mikelink45

I guess you must have I looked at them in 2024 and wondered if it was the same team

These essays simply invite the Twins fans to air their frustrations. Trading Correa or Lopez to get better is simply ridiculous. But enough of that - I have been following the baseball news and once again it is the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets doing their outrageous spending and the rest of the teams sitting back and watching helplessly. The Dodgers add Conforto for $17M as just another player on their all-star roster. The poor Blue Jays try to spend money and no one wants to take it. So what do the other teams do? I know fans in Baltimore are as frustrated as Minnesotans. But what can be done to stop the disparity? I see tiers for players, but there needs to be tiers for teams too. Willing to spend outrageous amounts: Dodgers, Mets, Yankees. Boston Wanting spend millions but no one has taken it the last two years Blue Jays, Giants Spent millions and wondering why it isn't working San Diego, Texas Have not spent millions, but somehow stays competitive Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Arizona Has the resources, but maybe not the will to spend Baltimore, St Louis, Cubs, Houston, Atlanta Working with their resources to try to get better but not able to compete with top Detroit, Kansas City, Seattle, Reds, A good team that self inflicts damage to its reputation and team Minnesota Twins At the bottom and trying to climb back up Chicago White Sox, Nationals, Sacramento, Pirates Hopeless (almost included all the above) Miami, Angels, Colorado

The value that good SP have is mind boggling, but that also means that if we want to have a high quality pitcher we need to hang on to what we have - the price to replace that pitcher will only go up. So I am a no on trading Lopez, Ryan or Ober. I guess I would add SWR right now and I am open to trading Paddack. It reminds me of a discussion with our son who is in a market where the prices are going crazy. Hey we can sell our home now for $$$$$$$$$$ - great, but can you get anything better once you have sold because the prices are going up all over the place. Better to hang on until you can actually afford to improve on your situation. Give our young pitchers all the attention we can. We have 12 coaches - hire two more if needed, they are cheaper than replacements. We seem to have a group of pitchers on the cusp - Festa, Raya, Zebby, Morris. And we have potential RP in Varland and Moran, but no stud, This is also why I do not want to see Jax as a SP - we have more potential there than we do in RP.

At least it is something to talk about. Nothing so far this off season is exciting. But it is better to at least see some movement at any level.

I can feel the ground shake under my feet as the rest of the Central division quakes from this dramatic move. Normally this would have been an okay move - why not, so I apologize for my sarcasm. Like most I am waiting for something that really has meaning for the team this next year. We add Huascar and the Tigers add Alex Cobb and KC gets India while extending Wacha and Cleveland gets back Bieber.

I always enjoy seeing the moves that others are making while we wait. I know this is TD, but as this excellent essay shows - the moves others make do impact us. KC keeps trying, the Guardians added back their Ace, We were never going to be in the Soto sweepstakes only a few teams can over pay the way the Mets and Dodgers do. I was amazed to see the Dodgers reach out and sign Conforto for $17 M. Wow - we better look in house for the fourth OF. And the O's took O'Neill for a three year overpay. Detroit has done as much as we have - thank you Tigers and the White Sox are looking for a big trade day to restock their shelves. Obviously the most important thing is to keep up and surpass our division foes. The Dodgers, Mets... live in a different world. But right now KC and Cleveland are not waiting to see what we are doing.

It's all about budget. They have no choice but to rely on what they have because any change will be on the fringe..

If I am on another team and want a Twin I lowball my offer knowing that they have to cut salary. So the urgency is on our side and that is a poor position to negotiate from.

I would still take him. Yes he could be traded again, but to be traded you have to have value. We consider Lopez to be our Ace. Miami is trying to build up its system and three of the prospects are in their top 30 - #7, 19, 30. Only Go is not on the list. I agree that he is getting too expensive - but that is the system, not the player. They are all overpaid.

What do all of these guys do? Should we blame the bench coach when the manager screws up or should we dump on the assistant bench coach. Do they need so many coaches so they can have someone to play cribbage with when the game gets boring? Counting the manager there are 12 coaches for 25 guys! And what the hell is the quality control coach? If the guy in charge of quality control last season is still here he should be fired! And maybe we should hire 13 more coaches so each player can have their own private guru or psychologist or sociologist. Shouldn't there be at least one woman - a mom for when the guys have a bad day?

No - they cannot really gain financial relief as one of the commentators points out. We would have to include money because of Vasquez inflated contract so what is the gain? If we trade Jeffers we have Camargo and Vasquez as a tandem - that sounds awful. We have some young prospects - let's hope that when we let Vasquez go as a FA in another year we have one of them ready. Catching is one of the most difficult positions to fill. We can concentrate on other issues for now. As the electric strike zone becomes more probable (2026?) it will be the comfort of the pitcher and the ability to call a good game that will count. Little League University has this great quote: "“Catchers have to learn how to use their voice back there,” said Mr. Sarow. The catcher is the only player who starts a play in foul territory and has the perspective to survey the entire field. He/she must be aware of the base runners, and where the defense is set up." RYAN WEISS The ability to throw accurately is one of the most important skills that a catcher must possess. The primary purpose of the catcher is to catch the pitches that the pitcher threw, and there are many situations in which they are required to throw the ball. One example of this is when a batter bunts the ball.

