KnoblauchWasFramed

It's funny to see all of these comments in here about "freedom of choice" and "personal decisions" and etc etc etc. And as for a Starting Pitcher being listed as the 5th unvaccinated player it's obvious that this is someone injured or who wasn't going to pitch in the next three games. But I can't wait to see how all of the anti-vax sentiment changes dramatically if we have to play Toronto in the playoffs and we don't have our starting RF, a SP, and our Closer in either 2, 3, or 4 games. Me thinks thee Twins fans will be singin' a much different tune if we get to that point.

Some thoughts on Jhoan Duran... His entire Minor League career we was a starter and was clearly successful enough at it to get the call up to The Show this season. So again I have to ask, why is this team always so quick to toss someone into the bullpen who is considered a "hard thrower"? With the lack of stars in the rotation and now with all of the injury issues wouldn't Duran have best been used as a Starter out of the gates and not just thrown into the Bullpen to see if he'll sink or swim?? Every pitching coach and manager he has played for considered him a starter until, of course, he runs into the Rocco-LLama who is apparently wiser than everyone else and who sees a 7th inning 3-out arm that can hit 103 MPH on the gun. Imagine that 13 K/9 and 0.80 WHIP spread out over 40 innings instead of 22. I just don't understand how the Twins need starters, they trade for a high ceiling flame thrower who is a starter on the rise, he could have slotted in right easily over Dylan Bundy and even Chris Archer right out of Spring Training, but Rocco decides "nah, I want him mowing people down in the middle innings so let's abandon his top of the rotation potential ASAP." Ok, so fine, smarter men than I have determined he's a Bullpen guy. So then why is he getting the 6th and 7th innings today? (Don't even get me started on the whopping 59 whole pitches Archer was allowed to throw today). If the Twins refuse to let him be a starter than shouldn't they be taking advantage of his abilities as the Closer???? Yes, Pagan has been league average at the Closer so far, but it's not like we traded for the Padres Closer since he's had a career high 20 saves in 2019 with the Rays and 2 with the Padres. His numbers as a middle relief guy weren't even that great at all in 2020 and 2021. So why continue to use him instead of moving Duran into the position full time. Pagan isn't part of the 2023 Twins plans since he'll cost over $4M+ after arb if he keeps getting saves. Anyone else have any thoughts?

Huh???? Paddack is already making $2.5m this year and is Arb eligible next season. And even with missing this season and several months into next season he's going to be looking at $4m+ next season, and probably $7.5m+ the year after that, bare minimum. Pagan is making $2.3m this season and is also Arb eligible next season, so bump that up to around $3.5m+ next year. And the Twins are paying almost all of Rogers salary this season on top of everything. Even before the injury this was a horrible trade when only looking at cost control.

