IMO Ober should be in the pen, at least until we need another starter. He would lengthen the pen and with something deceptive about his delivery, should be very good there. Going 2 innings or so a couple times a week would also reduce the injuries, which there is a history of for him.

I really like this, with one exception: Jettison Megill and add Ober to pen. 1) Megill is terrible. 2) Staff could use a swing man to plug rotation, and Ober is the right choice here. 3) Ober proved his worth. He deserves to stick. 

6 minutes ago, Steve55436 said:

I really like this, with one exception: Jettison Megill and add Ober to pen. 1) Megill is terrible. 2) Staff could use a swing man to plug rotation, and Ober is the right choice here. 3) Ober proved his worth. He deserves to stick. 

Welcome to TD!

Excellent take on things. The only place I disagree with you is Randy Dobnak, If he is healthy and the need arises I think he goes right behind Ober. There paying him 1.5 million this year so If he's healthy and pitching well and the team needs a starter hes going to be used. Also you are absolutely right about Caitlin Clark, She's a human highlight show all by herself.

I love this!  I am high on Julien but lets cool the jets a bit.  He has less than 800 minor league at bats and has never played AAA yet.  Also, if healthy all Spring, Ober will be one of the 5 starters in the rotation.

Interesting overview.

Pitching makes perfect sense to me.

Everyday guys. Here we go again…….

Gordon played 6% of last year’s games in IF……..only because we were out of bodies and he was still standing. He started 60% of the games in OF ……40% in LF & 20% in CF. (I see it growing to 50% in LF & 30% in CF in ‘23) Don’t see how a guy has BA that’s 3rd or 4th on roster in ‘22 & has 28 doubles in 405 AB’s …..plays OF in first real full season in SHOW …..starts 2/3 of games on schedule & is slated as our 6th infielder in ‘23?

1B is Kirilof/Miranda/Gallo

Farmer will play 30 games v. LH pitching at 3B, while Miranda moves to 1B. When Miranda - CC - Polanco rest, that’s another 25 starts each IF everyone stays healthy. 

I can’t believe that FO would expect Taylor to play CF in front of Gordon v. RH pitching!

Taylor is an INSURANCE policy against major health issues. He’s the CF v. LH pitching while Buxton DH’s…..30 games. Buxton tries to start 80 games in CF. Gordon starts 50 games in CF. Taylor pinch hits v. LH pitching - pinch runs - late inning Defense as needed. A true utility player!

Larnach is DH - some LF. Gallo is some LF 30 games…..RF 50 games…….1B 20 games…….DH 15-20 games. Kepler is 110 games in RF.

Everyone plays 110 - 135 games except Taylor & Jeffers…..maybe 75 games & 55 games respectively.

10 minutes ago, miracleb said:

I love this!  I am high on Julien but lets cool the jets a bit.  He has less than 800 minor league at bats and has never played AAA yet.  Also, if healthy all Spring, Ober will be one of the 5 starters in the rotation.

Who will be the other 4 starters if Ober is one of the 5? 

1 hour ago, Steve55436 said:

I really like this, with one exception: Jettison Megill and add Ober to pen. 1) Megill is terrible. 2) Staff could use a swing man to plug rotation, and Ober is the right choice here. 3) Ober proved his worth. He deserves to stick. 

Megill is bad? Um Pagan is Horrible. Would be glad to see both not on our roster and bring some of the good young arms up and get them experience. Have a distinct feeling that Maeta will be moved to a pitching starved team.. and there will be many!! 

4 hours ago, Karbo said:

IMO Ober should be in the pen, at least until we need another starter. He would lengthen the pen and with something deceptive about his delivery, should be very good there. Going 2 innings or so a couple times a week would also reduce the injuries, which there is a history of for him.

First, keep in mind that this is what I think will happen, not necessarily what I think should happen.

