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JD-TWINS

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  1. JD-TWINS
    One missing nuance is Maeda……. Reducing innings is a way to help keep guys fresh but skipping starts is the real way to get it done. Ryan to IL for his leg got him 3 skipped starts or about 2 plus weeks completely off. Currently doing the same with Ober, if not longer than 2 weeks. Kuechel & Maeda have no innings build up this year because of their limited use over April-June. Lopez & Gray probably get 1 skip each once we get to the last 3 series……a couple more weeks.
  2. JD-TWINS
    CC has a foot injury - he where’s a heating pad or a brace around his lower back while in the dugout. He plays a solid SS! He’s 29, with a good track record. I do not see Correa as dead money. Buxton may be?
  3. JD-TWINS
    It’s about clubhouse continuity and spending the $11M salary every possible way imagined. Don’t want any chance to regret releasing him a day too soon. He’s the depth at 1B right now until Kirilloff is physically back with the team. The fact that Julien played an entire game at 1B is a real sign that they are covering any weakness created with a Gallo departure.
  4. JD-TWINS
    Julien is not better than Kirilloff - maybe on a similar level? Less of a Defender at 1B or OF. “……..when he’s healthy…….”. Polanco has played maybe 60 games this year to date. If we keep Polanco & Kepler there’s nowhere to play Julien other than DH. Wallner is the other corner OF at this point. Nobody that’s rebuilding wants to pay Polanco nor Kepler unless the receiving team is on the brink of a World Series appearance………difficult to trade either guy for reasonable value back. For a combined $21M in ‘24 they are a really good combined value! How we do/they do in October will drive whether we keep them in ‘24 or we go young.
  5. JD-TWINS
    October Pen could be pretty solid - even very good…….Current back end 4 of Pagan, Jax, Thielbar, & Duran along with Funderburk, Varland, & either Maeda or Ryan & either Kuechel or Stewart……….Kuechel/Stewart being effective is a stretch but the other 7 guys can carry the load. Seems the team with a Pen that’s been through struggles & underperformed and now ready in the Playoffs! Kirilloff - Lewis - Solano - (reborn)Kepler - Polanco - Jeffers - Julien all healthy together seems to be a strong possibility for October. The author’s point of Buxton & Correa & Wallner being icing on the cake/fringe players is well made. Lopez - Gray - Ober healthy would be a nice bonus! Reason for optimism in October.
  6. JD-TWINS
    Weather delay?
  7. JD-TWINS
    Needed his flexibility & still do until Kirilloff comes back. Room now for him with expanded roster. I agree on the Clubhouse Karma slant - exactly right. I honestly think we’ll carry 11 pitchers and 15 position players in October. Still don’t see Joey being rostered. He may be dressed & around the dugout but I don’t see him being rostered!!
  8. JD-TWINS
    Your logic is spot on for the probable market. After having watched him here in Cincinnati and now with the Twins the past couple years, I see a fragile guy that has fortunately experienced great health to date this year. He’s going to be 34. He loves to compete but has also stated this year “might be it”. I don’t like his health upside but I do respect that he’s going to probably battle for 25 starts per year on any roster. My offer is more $ for a shorter stint. If the Pro grind is getting to him, maybe a sweeter pot for a shorter term may be attractive to him? I think it’s the Team’s best move. Less risk. 2 years - year one is for $24M & year 2 is a player option at $26M. Good numbers for him. If he really wants to walk (retire) after ‘24, he can. The $24M is guaranteed & 50% of year 2 is guaranteed (security) if he gets hurt & can’t throw in ‘25. If he retires the Twins give him a $5M parting gift. I like Ober - Ryan - Lopez - Maeda (his $) - Paddack…….these guys with possibilities from the Farm seem to make sense. Spend some pitching $$ on the Pen - at least “a guy”. Please stay away fro Mahle!!!
  9. JD-TWINS
    AL West is pretty good…….Angels have a healthy Ohtani & Trout & Rodon (3rd baseman?) & they can compete with anyone. The A’s have quit………….Rangers - Astros - Mariners can all really play!!!!!
  10. JD-TWINS
    When CC was hitting .290 in ‘22 he was everybody’s darling. When Buxton almost won the MVP in the All-Star game in ‘22 he was everybody’s darling. HINDSIGHT is 20/20…….the FO doesn’t have a Crystal Ball……..Kepler (wanted him gone big time in early June) is playing fantastic baseball. He’s actually a guy, maybe THE guy I want to come up now in clutch situations. Like a different player! Gallo is a terrible hitter! Total lack of ability to make any adjustments that may help …….extremely versatile on Defense…..couple homers early in first half helped win a few games. He needs to go soon but with Kirilloff out, he’s not going anywhere. immediately. FO is tough job - make choices with info in front of you & then hope for the best for 6-7 months. Solano - Taylor - Farmer - Vazquez have brought veteran depth needed on a winning team. Not been perfect but has been pretty damn good.
