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I've been reading a lot of blue prints, but I haven't seen anyone address having a backup plan in CF. Buxton is great, really great, in CF but he's just not there very often and it puts a huge stress on the rest of the team when he's not. I would present a team that could minimize the impact of another Buxton injury while fielding an all-world defensive outfield while he's out there - making all of our pitchers better in the process. How would I do that? Rosario is traded. Doesn't really matter where - try to get a lottery ticket type A-level prospect.Sign a free agent pitcher - I'd love Cole or Strasburg and an expanded budget approved by Mr. Pohlad would allow it, but Wheeler or Bumgarner are more realistic. Of them, I'd prefer Wheeler. I'd let CJ Cron go. He's a nice player, but replaceable and I'd prefer another left handed bat so I go with similar production from the left side and Eric ThamesThis is where it might hurt. I love following Jhoan Duran and I hate to move him, but I trade Duran, Enlow, and Gordon to the Pirates for Starling Marte and Chris Archer. The two years remaining on the Marte and Archer deals allow time for the next wave of Twins prospects Lewis, Larnach, Graterol, and Balazovic. I'm not completely sold on what Archer can do but what I really want is Marte in LF and as an insurance policy to move him to CF if Buxton gets hurt. This would allow Kepler to stay in RF full time and wouldn't put the extra strain of CF on his body. If, and it's a big if, Buxton stays healthy I'd expect one of the best defensive outfields in baseball. As a bonus, Marte had a great year at the plate last year posting an .845 OPS, he runs well, and he gets on base more than Rosario. This also assumes Graterol is being stretched out to be a starter and a candidate for a June call up if Archer can't figure it out. Kiriloff and Rooker are available if someone goes down in the OF or Thames isn't working out at 1B. Lewis is getting some extra seasoning in the minors and I really hope he has a breakout year. Hitters: C - Garver = .6 1B - Eric Thames = 5 2B - Arraez = .6 3B - Sano = 5.5 SS - Polanco = 4 LF - Marte = 11.5 CF - Buxton = 3.5 RF - Kepler = 6.25 DH - Cruz = 12 BUC - Castro (or similar) = 6 OF - Cave = .6 IF - Adrianza = 3 UT - Gonzalez = 9 Hitter Total = 67.55M Pitchers: SP - Berrios = 4.5 SP - Odorizzi = 17.8 SP - Wheeler = 20 SP - Archer = 9 SP - Thorpe/Dobnak = .6 CL - Rogers = 4 RP - Duffey = 1.25 RP - May = 2.5 RP - Littell = .6 RP - Stashak = .6 RP - Smeltzer = .6 RP - Romo (or similar) = 3 RP - Alcala (or Spring Training performance winner) = .6 Pitcher Total = 65.05 Team Total = 132.6M The Twins were a different team when Buxton wasn't patrolling CF and it had a ripple affect on the pitchers, Kepler, and the lineup was devoid of speed without him. By adding Marte I think ads some insurance. What does everyone think?

Buxton could easily steal 50+ bases. But as long as he continues to hit more doubles than singles, his stolen base numbers will be limited. He should probably get credit for a stolen base every time he turns a single into an extra base hit.

Outside of Jake Odorizzi accepting his qualifying offer, and thereby filling one of several 2020 rotation vacancies, the first month of Minnesota's offseason was quiet – at least, in terms of real action. But there's been no shortage of reported rumors involving the Twins. Let's read between the lines and see if we can find substantive takeaways behind these rumblings, as well as developing storylines elsewhere.Here are five conclusions I've drawn based on signals rising from the offseason landscape. 1: The Twins will need to pay a hefty premium to sign Zack Wheeler The team's interest in Wheeler is no secret. It's also clear they have company in this regard. Corey Kluber is on the same timeline (FA after 2021) and his name came up in rumors last winter, so I fully expect to see it happen again. Trading either Lindor or Kluber would signal a pseudo-rebuild for Cleveland. Click here to view the article

Your dad can be relied on for three things: Backing into a parking spot whenever possible; questioning the reliability of any meteorologist with a “Wish I could get paid for being wrong half the time” remark; and confiding that he really thinks this is Kyle Gibson’s breakout year every March.As of Wednesday, the latter is in flux. Gibson signed a 3-year, $30 million deal with the Texas Rangers after spending his entire career with the Twins organization. Your dad’s opinion on the matter was hard to gauge in a brief pre-Thanksgiving phone call. “He was more upset about the city plowing in his driveway after he just got done shoveling,” you told your spouse, who nodded disinterestedly as she watched a Hallmark Christmas movie with Candace Cameron Bure. “I don’t think he’s quite processed what happened.” Gibson’s signing takes one more option off the table for his former team, as the Twins look to build a rotation that can complement a playoff-ready lineup. It also means your dad’s perennial Spring Training opinion may change or go away entirely. “I don’t know where his head is at. These are uncharted waters,” you said to your teenage daughter, who nodded disinterestedly as she browsed TikTok videos. “I don’t think he’s ever said word one about the Rangers, but maybe he’s genuinely invested in Kyle Gibson and his career.” Prior to Gibson’s arrival in 2013, your dad’s most commonly expressed preseason thoughts were wishing Justin Morneau could get healthy and that Phil Cuzzi should be tried in The Hague. “Maybe once they sign somebody, or if they make (Brusdar) Graterol a starter again, that’ll get him focused on 2020,” you said to your dog, who nodded disinterestedly before unleashing another volcanic fart due to the turkey and ham your brother kept feeding him at dinner. “I don’t know where this goes from here. I don’t know if he does either.” Your dad was unavailable for comment on the matter, but he did characterize the potential of another winter storm this weekend as “bullcrap.” Click here to view the article

