chpettit19

Their 2nd half schedule was a cake walk. They hardly played any winning teams. That also played a role in their success. 92 to 96 wins against mostly sub-.500 teams isn't that impressive. They still scored 3 or fewer runs in 4 of 6 playoff games, even with those changes and young talent. There's plenty of spots on the roster outside of the young talent. I'd argue for 4 spots that could easily be filled by better talent. 2 OF spots, 1 IF spot, and DH. You could shift that DH spot to being 2 IF spots instead if you want Julien to DH, or even 3 OF spots with Wallner at DH. Lots of flexibility to fit in 4 new pieces. I don't think any of us expect them to fill those 4 spots with Soto, Ohtani, Acuna, and Harper through some magical combination of trades and signings that don't include moving any of our current MLB youngsters. Nobody is predicting anything like that, we're just saying that there are openings, and, while the floor may be nicely set, the ceiling leaves a lot to be desired. Replacing Gordon with Castro is all well and good, but it doesn't get us closer to the WS. Replacing Kirilloff with Severino doesn't get us closer to the WS. I won't speak for others, but my point is that outside help is needed. Lee, ERod, and Jenkins can maybe be stars, but not going out and finding more MLB pieces because of Severino, Prato, Hellman, Kiersey, Camargo, etc. type players is a strategy that would make me very cranky. Maybe it turns out there never ends up being any real way to improve the ceiling this offseason. So be it. But that should be the plan. I fully expect a Solano type signing, Farmer to be tendered, and them to look at another Gallo type pillow deal for someone. I will not be satisfied with that. The aim needs to be higher. The standards need to be raised. We have some fun young talent now, but there's still holes, and even that young talent has some huge question marks. And I don't think you can count on Buxton or Kirilloff at all. At this point you need to build your team like they aren't even on it. If they stay healthy and reach their peak it's a good problem to have. But not bringing in top guys because they might finally stay healthy would be a mistake. I think you can, and should, completely ignore them when it comes to team building. This org spreads their ABs around so much anyways I don't see the harm in ignoring them. Everyone gets ABs. Correa was the only qualified hitter they had this year. There's ABs to be had.

You can't improve much on Jeffers as a catcher, you can improve on him as a top of a playoff order hitter (especially since he wasn't one this year). That is my point. Jeffers is not a top 4 in a playoff lineup hitter. He's wonderful as a 5-9 hole hitter, and that's great from a catcher. Really lengthens your lineup. I'm happy to have him. But this team needs guys like Altuve, Bregman, Alvarez, and Tucker. Or Schwarber, Turner, Harper, and Castellanos. The Twins need stars. Lewis is a high possibility guy if he can stay healthy. Julien has a shot if he can learn to hit lefties (you already know I don't like them platooning him), and cut down the Ks. Wallner's most realistic top level is a Gallo type slugger with high K rates, and high slugging. That's not the kind of guy you put in the top 4 of a playoff lineup. Maybe Lee and Jenkins can be those guys? Correa isn't that guy (wasn't that guy in Houston either). Kirilloff and Buxton can't stay healthy. Jeffers isn't that guy. Larnach isn't that guy. My entire argument is that they need to get guys who the other teams fear. Lewis is the only guy close to that at this point. I understand it's hard to get better players. I said it's hard. Of course it's hard. But that doesn't mean the plan should be to stick with Kepler. It is realistic to improve on Kepler. Whether or not that's the plan is the question. They were quite good against terrible opponents. Were those 2 better than Gallo and Miranda? Of course. But their offense was still terrible in the playoffs outside of 1 game. They scored 3 or fewer runs in 4 of their 6 games. Wallner and Lewis started most of those games. My point is they have their regular season floor. They can compete in, and should win often, the central and make the playoffs. The next step is improving their odds at winning a WS. A big part of doing that is improving the top of the lineup. Who are the "productive players with lots of control left" that I suggested getting rid of? I didn't suggest getting rid of any of their young hitters. I suggested moving them around defensively if needed. You said CF, DH, and 1B were the only places they could improve. I said I don't care about the defensive positions, we just need better bats. What's the point of having all this "positional flexibility" if you're going to turn around and say "we can't add any bats because they don't play the positions we have open?" This offense is not WS caliber. That's the next step they need to take. I don't know why that's controversial.

