JADBP

Is that a justification for trading Varland or losing so much talent? I just see the Twins making far more draft/trade/DFA money stakes than most teams.

Actually the Twins gave up TWO elite relievers that year, Brent Headrick and Ronny Henriquez. They lost Brent to the Rule 5 draft and they just DFA'ed Ronny. Brent should have been protected, no doubt, for all the reasons that you give. Ronny was a weird case, actually doing much better in his brief MLB stints than in AAA. But, he had some promise and there is no reason why they just couldn't keep trying in AAA last Feb 5.. Instead, they just dumped him. Miami quickly grabbed him and he went 7–1, 2.22 ERA with 98 strikeouts in 73 innings. Unfortunately, he blew out his elbow and had TJ towards the end of the year. But, you are right, these decisions are tragic for small budget teams like the Twins! They need those low cost up-and-comers to help round out the roster. Don't even get me started on Varland, the worst Twins trade ever, but even if he was and AVERAGE RP, it was still a horrible trade because he was super cheap for another 4-5 years! This is all on Falvey/Zoll....they made these decisions. I can imagine Falvey, caught up in the excitement of the hyper-active trading spree, when the phone rings. "Hey, we will give you a couple buckets of balls for Varland..." I can imagine Falvey thinking "This is genius...I will solve our outfield problems here and now, and get a great SP too!" The bigger problem is that no one stepped up and said "NO WAY! Varland is starting to shine in the BP and you just traded the entire BP away! We desperately need him, he's cheap for a long time and he is doing well in the BP!" Varland had made 51 appearances in the BP for the Twins that year pitching to a 2.02 ERA and 47 K's. But, no one stopped Falvey-least of all Zoll. While it is an insane trade, perhaps the reason these boneheaded decisions are made by the FO is that no one steps up and says "Hey, that's a boneheaded decision! Stop and think about this for a minute..."

Right....here is what it comes down to: Baseball maxim: You never have too much pitching. There will be injuries. You will need SPs that bounce between the Twin Cities. Preilipp, Matthews, Abel and definitely Bradley belong in the biggs. And all of them have more upside than Ober. We have 7-8 SPs (outside of Ober) that belong or can be used in the rotation. We may have enough. Trading Ryan will hurt, but we could still be OK. Baseball trend: fastballs in the upper 90's. What SP (and even more so, RP's) can survive with a FB that peaks at 88 mph? It just makes no sense and it shows up in his stats. Twins reality: We need RPs, 1B, short term C. Not really to fill out some other positions more than we need to worry about Ober, so combine him with Wallner, Larnach, maybe even Royce to fill some holes. This is how smart small market (budget) team succeed. Puttig Ober into the bullpen makes less sense than non-tendering!

Uhhh...you are putting a guy into the BP with an 88 mph fastball? Really? Maybe if he learned a knuckleball.....but otherwise....trade him!

Sorry, I mispoke! Boston offered Tolle and Arias for Joe Ryan. That was a fantastic haul. Tolle would have easily replaced Ryan through 2030 at low cost. Just the kind of trade that the Twins need to be making to extend players through a series of trades lasting many seasons. Other teams do this all the time--its how small market teams can compete (look at Milwaukee, Tampa Bay, and other low budget teams). But Falvey chose instead to make insane trades at the deadline instead, like trading away Varland. I full agree...if Ryan is not accepting a deal for the next 3 years (and it will have to be at market rates for years 2-3), then trade him ASAP. It might even be too late alreay, because you are never going to replicate that Tolle/Arias offer! But, Mike, I am just so sick and tired of this boneheaded front office! They have been using "low budget" as an excuse for years when, in reality, they are making insanely bad moves. The result is a f'ed up roster.

I know....but there must be a good trade out there. We should have jumped on that BOS trade offer last year, They offered Payton Tolle and Arias for Ryan....an absolute crazy haul! Tolle had a better year than Ryan, in just his first full season. Tolle is a monster and we would have him through 2030! Dammit! Again, either resign Ryan now (this offseason) or trade him. Don't repeat the Jeffers disaster.

