JD-TWINS

Not sure I understand Castro being MVP? Other TD (different writer apparently) had Castro as 7th in MVP listing. Anyway, Jax & Sands & Santana all have nerdy stats that actually showed up in numerous wins in ‘24. Castro definitely was a major contributor this season but his nerdy stat seems like a serious reach, IMO.

Vazquez

He finished 7th in TD’s MVP analysis. His OPS was .717……he was 3rd in WAR in ‘24 right behind the 2 superduds. I completely agree though that he should be signed with the current potential void at 2B and the tenuous anchors in CF & 3B. $6.25M is not a salary that’s excessive for a guy that can competently play 5 positions and help in a big way offensively a dozen times or more per year.

I can’t imagine that a $5M salary with bonus structure is a big help to payroll v. a probable $6.25M arbitration settlement…..certainly not enough $$ to lose flexibility & competence on the roster. I’d sign him and if somebody comes calling with a prospect of real interest - then maybe move him. I do have very little confidence in trading a middling roster guy for a prospect that may or may not develop into a middling roster guy.

To start, there is no way to trade the Vazquez contract. Him being moved would necessitate the Twins covering at least half of the $$ - no upside there. Unfortunate. I think you are right on the concern of relying on Stewart & Topa. One of them may work out……maybe portions of each over the year? Topa - Stewart - Funderburk - Moran - Winder - Headrick - Henriquez - Blewett ………these guys need to cover 2-3 spots in Pen. Jax - Sands - Varland - Paddack - Duran - Alcala are a very solid core!

I do not see the value in ridding $6.2M to lose a back-up/starter at 5 different positions. Castro isn’t some super hero and there are guys that can be rationalized as “able” to pick up his innings (spread over couple young guys) but they either lack in defense or offense by comparison. Again, he’s not fantastic by any means……..I just don’t see what he’s brining in trade value. We would get back some low level “prospect”. If he could be packaged with another 1 or 2 guys, maybe the return makes sense. Kiersey only bats LH - Martin only RH. Martin could use another 8-10Lbs of bulk/strength just to improve durability but that’s probably not in the cards. He is sub-par to Castro defensively. If Lee showed more promise at the plate moving Castro could make sense. If Keaschall is expected to be available in early months (arm) then it may make sense. If Correa’s feet problems are actually behind him it may make sense. Can Buxton play CF regularly 115 games)? Farmer will be gone and Julien is tenuous at the plate and on defense. Lewis is a coin flip for availability………..to me, Castro is inexpensive depth at 5 positions. Castro - Correa - Lewis - Buxton - Vazquez - Wallner - Larnach are the 7 guys I see as part of the roster w/o question……….that leaves 6 other spots to be filled ……….Miranda - Kirilloff - Jeffers are probable……that leaves 3 spots to be filled…….I expect 2 of these will be minimum $$ guys………who might be the one FA Bat??

The owners didn’t write the article. A fan wrote it with the intent of generating debate. The ownership is selling the Team and has no reason to sell assets that are affordable and are talented on a “League Level”, not just Twins talented. The last thing a “seller” needs to do is alienate the current customer base they and NEW owners want to grow, nor reduce the value of the asset they are selling!!

Would you trade Jarren Duran, at all, period? Seems like a pretty low % move for the Boston FO. Not personal here…..,Nick has written an article for all to discuss - that’s it. He’s not representing the Twins. No way, with 3 years of control, are Ryan or Ober getting traded. They are inexpensive, veteran arms that have been steadily improving. They both fall in the Top 40 starters in baseball. Lopez may be a guy one could look at trading at the deadline - very doubtful in ‘25, better potential in ‘26 with one plus years of control remaining for trade partner. His salary makes more sense to move if $$ are a terribly big need. With the Team being up for SALE, I don’t see any talented, high profile players getting dealt……,.moving him would not be a good look for a new regime either. Morris - Lewis - Matthews - Raya (one or two) need to really show something special at AAA for any of the core rotation guys to start being discussed as potential trade pieces.

Really think with SWR & Festa maturing and refining, there is a chance the 5 guys that would be initial rotation are solid. Duran - Jax - Topa - Stewart - Sands - Alcala - Paddack - Varland can be the headliners for the Pen that can be Top level. Moran - Headrick - Funderburk - Henriquez - Winder - Blewett. Per your comments….the core, Correa - Buxton - Wallner - Larnach - Lewis, are the guys I don’t see the FO moving off. Vazquez is a fixed asset. Castro is probable due to flexibility. Everyone else that’s on the offensive side can be expendable or replaceable. Should be interesting to see who’s around in late March.

