vulturepaj

Please please please make it stop.

Please please please make it stop.

Please please please make it stop.

Please please please make it stop.

There is NO downside to the pitch clock.  None.  There is even less time between innings now.  Who's against that???
I don't necessarily agree with the shift ban -- less legislation is almost always correct -- but let's move on.
TWINS COUNTRY, LET'S RIDE

There is NO downside to the pitch clock.  None.  There is even less time between innings now.  Who's against that???
I don't necessarily agree with the shift ban -- less legislation is almost always correct -- but let's move on.
TWINS COUNTRY, LET'S RIDE

I gotta say, trading Gio was worth it simply because I don't have to listen to his walk-up song anymore.  Horrible.

1) Polanco (S)  -- 2B
2) Correa (R) -- SS
3) Buxton (R) -- CF/DH
4) AK47 (L) -- 1B/DH
5) Miranda (R) -- 3B/1B/DH
6) Gallo (L) -- LF/RF
7) Larnach/Walner/Taylor/Gordon - (L/R) -- DH/OF
8) Kepler (L) - RF
9) Vazquez/Jeffers (R) -- C 

1) Polanco (S)  -- 2B
2) Correa (R) -- SS
3) Buxton (R) -- CF/DH
4) AK47 (L) -- 1B/DH
5) Miranda (R) -- 3B/1B/DH
6) Gallo (L) -- LF/RF
7) Larnach/Walner/Taylor/Gordon - (L/R) -- DH/OF
8) Kepler (L) - RF
9) Vazquez/Jeffers (R) -- C 

Should they go all in? How would a trade of Ober, SWR, Rodriguez, and Salas for Zac Gallon look. It's a big price to pay, but they'd have a rotation of Gallon, Lopez, Ryan, Gray and Mahle, with Maeda as the long relief/fill in starter. Still having Varland and Winder in AAA ready to fill in this year or next year. It sets your rotation up for the next few years, even if you only sign one of the three FA's next year. (Gray, Mayhle and Maeda). 
It's bold, but is sends a message to the team and fans, that they're trying to win it all, not just win the division. 

I wouldn't call it "fun" watching Arraez not get to a routine ball in LF to lose a game.
Nor would I call it "fun" watching him air mail 1B to lose another soon after.

Gallo is a gold glove defender in the OF.
Who is your DH if Larnach and Kiriloff aren't on the roster? 
I really don't get this at all.

I looked up last season. Opening Day April 8, first transaction 4/12.
4/12 - Recalled Jax, Alcala to IL
4/13 - Larnach and Derek Rodriguez up, Kirilloff and Cotton down
4/14 - Garlick up, Rodriguez down
The Opening Day roster lasted 4 games.

1) Polanco (S)  -- 2B
2) Correa (R) -- SS
3) Buxton (R) -- CF/DH
4) AK47 (L) -- 1B/DH
5) Miranda (R) -- 3B/1B/DH
6) Gallo (L) -- LF/RF
7) Larnach/Walner/Taylor/Gordon - (L/R) -- DH/OF
8) Kepler (L) - RF
9) Vazquez/Jeffers (R) -- C 

1) Polanco (S)  -- 2B
2) Correa (R) -- SS
3) Buxton (R) -- CF/DH
4) AK47 (L) -- 1B/DH
5) Miranda (R) -- 3B/1B/DH
6) Gallo (L) -- LF/RF
7) Larnach/Walner/Taylor/Gordon - (L/R) -- DH/OF
8) Kepler (L) - RF
9) Vazquez/Jeffers (R) -- C 

1) Polanco (S)  -- 2B
2) Correa (R) -- SS
3) Buxton (R) -- CF/DH
4) AK47 (L) -- 1B/DH
5) Miranda (R) -- 3B/1B/DH
6) Gallo (L) -- LF/RF
7) Larnach/Walner/Taylor/Gordon - (L/R) -- DH/OF
8) Kepler (L) - RF
9) Vazquez/Jeffers (R) -- C 

