Rosterman

I'm glad Caleb Hamilton got this memorable moment for his major league career! Congrats. Henriquez becomes first Twin to be born in new century, I guess. I love seeing all those runners on base! Wish they could cross home rather than just running back to the dugout.

Well, for starters, I love how some teams started running the bases on the Twins. They discovered the pitchers were inexperienced and the catching awful.

Rocco is part of the team. Be interesting to see if adjustments are made in coaching. Remember we had new guys on the bench and as the primary hitting coach. We lsot as many games because of hitting as pitching. Medical staff is an organizational thing, from the staff down in Florida to the major league staff and everyone at all the minor league outlets. Right now, all minor league players are getting off-season guides. Soon the major league guys, too. Strength and conditioning ahs become a major part of each organization, compared to players seeking out that help individually in the distant past. I was frustrated by the lack of letting rotation arms go further. Even yesterday, Ryan leaving after 69 pitches and cour innings in one of his final sarts of the season. A rotation arm is going to give up runs. They need to adjust to that next time thru the order. They need to face hitters who have gotten hits off of them in the game, again. We saw the weakness. No innings eater in the rotation. ALl starters frontline got a decent number of starts and our secondary starters got oppotunities that will set them towards a career path next season. Duran is getting to close. Will he be durable? It's hard to think that the Twins for the majority of the season were where Cleveland is now, a comfortable lead in a division in which the first place team might be the only one with a winning record. The collapse was hard. To go from such high hopes to basically seeing a St. Paul Saints line-up at Target Field in the last few games of the season was...sad. Bundy, Archer, Sanchez, Fulmer, Leon, Correa will free up a lot of payroll. Not much in the arbitration class. They need a #1 starter, a right-handed bench bat, a catcher better than what they fielded this year to supplement Jeffers, and have to answer questions about the future at shoprtstop (Lee? Lewis?) and sort out the outfield. Of course, Baldelli will have lots of paperwork to review.

I wonder how he is as a coach. He trulay loves to stay in the game, spending all those years in indy ball. Glad Baltimore gave him one more shot as an aging outfielder.

Happily Buxton did sign an incentive-laden contract. What the Twins have to hope is that they can get production out of him for the entire contract, and that he can also remain a marketable "Face for the Twins." But like Joe Mauer as a catcher, part of the greater worth of the contract is having Buxton in centerfield, not at DH (or right or left field). Certainly we didn't expect him to play the entire contract in center, although it would be a good dream come true if it happened. If we want to applaud him for hitting home runs, then we have to say that he is little better than Miguel Sano at his best. One is hoping for a bit more consistency on getting on base, being a better guy taking the extra base, and not striking out so much. If he basically is a low-average power-hitter, fulfilling the role of designated hitter for parts of a season, well..... We got Byron. The Twins do have to make hard decisions about how to play around him. Who is the centerfielder if Buxton is only part-time? Royce Lewis a better choice than Gilberto Celestino? Austin Martin any possibility? And if Byron stays somewhere in the outfield, the Twins have to make hard decisions on Celestino, Kepler, Larnach, Kirlloff and Wallner for starters. I hope Byron gets better and can be the fulltime centerfielder. I don't want him to become the new Miguel Sano, a guy that you need to find a place for him to play, but can't make longterm decisions because you don't know when he will play and have questions on consistency of play.

Spring training will be interesting. Both Ober and WInder will be on a rebuild (not to mention Maeda and Paddack). So someone being long relief may be a possibility. The Twins could still try and get a #1 starter!

Like Ernie Yake, Kyle Schmidt before him, even Frank Nigro this season...you soemtimes float all over the place because of organizational needs and you might be able to handle it more than a guy on a stricter development path.

I was frustrated by the short starts, also, in the minors. Than realized that this is a total rebuild year for msot players. You want the guys to play ALL season. It seemed to work. Looking at the top five, we basically are seeing the names that will crack the rotation in the next four seasons. Most will not cement a spot right away (Varland, for example, may not start 2023 with the Twins, but should be a part of the 2024 rotation going forwards). 37 pitchers by the Twins. Whew. Okay, two were Gordon and Palacios, NOT pitchers. Still...........

Started with a lockout. Then, for some reason, fear of going downtown and aprking in your favorite cheap lot and walking to the game, or taking the lightrail, because of reported crime. The Twins were the only winning team in the division. 10 whole games above .500. Yet few times did the Twins crack 22,000 in attendance, which means sooooo many empoty (and cheap) seats available. What was with the short starts. Always less than 100 pitches. Seldom over five innings. The bullpen was clearly the stars of the game. Because a starter is expected to give up runs during their stint in a game. The hope is that your batters just hit and score more. We lost one-run games, close games. Yet can't blame the pitching from the Wes Johnson-era. The bats failed. A fielding mistake happened. Then, the collapse. A great team sitting in the rehab room nursing injuries. A collapse agaisnt the Guardians. A sweep by the Royals. Will the Tigers put the final nail into the season's closed coffin.

