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JD-TWINS

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  1. One leads to the other - is Solano slapping the ball in front of the right fielder exciting? If he drives in a run - sure it is. Hard hit balls show high promise to then hit the ball over the fence at some point - denotes a confidence the hitter is winning the battle.
  2. Agree, he got rung up a number of times when the pitch appeared out of the zone. Too many times though in the zone AND on pitches too close to take that were marginal. Julien isn’t Ted Williams so his reputation isn’t going to help for another 5 years - umpires are proud & they aren’t Twin’s fans! Their pride will have Eduard coming up #2 on close calls for some time to come. Robo-umps may soon come into play and have some influence over this issue?
  3. Agree it’s frustrating watching him with 2 strikes & “taking”!…….I get the feeling he’s just arrogant enough to think he has such a great eye that he’s taking balls in most cases and the calls are wrong when he gets rung up. At any rate, he needs to be more aggressive or at least get better at protecting the plate by fouling off pitches if they are too close to take. COACHING may need to step in to help get through this obvious problem.
  4. Love Duran. Stated he should be higher than 11th. That said, he can’t be higher than Lee or especially Jenkins with their draft spots & evaluations to date - both viewed as franchise everyday players. Shifting gears, am going to suggest an “add on” at maybe 21-24 on our asset list that would cost zero trade capital/assets. Was on this guy in June/July and he ended up with the Angels. Free Agent - Right handed bat - plays all 3 OF spots - he has Michael Taylor power or better and has a career .761 OPS - 101 OPS+ - .249 BA. Randal Grichuk…….assuming he may cost near $6.5 - $8M/year but other than a nose dive offensively at the end of ‘23, he’s a solid player over a 10 year career. Better offensive upside than Bader or other journeymen available on the market. Worth considering………….Whit Merrifield is an option as well but not much CF there and probably more $$.
  5. Staumont - Alcala should help regarding workload………Thielbar is aging & seems to be more fit to come in and end innings a starter has begun. Funderburk - Stewart - Jax are the guys that will get the ball to Duran. 11 2/3 and 6 hits - 1 run over his appearances last year - really good. I think he takes over as the left hander in tight situations after the 6th. He looks to be a solid contributor over all of ‘24.
  6. Not sure how, when roughly 75% of pitchers are right handed, having Wallner & Kepler in the corner outfield spots is redundant. If Lee comes up by year’s end & Julien locks down 2B, maybe Lewis moves to LF by next Spring & Wallner shifts to right? If we add an OF bat, then they become redundant but not prior. Agreed, Paddack has a chance to be special after seeing his performance in September/October.
  7. Understand the angst! This isn’t a list of our best players or highest contributors in ‘24……………With that in mind - years of control - cost today and over years of control - obviously, ABILITY - age - etc. are all blended to try and come up with overall value.
  8. I like his value in the fact that he influences the games played toward Wins 55-60 times per year. That works!
  9. I gotta agree - Hawkins sense of humor comes through……..Smalley seems worn out - my biggest issue is that it sounds like he’s not miked up for about 60% of what he says. I like Roy but maybe, at approximately 72, he should hang up the booth duties?
  10. List seems reasonable again today. The fact that Raya is #13 really speaks to the inflated value prospects carry until they fail. Festa - Kirilloff - Varland - Paddack could all be, arguably, ahead of Raya. Gotta make choices though, so it’s all in the eye of the beholder. Duran having dropped 3 spots after being at #8 last year is pretty surprising. Hopefully, that means we got better with our top end depth. We’ll see how the list concludes but I would think it’s hard to argue he isn’t one of our top 6-7 assets if looking to move him.
  11. After seeing the attitude & velocity in a few outings out of the Pen in ‘23, am very bullish on Paddack! Not really worried about how he ranks here - Twins have him under control for 2 years at a good $$ number. I’d be happy if he started games until the All-star break & then moved to the Pen. Not very likely but it is a specific way to limit innings and getting him to help us win games. Hopefully, by mid July team will have a couple other options for some spot starts in the 2nd half. Handful of notable guys have come back from 2nd Tommy John - just as many have busted out of baseball. deGrom & Beuhler will be a couple other guys everyone will be scrutinizing. Will be interesting.
  12. “Farm guys” in the Top 20 that haven’t been unveiled, that is my meaning.
  13. List seems very reasonable to start……..waiting to see if there are any other Farm System guys other than Lee & Jenkins. Maybe Rodríguez?………..are any prospects available for trading capital?
  14. A aside: For some Fandom emotion stirring early in the year………the Twins are posted in the first MLB Power Rankings as 17th. Wow!! Cubs - Padres - Brewers - Mariners - all seeded ahead of Twins. Lopez is a potential Cy Young guy going into ‘24. Duran is arguably the closer with best stuff in the game. Julien - Lewis - Kirilloff - Jeffers - Correa - Wallner - Ober - Ryan as a big part of the core……..do not understand the, IMO, major slight! 11 people combined on these rankings.
