mikelink45

Especially Dave - I think he was drafted in NFL and NBA as well as MLB. Joe was good athlete - not sure he was pro prospect in any other sport.

Shohei Ohtani is the number one talent in MLB and will be as long as his body does not fall apart – Last year he had 59 SB and 54 HRs – and he batted 310. He had 9.1 WAR. In 7 years he has maintained a 282 BA, and in seven years he has accumulated 43.8 WAR. Plus what gets him on this list is that he was a two way players – a Pitcher (not last year) and a Hitter. And his pitching stats are 38 – 19 with a 3.01 era. Not the greatest pitcher, but ready to be number one on 2/3rd of the teams. So is he the best? Well there is another guy that seems to have made a name for himself – even a candy bar. Babe Ruth with 182.6 WAR – Shohei has a ways to go here. 714 HRs, and he had 123 SB – although that was not his forte’. His career slugging was 690. Shohei had a monster year last year and had a 646 Slugging. And that Ruth guy could pitch too – which he did in 10 years – he did not want to pitch more but he could have. His record was 94 – 46 with a 2.28 era. So beyond recency bias how does Shohei rank number one in this rare category? And then there is a third entry into this list – a man who went 34 – 5 in one season, then had his arm go dead so he switched to the OF. Smoky Joe Wood was not in the same category as Ruth and Ohtani, but he did gain 40.2 WAR. 117 – 57 2.03 are pretty dramatic numbers, and a 283/357/411 slash line is not a bad one. That is the end of that list but as I tossed in bed with a brain that would not stop I then though there are other means to go two ways: Bo Jackson – played 8 years of major league ball. He only accumulated 8.3 WAR but for four years he was mister excitement, but the trouble was he was doubling up with professional football and those four seasons with the Raiders injured him too much for either sport. Deion Sanders was another NFL/MLB cross over. His 5.5 WAR over 9 years tells you he was not a star in MLB, but he was HOF in NFL and had one really exciting season in the majors. Looking at cross overs I have to rate Jim Thorpe the best – Olympic Champion in multiple events, in six years in the majors his line was 252/286/362 – not exactly all-star. But in the NFL he was named on the 1920s Hall of Fame team. One MLB/NBA cross over was Gene Conely who played for the Milwaukee Braves and the Boston Celtic. 91 – 96 career on the mound 3.82 era. No one knew how to deal with such a tall pitcher in those days. He played 6 years in the NBA, but took off six to concentrate on BB. He averaged 5.9 points and 6.3 rebounds as a power forward. Danny Ainge played in Toronto three seasons and accumulated a -2.0 WAR – not a star. But in over 1000 games in the NBA he averaged 11.6 points per game But crossing over is not easy – ask Michael Jordan. I tried looking at other sports and HOF John Smoltz also was a pro golfer and was in nine tournaments. In Hockey Smoltz teammate Tom Glavine played Hockey before BB but not the NHL although he was drafted by the LA Kings. Justin Morneau only played in a single exhibition game, playing for the Portland Winter Hawks of the WHL in 1997. And luckily for the Twins turned to BB. But there was actually one player who was both professional baseball and hockey - James Riley is the first player to ever play both professional baseball and professional hockey. He played 17 games in the NHL, 90 games in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and won the Stanley Cup with the Seattle Metropolitans in 1917. In addition, Riley played professional baseball for small parts of twelve seasons, from 1921 to 1932, with the St. Louis Browns and Washington Senators. That is as far as I can go – football was always a two way sport up through Chuck Bednarik of the Eagles so now they are considering some two way players again, but it is not as dramatic as baseballs. And naturally NFL has many kickers who have been pro soccer players. We know many of these athletes had skills that could have led to other sports, but it was always considered better to concentrate on one sport or one skill. In baseball there might have been other pitcher/batters if the DH had existed. Bullet Joe Bush hit .325 in 1921 and .326 - 1922 and 339 -1924. For his career a 253 average. Wes Ferrell would have been a better example. He was often a pinch hitter as well as batting in his own starts - His 38 career home runs are the all-time record for a pitcher (not named Ohtani). two seasons with an OPS better than .950, and two more above .800. He also won 193 games in a 15-year career.

Just to get my vote in - I do not know what the team will decide but I still trade Paddack and I have SWR and Festa as regular rotation starters.

Too early. I agree with others that we need to revamp the MLB coaching to help rookies adjust - too many with real potential hit mlb and stagnate while clubs like the Orioles see their rookies come in adjust and prosper.

Has Varland been stubborn about the BP in the past? I see it as the only viable option for him now. SP depth is only growing larger and longer with SWR, Festa, Zebby followed by Morris, Raya, Lewis. We know from the past some of those - best BP in the majors arms are going to fail and he needs to jump into the opening.

Let's hope the changes and the invitees make a difference. Today the Athletic ranked the Twins #20 and by the rankings we would be fourth in the division.

Let's hope we do not go below #4. The season would be good then. The lowest ranked player of interest to me in Winkel. I feel like he has been overlooked and might be better than the three listed behind Jeffers and Vasquez.

The issue isn't the signing - it is Baldelli making statements ahead of production. Letting competition decide the positions is good. Going into the spring with a decision already being stated is not.

I am excited that baseball is starting. I am ready to root for the Twins, but none of these acquisitions add to my excitement. Lee over Martin - Martin has not shown the promise that all the hype expected. Julien should prove it in St Paul. Gaspar and Ford should not make the team. I hate how 1B defense is so overlooked. I watched a section on MLB.com on Keith Hernandez and then had to watch this youtube video. Yes he belongs in the HOF. He was the Ozzie Smith, Brooks Robinson of 1B and it makes a difference. An average 1B has 1200 put outs and 100 assists per year and are part of 100 DPs per year. (I am taking this from Baseball reference and rounding off the numbers.) With all the left handed hitters in the league this is a great place for someone with range. And it does not include taking pick-off throws.

