Eris

Remember lots of discussions on how Liriano’s nasty slider would put a lot of stress on his elbow. Almost if having Tommy John surgery was a fore gone conclusion. When Liriano returned from TJ surgery, the issue became the consistency of his delivery. I remember seeing a chart somewhere that on Liriano’s effective outings, a plot of his release points would fit on a grapefruit. On his bad outings, the release point plot expanded to the size of a watermelon.

Interesting commentary regarding the Orioles decision to move the left field wall back 30 ft and raise the fence height 5 ft. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/orioles-move-the-outfield-wall-back-everyone-else-should-do-the-same?_amp=true

I am also down on Celestino. I think one of the reasons for being negative is the Twins got nothing in return for Baddoo and Wade, both of whom had better seasons than Celestino. Edited to add: It seems that Nick Gordon played CF as good as or better than Celestino. Defensively, both were slightly below league average but Gordon achieved this without any prior experience in CF.

My chores were feeding the calves and cleaning up after the cows. Of these, feeding calves was the more rewarding experience. Cleaning up after the cows taught me the need to work hard in school.

I pondered your comments for awhile and have wondered how it is that when I think about my first exposure to the Twins, On a team with 5 Hall of Famers, I think of Danny Thompson. As you have pointed out Danny Thompson’s stats are not that good (Nick Punto was a lot better as a glove first player). Here is my explanation. I started listening to the Twins as a 9 year old while helping my family with chores growing up on a dairy farm in Southern Minnesota, near New Ulm. I envisioned the game through the eyes and voices of Herb Carneal and Halsie Hall. (Ray Christenson was also an announcer, but I don’t remember him). If Danny Thompson left a memorable impression on me it is because Mr Carneal and Hall made it so. I have looked for articles that touch upon what Danny Thompson meant to the Twins. The best answer I can give is that he was a great clubhouse teammate with a lot of grit. The following article touches upon some of this. https://www.oklahoman.com/article/5466464/remembering-danny-thompson-an-osu-cowboy-the-twins-could-never-forget/amp

Danny Thompson. 1970 First year that started following the Twins. Rod Carew is injured mid season and Danny Thompson is called up and played some great D at 2B.

At A+ Wallner’s stats are BB% almost 10, K% 33 Rooker at the same level has similar BB% with K% 29 Data is from Fangraphs.

Rooker in left? It is one of the challenges faced when the team drafts a bunch of bat first outfielders whose best long term position might be DH. I would not be signing any of these free agents as we have a number of positionless players (Arraez, Gordon, Rooker, Larnach, Sano?) who will need to play somewhere. Agree with Old Fox that Martin might be the best internal option.

According to MLB Trade Values, Lewis for Sonny Gray (2 years remaining on his contract) would be a reasonable trade. As a Twins fan, I would not want that trade made because I expect 2022 to be a lost year.

You forgot Shooter Hunt. With a name like that what could possibly go wrong. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=hunt--001sho

The MLBPA association are hardly saints in this process. Look at how the sold out on the minor leaguers, negotiating their salaries and conditions but not letting them be part on the union so they can actually vote. The MLBPA resistance to drug testing was one of their larger disgraces. There are proposals that would seem to make a more competitive balance. Increased revenue sharing in return for a salary floor. Such a proposal would be popular with the average to below average players as it would mean higher salaries for the none elite. They get to vote on the contract as well. Correct? I realize the opposite has been presented in the Manfred discussion. But why would the average player agree to a provision that means fewer opportunities for them I think a form of restricted free agency (as in football) would be useful. A player can be controlled by one team for upto 14 years. This is too long.

Byron Buxton needs a crash course on risk assessment. The risk to take in a close game should be much different than if having a lopsided score. I can’t remember if it was 2019 or 2020, but Buxton hurt himself running full speed into the wall vs the White Sox in a game the Twins were up by a lot.

I would be inclined to pass on all of these buy low candidates in favor of protecting more of our Rule 5 eligible pitchers. Tyler Wells was more valuable than any of the buy low candidates last year. Finding 3 starting pitchers is a significant -almost improbable task. (2 if Peneda resigns). At some point the Twins need to depend on their farm system to contribute.

This is how the WS will end Or this

Denard Span had 9 WAR with Washington in the 3 years (2013-2015) after he was traded for Alex Meyers who put up 1 WAR for his entire career. Keeping Span would have allowed Hicks more time to develop. As a comparison Hicks has produced 12.9 WAR over his career with more than half of that coming in his first 2 seasons with the NYY.