I don't care about top 5-10 LFer, I care about top X-Y outfielder. Limiting it to just guys who played LF this year isn't a good measuring stick. I don't think he's that good anyways, because I don't believe he can maintain an .850+ OPS while cutting down his Ks. I don't mind him in the 7-bench holes in a playoff lineup, but I'm not sitting on my hands saying "LF is set for the next 5 years" because of Wallner. I can take the "or not" on liking Kepler staying. He's a good example of what I'm talking about. He's a solid MLBer, but there's WAY more ceiling to be had at his spot. Kepler (or someone like him) hitting in the 3/4 hole in the playoffs isn't going to get them to the WS. Their next step is to start getting guys better than him so his type of hitter is hitting in the 6-bench holes in the lineup. Yes, Jeffers should catch way more games next year. I'm fine with defense first, 8/9 hole hitting CFers. And it's difficult to find great players at basically every position. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be looking. Never said the FO has an easy task to raise the ceiling, but that's why they get paid millions to try to do it. DH is a really obvious spot to go out and try to bring in an .850+, or better yet .900+, OPS bat. Not attempting to find an elite bat because of that set of hitters would be an awful plan. You don't need a DH only, but you have a lineup spot wide open for an elite bat that can fit in anywhere on the defensive ladder. They should be trying to find one. (Go wild and sign Ohtani!) 1B is pretty much the same situation as DH. It's an obvious hole to try to plug an elite bat. Yeah, they have to find someone who can maintain Sonny's production from this year. I hope Canterino is a BP fixture after he comes back, but, other than Hader, I wouldn't be too aggressive in trying to bring in expensive relievers. I've been on the "Lewis is a star" bandwagon for years so I have him at the top of the internal list of possible guys worthy of a top 4-5 spot in a playoff lineup. Really hoping his health gets on track. I don't believe Wallner, Jeffers, or Julien are that good. I'd give Julien the best chance of it, but his Ks and struggles against lefties have always been a problem. I don't care about 4-10 more wins, I care about improving chances of winning a WS, and I don't think the internal options are good enough to do it. A healthy Lewis who maintains his current production is the only guy on this team that sniffs the top 5 of that Houston lineup. And he's about the only one that makes the Braves lineup at all. Only one who sniffs the top 5 in the Philly lineup, too. We are way short on top of the lineup, playoff caliber bats. You raise the ceiling by bringing in more talent. You don't let Kepler stop you from adding an elite RFer. You can get an elite bat at 2B, but not 1B? Julien, go get your 1B glove! Can get one at 3B? Lewis go work on the pivot at 2B, and Julien get your 1B glove! Can find an elite cOFer who's best in LF? Good news, Matt, you get to show off the cannon to 3B now, too, and Kepler, you better have those legs ready to run around CF, or beat out Matt for RF, if you want playing time! You raise the ceiling by getting more talent and figuring it out from there. You can focus on certain positions more than others as obvious places to improve, but you just get more talent and figure it out from there. It's not going to be easy, and I don't expect anything dramatic. Their best bet is getting improvement from the young guys. But this team isn't good enough to just recycle platoon options at half your lineup spots. I fully expect another platoon happy lineup of B and C level players in 2024, but that shouldn't be their plan as they head into the offseason. I don't know all their options to improve, but they better be working to find some.

I'm with @Riverbrian, it's time to start improving the depth. They've built the floor, now it's time to raise the ceiling. Their strategy this year needs to be different than last year's in that they aren't just looking for competent major leaguers they're looking for above average to great major leaguers. Cycling players out for other guys who aren't any better doesn't help anything. It's time to start improving the names at the top of the lineup, and replacing a name at the front of the rotation, while also improving the back of the rotation. Platooning and getting everyone ABs is a great strategy when you have a whole bunch of B and C level players who are pretty close in overall talent, but have strengths and weaknesses that match up. But having A level players instead is the better option. Plan A has to be to increase top end talent while maintaining the level of talent on the rest of the roster. Let's see if they can get that done. Should be an interesting offseason.

From a Dan Hayes' article on The Athletic about how the deal got done: “There were times we thought, ‘That’s it. They’re not going to call back,’” Goetz said. “And they did. Thad was the front-runner, he was the guy who pioneered the whole thing. … Our willingness to be open all the way through this and Thad saying ‘I’m not giving up’ (got this done).” Goetz is Al Goetz, one of Byron's agents. The article makes it clear that Falvey was involved as well, but Levine was the lead. Not that that makes things all that clear on their role splits, but, in this case at least, I think we can be fairly certain Thad was the negotiator.

