wabene

If trading Polo, of course along with others, can help get us some quality starting pitching, sign me up. I love Polo, the guy has a great bat when healthy and I think this off-season he is healthy. The contract with the team option has good value. Just get a good starter so Louie can champ at the bit in St Paul awaiting his chance and honing his pitches.

As we saw last year anything can happen in the MLB playoffs in spite of the unfair financial structure. Just another reason why I love baseball. The Wolves have the best current team, but they are the Wolves so, yep, not happening, lol. The Wild are about to get out of the ridiculous cap hell they've been saddled with, have one of the highest rated prospect groups, a good coach and GM. They are my second pick. Of course I'm taking the Twins!!!

Breaking the streak and winning a playoff series, yes even the wildcard, gives them my vote. They sent another team home for the winter. They were frustrating at times, but they did the franchise a large service with their performance down the stretch and in the playoffs. The rookies were fun too.

Unless some of the young guys miraculously develop into useful players over the off-season, count this squad as gutted.

I probably have less concern with the coaching staff than the GM. The drafts before KAM got here were not great, the team got top heavy and old, KAM's drafts have been lacking and now they are in a tough spot. Zimmer had some good teams and talent, but since about the time they started paying Kirk, the margin for error shrunk and the poor to middling drafting and payroll structure gutted the team.

Oh I'm a Viking fan, but since Kirk went down and after the flirtation with Dobbs petered out, it is clear they are going nowhere. It was clear before that really, so I have decided not to get hyped up on them. Even last year it was a fun ride, but I didn't really believe they were going anywhere. This team needs a talent injection.

Do people really care?

Look I want this team to lose tonight so they are fulfilling my wishes. When they drafted Hall my question was if you are going to grab a developmental QB, why not get one that has an arm? Dobbs, Mullins and Hall all have pea shooters, SMH.

Don't all these QB's make you miss Cousin's arm, lol.

👍👍👍👍

Just catch the damn ball

Mr Nelson always has a bright outlook on all things Twins. The kind of guy it would be fun to have a few beers with and watch a game. Knowledgeable but upbeat. This article is no exception as these are all valid points worth considering. It is easy to rehash the doom and gloom surrounding Buxton's health, but is it enjoyable? Last year the diagnosis was patella tendonitis. They did some cleanup, drained some fluid and rehabbed it. It did not improve. This year they are saying he had an irritated plica and they cut out the purposeless tissue. There are three pertinent things reported about this procedure. It has only a 6 week recovery. It has a very high success rate. It is hard to diagnose and it's often confused with patella tendonitis. I'm optimistic Buxton will have a bounce back season. I'm sure he wants a long career and the new training staff will have him focusing towards that end and less on explosiveness. Of course my optimism is of the cautious variety.

The home of Skyline Chili is outclassing the land of tater tot hot dish.

Only about half the people like strikeouts. They are the catcher, the pitcher, the players behind the pitcher, the people in the pitcher's dugout and the fans of that pitcher. Oh and the pitcher's pals in the bullpen.

Maybe it would be better to have him ride the Twins winter caravan and learn how to navigate this rumored substance.

I think the ship has sailed on Kepler playing significant innings in center. It was mentioned that it would weaken other positions and I agree, but playing Castro there full-time reduces his impact as a versatile utility guy. The guy looked great at many positions. If the roster stands pat and Buxton goes down for any length of time, somebody besides Castro will be needed. Martin? Could be fun, but given his track record that is a gamble. Gordon? Even if he does hit he is not a center fielder. Lewis is probably the best center fielder they have besides a healthy Buxton, but I doubt they would do that. If Lee is looking ready it does make sense.

I wouldn't be embarrassed, I think they just took one look at your strapping build and thought you must need red meat to fuel the beast.

Sounds expensive. They need more depth, get it now. I'll take the liberty of letting @DocBauerspeak for me, "And I couldn't care less if the next quality SP for the Twins was 22yo or 26yo. I only care how good they are." it seems to me with the odds of drafting and developing a blue chip starter being what they are this front office likes to supplement that with developing projectable later round types which may take longer to get there. So they start at a little older age, does that really matter?

Double post.

Wallner has a cannon for an arm which is what you want in a right fielder because of the long throw to 3rd base. Gun em down baby!

Wait a sec, ski season hasn't even started yet

So Louie is a finished product? He has no chance of improving?

Yes they will not stray from a 5 man rotation. That was shown last year amid all the calls for piggy backing etc.

My problem with that is starting pitching is the most valuable and hard to develop major league asset. Like the quarterback in football. I don't think you can just snap your fingers and switch a young guy from relieving to starting in May. "Just stretch him out". It's not that easy. Let Louie focus singularly on his dream of being a starter. If the results are middling and the need is there, he can always move to the pen for the stretch run. It is much easier to go from starting to the pen than vice versa. As for wasting innings in AAA, Ober got 25 starts last year even after being sent down for a while. Louie will get his chance and he will be hungry. My 2¢.

There appear to be 2 camps here so I don't think this is between you and I. I will respond to your post though. I do not see the depth you do. I'm looking for major league quality depth, this is supposed to be a contender. I do see the Twins trading for a major league starter, hopefully a top of the rotation arm, but that will be expensive. Then maybe a minor league signing bounce back candidate like De Leon, that would be your number 6. I would argue any starter that fits this mold is clearly behind Louie and this is why Louie is my number 6. You are not going to get anyone better than that to sign a minor league deal. That is exactly why a good team will have a quality young arm with options "wasting his bullets" in AAA. Let's look at our depth behind the top 5 including that trade acquisition: L. Varland has not had the injury issues of many of our starter candidates and is highly motivated to start. A bulldog. The fastball/cutter at 99-98 & 92-91 is lights out. Can he make it work at 96-95 & 90-89? If he is a #3 or better starter, forget about the pen. Duran is not starting because he couldn't hold up to a starter's work load, that's not Louie. SWR has pitched in the majors, has the pedigree and is now entering the early part of his prime (still young), so even though his results have been spotty, he has a chance. Solid depth. David Festa has the stuff to be a starter for a few innings, then he gasses out. The string bean needs to build up stamina and get stronger. He is not quite solid depth, more unproven depth. If he can't make it as a starter, he looks good in the pen to me. That's it. After this you have to reach down to AA or below? Pierson Ohl, Andrew Morris, C J Culpeper, Corey Lewis, Zebby Matthews? Maybe one of these guys jumps up and makes a couple of good starts. Maybe. Dobnak? Would be a fun story, but it's a fairytale. Raya? Not yet anyway. After that I would put Hendrick next for what's left at AAA, but after 2 good long relief outings the wheels fell off. Starter? Very iffy. I'm sure I'm missing somebody and they will add, but the depth is not what it was last year. So far anyway.