St. Paul's starting lineup??

[Twodogs]

So I used to follow things quite closely, probably between the years of the late 90's with contraction talks all the way up to about 2010 or so give or take a year or two.  Now I'm still a fan but with my kids both playing sports and going to school I just don't follow things as closely anymore.  So I was wondering, what some of you guys, who are in the "know," think will be the lineup and pitching staff of the Saints this year??  Let me know what you think??

 

Thanks

[Rosterman]

It's a mess right now. There are spme 20+ pitchers. Too many outfielders. WIll Martin and Palacios be advanced from AA ball (and maybe a catcher or two). 

[ashbury]

  On 3/30/2022 at 10:53 PM, Rosterman said:

It's a mess right now. There are spme 20+ pitchers. Too many outfielders. WIll Martin and Palacios be advanced from AA ball (and maybe a catcher or two). 

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I thought I saw a statement from Toby or someone that Palacios will be a roving infielder for the Saints.

[Otto von Ballpark]

I like this. Figuring out the Twins lineup seemed too easy.

[Twodogs]

I suppose it's too much to have the AAA rotation to be

Balazovich

Woods Richardson

Duran

Winder

Strotman

Sands

 

I'm guessing we will end up with guys like smeltzer and Chi chi and guys like that??

[The Mad King]

Why do you ask, Twodogs?

[ToddlerHarmon]

Poking around on https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/depth-charts/twins, I get:

• DH Mark Contreras
• C David Banuelos/Caleb Hamilton
• 1B Curtis Terry
• 2B Spencer Steer
• 3B Jose Miranda
• SS Royce Lewis
• LF Austin Martin
• CF Gilberto Celestino
• RF Trevor Larnach

But there are a lot of MLB-experienced players recently in camp that are not in that lineup: Beckham, Robertson, Cave, Garlick, Fisher

[Dman]

I think the lineup is going to be easy although they will rotate guys in and out but I think the starting outfield will be Larnach, Celestino, and Cave with Contraras and Garlic as subs.  Infield is likely Miranda at 3rd, Lewis at Short, Palacios, Beckham or Robertson at 2nd\utility,  I will go with Palacios just to get him in there.  1st looks like Curtis Terry and Catcher most likely Hamilton but could be Banuelos as well. A lineup could be.

1) Lewis
2) Celestino
3) Palacios
4) Miranda
5) Larnach
6) Terry
7) Cave
? Beckham\Robertson
9) Hamilton

Predicting the pitching is no easy task at the moment because there are still several guys in spring training that will end up at AAA but we don't know who they will be yet.  What we do know is that as things stand Smeltzer, Sammons, Balazovich, Strotman, Sands, and Henriquez are already set for AAA.  Winder and Duran could also be sent down or they could easily make the 28 man roster as well.  The Twins also signed Chi Chi, and Derek Rodriguez.  So if the Twins do send Duran and Winder down that is potentially 10 Starters at AAA.  

So as things stand and this would be just best guess when it comes to the rotation and pen.  If we go with what we know right now I would say the starting 5 would be:

1) Smeltzer
2) Balazovich
3) Strotman
4) Sands
5) Henriquez 

With Sammons Chi Chi and Derek piggy backing off those starts.

The Pen would be Hamilton, Cano, Mason, Petricka, and whoever doesn't make the 28 man out of Duran, Stashak, Romero and Moran.  I am sure there are other no name guys in there as well but I think what I have would be an outline for what things would look like.  It should be a strong AAA team with a lot of close to MLB ready talent.