The Twins have their talent floor pretty well set with young guys currently on the 40-man, and a solid group behind them in the system. The next step is to raise the ceiling. 1B is one of the places many teams look to do that. The Twins need to add postseason quality top 4 hitters to their lineup. If they can do that by finding someone who can play 1B that'd be great. I've been a big Kirilloff fan since he was drafted. Has a natural feel for hitting, and can spray the ball all over with power. But you can't trust his body to stay healthy anymore. At least not trust it enough to have him be counted on as a core masher in your lineup. Him and Buxton are in the "if they are who we hope we're absolutely loaded, but we can't plan for them to be that" category now. Kirilloff being able to survive in the cOF as well at 1B makes things a lot nicer. His unfortunate circumstances open an obvious opportunity to raise your ceiling instead of continuing to just build a wider floor. That being said, I don't expect them to do anything other than attempt to fill 1B internally. I don't know what their plan is for raising their offensive ceiling, but I hope they have one. They need to find some .850 OPS (preferably .900) guys, with reasonable K rates, for this lineup. Maybe Lewis is one of those guys, but he's 1 season away from joining Buxton and Kirilloff in the "can't plan for them" category. Maybe Julien if he can cut down the Ks? This team needs to add hitters that the other teams fear. They don't have any right now. They need 2-4 if they want to take the next step. 1B is a good place to look to add 1 of those guys.

Sliding Lee all the way down the defensive spectrum doesn't feel like the right move. Of course he could always move back up the spectrum, but, generally speaking, you want to keep your big time prospect playing as high up on the spectrum as you can. I think it'd be far more likely they move Julien to 1B and give Lee 2B before they'd do it the other way around. My plan would be to explore the trade options for an elite bat that I could plug into the 3/4 hole and never have to think about them. I expect that to be a combination of too expensive and there not to be options with multiple years of control available so the cost isn't worth it (Alonso is going to get paid after next year and I doubt the Twins are the ones who want to pay him). Since I don't see a long-term answer, and don't believe the Twins have quality depth to be making trades for 1 year guys, I don't expect a trade. Because of that I'd go with a Solano type signing (cheap veteran who can be replaced if they don't perform or a young guy beats them out), and giving Miranda (I still think he's an MLBer, but was never going to be a star), Severino, Julien, Lee, Martin, and Kirilloff's shoulder the chance to battle it out for the spots on the right side of the infield.

Good for Thad if this works out for him. I think it'll be interesting to see what differences we may be able to pick up on if there's a new GM to give us a little more idea on how the job duties are split up. Probably won't be much to learn, but would be interesting to see if there's a very clear difference in some roster things that'd show us that Thad was mostly in charge of roster decisions or something. Either way, good for Thad if he's able to keep advancing in his career.

"Forget trusting your veterans – the playoffs are about trusting your best players." That's a great line. I'm not convinced the Twins agree with that sentiment yet, but it could also be that they don't have a huge variance in talent levels on the roster.

I'm going a little out of order here, but why would Sonny's performance matter? It's the playoffs, and they were going to face Verlander in game 5 with the season on the line if they lost game 4 (after Sonny won game 3 in this hypothetical). If Joe Ryan only going through the order once was the best chance to win why would you have a different plan depending on Sonny's performance? Ryan went 6 innings, 1 earned against Texas in September. 4.2, 2 earned against Tampa. 6 innings, 2 earned against LA, with 10 Ks. None of those were successful starts? Dang, tough crowd. If Joe Ryan was so untrustworthy why would you have him lined up for game 3 of the WC round with your season on the line? If they were just going off recent performance why didn't they line Ober up for that start? Or Kenta? Was it because they came up with a plan well ahead of time and didn't adjust to what was actually taking place on the field? The more pitchers you use in a game, the more have to be good. That's why it's a bad plan. One of the other guys wasn't good and that's all it took. But, again, it isn't about just that game. Predetermined plans without any realistic way of adjusting them are a bad strategy. It was fascinating to see 2 predetermined plans come together in the Berrios start. One had to fail, and I'm glad it was the Jays. The Blake Snell WS start is one that gets thrown out a lot. Predetermined that he'd go twice through the order without any real way of changing that and the bullpen was bad and it cost them a championship. The counterpoint being the Harvey WS start where they left him in and he lost it. But at least that decision was "made" by the player's performance that day, and not what the computer predicted might happen. I'm an analytics guy. Teams need to use them. But handcuffing yourself to them in a way that takes away your ability to make real time changes is a bad use of analytics.