I have been a Twins fan for well over 50 years, and even in some of the bleakest years of the 70's and the 90's, there was still something to cheer about. If you didn't follow the Twins during those 70's, you missed prime years of Rod Carew and Bert Blyleven, the early years of Roy Smalley, the best days of one of the Twins better pitchers, Dave Goltz. Or Larry Hisle's entire time with the Twins. And Butch Wynegar, maybe the best Twins catcher not named Joe Mauer. Gave up on the Twins in the 90's? You missed most of Brad Radke's better years. And Chuck Knoblauch before he imploded. You missed the 3000th hits of Dave Winfield and Paul Molitor. The final years of Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett. And you missed the early days of the 2000's teams, back when you could see the talent budding even if it hadn't clicked yet. Torii Hunter, Dougie Alphabet (Mientkiewicz), Corey Koskie, Jacque Jones, Christian Guzman, Johan Santana, Eric Milton and lest we forget David Ortiz. I know most of the people reading these pages are fans year in and year out, but a good many fans are fair weather only. Every year has it's special moments, and many games in every year have memorable moments. I've missed very few games over the last 50 years, and I'm glad I followed through good and bad.

I was born in 1951 and grew up in Winnipeg. During the 1965 season my parents took me to my first MLB game at Met Stadium. It was a hot summer night and the Yankees were in town and Dave Boswell was on the mound. For me, it was a magical evening and I fell in love with the Twins. I don't think I've missed a box score since! Even though I never attended another home game I've had a wonderful time as a fan. In the late 70's Calvin Griffith invited my wife and I for coffee after a game in Seattle. (I've lived in Vancouver most of my adult life). Calvin and I spoke, by phone every Spring training when he was in Orlando. And, for me, the icing on the cake was this past March when my two sons (now Twins fans) took me to my first Spring Training in Ft Myers. It's been a great ride and I've loved every minute of it. During the past summer my son also took me to Target Field and during that trip had the pleasure of meeting Aaron Gleeman and John Bonnes @ Mall of America, Thank you so much to the terrific writers who run and contribute to TD. It's such a pleasure compared to the pre-internet days when I subscribed to the StarTrib and waited weeks for outdated mail!

I agree with ashbury. I was looking at the defensive metrics of Buxton and Kepler and they are impressive. He definitely shouldn’t be negative. In particular, I like the inside edge fielding given by fan graphs, where Kepler caught 67% of the “even” balls (should be caught 40-60% of time) at both positions. For crazy numbers, go look at what Buxton has there. For example, he catches 20% of the Remote (1-10%) balls and 68% of the Unlikely (10-40%) balls. A healthy Buxton goes a long way to improving the pitching staff.

The one I have the biggest problem with is #1. While you can predict regression to the mean for the typical individual player, to expect all 4 to regress to below that number and no one else to emerge above it? Odds are someone won’t regress that much.

A diuretic is not a PED. As for a masking agent, HCTZ works slower than furosimide, thus it not ideal for a masking agent

The definition of passion is “strong and barely controllable emotion.” That would be an understatement for how I feel about the Minnesota Twins. How did this happen for me after so many years of tuning out?The date was Oct. 6, 2009. The Tigers and Twins battled in game 163 for the American League Central at the Metrodome. I am lucky enough to have a dad who brings me to the biggest games. I watched as Alexi Casilla bounced a grounder through the right side of the infield to score Carlos Gomez in the 12th inning, and Joe Mauer raced the pennant around the diamond. I was nine years old. I grew up in Plymouth and played hockey, football and baseball. I was often asked which sport was my favorite and it usually depended on the season. My attention on Minnesota sports was similar. In the summer, my dad and I would go to a handful of Twins games. In the winter, we would find our way to Vikings games, or usually just sit inside and watch NFL Redzone next to the fireplace. I’ve always been enamored with sports. I love the competition. I crave that feeling of winning. Hockey was the main focus for many for my friends, but I’ve had a special passion for baseball. I fell in love with the battle between a batter and a pitcher. I idolized Jacob DeGrom, Stephen Strasburg and Nelson Cruz through my teens, but my relationship with the Twins was more complicated. We’ve always supported the team and gone to games, but over the last 10 years, my Dad and I would mostly scoff at the Twins. We were frustrated. We wanted to be competitive. We loved the organization, but our passion was lost in the midst of many horrendous seasons. I wasn’t aware of the young talent in the ranks. I knew Jose Berríos had electric stuff, and I remember seeing Max Kepler grow and adapt to the majors. I didn’t expect the 2019 breakthrough, but who really did? I was surprised when the Twins signed the greatest slugger of the last decade in Cruz, knowing they usually didn’t make noise in the offseason. In early March, I was at the airport and decided to buy the 2019 MLB Season Preview from USA Today. As I read the Twins preview in my airplane seat, I felt a slim glimmer of hope for the first time in a long while. As the season went on, I became more and more engaged. I became a patreon of Gleeman and the Geek and started dancing to the opening theme song, I followed the likes of Ted Schwerzler, Seth Stohs and Tom Froemming on Twitter, and I planned my summer waitering job around Twins games. I was in love again. I am studying at the University of Missouri and acquiring a degree in sports broadcast journalism. I often miss home. The 2019 squad was outstandingly enjoyable, and they also connected me to my state. I felt comfortable and warm watching my hometown team. It may sound cliche, but I truly become more invested in baseball and the Twins every single day. Baseball-Reference has become my most visited website, I frequently check Darren Wolfson's Twitter replies for scoops, and I constantly think about the Twins and their affiliates. My passion for the club grew into writing at Twins Daily, and I’m lucky enough to have an audience on this incredibly interactive and impressive platform every Friday. My ultimate dream is to become the TV play-by-play broadcaster for the Twins. I’m confident and driven to achieve this goal, and attending a premier journalism school was step one. I am focused on following in the great Dick Bremer’s stead. Thank you for reading my story. I am very grateful to be a contributor for Twins Daily, and I can not wait for the future of the Minnesota Twins. How did you become a Twins fan? Comment below! Click here to view the article

