Dman

Yeah not a fan of Vincent myself. I agree let's give some young guys a chance in this lost season. This FO has no risk taking in them at all.

Cano has 1.41 WHIP at AAA that won't play in the majors. he is looking more like a bust everyday. To top it off he gave up the game tonight for the Saints as well. If he can't handle AAA he won't be able to to handle the majors. I think they will need to look elsewhere at least until he gets his control under control.

I guess I question Palacios's bat as a negative. He has 16 HR's this year and an over 800 OPS which is second in his division for SS. While I wouldn't say he has an elite bat it also certainly doesn't appear negative to me either especially with only a 20% K rate and decent walk rate. It might not be pro but to put that negative seems over the top to me. I could go neutral with an arrow pointing to pro at least based on this years numbers but negative seems way to low to me especially for shortstop.

I don't view Palacios as a "special" or an All-Star type shortstop but I think he is pretty solid there. I would say he reminds me a little bit of Escobar who wasn't spectacular at short but got the job done and eventually moved over to third base. Palacios has some nice peripheral batting numbers. K rate is around 20% Walk rate is OK slugging is good for a shortstop. He looks like a guy that could make it at the MLB level. Given where he is right now in my mind he doesn't project to be much more than average at the position but that could change if he figures some things out and enhances his skill set but odds are he is average or slightly below average at the position but the thing is he looks like the best thing the Twins have in the system unless Lewis can continue to prove he can hit. He would be an ideal utility player because he would be able to play all infield spots average or better than average defensively and his bat should work at those positions as well. The transition to MLB is hard though and he could easily fail to achieve any of that potential but right now IMO he is the best we have to offer at that position and would like to see what he can do at the MLB level in a lost season. I like him better than Gordon for short as he has more power and a better eye at the plate his defense might be slightly better as well. For as strong an arm as Gordon has I never felt like he looked that great at short and with all the errors it kind of confirms he struggles there. I assume that is why the Twins didn't play him there that much. At any rate Palacios is doing well enough at AA to get picked in the rule V if not protected so why not add him early bring him up and see what he can do? If he is horrible then DFA him if good or better than good then they know what they have going into next year. He isn't getting any younger let's see what the kid can do before we never give him a chance at all and lose him.

Yep no question in my mind they are going to need a filler yet again next year. It is too important a position to trust to guys with little to no MLB experience. It depends on what they do with Buxton to some extent but have to believe they think Lewis or Palacios can still handle that spot on the cheap for them once they are ready. They are not going to overpay for Baez, Seeger or Correa and the teams they are currently with might work out deals with them in the end anyway. It will be another filler year and hope someone comes up through the system to take that spot. Lewis might be able to do it by mid 2022 or 2023 but his bat is such a wild card it is hard to say. Palacios looks solid at short to me but not likely going to be an all star defensively or offensively. He would be best as a utility player but might be good enough to carve out a shortstop role. That would be betting on the high end of his potential though so not a likely outcome. He kind of reminds of Escobar a little bit. Talented but would need to refine a skill or skills to be better than average. Esco got that hit tool working for him and made him a very good player. He started at short but ended up at third and I could see the same thing happening to Palacios

Well every MLB player starts out as a Rookie so technically they are the "miracle cure". I don't have anything against Simmons but he can't help this team get to the playoffs and his current negative war means he isn't part of the future either. A rookie might not perform any better but at least they would have a chance to be a part of the future and that is greater than any value Simmons can bring to the Twins at this point IMO.

I agree he needs a lot more time to see what he really can be and AAA would be a much better place to see if he can develop. Watching that flat fastball to Anderson for the home run makes me think he doesn't belong at the MLB level right now. He doesn't throw real hard has a low K rate I think they can find better potential candidates to fill that spot on the 26 man. I would try to pass him through after last nights game I wouldn't think anyone would want him right now.

