few other washed up free agent starters and turn them into relievers.

I would add a starter and prepare Varland to be a starter. Their 6th starter will be needed to start a lot of games and he has a better chance for success than Dobnak, Festa or Woods-Richardson.

Bullpen he is a weapon. Starting he is a #5 without a ton of room to grow. I guess I'd be shocked if he is a starter again to be honest. Too much ability when he is a 2 pitch pitcher out of the bullpen. 
 

Paddack had is TJ surgery in April of '22, so he is closer to two years past TJ. He has an injury history, of course, and could well end up on the injured list in the coming season, but so too could Ober, Ryan and López.
I would consider López as an ace, every bit as much as Gray and maybe more so. 

For the most part I agree with you.
The Twins had truly competitive team and right now it looks like that team is history.
IF, just IF, they lose Taylor, Kepler, Vazquez and Polanco their playoff days are gone.
Wallner is Gallo with out the fielding skills, while they do not have a First Baseman with Gallo's fielding skills or even who will be there most games.
Julien at Second is a hole in the defense, so that leaves Lewis as the only fairly sure thing.
If Maeda and Gray leave; the good pitching staff that writers wrote of is gone.
A lot can/may  happen but right now mediocre at best.
 

The top three teams in payroll last year did not make the play-offs. The Diamondbacks were in the World Series with a payroll that ranked 21/30 in MLB.

Now is the time to move him. He had a good second half of the season and his trade value is as high as it's going to get.

4.  His trade value has never been higher.  Now is the time to deal him hopefully for SP.

I don't see Cortez being more valuable than Max. 

Sign Rhys Hoskins. Forget about moving Polo to 1B. Trade/package him in a deal to Sea for pitching. 

Interesting!

Max Kepler understandably draws a wide range of thoughts concerning his abilities to sustain his excellence from the latter half of the 2023 season. 
I have no idea of his value as a straight exchange for another player. Edward Cabrera is a gamble for any team that could pay off in a big way. Miami likely keeps him. I thought that perhaps an exchange of players who might benefit from a new team occur. 
If the Twins are going to add iffy pitchers, it makes sense to add either Wacha or Lugo because these guys can be solid. It doesn't make sense to trade anyone with decent value for a guy like Cortes. 
Conversations last offseason included trading Kepler. The Twins never found a deal worthwhile. This offseason there may be a repeat. Kepler is a good player and there isn't any reason to trade him unless the return clearly makes the 2024 team better.

A Kepler (8.8) straight up for Cortes (8.4) would be more than enough.  In fact, the Twins could actually ask the Yankees to throw in a player to even it out.  Nowadays, there really isn't a pitcher out there who hasn't had SOMETHING go wrong.  You just don't find those Jim Palmer, Don Sutton, and Bert Blyleven types out there.  
Since Kepler is sure to be pushed out in the future (within one season at the most) a deal for Cortes makes sense.  But I agree with tony&rodney, the Yankees may like Max Kepler, but their rotation is far from settled, even if they sign a couple SP  I don't think the Yanks would do it.
And to repeat, almost every pitcher has something in their history that could be a red flag.  Look at some of the "affordable" free agent guys we are considering:  Frankie Montas. Lucas Giolito, Luis Severino.  Those are guys that could be signed for $12-$14 million annually and would be worth the gamble.  Ending up with a potential rotation of Lopez, Montas, Cortez, Ryan, Ober and Paddack (gotta list 6 because you need that many at the minimum) would be pretty decent for 2024.  Especially if we have Varland in the bullpen.  

I would package Julien, Kepler, Larnach and low-level minor leaguer for Gilbert.
Seattle fills 2B, covers the RF loss of Teoscar Hernandez, can maybe get Larnach on the right track (he's a west coast kid and played at Oregon State) and gets a throw in that may or may not pay out.
Minnesota still has Polanco (and Farmer) to hold 2B down until Lee gets here mid-season, moves Kepler for salary relief, allows Larnach to possibly reach his potential (evidently not going to happen here) and fills out the rotation. 

I bet Joey Gallo could sign a contract with a team in the Midwest League and compete for MVP.

RosariO …. Fits right in…

Having a swing likened to that of the three "o" ( Sano Gallo Sabato) is not a good place to be.