No. I see a Skenes, Wheeler, Ohtani, Skubal, Sale, Lugo, Burnes, Valdez, Gilbert, Webb, Nola, King, Kirby, Cease, Snell Ragans, Cole, Fried and a few more as aces. I am content with Lopez/Ryan/Ober all as number 2's. And I hope that we have some arms coming up that might rise to that - Festa? Raya? It is a rare and wonderful thing to have an Ace but they only pitch every five days. I want bevy of good arms even if one does not rise to HOF level which is where I put ACEs today.

It is true that there are very few Aces anymore. Pitching is a spinning wheel with multiple arms in every game. No more Spahn, Marichal, Koufax, Drysdale, Maddox, Johnson... I miss them.

I believe I will listen to Abbott and Costello - who's on first - it makes as much sense as the Gaspar/Ford/France/Miranda/Julien situation. It does say a lot that our biggest discussions are 1B and Bench. I cannot see them sending out Lee. I think that they made enough of a commitment to him that they do not want to upset him and have things go backward. If we can expect Lewis to regain his form we can believe Lee will continue to improve.

Give me the young guy and let him grow with experience. I will be very disappointed if France takes playing time away from Miranda.

This is not the floor - this is the basement. Can't wait for the garage sale to clear the excess.

And now we have Ty France who is no where near Miranda's ability and just clogs the bench - I hate having dustbin players pushing out prospects.

If I have to look back to 2020 I think we are stretching reality. Sorry but a deep breathe will not cure the Twins bargain basement left overs.

The Yankees and Luis Gil thought this was a wonderful signing and hope we choose some more bargain basement hairballs and release some more pitchers. And by the way Miranda BR = 1.7 WAR 284/322/441 in 2024. Ty France -0.6 234/305/365. Why is this a good signing?

give them a chance and they will

I join the no choir - Let's look at the OF players with Jenkins and Emma coming up, Keaschall close we can move those five around and we will be fine.

I too would like to see Jenkins and Eeles on the ST roster. I know they like many arms and many catchers to keep all the diamonds occupied so that is not a surprise. But Keaschall before Jenkins does not make sense. C/1B/OF Alex Isola - need catchers C Patrick Winkel - an obvious companion for catch with the pitchers 2B/3B/LF Armando Alvarez -4 WAR with Oakland, they did not want him 1B Mike Ford - could be the big surprise although he is a career -7 WAR 2B/CF Luke Keaschall - it would be amazing to see him make it 1B/RF Yunior Severino we dfa'd him before - little chance LF/2B/C Jeferson Morales more catching depth RHP Scott Blewett - look see for later call up if needed RHP Randy Dobnak no chance Randy RHPRyan Jensen who? RHP Cory Lewis where is he on pecking order behind Festa, Matthews, Morris RHP Darren McCaughan another who RHP Andrew Morris I suspect that he is the number two call up from St Paul RHP Alex Speas another who? RHP Huascar Ynoa LHP Anthony Misiewicz

This is one of those areas where there are a lot of opinions but what is the team going to do to maximize his value either to the team on the field or as trade bait? I have no idea, but I seem his as potentially wasted talent at this point. Was Fall League real or was it a marketing ploy to get trade value?

I keep asking what the Bench coach and assistant bench coach are doing? Are they just there to nod in agreement with Rocco? Why are they there? Did Casey Stengel or Walt Alston have bench coaches?

Santana is not the only great player to have his career cut short and if we are going to look at that we need another wing and another special committee for short career stars. Thurman Munson Don Mattingly Dave Stieb Orel Hershisher Brandon Webb J R Richardson Stephen Strasburg Dustin Pedroia Rich Harden Marty Cordova Rocco Baldelli Bo Jackson Dean Chance Mark Prior Joe Charbonneau Mark Fidrych And then there are the players like Will Clark and Andrew Jones who start great and then stop producing - another special category. David Wright Nomar Garcia Troy Tulowitzki Albert Belle Roger Maris Fred Lynn Dale Murphy Fernando Valenzuela And all those lists are without looking back into the earlier history of baseball. Unfortunately injuries and aging are part of the baseball story.

The Twins have limited us to talking about Bader much more than he deserves. He is 4th OF maybe - will he go to the corner spots or only to CF? Commentors are right - we stopped hitting the end of last year and he cannot fix that. But what is left - Coloume has certainly got enough attention for a middle reliever who might see one inning at a time until he is hurt. Then we have to drop down to Gaspar the hidden gem or Ford or??? Tell the FO we need something done soon to refresh the TD pages.

As a small hall guy I am not concerned about these three. I am very happy they played for us and they were great, but I would not put in Andruw Jones and I certainly would not elect Torii. It is okay to be a great player and not be in the Hall. Personally I would remove 25% of those who are already in and they should not be the standard for putting someone else in. Frankie Frisch when he was on the committee I want great - all time great in the Hall. Mays, Clemente, Aaron are the types that make the hall fascinating to me. Rollie Fingers, Andruw Jones, and a number of questionable additions are not getting me to Cooperstown. Yes I have been there. I personally would like an annual list with a simple yes no by each, not a 10 player limit, just a simple this player is in or not. At most three years for any player. Heck if Bert, Tony, and Jim don't make it I could live with it (although I think they belong).