Two things of random here I'd like to contribute about the current state of the game of baseball. 1.) Do you know what made players like Hrbek, Puckett, Gaetti, Oliva, Carew, & Killebrew great? Everyday they showed up they knew what position they were playing. Even Carew and Killebrew, who played different positions, didn't randomly jump on a weekly position carousel and just "get in where you fit in." Whether you want to believe it or not, a majority of professional athletes excel through a strong mental routine and consistency. This isn't a real life version of MLB The Show 22 where you just sign free agent or draft blue chips players and then just move them to an entirely new position based on what day of the week it is. Yes, players like Nick Gordon have no choice but to play where he can fit in just so he can actually play, however, this was the 5th overall player taken in the 2014 draft (9 spots ahead of Trea Turner). Imagine where he and the Twins would be right now had he been given a shot to just play SS and concentrate on succeeding and excelling there. Instead, the Twins just said, "Whelp. we're outta options on this guy but we don't want to lose that league minimum salary so let's just throw him in CF today and LF tomorrow and maybe SS the day after that. Let's keep him guessing every morning." Royce Lewis was taken as the First Overall Pick in the 2017 Draft as a SS. We've been playing him at SS his entire time on the team. I have yet to see any evidence that this is not the position he will excel the most at. At worst, he should spend some time at 3B until SS is open full time. He does not in ANY WAY belong at 1B or anywhere in the OF. Again. this isn't MLB The Show. I understand Urshela has one more year of Arb control, but I missed the part where he is in the Twins 2023 plans at 31 years old and probably looking at $9m in Arb. This is the guy who should be losing ABs and playing time right now. Lewis has 1/2 as many hits as Urshela in only 1/3 of the ABs and he has 2/3 of the HRs and 1/2 of the RBIs. 2.) Speaking of clearing some room on the 40 man roster, this is the ideal time to release Miguel Sano. Why? He is on the 60 day IL right now (assuming he rehabs in that time). And if another team wanted to pick him up on waivers they would be on the hook for about 75% of his $9.25M salary and his $2.75M buyout for next year, or $9.6M, for someone who might now be back until July. And even when he does come back, do you really think another team wants to take up a 40 man spot on someone who might very well still be in his yearly early season slump and pay the salary of the Strike Out King who is hitting an amazing .093 when he comes back? This is the time to send him down to AAA and let him run out the clock on his contract since there is zero change the Twins pick up his $14M option for next year. Best case scenario, someone does claim him and the Twins have some more money to use around the Trade Deadline, or next best case he gets a month an a half of kicking ass at AAA and we can actually package him in a Deadline deal to add some rental pitching help. Since he's not coming back next year one way or another, why not try to pass him through Waivers right now based on his current IL situation? 3. (Added another one real quick) Speaking of knowing what your role is everyday, Taylor Rogers should have been the Twins closer since 2018. But since the Delicate Genius Rocco knew better, he's played bullpen roulette since he's taken over and Rogers bouncer around between innings. So... any idea on what's happened with Rogers since he was traded to the Padres and they made him the closer on Day One??? 14 saves, 0.56 ERA, 0.56 WHIP, 18K/2BB, and the Twins are paying $6.5M of his salary to do that for someone else. Thank you.

Serious? Is that what you took from the comments??

"As for me? It's May. We had Smeltzer going against Bieber with no Correa. I think this one was pre-tagged for an L, and I'm glad we were able to make it close. Let's move on." Wow. Just. Wow. So because the game looked tough ON PAPER let's not try all that hard and just mail it in for all of the 23,000 suckers who made the mistake of paying money for a game that Rocco deemed unwinnable ON PAPER. If that's the acceptable though process the fans allow the Twins to have why stop with benching Buxton? Maybe let Sanchez try his luck out in Left Field since he played there a few times in Little League? Maybe Jeffers can come out of the bullpen for the 7th inning? Maybe if the future the Twins can set up a promotion where games that pre-tagged as tough ON PAPER tickets can be 50% off. Next time the Yankees or Dodgers or Astros come into town the Twins will allow you to come out and watch a wasted game, but.... you'll only pay $15 to do it!!!

I still do love the daily comeback that "it's too early in the season to worry", and it's only April, relax. It almost reminds me of the same comebacks last year all the way into late May from people who seemed to be under the belief that the season was 12 months and just "wait for the weather to get warm and then watch out" or "wait until you see all of the brilliant trades the front office makes that'll get us right back in the mix of this weak Central Division." For context on the whole "it's too early" to worry about losing some winnable games here and there, last season on April 30th the Twins were 9-15 and already 6 games back. On May 13th they fell to 12-23 and were 10 games back. The Twins would never be under 10 games back again the entire season. You can say that the season was over for the Twins by game number 35, but really it was over by game 26.... in the "weakest" division in baseball. So this assumption that wins and losses in April don't really matter is BS and this statement should be retired because it's just wrong.

That's awesome that you really believe that these patches will do anything to lower ticket prices or your cable package. Prime example, if you get a jersey with the Motorola patch on the sleeve, do you get a discount on the jersey? Do you get a gift card to Motorola? Nope. You get the same $200.00 jersey made for $1.50 in China by children but now it comes with a big gaudy tacky eyesore on the sleeve. These ads will never have any direct effect on reducing the costs put onto the fans. If this was even an option, why don't we get a coupon or something from Target every time we buy a ticket? All this does is make Target Field and the Twins look like a softball league playing at a field located next to a trailer park. It's classless and disgusting to allow these patches.

