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I lost a ten spot recently, pretty sure it was at the Prospect Park Station on the Green Line. Anybody finds it, PM me at TwinsDaily.

If the Twins could fix a reliever, I would think they would have fixed Pagan. I don't know if the Twins coaches are good enough to even try to fix a pitcher!

Maybe we should organize a go fund me page. ?

No "fixing" need to hire a TOP NOTCH pitching coach and coach these guys up. Also need to stop relying on the analytics so much ... these guys are athletes and competators... LET THEM PITCH.

The Giants are one of the most highly-regarded front offices and their coaching staff is like 15 people. This is the direction baseball is moving. If you work smarter on the front-end with $200k salary coaches and staff, you save millions on the back-end with fewer bad contracts and better performances from your existing players.

I've got a jar full of fake silver coins; you know, US mint quarters, dimes and nickels I'll throw in on the Correa deal since they're no longer accepted as legal tender at Fleet Farm, which is no longer "fleet" (took awhile to get checked out) and they're not much into "farm" either. But they do have a large selection of potato chips and peanuts though. "Plow Through Our Chips" is their new farm motto. Anyway, there was this sign on the checkout counter "Please use your plastic to pay for your items as we don't have any coins to make change." What's the country coming to when its own coinages of the realm are no longer legal tender? I suppose partly because you can't even get a Salted Nut Roll anymore without forking over a $2 bill so what do you do with coins? Put 'em in a sock and carry 'em around like a sap? So I'll up the ante for Correa with my coinage. Maybe Correa can drill out his bats and stuff 'em full of coins. You know, since MLB deflated their baseballs and spindly grandmothers can no longer hit moonshot homeruns. Ought to add a couple of points to his OPS. But if he ain't into jimmying his bat, there's gotta be ten bucks in my coin jar. Enough to get Correa a couple two-three bags of chips at Fleet. He can split the take with Boras. Let the chips fall where they may.

I think this is an understated factor. I believe there is a 10% of signing Correa. They cannot hang around and wait for him and miss out on other free agents. Sign him early or move on and get some other needed parts before they are snapped up.

I think I now understand why Celestino was so poor running the bases. He was being coached by the run prevention coordinator ?

The key question is not what these new hires really do - no, instead it’s are these new hires TDers? Clearly the more TDers hired, the more wins for our beloved Twins…that’s indisputable.

I think Lopez is going to be fine. He probably won't be as dominant as he was with the O's, nor as mediocre as he was with the Twins, but I think he'll move back towards the median there. The stuff is still there and this looks more to me like a little small sample size stuff than anything else. This is also why relievers are fungible except for the truly elite: they bounce around from year to year and even within a single season.

Let's not repeat the Colome - Pagan saga. If they want to fix him don't do it in meaningful innings. He is 29 and has had one half of a good year.

I understood what Vanimal meant with the title of his post. Subsequent comments are like nobody remembers 2018. ? I believe everyone makes mistakes and I believe our front office is headed in the right direction. I remain supportive of them... however... Nick Anderson was this regimes biggest (insert favorite swear word) mistake this front office has ever made. 2018... the Twins were out of contention. Nick Anderson was striking out batters as a 27 year old in Rochester. The Twins would have to make a decision on if Nick would be added to the 40 man roster during the off-season. They left him in the minors and then traded him to the Marlins for a low level prospect so they wouldn't lose him for nothing or need to use a roster spot on him. I'll mention again... The Twins were out of contention. The Twins were so out of contention that they traded Ryan Pressly. Nick Anderson could have been called up at this point. The Front office signed 38 year old Matt Belisle instead and gave him a 40 and 25 man roster spot. Matt Belisle threw 23 innings and produced a 9.13 ERA and these were the last major league innings that Belisle would throw. Nick Anderson went on to strike out batters with the Marlins which interested the Rays as the Rays gave up their 4th ranked prospect to acquire him at the 2019 trade deadline. Lets us compare what we got for Nick Anderson to what the Marlins got for Nick Anderson. Brian Schales compared to Rays 4th ranked prospect Jesus Sanchez. Nick Anderson was in our system... Our Front Office, our Scouts, our Coaches should have known him like the back of their hand. They gave him and 6 years of control away for nothing and instead signed the last 23 innings from a career so-so 38 year old during a year when they were out of contention. I support the Front office but Nick Anderson should tell everyone that the hard decisions are indeed hard decisions. Kyle Garlick only being allowed to face left-handers... the people deciding that are the same people who couldn't see Nick Anderson. Max Kepler... multi-year deal... everyday right fielder? The same people who signed Kepler are the same people who couldn't see Nick Anderson right in front of them. We can't assume the front office knows, the scouts know, the coaches know. That isn't a slam against them... All front offices make these type of mistakes but... wow... What an incredible unnecessary miss. It should be us... the Twins... who are currently designating him for assignment. ?