FanGraphs released the Steamer projections for the 2020 season earlier this month and today we will look at some of the more interesting projections for the Twins. As a whole, Minnesota had plenty of breakout seasons in 2019 so naturally some of the projects may seem a bit conservative, but I tried to pick out some projections that are debatable.Projection 1: Max Kepler will lead the team with 3.5 fWAR. This would obviously be a bit disappointing because four Twins players topped 3.5 fWAR in 2019 (Kepler, Cruz, Polanco, and Garver), but the projections take into account what the players did prior to 2019 so they may be lower than what we’d expect. But rather than debate the number, let’s debate the player. Kepler edged out Nelson Cruz 4.4 – 4.3 in 2019, but with so many quality players, can he do it again? Interestingly, Steamer projects Kepler to be slightly negative defensively, which seems unlikely. Projection 2: Byron Buxton will steal 23 bases. If Buxton is healthy, he would seem a clinch to top 23 steals. And Steamer does project Buxton to be fairly healthy, appearing in 139 games (We’ll take it!). However, the Twins don’t run much and Buxton’s career high is just 29 (2017, 140 games). Whatever confidence one might have in Buxton topping 23 steals is obviously directly related to how much time he spends on the field. Projection 3: Miguel Sano hits 38 bombas. Like Buxton’s steal total, this prediction will most likely be determined by Miguel Sano’s health. This total would have him finish just behind Nelson Cruz’s 39 projected homers and slightly ahead of his 34 hit in 2019 (105 games). Of course, there could be changes made to make the ball less lively in 2020, but Sano isn’t exactly hitting wall scrapers so he should be okay. Projection 4: Luis Arraez will finish with a .784 OPS. Luis Arraez was one of the great surprises of 2019 and finished the season with a .838 OPS. While seemingly everyone is in agreement about Arraez’s great plate discipline and ability to hit for average, he doesn’t profile as someone who will have much power. Unlike Sano, Arraez probably would be affected by a less-jumpy ball and the .784 OPS projection seems pretty spot on. Projection 5: Mitch Garver will play in 96 games. This number is interesting. Minnesota seems to favor keeping Garver well rested and it’s hard to argue with his 2019 results (155 wRC+, 93 games). But Garver’s bat was so good that it will be hard to keep him out of the lineup for 69 games. Of course, Garver has also had a history of injuries including some troubling concussions, so that will obviously also play a role in how much action he sees. Finally, the quality of whoever plays second catcher will also be a factor. Free-agent catchers are flying off the board, so if the Twins end up with a lesser-quality second-catching option, manager Rocco Baldelli may have a harder time keeping Garver on the bench. Projection 6: Ryan Jeffers, Trevor Larnach, Luke Raley, Travis Blankenhorn, and Royce Lewis will have 1 MLB at-bat in 2020. I’ll go out on the limb and say not all of these prospects will have exactly one big-league at-bat next year. Before you all go out and exclaim me the next Nostradamus, Steamer projected a lot of minor-league prospects to get one at-bat, so it’s basically predicting that most of these guys won’t see much MLB action in 2020. However, some of them likely will. Luke Raley and Travis Blankenhorn have already been added to the 40-man roster so they have fewer hurdles to jump. Royce Lewis and Trevor Larnach have the advantage of being the higher-regarded prospects, so they may have a better chance to be longer-term injury replacements. And Ryan Jeffers is a catcher and highly regarded for his bat and catch-framing so he also has a chance. So, the question here isn’t who will get one at-bat, but who will see the most time with the Twins in 2020? Now it’s your turn. What do you think about each projection? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Not registered? Click here to create an account. To stay up to date, follow Twins Daily on Twitter and Facebook. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — The Twins Should Bring Michael Pineda Back for 2020 — Get to Know: Andy Young, Billy Boyer (and Ten Minutes with Tyler) — Justin Morneau Keeping Twins Territory Warm this Winter Click here to view the article

For those questioning Wheeler's worth, it appears that you are in the minority. From an ESPN article polling 15 team execs/insiders: "6. Of the second-tier guys, which of these free-agent starting pitchers would you most want your team to sign this winter: Madison Bumgarner, Zack Wheeler or Dallas Keuchel? Survey says: Wheeler 8; Bumgarner 4; Keuchel 2; Three-way tie 1" Here's a link to the entire story: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28160749/hot-stove-survey-mookie-betts-block-gerrit-cole-crack-300m-mlb-gms-insiders-weigh-in Edit: Okay, so in reading the entire article, there are some detractors. "8. Who is the one player most likely to be overpaid on a big contract this winter? Survey says: Wheeler 4; Grandal 2 (Grandal signed with the White Sox after our survey was complete); Nicholas Castellanos 1; Daniel Hudson 1; 7 respondents declined to answer."

I just wanted to reach out into the Twins Daily cyber space to say thank you for a great 2019 season! From the Game Threads to the excellent articles, blogs and forums what a fun year. 2020 is only going to get better! The window is open and I only see success ahead. I also wanted to find out menus for the big feast ahead tomorrow. I'll be preparing 3 turkeys...One will be smoked, fried and roasted in the oven. Garlic mashed potatoes followed with pecan roasted sweet potatoes. Green bean casserole for the traditionalists, oyster stuffing (not cooked in the bird as it drys the carcass out), scalloped corn, roasted Brussel sprouts with bacon and olive oil, stuffed artichokes, homemade rolls, brown gravy and 5 different pies (pumpkin, apple, french silk, banana cream, pecan). A few cases of wine too... Happy Thanksgiving! We've got a lot to be thankful for in 2019 and a lot to look forward to in 2020! Cheers, Twinssporto

Harmon, Tony O., Allison, Carew, Battey, Kaat, Ric Aalbert, Camilo, Mudcat, don't forget Glenn Adams (I saw the 8-RBI game), and many many more.

