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My favorite move was bringing Gardenhire to the Twins - he has the experience of working with young talent and might be the voice and brains to figure out how to continue their development in the majors.

It is hard to envision the rotation and the pen at this time. Can Ober rebound? Do we trade Ryan or Lopez? Has Matthews peaked or can we see him gaining better results? Is SWR now our third best rotation arm? Or will we see Bradley take one of these spots. Does Festa start or go to the pen? Morris next in line in AAA. Those have to be resolved. If I am reading the posts correctly we have Sands, Prielipp, Orze, Ohl, Travis, Funderburk, Raya, Topa, Abel, Klein and then one or two of the starters I listed above. Does that sound correct or am I missing something.

I am not expecting Winokur and Amick in MLB. Nice players, but I think their potential is low. I saw them in person and their performance in Arizona does not surprise me. Nice to have one pitcher doing well since we did not send our best arms.

Keaschall needs to prove he is not in the start fast and fade groups that we have seen too often. I am really excited by him, but Twin skepticism holds me back. Wallner and Lewis need to prove their first years are who they are and not the subsequent downturns.

At this stage none of them are very valuable. But they should only be moved if they are pushed out by someone better and I do not see that happening. The core is Ryan, Lopez, Buxton, Jeffers and that is it. Jeffers because there is no other catcher in the organization to take his spot.

How depressing - we are already suffering as fans - why speculate on what could be worse?

What if ober continues his 2025 production? Could we see him moved to the bullpen for shorter max effort stints? And where do the new acquisitions fit I didn't see them in the discussion and somebody like Abel seems suited for the bullpen.

Boy is there a lack of excitement. Coaches can only do so much. I think about Buxton and his early struggles until he was so frustrated he stopped listening and did it his own way. We hire a hitting coach that was not doing great and keep the assistant hitting coaches that obviously did what?

I always wonder why teams like the White Sox, Pirates, Rockies don't just load up on Rule V. The Sox found a star pitcher last year. These players all have potential and those teams stink - the cost seems negligible in baseballs economic system.

Three reai successes in 43 years! How does that rank us among the rest of the teams?

Why. What else have the Twins FO given us?

I give him a D - safe and boring, uninspiring and another loss of Twins Fan excitement after so many disappointments for all of us. If there was one thing the Twins needed to kickstart a resurgence in fan enthusiasm it would have been to grab a new, energetic manager who could fire up the team and the fans - at least through Spring Training. There will be a lot of seats available for Shelton to give to friends and family.

What can he say? I signed with the Twins because I was fired by one of the few teams worse than them with an owner who might make the Pohlads look semi-palatable. I came here because Falvey is looking for someone that will not give him grief and continues to keep things smooth until he fires me in a few years. And yes we have prospects - so does everyone else, we even had them with the Pirates! Its off-season, time for optimism and inaction. So let's dream on. Good luck Shelton.

One of the least exciting AFL years in a long time.

I have no idea - if we think that trading three players with real value to get prospects that are going to lead us to the promised land we must not be watching the same talent evaluators who have led us to this dismal place. Teams like the Pirates, A's, Angels have been playing the trade game for years and their treadmills are going no where. Without a real plan and the people in place to implement it we just watch former players in the playoffs for other teams.

The answer is simple - No. What else can be said. Quality attracts quality. Chaos is where players go when they have no other choice. Rookies or nothing this year and next.

The issue isn't Shelton but rather the lackluster team from ownership on down. As a fan we wanted something new. The Nationals just took a risk in their hiring just as the Giants did. They may fail but there is a chance to dream on. Our retread may be comfortable for Falvey but feels to much like Ground Hog Day.

Swr did very well but it is not his rookie year.

That might be true, but the comparison isn't between them - it is about the draft strategy of Falvey and the Twins overall = here are the first round picks since Buxton: 2012 José Berríos Right-handed pitcher Papa Juan High School (Bayamón, Puerto Rico) 32§[s] [65] 2012 Luke Bard Right-handed pitcher Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Georgia) 42§[t] [65] 2013 Kohl Stewart Right-handed pitcher St. Pius X High School (Houston, Texas) 4 [66] 2014 Nick Gordon Shortstop Olympia High School (Orlando, Florida) 5 [67] 2015 Tyler Jay Left-handed pitcher University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, Illinois) 6 [68] 2016 Alex Kirilloff Outfielder Plum High School (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) 15 [69] 2017 Royce Lewis Shortstop JSerra Catholic High School (San Juan Capistrano, California) 1 [70] 2017 Brent Rooker Outfielder Mississippi State University (Mississippi State, Mississippi) 35 2018 Trevor Larnach Outfielder Oregon State University (Corvallis, Oregon) 20 [71] 2019 Keoni Cavaco Shortstop Eastlake High School (Chula Vista, California) 13 [72] 2020 Aaron Sabato First baseman University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) 27 [73] 2021 Chase Petty Right-handed pitcher Mainland Regional High School (Linwood, New Jersey) 26 [74] 2021 Noah Miller Shortstop Ozaukee High School (Fredonia, Wisconsin) 36§[s] [74] 2022 Brooks Lee Shortstop Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo, California) 8 2023 Walker Jenkins Outfielder South Brunswick High School (Southport, North Carolina) 5 2023 Charlee Soto Right-Handed pitcher Reborn Christian Academy (Kissimmee, Florida) 34§[s] 2024 Kaelen Culpepper Shortstop Kansas State University (Manhattan, Kansas) 20 2025 Marek Houston Shortstop Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) 16 2025 Riley Quick Right-Handed pitcher University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, Alabama)

Derek has a job - as the former Pirates mentor is options were limited. He is 55, looks older and will not get younger in this job! Good luck Derek enjoy another ride on the MLB carousel.

Skenes, Misiorowski, Tresavage, Sasaki - we see rookies come up and shine, the Twins prospects struggle and we are still waiting for Festa, and Mathews to reach into their potential. Our pitching pipeline is getting to be an old meme - when do we get the rookie who shines right away? Can Shelton change that? Isn't it the pitching coach that determines the strategy?

I cannot really rate managers or candidates but I can sense that fandom needed something new -something not continuing on the Path we have taken - this did nothing to meet those desires and this team needed something to boost fan morale (that is, if they want to sell tickets) and this allows the team to go through the off season with minimal excitement and expectations. I do hope Shelton does well and he might. That is not the issue. But look at some of the other hires - teams going out of the box - SF Tony Vitelloa college coach - talk about change); Baltimore - Craig Albernaz associated with Tampa and Cleveland and lots of minor league experience; Los Angeles Angels -Not exciting, but a new face and old friend Suzuki, 42, spent 16 years as a major league catcher and has spent the last three seasons as a special assistant to Angels general manager - good luck Kurt; and then there is another boring hire - Rangers hired Schumaker on a four-year contract Friday night, promoting him from a role as senior advisor to Chris Young.

Where will the Twins be playing when this WS happens?

Why not? They can clear half the 40 man and not suffer.

Who knows - Pohlads and payroll is getting old and boring. We have no influence, they have no clue. I am more interested in how many season tickets they are going to be able to sell! They should try to get the Dodgers, Yankees, Brewers and Cubs to play all the home games - that is the only way they can increase or maintain attendance.