mikelink45

On a team where Castro, Lewis, Miranda and Correa have a history of injury and missing games, with a new fourth OF who can't hit, with Lee not up to league average yet, Julien a mystery, No 1B and no DH - with a utility player (Helman) traded off and Austin Martin not a quality bat or fielder why would you say Castro's value is diminished? This team needs his speed and versatility.

Urias reminds me of Baez - ask Detroit how happy they are with him.

I love this - he was my favorite minor leaguer this year. He reminds me of Altuve - give him a shot!

So much about nothing - rumors keep the hot stove warm, but if this one is real I am sickened by it. Reducing payroll in one thing, reducing the roster quality is even worse.

This just seems ridiculous. They way the Twins improve is not Gaspar, Bader, and Coloume or the rule V pickup or the catcher the Dodgers no longer want in their system. Our path to improvement is Buxton, Correa, Lewis staying healthy, Lewis regaining his earlier form, Lee and Julien improving their performance, Miranda discovering a full year of batting ability, DH and 1B becoming positives, Jeffers making a full season of production. Lopez discovering that he is an Ace and pitching like that. Our BP living up to their rating for the full year. mlb.com projects these prospects for 2025 37. Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF (ETA: 2025) 61. Luke Keaschall, 2B/OF/1B (ETA: 2025). I hope we don't trade them or block them. As to the others - Detroit now has a three man top of the rotation in Jackson, Skubal, Flaherty. They added Kahnle to the BP, Torres improves a team that had to rely on Baez too much. They have a good manager who knows how to use his players 1. Riley Greene, OF 2. Parker Meadows, CF 3. Kerry Carpenter, OF/DH 4. Colt Keith, 2B/1B 5. Matt Vierling, 3B/OF 6. Jake Rogers, C 7. Spencer Torkelson, 1B/DH 8. Trey Sweeney, IF 9. Gleyber Torres, IF We always underestimate the Guardians - they are not splashy, they traded away Naylor which I do not understand. They did keep Ramirez who is spectacular but they also lost Giminez who was a great fielder. Kwan is another star with Ramirez. They are our divisions Tampa Bay Rays - always seeming to have a better record than their roster projects and I would not discount them. The other Naylor (that they kept) with Lane Thomas, Manzardo, and Fry have potential to be good. MLB.com projects these prospects to be good offensively and will arrive in 2025 for the Guardians: 10. Travis Bazzana, 2B (ETA: 2025) 36. Chase DeLauter, OF (ETA: 2025) Bibee, Bieber and Clase give them three pitching studs. Projections are all over the board - competing with Twins, competing with the White Sox - who knows. But like the Twins their acquisitions and trades have not looked that good so far and based on their recent year activities I do not expect much more to happen. The Royals are interesting - they surprised the league last year and Bobby Witt, Jr is really amazing and so is Salvador Perez. There starting rotation begins with Ragans and Lugo, but Wacha, Bubic, and Lorenzen fill out the full list giving them a chance to match the Twins depending on both teams health. Pasquatino and India are good players and give the lineup some opportunities. I look at Isabel, Melendez, Garcia and Renfroe and I have no idea what to expect, but I think KC fans are looking at Julien, Lee, Miranda Jeffers with the same puzzled feeling. MLB.com has a roster of the best rookie prospect at each position and KC has First base: Jac Caglianone. It would require some reshuffling, but he is the only central division player on they list so he could be a big help (ps - the Twins could use a good 1B). The White Sox are not in the conversation for best in the division but they do have two impact rookies for 2025 - 16. Noah Schultz, LHP (ETA: 2025) 32. Kyle Teel, C (ETA: 2025) My prediction based on what we have now is: Detroit Twins Guardians KC Chicago But this is such a random division that the top four could finish in any order and health will be the big determiner.

They are also adding a third pitcher Jackson Jobe who is one of the top MLB prospects which gives them potentially three pitchers in the 1 - 2 range. That is a part of their rise in expectations.

I think the talk about trades is fodder for hot stove, but I am not excited by the options. I like Keirsey and would have him 4th OF instead of Bader - I know that everyone writes his flaws would be exposed, but what are those flaws? But with Bader he is not needed so he should be moved, I would not have Martin or Gaspar on the opening roster. Cease sounds great especially if we trade Paddock for him. Not sure if Vasquez goes too. Gaspar, Camargo are not exciting catcher prospects for me and the Dodgers prospect has to reestablish his value after a down year. For me the projection is too soon, it is the time of year the Twins make moves and then there is ST where we start to see how things really come together.

