BillyBallLives

Also, Wallner has a career total of 39 homers, but only 60 rbi's to go with them.

These are the things that make you shake your head and wonder, "what were they thinking"? The Twins gave Donaldson 4 years, $92 million at age 34, a total misfire. Somehow got lucky and escaped. Then what do they do? Turn around and hand Correa 6 years, $200 million… Mets and SF bail on him, and yet, Twins bite. You’d think one expensive lesson would’ve been enough. Guess not. Twins are now stuck with C4 till the end—unless they’re willing to eat half the contract just to give him away. My only hope is C4 seems to have a lot of respect for himself, being a leader, etc. His work ethic may bail him out to some degree. But not to the tune of 30+ million per year.

Found this read to be a really good "state of the union" address for the Twins nation. Unfortunately, all we can do for now is hope. -- Hope Buxton stays healthy. -- Hope Lopez, Ober, Zebby comeback healthy enough to contribute. -- Hope Royce discovers his former mojo. -- Hope the bats wake up. Wallner, Larnach, etc. -- Hope new owners bring urgency. -- Hope Falvey doesn’t blow it again. BTW… "hope" is not a strategy, but for now, it's all we have.

Wow, you’re really digging up some dark memories. The trade for Delmon Young was made by Terry Ryan, then Bill Smith took over and made even more blunders. Remember trading away Carlos Gómez to the Brewers for J.J. Hardy, only to ship Hardy and Brendan Harris to Baltimore for practically nothing—just Jim Hoey and some guy named Jacobson who never made it to the majors? On top of that, the Twins released Craig Breslow so Hoey could pitch. Hoey ended up throwing 24 innings for the Twins, then never pitched in MLB again. Meanwhile, Breslow went on to pitch for nine more seasons. Being a GM is an incredibly tough job, so we have to give these guys some room for error. But recalling those terrible trades from 2007 to 2009 just shows how badly the Twins got set back. If they had just held onto Garza and Bartlett… wow, maybe we’d could have celebrated a third World Series championship team. Some of the best trades you make and the ones you don't make. ( Keep Joe Ryan)

Emphasis on "hopefully" but its another reason to be thankful for the DH. That's a role he could fill well. Personally I think it works best when a team has one main consistent DH like a David Ortiz or Nelson Cruz type Being a DH is a challenging role to fill physically mentally, its not as simple as just showing up to hit.

Nothing you said disproves nothing I didn't say about the nothing they didn't do.

"wrong and flawed? !" Prove it, use AI if you want. The facts are the facts...what year is it....1991?

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What's the difference? Just used it to find all the things I read in the pre-season. Took 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes. Don't miss the point.

Exactly.....only 10 million to spend. But why? C4's contract is killing this team. Let’s be honest — the Twins are stuck in neutral until 2028. The only real play is to blow it all up, something totally radical. Trying to keep players or find missing pieces is a pipe dream. Twins are only 2.5 years in on a 6 year deal. They have to do whatever it takes to push him toward demanding a trade. Carlos Correa’s six-year, $200 million contract with Minnesota includes vesting options that could push the total to $270 million over a decade. His annual salaries are $32 million (2023-24), $36 million (2025), $31.5 million (2026), $30.5 million (2027), and $30 million (2028). On top of that, the deal comes with a full no-trade clause and no opt-outs — effectively tying the Twins’ hands.

Everything is debatable: . National Consensus MLB.com ranked the Twins' rotation as one of the top in baseball, praising the trio of Pablo López, Joe Ryan, and Bailey Ober as a formidable top-three. ESPN’s Cy Young futures placed all three of them in the AL top 15. López, in particular, was highlighted as a legitimate ace and Cy Young frontrunner. Sports Illustrated, referencing Steamer projections, placed López at #11 and Ryan at #17 among all MLB starters. 2. Statistical Backing ERA+ (2024 Season): López (123), Ober (122), and Ryan (116) — All well above league average. K/BB ratio (2024): All three in the AL’s top 20. xFIP & WHIP: Each posted top-30 metrics leaguewide. These weren’t just solid #2 or #3 arms—they were performing like low-end #1s or high-end #2s. 3. Depth and Ceiling Chris Paddack was slotted as the #4 with a healthy offseason and promising velocity bump. Young arms like David Festa and Simeon Woods-Richardson offered upside and Triple-A success. 4. Expert Takeaways Fangraphs’ Positional Power Rankings put the Twins’ rotation in the top 10 overall, emphasizing their efficiency and consistency. Keith Law (The Athletic) said, "Minnesota is sneaky-good in the rotation. Not flashy, but three above-average arms, and a fourth in Paddack who could make noise." Conclusion The idea that the Twins lacked a strong rotation in 2025 is simply revisionist. When the season opened, both numbers and expert opinions placed them near the top of the league. Yes, injuries and regression happen, but that doesn’t erase the fact: Minnesota entered 2025 with a legitimate, top-tier rotation.

The time to secure your rotation is in the winter, not July. That said, I think the Twins set themselves up for 2025 to have very good rotation. -- Lopes -- Ober -- Ryan -- SWR -- Paddack -- Festa -- Matthews No need to revisit why it hasn't worked out as planned.

