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I just love how clean of a profile he seems to have. No major injuries, good stuff, steadily building innings, consistently good numbers and peripherals, and consistently young for the level. Obviously developing pitchers is hard and plenty of unforeseen things can go wrong, but he checks a crapload of boxes and I'm hyped for when he gets called up next year.

I hope he has number 1 potential but I’d be very happy if he has Berrios’ ceiling, front of the rotation stuff if not a Verlander type ace. They have lots of quality arms coming up. Let’s hope several of them pan out as good starters.

As soon as I see Boras I want to hide - he is the boogyman of agents and dealing with him leaves me cold. That said, what really stops me is the physical unknown.

When have the Twins ever had 7 of their top 10 prospects being pitchers with this type of combined potential? And, there are several others that are not far behind these 7. I can remember when we hoping on Stewart, Gonsalves, and Meyer, none of whom had anywhere near the arsenal that most of these kids have. On the whole, all of these prospects have legitimate secondary pitches. It will be fun watching them progress. Let's pray for health!

Go back through baseball journalism, and you'll find laments about "it's only a business, not like I remember," through the years. Ty Cobb complained that players were only in it for the money anymore. I'm sure the founders of the National League had gripes about the mercenaries wanting too much in 1876. But the "ain't enough to live on" trope is nothing but a straw man. The players today aren't saying that. If the money doesn't go to the players, then the owners keep it. Perhaps you have some pipe dream that the owners will voluntarily cut ticket prices; they won't. But even if they did, ordinary fans won't benefit; scalpers will, when they scoop up all the seats and then you have to deal with StubHub and the like instead of the team's website and box office. Every mature business carefully separates its "cost centers" from the revenue side. If the cost can't be brought below revenue, the business fails. If it's close, maybe a few costs can be shaved, at the risk of a death spiral on the revenue side. Otherwise, revenue and cost are pursued independently; no matter how well costs are controlled, VPs of Marketing and of Sales continue to do their best. That's what we've seen here, and the players rightly want to share in the uptick of revenues which we've seen Forbes and other reputable sources document.

Couldn’t agree more. Give us two-three solid #2-3 starter types (and Balazovic, Ryan, Ober and a few others could project as such), two-three solid #3-4 starter types and two-three dependable late inning reliever types out of the cadre of young, cheap, controllable approaching arms we have and we’d be in really, really good shape (in terms of both performance and committed cash). That means finding six-nine dependable pitchers (with four starters) out of the pitchers in our top twenty prospects and Ober, Dobnak and Jax on whom we can rely from ‘23-‘26. It’s doable and appears to be the plan of the FO.

I have been waiting for him. He is the talent that really looked like he could be a fixture in a rotation. I do hope to see him this year.

I don't know what to think about Rocker. There are lot's of different opinions out there. I guess ultimately it does worry me that the Mets did not sign him even though they built their draft around him. It seems like when pitchers medicals cause red flags it hasn't worked out too well for the teams that grab them. I think at pick number 8 I would pass on Rocker but I am a pretty risk averse person. If the medicals are out there now then I guess get your doctors to take a look and try to get a feel for what the risk is and go from there. If they agree with the Mets assessment I wouldn't use my first rounder on him.

We were around in '94 when the strike shortened season happened. Going to the ball park after that was pathetic. Sometimes the fans in the stands barely outnumbered the players. At least it seemed that way. It was one of those times when you could hear individual conversations between people on the opposite side of the Metrodome. I kind of feel like another shortened season could kill baseball as we have known it. It took years to recover from that strike. Now I am the one feeling like giving up on MLB. Perhaps it's time to no longer buy a full season behind home plate. Frankly, at this point, I'm doubting I would miss it much, and it would be nice not to spend the $9,000 or whatever it is supposed to be this year for our tickets.

There is no reason for him to be in AA next year. None.