  11. JD-TWINS
    Past 40 years the mid-market/small-market teams in the AL Central have won 5 World Series Championships. 12.5% of them………6 divisions now, 16.6% would be totally balanced outcome. We are poor as a Division now because Reinsdorf is ancient, lost touch - KC doesn’t seem to care about record - Detroit is nearly a continual rebuild - Cleveland (sniffed a Series Win for years) seems too frugal now to win a Championship. The Guardians will remain competitive but maybe not strong enough? Twins seem to be headed in right direction both with young talent on the scene now - more young talent over the next 2-3 years - proper spending. Willingness to spend & be patient both - needed traits in the FO. I don’t see doom & gloom in the AL Central going forward.
  12. JD-TWINS
    I don’t think Terry Francona would work for an owner that doesn’t care. He has a budget - no doubt. They are a proud group. They had Bell - at some market price. He gave them blah results - sparked the Marlins a bit. They could pick up the CF from Colorado via Angels - Grichuk(?) & Renfroe via Reds……….both affordable options and with Kwan, a solid offensive outfield. Naylor’s can both hit. Rameriz is fantastic - under rated All-Star. A guy like Brantley (Houston this year) as an inexpensive DH? I assume they have somebody that’s not a pitcher that’s a decent prospect in their system. I am not saying they are a guy away from the ‘27 Yankees but I am saying they aren’t that far from being a playoff potential team. Pitching wins and they have young arms. The fact that Francona seems 90% of the way out the door hurts them the most next year. Not terribly fearful of the Guardians but they have a chance to be decent in ‘24. Will they spend $30-$40M? Their current payroll can’t be much more than $60M.
  13. JD-TWINS
    Like the previous comments, I too dislike the typical negativity about the team - individuals - the FO. Great to hear up beat point of view. While I agree with most of what you say about the Twins competition in the Central, the Guardians are certainly not that distant from the Twins going forward. Their Pen is easily on par or better than the Twins as of today…….I do like our upside with a little bit of improved health……….. Their rotation, once Bieber & McKenzie return is on par with ours as well! So, if pitching is relatively level, it doesn’t take big adds to the Naylor Bros. - Rameriz - Kwan to be competitive. They let Civale go & they traded Josh Bell …….nothing stopping them from getting an offensive OF in free agency and they’d have 5-6 good major league weapons in their line-up. I do agree, Lewis - Kirilloff - Lee, along with Julien & Wallner seem special to us/me, but I know nothing about their farm guys. If they touted system depth backed by Larnach & particularly Miranda, I would chuckle at their optimism! Fandom goes only so far before reality has to take hold. I like our chances in first 2 rounds this year - no guarantees but a real chance! Going forward, if we can have reasonable health, we look strong and the organization seems to spend enough to help supplement the farm system………very encouraging stuff for next 5 plus years!!
  14. JD-TWINS
    To me, Stewart should be left alone this year - awfully late in year to be returning w/o a handful of appearances to get sharp. Alcala, Paddack, Stewart all fall in same category to me………..let’s look again when healthy in February!
  15. JD-TWINS
    We can shuffle the roster/staff for each series. Only need 3 starters but we’ll roster 4 for the Wildcard Round. With 4 starters & travel days there’s no short rest for anyone starting. I like our existing 4 Pen guys (Pagan-Jax-Thielbar-Duran) plus 3 added relievers. I was into Ryan’s velocity being in the Pen along with Varland & Funderburk. If Ryan keeps throwing the way he has his past couple outings, he needs to be our 3rd starter. Due to his effectiveness over 3 months and the rest he’s getting now, my assumption is Ober will be our 4th starter, as needed. Maeda, most likely to the Pen. Kuechel has a long shot chance at a Pen spot but I think they’ll maximize the number of bats/position players and just carry 11-12 pitchers total.
