Dman

Yeah I don't get it and it is not like Canterino is young he is 25 so even if you are starting the clock it shouldn't really matter especially since he seems likely to be a pen arm. Still can't think of any other reasons though.

I think because it counts as MLB time\Salary? Only reason I can think of for not wanting to do it but don't know if that is the reason.

I didn't see this coming this early in the season but Matt has a fair number of things in common with Gallo he just doesn't run quite as well so he should be a solid replacement. Hopefully he doesn't expand the zone too much and I think he will be just fine. MLB pitchers make it tough on hitters but he was there last year so should have an idea what to expect. Happy for Matt and hope he does enough to stay with the big club.

Other than Varland and Rodriguez it seems like the pitchers have struggled at AAA to start the year. I am sure the weather and the fact the iCubs seem to have a good hitters lineup isn't helping but was hoping for a better start on the pitching side. I don't know why but I have a thing about Rodriguez. He seems like a MLB pitcher to me. It felt like last year there were just times he ran out of gas and gave up lots of hits and runs that impacted his numbers. I don't know how all his pitches rate and how hard he throws so maybe I am missing something but I feel like he proved last year that he should get a shot IMO. Schuffield 2 for 3 with 1.867 OPS. I still think they should have started him at AA where they could use better bats. Miller with his first extra base hit which was nice to see but he K'd 3 times as well. Tough outing for Prielipp but the pen was outstanding. I felt like moving Adams to AA might not work out well and watching the game on MiLB he did not look good. In time I am sure he will get better but the Texas league is tough on pitchers. I don't know how good Peoria is as it is so early but I think the Muscles are going to be hard to beat this year.

I am pretty sure it was @DocBauer (maybe he will confirm) who was the only one I remember being high on Matthews. He has a starters build but his college stats kind of screamed reliever to me. Maybe he has that third pitch to make it. So hard to know how drafted pitchers will work out. Doc seemed pretty convinced he would be a good one. Maybe he had some better info on him. Have to say that was the best debut out of the starting pitchers in their first look so far. Not sure why they held what looks like their best arm for the third start but he looked great last night.

Holy crap! Sonny Gray. 13 K's 7 innings not used to seeing that. Also thank you Miranda and Farmer for being clutch! I couldn't watch but awesome walk off home opener! Everyone got their money's worth.

Seth mentioned Raya's situation in the Kernals Roster post. Sounded like some slight shoulder issue no real details given but he made it sound not serious FWIW. Nowlin looked really good. Really had the hitters guessing with two strikes. Control seemed pretty good this game and he gave up no earned runs so a really nice first time out. Miller still getting a lot of weak contact but he did manage a single in this game. I know it is early but was hoping he would come out stinging the ball this year. Rosario didn't get a hit but he looked good at the plate and the two walks he took bode well for him taking that next step. He looks pretty locked in this year hoping for good things. Cardenas sure seems like a difference maker in the batters box. Very solid numbers last year and he was a tough out last night as well. I thought AA would have a hard time picking up wins since there are very few top 30 prospects there but they did well last night. I didn't watch Enlow pitch much and to be honest I thought he would give up four to five runs but he pitched really well. Man he looks like a beast on the mound so hopefully he has a great season. Lee with two hits and a walk doing his thing but I am intrigued by the new guy the Twins brought in Fajardo. I saw him in spring training and he looked good there and he got two hits along with Lee last night. His older stats are nothing special but he sure seems to have good bat to ball skills. I was surprised to see Funderburk in a relief role but maybe that is the fastest way for him to make it to the Majors? Lewis didn't pitch as well as I had hoped but just his first pro start so not much to say. Schuffield once again proving he belongs higher up as he homered in his first at bat. Too bad the game got cut short but that will be an interesting league to watch and see who breaks out.

