JoeCool

Best player available. Clark, Skenes, Jenkins, Langford or Crews. If any of those five are available it would be foolish to pass on them for someone like Teel or Dollander. I really hope the front office does not get too cute on this draft. A top 5 pick with this type of talent available is not worth passing on. This under slot value stuff would be foolish. Brooks Lee and Royce Lewis were very solid picks. I hope the front office gets the best player available. We can always trade for a need of stuck with a surplus.

Teel would be a massive mistake with the 5th pick. It will probably be Clark or Jenkins available with this pick and we will be kicking ourselves if the Twins pass on this opportunity. Particularly Max Clark seems to be special with both the tools and character. I can see the Twins making some deep playoff runs with Lewis, Lee and Clark as the faces of the franchise.

No brainer pick. If Clark is the only if the top 5 blue chippers available you take him and enjoy the ride. He will be another special talent to add to the mix or Brooks Lee and Royce Lewis.

Needs to be one of the top 5 elite prospects. Crews, Skenes, Langford, Jenkins or Clark. These opportunities do not present themselves very often. We need to grab one of those 5 that is available. If more than one of them is available then we will be in for a treat for years to come. I doubt Crews, Skene or Langford are still there when we pick, but I think Clark has a slight edge over Jenkins. If we pick anyone else we are crazy.

These changes need to happen. I honestly would also cut bait with Gallo. Even if Wallner does not produce we need to see what we have with him and it can’t be any worse than Kepler. Popkins absolutely needs to go. Every single free agent addition has regressed from prior years and I don’t want to see him ruin Royce Lewis. It is so obvious that a change is needed. Honestly it is obvious even Rocco needs to go. His game decisions are worse than any manager the Twins have had and I sense even the much less talented Twins teams of the mid 1990’s could beat this team because of game management and missing basic fundamentals.

I want to see Julien’s bat in the lineup at DH every day. He belongs with his bat. Fielding needs a lot of work though. Get Buxton off the bench and in the field with his bat being only marginal this year. He is an elite fielder and right now it’s worth the risk to just put him in the field. If Buxton goes down with an injury we have Taylor as a serviceable backup as Buxton heals, but I really see Julien as an upgrade to Buxton at DH and Buxton as an upgrade to Taylor in CF. If Taylor’s bat struggles we can float Royce Lewis to CF as well. We should not trade Julien. We need competent hitters with a more complete approach in the lineup and with his approach he can be a catalyst for rallies.

I would say we have too many underperforming veterans blocking high upside or at least equal production youngsters. I would suggest trading the dead weight for prospects and letting some of the younger hitters who are blocked be equal to or better upside than the current dead weight veterans. Max Kepler I would trade for a AA prospect with upside to give Trevor Larnach more at bats. We can always float Alex Kiriloff to the outfield and place Salono at 1st if Larnach has less production than Kepler and free up a roster spot for someone to upgrade elsewhere. Even trading someone who is decent from a productivity perspective but blocking solid replacements should be considered such as trading a Jorge Polonco to make way for an Eduardo Julien which then frees up space at AAA for Brooks Lee who could be a late season call up and help the club. I propose we reload rather than rebuild and if we can get prospect capital in return and it allows equal replacements from our high ceiling prospects it is a win/win. Also I would be all for replacing our hitting coaches. Too much swinging for the fences is occurring and the fundamentals are absolutely horrific with this team. We swing at pitches well outside of the strike zone. It’s clear whatever our coaches are teaching it is not working. Partially this has to do with certain hitters we signed, but more than capable hitters are regressing as well and it is clear the team is too much in an all or nothing approach with the intent to hit home runs rather than have good at bats. With the bases loaded a pitcher is forced to pitch in the strike zone giving our hitters better offerings to do damage. We are trying to homer with the bases empty and swinging at bad pitches. That is a coaching problem.

