BaseballGenius123

This post will be about which pitchers some of whom were on the big league team in September and some others who have been on the big league team previous years. The first pitcher I’ll talk about is Jorge Alcala. This one is easy Alcala will be a part of the Twins bullpen in 2022. He can even have a high leverage role going into the season with how good he pitched at the end of the year. Alcala didn’t have the best 1st half of the season. Alcala was put on the Injured List on August 9th with a triceps injury. It was when he was activated off the injured list he started showing Twins fans what he’s capable of. August 27 Alcala was activated off the injured list. Since August 27 to the end of the season which was October 3rd Alcala had 14 relief outings in that span he pitched 14.8 innings and only gave up 1 run. That shows some promise for the Twins going into 2022 that he can maybe be pitching some pretty meaningful innings and maybe can be a closer of the future sometime in 2022. The next pitcher I’ll talk about is Charlie Barnes. Barnes wasn’t a well known minor league pitcher. Barnes was added to the 40 man roster in July 17th, 2021 and made his major league debut against the Detroit Tigers. Barnes pitched 4.2 innings giving up 1 run, 4 hits, while striking out 1 and walking 1 batter. Barnes final stats for the season was this: 9 games pitched in, 0 wins, 3 losses, 5.92 Earned Run Average, 38.0 Innings pitched, 20 strikeouts, and had a WHIP of 1.63. These numbers aren’t very good, but Barnes wasn’t asked to do too much this year. I think he will be a depth starter for the Twins next year and might make a few spot starts depending on health of Twins starters next year. The next pitcher I’ll talk about is Alex Colome. I am going to admit when I’m wrong and I was definitely wrong about Alex Colome. I was excited when we signed Colome. Rogers didn’t have a very good shortened 60 game 2020 season and the Twins needed a veteran that can pitch high leverage innings for the team in 2021. The 2021 campaign for Colome with his new team wasn’t very good. In 2021 Colome had 17 saves, 7 blown saves, Colome also pitched in 67 games, had 4 wins and 4 losses, had a 4.15 Earned Run Average, pitched 65 innings, had 58 strikeouts, and sported a WHIP of 1.40. These are not good numbers at all for a veteran like Colome. The Twins have a couple avenues they could go down with Colome. If they want him back he will be back with a salary of $5.6M for 2022, or they can buy Colome out but they’ll still owe him $1.25. I believe the Twins are done with Colome and will owe him the $1.25M for the buyout. However, I won’t be surprised if he’s back in 2022. The next pitcher I’ll talk about is reliever Danny Coulombe. Danny is up for arbitration. If the Twins want Danny back they’ll owe him $800,000 if they don’t want him back they’ll just make him a free agent by non tendering him. This one is hard for me. I personally don’t think he will be back because, I think the Twins can find a better reliever than Coulombe either on a minor league deal or a cheap major league deal. However, again I won’t be surprised if he starts the 2022 as a Minnesota Twin. Coulombe’s 2022 stats are this: pitched in 29 games, had a record of 3 wins and 2 losses, 3.67 Earned Run Average, had 34.1 innings pitched, had 33 strikeouts, and a WHIP of 1.22. If the Twins are serious about winning in 2022 they can find a better option than him on the free agent market. The next pitcher I’ll talk about is Randy Dobnak. As most Twins fans know he’s a feel good story. He used to be a Uber driver, and he was called up in 2019 and was a pretty good starting pitcher for the Twins and even made a start against the Yankees that very year. Last spring the Twins signed Dobnak to a 5 year, $9.25M contract. Dobnak did not live up to expectations, however, I don’t think it was really his fault because he was supposed to be a starter and we signed Matt Shoemaker to take his spot in the rotation. Dobnak was optioned to St Paul a few times this season because of how he was pitching. Dobnak’s 2021 stats are this: pitched in 14 games (some were starts), he had 1 win and 7 losses, had a 7.64 ERA, pitched 50.2 Innings, had 27 strikeouts, and had a WHIP if 1.54. These are obviously bad stats, but I think Dobnak has a spot in the 2022 opening day bullpen, and maybe can be the teams ”6th Starter.” The next pitcher I’ll talk about is Tyler Duffey. Duffey is up for arbitration this year, if the Twins want him back they can tender him a contract which he is projected to make $3.7M in arbitration, if they don’t want to pay him the projected $3.7M they