Richie the Rally Goat

I can’t wait for the next installment! Great work!

Carlos Rodon the moment the lockout ends

Ha haha! I can’t wait for the next installment!

Bert was absolutely dominant as a pitcher and one of my favorites along with Ryan. The surly attitude helped his cause as one of the greats. He was not my favorite announcer and I really disliked the teleprompter schtick.

I think you nailed it here. "Hope" is not a plan, but hope is what we're being fed. I think what's not being said is that the team plans to drop payroll for 2022 and beyond. They don't want to call it a rebuild, but a rose by any other name smells just as sweet.

I would not bring Miranda up to be a bench player. He’s too good to ride the pine. He needs to play every day. Assuming health of JD I’d start him in STP. I’d look to trade Donaldson at the deadline, and plug Miranda in as starting 3B there foreword. Donaldson and his contract have more value to the Twins than other teams. In 2021, JD had his healthiest season in a long time. Assuming he stays healthy doesn’t seem like a good bet for other GMs. In the off-season, no rational GM is taking on that contract. It would cost the Twins half his salary or more to offload him before the season. Thad Levine reportedly bristled at the idea of rebuilding… off-loading JD at a cost to the Twins would be waiving the white flag. With a couple teams looking to make a playoff push, Donaldson could be one of the best hitters available at the deadline. Necessity might not only unload that contract in full, but throw in a low value prospect too.

Ober pitched 108 innings last year, do you really think he could increase his innings 150% of last year? 120 to 130 tops Same for Ryan.. As for Bundy, trot him out till his arm falls off Nick referenced a non-traditional rotation article from November that seems prophetic... I bet we see a 6 man rotation or even 8-10 man rotation with extensive use of piggybacking pitchers scheduled to both pitch 4 innings in the same game.

Agreed - I really like Nick's analysis and always appreciate that @Nick Nelson frequently engages in the forum. I really doubt we see a trade for starting pitching. It would likely cost the prospects that the FO has been working so hard to collect and is banking on to be in the MLB pitching staff. I would guess they'll sign Pineda (or another 1 year $10m-ish starting pitcher)

2020 is not an excuse. 2020 happened two years ago, I know, I've been working from home for two years and not working in my factory. Thad Levine knew 2020 happened two years ago when he watched all of the good free agent pitchers go the last week of November and he knew at the time that he had a plethora of pitching prospects that were injured or still building stamina in September 2021... that wasn't going to change in April 2022. There's no plan B, the guys that should be plan B, getting their taste of the majors when injuries strike in 2022 are getting thrust into opening day, while still recovering from lost time. To that end, I agree with your assessment Nick, I think you are right, it's just terrible execution of a good strategy

Last year was an absolute disaster. If the OP was the plan all along, why didn’t more of these guys get a taste of the bigs? At least some long relief… instead we watched Albers et al get hammered

And to cap it all off: Twins Daily Winter Meltdown guest of honor he was awesome! Really great anecdotes, lots of fun! He started my love of the Twins back in ‘84

I don’t think the Twins have the roster space to be able to sit on Duffy. They would need an open space, sign him, then after opening day 60 day him, then when he’s healthy DFA someone. sure there’s roster churn (something we’re certain to see in ‘22) but with the current state, all hands will need to be on-deck. there’s no one on the staff that will pitch 150 innings for the Twins in ‘22. Optimistically they acquire 1, maybe 2…. Hopefully that’s “Good innings”but we’ll see… That means lots of guys will need to pitch 80-100 innings and Duffy ain’t gonna be one of ‘em…

Buxton plays 150 games in CF, wins the MVP in a land slide to a World Series championship and Nick Gordon spells him every other week to keep Buxton fresh. In 10 years after a second extension and hall of fame career with 7 MVPs averaging 148 games per season, Buxton will retire and a yet to be drafted rookie will take over

I laughed a lot! Great timing!

Wander Javier as a 22 year old posted an 86 wRC+ in high A for 96 games. He needs to go back to high A or move on. Steer had a 99 wRC+ AA as a 23 year old - he needs to show more in AA, but has posted strong batting in years prior and could get promoted soon. Palacios has been floated as a utility player for the Twins, and I would support that. As I see it, you've got Steer, Lewis, Martin to share SS and 2b, etc between AA and AAA - I don't think it's as much of a log-jam as it appears, but a log-jam is a good thing when you don't really have a starting SS in the bigs right now.

Dy-cuss according to names.org

Concur

I’m a few episodes in on Wheel of Time and agree, it just keeps getting better. I read eye of the world in the early 90s but didn’t get through all 6 (let alone however many there are now) I really enjoyed Eye, but don’t have a sharp recollection of a book I read 30 years ago. This probably helps my enjoyment… really good!

I was in highschool the last stoppage. The strike shortened season really hurt, but the 1990 lockout didn’t hurt so bad. If I recall correctly spring training was shorter, but we had a full season of God-awful Twins play. Maybe a good sign for ‘23?

Minor league is not a part of the labor dispute, transactions can be made, as well as games. It might be Royce becomes a scab edit to correct: Lewis is on the 40, he is a part of the labor dispute. @PDX Twin is spot on

Great story David, appreciate your work and Allison’s support of her son through a long story that still has chapters to be written. Good Luck to Ryan! He clearly has the support structure to enhance his development!

I can't imagine the floor would be anywhere close to $100M, the average is around $120M. Baltimore opened last season at $43M. I'd be shocked if they agree on a floor higher than $80m and probably peg Tampa's $70.8M as s competitive floor. I would think an option to hit the floor would be extending rookies and front-loading contracts

Well reasoned post, that I mostly agree with. Generally when I’m in the should I fire an employee the question is (a) can I trust them? Or did they break an unbreakable rule? (b) can I get someone better? What are the alternatives? for the exercise, A isn’t relevant that we know of, so let’s use B. In terms of how I make my decisions, I tend to fall on the analytical side. Not that I don’t use my instincts too, but my instincts only start the search for the data. They aren’t the decisive factor. If I’m looking for a manager, I want someone who uses the same toolset that I use, but can challenge my assumptions to present a logical argument contrary to my beliefs. Homogeneity leads to incomplete decisions. in that context, I don’t believe Falvine would want a Tony LaRussa, I think the FO would want someone less tied to tradition and instinct. I believe the FO values the Baldelli type and would look for similar skills in the future. so with that framework, I don’t believe there is another manager in a similar vein as Baldelli that is available and better than Baldelli. For those that want Baldelli to go, they need to wait for the trust in Baldelli to fade. Another season of losing and a lost clubhouse or two seasons of losing (punting ‘22 might already be in the plan) might see Baldelli get fired. More likely he gets poached by another team and the Twins find their “next Baldelli”

Once the lockout ends the FO can still sign Gant. They’ll need lots of multi inning long relievers

9 outs and sit down, no second time through the order