Here is to hoping we can see more of a regular dose of Eduardo Julien at the big league level. I believe he is a much more competent hitter than many at the big league level once he adjusts for higher level pitching. Brooks Lee I hope is promoted soon to AAA as well. I know he is only hitting around .270 at AA, but has a high on base percentage and again like Julien has the ability to be a more complete hitter than many already at the MLB level. The sooner we bring his talent to the MLB level the better. Even if he starts slow he has the ability and natural talent to adjust. His bat reminds me a bit of Joe Mauer as he was coming through the system. I think he will hit for more power than Mauer and may not have the elite fielding Mauer brought to his position, but from a pure hitting perspective I see a special talent in this kid. At the big league level we have too many swinging for the fences rather than working the count in their favor and selecting pitches that can get them on base. Those fundamentals are missing badly and without them I don’t see this team making any sort of meaningful run in the playoffs. I do think Correa will right the ship. Buxton just needs to stop swinging at everything and to start working the count and using his speed to get on base. Kiriloff seems to be the best and most underrated weapon the Twins have. Royce Lewis also will be fun to watch. He brings a Torii Hunter and Kirby Puckett level of energy to the game which the Twins need. Hopeful he also becomes a bit more selective in his pitches and utilizes his elite speed as well. There is some very good talent on this club, but I would not be against replacing the hitting coach. The at bats are undisciplined and missing basic fundamentals.

Ryan has something unique in his makeup. Gray is starting to regress a bit, but really since Ryan came up he has had some big game moxie and is constantly working hard to improve. He also does not get fazed by the big stage as shown in some of his games against playoff caliber opponents. You don’t need to throw 100 to be an ace. Joe is the real deal.

I think he needs a little more time. I also think we have needed a new hitting coach for a long time. The twins do not know how to work the count and take good at bats. I think the analytics approach is still too focused on hitting bombs rather than working the count to get a good pitch to hit. Even bunting for hits where we have batters with speed would be extremely valuable. Some of the basic fundamentals have been and continue to be missing. I would get a new hitting coach.

This was a massive Twins win and it shows in our record against the Yankees in 2023 which is respectable. We freed up our payroll and put some underperforming contracts into the Yankees payroll and lineup.

Great opportunity to make a run at Corbin Burnes.

Last year with all the injuries proved why depth is needed. He is a legit hitter as well.

Burnes or bust. It’s a no brainer for the Twins to target an arm like this and even go “all in” with an overpay. The risk is an injury that is long term for a lot of capital. The reward is a chance to compete with anyone’s top starter. The only off limits prospects in my mind are Brooks Lee and Royce Lewis. Some other notable MLB players that could be included are Sonny Gray and/or Max Kepler. If we don’t go after Burnes another large market team like the Yankees will. Burnes is worth the risk and we have enough depth in our system from the minors to majors to trade some key prospects for a true ace.

I think he might be a Carl Willis style middle reliever. He doesn’t have the lights out velocity to his pitches, but a lot of movement and deception. I would be all for us converting him to a relief role. If he starts the season in AAA and gets a track record going I see a chance. I think Bailey Ober, Josh Winder, Simeon Woods-Richardson, Jordan Balazovic, Connor Prielipp, Louis Varland, even Marco Raya have so much more upside as a starter than him. Within that list above I see ace potential. It’s a very deep list of starters with upside and I expect a few of them to be dominant relievers if they don’t make it as a starter. I am all for Dobnak to be Carl Willis 2.0. For those of you that don’t remember Willis was our second most dominant relief option to Rick Aguilera in our last title team in 1991. There is a place for that in a bullpen today as a change of pace to our 95mph + relievers.

Austin Martin should be #10 in my opinion instead of Wallner. I think Austin Martin will make a Royce Lewis kind of jump. If you remember Lewis hit a bad patch in his minors career and adjusted his swing with a less pronounced leg kick to create a better result at the plate. I see Austin Martin having the same kind of bounce back that we saw in the AFL league. I think he will be a top 5 before the end of 2023. I like the investment in position players though. This is a sustainable approach as pitchers are such a roll of the dice when it comes to prospects. I do think the approach the FO is using will pay off in spades over the next 5-8 years with a new window opening around the core. Just hoping we can catch lighting in a bottle with a core that can be like Puckett, Hrbek, Gagne or Hunter, Mauer and Morneau.