can non tender him and make him a free agent. I think if the Twins are truly wanting to be contenders in 2022 they will pay him the $3.7M. Before the 2021 season Duffey was a relied upon high leverage bullpen piece. However, Duffey didn’t have the best 2021 season but it wasn’t bad. Duffey’s 2021 stats: 64 games pitched, had 3 wins and 3 losses, had a 3.18 ERA, pitched in 62.1 innings, had 61 strikeouts, and had a WHIP of 1.22 The next pitcher I’ll talk about is John Gant. Gant was acquired from the Cardinals in the JA Happ deal. I was really surprised that the Cardinals gave up on Gant even though I don’t think he’s that great of a pitcher. Gant is both a reliever that could get some innings as a starter and that’s what he did with the Twins and Cardinals. Something that hurts Gant is he walks way too many batters. Gant’s 2021 stats: he pitched in 39 games, had 5 wins and 11 losses, had a 4.09 ERA, pitched in 110 innings had 92 strikeouts, and had a WHIP of 1.51. Gant is also up for arbitration he can make $3.7M if the Twins want him back if they don’t want to pay him $3.7 in 2022 they will non tender him a contract by making him a free agent. The next pitcher I’ll talk about is Ralph Garza Jr. The Twins claimed Garza off waivers from the Astros on August 4, 2021. Garza Jr had a pretty good short sample size for the Twins. His 2021 stats: 27 games pitched, had 1 win 4 losses, 3.56 ERA, pitched in 30.1 innings, had 29 strikeouts, and a WHIP of 1.25. Garza’s last 7 relief appearances for the Twins didn’t come nice to him he had a 6.00 ERA. Garza Jr might not make the Twins 2022 opening day bullpen, but I think he can be called up during the season. The next pitcher I’ll talk about is Griffin Jax. Any team could’ve selected Giffin Jax in the Rule 5 draft last winter but no team wanted him so he stayed with the Twins and eventually made his major league debut. Jax had some ups and downs. Jax’s 2021 stats: pitched in 18 games most of them starts, had 4 wins and 5 losses, had a 6.37 ERA, pitched in 82 innings, had 65 strikeouts, and had a WHIP of 1.35. The alarmingly bad stat he had was giving up the home run ball in 82 innings he gave up 23 of them. I don’t think Jax makes the opening day roster out of spring training but I think he can pitch some meaningful innings for the big league club next year. The next pitcher I’ll talk about is Kenta Maeda. Kenta will be out of most if not the whole 2022 MLB season because Kenta underwent Tommy John surgery the beginning of September. Kenta was runner up for AL CY Young Award for the shortened 2020 season. Kenta was not the same pitcher for the 2021 season his stats: he had 21 starts, had 6 wins and 5 losses, had a 4.66 ERA, pitched in 106.1 innings, struck out 113 batters, and had a WHIP of 1.30. Losing Maeda for the 2022 season hurts the Twins because the team will need to look for at least 2 maybe even 3 starters this offseason. The next pitcher I’ll talk about is reliever Juan Minaya. Like a couple other pitchers I named above Minaya is up for arbitration. The Twins can pay him the $1.1M if they want him for the 2022 season, if they don’t they won’t pay him the $1.1M. If I were the Twins GM I wouldn’t pay him the $1.1M in arbitration. The reason I think this is because I think the Twins can maybe find a better option than him on the free agent market. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s back in 2022. Minaya’s stats: pitched in 29 games, had 2 wins and 1 loss, had a 2.48 ERA, pitched 40 innings, had 43 strikeouts, and had a WHIP of 1.18. The next pitcher I’ll talk about is Jovani Moran. Moran was on of the best Twins minor league pitchers this year and made his major league debut this year. Moran is 24 years old and is from Puerto Rico. I don’t think Moran had enough innings to say for sure if he’ll be in the Twins 2022 opening day bullpen. I however, don’t think he’ll be in it to start the season, but with a good spring training I could be wrong. Moran’s stats: he pitched in 5 games, had 0 wins and 0 losses, had a high 7.88 ERA, pitched in 8 innings, struck out 10 batters, and had a WHIP of 2.00. The next pitcher I’ll talk about is Bailey Ober. Ober like Jax wasn’t selected in the Rule 5 draft last year and because of that the Twins got lucky. Ober wasn’t the best prospect and I’ve never heard of him before this year. Ober and his 6 foot 9 inch frame comes up and has a great year. Being as tall as he is makes it look like he throws way harder than he does and he throws low to mid 90’s. Ober obviously won a spot in the back end of the Twins rotation in 2021. Ober’s 2021 stats: Ober had 20 starts, had 3 wins and 3 losses, had