JD-TWINS

Exactly - don’t need to read any other comments. Trade Caratini and eat half of the $10M owed inclusive of his buyout for ‘28. Take the $5M saved on Vic and add it to Jeffers $6M already being paid in ‘26. …… so he gets a $12M bump above Catcher spending in ‘26. Other option is to offer a lucrative 2 year deal to Jeffers (2 for $18.5M/year, as an example) as a firm bridge to Lackey & the other 2-3 young Catchers in the organization. Gotta do something positive to be “competitive”. ……….Can’t have Caratini as “lead Catcher” going into’27! Having Lee & Lewis & Keaschall all in the proper defensive spots to start the season would be a big boost over start of ‘26. Lopez out all season - Sands out 3/4 of season - Festa out all season - Banda out 1/2 season - Abel out 80% of season………etc. ……… Staff will start the year MUCG stronger in ‘27 even if Lopez isn’t ready & Banda is gone ………… assuming ”someone” will probably injured as well.

I’m not sure the suggestions were/are a reflection of Team’s current in-house options (the bench) v. just being poor suggestions. …… the guys gotta write about something though.

Generally, like the thoughts…… I live in Cincinnati and Stephenson is a guy to stay away from……..after August 1 he had 12 hits and one HR over last 2 months. Certainly can’t sign more than a year at a time! Weak defense (arm) and hits as hot & Cold just like Caratini of 2026. Do not understand his WAR at 2.5?? To me, Jackson is better on both O & D…….no idea what he’d do in a bigger role though. Push HARD to sign Jeffers and then eat some of Caratini’s salary with a trade. Jeffers & Jackson works for me. Jeffers for $37M over 2 years …… money well spent. I keep Ober and transition him to PEN. He can be effective starting innings and could go 2+ innings a couple times per week. To me (& you) the Larnach move is obvious! 73% of pitchers are RH and he fits as a 15 game starter in OF who gets replaced in late innings if needed. Steady DH v. RH starters …… solid PH in appropriate situations? Lowe signed w/Reds for next to nothing ……. seems his value probably went up considerably with performance in Cincy & Cleveland. I guess he doesn’t exude power with his frame, but Clemens seems to have elevated to Lowe’s level or better……… I like a mix of mostly Lewis & maybe 25-30% Clemens at IB in ‘27. Kreidler or youth at 2B when Clemens is at 1B. Spend $$ on Jeffers and a Minter type (experienced/successful reliever) Minter seems as good of a choice as any other, on a healthy one year deal. With Ober - Matthews - Rojas - Prielipp - Festa (2 of the 4 at a minimum) in the PEN, then adding Sands & Banda to the mix………..I don’t see huge need for more PEN moves…….they have a dozen in the mix and with a Minter signing (or like) they could be very effective.

Jorge Mateo - De Los Santos ……..these guys do not help the Club improve or win games! Can’t add guys that can’t hit …… like Kiner-Faleffa …… have that guy in Ryan Kreidler (not as polished w/glove, but certainly effective) Bednar currently pitches for the Yankees…… seriously, people here need to be realistic…….. the Twins may have the 7th best offer to Bednar’s agent across MLB…… at best. Grichuk wasn’t signed by Team the past two seasons so now, after his best season v. LH hitting he is in Waaaay to high of demand for the Twins to be involved. …… I’d like him due to experience and grit & obviously, his ability with the bat…….just do not see this as realism with other franchises competing for his services. Tough to pry guys away from Playoff teams after a good year since, if they are at all worthwhile, the 2026 Club will extend a competitive offer.

Deep breaths…….,

My question is, what position does a new, BAT, difference maker PLAY? Outfield seems crowded at this point with existing possibilities (Keaschall/Buxton/Jenkins +/+)…….not saying they couldn’t go a different way with a FA or trade but seems very doubtful. Other Teams aren’t trading offensive catchers - Twins, nearly every time, would get outbid in FA….. seems too simple but loading up a deal for Jeffers for 2 years…….. $18M/year……. a good place to spend!……..if he signs, could trade Caratini & cover some of his salary to move him ……. saved $$ applied to Jeffers. Not a bunch of effective FA BATS available for 2B, that I can imagine. 1B is a probable ….. do they run it back with Royce & give him until the All-star break to maintain his spot? Any DH, that’s BETTER than platooning Larnach v. RH and Keaschall or Buxton v. lefties is going to cost waaay more than would be worthwhile, for the guy Team gets signed………no reason to release Larnach & try to sign a guy the might hit 7-8 more HR but hit 25 points less and strike out 5% more & pay more……..no real upside in that move. If they sign Jeffers (nearly zero chance IMO) they still have $$ to apply to relief help………I just saw Hoffman is having Elbow Surgery - never good!