Personally I think the Twins should try out Palacios at the MLB level. I like Gordon but the lack of power, lack of walks and his error rate at short don't give me great confidence he will stick there. Palacios has power 16 HR's on the year and counting. His K rate is only 22% and his walk rate is close 100 points above his BA. It looks like a pretty solid profile to me. From I have heard not seen he seems to be OK defensively although some think he profiles better at 2nd. I know those nice stats will take a dive at the MLB level but given where he is at if they want to keep him they would have to add him to the 40 man at the end of the year anyway. With Simmons so poor at the plate and not as great as he once was defensively Palacios can't do much worse. If they don't like what they see with Palacios then they can DFA him as he would have been lost to rule V anyway. If he looks solid then they would finally have a legit shortstop prospect who they know can handle the position and fill in as needed in 2022. I think they can afford to take that kind of chance on a player who has all the required skills at short and give him some MLB time to see where he is at. He could be the solution to short they have been looking for.

I like your write up on Vallimont and feel the same. I just don't understand how he can walk the first two guys and be nowhere near the strike zone then potentially K the side in the same inning. He has great K rate but the walks are killing him. I hope he figures things out because we need him as a starter. Happy to see Louie this high on the list. He has been dominant from the start of the season. It looks like he still needs work on those secondary's but reliever looks like his floor now instead of his ceiling. Thank you for moving Sabato down. I think from what we have seen he could have been even lower than this. The eye has been good at strike zone management which is important but terrible when trying to get the bat to the ball. He swings and completely misses everything far, far too often. Hard to believe a top pick could be this bad. He has a ton of work to do and hopefully he is ready and willing to do it or his career will be sunk. I don't really consider Nick a prospect anymore and while he can and likely will be a good utility player I think the Twins have too many guys in front of him to make it work. I have been high on Jullien since early in the season. His eye was really good to start the season. Still he too seemed to struggle getting contact at times. For an 18th round pick though he looks like a steal right now. Glad the Twins upped the anti to get him to sign. He might make up for the poor Sabato pick in 2020.

Yeah I agree. I know in baseball sometimes you have to play the long game and buy players some time to develop but the three guys you mentioned look cooked to me. Burrows has never been good and looking at his flat fastball and not so great slider make me think he likely never will be. If this is their way of getting back at Detroit for stealing Baddoo then they are cutting their nose off to spite their face. Let's get some guys up that might have a chance. That actually have a plus pitch to work with and see what they can do. Borrows is not that guy and he more than proved it last night. Simmons looks old out there and is a huge liability and rally killer in the batting order. I mean they couldn't even get a team to take him off their hands at the deadline. If that doesn't tell you his status I don't know what does. Take a dang chance and try someone like Palacios out there. Yeah he might not be any better but honestly his bat can't be much worse than Simmons right now either. Have some balls do something crazy and see what you have in this lost season. Cave had three to four years to prove he could be the guy and he is pretty much the same player he always has been which is not good enough. His options are up and he will no longer have the coveted 4th outfielder flexibility he once afforded this team. I know they are hoping he can catch fire and maybe increase his trade value but it will be too little too late to do that anyway IMO. At this point I would rather see Contreras take his place. Mark is a plus defender in the corners has power and a decent OPS in AAA. Do I expect him to be better than Cave out of the gates no but at least he gets some MLB time and can be ready to fill the 4th outfielder outfielder role next year. Cave is far too inconsistent to be the answer. Maybe he can turn things around but that is a big maybe IMO. I think it is time to cut the cord there.

So just for reference you are saying that Palacios has the 2nd best OPS in his league for SS behind only Bobby Witt who was taken number 2 in the draft and is currently the Royals number 1 prospect The guy closest in OPS to him who also fields slightly worse is Houston's number 2 prospect (Leon) and we don't think Palacios needs to be on the 40 man to be protected from the rule V draft?

I agree with you. I think Thorpe's best chance to stick is in relief and he should have enough pitches to get lefties and righties out. He doesn't throw that hard as it is but his arm can at least play up in the pen. I just can't see him starting anymore. Not sure what happened but as he filled out it seems like he has lost arm speed etc. As seen this year we could use all the good pen arms we can find. If he can be good there it solves one more spot.

I am most excited about Jovani Moran. If he can become another dominant lefty that will really help the big club out. Hopefully we can find a few more home grown pen arms to help fix a weakness at the MLB level.