a 4.19 ERA, pitched in 92.1 innings, struck out 96 batters, and had a WHIP of 1.20. The next pitcher I’ll talk about is free agent to be Michael Pineda. I wasn’t going to put any free agents in this blog post, but with all the rumors swirling around that Pineda himself saying he wants to be in Minnesota because he loves being on the Twins team just would be easy to bring him back. His 2021 stats: 22 starts, 9 wins, 8 losses, 3.62 ERA, 109.1 innings, 88 strikeouts, and had a WHIP of 1.23. The next pitcher I’ll talk about is reliever Taylor Rogers. There were rumors that Rogers would’ve been traded at the trade deadline last year if it wasn’t for a finger injury he sustained in a games days leading up to the deadline. Now Rogers is up for arbitration and if the Twins want him back for 2022 they’ll have to pay him $6.7M if they don’t want to pay him that they’ll non tender him and make him a free agent. If Rogers is healthy he will be back with the Twins in 2022. Rogers 2021 stats: 40 relief appearances, 2 wins and 4 losses, 3.35 ERA, pitched in 40.1 innings, struck out 59 batters, and had a WHIP of 1.14. The next pitcher I’ll talk about is Joe Ryan. Ryan was acquired along with minor league pitcher Drew Strotman when the Twins traded Nelson Cruz to the Rays on July 22nd. Ryan pitched for team USA in the Olympics in 2021. Ryan will be at the back end of the Twins opening day 2022 starting rotation. Ryan’s stats: made 5 starts, 2 wins and 1 loss, had a 4.05 ERA, pitched 26.2 innings, struck out 30 batters, and had a 0.79 WHIP. The last pitcher I’ll talk about is Caleb Thielbar. Thielbar hails from Northfield, Minnesota. Thielbar was arguably the Twins best relief pitcher, and that’s why he’ll obviously be in the Twins opening day 2022 bullpen. Thielbar’s 2021 stats: made 59 relief appearances, had 7 wins and 0 losses, had a 3.23 ERA, pitched 64 innings, struck out 77 batters, and had. WHIP of 1.17. Pitchers who will not be on the Twins opening day rotation or bullpen or might even be DFA’D Drew Strotman Lewis Thorpe Devin Smeltzer Cody Stashak Thanks for reading this post. Let me know what you all think about this. My next post will come out next Friday.

This post will be about what hitters I believe will be a part of the 2022 Twins team that hopes to rebound after a 2021 disappointment of a season. There’s some rumors that the Twins might rebuild next year. I don’t think that will be or should be the case because the Twins have some money to spend. The first player I’ll talk about is Luis Arraez. I believe that Luis stays on the MLB team next year. There have been some rumors that Luis gets traded in the offseason for some pitching that the Twins desperately need but in the end I think Luis is a part of the Twins 2022 ball club. However, this can change if the Twins decide to keep Josh Donaldson. I think the Twins can keep both but I don’t think it’ll happen. Arraez is hitting .286/.352/.370. Arraez can either be a utility player or he can be the starting left fielder or 3rd basemen on the 2022 team. The next player I’ll talk about is star center fielder Byron Buxton. Buxton is a Free Agent after the 2022 season, but he could possibly be traded in the 2021 offseason. Best case scenario Buxton gets a hefty contract from the Twins. I don’t see that happening because Buxton can probably make more money then the Twins will be able to dish out to Buxton. I believe Buxton played his final home game as a Minnesota Twin and that is gonna suck. The only way I see the Twins being able to extend Buxton is if other teams are afraid of his injury history. Buxton is hitting .299/.354/.629. Buxton has only played in 58 games this year after a couple injuries. The next player I will talk about is Jorge Polanco. This is an easy one. Polanco has been the Twins MVP this year after having to switch positions going into the 2021 season. Polanco is hiring .271/.324/.503. This player is gonna be one of the easiest players in this blog. The next player I’ll talk about is Josh Donaldson. Donaldson like Buxton has had some injuries this year. I believe the Twins will keep Donaldson even though there has been some rumors of Donaldson being traded. I don’t think the Twins can afford to trade both Donaldson and Buxton in the same offseason. However, if the Twins can somehow extend Buxton I think Donaldson will be traded. If Donaldson is a part of the Twins in 2022 he will split time at 3rd base and DH. Donaldson is hitting .248/.351/..472. The next player I’ll talk about is Max Kepler. Kepler has been one of my favorite Twins since his major league debut even though he doesn’t hit for much of an average. Max Kepler