Dman

Can't say for sure but it seems like the trainer\training staff are trying to get players back to essentially 100% before having them play even when injuries are minor. Kepler could probably play through the knee soreness. Gallo said his side was sore but could play. Correa could likely play with back spasms. I am sure Buxton could probably play center if needed. So far all of them are limited or not playing. They have depth built in this year and I think they don't want to play players hurt where they can slowly degrade physically. I don't know if that is a Paparesta philosophy or just a change in philosophy but it looks like they are going to put a lot of emphasis on nipping these small injuries early so they don't turn into bigger ones or degrade future performance. IMO we will have to wait and see how it works out. Having a healthy team at the end of the year would be a huge advantage. What is the old saying an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. Looks like the Twins are putting that advice in play.

Always nice when pitchers are ready to go at the start of season, Varland, Festa and Matthews all looked great out of the gate. Have to say Festa was fantastic. He just needed to shore that third pitch and ring guys up when he gets to two strikes. If he keeps this up could he be mid rotation starter material? Garlic still looks too good to be at AAA as does Jullien. They just need to keep doing what they are doing and I am sure they will get there. I have been watching Fajardo who seems like Schuffield type player with really good bat to ball skills. Not sure what other tools he brings but if the bat plays all the way up he could be something. So far Miller getting hits which is what he needs to do. I am still concerned about power as even his one double was dribbled to the outfield. Still early and the weather far from ideal. Lot's of players doing well can't wait for the sample sizes to expand and see who pushes their way up.

Not sure why all the starter seem to want to give up 4 runs but Ryan, Mahle and now Meada all gave up four runs and why they like to throw cookies down the middle with men on base for HR's is another question to be answered. With this anemic offense they need to get back to giving up zero runs right quick. Anyway the with B team out there they were essentially conceding this game and yet these guys (with the help of Chicago's defense) pushed Cease to 100 pitches by the 5th inning and were just 1 run behind. Given that it seemed this wouldn't be an overly competitive lineup they had to be happy to see Cease leave and yet they didn't score after he left. It was close but no cigar again which is becoming a theme for this team. Hopefully they get things going tomorrow and the next day as their luck with the Yankee's and with Ryan, Mahle and Maeda giving up 4 runs a game things don't look good. I don't see much winning happening that series. They really could have used this one. Gotta break that Bronx jinx I guess.

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.

Always a fun player to root for. Wear's his emotions on his sleeve and you can tell he cares about every single at bat. He has always been an amazing hitter with pitches out of the zone as well. Glad he is doing well he is good for MLB,

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.

Yeah he never even threw Larnach an actual strike and he squeezed Thielbar earlier. Lots more examples as they made life easy for Lazardo as well with strikes well below the zone.

Felt like 2 different strike zones today. Need those auto umps.

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.

Yeah he doesn't care about this game. Doesn't think they can pull it off. Saving best guys for tomorrow it looks like.

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.

His weakness last year seemed to be balls low in the zone and I think all three home runs he hit looked like fastballs low in the zone I think one might not have been super low. So the book appears to have been keep the fastballs low in the zone where he can't reach them and then go with breaking stuff. IIRC two of three HR;s were on first pitch fastballs. I see more first pitch breaking balls in Gallo's future. I think the book on pitching him is going to change so we will see if can keep this up or if he becomes a K machine again. Hoping at @nicksavikingis correct and he just keeps hitting HR's and pitchers try to pitch around him. If that happens he will have a very successful season. It is early so hard to say how this shakes out but I am just happy to see some early season success.

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.