Major League Ready

Looking at the game logs I noticed he started off very slow and had one hit in the first six games. Since then, he is hitting 383 with an OPS of 1.300. Wow! He will be suspect until he can get that K rate down but this is encouraging. Does anyone know if his defense has improved?

The FO is in the middle of an extensive rebuild on the fly. They are instituting several long-term replacements. Position Players 1B – We all knew this was Sano’s last year 2B – Set with Polanco. SS – Correa is a great 1 year add helping to put a good product on the field in the midst of a rebuild. Lewis is the near future. 3B – Donaldson simply was not part of the solution. He is continuing to decline. A lot is riding on Miranda. If he does not make it Steer and CES are relatively close but I assume the front office was planning on Miranda with Urshela as a bridge they could non-tender or trade. LF – Vacated waiting for someone to step-up. For those who wanted to keep Rosario. He is literally one of the worst hitters in all of MLB this year. 4th OF – Celestino was on the door step with other possibilities as well CF – Signed Buxton to be our franchise player. Rotation At the end of last season we basically had one solid back of the rotation guy (Ober) who still needed to prove he was for real. We acquired Ryan at the deadline and hoped he would live up to his potential. Winder looked ready last year and. He got injured and made the opening day lineup. They added a couple bounce back guys (Bundy / Archer) to get us through this year and provide an opportunity for Balazovic / Canterino to also step up. Bullpen Also needed to be pretty much completely rebuilt. Duran looks like he can be dominant but this was quite uncertain at the end of last season. Jax has also shown the signs many of us hoped for in moving him to the BP. There are still several others possibilities in the farm system. That’s a massive amount of rebuild. It made no sense to operate as a “Real Contender” in terms of trades and free agents. Their plan was very obvious by the way they approached this season and their confidence in the system is looking pretty astute at the moment. We are on the cusp of being quite good for several years. That just does not happen immediately. I am very please and hope you are all as well with having a good product to watch while they simultaneously build a team that can seriously contend for the next several years. BTW ... Keep in mind that moving Donaldson and building a homegrown pitching staff will enable the team to spend significantly on free agents especially if Lewis can man SS. They are not going to have any glaring holes so the expenditures can be on impact players instead of fielding enough SPs to keep us in games. IDK how they will spend but they will be extremely well positioned. I never expected them to be a real contender out of the gate. Therefore, I am very pleased to see all of these changes / developments necessary for them to become a contender are looking very promising.

They have won 8 of their last 10 and they have a bunch of important players hurt. So do a lot of teams but 8 of the last 10 with this many injuries is a team I would not be discounting.

Great to see him get a shot. Welcome to the show Mark Contreras!

Again, I agree with much of this and I am not sure how MLB players think because I have not managed in that industry which is quite unique. I have had responsibility for thousands of other skilled employees. They tend to have an employee centric bias in how they view management actions. They don't want to be treated that way should their performance suffer at some point. They share an ominous fact which is that their careers are short and they all want as much longevity as possible. They are well aware of minority of guys that got better in their early 30s and they want to believe they can extend their careers. Again, I agree Bundy should not get the kind they gave veterans last year given the depth of young guys. I just don't agree it's a good idea to cut Bundy without giving him an adequate chance to right the ship.

Wallner could be this year's Miranda. As I recall, Miranda success was reported to be influenced by better plate discipline. I was thinking the same thing about the Pitching at cedar Rapids. They have quite the rotation and it's good to know there is another wave behind Balazovic / Canterino / Enlow. I follow Corbin Carroll and I hate the Cavaco pick more every time I check on Carroll's progress. It would ease my pain if Miller turns out great but I just can't help envisioning Buxton / Lewis and Carroll together. That trio would manufacture a lot of runs on the base pads and be insane on defense.

He has been more effective than I expected. It seems to me he is one of those guys that is effective the first time though an order. Maybe it's that funky delivery.