can be the Twins center fielder if the Twins decide to trade Buxton. If Buxton is extended I think it’ll be easier for the Twins to trade Kepler for some much needed pitching this offseason. Kepler is hitting .213/.310/.420. The next player I’ll talk about is catcher Mitch Garver. Garver has also been hurt like a couple players I’ve named earlier in this post. Going into this year Garver and Ryan Jeffers were supposed to be a pretty good catching duo. That was not the case this year because Garver couldn’t stay healthy and Jeffers wasn’t hitting good enough at the start of the season. I believe Garver will be a member of the 2022 Twins team. However, Garver can be traded in the offseason for some pitching. Garver is hitting .256/.360/.522. The next player I’ll talk about is Miguel Sano. Sano has always been the same player every year he’s been in the bigs. He’s got massive power but HUGE strikeout numbers. I think most fans are probably wanting to get rid of Sano because of the strikeout numbers. I believe Sano will be traded. If Sano is a part of the Twins in 2022 he will be an everyday player at first or DH. However I think Kiriloff is gonna be the first basemen and the DH will be different game to game. Sano is hitting .216/.308/.463 The next player I’ll talk about is Nick Gordon. I believe Gordon will be a member of the Twins in 2022. The reason I think this is because Gordon has proved he can play multiple positions. That is a big reason I think he will be a member of the big league club in 2022. Gordon is hitting .245/.298/.365. The next player I’ll talk about is Ryan Jeffers. I think this is a pretty easy one as well. I believe Jeffers is the catcher of the future so Jeffers will be a member of the Twins in 2022 even though he hasn’t been hitting too good this year. He is a really good defensive catcher however. Jeffers is hitting .197/.270/.394. The next player I’ll talk about is Brent Rooker. I believe Rooker will be traded in the offseason. I think this is because he won’t be getting everyday at bats. I believe Rooker needs everyday at bats on whatever team he is on in 2022 and I don’t think that’ll be with the Twins. Rooker is hitting .207/.300/.413. When Rooker was called up last year before he broke his wrist I thought he was gonna be a Twin for a long time. But since I don’t think he will get every day at bats in Minnesota that is the reason I think he gets traded in the offseason. The last player I will talk about is left fielder Trevor Larnach. Trevor might not be on the Twins opening day roster in 2022 but he will start the year in St Paul and I think he will be down there for a short time. I think Larnach was called up way too early and at first he was hitting the ball pretty good. But he was sent down in July. Larnach is hitting .223/.322/.350. Players that will be DFA’d or players in St Paul that will be obviously not on the Twins 2022 opening day roster are: Willians Austidillo (Utility Player), Jake Cave (4th outfielder), Kyle Garlick (outfielder), Rob Refsnyder (Outfielder), Ben Rortvedt (catcher) (maybe backup catcher on the Big league club if Garver is traded.), Drew Maggi (SS, Outfielder), Gilberto Celestino (outfielder). Thanks for reading my posts throughout the season. Hopefully you liked them. My next post will be next Friday. Hope you all enjoy it. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

This post will be about why I am a Twins fan and some memories of the Twins, and a little about me. My name is Levi Hansen, I am 24 years old and I am from Rochester, Minnesota. I went to high school at Mayo High School and graduated in 2016. When I was in high school I knew that after I graduated I wanted to go to college and major in something that involved sports, but I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to go for. My senior year I decided I wanted to go to school and major in Athletic Training, after a couple years of doing this I found out that this wasn’t right for me, so I switched my major to Mass Communications, I graduated from Rochester Community and Technical College for my Associates Degree this last Spring Semester after I was done with my internship. For my internship I did play-by-play for the Yellowjackets at Rochester Community and Technical College men’s and women’s basketball team’s. At first I was really scared to do play-by-play because I am not a huge basketball fan in general, but halfway through the season the Athletic Director at school stopped me in the hallway after one of the games and told me that an assistant coach from one of the team’s really enjoyed listening to my play-by-play announcing, but the one