Agreed! My point is if the Ownership doesn’t give parameters on spending & stick to them, at whatever level, the FO (any FO people) cannot create a cohesive plan year upon year. Getting the development to be at a high level is every team’s/organization’s goal. It’s a bit easier to not be great at that element if you have some $$ to spend. There are very few teams that have glaring strengths in drafting & developing……that part, having the Organization talent at the Top & getting it right are the strengths of Tampa - Milwaukee and a few teams that spend freely as well. …….. Milwaukee’s decision makers originated in Tampa…….. Twins just got their pitching coach from Tampa - hopefully, some organizational knowledge will rub off!

Exactly! Brewers do have a generational young pitcher they pay $750K ……. nice scouting & great fortune!! They signed Churio to a long-term deal….smart. They have a broken down guy making a lot more money than his teammates & contributions warrant (similar to Buxton) in Yelich. The Brewers spent nearly $147M on roster salary in 2026. ………. That’s $35-$40M more than the Twins ……… still $10M less than the Twins spend in 2023. IF Twins had $35M more to spend going into the offseason last year, I firmly believe that a couple guys that they would have signed, coupled with a healthy Lopez would have had them at 90 wins……..Lopez health alone cost them a handful of wins. Just “spend normally” and be competitive.

The Royals were good from 2013-2016……….having a decade break on either side of one Title, to me, isn’t a very interesting franchise to follow. Winning the Series is extremely difficult but getting into post season with an opportunity to “get hot” or “get some breaks”, 50-60% of the time is a great team to follow. …….. the Twins aren’t getting to the playoffs with any regularity - that would drive fandom! Again, shooting for really bad, to hopefully become pretty good is a questionable approach…… the Astros tanked for at least 3 seasons to get the picks that propelled them. Do not remember them being noted as a frugal franchise but haven’t paid much attention to their spending…….they did take a relatively broken down Correa back for $23M of their money per year. White Sox had the absolute worst start mckelvey season record in history and consecutive 100 loss seasons……they barely made the playoffs once now and lost to a team they were up on 2-0, headed home. The Twins were in the playoffs and competitive in ‘23………. spent $155M. This year, starting the season, payroll was $106M. The $106 included $10M to Correa & $22M to Lopez. They had $74M spent on the field………either number is a telling contrast to the normalcy of 2023. The biggest difference between Cleveland & Tampa & Milwaukee is that this has been their strategy for a hell of a long time. Twins, mostly due to ownership, have no strategy nor plan. Signing Lopez & Correa (ownership committing) were moves that were a solid step, but then payroll went down, steeply after extending those two. That’s not a plan!! FO people aren’t miracle workers that can change an organization’s approach “whenever”, & get near-term results . Your comments “it’s not that hard”…….”it’s not rocket science” leads me to believe they should hire you to turn things down the right path.

Starting Pitching cannot be taken for granted, this seems to be the premise. Abel - Prielipp are a couple guys that showed very nice promise in bursts BUT the assumption that both or either will absolutely be available with good health in either ‘27 or ‘28 is the issue. Going into Spring Training this year most were just hoping Prielipp made it through the summer without injury ………. I don’t think anyone saw him throwing the innings and getting the starts he ended up with in ‘26, not with his history of physical ailments. Festa - Ober - Lopez - Ryan - Abel - Matthews - Bradley - Prielipp - Morris - Rojas ………..all 6 on the Top Line were injured for varying periods this year and most for significant chunks of time ….. 4 arms issues, leg issue, & blisters were the varying ailments. Ended up being so thin that they needed to trade for Kremer at the deadline. I guess the point is there needs to be, in modern baseball, a plan to have 10 guys assumed to be at MLB level capabilities going into Spring Training…………differing levels of capabilities but presumed capable w/o being a huge stretch.