IMO Jullian lost that game for them as he had a Grounder hit right to him and he couldn't even keep it in front of him. It would have ended the game instead they ended up losing. No one pitched well in this game but it was cold. Some good at bats by both teams. If this is the way Ober was going to pitch thankfully he didn't make the opening day roster.

I had the same feeling that Dollander could fall. Still early in the season but Crews is hitting .500 right now with an insane slugging to go with it. As most mocks have it I still think Pittsburgh takes him numbers one. He could be a generational bat. Skenes has been K'ing about two per inning I think Washington goes with the military man and his elite stuff. Hard to figure out what Detroit and Texas want to do. Detroit doesn't necessarily need more outfielder's but Langford will be tough to pass up. They could use arms but their system really needs elite bats just as much if not more and bats are generally safer bets. They could take any of Langford, Gonzalas or maybe cut a deal with Wilson. Really hard to say what Detroit does as they need everything. I have them taking Langford though. That leaves Texas and they very well could double down on pitching and take Dollander or they could go 5 tool and choose Clark. They could also go with any of the elite College level bats available and see which one cuts the best deal. Hard to say but I am starting to see a potential path to Dollander at number 5 and if Clark isn't there I hope the Twins take him. Dollander has everything the Twins like in a pitcher, good control, three above average pitches, high end velocity and an easy delivery. If he is there he should be a no brainer IMO.

That is a nice list of somewhat underdog's in the system. I like to keep an eye on those guys as they can really help a team when they work out. Dobnak still needs to find a K pitch to get to strike 3. He gets guys to two strikes and they foul stuff off until he walks them or they put the ball in play. I think if he can solve that he has a legit chance as a long man. I still have my eye on Varland. If he can keep pitching well he can be a guy we can rely on for next year which will be important. I really like Funderburk and wish their was room for him at AAA but I also will be hoping Festa becomes a long term solution and remains dominant after moving up a level. Not sure if Nowlin is just effectively wild or the real deal but that is one impressive K rate. I hope he is the real deal because we could use a good lefty. I also like Prielipp and am very interested to see how he does this year. Once Raya shows up that should be quite the rotation. I don't really know anything about Olivares but like the stats. They must be big time believers to move him from the DSL to A ball. Definitely a player to watch. Almost all the pitchers at A ball will be first full season guys so will be watching to see who excels at that level.

Personally I don't think he is going to stack up well against any offensively gifted shortstops first two years. The .211 average and weak slugging will be almost impossible for him to overcome. That being said there are some good offensive signs in his 16% walk rate and only 24% K rate. He seems to have decent bat to ball skills but he is getting weak contact as evidenced by his .287 BABIP and poor slugging. He needs to find his way to harder contact and I think he will be OK. This year will give us a better indication of whether he can overcome those weaknesses or not.

I kind of figured they would round robin it. They generally like pretty much all their guys to be able to play anywhere on the diamond. I think it would benefit Miller the most to play somewhere other than short as he likely will need to know the other positions to break into MLB anyway. I think Ross should get time at short as well so I see this as more of a three player rotation. Salas hasn't looked great defensively at short so far as I believe he had several throwing error's last year. Not sure short is going to be his "best" fit but they should keep working him in there as he is only 19 right now so plenty of time to establish good habits and maybe Miller can help him get in better position to throw. It is very exciting to have two young shortstops at high A with lot's of potential. Hopefully Miller starts hitting better and Salas defends better as they gain position flexibility. That would be a win, win for sure.

