Dman

I have the same issue with all the video's. If you just skip ahead and then go back to the beginning it won't automatically move onto the next video after 45 seconds. Sometime a popup will actually come up asking if you want to keep viewing but it closes so quick you can't click on it before it moves to the next video. Just move it forward and then back to the beginning and all will be well.

Thanks for the deeper look!! So they are just hiding him in left then and his bat and speed on the bases are his main skillset. He is going to need to add power then if he wants to be noticed and an option for left. He is a really good contact hitter just not sure that will be enough in todays game especially with suspect defense.

I am with those that want a difference making return to move him. When healthy he is essentially an 800 OPS bat with good plate discipline. He can hit from both sides and while his defense holds him back some he isn't a huge liability out there either. I don't know what the Twins can get for Polanco and he might mean more to the team than what he is worth in trade. The Twins were wise not to give Kepler away last year I hope they feel the same way about Polanco. If he can't bring back something that can help this years team it seems more prudent to keep him. They can shift guys around if needed. If he can bring back something valuable then the Twins have the depth to move him. IMO to get enough value back they would likely need to trade Polanco for Prospects as the trading team would give up more future value for present value. Then the Twins could allocate the money saved to get something else in Free Agency with that saved money. While I get that strategy it could backfire because prospects fail. It would be better to get an MLB return if you ask me. Will have to wait and see if some team really wants him and is willing to give up something the Twins need.

I remember him having that hot spring and thinking the Twins had something. He started off well and that collision in the outfield where he got the concussion was the beginning of the end. Felt so bad for the guy. Finally looks like things are breaking his way then back to AAA never to make it back to the big's. Sad story.

Is his arm not good enough for center? His lack of power and good OBP would play well there. He had the speed to steal 50 bases last year so have to assume he has the wheels to play center. I have him starting in AAA next year given Keirsey seems like the only legit outfielder there right now. I guess if you include Martin then there are two guys. I don't see Garlic coming back, but maybe he will. At any rate as things stand there is room for him right now. He has good walk and K ratio's but slugging is holding him back some. I'd like to see what he can do at AAA. I didn't watch him a ton last year, but I liked the plate appearances I saw and he is a beast on the bases. Unless something changes 4th outfielder looks like his ceiling right now, but the Twins have found ways to get guys the power they need. If he finds it I think they might have something in Fajardo.

That is about how I would have those guys ranked as well. I know he is not in the top 30, but Ohl has been good and his stuff might carry over faster than the last 4 guys you mentioned. AAA can be a stall point for a lot of arms so hard to say how any of those not yet at AAA will do. I am hoping Festa is ready to take the leap this year. I think he is going to be desperately needed at some point this coming year and I agree with the OP that out of that group he looks like closest one to being ready for that kind of challenge. SWR is a real wild card, but he is on the 40 man so he still could be the first arm up unless he struggles at the start of the year. Raya can really bend the baseball around the plate. He needs to refine some of his pitches and needs to prove he can go longer to be a starter. I think he has the plus pitches to be a top of the rotation arm if he can manage the workload. I really like all four guys from the 2022 draft. Lewis could be special but as noted in the article AA and AAA will let us know if he can make it or not. Morris and Culpepper are slightly younger arms with a lot of potential as well. I think Festa and SWR are the most likely to pitch at the MLB level this year. How good they will be is anyone's best guess, but I sure hope they can end up mid rotation arms.

Really liked part one. Kody is so engaging and gave great responses about getting called up and what that was like. Some really great stuff in there.

Its a 100 to 200 point drop for OPS generally from AAA and that still puts Prato in the 700 OPS range. He also has a very even K and walk rate which is generally an indicator of greater success at the MLB level. The potential seems to be there if you believe the AAA numbers (Granted high unsustainable BABIP). A fair number of good bats that seemed like they might get taken no one took and maybe the worst hitter of all of them Nunez got taken. I assume mainly because of eye at the plate and good defense, but with a .224 BA and .672 OPS those numbers likely don't translate well to MLB at all. Hard to predict the chances teams will take. Will be watching Prato to see if he is for real or just had a good 4 month run.