Actively putting the best team you can on the field and showing the fans that you ARE ACTUALLY TRYING TO WIN is the only gimmick you need to get people in the seats. It's guaranteed to work every single time the owners try it. Paying $4.00 to watch the twins get their @$$es handed to them and to watch a future HOF'er get pulled early while pitching a perfect game is still a loss and a waste of time.

It is truly amazing on how quick the Twins will highly draft, or trade for, a pitcher with all of the potential in the world to greatly impact the Twins rotation for years to come and then turn that pitcher into a bullpen option. Or worse, the pitcher never even has a career. 2010 (RD – Pick) Alex Wimmers (1-21) – 0 Career Starts Pat Dean (3-20) - 9 Career Starts 2011 Hudson Boyd (1-50) – 0 Career Appearances Madison Boer (2-27) – 0 Career Appearances Corey Williams (3-27) – 0 Career Appearances 2012 Jose Berrios (1-32) – 148 Career Starts Luke Bard ( 1-42) – 3 Career Starts Mason Melotakis (2-3) - 0 Career Appearances JT Chargois (2-12) - 0 Career Starts 2013 Kohl Stewart (1-4) - 9 Career Starts Ryan Eades (2-4) – 0 Career Starts Stephen Golsalves (4-4) – 4 Career Starts 2014 Nick Burdi (2-5) - 0 Career Starts Michael Cederoth (3-5) – 0 Career Appearances Jake Reed (5-5) - 1 Career Start John Curtis (6-5) - 5 Career Starts Jorge Alcala (IFA) - 0 Career Starts (Currently In Bullpen) Jhoan Duran (IFA) - 0 Career Starts (Currently In Bullpen) 2015 Tyler Jay (1-6) - 0 Career Appearances (Currently Out Of Baseball) 2016 Griffin Jax (3-16) - 14 Career Starts (Currently In Bullpen) 2017 Blayne Enlow (3-1) – On 40 Man Roster (AAA)

In college a man much wiser than I once told me that, when it comes to writing, "in order to be taken seriously you must learn to use Spell Check." Just sayin' this was a good write up except for the 3-4 errors in spelling.

Yes, we all know for a fact that the Twins did NOT pursue free agent top tier pitching. We know this because this philosophy has been imbedded within the organization like a cancer for the last 30 years. Seriously brah, what team have you been watching all of these years????

"win 84ish games" !?!?!?! That's some top flight comedy right there. Right now, this is a 90+ loss team. Last year's rotation was considerably better than this one, and they lost 89 games. And that's not even talking about the bullpen.

What an amazing idea!!! This way, when these other teams see how desperate the Twins are when they start 5-15 they'll for sure lower their asking prices for their SP assets in a trade.

For everyone who hasn't figured it out yet and for those who fail to believe it, this is our 2022 pitching situation; Sonny Gray Joe Ryan Dylan Bundy Bailey Ober Jharel Cotton Randy Dobnak / Chi Chi Rodriguez No Bullpen Additions That's it. That's all there is. No one else is coming. It's this trash up until the trading deadline then we'll move anyone who was remotely mediocre and then roll in the rookies to finish out our 100+ loss season. We have all been had. Not only did the Twins not do the bare minimum moves needed to make the Twins "competitive" again, they actually SIGNIFICANTLY downgraded the entire team. They traded away about 60 homeruns and added 200 more strikeouts and about 50 more errors. But they saved the Polads about $50 million. That was the end result of all of the moves. They didn't need to dump salary and could have at least kept the nucleus of the team together to make the season entertaining, but they willingly chose to give all of us fans the middle finger. They brought back unwanted Yankee garbage and handicapped the team in amazing fashion. They traded away guys who are actively producing today for guys with the hope and prayer that they can turn into the players they were 3-4 seasons ago. Except, that those players 3-4 years ago still weren't good. ENJOY THE SEASON!!! IT'S GUARANTEED TO BE HISTORIC!

Clearly you're looking to Troll everyone with this comment. So well played sir, well played. Saying you'd take Dylan Bundy over the reigning Cy Young Award winner is just brilliant.

