Brett

Thanks Nick. This story made me feel like a Vikings fan, which I am also. Ugh. Maybe I’ll just go back to bed.

It seems like the organization had its fill of running overmatched youngsters out on the field last year when the injury train started rolling. Lots of quality depth and several top tier prospects on the 40 man now…we’ll see if it translates to wins.

Not really excited about any of these guys. If you were going to get another lefty-hitting OF, I would have preferred Bellinger. $6m more, but plays CF well. I’m afraid we might be done. Maybe Fulmer or another veteran reliever. Maybe we’re hoping to get 60 starts out of Mahle and Gray, I dunno. Perhaps someone on the TD staff would like to take up the banner and write about “The best possible outcome for 2023” and give me something to hope and dream about during the holidays…

Fixing the link, not the sparkly dress. Eww.

We believe in you!

Is this the bridge to Brooks Lee at SS? Sure seems like it. If so, still looking for an impact bat. A right handed-hitting 1B? How about an OF that can play center?

What percentage of the Twins fan base upgrades their swag when there is a design change? Not sure who they’re marketing to. Want to sell more jerseys? Win a playoff game.

I appreciate the fact that shortstop is a demanding position, and surely should be the centerpiece of a competitive team. However, I’m looking at box scores and stats of starting shortstops for the remaining 4 teams, and all I see is competent performers, not game-altering talents: Jeremy Peña IKF Bryson Scott Ha-Seong Kim Not exactly Murderer’s Row. I leave it to the good care of you and the other smart folks at Twins Daily to tell me if this year is a major exception, or if we’re all just perhaps overcooking the importance of shortstops.

In addition to SS and backup catcher, we need to think about a primary CF. Asking Buxton to play more than 60 games in the field seems like a reach. We have a few guys who “can” play CF, but do we have anyone who we would want to roll with for 100 games?

How about Varland?

He turns 31 in a couple of weeks, so I wouldn’t do anything past next year. If Royce Lewis returns and still plays like Royce Lewis, we can flip Urshela at the deadline. in somewhat unrelated news, anyone know where I can make $10M for being a solid performer? That sounds like a pretty good gig.

I appreciate the fact that Varland has shown enough potential that we’re nitpicking about innings and how old he is. is he a perennial All Star in the making? Likely not. Is he a better 4/5 than Bundy or Archer? That’s a question that should be answered soon.

I miss the days of having outfield depth. When was that…May? June? Now we’re starting Cave, Gordon and Contreras for the 2nd day in a row. Nice players, but complimentary at best. We can’t expect yesterday’s results out of them every day.

It's unfortunate there are so many to choose from. Willie Norwood? Bombo Rivera? Ooh, how about Ron Davis?

Looking forward to 2013, with our rotation of Liam Hendriks, Nick Blackburn, PJ Walters, Scott Diamond, and the washed-up remains of wily veteran innings-eater...like Carl Pavano. Kyle Gibson should be beside himself right now...uninjured, he's the ace. Coming off of TJ surgery, he'll be mediocre for the first year or so. Wake me up when it's 2014.