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Major League Ready

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Everything posted by Major League Ready

  1. Major League Ready
    I see nothing but positives if our OF becomes Buxton / Erod / Jenkins. Wallner becomes a DH / 4th OFer. That's a good recipe for improvement. Larnach gets traded. Trading from depth is also a positive. Between Lewis / Keaschall / Lee / Julien / and perhaps Eeles they need to cover 2B/3B. My guess is Lewis retains 3B and Keaschall becomes the primary 2B with Lee backing up 3B/2B/SS. If Lee is so good that he needs to be a starter, that's a high-class problem I would like to have. Maybe Keaschall is a super utility and plays a "Castro type" role if Lee performs really well. Miranda and Julien are traded unless one of them steps up offensively and prove they can handle 1B. I think it's more likely they fill 1B with free agents until Amick or someone else claims the spot.
  2. Major League Ready
    Let's just say for the sake of conversation Erod comes on board looks great. Why not trade Larnach for a 1B or catcher instead of trying to convert Larnach? It's possible Larnach could transition just fine but that's far from a certainty. Of course, it's no certainty they could find the kind of deal I described either. Could Julien be the future 1B with given it would appear Keaschall is already in the mix?
  3. Major League Ready
    Pitching is the scarcest commodity in MLB. If they develop enough of it, they can trade off the occasional starter (like Cleveland) for some hitting help. Developing enough pitching also makes it feasible to spend in free agency to plug an offensive hole. That said, yes it sure would be great if they hit on a couple more offensive players with early picks. Let's hope Keaschall and Rodriguez are part of the solution and Lewis can stay healthy.
  4. Major League Ready
    My complaint with their drafting practices is too many unathletic position players in the early rounds. I hated the Sabato pick from the very start and I remember several others here who hated it. I also hated the Cavaco pick even though he was touted as a good athlete because there was a better much more proven player available in the form of Corbin Carroll. Kirilloff and Rooker, also unathletic. I guess we all would have been fine with Rooker had he not taken so long to develop but the point remains. More athletic players have higher upside and are more fun to watch.
  5. Major League Ready
    The best case scenario is that 2 or 3 of Matthews, Festa, Prielipp, Morris, Raya are what we hope. A couple other guys have a chance to play into that equation as well. That would allow them to trade one of Lopez, Ryan or Ober. That opens up some payroll for free agent hitting and also as you point out is a great avenue to acquiring a good bat. If they continue to suck, and the pitchers named above are looking very promising, the best plan might be to trade one of those SPs at the deadline. Contenders are not at all inclined to give up impact bats but perhaps we could acquire young players that are major league ready like Tampa and Cleveland have done in the past.
  6. Major League Ready
    Really good point on the Angels. I could not believe the Angels chose to keep Ohtani. Incredibly bad decision that set them back considerably. Without really looking into it. My impression is the Dodgers have done a better job of drafting and developing than the Yankees or Mets, especially the Mets. The Dodgers have one of the top farm systems right now. While those high revenue teams still have to produce, I think we can all agree that constructing a true contender today without well-above average revenue is a big uphill climb. I hated that they did not begin to address this with the last CBA. They made it worse if anything with the luxury tax guidelines. The big market teams like the status quo and the players will likely be a bigger obstacle than the owners in terms of getting meaningful reform. Our saving grace could be the pitching pipeline. If, and it's a big if, we can produce enough pitching to maintain a relatively low cost / high quality staff, we can spend money on bats which are more affordable and easier to come by than pitching. Of course, this is not news to anyone here, I am just trying to stay positive.
  7. Major League Ready
    The Twins no doubt have not produced much let's call it elite talent but is that the greatest input to success? The Angels had Traut and Ohtani and still didn't do much. There are many other examples. It takes considerable depth to win. If you're the Dodgers you can buy it. Mid-market teams have to produce a large number of above average players to seriously contend. How often has that happened in the past 20 years among teams in the bottom half of revenue? Not often. Did those teams have superstars? Not really. Lorenzo Cain could be called a superstar. How did they acquire him? They traded away a legit superstar SP. What teams in the bottom half have been more successful than the Twins. That would be the As, Rays, and Guardians. Would you agree that those teams have not drafted better than the Twins? They produced more value by trading away established players and acquiring reclamation projects than they did by drafting.
