beckmt

One other thought, he is the type of player with a decent prospect that could pull a front line starter out of pitching rich Miami. We have a lot of prospects who could play 3B.

SWR and Ober are probably both ready to pitch up here if needed. I am much more worried about the pen than the starters. Twins have more depth than they have ever had. Plus position wise they have Julian, Lewis(midseason), Lee (may be ready), plus maybe late this year or next year Martin, plus Larnach and others maybe coming. I feel great about the depth, and just hoping things go well.

Not a Rocco fan, My feeling this is playoffs or bust. That means make it or let Rocco walk. FO has worked hard to make this a winning team. You have to produce one. Other posters have talked about the lack of fundamentals, that is an issue, also what are they doing to stop KC and Cleveland from running all over us. These questions need to be answered or we need a new head man.

Polonaise is one of the few players we have worth a front line starter we are losing at least two at the end of this season. Just a thought. I prefer pests with speed and high on base percentage so if one of the youngsters pans out, time to move him. you also forgot Salas who could also rocket through the system.

There is the old explaination, if a player is good enough (and Lewis is, they will find a spot for him). KLaw is out to lunch here.

pitching seems to be a numbers and development game. Right now I like our numbers. Hajjar was considered to be a low risk, high floor starter. Good chance of reaching the majors, upside was more likely a #4 or #5 starter. Steer was totally blocked here by other prospects, not that he could not be better than most in the long run, his chances of doing that were lower. The outfielder, just look at the numbers, he might be good, but who was he going to jump in front of. We don't know how Mahle will turn out, if he has a good year, maybe we can extend him, or at least tag him. Lopez I would try and extend. Maeda is how he looks this year and what he wants. He is more of a pitcher, who has a chance of being decent into his late 30's. Then you have the rest of the pipeline, we have numbers which make me believe a least a few will work out, and more will probably become bullpen pieces. This year will be the test, see who sticks and who we need to move on from.

The Guardians have gotten a fair number of their pitchers in trade, only seem to identify them when in the minors. Same concept only they seem to get some of their pitchers as throwins to deals.

This one hurts, but Gray is 32 and will probably want more years/money than the Twins feel comfortable with. Mahle had shoulder issues last year and will be at least midseason before Twins feel like possibly offering an extension and Maeda is 34 and Twins should see what he wants, and if doesn't work he walks at the end of the season. Ryan to me is a #4 starter with some upside. So where is your ongoing pitching coming from? Some of the prospects will probably make it, but asking 3 of them for next year seems like a lot. Julien will be here, and had no open spot. So they made one. Now the question is what do the Twins do with Polonco? (Kepler is good as gone).

Remember we still need pitching, so one or two of the outfielders/infielders will not be here come spring training. They are probably not trading Lewis or Lee unless the deal is a blockbuster, but Martin could be in play along with Kepler and Polanco and Julien to move for a starter or reliever (check out Miami they have an excess).

RIght now, trading Martin would be selling low. I am sure the FO is getting a number of those calls. I am hoping Kepler and possibly Polonco are traded to open up room for the youngsters. Biggest issue is that trading Polanco will also be selling low, so am expecting the those will be either late spring training or moves in June and July.

Considering the numbers this group seems to be better than most major league clubs, just no superstars yet, maybe Lewis in time. A few of the lower ones may still make it, but outside of Rodriquez, none seem top flight. Twins will go as far as the young pitchers will take them after this year. One note, I thought Baltimore had DFA'ed Vallimont, but I could be wrong.

Polonce probably has one of the biggest trade values of the Twins if healthy. That is a big if. My guess is the Twins wait until late in training camp to see how he looks, and maybe if he looks good, Twins get an offer they can't refuse as they have 2 - 3 players coming up that will probably play 2B, and Arraez can fill in with Gordon until they arrive. I do not have the fear of a weaker defensive infield with the current Twins pitching, most of them are FB and strikeout types.

Until Kiriloff is proven heathly I would leave him off this list. My guess is that it is a 50-50 probability. I am much higher at this time on Laurach, at least we know what his issues were and they are fixable. Rest of the list should be interesting.