If the Twins can find some home grown pen arms the end of this season that would go a long way toward getting this team back on track for 2022. Maeda is a solid number 3 or 4 pitcher if they can resign Pineda he is the same and they have Ober. Jax, Dobnak to cover the 5th starter spot. If they can get one of those young guns to come up and be solid for 2022 and they get a solid FA pitcher I can't see why this team can't be in the thick of it next year. They would still have a lot of young potential stud pitching depth to back that rotation up as well. 2022 doesn't have to be bleak but it will be challenging with so many young players in key spots that is for sure. I still think this build's out better into 2023 but they could bounce back in 2022 as well.

I generally watch on Gameday or listen to the radio as I often am working while I watch. There were times early in the season when they were losing that I lost interest but as the All star break approached and the deadline got closer I started paying closer attention again. I am a prospect watcher so a rare breed so am still interested in seeing how the new guys perform but if you are a die hard baseball fan looking for your team to win more often than lose then I can see where there might no longer be any reason to watch games. I do think the pandemic created a shift as we didn't have baseball at all and found other things to do. I can't get my kids interested in baseball as they have so many different interests they can choose from baseball just isn't on their wish list. If their is labor unrest and they strike I could see baseball having trouble making a comeback. This is one of the worst Twins teams ever and couple that with the fact they were supposed to be good the disappointment level is extremely high. I can see why no one wants to watch this team right now other than us fans who follow the team no matter how they are doing.

If Gordon isn't a viable sub at short then not sure I give him a 40 man spot. We have Arraez and Polanco at 2nd or 3rd if needed and now have MIranda and Martin who can play there as well and they both project to be better players than Gordon. Until Martin and Miranda's emergence I would have said he has a chance but Martin seems like a better version of Gordon and Miranda's power stroke makes him valuable as well. Gordon has no power and doesn't walk much but he has good bat to ball skills a solid arm and decent speed. He can play center in a pinch but not sure how he grades out there defensively. To the point of this article though yes if left unprotected I have to believe he is the perfect player for a rebuilding team to pick up. You hope he hits for average and that you have a solid utility player for cheap rates the next 6 years. Best case scenario he turns into a solid 2nd baseman for a team in need of a player at that position. He could be a valuable pick up. He would be good in that position for us as well but with most of our best bats already at that position he looks like the odd man out to me.

I have my concerns as well. Right now I am blaming\hoping that his body just isn't used to pitching this much after the year off and he just isn't as sharp or maybe having a dead arm to some degree. He just needs to keep pitching and learn what works and what doesn't. Like you I was hoping he would stay dominant and give us all some much needed hope for the pitching pipeline but this year just seems devoid of all hope for whatever reason. Struggling is part of the process he has good stuff so I assume there are better days ahead.

I like Jax as a pitcher but as always I am concerned his lack of K's is going to lead to greater inconsistency in results. He got hit hard at times but the ball was right at players in the field so no damage done but on nights where the hits are falling in it can be quite a different story. Still feel like he has quality stuff just would be nice if he found an out pitch to go with his current stuff. He was brilliant last night so kudos on a well pitched game. Refsnyder might be the best hitter on this team at least until he slows down. Another great night and they didn't want to pitch to him as he walked twice.

With the emergence of Miranda this exact question has been on my mind more and more. Beyond Gordon they have Martin now as well who projects as a better bat and a player that can play center and slightly further down they have Spencer Steer who has been doing pretty well this year as well. With all the pitchers the Twins likely need to add and Miranda plus FA signings there is going to be a 40 man crunch. I am sure the Twins would like to keep him and possibly build his value back up but I wonder since we are so loaded at that spot if he doesn't get traded or if no team has interest then released.

I suppose everyone is going to tell me I am a Pollyanna poster but I like this move. I know Rob is 30 and technically past his prime but holy hotcakes Batman he is batting .321 with an 871 OPS at the MLB level right now. So it would be nice to find out if this is something that is somewhat sustainable or not because he could have a big roll to play on this team if it is. He earned this shot by having a 318 average and 1.046 OPS in AAA. Look I like Gordon and want to see what he can do at the MLB level as well but he hasn't been hitting well recently so getting him some reps in AAA while we get another look at Refsnyder sounds like a good idea to me. It certainly seems to have done Celestino and Rortvedt some good as they have found their bats there as well.

