mikelink45

If we get Wheeler the FA season will essentially be over. But the problem is when I go through the other sites and their listing of FA pitchers I do not see the Twins being high on any of the primary FA lists. We are still not a destination and that is a problem. Will Odorizzi take the QO - he should, it is over paying and if he believes in himself that should be good enough. I cannot plan for the Twins, but I can hope. Bring in Wheeler, have Odorizzi start, use Graterol and Dobnak in the rotation. Start looking at the Kiriloff, Larnach, Rooker, Raley group for reinforcements, and use Astudillo for a year until Jeffers comes up at Catcher.

Sano and Berrios are the two I would do. I do not trust RPs to have long productive careers so Rogers is under control long enough to satisfy me. Garver had the misfortune to be a late bloomer and his age at the end of the controllable years is too iffy at this point, give it another year. Rosario is not as underrated as I continually see in these columns - https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11683-%7B%3F%7D/ but that does not mean I would do an extension at this point. And Buxton? What a question mark he is. His fragility is a real problem and the question will be, if he turns a corner and stays healthy, can he retain the speed and agility that has made him such an exciting player. Without speed his fielding goes down, his base running goes down, and so does his BA. I am not ready to extend him.

I am not looking for him, unless Rosario is gone and Buxton is back on IR. Then it would make sense, but otherwise the roster looks full at his positions. At 1B I expect Cron back, but it could be Sano, Garver, Gonzalez, or even Rooker.

No - they are already working on speeding up the game - this weekend I was driven crazy by the NFL downtime for review and the same with the World Series.

I am not excited about keeping many of these players on the 40. My only question with each name is - can a team afford to waste a place on their roster for the entire season to have that player. Javier is my prime example - he can't compete in the MiLB and you are afraid to lose him to MLB? Why? Raley? If you have room fine, but we have Larnach, Kiriloff, Cave, Wade. Keep him, but not if it jeopardizes someone more important. How many of these will make the Twins lineup in the next three years? What are their odds? Package a batch and make a trade. Move on and make the Twins into a better team.

Ho hum - next! Lots of lists so far, lots of are we interested in this guy scenarios. I only want to see those that will make us better, not make us the same.

I think we must have watched different seasons - Severino was injured most of the year - when he came back he was lights out - again. Paxton and Tanaka over Odorizzi and Pineda - without a doubt.

I am ready for this. Why not? What is the argument for letting errors we can correct influence the game? I know it means that the quick hand artists who steal strikes less important - is that bad?

I used to call for Gonsalves to be promoted, but as he was exposed over the last two years my enthusiasm disappeared. At 26 he has not shown me anything that calls this move into question. Graterol, Balozovic, Duran are all ahead of him now. We have Smeltzer, Dobnak, Littell, Alcala, Stashak, Thorpe on the 40 man and Enlow, Colina, Sands, and Vallimont in the minors. I do not think Gonsalves had a chance and he did not deserve it. My question is about Romero, Harper, Hildenberger - have I missed announcements about them?

I love the idea. Wasting arms in the minors and even the worry about service time drive me crazy. Yes they can learn in the minors and most need to, but raw talent plays at any level. In a year or two in the majors he could approach the number 1 - Ace - level that we are in need of.

He could be this generations Nellie Fox or Rod Carew. He will study the pitchers just like they will study him. Who wins? It will be fascinating.

No - concentrate on pitching, work with Astudillo, Jeffers, Rortvedt. These are good hot stove topics, but what he will want takes him out of the platoon catcher discussion and no way do the Twins want to slow down Garver. Garver is actually getting to the age where many catchers drop off. He hit is stride at an older age than most and my concern for the Twins is in 2 - 3 years. Make sure the young catchers are ready.

If it were not for the Orioles I might think you were right.

Randy was a nice story. If he is in the rotation we have not done enough.

They have 4 ex Twins. So I guess we are actually their model! The take aways are great hitters - Rendon and Soto and Great pitchers Strasburg and Scherzer. That is an easy model, except you have to be lucky or determined to get them. They had three excellent starters, the Twins have one. What did the Twins lack? The starters! The clutch hitters. But we are close so lets keep building out own model. And do not forget the Astros. The Nationals won, but the Astros also had the combination of great starters and clutch hitters which is why it went seven games.

