Bodie

Not much fun to watch your team finish with one run, or none. 3 or 4 hits. And 10+ Ks. And then hearing, once again, about being satisfied because... well they are following a process. And that K/BB/HR true outcome bullshi... MAY NOT BE QUESTIONED because of advanced metrics. (Preferably those stats that "prove" that Joey whom we shall not name, is above average!!!) Keep playing unwatchable baseball, and pretty soon you'll have the inevitable: no one watching baseball.

Anyone (nearly) can make the routine plays. A litteral garbage can (sans lid of course) would collect most of Correa's throws. Unfortunately not everyone else (anyone else?) makes life as easy as Correa. We have a 2B (projected, at least part-time) who would give the Jolly Green Giant fits even if he had a butterfly net! (Usable due to a certain IF's "sterling" arm strength, again this projected regular). Good 1B display thier utility on the tough 1-2% of plays that separate them from the pack. Mark Grace didn't make his name as.an elite defensive 1B taking routine throws from Ryne Sandberg, he made it coralling Shawon Dunston's "routine" throws.

Barring changes to the expected roster, the answer to headlines question is pretty easy... For the Twins to have good OF defense as a team, two of three of Bader, Buxton and Kiersay need 140 starts apiece in regular OF positions. That isn't hyperbole, it is the only possible way. And that isn't a guarantee (never forget that just one year ago we were all told of Margot's gold glover caliber defense, and before that Joey, whose name we shall never mention, and his versatility and gold glove d...). Buxton ain't getting any younger and his injury history hasn't gotten any shorter. He can only be replaced defensively, at a comparable level, by Kiersey, and that is far from a sure thing for a MLB virgin. Bader probably needs a vast majority of those 140 starts in RF, and he needs to learn the idiosyncracies. Needs to be a big home field advantage as it was in Kepler's stretch. Wallner can get away with a "Manny being Manny" level of defense (not bad, but occasionally forehead slappingly bone headed play - think Eddie Rosario in his poorer years for a Twins reference). And that is his ceiling. No matter how strong his arm, he takes forever to get it where it goes. Fixable, and probably easier than "fixing" any other fundamental baseball skill. Yet it is seldom done. And that is pretty much his sole asset on D. He is fast, but not quick. And he takes bad first steps regularly. Manny Ramirez defense starts to sound tempting, even if he's in his 50s (I assume). I can already hear the fries of "no one plays 140 games at one position anymore". To that I say that the Twins simply cannot play good team defense without 2 of those 3 doing it. The talent to do it simply doesn't exist on this roster. And "great" defense???? You need all 3 of the above mentioned vital ingredients starting 120 plus games. Each. With this roster, it is the only feasible way. With a <1% of it happening (it is possible, if certain persons di.. , get lost, or are institutionalized in time - Rocco I hear there are several very nice, calm and quiet "health spas" in the New England area....) I won't hold my breath. I've seen good Twins defense all over the diamond from countless individuals. I've seen several great defenders (CF for much of my life). Have seen several very good to great Twins defensive teams. It has been quite a few years, though... and this team is nowhere near good defensively. Buxton and Correa up the middle gives a nice framework to build around. The case can be made that no one else is significantly above average at C 1B 2B 3B RF or LF, and that they are all below average if not significantly so. It's like buying the Christmas tree expected to be displayed at the White House and taking it to the monkey house and letting them decorate it. You've still got that great framework for a memorable Christmas. But will people remember the majestic fir tree, or the fact it's covered in monkey... feces?

My eyeball test says he looked lost at 3B when he came up (his supposed natural position) and seemed to let every muscle in the field affect whatever confidence he had in his defense. Unfortunately, he never regained even the level of play that he arrived from StP. On a team FULL of "offense first" types (including those with no proof of thier MLB potential being met in the slightest), he has no place. Well, no substantial place on a winning Twins team anyway. On a team leading the majors in Ks and bottom of the barrel in D? He might be the star...

Nope. He has minor league options, so his paycheck is secure. Still wondering who you confused with Miranda, as his defense was only "solid" if grading against high school players. And not Legion ball players, just "regular" H.S.ers...

He's has a weapon all right! And it is constantly and constantly used against the Twins. Hope he can have a Rosario and go from near worst to near best at a corner (but not do a Rosario again and flip it back again to bottom of the barrel). As a fan I root for it. As a grown adult, I don't expect it.

Yeah, he was worse. And proof that WAR is meaningless. Anyone with a pair of eyes (and an iron stomach) could watch and tell you he was a one dimensional player who FAR too often didn't display even that one dimension. Now let us never speak of this "Gallo" ever again...

I got 99 problems, and 1B arm strength ain't one of them! I'll take a statue at 1B if he can hoover up the rest of th IFs slightly errant throws. Plenty of 1B lacked (and lack) Meintkeiwitcz's range and Joe Mauer's arm and somehow played to an adequate level.

Funny. No one had more people run against him, and no one allowed more success to those advancing runners among outfielders than.... wait for it... Matt Wallner. His strong arm has ZERO respect among MLB players and coaches as PROVEN by them running on him more than anyone else. And they are proven right by being more successful than against any other qualified outfielder in the bigs. Arnold Schwarzenegger was bigger and stronger than Mike Tyson. Tyson KOs him every time. Strength be damned. Having a desired trait that are part of greatness (i.e. arm strength) doesn"t mean greatness. Clementine (to use your example) had superior arm strength, amazing accuracy (kinda handy if you throw harder than anyone- ask those on the receiving end of a Sano throw from 3B!), above average speed and baserunning ability (in his prime) and hit for both average (.300 career ba) and power (in a power starved era). To compare Wallner to Clemente is even more laughable than the author's assertion that he is among the best dozen hitters in baseball.