Did we just see Luis Arraez' best year?  Highly probable. 
Can he make up any decline in hitting by presenting on defense?  Certainly not.  He was horrible at 2b/3b and hideous in LF. 
Does he look like a 1B to you?  Does he feel like a DH to you?  9 HR in his career year... is that going up from here?  
Does Alex Kiriloff look like a 1B to you?  He sure does.  Do Wallner or Larnach (and others) seem like possible quality DHs to you?  Yep.
Has the league seen Pablo Lopez' best year yet?  Quite probably not.
The Twins sold on the probable top-tick of Arraez' career and even got the extra fan headline juice that comes with the Batting Title.
Arraez is a solid player.  I don't believe the intention should be to plan for and pay "solid" players.  Rather, seek out and try to develop exceptional players.  Kiriloff may be that at 1B.  Lopez may be that at SP.  
And we got two more dart throws for the future in the deal.
If Royce can transition to 3B and play average defense there (seems plausible), Miranda will move to primary DH. You have this type of defense then (assuming Kepler stays):
C - Vasquez/Jeffers -- Above average
1B - Kiriloff -- Average?
2B - Polanco -- Average.
SS - Correa - Exceptional
3B - Royce - Average
LF - Gallo/Taylor - Exceptional
CF - Buxty/Taylor - Exceptional
RF - Max/Gallo - Exceptional
In very smart fashion and in such a way that previous front offices wouldn't have tried, Falvey has shown great creativity and foresight.  Great move.

In the comments on the original announcement of the trade from yesterday, there's a rundown of the 13 position players who would appear likely to come out of spring training. It doesn't require Kepler being traded in order to work:
C: Jeffers, Vazquez
IF: Miranda, Correa, Polanco, Kirilloff, Farmer
OF: Buxton, Larnach, Gallo, Kepler, Taylor, Gordon
There's no one locked into the DH spot, so that opens it up for a rotation among the OFs (those of them whose hitting justifies starting at DH, ha.) Plus Gallo or Gordon can spot start in the infield if one of the infielders gets a DH day.
There still is something of a redundancy of lefty-hitting outfielders, but there are enough places and situations to deploy them that it doesn't scream waste of a roster spot. If they had gotten a righty hitter to split time at 1B/DH (like the Gurriel rumors suggested) then all the outfielders would seem more superfluous, but maybe the Taylor acquisition means a shift away from that 1B/DH strategy.
I bet the Twins still would trade Kepler to meet another significant need, but I doubt they do it because of any perceived roster crunch. I think they're going for more depth with, if everyone is healthy, a bench full of players who could be at least low-end starters. 

Strongly disagree that Celestino is the one on the bubble and Larnach will have to "power his way from St Paul to Minneapolis." Celestino has no role on this team with Taylor here. Larnach is on the roster as of now with Celestino finally getting his much needed time in AAA to work on his game.

Excellent comment VP and exactly what keeps me coming back to TD in spite of the bushwhacking necessary to behold such meadows of insight. 🙂

Gallo is exceptional in RF, on par with Kepler and holds TWO Gold Gloves.
Rtot/yr -- Total Zone Total Fielding Runs Above Avg per 1,200 Inn
 
The number of runs above or below average the fielder was worth per 1,200 Innings (approx 135 games).
This number combines the Rtz, Rdp, Rof, Rcatch numbers into a total defensive contribution.
 
See the glossary section for a more complete explanation.
 
Provided by BaseballProjection.com
   
Below is the career Rtot/Yr at each position for Twins Position Players
Player
Pos
G
Rtot/yr
Alex Kiriloff
RF
35
5
Alex Kiriloff
LF
34
(25)
Alex Kiriloff
1B
47
7
 
 
 
 
Arraez, Luis
2B
169
0
Arraez, Luis
3B
79
(7)
Arraez, Luis
1B
65
13
Arraez, Luis
LF
48
(8)
 
 
 
 
Buxton, Byron
CF
542
15
 
 
 
 
Carlos Correa
SS
881
7
 
 
 
 
Celestino, Gilberto
CF
112
(2)
Celestino, Gilberto
LF
29
32
Celestino, Gilberto
RF
10
35
 