Looks like the awards platforms are confused, and inconsistent. For GG he is a First Baseman, even though there is a GG for Utility. For Silver Slugger he is a Utility Player, even though there is a Silver Slugger for a First Baseman, And, really, in what type of advanced stat can Arraez be considered ....... a "slugger", It would really be something if he would have won a GG as a DH. That would truly be noteworthy!

When did they start voting for a silver slugger award ... I always thought if you had the highest batting average at a position you won the award ... Have I been wrong thinking this ... Nice going major leaguer ( arraez ) ... It's a pleasure watching you play and hit ...

We have zero evidence this is bloat. We literally have no idea what they do, or if it matters on the field or not.

Woah! look at Uncle Moneybags over here!

I'm hungry.

I still have 500 riel from a trip I took to Cambodia decades ago. Carlos can have that too. Hopefully he doesn't check the exchange rate.

Meg Rowley, editor of FanGraphs and a seemingly fantastic person all around, has repeatedly stated she is not comfortable with people being paid based on a system FanGraphs created and tweaks constantly to provide as a resource to baseball fans. And she's right. This is a burden FG should not have to bear.

The save as a statistic didn't become official until 1969, following the start of the trend of using a designated closer in the 1960's. I think the trend of moving away from that strategy is going to continue and for that reason the save statistic is going to become less and less useful in telling us which relief pitching performances are the most important. Remember when GWRBI was an official stat in the 1980's? It was based on the same criterion that determined the winning pitcher: it was the RBI that gave the team a lead for the remainder of the game. Turns out it wasn't a very useful stat so its official status was discontinued. I can easily foresee the save going the same way. What would be more revealing is to use a formula of some kind to weigh the game situation into a reliever's performance to produce something akin to WAR or WPA. It could even take into account factors like whether your opponent is a division rival close to your team in the standings or whether it's a game in early April as opposed to an elimination game in the last week of the season

I decided to bite on your joke, and was going to post an acknowledgement of your having snared me into clicking the link, but gosh darn it the job titles exist. The two individuals are ex-players (college and minor league respectively), relatively young compared to what I might have expected, but anyway there is some sort of hierarchy in coordination. Imagine the territorial infighting that would occur if the Twins ever acquired Shohei Ohtani. ? If they open a job posting for Analytics Impressario and General Buttinsky, I will send them my resume.

Congrats. Front office get him some help.

I'd recommend GasX. Got that tip from a chance meeting with the Twins Assistant Bloat Coordinator. Him and the Twins Keyboard Coordinator were having a couple of Hamms down at Louie's. Seems they both got the hots for chili.

I want to know what a Run Creation Coordinator does. Does he teach the players not to overrun second when there's already a player standing there? Hmm. Fail. Or is he a like video game player? You know, overseeing the players' Madden tournament in the club house, making sure nobody tries to claim a two-point conversion when they actually kicked the PAT. Wait a minute... I got it. He leads the team prayer meetings. That's why they call him "The Creator"! Dominus Vobiscum.

I WAR in free agency cost $8M. They can probably hire 80 people filling these various roles for that same amount. I would sure hope the effort of these 80 people spread across the entire team and farm system would net more than 1 win per season.

This is basically the parallel to the development of analytics departments / personnel. Teams have added a ton of personnel. I heard an interview with someone from the St Louis organization last year and he said they have added 100 people. Not adding these positions like other teams would be the equivalent to not developing analytics.

Before the season started, I put 50 bucks on the Timberwolves to win the NBA championship. Carlos - in June, you can have my winnings if you're wearing a Twins jersey.

Regarding the Boy Geniuses, Thad Levine turns 51 tomorrow. He still can't grow facial hair. I chalk up his sterling reputation to that.

