Doc Munson

Twins FO obviously is content with Bundy and Archer filling out the rotation. I am not nearly as rosy on the perspective of counting on them to anchor our rotation. I would love to be wrong however. As I have said in previous posts, the Sonny Gray move only makes sense if we end up making other significant moves, whether no or midseason. After all you do nto give away a potential arm (and personality to be a face of your franchise) like Petty in a "first move" without making final moves to ensure you are in the best position to succeed. Also as I have noted many times over, I beleive the crux of the Twins pitching plan all along has been to allow our young pitchers to takeover. Maybe not at the beginning of the year, but by the end of the year. Another concern I have shared is the relatiely few innings each of our rotation members have logged each year over the past 3 years. even if successful, 150 IP level will represent MASSIVE jumps in workload, adn with our "data dorks" running the team, they will be reluctant to hit those big jumps. so it is either 4-5 innings per start, or a number of our guys being shut down (or injured) for parts of the season. and this was BEFORE the Chris Archer signing. The preamble above is just to remind those of where our rotation sits. and remind people that even with the arrival of Archer, smart money says it is not enough. The two main trade pieces that remained seemed to be Manaea, and Montas. Manaea is off the board, so lets take a look at what Oakland got in return, if the Twins could have matched that, and whether the Twins makign a similar move would have been worth it. WHAT DID OAK GET.. #1 an 19 year old infield prospect with 55/40 scores for hit tool and power tool, and 50/50/50 for run, arm, field. so a decent infield prospect but not overly pricey in terms prospect quality. #12 prospect in SD. #2 #26 SD prospect in a 25 year old RHP. who split time between AA & AAA in 2021. with the following grades. FB=55 SLIDER =45 CHANGE =60 CONTROL =50. I am nto an advanced scout, but just looking at the scout rankings, and reading brief bios, I think a very comparable, if not better package, coudl have been doen by the Twins... Keoni Cavaco is still only 20, with toosl at 45/50/60/60/50. SO one could argue a better prospect. OR we could use 19 year old Noah Miller as a comp with his 55/45/50/55/55 comps. I mean we gave up our 2021 1st round pick for Gray, why not give up our comp balance pick for Manaea right??? Now for a comp for the 25 year old middling pitcher. HMMMM I wonder if the Twins have any "aging prospects" on the verge of MLB that are in their mid 20s? This one may be tough, btu I will dig deep!! Chris Vallimont, Blayne Enlow, Drew Strotman, Cole Sands, Louie Varland, Matt Canterino, Josh Winder, Jordan Balazovic, Jhoan Duran, Jor Ryan. Now of course there are names in their that I would not touch, but just including the list of pitchers who are all at least as good as the pitcher the A's acquired, and equally close to the majors. So with that it is pretty easy to conclude that the Twins COULD have matched or exceed that package SD sent to Oakland, without even flinching. Now the question is why wouldnt we? Wouldnt we rather have a Manaea over a Bundy? Why are the Twins standing pat when quality pitchers are beign made available for what appears to be very modest prospect returns?? But DANG!!!!! How fun is this going to be to watch Buxton and Correa this year!!