thing I could change is to say the player’s names more instead of saying the jersey number. At the end of season I was really mad because I think I improved a lot throughout the season and I didn’t want the season to end. I think I got the love of sports, mostly baseball and football from my father, both my parents are from Trempealeau, Wisconsin, my dad grew up a huge Vikings fan, and when my mom was pregnant with me my dad would read the sports section of the newspaper to my mom’s growing stomach. I like to thank my dad for doing that because I love my Minnesota Twins no matter if they are one of the best teams in the regular season and sadly 0-18 in the last 18 playoff games, or if they are having a disappointing season like they are having this season. Ever since I was in Kindergarten my dad would ask myself, along with my younger brother and sister if we wanted to play youth sports, I played baseball, football, from Kindergarten thru my freshman year of high school and I wrestled from Kindergarten thru my 8th grade year, I truly miss playing all these sports. I also did Boy Scouts for a couple years and they would do a fun night at the Metrodome watching the Twins game and have some fun activities and at the end of the night the Boy Scouts could sleep on the turf. Those times were very fun. All good things come to an end. I decided I didn’t want to play football anymore after my freshman year, and I wasn’t good enough to make the high school team my freshman year, the players wanted me to stay and be the student manager my Sophomore year, I knew this was an easy choice I ended up managing the baseball team my sophomore year through my senior year for the baseball team and I ended up managing the football team my senior year both of them were so much fun being around a good group of guys and some good coaches. A little story. The Twins drafted Bradley Mathiowetz in the 2014 draft in one of the later rounds. Bradley was a couple years older than me in high school. I thought that was pretty cool that I went to high school and knew a Twins draftee either though he ended up not signing. Bradley ended up being Mr. Baseball for Minnesota in 2014, Bradley was a treat to watch it seemed he hit a home run every at bat and he was a pretty great defensive catcher as well. Over my 24 years of being a Twins fan, there have been several good players, however my favorite Twins fan of all time is power hitting, gods defensive first basemen Justin Morneau. I think Justin could’ve been in the Hall Of Fame if it wasn’t for all the concussions he suffered while playing the game tough. Justin ended his playing career with 1,545 games played, 5,699 at- bats, 247 Home Runs with a .281 Batting Average, those are pretty good career numbers if you ask me. There was a time I got to meet Justin Morneau at the Metrodome. Years ago there was a reading contest through Cub Foods and people had to read a certain number of minutes to meet Justin, I completed the assignment not because I love to read (I only like to read sports books.) It was because I wanted to meet my favorite player. I remember going through the line as a little kid telling him he was my favorite player it was very fun meeting my favorite player. The year 2020 was a very sad year with COVID making the world a not so very fun place to live. Spring Training was cut short because of it. When I heard there might not be baseball played last year I felt sick to my stomach and didn’t know what to do in my free time. When there wasn’t any baseball I found some fun baseball podcasts to listen to, I really enjoy Nash Walker’s podcasts and really like Aaron Gleeman and John Bonnes’s podcasts both podcasts are a treat to listen to, another podcast I love listening to are Twins Daily offseason podcasts. If there is ever a time that I could join a Twins Daily offseason podcast it would be so fun. I like listening to the podcasts because I just really like listening to people’s takes on my favorite sports team, most of their takes I agree with but, some I don’t. I wanted to pick up my blog I took a break off from writing on Twins Daily, but a couple months ago I stated blogging again. I love to blog on Twins Daily because I can write whatever comes to mind about the Twins, and people can comment on posts. When I found out there was going to be baseball, but only 60 games, without any fans I was really happy that ”America’s Favorite Pastime” was coming back. Other Twins fans can follow me on Twitter my handle is LeviHansen11 Hopefully you guys like this post. My next post will be about the trades the Twins made at the trade deadline and if I like them or not.