Really? Sabato is exactly the kind of narrow-minded drafting that Falvey used to bring us winners like Wallner, Keoni Cavaco, Larnach, and Kalai Rosario. His drafts are littered with losers. Guys who had one good tool that allowed Falvey to overlook all other flaws. Most of the time it was a HR tool that enticed him. But, he overlooked fatal flaws like slow, poor-fielding, strikeout prone, and makeup. I almost want to put Lewis in this category but I hesitate because I like him so much....,but he seems lost. Might be poor coaching, poor conditioning, poor attitude, but he was a 5-tool player with 1-1 draft pedigree. We just can't seem to unlock his skills so maybe he needs a change of scenery? I know that Shelton had high hopes. I though for sure the Twins would take Hunter Greene that draft....or at least MacKenzie Gore. Oh well....As I keep saying....it will take some years to clean up the mess that Falvey left behind. And having Zoll in that chair, doing the same thing as Falvey (who taught him) did, we are only delaying the needed corrections .

in regards to his hitting....I agree....he needs to take a lot of MLB hacks before the Twins give up on him like they gave up on Big Papi! Keep the faith! And regarding Defense, yes, you are right....there are many balls that no other player would have got to...except Buxton! He is aging, but still the best CFer in a long string of great CFers that we have enjoyed watching....only Puckett was better. Now that's an interesting topic for an article. We have had a lot of great CFers over the years, going all the way back to Cesar Tovar and Jimmy Hall, to Puckett, Gomez, Hunter, Span, Puckett was easily the #1, and Torii Hunter would have been very close at #2 if he stuck around. But #2 will be Buxton. Not sure if he will get to Puckett's numbers, but he should finish ahead of Torii's lifetime numbers.

Ouch...in many ways! First, why would someone trade a legit middle-lineup 1Bman for a lousy 1Bman + anyone? Second, I agree with the black hole we have had at 1B for ...forever....no, since Kirby.,..no, since Big Papi! Yeah, we have done very poorly with 1Bman for the last 20 years...Kirilloff had some many injuries he just up and retired! That was weird. Third, I agree....it might be time for a change of scenery with Lewis. I hate to say this, but at some point you have to cut your losses and move on. He's not a contender. He might have more value in a trade than sitting on the bench. I would be sad to see him go. Especially after I got that expensive Lewis Jersey for my birthday a couple of years ago! Fourth, we have other just as intriguing change of scenery candidates to trade...Larnach, Wallner, Sabato, Ross and either Clemmons or Martin. This roster is soooo f'ed up (thank you Falvey/Zoll). And, while there is a monster hole at 1B, there is an even bigger one in RP and maybe even SP.

especially what they put out there THIS season!

I don't believe we will see the Zoll apple to far very far from the rotten Falvey apple tree.

What's an upper role? Sounds to me like Zoll feels he is in over his head and wants others to help him do his job!

Jeez, I would hope that we would have figured out that glaring hole at 1B by 2028! I was hopeful that Royce would be a good-to-great 1Bman, but he just keeps messing up. 11 E's, a 0.227 AVG, 0.9 WAR, this 1-1 is not paying off. We could use a sharp 1Bman. Not sure if that is Royce, Keashcall, or a new guy. Maybe Ty France again? Jeffers has played exactly one MiLB game at 1B, and none in MLB. I wouldn't assume he is an auto-transfer to 1B. DH, yeah. 1B, who knows?

I agree that it seems like Joe doesn't want to stay here. So, I recommend testing that theory. Throw out a long term contract to him, maybe $10/20/25 or something? If he bites, then great. Problem solved. If not, then you know, so then plan on trading him. Otherwise, he becomes the next Jeffers, we lose him for nothing in return. Smart teams capitalize on players like this. They know that there will be down years. Even NYY and LAD have down years. So, you trade away assets to build back up. Why can't the Twins do this? There is a lot of dead wood to clear out (especially in the GM's office)!

Yeah....NO! This is the same sort of wishful thinking that blew away this year! We could have traded away Ryan Jeffers to Boz last off-season and got an Ace SP in return. We could have traded away Ryan last off-season for a haul. But, no, we decided to be competitive. We were not competitive, its just that the rest of AL, and in particular, the AL Central, was so weak this year. We looked like we were competitive, but really we were a losing team almost all year--only above 0.500 for two quick spurts (and never more than 1 game over .500). Pick a lane, make a plan and go get it. Not wishy washy if we do, if we don't.....