Normally I would agree with you but the pundits already are using the SSS for Martin to prove he won't develop power and have dinged him for it. Can't have it both ways but I get your point and it is a good one. It just seems with prospects developing at a fast pace impressions can change quickly. Sabato comes to mind.

I think most people are commenting on the fact the Twins rotations were always at the bottom of the league and the missed number 1 picks on Stewart and Jay with Gordon sandwiched in. There wasn't much for pitching depth in the minors either. So the new FO weren't in great shape to start a "pitching pipeline". I don't think that is blaming the old FO just stating where things were at when they came in. The other issue is does this FO get credit for developing those guys or the other FO for picking them. Pretty much every pitcher you named pitched better while under this FO so it is the chicken and egg analogy. Berrios wasn't chump change but his 8.02 ERA in 2016 didn't exactly prove he was going to be a good starter. Duffey was coming off of a 6.43 ERA in 2016 and May had 5.27 ERA in 2016. Rogers was OK with a 3.96 ERA but he got much better after the new FO took over. Yeah most of those guys were young and bound to improve some but they likely benefited from the changes in approach the new FO brought in. Would they have been better under the old FO and coaches? Seems unlikely. The proof would seem to be that the 2019 and 2020 pitching staffs were in the upper half of baseball instead of the bottom. If this current FO is really bad at developing pitching shouldn't those numbers have stayed rock bottom? I am not sure what happened to the pitching staffs this year but there is virtually no way to defend how bad they have been at the MLB level. Berrios being the lone exception and maybe Pineda can turn things around yet but hard to say right now. Maeda has been better as of late but it is too little too late now. Still I somewhat blame COVID and the team just not having their players ready to start this season in top form. I think\hope next year will be different but with so many open holes in the rotation and pen it is impossible to know at this point. So yeah sure this FO inherited some good players but not all of them have worked out and given what we have for stats they seem to be improving players for the most part. I don't think anyone is really blaming the old FO just pointing out the facts as they see them.

This year has shaken my confidence but not to the point of being ready to fire them. This FO is fresh off of a 2019 100 win season and 2020 division title so I am not sure why they need to be fired right away after having one losing season, The Pitching the Twins had before this FO came was always bottom of the league but with the Odo trade, Pineda FA acquisition and the emergence of Berrios and Gibson they jump started the starting pitching staff to the upper half of MLB. Cruz was also a big FA 2019 acquisition. So the narrative the FO sat on their hands with the core they were given does not ring true to me at all. I too am waiting for that pitching pipeline to show up but as was already mentioned it is close and I would like to see how those 6 to 8 arms do at the MLB level before making any premature decisions. I do have my concerns about their ability to evaluate pen arms. They claimed a bunch of guys this year and it doesn't appear they helped any of them get better. They traded a well regarded 4th outfielder for a pitcher that had a history of not being able to throw strikes and they already lost him. Somehow they helped Dobnak get worse this year and they still can't seem to get Alcala on track. The bad pitching from the rotation to the bullpen has sunk this team. If the FO can't adjust and move things in the right direction then I might be with the pitchfork crowd. For now let's see how the new guys work out. Ober seems to be improving as does Jax. They have to 6 to 8 legit arms to work through yet so odds are they can turn things around and I am willing to wait and see if they can do it.

My only point was not to panic that we had no one in the top 50 when any of Lewis, Martin, or Miranda certainly could be. Given Miranda's stats he certainly looks as good as the guys in the top 50 if not better than some. I can understand not including Lewis as he is such a wild card having not played for so long. Martin's lack of power is likely going to affect his OPS some so can probably see him just outside the top 50 but like I said if you are still bullish on his skill set he could be in the top 50 as well. Just depends on who you like or don't like. There is a ton of talent outside the top 50 and even outside the top 100 and they are not always going to get it right it just seems off when someone is performing as well as Miranda is and he doesn't make the list.

It is a very nice list but my point still stands. Lots of guys outside the top 50 went on to be as good or better than some of the guys inside the top 50. It is nice to be on that list but it doesn't mean there aren't better players outside that list either. Like I said they like who they like in whatever order.?