Signing Correa was a great move regardless of how long he is here. it is a move I screamed for for months. This bought the Twins FO a bit of time and good will. Yet the Twins are still an enigma, and you cannot clearly call them contenders or rebuilders yet. This is not a new take. We have some pieces that just don't quite fit, and a few that are missing. Just because they might not fit traditionally doesn't mean it can't work. It just shows inconsistent messaging and makes a fan think there is no true plan. Gary Sanchez: Doesn't quite fit. Sanchez is essentially a DH only. yes he will catch maybe 30-35% of the games, but he is a liability behind the plate until he proves otherwise. and with a young and/or erratic pitching staff (Ryan, Ober, and all of the soon to be starters = young. Archer, Bundy = erratic) you want him behind the plate as little as possible. Also both he and Jeffers are RH which means there is no natural R/L platoon. Yes this seemed to work with Jeffers and Garver, but none the less it still reduces flexibility. As a result we cannot open up the DH for other hitters against certain righties or lefties. Also this requires us to have a 3rd catcher on the club, because if we want Sanchez's bat in the lineup then we have both Jeffers & Sanchez in the starting lineup and otherwise risk losing the DH if something happens. having the primary DH also be the back up catcher is the LEAST flexible option you can have, short of pure DH like Cruz. it is almost the SAME as having Sanchez a pure DH... Which I thought we were getting away from in order to have more flexibility. This is why it shows a lack of clear strategy when putting together the team. Hopefully Sanchez significantly outslugs the alternatives... Rooker, Larnach, et al. but by simply not having Sanchez would provide significantly more positional flexibility when you have Sano (can be hot or cold) Kepler (can play a good OF but really hasn't had a strong overall offensive game in years) Kiriloff (unproven but loads of talent) Rooker, Larnach (redundant poor to average OF but potentially strong bats) and soon to be added, Martin. Pitching: missing I have said all offseason due to the lack of even TRYING to get any top FA pitchers, the Twins obviously have a plan that does not include bringing in additional pitchers. Their plan is MUST be to roll with multiple young arms. Again I am not saying I am against this, or that it will not work, but it clearly is not traditionally what teams who are saying they are contending do. Signing Archer is a nothingburger. I would love to have him turn back the clock and pitch like he did 5-7 years ago, and he MAY, but it is not realistic to bank on it, same with Bundy. At this point, with the Twins walking the fine line between contending and propping open the window to contend, it is clear the Twins will be waiting on any big pitching trades to see where they are by trade deadline. If we are contending, then Twins will pull the trigger and move some prospects for an Ace, or at least a #2 or 3 starter. At this point, why move prospect talent if you do not know if you will contend? Which brings us back to the Sonny Gray trade. You have to give something to get something. BUT giving up an arm like Chase Petty? to ONLY add one solid #2 starter in Gray, and not finish it off with a strong rotation??? Gray (or better could have/would have been there at the deadline). at $22M over 2 years, for a measly extra $3M per year, could have signed JON Gray... and still had a top arm in our system. and then if you want to make a trade deadline move can move him then. Trading your #1 draft pick, and arm talent like that should be done to secure the FINAL piece, not the FIRST piece... especially if you are not going to secure the SECOND piece. You can say that high school pitchers flame out significantly more often than they pan out. and I can agree with that. but why would you move someone with such upside, yet hold onto a bunch of prospects who still haven't fully panned out at 27 (Rooker) 25 (Larnach) 24 (Kirilloff... although he SHOULD this year) etc, that you do not have enough AB's for anyways? OF course may not get back top of the rotation starters for them, but stopping at just one #2 starter for a big arm is worse. It is not that the Twins FO should be slammed for making BAD moves, it is just they need to be questioned for making INCOMPLETE moves.

I WANT him to be good, but it is just still a confusing fit. So we are back to a R/R catching platoon??? That is not a fault of Sanchez, it just doesnt make sense. at least with Rotvedt we had a L/R, but then again without that trade we wouldnt have cleared $ for Correa. Thsi was a much better article than I thought it was going to be. so well done there. But still show slittle more than just pure HOPE he will improve. And what makes him even MORE dangerous, being such a poor pitch framer... and such a poor pitch CATCHER, is that he will be handling a predominantly young pitching staff. That is a very scary conbination. I think the best to hope for is that he can "click" with at least 1 pitcher, and be a personal catcher to at least 1 starting pitcher. That will give him catching duties for about 20% of the games or 32 games catching per season, and the rest at DH. So 32 games caught from plus add in another 10-15 games on top of that, leaves 115-130 for starting catcher Jeffers. THAT kind of split I can live with. AND that implies that Jeffers himself can establish himself firmly as a starting catcher. But I would be insanely happy for a 120/32 gaem split for DH/catcher for Sanchez. We will have a very succesful season with those splts. Those splits would indicate 2 things. #1 that Jeffers HAS indeed shown to be a starting catcher. #2 (to a lesser degree) That Sano is hitting/playing well enough to NOT get pushed off 1B.

