bighat

Agreed. Kepler's value is about as low as its ever been, so trading him now just doesn't make any sense.

I know what you mean, and that's not being negative...'dems just the facts. His inability to hit the ball hard or pull the ball were very evident last year. By late summer, it was almost guaranteed that if Celestino made contact, it was going to be a little flare the other way. He definitely has some skills, but I'd say he a significant amount of time re-learning how to turn on a ball and make hard contact. He's still a valuable piece for this team, but there are adjustments that need to be made. "As-is", he's not really MLB caliber.

My first thought upon seeing the Smeltzer news was that he's a perfect example of an AAAA guy. Nice guy to have on a shuttle, especially in July if you're looking to get your aces a day off here and there. Smeltzer was the last surviving piece of the Brian Dozier trade (with Luke Raley and Kevin Forsyth both being long gone). The guy's carved out a nice career for himself. Well done indeed.

Be honest: who had Nick Gordon and Jose Miranda on their bingo cards as the meat & potatoes of the Twins lineup for the 2nd half of the '22 season? Give them credit, when everyone else went down and the team was spiraling, they went out there every day and gave it their all. Both have spent their entire careers within the organization and both are great examples of the talent the Twins can produce from the farm system. Seem like great people as well. Looking forward to seeing a lot of both of them in '23. Bold prediction: Gordon is going to grab that starting RF job in Spring Training.

We may be seeing a lot more of Taylor this year than anyone here is predicting. This is far more than an "emergency outfielder", he's immediately going to be a big part of the OF rotation. Think about it: Larnach gets off to a slow start or aggravates an injury in training camp and begins the year in AAA. Gallo goes into a deep slump. Buxton is relegated to DH 3 games per week, so we're seeing Taylor basically in a timeshare with Buxton out there, and he's giving Gordon a rest in left field once or twice a week as well. Bold prediction: Taylor gets 400 AB this year in a Twins uniform.

Yeah I hear you, it's just that he wasn't lighting the world on fire before COVID either. Compare him to Noah Miller - both high school infielders, but coming out of the gate they've performed much differently. That said, maybe you're right. With the promotion to Cedar Rapids this year and a chance to make AA, 2023 is probably going to be a major lynchpin in Cavaco's career.

What are the odds Cavaco ever puts on an MLB jersey? He was one of those really young guys we were told to "be patient" on, but he's been in the system for 5 years now and has been pretty much below average the whole time. Kind of a sad story, really. Will be very interesting to see how Petty turns out. Hard to tell at this point, I don't really have a guess either way. Lee is the most exciting 1st round pick since Royce Lewis. Speaking of Lewis, if I had to bet on any of them having a great career, he's the one I'd take. Can't wait to see him at Target Field in June. Fingers crossed.

I know WHY they do it, but it produces horrible results for the real fans of the game. It's an embarrassment at best and a dumpster fire at worst. I'm telling you, there will come a day when MLB will be letting fans choose "fastball" or "curveball" for each pitch, via TikTok LIVE voting during playoff games.

Thanks for this article. Like many of a certain age, I was initially against allowing robot umps into the game. But over the past few years I've done a 180 and can't wait to see this technology in action. Personally I can't WAIT to see what guys do when they get called out on a 3rd strike and instinctively turn back to complain to the ump. What are they going to do now? I'd actually like to see more technology in sports. For example, football could get sensors in the ball that would give refs a more accurate idea where the ball should be marked. Refs and umps everywhere should be embracing this technology as opposed to pushing back! I'd also like to see All-Star teams picked by an agreed-upon computer algorithm. The fan voting for the MLB ASG is perhaps the biggest joke in all of professional sports and I hope to be alive when it's banned!

Technically, another way to compete would be to spend like the Mets, Yankees, and Dodgers. While the Twins will always have a disadvantage being located in an undesirable market, they can spend as much $$$ as any other team if they league, if they wanted. So could the Pirates and Royals for that matter.

Anyone know a good recipe for crow? I'll be eating some shortly and I'm looking for some zesty ideas.

Ain't gonna happen folks. Minnesota is flyover country, the team's going nowhere, and players have no desire to play here. The Twins are the proverbial unpopular kid hoping to get asked to the school prom by the star quarterback. Is it theoretically possible? I guess so. But getting your hopes up for something like this will only lead to crushing disappointment. Best to face reality and resign yourself to the fact that Brandon Belt and Michael Wacha are the best we're gonna get.

Wow, what a whirlwind of a night for Mr. Correa! Glad the Twins didn't get back in on that. There was just no way this deal would ever be reasonable. Question: where does Lindor play now? 2B?

