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UK Twin

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Everything posted by UK Twin

  1. UK Twin
    As much as trying him as a SP intrigues me, I don't think we can afford to remove him from the closer role right now. He's too good in that role to be moved and we don't have anyone in the bullpen that I would completely trust to take over the role full time.
  2. UK Twin
    I would keep Correa at 3 and Lewis as clean up hitter throughout the season (health/form permitting). I have a lot faith in Correa having a much stronger year hitting and definitely want runners on base for Lewis. Julien obviously leads off against righties. As for lefties, I would go Farmer as lead off. I really hope we don't trade him as he's a very versatile player and he rakes against LHP's. I'm going to assume Polanco gets traded because I simply think he will. Number 2 slot goes to Buxton, health permitting. I know Rocco likes to mix things up but I would try and keep the top 4 as settled as possible. So for RHP's my line up would look something like: Julien DH/2B Buxton CF/DH Correa SS Lewis 3B Kepler RF Kirilloff (1B) Jeffers C Wallner LF Castro/Farmer 2B/CF (Obviously not CF if Farmer) LHP's Farmer 2B Buxton CF/DH Correa SS Lewis 3B Jeffers C Miranda 1B Julien DH (If Buxton is DH then Martin in CF) Castro LF Kepler RF
  3. UK Twin
    With Julien's emergence and Lee knocking on the door, plus we still have Polanco and Farmer so currently 2B is more than covered. More of a question about 1B but I wouldn't want the Twins paying what the Marlins would want for Arraez, as good a hitter as he is. If Buxton could prove he's healthy enough to play CF more than DH then it maybe becomes a different matter but I wouldn't want Arraez as an everyday 1B.
  4. UK Twin
    It's impossible to get every draft pick right. While there are a few absolute busts there, we have also got some top talent there. Royce Lewis could be an MVP candidate in 2024 if he stays healthy (which I can't see why not), Got to credit the Twins scouting setup for advising picking him over Greene and Gore. Twins must have been tempted to take one of those two - Lewis was not the clear number 1 pick at the time. Jenkins - one of the easiest picks ever. Being number 5 meant the Twins simply selected whoever was left out of Langford, Clark and Jenkins (Skenes and Crews were never making it to 5). The way Jenkins is going, he could turn out to be the best of the 3, if not all 4 of those hitters. Would have been a number 1 pick in most drafts. Brooks Lee - a strong spring could see him start the year with the Twins. Big reason why I would rather we trade Polanco over Kepler. If he's not quite ready Julien or Farmer (assuming he's not traded either) could fill in while he fine tunes his bat at AAA. Larnach and AK - jury still out due to injuries. AK certainly has the talent but he needs to stay on the field! Larnach has a lower ceiling and more of a fourth outfielder type player.
  5. UK Twin
    I think MLB is arguably the toughest sport to play if you're injury prone. There's a huge amount of games, you can't just sub in and out like the NFL or NBA. You pick up an injury, you're likely headed to the IL as teams can't afford to carry an injured player for more than a few days. So if you're a batter, you have to get your eye in again after at least 10 days without playing. So a lot of players (Correa for example), are determined to play through injuries when an IL stint may be better in the long term. Buxton is obviously a much bigger asset when he can play CF. But I think being a full time DH also took its toll mentally on him as well. He obviously hated it, which would have affected his at bats. Twins have to find a way of getting him on the field at least part time.
  6. UK Twin
    By which time another team may well have taken a chance on him. I don't see the downside of signing him now for less than $1 million.
  7. UK Twin
    Very astute move. He's got great stuff so could be a real bargain. The worst case scenario here is that he struggles or gets injured and we release him for little cost. But if he can find his best form again we've got a formidable set up option in front of Duran.
  8. UK Twin
    There's a reason why catchers hardly ever win batting titles or MVP honors. Because it's the hardest position to play. Certainly on the body. What Mauer did in his prime was incredible. I really hope he gets in first time.
  9. UK Twin
    One of Correa's biggest strengths is his intelligence. He'll know he had a down year but he also won't panic about it. With his defense, he doesn't need to produce MVP numbers at the plate. A .270-.280 BA with 20+ homers, 80-90 RBI will be more than fine. I think he'll produce those sorts of numbers going forwards.