  8. Major League Ready
    As I am sure you know, Lopez is signed through the 27 Season. Season lost or not, I think the determining factor will be if a couple of SP prospects among the group of (Matthews/Festa/ Prielipp/Morris/Raya) give real good reasons to believe they will have an excess of starting pitching. I know there is theoretically no such thing but if a couple of these guys really step up, they could move one of Lopez/Ryan or Ober for a very good bat. In the process they might be able to also shed some salary.
  9. Major League Ready
    So, your solution is to get rid of the two best position players (Correa/Buxton) and our best starting pitcher? Then what? Sign more modest price free agents? Those three players produced 11.2 WAR for a total of $74,225,857 which is 6,627,309 per WAR which is well below league average. Signing aa larger number of modest price free agents is the exact opposite of what I see most people advocating here. Most posters advocate the Pablo Lopez type or better and less of the modest priced free agents so it sure seems like you are among a small minority that don't want premium players signed. You would have something to complain about if the big three were producing at below average levels per dollar spent or maybe even if they were performing at league average in terms of production per dollar spent. To complain about players producer well above average per dollar spent makes no sense. BTW ... The Twins have $32.5M coming off the books next year from Vasquez, Bader, Columbe, Paddack and Correa's salary decrease. That will easily cover the arbitration increases. They are also likely to have a significant infusion of low cost talent (Rodriquez / Jenkins / Keaschall / Matthews / Festa / Prielipp / Morris / Raya). Obviously all of them won't pan out be these players will allow the Twins to trade players like Larnach and one of Ober / Ryan / Lopez). This will infuse even more low cost talent and at the same time moving more expensive talent. I just don't see the problem other than the obvious revenue inequity that requires the type of practices mentioned above.
  10. Major League Ready
    Vazquez was the worst hitter on the team last year. MAT was worse than Vasquez so I am not the least bit disappointed that they didn't resign MAT.
  11. Major League Ready
    When people say better or worse, I get the impression that they are mostly focused on spending. I suspect we would get about the same. Their spending is consistent with teams of roughly equal revenue. Also, while they are estimates, all of the published profit estimates I have ever seen suggest their profits are modest and among the lowest in the league. I am not inclined to believe some billionaire is going to buy the team and significantly reduce what is already a modest profit. Where there may be opportunity to improve is revenue generation. I would hope for a new owner that really knows how to message, promote, market, and in doing so maximize revenue. However, I don't have the information necessary to have a good understanding of the market potential. I suspect there is opportunity but just how much requires an in-depth assessment. My guess is that increased spending is more likely to come from improved revenue generation than it is from getting a new owner that is willing to cut operating profit in half which by the way would mean adding about $15M to payroll which would not have much impact.
  12. Major League Ready
    Are you kidding me? Half-truths, innuendo, and misinformation have become standard operating practice for "news outlets". Try fact checking the mainstream media sometime and online sources present whatever drives clicks. It's really effective because people are very receptive to things they want to believe.
  13. Major League Ready
    I think the problem with selling this team or any small/mid market team is buyers don't see the nearly the same potential for growth in valuation as they did just a few years ago. The return on capital from Operating Income is about 2% so the heck is going to do that unless they believe the asset valuation will grow.
  14. Major League Ready
    Which dollars would you allocate differently. Correa? It seems the vast majority of posters here sternly preferred to keep him when his name was raised. Buxton? His production per dollar spent is way above the league average for free agents. Buxton's WAR per dollar spent is double Carlos Correa. Vasquez? Nothing that can be done about that one and it was a pretty popular signing at the time. Lopez? He has been our best pitcher. You want to get rid of him? I could actually see that happening in Matthews or Prielipp emerge as top of the rotation arms but that's a big IF. Bader? That money is looking like it was well spent. Paddack? I might agree with that one but there is also plenty of time to reallocate that asset this year.
  15. Major League Ready
    I noticed a big difference between the Cardinals and the Twins. The Cardinals hitters generally did not swing at “pitcher’s pitches” early in the count. They took a lot of very close pitches early in the count. Even if you make contact on those pitches the results are not good. Several Twins hitters swung at the 1st pitch even when it was a very tough pitch to hit. Same difference when ahead in the count. Some of the Twins hitters seem to just make up their mind they are going to take a hack when they are ahead in the count as opposed to selecting a good pitch to hit. I don’t have the data to substantiate this opinion so maybe my observation is biased but that’s what it looks like to me.
