Rosterman

I like when Cleveland and Chicago play each other and the Twins win! I can live with this lineup, and I love our top two starters. Let's take the next two-game series, too.

Well, looks like we may have to constantly worry about the health of Winder. Ober would be great to trade but, again, when will he pitch again. When you trade for an arm to go into your rotation, he rpetty much has to repalce someone. Someone sent back to the minors, or traded themselves (or released). And you can honestly think of whom you have on staff or the system that you can probably live without the next season that could be coming up on free agent, Rule 5, whatever in the minors. Or even someone like Smeltzer, who ahs shown flashes of brilliant, but do you see him pitching fully in 2024 or beyond, but enough smoke-and-mirrors that you will take a chance on moving him rather than keeping him.

Balazovic. DO you drop him down to Wichita and hope he continues his struggles, so you could remove him from the 40-man. But then the question also arises, does he become a minor league free agent after this season. He first pitched in 2016 in short-season ball. Would a team grab him and keep him on their 40-man going into next season while pplaying minor league ball. This was the season Balazovic needed to show he should get a chance to pitch in the majors. Can the Twins afford to keep him on the 40-man for another season?

Both are truly deserving. Yes, Kaat can be absed on longevity, but also like Bert, his career was spent on teams that gave him as many losses as wins in games. So many players are often overlooked because of the teams that they played on. I'm not sure if we will ever know the true age of Tony Oliva, but talk about a wonderful player during his career, a great ambassador for the sport, and a true talent. Some would say he was a fringe choice for the Hall of Fame, which can only speak about the wuality of play in abseball when a guy like Tony would be considered on the fringe. Kudos to both, who had their careers with Twins!

Bailey Ober. Jovani Moran. Miguel Sano.

I also hope Cano can come back and be a force in the bullpen. Add back in Alcala at some point, who knows. BUT WITH YOUNGSTERS WHO SHINE, YOU HAVE TO HOPE THEY KEEP WORKING TO STAY THAT WAY.

TRAVIS BLANKENHORN is back in the majors with the Mets. WIll he get a plate appearance? https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/07/mets-select-travis-blankenhorn.html Nope. Optioned back out next day!

Michael Feliz has been signed out of Boston and assigned to the Saints. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/felizmi01.shtml

I'm also seeing waaaay too many short starts in the minors. Yes, we are in the process or re-stretching out pitchers after a season lost and whatever last year was called. If you are a starting pitcher, you used to be setup for endurnace, as well as the ability to use ALL of your pitches in a variety of ways so you can get thru the order multiple times and hit that 100-110 pitch mark which seems to be the ultiamte high bar these days, no matter how good you are pitching. That is the key to being a rotation arm. And, unless you have a truly elite bullpen, basically eight closers with a couple of those guys HAPPY to throw multiple innings, a game starts to be reduced to cannon fodder.

No!

Dyson is back and pitching well in…Mexico. Room just became available! Could they replace two people currently pitching? At little or no cost?

SERGIO ROMO is available AGAIN! Get the whole gang back together! https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/07/sergio-romo-elects-free-agency-blue-jays.html

You can't short the early years. Al Worthington was a bullpen stud. Camilo Pascual and Jim Kaat. But also remember Dave Goltz. If Morrisd gets in, then you also have to consider Mudcat Grant or Dean Chance. Earl Battey was wonderful behind-the-plate. A.J. did his job. Dougie Mientkiewicz was a hitter.

The Twins would be in the hunt if once top prospects Balazovic and Sands were pitching better. Both would spell quality return in the past in a trade. Now you have to think about the strength of their future with the Twins. Cano would be a good throw-in. But it is too soon to gamble on the top arms at AA ball, sadly - Canterino, Varland, even Enlow. Celestino could have some worth. People throwout Steer, which is a nice name...but redundant of what most teams have in their organization. If the Twins wanted to part with Miranda right now, they could and not suffer much. Sano, again, is the elephant in the room. No trade value as of today. A contract that needs to play if the Twins want to see value. And then you still are faced with signing him or letting him walk. Are the Twins ready to move on from the Big Man. Of course, the Twins could trade Bundy or Duffey or Thielbar or before last week Joe Smith. But be lucky to get a low level prospect in return. The joy would be if they were actually replaced by better pitchers traded for from other organizations. Padres need an outfielder. jake Cave anyone?

Dyson should've been a stuf, but...well, we all know the story. He is still out there, having a decent season in Mexico. How about a second chance, Twins?

Sometimes it just takes a trip abck to the minorsd to work some things out. Hopefully the same is happening with Cano.

THAT WOULD PUT A LOT OF CURRENT tWINS ON THE UNEMPLOYMENT LINE!

Everyone they would like to trade, no one would probably want. And those that people want, the Twins would be better off keeping.

He is owed a hunk of change and we know the front office hates to give anyone away. But remember, if a player is on the waiver wire in August, he goes. No pulling back. No trade worked out. So the Twins will run him out as long as they can afford to do so, at the expense of Celestino, Garlick or Miranda. And, whew, what happens if he produces, slams like 20 homers in the last two months at DH and hits .250 or above. Do the Twins (ahem) grab his...option for 2023 and go forward from there?