OK 2 things... #1 I take it all back!!!! #2 I TOLD YOU SO!!! lol Litereally as I was typing my most ramblng missive to date slamming the Twins for doing nothing they do THIS!!! Also though, in that same missive (and in others) I was the first to call this move!!! read back yoully find them!! WOW!!! INSTANT contenders!!! Nowgo get Montas... but back to me being the only one to call this shot (on the heels of calling the trade Donaldson shot). the defense on teh left side is now the best in bsaeball, Urshela, and Correa. What a great "bridge" to Lewis!! LOL Correa and BUxton #1 and #2 overall draft picks in the same draft on teh same team, in their prime. has that ever happend?? AS you can I cannot formcomplete thoughts but just bumping from one to the other due toexcitement!!!

I hate being so negative. I REALLY DO!!! hehe I know it sure may not seem that way to those of you who have read a number of my other posts. Butit is just so frustrating. WE say we are going to compete but it loosk we are making moves (or lack of moves) with no apparent overall plan. If our plan is simply to go with the young pitchers we have and use as a developmental year, I am cool with that, but at least come out and SAY IT!!! Now they cant say "We see this as a developmental year" but they can come out and say "We plan on contending this year, and we think our quality young pitchers are the ones that are going to help us contend this year!" We still have an overall junk rotation. at least from a "We plan on being competitive" standpoint. Sonny Gray is a quality starter. he is the #1 on this staff, maybe a #2.5 on others, but still he is good. He gives me hope. Joe Ryan. I really like this kid, I think he can be quite good. he is a plus. BUT if I have to be nitpick He still is unproven. was great over 5 starts and he has pitched well in teh minors so their is hope. Nothing you can rely on yet, but you can hope. Bailey Ober. SEE ABOVE. except insert "kinda" for "really" Hope but cautious. Again unproven Dylan Bundy. Where is my puke emoji. Watch him prove me wrong, but I just don't see it. Wait... WHAT??? we can give him $4M but cant give Pineda $5.5M? SEE BELOW. Jax/Strotman/Dobank/Thorpe/Smeltzer. Just no. SO there you have it!!! Now we still could make one of those Oakland trades. and really it doesn't matter WHEN you make moves, as long as you make them, but LETS FRICKIN MAKE THEM ALREADY!! Anyways... Here is teh Twins being Twins part. As I mentioned in another piece the Twins always come out of the woodwork AFTER a player signs elsewhere to claim they had interest and tried. Well Michael Pineda just signed with Detroit for a $5.5M base. Pineda expressed a strong desire to return. Pineda, while not the most dominant and most reliable still posted a sub 4 ERA and was the only Twins pitcher you could consistently count on to go at least 6 full innings. yet we cant even spend $5.5M on him? What will the Twins come up with as the reason for why they didn't sign him??? or why Pineda "chose to go elsewhere"? With regards to Story, I hate to break it to the Storyobos out there but the recent comments mean he aint coming here. #1 he said he is open to a short term position switch to sign. He does not have to switch positions for the Twins. so Cue #1 there. Cue #2 is he said he wants to sign with a contender. NOPE. and the original indicator...he had turned down multiple offers of $100M. If you actually thought the Twins would spend $100M on him your nuts. SO now, this makes the Yankee deal even more questionable. You solve the SS spot only to make it a big question mark again and get back the same type of 3B, and a redundant catcher... who by the way cant catch. That was a beautiful trade!!! lets create a hole (ss) downgrade at 2 other positions in order to save some money that we are not going to spend elsewhere... but yeah "We plan on contending". Now you will hear how we were "in on" Story and he just got "better offers" elsewhere, but the truth is we never had a chance. There is one move, and one move only that could garner ANY amount of optimism from most Twins fans. That is to dole out a record contract to sign Correa. a Montas trade does nothing. We still have a hole at SS, we still have a platoon of 2 RH catchers, one of which cant catch. The Twins should shock the world and give Correa a "Seager" deal. and then STILL trade for Montas. I know has gotten very long winded, but there makes a lot of sense for a Correa signing. Look at who would/could have on our roster over the next handful of years... 3B = Miranda Pre-arb deals. (Urshela gone) SS Correa Massive deal. 2B = Polanco,very team friendly deal. 1B = Kirilloff Pre-arb years. (Sano gone) RF = Larnach pre-arb years (Kepler gone) LF = Martin/ Lewis pre-arb years. CF Buxton big contract but only other big one. PITCHING>>> Ryan = pre-arb years Ober =Pre arb years. Balazovic pre-arb Strotman... Do I really have to list EVERY near MLB arm we have??? You get the gist We can have a full rotation of young controllable arms, and young controllable high ceiling position players. paired around 2 mega superstars in Buxton and Correa. But to close this rambling nonsense, I wouldnt even mind, and would kind alike to see us just go young, give Lewis SS out of Spring, go with all fo our young arms... JUST FRICKIN SAY IT!!!