I liked the Marcano pick as the system is short on Lefties anyway. Escalante reminds me of Olivar. Del Rosario seems like a pick to compete at A ball with several other wild card players there. Reed is much needed pitching depth at high A\AA. I liked what the Twins did and while there was some risk they might lose someone since they didn't they optimized the 40 man as well. So good job FO! Hopefully a couple of these picks turn out to be an asset at some point

I really thought a team might be able to take a chance on Prato, but glad I was wrong.. It is hard to hide position players on the 26 man. I was surprised Washington grabbed Nunez, but he has speed and a good eye at the plate but no power and not much of a hit tool. Prato probably just too old and he had an uneven season last year. Glad the FO didn't waste any 40 man spots. They will need them for waiver wire pickups and adding players. If the Twins are going to promote Lewis, Culpepper, Matthews and maybe Morris or Jones I guess I can see why they grabbed some High A pitchers in the AAA portion of the draft as there is no one left to promote from A ball and if they promote all of Lewis, Culpepper, Matthews they needed at least two more arms which they got in Marcano and Reed. Escalante looks a bit like Olivar in the Twins system as he has a good OBP and low strike out numbers (balanced line). Not much in the way of power though, but maybe the Twins think they can unlock something there? Del Rosario is pretty young and at the lower levels but the A ball options are a bit slim so guessing they just added another wild card because they could? Overall just happy the Twins didn't lose any players in either phase and were able to build a little depth in spots they could use it.

I think Seattle is looking to grab Snell or Yamamoto and then can use one of their young controllable pitchers to fill holes in the lineup. I think they want to work with Tampa more than Twins. If they can get Arozarena and or Paredes those are better targets than than Polanco and Kepler IMO. They will cost more so maybe it won't make sense for them but those would be two good players for them to get if the price is right. Polanco and Kepler would be more stop gaps than long term solutions and cost more money.

You are correct UZR and DRS are in the negative. Was going off some highlights and games I saw him play.

He doesn't have to play much shortstop but he can if needed. If your shortstop is injured for significant period that can be a big deal. Can't assume anything but not many and I can't think of any Twins prospect that made it to AAA in their first pro full season. His Dad is a hitting coach odds are he is going to figure it out and IMO more likely on the elite side than average or below.

If 5th starter is their high hope then I am even more pissed they didn't just get Kenta back on that reasonable two year deal. They better find someone better than Maeda or they look like idiots IMO.

How many MLB switch hitters that can play all three spots and likely be elite hitters? That would be my definition of unicorn.

Yeah but you are forgetting something. Lee made it all the way to AAA in first full pro season it took Julien three years to get there. Lee doesn't quite have Julien's patience but his bat to ball skills are excellent and Lee hits from both sides of the plate. It is really hard to find good switch hitters which makes him even more valuable IMO. I still see All Star upside and a versatile player who can play all three spots if needed. That is not the right player to trade IMO he is a unicorn.

To be honest I was shocked they kept the payroll at 156M last year. I thought they would dump Kepler after the Gallo signing for sure and others noted they probably didn't think they would get Correa in the end but they went with the larger than normal budget anyway. They didn't have to say anything and I agree with Nick that that in itself is curious. The FO generally isn't that forth coming with much of anything. Maybe they wanted to get a head of the TV revenue conjecture and\or maybe they wanted time to lower expectations to exceed them. Hard to say but I think they land in the 130M range in the end but we will see. Some of their decisions seem to have more to do with what happens in future years than just this year. Starting in 2025 they are going to have to pay Lopez 20M per year so three players are going to take up 72.5M of salary. There are going to be more players that become Arb eligible in 2025 and beyond and no way out of Buxton and Correa for the next 5 years. They have to plan very carefully from here on out. I think that is why we were hearing that if they did anything in FA they were looking for one year deals and why even though Maeda's price tag wasn't all that high that they didn't go two years. While I assume Kepler, Polanco, Farmer and Vasquez all come off at some point this year or next saving 36M they are going to be relying on younger players with very little space to add in free agency IMO. I think there are many things at play and they just decided to level set expectations early mainly because of the TV deal expiring. Cleveland appears to be doing the same thing. We'll see how Texas ends up operating but 100M is a lot of revenue to lose.

