RonCoomersOPS

Given the way he managed the team for years, I'd not expect to find his name on any Nobel Prize shortlists any time soon. Probably won't have to worry about that with Balazovic, either.

Trade him. He might have a great arm, but he's 100% Gardenhire between the ears.

That's true, but once Pineda and Gibson went down we found ourselves putting Randy Dobnak on the bump in game two. I love Dobnak and think his is a great story, but the odds of him holding up under the bright lights of a October baseball in New York were never good and the odds of him having sustained success were worse still. And then there's the whole Devin Smeltzer, Kohl Stewart, and Lewis Thorpe experiments that had to break just right to get us into the playoffs in the first place...

I don't think overrated is the right word for that team. There's no question that that team could rake, and I think they fully deserved the 101 wins they recorded that year. I think "unbalanced" is a better word. The 2019 team had a bunch of really, really good hitters that got to benefit from the juiced ball and an organizational shift toward hard contact for XBH over slap singles and using speed; on the pitching side, though, it was still basically Berrios, Odorizzi, and pray for rain.

If I'm giving that package of players to the Marlins, I had better be getting Alcantara plus back. Trading those four for only Lopez would rightly get Falvine a spot right next to TR in the history books.

Of course they can trade Arraez. They've got a comparable, perhaps even better and more complete player, in Edouard Julien set to make his debut probably this season. Julien won't have quite the elite bat-to-ball skills that Arraez has, but he is a good bet to hit in the .280-.310 range all the same. Plus, he's going to get on base a lot more often via the free pass than Arraez does. After he walks to first base, Julien is a much bigger threat to steal second than Arraez on account of his knees not being one bad step away from total annihilation. And, when he's being walked, he's a good bit more of a home run threat than Arraez. Defensively they're pretty much the same person, except that Julien gives you a bigger target to throw to at 1B. If you can get a top of the rotation arm for Arraez and can immediately plug Julien into his role, you kind of have to make that trade. I just hope they get more than Lopez for him.

TwinsDaily isn't containerized and running on a Kubernetes cluster somewhere by now?

He was hurt for a lot of the season, but when healthy Bailey Ober lapped expectations at least a couple times. Griffin Jax emerged from a mediocre showing as a starter in 2021, and became a reliable power arm out of the pen. It didn't all go according to plan this year, but the FO was really aggressive at the deadline and brought in players who should make the team much better this year. And they did it without totally burning down the farm.

I think the Twins are going to go all in on offense this year, and let some of their young guys give it a go in the pitching staff. I'd expect the 5th starter to be fairly fluid, based on who has the hot hand at the moment, and we might also see that from the 4th starter spot depending on Bailey Ober's health. I'd guess I'll have to do that once or twice with the #1 and #2 starter spots, too, but what the heck...I want to see how some of our AA and AAA guys do in the majors this year. I'm still moving Kepler and Polanco in order to get younger/healthier/more productive guys into the lineup, and the upshot is that they should both bring back some interesting young talent. I'm also not counting on anything from Kirilloff coming into the year, so he's part of my trade that brings in Murphy. This is probably an extremely high risk roster, but I think there's enough offense and defense here to offset some of the risk I'm taking with the pitchers. C: Sean Murphy ($3.50M) 1B: Luis Arraez ($4.50M) 2B: Eduoard Julien ($0.70M) 3B: Jose Miranda ($0.70M) SS: Carlos Correa ($32.00M) LF: Trevor Larnach ($0.70M) CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M) RF: Mitch Hanniger ($10.00M) DH: Jose Abreu ($12.00M) 4th OF: Nick Gordon ($0.70M) Utility: Kyle Farmer ($5.50M) Utility: Gilberto Celestino ($0.70M) Backup C: Ryan Jeffers ($0.70M) SP1: Sonny Gray ($12.00M) SP2: Tyler Mahle ($8.00M) SP3: Joe Ryan ($0.70M) SP4: Bailey Ober ($0.70M) SP5: Simeon Woods Richardson ($0.70M) RP: Jhoan Duran ($0.70M) RP: Jorge Lopez ($3.00M) RP: Griffin Jax ($0.70M) RP: Jorge Alcala ($1.00M) RP: Caleb Thielbar ($2.00M) RP: Kenta Maeda ($9.00M) RP: Evan Sisk ($0.70M) RP: Emilio Pagan ($4.00M) Payroll is 7.21% under budget

Eovaldi got a QO today. Given the state of the farm and the apparently FO's ability to find guys deeper in the draft (see also Eduoard Julien), I'd try like hell to avoid signing guys like Eovaldi.

Arraez's knees likely let him play more games as a first baseman, and I like Gordon as a super-utility guy. Also, depending on how well he hits, Julien is potentially just a placeholder at second base for that Lee fellow we drafted this summer.

I have Polanco going to the Mariners in exchange for RHP Tyler Dollard, OF Zach DeLoach, 1B/3B Tyler Locklear, and old friend RHP Prelander Berroa. I also have Kepler, Urshela, and money going to Chavez Ravine in exchange for LHP Maddux Bruns and backstop Dalton Rushing.

C: Ryan Jeffers ($0.70M) 1B: Luis Arraez ($4.50M) 2B: Edouard Julien ($0.70M) 3B: Jose Miranda ($0.70M) SS: Carlos Correa ($37.00M) LF: Austin Martin ($0.70M) CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M) RF: Trevor Larnach ($0.70M) DH: Matt Wallner ($0.70M) 4th OF: Kyle Garlick ($0.70M) Utility: Nick Gordon ($0.70M) Utility: Gilberto Celestino ($0.70M) Backup C: Gary Sanchez ($8.00M) SP1: Sonny Gray ($12.00M) SP2: Tyler Mahle ($8.00M) SP3: Jameson Taillon ($17.50M) SP4: Joe Ryan ($0.70M) SP5: Bailey Ober ($0.70M) RP: Jhoan Duran ($0.70M) RP: Jorge Lopez ($3.00M) RP: Griffin Jax ($0.70M) RP: Jorge Alcala ($1.00M) RP: Caleb Thielbar ($2.00M) RP: Kenta Maeda ($9.00M) RP: Michael Fullmer ($4.00M) RP: Josh Winder ($0.70M) Payroll is 6.57% under budget

And then when the ace joins the 65 other players on the IL for half the season, then you've got three players' worth of money providing zero value to the team instead of one guy hurt and two still able to help the team.

They were over .500 and leading the division into September, despite a ton of injuries, and only finished below .500 due to even more injuries forcing 3rd and 4th choice players getting regular playing time. There's a *huge* difference between your core totally falling apart at the end of the year and, say, being out of it in April as the Tigers and Royals were (or the Twins were, in 2021).