I am happy with this signing because the contract is much more reasonable than the extreme overpays that occurred this off-season. This team still has many holes, but a lot of depth to trade to fill the holes. I sense within our current pitching depth we already have one or two front line starters. Between Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Josh Winder, Simeon Woods-Richardson, Louis Varland, and Connor Prielipp I think we can grow with what we have and even move pieces to the bullpen as we did with Duran. We need consistent bats. Plain and simple. Yes we also have talent coming but not quite ready in Austin Martin, Brooks Lee, and Royce Lewis to name a few, but where are the true hitters that do the little things like get on base through a wall or take the ball the other way? We have too much swinging for the fences with Kepler, Polonco, Kiriloff and even Buxton. If we have hitters batting under .250 with an on base percentage hovering around .300. We won’t do well against front line starters. Shifts are gone, but when infields are deep why not drop a bunt as Puckett used to do? Puckett got on base in front of the mashers and then the infielders would have to play closer where Puckett could mash better. This is missing from this team. Here is to hoping we can get more professional hitters with our depth by trading until the help in our system arrives. I think Gallo is more of what we don’t need.

Good choices, I give one sleeper an additional consideration. Austin Martin has lost a lot of buzz but should be included. Like Brooks Lee being the most advanced bat of his draft class Martin also has this reputation within his in class. He really struggled in 2022, but broke out in the Arizona Fall League in a similar way that Royce Lewis did. He also has questions with his defensive home, but also could be a SS, outfielder, or even 2nd, or 3rd baseman. Beyond just his bat, he brings speed and base stealing skills that we just don’t have in our system. Speed is there but very few can swipe a base as he did in 2022.

I say no to the overpaying happening this offseason. These players are getting way too much. I am at the point of going after a stop gap option because the farm system at SS is very strong with Lee and Lewis coming along and even Austin Martin has listed as a potential SS and has progressed in late 2022. I think we should only do smart deals like the Buxton and Correa contracts of last year. These teams will regret such long term deals. Very few work out and sink a franchise at the end of the deals when production drops off. Even Swanson at over $20 million for ten years is a ripoff. Swanson is a $10-$15 million per season type of player and I think our farm system will produce equal or better than him within 1-2 years.

We should not trade Araez. He is a rare hitter and ironically became serviceable at 1st base. Right around leave average for fielding. With today’s power potential at 2nd, SS, and 3rd I don’t see a need for a power hitter at 1st. Especially with Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee, Austin Martin, and Edouard Julien on the way there is plenty of power hitting potential growth in them. I think are starting pitching core that is here or coming also suggest we should not give up such a talent at the plate. Let’s get a free agent starter and keep our best hitter.

The Twins position players look to have such a bright future. I think this core coming up complemented by a few pieces already here has a chance to be very special. I imagine Lee will end up at 3rd, Lewis at SS, Julien at 2nd, Kiriloff at 1st, and I am a big believer of Jeffers at catcher. With an outfield of Austin Martin, Buxton and Larnach. With Arraez and Gordon in utility. It has potential to be a special core as we saw in the early 2000’s. The only thing missing is the ceiling of the pitching. Hopefully Ryan, Ober, Varland, Woods-Richardson, Winder, and a few others in the bullpen emerge like Duran. I think it can all come together for many years starting in 2024. I think we can compete next year as well, but I truly hope we don’t overpay Correa. I also hope we get a new Manager. I think Rocco is bad at game management.

Probably too soon to tell if it was a good or bad deal. I think we should give him more time. We gave Pagan and Duffey too much time. I think Lopez will be ok but sometimes he also hinges in pitch selection. Matt Wisler had similar prior career numbers with Seattle until Wes Johnson changed the usage to feature his slider on a more frequent basis and the results were similar to Lopez before the Twins. I think pitch selection and focus on what was successful in Baltimore will likely help.

I am not a fan of any of them but Celestino. Thielbar is average at best but can’t be trusted in high leverage situations. Urshela is also an easy out against the Verlanders of the world. I would not mind him as a utility guy, but not an every day starter. Nick Gordon deserves mention because he plays with fire. He hustles and has an igniter kind of quality to him. Too many hitters are trying to hit home runs at the expense of the little things needed to win. Gordon does the little things. I also think Bundy deserves to be mentioned. He is not an ace but he is solid enough to win some big games and gives us a chance to win each time he takes the mound.

Pagan should be DFA’ed. We should be looking at long term options.

I think there is a good chance he opts in. I also don’t feel bad if he does. 2 years is a roll of the dice. 10 years sinks a franchise with the current performance