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Major League Ready

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Everything posted by Major League Ready

  1. Major League Ready
    So, your argument is last year Donaldson he was the one player with fire so we should inject more players like him. This year (without him) the players are all competing very hard and the team is successful. None of us really know but the circumstantial evidence suggests Donaldson's presence did not promote the type of chemistry that promotes winning. We have a whole team that is playing hard and playing very well without Donaldson so it's very difficult for me to conclude his type of personality is the key to success.
  2. Major League Ready
    I agree they could have managed paying Donaldson and Correa. However, everyone is looking at this from purely a present year lens and I think it had little to do with this year. Everything they did pointed toward putting together a good product this year with an emphasis on positioning for the future. They had several personnel transitions that needed to be made if they were to sustain any sort of real success. They may have also felt moving Donaldson was needed to improve chemistry / culture and they may have been very important during a period of other transitions. Miranda and Lewis were and are the future although I am sure they did not believe Lewis would be ready this soon. They also needed to transition Larnach and Celestino to the OF and this is going to be Sano's last year. Then you have Ryan and Winder taking over rotation spots and Duran / Jax and others taking over BP spots. The FO was betting enough of these players would be productive enough this year to improve the team while positioning us extremely well in the future. I also have not seen anyone include the $21.75M next year of the $16M in 2024 or $8M buyout. Whatever they are able to add with those funds in 2023 and 2024 needs to be added to this equation. I just don't think the 2022 budget was a major part of this decision. Every move with the exception of Correa emphasized the long-term. Rodon is the only free agent SP that would have been a good add. Many here would have been very happy had they signed Ray and kept Donaldson. IMO, they are waaaaay better positioned as a result of trading Donaldson and not signing Ray or Stroman or even Pineda had support here.
  3. Major League Ready
    If we can keep Ryan / Gray / Ober / and Winder healthy, they could stack Archer & Bundy with Smeltzer as depth.
  4. Major League Ready
    It sure seems like only the bad is remembered or acknowledged. Berrios has a 4.75 ERA. Every pitcher we have, with the exception of Bundy has been better. The free agent everyone insisted we had to have was Robbie Ray. His ERA is 4.77. Then, when Stroman was signed for only 3 years the theme was why not here. His ERA is 4.88. Most contributors here did not think Garlic should be on the roster, Some insisted Sanchez was horrible and he has looked great in May His wRC+ for the month is 132 and climbing. He certainly has not be the downgrade at Catcher some insisted he would be. Many hated the Pressly trade but Celestino and Alcala for 6 years is looking more valuable than Pressly for a couple months of a lost season and in which we won 100 games. The Ryan trade was an absolute fleecing. What an incredible boost to the team for a rental. Duran was also acquired for a rental. How many people did not believe in Ober? How many people did not believe in the pitching pipeline at all? How many people wanted to trade Royce Lewis? Granted, many were firmly against but plenty were all for moving him for pitching. It will take a lot to go right to have an Astros type run. We may not dominate but this team is very well positioned for an extended run of very good teams. Extending Buxton, deadline deals and pitchers drafted outside the top rounds are the reason. Losing Berrios does not look like it made a difference. Spending the money the would have spent on him wisely is actually another opportunity to help build a contender just as getting rid of Donaldson salary provides an opportunity.
  5. Major League Ready
    Is there any news on when Jorge Alcala might be back? Sure would like to have a healthy Alcala the 2nd half.
  6. Major League Ready
    Yes
  7. Major League Ready
    Actually, CES started off very hot but has not been very good in May. (.217 / .304 / .391 ) I was hoping he was the 2022 version of Jose Miranda and there is plenty of time for that to happen. Unfortunately, he is not looking like a guy who should be promoted at the moment.
  8. Major League Ready
    You are right. That's an article worth reading. I especially liked the part where he quantified how Tampa and Cleveland acquired pitching. Most importantly he noted that the players acquired in trade had never produced more than 1 WAR before being acquired. I have posted the same data here several times on both pitchers and position players as well as other playoff teams. This information is obviously not understood by many fans who insist upon the opposite strategy. The whole basis of the article is balancing the short-term with sustained success. It would appear from what I see here that the majority of fans are much more focused on the immediate. The problem is that practices primarily focused on the present significantly deteriorate the chances for sustained success. Trading impact players with 6 years of control for a rental is a suckers bet. A dozen teams will trade away long-term assets at the deadline. Only 1 team can win the WS nad there is certainly no guarantee they will win. The Dodgers traded away some significant assets and it got them nothing. The Rays (to my surprise) traded Ryan from Cruz. Do you think they would like that deal back? Now, trading almost nothing like the Braves did and getting a huge boost is a different story but one that is rarely seen. None of this suggest they should or will trade Correa. I would assume they keep him. Balancing short and long-term success would suggest it's perfectly reasonable to retain Correa. However, as the author suggests, there are many potential "right" ways to proceed.
