nclahammer

I think after trading for Gray, Mahle and Lopez and signing Correa anything less than a division championship or a Wild Card would be considered a failure in my mind. If that happens I want the FO and manager sent packing. If they make the playoffs but don't win a game the FO gets one more year but the manager doesn't.
My prediction is high 80's.

St, Paul area Twins Caravan Event:  
Monday, January 23, 2023

St. Paul Baseball Old Timers Hot Stove League Banquet
Southview Country Club: 239 Mendota Road East, West St. Paul, MN 55118
Batting Practice (social hour): 5:30 pm
Game Time (steak dinner & program): 7:00 pm
Q & A Session, Door Prize Drawing, Silent Auction, and more!

Personalities include: Dan Gladden, Louie Varland, Kris Attebery (emcee), Dave St. Peter, Thad Levine, Jerry Bell, Jim Rantz, Derek Sharrer (St. Paul Saints AAA), John Anderson (MN Gophers)

Further Info / Tickets:  http://tricitybaseball.org/oldtimers.htm
(Tickets must be purchased by 10 pm Sunday, Jan. 15th)

Rochester- Monday January 30th, 6:30-8pm.Tickets on sale.

I copied this from the KTOE website in Mankato.
 
More details coming Tuesday, January 10.
 
The Minnesota Twins Winter Caravan returns to Mankato, Wednesday, January 26th. Join the fun at the Kato Ballroom starting at 6:30pm. Enjoy a hot dog, chips, and ice-cold Pepsi while learning about the Twins plan for the upcoming 2023 season. Buy your tickets now at Radio Mankato or the Kato Ballroom.
 
Twins favorites Tony Oliva, Caleb Thielbar, Ryan Jeffers, Justin Morneau, and Dick Bremer will be there.
 
They are running radio ads for this on KTOE and the Fan Mankato station

Option 2.5: keep swapping out parts as the opportunities arise. The spiraling market said that we weren't getting a SS for a 13 year deal, so we get a filler there and go with the kids when Lewis gets healthy.  You've got a young 3b, a delayed start to the young SS, old man Polanco at 2b is only 29 next year, Arraez at 1b will be 26 and you have good middle infielders coming up behind them that aren't ready yet. You just signed a solid glove at C to cover the gap in your farm and you're up to your fetlocks in good youngsters looking for OF time. We have a ton of decent starting pitchers that didn't get a chance to show their stuff last year. But Maeda and Grey have been good in the past, Mahle and Ryan are still improving, Mahle and Ober and Paddack have been good when healthy, Varland and Woods Richardson and Winder poked their noses up for a moment last year and there are more behind them. The bullpen has a number of good to excellent pieces to build around and a lot of starters that may need new roles this year.
Honestly what's a rebuild supposed to look like? The thing to do here is play the kids you have and see how they mature, pitch the guys you have and see if they can stay healthy, and pick up some parts when the opportunity arises. 

"Blame?"  I'd rewrite the header: "Who's to praise for smart financial restraint."

Woah woah woah, I never had credibility to begin with

Boras sold the FO boys on this move just like he sold them on Correa for a year.  The big difference is Correa was a top free agent and Gallo is not.  It makes perfect sense for Boras and Gallo--if he rebounds even to a decent year, he will enter free agency in a much stronger position and still collect 11 million for his work this year.  If he fails, he still has his 11 million.  IF the Twins wanted to make a move like this, for heaven's sake get an option for a second year just in case he lights it up.  They were used and abused by Boras in this situation.

Lost some credibility on this one Greggory...
Signing was fine... if was for a minor league deal with 11 mil in incentives... 
As is was a Terrible signing and as I have said.. this one should cost someone their job... incompetent move. 

Didn't like this signing..too much money for an average player...rather keep Kepler.....as bad as than has been....Probably won't be competing this year, lucky to sniff .500 ball........