What I see is that younger pitching has a chance, at least we see what they have. Unless you have above average command and decent stuff by 33 - 35 you are probably finished as a major league pitcher. I would still sign Gray or Mahle to an extension if there arms are sound, but not a long one and they are likely to get move in being a FA. Berrios we don't know. Maybe he did not want to be here. Maybe the FO worked out his decline. Unless we have inside information, we will never know. But we seemed to have dodged a bullet there.

we seem to have forgotten Julien, who I think has the right approach to being a major leaguer. Don't know where he plays, but I like the bat approach and having several guys in the lineup who can force the pitcher to work. It would help if MLB limits further the up and down trips to make opposing clubs use their staff and number of pitches a lot more here.

Gets 7 years $177 million reported by Jeff Passan View full rumor

I don't have the hatred of this move that most of you have. Kepler will probably be traded and maybe packaged for a pitcher. I tend to like players who work the pitcher and the count, it tends to wear on opponents pitching staffs. As has been stated here, Kepler is what he is, More concerned with the double plays he hit into than the rest. A few more hits will bleed through, but his exit velocity is not good, Gallo's is sure to be better, but less contact. There will not be much difference with the second baseman on the edge of the infield dirt and the SS one step to the left of second base. You still have to hit the ball hard to get it through the holes. Next, Kirlloff's surgery is an unknown, we have no clue on whether the player will recover from this. We all can hope, but this move seems to be more covering unknowns than a total bust. Laurach and Wallner still have to prove they can play here, Laurach being healthy. So for me not a great move, but more of a cover move, just in case. If the season goes sideways we will have a fire sale, but more likely they will try and extend one of Gray or Mahle (if not both). So let's cool the angst and let this play out. You could be right, but I am a long term we shall see. For the FO bashers, with the pandemic it will have taken this long for the pitching pipeline to be build, we have about two years to see if this works, and cleveland had as many starters acquired in trades as in house developed.

I am wondering if the plan is now to take a step back and see what we have and then fill holes the next offseason. But nothing the Twins have to sell will bring super prospects back. Though Gray and Maeda might bring better prospects.

I am disappointed but not surprised it came to this. This will be the rule until baseball has a hard cap or cuts back to 16 - 24 teams. I wonder how long the small market owners put up with this. Or until all TV and radio income is shared for all teams. Time to move on. I would not pay Roden for 7 years, that is a much worse bet than Correa. Two ways forward. Trade for pitching, even if it will hurt, or trade the starters done at the end of the year, for top flight prospects (dangerous, but you have to trust the FO). Don't know which will be picked, but we will soon find out. Cleveland has won for years with top flight pitching, we can do the same, while having the money for better on field players.

I know it's a problem, but pitchers miss a lot more than hitters in the top 5. That is unless a fairly sure thing drops to us at 5, take a good hitter. I like the ones that walk a lot and make contact. Arraez is a pest. I like that comp and type of player.

After Bogaraets it almost seems sure Correa will get somewhere around $280 - 300 million over 8 years. These numbers are getting insane (which is why I am starting to hope for a hard cap, and that may happen when 20 owners or more figure out they cannot compete with the big market teams) It is just a question of how big a penalty check the owner is willing to cut. I would still like the Twins to be in on Correa, otherwise you are asking the fan base to buy into that either Lee, Lewis or Miller will be able to do the job in the next two years. And if you expect Julian to be your secondbaseman, the shortstop is going to have to be elite defensively. The good news is if we do not get a SS, we will have plenty of money to spend on pitching (and we had better use it).

Numbers do not mean as much for college hitters as they see very few elite pitchers in college. Contact skills and speed impress me, with enough pop to at least hit the gaps. I am all for wearing the pitcher down and forcing them to throw strikes. That is why I love Arreaz. Julian looks to be in the same mold. Just move them faster thru the system, as we are seeing more 21 - 23 year olds reaching the majors and producing, and less players unless elite staying past 32. Unless you are sure the pitcher is going to make it, I am against taking a pitcher at 5, maybe using the comp pick if one looks good.

I feel his best bet is to start in the majors as the long man. 2 - 3 innings when the game is not on the line either way. Or when we are a couple of runs down and need a stop for 2 innings. We have a lot of possible starters, time to find some inning depth in the pen.

Also agree the Wallner is unlikey to play here with the logjam in front of him. Expect unless he tears the cover off the ball, he will spend the year in St. Paul. Given the normal pitching staff injuries, I expect one of Varland and Woods-RIchardson to spend the bulk of the year in Minnesota, I lean toward Woods-RIchardson, because he is closer to being ready. Varland could force his way here, but less likely than Woods-RIchardson. So that is my pick.