Minnesota Twins Talk

I don’t remember this guy being discussed here. Shintaro Fujinami is a 28 year old RHP who hits triple digits but has some control issues. I don’t think there is likely to be a huge bidding war for this guy. Kenta Maeda is coming back and maybe could be a mentor for his compatriot. Looks like a potential bullpen arm.

Trevor Bauer's Suspension Reduced To 194 Games; Bauer Reinstated, Effective Immediately - MLB Trade Rumors View full rumor

Big Trade Alert: This is with a trade I proposed in a forum about improving 3B, which you can find here. I proposed a trade for Rafael Devers that sent Luis Arraez and Max Kepler plus a player to be named later back to the Red Sox. As for Carlos Correa, I made a super outlandish and unrealistic proposal for a 3 year, $90mil deal similar to the one he signed with the Twins prior to the 2022 season. With his injury concerns, I figure that high average, short contracts are in the future for Correa. Joey Gallo replaces Max Kepler in RF, although he could also slide into LF easily. I added veterans Michael Fulmer and Will Smith to fill in the back end of the b…

Of course, we play in the central, so it's always going to be close, and I'm not saying the current roster is bad. This offseason has been very disappointing, and not signing Correa, and somehow missing on him twice after the Giants debacle really stings. But just look at our roster. Does this team beat the Guardians to the division title? Who has better pitching? Guardians. Who has the better lineup? Guardians. That is where we should be. But just looking at our team, I see a lot of unproven young players who have a lot of potential, players who can break out and have amazing seasons, but right now? I don't trust this team. I don't trust the front office, nor management.…

This front office came on after the 2016 season. Their first draft was in 2017. The first year a player could even conceivably come up and play is 2019, but that's a stretch, isn't it? But, to be harsh, let's look at starting pitchers that have come up in the last four years! For 2019, 2021, and 2022….I filtered on 50 innings pitched. For 2020, I filtered on 30 innings pitched. Let’s look a bit at each year. 2019. 28 rookie starting pitchers went at least 50 innings. Two were drafted after 2016, and one was an international signing. So, the Twins had a shot at three of them. 2020 Uh, odd year, but what the hey. 19 guys pitched at least 30 inni…

The Giants and Mets have both put a hold on free agent offers to Carlos Correa after a physical. The rumor is he has some condition in his leg, maybe related to a 2014 surgery on his right leg. The Twins signed Carlos Correa to a free agent contract in March 2022, and he had a physical. So logically, it seems like there can only be three things that happened with the Twins and Correa: He wasn't injured when they signed him. Whatever this medical condition is, it didn't exist nine months ago when the Twins signed him. Even if the injury is related to a long-ago leg surgery, maybe the deterioration wasn't to the point of being detectable in March, but now it has re…

Everyone here at Twins Daily, Have a blessed Christmas!

I'm sure nobody wants to hear about Carlos Correa anymore so I apologize in advance for beating this dead horse, however I feel like the real issue at stake here is whether or not ownership and the front office intentionally mislead Twins fans about this situation. And if so, what consequences does that have in the future on how we as fans can even trust anything they say regarding their conduct in the free agent market. I want to layout my case here and see what other people think. First there was this pioneer press article where the following was stated: Second here is the sentiment from Derek Falvey: So both ownership and the front office said mul…

Would you? Why or why not?

I'm not sure what people expect. I also don't agree that filling the front of the line from outside doesn't count as filling the pipeline. Let's look at the Twins pitching pipeline..... The goal is to have good pitchers, if you draft them, sign free agents, or trade for them. An obsession over how they fill the pipeline seems like it is looking at reasons not to like or to like a FO, rather than looking at if they have good pitchers. Zero players drafted in the last two years are in the majors, they haven't had 6+ years to fill the MLB roster. Zero minor league pitchers that they inherited are good starting pitchers anywhere in the majors. Outside Twins' territo…

Really, really disappointed to see Myers signed today. His deal was, IIRC, less than $8M with some incentives and options. VERY affordable deal! It still appears Kepler will be moved to make room for a hopeful resurgence of Gallo and the remaining glut...though a talented glut...of other LH options. But who's the RH option? Garlick is what they're willing to roll with? Honestly, who's left? Maybe I'm missing someone, but the only options I see left are Pollack or Profar. I have to be honest, I haven't had time to look at Profar's splits, as I wasn't sure he was the right fit, and it was reported Houston was hot on his trail. I know a lot of people…