I agreed with the gist of your comments until you mentioned preferring Terry Ryan back. Terry Ryan Part II was an unmitigated disaster. SO too have Falvey and Levine been for over 2 years. They still have a chance to redeem themselves before spring training.
Do I have confidence in them? Largely no but partially yes since they did sign, Cruz, Schoop and C.J. Cron for the 2019 season. Since then, they’ve essentially torn down that 101 team to 2 consecutive seasons of losing records. So, my confidence in them is low but I’m open to changing my mind if they make a brilliant series of trades. Think of the MOs in Twins history:
1) Calvin Griffith took a wrecking ball to the franchise after the advent of free agency. He let a ton of glittering talent walk away in one of, if not, the most painful periods in Twins history.
2) Terry Ryan put together good team with Koskie, Mientkiewicz, etc. but refused to supplement it for playoff success. He also released David Ortiz after a 20 HR season while Ortiz was battling and affected by a bad knee. Worst decision in Twins history next to Calvin trading Rod Carew due to money.
3) Andy McPhail - a genius and responsible for the 2 WS titles.
4) Bill Smith - total and complete disaster
5) Terry Ryan Part II - Disaster filled with lousy trades and apparently not even spending the money he was authorized to. His stock line was always along the lines of "we think we’re all set there or we’re fine" when they clearly weren’t.
6) Falvey and Levine - Poor. Grade of D or D+ for their body of work so far.

That line might be the best thing I've ever written, I'm glad it struck a chord with you. Also, if you're going to make me say it... I'd like to announce, in the comments of my blog, no- I do not eat poop. 

May all your observations on excretory products be hearsay.

My Paul Wellstone story happened at the State Fair. We liked to take our kids around to meet politicians, to shake hands and say hello.  We saw Senator Wellstone was there and got in line to meet him. We arrived a little early and only had about third of a block line of people to wait for.  The line grew long behind us.  We got up to him pretty quickly and he cordially greeted us.  I had a question for him about the BWCA and the conflict then with motors and motorized portages.  Then something amazing happened.  He started explaining at length the background, the current problem, and his position.  This took several minutes.  As the line grew far longer, his aides were trying to hurry him but he didn’t listen.  He stopped only when he had completed his explanation.  It was a fun and memorable experience for my whole family.  

Here's my best Paul Wellstone story:
Back in the early '90s I was working in Washington for a conservative Republican senator. Flying back to the Twin Cities for a week up at the lake during August recess, sitting next to me at the back of an NWA flight was Sen. Quentin Burdick (D-ND). As it turned out, Sen. Wellstone was up in first class.
Sen. Burdick, who would die the next year at age 84, was having a difficult time of it - he couldn't get his jacket off, he couldn't peel the cover off of his yogurt container, frankly, he couldn't really even speak understandably. Though, he was certainly genial, and obviously grateful for the help I was able to give him,
I'm pretty sure that I was the only person around me who knew this gentleman was a sitting United States Senator, and regardless of party (my, how things have changed), as a Senate staffer I kind of felt responsible for helping get him through this. 
Arriving at MSP, we all got off the flight. I was helping Sen. Burdick down the aisle when we reached Sen. Wellstone. They greeted each other warmly, and as we made it up the ramp to the gate there were several people there to meet Sen Wellstone - I don't recall if they were staff or family - but they began to move with him off to their destination. However, Sen. Burdick wasn't done. He still had to fly from Minneapolis to Fargo or Grand Forks, and he had literally no idea how to make that happen. Imagine your elderly grandfather, all alone. Having been put on a plane in Washington, and then was on his own from there.
Sen. Wellstone looked at Sen. Burdick and then at me with eyebrows raised. I explained who I was, and told him I could figure this out for Sen. Burdick. But Sen. Wellstone smiled, shook my hand and thanked me, and then told his party to wait while he took Sen. Burdick by the arm and personally escorted him to his next flight.
This may not sound like much to you. But in the 10 years I was on the Hill, I never saw another senator (or congressman) put himself at the utter service of somebody else like that. It was a remarkably humble and human gesture, and one I will always remember. 