I have no idea how teams and agents negotiate slot value but it seems to me that teams would have some leverage at least in the first round where the slot values are high. For instance if the player you pick would have fallen a pick or two or three from where you had taken them they could easily be out $500,000 or more. Also with the player set to make at least around $4M on average in the first round it would seem they could afford to take a little off of that and not affect the huge amount they are getting compared to the players after them. And yet it seems most players in the first round pretty much get their pool amount if not a bit more. So that imagined leverage of mine apparently does not really exist. As best I can tell it seems agents\players know about where they are going to picked in the draft. I guess based on what teams are calling them and where pundits are ranking them. Take Brooks Lee as one example he was seen as a pretty certain top 5 pick and possible number 1 pick but he dropped to number 8. While the Twins did not give him number 5 money they did pony up $200,000 over slot to get the deal done. Their 2nd round pick slide in the draft and they went over slot for Prielipp as well. Even sort of popup player Schobel got the full bonus and it seemed he was a slight reach where they picked him. So where you think they could save the most money which is the first two rounds it doesn't seem happen all that much. So it must be that if a team values a player in that slot the agent\player feels they deserve the slot amount and it is hard to argue otherwise at least for the first three rounds or so. After that it seems player evaluations fluctuate so much it is hard to know where players might fall. With the Twins picking top 5 I don't see a discount coming unless they go way off the board which generally doesn't work out well. It is possible they could save money in the supplemental first or 2nd round but unlikely IMO at least based on past precedent as they will probably grab players that slide in the draft with those picks and or be picking a player ranked in that range. I think they saved a little when they picked Miller in 2021 as he wasn't supposed to go until the 2nd round although I don't think the Twins will be reaching for players this year. As Jeremy said it is impossible to know what will present itself and what the Twins will do but it seems more likely that they will overspend in the first three rounds and then find some senior signs later to make up the difference. I just hope they pick players that can make it and impact the MLB club regardless of bonus amounts.

For A ball for me I will be watching Shuffield. He is old for the level but was already producing at AAA last year. He needs a prove it year and maybe he can head back to AAA or at least AA by years end. Could be an elite bat but will know more at the end of this year. At High A it would be Ben Ross. He came from a small school with pretty excellent bat to ball skills. Hoping he does well and that the Twins found a late first round talent in the 5th round. I also like Cardenas at that level. Good eye at the plate and can hit the ball. Hopefully he can turn into a well rounded catcher. AA going with Rucker. He might not have a high ceiling but he just seems like a solid player. I think if he can tape into more power maybe that can be a plus tool for him. Probably limited to corners but he is moving up fast and I am hoping the bat will end up better than average. AAA for me would be Helman. He is very close to being a legit MLB player IMO. The Slugging is there the plate discipline is there he just needs to up his game a bit more and he has MLB utility player written all over him. Hoping for a big year from him.

I thought for sure Pagan was going to give up runs and I couldn't and didn't watch him pitch. Box score says he did alright. Will have to go back and see how he looked. Happy to see him off to a decent start. If the starters stay healthy and this bullpen keeps performing well this team should win a lot of games. Maeda with the best K rate among the starters so far. Hope his arm is OK.

Most deadline trades are not designed to be "won" by the team who needs the MLB ready player. You are over paying to get something\someone you hope can be a major difference maker for your team at the exact moment in time you need that type of player. The Twins were OK losing that trade if Mahle could help get them to the post season. All trades involve risk and as we well know not all trades work out as hoped, Still I think it was a worthy gamble for the Twins. Honestly there wasn't really all that much room for Steer in the infield and while I absolutely fell in love with CES's bat he is likely a DH only type player so he will have to be an elite bat for losing him to hurt. I feel like Hajjar is a pen arm but I also think he could be an elite pen arm. I am sure the Reds would have liked Povich instead but you knew they were going to want a pitcher in return for giving up a pitcher. Have to wait and see how Hajjar turns out as arms always have a long way to go, but right now it doesn't feel like the Twins lost players they couldn't live without. FWIW Steer was the only top 10 prospect they lost in the deal and they had surplus players for the spots he would play. Unfortunately Mahle gave us next to nothing last year but if he has a good year this year maybe the Twins can extend him or at the very least maybe they give him a QO and he nets them a supplemental 1st round pick to get some prospect value back. If you go straight up WAR I think the Reds are gonna win this one big time but what the Twins gave up is what has to happen if you want a difference maker deadline addition. We see these same types of deals every deadline. If you can't live with what the Twins gave up then you should never suggest trading at the deadline. Lot's of analysts thought the return was a little light for the Reds since technically they didn't even get a top 100 prospect back (although Steer was close). IMO the FO did about as well as they could to try and net an arm they desperately needed to try and save the season.