I haven't voiced any opinions on whether pulling Joe was the right or wrong decision (at least I haven't meant to). My entire complaint is "the plan" and how large the possibility of veering off it is. I want no part of short start plans determined before the pitcher takes the mound. None. You should go into every game knowing who your long guy out of the pen is, or if you're going with a bunch of 1 inning guys, etc. but the idea that "3 was definitely the plan" is a problem to me. We don't need to get into the psychology of it, but having Rocco already anticipating pulling Joe early puts him in an extra cautious position before Joe even warms up for the game. I have to imagine the Blue Jays manager was feeling all sorts of things when they got through the 4th and Berrios was cruising but "the plan" called for a shift to the lefty to get Rocco to make moves. I bet if that wasn't a predetermined plan with very limited options for Berrios being able to go longer he goes out for the 5th, and there's a pretty decent chance Joe Ryan is starting game 3 of the WC round instead of game 4 of the ALDS. I've never suggested they should've been like 'go gettim Joe,' I've simply said they shouldn't have predetermined that he wasn't getting past the 3rd. And this is all about much more than just that 1 game. It's about their general struggles (in my opinion) with getting off "the plan" for entire seasons. There's some need in many of the analytically driven plans to gain a decent sample size before changes can be made, but there are times for quicker decisions. Forcing their young lefties into extreme platoon situations stops you from ever gaining the sample size needed to even know if that is a good strategy, and can become a self-fulfilling prophecy when they struggle against lefties in their limited opportunities. Sticking with Gallo for way, way, way, way, way too long because the plan was to have optimal depth for the entire year even if it meant playing a horrible player is a problem, to me at least. It's not just about that game, it's about their general lack of ability to make quick adjustments based on what's actually happening, and not their estimated outcomes. The playoffs are a very small sample size. The platooning, short starts, extra rest, etc. etc. etc. big picture strategies the Twins deploy for 162 games are designed to work over the long run. You aren't expecting your pinch hitter, platoon moves to work every time, you just expect them to work more often than not over a 162 game sample. The ALDS isn't a 162 game sample, it's a 5 game sample, max. Part of the problem with the extreme platoon strategy is that it forces you to use it in the playoffs when it's not an effective strategy because you've limited your guys for 162 games and you've made it so the chances of the lefties succeeding against playoff lefties is even smaller because they only got 50 PAs randomly spread over 6 months against lefties. The playoffs are about your best beating their best. If you can't leave your leadoff hitter, and/or 5 hole hitter, in the game because a lefty came in you've already doomed yourself. It's not about just Joe Ryan. Or just the ALDS. Or even just 2023. This is a team built almost entirely around the idea that they can win by taking lesser pieces and mixing and matching them effectively enough over the long haul to win more than they lose. That isn't a recipe for winning championships. At least I haven't seen it work yet.

I wasn't suggesting that Jayce would be, I was suggesting that Jayce, Rocco's right hand man, separated Rocco and the FO in that interview which is a pretty clear indication that Rocco is not part of the FO. Rocco is in some rooms, yes. Nobody is denying that. Our concerns aren't about Rocco going upstairs, it's about the upstairs people going downstairs. There has to be some level of partnership between the FO and the coaching staff. What we have concerns with is that the level of input the FO has in coaching decisions. KOC needs to let Kwesi know what type of players fit his system, but Kwesi shouldn't be telling KOC what type of system to run. Some of us have concerns that those lines are, or are becoming, too blurred with the Twins (and many other baseball orgs). It has become far more about the people in the FO coming up with a plan for how to win baseball games, devising a plan to accumulate certain players, and then dictating (or at least that's our fear) how those players are deployed in games. Because of that process managers have less control, and some of us don't like that. The platoon strategy deployed by the Twins this year wasn't, in my opinion, Rocco sitting down and looking at the roster he was given and deciding to platoon guys. It was the plan devised by the FO to best maximize things due to their perceived limitations in how good of players they can accumulate.