  9. Major League Ready
    I am happy to have a team that's entertaining and that has an exciting future. I have no delusions about this team being a top contender. The Yankees and Astros are a different level and the Rays / Angels are also better teams. I am not really sure what to expect from the White Sox and Blue Jays who both have more talent but are playing poorly. The really good news is there is reason to hope they kick it up a notch. Correa was just starting to square it up consistently. Sanchez has been a beast this past 6 games. He is batting .348 with a .423 OBP and slugging .913. Larnach will be back soon and he seemed to be waaaay better against the breaking stuff that had been a struggle. Kepler has been contributing and of course Buxton is a beast. It sure would be fun if it all comes together and this stretch of games against weaker opponents is a great chance to get on a serious roll.
  10. Major League Ready
    Wallner has been great after a slow start. The first 11 games he did nothing. Since then: 1.222 OPS / 195 wRC+ / 371 AVE / 482 OBP Maybe they should be giving him reps at 1B to prepare for next year.
  11. Major League Ready
    It's obviously a debatable point of view and you disagree with the FO. Most people had a very different idea of what should be done this year. Most had them pegged as a 90 loss team. Some said they did not even have a ML pitching staff. None of us could get 10 seconds consideration if we applied for a GM job yet fans love to think they have a superior understanding of what should be done. It's fun to debate what should or should not be done but we should also understand we are not privy to the plans and we do not possess the superior understanding of what should be done that we think we do.
  12. Major League Ready
    I don't see much of a problem in LF with Larnach being very close to returning and Celstino playing very well and Garlick as a LH platoon option. Let's revisit 1B in two weeks. The best possible solution is a nice bounce back with Kirilloff who is showing signs of his old self. If not, Josh Bell would be a great solution and he could possibly be resigned if Kirilloff's wrists continue to impede his performance. The BP is something like 19-0 when we have the lead after the 7th inning so I am not sure the BP is a problem. We will see how things go when rosters size is reduced. All of this assumes we have a contender which is not going to be determined in the next 3 weeks given they are playing mostly sub 500 teams. They are not going to make any trades until they have a much better idea of our needs and contention.
  13. Major League Ready
    Kirilloff getting it together is a big deal. Solving the problem we have at 1st base currently through 2027 would be a giant boost to this team. Cmon Alex! Can anyone comment on Alex Isola's defense? What are the chances he sticks ats a catcher and what are his strengths and weaknesses behind the plate?
  14. Major League Ready
    I have been wondering about these possibilities as well. Kirilloff was 4 for 6 last night with a HR and a double. Alternatively, if you are going to teach someone to play 1st base why not Larnach. That would have long-term benefit. Larnach's length at 1B is ideal and him being able to play both positions going forward would be great. By far the best thing for this team would be if Lewis played 95% of his games at SS and perhaps occasionally cover CF. He's not going to be a utility player. There are two guys (Buxton & Lewis) where positional flexibility has no value. Their value is diminished if the play anywhere else. Becoming our SS for the next 6 years has waaaaaaay more value than playing part-time out of position. The response from fans was very predictable. Do fanatics want to wait for whatever it is they are fanatical about? Do we know their plan. Does it matter if they take three weeks to prepare him or make other roster changes to facilitate his return? There is nothing bewildering about this scenario when approached with a macro / long-term view but that's often not how fans view things.
  15. Major League Ready
    Fans have the luxury of complete focus on the present. However, this complete focus on the right now is why many fans would be absolutely horrible GMs.
  16. Major League Ready
    Yes, this is somewhat functional. You already have Celestino as back-up OFer and Gordon's playing time would be in the OF as well given Urshela / Arraez are IFers. This means you replace Arraez with Lewis at 1B. Arraez has been a lot better there than I expected, BTW. The other options are replacing Urshela at 3B or Corra at SS and he plays 4 days a week. I don't see the gain over Arraez and he certainly is not an upgrade over Correa. So, in very rough terms we gain a little when he replaces Urshela, break even when he replaces Arraez, and go down a little when he replaces Correa. The immediate impact of him going down when Correa returns is not exactly a big loss, It's not at all difficult to understand why they are opting to further prepare him for a return that is likely not far off.