  16. Major League Ready
    CF depth looks pretty good to me. Our back-up (Bader) is gold glove caliber. Rodriguez is on the horizon and we have three other guys (Keirsey, Castro and Martin) that are decent back-ups in the context of them being a 4th or 5th or 6th option.
  17. Major League Ready
    The easiest thing to do would be to download the app. That should be fairly easy on any smart TV. If have downloaded apps with a Roku stick and it's very easy. Search Youtube. The videos are only around 2 minutes so it's no big deal. I have cast my phone a few times when I was traveling and once at a friend's lake cabin. That takes a little technically inclination to set-up the app but again, youtube instructions make it easy once you pick the app.
  18. Major League Ready
    The Twins App is not a standard App on Roku but you should be able to download the app through the search function. You could also just cast your phone or computer to your TV with a variety of different apps that allow mirroring your phone to a TV or through settings in Windows.
  19. Major League Ready
    I can see a number of reasons why that won’t happen. Buxton would have to prove he can stay on the field over the next 4 seasons. He would need to be one of the few who are not declining significantly at that age. It only makes sense if we don’t produce replacements. We have Emma, Jenkins that are likely replacements. Winokur likely ends up in the OF and Keaschall may as well. Also, any college OFers drafted in the next couple years would also be potential replacements along with a couple other international signings currently in the system. The money is likely better spent elsewhere, starting with extending Ryan or Ober or Lewis or Wallner or an early extension of Emma or Jenkins or Keaschall.
  20. Major League Ready
    They look like a good not great team to me but here is why I think they could be more than just good. For starters, Nick lead in to this article reminding us this tear was very good for a good part of last year. This is a good reason for optimism. There are also some guys that I might have a bit of a homer view of but Walner seems like a guy that could step up to be one of the best bats in the league. The other guy I really believe has more to offer is Trevor Larnach and both of these guys looked quite good the 2nd half of last year. Bader won’t take Abs away from these guys against RHP because one of them is the DH against RHP. Then, we have Ty Fance. I know it’s just spring training but her was our best hitter this spring by a considerable margin. Is it crazy to believe he has made a sustainable adjustment? IDK but that would be a huge boost nobody is banking on. In the “it wouldn’t surprise me category”, I thought Zebby Mathews looked fantastic this spring. I could see him having an impact in the 2nd half. That moves Paddack to a BP role and gives us even more depth. If Paddack is doing so well we don’t want to move him, that’s a great problem to have. I also would not be surprised if Louie Varland turned out to be this year’s Cole Sands. My total wildcard is Connor Prielipp. I loved the pick when they made it and have hoped for him to get healthy ever year. I sure would love to see that one come together. All of this stuff will make for a very fun year of Twin’s baseball if it comes together reasonably well.
  21. Major League Ready
    Why would they have "little leverage" because they are out of the race? What if he is pitching reasonably well but Zebby is pitching lights out in AAA? We are not going to get an impact bat from a contender looking to shore up their rotation for the rest of the season but a solid SP likely has more value than an A ball flyer. There are always teams that as a result of injury are starved for starting pitching.
  22. Major League Ready
    He looked good in spring training and should get a spot in the rotation. Having said this, I hope Paddack performs well but Zebby or Festa or both are just so damn good that they push him to the BP or a trade. If it's Prielipp, that would be fine too, I just don't see him getting a lot of innings this year.
  23. Major League Ready
    I will take the $15M/year guy that produces 4 WAR in 100 games over the 4 WAR in 150 games. Whatever we get out of his back-up is a bonus and who would you rather have in the playoffs? BTW ... his production per dollar is about double the average for free agents so to complain about his production based on salary makes absolutely no sense.
  24. Major League Ready
    Not worried about Lee being out nearly as much as Lewis. We have a number of players that can replace Lee's production. Castro can provide comparable defense and a better arm at 3B and probably better offense. Miranda can provide a better bat / Less defense at 3B. Castro / Julien / Gasper and Martin are all equal options at 2B. Lee is probably the best option if Correa goes down long-term but as FGD points out, the difference between Correa and Lee is a lot bigger than the difference between Lee and whoever replaces him.
  25. Major League Ready
    Lee is a better / more versatile defender. However, Julien has much better offensive stats A+ through AAA. BB% K% BB/K AVG OBP SLG OPS wRC+ Brooks Lee 10.20% 15.70% 0.650 .281 .355 .459 814 113 Edouard Julien 20.10% 26.10% 0.770 .285 .437 487 924 148 It takes a grossly superior defender to make up for 100 points of OPS.
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