My next blog will talk about what pitchers the Twins should consider trading. The Twins won the last game in Seattle on June 16 and swept a 3 game series against the Rangers June 18-20, they also won the first game at home against the Reds in Walk-off fashion thanks to Miguel Sano’s 2 run home run, but lost the 2nd which was the last game against the Reds. The Twins enter June 26th 12 games back of Chicago White Sox and last place in the Central and 12.5 games back of a Wild Card Spot. I think it’s safe to say that the Twins season is done. This post I will name 3 pitchers the Twins should consider trading at the deadline. The first pitcher I will talk about is right handed starting pitcher Michael Pineda. Pineda was put on the Injured List on June 14 with Right Elbow Inflammation this is the 2nd time Pineda was put on the Injured List. The first time Pineda was put on the injured list was put on the Injured List in May 14th with an Abscess injury. If Pineda is back from this injury and pitching well I think the Twins should trade Pineda. The reason I’d trade Pineda is because he’s a free agent at season’s end, it would be smart for the Twins to get something back for him, however the Twins will not get back a team’s top prospect in return. So far in 2021 Pineda has started 11 games for the Twins, in those 11 games Pineda has a 3.70 ERA, 56.0 Innings pitched, a 1.14 WHIP, with 51 strikeouts. These are some pretty decent stats, Pineda would be good be a good starting pitcher for any team that is looking for a starter at the deadline. The Twins could even trade Pineda and sign him in the offseason if the Twins would want to. The next pitcher I will talk about is starting pitcher Jose Berrios. Trading Berrios would probably signal a rebuild and no contending or retooling for the next few years. If I were the Twins I would give him an extension starting with 5 years and $100M, but wouldn’t go much past $120M. Some other contract extensions that have happened around the league are: the Yankees extending Luis Severino in 2019 with a 4yr/$40M. Severino has not been able to stay healthy since he signed the contract. The Phillies signed Aaron Nola to a 4yr/$45M in the 2019 offseason, this contract Nola signed looks like a good deal for the Phillies. Lastly the Astros signed Lance McCullers Jr to a 5yr/$85M in the 2021 offseason. I believe that Jose is better than McCullers Jr and Severino and just as good as Aaron Nola, the contract Jose will be looking for will probably start at 5 years and at least $20M per year. The reason I would think about extending Jose is because the Twins pitching prospects are either hurt and probably won’t be in the big leagues this year, or they are not performing well enough to get the call to the big leagues. If the Twins were to trade Jose the Twins should probably be able to get a pretty good package of major league ready prospects, but again I want the Twins to keep him and extend him instead of trading him. The last few offseasons the Twins have came with extensions with Jose but haven’t been able to meet eye to eye. Maybe could the Twins make him happy by signing his brother-in-law Javier Baez in the offseason to keep Jose in Minnesota for the long haul. Only time will tell. Jose is pitching pretty good, in 15 games started Jose is 7-2 with a 3.41 ERA, 89.2 Innings pitched, 96 strikeouts, with a 1.08 WHIP. The last pitcher I will talk about is relief pitcher Taylor Rogers. Rogers didn’t pitch very good in the small sample size of 60 games in 2020, and some people around the Twins thought he might not be tendered a contract for 2021, thankfully we did because Taylor is pitching like an All-Star this season. Taylor has pitched in 31 games, has a 2-3 record, has a 2.53 ERA, 32 Innings Pitched, has 42 strikeouts in those innings pitched, and has a 1.09 WHIP. In 2016 the Yankees traded Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs for Gleyber Torres. Chapman was a free agent at the end of 2016 and helped win a World Series for the Cubs, the Cubs had to give up Gleyber Torres who has been the Yankees shortstop or second basemen since the trade. If I am the Twins GM instead of trading Rogers I am trying to sign him to an extension. For one he is one of the better relief pitchers in the league. Another reason I don’t trade Rogers is because it’s very hard to develop relief pitchers and it would just be hard to find the next Rogers to develop from the minor leagues. If the Twins trade Rogers I’m looking for a package of MLB ready or soon to be ready MLB prospects who can help the team in 2021 and beyond. Thanks for reading my first 2 blogs. Hopefully you all enjoy. Let me know your comments and if you agree or disagree with my takes.