In this age of communications a site like TD probably has more influence than any fan related communications ever have. When we get a break down like this it is an easy cut and paste. So maybe we underestimate the reach of TD.

Sure Arizona can pair him with Escobar in the middle of their lineup. Still if we get Robbie Ray I am happy.

Thank you for a sensible response. I have never seen a group so anxious to trade a good player spend so much ink telling everyone how terrible he is. The HR and RBIs do matter. As a matter of fact with the HRs of Cruz and Kepler and Polanco it is amazing he found that many he could drive in. https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11683-%7B%3F%7D/

I was underwhelmed and confused by the Wisler signing. Why confuse the 40 man with someone who might get to be replacement level if he is lucky. There are alwas Wislers available by Spring Training. But as I look at the 40 man roster I find some names that are really interesting - for example Romero. Is he going to make it or did he just tease us a couple years ago. Or did the Twins mess with a starter and turn him into a lousy reliever? I feel that he has to be really great this spring or a DFA is in his future. I would jettison Dyson and Pineda for the let down they created this year. Sorry but they are not part of my dream team. Ryne Harper was a nice story. I hope he catches on with someone else this year. Hildenberger, Perez, and Stewart are not at the level this team needs to seek so they can fill in for some team like the Orioles or Tigers. Gonsalves??? I heard that name last year or was it the year before or the year before that. Once our number one pitching prospect or so it seemed. Either he produces big or he joins the other questionable pitching arms I listed above and seeks a chance elsewhere. Now comes my most questionable thought - if we retain Castro we drop Astudillo. Good story, but as much as I loved him this year I am not looking for him to be part of the team next year unless Castro goes. Then he is here for a year until Jeffers moves into the second catcher position. Wade and Cave - do we need both of them? Who has more value and where to Raley and Rooker fit in. At least half of them have to move on. That is my heartless thoughts today - tomorrow they might be different.

We could have a contest to pick his DFA date! Not exciting. Another project for Wes Johnson. Great he already has Graterol, Smeltzer, Dobnak, May, Duffey, Stewart, Thorpe, Romero, Hildenberger, Perez, Harper, Gonsalves, and Alcala on the current 40 man to work with and straighten out. Is his Erector set big enough to keep adding projects? I know many of these will disappear, but that just means we have more projects to replace them. By the way - what is happening with Gonsalves? I see him going away and wonder where is potential flamed out.

I am confused by Raley and where we will use him. Does he bypass Kiriloff and Larnach to come to the Twins in 2020 as you project? Does he bypass Cave and Lamonte Wade for the extra OF position? Where do we use him? And now, if Buxton is hurt again, it looks like Lewis might be the answer as none of the rest of these players are CFers. I will be curious to see who makes it up to the majors this year.

I just cannot get excited by Gold Gloves - some years there have been terrible travesties like Palmeiro https://www.sbnation.com/2011/12/2/2604446/rafael-palmeiro-1999-gold-glove "Palmeiro won the Gold Glove at first base in '99 despite starting 28 games at first base and 128 games at DH." Pitchers are hard to choose and there has always been a laziness - Sure Kuechel won a number of awards in a row - Jim Kaat won 16 in a row and Greg Maddux 18. We have had many discussions on this site about defense and I do not trust any of the metrics. I do not know if Berrios is the best, but it would be good if a Twin was awarded. On the other hand I argue that Rosario is not the worst left fielder in the league, nor would I think Robbie Grossman could get a gold glove as the best. These awards just give us something to write about.

I keep looking at these lists and thinking - no that is not what we want. We have the young talent that Wes Johnson can work with on the roster now (or soon) - if we are going to spend money it has to be for someone significantly better and none of these three would give us a better rotation. Fly ball pitchers in a HR period just do not seem like the right solution.

Wheeler and Odorizzi are the best two options behind Cole and I would be happy if we sign both.

Great response. That is my question too. Who is young enough to not be on the back end of their career like Archer and Kershaw? How do we find a 24 - 29 year old who needs just a few adjustments to move up as an excellent starter?