 
 
 
Christian Vazquez
C
681
11
 
 
 
 
Farmer, Kyle
SS
235
2
Farmer, Kyle
3B
86
(2)
Farmer, Kyle
2B
63
14
 
 
 
 
Gallo, Joey
LF
284
0
Gallo, Joey
RF
209
31
Gallo, Joey
1B
96
2
Gallo, Joey
CF
56
1
 
 
 
 
Gordon, Nick
LF
73
(3)
Gordon, Nick
CF
72
(4)
Gordon, Nick
2B
53
(2)
Gordon, Nick
SS
31
(23)
 
 
 
 
Jorge Polanco
SS
501
(9)
Jorge Polanco
2B
222
0
 
 
 
 
Kepler, Max
RF
700
16
Kepler, Max
CF
159
(6)
 
 
 
 
Larnach, Trevor
LF
93
(9)
 
 
 
 
Miranda, Jose
1B
77
(1)
Miranda, Jose
3B
34
(15)
 
 
 
 
Ryan Jeffers
C
168
(4)
 

Did we just see Luis Arraez' best year?  Highly probable. 
Can he make up any decline in hitting by presenting on defense?  Certainly not.  He was horrible at 2b/3b and hideous in LF. 
Does he look like a 1B to you?  Does he feel like a DH to you?  9 HR in his career year... is that going up from here?  
Does Alex Kiriloff look like a 1B to you?  He sure does.  Do Wallner or Larnach (and others) seem like possible quality DHs to you?  Yep.
Has the league seen Pablo Lopez' best year yet?  Quite probably not.
The Twins sold on the probable top-tick of Arraez' career and even got the extra fan headline juice that comes with the Batting Title.
Arraez is a solid player.  I don't believe the intention should be to plan for and pay "solid" players.  Rather, seek out and try to develop exceptional players.  Kiriloff may be that at 1B.  Lopez may be that at SP.  
And we got two more dart throws for the future in the deal.
If Royce can transition to 3B and play average defense there (seems plausible), Miranda will move to primary DH. You have this type of defense then (assuming Kepler stays):
C - Vasquez/Jeffers -- Above average
1B - Kiriloff -- Average?
2B - Polanco -- Average.
SS - Correa - Exceptional
3B - Royce - Average
LF - Gallo/Taylor - Exceptional
CF - Buxty/Taylor - Exceptional
RF - Max/Gallo - Exceptional
In very smart fashion and in such a way that previous front offices wouldn't have tried, Falvey has shown great creativity and foresight.  Great move.

Twins are reportedly currently under their target payroll by about $45MM per year, I have read.  In my opinion, it is not the correct route to go to sign Rodon based on his injury history and our roster composition.  Plus, position players hold up better.
Here are the three steps to WE’RE GONNA WIN TWINS, WE’RE GONNA SCORE --
Step One -- Trade Luis Arraez and Bailey Ober to Marlins for Pablo Lopez and LHRP Tanner Scott
I ran it through the trade simulator (Trades » Baseball Trade Values), it’s fairly even.
Lopez is on rookie deal making less than $4MM, earliest Free Agent 2025
Tanner Scott is making about $1MM per year – last year he had a very high whip but had 90 Ks in 63 IP and is LH
Arraez low salary but up for Arb soon and he’ll do well with that.  I don’t want to be tied at all to a slow, non-athletic slappy without a position.
Ober low rookie contract but still young and shown some promise – I personally don’t see a high ceiling there.
Net-Net the contact implications short term to this deal would be fairly negligible.

