Kevin Urdahl

To me this leaves six: Buxton, Lewis, Lee, Polanco, Ryan, and Julien . . . .how can one of these not be in the top 20? I'm guessing Julien isn't making it, but I would put him no lower than #11.

As a Twins fan living in Seattle, I would do this deal. I've seen Flexen pitch on a number of occasions and he does have upside. If you could get him and a good pitching prospect for Kep that would be a win.

Last night, Caleb Hamilton ran a catcher's clinic for my son's baseball team. It was fantastic and I was very impressed with this young player and wanted to share. He was an inspiration to the kids (11U-13U catchers) and he clearly loved the game and was a serious student of it. I know he is now in the Red Sox organization, but I will forever be a fan. I hope he has a long career. I am a lifetime Twins fan, who has lived in the Seattle area for over 20 years now. Caleb grew up in the Seattle area before playing for Oregon State and being drafted by the Twins as an infielder. He was converted to a catcher in the Twins organization. Caleb said at first he hated it, but now he loves it. Caleb is a buddy of one of the co-founders of my son's club baseball team (who himself played in the Tiger's organization), and invited him to give a clinic for the 11-13 year old catchers in the organization. I learned so much. He said the most important thing a catcher does is "receive the ball". How a catcher receives the ball can win games and win championships. He said blocking the ball and transitioning to throw are also important skills, but receiving is most important. He talked about the "science" behind why catchers now catch on one knee. It removes a reference point from the umpire in calling low strikes (normally umpires triagualate between the batter's knee and the catcher's knee to define the lower border to the strike zone). When the catcher puts his left knee down to a right handed batter, or his right knee down to a left-handed batter he removes that reference point. He worked with the kids in getting that low strike call. First presenting the target to the pitcher, but then bringing the glove down towards the ground with the pocket facing backwards, then sweeping the glove up and grabbing the low ball and bringing it into the strike zone just above the batters knees for presentation to the umpire. He said without that reference point, and with good receiving technique and good quick hands, the catcher can get that low strike more often than not. Great stuff for all us Dad's and the kids ate it up too. Caleb worked one on one with all of the kids and my son got really good at this technique. He left floating on air about how much fun it was. At the end of the session, Caleb asked if any of the kids had any questions. One kid asked him, "Who is your favorite baseball player of all-time?" I loved his response. He said, "Byron Buxton. His skills are off the charts, and he's a really good dude too." Of course, I will always be a huge Byron Buxton fan. But after last night, I will always be a big Caleb Hamilton fan too.

I'd go for Contreras and Rodon this off season. Skip the expensive mega-year contract at SS, go for internal or cheap short-term option at SS and wait for Lewis/Martin/Lee. Don't block their paths. Money better spend elsewhere, where we don't have promising prospects.

I'd rather give the job temporarily to Nick Gordon, and wait for either Royce Lewis, Austin Martin, or Brooks Lee. Let Correa walk and spend the money on top line pitching instead.

Two of the worst examples of giving the pitcher too early hook from critical Sept. games: 1) Louis Varland's debut in NY. Was absolutely dominating the Yankees, but Rocco pulled him with a 3-1 lead with one out in the 5th with a runner on first. At the time he had 80 pitches and had allowed 3 hits, 1 BB, and 1 ER. I as listening to the Yankees radio broadcast at the time, and their broadcaster's were incredulous. One asked, "Is their manager even watching the game? Does he see what's going on out there?" The other said, "It's hard to watch the game when your head is buried in your laptop." Then Jax allowed a two run homer, the game went 12 innings, and they burned 6 pitchers, lost the game and had another doubleheader that night. 2) First game of critical 5 game series in Cleveland. Had a doubleheader the following day. Ober was absolutely cruising through 5. 1 hit, 1 BB, and no runs. Only 70 pitches. Ober's first game back, but before the game Baldelli said no restrictions on Ober's pitch count. Baldelli pulled him after 5. Lost the game. Burned their best 4 relievers and were unavailable for doubleheader the following day. Crazy. I think analytics can be good if used with enough sophistication, but I argue they are applying analytics too simplistically. I understand that on average it is better to bring in a reliever than let your starter go through the order a third time, but is that really true if your starter is dominating and has pitched a shutout through five? I doubt it. Also, what are the analytics for how to manage your pitchers for an entire series and not just a single game? Sometimes it makes sense to ride pitchers longer, and if they applied more complexity to their analytics, I bet they'd see the same.

Agree!

Sounds like the second-coming of Glenn Borgmann!

I'd also rather see the Rays than the Yankees. But I'd also rather see the White Sox than the Indians now that Ramirez is on fire to provide something to go with that pitching. But truth be told, I'd take the Twins over all of them. They are peaking at the right time. I'm feeling the magic!!!

I would go with Gagne and his defense over Pat Meares. According to Baseball Reference, Gagne had a cumulative WAR of 7.1 in his three years at SS in the 90s (90-92), whereas Meares had a WAR of 5.8 in six years (93-98).

Love that Tom Campbell was 17-5 in 1976, pitching 167 2/3 innings with 0 starts! Amazing! I remember that year well!

Great list. Spot on, in my opinion. Love the discussion and hearing these names again.

I would also vote for Disco Danny over Tovar for the 70s (Tovar's performance in the 60's don't count). I really liked Steve Braun, but as a 3rd baseman he only played in 73, 74, and 102 games at 3B in 71-73. After that he played mainly in the OF. At 3B I would give the edge to Eric Soderholm. He played more games at 3rd, had pretty comparable offensive numbers (OPS+ of 133, 110, and 119 compared to OPS+ of 95, 110, and 135) and was a better fielder at 3B than Braun. It was the emergence of Soderholm that led to Braun being moved to the OF.

Twins don't win the 87 World Series, or even make it into the playoffs, without trading for Reardon. Gotta be in the top 3.