IndianaTwin

He was hurt most of the year and he was below average in hard-hit balls. Seems like those two might be related?

Out of curiosity, what's your evidence that Seattle initiated this trade? Overall, I don't think their silence is evidence of their not pursuing people. More likely, I think it's evidence of their preference to work below the radar.

I'd welcome a repeat of that Saturday morning two winters ago when I woke up and freaked out to the news of a Correa signing, this time with Bellinger. The handedness is wrong, but there's not many guys who could solve the challenges of having a Buxton backup, a proven first baseman and an extra bat with one roster spot. His agent is, ahem, Mr. Boras, and the Twins have shown the willingness to be creative with him late in the offseason. This FO also been good at pulling off deals and signings that were completely under/off the radar. (You heard it here first, film at 11. 😀)

The last part of your first question is key. After a good start, Bundy kept getting starts because the alternatives were Anibel Sanchez, Devin Smeltzer, Randy Dobnak, Chi Chi Gonzalez and the 2022 versions of Varland, Woods Richardson and Sands. I think we're optimistic that this year's 7-12 are better than that crew. If they are, and if DeSclafini is at 4.89, I doubt he gets 29 starts like Bundy did.

On the 2024 team... 1. Realistically, Polanco wasn't going to get more than 350-400 at bats, which now get spread among some combination of Larnach, Miranda, Julien, Kirilloff, Lee and perhaps others. Aren't we clamoring to let the kids play? 2. DeSclafini doesn't line up at the top of the rotation, but after his 2021 (130 ERA+), there were certainly folks on TD who were interested. Yes, that was two winters ago, but the past two years have been injury-riddled. I trust the Twins doctors more than I trust us on TD. At any rate, what this does is greatly increase the likelihood that SWR doesn't make the opening day rotation. Because without DeSclafini, the Twins were only one injury away from that happening. 3. DeSclafini may not improve the No. 5 spot, but I think he greatly improves the No. 6 spot by having Varland there rather than SWR. Last year we were worked up about Ober starting the season in St. Paul and he was up by the end of April. Varland hasn't done as much through 2023 as Ober had done through 2022, so I'm not concerned about Varland not being in the opening day rotation. If he's healthy and pitches anywhere close to solidly in his first start or two at St. Paul, he will make a start for the Twins by the end of April by virtue of an injury. If he doesn't, that means health -- cool! 4. The Twins approach to the bullpen is to throw a lot of darts at the wall and see who sticks. In Topa, they just got another dart. I don't know if he can be counted on to be in the Jax/Thielbar/Stewart group at 2-4 in the bullpen, but it sure seems like he's another in the Alcala/Funderburk/Staumont/Headrick... group. Topa even has two options, which adds flexibility. 5. And that doesn't take into account the freed up money, particularly if, as noted above, Seattle is chipping in $8M. (And then there's the prospects.) I've often said that this team's MO is generally not to make massive moves, and this isn't one of them. Instead, they seem to make moves that keep nudging the needle in the right direction. It seems this one does some of that, and we still don't know the carryover effect to other moves that are in the pipeline.

@Cody Christie, how do you categorize Jose Miranda and Bubba Thompson among the hitters. The latter, in particular, seems like he could be on the list above. What is the option status on them? Beyond that... Hitters: Trades and injuries will happen, but right now I'd think the 13 hitters desired (by the FO, not by those on TD) hitters are Jeffers, Vazquez, Correa, Farmer, Julien, Lewis, Polanco, Castro, Kepler, Kirilloff, Larnach, Wallner, Buxton. From there: If there's an injury to a catcher, Camargo takes his spot. (He does have options, right?) If there's an injury to someone else, Gordon gets the spot. If there's NOT an injury to someone else, the Twins are loathe to give up on someone, so I suspect they'd keep Gordon in favor of Larnach, just to give him a final shot. The likelihood of an injury or trade makes this scenario doubtful. Pitchers: Trades and injuries will happen. Otherwise... Right now, Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Paddack, Varland are the starters. Woods-Richardson is No. 6. Duran, Jax, Stewart and Thielbar are the first four in the bullpen, likely followed in some order by Alcala, Funderburk and Headrick. Do any of the last three have options. In that scenario, Balazovic gets the No. 8 bullpen spot until he either pitches himself up the chain of command or out of the organization, followed by one of the guys above. EDIT to add: Apparently @stringer bell and I were typing simultaneously and largely got to the same conclusion, with him choosing Miranda and me Larnach. Either way, one's up, one's down and Gordon is relying on an injury to free up a spot. Because of the option situation, Miranda and Larnach only BOTH make the list is if there are two injuries.