Thanks for the background! Lemon was a player my Mom talked about in my youth as a favorite of hers………I was born in ‘62 and just always assumed he had more success in Minnesota. Good background here. ………………………. Was curious about how Killebrew had done in Washington - a contrast of some of your numbers that Lemon had put up: ’59 - 42 HR….’60 - 31 HR…’61 - 46 HR….’62 - 48 HR……’63 - 42…..’64 - 49 In ‘59 at age 23 he lead the AL & then again age 26-28 he lead 3 straight years. TWINS fans must have been completely jazzed about Harm!!! …….then a Series in ‘65

I can’t imagine that Jax wanting to be a starter having any more weight than the 2nd year salesman for XYZ company wanting to be Sales V.P. - glad you both have ambitions! Paddack - Varland - Topa - Stewart ALL being added to Sands - Alcala - Jax - Duran makes the ‘25 Pen elite. Stewart may only throw 32 innings ……. Topa may only throw 40 innings but if they are both available for October I am happy with that. Blewett a possibility to keep? Moran or Funderburk throwing to adequate levels? Winder & Headrick for depth? Ronny Henriquez will be in play! Lopez - Festa - SWR - Ober - Ryan Morris - Lewis - Matthews - Raya readying at AAA. I may be naive or dreaming but I think this staff gets it done. NEED a BAT!!!!

Not in major disagreement with this and have no serious ill thoughts about ownership in 80’s v. 2020’s. It seems though that Carl & Mrs. are getting painted in some very glowing fashion here. They did deliver the fan base from the Griffith’s - that was a big deal!!!! However, they also owned the team when MLB was going to contract the franchise and Courts stopped that action in the near-term. Players had success and it all went away - Carl & Eloise weren’t stopping the contraction movement to my recollection.

Cannot say this slant on “what may be coming” is not accurate. However, the Orioles roster is one high ranked or previously (young) high ranked prospect after another. The ownership group has been there for months at this point. Inherited low payroll with (theoretically) a bunch of young talent. A previous ownership that wasn’t going to spend. They went out & got Burnes immediately and had Kimbrel on payroll & made some deadline moves……….my point is that the $20M less payroll than Twins isn’t necessarily the mindset for the organization going forward…….will be interesting to see how they treat the Santander free agency. Bottom line is numerous posts here state that there is uncertainty with new Twins ownership, if & when there’s new ownership. Fingers crossed! My thought is that it’s hard to imagine an ownership group putting together $1.5-$1.7B for meager operating profits and a sub-par ROI and not being motivated to get a kick out of WINNING!

Not sure how one turns $44M into $1.8B in traditional market investments? I get it’s over 40 years ………. but if you DOUBLE the investment every 10 years it’s $704M. This is with ZERO profitability in operations over all 40 years combined. Is my math or thinking way off??? LMK…..btw, doubling an investment’s value every 10 years is essentially a fantasy.

Assume he’s talking about Sands - Ober - Jax - Ryan.

IMO, can’t do it. He’s always wanted to start - doubt until one has a few years of success, that a pitcher wants to be in the Pen. They were all starters once……he wants to maximize his ability to make $$ - can’t blame him. His stuff plays up so well in 12-20 pitch outings. Have said it here a few times, Jax has wiffleball stuff. His tailing change-up with the sweeper and 97 MPH on a string at the letters or knees is just too good to fool with. His ability to get 18 outs regularly would be a lot different than getting 2-4 outs at a time. Can’t go max effort for 85-100 pitches and his stuff plays up to another level when he goes max effort. Not the same guys, but look at Varland & Paddack going for 10-22 pitches at a time v. being starters. Last, Lewis - Morris - Matthews - Raya will all be in AAA with starter stuff and mindset just in case they are needed (when they are) due to one of top 5 guys scuffling. PEN could be like Cleveland’s with JAX - DURAN - SANDS - VARLAND - PADDACK - TOPA - STEWART - ALCALA ……Henriquez - Funderburk - Blewett - Moran - Winder. 8 guys with really good bullpen stuff and some depth pieces to fill in as needed. Players available OPTIONS obviously come into play but for the most part this could be the Team’s strength, IMO.

Not sure there’s any other kind of owner group ……. it’s not the same as 15-30 years ago…….Billionaire’s now buying a toy for attention! Gotta spend or you get negative attention. If guys running the organization, under ownership, are solid then they should be competitive regularly! Better ways to make money in the near term, if one can raise $1.8 Billion, than operational profits on a Sports Franchise………..I think it’s 90% chance of good things to come and just 10% or so this could be a negative going forward.

