Dman

Yeah I think I got that notion on this board. I don't know then he likely has quite a hill to climb to make it. We'll see if he stays on the 40 man.

I think Winder has a chance depending on what they do in free agency other than him for pitchers pretty much no one. I think it will be last year all over again pretty much. Enough vets to cover the start of the season and as they get injured or fail then fill in from there. I expect it will fail just as it did last year and then the younger players will get their chance. If the guys they get perform well then great we should have decent team but I am not banking on that. They are already counting on two young (rookie) pitchers (Ober and Ryan) Jax has a shot to make the pen. Winder could end up in the mix with a good spring and or AAA dominance. Moran might have a shot at pen spot or injury replacement. Same with Sands. They might not start the season with those guys but they are likely an injury away from being called up. So the rotation likely looks young already. They have Strotman, Balazovich and maybe SWR in the wings as well if they start off well in AAA they could be callups. Duran, Vallimont, Canterino, Moran could all be pen options if needed. There are a lot of young (rookie) guys they could funnel through IMO depending on how they perform this year. Given how the FA pitching market shook out I don't see what the Twins can do to meaningfully improve their pitching other than depend on some younger talent or work out a trade. That is just my opinion though.

I am really high on Canterino but am guessing that with so few innings last year and not on the 40 man that he likely doesn't make a difference this year. If he dominates like he has been they could bring him up and use him out of the pen but seems like a long shot. Duran is scary isn't he? It feels like maybe that arm won't hold up to a starters load. Also he has been more hittable than I would like to see. This is another big year for him and they could try and work him out of the MLB pen if he looks good but unlikely given so few innings last year and likely protecting his arm. I have Strotman all over the place from starter to reliever to not making it all. I just really like what I saw on the screen and hope he develops.

Totally agree on Vallimont and Jax. Jax did well the first time through lineups has a good pitch mix and decent control. He has a chance to succeed in the pen. Vallimont doesn't have enough control to be a starter and at this point appears to be who he is. Again the pen makes the most sense as he has a great K rate and his stuff should play up in the pen. If he gains control he could be an elite pen arm. I just don't see him as a starter. I like Strotman as a potential starter better than you at least at this time. He has a solid mix and I don't know if you caught him on MiLB at all but a smooth delivery. Not sure why he gives up so much contact and doesn't miss enough bats but he feels like a tweek away from being ready to me. But to your point yes he wouldn't be a bad pen arm either and likely a good one if he can find a way to miss more bats.

Yeah it seems like the way it is stacking up that they expect the young talent to carry this team and or at least gain valuable experience. As far as Bundy is concerned I think Winder is a better choice with his 94 to 95 MPH fastball and his Plus slider. I think Strotman likely has more potential than Bundy so I guess they signed him as an experienced depth piece waiting for the younger guys to supplant him? The Twins have a lot of somewhat wasted 40 man space if they can't get those young pitchers to contribute. They would have Duran, Balazovich, Winder, Sands, Strotman, Enlow, Vallimont, Cotton, and technically Jax as guys not able to help the big club unless they improve or are given the chance. Way, way too many young guys they can't rely on to help next year that are protected. So to your point yeah it does seem like this is the year they try to Cleveland their way to a young pitching staff. Given all the young talent weighing down the 40 man they almost have no choice. Some of those guys need to step up this year and contribute or it is going to be very hard to keep them. If I am Cotton, Jax or Vallimont and likely Strotman as well I would want to have a good year or likely not going to make the cut next year. The rest might have a little more leeway. So yeah I think they will be leaning on their young talent this year as well. That being said I expect them to grab another starter or two and find a shortstop. I just don't expect them to grab a high end piece unless they can work out a trade.

I just take issue with you calling it "clever" lol when no brainer is what it has been for months now and they proved that by doing it over a guy who likely won't even make the the 40 man. Not sure how I can be bashing the FO when they did the expected. Sure I felt they could have done it sooner but what they have done so far has been fine. Although I would say clever is overselling it the opposite direction.

If you can call clever keeping a guy with a 541 OPs last year clever then sure.

Surprise, surprise Cave cleared waivers hard to believe (bites toungue). Nobody else wanted him either? Well he gets a chance to rebuild himself at AAA at least. Why the Twins were so worried about losing him makes me wonder about their player evaluation ability. Heck 80 percent of this board could see he wasn't worth rostering this year not sure what took them so long. Megill looks a lot like Vallimont part 2 only he is exclusively a reliever. Maybe they think that with the success they had with Ober they can tame another giant. Hard to say but odds are they drop him and hope he clears waivers for them. They need 40 man room for actual real starting pitchers so I don't think taking on Megill at the MLB level is an option.

