Article: Where Are We Now?

[Vanimal46]

I need two more significant signings. Right now, this team is an 80ish win, frustrating team.

Yep. They are set up to win 77-85 games depending on luck and health. Same range they've been in over the last 3 years. If they elect to head into the season status quo it's going to make my decision to renew MLB.tv subscription pretty easy. Hard pass.

[Channing1964]

why aren't we signing Marwin Gonzalez? I get it Derek let your first love (the Indians) have him. jeeze. you guys are clowns!

[nater79a]

 

There could be a nice chunk of change coming off the books after this year - Reed, Pineda, Castro, Odorizzi, Schoop, Cruz.  Where we are now seems to be at the cusp of a rebuild

 

Can add Kyle Gibson to this list too,  I guess.   At just over $8 million for this season.

[TheLeviathan]

 

Yep. They are set up to win 77-85 games depending on luck and health. Same range they've been in over the last 3 years. If they elect to head into the season status quo it's going to make my decision to renew MLB.tv subscription pretty easy. Hard pass.

 

Reddit allows me to never have to give MLB another dollar of my money.  Mine has already been canceled.

[miracleb]

The payroll is too low not to grab another arm or two. Given that injuries happen and Pineda is likely to get hurt some time this season, I think the Twins should heavily consider adding Keuchel, Gio Gonzalez, or even Clay Bucholz as well as Ottavino to round out the bullpen.

 

The lineup looks very solid on paper. Sano and Buxton can get this team to 90 wins alone by each having a 2017-like year. The powerful additions of Schoop, Cron, and Cruz will make the middle of the lineup very dangerous. There's very good potential for this team to have 6-7 20 HR hitters. Add in improvements from Kepler and Castro and you've got a rock solid lineup top to bottom.

The only thing that will hold this team back is most likely that 5th starter spot (if no additions are made), and the back of the bullpen, which is relatively unproven. That's why getting Ottavino would be huge.

 

 

"Add in improvements from Kepler and Castro?" A better option would be if Castro couldn't come back from his injury. A .225 batting average and 11 hrs is his ceiling for 2019....but at least he can frame a pitch! Terrible signing originally ......and will continue to be a problem in 2019. I am hoping "sunk cost" is a term Falvey is considering with Castro!

[miracleb]

Tyler Austin will probably hit 30+ homers this year ............................................... for Kansas City, Detroit or Baltimore.

 

 

Agree! Front office will drop the ball on Austin like they did with Daniel Palka last year. Guess who led the White Sox in home runs last year.....and he didn't even start the season in the big leagues?

[miracleb]

Done being negative!

[RatherBeGolfing]

 

why aren't we signing Marwin Gonzalez? I get it Derek let your first love (the Indians) have him. jeeze. you guys are clowns!

 

Do you honestly believe our front office is doing this?

[bird]

 

Agree! Front office will drop the ball on Austin like they did with Daniel Palka last year. Guess who led the White Sox in home runs last year.....and he didn't even start the season in the big leagues?

 

 

Please, Mr. Falvey, no more lumbering, boring, base-clogging, rally-killing, fumbling, flailing types. All-around players are so much prettier to watch!! 

Edited January 16, 2019 by birdwatcher

[howieramone2]

 

There could be a nice chunk of change coming off the books after this year - Reed, Pineda, Castro, Odorizzi, Schoop, Cruz.  Where we are now seems to be at the cusp of a rebuild

The new regime is all about asset management. At the deadline, I assume they will stock up on pitching below Rochester.

[mikelink45]

I would lean to the young pitchers.  Look at the length of our potential young starters - Romero, DeJong, Gonsalves, Littell, Stewart, Thorpe, Mejia, Moya.   Let our new pitching guru work with these guys, use the escape clause that lets pitchers go up and down and really test to see what we have.  I have more faith in them than I do Pineda.  They had there test last fall and they have a better idea what MLB demands.  I really want to see them, and if need put them in the pen and spot start them.  In the meantime Duffey is definitely removable.  

[Ex-Iowegian]

I just keep coming to the same conclusion... The bar is set too low.

80 wins is simply not enough, when everything hinges on "ifs".

[Steve Lein]

 

Curiously absent from this discussion is the word "closer". Maybe that is too old school, but, this team will regret not having one.  The guys on our roster are fill-in level not stopper level.  This team had and AL leading 30 blown saves last year with the best team being 14 and the league average being 21.  There is a potential for 9 wins if we just become average.  Get a stopper if possible.   

 

Definitely magnified because of all the walk-off losses last year, but "blown saves" don't just happen in the ninth inning.

 

Ryan Pressly, Addison Reed, Zack Duke, Alan Busenitz, Matt Magill, and Gabriel Moya went a combined 0-for-16 in "Save Opportunities" that contribute to that stat as an example (they weren't closing games).

 

Rodney and Hildenberger went a combined 32-for-42, Rogers was 2-for-4, and May was 3-for-3.

[jkcarew]

 

I'm guessing one more relief pitcher, and out of the race by the ASB, and a sell off of pitchers.

I'm feeling like this is the optimistic view.

 

The pessimistic view being that nobody in the division maintains even an 84-win pace, and the Twins stand pat through the deadlines (since they're in the "race") playing marginal veterans on short-term deals...and simply waste the year in every possible perspective that can be taken.

[TwinsTerritory]

I’d love to see a trade for Sonny Gray and a late inning reliever like Ottavino or Allen. Throw in an extension for Berrios and I’d consider it to be a pretty good off season. If things go well, they’re in the race and if not, you have some decent pieces to sell and a lot of money to spend again next off season. ( My sources tell me that Nolan Arenado has always wanted to play for a smaller market, even colder climate team)

[bird]

 

I just keep coming to the same conclusion... The bar is set too low.