I have never seen a player coming off of a 30 homerun season get ripped so much. Only 43 players in MLB hit 30 or more homeruns in 2021, and Sano was one of two to do it for the Twins (Jorge Polonco the other.) I hear the gripe that his 30 homeruns resulted in only 75 RBI. Well, a player can't get on base and then drive themselves in with a homerun, it takes baserunners to do that. RBI is more a reflection of where a players is batting in the line-up, and who is getting on base in front of them. And oh' Sano strikes out wayyy too much complaint...he always has, and everyone strikesout too much. Miguel was one of 5 players on the Twins with over 100 strikeouts. Sano certainly has his faults, and hopefully his batting average will climb up to the .250 - .260 mark to go along with his dingers, I can live with that. I think the Minnesota Twins can too.

I was one of those very few fans in the stands. My family and I always found a couple of games a year to go to, which was pretty good since we were 230 miles away. You could go to batting practice and almost always get a ball. As a teenager I jumped down behind the baggy and grabbed a half dozen of them once. The only employee there to chew me out was a nervous 20-year-old who told me I couldn't do that again. Even the organization didn't care enough to run a tight ship it seemed. That strike did coincide with the start of some really awful Twins teams though, so it's probably hard to determine what was the main cause for fan apathy, at least for Minnesotans. However, I can honestly say that my level of enthusiasm for MLB baseball has probably never been lower than it is right now.

Before the next draft, the Twins should take Moneyball to the next level by hiring a team of psychics to determine which pitching prospects will remain injury-free. Then I'd feel a little better about taking a chance with Rocker that the Mets were unwilling to take.

Yeah, there would be no pay cut, only another restructure. Which sounds like a bad idea to me. And it sounds like Cousins may not be interested anyway. Which would still call into question his actual desire to win. Doing so is really common with the high priced players.

Without an Ace or even a #2 it does not matter how many games they play!! No team has ever gone deep in the playoffs without an Ace. But the Twins are fine with that as long as they make money. It is never about winning with the Pohlads. They are happy just to make money. We will never win until we get new ownership.

With the top three all bats, there are 7 exciting pitchers in the top ten. Six of them should arrive by the end of 2023. These kids are fantastic prospects. Could two, or even three turn out to be #2 starters...or better? With the current lineup and those top three bats, should be one heck of a team two years from now.

Only one team was impacted by the luxury tax because the owners are using it as a de facto salary cap and they only want to double down on that, as evidenced by their attempt to link the loss of a draft pick to going over the luxury tax threshold earlier in the negotiations (which is why I made the "concede 50 cents, ask for 60 cents back" point earlier). It's a self-fulfilling prophecy to establish a luxury threshold, all agree not to go over said threshold, then claim it doesn't need to be raised. Come on, you have to be able to see through that ploy. And I'm pretty angry at the players for so quickly backing off the two year arbitration and/or early free agency points but it's now the owners who are making these feeble offers for the arbitration pool. The players aren't doing as much as they should for younger players in my opinion, but at least they're trying to do something while the owners keep making $5m offers to be distributed across a few dozen players as some sort of "reasonable compromise".

Good for him? What's your point? He's also never started a major league game and Ryan has already done that multiple times. I think the point of my statement was pretty clear. I wasn't predicting he has Hader's exact career, but was clearly comparing what I see as a possible future fit for him being as what Hader has spent over half his major league career doing. There's roughly 100000000000 variables that will play into exactly what his role looks like. The Brewers have developed 3 legit aces and have multiple shutdown arms in their pen now to the point where Hader no longer had to be the "do it all" reliever so his role changed. If the Twins suddenly have a Burnes, Peralta, and Woodruff in their rotation and Hader and Williams in their pen I'd expect roles and pitcher usage would change. But I don't know anyone who's predicting the Twins to have 3 homegrown arms turn into Burnes, Peralta, and Woodruff so I see the Twins using their pitchers differently than the Brewers currently do.