In reality, I don't see too many people doing the bounce-back-and-forth thing between the rotation and bullpen. In addition, I did a lookback a few weeks ago to see when they've first used their No. 6 pitcher and, on average, it was something like April 15. With a guy like Ober that's had some injury issues, I think they will want to have him on a predictable throwing schedule (including on off days), which is much easier to do as a starter.

That April 15 date also doesn't take into account the possibility of one of the Group 1 starters not making it to Opening Day. Let's please not have that happen, but it's a pretty common occurrence across MLB.

So with that, I think there's at least a 50/50 chance he'll be needed to start a game by mid-April, so I'd rather send him to St. Paul for a start or even two before that's needed, in order to keep him at starter length.

See also my next comment. 

2 hours ago, Steve55436 said:

I really like this, with one exception: Jettison Megill and add Ober to pen. 1) Megill is terrible. 2) Staff could use a swing man to plug rotation, and Ober is the right choice here. 3) Ober proved his worth. He deserves to stick. 

I don't disagree with you on Ober deserving to stick. I just think that if health allows, he'll be the odd man out. However, given history across MLB, he won't be out for long. He'll start for the Twins by mid-April, late-April at the least. And if he's still stuck in St. Paul because the other five guys stayed healthy (and effective), that's an awesome problem to have!

HOWEVER, if they decide that a guy who has never exceeded 108 innings in a season is unlikely to last as a starter, so they want to move him to the bullpen, then sure, put him in Group 6 or 7 and have that long man.

But don't put him in the bullpen with the hopes of bringing him back as a starter. And I realize that you didn't specify that part. If you're meaning move him to the bullpen full time, I don't fully disagree, but I suspect the Twins aren't there yet.  

Oh, and I do put Megill on the Short Leash List. I like his career 3.16 SO/W ratio, his 3.29 FIP from last year and his ability to go more than an inning, which he did on several occasions, but I could easily see him as a DFA candidate if he gets off to a rocky start and they feel like there are St. Paul options. He's also in the group with an option, so he could be sent down as easily as dropped. 

2 hours ago, Steve55436 said:

I really like this, with one exception: Jettison Megill and add Ober to pen. 1) Megill is terrible. 2) Staff could use a swing man to plug rotation, and Ober is the right choice here. 3) Ober proved his worth. He deserves to stick. 

And yes, welcome to TD!

2 hours ago, Ricky Vaughn said:

Excellent take on things. The only place I disagree with you is Randy Dobnak, If he is healthy and the need arises I think he goes right behind Ober. There paying him 1.5 million this year so If he's healthy and pitching well and the team needs a starter hes going to be used. Also you are absolutely right about Caitlin Clark, She's a human highlight show all by herself.

I wasn't sure what to do with Dobnak. WIth the contract, I could agree with you, or maybe even slot him in before Ober. The only thing that holds Dobnak back is the need to open a 40-man spot.

We're not privy to these conversations, but I wonder if a part of his accepting the minor league assignment was a commitment from the team to give him one of the first shots if he's healthy.

As to Caitlin, I've had more fun watching Iowa women's basketball this season than any team (any gender. any sport) over the past few years. Living in Indiana, I've only been able to see three games in person this year, but I'm fortunate to have a work trip scheduled to the Iowa City area over the first weekend of NCAA tournament. I've been watching my email to jump on tickets as soon as they are available. Last season they started selling with a few weeks left in the regular season, when it was pretty clear they had a good shot of hosting. With only four games left (two against top 10 teams), I think it's almost a given they are going to host. The selection committee is smart enough to know they'll get a sellout if Iowa hosts.

1 hour ago, miracleb said:

I love this!  I am high on Julien but lets cool the jets a bit.  He has less than 800 minor league at bats and has never played AAA yet.  Also, if healthy all Spring, Ober will be one of the 5 starters in the rotation.

Agree on a strong preference to Julien to get time in AAA. 