I know I get a lot of disagreement with my belief that Keirsey is a good prospect for the Twins bench, but all I can say is that he is held back by the same evaluators who thought Margo would be good.

Sorry you are so sure of his lack of talent. I will remain optimistic. Only time will tell.

True it is rare, but that does not mean we should write off late bloomers. There are a lot of rare things in Baseball which is why we love it. Here is a look at some late bloomers and this is even better.

December wish list - dear Santa bring me a ROY. Nice list of players, but the pitchers have Lopez, Ryan, Ober, SWR, Festa, Paddock, Zebby ahead of them. Maybe more. We have Lee, Lewis, Castro, Julien, Miranda, Correa in the infield - as much as I like Keaschall I do not see the team giving him the ABs. I am not there with Emma - he seems to be the flavor of the year, but I need to see more from him - put together a full good season - come up late in the year and look great - but not long enough to sway the ROY voters.

There are a lot of good MLB players over the years who did not blossom until they were 26 - 30. But he cannot show his ability until given a chance.

I am a fan of Keirsey = not a fan of Margot or Austin. Time to give him a real shot - not the kind of in and out lack of consistency we gave Rooker years ago. In a budget constrained roster he seems perfect.

Good point - I did not see Martin as someone who will be a difference maker and since his ABs were not that good and his defense in the field was well below Keirsey I am baffled by the Twins Martin/Margot fixation.

I am one of those fans who could care less. I was fine with the worst team picking first. I would like to see a list of all the players on the Twins roster and where they were picked. I know Lewis is a number one. Ober was in the 23rd round with the Dodgers and the 12th with the Twins. Joe Ryan was in the 39th round and then the 7th, Jax was 12th and then 3rd round. Jeffers was round 2. Miranda 2nd round, Julien was 37th and then 12th. Correa, Buxton, Lee and Lewis were first rounders as was Matt Wallner, but the first time he was drafted it was 32nd round. Larnach was 40th and then 1st. Draft well and the team does well. But it will never be an exact science. Padres took Matt Bush number 1, Justin Verlander went 2. The Twins took Bryan Oelkers number 4 in 1982 and the next player taken was Dwight Gooden. In 1989 we lucked out when the Mets took Alan Zinter at 24 and we got Knoblauch at 25.

Why? This is not like the speed up the game elements implemented so far. Give me the electronic scoreboard, but don't put in a gimmick like this. A man on second in extras is bad enough.

Why? We have minor leaguers and players on the roster than can be as good as these three. No reason to stay in the scrapheap business. I keep thinking about left/right and all the Twins hitting coaches at all levels. Can't we develop more skill at left/left right/right batting?

Jax has established that he is a solid if not star MLB player. Varland is still struggling to show that he is more than a short term arm that could be good or bad. No comparison between them.

I have always thought that a player like Rooker needs to be put in the lineup and left there for a legitimate time to figure things out and get established. I do not have the details here, but it seemed like he was in and out of the lineup and not used consistently. I am partial to the story of Willie Mays who had no hits in his first 12 ABs, and he thought he did not belong, but Durocher kept putting him out there. He was batting .477 with the Minneapolis Millers in the first month of the 1951 season when he was called up to the New York Giants for good.

I don't want him to be a SP, but I also know a frustrated and pouting player is not good. I would let him get some starts in ST and then put him in the BP with an understanding that he could get a spot start or two. I know he gets good money - everyone in MLB does, but I also know he could get more as a SP. I would take Varland out of the SP rotation too and put him in the BP.

The bottom line is the fact we did not make the playoffs. No matter where anyone ranks in various statistics the team record at the end of the year is what counts. Clutch hitting, clutch pitching. It comes down to having the talent to match the situation and a manager who knows how to use his talent in the right way. I have no blame for the rookies - they actually did quite well, but we needed the veterans to bring the season to a successful conclusion and that includes the BP. How many pitchers did we use - 34 according to Baseball Reference. Ten had eras of 3 and under - that included Wallner (I think he could be a pitcher) and Castro. It also includes the recently released Winder. And no starters. If we go to a 4 era there are 18 pitchers - of the additional 8 Ober is a SP at the top of the list (18) and Ryan is 14. Pushing our ERA to 4.5 there are 22 so we add four including SWR, (20) and Lopez (19). Going to a 5 ERA we get Festa, Paddock and Boushley. That means we have 10 pitchers with an ERA over 5. Looking at this I cannot see the Twins staff ranking higher than our place in the standings where we had the 17th best record out of 30.