Jeff K

He is easily the Twins best offseason free agent signing last offseason.  And best value.  1.3 WAR for 2 million and his .376 OBP comes awfully close to what Arreaz gave us last year.  
 
put another way if Solano and Gallo switched WAR values this season (Gallo at .4 WAR last I checked) we would be ok with both contracts this year.  

I can't believe the author was serious, when he said, drop two of these four........Gallo, Luplow, Farmer or Solano.  Solano......are you kidding? Probably the most consistent player on the entire team all year.

Yeah, i think this one is half right: move on and DFA Gallo. but Mancini isn't the answer: he's a terrible fielder, and much like Gallo has gotten worse at the plate as the season has gone on (only he didn't have a big first month). Mancini has been one of the worst position players out there this season, and we don't need another 1B.
At this point, Mancini is really only taking ABs away from Donovan Solano, who has been quite a bit better than Mancini this season. i'd rather run Solano out there if we need another guy at 1B.

I'm with @LA VIkes Fan. I'm all for moving on from Gallo, but Mancini isn't the answer. His defense is significantly worse. He can't play OF. He has an 11th percentile sprint speed this year. For reference, Vazquez is 9th percentile. Could you imagine Vazquez trying to track down a fly ball? He belongs nowhere near an OF. 
Trey is an absolute class act, and seems like a wonderful dude. But he can't cut it in major league baseball anymore. No thanks on bringing him in.

I had the same thought but then I looked at his numbers since he was traded from Baltimore to Houston at the deadline last year. Here they are:
With Houston 2022 - .176/.258/.364 (.622) - 7 doubles, 8 home runs, 22 RBIs in 165 at bats, 186 plate apps. (Ouch!)
With Chicago Cubs 2023 - .234/.299/.336 (.635) - 12 doubles, 4 HRs, 28 RBIs in 235 ABs (263 PAs). (Not Good)
Against LH pitching 2023 - .223/.306/.351 (.657) - 6 doubles, 2 HR, 15 RBI in 141 ABs (255 PAs) (Still Not Good)
Id love to upgrade from Gallo, not sure Mancini is much of an upgrade at the plate, probably a downgrade in the field. I would rather call up Larnach or Williams for those ABs. 

I think the jury is still out on Larnach; although I remain hopeful.  I do not see Polanco back with all the young infield talent within the organization.  Polanco has been great but there is so much evidence that his performance and health curves are pointed downwards.

How can the window be shut?
Paddack is under contract……Varland is under contract………..if he holds up (rebuilt arm 16 months ago) Maeda could be signed for $10-$12M maximum.
Ryan - Ober - Lopez are all in their primes, the entry side of their primes!
Lewis - Kirilloff - Julien are all guys that are real hitters and they are all young as can be.
CC & Buxton are around for 5 more years. They may not be the offensive stars we signed up for but they are supreme athletes with egos & competitive drive……they’ll be OK (Buxton once healthy). Not counting on Buxton in OF until I see it regularly.
Wallner seems to be a serviceable defender, not great, but with a great arm. Decent #5 or #6 hitter in the line-up for 5 plus years.
Castro has speed - a gun for an arm - defensive flexibility……a roster spot for him for another 3-4 years at little cost.
Lee - Rodriguez as a couple probable “can’t miss guys” coming in ‘24 or ‘25.
Spending around $150M this year on salary. After this year we shed Gallo - Polanco - Kepler - Gray - Mahle - Maeda - Solano Taylor………..that’s $70M plus/minus $3M.
Re-sign Taylor to fill the roll he was intended for this year - depth & insurance. Solano, just because he’s going to be 36 & we can get him for $3.5M (he has proven he hits) and we can DFA if we choose. Taylor for $5M…….that leaves us $61M from this year’s budget…….Sign Maeda for $11M. Now we are down to $50M to spend and not exceed this year’s budget.
Early sign Duran, Ryan & Ober. Start Duran at $5M in the early years of the extension……….same with Ryan, only he gets $8M in the first year……..same with Ober at $8M. 6 year deals that all escalate $3M per year………something like that? The security given over 6 years & the much larger check than $670K/yr will be good motivation for them.
This leaves $29M to then go & sign a FA starting pitcher, if they like or sit on the extra $$ to pick up a guy at the deadline that we can get & then extend!
Trade for Stuart Fairchild - REDS former starting CF - sent to Triple-A after 2.5 months in ‘23 due to log jam in Cinti. .750 OPS this year & fast & under control/cheap!
Lewis - CC - Julien - Kirilloff in the infield with Farmer & Castro & Solano for depth is a great start to ‘24!
Walner - Castro - Taylor - Rodriguez/Larnach - Fairchild……….possibly spend on a FA OF bat?……..I don’t think it’s necessary with Martin & Rodriguez & Lee all coming……..once Lee arrives we get Julien to 1B & Kirilloff to a corner OF slot.
Relief help can be found - been proven this year…….Ortega - Headrick - Stewart - DeLeon , etc…….shift a starter or two, i.e. Balazovic!
I don’t see any holes nor depth issues nor near-term age issues…..neither too old nor too young. Good veteran presence with a bunch of young talent!! 

I agree, the Twins should go outside of the organization for a proven reliever.  I also firmly believe they should make internal moves with their lineup; and like most everyone, it should start with releasing Kepler.

They need to DFA Pagan first thing.

Trevor Larnach has good spring training stats.  Thanks for a good article.

I get the 4 presidents on Mt. Rushmore.  Our Rushmore should be a couple more players.  Tony Oliva and Torii Hunter would be on my enlarged Rushmore!
 

How Kepler is playing will dictate who would fill in for an ailing Kirrilof. Miranda moves over if Gallo is needed in the outfield, but Gallo can come in to first if Max is hitting well. There's no way we need the desiccated remains of Yuli Gurriel cluttering up the 40 man when there are this many AAA guys waiting for playing time.

Christian Vasquez cannot be traded until June 15.
Plus, for the next year or two, Vasquez is a better option for the Twins at catcher. This is especially true with our young starters.