They are my NL team also. Through the years when my son was young, I had taken him to lots of Tar Heel games, Final Fours, Atlanta Braves, Hickory Crawdads and Baltimore Orioles games. Several years ago, he took me to several Cardinals games. I particularly enjoyed it because he planned the trip and drove most of the way. Once when he had just gotten his driver's license we went to a Final Four in Indianapolis. We stayed in Bloomington in a hotel on the Indiana University campus. We were driving from Bloomington to Indianapolis for the 1991 Final Four Championship between Duke and Kansas. Two days earlier, Kansas had eliminated our Tar Heels. I had graduated from UNC and my son graduated there years later. We were not happy about the Jay Hawks having beaten UNC. However we hate Duke (or Dook) as we call the college which is less than 12 miles away from our alma mater, UNC. We were talking about who we should pull for in the Final game...whether we should support the ACC and pull for Dook, or pull for the team which had just eliminated the Tar Heels. Our car had a personalized UNC license tag and Tar Heel banners in the rear window. As we were driving on the 4-lane highway, discussing which team to pull for, a large SUV passed us. My son was driving. He said: Dad look!" The front passenger in the SUV had his bare rear end hanging out the window at us. We had been mooned. As the SUV sped away, we saw the Dook stickers and banners on it. We pulled for Kansas. We were ashamed that we had even had any thoughts of possibly rooting for Dook.

Really interesting proposal. Marte is good and I think Archer can be “fixed” to pitch more like he did in Tampa Bay. I am on board for trading a couple of our top ten prospects for starting pitching, whether like this or something else. The better teams make trades like this and the Twins need to do it too if they want to take the final step.

As disappointed as I am in this loss, I'm confident we haven't seen the peak of this team. Fleck needs to recruit some legit running backs though, and some reinforcements for the front 7 on defense. And have a long talk with whomever thinks it's a good idea to give Rodney Smith the bulk of the carries, I don't get that.