Remember, no matter how deep your manure pit, it is never considered "depth". You just have more shi... You can take a wild guess as to where I stand in regards to Julien being "depth" at 2B. Or any position requiring a glove!

I remember seeing Liriano his first year starting. Had seats a few rows deep in LF, Jeff Kent and the Dodgers (sounds wrong, but...) were in town. As Liriano was warming up, my friend and I looked at each other and just shook our heads. His pitches broke so far and so sharply he looked literally unhittable. From 350-375 feet from home plate. Kent eventually hit a 2run HR (WAY over our heads) but the Twins won 5-2 if I remember correctly. Have never seen anyone a nasty/filthy as Liriano was early in his career. Even later after injuries took their toll, his stuff still looked almost as good as in his prime, but the control just never returned. A real shame... Probably the last appointment pitcher the Twins had. He pitched, you watched as he was SPECIAL, in ways that only the greats were/are. I won't open the can of worms that says that this Twins front office will never allow a special, unique GREAT player to develop as Liriano did. Though they seem hellbent on following his career path as it comes to injuries!

C'mon!!! Every Twins fan knows Nick Punto never went 4 for 4.... well ok, that one Jr. Hi game. But he was 27 at the time! Speed and defense, and... well defense! (Love ya' Uncle Nicky!!!!)

Not saying they'll make the opening day roster, but... I like the little I've seen of Gasper. Not sure he's quite MLB-caliber as a catcher, but he is having fun, and few things are more fun for a fan than seeing your team's players having a good time on the field. Things go right for him and we might be in for a more skilled Austidilo. Or at least a competent bat-first utility/pinch hitter. I might fall in love ❤️ 😍 💖 ❣️ with Kiersay! EFFORT I haven't seen on a consistent basis in years. And not the "26th man on the roster" great effort, but Pete Rose "I'm the best on the field AND I'll outwork you too!" effort. My take is that he is the Twins' 2nd best OF behind Buxton. And the best team we can see on opening day includes him starting. Another topic... Which is more painful to watch, and zero, zero tie where no one expected to start above AA showed any signs of life (amazing that even the pitching staff looked lifeless while pitching a combined CG SO), or a 9-9 tie where you led 8-1? Well, at least it is spring, the (Florida) grass is green, and anything is possible! And Rocco is in mid-season form...

No. The Twins have adopted the attitude that any and all effort beyond the minimum required to actually show up and play 5-6 innings lackadaisically is a risk. Keep going in this direction, and there will never be another exciting Twins player. Instead we'll be "treated" low minimal effort to "protect" them from injury while the three players with any star power struggle to play in half the games! I may be smarter than the average bear, but I CANNOT be the only one to notice this disconnect between theory and reality!

M's fans say the same thing...

162+5+7+7=181 Hope you are including DH! 9 positions, 20 starts at each position gives 180 games, a total only possible with 5 or 6 games (wild card dependent) in the World Series. I'd take that every day, and twice on Sunday!

C'mon!!!! These are Minnesota fans. They demand quality! They demand winners. Like the T-puppies. Or the Gophers. Or whatever y'all call uour North Stars' "replacements". Or best yet, the all-time winners, YOUR MINNESOTA VIKINGS!!!

You can ignore the stats in spring training. True, in some cases. And those cases are veterans with proven track records. Paddack looking like he is continuing along his half decade (plus, sub-150 innings for his "star" years) track is certainly NOT something you just gloss over. Gallo, Margot territory. Sorry, worse. Those signings were simple one year disasters. Paddack is now an official multi-year disaster. Firable offense for whoever didn't simply release him.

Well, after today's game, I'd say most anything is possible... walk off the Yankees and people will start talking! We'll, maybe not talking loudly as it is still spring training.

An all-time favorite of mine. Name another "never was" who voluntarily gives up his MLB contract because he "wasn't earning it". Terrible ballplayer (at least as a major leaguer), but apparently a thoroughly decent guy.

Now, can we ACCEPT THE FACT that you can't hit the ball hard if you DON'T MAKE CONTACT? Silly question for this organization, under this regime...

We can agree Wallner's only defensive strength is his arm strength. And teams run on his arm more than anyone else.... and do it successfully. So...

But you'd settle for an open bag of M&Ms... mmm, Mauer and Morneau!

Fun Meintkeiwitcz (?sp?) fact... he played for the Pirates at the end of his career. He was thier regular starting 2B. Hardly the typical career trajectory of a normal first baseman... He was extraordinary at 1B as good as anyone. (Won many a free beer by being able to spell that Slavic monstrosity back in the day. Loved that horseshoe of a name on the back of his jersey)

You're correct. We wouldn't be having this discussion. If Miranda played 1B regularly we would gladly welcome ANY competent 1B to man the position! Absolute.butcher on defense, seemingly ignored because he isn't as truly horrendous as Julien... Jim Thome had more of a reason to bring a glove in his last season than either Miranda or (even more so!) Julien do!