I don't mind Rocco, but I'd take Joe Maddon over him 10 out of 10 times. But we're not here to discuss outside options so we can leave that there. Probably wasn't necessary for me to even bring up in the first place. I disagree that the results should always feel predetermined, though. Well, maybe I mean they shouldn't feel THAT predetermined. I don't believe Joe Ryan would've faced Alvarez even if he'd gone 11 up, 11 down. I don't think he'd even have gotten the chance to go 11 for 11 because they prefer relievers come in with a clean situation so they would've started the 4th with Thielbar facing the top of the order. I could certainly be wrong, and maybe there was a scenario that Ryan could've been allowed to go through the order a second time if he was throwing a no-no. Maybe the best way to describe it is that the predetermined plans are just too broad, or basic. What if Ryan had gone 10 up, 9 down, with the 1 HR, would Rocco have left him in? Was Rocco taking into account Ryan's pitch data? Batted ball data? Was it simply runs given up? Hits given up? Ks? BBs? I don't believe that Rocco was taking all that into account when he pulled Joe Ryan. I think it was far more basic than that. I think Joe Ryan was going to go once through the order and they were turning it over to the bullpen. I don't think they trusted Ryan to not have a blowup inning and they weren't going to take the chance. They wanted once through the order and he was done. He got through 8 guys and that triggered the "out." The "multiple outs" were 2 innings, 3 innings, or he's terrible and doesn't even make it 2. That is too predetermined. If there's not a situation that would've allowed him to go 4+ innings it's too predetermined for my liking. And this isn't just Rocco/the Twins. The Blue Jays ended their season by doing the same thing with Berrios. Very narrowly defined options based on FO data, and determined before the first cleat steps foot on the rubber, is how many, if not most, teams run now. And I think it's the wrong way to do things.

Jayce Tingler doesn't seem to think he is. "I've been absolutely blown away by how much they put on Rocco's plate. The front office stays really out of it. We are provided so much information, and we talk through all the scenarios before the game. And then at the end of the day Rocco makes the call." Actually, the more I listen to that Jayce may actually be saying that him, Rocco, and the FO sit down everyday and discuss all the scenarios before the game. But I won't go that far. No, Rocco is not part of the FO. He works in tandem with them, but he is not a member of the front office.

You think the FO brings in noted lefty killers like Farmer, Luplow, and Garlick and don't have a conversation with Rocco about using them against lefties as much as possible? They just cross their fingers Rocco will use them that way? As I said, they're not doing it before every game, but they're having those talks frequently. Like you said, likely every week or 2. Thus Jayce's talk of being "blown away" by how much freedom Rocco had is more along the lines of being technically true, and not some revelation that the FO has no part in how players are used. And, yes, the FO does it with every minor league team, too. You think it was just a coincidence that Royce Lewis played all over in AAA before being called up to play all over? You think it's a coincidence Austin Martin is doing the same? Gardenhire just need a 3B for some random games here and there and decided to use Lee there on his own? You think the managers had free reign to use Walker Jenkins however they chose this summer? Those are FO edicts handed down to the managers, and then its the manager's job to fit all the pieces together. I never mentioned Falvey, I said the FO. It doesn't have to be the president having all the conversations. The point is that the managers of any team in the organization aren't acting independently of the FO. It's a 2 way street and the minor league clubs are giving feedback on how players are looking, and the strengths and weaknesses they're seeing, but it's the FO, more than just Falvey, who are driving the bus on player usage. The FO isn't making every in game call, but acting like Rocco doesn't get input from them is what's ludicrous. I haven't said it's bad that they have input. Haven't said it's the wrong strategy. Just said this isn't some grand reveal that Rocco is acting completely independently, and truly using his gut to make all decisions real time without predetermined choices that were in place before the game started. The FO didn't send in the ALDS roster hoping Rocco would use guys in certain ways. They talked to Rocco and came up with a plan on how the roster best fit, and how each guy would best be used. They didn't add Ober with no idea that Rocco would start him game 1. Rocco wasn't just reading Ryan's body language and pitch data after the 2nd inning and decided he didn't have it that day.