Jeffers will be 26 next season. There's no more room for development with this guy, same goes for Larnach and Kirilloff. There are a lot of polished major leaguers at their ages. The pitchers are much better at the game than previous generations, and there are a lot of hitters that are better as well. But insinuating that Ryan Michael Jeffers is light years better than an everyday catcher from the 70s, 80s, or 90s is borderline slander.

You're not wrong. I'm a generation younger than you are and I agree with all of this. The problem is that the fascination with advanced metrics has gone too far. We've got guys who are getting millions based on things like "barrel % rate" or "OPS +" or "WOBA" - meanwhile they are hitting .180 and striking out half the time. The way people talk about Ryan Jeffers on this site, you'd think he was Johnny Bench. Take a look at the guy's stats. If he came along between 1946-2006 he'd have been out of a job by now. He can't even throw out runners! Don't get me wrong: I totally see the value in the advanced metrics and think they are fascinating. It's a great way to find some hidden gems or some players who might be on their way to having breakout seasons. But that doesn't mean we should throw stats like batting average and RBI out the window. Alas, all too often criticism like this is considered "old men yelling at clouds" and dismissed. Oh well. Such is life. As we get older, things change, and we just so happen to be alive to watch baseball go through some bumps in the road as the sport makes a significant strategic adjustment here in the 2020s.

Twins big free agent signing is a Miguel Sano clone who hits left handed - can't make this stuff up. These one year deals for project-types are getting old.

LOL, reminds me of the "What'd I miss" posts in the game threads.

I think a major, major problem that pro sports have (especially baseball) is that these contracts are all so unrelatable. Who among us can imagine turning down 35 million dollars (which Correa did when he opted out of his contract this year), let alone 285 million? It just doesn't compute. It's like talking about the distance of Alpha Centauri from earth and then comparing it to the distance of Procyon. The numbers are just too big, it's impossible to wrap your brain around the data. Let's put it this way: if Carlos Correa lives until he's 85, he'd have to spend about $20,000 PER DAY in order to use up that 350 million bucks. And that's imagining if he just took a lump sum of cash and put it under his bed - clearly, he's going to have a lot of that money working on his behalf, including investments, property, etc and so it's probably more like 50k or even 100k per day when it's all said and done. It's almost literally impossible to ever spend that kind of money in his lifetime. Like, even if he took the Twins' $285 million contract, the Correa family would be set up for hundreds of years, like the Rockefellers or Vanderbilts. But he took MORE than that. It's just ridiculous. I dunno. Maybe it's because it's the holiday season, and I currently volunteer to deliver food and donations to rural immigrant families. There are so many in this country and abroad who face economic peril, or at least economic uncertainty in their lives. And I know that's not Carlos Correa's fault. Or anyone's fault, really. BUT, reading about this deal and thinking about how Correa said "You have to shop at Dior" or whatever it was he said, just makes me feel like I need to take a shower.

Kirilloff, Larnach and Wallner aren't exactly Acuna, Harper and Judge. The Twins don't have a "loaded outfield". Last year we had Jake Cave and Mark Contreras starting there half the time. Can we please stop pretending? Just because we wish it were true, doesn't mean it is.

Twins already have one catcher hitting .202, probably best that we go after the guy (Vazquez) who hit .274, don't you think?

Good luck, Steve! Those games in New York and LA will certainly be a nice change of pace from the hustle and bustle of the Corn Palace.

The "trade Polanco" chant has come up every off-season for the past 3 years. The Twins have gambled on a few guys, giving them affordable long term contracts: Sano, Kepler, Dobnak and Polanco. It could be argued that the Polanco contract was the only one that worked out in the Twins' favor. The guy is capable in the infield, he can carry the team with his bat when he gets hot....and he's got a team-friendly contract. News flash: those are the guys you KEEP. No way the Twins trade him, and I have no idea why this sick fantasy keeps popping into some fans' heads.

If the Twins don't sign anyone else this winter, we'll find a way to convince ourselves that Mahle's an ace.

Many of these outfits mimic what a generic "Minnesota" team would look like in a baseball video game that didn't have MLB rights. Like, you can tell it's supposed to be the Twins but it's generic enough to pass any legal scrutiny. The away blues and grays (along with the home blues) are very uninspired. The "M" hat is very bad, especially when you pair it with those blue or gray tops. I like the home whites, the creams, and both versions of the "TC" hats.

Marlins-inspired "M" hats need to go. It's not "minimalist", it's unimaginative. I like the two home jerseys (is the "Twin Cities" a "city connect" jersey only?) and I'm especially digging the all-white letters on those TC hats that compliment that uniform. Standard home whites are great. No home blues?