The players have backed down from significant demands such as earlier free agency and universal two year arbitration, both of which affect young players and how they're paid. The compromise has already been made on the player side of things and the owners continue to make pretty insulting offers to the pool money, which is much more beneficial to ownership than two year arbitration or early free agency. Never mind that owners, until recently, have been countering most of their "compromises" with something completely outlandish that often saves them more money than the "compromise" they proposed. In essence, they've been "giving up" 50 cents in one place and then asking for 60 cents back somewhere else, all in the same proposal. That's why you get the feeling the players keep saying "not good enough"... because they're pissed off, and rightfully so. While I'm also unhappy with the players in this, the owners have not been negotiating in good faith. They're definitely the bigger problem in this situation.

I am not defending Law, way back when he was free on ESPN I read all of his stuff. I think it was in one chat where he said something a long the lines of younger pitchers are hard to project, so you take size, arm motion and stuff and project what they could be, thus why you see pitchers like Kohl Stewart so high on lists, but the older they get the closer they are to what they will be than would they could be. And besides SWR none of the Twins prospects are all that young. Shane Bieber was getting his feet wet with 20 games as a 23 year old, got better at 24, awesome at 25. I remember a debate about the NY Mets maybe assembling one of the best pitching staffs in history. Thor, Harvey, De Grom, Martz (and maybe wheeler, don't remember all of them) around 2014 and it was pointed out most them were already in their mid 20's and weren't likely to get much better than they already were and shouldn't be mentioned in conversation, because they hadn't really accomplished anything at that point, 7 years later to this point besides De Grom and Wheeler (in Philly) as a group they didn't get any better. I don't really think the Twins need their top prospects to get better (except SWR) than they are they just need to continue what they have been doing in the minors in the big leagues. So we can hope one of them magically becomes amazing in the majors or just be happy that 5 or 6 of them will be solid and maybe a bit better for a few years in the majors.

I generally like what Law has to say and I think he generally knows what's, what when it comes to prospects but when it comes to pitchers I don't trust him and analysts in general that much. Since he is going to nitpick I am going to nitpick some. I don't have Keith's old prospect lists but in 2018 MLB.com had Tristen McKenzie rated as their Guardians number 2 prospect, Bieber at 8 and Civale at 10. Bieber was rated as maybe a number 4 pitcher in a rotation, Civale they felt was a bullpen arm. McKenzie was supposed to be a number 2 or 3 starter. No one had Bieber in their top 100 not Fangraphs, not mlb.com and most likely not Keith Law and yet he is the one who won the Cy Yong award in 2020. He is the dominant pitcher of those 3. Even Civale who was tenth best in the system has done better at least to this point than the highly rated McKenzie. What does this mean? Analysts have a really hard time identifying what impact pitchers will have once they reach the majors. This is just one extreme example and we have to remember what prospect lists are. They are not ultimate projection systems, they are based on the potential seen in players and projected out to their highest perceived potential. Just because they are ranked higher doesn't mean they will reach all the potential ascribed to them. Just because guys are ranked lower or not at all doesn't mean they cannot become impact players at the MLB level looking at you Luis Arraez who pretty much all analyst's left in the dust. Keith Law never liked Berrios until very late and IMO doesn't have the greatest pulse on pitching prospects. So I guess I take what he says with a grain of salt. Cleveland's Bieber who had good control and was ranked at number 8 turned out OK. Maybe a guy like Josh Winder with good control can do something similar? When it comes to pitching prospects I am not one to trust an industry prediction because they are just plain wrong too often IMO.

The extension is a one year deal for 9.25mil with a team option. That may be a slight overpay for the market, but really only by a million or two. We'll find out this year if the contract belongs in the JA Happ column or the Rich Hill column. "There is no such thing as a bad one year contract" is a MLB axiom for a reason.

Miguel Sano's contract was a damn good deal when it was signed. He is a polarizing athlete with his propensity to strike out and flail wildly at times. Still, who were all of the better players to take his position and provide 30 bombs? I maintain that pitchers would rather face anyone else in the Twins lineup than Sano. The money is almost irrelevant in today's game. Didn't Happ make nearly as much as Sano last year? Let it play out and we shall see what Miguel comes north this season. The price is still right and I'm not choosing a Rooker over Sano, not that there is anything wrong with Brent but I still am holding out for a full maturation of Sano in 2022.