Maybe he isn't fixable. After all he was not good for his whole career up until last year. Maybe the Twins shouldn't look at a (relatively) small sample size and expect it to be the new norm.

In my blueprint, I ripped off the band-aid and put Winder directly into the MLB bullpen. I think that's where he's going to end up anyway, may as well do it now.

As he should have. He will only improve from here. A quiet star in MLB. Good for him! Congratulations! Twins Geezer out!

What I'm getting it is why the double standard? A guy can be fired but can't quit? Is there a standard 15 day notice when firing a guy. Get over it.

I've never heard firing managers or coaches during the season described as low class......

Guys who don't make the bigs until 28 typically don't last much past 32. Obvious that Tampa sees that. Nothing much to see here.

Yup. I always used to assume it carried forward and applied to the following year's budget, but I believe Gleeman mentioned on GATG that he looked into it and it's as Doc said. Which means going forward we should probably be factoring any buyout clauses into the current year's payroll.

Good on ya, Luis. It's a pleasure watching you play.

Nick, really appreciate the update, especially with a little more detail and background on the coaching and administrative changes. Couple points: 1] I understand the use of a projected payroll of $140M based on last year. We have to start somewhere, right? But I recall last year at this time, coming off a poor 2021, when some projected cost cutting and a payroll of $100-120M. Instead, the Twins and the FO did what they've largely done thus far, and keep payroll about ML average, usually placing somewhere around 14th to 16th. MLB, like most sports and entertainment industries, tends to follow a different path, often, than "normal" economic factors. I fully expect MLB to see a solid 5% raise in salaries across the board. I think that's a fair and even trend across sports in general. (The 2020 covid year was a weird and difficult outlier across sports-given). If we follow precedence, said increase should put the Twins at around $147M. 2] The total amount of available spending capital is so damn hard to predict, not just because of any obscure Correa factor, but also due to Kepler and Urshela. There are a ton of reasons to keep both. A healthy Kepler is a good player and excellent defender who is "cheap" considering total value. And while I have great faith in Larnach, and Wallner, one may or may not be quite ready and AK remains a very hopeful question mark, I personally am not "counting" on him. And while the Twins, yet again, very much need a RH OF, there's real value in keeping a healthy Kepler as more of a "sure thing", especially with an OF addition. Everything I just said about Kepler pretty much applies to Urshela. He's a good teammate and a very solid player with real value. And I'd like to keep him in various, potential roster configurations. The problem is, combined, they offer another $18M in spending capital to augment the roster if the Twins sign Correa...or one of the other top SS...and make a serious move for Rodon...my #1 or #2 target...or maybe a Bassett SP option. Is signing Correa, or one of the other top SS to a somewhat lesser deal, AND signing Rodon a fantasy? Maybe it is. But this FO is placed in an enviable and opportunistic situation that we haven't seen before! So however it works out, and whatever change of direction might take place, it may simply prove necessary to move either or both of Kepler and Urshela in order to flesh out the rest of the roster. The absolute WORST THING they could do at this point is just sit back and wait and be "patient" and just wait for things to fall in their lap. It's not going to happen. And then they've BLOWN all this opportunity to re-tool a team that could be really good and end up in a "settle" and hope situation. 3] I have to somewhat disagree with the "no trouble" clearing additional roster spot comment. And I've been saying this for a while now. While SS is the only major hole projected towards 2023, there are definite needs. Needs are a RH bat, another catcher, probably one more quality BP arm, and SS. And there remains the arguable "one more SP as good as Gray and Mahle or better" scenario. That's at least 4 spots, very possibly 5, and maybe 6 if we can bring on yet another quality BP arm. And we're at 37 on the roster right now. And then we still need to protect at least a handful of milb players. Pagan should be moved for ANYTHING if someone will bite. Otherwise, dump him immediately. We NEED better than Garlick, though I'd love to have him back on a milb deal, maybe a split deal like Cave had. I just don't see protecting Stashak, coming off injury. Would be nice to have him back, but don't see anyone nabbing him, and there are other arms in the system getting ready. No way we protect Contreras, though again, I'd sure like him back at AAA. 37-4 is 33 on the 40 man. Room enough to add 4-6 additions, C, OF/RH bat, SS, RP, additional P, whether SP or RP or both. But what about protecting prospects? And I know once you "set" your 40 man you can then cut someone later after the rule 5 and hope they sneak through, in order to add someone else. And I know that typically, most teams only lose 2-3 players in the rule 5. But is it smart to risk Enlow, Sands, and MAYBE Megill? I'm OK risking Megill despite his stuff and "possibly" harnessing it. Love to have him at AAA, but his stuff, though good, hasn't proven consistent enough to warrant a spot push come to shove. Sands has equally good stuff, has been a top 20 prospect, has flashed a little, but not proven enough yet. But we dump him? He could be another Jax, if not better, and provides depth. Does a good, solid milb career until 2022 warrant risking his potential loss? Maybe so. Enlow was a high pick and signed for over value who didn't flash until late in 2019 and the early part of 2021 before surgery. Still only 23yo and protected thus far, do you risk someone snapping him up for future protection? I'm NOT saying you are wrong to not protect arms like Sands and Enlow in particular, Megill as a "maybe", I'm just saying NOT protecting a couple arms like these could bite in a year or so. Same with Canterino, very similar situation to Enlow. I just can't believe anyone would nab Canterino coming off surgery, but I never saw the Orioles grabbing and keeping Tyler Wells either. Again, you're not wrong about "easy" cuts, but I'm not sure there won't be some hard decisions of who to protect and who not to either. Despite recent trades and movement upward ML promotions, and some potentially bad draft selections. the Twins aren't devoid of talent. And like everyone else, the lost 2020 season doesn't affect rule 5 status. And while rule 5 won't be some free for all situation, there are more than a few solid prospects to try and protect, without room for all, that I don't think "easy" not protecting is necessarily all that easy.