There are two factors when filling out a major league roster. A guy is a bench player, filling a hole on the roster. A guy is developing in the minors and is brought up to play when a position player goes down, because theya re the future. In this case, we HAD Royce Lewis briefly for Correa. In the first instance, the Twins have had a wide variety of names from Reboulet to Hocking to Adrianza who stepped into a starting role fulltime instead of the future (we could add names like Grossman, Cave and Refsnyder to that list). This year, the Twins bench has settled into GEM level. If you consider that the DH is basically a rotating spot, you have Hamilton (now) as the reserve catcher, Miranda at first or third, Gordon at second/short/outfield, and Garlick and Celestino in the outfield. In reality, if ANY of the bench players start, whomever they are replacing would probably be the DH. Now that will all change when Sano returns, and there are 10 million reasons he has to play. Best at DH. No need to put him ever in the field. Of course, one of the above names will have to depart, and picture it will be between Garlick or Celestino, although IF the Twins would like Miranda to play third/first everyday...just maybe he will go. But everyone has been hitting Sano's weight. So...... A decent luxury for the Twins to have. Especialy with other players being versatile to play elsewhere (Polanco at short, Arraez at second or third, Kirilloff at first). The only BIG change is to keep Sanchez primarily at catcher, and never DH. Can't wait to see if Hamilton has anything in his arsenal.

Be interesting to see where he plays. Complex or Ft. Myers right away? Maybe? Martin jumped right to AA ball with Toronto, and if he was doing a tad better could've been at AAA right now at mid-season. The joy of having the Mussels at the FM complex is that you can get oevrcoached down there.

90 games into the season and now, the All-Star break. The rotation, rather than stablizing, has fallen apart. Even with six (and soon to be seven) arms to choose from. The bullpen seems a shambles. Walks. Home runs. No defined roles. And the Twins one-hit in the batting end. Line-up construction? Not watching enough video? Too hot to play today? Yet the Twins remain in first place with a lead, and 50 wins. We get to NOT follow box scores for the week!

Smeltzer and Winder can both get two starts before a decision has to be made about who to jettison from the bullpen. Nice to have that extra arm in the pen for short starts, right? When Ober returns, that creates a whole 'nother problem. Question: Would you put Jeffers on the 60-day now (or when you have to make the Sano decision)?

Celestino is one of those guys that you think could be a standout centerfielder with a tad more development. He doesn't hit for the power, isn't overly flashy in the field, isn't stealing bases. He hits singles and can move from first to third. But is he better than the Pridie, Grossman, Cave, whatever? Is he wrth his most right now as a potential starter for a team (i.e. Oakland) and if push comes to shove, is there someone else the heir apparant to Buxton when he stops playing center, sadly sooner rather than later. Gordon is that super sub. At some point he prices himself off the team. Would a team trade specifically for him? Probably not. Again, his career is in his hands, how he plays, and every year he will be fighting for a contract. At some point he will egt signed by a rebuilding team and be given an everyday chance to fly high. It will be intresting to see where the Twins go with outfielders. Matt Wallner is on the cusp. Michael Helman could be the backup. The Twins actually have too many spare change outfielders in Garlick, Celestino, Cave, Contreras right now. Kepler looks like he could be a movable piece. larnach has potential to be a tradechip. Depends on what you do with Kirilloff and Miranda and, down-the-line Chrostian Encarcion-Strand. And then we have the Sano elephant in the room. If the guy comes back and hits, he throws the whole 1B/DH situation into a mess if the Twins decide to keep him for one more season.

Interesting topic. First, minor leagues. At one point, the St. Paul Saints would try and sign a marquee player every season, just because...although they usually got the guy on the cheap. A minor league team needs to sell the baseball game experience...two teams of up-and-comers playing to win, surrounded by good food and fun at the ballpark. Plus money to make a profit. In the majors, it is easier to sell a winning team than just a ballgame, especially at the prices they ask for prime seats and games. Out of all the teams in baseball, there are few that can use the tagline "Come and see x-player (let's say Buxton) take on Grienke and he Royals this weekend." Would I pay extra bucks to see either of these plaeyrs in a game (and they better be playing.....). Baseball players are paid, though, as if they are the franchise, the entertainment, the drawing power above and beyond team play, a game of skill and chance, and often hometown pride. The Twins got a helluva a lot of milage out of selling baseball as The Target Field experience, shortchanging the fans with playoff quality on the field. The game was sold as a win-lose environment, and you don't know if it would be fine pitching or a single hit that would change the results from a happy moment to a sad moment. So much of "entertainment" is personality driven. Movies will sell because of whom is playing a role. Doesn't matter so much on television, which needs to get you to come back episode after episode. Music can plug in a superstar voice into a bad musical concert and sell tickets. But how many people go to an orchestra concert because of a specific talent? Sure, a "guest artists" works to keep the season alive. Ultimately baseball is NOT entertainment. It is a skill, a win/lose. Like horse racing, hockey, basketball, football. Like football, it involves a lot of pieces playing together on the field, and one simple mistake and...wow! What a Game! Some find it relaxing. Msot find it like playing baord games with those heated relatives who need to win at all costs. And once you put that win-lose factor into an event, it becomes a match, a fighting match, an us vs. them. Now don't get me started on Town Ball!