The rabbit in the ball in 2019 really skewed the evaluation process for a lot of teams including the Twins. Sano and Kepler both looked like budding stars, so I am not going to fault the Twins for extensions on one hand and then accuse them of being miserly by not extending Berrios. I would rather they extend good young players and err on the side of sometimes making a mistake than letting players simply walk. I would have extended Kepler, Sano, Buxton, Berrios and Polanco. You win some and lose some but you definitely lose whenever a quality player leaves.

I wouldn't call the extension a mistake: while it hasn't worked out as well as the Twins would have liked, it wasn't a disaster, and the thought process behind it was absolutely sound. There was some calculated risk involved, but it wasn't a big botch or the result of flawed thinking. I don't expect every move to work out (it's simply unrealistic). I'm generally happy when the Twins are able to sign their own players to extensions, in part because it's more fun to root for players that you've known for a while rather than have a team of mercenaries. It's also usually good business. Mistake? eh. And if Sano has a big year this season...

Three True Outcomes. HR / SO / BB Players cave / Owners cave / Adjourn for a week

I don't think it was a mistake. Issues aside, extending home grown talent with his potential is a good thing typically. Has it worked out as hoped? Not exactly, but it can still bear fruit. While he was signed as a SS, he wasn't expected to stick there. Becoming a DH only type is a disappointment, but if he can build in his second half of last season it won't be a bad thing.

The better question would be is Buxton’s extension a mistake. My answer to that is no. I am pretty sure in that moment of signing I didn’t believe any of Kepler, Polanco or Sano was a mistake. Sano’s hasn’t paid off but the upside of that deal was real. They could avoid the risk of a mistake in hindsight by never doing anything. I don’t think they take enough risk. In that frame I hope they risk making more mistakes. I like the upside of the Buxton contract in spite of the risk. I felt the same with Sano.

Jeff Passan is reporting that there was enough progress at today's 2 hour meeting that they're going to meet again tomorrow. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33140500/mlb-players-association-plan-meet-again-tuesday-sides-make-progress-sources-say This hardly means much, but I'll take progress at this point. Update...

Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler's extensions look like they have worked out well for the team. However, the team's other extension to a player from that international signing class might have been a mistake. Back in the winter of 2019-20, the Twins were coming off a remarkable season where the club set the MLB record for home runs in a season. One of the most potent parts of the Bomba Squad line-up was Miguel Sanó, who was coming off career highs in home runs (34), SLG (.576), and OPS (.923). He had two years remaining of arbitration, but the Twins decided to sign him to an extension. Minnesota signed him to a three-year, $30 million extension in January 2020. The first three years of the deal (20-22) paid him $27 million with a $14 million club option or a $3 million buyout for the 2023 season. At the time, Sanó had been the team's primary third baseman, but the club signed Josh Donaldson weeks after the Sanó extension. Thus, Minnesota moved the burly slugger to a less demanding defensive position. The Good Since signing the extension, Sanó has hit .218/.303/.470 (.772) with a 110 OPS+ and 43 home runs in 188 games. He clubbed 30 home runs for the second time in his career last season. He has posted an above-average OPS+ in each of the previous two seasons. When he makes contact, there's little question about the type of power he can provide. Last season, he ranked in the 97th percentile or higher in average exit velocity, max exit velocity, hard-hit %, and barrel %. Sanó may have also quieted some injury concerns last season. After missing 155 games between the 2018-2020 seasons, he played a career-high 135 games in 2021. Staying healthy can provide value, especially when he can go on streaks where he seems to be able to hit nearly everything out of the park. In the season's final three months, he combined for an OPS north of .820 and an OPS+ above 120. During a disappointing season, Twins fans may have tuned out in the second half and missed what Sanó was able to accomplish. The Bad At this point in his career, Sanó's expectations aren't going to change even if expectations were higher for him as a prospect. He has a ton of power, but he is a streaky hitter that racks up strikeouts. He led baseball with 90 strikeouts during the pandemic shortened 2020 campaign. Last season, he struck out a career-high 183 times, which ranked fifth in the AL. He also set the MLB record for fastest to 1,000 career strikeouts. The value he has provided the Twins has decreased since signing his extension. In three of his first five seasons, he compiled a WAR total of 2.4 or higher. Over the last two seasons, he has been worth 1.0 WAR. FanGraphs pegs his value as worth $7.7 million from 2020-21, and the Twins paid him $11 million just for the 2021 season. Some of his decline in value is tied to his defensive skills. He led all AL first basemen in errors last season, and he had the league's second-lowest SDI ranking. Sanó was considered a below-average defensive third baseman, but there was hope he'd be able to transition to first base and be closer to average. That hasn't transpired, and the team may need to shift him to a more regular DH role in 2022. Sanó is due to make $9.25 million in 2022, and it seems unlikely for the Twins to pick up his $14 million option for 2023. If this is the case, he is entering a contract year that may motivate him. In the end, Minnesota likely could have filled Sanó's line-up spot with a cheaper option for 2022. Do you think the Sanó extension was a mistake? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

