chpettit19

I think, in a logical world, it'd be Mahle 4, Maeda/Ober 5 as a piggyback. Ober isn't built up like any of the other starters yet. Putting him in the rotation puts us right back where we were with Archer and the 4 inning starts last year. I want no part of that even if it's 4 no hit innings every time out. Ober has topped 100 innings once in his professional career. Him slicing and dicing lineups 2 innings at a time in spring training shouldn't make us forget about the fact that he's simply not someone they can just put in the rotation and let go. I don't think they'll piggyback them, but that looks the most logical to me. Maeda and Ober take 8 or 9 innings every 5th day. But just handing Ober a rotation spot doesn't seem the least bit logical to me.

Simultaneously some of the best and worst RandBalls material yet. Feels way too real and makes me sad, but was also so well done. Kudos.

Totally fair. But you'd also expect a much better game on the field at the Twins game than the As game. It's all supply and demand. The Twins appear to be trying to spend money to make money by having a better product on the field. The As strategy is to spend as little as possible while making as much as possible through revenue sharing while not really investing in having a good product. I want to know what they have on Billy Beane to get him to stay with that organization all these years. But none of that is here nor there. I don't believe the Pohlads are losing money on the Twins overall. I would expect to pay more for good seats to a Twins game than I would to an As game. Prices are getting much higher than I'd like, but that's true of most things in life these days. The concessions are much more annoying to me than ticket prices.

I choose not to sit in the upper deck either, but that doesn't mean those tickets aren't available. Games are getting much more expensive and it's absolutely harder for a family to go to a game for a decent price. But we can't refuse to buy the cheap tickets and then claim the Twins payroll is too high because the tickets we do choose to buy are more expensive. There are $15 seats available. If money spent is your #1 decision making driver you can go to a Twins game for $5 more than you could go to an As game. Pointing at the payroll and saying it's driving significantly higher prices is ignoring the facts. Tickets to a Monday May game in Cleveland also start at $15. You can get a ticket to see the Guardians for the same price you get a ticket to see the Twins. Their payrolls aren't even close to each other. The narrative those other posters were pushing simply isn't true.

Payrolls aren't driving ticket prices. The Oakland As host the Diamondbacks Monday May 15th. Their available ticket prices for that game range from $10-$365. The Twins host the Giants Monday May 22nd. Their available ticket prices for that game range from $15-$116. The key numbers there being the 10 and 15. It costs $5 more for the cheapest ticket at Target field and the Twins payroll is $100 million more than the As.

Dang, I thought people were going to think I was high on the Royals!

Would the Twins cut any of those players individually? Absolutely.

Those were just examples of 3 guys who we're not sure how good they are that may not be part of the future so shouldn't be taking up roster spots if young players have taken their jobs. I wasn't suggesting all 3 of those guys get cut. They have depth and need to let performance dictate their decisions is my point. I don't expect that entire list of players to be cut. But I do expect that the Twins play to win. As far as the money goes, yes, they should release 20 million dollars if it means the team would win more games. They're going to have to pay that money anyways. Why wouldn't they move on and have a team fans show up to see, have new jerseys to sell, and could make the playoffs which would drive more revenue? Holding onto 20 million worth of bad players while your fans stop watching, stop showing up, and stop buying merch isn't a great business decision. Now you're paying the same amount while bringing in less money. Doesn't seem like the better option.

Fair enough on Larnach. I'm not as concerned about prospect ages. Yes, true superstars are generally there much younger, but I don't think Julien or Wallner are superstars, and there's some more context that needs to go into things with them. I don't think Wallner is likely even an everyday regular, but that's neither here nor there. I don't know that an extra year of control is really the Twins concern with Julien. I'd bet it's more about everyday at bats. But the extra year is a nice bonus. In general I just don't believe in forcing prospects, of any age, onto rosters early as the way of seeing what you have in them. At least not when you're trying to win. I think Julien is up early. I'm not totally sure he won't make the opening day roster. But I think getting him everyday ABs no matter where he is should be the biggest driver in the decision. I think Gordon's age and lack of options is the exact reason to find out what you have in him. With Julien, Wallner, Lewis, Lee, Martin, whoever else anyone thinks is going to be part of the next core all in AA or above decisions are going to have to be made. Even with short-term injuries early this year there'll have to be 40-man decisions made. Solano is the only position player that's an obvious DFA option right now. And I'd bet their hope is that Lewis is the one who takes his spot. Then you're looking at Headrick, Sands, Megill on the pitching side. None of those are huge losses (to me at least) if you DFA them, but those guys are usually DFA'd for each other. They need a spot to cycle them all through. Is Gordon the above average bat his batted ball data says he is? Or is he just your average utility guy? Knowing that as best you can would change the decisions being made on 40-man moves pretty drastically I think. He's a DFA option if you think any of the young guys are more than an average utility guy. A young guy is trade bate if Gordon is an above average bat. I think finding out what he is is a pretty big part of the early part of 2023.

My biggest concern/complaint with this leadership team has been their in season ability to adjust off "the plan." And I know I'm not the only one. That's what I'm watching for the first month or 2. They have a plan. It's a reasonable plan. I even kind of like the plan. But if Solano is trash move on before the end of April. If Gordon, Kepler, Gallo, whoever isn't earning a starting spot don't just move them from the 5 hole to the 8 hole, put them on the bench. Or cut them if they're terrible. They've built the depth in the majors and high minors. It's time to let the play on the field dictate decisions. If Pagan sucks for the 4th year in a row cut him (I'm still irrationally hoping they trade him before opening day).

