sun

Whatever the Twins plans are it will happen in steps. Miranda first needed to gain as much speed as possible to be able to hit more doubles. His MLB value is as a hitter and every base counts towards pro success. He wants to be able to keep hanging with Correa in the bigs! There's no room for regression. If Miranda plays 3B then it's probably out of necessity on a game by game basis because every player is only one play away from being injured, or a day away from illness due to covid. Every position needs multiple backups, and pros need to be the best ball players that they can be to make more money. Miranda has a lot of upside and fan appeal. He needs to protect his career by staying healthy and producing results on the field in any position that he plays.

This 2019 video with "El Capitan" and Justin Morneau shows Jorge's pregame workout which he does off of a hitting tee before games. It's amazing how much work that Jorge puts into his hitting which is why he's one of the best. He started switch hitting when he was 12 years old! He's given the Twins fans so much to be proud of, He's a true pro!

Polanco & Buxton appear to be last 2 remaining Twins players to pass through the Eastern League's AA Twins affiliate New Britain Rock Cats. The last year of the team's 20 year affiliation with the Twins ended after the 2014 season when the Twins established their new AA affiliation with Chattanooga, which was before the current AA affiliate Wichita. I don't know if that is significant or not. However Wichita plays in the Texas League against teams that have different MLB affiliations then the Eastern League. The Texas League has 10 teams while the Eastern League has 12 teams. It's the largest AA league and has been in existence for 11 decades. You can see it's affiliates on the page below. https://www.milb.com/news/eastern-league-overview

Rotations aren't measured in a vacuum but against hitters & fielders, both theirs & ours. Also since, starters do not pitch the whole game they get replaced by the bullpen. Some pitchers improve while others regress year to year and in a random fashion on a game-to-game basis. We have many different hitters/fielders & pitching options as do other teams, and as we travel around the whole league this year each opponent will field different combinations and the proof of performance will emerge by our win-loss record. I've always believed our starting pitchers only need to keep the game close enough for our hitters to win the game when the bullpen takes over. Rocco plays a big part of making so many decisions. Fans just need to believe that there's so much more to baseball than the starting pitchers. Sometimes a game doesn't begin until the starting pitchers are knocked out of the game, and it's up to our hitters to wear them out. Let's hope that our team can win more games across the MLB than the rest of the Division. Starting pitchers only represent one aspect of a team's overall ability to win games.

Twins sign Tigers AAA free agent relief pitcher Nolan Blackwood to a minor league deal. Appears close to making a MLB debut. https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/twins-sign-nolan-blackwood/ar-AA1776Mb Minor league stats: https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=blackw000nol

The Twins knew they couldn't get more than a prospect for Max unless he was part of a package deal. This puts Max on notice that they intend to buy out his contract next year. Even if they trade him by the deadline he will still be bought out by the next team and will only be a rental. His black & tan glove is one of the handsomest gloves in all of the MLB. I hope that he can get his bat going and can obtain his payday somewhere. I'd hate to see him need to go to another country to play. He may end up being platooned this year depending on spring training, the roster & his production. Those are all powerful incentives for him to swing for the fences.

Just my personal opinion but I'm hoping that Maeda proves himself this year and resigns with the Twins next year. He had an excellent year as a Twin before his injury and he's an elite athlete. His age shouldn't get in the way of resigning him if he can pick up where he left off. I also like McGill. I think that he has a strong arm and good velocity. I'm not so sure about Gray & Mahle in the future yet even though folks rate them highly. We'll see if they can deliver this year. I'm looking forward to Varland coming up and there will be more free agent pitchers & prospects available next year.

IIRC Ryan was pulled from not one but two potential no hitters. The 2nd one Moran couldn't finish it up in the 9th, and Ryan had a long face afterward. Those 2 outings weren't typical of a back of the rotation starter. All pitchers will have some misfires. I admire his precise & extremely repetitive delivery. Ryan sort of reminds me of the Yankees Ron Guidry. He was a winner. And I hope that Ryan gets another crack at a no hitter someday as a Twin.

It sounds like batting Gallo in the 9 hole at the bottom of the batting order would be a fair compromise since he has a so many detractors. It's probably better for him to gradually work his way up the batting order then to rapidly slide all of the way down it. I think that's where Rocco should put him. Then if he walks he can be on base for the lead off hitter.

Ryan didn't seem to pitch as well for a number of weeks after getting covid. I think Gordon could be more than an emergency back up at 2B depending on circumstances. Due to the end of the shift, his quickness could provide some extra range there. I'm sure that Rocco will want to put the best batters on the field when starters sit out. Maybe he can coordinate resting more than one infield starter at the same time to maximize the games that starters can play together.