Gotta come up with thoughts for articles in the off-season…….understood. Bohm is a decent player offensively…….essentially 2026 Brooks Lee stats year in & year out. As others have mentioned, keeping Lewis with the probability of a much higher ceiling is more prudent & gives Team every bit as much upside. Lewis might cost $5M with no strings & Bohm is probably middle teens in millions for 3 years. Don’t need that signing. Do need to spend a bit to improve. Payroll was $106M, with $10M & $22M going to Correa & Lopez for zero help on the field. $$ left for guys that played this year was at a $74M pace, until deadline moves. Guardian’s payroll was $75M - Tampa’s payroll was $98M - Brewer’s payroll was $144M……..IMO, Twins target should be $140M max for ‘27. I’d push hard to sign Jeffers & then find a trade partner for Caratini (will have to pay $5M of $10M owed him under his contract) …… this saves $5M to apply to Jeffers……they already pay Jeffers around $6.5M so after Caratini is moved you have $11.5M from last year’s total to apply to Jeffers. With QO, or better yet, a 2 year deal for $37-$38M the Team needs to spend an additional $8-$10M …….. Bell is gone (that’s $7M) to apply to Jeffers. If all else stays the same with Roster, I think they are around $110-$115M for ‘27, roughly. If they push to $140M it allows $20-$25M to spend on FA ……… this is after the typical raises via arbitration with many guys. I’m pretty optimistic about the future, starting immediately in ‘27. Lee at 3B from the jump helps winning% over ‘26. SAME with Culpepper & Jenkins. Re-signing Jeffers is maybe unlikely but it’s a good place to spend $$! I’m a proponent of Larnach for 1 more year, while platooning & essentially only acting as DH/pinch hitter. Might play a dozen games in the OF out of necessity? Keaschall & Buxton are the other side of the DH platoon. Keaschall - Buxton - Jenkins from left to right gives them a very competitive OF offensively and at least average defensively. Festa - Abel - Banda - Sands …….if any two of those guys pitch well, that strengthens the staff a bunch. Matthews - Rojas - Ober - Prielipp can battle for the 5th starter spot & at least 2 should then go to the Pen to contribute - just like Morris did in ‘26. 1 or 2 FA arms in PEN and a possible effective RH bat for OF/1B (either) or 2B would be $$ well spent in FA Market! Do NOT need Alex Bohm on the Roster!!

Gotta come up with thoughts for articles in the off-season…….understood. Bohm is a decent player offensively…….essentially 2026 Brooks Lee stats year in & year out. As others have mentioned, keeping Lewis with the probability of a much higher ceiling is more prudent & gives Team every bit as much upside. Lewis might cost $5M with no strings & Bohm is probably middle teens in millions for 3 years. Don’t need that signing. Do need to spend a bit to improve. Payroll was $106M, with $10M & $22M going to Correa & Lopez for zero help on the field. $$ left for guys that played this year was at a $74M pace, until deadline moves. Guardian’s payroll was $75M - Tampa’s payroll was $98M - Brewer’s payroll was $144M……..IMO, Twins target should be $140M max for ‘27. I’d push hard to sign Jeffers & then find a trade partner for Caratini (will have to pay $5M of $10M owed him under his contract) …… this saves $5M to apply to Jeffers……they already pay Jeffers around $6.5M so after Caratini is moved you have $11.5M from last year’s total to apply to Jeffers. With QO, or better yet, a 2 year deal for $37-$38M the Team needs to spend an additional $8-$10M …….. Bell is gone (that’s $7M) to apply to Jeffers. If all else stays the same with Roster, I think they are around $110-$115M for ‘27, roughly. If they push to $140M it allows $20-$25M to spend on FA ……… this is after the typical raises via arbitration with many guys. I’m pretty optimistic about the future, starting immediately in ‘27. Lee at 3B from the jump helps winning% over ‘26. SAME with Culpepper & Jenkins. Re-signing Jeffers is maybe unlikely but it’s a good place to spend $$! I’m a proponent of Larnach for 1 more year, while platooning & essentially only acting as DH/pinch hitter. Might play a dozen games in the OF out of necessity? Keaschall & Buxton are the other side of the DH platoon. Keaschall - Buxton - Jenkins from left to right gives them a very competitive OF offensively and at least average defensively. Festa - Abel - Banda - Sands …….if any two of those guys pitch well, that strengthens the staff a bunch. Matthews - Rojas - Ober - Prielipp can battle for the 5th starter spot & at least 2 should then go to the Pen to contribute - just like Morris did in ‘26. 1 or 2 FA arms in PEN and a possible effective RH bat for OF/1B (either) or 2B would be $$ well spent in FA Market! Do NOT need Alex Bohm on the Roster!!