If this is actually true, and not just "technically" true then the Twins should go hire Joe Maddon. If they're truly not giving Rocco any guidance throughout the year on in-game strategy they should go hire the better manager. It feels a lot more like "technically they don't sit down with Rocco before every game so it's him making the decisions independently," or "technically Rocco doesn't know exactly how the game will go so he's making decisions in game based on the action that's taking place." Joe Ryan coming out after 2 wasn't simply Rocco watching the game and deciding Joe didn't have more than 2 innings in him. That was a predetermined decision with just a couple options he'd choose between based on how the game went. You could never convince me that Joe Ryan was seeing Alvarez a second time in that game under any circumstance. And because of that the only decision Rocco had to make in game was whether or not he thought Joe could get 9-1-2 out in the 3rd so Thielbar didn't have to come in with a guy on base to face Alvarez or if a reliever had the better chance of the 1-2-3 inning. The rest of that game was predetermined decisions on who matched up best with what part of the order and that determined which reliever came in when. Bundy and Archer types coming out early in games is absolutely part of the FO plan. They didn't sign those guys to be 6/7 inning guys and just let Rocco pull them when needed. They went into that season having spoken with Rocco and they were all on the same page that those guys were going to be 5 and fly at the best arms. So they may not have technically sat down with Rocco before each of their starts and said "pull this guy after twice through the order," but they were absolutely part of the conversation that that would be the overall strategy with those guys for the year. The FO let's Rocco make the decisions in game, but he's still here because he's making the decisions they want him to make. If Rocco wasn't making decisions very similar to what they expect him to make he'd have been fired already. They aren't calling into the dugout telling Rocco what to do, or popping into the clubhouse everyday to discuss that day's strategy with him, but it's not like they never talk to Rocco or have anything to say about in-game strategy. Rocco and the FO obviously discuss bullpen usage and upcoming game strategy when it comes to 26-man roster decisions and the shuttling of pitchers between St Paul and Minneapolis. The FO is involved.

It was 6 games. Ryan Jeffers played 6 games in 9 days. The idea that him playing every game hurt his performance is absolute nonsense. He didn't perform well. It hurt the team and contributed to them losing the series. That's unfortunate. But playing the clearly, unquestionably lesser player wasn't a better choice. I can't believe we're even talking about this. Playing every other game in a 9 game regular season stretch would have 1 of their catchers playing 5 games in 9 days. He played 1 extra game in that time span. This debate is mind blowing. Jeffers would've played games 1, 1, and 3, right? I assume you at least would've started him game 1. They won game 1 against Toronto, but you can't argue that his performance would've changed in that game anyways because he would've been playing in either scenario. They lost the 2nd game 1 in which he went 2 for 4 with a run scored and 1 K. Is it your belief that he would've performed better than that and they would've won that game had he had 3 days rest instead of 2 before it? They lost game 3, and he went 0-3 with a K. Is it your belief he would've done better in that game had he had 2 days rest instead of 1 before it? Would he have done so much better that it would've made up for the 9-1 margin the game ended in? Vazquez would've started games 2, 2, and 4. The Twins won both game 2s, and lost the game 4. Would they have won the game 2s by more? Is that the goal there? Would Vazquez had suddenly turned into a good hitter for game 4 and been the boost they needed to get over the 1 run hump they lost by? What is the honest argument here? They went 2-1 in the games Vazquez would've started if they'd stuck strictly to the every other game scenario people are suggesting they should've done. That would've had Jeffers playing game 1, sitting for 3 days before playing the next game 1. Then sitting for 2 days before game 3. That's what people think they should've done? They should've sat the unquestionably better player for 3 of 6 games while giving him 5 days off mixed in between those 3 starts? That was the key to the Twins winning that series? Come on. That can't really be what people think should've happened.