I just think we all need to respect how hard Falvey's job is. Its easy to Monday Morning Quarterback all his moves. He’s not running the *Dodgers or the Yankees where you can just write a blank check and fix problems with money. And yet, I don’t blindly trust him. But I also don’t think it’s fair to act like this is some cakewalk job. *Dodgers ( they have the have money , But let’s not pretend that’s the only reason they’re good. Those guys know how to scout and develop talent, too.)

I understand your take full well, and expect these guys to be moved. Yet, it takes 25+ solid players to build a championship team. I'm thinking "Al Newman" types...87-91 teams. Also, there is a slight difference between "building" and "building around". In other words, these are strong support players, (especially Castro,) not guys you "build" around. I hope that helps what I'm trying to say. But...yes....Twins will most likely trade all three.

Good to remind us Falvey haters of this better trades. I forgot about this one too. On top of that. Twins resigned him as a FA for the next year and has his best year as a pro in 2019.

I just looked. 5.32 to 1.83 Bull pens numbers can be misleading. It's how do they perform in high stakes situations. Allowing inherited runners to score is the best way to tell. A reliever can enter a game with a 6-1 lead, give up 4 runs and get credited with a HOLD.

There are only three ways to build an MLB roster: Draft and develop Trade Free agent signings That’s it. That’s the entire blueprint. The problem? The Twins are struggling in all three areas. Draft and develop: The farm system hasn’t produced enough league-minimum, impact players — the kind of cheap talent that gives you payroll flexibility. Compare that to what the Brewers or Tigers are rolling out, and the gap is glaring. Trade: Too many lopsided deals, and the ones that do work out feel more like accidents than vision. The Joe Ryan trade was a win. But how many others can we really say that about? Free agents: When you’re a mid-market team, you can’t miss on the big contracts. Yet they’ve done just that — Josh Donaldson flopped, and now Correa’s $200 million deal is handcuffing the roster. Yes, there are bright spots in each category. But the problem is, in a franchise with such little margin for error, one big mistake in any area cancels out progress in the others.

Let check on the last one....Alcala OUCH. From an 8.88 ERA in Minnesota to a 0.96 in Boston. Sure, the Red Sox have only used him in low-leverage mop-up roles — wisely — but if he keeps dealing like this when the pressure’s on? Then yeah, the question becomes very real: what were the Twins thinking? And to make it sting even more — look who they replaced him with. Joey Wentz had a 4.15 ERA in Pittsburgh. In Minnesota? Try 15.75. The Twins essentially gave away a 0.96 ERA arm and replaced him with a guy getting torched to the tune of 15.75. Still an un-tested sample size, but the numbers are definitely sloping the wrong way. Either there’s something in the water here… or this coaching staff has a serious development problem.

That’s a great point — I’ve honestly never thought about it that way. The hidden cost of a weak farm system isn’t just in wins — it’s in wasted payroll flexibility. When you’re not getting production from league-minimum guys, you’re forced to fill holes with overpriced free agents or risky bounce-back bets. Meanwhile, teams like the Brewers and Tigers are churning out cheap, serviceable talent, which gives them $40–50 million of wiggle room the Twins just don’t have.

You might be right — but shouldn’t we expect ownership and Falvey to be on the same page? You don’t greenlight a $200 million contract and then yank the payroll rug out from under the front office. Did anyone even think through what Correa’s deal would do to the broader payroll picture? Because if they did, it sure doesn’t look like it. It’s like buying a Corvette and parking it in the street because you can’t afford the garage. Now, if C4 starts hitting again — and he could — Falvey might end up looking like a genius. I’ll give him that. Being a GM isn’t easy, especially in Minnesota, where there’s no room for error. But this one’s on both the front office and ownership. They chose splash over strategy — and now they’re paying for it.

If all three of these players get moved at the deadline, I won’t be surprised. Disappointed? Absolutely. A forward-thinking front office would find a way to build around these guys — not ship them off because they boxed themselves in financially.

Agreed... The Twins have painted themselves into a corner — and the brushstroke that did it was the Carlos Correa contract. You’d think they’d have learned after the Josh Donaldson ploy went over like a lead balloon. Falvey managed to Houdini his way out of that deal, but there’s no slipping the cuffs on C4. And now we’re watching the fallout: fans are wondering if Joe Ryan — one of the few younger, cost-controlled arms with upside — might be on the block. Why? Because the Correa contract is clogging the payroll like a drain full of hair. They’re not spending more, so to improve, they may have to trade from their already thin rotation. I’m not an anti-Correa guy. He’s good for the team. It wasn’t his fault the Twins were foolish enough to pay him $200 million over six years on an aging player two other teams passed on. The problem is, the Twins are a franchise that can’t miss on a big contract without massive repercussions — and this one already has ripple effects, to the point of trading away a potential ace in his prime !?

Griffin Jax-ed it up...but Bader bails him out.

Sad....I didn't believe you at first....but it's true! 14 year contract on top of it....ouch. Finally, a name that reflects our odds of winning the Cup.

If and when the Twins trade Vasqy.....Throw Cardenas into the fire and let's see what we've got. Cardenas already checks several boxes: Production at AA and AAA ( 4 HRs in 30 AB .200 average) Defense that pitchers trust. IQ and leadership. If the Twins are thin at catcher and he’s the best available option, giving him a look , that would tell you a lot. Worst-case? He gets exposed, learns, and heads back down. Best-case? You found a cost-controlled #2 or even future #1. There's only one way to find out.