stringer bell

The official stats for Spring show that Pagan allowed three earned runs in one inning of work. Did he allow the other runs during the WBC?

A lefty with good stuff? Sounds like someone to watch as he progresses. I wish him the best.

Castro is only 26 years old, versatile, switch hits and has some speed. That is a lot of things in his favor. I think he belongs in the majors somewhere. With Farmer and Solano on board, being a utility guy on the Twins might not work out.

Since the Twins exhibition game wasn’t on TV and there wasn’t radio coverage, I checked the box score and saw a lot to like. They won 7-0 against a lot of Blue Jays’ regulars including starting pitcher Manoah. Some highlights (again from the box score) 1) Ober with a strong outing (2 innings). 2) Dobnak pitched 2.1 innings of scoreless ball. 3) Bullpen candidates Megill, Santana and Alcala all pitched scoreless ball with Alcala faning all three batters he faced (I saw that he was throwing 95 according to GameDay). 4) The staff picked up 12 strikeouts. 5) Brooks Lee with two hits, Willi Castro with three (Castro has had a pretty good spring--I think he might be an Opening Day candidate if a couple of Gordon, Kirilloff and Miranda can't go). 6) To my knowledge, this was the first time that the Twins played errorless ball in the field. 7) Rosario hit another homer, could he eventually be the best Rosario to play for the Twins? Comments--Ober has so far done everything he can to get in the rotation. He should get enough work with Lopez at the WBC. Alcala has nice numbers, but he's pitched against minor leaguers for the most part. Could Dobnak make the club as a long reliever? Castro was pick to be the most-used player who was a non-roster invitee. With the injuries to Kirilloff, Miranda and Gordon, he has a path to make the majors, probably a more conservative choice than having Julien open the season. Lee seems unintimidated by big leaguers.

I’ve been a Kirilloff fan for a while. Last year, when the team broke camp I said a healthy Kirilloff’s ceiling was Will Clark offense and Mark Grace defense and his floor was Will Clark defense and Mark Grace offense. I still believe that, but after three wrist surgeries, including the far more invasive procedure, the chances of him being 100% are far from a guarantee. The Twins really don’t have a viable long-term alternative if AK can’t come back at something approaching full strength. The team’s off-season where they didn’t pursue a first baseman seems to indicate that they believe Kirilloff will be able to come back and be productive.

Good stuff!

I am doubtful that there is much upside for him. However, as Ash mentioned, plus center of the diamond fielders have value. He should be back by the end of May at the latest, so he'll have a chance to develop this year barring more injuries.

Regarding bat-first guys, Julien probably fits that description and maybe Miranda, as well. Lewis, Lee and Martin all would profile to be decent defenders higher on the spectrum than Julien and maybe Miranda.

I think he will be sent to Triple A and I think that is the right call, as well. If he does well, the Twins possibly could promote him before midseason. It will probably help Julien to face AAA pitching and also work on his defense.

It seems to me that the Twins chose to blame the injury woes on the training staff. I don't know if this is scapegoating or if last year's head trainer did a poor job. Baldelli seems to be a players' manager and there hasn't been scuttlebutt of discontent from the players. I do think that the teams that he has had since taking over fit with his plan to rest everybody in the course of the season. However, every single year Rocco's teams have staggered at the end. This is particularly true of the two playoff teams and 2022. They weren't healthy going into postseason and didn't really have a chance to advance. Apparently, resting didn't get the desired result of having the players stay healthy through the season. Bad luck? Bad training staff? Poor management? I think it is a little bit of all three.

Injury related—when can the shorter IL be used? Both Kirilloff and Gordon may fall into scenarios where they might be ready to play around 3/30 where they could benefit from a rehab stint in St. Paul and then return in the first two weeks of the season.

Cody Christie article today says that Kirilloff is taking live BP and feeling no pain. That is an improvement from a week ago when he was facing pitching machines and still had "discomfort". If he has no setbacks and can get ten days to a week of games in, I think he can make the club. I don't think the Twins really pushed him last year. He started out hurting and was on the IL in April and then when recalled, he raked until the wrist dogged him again. I'm convinced he can hit if healthy. I want Larnach on the team from the start as well. He has a higher ceiling than Kepler and Gordon and showed last year, before injury, that he can both hit and field. The word is he's playing tomorrow. I hope he rakes and forces his way on to the Opening Day roster. BTW, there are already three injury questions (beyond Trevor) that need to be answered (Kirilloff, Gordon, Miranda) and if any of them don't make it by Opening Day, there is a clear path for Larnach to make the team.

I think Farmer and Taylor are excellent pickups. Farmer kills left handed pitching and is a versatile three-position infielder. He probably isn't a full-time starter on a contender, but he's solid and a real asset as a short-side platoon option. Buxton's history and Celestino's struggles necessitate getting a capable center fielder. While I have my qualms about WAR, his 3.2 BWar would have been exceeded by only Buxton, Arraez and Correa on the 2022 Twins and he only played in three quarters of the Royals' games. I agree that having both Gallo and Kepler on the team seems unwise, but given all of the outfield injuries last year it might make sense to keep major leaguers rather than entrusting regular at bats to unproven players. Solano has had a good run as a hitter in his 30s. He's also versatile and hits righty giving the Twins another weapon against left handed starters.

I pretty much agree with the above comment, but do want to add a couple things--first of all, their most dynamic player has been dogged by injuries through his seven-year career and yet was signed to a nine-figure multi-year contract. The foundation of the Twins team is a guy who has averaged about 80 games per full season since he became a full-time regular (2017). Secondly, the Twins acquired Maeda and Paddack, who were known to have frayed elbow ligaments and got the COVID year and 21 starts out of Maeda, and five starts out of Paddack. They acquired Mahle after he had been on the IL with shoulder stiffness and got very little from him in 2022. These are all clearly injury gambles and only Maeda would be considered some semblance of winning the bet. They doubled down this offseason by signing Correa after two teams voided contract agreements due to his physical results. Almost every player has an injury history. The Twins have in recent years bet on players they've acquired and mostly lost. All of the players mentioned above are still with the team and if all of them and the two first-round draft picks who have been dogged by injuries (Larnach and Kirilloff), they will have indeed won their gamble this year. Actually, I'd say they will have won the bet if the position players are available for 120 or more games and the pitchers only are placed on the IL once on the season for less than a month.

While it is fun to predict the roster, the reality is that composition of the roster will change through the season. I’m pretty sure Polanco and Buxton will be on the roster and in the Opening Day lineup. I’m not so sure that Kirilloff will be ready. I think about three of the bullpen spots could be classified at TBD.