I respect your opinion. However, a walk is as good as a hit when ranking the priorities of a batter. The first priority of a batter is to reach base safely by any means possible by not making an out. The second priority is to advance a runner so they can score. Only then is the next priority to get a hit with the increased values for a double, triple etc... The reason why a hit isn't the 1st priority of a batter is because 70% of balls that are hit are outs, and making an out is to be avoided at all costs. Every at bat can only be either an out or reach base safely. That shows that to reach base safely is the priority. Whether a batter reaches base safely by a past ball, a BB or a fielding error or a hit doesn't require a value judgment. It only requires having a proper sense of priority. I'm not talking about a sac. fly or sac. bunt situation which alters the priorities of the batter. Sure certain actions like hits are more valuable than walks, but those aren't to be mixed up with a batter's priorities of which the most important is to simply reach base safely by not making an out. Being intentionally walked is sign of respect and doesn't diminish the worth of the batter. It can walk in a run or put a potential run on base.

Baseball players have a saying, "A walk is as good as a hit." In no way does a BB hurt the team. That's a fundamental truth of baseball & something that every fan should be able to live with like it or not. I can't imagine holding a batter responsible for taking 4 balls. Chasing pitches out of the zone is how games are lost. A BB results from the pitcher's mistakes & not the batter's mistakes.

In his Twins podcast interview Gallo said that he prefers to play RF because it allows him to make more throws to 2B & 3B. Since a Kepler trade is still possible, his arm could be more of an asset than Max's. Time will tell about Max, but Gallo only has a short window to prove himself. Or else Rocco will be replacing him with a pinch hitter. The Twins didn't sign him to do the Tango. In other words I think that as the season progresses Gallo's leash will become shorter & shorter. f his hitting hurts the team. BB's are productive but a K with 2 outs and men on base can get old really fast when it's a close game & in the later innings.

Oops.

What counts the most are timely hits, not making outs, making contact to either score or advance runners without hitting into double plays, sac. flies, and of course there's going to be some HR's. Think about it. A .200 BA means 20 hits per 100 AB's. A .250 BA means 25 hits per 100 AB;s. Will 5 hits make that much of a difference in 20 - 25 games played? Not if he can get timely hits, becomes a base runner by BB's & not make outs, & hits sac flies like mentioned above. He even knows how to bunt. He can hit the ball hard enough to reach base through errors. When a veteran is being paid that much money good things are bound to happen. Baseball is a team sport and I welcome Gallo smashing some timely homers and making some put outs. Complain about 4 - 5 hits or less, give me a break! The guy is going to save some runs playing defense. And K's are better than hitting into double plays. He probably knows how to run the bases like a pro should too.

Thank You. I learned that the number of comp. picks is variable from year to year and there can be as many as 14 & 15. Also 3 comp. picks were traded last year. https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-draft-competitive-balance-rounds-set-2023 About Fulmer, maybe he doesn't fit into the Twins plans because they want 6 starters in the rotation and/or a dedicated long reliever.

I continue to believe that Miranda will play both 1B & 3B. I've read more about Lewis eventually being moved to 3B which means that Miranda would probably need to move back to 1B again which seems like a wasteful back & forth effort. Either Miranda is the best at 3B or Farmer is. Of course Farmer will need to move around which allows MIranda some time playing 3B. But what if he's not as good as Farmer? And that only delays the question about what's going to happen to Miranda if Lewis wins the 3B position when he returns. It's great that the Twins can have so much positional flexibility. But most fans tend to think that the positions would be more fixed, unlike how Rocco constructs so many different battings orders which draws criticism from the fans after the Twins start losing games. And both Miranda & Farmer are right handed hitters so both may be needed in the line up together at times.. The issue is not that big of a deal other than being a matter of raising fans expectations. Farmer may not be better at 3B after all. But if he's the back up SS then you'd think that Rocco would want to keep him on the same side of the field to help him keep his throws accurate when he plays SS. For some players accurate throws are a matter of conditioning, but for others maybe not so much. The level of play at 3B should reveal a lot. Hopefully there won't be too many nuisance injuries to infielders this year which could reduce the team's positional flexibility.

Thank you. I learned something new today. Apparently those picks can only be traded once, by the original team that the pick was awarded to. There's only 12 teams per year that receive them. https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/competitive-balance-draft-picks

FYI, MLB teams cannot trade draft picks. The NFL does but the MLB does not allow it.