He pitched well last year. His first year with the Twins blowing so many saves and giving up HR's really made it hard to shake the narrative. I for one was not much of a believer in him starting the 2023 season. The Twins pushed him back to lower leverage and after a tough angsty start he really turned things around. I will say I was surprised he was able to get that much money given his history of giving up the long ball but maybe the Twins helped him get to a place where that is less likely now? I don't know what the offers were but I still wish the Twins would have traded him instead of using him last year. After all he went through in Minnesota I am happy he landed a great deal.

That is what happened to the Twins when they lost Stuart Turner in the Rule V draft. He was a no bat very good defensive catcher and I believe it was the Reds who grabbed him in Rule V from the Twins. Turner never turned the bat around and really only played at the MLB in that 2017 season. Bats can be hard to turn around so it would still be a long shot but like Turner a team short on catcher depth might take a shot just based on the fact he isn't a defensive liability. I don't see it as a move the Twins would make though.

Johnston is interesting but his numbers (except HR's) aren't that far off of Prato's who the Twins decided not to add to the 40 man. Prato bats right handed which would work better but is too short to play first base. Being 26 already and carrying a guy on the 40 man that seems redundant to Kirilloff or Jullien from the left side doesn't make much sense to me. The batting line looks real solid to me but the fact he he also has limited positional flexibility and is older works against him holding a 40 man spot. If I am the Twins and looking to upgrade 1st base I use that roster spot on a veteran player not a Rule V guy. The Twins essentially have Crim in the system already and his name is Chris Williams who they don't have to carry on the 40 man. Again I just don't see it. While AHT is interesting I think given how far away he is that a waiver claim would be a better way to go. Just too risky a move for the Twins especially when carrying too many questionable arms as is and battling for a playoff spot. IMO. Given the Twins are a playoff team a guy like Van Eyk holding a 40 man spot isn't appealing. The Twins are looking for high end upgrades in the pen and I don't think he fits that description. If that is the best the Rule V has to offer I think it is likely better to just play the waiver wire. Those players generally have MLB experience and are a tweak away from making a difference at the MLB level right away and sometimes they can still be stashed at AAA if they eventually clear waivers.

Yeah but they will sign someone for depth as right now Louie is the only somewhat proven depth piece they have. It is gonna take more than 5 starters to get through the whole season. The Twins will get another starter the only question is what level of quality at this point.

Varland looks like the odd man out of the rotation to start the season. He is critical depth though. I think they keep him stretched out at AAA just like they did with Ober last year. Someone is likely going to get hurt and Louie would be the next arm up. If all the starters do stay healthy and the Twins need help in the pen again I could see them moving him there fairly early in the season as well. I still think he is a starter though. If he shores up the HR issue he can be a really good one. Personally I don't think his future is in the pen but, it is nice to know he can be a weapon if needed down the stretch or in the playoffs.

This isn't the year to shop Vasquez. They need the level of defense he provides for the pitching staff. It also allows us to see if Jeffers continues to play at the level he established last year and to make sure Camargo is ready for the next step. 2025 gets more interesting depending on if the Twins need to protect Cardenas, Winkel or Olivar in the Rule V draft. If one or more of those players need to be added and Vasquez is still struggling at the plate it might make more sense to move him. I still think Vasquez is an important part of this years team. Camargo needs to be slowly brought along not depended on at that MLB level of a potential playoff team. Depending on the return I think it would be a mistake to trade Vasquez at this time.

I would only give him elite status in Left mainly because his arm is such a weapon to throw guys out at the plate and or teams won't send guys knowing he is there. He lacks Kepler like speed in right and while the arm still plays well there I don't feel like it has the same effect as in left. At any rate he is solid to above average in my book simply lacking the speed to get to some balls.

I ma pretty sure he will rebound but his defense is horrible at least at short and I don't know how well he fits into a club house. Like the article said he just isn't a good fit for the Twins, but I think the team that takes a chance will get rewarded.