  15. Not a chance for those 2 guys! Luzardo is a top 20 pitcher going into ‘24. He’s the guy I coveted for Arraez last year (no complaints with Pablo!). Polanco - Larnach (float Kepler) - Festa - Winder or Sands - maybe another prospect of their choice? ……..any 26 man guys & Lee & Jenkins are staying put…….maybe add Vazquez + $3.5M/year? Add Larnach & his upside to a corner spot with Marlins along with Polanco at 2B……..Jazz in CF - Bell at 1B - Arraez as DH ….can rotate Bell, Arraez, & Polanco between those 3 spots. For Luzardo, if Marlins want to spend the $$, I would roll the dice & trade ………… Kepler/Polanco/Festa/Winder/………another prospect……..maybe E. Rodriguez would be more attractive for corner OF spot than Larnach or Kepler? Focus on Luzardo & do whatever is necessary, IMO.
  16. Jorge Polanco had a WAR in ‘23 of 2.0……he only played 80 games. Stanton is cited as having a high “WAR of 3.70 just 3 years ago…….” we already have him for $10.5M on the roster. A guy with potential that’s hurt all the time…….Polanco. Oh, I almost forgot about Byron…………Stanton has to be the worst contract in Baseball! Comical thought though. Alcantara coming off a poor year & not available for ‘24 due to surgery & potentially not being the same when he comes back all sounds like he should be almost free…….not a real attraction to pay much for the ability to display a ‘22 Cy Young trophy. Steer was voted the Reds MVP in ‘23 - with McClean healthy & DeLaCruz & E. - Strand with some experience they are on their way to the Central title. I live in Cincinnati & they could/would trade Petty but they don’t have ANY every day player position holes to fill - Zero!
  17. Off the rails here but how about a dominant Left Hander?😉
  18. Depth & availability ……Polanco, 104 games in ‘22 & 80 games in ‘23. Career .270 hitter - hit .235 in ‘22 & .255 in ‘23. Less of a defender than Farmer at 2B & 3B. IMO, Farmer is the depth answer with some combination of Martin & Lee as the season progresses. Polanco, (not considered a bag of balls, but regressing) bundled with a couple other guys may get us an arm of consequence……again, to me, that is the depth that is needed.
  19. All very possible…….probable on some level. Jeffers playing more may/will lead to fatigue & pitcher’s respecting him more will lead to more difficulty at the plate. Stewart was hard to believe in ‘23 & has set a very high bar. Kepler is just a flat out wildcard - am hoping that his previous year’s issues were between his ears and he’s corralled those issues?? Castro, I think, just got better and more comfortable at the plate. He’s relatively young & a very good athlete - hoping his offensive drop is slight. Regression or a drop in performance could happen to just about the entire roster for differing reasons…….trying to stay upbeat for ‘24.
  20. Brewers or Marlins…….aim high! Brewers: Lost Woodruff to injury & FA…….traded Hauser……….going to trade Burnes by the deadline at the latest. They are rebuilding (even if they aren’t telling the fans) and want young controllable pieces that don’t cost anything. Along with this, Polanco helps keep them competitive for the fans sake over ‘24 & ‘25. Polanco - Larnach - Festa - Sands from Twins to attain Devin Williams. Larnach has OF upside & can DH at low cost……Festa provides long-term upside. Williams is an All-star under control for 2 years & he makes our Pen elite at a cost of $6.25M in ‘24. Marlins: They need offense and we can offer the same upside with Larnach…….steadying, consistent bat and versatile defender with Polanco………immediate relief plug-in with Sands ……….future upside arm with Festa. These guys for Luzardo. He’s got 3 years left and is electric with stuff. IF needed, we dig deeper on prospects with E. Rodríguez to allow them some flexibility with how they use Jazz. Moving Polanco for value is going to take a few other guys.
  21. As another commenter stated … Miranda needs to hit his way back to the Show. Can’t roster him on 26 man & hope! Martin as a 1B option doesn’t add up……..have the option in hand v. seeking it when Miranda isn’t performing. 22% K rate and tons of experience and played 1B just fine in ‘23. Twins don’t need him to play 2-3 positions. Pinch hit - 1B - DH a little and we’re good.
  22. Call someone that wants a cheap bat that can DH & play 3 other spots if needed……mix with another guy & make a trade.
  23. I agree……to my knowledge, the best Twins Team other than the 3 World Series clubs. The Orioles were solid & deep everywhere. This team’s 98 wins without Carew for 100 plus games shows how good they were. Carew, when in the line-up for 51 games, hit .366 with an OPS+ over 150. If he’s available, Baltimore may have been on more of an even level?
  24. Reasonable thought! Not sure why there isn’t a specific number shown here - speculation, understood, but at least some point of reference. My guess is $3.25M maximum. For that amount of money, it’s a worthwhile depth move. Twins don’t know for sure what Kirilloff’s timetable will be to perform at 100%. Everyone anticipates he’ll be fine - hope so. Twins don’t know for sure if/when Miranda will be able to hit at MLB level again. Everyone anticipates he’ll be OK with good health - hope so. With these two guys BOTH targeted for 1B & with mild question marks with each, the Twins could use a mix of performance - continuity - experience that Donny B. would provide. At that number, if Miranda is crushing it in Spring Training, it’s probable Twins can move Solano with somebody else to provide depth to another club that had experienced an injury in Spring Training. Worth a shot to ensure that the season isn’t kicked off short-handed.
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