I agree that Bradley should get consideration! I agree Keaschall’s defense is a problem, to say the least………..3rd most effective offensive player in the A.L. for the last 3 months coupled with 3.0 WAR (inclusive of his defense being a negative with WAR) are too much of a big deal to ignore or discount. To me …… Keaschall - Bradley - Clemens …… Bell. AVAILABILITY, and the lack of with Buxton & Jeffers, is a big deal ……. having good numbers for 3 months & not playing much at all the other 3 months is not worthy to be in an MVP conversation. ……… same with Jeffers missing 2+ months. Bell had enough RBI and was available whenever called upon, essentially daily……..Bell helped win a bunch of games! Clemens hitting with power and playing 3-4 positions, as needed, gets him in the mix.

He hit first or second 78 games in ‘26………he hardly needs to be slotted in the #7 spot. If he is, because the line-up is loooong, great! His value, as related to his stats/WAR for ‘26, was $17.5M+ …….. everyone here (most) may be tired of him not dominating/being average in LF at BEST/not enough HR’s/mostly, his vanilla personality ………….the guy hit well, in a platoon role…….he hit well in ‘24, in a platoon role! …..he hit RH pitching well in ‘25. He’s due a $1.5M raise in arbitration. To me, it’s not logical to not sign him……..if guys younger than him tare it up & force their way on to the roster, he’s a very valued trade chip from another Club’s point of view at that point.

The major problem with WINS in ‘26 has zero to do with Larnach. Lopez out all year - Abel out for 4.5 months - Festa out all year - Sands out 4.5 months - Banda out nearly 3 months - Ryan out 1.5 months……..Jeffers out 2.5 months…….& then there’s Buxton playing 85 games healthy …….any one of these has more to do with lack of success than Larnach’s periods of non-perfection. I don’t disagree that some changes should be made to improve…….:bringing guys from the organization up is hardly a “given for success” ……4 years ago Trevor Larnach & Matt Wallner were “the for sure future”. There’s room for 4 guys that would be considered 1st year players ………4 of 13 is 31% of the position players…. that’s not a small number…(Culpepper - Jenkins - Rodriguez - Gonzalez …….. to me, Roden is doubtful) Lee was a candidate to be sent down in May - Keaschall was a candidate to be sent down in May……… Clemens was rough through May……...Larnach was carrying much of the load until those guys got going in June…..he faltered on & off for stretches in the 2nd half ……. his FA market value for the overall output in ‘26 is $17.5M+ & he was paid $4.8M ……., thoughts are his salary may SKYROCKET to $6.3M in arbitration. Worst case - sign him for $6.5M and have a controlled trade chip. He should be the LH 2026 DH for 70-75% of the games with Keaschall & Buxton DHing from the right side. My BIGGEST issue is with those here that state his being released helps financially ……… a guy with his slash line……..3rd best hitter on Team with Jeffers gone ………. (Buxton plays when he can play) Larnach getting a $1.5M raise, being a problem is laughable.

I don’t disagree very much here ……. Lewis has the ability to play himself into the ‘28 - ‘30 seasons. The huge amount of money to spend is available only after losing 3 core rotation pieces, a reliever, & a depth starter/reliever in Ober. ………. your prediction has Caratini & Lewis gone as well …….. IF they could sign Jeffers to the 4 year deal you outline, I would trade Caratini prior to ‘27 season and pay 4 of the $10M he’ll be owed with his buyout. Lopez & Ryan being gone at the deadline obviously depends upon where they stand in July……..don’t see them trading away a ‘27 playoff run in the interest of having a better 2030.

Festa may not pitch at all ……… certainly not in the mix for a Rotation slot. Abel showed signs of being a real find in last 2-3 starts …… needs to get healthy and then re-establish command he showed before arm problems. I like ZERO spending on FA’s for pitching. Your thought on Festa, I like as a serious PEN depth candidate……… Matthews assuming a “Varland like” roll in the PEN. Ober to the PEN along with Rojas. The $$ spent on a guy that Team understands completely, in Ober. ROTATION: Bradley - Ryan - Lopez - Kremer - Abel - Prielipp ……… 6 guys for 5 spots to start the year with one of the latter 2 guys at AAA April 1 due to options available. PEN: Ober - Sands - Banda - Rojas - Funderburk - Gomez - Morris - Hoffman - Matthews - Nance - Paredes - Acton - etc. for more depth………….whoever performs in group above should provide a solid base to start the season………Festa - Anderson - Raya …….14 guys that all have the ability to be effective.