Lot's of guys I don't know that well at this level. Where is Nate Biaz? I don't see him at High A or A ball, injured? I kind of thought Alexander Pena would get a shot at A ball but I guess not. I guess I can see why they moved Shuffield and Perez down to A ball to start. First they need a couple of bats to bolster that lineup. Also, I think both players could move to any level if there is an injury at A+, AA or AAA either one of those guys could be moved there to fill in. Personally I think they both should be at AA but with inevitable injuries I am sure things will sort themselves out. I will mainly be monitoring the pitching and the catchers at this level to see who shines there. De Andrade is the only top 30 prospect at this level. Even short season ball has more top 30 players (6) than this level so it might be tough to follow this team this year.

Wow they left A ball with no one in the top 30 unless they bring in some of the guys I thought would be short season guys like De Andrade, Cruz, Mercedes, Rodriguez etc. 10 top 30 prospects at high A and 10 at AAA. AA and A are gonna be short on star talent. I wasn't sure what they were going to do with Rosario and Miller since both had borderline results with the bats last year. Given how well Rosario played in spring training and how good Miller is defensively I think it makes sense to keep them moving. Has to be a bummer for Neuse and Perez but they are just an injury away from moving back up. They also must believe in the bats of Ross and Schoebel as I thought they were A ball bound at least to start the season. With Salas that is some pretty amazing shortstop talent they have there. Also wasn't sure where they would start Prielipp but I think High A is a good place to start and if he is as good as the talk this spring then he could move up after the first few months. I am surprised Kyle Jones is the one who gets to jump to High A I had Paredes plugged into that spot. Paredes is no K king but he was consistently good last year. Seemed he deserved a promotion to me but it looks like he will have to wait. I do like the approach of sticking the next big wave of prospects together. Should be a pretty stacked lineup and some solid to elite pitching in high A this year. It is gonna be must see box score watching at that level this year. Could be a tough time for AA and A ball unless those players really step up. Here's hoping for lot's of breakouts this year.

Given the shoulder issues I don't see that they had much choice. If he can become another Jax he still holds a lot of value as high end reliever. I don't know a ton about impingement but once pitchers have shoulder issues it can be the beginning of the end. Hoping shorter stints will help his body\arm recover better. Only way to know is to try.

Was surprised to see Travis Adams on the list as I had him penciled in at High A. Hoping he is ready as the Texas league isn't easy on pitchers. He wasn't exactly dominant at High A and only had 31 innings there. I was also surprised to see Enlow as a reliever now. I thought he had three if not four pretty strong pitches? I take it the Twins think the fastball only plays in small stints? Was happy to see Rucker make the jump to AA but I thought that after Shuffield held his own at AAA that they would at least start him at AA especially given his age. The bat looked like it could be special last year but I guess he can prove it again. It is an interesting list. Lacking the higher end talent depth we saw there last year but there are guys who could rise especially on the pitching side.

