The Great Hambino

No kidding - we saw what could wind up being the dumbest play of the year as well as the unluckiest play of the year both happen to the same team in the same quarter

Wait - what's insane about throwing out an opener in a hostile environment that just got tagged with two homers and will be pitching for the fourth time in five days?

Larnach is probably the arb candidate for whom I'm least sure about which direction they'll go. Tender-and-trade would be my guess, but I wouldn't be shocked by anything. Maybe mildly surprised if he was nontendered straight away ETA: regarding moving him to 1B, part of me thinks that makes sense given the rest of the roster, but another part of me wonders why they didn't do that last year if they had thought it was a possibility. France wasn't signed until mid-February, after all. Maybe Miranda was still viewed as a viable option at 1B at the time? I dunno

I agree that they'd almost certainly be getting players in return that would be on the 2026 opening day roster, but those players would more than likely be making at- or near-minimum salaries (swapping out pitchers on arbitration who don't fit the timeline for position players on arbitration who don't fit the timeline defeats the purpose of trading the pitchers). So the names in the chart might be different, but wouldn't have much of an effect on the payroll number. Swapping minimum salary for another minimum salary would be a wash. In fact, if the returns net them a young quality shortstop, that could negate the need for an IKF-type and drive the payroll floor down even further

In my opinion, I don't see Buxton getting dealt in any scenario this offseason. His comments post-trade deadline make me think if he wanted out, he'd have been out already. It's possible that dealing Lopez and Ryan changes his mind, but I think Falvey tipped their future plans when he told Correa "this isn't what you signed up for" when getting his approval for a trade. Surely Buxton is aware of that conversation and likely had similar conversations with Falvey as well. Why wouldn't Correa have signed up for a quick return to contention in 2026? Maybe I'm Rorschaching the situation a bit (aren't we all to a degree?) but I just don't see that happening. While I'm much less sure about it, I also get the feeling that Lopez will be brought back. Post-trade deadline, it seemed to me like they were really leaning into Pablo during broadcasts - making him the face of charity stuff, chronicling his interactions with fans in the ballpark, etc. It felt like they were positioning him to be a big part of their marketing material in 2026. Could they have just been trying to fill time and he happened to be available for that stuff due to injury? Certainly. But it was enough to make me think it's a little more likely than not that he's coming back. Also, while I'm skeptical of MLB's desire and ability to "not allow" the Twins to run a low payroll given what they've allowed other teams to do, even I think there's a limit to that. $50MM would be $17MM lower than Miami's last-place 2025 opening day payroll. Retaining Pablo seems like the simplest way to keep a barely-acceptable payroll level. And they could always still move him at the deadline if the conditions are right. Just about everyone beyond Buxton and Pablo as getting moved in the article (I'm on the fence about whether they'd sell low on Lewis just because), on the other hand, I'd be surprised to see on the 2026 opening day roster. Ryan gets them the best possible return in terms of value, Larnach has a bunch of cheaper replacements behind him and could fetch a low-level return (if Farmer on the way in and Gordon on the way out could get something in trade, I don't see why Larnach couldn't as well), and I don't think they’ll be against picking up a couple of Vasquez-type catchers to replace Jeffers Keeping Buxton and Lopez would put the minimum payroll at closer to $85MM. Still absurdly low, but well within what MLB has allowed other noncompetitive teams to operate at.

You can take the pitcher out of MInnesota, but you can't take the Minnesota out of the pitcher

Why'd you have to go and do something like that?

Holy Schlittler. Well done

What, did thirty not pay its membership dues or something?

