mikelink45

Nice job. No need to apologize or blush with this assignment. It is good to look at the two sides of a player and his contract. This is a good exercise.

I have written about this in many posts, OF seems to be the key defensive place right now, although I do not want four left handed infielders even if they can hit.

I do not know if it is just a factor of not enough knowledge on my part, but after the first list of 4 I am not really concerned about any of the others. Maybe it is the set feeling that the roster has. I would love to have some pitcher really shine, but I need this years performances before any of them seem important to me.

I am always curious where the national rankings put the Twins Prospects. It helps give me perspective as I look at the rankings from TD. Today Jim Bowden had his top fifty prospects in the Athletic https://theathletic.com/1523975/2020/01/17/jim-bowdens-top-50-prospects-for-2020/?source=dailyemail and our top three were all there. Kiriloff has now passed Royce Lewis and is ranked number 12 over all which is great. This is a quote from the article describing Alex "Kirilloff has one of the best swings in baseball, one that reminds me of former MVP Christian Yelich at around the same stage." We would take a Yelich performance. It is also why Kiriloff should not be traded no matter what is dangled in front of us. Lewis is now 18. I remember when he was consistently in the top five. He is sighted for his versatility but the key sentence in his write up is "How quickly he adjusts as a hitter will determine when he’s ready for the majors, but he does have some work to do at the plate if he’s going to reach his high ceiling." Finally Graterol comes in at #48 and I love this sentence in the scouting report, "When Graterol pitches, you better make sure your radar gun does well with the triple digits because he’ll be there often." Nice to have them in the top fifty, now let's get Kiriloff and Graterol to the big show. It will probably take a trade of Rosario or another injury to Buxton, but when we need someone I would prefer the rookie over Cave. Time to unlock the potential. Graterol should be designated to take the rotation spot of Pineda until he comes off the suspension and maybe he will be so good that he forces one of the others off the rotation and that would be great.

Baseball in this era needs great fielding in the OF more than the infield. We have reversed the trends with launch angles and shifts. The DP is disappearing and with the shifts Donaldson is as much SS as Polanco. Arraez is too young to judge and Sano at least provides a big target at 1B. Nelson Fox and Aparicio, Trammel and Whitaker - great fielding combos and light hitters no longer fit in this eras keystone evaluation. That is why Buxton made such a difference when he was in.

I am for letting this mix play out and seeing what Graterol and the other rookie arms can bring to the table. During the Yankee runs in the sixties they always had good players blocking good prospects. When a good player went down a good prospect took their place. Then they could choose and trade. I expect at least one of Lewis, Larnach, Kiriloff to be traded, but not sure which should go and if it is now, mid season or next off season.

When we start picking up Detroit cast offs something is wrong - next it will be the Orioles and Royals.

I am sorry, but I cannot form a good post. I am in shock. I think it is time for a glass of whisky!

Right now I am having a hard time seeing where they will play. If we had an opening and felt they were going to jump in and be great that would be fine, but Lewis has only a good AFL performance and no room in the infield. Kiriloff looks good, but is he our 1B? Larnach - when will he be ready and who will he replace? These deals are only when the cusp of their careers appear.

If you take away their titles you have to make Roger Maris the single season Home Run champion again.

Easy penalties and forgiveness just encourages the next level of cheating. Their are a lot of egos in sport and the belief that they are smarter than the ones who were caught.

I am delighted with baseball coming down on cheating, but the game seems to invite cheating. PEDs were cheating and people still want to give offenders HOF status, stealing signs goes all the way back and includes the famous 1951 - Dodgers/Giants playoff where Sabr https://sabr.org/research/durocher-spymaster-how-much-did-giants-prosper-cheating-1951-finalist says the SHOT was aided by sign stealing. Shoeless Joe and Pete Rose do not get my sympathy either, but we have to have some perspective when we ask if the Twins were beaten by cheaters. Who knows where all the leads will take the investigations. And hopefully Cora and others will suffer too. But as a reminder that no team has a clean record here is one of my favorite Twins moments - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzxrKO-yVV8 This is the bottom wrung on the cheater ladder. Joe Niekro might have been a little less obvious.

This is why I am not big on Bailey or any other pitcher who has the ball put in play on the ground.

Hands if stone! For a first baseman? That rules him out.

There is a point where the fact a person is a FA does not matter. There are only so many that are difference makers.

Most important reason to be excited - baseball is back

That is quite a summary. I never have judgments about coaching because I have no means of really judging them. Coming in low on Berrios when he is our staff now and in the future seems foolish. For a team that has underspent its resources I cannot see the logic in this. Sano's extension was a good move. I am getting bored with Donaldson.

He was not in the top ten

Let's see - the infield for Oakland A's was Chapman, Semian, Pinder and Olson. Our infield will be Sano, Polanco, Arraez and Surprise. Oakland ranked #4 and the Twins #26 by traditional fielding stats. In the AL mlb.com has Oakland 3 and Minnesota 13. If I am a pitcher this would concern me. If I am looking for a pitcher to increase or decrease in value this would concern me. Fan graphs has him with 1.3 GB/FB https://www.fangraphs.com/players/homer-bailey/8362/graphs?statArr=48,46&legend=1,2&split=base&time=season&ymin=&ymax=&dStatArray=

After the deflating 49ers game I thought it was time to reflect on the two major sports teams (sorry Timberwolves – you do not have a story to tell and Los Angeles stole the Lakers. Wild you too lack a story to tell and Dallas stole the North Stars). The tale has some high points, but a lot of really low ones too. I will try to avoid 41 donut, taking a knee, and other embarrassments that have plagued the Vikings. At the same time I will try to avoid the improbable playoff losing streak of the Twins against the Yankees. This is just a summary and you can cry or dwell on the bright spots. Twins 3 world series 2 victories 1 loss games 11 - 10 Twins Wild Card game 0 – 1 (2017) Six League division series 1 – 5 games 5 – 17 League Championship series 2 – 3 games 9 – 12 The Twins played in 65 post season games 25 - 40 The Senators went to three world series and won one. The Vikings have been to the playoffs 31 times in their history Should you want to relive all the endings you can go to https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/min/playoffs.htm They have played in 51 post season games 21 – 30 Wild Card games 7 – 7 Divisional round 10 – 13 Conference Championships 4 – 6 Superbowls 0 - 4 Since 1961 we have seen these two teams get into 116 post season games. Collectively we are 46 – 70. But that does not cover our anguish. Let’s get the Twins to another World Series and start a new narrative.

I continue to advocate for rookies battling for 1B and keeping Sano at 3B. I do not see any of these players being an upgrade for the team and neither is Mitch Moreland. Since we decided not to keep Cron who I thought did a good job lets look at the minor leagues. We keep hearing about all the great players in the minors and last year it was Arraez who was not even listed as a top prospect who came in and shined. Lets try that again with some of those top ranked players. And I will throw in Graterol with that same thought.

Sorry - I read it after and I am delighted. Now get Berrios! Thanks for the note.

Very good news. Now get Berrios. We know what bats can do, but we also know what happens when you do not have arms!

No - we have established this off season that we cannot get pitchers to come to us - so lets keep the pitchers we have.

I am dissappointed because the two that did not settle are the two I am most concerned about