I did too!

Just a little stitious 

 
I am now jealous and need to get my own Richie figurine

You get what you deserve if you choose to attend a wedding over the Twins game. ? 

Urshela introduces the Stop, Drop & Roll, and Throw.

What a cool (sometimes literally) Minnesota Twins tradition, keep up the excellent reporting.

Cant agree with you here.  Paddack was a to 50 MLB prospect a few yrs ago (2019) has put up decent number at the MLB level. TO say he has no upside is fare off.  He would absolutely fit in our rotation and be a better option the any of the current AAA starters.  
 
Now I do not want to give up Taylor Rogers for him.  But so say he has no value to this team is crazy talk!

I am "Excited".
I am an optimist and easily excited. However, I think this will be a fun year. The lineup and defense will be a genuine pleasure to watch. I am very excited to see Buck and Correa in the same lineup, feeding off each other. 
I am excited to see how our young pitchers develop. We have a good enough lineup to keep the team competitive if not downright great, so the pressure is off for the young arms (both on the team now and in the system) to develop and get experience. Should be a fun year and one to be excited about! Go Twins!!!

I am "thankful", for another spring. Thankful for the warmth and the promise of new life and Easter. I am thankful for the renewal of preseason optimism that arrives in bits and pieces during the long time of darkness, called "the offseason". It  arrives slowly at first, sometimes with a trade or a free agent signing, but it usually begins on  a cold, dreary February day as I read that in Minneapolis, the  trucks have started loading equipment for Fort Myers.  I'm thankful for the relaxed easing into the season at the back fields of the Hammond Stadium complex. Ah, Spring Training. I'm thankful for green grass, the murmur of a crowd at a ballpark and the shouts of the vendors, selling cold beer and peanuts and nachos and cheese with jalapenos. I'm thankful for new Twins tee shirts with the name "Correa" or "Buxton" on the back. I'm thankful for the constant of Dick Bremer, and being able to enjoy watching games with him and conversing about baseball with him and his fellow announcers and guests. I'm thankful for Tony O. and  Kitty being selected.  And then there are the games themselves: throw the ball, hit the ball, catch the ball or kiss it good-bye; a quick 6-4-3 double play to end a Yankee threat in the ninth; a low scoring pitchers' duel where every pitch and every grounder matters; a Buxton triple; Kepler hitting an rbi single to left field to beat the shift; second guessing a pitching change; an Arraez single to center; Sano scooping a low throw at first base for an out; a Twins reliever being given the game ball after striking out the last White Sox batter; catchers; dirty uniforms; dozing in my recliner while watching the Twins rout the Red Sox at Fenway; planning a trip to Minneapolis for the playoffs; a 35th anniversary reunion for the 87 World Champion Twins; I am thankful for the civility and knowledge and accessibility of Twins Daily. "Thankful" is my word for Twins baseball this year and every year.

The 40/40/400 club?   It's got a nice ring to it.

I find myself "emboldened" going into the 2022 season.
I am emboldened by the signing of Carlos Correa, and the way the front office pulled it off, especially outmaneuvering the dreaded NY Yankees in the process.
I'm emboldened that Miguel Sano will make a new 40/40 club popular to Twins fans - the 40 HR & .240 batting average club - I think we'd be satisfied with that from him.
I am embolded that not one, but multiple young pitching arms will step up and contribute substantially this season - Joe Ryan, Josh Winder, Bailey Ober, just to name a few (there are more waiting in the wings - Duran, Balazovich, Woods-Richardson.)
I'm emboldened that Alex Kirilloff will become the Minnesota Twins version of "Kirill the Thrill" (of MN Wild fame) and offer up weekly highlights as he plays his way towards 500+ ABs, a .300 BA, and 20+ HRs.
I am emboldened that "intrigued" above inspired me to dream, ask "What if?", and write these comments.