<Hand shake> <Double hair tousle> I need to track this down for a re-watch. Originally a date night for me and the future Mrs. IT.

Thanks. I don’t have a good handle on the location. And yeah, “If it ever gets built” is the key phrase.

Not only that, but Gallo provided many on TD with a late-season whipping boy when they needed someone to replace Kepler, since the Twins' patience with Kepler seemed to be paying off. /s *"Gallo plugged some holes with an average bat for 1 year." To add to your point, during the first half of the year, when he was playing most regularly, he was somewhat of an above-average bat. During the last half of the year , when he was struggling offensively, he was disproportionately serving as a defensive replacement.

Thanks. I'd missed that. For history buffs, two other spots I have gone to (and that are worth it) are the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls (2.5 hours). Very near that are a number of Harriet Tubman sites (including her grave) in Auburn.

Sandy Koufax was 36 when elected, but I think Mauer is currently the youngest.

I would echo the things Ted says in the article, particularly… The ceremony is great, but if your focus is on visiting the Hall itself, choose a different time of year. The Parade of Legends was the highlight of the weekend for me. A guy standing behind us kept yelling, “Thank you, ______,” so nearly all of the players turned and waved, which made for some good pictures. Get lodging early. If you are thinking at all about going, make reservations now at a place you can cancel if needed. If you want a chain hotel, you’re probably looking at an hour or more away, but I got a Comfort Inn at regular price in Albany when I reserved in January. Had I waited, I’d have been shut out or paid quite a bit more. Perhaps implied but not specifically stated in Ted’s encouragement to stake out a place is that it’s okay to do so on Saturday already (or even Friday). We got to town Saturday morning around 9 and made that our first stop. There were already a good number of blankets and chairs set out. The area inside the fence (for Hall members and invited guests) is pretty large, so you are going to have sit some distance away. Binoculars wouldn’t be a bad idea. There are spaces marked off as aisles for getting to the reserved area, so we chose to sit on the far side of one, which gave us the front “row” in our section. Other options nearby are the National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum in Oneonta and the Fenimore Art Museum, on land owned by James Fenimore Cooper, and The Farmer’s Museum, a living history museum that connects to the area’s rural heritage. The latter two are in Cooperstown. I’ve not been to any of the three, but they’re options if they connect to your interests.

Here’s something I put together following my trip to last year’s induction ceremony: If you don’t feel like watching the whole thing, the description notes the times for different “chapters,” like an intro to what you will see about inductees, some highlights from the hall, the Parade of Legends and the ceremony itself.

Well played, Mauer.

Coming from northern Indiana, I like that I can get to the current location without having to deal with as much downtown traffic. I do like that a potential new location would be close enough to a South Shore commuter line that it would be an option for getting to games.

First thing that came to mind for me as well. https://disemvowel.wordpress.com/2010/05/20/calvin-and-hobbes-by-bill-watterson-transmogrifier/

The time has come at last to find if we can see Mr. Sabato's true identity.

And see! They just signed Matt Bowman to a minor league deal. 😀 (Now I'll try to figure out who Matt Bowman is.)

Has the roster ever been set at this point? No matter the budget constraints (or lack thereof), this FO has always done a significant amount of its work after this date. (And I'm okay with that. I find it easier to walk through life without having my shorts in a wad over a perceived lack of activity by the FO.)

Gordon: I've read that "multiple reports" say they could be headed to arbitration. How many of the "multiple reports" were people reporting on the original reporting? If they are indeed at $1.25M and $990,000, it seems doubtful to me that they won't settle in the middle. It's a difference of only $260,000, not worth upsetting a player over. Mauer: Mauer is approaching lock status for selection. He's at 83.7 percent through 153 ballots, so he's got some cushion in the bank. He only needs to get 69.3 percent the rest of the way. It's pretty rare to have someone drop by 14.4 percent in the public to private comparison. But unlike Ted, I don't think he'll stay close to 84 percent. Though he won't have the PED drop like Pudge, I suspect he'll still have a larger-than-average drop because of the "I don't want to vote for him because he spent too much time at 1b, but I'm not going to admit that publicly" crowd.

Not sure which one's which in the pictures, but for the one on the left, the 'stache was clearly a factor in his success.

Lots of "just missed that one" doesn't typically lead to a promotion.

And did throw 25 innings, effectively. That's not much, but it's not nothing either.

(Tweaked my post to be a little clearer -- thanks.)

They particularly weren't going that high for a hitter, and particularly given that $23.5M wouldn't have gotten it done. To outbid them, they needed to go to $24M or more, depending on how far LA was willing to go.