Western SD Fan

Early morning baseball! I wonder if it works the same way as watching early morning high school tournaments: the first team to wake up wins. 😎

That's my concern as well about a major overhaul. Also, as I have commented before, a major overhaul may lower the potential FMV of the team and we are already worried that the current ownership won't sell. We kind of saw this when Arte Moreno took the Angels off the market and that team seems to have less of a future than we do.

Just would like to make a correction here that may affect your consideration. Duran and Jax still have two years of arbitration left after 2025. Neither will become free agents until 2028. Minnesota Twins Multi-Year Table

I was disappointed in Rocco's explanation on why he took SWR out after 5 innings. He said that he had an entire bullpen rested and ready to go to support SWR and get the win and the bullpen arms had already been planned out for the game. He must have forgotten that he still has a potential bullpen game to plan for on Saturday and that's provided that Festa and Paddack will go at least 5 innings the next two days, which is not always guaranteed in Rocco ball. My only real defense that I can come up with is that the heart of the Marlins order was coming up in the 6th (batters 2-4).

I'm not sure it's so much casting them off as it is just the reality of team that could be selling at the deadline. Bader has a mutual agreement so there is a chance we could resign him next year. My hope for Castro is we can do what the Tigers did with Flaherty; trade him to a contender with the understanding that we want to resign him in the offseason. France may still be here at the end of the season as I don't see him having much trade value. Paddack will likely want what the market will command as he is running out of years left in the MLB. Even bad starters are getting $12-17M, which I think will be more than the Twins will be willing to pay as I would rather see that money go towards an extension on Ryan.

This is the part of being a fan I am most fascinated with: trying to be the GM without knowing all of the knowledge the GM knows in how to plan an organization for the next 1-5 years. There are many things that concern me regarding this list or anyone that still has years left of arbitration left before free agency. The team is still for sale at this moment, and I would find it frightening that a FO that may not be there would make sweeping changes that will affect the team for years to come. I don't see many of our players with years left of arbitration that have enough built-up value to bring back any value in a trade that would help us in the near future. Additionally, there is an expected lockout after the 2026 season. The first potential work stoppage that will include the minor league players, as they are now part of the players union. Any prolonged work stoppage may affect the minor leagues as well. Think of another COVID type year and how that affected development of the minor leaguers. The players: Duran or Jax - I think we are fooling ourselves into thinking we are going to get a crop full of prospects for either one of them. I also look at the Josh Hader trade from Milwaukee to San Diego. Hader was traded a year later than a potential Duran trade, but was more well-established as a dominant closer, and yet still fell quite short of the kind of package we are expecting from a Duran trade. If we believe in this core, then you believe in a re-tooling for next year and Duran for next year is more valuable to you than what you would likely receive in a trade. Larnach or Wallner - Larnach is a year closer to free agency and that always factors in your decision. I don't see either one as really a strong enough trade piece to generate a useful prospect at the deadline. This decision is better made for the offseason. Lewis - I'm not as worried as Lewis turning into the next David Ortiz as I am just making sure he is healthy, and we know everything we can get out of him prior to making a decision. This may include seeing if he is willing to pick up a first baseman's glove in the offseason, especially if you believe in Keaschall coming back and being able to plug into 2B. Lewis may end up being closer to Gio Urshela or Glyber Torres than Nolan Arenado, but we really won't know that until we have a full season where he is not injured for most of it. We also have questions about Julien, Miranda, Martin, and others where they fit in the system going forward. I'll end with this. The Royals have brought up Jac Caglianone and seem to be committed to playing him on a daily basis, although he currently has an OPS+ of 21. Do you think the Twins would do the same with Walker Jenkins or Emmy Rodriguez?

I'll be wrong every day if it means a Twins win!

Well, my story on how we choke this game is still intact. Let's say it starts with nubber hit up the third base line that we don't field cleanly.

Wheels Correa?!?! I just went to a tractor pull that had more speed out of the box.

We knew it was going to be an out. Bader lost his hat in the process of catching the ball.

I was going to lay out exactly how we were going to lose, but my scenario comes up in the 9th. We might choke it down by the 7th.

We could all hope, but I think both Bert and Dick were pushed out earlier than they wanted to go so I don't see either one coming back into the booth.

The Panthers cut into their beach time enough the way it was enroute to their Stanley Cup victory.

Before we were saved by the umps. I was going to suggest that Varland could still go tonight as he threw 19 pitches last night. If you didn't want to go there, Coulombe could finally throw more than a few pitches and complete a full inning as a bridge to Jax and Duran.

Finally get bailed out by the umps!

It was too straight for him. All we've been hearing is how Correa is crushing off-speed pitches.

Remember SWR, Rocco has a bad toe so you can outrun him to the mound!

If you include Lewis in this conversation, I almost think this is a FO strategy. Have these players play just hurt or down enough that you can't trade them, but play enough that you can blame the lack of success on injuries and bad luck, so you don't have to change and yet still get paid.

Or the organization that may have finally softly admitted that they brought him up too soon AGAIN but can't actually admit it.

The Twins do what they do best. Take themselves out of the big inning. Almost like they can't handle the pressure.

Good news for us. The Red Sox come calling to Minnesota at the end of the month. We will have an opportunity for Alcala to close us out as well.

Adams start alert for St. Paul: 2 2/3 IP, 3H, 2ER, 1BB, 2K in 49 pitches. He's already out so that doesn't bode well for a future Adams appearance.

Mystery solved: We DFA'd Henriquez to sign Danny Coulombe. Probably could have operated the rest of the bullpen better but can't complain about that transaction. Transactions | MLB.com

I agree. I fear that if the Rays sale is completed somewhere around the $1.7B price tag, the Twins won't be sold anytime soon.

I don't believe Henriquez ever pitched that poorly for the Twins. IIRC, he was part of a roster crunch move. Of course, the pitcher we had to keep was so valuable to us that I don't remember who it was that we lost Henriquez for.