tony&rodney

This is humor right? Is this Randball?

Every team in baseball needs to have their best players healthy if they are going to be relevant. San Diego, two years ago, is one example. Thus, it is imperative for the Twins to have a healthy year or just not incur a repeat of the total debacle of injuries from last season. Going into last season I was thinking that 82 wins, plus or minus four, was a reasonable guess. I also was admittedly too optimistic, although i had real concerns about their starting pitchers. The coming campaign should be more promising because of our starting pitching. The variables also seem greater as well, however. Can the offense respond? I'm going to guess 85 wins for this year with a plus or minus of five. The path forward for a consistent winning team will rest on whether Baldelli is more proactive in playing the hot hand and benching the non performers. The younger players will need to display their skills and Falvey will then need to make some difficult decisions in July. Not all of Jeffers, Kirilloff, Miranda, Gordon, Larnach, Lewis, Wallner, Martin, Julien, and Lee will hit the ground excelling but a few should and we may see several of the young guys above used to acquire a needed player. The Twins basically are counting on some young players to produce and be supported by what is a fair core of Buxton, Correa, Polanco, and Vasquez. I see the odds sliding in favor of the Twins this summer.

Get your point about more hot arms today, but wasn't a tired Bob Gibson in 1968 better than any pitcher today too? Every pitcher can lose their edge as they tire but the guys often called "aces" are conditioned to survive without their flames. Verlander, Kershaw, and so on still pitch significant innings and Sandy Alcantara has evolved into an old fashioned ace with his complete games and higher inning counts. The game always changes and when teams went to bigger bullpens it naturally brought in more heat from the pen while simultaneously removing pinch hitters and shared positions from the field. MLB actually had to step in and mandate a 13 person pitching staff as the maximum. Some teams had gone to 15 pitchers. MLB then went to 26 players on a roster. The game will continue to evolve as those of us over 60 have experienced and those who are younger will experience more changes over the next 60 years. I think it was a big mistake to move the roster size up from 25 players. MLB should expand by two teams within five years. Perhaps a ceiling of 12 pitchers with more stringent rules for shuttling pitchers back and forth between MLB and MILB would also see an improvement in pitching skills. Until then managers will have the use of huge bullpens with a bevy of guys capable of pitching one inning. Actually, I am thinking we see more innings from our Twins starting staff this summer than we have seen in a few years because I believe the staff has more skill and depth.

Sonny Gray is a good established MLB pitcher, respected across baseball. That is quite an accomplishment by itself. However, no baseball person has ever deemed Gray an outright ace. When he was building his career with the A's he was a budding ace, but that never fully blossomed. Ace is an overblown term, yet it is often apt and we should still reserve a status for Verlander and those few pitchers who have managed to deliver across time and in volume with consistently high results. Who is a full blown argument. Cole, Bieber, Ohtani, and Verlander in the AL with several others building a strong case (Valdez, Manoah, Gilbert, Cease, and McClanahan. Sonny Gray is such a fiery competitor and fun to watch. Let's hope he can stay healthy all year.

Yes, and we can also add ... or Polanco moves to 1B/DH. Let's not forget that Jorge has been the best overall Twins player of the last 4-5 years and he remains the best batter the team has with risp.

The prospect lists are just for fun. Those who can read The Athletic will sift through Law's list of the Twins coming stars. Guys like Joe Mauer, Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, and Royce Lewis to name a few were highly ranked in these lists of Twins prospects No reason to get anxious or judgmental. It is an entertaining process and many of us look forward to reading what different people have to say. The Sporting News was pretty thin on the minor leagues and I can testify, as an original subscriber, that Baseball America was/is a good read and totally amped up the coverage of prospects as well as the minor leagues. Keep up the good work; it's great stuff.

Well, #7 is lucky which may mean that Connor Prielipp is our best prospect.

Mahle and Maeda are coming back from injuries and will get the ball until they are not able to handle it. Varland is there to step in as needed. If he performs, he stays. This is how pitchers work their way into a rotation. Varland, and others, need to get an opportunity and earn it. The Twins will have a shorter hook for guys who are unable to use their pitches this year. Ober, Varland, Winder, and Woods Richardson are waiting for their time. Varland seemed like the one that is ready.

You may be correct in your guess, but going into his last year of a contract the trade value would be a lower prospect. Polanco will not have peak trade value for sure. All of Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee, Jose Miranda will (should) have trade value and maybe Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach, and Ryan Jeffers will have rebuilt their trade value as well. Then there are guys like Austin (you mentioned), Julien, Salas, Gordon, and who knows that may be used for trades. If the Twins want to add a substantial player/pitcher it will need to be from those in the paragraph above, because guys like Kepler and Polanco have gone past the time when they had high trade value. Oh, I also am not opposed to seeing Polanco for five more years if he is healthy. Naturally, health drives all careers.

