Riverbrian

Revolving doors were invented as a way to relieve the stack pressure that occurs in high rise buildings. They serve the same purpose in baseball... they can relieve pressure elsewhere in the building.

No doubt that that is better than buying at the inflated price. 😉 However... According to baseballtradevalues. If the Twins wanted to acquire Adley Rutschman from the Orioles. It would cost us - Brooks Lee, Pablo Lopez, Jose Miranda and Joe Ryan. I'd take that trade if I was the Orioles and be happy with whoever at the catching position for overall improvement of the 26 man product. The Rutschman price tag is high I admit so let's look at Sean Murphy. Still High but not quite as high. Sean would cost us Joe Ryan and Jose Miranda. I'd also take that trade and be happy with whoever at the Catching position because Miranda alone should exceed Murphy's offensive production. Now consider the numbers provided by Hire Dan Gladden earlier in this thread. 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 You can get back a better hitter who will play more games for the price of inflated catcher value. It's possible that the odds of Jeffers becoming inflated catcher value decreased as soon as Vazquez put pen to paper. Don't get me wrong... I'm glad that Vazquez is here... we need him but I'm looking to the pipeline again in hopes that the Twins can develop that guy. If we ever do... no doubt I would consider cashing in because selling high is smart.

My hope will always be that the Twins are able to develop catching. I am happy that Vazquez is here because he is needed and I have high hopes for him. However, paying the inflated catching price to get good catching is the exact opposite of what I want to see happen. I'd rather we develop catching and sell at the inflated catching price. The fact that you are buying (Vazquez) it means you don't have to the developed goods to sell (Jeffers). I'm wondering who is next in line on the farm and hoping we grow something as soon as possible.

Back in August when I was at the Atlantis in Reno, I met your neighbors. Sat next to them at a slot machine for a while... really nice people. We talked a bit but they were flying all over the casino doing a little of this and a little of that... they were in constant motion. Let me tell you, they were pulling out hundreds and feeding those slot machines like they didn't have a care in the world. Like I said... they were good people... The Joneses. They were certainly hard to keep up with.

You could be right. I won't argue. I'm willing to give Byron, the front office and the medical staff the benefit of the doubt. From everything I've read about needing 4 hours of prep just to play one game certainly deserves my respect and I will certainly give that to Byron... I'm certainly not knocking him. I wish him the all the health my wishes will provide him. I'm sure it was a hard decision on what to do because he was hitting the ball. The surgery to fix the knee would have knocked him out for 6 to 8 weeks that's a long time. But that hitting the ball did stop. Injury related... I don't know but he wasn't hitting the baseball in May. He had a 3 for 45 stretch dropping him from .290 to .202. He produced a .610 OPS in May. Reports are that the knee injury probably led to the hip injury that shut down his season eventually. Hindsight is easy... and it's really easy when I have no responsibility whatsoever. All I can do is speculate and wonder. I do defer ultimately to the people with the information but I also wonder if they second guess themselves privately.

I was sleeping during med school so I am in no way qualified to make these type of decisions. However... I can't help but consider the possibility that a trip to the DL in April or May last year may have been another option for load management with better results in the end. . Keep in mind that I haven't seen his medicals nor would I know what they mean if I did. The result of the load management efforts to keep him off the DL last season didn't work because he was placed on the DL for an extended period of time despite efforts to avoid that. So we got the extended DL time that they were trying to avoid plus the preventative days off that he could have played and we also (I assume) got a lesser version of Buxton due to not being 100% when he did play. It seems that we maximized his time off and minimized his performance this way. I can't help but wonder if he shouldn't have been DL'd back in May instead. Maybe got him back closer to 100% after X many days of consecutive rest and rehab required on the DL. I don't know... It just seems that last year's plan didn't work. If healthy play him... when not... DL him.

A friend of mine bought a 57 Chevy. Getting one was a long time coming big moment for him. He was worried about something happening to it so he would only drive it around early in the mornings on the weekend when there was less traffic, he drove very slowly and carefully, avoiding potholes or anything that looked like it could hurt his Chevy. He promptly washed and cleaned the car inside and out after every trip. After 2 months of being very careful in this fashion. He was rear ended at a stop light one beautiful July Sunday Morning. Of course I don't have the information that the Twins front office have but there is very little doubt that -- Operation Keep Buxton on the field by occasionally not putting him on the field -- did not work! (Official Name of the Plan) We got the scheduled extended rest plus the lengthy D.L. stint. Let's not do both.

I agree. The entertainment dollar only goes so far. The sponsorship dollar doesn't have to shared. Perhaps the most important point. It's a business model that hasn't worked yet. It's still in the "let's what happens" phase much like Joe Pohlad is. 😉

Agreed... And therefore 2024 and beyond is also in question.

He just sat down in the chair... Go get em Joe. The organization is in pretty solid shape IMO. I believe that they are progressing in the right direction. If the Twins can develop young arms... I think they are and therefore will. The organization will remain in solid shape. I have no expectation that the Twins will ever be Padres like. However, If I was a life long Padres fan... I wouldn't have had the expectation that the Padres would become Padres like either. Go Twins!!!