I don't completely disagree but I think they will try to sign Pineda and at least one more bounce back arm. They still might trade for another pitcher as well but hard to say if they will be able to find the right deal or not. I do tend to agree though that they are hoping one or two of Winder, Sands, Strotman, Balazovich, Duran, Canterino and maybe SWR can work their way up. So yeah once again they need some of those young guys to step up here's hoping they do.

I think the Twins have too many outfielders on the 40 man as it is and they are going to need to make room for pitching at some point. I have been a Jake Cave backer in the past but it feels like his time has come. Gordon would be a more versatile player who can play center and bat left handed if Buxton goes down. If they want a righty then Celestino is close and for as bad as was at the plate honestly Cave wasn't much better last year. With Buxton signed Cave seems more like a logical cut than someone to sub for Buxton. They could use Martin or Lewis there if Buxton went down but I would say the odds are low unless Martins bat just looks too good and they give him a try. Kepler I don't see playing center. He grades out OK there but he also seems to get injured in center I think they leave him and his good defense in right. I do hope Martin or Lewis show something next year so we have better options there but we will have to wait and see.

This is great, great news. It is a big risk given his injury history but he also could be a top 5 to top 10 player in all of baseball and if he does manage that then this deal is a steal for the Twins. There really is no one who can replace him with the speed, power and defensive combo he posses. I am a happy Twins fan today. Thank you Byron Buxton for staying with the team I love and the fans who love watching you play.

A little surprised on Vallimont but I guess the K rate was just too good to ignore. With the control problems where he isn't even close to the strike zone he remains a wild card and I think the pen is his best chance for success. Personally I would have went with Contraras over Cave but I guess they feel with that with Mark's age and limited upside they were less likely to lose him via rule V. Still he is an above average defender who can play all three outfield positions and showed some power last year. He would be cheaper than Cave and an equal or better defender who can't be any worse than Cave was with the bat last year. I would not be surprised to see Shulfer and Gore picked in rule V. Both had good K rates but they are older and Gore is not that experienced so who knows. I think a bottom team should pick Palacios. The bat look close to ready and defense is good enough to hold down the position. I would at least take a look if I were another team. The Twins have literally nothing at short and leaving the one player who could possibly step in there seems odd to me. If they are not believers and I am Palacios I say it is time to try another team. I don't see Severino as the next Baddoo mainly because he doesn't have his plate discipline I think he would be a pretty massive reach in the Rule V draft. I think they picked the right guys to protect but I still think we could lose some guys again as well.

That is some good stuff. I think Colome will bounce back next year. He won't be elite or anything but he won't be as bad as last year either. Still glad the Twins let him go. It just wasn't going to be a good fit.

I agree with you especially on Strotman. I got to watch him on MiLB a couple of times and his delivery really looks smooth. He was a little too hittable last year but he looks good out there. He has the pitches to be a starter the Twins just need to get him over the hump with missing more bats and they could really have something. I like his chances next year and like you will be disappointed if he duplicates his past season. He needs be better next year and I believe he will breakout. Sabato is a good breakout candidate as well. Guys that control the strike zone and take their walks generally tend to have good odds of making it. If he can just make more contact I will be able to get behind him. He is not a player that can put his bat on almost anything and make contact like Miranda or Rosario. I also worry about Sabato and breaking balls but he was soo bad to start the year last year there is almost no to go but up. A breakout would bring a sigh of relief for that pick but I am not holding my breath it will happen given the flaws I have seen.

I had the Braves out of the playoffs and even if in doing nothing mainly because I didn't think they had the pitching to win a world series.. Baseball is crazy game the 87 Twins were another team that shouldn't have but did win a WS. It is fun when teams come out of nowhere and get hot and just get it done. It is what makes baseball so much fun.

No way to know how things will end with Eddie but if the tiger doesn't change his stripes then I have to believe it ends with a massive Eddie mistake at some point and slump to follow. I wish him nothing but the best but I think his flaws are his flaws and strengths are his strengths. The past two years he hasn't been that good so it seems like the shooting star that he is, is likely to fade out at any point now. Hopefully he keeps his hot streak going through the WS.

Very happy for Eddie one of the most fun players to watch as he plays with so much emotion. He does have a tendency to focus in clutch situations. That being said someone forgot to tell the Dodgers you don't need to throw strikes to get Eddiie out. Just go low and away then with two strikes go low and very away and usually an easy swing and miss out. Pitching him inside is dangerous and anything close to straight also dangerous. At any rate good for Eddie. With the past tough two years he deserves some good karma. I hope he keeps the hot streak going as I don't want to see the Dodgers in the WS anyway. Go Eddie.