Step Two – Sign Dansby Swanson for roughly what Xander Boegarts got – about $25MM per year
Step Three – Sign a Veteran RH power-ish bat to a short term deal DH (that could perhaps play LF and/or 1B):
Such as:
Trey Mancini JD Martinez Justin Turner Brandon Drury Will Myers Andrew McCutchen AJ Pollock Jurickson Profar Resulting Situation/Lineups
Players in italics in minors with their current national ranking within the organization
Catcher –
Christian Vasquez
Ryan Jeffers
Jair Camargo
Alex Isola
Charles Mack
First Base –
Alex Kiriloff
Jose Miranda
Kyle Farmer
Tyler White
Aaron Sabato (20)
Second Base –
Jorge Polanco
Nick Gordon
Kyle Farmer
Edouard Julien (15)
Alerick Soularie (18)
Tanner Schobel (19)
Yilber Herrera (29)
Shortstop –
Dansby Swanson
Kyle Farmer
Royce Lewis
Austin Martin (3)
Brooks Lee (1)
Noah Miller (4)
Danny De Andrade (16)
Third Base –
Jose Miranda
Kyle Farmer
Keoni Cavaco (30)
Outfield –
Byron Buxton
Max Kepler
Trevor Larnach
Alex Kiriloff
Royce Lewis
Nick Gordon
Gilberto Celestino
Kyle Garlick
Matt Wallner (7)
Will Holland (28)
Emmanuel Rodriguez (11)
Misael Urbina (12)
Kala’I Rosario (21)
Yasser Mercedes (25)
 
DH –
I have no idea yet
Starting Pitching –
Sonny Gray Pablo Lopez Tyler Mahle Joe Ryan Kenta Maeda Josh Winder Chris Paddack Ronny Henriquez (5)
S.W. Richardson (6)
Cole Sands (10)
Jordan Balazovic (13)
Louie Varland (23)
Brent Headrick (24)
Matt Canterino (14)
Blayne Enlow (22)
David Festa (17)
Marco Raya (9)
 
Bullpen –
Jhoan Duran
Jorge Lopez
Caleb Thielbar (L)
Griffin Jax
Emilio Pagan
Jorge Alcala
Jovani Moran (L)
Tanner Scott (L)
Not much in terms of RP prospects
 
As I have stated this offseason,  I believe you now have a decent major league pitching staff going into the year.  We haven’t been able to say that for awhile. 
Additionally, there are a slew of near-ready SP
Naturally, when and where Royce Lewis fits in is key, but it seems to me in this scenario, he would slide nicely into LF with backup duties at CF.
Lineup:
R-            Buxton                                 CF          
S              Polanco                                2B
R             Swanson                              SS
L              Kiriloff                                   1B
R             Miranda                               3B
L              Kepler                                   RF
R             Gordon/Royce/FA           LF
L              Larnach /FA                         DH
R             Vazquez/Jeffers               C
Conclusions:
Arraez -- move that guy before you have to pay him. Farmer/Gordon becomes super utilites with Swanson on board (besides, who can be excited about Farmer as your starting SS??) Defense a little sketch at 3B and maybe 1B… if Royce becomes LF you are +++ in OF and possibly C.  Swanson solid SS and I think Polanco at 2B is solid as well. I can’t use Celestino in any way except for AAAA injury fill in. We have tons of SP coming up soon, signing Rodon wouldn’t be ideal use of cash at this point.  We need offense more (strange to say) Point could be made – why sign Swanson when 3 of your top 4 prospects are SS but those players tend to shift naturally to other positions

Twins are reportedly currently under their target payroll by about $45MM per year, I have read.  In my opinion, it is not the correct route to go to sign Rodon based on his injury history and our roster composition.  Plus, position players hold up better.
Here are the three steps to WE’RE GONNA WIN TWINS, WE’RE GONNA SCORE --
Step One -- Trade Luis Arraez and Bailey Ober to Marlins for Pablo Lopez and LHRP Tanner Scott
I ran it through the trade simulator (Trades » Baseball Trade Values), it’s fairly even.
Lopez is on rookie deal making less than $4MM, earliest Free Agent 2025
Tanner Scott is making about $1MM per year – last year he had a very high whip but had 90 Ks in 63 IP and is LH
Arraez low salary but up for Arb soon and he’ll do well with that.  I don’t want to be tied at all to a slow, non-athletic slappy without a position.
Ober low rookie contract but still young and shown some promise – I personally don’t see a high ceiling there.
Net-Net the contact implications short term to this deal would be fairly negligible.