Not sure if you’re describing Royce Lewis - Byron Buxton (certainly at 27!) - Teoscar Hernandez - etc …….. hitting is hard & essentially all of them have holes…….. he hit .241 after June 10 in sum with .217 for July & .207 for September…….he was hitting around .165 before being sent down. So 3.5 pretty terrible months ……… .227 for the year (12 points lower than K. Clemens). Lewis had POOR strikeout ratio - your point is well made about his lack of ability to handle nearly ANY pitch away. He was sent down after being a 1 : 1 draft pick - he played some 2B & essentially moved to 3B on the fly during 2026. His “talent” allowed him to hit 15HR & steal 16 bases. IMO, with some more discipline at the plate via instruction - reps on pitches down & away - more experience………he’s a 25HR - 20SB guy in ‘27. He needs to strike out less and bump his OBP 25 points but these are not BIG shifts.

I sign them all for the total of $45.5M. ……..10 guys that are all roster worthy, IMO. Buxton - Lopez - Hoffman - Caratini will make roughly $58M between them. That’s $104M ……… 11 guys at $900K minimum salary & the total spen is $114M. There ZERO reason to think the Team Organization can’t afford or needs to trim payroll. This assumes correct 25 …….plus a handful of other young guys at $500K for the year, plus Correa’s $10M brings total to $125M. The spending budget should be $140M at a minimum. Can sign all these guys as insurance and then trade, as preferred, after labor negotiations. If a new FLOOR is established ……. there was talk mid-summer of $175M being the bottom end mandatory spend…….probably doesn’t take place immediately but $110M can’t be the budget goal!!

I understand the broad strokes comments about Payroll increases not being the cure all! Good decisions are tough to quantify in the near-term as lots of variables come into play going forward…….good decisions are hind-sight observations. Sure want to make positive moves & expect good results! However, Team cannot seriously improve the PEN via trade or FA w/o being willing to spend $15-$20M more in ‘27 (2 guys)….IMO. I do not think they sign any PEN pieces in off-season………they work with options in house and spend at the deadline (Minter - Hoffman types) via trade, if there’s an obvious need. Team cannot improve at Catcher without spending $5-$17M additional $$ over ‘26. There needs to be focus on 1 BAT improvement to be serious for any post-season chances. Maybe that’s not until the Deadline? It will cost some $$ over last 2 months or years going forward depending upon contract as well as a trade piece or two…..which is fine. LOTS of competition for good players in the market, that want $$$, so just wanting to “spend & sign guys” isn’t an easy task. ………. that competitive difficulty in signing guys really supports your point that they cannot rely on spending alone to fill the current voids. Wallner has been jettisoned, obviously, I like Ober in the PEN along side Rojas from the left side……..guys that can each throw 1+ - 3 innings per outing every 2-5 days depending upon pitches thrown. To me that’s valuable. It gets guys like Sands cut down to 1 inning max and not using him (them) with extraordinary expectations. I keep Ryan & see how things go & if it’s advantageous to sell at Deadline, then sure……. risk, sure but gives Team a real shot to be pretty decent out of Spring Training. I keep Larnach as the platoon guy opposite Keaschall & Buxton at DH. Larnach, when platooned, had very solid & “like years” in ‘24 & ‘26. He’s cheap at $7M for the value provided. I have no reason to think that Roden or Rodriguez will flourish as hitters and potential effective LH candidates at DH….big “maybe?” Trading Wallner & young pitcher ……… Roden & young pitcher may land a couple “potential assets” in the PEN…….. not counting on that working out. Buxton - Jenkins - Keaschall - Rodriguez - Gonzalez/Martin …….. Martin, to me is a stretch. He might go in a bundled deal with Roden or Wallner with a Team exploring OF depth/options. $157M in ‘23 …….$107M in ‘26 ……. gotta pay more $$ across the board to be competitive. Ryan - Larnach - Jeffers are all valuable players and paying them (guys like them) at market rates, does not swell the payroll to some level even approaching the ‘23 payroll spend……..Make a serious run at Jeffers & trade Caratini and pay $4M of &10M owed him and obtain a guy like Jackson IF $$ are that tight. …….. Jeffers leaves after QO year, or, if signed for multiple years, he can easily be moved when young guys in system are ready. Obviously, the various paths seem infinite at this point …….. am always hopeful that things will work out…….🤞