This is a good, detailed breakdown. I'd rather Genesis take an Exodus (And why don't they make the whole plane out of the black box? Thank you, try the veal) Looking at the state of the position of LH RP in the organization, I think you've indirectly shown another reason why Prielipp should be moved to the bullpen immediately, along with his injury history and long line of peers ahead of him in the starter pecking order

Yes, there's a very high likelihood that they'll be approved. But they aren't yet, and Falvey has referenced on multiple occasions that the limited partners need to be brought in and consulted before choosing a direction for the offseason. So, at least to me, it's an issue of timing instead of doubts they'll get approval. It's certainly possible that the direction has already been determined and he's using the formality of approval to delay delivering the bad news. But if we're to take him at his word (I know, I know), then they need the approval process to be completed before they can move on with their offseason plans. And if that gets dragged out for whatever reason, it could complicate things if player transactions start happening around the league. We can each determine for ourselves how much credibility we want to give to that idea. Though there is a nonzero chance that the Pohlads find a way to bungle this limited partner approval process and put us all back to square one

Has there been any indication of what the timeline for league approval of the limited partners is supposed to be? I haven't found anything more concrete than "after the season" or "hopefully by the end of the calendar year." I ask because if they're waiting for the winter meetings to approve them, then that would only increase the probability of low investment in 2026, right? If they have to make all their 40 man decisions (which must be made before the winter meetings) before approval, I can't imagine they'll be taking an aggressive approach. I don't think there's any reason approval has to wait until the winter meetings - the Rays sale was approved during the season, after all - but the longer it goes without hearing anything about it, the more curious I become In my opinion, this wouldn't ultimately matter since I don't think these limited partners are interested in anything more than a return on their investment, and the simplest way to guarantee that in the short term is to cut costs. But that's just me reading tea leaves. We won't know for sure until they're approved. But if there's still uncertainty by the time 40 man rosters are set and offseason transactions start happening, I can't imagine the Pohlads throwing money at that kind of uncertainty

I can think of an appropriate theme song for them. Should pair well with the in-stadium experience next year

I thought he played okay within the kind of game plan you use to break in a rookie QB. But it seemed pretty clear they don't really trust him to throw the ball downfield yet

Gotta give them credit, this Little Giants of a line held up when it mattered most. Now lock the entire team in a hyperbaric chamber until the end of the bye week. Time to get healthy

I like KOC's offense but I've always hated the design of his screens. Way too often catching the ball stationary well behind the line of scrimmage

This is the first real look I've had at Judkins - he has some juice

Who knew the secret to unlocking the passing game would be having an off-the-street RB throw to a blocking TE

Wow, that is a rough stat

Is Julio Rodriguez bringing raising the roof back?

The embarrassment is why it would be a good idea! Also, the quality of the 3 seed can swing so wildly - sometimes they're essentially equal to the 2 seed, sometimes they're significantly worse than the 5 seed - because the worst division winner sometimes stinks. But I'd be perfectly fine with simple re-seeding. Or determining second-round matchups by record. Anything other than the status quo of the top seed getting an opponent with a record 7 games better than the 2 seed's opponent.

Pretty fair list, I'd say If I had a quibble I'd flip the Nats and Twins. I think the farm system ranking discrepancy isn't as great as it appears on paper since Washington's best prospects have been ones to recently lose prospect status while the Twins' best ones will be (hopefully) losing that status in the near future. Between that and the implied security that working with a brand new GM brings (relative to the hot seat Falvey should be on) I think tips the scales toward Washington

Very interesting stuff. Have other MLB pitchers used botox to treat this? How did things turn out for them?

No follow-up on that in the article. The author was more interested in Joe playing Goldeneye on N64 and starring in Breck's production of "West Side Story" The overall goal of it seemed to be to paint him as not your typical spoiled billionaire heir - that he's humble and worked for the position he has. Which is a little strange, considering it also describes him as "adrift and unemployed" after a few jobs didn't work out coming out of college and includes passages like: "For a spell he led the Twins' flagship radio station; the family later sold that media company at a steep loss." So he's a nice enough guy and seems well-liked by his friends, but would more likely be managing a Gamestop than running a billion-dollar company if his last name wasn't Pohlad

Now that the divisional round is set, once again we see the top-seeded Blue Jays dealt a more difficult opponent than the 2 seed. Should there be re-seeding after the Wild Card round? I can't think of a good reason why not. All the teams are on the same schedule and there's at least one built-in off day to handle logistics. There doesn't seem to be a problem staging a Wild Card round with one built-in off day and even more potential matchup permutations leading up to it. Personally, I think the top seed should get to choose their opponent. Could be done right after the conclusion of the final series. That could be pretty juicy. But even simple re-seeding just makes too much sense to me