Agreed on the Alcantara ranking - as we all know, it’s just a forecasted value on a player’s 5 tools though………..how high was Brooks Lee ranked across baseball (I don’t know) but his first foray wasn’t something that instilled an extremely high level future at the plate. He may improve and Alcantara may pan out - at any rate, I’d hang on to both Jax & Vazquez for a push in ‘25!

Packers have been very fortunate with Favre trade, Rodgers draft, & what appears to be a very solid Love via draft! Credit to them. New GM’s, granted, but same “ownership group” trade for John Hadl in a blockbuster at one point.

The former Red Wing Training School (right on Hwy. 61) Bobby Zimmerman?? Can’t be. Maybe somebody’s been sending Joe Pohlad the lyric from Positively 4th Street and saying he was Dylan? That could have taken the family over the edge! 😉

While I agree with essentially everyone here that this will be a positive move ……… difficult to imagine anyone or any group spending north of $1.5 billion and not be pressed from within to spend to win at some higher level than the Pohlad’s……..the “careful what you wish for……” thought popped into my head immediately & may be real. There are many of us that remember the Griffith Family ownership & they were “baseball people”………..tight as one could imagine!!! Hope this goes the right way - pretty confident it will. STILL need sound organizational people and some players to succeed. Here’s to the new buyer!

Is it realistic to have a local channel as well? Am curious. The local channel wouldn’t have to pay much w/o any market protection & I assume MLB wants $$ from streaming platforms? I like the flexibility this other alternative would bring but having a competitive broadcast doesn’t seem to be able to be pulled off - to me. Hope so!

I agree - don’t see Falvey making any changes at Catcher due to Vazquez restrictive $$ cost and Jeffers completely unimpressive defense AND his 3.5 months of really poor offensive production to finish the season. Can’t imagine who wants this with any sort of return. No real replacement available in the system that is clear cut right now. Garver though, not the answer at Catcher …… no issue with trading him. He’s played 54 - 87 - 114 games over the past 3 years. I don’t think he’s caught more than 40 games in those 3 years combined. He’s hit .207 - .270 - .172 in his last 3 seasons. He has a nice ‘23 but again he played 87 games at nearly all being the DH. His “availability” over his career has been terrible, even when used as a DH. This past season is his total game played high at 114.

Detroit’s playoff roster salary total is around $19M. Baez - Maeda - ……Skubal …..along with a couple other arbitration guys will take the ‘25 payroll (as it currently stands) to around $80M……….ownership in Detroit isn’t going to add $80-$100M/yr spending. Doesn’t mean they won’t be pretty good. KC spending more is likely based on their success. They have better core talent than Detroit. Cleveland maintain’s their competitiveness year to year. They’ll be good again. To me, this should be a great impetus for the Pohlad’s to become more aggressive in a very good Division. They don’t want to go backward. I don’t believe they don’t care …. wealthy people are prideful and may not wish to choose to lose money in an operation but I don’t think for a second that the negative press doesn’t wear on the Family. Getting back closer to 2023 payroll is probable, particularly since Lopez & Correa have been under contract for 2 years and the 2025 raises have been a known issue for some time. Moran - Haedrick - Funderburk …….Blewett - Henriquez - Stewart - Winder (7 guys) are all potential periphery guys for the Pen. Duran - Jax - Varland - Paddack - Topa - Sands are all core guys for 2025 Pen (6 guys). Could be a strength! 9 guys between Ryan - Ober - Lopez - SWR - Festa ………Morris - Matthews - Lewis - Raya. A stable base to work from and complete enough to free up Paddack & Varland. Efforts need to be put into lifting the offense!! Buxton - Correa - Larnach - Wallner are the only 4 guys I have confidence in going forward and at least 3 of those 4 are potentially prone to prolonged droughts……….Lewis - Miranda - Jeffers - Vazquez - Castro are others that one would assume are on the Opening Day roster. That’s 4 open spots based on who may be acquired and who looks good in the Spring. Martin/Kiersey ……..Keaschall/Lee are guys one would look at as internal options. Julien needs tonight up AAA for a bit to get any serious consideration. To me, one FA bat or trade partner bat needs to be brought in to supplement these known options.

2024 POLANCO talk is deluded……he hit .213 - his OPS was .651 - he played in 118 games, shockingly, due to injuries……struck out over 30% of his AB’s……93 OPS+……..pretty sure the Mariners aren’t rushing to the bargaining table to resign Jorge. Kyle Farmer hit .214 with a .642 OPS as a contrast.