  16. JD-TWINS
    If he does, somebody got hurt, or it’s a 2-3 inning “opener” ploy. I think it would be interesting to see Kuechel/Varland/Funderburk - /closer in September just to get a feel for its effectiveness. May be some merit to this!!??? 2-3 innings - 3-4 innings - 2 innings
  17. JD-TWINS
    Vazquez is a veteran, a career .270 BA guy, a winner, good chemistry guy & his high energy all matter. Solid defense - not supreme but solid. On the statistics side, Camargo’s .247 BA in St. Paul doesn’t translate to any better than Vazquez’ .226 BA in the Show. He’s overpaid at his current level of offense, no doubt, but he would be considered an excellent back-up/2nd catcher in the game. Other than Texas, I don’t know of any other team with two good offensive catchers? Can’t release a solid guy & pay him $10M a year at a position where depth is king. Knock on wood, we’re lucky neither catcher has been out more than a couple days this season! Gallo had a terrible history & we took a shot - a failure in the big picture - couple cool highlights, that’s it. Vazquez had a solid history and we were a bit desperate for depth so we grabbed a guy at the end of his productive years. Farmer - Vazquez - Solano - Taylor………all part of a plan to have experienced depth when needed. Been working - not perfect but effective.
  18. JD-TWINS
    One can tell they really like his 1B defense since last night they could have pinch it Vazquez v. LH pitcher with RISP & then had him play 1B. Instead they left Gallo in the game and gave up the automatic out with Gallo at the plate. Once Kirilloff is back & Castro is back, the expanded roster starts to clog & Joey may be gone quickly…….Luplow v. Gallo??
  19. JD-TWINS
    Solano is batting .294 (or close) after going 4 for 5 last night, his only out was a line drive 390ft to the track in center. Kepler pinch hit - came through against lefty - fled to track in left for an out - then got another hit. Polanco is hitting from both sides of the plate. These guys, with Lewis & Kirilloff, need to be the meat of our line-up! I would certainly move CC. The double plays & lack of any thought to give himself up to move runners isn’t tolerable. Everyday v. RH pitching I would bat 1-6, JulienDH-Polanco-Kepler-Kirilloff-Lewis-Walner, with CC-Jeffers-Taylor……… V. LH pitching I would bat CC-Lewis-SolanoDH-Jeffers-Kirilloff-Farmer-Luplow-Walner-Taylor Castro-Vazquez……maybe Buxton for our 14-15 guys/bats in October. 11-12 pitchers depending upon which series. Seems any move from the 3 or 4 spot reduces pressure on Correa.
  20. JD-TWINS
    Sure would expect a minimum of 5-4 through those 9. Can we go 10-8 in the other remaining games? That would get us to 85 wins……sure hope that’s our minimum. Good news is, with our stater depth on the staff, even if we dial a couple guys back, we’ll still have quality on the mound each day in the last few series.
  21. JD-TWINS
    8 guys, maybe only 7 guys in the Pen in October. Can shuffle roster after each series. 11 or 12 man staff: Extra hitters!! Could non-roster Ober in first 3 game series for an extra bat? Rotation: Lopez, Gray, Maeda, & Ober Baseline Pen: Thielbar, Pagan. Jax, & Duran Options: Ryan, Varland, Kuechel, Funderburk Maybe’s: Stewart Varland & Ryan are hard throwing - 2 inning guys that can get us the 6th & 7th alternately in playoff games or the 7th & 8th. Baseline 4 above typically handle 8th & 9th! If Ryan keeps throwing well, deeper into September, it’s difficult not to exchange him with Ober in rotation.
  22. JD-TWINS
    Music to my ears, Varland out of the bullpen! Varland average velocity 97MPH plus. Kirilloff 3 hits - back to Twins soon!! I think with the offensive issues v. LH pitching the team has had, it will be tough to release Luplow this month. With Castro back & Kirilloff back I can’t see any justification to keep Gallo on the roster. They can move Stevenson back & a pitcher to open roster spots for those 2 guys in the short term………..Buxton has to displace Gallo later this month. Hopefully, Varland will displace Floro some time soon!
  23. JD-TWINS
    -9:00 p.m. - good call - Guardians grabbed all 3 pitcher - blocked us from grabbing Moore
  24. JD-TWINS
    It’s a tie game in extra’s and you are in scoring position - no earthly reason to be aggressive on a pop foul ball on the infield! I understand he didn’t plan on falling down but after the catch we got 2 more shots at driving him in for the win - then no chance - come on Joey.
  25. JD-TWINS
    Kepler’s .250BA - 21 HR - .802 OPS & solid D makes him one of the top 3-4 Right Fielders in the AL ……..Top 6-7 in the game!! Verdugo - Garcia are similar offensively with BA & OPS & just a few ticks ahead of Kepler. Don't see other guys play much but Max’s defense is still top shelf!
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