First of all, I want to take this time and space to say Thank You to the Twins Daily community. From the owners/founders, to Tom Froemming for all he does, to each of our writers, to the moderators, to those who are active in the blogs and forums, to those of you who just like to come here for the articles. It's been a special year at Twins Daily and I would like to thank all of you. With that, I'd like to do another Ask Seth article. I noticed that I haven't done one since April, so it's about time. Over the next 24-36 hours, I will answer the questions that show up in the Comments below in this article. So feel free to Ask Away.Leave a question or two in the comments below and I will answer them in the article itself. Ask me about the Twins, the offseason, minor leaguers, Rule 5, or whatever you want, within reason. I'll answer them first-come, first-serve. (and obviously, within reason and rules and such.) Let's get the Questions started... From ChiefsKid: What's a realistic expectation of opening day 2020 payroll? Seth: I think putting the expectation at $130 million is more than fair... I also think it's a fairly good over-under as Twins Geek wrote a couple of weeks ago. If you subscribe to the payroll being 48-50% of revenues number that the Players Union has encouraged, they should probably be closer to $140-145 million. From mikelink: My request for you is a rating question:Please give me a top ten prospect list for potential 2020 positions on the 26 man squad, considering the normal number of injuries. Seth: That's a tough question... but I'll try... 1.) Alex Kirilloff 2.) Brusdar Graterol 3.) Jhoan Duran 4.) Brent Rooker 5.) Edwar Colina 6.) Travis Blankenhorn 7.) Lewis Thorpe 8.) Nick Gordon 9.) Devin Smeltzer 10.) Jorge Alcala Those are guys I think could be called up in 2019, ranked by how they are currently in my prospect rankings... But if anyone wants to say that we will see Royce Lewis, I won't argue with you. Same with Trevor Larnach. Next on my list would have been Sean Poppen who I had one place below Alcala. From beckmt: Do you see the twins signing one of the top 6 FA pitchers? Do you see C.J. Cron coming back? Seth: Yes, I see the Twins signing one of the big 5 (not sure who the #6 might be). No, I don't expect them to sign Cole or Strasburg, but I think Wheeler and Bumgarner are definitely in play. I think they'll get one of them. And, I don't think they'll bring Cron back, at least not by tendering him an arbitration deal. Had he been healthy all year, it would have been an easy decision. Now, I'm not so sure. Personally, I probably would bring him back, now that he's had the thumb surgery because he was really good until the initial June injury. He's good, and even if he's not great, he could spend the second half as a platoon guy with Kirilloff. From MN_ExPat: Happy Thanksgiving Seth. Ok, of the remaining FA pitchers, who do you think/believe will ultimately sign and help bring our boys to the promised land? Also, who is your favorite Dark Horse rookie/prospect to this year's Arraez? Seth: Well, first, I think the Twins could sign Cole or Strasburg and it wouldn't guarantee them anything... I personally am starting to think that Wheeler is most realistic, though Bumgarner makes some sense too. Man, that Arraez question is tough. However, the things about Arraez were that he was a solid prospect who produced at every level, had some time in AA, added to the 40 but probably not in the 2019 plans. So, I'll go with Jhoan Duran. I think Blankenhorn might be more similar but there are infielders, so I wanted to go with another position. Kirilloff, Rooker and Larnach are higher-ranked prospects so wouldn't be surprising. Duran only has a handful of AA starts, and while he's a talent, he's not a Top 100 guy and I don't think he''s necessarily in any 2020 plans. But, given a shot, he could take off. From AZ Twins: I see a lot of people with “grass is greener” mindset. Which Twins player would Twins fans be most excited about joining the Twins if he came from another team? Is this player the same person you think has the most potential on the Twins? Seth: So many possible answers. Could say Polanco or Kepler because they were most productive. Nelson Cruz was incredible. I would say Jose Berrios would be the Twins player that the Twins fans would be most excited about if he came to the Twins from another team this offseason. He's obviously younger, but he's been better than Wheeler, who will get huge money. Has upside. As for the player with the most potential, that clearly continues to be Byron Buxton. From Rochester Dave: Do you have any sense if the front office is happy with the AAA affiliation being in Rochester? There is only One direct flight (Delta) between the cities daily and across baseball there seems to be a trend towards the affiliates being closer to the major league city. I should add that I believe that the Red Wings are quite happy with the Twins. I know, I am looking forward to Graterol, Larnach, Kiriloff and Lewis in the not so distant future! Also, have you ever visited Frontier Field? Seth: I have not been to Frontier Field. I would love to. I flew in to Syracuse once for work 15+ years ago, drove south to Cortland and then flew out of Binghamton. That's probably as close as I've been. I don't have any sense of that, but I would think the Twins are happy to be with the Red Wings. I'm sure there are little things here and there, but I don't think that the flight situation is a negative. Only negative is how early it is. I don't necessarily see it as a trend yet for AAA affiliates to be closer, there are a few, but maybe any potential rework of the minor league systems with any "contraction" might facilitate some of that. And, the Red Wings should be happy with the Twins. They have a pipeline of prospects that will show up more in 2020 and beyond, and they do a nice job bringing in good minor league veterans too, allowing them to be more competitive. From tarheeltwinsfan: Do the Twins have a binding contract with Elizabethton, which will be breached if the Elizabethton team is eliminated by MLB? Who pays for the extensive renovations which the city of Elizabethton has done recently? Seth: I am not certain the specifics of the Twins deal with Elizabethton. Most Player Development Agreements are signed for two years. The Twins have done a couple of four year deals over the years. The Twins contributed some, but I believe the majority of the ballpark renovations were (and may continue to be) paid for my the taxpayers of Elizabethton. NOTE: This article indicates that Elizabethton will pay $1.5 million and the Twins will pay $800,000 toward the ballpark renovations. From mike link: I was surprised, but not disappointed that Raley was not in the top 10 of prospects to make it on the Twins Roster in 2020.I suspect he is more of a trade prospect. Seth: He probably should be in the Top 10 of that ranking. I truly think that we underrate him, myself included. As I've pointed out, when he was hurt in late-April, early-May, he was making a great impression on the Red Wings and people were taking notice. He is a really good hitter. Maybe not quite the power of Rooker, but much less swing-and-miss, more speed, better defense and will likely hit for more average. He definitely wasn't added to the 40-man roster just to be a trade chip. Now, he could be traded but that isn't the reason ever to add a player. From SteelDodo: Do you have your favorite mlb draft strategies that you prefer? (HS pitcher, HS batter, college pitcher, college batter, etc.) From what I've read, generally, college position players have a higher success rate than pitchers, so I tend to agree with our current FO on spending early draft picks and most of the international money on position players. Having said that, do you think the strategy is TOO batter heavy? What would you do differently if you were in charge of Twins drafting? Seth: That could be a series of articles on its own. My overall theme would simply be to take whichever player you believe has the best chance of being the best player overall. Honestly, outside of a few #1 or #2 overall college pitchers, there aren't a lot of givens in the draft. There are examples of high school and college, hitters and pitchers taken in the Top 5 picks who bust or become stars, in most every organization. I do think that generally pitchers are more risky, but I also think that you have to take those risks sometimes and then hope. In recent years, they've mixed it up pretty well. They've taken college pitchers and high school hitters and pitchers high. They've taken some college bats high the last few years. And then they seen to just add a ton of college arms late, which is hard to argue against as a strategy. From Richard Swerdlick: I am thinking of getting a subscription to MILB TV in 2020 so I can watch some of our prospects. Any thoughts about MILB TV as a service? Seth: I have had MiLB.tv for several years. It's great but fully dependent upon the work done by the affiliates. Rochester does a good job. Pensacola does a really good job. Cedar Rapids has a great production. Ft. Myers and Elizabethton don't have feeds. The nice thing too is that you can go back to games and find highlights. I probably don't use it to its fully potential. From goulik: Raley, Rooker, Larnach... can you rate these three in comparison to each other offensively, defensively, greatest potential, and highest floor? Seth: Larnach is the top prospect of the group. He could hit for average, should add power over time too. Probably the best of the three on defense. Greatest overall potential. Rooker has the most power potential but it will come with the most swing-and-miss. Raley may have the highest floor, though Larnach might too. Raley's just solid all-around. Could hit for some average, some power, and play solid defense. From Rosterman: People don't get excited about the signing of minor league free agents, and in the past it was reported as Big News, but now seems to gets hedlines at MLBtraderumors. You would think that with around 150 players in your organization, one wouldn't need to sign players to mostly play at AAA ball (with a few starting their next turn at AA ball). Can you explain to all of us the reasoning behind minor league free agents, the reason an organization will spend extra money to bring in players looking for a comeback or stalled then jettisoned by a team, or reflect on some gem moments you might remember of such signings in, prhaps, the past decade? Seth: I think the biggest reason is that baseball is hard. Playing AAA ball is really hard, and only a select number get there and succeed there. Teams need to fill AAA rosters. However, it's also important to have depth so that you don't put your prospects in a bad place. First and foremost, teams are going to do what is best for their prospects, at least the top prospects and probably even the secondary prospects. Could the Twins have called up Alex Kirilloff or even Trevor Larnach in September instead of adding Ian Miller (veteran but came in a trade) or Ryan LaMarre? Sure. Would that have been good for the Twins or the player? Who knows? So it's about protecting prospects and filling out a AAA roster. It's also just about having depth. Blaine Hardy is a big-league pitcher, and he can help the 2020 Twins in a role. If they keep adding more players, maybe that role is to start the season at AAA and when the Twins have a need, he gets called up. The Twins have had a lot of successes with minor league free agent signings. I'm not going to look too far back, but Willians Astudillo proved to be a good minor league signing. Ryne Harper was a good minor league signing. LaMarre was a good minor league signing. By their nature, you're not going to find any stars as minor league free agents. That's very rare. But you can find complementary parts that help a team win games. 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I think the most important skill will be calling a game. Catchers are in a unique position to see what pitches are effective and see better how a batter is responding to a pitch. They need the ability and skill to earn trust from a pitcher so they have confidence in the pitch they are throwing. They need to put in hours of study before each series watching video and learning the trends of hitters. Some will be able to utilize that data much better than others. This skill is more important than framing. Teams that do the best job of assessing this difficult skill to measure will add to their win total.

