Richie the Rally Goat

I think some of this footprint needs to include the rotation impact as a whole. its not just Joe Ryan (though he’s a huge trade chip and value driver). there are 4 starters currently on the 40 man roster that will not be on their current contract in 2028. Ryan, Ober, Lopez, Kremer are in their last years of contract going into 2027. they shouldn’t plan on backfilling all 4 next offseason, even if the current depth chart is 9 deep, it needs to remain 9-10 deep all the time. this offseason one to two of the 4 should be turned into prospects for 2028 and forward, and one to two should be extended or external free agents added so the FO only has plan on signing one free agent in the 2027-2028 offseason and have a prospect or two graduate. They can’t plan on 9 guys all taking a step forward at the same time. Right now it does not appear there is a robust succession plan.

My point is arguing “homegrown” or not doesn’t further the discussion. the point of the article is do they extend, or trade a guy who they got the full value of pre-arb salary and 2/3 of arbitration discount.

He made his Major League debut in 2021 with the Twins. He had two minor league seasons in the Rays system, he had 4 years of college ball too, I bet he had 4+ years of high school ball and little league before that. Every Major Leaguer in the history of the game has played baseball before becoming a major leaguer. Why argue the semantics? Why does “Homegrown” matter?

If I purchase a tomato sapling from my local garden center, transplant it to my garden, water it, fertilize it, remove the weeds, do I not get to eat homegrown tomatoes? Do I have to plant that tomato plant from seeds? Do I have to grow my own seeds, or am I allowed to buy them? do I have to draft a pitcher out of college? High school? Genetically engineer a pitcher in a lab?

Don’t the Twins have another year of Correa money on the books? Good print! I think if they can squeeze in a Bubic with this print, they’ll avoid/delay starting pitching depth issues

Agreed, especially when they haven’t invested into the bullpen enough in other ways.

Maybe a minor league catcher

The NFL salary cap was agreed to in 1993 and began in the 1994 season. It wasn’t a strike/lockout in 1993, Reggie White sued for unrestricted free agency. The league and the players union then collectively bargained for unrestricted free agency and salary cap/floor. It was immediate

That’s my frustration, the bullpen has to be invested in. Either development or trade, or free agency…. They need 3 better relievers just to stop the bleeding. after trading away 5 relievers at the deadline, we watched DFA fodder in Aug 2025 rather than developing marginal starters getting converted into short inning relievers. then in 2026 we watched DFA fodder again until the team traded for established relievers, but again, only Morris and Adams, when they still needed 3 more arms in the pen and who knows what the heck they were doing with Rojas?! and so here we are again… do they have bigger fish to fry? Absolutely! 4/5 of the rotation hits free agency in a year and who knows what they’ll get from Ober, Lopez and Ryan… 1B is a mess, DH might be Buck, and 2nd is currently owned by a guy breaking out at 30 years old… let alone C being manned by a 32 year old unraveling before us and a guy DFAd and passed through waivers 3 times in a year. All more important than bullpen.

It’s your prerogative to like, or dislike a manager, and I accept that. I push back on the notion of assuming his intentions. The Woonsocket Rocket was a defensive specialist who’s bat developed into major league quality. why would a player who spent his minor league and major league career as a defensive specialist not value defense as a manager? a manager can only manage the players in front of him. He never had the fortitude to reshuffle his entire infield to optimize the scrubs he did have, like Shelty, but also he was never afforded a roster that Shelty had either.

This is exactly my thoughts. It’s near impossible to extract decisions from situations, I’d like to see Baldelli’s management style under different circumstances.

Concur, Scabs tend to get ostracized

Doesn’t the lockout “lockout all members of the union”? as a collective bargaining strategy I would think divide and conquer would be very advantageous but on the other hand, the point of the lockout is to control when the work stoppage happens. if there isn’t a full work stoppage, the union could still strike.

Can they? Yup Should they? Its debatable because the FO painted themselves into a corner with their dithering. What a waste of two seasons in 2025 and 2026!

One? Why stop there?