The 2023 season will give everyone a real good idea of how valuable Joe Ryan can be as a starting pitcher. He was quite successful as a rookie, but he did struggle against the better lineups. Ryan was mostly very dependable. He can improve to become a #2/#3 guy or at the least (hopefully) remain a solid #4 pitcher. It is going to be interesting to see if Ryan can continue his dominance over weaker teams and improve in his outings versus the top offenses in baseball.

Interesting to see Salas ahead of either Martin or Wallner. Salas should be able to find both a position and the at bats needed to firmly display his skills in the coming year. Twins fans will be more aware of his potential as he develops and refines his skills this summer.

Seems like Buxton will be a DH for 30-40 games at least. I'm hoping we see a patient line drive machine possessing power who can run the bases efficiently leading off against right handed pitchers - Julien.

That is so true. Maybe Miguel Sano was affected by injuries or whatever. Maybe he can bounce back but the winds are stiff for him. Pitchers face the same problem. They lose their fastball and re-create themselves as junk ballers to remain competitive but even the soft tossers need to slip the fastball by a batter or keep it off the barrel. Zack Greinke games are must viewing for anyone who ever pitched for years at a competitive level. He is a master.

I think everyone wants to see Miranda put in the best possible position to succeed. He will DH some. The Twins likely feel that Miranda is a better player at third base and he is more comfortable there as well.

Spring Training is just around the corner. It will be interesting to see Julien take his hacks against the top staff and others in early spring games. While it surely seems that Julien will be across the river in April, I'm waiting until the final roster cuts if Kirilloff is not fully ready to go.

Big guys have so many moving parts to align. I thought both Vargas and Sano were good athletes but they faced struggles with their weaknesses. Baseball is a hard game to play. It would be terrific to see both Sano and Vargas resurrect their careers and find success at the major league level, and they each could too. The odds are stacked against them though. It would be delightful to see each suddenly become stars again.

There are factors, to be sure. Something that is a major part of any players's career is adjustment. Players receive far more attention after their first big year and must adjust to how their opponent has changed towards them. Respect is sometimes slow to earn. If I can get you out using the same pitch, you will never see my other pitches even if the pitch you miss is my worst offering. The game has many factors and many are intellectual, particularly the acceptance of failure.

Alex - it is bat speed and wrist strength. Two guys who have identical bat speed and wrist strength ... the edge goes to the guy who is bigger and stronger. However, there have been and still are plenty of smaller guys who smoke the ball (Altuve) Look up Jimmy Wynn, the Toy Cannon. who played for the Houston Colt .45's/Astros. He could hit any ball as far Sano, Gallo, Judge, or Stanton. Harmon Killebrew was 5-11 (generous) and 180 for the first decade of his career. He was what was once referred to as "strong". Oh, it always helps if you can square up the ball.

Me too, but we need to keep our skis beneath us. Varland at #5, Ryan at #4, Paddack at #3, Lopez at #2, and Corbin Burnes at #1 sounds really good. Until then, I think the Twins have a good staff for this year and it should be fun to watch our guys pitch this year.

The post created some conversation - so fine. My take is that Miranda looks better at third base than at first base. He is more familiar with third. A first baseman is involved in more plays and Alex Kirilloff has shown himself to be comfortable and competent there. The Twins know that a healthy and fully productive AK is a boost on both sides of the ball and Kirilloff is only average at best in the outfield. The players in position in April may not be there still in July. We will see how Miranda looks at third and how Kirilloff fares at first.

All of the Twins scheduled to play on the infield have enough arm and range to play their positions well. Second baseman on the grass were able to display more range and arm than is needed on the dirt.

This article is right on. Last year was tough for Jorge Polanco. I believe it was his first stint on the IL. He has had a bit of a every other year performance flow, which bodes well for 2023. While Polanco was not a top shortstop and had his weaknesses playing there, he was pretty consistent. I felt he was not given his due when he was selected to be the starting shortstop for the All Star game. The selection is both fan and MLB player based. Polanco has been a steady presence for the Twins, providing power, good base running, solid defense, and clutch hitting.

Varland is the perfect #5 pitcher precisely because he gives a team innings and a competitive outing. An ERA at or just below 4.00 and 5-6 innings per start from the #5 starter will keep the team in most games and almost certainly be a better performance than another team's #5 starter (granted these guys do not match up all the time). Despite several Twins projecting as more accomplished pitchers, I would choose Varland for the last rotation slot because of his consistency.

Excellent article. For younger fans, it can be difficult to understand the game of baseball looking back fifty years or more. I remember that for several years Twins fans could look forward to the days when Goltz was starting as a day the team would have a good chance for victory. Goltz was consistently very good, reliable.

There was an article last October that stated that Cleveland could plug all three of Espino, Williams, and Bibee in to their rotation, but the Guardians tend to want their starters to earn their way ahead of others through demonstrated command and control of their pitches. Cleveland has the best rotation and the most depth with the most upside at this time. I wonder if the Guardians might eventually turn Sam Hentges back to starting. He is a tough at bat for hitters. Right now he is really valuable in the Cleveland bullpen. Hentges compares favorably to Jhoan Duran. Fans of both teams are curious about whether each might be effective starters, but each is needed in their current slots in the pen.