Unless he’s hurt - Jenkins is viewed as a Top 3 player on the Roster starting the season. Will he be healthy???? Clemens has certainly played his way on to the Roster over the past 1.6 years with the Twins! He’s definitely in the mix but more and more like Willi Castro roll v. everyday lock in line-up. …….. I’m 100% behind the Show Me school on earning a spot, so Jenkins isn’t a Star in my mind, yet, BUT, when healthy & with experience, his upside can’t be ignored …… they stuck with Lee - Clemens - Keaschall through early couple months of ‘26 with pretty poor performance from two of them with ups & downs with Clemens. Jenkins has enough obvious ability that he’s a lock on the Roster with a probable everyday spot in RF for the season…….regardless of Spring Training numbers.

Kody has been versatile and his splits aren’t wildly different ……. .233 v. LH & .241 v. RH. He’s on the Club! His 27HR’s can’t be dismissed! I don’t agree about the 2B defense… Team should be better there. I think he moves back & forth between 1B - 2B - Corner OF ………. really more of a guy that starts 75% of the time or more but he needs (Team’s responsibility) to hit down in the 6-7 spot in the line-up & not 3-4…….at least most of the time……..as you stated in part, his offense at 2B v. other guys in the game is high end, at least above average. Need better D there.

Surely lacking some organizational plan along with reasonable health from anticipated contributors. Tampa & Milwaukee & Cleveland are fabulous examples of what very shrewd FO/organization people can get done with less $$ resources. The KEY is they have discipline, a consistent philosophy, and a PLAN to operate within certain budget limits/goals. Minnesota spent $125M in ‘21 - $141M in ‘22 - $158M in ‘23 - $127M in ‘24 - $137M in ‘25 - $115M in ‘26 (after $$ adds from deadline trades)………the last 3 seasons have seen significant drops in spending w/o having this as a plan. They were averaging 5-7% payroll increase for a few years through ‘22…. ‘23 was the high & Team was in the playoffs. ‘25 & ‘26 spending were “planned on” in November/December shooting from the hip as compared to Tampa or Milwaukee or Cleveland. Of this past season’s spending $22M were paid to Lopez w/o any contribution on the mound……….$10M were paid against Correa’s salary in Houston. That’s $83M paid out for the players on the field through most of ‘26. No FO is going to succeed with this type of ownership behavior!

Not necessarily in 100% agreement but I did notice that you didn’t mention the guy I think is Most Overhyped - Emma Rodriguez. I would not feel bad at all if he was not on the roster to start & beyond ‘27. Morris looked great for a couple months & not so great on either side of those 2 months. 1 inning at a time is definitely his role. Pitch mix & 4-seam control are the things he & most other pitchers in the game need to refine. Abel threw 13 scoreless over his last 2 starts - he’s only thrown 59 MLB innings, so if healthy, I like him to be part of the mix going forward. Certainly not very established, as you point out. Morris - Hoffman - Gomez - Sands - Matthews - Ober - Festa - Parades - Acton are all Right Handers competing for PEN in ‘27……probably missed a couple? Banda - Funderburk - Rojas & ?? from Left side in PEN …,,….. could maybe make an argument by next July that 2-3 of these 12 guys could be part of the core going forward. Lopez - Ryan - Bradley - Prielipp - Abel - Kremer seems to be a group that “could” get it done but certainly not overwhelming for opponents……….Prielipp hasn’t pitched enough, with his tenuous health history, for me to think he’s part of the Core but he certainly made some steps forward - seemed much more comfortable over last handful of starts.

From May 1, until Banda got hurt at end of June, his ERA was 1.35 over 23 appearances. Sands hardly pitched all year & was expected to at least be a Top 4 guy from the PEN. Festa was a depth guy for rotation, then probably was to become what was Travis Adam’s spot…….longer relief. Abel gave up 0 runs over 13 innings in his last 2 starts. Festa is 25 & Abel is 24, so their “career stats”, IMO, aren’t really that significant. Team had to absorb the loss of Lopez as well, just because it happened at the beginning of Spring Training doesn’t mean that he doesn’t need to be replaced with depth that’s in place. …….then 2 more probable starters……..then Ober & then Ryan. The relievers aren’t exactly dominant guys but were counted on ……… losing 3 starters isn’t a typical occurrence for what ultimately becomes “a good Team” near the end of the season.