This is a complete joke of a signing at this point of the offseason. Career 46-67 with a 4.72 ERA and a 1.308 WHIP. He would have easily been available a month or two from now. Meanwhile, the Cubs just signed Marcus Stroman for what will for sure be a contract that the Twins could have matched. Every top starter and reliever are already gone... JUST LIKE THE TWINS WANTED. Now they don't have to spend the next month and a half acting as if they were seriously going to try to sign any of the Top 10 Free Agent Starters or Relievers. Once again the Twins made one signing for the fans because they had no choice and now they'll get right back to the dumpster diving we have all allowed ourselves to come accustomed to. Get ready for some Top Flight names like Chris Archer, Adam Wainwright, Michael Fiers, Matt Harvey, Jon Lester, etc etc etc. coming our way And any of y'all thinking there are going to be any medium names brought in by a trade are high. When has that EVER happened? Part with a minimum wage minor league player for a $10M contract?

Obviously the Twins would want any of those guys. I would love Robbie Ray and who wouldn't love Thor on the team? I'd also like to marry Kaley Cuoco and date Meghan Trainor on the side. Which, of course, is just as likely as the Twins landing anyone on that list. The Twins will do their usual dumpster diving and will be coming up with winners like; Chris Archer, Adam Wainwright, Michael Fiers, Matt Harvey, Jon Lester, etc etc etc. Those are the pitchers you should be breaking down for us. And I'm not trying to be negative... I'm just being realistic based on the Twins history. I'll call it now, the TWINS PAYROLL WILL BE UNDER $90 MILLION NEXT SEASON.

Because.Otherwise.We.Would.Have.Lost.Both.In.Free.Agency.And.Gotten.Nothing.To.Show.For.It. Why would we have kept these guys on one of the worst teams in baseball right now?? Cruz is 42 and it's time for Larnach, Rooker, and Kirilloff to get those ABs. And Berrios was never going to resign with the Twins. Today, his value would have never been higher that it was right now at this moment. There is no way that some team gives us there #2 and #4 prospects for him next year for 2 months work of service. These trades were scores for the Twins and the Rays and Jays 100% overpaid for Cruz and Berrios. Joe Smith has been forgotten in all of this but he is starting for Team USA in the Olympics today and he was the Rays Minor League Player of the Year in 2020. And that's saying a lot for a team that has proven to be the MLB version of the Baltimore Ravens when it comes to drafting. Joe Smith very realistically is our #3 or #4 next year before even seeing what we bring back in Free Agency or in further trades this afternoon. And Austin Martin is one good Spring Training away from being our 2B next season.

Here's what's going to end up happening today (if Berrios doesn't go to the Padres); Dodgers gets: SP Jose Berrios SP Michael Pineda LHP Caleb Thielbar Twins get: SP Josiah Gray (#1) SP Landon Knack (#16) LHP Robinson Ortiz (#29) -or- Twins get; SP Dustin May SP Bobby Miller (#7) LHP Robinson Ortiz (#29) PTBNL LHP David Price ($16m owed in 2022) Overall, the Dodgers just don't have the players that will provide an immediate return for the Twins like the Padres do. Their #2 prospect is a Catcher and there is no scenario where they give the Twins Josiah Gray and Keibert Ruiz. The Dodgers also don't any LHP in the top 25 and a lot of the RHP, according to MLB Pipeline, are not really ready for next year and some project out as bullpen guys. And neither of those factors benefit the Twins. So basically the Twins get May or Gray who both would be MLB rotation ready for next year, but nothing more than speculation on any other pitching prospects after that. And in order to get May and good prospects the Twins might need to take David Price and his contract back who would now be expendable to the Dodgers as he is in their bullpen. So that means that the Twins could be forced to try to find a spot for a 36 year old making $16m, unless the Dodgers kick back some cash in that deal. The Dodgers get a pitcher to cover for the loss of Bauer and a pitcher that could push Goslin back into the bullpen. And they'd get one of the best left handed relievers to solidify their bullpen. And maybe save some money by moving Price. In conclusion, I don't really like the Dodgers as a partner in a Berrios trade. But it could work if the Twins want a quantity over quality trade return like the Rangers just did with Gallo. Discuss??