I agree. It's just a matter of degree and my reaction was to those who say give him another game or two. That's poor asset management and just to reactionary to not be looked down upon by players and agents. How would any of us view an employer that treated employees as disposable. MLB is a unique context but there is still likely the expectation of a reasonable chance. Now, if he throws 3 or 4 more clunkers in a row or 4 of 6 games with something like 5 runs allowed and our other SPs are healthy, it becomes more palatable as well as more practical.

The three guys most likely to replace him (Martin/Steer/Julian) are all at AA. The only way I see him being replaced this year is if he is part of a deadline trade. The more likely scenario is one or more of the three above get promoted to AAA mid season and play well enough to earn a promotion next year. Gordon becomes part of an off-season trade. Reminds me of the Wade Jr. situation. Let's hope they do better on this one. The good news is that Steer or Martin could be more impactful than Gordon! A future bench with Celestino / Martin / Steer and a a big bat DH sounds really good to me. Martin or Steer could be good enough to take 2B permanently when Polanco becomes a FA in 2025.

Lewis is going back to St. Paul if Correa is able to come back relatively quickly.

I agree with Dman that Gordon is fine for now but likely replaced in the not so distant future, especially if Martin ends up a utility guy. He can play both INF and OF. Celestino is looking like 1st option off the bench for the OF. Steer is looking like he will be the 1st option off the bench for the INF. That leaves one bench spot. Martin / Steer and Celestino can cover the defensive positions so I would think they would be looking for a big bat that can be a DH.

It seems like there are a lot of pitching prospects this year that are improving their "prospect status". The mid-year prospect rankings are going to be very interesting.

I don't think it's a good strategy to treat acquired free agents or any other player as disposal. Players and agents are quite aware of how a given organization treats players. It's not a good idea from an asset management standpoint or a reputation / relationship standpoint to just jettison a veteran player. It's hard enough to attract players to Minnesota as it is. The new regime has managed to sign Donaldson and Correa. We should not forget about the benefit of being seen as a good organization to play for while making this type of personnel decision.

I share your concern and that he looks like a utility player (a good one) if his power does not improve. I simply don't agree that batting average is a good way to compare players. In this case it ignores that they have roughly the same OBP and OPS. It also ignores that Martin is a much better athlete that can steal bases or be a pinch runner. It also ignores that Martin is likely to be a better defender as a product of his superior athleticism. You are also assuming the Twins FO thought martin was the more valuable piece of the trade because he was higher on prospect lists. It is quite possible they believed SWR was the more valuable prospect. What if SWR turns out to be every bit as good as Berrios and Martin eventually produces the same OBP with a little more power than Arraez while providing bases stealing and better defensive value?

Given Arraez has always had a very low slugging percentage it makes more sense to compare their Milb OPS which is about the same. Martin has additional value in speed / base running and defense. There is also still a chance Martin develops some power. He hit his 1st HR of the season today. I don't understand the Berrios for Martin comment. They also got SWR so they obviously did get much more than Martin for Berrios. Most of the national reporters seemed to suggest SWR and Martin was a very hefty return for Berrios. BTW ... Berrios has an ERA over 5 and a negative WAR. Of course, it's very early to make too much if these early results but we have six starters doing better than Berrios at this point of the year.

I hated the Cavaco pick. I was watching the draft and was stoked Corbin Carroll was still available. He is a top 20 prospect at AA and that ranking is probably moving up the way he has been playing. He is a CFer with 70 grade speed but plenty of bat to play a corner OF. Of course, he could move over to CF when needed and can you imagine Buxton / Lewis and Carroll with that type of speed at the top of a lineup not to mention the defense. Cavaco was a terrible pick.