80 wins is simply not enough, when everything hinges on "ifs".

 

 

It would be nice if it weren't the case, but what choice does this FO have? They absolutely HAVE to place down a bet on the hand they have. (With maybe one or two more moves).

 

Everything, and by everything I mean any chance of the postseason, hinges on a dozen "ifs". And frankly, it's a pretty good thing, because the best answers to all the "if" questions is really really really good! It's a high bar, not a low one.

 

I mean, just think about all the players who could improve and make that 80 wins garbage look even sillier than it already does.

 

Nothing has changed in one way, and that is that the postseason has always hinged on BOTH Sano and Buxton. It just does, and will until and unless Lewis and Kirilloff take another giant stride each. The exciting thing is that a lot of these "ifs" are practically the opposite of pipe dreams.

Edited January 16, 2019 by birdwatcher

[Mike Sixel]

The new regime is all about asset management. At the deadline, I assume they will stock up on pitching below Rochester.

I thought they were going to be contenders? Now they are going to be selling?

[TheLeviathan]

 

I’d love to see a trade for Sonny Gray and a late inning reliever like Ottavino or Allen. Throw in an extension for Berrios and I’d consider it to be a pretty good off season. If things go well, they’re in the race and if not, you have some decent pieces to sell and a lot of money to spend again next off season. ( My sources tell me that Nolan Arenado has always wanted to play for a smaller market, even colder climate team)

 

Gray and Allen and I feel comfortable talking about this team being in the conversation to win the division.

[Channing1964]

Do you honestly believe our front office is doing this?

well i do believe there is collusion...and to me it's obvious what this team needs in a year that not much is necessary to seize control of the division. So, to answer your question sure. I'm from another state playing fantasy baseball with a team i dont give a damn about sure...i want my homeys to come out on top. Falvines are not one of us.

[RatherBeGolfing]

 

well i do believe there is collusion...and to me it's obvious what this team needs in a year that not much is necessary to seize control of the division. So, to answer your question sure. I'm from another state playing fantasy baseball with a team i dont give a damn about sure...i want my homeys to come out on top. Falvines are not one of us.

 

The criticism of us not attacking free agency is absolutely valid and I agree with you on that. It's fair to get on the front office because I am frustrated too, there's no reason for them not to be more aggressive.

 

But I'm going to strongly argue the claim that our front office is sandbagging because Falvey used to work in Cleveland and wants them to win the division.

 

Also, the one of us take at the end: so we need someone from here or someone from within the Twins Country Club to run the organization? 

Edited January 17, 2019 by RatherBeGolfing

[Mr. Brooks]

well i do believe there is collusion...and to me it's obvious what this team needs in a year that not much is necessary to seize control of the division. So, to answer your question sure. I'm from another state playing fantasy baseball with a team i dont give a damn about sure...i want my homeys to come out on top. Falvines are not one of us.

How many teams have GM's that are from the state that their team plays in?

 

Derek Falvey is from Massachusetts, not Ohio. So wouldn't he actually be trying to sabotage us AND Cleveland, for Boston's benefit?

 

I wonder how long he's been doing this? Probably his whole career, I'd imagine.

Crazy part is that he'd probably have gotten away with it too, if you hadn't figured it out.

[Channing1964]

Absolutely....every day that goes by another reliever gets signed, soon there wont be a Marwin Gonzalez out there and we will have to look at Adrianza as our every day third baseman when Sano gets another hangnail. Depth is all we need and with 30+ million to spend how could the FO not see any of it.

Edited January 18, 2019 by Channing1964

[Channing1964]

After this five year experiment is over and we pick up the pieces, I hope we can have a coaching staff in place that at least have some ties to the organization. The Andy McPhail, Tom Kelly regime didnt work out so bad. I get it McPhail was brand new, but thats much different than handing the keys to some people using the Twins to cut their teeth on their way to perceived bigger and better things. I still wonder why people like TK arent having a more active role in some of the questionable things that have gone on.

[Mr. Brooks]

After this five year experiment is over and we pick up the pieces, I hope we can have a coaching staff in place that at least have some ties to the organization. The Andy McPhail, Tom Kelly regime didnt work out so bad. I get it McPhail was brand new, but thats much different than handing the keys to some people using the Twins to cut their teeth on their way to perceived bigger and better things. I still wonder why people like TK arent having a more active role in some of the questionable things that have gone on.

You are contradicting yourself.

Before you said they were here to intentionally sabotage the Twins. Now you say they are using the Twins as a stepping stone to bigger and better things (that would require them to do well with the Twins).

Which is it?

[Channing1964]

It is neither. In my opinion hiring both of them was a mistake and i dont care to revisit all the reasons why i think so. I can assure you there were plenty i could site in 2018 alone. So I will be happy to see them go. If they do, after their 5 year (or maybe its 10) deal ends.

[Mr. Brooks]

It is neither. In my opinion hiring both of them was a mistake and i dont care to revisit all the reasons why i think so. I can assure you there were plenty i could site in 2018 alone. So I will be happy to see them go. If they do, after their 5 year (or maybe its 10) deal ends.

If it's neither of those things, then why do you keep saying them?

This isn't the first time you've suggested either of those.

 

Having criticisms of decisions they've made is both fair and warranted.

Suggesting they are plants here to undermine the Twins for another team is beyond believable. And it likely makes most posters immediately discard any salient points you might otherwise have.

Edited January 19, 2019 by Mr. Brooks

[Channing1964]

Thanks for your take, Ill take it to heart. On another note , I for one think Martin Perez is a shrewd pick up. How did your bosses pull that one off? To say that I may have been upset last August would be a huge understatement. I am over it now. But thanks for reminding me that I do have dedicated followers out there. The therapy is helping.