Your comment had me wondering about playing time calculations and whether they had meaning or changed. I did some searching and reading on fangraphs and shared. I apologize for quoting your post. I think too often a quote is taken as meaning a different point of view. I should have written without the quote. It would be crazy not to want Garver to play more.

We were down to my first ST in 2017. I paid for the on the field batting practice with the Twins that they do before their home games. it's done through the Lee County Boys and Girls Club. About 20 of us got to be on the field for BP, Tony O, Mauer, and Sano all came over and signed for us. It cost $40 I think, but was a nice special treat and proceeds benefit the boys & girls club.

I personally believe a big part of rating a prospect should be likelihood of making it as a Major Leaguer. Someone with a 75% chance of having a major league career and 5% chance of being a star is better than a player that has a 15% chance of being a star and 75% chance of never making it past AAA. Based solely on Seth’s comments above and having nothing to do with the random %s I just used, I would rank these 3: 1) Larnach 2) Raley 3) Rooker In the same vein I rated Wade and Arraez higher than many in the past. Seth, When do you think Rortvedt will appear in the majors for the first time and how big a difference do you see between him and Jeffers?

I was born in Washington DC in 1944 during WWII while my father was in the army overseas. My first major leafue game was the Senators and Tigers in 1954. Of course the Senators lost.My brother and I got some of the Washington Senators' players' wives autographs. They were sitting behingd us. Mrs. Clint Courtney was my favorite.I used to write Herb Heft, the Senators information director. He was so generous to this North Carolina boy. I got decals, pictures and yearbooks from him. I wrote the players and got pictures from them. My grandfather moved to North Carolina, but continued to subscribe to the Washington Post and saved the sports pages for me I was in college when the Senators moved to Minnesota, but I remained loyal to my franchise. The Charlotte minor league team was a Senators'/Twins' farm team, so I kept up with many of the minor leaguers by reading the Charlotte Observer. I requested and got Camilo Pascual's jersey number when I played high school baseball. I was a terrible pitcher, but I loved the game. I tried out for the UNC baseball team, but only lasted until the first cut. Played softball off and on. Lost track of the Twins during my time in the army (Sept 67 to June 69). Mark Davidson was from my hometown and played on the '87 World Championship team. I flew to Minneapolis in '87 and '88 to see Mark and his wife, Linda. Sat next to Mrs. Mark Davidson, Mrs. Kirby Puckett and Mrs. Greg Gagne. (I guess I was still interested in the players' wives.) Mark introduced me to Tony O. and Harmon Killebrew. Twins Daily has been an amazing addition to insatiable thirst for daily knowledge about the Twins. Thank you owners, writers and contributors for your dedicated and informative writing about the Twins.

Some of the numbers will depend on lineup construction. If Buxton bats 9th and Arraez bats first, then (#2) Buxton could easily get into that 50+ steal category also based on 130 games played. Arraez has the patience and skill at the plate to get Buxton more steal opportunities, whereas Kepler swung at a lot of first pitches. On the other hand anyone batting behind Buxton will probably get more first pitch fastballs, which Kepler could do more damage on but Arraez will probably still get more extra base hits thus impacting (#4). Anyway I look at this potential lineup that(#1) projection looks mighty soft.

This is fun, thanks for sharing. I suppose a lot of my story is a bit similar to yours, just set in a slightly earlier era. I was born in the mid-80s, so it was pretty easy to get wrapped up into World Series fever. Being a kid in Minnesota around that time, Kirby Puckett was right up there with Batman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as your favorite superheroes. I always remained interested in baseball, but my family's interest in the Twins specifically tailed off in the mid-90s. The strike hurt, but the Twins being completely irrelevant was probably the bigger factor. I personally started getting back into the Twins a bit in 1999, then attended a bunch of games the next season. You could get in the Metrodome for $4 in 2000, so it was never too difficult to find somebody interested in going, and I'm sure my parents were thrilled to get me out of the house It just so happened that 2000 club was also a really fun team. Really bad, but really fun. A lot of the core guys in that group developed into the next winning Twins team. To have followed that progression was a really rewarding fan experience. Witnessing the 2002 team beat contraction, essentially sticking it to the man, was a kind of thing that leaves quite an impression on a teenager. I have the same feelings toward that team as a lot of people have with their favorite band/musicians from their teenage years. I'd say I was a Twins fan by birth. Both my parents and my brother and sister enjoyed baseball. My grandpa listened to every game, so Herb Carneal and John Gordon were basically the background music of my summers growing up. But, it was all the time I spent as a teenager at the Metrodome from 2000-02 that really pushed things beyond casual fandom for me.