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I thought Ridder was this year? (He's a big favorite of mine late 1st/early 2nd) You're spot-on that EDGE is deep this year. Elite pass rushers are ideal, but you can get to a QB with a front that demands a lot of attention like Cincy had this year. Or Tampa did last year. The problem the Vikings have had is a complete lack of DT pass rush since Big Kev. Hell, DT has been one of the worst coached positions on this team for pretty much the entire Zimmer tenure. Linval was a stud but they've had so much garbage scheming and usage. It'd be nice to land a guy who can line up inside and collapse a pocket. (Leal or Winfrey could be guys to watch in the draft)

Now you're completely moving the goalpost and arguing something completely different. I don't even know what your stance on Ryan is. All you've done to this point is disagree with my comparison between the role I see him playing and the role Hader had for the first 3 years of his career. I didn't even say he would be as good as Hader. Didn't say he has the same type of "stuff" as Hader. I have no idea what point you're trying to prove. What does him being a reliever vs a starter have to do with his FB being 91.3? The reason he can throw his FB so much as a starter isn't because of the velo so why would him being able to throw it as a reliever be because of the velo? His fastball works because of his release point being so low. It doesn't move like the hitter's eyes expect it to so they swing under it. Oh, and Caleb Thielbar threw 64 innings in 59 appearances last year. Which means he had to have thrown multiple innings multiple times. His average FB velo is 91.3. He had a 10.8 K/9 and 132 ERA+ last year. Go look at Colome's career sometime and tell me you wouldn't be happy with Ryan, or anyone, having that career. He has 155 career saves. I have no idea what point you're trying to prove, but you're not doing it. "I see him coming out of the bullpen and being able to throw multiple innings or coming in and getting an important K when needed." I was clearly describing him as filling the type of role Hader has had for the majority of his career. You're more than welcome to disagree with that. But please provide some reasons why if you'd like to continue this discussion.

GO, OPTIMISM!

I appreciate your effort Melissa of encouraging us and I agree with everything you said. 2020 shortened season really helped our pitchers, it was a perfect storm for them. A good chance that could happen again if there's a shortened season. It's a good way to look at it if indeed it happens. But I'd prefer if it'd be settled soon so our young players on the 40 man have the much needed time to develop & prepare, especially Royce Lewis.

I agree - this trade made all the difference for the team. Your essay made me try to think of trades that the Twins made that did make a big difference. Jack Kralick for Jim Perry really jumps out at me, as well as, Gerry Arrigo for Cesar Tovar. And trading Dick Stigman for Mudcat Grant and Vic Power was an absolute steal - Pedro Ramos was at the end of his career. And trading Jim Merrit for Leo Gardenas gave the Twins there best SS in franchise history. Thanks for the memories.