Tough break for Gilberto. He really needs to perform this year. The timing couldn't have been worse for him. He will have to come out of these 6 to 8 weeks of recovery strong... real strong. He has one option left and he was overmatched at the plate last season. He really needs to demonstrate 26 man worthiness for any team looking at their 26 man space next off season. He needs to demonstrate this 26 man worthiness at the AAA level because last year at the MLB level was very sub par. This was the last thing that Celestino needed. Larnach, Julien and Wallner should be in front of him for recall at this point. Castro, Garlick may even be ahead of him for recall at this point. Tough break.

I realize that it's popular and seemingly the only source ever used... However: I'd like to caution against using Neilsen defined DMA (Designated Market Area) to support a baseball market size argument. I'd like to caution against using it and I'd also like to caution against reading it and thinking its accurate.

Health is going to be a factor this year. I 'm not sure if either Cleveland or Chicago have the depth to absorb health disruptions. If I had to choose a team to worry about the most. I'd go with Chicago because I think Cleveland is thinner offensively. Both have a strong rotation and bullpen. Cleveland was pretty healthy last year and they got some impressive first time performances that may not repeat. Just because Kwan, Rosario, Gimenez, Gonzales had decent years last year it doesn't mean they will be decent this year. I won't dismiss Kansas City. They are young but they have an abundance of young talent that I just can't dismiss. With apologies to Michigan... I have already dismissed Detroit.

I won't get fooled again. 😉

4 reasons, first a clarification. To Clarify: Your lesser players need to play less. But, you have to define the lesser. How much less? The proportion of playing time should be close to the proportion of how much less. If they are really really lesser... if they are Celestino like struggling. They need to be replaced... off the roster, replaced with someone anyone who isn't really really lesser until you have 13 functioning roster spots. This is the battle of evermore for major league rosters. The Bottom Line: If a "bench" (as defined by others not me) player can't be trusted to help us win games. If it hurts the team to play him. He can't be on the roster because the time will come when you need him to help us win games. He's useless gathering dust until you need him to go out there and struggle. If a "bench" (as defined by others not me) player CAN be trusted to play. If he can help the team win when given the opportunity. There are no concerns playing him and there is no reason not to so therefore no worries if he is in the lineup. Not playing him when he is capable will only make him not capable when he was capable in the first place. Don't sacrifice depth for a player that maybe an inch better. It doesn't take much to keep your 13 players active when they all can get the job done and the difference is only slight degrees. If Polanco plays 6 out of 7 games and Miranda plays 5 out of 7 games so Farmer can get some time... it's OK... it only hurts if any of those three are struggling. Many think what I'm saying is an attack on good players. It's the opposite... it's an attack on bad players. If players can't be trusted to play... they need to be gone. The 4 reasons 1. Front offices are often wrong. Every front office... every year. That comment isn't aimed at ours specifically. It's aimed at every front office. The Margins are thin, players get better and get worse. Kepler was supposed to be better than Gordon. He wasn't. They will be wrong somewhere this year as well. How do you correct being wrong if Plan B Gordon is on ice waiting for the team to give up on Plan A Kepler? 2. When we talk about Kepler and Gordon... or Miranda and Farmer. We are not talking about the performance difference between Trout and Tyler Wade. There isn't a big enough gap between Kepler and Gordon to just dispose of the other. If we have Mike Trout like production... by all means... play him close to every day. Teams don't have Trout's up and down the roster. They have Brandon Marsh type players. I don't think it's wise to play Marsh like he is Trout or bench a Marsh because Taylor Ward is a little bit better. Who knows... You might be able to trade Marsh to the Phillies. Develop your talent. All of it. If you tell yourself they are bench type talent and deploy them as such, just get rid of them. They are useless when you need them and they have no future value because you have decided to not improve future value by benching it. 3, Each roster spot is a chance to develop talent or increase the value of talent. If an organization purposely chooses to use 9 spots out of the available 13 roster spots on a 26 man roster. They are making perhaps the biggest mistake any organization can make. The increasing of players value is JOB ONE of every front office. Increasing players value increases the odds of winning, it increases what you get back in trades. It increases your chances of being successful not only today and but also tomorrow. A sitting bench player does not increase in value. A sitting bench player does not help you win. A sitting bench player is a waste of development opportunity that is available to all organizations. A sitting bench player is purposely placing your organization at a competitive disadvantage by not utilizing all the production capability (roster spots) available. The infrastructure can produce 13 chairs. Why would you only produce 9? And... Some of those 9 chairs are Max Kepler and nobody is buying Max right now (Point #1), You went for 9 chairs when you could have produced 13 and you ended up with 8 chairs because Max didn't become a chair like you wanted. 4. You may not need the lesser player this week but you are going to need them next week or the week after... it's inevitable. Prepare for the inevitable. It makes no sense to just keep players on ice waiting for the inevitable injury. Why wait for a player to fail or get injured before trying plan B. Why not have a clue what Plan B will do if Plan A fails or gets hurt. All or nothing is unnecessary. No one should trust a front office to be right all the time. Front offices shouldn't trust themselves to be right all the time. All or nothing only happens unless you convince yourself that a player being a hair better then the other means it's winner take all while the other dies on the floor. That player dying on the floor will need to be resuscitated at some point so... keep them alive. If they can't do it... get rid of them.