I guess you get more moving Polanco but looking at the numbers it seems almost better to trade Arraez rather than Polanco. Polanco has a known cost for the next 4 years and looks to be more than worth the investment. He has power which is a skill that has been very important to this organization. He is a top producer who is a borderline all star player. I just don't think this is the kind of player you give up and get better by moving. He is the exact type of player any team would be happy to fall into as he looks like a plus defender at his position. Has some speed. Has power and some OnBase skills. His K rate is good too. He is the wrong player to trade at the wrong time. You could trade him two years from now and still get a haul. If you want a guy to trade go with the guy with the shaky Knee's who has no power and isn't all that fast. Who likely can be replaced by Miranda or Martin. Heck if Gordon ups his game a little he might not be far off of Arraez's numbers. I just don't think Polanco is the right player to trade at this time.

They maybe didn't have to make the move this week but I think the strategy was that maybe if they could get him past the few bottom teams he might slip through. None of the playoff teams were likely going to take him so that eliminates almost 10 teams. It was a long shot but one they must have felt they needed to take if he likely wasn't going to be ready for 2022. I don't love the move in a vacuum but as others have said let's wait and see how they fill out the 40 man before getting too upset.

Yeah I have to say I was stunned by the sheer volume of injury to the minor league pitching staff. They ended up needing to grab guys from Independent leagues just to keep things going this year. The Twins do seem to be getting their guys to move up a few ticks on the fastball but at what cost is anyone's best guess. I think the fact that hitters are generally trying to take pitchers and especially starters deep into counts and pitchers needing max effort on so many pitches leads to pitchers reaching their pitch counts earlier and possibly with max effort putting more strain on the arm. At the MLB level there is so little margin for error and pitching at those levels puts incredible stress on the arm. I don't see things changing anytime soon though.

I get what the OP is saying in that this group of hitters doesn't seem to have the star power of the Sano, Buxton, Kepler, Polanco etc group. Still Miranda and Martin could be a new M&M connection. Julien and Steer look like bat first players and Steer could be a plus defender at 2nd. Severino started slow but finished with a 900 OPS in High A. When Wallner was healthy he looked good at the plate his peripherals are horrible but he still could be good to great. We don't know what Lewis's bat will be like when he gets back but if it is just average with his other skills he can still be a star player. I think that is pretty good for star talent coming up and that doesn't include the younger guys who could develop in Cavaco, Urbina, Rodriquez, Rosario, Miller etc. They pick high in the draft again so there will be even more talent to add soon enough. I don't think the cupboard is bare. Maybe not as many guys with elite All Star level skills as some systems but not bottom level either. I do agree with the piece on the pitching side. If they can keep their arms healthy things have never looked better for the arms we have down on the farm. Those guys still need to make the jump to MLB and that is no easy task but the depth is good right now and should continue to come in waves.

Not gonna lie this was a tough season to watch the Twins. Being out of it almost from the very beginning of the season just sucked. To be honest I am kind of glad the year is over. Be good to have a fresh start next year. Nice to get the win and not lose 90 games but still being last in a bad division hurts as well. It will be interesting to see what this team does to try to solve their pitching woes. Anyway glad this year is behind us as I am more than ready to move on.

I have been high on Moran for what seems like forever especially because of his K rate. And yet for as good as his K rate has been he also can have control problems. Still if he can fix the control problems and keep the contact down he looks like an elite option from the pen. I was very impressed with what Gore was able to do this year. I really though he might be good early and then tumble. I don't know much about his stuff but thought it was more average than elite but maybe someone knows more. Still he remained consistent all year and was called upon in important game situations. Starting to think there might be something there.

Those are two good looking hitters in Rosario and Rodriguez. I just wonder when an up the middle player (SS) will win this award? Still happy to see some young guys hitting well as they are important to fill out affiliates with an extra infusion of talent.

Heck of a year for Varland. When they drafted him I never saw him as a starter just strictly a reliever. His numbers at Concordia didn't exactly jump off the page as dominant and his first taste of pro ball was short and nothing special. He didn't let 2020 go to waste though and worked hard to refine his stuff and capture this award. Have to say I didn't see him being even close to this dominant especially his first year in pro ball. Happy the Twins found this guy and hope he continues to improve as he moves up. You just can't pitch much better than he did this year. He has to be happy with his season. Thanks Louie for being fun to watch every time out this year in a year where lot's of pitchers went down. I hope your hard work leads to your dream of playing MLB.