To Trade or Not To Trade The Twins enter the month of June as the team that is underperforming what predictions had them being their record is 22-34. As things look like right now they will probably be sellers come the trade deadline which is July 30th. This blog post will be about some players the Twins could trade. I will also say my explanation to “If I were the GM would I trade them” and what positions the Twins will need to get for them, and if I think the Twins would trade them. The Twins offense ranks 7th out of 15 AL teams with a .240 Batting Average. This is one of the reasons why the Twins are underperforming. The players who I think are definitely are going to be traded if the Twins sell are the players who are Free Agent’s after the season these players are: Nelson Cruz, Andrelton Simmons, J.A. Happ, Michael Pineda, Alex Colome who has a mutual agreement after the 2022 season, however I’d try to get whatever you could get for him, Hansel Robles, I believe these players will be traded if we become “sellers.” Players who have more than 1 year left on their contract’s shouldn’t be off limits in trades besides Alex Kiriloff who looks like the real deal and Trevor Larnach who also looks like he’ll be a stud for the years to come, but the Twins would have to be swayed to move other players who have more than 1 year of club control. The first player I’ll talk about is Centerfielder Byron Buxton. I will name 3 players who I believe we could trade to acquire some top prospects or some money relief. Byron Buxton is a free agent after the 2022 season, so if we trade him now we should get a better package if we would trade him after the 2021 season. Sadly Buxton was put on the 10 day Injured List on Friday May 7th with a Right Hip strain while he was playing like a league MVP, Buxton’s hitting slash line before getting hurt was .370/.408/.772. A hitting slash line is a player’s batting average, on- base percentage, and their slugging percentage. If the Twins are thinking about trading Buxton we should expect a lot in return. Personally if I were the GM of the Twins I would keep Buxton and try to extend him in the offseason. The last couple of seasons the Twins have tried to extend Buxton but haven’t been able to agree to a contract. If Buxton becomes too rich for us, another team will have to look at Buxton’s injury history before giving up any top prospects, the Twins will need multiple top prospects from the team Buxton gets traded to if he is indeed traded. I believe Buxton will remain a member of the Minnesota Twin in 2022 because of the hefty price it will cost to require him. If the Twins were to trade Buxton the Twins would hopefully acquire some top pitching prospects from the team who is acquiring him. The next player I will talk about Josh Donaldson but for a different reason. On Friday June 4th 2021 Mark DeRosa, a MLB Network Analyst and a former player himself, did a trade proposal. His trade proposal involved Donaldson and $15M going to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. and Milwaukee’s #6 prospect LHP Antoine Kelly. I don’t think the Twins will do this trade because I think 2021 is an outlier year, I believe the Twins can return to a winning ball club with some additions to the 2022 team instead of subtractions. I however would really think about trading Donaldson because of his injury history. Donaldson signed a 4yr/92M deal. In the first year of his contract there were only 60 games because COVID. Donaldson, however, sat out half the shortened season because a calf problem that has bothered him for quite some time, he also missed the short 2 game playoff series against Houston. This is the only reason I would think about trading him, again I think we can win next year, but if we were to trade Donaldson that might be a blow to the Twins 2022 playoff chances. As of June 5th, 2021 Donaldson is hitting .258/.360/.465 with 7 home runs and 22 runs batted in. The last player I will talk about in this blog post is 1st basemen Miguel Sano. Sano is having a 2021 season that he would like to forget Sano is hitting .157/.270/.393 with 10 home runs and 25 runs batted in, he is also has 21 walks nd 63 strikeouts in 140 at-bats he is striking out too much. The last few seasons Sano has stretches where he can carry the team but he just has too many stretches where he doesn’t have competitive at-bats. Something I agreed with is on Nash Walker’s latest Locked On podcast he had Matt Braun on and Matt thought he would trade Sano to try to acquire a team’s prospect in the 20 range. I think if the Twins can find a team that wants to give up a prospect in the 20 range I think the Twins would do it, If I were the GM of the Twins I would trade him for a prospect in a team’s 20 range, because I don’t think he fits well on the 2022 Twins roster because I think we will put a winning roster in 2022. Sano is due $9,250,000 in 2022 and has a club option for $14,000,000. If we can’t find a team that wants to trade for Sano I think the best thing for the team is to DFA him and hope he clears waivers and goes to St. Paul. Sano has 2,112 career at-bats in those at- bats he has 897 strikeouts and only 286 walks. On Monday I will come out with 3 pitchers who are under contract for 2022 that I think the Twins can consider trading and what I would do if I were the GM. In these trades and in the trades I would do involving our pitchers I would look for power starting or relieving arms. The Twins have the 13th ranked pitching staff out of 15 AL teams that is very bad.