Gotta question every player at every position. Wallner, Kiriolloff, Larnach? Any reason to keep all three? And what about Kepler...time to move on? Can you keep one of the above and spend some bucks on someone who fills a line-up/fielding need better? Of course, Correa is a BIG decision, to be made by him. Gotta bring in something behind-the-plate. Is Lopez a real closer? Can Duran handle the job? WHo are your dynamite setup guys. And you need a consistent rotation arm who will keep you in the game thru, maybe, seven innings. We have two rotation arms that should push towards 200 innings next season. We have a couple who will be lucky to break 100. And a couple coming abck from serious time off. Where should we play...Arraez! Hey, maybe we need to pick up...the option on Sano!

Twins 2023 rotation? Well, they have a lot of folks fighting for work in 2023, that's fer sure. But they are still missing ONE BIG PIECE: An Ace, someone who can give the pen a surefire rest the majority of his starts, and will give up only an average of three runs a start. In other words: A #1 STARTER. Gray and Ryan should be able to eclipse 150 innings next season. Maybe Mahle can also fill that bill, too. But he's questionable...right now. Ober and WInder will be what they were this season, a couple of rebuild candidates. They will need to grow towards 100-125 innings. Do they do that starting in St. Paul and encompassing what may be one of the better AAA rotations in baseball? Man, hate to think that the Twins will have a great rotation at AAA, but can it translate, at some point, to the major leagues. Maeda should be back. But, again, the guy IS NOT a workhorse. So we are back to 2022, where he (and Paddack upon return) are getting regular starts but only pitching twice thru a batting order. Arrgh! The Twins will have Woods-Richardson, Varland, and Balazovic at AAA St. Paul starting games. So there is promise. But every year there is always promise. These three will be supplemented with names like Henriquez, Sands and maybe Enlow, all three who might be better suited for relief. Henriquez and Sands could blow bigtime in spring training and become the next Griffin Jax, who knows. We also can pretty much say Dobnak will be in the rotation in St. Paul and allowed to stretch out and maybe make an appearance (like the similar salaried Jake Cave did at 2022's year end). Do the Twins keep Smeltzer on the 40-man because he IS a lefty? Would Smeltzer stay with the Twins if removed from the 40-man? The Twins may also add Canterino to the 40-man, a rotation arm who will NOT pitch in 2023 and may also be better suited for the pen. Worth the roster spot? I mean, we already have...Enlow. So, the Twins could easily go after a longer-term BIG CONTRACT signing of a #1, protect themselves from short starts, and still have a decent backl-up pipeline that mighty consistently fuel a 5th (or 6th) starter, especially at the beginning of the season when you could use (again) someone like Winder as a long-relief arm. Don't see them getting to the majors, but in the pipeline are Laweryson, Funderburk and minor-league free-agent Gossett (who didn't pitch well at AAA) who would be in AAA by season's end. And behind them advancing from A ball fulltime are names like Headrick, Festa, and maybe Rozek. But none of those six will need a 40-man spot until, the earliest, fall of 2024. I just don't want to see them continue along the Bundy, Archer, Happ, Shoemaker, Bailey, Pineda, Perez, Odorizzi dumpster dives of season's past. Heck, if you are gonna do that, bring back Charlie Barnes from overseas!

Arraex, right now, seems to be hurting a bad. Couldn't come at a worst time for him. Like the Twins, he was on-the-top for most of the season and now will fall to third (or worse). In some ways, I do root for Judge to go for the Triple Crown (plus, he can steal bases). A magnificent feat if he can pull it off.

COTTON added to Giants major league roster.

Yes, he would've just become a minor league free agent in the off-season if the Twins had removed him from their 40-man then.

I wonder what the package would've been, by the Twins, for Montas.

You have to like the team going forwards with young players in 2023. Ryan, Ober, Varland, Winder are all players to pay attention to their play going forwards. Jeffers is a solid (shared position) young catcher. Although not the guy you thought of at first, Arraez has held his own and if you need a position for the guy..... Lewis COULD be the shortstop of the future. Miranda will be at third (or first). Kirilloff is still potential, and the question is where to play him, too. Larnach and Celestino are decent and pan out as at least fourth outfielders. Wallner will get a big look in spring training. Duran is a stud and should become an elite closer. Moran and Jax have found their places in the bullpen. That's a nice bit of development from the Twins in just one year. Will they make the team a powerhouse running towards the playoffs every year? Probably not, but there are some fine pieces, some decent returning pioeces (Buxton, Polanco, Maeda, Paddack, Lopez, Gray, Mahle) Alcala is still in the mix. Gordon has found a spot on the team. Do we still need Urshela, or Fulmer going forwards? A couple of REAL GOOD free agent signings, a team leader bat would be nice! Oh, and Caleb Thielbar! Wow, already have a full roster of 27 with the names above!