Mor games,ore playing time. You can have a guy pitch fewer innings (thus the need of an opener or two), or just say don't care. Part of the love of baseball is the length of the season. So much can happen. Right now, Twins players need all the playing time they can get. If spring training camp opens a week late, picture the Twins sending out Rortvedt, Lewis, Miranda and Larnach sooner rather than later to get as much develoopment time before the minor league season begins. Last year, the Twins minors held tight to pitches thrown and innings pitched. I imagine we will see a lot of short starts at all levels with pitchers reaching four or five innings come July. The hope would be that ALL minor league starters pitch at least 100 innings and few push 150. Then would be pretty set for 2023. Of course, we want Ober and Ryan to push, in the majors closer to 150. I picture Griffin Jax being the workhorse in Minnesota, barring any free agent signings of note.

Even if he's right about everything, "sub-median" is still better than "dire," and is therefore an improvement for the Twins. (I don't think he's right, I think he's a bit too pessimistic while we here tend to be a bit too optimistic)

Keith Law, and just about any paid observer/scribe/former FO employee has forgotten more about baseball and prospect evaluation than I will ever know. Period. And who am I? Just a fairly smart person of 56yo who has been watching baseball most of his life and eating up everything from Baseball Digest to the Sporting News and Baseball America, to just about every baseball website you can imagine since the internet became a real "thing" 20yrs ago. I've seen Gooden and King Felix be the best pitchers ever before burning out. I've seen Clemmons being a STUD from pretty much day one. I've seen Randy Johnson being the best prospect in baseball struggle, be OK, and then suddenly dominate. Ive seen Stieb and Key being OK prospects and pitchers turn in to ACES and dominate when they weren't expected to. Yada, Yada, etc, etc. I've also witnessed countless TOP pitching prospects who never made it. Going back in time a bit, the 90's A's had 4 young pitchers that were supposed to maintain their window, lead by Todd Van Poppel, the second coming of Nolan Ryan. None of that happened. Conversely, ugly as it is to remember, it was just shy of this time the Twins had a collection of pitching talent that was supposed to lead them to a WS. None of them contributed to '87 or '91. Law would destroy me in a debate, as would others about prospects or the history of. But I could care less based on history.. What I DO KNOW is that projecting SP is an almost hopeless exercise. History has proven that to be true.. But the more arms you have, the better your chances to find quality pitching. According to the OP, didn't Law put Balazovic in his top 100 before anyone else? Well, he was awesome and then was shut down to protect him. That's not abnormal for any team post 2020, or the injury factor. Strotman was ranked higher in the Ray's system than Ryan before TJ. Where is Law on this? SWR was a top 100-150 prospect almost since drafted. But young for AA and a mediocre season at best, how does he "stink" now? Ober put up video game numbers as a less than high selection but had injury concerns. Suddenly he finds a repeatable delivery that keeps him healthy, AND makes adjustments during his rookie season to get better. But coming in to 2021 he was what, a late 20 or early 30th ranked prospect? A year ago, did most fans/writers know who Winder and Varland were? A lot of things can change in ONE YEAR in regard to prospects. A year ago, Miranda was a high draft prospect with a decent bat that could be very good. Now he's a top prospect in all of baseball. Keith Law says the Twins pitching prospects are not above the medium? Despite the fact he's ranked Twins prospects high previously? Sucks, he could be right. But, come on, there's just too much stuff and too many good arms here. And history has shown you really don't know what the hell you have until they actually pitch. Numbers and talent say we have a couple quality arms that will be part of our 2022-2023 and beyond. History states a couple will be very good, a couple solid, a couple will find a role in the BP. But nobody will surpass the medium? It may take time, but I call BS. At least a couple will match Berrios or better. Just too many arms and too much arm talent .

As I read all this crap, the owners keep making small concessions and the players keep saying "not good enough." It doesn't appear to me that the players are negotiating. They are just saying NO!!! That isn't how negotiating works.