Twins- 87 wins Guardians- 85 wins White Sox- 83 wins Royals- 72 wins Tigers 65 wins

I think this is one of the better discussions for fans to have. Handling of injured players is really hard to have an educated debate about because we simply don't know enough about what the physical condition of players, or plans for, are. We're just guessing at almost everything when it comes to that. But their roster decisions is something we have more information on. Julien is interesting to me. I think the best argument for him starting in AAA is everyday at bats. If they'd put Larnach in left (I don't agree with you listing him with Taylor, Farmer/Gordon), Gordon at 2B, and Gallo at first (that's my guess for opening day) then there's no real place for Julien and I'd prefer him in AAA. To me, Gordon is the guy that should fill the role you're describing of finding out what he is. Gordon hits the ball like an above average player. But he's got the swing decisions of a below average player. I think they need to figure out who Gordon is early, and that works well with manipulating Julien's service time, and getting him everyday ABs in St Paul. All that said, I wouldn't be sad to see Julien up early. I'll be real upset if they hang onto struggling vets while they lose early games and he's tearing up AAA (assuming that's what he does).

Are you suggesting Mahle might be next for being "toast?" Feels awfully extreme.

He was also traded because Ober has topped 100 innings once in his professional career. The recent results show he's nowhere near throwing 80+ pitches in a start. I'd say that's at least a decent reason for why he doesn't break camp as the fifth, let alone fourth, starter. Ober has looked great in very short stints this spring. He's too talented for AAA. But we can't act like he's shown any ability to simply be plugged into a rotation and be counted on to provide consistent innings. We were all mad about the short starts last year wearing down the pen so I'm not sure why we'd want them to put a guy out there that we known can't go deep into a game yet. Ober as a piggyback on Maeda early? Now that's a different story. But handing Ober a spot in the rotation when you can't expect him to go more than 4 innings in a start early doesn't seem like a great option to me.

This feels a bit extreme based on the reports from him and the team. "We’re really not that far behind" was the quote from Kirilloff ("we" talking about just him, not him and Polanco) on the situation. "We’re getting closer and closer. Like I said, I’m really optimistic.” Was another one. If things go poorly it could certainly be a career concerning injury, but they're not saying he's having any real pain or anything like that. Just that he needs to continue to strengthen the wrist to increase the chances that there's no problems moving forward. He's not "hurt," he's just playing the long game.

You guys can still sprint? My body doesn't even know how to do that anymore.

Mahle looking pretty good early. A lot of sliders/cutters and splitters. But they're looking good.

Definitely a little "old man yells at clouds" here, but we all have our things that upset us so I'll try to help out a little. Fangraphs usually has a pretty straight forward box score. They don't do them for spring training games so I can't promise they haven't changed them, but here's an example: Baseball reference also has one, but it's got a little extra data on it: Those are the 2 most basic that come to my mind

If it makes anyone feel better about a possible slow start, the Twins were the only team in the AL Central over .500 on April 30th and May 31st last year. Cleveland didn't get to .500 until June 8th last year. They won 8 out of 10 and briefly took over first at that time. So, yes, the games all count the same, but any talk of bad April and Mays ending a season is overstated. And don't forget the well documented Braves team in 2021 roaring back after a brutal April through July. They didn't reach .500 until August 5th. A good start is definitely better than a bad start. But bad starts can be overcome. Bad finishes can't be. Just ask the 2021 Mets or 2022 Twins.

I don't believe he's injured. But he was at the WBC so he wasn't with the team if you're questioning him not pitching for the Twins in a while.

This is provably false. He didn't manage that way with either Ryan or Gray last year. Didn't even do it with Paddack in his handful of starts. He did it with Bundy and Archer. Before injuries to Gray, and Covid wiping Ryan out, they were both going 6 or 7 innings regularly. The 3rd time through the order stuff was for bad pitchers. Unfortunately the Twins had way too many starts from bad pitchers last year. Rocco didn't take good, healthy pitchers out because they were coming around the order the 3rd time.

I wouldn't be surprised by Castro being their 13th hitter. His ability to play everywhere is something they'll love. And he's still young, with an option left. The option is important if they're expecting Kirilloff and/or Polanco back within 10-15 days of opening day. Garlick or White being added means they're fine possibly losing them in April. If you're ok losing a player in April he probably shouldn't be on your opening day roster. Hoffman probably comes down to their Ober decision. But is also tied to the position player situation somewhat. They only have 1 40-man spot open. I doubt they want to DFA anyone before the season after carrying them all offseason. But maybe. Maybe they are considering putting Celestino on the 60-day? It all gets a little more complicated if they're trying to add 2 of these guys. But if they decide to carry Ober in some role on the opening day roster there's no spot for Hoffman, or any other pitcher outside the 13 we've been expecting all offseason.

Yeah, not sure why the Reds would want Pagan or Thielbar at all.

I will never understand not enjoying the WBC. To each their own, but Ohtani vs Trout with a title on the line is literally as good as it gets in baseball. These players care. They're going all out. The 2 best players on the planet are set to face each other in a game they both very much care about. It's everything I think you could ever ask for.

Buxton in the leadoff spot is nice to see for the first time in 2023.