Fire Dan Gladden

This could also be a culture/mentor move as well. Every team needs players in the organization that are "seasoned" minor leaguers. Beyond the organizational depth piece, could be he is also there to help some of the younger guys.

You beat me to the punch. If our worst position is a 2 WAR, this is going to be a fun season.

Here is the games caught leader list for 2022: J.T. Realmuto, PHI [C] 133 Sean Murphy, OAK [C|DH] 116 Cal Raleigh, SEA [C] 115 Martin Maldonado, HOU [C] 113 Jose Trevino, NYY [C] 112 Jonah Heim, TEX [C] 111 Jacob Stallings, MIA [C] 110 Will Smith, LAD [C|DH] 109 Christian Vazquez, HOU [C] 108 Keibert Ruiz, WAS [C] 106 Austin Hedges, CLE [C] 105 Elias Diaz, COL [C] 104 Austin Nola, SD [C] 101 Carson Kelly, ARI [C] 100

This is such an important part of team catching analysis, I am surprised this was not addressed in the article. Context and comparison. The days of having one starting Catcher are over. Having an awesome 2-way catcher is exceedingly rare, with the better hitters being moved out of the position to protect their health. The Twins appear to be better off than most teams at the major league level, especially if Jeffers can settle into the offensive side.

I am going to join the party and voice my pre-displeasure at Edmond Juilliard being called up in July, hitting .480 with 5 HR over 8 games, and being sent down to AAA to learn how to bunt.

Look! Out in the field! It's a third baseman! It's a second baseman! ... It's SUPER PUNTO!

Dodgers are not looking for a long-term replacement, so you can rule out the kids. The Twins didn't sign these guys to move them right now. Depth and redundancy is good. As with just about everybody, you answer the phone on trade proposals. But I imagine it would take a pretty healthy overpay by the Dodgers to get someone like Farmer from the Twins. Not because Farmer is a world beater, but because he plays an important role right now.

The silliest? Really? I have seen some doozies... FWIW Morneau was drafted as a catcher (them Canadian hockey players think they can stop everything)

No more impact on the Twins than anyone else. I've said this elsewhere, I have no problem with this rule. Long games can negatively impact teams for many days afterwards, with reliever and catchers taking the brunt of things. As MLB systematically takes removes all of the strategy decisions from the game (full-time DH, no more LOOGY, pitch clocks eliminating most of the surprise elements) this is one area where teams actually have to make decisions.

This move probably means a few things: 1) There is some question on Polanco's knee and possibly Kiriloff's wrist as well 2) None of the young infielders are not ready to make the club (Lee, Martin, etc.) or are going to be moved to 2B 3) There is another trade in the works involving any of the aforementioned players, but strongly pointing at Polanco. 4) Gordon's life as an infielder in MN is over Solano is a perfectly fine backup infielder. Can play all 4 positions, has a respectable bat. He could also easily serve as a 2B placeholder until one of the prospects is ready. I can't speak for everyone, but with so many moves this offseason, it sure has been fun to try to figure things out.

You are arguing points that really don't fit what I am saying and changing tacks in what you are defending. Read the post immediately over yours from JMlease1 to understand the point I am trying to make. Bottom line is that putting Pagan in a low leverage middle relief role as the Twins try to fix him will have a very small impact on the game outcomes. On the chance they are able to fix him, he could be a valuable piece. If not, expect the team to move on from him. High upside, low bottom.

Ummm..... no. That isn't what I was saying. What I was saying is that we don't know what potential causes were or what potential adjustments have been done to make him potentially pitch better. We don't know what we don't know. Again... no. I am not going to quote the hundreds and hundreds of posts and articles talking about the roster changes this team has made (C, 1B, 3B, LF, 4th OF, at least 2 SP), the expected returns of an insane number DL players from last year, nor the fact that they have not made any more moves to acquire BP pitchers. The roles are pretty much set. The team on the field will look vastly different from the team that was until 9/1 basically in the running for a division title. Now they just need to play the games.

Lots of layers to these discussions. Keeping it post-61, Killebrew is a lock, but not so sure after that: All Twins that spent their entire career here. Not even considering Rod Carew here... Pitchers are a whole different mess. Take out WAR and Blyleven looks awfully similar to Jim Kaat. Viola, Radke, Perry are all somewhat similar. Santana did not play long here enough. All due respect to Rick Aguilera, but where the heck does Joe Nathan fit into this discussion? Fun discussion!

As an aside: The fact that we are having this type of conversation about the usage of our #8 reliever should tell us how little usage questions there are about the team this year.

In a bubble, I agree. But we don't know what we don't know. It will be very interesting to see what role they have him pegged for when the season starts: Low leverage middle relief (where his impact on the game will be minimal) or higher leverage spots. My bet is on the former with the hope he can find his mojo. Barring another barrage of injuries I have a hard time seeing the Twins putting him into any high leverage situations until he shows he is ready (like 25-30 innings of killer pitching).