It's early and hopefully things look as good or better a couple months from now but it's feeling real at this moment. I felt what we saw from Ryan last year was real and I have been believing in Ober for quite some time. He is not a front of the rotation guy but a solid piece going forward. The big potential in my mind was Duran / Winder & Paddack. At the moment they look like the pitching additions we have been awaiting. If these three are for real, the next several years should be a lot of fun. The As are not very good right now but Winder sure does look like a top of the rotation guy. His command looks better than I expected. He has left a few over the heart of the plate that have not been hit. I guess that's good and bad. His stuff is good enough to get away with those mistakes and most of the time he is hitting his spots. The other guy I am cautiously optimistic about is Jax. Obviously, this is off the topic of the rotation, but he looks like he could be another addition that solidifies our pitching. It's great to have a guy out there that can help save the staff by pitching multiple innings when called upon. Call me greedy but now I want Canterino or Balazovic or both to get up to the ML level and impress like Ryan and Winder have. It will feeling very real if that happens. I would like to end the season with a 6man rotation of Ryan / Winder / Gray / Paddack / Balazovic / Ober with Duran / Canterino / Alcala and Jax the back end of the BP. Plus, a LH reliever acquired by trading Bundy or Archer at the deadline.

Why would the Saints lose Lewis? Is he injured or test positive for Covid? They also have Palacios.

The fun is in the speculation. What will be the point in asking when we know the answer?

IDK if we should be thinking this rotation has a chance to make us a contender. IMO, the FO was looking to put a good team on the field while at the same time building a homegrown staff that would be the foundation of good teams for several years. The ceiling was a fringe contender that could beat most teams but not seriously contend with the Dodgers / Yankees / Jays / Mets. A few months ago, many here were panicking that we did not “have a ML pitching staff” and we were going to lose 90-100 games or we were on the verge of a 5 year rebuild, etc. The important perspective on where we stand now for me is that just 25 games in, we look to have the depth to support a very good season and the long-term is looking great. We have Gray for another season so next year is Gray / Ryan / Paddack / Winder / Ober plus whoever steps up over the next 137 games. Of course, there is also the emergence of Duran. I am not so sure they won’t give him a go as a SP, given he could be the true ace we have not had for a long time. We have Paddack through 2024 so if these guys can stay relatively healthy, we are not going to be using retreads anytime soon. Bottom line is I don’t have a high degree of confidence Bundy or Archer will be difference makers. They are here for a year to help transition to a homegrown staff. The key to this staff being “real” is the continued establishment of Ryan / Duran / Winder / Paddack / Ober and whoever comes behind them.

That's a horrible idea. His value is by far the highest at SS and Miranda is better equipped for that position. Let's also not forget Lewis has been out for 2 seasons and finally showing the great promise at a premier position that we all hoped for. Let's also recognize the odds of Correa being here next year are probably 10%. Royce Lewis is exactly where he should be doing exactly what he should be doing.

I am not sure how long the recovery is for a torn meniscus. However, I would assume he would be out a couple months and I would bet they send him to AAA for the full 20 days. Between the surgery recovery time and the rehab stint, he likely won't be back until after the trade deadline. I expect Miranda to get a shot to fill that spot. The best case scenario IMO is that we get a healthy / productive Kirilloff back at 1B in a month. Urshela is traded at the deadline making room permanently for Miranda at 3B.

In terms of acquisition strategy or asset management they are basically the same in my mind. You see a big variance here in terms of that philosophy/strategy. Many fans want immediate results and are big advocates of trading prospects for established players. Trading for prospects is obviously philosophically and strategically the opposite side of that coin. It requires the same type of insight / projection and most of these players required additional development. If you look at how mid/small market teams have developed playoff teams. Trading for prospects has been as important as drafting where trading for established players plays a very small role. Deadline trades are looking like they are going to have a big impact on this team for the next several years. Ryan / Duran / Alcala / Celestino already here and Martin / SWR not far off.

I was not aware of these quotes. My optimism for Kirilloff's return might well be misplaced. Larnach playing so well makes Kirilloff taking over 1B the ideal scenario. However, Miranda getting a chance is a nice consolation prize. This team is probably going to have a lot of exciting transition this year. Ryan / Duran / Winder and Larnach are looking good. Hopefully, Miranda extends this trend.

The answer at 1B is not Urshela or Miranda. Kirilloff is the answer. Larnach playing so well has made this easy. Kirilloff will be back playing 1B very soon and Larnach starts in LF. They have Gordon / Garlick and Celestino as backup OFers. I am looking forward to Miranda / Lewis and Martin forcing their way on to the roster, but we are not there yet.