The question is how is he as a PH. We need someone to keep Margot's streak going - we know Rocco has to have his PH option ready at all times and in all innings.

I still see Larnach and Wallner in the OF. I am not sure I know our DH - I would say Miranda, but at this point he is 1B.

At least we are talking about actual players and actual events. I enjoy that and all the angst over a 4th OF with some defensive and little offensive value. Plus we keep talking about Martin and I do not think he will amount to anything. Lefthanded middle relief and 4th OF. That is the big moves so far - get Cease and give us something to really talk about.

Good reflection - I agree with all you write. I keep thinking about the challenge all of you have to keep TD current and interesting. Without actual movement by the team we are stuck with speculation. But who would have thought that signing Coulombe would be the big talking point of the off season with four essays about him already on TD. So let's hope that something more happens. I was sad to see Grichuk gone - he seemed to answer a lot of our needs.

We have an actual player that TD can write about and put speculation to rest for a day. No this is not that exciting, but it is real.

I am fine with the move, but at 35 and injuries last year it is also a risky commitment.

I guess I can cancel Twins Daily since we already know the answer - why wait for ST and 162 games? This is a joke and the commenters really point it out. KC has to be in depression now and Detroit is going to waste two Aces!

Interesting as I watch the snow coming down. But I don't buy it. WAR projections for RP don't mean anything. As another post stated it is inherited runners that really make the BP. So we had the second best WAR BP last year and finished out of the playoffs, yet we also talk about quality SP. Something is wrong. Let's just wait and see, but then that does not leave anything to write about.

Just like last year we brag about our BP, but I have not seen it as elite. The list of cast offs and low leverage additions beyond those mentioned in the article are a list of disappointments - Okert, Jackson, Luplow, Joe Smith, ChI Chi Rodriquez, Juan Minaya, Charlie Barnes, John Gant, Andrew Albers, Edgar Garcia, Kyle Barraclough, Beau Burrows, Branden Waddell, Edwar Colina, Matt Magill, Sam Dyson and that is only 2024 - 2021

I am completely underwhelmed by this summary but appreciate having you lay it out. When did we sign Happ (Jan 22 2021) and Shoemaker-(Feb 28, 2021) do they fit in? While I am pleased we went with Correa I have to say the rest of the league handed him to us! We signed Martin Perez Jan 30, 2019. Why has he been better for other teams than for us? We signed Homer Bailey earlier - the end of Dec 2019, but what a transaction! And the list of RP we picked up would fill the grocery cart - most were not low hanging fruit, but rather fruit that had fallen to the ground.

Why do we want to speculate on Sands and Jax when they are filling an essential role for the team. Put Varland in the pen and use players where they contribute the most. We have Festa, Matthews, Morris, SWR, Raya...as starters, but in todays version of baseball the BP is almost more important than the rotation. Keep it strong.

I am amazed at how low expectations for keirsey are. He developed late, but he did develop and I expect good things from him.

I like the three pitchers and Keirsey. I am ready for the big trade to happen - Vasquez and Paddock together for ??? But Camargo just does not instill confidence which is why I imagine that the Twins are stocking up on marginal Catchers.

Yup - who can forget that? Or - Yup Isiah will always be one of my favorite Twins. Or the Twins acquiring both Joey Gallo and Vasquez in 2022! Or the sneaky way we got Shoemaker, Happ... I can't go on.

No - time to move on - Martin is not a good fielder, he is not a good base stealer, he is not an on-base machine and he is not a power hitter. So why are we obsessed with him?

Amazing - you were able to write an entire article about nothing - the Twins have not given you much to work with. At least Law gave us three players in his new top 100 list. Not new, but interesting.

I mentioned in another article how the transition to mlb seems to be tough for the Twins with Lee, Lewis, Julien, Martin, Miranda, Jeffers, Wallner, and larnach struggling to get traction or maintain their quality. Is it because they are moved so much they are continuing to adjust or is it because the Twins are not good at helping them make the transition and then make the inevitable adjustments? I look at other teams bringing in their prospects and making a quick adjustment. I know they all don't make it, but I feel like our record is worse than many other teams.

It is the transition - can the Twins promote and improve? Seeing Lee and Lewis regress at the end of the year, Julien regress all year, Wallner having to spend time in AAA, Miranda having a poor ending last year and Jeffers seeming to rise then fall back again makes me worry that we lack the last element = the ability to get the players over the MLB hump and then help them adjust as the league adjusts to them.