  17. Major League Ready
    If the pitching holds together and the offense gets going it will be a tough call on keeping Correa. If they are not a serious contender, it will be very hard to pass up a great return on Correa who is going to opt out unless he plays very poorly. They started down a path when they traded Berrios and that path was a transition year in 2022. More to the point, the Twins are not spending $300M or even $250M on one player especially when they have a good replacement ready. Of course, it's possible none of the serious contenders needs a SS and the return is not there. However, there is a pretty good chance Royce Lewis is our permanent SS on Aug 1. It's also possible Urshela / Arraez or Gordon get traded and he spends the rest of the season in a utility role. I would bet he spends 1/2 of the year with the Twins in some capacity and opening day next year will be Lewis at SS.
  18. Major League Ready
    How does any of this change the question I posed. One of Arraez / Urshela / Sanchez / Gordon / Celestino would have to go. Which one are you getting rid off? Sending down a pitcher would require you go with 6 bench players and 12 pitchers if you are not cutting one of the 5 bench players I mentioned so which one of those 5 are you cutting to keep Lewis?
  19. Major League Ready
    You are solely focused on keeping Lewis so you are only considering possible angles with looking at the end game which is they can have 5 bench players. Sanchez / Arraez and Urshela are obviously not going anywhere. So, are you going to send down Gordon or Celestino?
  20. Major League Ready
    Congratulations on actually thinking through the options before coming to an opinion. You even realized there were other inevitable moves. Miranda’s reassignment is coming soon unless he gets it together very quickly. Who should we send down when all of the necessary moves are complete? Arraez is not going anywhere? Should we release Urshela? That’s not happening. How about Celestino? If anyone has earned the right to stay it’s Celestino. Sending Gordon down at this point would be a real slap in the face and he is the most versatile bench player we have. Are we going to keep Larnach down? This move is not even a little surprising when you consider the alternatives and the fact that Lewis will be our SS soon enough and continuing to play SS is best for him and the team.
  21. Major League Ready
    Interesting comp. Hopefully the 25 HRs last year was not an aberration. Steer should have a considerably better offensive upside. Punto had a 646 career OPS. Hopefully, Steer is a solid 100 points better than Punto. He screams utility guy but could evolve into an everyday player. They should have a lot of guys who can play multiple positions. (Gordon / Martin / Steer and perhaps Polacios) It will be interesting to see how that shakes out.
  22. Major League Ready
    Vallimont and Strotman are candidates to be removed from the 40 man if necessary. The good news is we have had a bunch of pitching prospects improving their status and looking like they will be ML players. The mid season promotions should be plentiful.
  23. Major League Ready
    I would not feel too bad about being off on this one. How could anyone have predicted he would be this good after not playing for two years? This is a really big development for this team. We don't have another SS in the system that will be ready anytime soon.
  24. Major League Ready
    I think you have to look at these trades in 2022 terms and then 2023 and beyond. The net for 2022 is we lost Donaldson and Garver. Many insisted this would be a big downgrade but neither player is playing much above replacement level so they certainly were not going to do much to elevate our chances of making the playoffs. Yes, Donaldson has a wRC+ of 118. However his OPS is 722. We would be just as well off with Arraez at 3B. Correa on the other hand was a very big upgrade. Yes he had a slow start but he was hitting great before he got hit by the pitch that put him on the IL. Looking beyond 2022, Sanchez is a free agent and Urshela will be non-tendered if he has no trade value. They are gone. So the net change is one more year of Garver and one additional year of Donaldson at age 37 for $21M and an 8M buyout in 2024. As I have said from the start, I like the odds of Miranda being better than Donaldson in 2023 straight up given Donaldson will be 37. However, the real comparison is $21M and Miranda vs Donaldson. That’s an absolute no brainer. Of course, we also would have had Garver in 2023 so I guess you could say we traded a year of Garver for Henriguez. That may be a great deal or a bad deal. We will have to make that determination down the road. We also gain $8M in payroll for 2024. As of today, these trades look to be a slight net gain in 2022 and great in terms of 2023 and beyond.
  25. Major League Ready
    There are 8 teams on pace to win 99 or more games. (Yankees / Astros / Angels / Brewers / Mets / Dodgers / Giants ) That's a lot of very good teams without considering the White Sox are very likely to rebound and the Rays / Blue Jays have the personnel to win a Championship as well.
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