Minnesota Twins Talk

We all know the Twins need help at SS. Currently they have 2 roster spots open on their 40-man roster. Might they potentially take a SS in the Rule 5, whenever it eventually occurs? 3 players that might be of interest: Leonel Valera, LAD Delmon Perez, Cards Livon Soto, LAA Don't know too much about these prospects other that what I can read on the interweb. Any thoughts? Might the Twins take a strong young defensive SS and put up with some hitting weaknesses, as opposed to Simmons at a much higher price but also suffering from hitting deficiencies?

Apparently, the Twins need some pitching next season. Here are some options of players eligible for the (presumably) future Rule 5 Draft, whenever that is held: Daysbel Hernandez, Braves Robinson Pina LAA Garrett Hill Rangers Tim Cate Nat's Tahnaj Thomas Pirates Tommy Doyle Rockies Shawn Semple NYY Brady Feigl A's Manuel Alvarez Guardians Joey Murray Toronto Thoughts? Seems more likely the Twins might take a P vs. a SS in an eventual Rule 5 draft.

Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat have been elected to the Baseball Hall Of Fame, along with Buck O'Neill, Minnie Minoso, Bud Fowler, and Gil Hodges.

See mlbtraderumors as this is breaking there. Twins To Sign Dylan Bundy - MLB Trade Rumors Dan Hayes is the one who broke the news.

Since the Rangers signed two shortstops to long-term deals, maybe the Twins could get Kiner-Falefa from them. I suggest Arraez as the player to be traded. I like Arraez, but trading him for a legit and good defensive shortstop makes sense and also opens a spot for Miranda to make the Opening Day roster.

Not sure I get the first 2 moves. I thought they earned a chance to make a million each next season. That is low cost right?

Who is going to be our new emergency pitcher when we are getting a real butt kicking now?

Is this gonna hurt our ability to trade for a good SP from them?

This was gleaned from a MLBTradeRumors article linking Robbie Ray to the Twins: "Minnesota is perhaps the most interesting of the new teams in the mix. Like the Tigers, the Twins are a revenue-sharing recipient and also the holder of a Competitive Balance Round pick, which could mitigate the draft capital they’d lose to sign Ray." Didn't the Twins shift from 'recipient' to 'donor' with the opening of Target Field? Have revenues dropped (or other teams' increased) to the degree we're back on the "take" side of things? I really don't have more, other than being pretty surprised if it is true.

I can't really take credit for this forecast, for it's an accumulation of insight of this FO given by fans in debates. So here we go. Season opener Line-up OF CF- Cave, he had a bad ST but of coarse spring training don't count RF- Rooker, you gotta love his bat LF- Larnach, he's not quite ready but he'll have to do INF C- Jeffers 3B- Sano 2B- Arraez, that'll make a lot of people happy 1B- Kiriloff SS- Polanco Pitching Filled out with AAAA and Dumpster Diving FA pitchers. Out of this bunch you'll find a gem or two, because as they say " even a blind squirrel will find an acorn or 2" Transactions Wes…

We knew a few days ago that the FA market was hotter than expected despite a looming lockout, and more pitchers continue to come off the board. DeScalafani signed 3/36, Alex Wood signed ~2/20+, Matz is going to sign in the next couple days and the Twins aren't even in on him, and there are rumors Stroman might sign before Thanksgiving too (and the Twins are nowhere to be found in these rumors). The team has no shot at the upper echelon guys like Scherzer, Kershaw, and Gausman, and Robbie Ray seems likely to stay in Toronto. Things are already looking bleak as the market empties and the team has yet to even seriously be connected to any major FA pitcher. They better h…

It's a Christmas miracle!

Looking through many of the posts in this thread, I see many posts that, by my interpretation, boil down to one of these three things: *There’s no chance they resign Buxton* *We’re going to be bottomfeeders for decades thanks to the FO* *Falvine is incompetent* All because of a prediction that Ken Rosenthal made. I respect Rosenthal as much as any MLB analyst, and I’m completely against trading Buxton for the many reasons people have specified. But I wonder if we may be overreacting to all this.

According to MLB Trade Rumors this years Super 2 status was set at 2 years 116 days, which makes Arraez and Minaya arbitration eligible and gives them an extra year of arbitration. This may affect team roster construction, free agent pursuit and tradability of each player. Thoughts? Concerns?

https://www.startribune.com/patrick-reusses-2021-turkey-of-the-year-winner-is/600120620/ One of my favorite articles to read every year... Patrick Reusse's annual Turkey of the Year article on Thanksgiving is always worth checking out. This year, he does mention a few potential candidates... What do you think about his candidates and ultimate choice?