You don’t believe it affected his pitching, and I do. Here’s a guy, Pineda, on the wrong side of 30 (to borrow a phrase from the Gibson/Bumgarner discussions), could never stay healthy, then in 2019 arguably put up his best career year, while come to find he had a banned substance in his system. If the calendar rolls around to January and February, and he looks in shape and hasn’t signed yet, and his agent calls, then I offer him a one year guaranteed deal, sure. Otherwise I just don’t spend much time thinking about him. By the way I’m glad to be in the minority on this.

I feel sorry for you youngsters that didn’t know the 87 Twins (as Im sure my elders feel sorry for me missing out on the 65 team). I was hooked by Kirby Puckett in 1986. It was a good time to get hooked because I caught every game of 87 on the radio, tv, and my first live game in May of 87. I was in college and had evening classes so the most I missed of any games were games 3,4, and 5 of the World Series. It was killing me to be in class but attendance was mandatory. I can still name the 25 man roster from memory. (At least a version of it as rosters Change throughout a season) What a dream ride those playoffs were because the regular season wasn’t as impressive as one would think. We only won 85 games. Chip chair and a chance they say. I say, Kirby Puckett and Sweet Music Franky Viola. An ace and a once in a lifetime player. Puckett swung at and hit EVERYTHING for high average. Guess that’s why I like Astudillo. Reminds me of the free swinging Puckett even though the results are nowhere close to the same.

Thanks for doing this! Do you have your favorite mlb draft strategies that you prefer? (HS pitcher, HS batter, college pitcher, college batter, etc.) From what I've read, generally, college position players have a higher success rate than pitchers, so I tend to agree with our current FO on spending early draft picks and most of the international money on position players. Having said that, do you think the strategy is TOO batter heavy? What would you do differently if you were in charge of Twins drafting?

I have no way to challenge Steamer, but I am not a Raley fan and I hope Kiriloff and Larnach take any ABs that he would have and that he is part of a trade! Blankenhorn is only if Sano is injured - I sure hope not. Sano is more of a 40+ HR hitter to me. He is not limited by the juiced ball like Polanco and others are. If Garver is only 96 games he has regressed. If this projection is true Jeffers will have a lot more than 1 AB. I want Buxton to steal 50! I know I am retro. I also believe in Arraez and he will hit the doubles that bring his OPS up. Finally, my most controversial stance - I am not as big on Kepler as many are - so I will say that Rosario will have more WAR that Max - take your shots!!!

I just hope nobody snatches up Tyler Wells. Because frankly, he’s better than all of these guys. He’d most likely already be on the 40 man if he hadn’t had TJ.

I’m asking about current Twins and the hypothetical situation that they were on another team coming over to Minnesota. Who would be the most exciting?

I see a lot of people with “grass is greener” mindset. Which Twins player would Twins fans be most excited about joining the Twins if he came from another team? Is this player the same person you think has the most potential on the Twins?

Do you see the twins signing one of the top 6 FA pitchers? Do you see C.J. Cron coming back?

A couple of thoughts that I haven't seen addressed: 1. I haven't seen any comments that imply that Big Mike doesn't have ability, especially with his performance prior to the suspension. Whether you consider him in the #2-#5 slots, he proved he can wing it effectively. 2. Pineda stated that he was trying to lose weight (he is an enormous man) and there was a comment that referred to his prior knee injury. Signing him early could possibly get him into a conditioning program under team supervision similar to Sano last year, who came to ST in much better shape. Leaving him on his own, unsigned, until near or during ST seems to be a significant disadvantage if the front office wants him. 3. Even while under suspension, I believe that he is still eligible for spring training (correct me if I'm wrong). If so, getting him in early to ST for conditioning purposes and to regain his pitching motion with coaching would seem to be important elements. 4. A comment mentioned that he can continue workouts in Ft. Meyers after ST, which could include pitching in intra-squad games, which benefits both his pitching and also batters eventually headed to minor league or short season teams. All of that argues to me that a relatively early signing (of whatever amount, years or terms) would be a good call.

IDK … There is always a demand for SPs but it seems like there is as much demand as ever this year. Given the way Pineda was pitching before the suspension, I would think there will be a fair amount of interest in him. MLB Rumors had him 17trh overall, two spots ahead of Gibson. They had Gibson predicted for 2/18 and of course he got 3/30. I just don’t see Pineda still looking for a job when spring training starts. 2/20 with a 3rd year option sounds pretty good to me.

I think you can see how much TD does for all of us. It is a daily read and your work with the minors is far above and beyond any other source. My request for you is a rating question: Please give me a top ten prospect list for potential 2020 positions on the 26 man squad, considering the normal number of injuries.

What's a realistic expectation of opening day 2020 payroll?

If we bring back big mike and only sign one of the second tier FA SPs, and trade for a cost controlled SP (or plan on rolling with our young guys) that leaves a lot of money to go after a 3B/1B. I like it.

A couple key distinctions: 1. It was for a banned substance, not a PED. The rules are different — for instance, had the suspension lapsed before the end of the season, he’d have been playoff-roster eligible. 2. Based on some stuff circling around out there, this was a very serendipitous test result. Pineda deserves another chance, and it might as well be from the team that gave him the last one.