Interesting that amidst my typing comments, I see this post regarding the Twins rotation: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/?s=ober. I have wondered about a six-man rotation if all are healthy. The downside is that it shortens the bullpen. Otherwise, I see the health of the other starters being the primary determinant of whether he starts in the Twins rotation vs. the one in St. Paul.

3 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

Interesting overview.

Pitching makes perfect sense to me.

Everyday guys. Here we go again…….

Gordon played 6% of last year’s games in IF……..only because we were out of bodies and he was still standing. He started 60% of the games in OF ……40% in LF & 20% in CF. (I see it growing to 50% in LF & 30% in CF in ‘23) Don’t see how a guy has BA that’s 3rd or 4th on roster in ‘22 & has 28 doubles in 405 AB’s …..plays OF in first real full season in SHOW …..starts 2/3 of games on schedule & is slated as our 6th infielder in ‘23?

1B is Kirilof/Miranda/Gallo

Farmer will play 30 games v. LH pitching at 3B, while Miranda moves to 1B. When Miranda - CC - Polanco rest, that’s another 25 starts each IF everyone stays healthy. 

I can’t believe that FO would expect Taylor to play CF in front of Gordon v. RH pitching!

Taylor is an INSURANCE policy against major health issues. He’s the CF v. LH pitching while Buxton DH’s…..30 games. Buxton tries to start 80 games in CF. Gordon starts 50 games in CF. Taylor pinch hits v. LH pitching - pinch runs - late inning Defense as needed. A true utility player!

Larnach is DH - some LF. Gallo is some LF 30 games…..RF 50 games…….1B 20 games…….DH 15-20 games. Kepler is 110 games in RF.

Everyone plays 110 - 135 games except Taylor & Jeffers…..maybe 75 games & 55 games respectively.

I probably wasn't as clear as I could have been. I agree that Gordon may end up actually playing more games in the OF than IF, particularly given that Correa and Polanco are perhaps the two most likely guys on the roster to play 140+ games.

I put Gordon in group B because he CAN play the infield, whereas the other OFs are OF/1B-only. That and because I could see Julien being the callup if Gordon is the one injured, particularly if it's a short stint and they don't want to use a 40-man spot for a Willi Castro-type. 

My post was more about roster makeup than actual usage, but I think your take on this being a roster that's designed to have a lot of guys in the 110-140 range of games played is right on. I extend a bit on the top end, primarily for Correa and Polanco (and maybe Miranda, if he continues to progress). Based on past patterns, I think catcher will be pretty close to a 80/80 split if both are healthy. Maybe as far as 90/70, but not too far outside of that.

I’m in South Bend, your location in Indiana?

7 hours ago, Steve55436 said:

I really like this, with one exception: Jettison Megill and add Ober to pen. 1) Megill is terrible. 2) Staff could use a swing man to plug rotation, and Ober is the right choice here. 3) Ober proved his worth. He deserves to stick. 

Megill looks horrible, but he has decent stuff. Is he  headcase or just doesn't know how to pitch. His mom is nice looking too!😉

Nit pick. Very unlikely that the Twins will give Canterino MLB time and salary by putting him on the 60-day IL. They can and will do so for Lewis and Paddack if space is needed on the 40-man and active roster.

Danny Coulombe could provide a third lefty and take one of the 40-man spots now held by Paddack/Lewis. Not flashy, but pretty good since the Twins picked him up. 

I'm not sold on Megill either, but he has a high-velo fastball and a big loopy curve. He seemed to fall in love with one or the other when pitching for the Twins with less than satisfactory results. Coulombe could probably take his place or if the Twins want a multiple inning guy in his place, that makes sense and Henriquez could fill and fit that role. 

Ober is another possibility, either as the sixth guy in the rotation (only lasted three weeks that way last year) or a swing man waiting for an opportunity in the rotation. I am not in the camp of converting Ober to the bullpen unless it is deemed that he has a better chance of avoiding the IL by converting.