Another words the ability to adapt to your situation. In Baseball, there's nothing like the confrontation between pitcher/ hitter. To be successful, you either need to constantly adapt to the other strong points and find their weak points, always looking for an edge. In 2019 with the juiced ball the hitters had the advantage, successful pitchers adapted. In 2020, pitching had the edge because of the short season and some HR hitters had difficulty to adjust off the juiced ball. https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/02/09/baseball-changes-dead-ball-era In 2021, the ball became deader and it showed in the beginning of the season where many no-hitters were thrown. Some of th…

Do the Twins over value defense at shortstop? In an era of more strikeouts, shifting and more fly balls is it as important as 10 years ago? Using team UZR at SS as a reference the difference between the best team and worst team in 2011 was 29. There were 8 teams in double digits. Fast forward 10 years and the range is 12.2. There are no double digit teams. The best team in 2021 would have ranked 11th in 2011. The worst 23rd. Is signing a defense first SS a mistake? I am not certain team UZR is the best way to measure impact of defense at SS. I can add that in 2011 there were 10087 plays made at SS. In 2021 that number was 7142. There are less opportunities for a defe…

All these threads, pipe dreams, about signing top free agents, I don't get it. Free agents should be an add to a solid team, which the Twins are on the margin of, but not really. I really believe the best teams are predominantly home grown: the Twins championship teams are an example. The great Yankees teams of recent years had a solid homegrown core, like wise the Red Sox, Giants. Draft and develop is still the best way for a middle market team to succeed. I'd love to see the Twins take an aggressive approach to promotion of prospects instead of signing AAAA fodder filler like the bullpen of 2021. Draft them then give them a chance dammit. I trul…

I'm not sure this has been corrected elsewhere but Jake Cave's contract is guaranteed according to Spotrac. He took the guaranteed money rather than go for more in arbitration, like Wisler 2 years ago. Only arbitration salaries are not guaranteed (not arbitration-eligible). Jake Cave signed a 1 year / $800,000 contract with the Minnesota Twins, including $800,000 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $800,000. In 2022, Cave will earn a base salary of $800,000, while carrying a total salary of $800,000. https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/minnesota-twins/jake-cave-18466/

The off season is going much faster than last year, but don't worry the FO shows patience. Snydergaard signs with the Angels, Rodriguez signs with the Tigers, Verlander signs with the Astros, Graveman signs with White Sox - but don't worry. We waited out Berrios and he is now a Blue Jay for a contract we should have offered, but didn't because the team is patient. The Rays sign Wander Franco to a long contract keeping their home grown star, but we are being patient with Buxton, our home grown star and will wish him well wherever he goes. The Giants keep DeSclafani and sign Loup. But be patient. The Dodgers sign Heaney - but don't worry, there are more …

With signs pointing toward a likely Byron Buxton trade, it's safe to say that realistically competing in 2022 is not happening. That said, shopping around Jorge Polanco isn't that far fetched if the front office has their focus on 2023 and beyond. I posed this trade a few weeks ago on MLB Trade Rumors chat with Anthony Franco. For those not aware, Noelvi Marte, currently a shortstop, is a consensus top 15 prospect in all of baseball. Plenty of reports out there if you wanna read up on him. Matt Brash is a starter that broke out this year and sky rocketed up "Top 100" lists at the end of the season. While he is a bit lesser known compared to a Geo…

We only had Luis Tiant for the 1970 year when he won 7 of his 229 victories. He had played six years for the Indians before we got him and the next 8 years he was a Red Sox. Luis would have been a great part of our history if we had held on to him. Baseball Almanac writes, "Luis Tiant was a three-time All-Star ( 1968, 1974, 1976 ), who led the American League in shutouts three times (1966, 1968, 1974), and struck out 200+ batters three years (1967, 1968, 1973). Tiant pitched for six different teams during his nineteen year career and his uniform number always contained a number three." Correction below - his dad played 10 years in the Negro Leagues. He was colorful, h…

I thought the Caveman deserved his own thread! Many are probably wondering why the Twins would sign Jake Cave today. After all, he was already under team control for 2022 as a first-time arbitration-eligible player, and arbitration contracts don't have to be tendered until December or actually arbitrated/signed until January. It appears the Twins leveraged the possibility of dropping Cave to protect a Rule-5-eligible minor leaguer today, to get Cave to sign a reduced contract now. Cave was estimated to receive a $1.1 mil award in arbitration, per MLB Trade Rumors. So by signing him for $800k instead, the Twins potentially save about $300k, and we likely just DFA…

Thoughts and justifications

I honestly don't understand what the hell is going on over at 1 Twins Way right now. While I was mildly in favor of the Berríos trade at the time, that trade is a lot harder to swallow in light of Jose signing on through most of the rest of his career for $120m. This front office didn't hesitate to give an obviously aging Josh Donaldson $95m so what the hell was the holdup with giving Jose, a hometown star, $25m more over a bunch more seasons that will see him exit the contract at roughly the same age Donaldson was when he signed his contract? Never mind the apparent cluster**** with Buxton right now. We've heard rumblings over $100m being a sticking point, whic…

Long time devoted twins fan. If they don’t resign Byron, I’m done with the Twins for good. Not just saying that, I’m stubborn and I will be totally done.

doing some play by play for college basketball on btn.

We need high level. Major league young starter plus two other minor league players close to majors.

Take it or be traded. Injured for extend periods EVER YEAR. NOT WORTH MORE. TRADE HIS ASS IF NOT ACCEPTED. THAT S just my take

I wasn't planning to do one of these - the free agent class was too deep, with too many choices to make; the Twins roster needed too much work; it was just as easy not to care after a disappointing season. Then other teams started making moves and players started coming off the board, discussions of free agents and trades in the threads here brought up intriguing questions, and I remembered that indulging my half-baked ideas in this exercise had literally no real-world consequences! Case in point: I posted an original version of this that ran the 40-man roster up to 43 players, and had to edit the plan in several places after realizing that. Anyway, I tried to p…