KirbyDome89

The poor defense was mildly surprising. The rest is pretty much in line with what you'd expect given his production in the minors the last few seasons. If the Twins are serious about winning, they can't hand him the backup role in CF to start the year. Even if he becomes an average OF, Idk if his bat will ever be good enough to justify the amount of innings he'd get given the way this organization shuffles lineups.

Margot found plenty of innings with Castro around. It's another topic, but that's part of the problem with the mix & match philosophy this organization deploys. I mean they let the guy set the all time record for PH futility. Martin might be able to match Castro's defense at 2B. Willi is better than Miranda, but Lewis and Lee have a claim to 3B before him, and Willi likely won't rival the offensive output of at least 2 of those guys. If Julien's 2024 is the bar to clear, ok, but that isn't exactly tough. Being an okay defender isn't enough to overcome the offensive upside of Lewis, Miranda, and Julien. Lee probably has a higher offensive potential as well and clearly he's a better defender. Castro is option 3 at each IF position, and even if his defense in the OF is average (I don't see him as a particularly adept OFer) his bat won't play for any length of time in LF. Maybe Kirilloff is isn't tendered and Miranda slides to 1B. Also to be clear, I'm not against Castro being the utility guy on this club. I'm totally on board for a guy who can occasionally play a corner OF spot (or CF in a pinch) and split some time between 3B and 2B. I don't think he's sticking around at $6M because he's a good defender at any of those positions. He fits exactly what this FO/management group loves to do. In either case, it's sad that $6M for a solid bench player is somehow a "burden," for the Twins, but here are I guess. Castro is no doubt valuable, I just don't see him as the defensive life preserver that others do.

You said this team needs to get better defensively. Castro leading the team in PAs while being a below average defender basically everywhere doesn't do that IMO.

That would be wild.

Lee didn't hit this season. Larnach had a breakout of sorts with the bat, but he's a negative defender, who has been basically an average hitter across 4 seasons with a decent sized injury history to boot. How confident are you that he'll build on, or even replicate his 2024 offensive performance? I'd certainly deal a backup SS with prospect luster and a lower end corner OF for a solid SP with team control.

Castro was a below average defender at every position this season expect 3B, where he was just average. I'm not arguing that Martin looked particularly good defensively (he didn't) but most of Castro's value is his versatility not his actual defensive prowess.

Nobody "whining," about payroll was looking to kick the "right size," can down the road. You're actually strengthening the "cheap Pohlad," position by highlighting the ridiculousness of the constrained spending in your scenario. Now turn that difficulty up; rather than spending the excess $30M on one year rentals, slash your budget by $30M and acquire useful players on one year deals. This team spent the offseason turning Polanco's modest $10M salary into spare parts, acquiring an OF castoff, signing a 38 year old 1B, and filling out the bullpen with journeymen. Then they sat on their hands for the second straight trade deadline. Payroll played no "practical," part in those decisions? I mean.....

This should be a bigger story....

Scapegoats. Recently it was the training staff. This year it's the hitting coach....

If both cases are true, I don't understand why we'd assume those things aren't green lit from above. If Levine and Baldelli refuse to deviate from the path of destruction season after season, yet remain employed, I'd argue Falvey is just as guilty of doing the same thing that fails over and over again.

So Falvey continues to update/improve the system but it's Levine and Baldelli ******* up the implementation year after year, and now Falvey is forced to retain both? That feels like a massive stretch, and some serious cover for Falvey.

That type of unwavering fandom is a unicorn. I don't think it's replicable; you either have it or you don't. The Twins need to win the swing vote so to speak. They need the casual fans to give a **** and show up on beautiful summer nights. I agree with you, winning by itself won't do that.

It's no doubt a feedback loop, but one side has much more sway in ending said loop. Interest won't organically tick upwards, fans won't start wandering back into TF just because. If you're failing (and the Twins are) to meet goals, the most logical direction to look would be inward. Why are the Brewers, in a smaller metro, with competing local professional clubs, and a smaller payroll, able to significantly outdraw the Twins? Are Wisconsinites just better "fans?"

Relative to the league it hasn't. Help me understand how crawling back into bed with Bally and subsequently blacking out essentially all local television coverage is the fault of fans? If a restaurant in your neighborhood operated under a poor service model, provided a mediocre at best experience along with mediocre food/drinks, and showed no interest in attempting to meet the needs/wants of local diners, would you hold yourself personally accountable when the establishment inevitably tanked?

3 scoreless innings after imploding over the previous 5 innings out of the bullpen and he's a high leverage guy. Jfc.... Way too much of this fan base is delusional when it comes to Varland.

Those 2 arb years though....

That kind of unbridled homerism is embarrassing.

"Twins are 3 outs away from their best win of the year." Somebody needs to sedate Provus.....

LOLOLOL at Larnach getting a "hit," there. Unreal.

So much this. It's a disgusting game but I can't look away at this point. Literal slow motion train wreck offensively for both teams.

Boston is 1-14 with RISP and 17 Ks. Talk about rolling over. Just scratch out a 2nd run against a team that clearly is ready for this season to be over ffs....

No, I'm suggesting that opportunity cost doesn't equate to profit loss when the alternative route(s) also yield gains.

Concur, but if that enhanced annual return or liquidity provides opportunities that $$ locked into a long-term investment doesn't, the Pohlad's aren't really "losing," money by not investing elsewhere.

To start, healthy players have full range on defense. They can run the bases, and they're available to come into games. You're ignoring the tradeoff. What does the lineup look like when your CF and SS are on the bench and won't be substituted into a game? How does locking Margot or Farmer into playing time alleviate the 4A dilemma? Huh? Do you honestly believe both players are capable of playing full-time but simply aren't while this team is dangerously close to pissing away the final playoff spot?

In 6 career starts? I mean c'mon....