mikelink45

Only Chafin. The other positions are full and none of these would be an upgrade. Hire Nelson Cruz as a hitting coach - not a player. With all the talk of catcher shortages the fact that Sanchez is still out there speaks to his reputation and skills.

Fun premise, and he does fit our profile - high potential (of injury that is) who once was good and we know we can fix what ever is wrong. Last time he was good was 2018! I would have loved the Sale of the pre-2018 years, but sometimes I read TD and Twins reports like I am getting an update on a local hospital. Can we find someone healthy?

I agree with the other posters - Wacha is not going to move the needle. He is not better than what we have. If he was as good as his won - loss record last year Boston would resign him - they need help. But his history is not good. Check out his erratic performane on BR. When teams desperately need SP - the fact he is still available should raise red flags.

Julien has a problem in that 2B is occupied and when Lewis comes back it becomes even more crowded. Yet I would like to see him in Minneapolis. I know these things eventually work themselves out, but he has a road block for now - if Polanco is traded he will be up. Lee certainly started out his career on a really high note and I would love to see him on the team this year. If we end up with Correa then his path to the bigs may be blocked this year. Like Julien, it might take a trade to open up a path. Balazovic was my favorite prospect pitcher until AAA happened. I do not see him with the Twins in 23. I just hope he does not turn into the next Thorpe. Martin? Where does he play? OF is too full. Infield has the Julien and Lee and Lewis ready to move up. I can see him as part of a trade.

Are the people with SF and NY stupid? Are their medical staffs incompetent. Yes sign Correa, but stop the multiple years.

News flash - Boras says - I have another team that will spend more. Cohen says, go to them, bring their best offer, we will tweak it and you will have your contract. The Twins tried, but come in second again.

Okay - sign Correa, but be realistic - two major teams with lots of resources backed off. I know our attitude is that we can fix everyone and our records that....well it is an attitude. But let's not be stupid - five years. A team like the Mets or Giants can live with sunk costs, we cannot. The leverage should be ours. Not to rub Correa's nose in it, but the original offer should no longer be in place.

The trouble is - both Gallo and Kepler are still here

I am always mystified by the criticism he receives. Force fed into the majors he has answered the call. If he were a starter his statistics might require some hard looks, but he is 23 (almost 24) and he is handling CF when called upon - 112 games there . Last year Buxton had only 57 games in CF and 60 the year before - 117 games - only five more than Celestino. Please no Gallo in CF! I look for him to continue to improve and I am happy to have him on the team.

I liked this article, but like so many posts I think we have a large list of Twins with a lot to prove: Mahle - he needs to be healthy and be a #2 Maeda - he has to show that he is healthy and that the short season Cy Young year was not a fluke Buxton - see the other posts Pagan - so much that it is impossible to summarize Lopez - was he a half season fluke? Polanco - is he healthy? Has he peaked? Miranda - can he continue forward to be the number 4 hitter and drive in runs? Farmer - can he give us solid SS if we do not loop back to Correa? Gallo - can he become valuable or is he a 160 hitter (this is my number one need because I do not like his acquistion. Alcala - is he able to come back to health and production

No. I know what your are attempting to say and the brush you are using to cover everyone will still leave the Twins at 500 unless the pitching is fixed.

This fits with my response to the top 30 prospects of 2020 essay. I have been very disappointed in Enlow and I understand why he is low man on the 40 man totem pole. BUT!!!! This is the Pagan, Lopez, profile - big arm, poor results. But of course we can make him better even though a team that needs good arms let him go. Way to build a BP - any more blue light specials out there? I would have rather they put Enlow in the BP and see what he could do - even though I am not a big believer in him.

This made me laugh - a good rant - I hope you feel better now. Of course you did not mention Shoemaker or Bailey or Pagan or CRON!!

Let's begin with the fact that it is February, The month of groundhogs. Yes the Twins roster is a mess, we call that Deja Vue. Except the ground hog looked at this roster and decided to swing left handed and start digging holes in the OF since we can never have enough left handers out there. He took a few swing and missed - leading him to believe he once again cracked the formula for being a Twins OF. February is also the shortest month of the year so we can get through our anguish quicker. By March we will have found some savvy old vets that we know we can restore to their glory and all will be well. By that time Gallo will have made contact with the ball for the first time and be too amazed to run. The British Museum provides us with the basis of hope - "February is named after an ancient Roman festival of purification called Februa" Then comes reality when the god of war - Mars comes MARCHing in.