  10. UK Twin
    As good as Ohtani is, that is a ludicrous amount of money to spend on one player, albeit a two way one. He's had major surgery on his pitching arm twice now. I find it very hard to believe he will be able to pitch to a high level for even half of the 10 years he signed for. So the Dodgers may end up paying the majority of his contract on simply an elite hitter. The Dodgers will probably get around this by spending another $300 million on Yamamoto to take it up to a round $1 billion.
  11. UK Twin
    Well, Correa and Buxton are untouchable by default due to their full no trade clauses. I would certainly consider Lewis untouchable right now - there's simply too much upside and too much team control to even consider trading him. Lopez is our ace now Gray has gone - he's on the list too. Jenkins is a must keep. I think that's pretty much it for my untouchable list.
  12. UK Twin
    The biggest question mark of the three is obviously Buxton. Lewis picked up a hamstring strain during the season which can happen to anyone - importantly his knee is fine. Correa and the Twins are optimistic his plantar fasciitis will sort itself out during the winter. Ideally, Buxton will be healthy enough to man CF at least 3 times a week so the DH spot can be rotated, giving the likes of Correa more rest. SS is one of the more physically demanding positions to play so Correa DH'ing once a week will help him. I long for a year where those 3 can produce at the level they can without injuries disrupting them. It would be fantastic to watch.
  13. UK Twin
    Dobnak's is easily the worst out of those 4 because he's no longer with the Twins. Buxton's only looks bad because of his injury woes. If he can get reasonably healthy he's easily worth $15mill a year. Correa's contract is not bad in the slightest. Yes he had a down year but he still provided Gold Glove caliber defense at SS (probably the best I've personally ever seen from a Twins SS). Plus the guaranteed years of his contract only takes him into his age 34-35 season I think. Compare that to other big name free agents who will be on 40mill a year contracts into their late 30's or even 40's. The last 4 years are vesting options and has to have a certain number of PA. For a player of his track record, we've got a steal TBH. Look at what he was going to get from the Giants before it all blew up.
  14. UK Twin
    IMO, the two that are currently untouchable are Lewis and Jenkins. 8 or 9 times out of 10 drafts, Jenkins is the number 1 pick. It was our extremely good fortune that we got the number 5 pick in the first place and that the 2023 draft had 5 ridiculously talented prospects in it. He's got all the tools to be a superstar - no way do we trade him. As for Lewis, he's shown he can hit at the big league level ever since he got called up back in 2022. It was only injuries that held him back until he got called up back in May/June time. He's now added more power to his swing and he's under team control for a long time yet. I think we would consider trading Lee for the right player (likely a SP with plenty of team control left). Polanco is under team control for 2 more seasons, Correa and Lewis have SS and 3B covered for 5 more seasons at least so Lee, I think, is a possible candidate to be traded. The fact he's almost ready for MLB will strongly appeal to other teams. I don't want to trade him, but if we could get a young, MLB ready SP to slot in our rotation behind Lopez (with the potential to be our number 1 starter) then I think we'd be foolish to not consider it.
  15. UK Twin
    I do think fans of their own team can underestimate how good a roster their team has. Twins made a bit of a meal of winning the AL Central. No way should they have been under .500 midway through the season. I do think talent wise, our roster is top 10. 6th may be a little generous but by no means far fetched. Correa is one of the best SS's in the game. Despite having a poor season by his standards he was still a Gold Glove finalist. We have a genuine ace in Lopez with sound depth behind him. Lewis is very quickly becoming a hitter to be feared and pitched around. Next year, if we have a fully healthy, raking Correa hitting clean up behind Lewis (or vice versa) that will be one of the best 3-4 duo's in baseball. I really like this roster. There are flaws (too many strikeouts the main one) but there's so much room for development. FO should use the trade market (like they did last off season) to add a SP and then add depth via FA.
  16. UK Twin
    This just shows how valuable the trade market is for a club the size of the Twins. It took multiple freak events for Correa to first sign in the first place and then sign long term with the Twins. The Twins generally can't get good value in the FA market. TBF this FO have tried to compete above their level. They were in for Wheeler, got Correa in the end. Although what happened with Correa is an excellent example of why the FA market is not where the Twins should be looking, apart from to add depth. Giants and Mets blew us out of the water with their offers. But the trade market is a different matter. Lopez, Gray and Ryan all acquired via trade. I think if Lopez was on the FA market this winter he would be looking at a $180-200 million contract over 8+ years. Every contender with holes in their rotation would want him. Way out of the Twins range. I know it cost us Arraez, but I maintain the Twins won that trade - we extended Lopez and he added the sweeper to his locker. Falvey identified the Marlins as a good trade partner for the Twins and struck gold. That's what needs to happen again this offseason.