These are some random thoughts I had this past week: The FO won't sign an elite player to a deal for more than a year or two. That puts them out on most elite players. They also won't sign the next tier down. The lone exception in THE HISTORY of the team is Donaldson, and he was traded after two years. However, I don't put this on the FO. If EVERY FO acts the same way for the history of your team, it is on the owners that hire them. Need more yachts, y'all. This FO is different then the Ryan one (and more like the McPhail one), though. This FO will trade prospects for vets. This has worked, and not worked so far. I think the FO is about median/averag…

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/12/twins-designate-mark-contreras-for-assignment.html View full rumor

The Athletic just did an AL Central round table with a writer from each club. It doesn't sound like anyone is happy with their ownership, and maybe only Cleveland fans are happy with their FO/state of their current team, but even they're not thrilled. That shouldn't be too surprising based on the dumpster fire that the AL Central is, and has been, but it was nice to read that other fan bases are as upset as ours. It was interesting to read about the rest of the division, and made me question why none of the teams seem to throw caution to the wind and just go all out. The schedule is getting more balanced so there's fewer games to beat up on division foes, but there's…

The failure to reel Carlos Correa in has left me thinking.... (Oh, and while I'm like a lot of folks who lump the two top guys together as "FalVine", for purposes of discussion here I mean just the top top-guy.)

I see several people mention that a player is not a "needle mover" and it prompted me to think (maybe over think) this idea. I think there are magnitudes by which you can move a needle towards (or away from) progress. I have a two part question that I would love to read the group's thoughts on: 1. What is a "needle mover" for you? 2. Is Nathan Eovaldi one for this team? I suppose a third question would be, are there any "needle movers" left in free agency based on your perception of what moves the needle for the Twins?

While we all previously thought Correa and the San Francisco Giants were going to be allied for over a decade, in a shocking and unexpected twist Correa has agreed to a 12-year, $315M deal with the New York Mets, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. *sigh* if only we could’ve been the team to swipe him away

Fangraphs had a blog today about rookies and their exit velocities. The short version is that rookies with 300+ balls in play give us a really good look at what type of hitter they will be for their careers (unless you're Vlad Jr). Rookies with that many batted ball data points generally don't raise their exit velocities, or hard hit rates, significantly in future years, and their wRC+ is pretty closely tied to their exit velocities and hard-hit rates. Basically the harder you hit the ball the better hitter you'll be (shouldn't be too surprising of an idea). The above chart shows a player's exit velocities and how it correlates to wRC+ (sample size of 620 playe…

In a Future Filled With Electric Cars, AM Radio May Be Left Behind - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Most electric car manufacturers have removed support for AM radio rather than shielding the radio from the electromagnetic interference generated by electric motors. If radios aren't shielded from the electric motor the AM signal is unlistenable due to static. Many cities, but not all, have an alternate FM station to listen to but there are no clear channel superstations (like 830 in Minneapolis) on the FM dial. This could spell the end of Twins baseball on the AM dial very shortly. I'll often schedule a long trip to coincide with a Twins game so I have somethin…

C: Christian Vazquez ($10.00M) 1B: Luis Arraez ($4.50M) 2B: Jorge Polanco ($7.50M) 3B: Jose Miranda ($0.70M) SS: Dansby Swanson ($25M) LF: Alex Kirilloff ($0.70M) CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M) RF: Max Kepler ($8.50M) 4th OF: Kyle Garlick ($0.70M) Utility: Nick Gordon ($0.70M) Utility: Gilberto Celestino ($0.70M) Backup C: Ryan Jeffers ($0.70M) …

I don’t even blame them for not landing Correa… well, not entirely. But it’s one more thing that doesn’t look good for them. I’m tired of trading for injured pitchers. I’m tired of the lack of pitching development. I’m tired of them disliking long contracts more than they like good players. I’m tired of them not getting “their guy” and instead pivoting, pivoting, and pivoting again. I simply don’t see many reasons to keep them around anymore. They’re not exceptional at anything and have significant flaws.