That no one will probably hit 150 innings out of the rotation is a tell. So we had a lot of pitchers (35 toital on the roster this season!) and msot of them needed to build up to full strength. The Twins decision was to limit the innings and try to egt as close to 30 starts as possible out of a good protion of them. That works, but as a rebuild, NOT a retool, sadly. The significant lack of a true closer didn't help. Hopefully Duran can be that man going forwards. Injuries HURT the team bigtime. Yes, no one would think that the Twins would be praying to get a dozen games at the end of the season out of Larnach to IMPROVE the outfield play. But that is where the Twins are right now. Happily Wallner will be getting regular play. When your BEST current outfielder is being forced to play second base because your second baseman is out... And, no Sano!

Henriquez can slide into the rotation spot, I guess. And we have Sanchez to also pick-up innings. Although it would be nice if Varland could get another start (or two).

I just haven't wanted to...go...downtown. One early Twins game against the Dodgers. Was wonderful. Great food, too. But.....

If the Rangers remove him from the 40-man (and don't give him a generous off-season contract renewal) he will be a minor league free agent and just walk.

He is young. Not sure if want to give up on him as a rotation arm, but right now he should be able to fill a long relief role well (2-3 innings). If he can cut down the long ball, he could be a great set-up or even potential closer material. Glad the Twins are giving him a looksee.

The pitching pipeline. In 2019, the only pitchers that played in the majors that are still with the Twins are rookies Devin Smeltzer, Randy Dobnak and Cody Stashak, at the time. Tyler Duffey was the main holdover with major league experience. Twins prospects that premiered were: Brusdar Graterol, Sean Poppen, Ryan Eades, Lewis Thorpe. Free agents that came and gone were Martin Perez, Blake Parker, Carlos Torres, and the Twins traded for Sergio Romo and Sam Dyson. Jorge Alcala was added via a trade. In 2020 the Twins elevated prospect Edwar Colina. That's it. They added thru free agency or trades: Danny Coulombe, Juan Minaya, Tyler Clippard, Matt Wisler, Cody Gearin, Kenta Maeda, Homer Bailey. Whew. In 2021, the Twins added thru free agency or trades: Matt Shoemaker, J.A. Happ, Joe Ryan, Hansel Robles, Luke Farrell, Derek Law, Shaun Anderson, Alex Colome, Brandon Waddell, Ian Gibaut, Nick Vincent, Edgar Garcia, Ralph Garza Jr. Kyle Barraclough, John Gant, Beau Burrows. Quite a few names we never ever want to see again. But from the system they promoted: Bailey Ober, Griffin Jax, Charlie Barnes, Jovani Moran. That's it. Do we miss having lefty Charlie Barnes who went across the ocean to pitch instead? 2022, this season, Twins added via free agency or trade: Chris Paddack, Dylan Bundy, Chris Archer, Sonny Gray, Tyler Mahle, Chi Chi Gonzalez, Aaron Sanchez, Derek Rodriguez, Jharel Cotton, Joe Smith, Ian Hamilton, Tyler Thornburg, Jorge Lopez, Jhon Romero, Emilo Pagan, Trevor Megill, Austin Davis, Michael Fulmer, Ronny Henriquez. Prospects given a chance: Yennier Cano, Jhoan Duran, Cole Sands, Josh Winder, Louie Varland. I;m waiting for the pipeline of prospects to materialize. Lot of visits to the "Dollar Store."

Both Ryan and Strotman were depth pieces by the Rays and they ultimately needed the 40-man spots for other players. Strotman being one of those that you hope you can use or you will lose sooner rather than later. Teams love to include players in trades who are out-of-options or verging on minor league free agency in their system.

Some people spend time, energy and money buying up probable domain names, hoping to cash in. The Minnesota Twins pretty much abandoned the need for Twins.com, but the domain holders have now released the name (for a rumored sizable fee). https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/twins-com-sold-to-mlb.html?fbclid=IwAR3vcD78L-B_0_Py3SoGKUVNuXmF-Hn_47A9KPQho6ZxSccfQCoa7ekYfXg Guardians.com, Rays.com and Giants.com are still on the market!

DREW STROTMAN claimed by Rangers. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/09/rangers-claim-drew-strotman-waivers-twins.html