  17. UK Twin
    Actually this is inaccurate, I forgot about arbitration numbers. Sorry!
  18. UK Twin
    The way I interpret what Falvey said is the Twins simply aren't going to match their payroll from this year. Which is understandable given the uncertainty of the TV revenue. Last season's payroll smashed the previous high anyway. Dan Hayes has reported that we will likely have a payroll of between 125-140mill for next year. Currently we have 90mill in guaranteed contracts. That still gives us at least 35mill to spend and we haven't got that many holes to fill. We need a new SP (assuming Gray rejects the QO), a CF, 1B, bullpen arms. Possibly a couple of other replacements depending on who we trade. It's mostly depth with position players so they won't cost too much. The SP will be the main cost if we go the free agency route. Having so many productive rookies this year makes us so much more flexible than it could have been. I'm not concerned about the reduced payroll.
  19. UK Twin
  20. UK Twin
    Unfortunately he's likely out of both our price range and market. Sounds like he wants to play for a big market team.
  21. UK Twin
    This may be an unpopular opinion but I really wouldn't re-sign Gray unless he chose to accept the QO. I'm very wary of offering a SP well into their 30's a multi year contract. Gray's been a fantastic SP for the Twins but chances are he'll only regress from here and he deserves his pay day so thank him for his efforts and move on. I'd definitely look to the trade market to replace him. Polanco is an obvious trade chip. Kepler is a keep for me.
  22. UK Twin
    I'd also like to add that while this FO has made mistakes, I think they've been great for the team generally. The very first thing they did was draft Lewis. They could easily have gone for Greene or Gore. Not that they would have been bad options but Lewis looks like he was made for the big stage already. They certainly played a blinder with getting Correa in the first time and it played a big role in him still being here. Obviously what happened with Correa was unprecedented, with first Covid and then the drama of last off season preventing him getting the deal he wanted. But I loved the fact they saw an opportunity and grabbed it with both hands. The Lopez trade was aggressive and a risk, given how big a fan favorite Arraez was. But that paid off as well. I'll be very interested in what they do this off season. Can I see them fishing in the top tier SP free agent market? Doubtful TBH. But the Twins have never been more sellable to a good SP. Now the likes of Nola and Snell are likely out of our range but someone like Rodriguez (if he opts out) or Giolito could be attainable.
  23. UK Twin
    Ah well. Houston showed their vast play off experience. They delivered more key hits in the big situations. The good news is this Twins roster is only just starting out. Lewis, Julien, Wallner should build on their rookie years. Lewis will become a superstar quickly if he stays on the field. Lopez will anchor the Twins rotation as a legitimate ace for the next 4 years at least. Correa will continue doing what he does, hopefully will do more at the plate in the regular season. Brooks Lee (early favorite for 2024 ROTY) should make his Twins debut, with the likes of Rodriguez and Jenkins to come further down the line (thank you draft lottery gods). The main question mark, inevitably, is Buxton. Taylor did a sterling job in CF in his absence but a healthy Buxton would be a game changer. sadly, that looks a very long way off. All in all though, very much looking forward to next year. Lewis, with a full spring training, could be incredible. Correa should put up better numbers. We really shouldn't have any trouble winning the AL Central again.
  24. UK Twin
    Surely that should be seen as encouraging? Lewis definitely seemed to move better last night and Rocco confirmed his hamstring is getting better.
  25. UK Twin
    Hello October Correa! At least 2 hits in the last 3 play off games plus several sparkling defensive plays. I said a few days ago if we can get back to Target Field with the series at 1-1 we'll be in a good position. I liked the Lopez for Arraez trade when it happened and I love it now. An ace like Lopez would be well out of our range in free agency so it was always going to require losing a player we wouldn't want to lose. Incredible to be able to shut out the Astros over 7 innings in a play off game on the road. I think it's impossible to overstate how immense he was. Game 3 starts at 9.07pm UK time so I'll be able to watch it. 😁
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