He should be given the opportunity to become a starter with proper individualized management. Of course it would be an experiment, But if nothing is ventured then nothing is gained. By individualized I mean that if he needs an extra day of rest between starts then he should be able to get it. It's hard to imagine that the strong arm that he has would be any more susceptible to injury than any other ace. I think that it's only a matter of proper management. Obviously I don't know his medical details, But it's not like he's a pitcher with marginal talent that's keeping him from being a starter or not, It's up to the front office, trainers and Duran to get on the same page about what's best for his career. If the issue is handled properly then everyone should be happy whether it's decided that he become a starter or not. He has a gift which he should be able to utilize so that he's happy enough with his career to stay with the Twins. He may be an exception to the rule where the front office rarely puts the long term desires of players first. Hopefully he can rise to meet the expectations that he's set for himself. If he believes in himself then the Twins should allow the switch to happen. Then if it doesn't work the Twins can then limit his to role to being a closer for a reason.

Target Field opened in 2010. I'd guess that can be counted as part of building a civilization. Build it and they will come and now we have Buck & Correa. It's a start. 😄

Fans can have selective memories. If Cron, Schoop, Marwin Gonzalez & Sergio Romo weren't worth the short contracts, then how did the Twins win 101 games & the Central Division in 2019, with the 3rd best record in the AL. One year contracts helped put the 2019 team together.

C.J. Cron was left off the chart. Both Cron and Schoop were productive journeymen that helped the Twins set the new bomba record. One year contracts are often prove it deals or to be a bridge until a prospect is ready to move up the ladder. The FO tries to build chemistry, sometimes it works and other times it simply serves its purpose to fill a need. Look at SS Simmons, he was very entertaining and served as a bridge player. The MLB is like a traveling circus that provides live & exciting entertainment. Veteran players can all be very talented and should be appreciated for the millions that they're paid. If there were better players/ options that the Twins wanted to sign to a longer commitment then they would have. The front office needs to protect the future of the franchise which is why they dumped Donaldson. The Twins have a mission and having a solid defensive team seems to have been a constant goal. They can't rely on hitting bombas to win enough games every year. There have been injuries and failures over the years, just look at Sano's roller coaster of a career. One year contracts are completely understandable until they can bring up more exciting players from the minors or sign the FA's that they need. And Correa is compensating for some of the savings from the many short 1 year contracts. Any player can get injured at anytime so the Twins did need to trade for 1 year of CF Michael Taylor. It's a necessity from the perspective of upper management. A proven vet is often better than having a rookie or Celestino fill the spot. The short 1 year contracts allow for roster flexibility which is good when there may be more free agents or AAA prospects available/ ready next year. Rome wasn't built in a day. It can take a lifetime and patience is a virtue.

The question of trading Kepler boils down to whether the Twins need him or not. I'm not sure what the answer is but he's a Gold Glove caliber outfielder even though he didn't win the award. You can be sure that he's always working hard to improve which is always possible. Him & Polanco were extended at the same time and Polanco was severely underpaid for his worth. But Jorge's bat compensated for Max's low BA. I imagine that Max is at the crossroads of his career, whether he's going to be bought out or prove his value for another year. I think that he's a favorite with the lady fans, and other players still need to prove themselves. Kepler may be able to increase his value before the trade deadline. He must still be an asset or else the Twins would have dumped him with all of the trade rumors. If no one is willing to pick him up yet then give it some time and maybe things will change. In the meantime I'll be rooting for him to win a Gold Glove so that he can receive a $500K bonus & for Polanco's contract to vest with 550 PA's this year.

Sometimes I'd rather see 2 of our "lower level" starters platooned to pitch one game giving them 3 - 4 innings each then to trade for a questionable ace. If we need to trade 2 of our lower level starters plus prospects for an established starter then that's possible too. Only the front office would know about the player's medicals that are part of the details that make or break a trade deal. At some point the Twins will need to make some choices about who they want to keep and acquire by the trade deadline. That could mean a 6 man rotation with less need for more pitchers in the bullpen. That would help to cover misfires by starting pitchers when they can't even get through 3-4 innings without the game getting out of hand. When a long reliever can prove themselves effective they increase their own value as trade capital to be used at the trade deadline too. Our low level starters don't need to be aces, they just need to be effective for 3-4 innings to take some pressure off the bullpen. Jax does a good job in some respect but can't pitch long enough to be considered a long reliever. The Twins need to invent a new method that works for them and which matches their personnel. That's Rocco's job! He needs to figure out how to best use his players & roster..