Richie the Rally Goat

If a team were to have this approach, they would never develop rookies into established veterans.

Saying Zoll had “months” is accurate but also a bit unfair. The top spot was removed from above him January 30, two weeks before pitchers and catchers report. Not a lot of quality left in free agency past the middle of January. the guy had meddling and indecisive leadership for 95% of the active offseason. He did make some trades to improve during the season, but also had several roster spots that he punted on 3rd down and two from mid field. very much a below average to bad first season.

Falvey drafted catchers every year of his tenure except 2023. He drafted 20 some of them, many of which late round, but not all. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/draft/team-draft.php?t=MIN Khadim Diaw was drafted in ‘24, is 22 in AA and is getting some attention.

I had them in the 60s for wins. My rationale was why would a team that got actively worse win more games than 2025. little did I know that the entire AL got much worse, to the point where I wonder if we have a modern black sox. hopefully we get to watch better baseball next year.

Caratini had a slightly below career average year as 33 year old catcher, that is to be expected. His FG projection was 90 wRC+, he hit 79. He’s hit 74 and mid 80s several seasons. Kriedler had a career year, by a wide margin. He’s a terrible hitter. Career 52 wRC+ projected to 80, and he hit 85. What is to be expected from these two?

With the team dressed like Paul Bunyon It had better be a cold summer!

The Milwaukee Brewers already have the brewery angle pretty well covered. The NFL can do cold, the boys of summer need to refrain from the White Out uniforms. There’s already a Prince team in town, and a Loon team in town. i like the Minnie and Paul handshake, and feel like that’s unique to The Twins and The Twin Cities that could be better emphasized. elements of the stone arch bridge, the walker art center, cathedral hill, Minneapolis is the Mill City, more bread than beer.

Can both The Pale Hose and The Statues lose?

I understand and share the skepticism of PE ownership of the team, but George Hicks is “one of us”. He’s from and lives in Minneapolis, came out of the Cargill financial restructuring in the 90s. how much worse could Varde be than the Pohlad’s?

Royce had an 85 wRC+ for the season, at 60 plate appearances that ranked him 48th. 17 teams (over half) had two first baseman who hit better than he did. Ryan Kreidler hit 85 wRC+ and he’s a backup SS who actually fields the position well and he’s a marginal major leaguer. its a bigger risk to include Royce in their plans at all.

Keaschall hit 123 wRC+ in 2026. Were he a first baseman that would rank him in the 10-15 range of qualified 1b. He hits well enough to be a 1b. My question is if he can field the position adequately. I’m curious, and he’s too young to DH. this move would free up DH/corner OF for Larnach, and Buxton to rotate through. i can see a path to 2 step Larnach because he hits well enough in a platoon, and isn’t a terrible fielder, that he could be an asset for this team even with all the outfield depth. If the trade doesn’t workout, he’s still a good player. Lewis, gotta non-tender. No one will trade anything for a player with a $5m roster spot they can sign to a minor league deal after the lockout ends.

Is Royce MLB talent?

Loved that with Lewis too!

Love watching Rodriguez’ enthusiasm and aggression. I hope next year to see him in the CF mix and a bit more selectivity at the plate

Shelton made a large scale infield position rotation mid-season to improve the fielding quality. Starting Kriedler at SS cost his team hitting while Shelton waited for Culpepper to get called up. It takes years to change the minor league development program, but it appears Shelton, at least, prefers to field a crisp game.

I have too many good catchers! said no MLB GM ever

It was a missed opportunity, but if they weren’t going to complete the sell off last offseason, I did enjoy watching Jeffers far more than I would have watching Caratini and Jackson down the stretch

The AL ended the season with 6 teams at or above .500 record, Houston won its 81st game on the last game of the season or the winner of the Al west would have had a losing record, and there were no teams with a winning record that missed the post season. Historically bad. Astoundingly the As managed to lose 100 in the West where there was no team with a winning record! Jenkins, Rodriguez and Culpepper must be given a full season leash, but are rookies who are by very nature unproven. Roden is just shy of 27 he’s an unproven post hype Clemens is a 30 year old utility player who had his first very good full time utility player season. Color me skeptical Martin is 27 below average hitter, poor fielder small side of the platoon Larnach is 29 an average hitter (best season of his career but still not good for a platoon who cannot hit lefties) is a terrible fielder Alex Jackson passed through waivers 3 times in a year. Lewis is 27, hasn’t had a good season in years and is a terrible fielder. that right there is 9 of 13 position players who played significant portions of this season and have a very good chance for next season, Buxton if healthy, very confident in being a great hitter, hopefully the hip allows for fielding in the outfield. Keaschall if they can figure out where he’s not a liability with the mitt, I’m confident he can hit. Lee has been consistently ok as a third baseman who doesn’t hit enough Caratini, I’m confident he sucks Kreidler, I’m confident he sucks too 100 is league average not adjusted for position. Hoffman is legit confidently real good Minter is 35 and gone Funderburk is reliable Rojas should be stretched out to the rotation all the rest of them suck horribly

And now that I read this post, I see as usual, you and I are in agreement. If only had kept reading instead of knee jerk reacted

How many roster spots should you devote to role players? There’s half the lineup that needs to prove it, and three quarters of the bullpen.

If the guy can’t play a full season at first base because he ran out of gas, all the more reason to move on.

Correct, SWR sank the staff. i don’t mean to say I would cut bait on Zebby (he did pitch 130 solid innings in the bigs)just that while his ERA dropped because his GB rate increased, FIP, K% BB% HR% did not improve or got worse. i would think part of a pitching coach’s job is to help pitchers develop techniques to not fade in the second half. I would also give Maki credit for working with Ober on remaining pretty effective with diminished stuff. its why I’m mixed on it. I can see why Maki would be let go for performance, I’m not sure I would do the same.

I’m mixed on this take. Kremer took a step forward while here. Ryan had a great first half and fell apart in the second. Taj had a very good year, Zebby has failed to improve, Ober has been steady and over performed his velo, but less than average. on balance it feels like the rotation under performed, and also had a bit of a talent deficit. i don’t know how much Maki was in charge of the bullpen, but that’s a big negative to Maki and Hawkins.

Right, and I was skeptical of that, then you started on about back in the day pitchers were effective that speed, and I agreed especially when factoring changing how speed is measured and that Ober has been one of their most durable starters. so this all started with a stupid gif im sorry

Puckett Pond said Ober would gain 5-7mph by moving to the bullpen