It might be SSS but I am going to eat crow anyway (hopefully BBQ sauce will make it taste better). Watching Gallo this spring it sure didn't look like much had changed from last year. He seemed to have trouble getting to balls in the lower part of the zone and he wasn't making much contact. He wasn't looking much better the first two games against the Royals either. Today I got see what I assume the Twins saw when they worked to sign Gallo. A double and two HR;s with 4 RBI's he almost single handedly won this games for them on offense. Still a lot of season left and one good day against a not very good team doesn't mean too much, but it does\did show the impact he can have on a ball game. I hope this is the first of many good days for Joey Gallo. Ryan pitched well his first time out. He did give up some really hard contact on some balls but only one made it out of the park. The strike zone was a bit mysterious at times for both clubs but he got through it and even made it 6 innings. Moran had the same old issues with control and for once it bit him giving up the 2 run HR. Walks can kill you and he walked a guy who generally can't buy a hit. Can't do that and get away with it all the time. Gotta execute there. Hopefully a lesson learned in a game that had some leeway. Pagan still scares the hell out of me. Why they didn't trade him if they had decent offers I do not know. Needing Jax to warmup after giving up back to back hits show just how much they don't trust him either. He only gave up the one run but if KC would have come back I think we all would have lost our minds. They got the sweep but with Cleveland taking it to the Mariners and the White Sox splitting with Houston I am not sure the sweep means as much. Looking like a three team race early but lot's of games left in this marathon baseball season. Hope the Twins can keep finding ways to win games.

Sands was really good through AA. Nice WHIP, ERA and K rate and that was as a starter. There was concern with his xFIP which has proven to be a more accurate predictor than his ERA, but other that that pretty rock solid. Once he hits AAA suddenly he is giving out hits like crazy and having trouble keeping the ball in the park. For the Twins I guess I see the attraction. Fangraph's gives him an elite curveball and in the pen his fastball plays up to above average as well. He has an average changeup to go with all that so he has solid tools to be a reliever but the results to this point have not been good. I agree with @stringer bellthat he doesn't throw competitive pitches out of the zone and then has to throw cookies around the middle of the plate to compete. I don't get the approach and it hasn't been working. If the curve is that good he needs to use it on the edges and if he can't control it then that is an issue as well. I have seen his fastball barreled up too many times giving up very hard contact. The tools are there but they need to shine through soon or else as others have said Winder and Henriquez will pass him by. I want to be a believer but as @PatPfundstated his spring numbers are even worse than last years numbers so that doesn't give me much confidence things have changed for the better.

I think how things worked out with Coulombe and Hoffman were based on having flexibility with the long reliever position. They needed a spot where arms could be sent up and down without needing to "hopefully" clear waivers. They have some quality depth they can use as needed this year in Winder, Henriquez, maybe Headrick or Funderburk and or some other candidate might appear as the season moves along. So they have options beyond just trusting Sands in that spot. I don't think they expected to lose Coulombe and he would have been depth for Thielbar or Pagan if he stayed. Turns out the O's robbed us yet again but he wasn't a long term fit for this team anyway so maybe it was for the best. I think Hoffman was a tougher choice. I think they would have loved to keep him as depth in the minors but again I think it came down to flexibility and they also kind of have a Hoffman type pitcher in Megill and it looks like they decided to stick with Megill. Also with all these young arms on the 40 man you need to figure out at some point who can play at this level and who can't as new guys need to be added every year. Best to find out in hopefully low leverage situations if Sands is worthy of a 40 man spot or not and work your way down from there in Winder and Henriquez etc. The one thing the FO has to face with these decisions is Pagan. His track record is not good and we all seem to have some PTSD from watching him last year. I know he showed improvement at the end of the year but if he keeps giving up long balls and the FO did nothing to upgrade that position they are going to hear about it especially if the talent given away works out for other teams. It is risky but I am on board with Sands for now. Hopefully he turns a corner and helps this team win some games.

Interviewer has really nice voice and demeaner and Kody has such an easy going manner it is a fun watch. I really liked where Kody explained about pitching with lower velocity. Very nice descriptions. Lot's of great content. Thanks for sharing!

I like your sleeper pick. Funderburk has been really good the last two years. Granted he hasn't been in AAA yet and the K rate is a bit less than ideal, but his overall numbers are not that much different than Varland's and he is a lefty. I know the fastball might not be as hard but his Homerun suppression has been really good to this point. Will know more when he gets to AAA but so far he has been an under the radar good performer that could be a really good bullpen arm if he doesn't quite make it as a starter. Given what I have seen so far I like his chances but AAA and MLB are big jumps to make.