Miranda, Alcala, Gordon, Kiriloff, Larnach, Lewis, Duran, Jeffers, Celestino, Wallner, and Rodriguez make this a very good prospect list. 37% is probably as good as any top thirty prospect list. What we need is for some of these to rise above the good to the star level. So far Duran is there. Miranda and Gordon went to very good. But I hope the Kiriloff, Larnach, Lewis trio goes beyond that and get a real corner stone to build off. What the list really misses is pitching. Winder, Canterino, Sands and Balazovic have to step up and if they do this will be a very rich mine of talent. I do wish Baddoo more success - he is exciting and talented. Rortvedt's injury really cost him. He is trapped at AAA unless he can really improve. The biggest disappointment on the list is Thorpe followed by Javier and Cavaco. Last thought - the A's give Rooker his last chance - can he become their Gallo (minus any fielding)?

When all else fails lets think about resigning Correa. When we had him we finished below 500. If we resign him we will be below 500 based on the rest of the assembled team. Right now there is no traction to make a fan really optimistic. Maybe Gallo can pitch and Pagan can play outfield, Vasquez can out frame the league, and Farmer will be an all-star.

For a player of his draft position and all the information that we have had about him I expected him to be one of those pitchers who moved through the system. He was in AA at 23 and it did not go well. A+ is the level that he has attained with success. At this point he needs to get into AA and shine. Time to get things moving - he will be 24 during the season, if he does well he is AAA at 25, MLB 26. His WHIP which I think is an essential stat has been bad for most years. I cannot say that you or anyone else would be discouraged by the statistics, but I see him as an upside back of the rotation guy and the early notes I remember indicated much better was expected.

Enlow is the one I have no faith in. I feel bad for doubting him, but following all the TD reports I just think he is lacking in something - tangible or intangible I am not sure. I just went on the BR page to check out my feelings and it confirmed for me that he is not moving up and he is not performing as his draft would predict. I like Julien, I was higher on Steer, but that is no option anymore. Festa has the statistics I would have expected from Blayne. I look forward to more exposure for him. And Balazovic is someone I have really been looking forward to seeing and last year was really disappointing.

No - for the same reason I rant about signing Gallo - these guys do not make us better. Our only chance for improvement is in the young guys. Let them play, move the deadwood and get all the young players in to sort things out. We are not going to sign the big star (Correa and Boras played us) and thus we need a different strategy. Look at how Cleveland chose youth, speed, fielding, and pitching to carry them into the playoffs.

I really liked this entire series and the ability to discuss and debate these values. I think Lewis and Lee deserve to be in the top five with Ryan #1 right now. Until we see some movement on SP he is what we have for the future which makes him more valuable than his talent level would suggest. I would then move Duran to #2 because this team uses the BP every game for almost half the game. Without a strong BP we are destined to be a losing team. Lee would be next for me and I think he is one of the phenoms like Rodriguez in Seattle (and hopefully our own Rodriguez #6). Lewis is probably #4 because SS is so important and he showed so much talent before getting shut down. Buxton is #5 with potential to soar to number one if he gets healthy (how many years have we written that?). At 7 and 8 would be Arraez and Miranda who should be our primary offensive drivers. I know that Polanco was in your top five, but I think he has peaked and his value is dropping for me. I hope I am wrong but for this exercise but I put him at #9 right now. At this point Ober, Richardson, Prielipp, Varland, and Gray should start the second half of the listing with Gray at the head because he has to lead the rotation this year and can be signed to an extension or used to get the kind of prospects we have been trading away. I would then put Mahle for the same reason - we need him to be what the tream dreamed of or to be high value trade bait. #15 Is Alcala who showed so much promise before the injury (I hate to have to use that word again) and could be the second arm in the BP. I drop Lopez - he has to show me some talent - he and Pagan both are disappointments. #16 I put Kiriloff and Larnach in a tie - we need both of them and continue to wait to see them on the field. Again and again injury makes this list look like a roll call at General Hospital. But both of these players have so much potential. #18 - Vasquez. We need a catcher who is at least league average to keep our pitching staff moving forward as well as getting a few hits. (with his tutelage maybe Jeffers could crawl back into my list). #19 - Julien with Lewis, Arraez and Polanco having injury issues we need to have another player in line to fill in. #20 - I like Wallner, but I fear that Gallo just pushed him out of the picture. I prefer Wallner. I don't know where Austin fits in, but I would put him in a tie for 20.

I would like that, but over the years I cannot tell you how many times our various professional teams have been shocked at how such a great prospect fell into their lap! So amazing, yet few of them ever rise to the level that really deserves such amazement. Let's hope this time it is true.

That is true of a lot of players - the doldrums of August heat and the end of the year always have an impact

Our OF is a mess - if they think that they have solved it I can understand why we are now a 500 or less team. Is there a team with an OF that is too right handed?

I would like to hear Nolan Ryan and Cal Ripken in this discussion.

I think Polanco has peaked and it is a good time to include him with Kepler (Gallo), and Larnach and sent them to Miami which needs bats for one of their good arms! At this point Polanco's value is in what he can bring back to the team.