I think the problem this offseason falls almost entirely on the Front Office's total failure to anticipate that the period before the lockout would be a frantic Black Friday stampede on the free agent market rather than everyone biding their time to see how the CBA turned out. Every move after the lockout makes sense as an attempt to salvage something with what was still left on the board without spending too much prospect capital.

Those that clamor for free agent mega contract forgot what Winston Churchill once said about history. The FO would appear to know what an expensive crap shoot FA pitching is and the previous GM in franchise history that wanted to up spending to rebuild the franchise.

I can agree about Sanchez. His defense is as advertised, terrible. A couple years back he was a good enough hitter to plug into the DH spot on a fairly regular basis. The last 2 years he looks more like a poor mans version of Sano. K,K, BB,K,FO,HR,K,K.etc 

I'm wondering whether we had to take on Sanchez in order to make the Donaldson deal happen.  As I understand it, he was offered arbitration before the lockout so we or the Yanks couldn't just withdraw the offer.  In any case, his salary isn't overly burdensome.  he just isn't a good fit for our team.

Yeah, Sanchez just came taped to the side of the box. Nothing the Twins could really do there, but now that they've got him they're going to at least see if he works out. He's a 2-time All-Star still on the right side of 30, Roll the dice with the guy, I don't think it's unrealistic to think he could duplicate Garver's numbers if things go right.

Considering the mess the Twins were in at the end of last year (89 losses, no shortstop and no pitching) I think they got pretty creative and did the best they could. They are clearly trying to be competitive, let's see how this works.

One thing I want to point out, the last 2 full season WS winners, not including 2020, where teams that no one expected even near the trade deadline to win it all.  Specifically, last year, the Braves made a bunch of trades to fill holes that all paid off.  That is not common for sure, but the point is, the FO has always pivoted when things were not working if they felt they had a chance.  Last year was such a cluster of fails across the board early on that we had way too big of hole to climb out of. 

That being said, sure we did not bring in established FA pitchers, but history shows that is not the way to build your team on FA starting pitchers, most teams regret the deals they make by the end of the deal.  Unless every young pitcher fails and both Bundy and Archer fails, I think they will be in contention this year.  

Yes, Sanchez does not make much sense, but it was needed to free up Donaldson to sign Correa.  My guess when they traded Garver they did not plan to trade with Yankees, but Yankees most likely offered to take Donaldson for the SS, and the FO figured they could then use the savings to go after Story, who balked at our offer and Correa was the pivot.  

It is like people forget there are 30 teams all looking to do things with rosters and all the FA will just say MN is the place to go if they come calling.  We have minor leaguers too.  We do not see the progress that may have been made or how the team views the young pitchers.  It is fully possible they see the young pitchers as better options than many of the FA out there.  At some point the young guys need a chance, but if we always sign a vet to fill holes they never get that chance. 

Falvey and co. consistently show that high quality pitching does not interest them. 

From passing on Hunter Greene to trading Berrios.

The Twins won their last World Series by developing and aquiring top end pitchers. This regime just wants pitchers to fill out the roster.

Year after year they pursue Donaldsons and Simmons types and ignore pitching collecting also rans and has beens instead and anxiously trading away Graterol, Berrios and Petty. Note that the trade for Graterol trade netted them Maeda but they aquired him expecting him to be a #4 starter, the only type of pitcher they are interested in.

Imagine how good Berrios or Rodon would made this club. Actual ace (or #2) types who you can build your pitching staff around. Instead Gray is our ace. A one to two year rental who we traded a top pitching prospect (Petty) to attain. 

Very nice analysis. I'd add center field insurance and "wtf are they doing holding Miranda back" to the list ...

It seems to me, to be, let's get rid of a lot of good infield-outfield players so we can get fewer good infield-outfield players back.

Pitching?  Watch the movies about those Cricket players that came over from India.

According to actions (which are more important than words) by our FO (ex: Berrios, Pressly), we will only have Gray for 3 months, until the trading deadline - because his contract is up at the end of the next year, and he has to be traded because that will bring the best prospect value. It apparently is not important how the only team that matters is affected, the MLB Twins, it is only important to stockpile redundant players in the minors for the future (that never seems to come). They don't say this, they just do it.