Here's what's going to end up happening today; Padres gets: SP Jose Berrios OF/1B Matt Wallner (#13) 1B Miguel Sano (1yr/$9.25m) (Maybe $5m in cash for Hosmer contract??) Twins get: SP Ryan Weathers (#1) SP MacKenzie Gore (#5) LHP Jagger Haynes (#17) 1B Eric Hosmer (1yr/$21m) The Padres get their #2 for 1.5 years behind Darvish as Paddack and Snell have ERA's over 5.00 and have showed signs of improvement but the clock is ticking and the Padres are 5 games back of the Giants. Berrios immediately pushes them back to favorites in the NL West and there is a very good chance they could look to sign Berrios long term just as the Darvish contract is coming to an end. And they get to unload a majority of the Hosmer contract for 2022 while taking Sano back to take his place in the lineup for the rest of the season. If the Padres want a pay off for all of the moves they made and the money they have spent to get past the Dodgers, the prospects should be worth it to them since they are young and have tons of other pitchers in their Top 20. Wallner is a throw in that could maybe help out their 1B spot within 2 years. The Twins get Weathers who could literally slide in behind Maeda tomorrow and could easily hold down that spot for the next 5 years, and bonus, he's left handed and meets the Pre-Arb requirement the Twins had. And in Gore, the Twins get another LHP who could push for the #1 spot as soon as next year. Haynes is 18 years old and in the Rookie and is added in for taking Hosmer off the Padres books. But he is a lottery ticket with Weathers and Gore being the score in this deal. Discuss??

Assuming Buxton played 15 seasons, which is as long as Joe Mauer, then he’s already played half of his career when this season is over. And what has he accomplished in that time frame? He has played in 459 out of a possible 1,134 games, or approximately 40%. This one stat alone should end any of this talk about every other team just throwing out $100+ million contracts at Buxton when he becomes a free agent. But because we are Minnesota sports fans we all live in a delusional bubble where we use terms like “one in a lifetime talent” and “game changing” and “top shelf elite MLB player”. So lets look at those 459 games that he’s actually played in: .247 Batting Average .289 On Base % .453 Slugging % .751 OPS% 367 HITS (88 2B, 17 3B, 61 HR) 95 BBs & 469 Ks 67 SBs 14.7 WAR If you were to average numbers like this out over a 162 game season it’s even more alarming; AVG – R – H – RBI ( 2Bs – 3Bs – HRs – SBs – BBs – Ks) ,247 – 80 – 130 – 68 (32 – 7 – 22 – 24 – 34 – 166) WAR – 2.1 Everyone keeps saying how Buxton would be this and Buxton would be that if only he had been healthy. But to say this conveniently sweeps his actual performance when he was health under the rug. When he was at 100% he still wasn’t very good. And take away his fielding ability during the games he did play and you have a guy who very likely wouldn’t even be on an MLB roster most of that time. It’s more than safe to say that we’ve seen everything Buxton has to offer in the exact same way we can say that we’ve seen all Sano has to offer. There might be flashes of quality play, but they are just too few and too far between and will never be the norm for either player. Are you willing to have the “cash strapped” “small market” twins commit $15-$20 million a year to someone who, at best, once played in 140 games, but then never more than 92 in any other season? And what about 2017 when he played in 140 games? A .253 average and a slash of .314/.413/.728 along with 150 Ks against 38 BBs. Yes he won the Platinum Glove and stole 29 bases and hit 16 HRs but, again, is that worth $20 million even if he were able to replicate even those minimal numbers? Oh, and don’t forget the Playoff Numbers he has produced. In 2017 he was 0-2 and left the game early. In 2019 he didn’t play at all. And in 2020 he only started Game One and went 1-4 and struck out 3 times and was injured and didn’t start Game Two but did come in as a pinch runner and promptly got picked off in the bottom of the 8th inning with the Twins down by one run. The numbers just don’t lie, Buxton is a middle ground potential journeyman “have glove will travel” player. It would be great if would could keep him around 3/$35 with salaries at $8m, $10m, and $12m with a buyout of $5m and 2-3 option years at $14m, $15, and $16m which he would have earned if he stayed healthy. This ends up at a range of 5/$60m or 6/$75. That seems much more reasonable.