Step Two – Sign Dansby Swanson for roughly what Xander Boegarts got – about $25MM per year
Step Three – Sign a Veteran RH power-ish bat to a short term deal DH (that could perhaps play LF and/or 1B):
Such as:
Trey Mancini JD Martinez Justin Turner Brandon Drury Will Myers Andrew McCutchen AJ Pollock Jurickson Profar Resulting Situation/Lineups
Players in italics in minors with their current national ranking within the organization
Catcher –
Christian Vasquez
Ryan Jeffers
Jair Camargo
Alex Isola
Charles Mack
First Base –
Alex Kiriloff
Jose Miranda
Kyle Farmer
Tyler White
Aaron Sabato (20)
Second Base –
Jorge Polanco
Nick Gordon
Kyle Farmer
Edouard Julien (15)
Alerick Soularie (18)
Tanner Schobel (19)
Yilber Herrera (29)
Shortstop –
Dansby Swanson
Kyle Farmer
Royce Lewis
Austin Martin (3)
Brooks Lee (1)
Noah Miller (4)
Danny De Andrade (16)
Third Base –
Jose Miranda
Kyle Farmer
Keoni Cavaco (30)
Outfield –
Byron Buxton
Max Kepler
Trevor Larnach
Alex Kiriloff
Royce Lewis
Nick Gordon
Gilberto Celestino
Kyle Garlick
Matt Wallner (7)
Will Holland (28)
Emmanuel Rodriguez (11)
Misael Urbina (12)
Kala’I Rosario (21)
Yasser Mercedes (25)
 
DH –
I have no idea yet
Starting Pitching –
Sonny Gray Pablo Lopez Tyler Mahle Joe Ryan Kenta Maeda Josh Winder Chris Paddack Ronny Henriquez (5)
S.W. Richardson (6)
Cole Sands (10)
Jordan Balazovic (13)
Louie Varland (23)
Brent Headrick (24)
Matt Canterino (14)
Blayne Enlow (22)
David Festa (17)
Marco Raya (9)
 
Bullpen –
Jhoan Duran
Jorge Lopez
Caleb Thielbar (L)
Griffin Jax
Emilio Pagan
Jorge Alcala
Jovani Moran (L)
Tanner Scott (L)
Not much in terms of RP prospects
 
As I have stated this offseason,  I believe you now have a decent major league pitching staff going into the year.  We haven’t been able to say that for awhile. 
Additionally, there are a slew of near-ready SP
Naturally, when and where Royce Lewis fits in is key, but it seems to me in this scenario, he would slide nicely into LF with backup duties at CF.
Lineup:
R-            Buxton                                 CF          
S              Polanco                                2B
R             Swanson                              SS
L              Kiriloff                                   1B
R             Miranda                               3B
L              Kepler                                   RF
R             Gordon/Royce/FA           LF
L              Larnach /FA                         DH
R             Vazquez/Jeffers               C
Conclusions:
Arraez -- move that guy before you have to pay him. Farmer/Gordon becomes super utilites with Swanson on board (besides, who can be excited about Farmer as your starting SS??) Defense a little sketch at 3B and maybe 1B… if Royce becomes LF you are +++ in OF and possibly C.  Swanson solid SS and I think Polanco at 2B is solid as well. I can’t use Celestino in any way except for AAAA injury fill in. We have tons of SP coming up soon, signing Rodon wouldn’t be ideal use of cash at this point.  We need offense more (strange to say) Point could be made – why sign Swanson when 3 of your top 4 prospects are SS but those players tend to shift naturally to other positions

Twins are reportedly currently under their target payroll by about $45MM per year, I have read.  In my opinion, it is not the correct route to go to sign Rodon based on his injury history and our roster composition.  Plus, position players hold up better.
Here are the three steps to WE’RE GONNA WIN TWINS, WE’RE GONNA SCORE --
Step One -- Trade Luis Arraez and Bailey Ober to Marlins for Pablo Lopez and LHRP Tanner Scott
I ran it through the trade simulator (Trades » Baseball Trade Values), it’s fairly even.
Lopez is on rookie deal making less than $4MM, earliest Free Agent 2025
Tanner Scott is making about $1MM per year – last year he had a very high whip but had 90 Ks in 63 IP and is LH
Arraez low salary but up for Arb soon and he’ll do well with that.  I don’t want to be tied at all to a slow, non-athletic slappy without a position.
Ober low rookie contract but still young and shown some promise – I personally don’t see a high ceiling there.
Net-Net the contact implications short term to this deal would be fairly negligible.