Come on. This title is just begging people to come in here and trash the team. Near perfect? Near perfect rosters win more than 87 games in possibly the worst division in the history of baseball. There've been some other post-season articles about the positives of this roster. And there are positives. But "near perfect?" Was the only goal of the title to get a comment section of people complaining? This is an extremely flawed roster. You don't set bad strikeout records as hitters with a "near perfect" roster. It turned into a fun roster as the season went on and the kids started coming up and providing a spark. The pitching was good to great all year. They seem to have built a core that should provide a solid floor moving forward for the next 4-6 years. But they're missing some significant pieces. They'll need to replace Gray's production (aka a really good #2 pitcher or better). They need to add elite bats that can match up with the top 4 on other postseason rosters. They need to cut down on the Ks (as hitters). They need a bullpen that can be counted on all year, not just propped up by starters moving to the pen at the end of September. They need to be better baserunners. They need to be more consistent. As I said, there are positives, and the floor looks to be set nicely. While you can't trust Buxton, Kirilloff, or Lewis to be healthy all, or even most of, the year, they have shown what kind of talent they have when they are healthy. Correa is still a very good SS even if he had a down year. It's reasonable to expect a bounce back to closer to career norms for him with the bat moving forward. Julien can hit. Wallner is intriguing. Martin and Lee look ready to contribute sooner than later. Miranda is a wild card, but has shown in the past that he can hit to be worthy of a roster spot on any team. Jeffers showed why they were excited about his bat when they drafted him. That's a lot of really nice pieces. Now they need to get the great pieces to bring it all together. I don't know how they go about that, but there's room for improvement all over the 40- and 26-man rosters. They've built a core that's full of very cheap young guys. Now find the pieces to raise the ceiling and actually get close to the "near perfect" roster.

I'm a big believer in Royce's talent, but am not willing to crown him a 2-4 hole hitter quite yet. Would love Soto. Not sold on Bellinger at all. But I've been with you since April. This team needs offense. Top of the order offense. Worthy of national attention offense.

I'm not a fan of "most counting stat over this specific chunk of time" stats. He ranks 24th in total innings pitched since 2019, great, how many pitchers were there that were full-time, veteran starters in 2019 that were still full-time starters in 2023? Using counting numbers in this fashion biases the data because it discounts guys who didn't pitch that whole stretch due to their age and career situation. He's averaged 154 innings per year since 2019 (I don't count 2020 stats cuz you can't just extrapolate them over another 102 games). There were 54 guys who threw 154 innings this year. 55 last year. 52 in 2021. That's quite a few guys doing what he does. I like Sonny. I want him back on a 2 year deal. I'm just saying that teams aren't going to look at his 2023 season and project him to start 30+ games and 180 inning guy as he moves into his ages 34 and beyond seasons.

How many pitchers were doing it in 2016? 17? 18? The point is that looking at 33 year old Sonny Gray's 2023 season and projecting that as the norm moving forward, instead of his 2016 through 2022 seasons would be a terrible way to project his likely future outcomes.

What were their numbers for games scoring 2 runs or fewer? 3 runs or fewer? 4 runs or fewer? I'm not going to look them up right now cuz I'm just on my phone, but they were bad. Like really bad. You deploy a platoon strategy because you don't have elite hitters. Getting equal contribution 1-9 proves my point. The Twins not getting better production from the top of their order than they got from Vazquez, MAT, Castro types at the bottom is a problem, not a positive. Relying on less than elite players is not great-especially when they don't produce. The expectation isn't that the elite hitters perform 100% of the time. They still get out 7 of 10 times. But the pretty obvious answer is that it's better to be relying on Acuna and Olson than Kepler and Correa.

IL or not Sonny Gray has made 30 starts once since 2015. He's thrown 200 innings twice in his career ('14 and '15). He's hit 175 innings only 2 other times ('19 and '23). Nobody is looking at his 2023, at the age of 33 (will be 34 all of next year), and thinking he's a workhorse suddenly.

Oh, for sure. Always only takes 1. But teams can see that this was the first year in about a decade that he didn't hit the IL. He's never been a workhorse (throws too many pitches per AB), and he's not exactly young (in sports terms) anymore. It only takes 1, but he's going to have a hard time finding 1 with his health history. But it definitely only takes 1. Like Donaldson a few years ago. Only took the Twins getting desperate at the end. We'll see how it plays out. Good for him for making himself be in high demand, though.

Totally agree. I've been driving the Lewis bandwagon for years. I think he's definitely their best chance at an elite guy right now, but I wouldn't crown him one yet. He's going to have to make some adjustments. He has the skills, no doubt, but the league has film now, and he has another step to take to maintain things. Julien's Ks, and performance against lefties, may hold him back, but definitely want to see him get chances against lefties moving forward. I think my biggest frustration, and a very clear sign they have work to do offensively, is that they platooned guys at the top of their order. You're not WS ready on offense if you don't have 4-5 guys at least who you just set and forget at the top. Play for platoon advantages at the bottom, but the top of your order shouldn't need to be pinch hit for. Ever.