Well, I do think a MLB manager plays a crucial role in getting young players mentally ready for the stress and challenge of the game at this elite level. I don't think his players perform particularly well under pressure (the 2020 late-season collapse and absolutely terrible postseason games), and young players seem to struggle at the plate and with fundamentals in the field. He doesn't seem to be helping much in that regard. At least not yet.

It was the right thing to do at the time and hasn’t hurt the team in any way since. maybe it didn’t work as the FO hoped, but I hope they do that deal again with Kirilloff or Rooker (or whomever the next budding, on the cusp type player is).

It looks to me that the Twins are planning to follow the Rays and Guardians approach and fill their pipeline with young pitchers, keep them until they get too expensive (unless they can get a team friendly early long term contract in place) and then trade them (like Berrios) and replace them with the next guys coming up. So, I would be surprised if they trade for a Montas type as I doubt they would pay them what is necessary to keep them in two years. On the other hand, Odo and Pineda I could see them signing on one year deals with an option, and I could see them signing Rodon IF he is healthy and he would agree to a one year deal. Relying on Bundy makes no sense as he is simply a flyer, and both Ober and Ryan have not been around the league enough for us to see if they are for real, so this year will be big for them. Given all this, I think they will try to field a decent rotation with one year guys, and will try to bring up a couple of the young guys to see what they can do. If they surprise, they might add at the deadline, bu I think they are gearing up for 23 and 24.

I'm not a fan of Montas. If you look at his numbers at home compared to on the road, he definitely benefits from dimensions of the A's ballpark as do all of their pitchers. He is a tier below Berrios. No Odo, we don't need 5 innings from him when it could mean developing someone with top of rotation possibility. Sign Big Mike, give Dobnak one last shot at the rotation and roll with the young guys. -Pineda -Ober -Ryan -Dobnak -Balazovic, Winder, Strotman, Sands -Balazovic, Winder, Strotman, Sands I hate a six man rotation but they have to figure out who they have in regards to their young arms. 2020 forces them to think differently about developing. Take the money and sign Story in an attempt to outscore teams as we see what we have.

The rotation is a long, long way from fixed. If we sign Rodon. If Winder performs. If Balazovic performs. If Ober doesn't have a sophomore slump. If Ryan doesn't have a sophomore slump. If Bundy is able to hold down his spot in the rotation until either Balazovic or Winder is ready. There are 5 ifs in the rotation right now. They're all ifs. I think some are a high probability, but the rotation was horrible last year and the 2 best pitchers aren't going to be pitching for the Twins this year. The one signing the Twins made was a guy who signed on a contract so small, many teams would happily cut him before the end of Spring Training. I'm optimistic about the rotation this year, but I'm also prepared for it to potentially come apart.

Well, it actually wasn't much of an extension. Sano was under team control for 2020-2021 already. the "extension" bought out Sano's arbitration years and 1 year of his free agency (2022) with 1 additional year of free agency (2023) as a team option. Do the Twins wish they hadn't done it? Sure, but it's not like Sano wouldn't have remained on the team last year (what would have been his final arbitration year). In the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal. I'd guess Sano would get $5-8MM on the free agent market right now so the Twins are really only overpaying him by a few million for one year (provided we have baseball this year...)

I think Sano's salary was too generous, he could've been had for much less. Polanco & Kepler were much less, Sano's salary should've been in the same ball park. If his salary was lower his expectation would be lower. Sano' has been disappointing but he is strong and quick, his potential is pretty good. He's fine at 1B. I like his swing at the end of the season if he can maintain that swing, he'd be worth it.

i've been reading since Day One. I was working at a library, and my job was literally "do whatever you have to do, just don't fall asleep at the desk!", so I stumbled across Twins Daily almost out of desperation! What keeps me here is the fact that this is hands-down THE best site dedicated to one team. You rock, Nick rocks, all the writers here are doing a great job!