Coordinator, Run Creation, analyses trends and then advises baserunners in the strategy of running forward. This is generally considered a proven, effective strategy to increase the possibility of scoring a run. Disco Dan Ford is brought in to advise on those particular situations when running backwards is warranted. This synergizes with the Coordinator, Run Prevention department.

Any reliever should be able to come into the ninth inning up by three runs and get out of there with a win more often than not. The idea of a "closer" who you save for the ninth inning regardless of what is happening is kind of antiquated. Tie game, bases loaded, no one out in the seventh should be a situation for your best pitcher out of the bullpen. If you best bullpen pitcher is your closer and you refuse to bring him out except for a save, you probably will not get to use him.

There are some things that are really hard to quantify. Defense happens to be one of them. Relief pitching can also be hard. Think of the value of a reliever who you bring into a tie ballgame with no outs and bases loaded in the sixth inning and gets the next three guys out. This is obviously an important situation in the game and a valuable performance that might be lost in pitching stats (1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, not that exciting). Is the 40 save closer who only pitches the ninth when you have a lead really more valuable to a team than the reliever that has proven they can be trusted in the most important and highest leverage game situations? How do you know a reliever can be trusted in these situations?

Me too. Wouldnt mind seeing him back.

If we get a "we tried" excuse regarding a failed attempt to sign Nick Anderson, something has gone very, very weird with the universe.

Question, Nick. Shouldn’t the$4.5M spent on buy-outs be included innext year’s budget? Do you know how the Twins handle this? As for players leaving, will be shocked if they move on from Urshela. Seems that so many of you assume they will, yet I thought he was one of their best players.

Did he deserve the same blame for leaving Arkansas during recruiting season? How about you? Have you ever changed jobs? the timing on when job changes happens is never right. Every worker in the US is on their own. It happens, it’s not some moral thing. Wes needed to do what was right for him, just like the rest of us.

I read something about Tampa having a big roster crunch with the rule 5 draft coming up. I think waiting it out and a minor league deal make the most sense. There will likely be guys with more upside available soon. Maybe we can find ourselves another Ryan Pressly. ??

I remembered him as a Rule-5 loss, but looked him up and it was a trade to the Marlins (who flipped him to Tampa less than a year later), for a prospect who didn't pan out. That trade occurred when he was 28 and still hadn't cracked the majors. Now he's 32 and not doing well at AAA. He's a local Minnesotan, but I don't see that as making him worth a roster spot. Although, with open 40-man spots I guess we could claim him, put him on waivers again in a week, and let him rot in our minor league system instead of Tampa's. Yay?

Seems like a Twins type of move then.