I believe out of the 8 guys there are 4 guys who are part of the grand future. I believe Nick Gordon is a part of the future. He probably won’t have a starting position on this team but he will play a utility role with Luis Arraez for the next few years. Gordon has shown he can get on base and when he gets on base he can steal some bases and that will help the team going forward. Gordon has shown he can also play a couple positions and that will be huge for the future if a starting player gets hurt. Gordon can go in and play second base or even centerfield. In a small sample size Gordon’s hitting slash line is .344/.364/.438. The next player I will talk about is catcher Ryan Jeffers. To begin this year the Twins were hoping to have a platoon at catcher with Ryan Jeffers and Mitch Garver out of the gates, Jeffers wasn’t hitting very well and was optioned to St Paul on April 29th. Jeffers was re-called on June 2nd when Mitch was put on the 10- Day Injured List since being called up Jeffers has been pretty good. However I don’t know what the Twins are planning on doing next year if they will trade Garver and have Jeffers being the starting catcher and Ben Rortvedt his backup, or if the Twins will platoon Garver and Jeffers this year. If Jeffers shows he can continue to hit and play good defense I think the Twins will look to trade Garver in the offseason. So I think Jeffers is a “Grand Future” player. The next player I will talk about is Gilberto Celestino. For him to be a part of the “Grand Future” the Twins will have to probably go into a rebuild mode and trade Buxton. As long as Buxton is on the team Celestino is going to be in the minor leagues. I don’t think the Twins have to go into a rebuild so I think Celestino is “Just a Guy.” If Buxton leaves in free agency after next year I still think the Twins will try to win so I think we will try to spend money on a centerfielder. Celestino’s slash line is .138/.138/.276 in a very small sample size. Since he’s been on the big league club it looks like defense is going to be a work in progress for him. These are just a few reasons why I think Celestino is “Just a Guy.” However I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a “Grand Future player.” The last player I’m going to talk about is Jorge Alcala. I believe Jorge is a “Grand Future Player.” Alcala is a relieve pitcher who is having a decent year so far, however he could be having a better year, that could be said for the whole team. Alcala has a 3.42 ERA, 23 strikeouts, in 26.1 innings pitched. I believe Alcala can be a future closer of this team if he has just a little bit better ERA.

There are a couple things I want to right now. One of the things I want to see are some trades, the trades I'd like to see are the players who are Free Agents at season's end. The other thing I'd like to see is growth from Kiriloff and Larnach. If the Twins were 50% healthier I think we'd be a couple more games better not much better though because we were not good before the injuries happened. The Walk Off Win against the Yankees was a pretty fun game to watch and in a season where we aren't playing good at all I still enjoyed the Walk Off Win against the Yankees because it's against a team that we don't have a good track record with. There are some things for the Twins to do to compete in 2022. One thing is to sign some good swing and miss relievers on the market. Another thing that people don't talk about very much is we don't have a bench coach. I think in the offseason the Twins will need to hire a bench coach that knows what in game moves like bullpen decision if the Twins can sign some pretty good relievers and a starter or 2 we can return to winning in 2022 and compete with Chicago.

I really like what you have for the roster for your offseason blueprint and it’s a much better roster than Falvey and Levine put together. Myself along with a lot of other Twins fans thought the Twins were going to compete for the playoffs with the roster we had. In my opinion to begin the season we had depth on the offensive side of the ball we had Arraez who was the “10th man” and that is a pretty good player to have as your “10th man.” Arraez can play LF, 3B, and 2nd, but we have had so many injuries this year to both the starting positions and the depth we had for the start of the season. Something I would’ve done differently was to not sign Shoemaker and kept Dobnak as the 5th starter. I believe that’s why Dobnak isn’t having a good season. Where he isn’t pitching every 5th day like he was used to. All in all good blog.