Surelock

I think we need to give Jeffers a chance to prove himself, hopefully for 80-100 games next year. As far as a backup, he needs to be above average defensively. As far as catcher's offensive being a concern, look to other positions to provide power & average. To date, the Twins organization has not replaced Crus's or Rosario's RBI's. The Twin's do not have a 3, 4, or 5 hole hitter as of now. Miranda (69 RBIs) has shown signs of being one of them in the future. I think there is more holes than starting/relief pitching or catching.

Berrios was 3 wins & 7 losses. My error.

The FO, managers, or the pitching coaches don’t have the luxury of pigeon holing a pitcher this quickly as a relief pitcher. The Twins have prospects only at this point, that haven’t pitched a full season. Would the Twins have given up on Berrios after his first 14 games when he was 3 wins & 4 loses, an era of 8.00, pitching approximately the same amount of innings as Ober and Jax. The FO has to feel good with what they saw last year from these two, knowing they did not pitch competitively in 2020. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them given chance to stay in the rotation most of this year (whenever it is).

Nick, Thank you for keeping us posted on this matter.

He came up ready to hit and hopefully he continues.

I find it hard to imagine the Twins winning 80-82 games this year with the present starting pitching staff of Berrios, Gibson, Odorizzi, Pineda, Perez, etc. The Twins need pitchers to pitch 210+ innings in 32-33 games to take the burden off the RP’s. Berrios, Gibson, & Odorizzi were healthy in 2018 and still didn’t get 200 innings in the books. Berrios & Gibson have a chance to pitch 200+ innings this year if they continue to improve. Asking any of the others to pitch those innings is a real stretch. Let’s hope the FO goes out and gets a #1 or a #2 SP so RP’s have a chance to not be abused by the All Star break.

After seeing last fall’s playoffs, the Twins need a #1 & a #2 starting pitcher. Berrios has been our best pitcher, but he was a #3 or #4 on all those teams in last year’s playoffs. Cleveland is the frontrunner to win the Central again this year. This is how the Twins SP’s compared to Cleveland’s SP in inning/game in 2018. • Gibson averaged 6.13 innings/game vs Kluber average 6.61 innings/game • Berrios average 6 innings/game vs Clevenger average 6.25 innings/game & Bauer average 6.25 innings/game • Odorizzi average 5.13 innings/game vs Carrasco average 6 innings/game Cleveland had 3 pitchers with over 200 innings pitched and the Twins had 2 pitchers with over 190 innings pitched. We all know how Cleveland did in the 2018 playoffs and they realize how far out they are from championship action. The odds of the Twins relief pitchers failing are very high simply because they will be called on to often for too long. The Twins have a fundamentally sound core of players at the positions and in the batting order, but Twins have a good chance to be out of contention by the 2019 All-Star break. No matter who the relief pitchers are.

With what the Twins have done this off season, new manager with no experience, new coaches, Mauer retiring, and a firing of a manager that was a HOF player that the owner endorsed, the present players on the roster have to be shaking their heads. Look at what this FO has done in their 2 years of control. Rule 5 drafts (in one the FO traded 1st pick for a pick taken later), Jaime Garcia trades, last year’s moves that were made in July & August, letting Randy Rosario, Nick Burdi, & JT Chargois go without being given a chance, trading team leader’s like Dozier & Escabar for prospects, firing a manager without having a replacement ready, and how some players/pitchers on the AAA rosters were not given a chance at the MLB level. How does the current roster or FA view these moves when the FO comes calling for interest in signing a contract? Will Berrios, Eddie Rosario, Sano, Buxton, Kepler, Rogers, Hilgenberger, Mays, etc want to sign contracts or contract extensions with the Twins? This Twins team has seen a lot the past 2 years and not much good by the current FO. The Twins FO is on the hook for this year to make something positive happen. The job interview time is over and ownership will start reviewing their hiring. That is how a business works.