So for half the season he was our best pitcher and would have been our #2 pitcher in the playoffs and you all think of him as the 5th starter if he resigns? Odorizzii is currently the headline of the offseason. If we sign Pineda I and rely on two of the young guys I think the young guys can exceed what Gibson and Perez gave us last year so I would not consider the offseason to be a fail but rather a C+.to B- since I was afraid we would lost them both. If we resign Pineda and we sign just one of those 2nd tier guys (Ryu 4th in Cy Young is 2nd tier?) I would be thrilled. If its Hamels or Wheeler I wouldn't even make a distinction between Berrios, Odo, Pineda and new guy in terms of spots in the rotation. If its Dobnak or Graterol I'm not sure you would even distinguish 1 from 5.

My first time baking dog biscuits. They don’t smell good ... lol

I’m going to a friend’s place tomorrow for chicken curry. They said not to bring anything, but I can’t show up empty-handed. So I’ll bring a bottle of wine for her, something non-alcoholic for him, and homemade dog biscuits for their dog.

Only if they acquire two better pitchers.....

I don't understand why the Rox would trade Gray and Story for such a light return. I'm not sure that trade gets Story by himself. Nor would the Rays trade Glasnow+ for Kepler...

I said back on November 15th I though the twins would be a surprise suitor for Moustakas and I still think that is on the table. More than anything it shows they are willing to move Sano to 1st and have a replacement at 3rd. Either Donaldson or Moustakas would be a big improvement in my mind. For the cheaper contract and just slightly less top performance but more dependability I would pick Moose over Donaldson, but that is just me.

Here's my blueprint: Non-tender C.J. Cron. I think if he gets to full health he's a worthwhile piece, but not at $7.5mil. Offer arbitration to the rest Trade Eddie Rosario and Jhoan Duran to San Diego for Kirby Yates. Trade Royce Lewis and Lewis Thorpe to New York for Noah Syndergaard. I played around with baseballtradevalues.com for these. According to that I'm overpaying for Yates and right on for Thor. I can see swapping a prospect, or adding one, but they seem reasonable. Sign Zach Wheeler 4/$72mil Sign Josh Donaldson 2/$40mil Re-Sign Jake Odorizzi 3/$36mil Sign Drew Pomeranz 2/$7mil Re-Sign Jason Castro 1/$6mil I'm not a fan of 6+ year contracts for anyone, let alone starting pitchers, and I love me some Zach Wheeler. If a third year is required for Donaldson, I'm in. I also believe the Pomeranz we saw in the last two months is for real, in which case this is a steal. Odorizzi and Castro are brought back for their veteranness/continuity/etc. C - Garver $0.6 1B - Sano $5.5 2B - Arraez $0.6 3B - Donaldson $20.0 SS - Polanco $4.0 LF - Cave $0.6 CF - Buxton $3.5 RF - Kepler $6.3 DH - Cruz $12.0 Bench - Castro $6.0 - Gonzalez $9.0 - Adrianza $3.0 - Wade $0.6 SP - Wheeler $18 - Syndergaard $9.9 - Berrios $4.5 - Odorizzi $12 - Dobnak or whoever $0.6 RP - Rogers $4.0 - Duffey $1.3 - May $2.5 - Yates $6.5 - Pomeranz $3.5 - Littell $0.6 - Stashak/shuttle rider $0.6 Perez buyout $0.5 The 26th man will be Astudillo or another Rochester-to-MSP shuttle rider. My math comes to $136.8 million. I think it would be justified to bump overall payroll this year to offer a Blake Snell-esque extension (4/$40mil) to Berrios, something similar to the Polanco and Kepler extensions to Sano and Buxton, and a Glen Perkins-style extension for Taylor Rogers. Cave is definitely a drop-off from Rosario, but he's also less than 10% the cost, and easily discarded when Kiriloff/Rooker/Larnach/Raley are ready to take over. Also in play is Shogo Akiyama (2/$6mil according to MLB Trade Rumors). If my scouts think he's an upgrade over Cave, Shogo mans LF, Cave goes to the bench, Wade goes to Rochester, and the payroll goes to $139.2mil. Boom.

Here is my 2020 off-season blueprint. - Leave the historic offense alone - Beef up the bullpen (Will Harris & Pomeranz additions) - Sign a veteran backup catcher to a one-year deal who is solid defensively (Martin Maldonado) - Go find an "ace" starter (Zach Wheeler) while keeping Odorizzi - Bring in vet presence on a short term deal to help the rotation (Cole Hamels) Payroll: a modest $141.5M This team might not win 101 games again but looks like a force in the playoffs, on paper, at least. What do you all think?

My fear is whoever the Astros target will become a stud pitcher.

5-10 million more per year matters, yes. This is their job, and the chance to make sure their heirs' heirs don't need to work if they don't want to. But no bad team is going to pay the money needed for these older players. A team like the Padres might, because they should be good this coming year or next..... also, this is the first time they get to choose where they live half the year....that would matter to me

The Braves did the exact same thing with Markakis. Both players get the same amount of money, each with the buy out of 2M and each with one year deals of 4M for a total of 6M. Picking up the options on each would have cost 6M a piece. So... I'm thinking... OK, by doing it this way, even though the players get the exact same money, they shave 4 million total of the payroll number. This makes sense, everyone should be happy. But, then I think some more... What does it matter if the payroll is 168 Million or 164 million? It occurs to me, that the only way the 4 million matters is if they get near the competitive balance threshold of 208 Million. If you are dancing near that line... the 4 million matters. These low level moves by the Braves to me... Is an announcement that the Braves plan on adding significant payroll this year. Around 70 Million potentially if my math is right. I think we can safely add the Braves to the Cole, Rendon and Strauburg discussion. Might be the strongest candidate to trade for Mookie Betts as well.