KSTP just posted a 6 1/2 minute interview with Derek Falvey by Doogie Wolfson. The covered a series of different offseason topics. https://kstp.com/minnesota-sports/derek-falvey-interview-gallo-buxton-trade-talks-mahle-maeda/

I recall last year we had a thread that tracked roster moves the Twins made throughout the 2021 season, and I think that did a good job condensing things down to having all the official moves here rather than having a new topic for every move (bigger moves will still warrant their own topic). I'd like to start off with the flurry of moves that happened today: Kirilloff to 10-day IL (right wrist inflammation) Cotton DFA'd Larnach recalled from St. Paul Rodríguez selected from St. Paul So it seems the Cotton experiment is over already - though he may clear waivers. Rodriguez seems like temporary arm who will likely be DFA'd within the next week. …

Celestino should be a distant (from St. Paul) outfield back-up in CF behind Gordon & Gallo! Walner - Larnach have to deliver some punch & reasonable defense in replacement of Kepler. Gordon should start in LF day one & it’s his spot to lose. Kirilof - Arraez - Longoria - Garlick share the DH Gallo acquisition has to mean a trade of some sort with Kepler & a package of prospects (hopefully Pagan) for a pitcher. With Gallo & Polanco gone after this season it frees up $19M annually to be spread over Gray - Maeda - Mahle going forward. Megill develops a cutter or change-up in the first half and has almost shutdown stuff for 2nd hal…

With no more moves this is my opening day roster. C: Christian Vazquez ($10.00M) 1B: Luis Arraez ($4.50M) 2B: Jorge Polanco ($7.50M) 3B: Jose Miranda ($0.70M) SS: Kyle Farmer ($3.16M) LF: Joey Gallo ($11.00M) CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M) RF: Max Kepler ($8.50M) DH: Alex Kirillof ($0.70M) 4th OF: Kyle Garlick ($0.70M) Utility: Nick Gordon ($0.70M) Utility: Trevor Larnach ($0.70M)…

Okay, I'm not piling on Dan here, I love his work and you should subscribe to The Athletic. In a piece this morning, he quoted some Twins management and sources about what they plan to do in the wake of Correa going to the Giants. And a lot of it is rational, useful information. But holy Moses did this quote stick in my craw: *uncontrollable gagging* I mean, what? This is the team that traded Gio Urshela earlier this offseason. Justin Turner is a fine player, I guess, but he's the only name on that list that doesn't make me reel in horror. My suggestion to Twins officials: if those are the names you're going to mention, don't mention any names. Anyw…

In the wake of losing the Carlos Correa sweepstakes, it appears other teams may smell blood in the water and are calling about starting pitchers Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda. Should the Twins decide to start trading pieces for 2023, this could signal a massive mid-offseason pivot that is rare to see in baseball and probably unprecedented in the history of the Minnesota Twins organization. What do you think? Should the Twins pivot this drastically in a division that once again looks weak in 2023? View full rumor

So far, it's not been what many hoped. They fixed catcher, imo. Jeffers is younger than when Garver first came up. He's not done developming, and they have Vazquez for three years. Good job They signed Gallo. I think they keep Kepler. I think, and I agree, they believe they lost last year because of injury. Gallo has been healthy. I think they aren't dealing any OF unless they get a very good pitcher with at least three years of control back. They traded for Farmer. At this point, I hope they don't trade for a SS. I don't want to give up prospects for a guy you hope Lewis replaces in three months or less. I think they are going to deal for a startin…

Today, the Twins and outfielder Joey Gallo agreed to a 1-year, $11M deal, per Jon Heyman of the NY Post. The Twins will likely look to Gallo in 2022 for…I’m honestly perplexed why the Twins signed him. Joey Gallo is a corner OF, which is a position that the Twins have tons of depth already. Most of the Twins corner OF’s are LH hitters, but Gallo is a LH hitter as well, so adding him doesn’t solve that issue. He provides little to no defensive value, and he doesn’t improve the offense in any way at all. Below are some numbers that evidence this: Joey Gallo: Gallo’s main attribute is his ability to hit the ball hard when he hits it. His Whiff%, K%, and …

Rumor round the campfire is Dodgers 1 yr/$10 mil