Step Two – Sign Dansby Swanson for roughly what Xander Boegarts got – about $25MM per year
Step Three – Sign a Veteran RH power-ish bat to a short term deal DH (that could perhaps play LF and/or 1B):
Such as:
Trey Mancini JD Martinez Justin Turner Brandon Drury Will Myers Andrew McCutchen AJ Pollock Jurickson Profar Resulting Situation/Lineups
Players in italics in minors with their current national ranking within the organization
Catcher –
Christian Vasquez
Ryan Jeffers
Jair Camargo
Alex Isola
Charles Mack
First Base –
Alex Kiriloff
Jose Miranda
Kyle Farmer
Tyler White
Aaron Sabato (20)
Second Base –
Jorge Polanco
Nick Gordon
Kyle Farmer
Edouard Julien (15)
Alerick Soularie (18)
Tanner Schobel (19)
Yilber Herrera (29)
Shortstop –
Dansby Swanson
Kyle Farmer
Royce Lewis
Austin Martin (3)
Brooks Lee (1)
Noah Miller (4)
Danny De Andrade (16)
Third Base –
Jose Miranda
Kyle Farmer
Keoni Cavaco (30)
Outfield –
Byron Buxton
Max Kepler
Trevor Larnach
Alex Kiriloff
Royce Lewis
Nick Gordon
Gilberto Celestino
Kyle Garlick
Matt Wallner (7)
Will Holland (28)
Emmanuel Rodriguez (11)
Misael Urbina (12)
Kala’I Rosario (21)
Yasser Mercedes (25)
 
DH –
I have no idea yet
Starting Pitching –
Sonny Gray Pablo Lopez Tyler Mahle Joe Ryan Kenta Maeda Josh Winder Chris Paddack Ronny Henriquez (5)
S.W. Richardson (6)
Cole Sands (10)
Jordan Balazovic (13)
Louie Varland (23)
Brent Headrick (24)
Matt Canterino (14)
Blayne Enlow (22)
David Festa (17)
Marco Raya (9)
 
Bullpen –
Jhoan Duran
Jorge Lopez
Caleb Thielbar (L)
Griffin Jax
Emilio Pagan
Jorge Alcala
Jovani Moran (L)
Tanner Scott (L)
Not much in terms of RP prospects
 
As I have stated this offseason,  I believe you now have a decent major league pitching staff going into the year.  We haven’t been able to say that for awhile. 
Additionally, there are a slew of near-ready SP
Naturally, when and where Royce Lewis fits in is key, but it seems to me in this scenario, he would slide nicely into LF with backup duties at CF.
Lineup:
R-            Buxton                                 CF          
S              Polanco                                2B
R             Swanson                              SS
L              Kiriloff                                   1B
R             Miranda                               3B
L              Kepler                                   RF
R             Gordon/Royce/FA           LF
L              Larnach /FA                         DH
R             Vazquez/Jeffers               C
Conclusions:
Arraez -- move that guy before you have to pay him. Farmer/Gordon becomes super utilites with Swanson on board (besides, who can be excited about Farmer as your starting SS??) Defense a little sketch at 3B and maybe 1B… if Royce becomes LF you are +++ in OF and possibly C.  Swanson solid SS and I think Polanco at 2B is solid as well. I can’t use Celestino in any way except for AAAA injury fill in. We have tons of SP coming up soon, signing Rodon wouldn’t be ideal use of cash at this point.  We need offense more (strange to say) Point could be made – why sign Swanson when 3 of your top 4 prospects are SS but those players tend to shift naturally to other positions