How embarrassed am I??? Immediately after posting this the Twins make a move to solidify everything. I guess I should have just trusted that Falvine know what they are doing. I cant wait to hear the Chant starting on opening day going right on through to the World Series... "Chi- Chi!!! Chi-Chi!!! Chi-Chi!!"

What exactly is the Twins FO waiting on to fill out our roster? From the outside looking in it seems to most that we still need at least 1 more pitcher, we need a SS, and bullpen help never hurts. Yes, I understand it take two to tango, and of course we hear all over the place that the Twins are "talking" to this team or that FA, but seriously??? sitting with a payroll of just $72M (prolly closer to $90M when you add in the final pre-arb salaries) which means we have between $30-50M to spend, just to get mirror last years level. Are we once again nickel and diming other teams and FA? Are we once again going to hear how the Twins were "in on", or "had interest in" or "had made offers to" different pitchers ONLY AFTER THEY SIGN ELSEWHERE??? It is easy to claim interest after the fact. If we truly want to contend, it is OK to occasionally overspend if it allows you at actually get quality pieces and contend. You dont always have to spend 80 cents on the dollar. Michael Pineda is still unsigned. Obviously there are reasons why any unsigned player is still unsigned. with the exception of the few at the top if they arent signed yet, that means noone else is really beating down the doors to sign them. and there are most likely reasons. Michael Pineda is still out there. While not a game changer and not ultra reliable for the long run, when he has pitched he has given us quality innings. Why not bring him back??? can get him cheap and if he can give us innings on the front end, we will have our young kids ready on the back end of the season. Jake Arrieta is still available. While HORRID over the last year plus, why not take a low cost flier? His TRUE value is not necessarily any innings he can provide, but to serve as a role model of the work ethic needed for our young guys. Johnny Cueto. He is older but still serviceable. On the position player front, while I do NOT want the Twins to sign Trevor Story unless it is a 1 year deal mainly for his defense, can we get going with setting our infield already???? Story has reportedly previously turned down multiple $100M contract offers. If this is what it will take ot get him, then RUN AWAY!!! if his ask drops down and he is wiling to take a 1 year "prove it" deal to show he can hit outside of Coors as well, then get him, but lets go already!!! Unless of course we are hoping one of the youngsters actually turns out to be ready. We are less than 3 weeks from opening day, and do not have a full 5 quality starters, and do not have a set SS, We do not REALLY have a settled catching situation, can you REALLY plan on putting Sanchez behind the dish to control a young rotation even is a split role??? At this point we might as well just throw record contract out to Carlos Correa, we have little future commitments!! so could afford him and Buxton even with his incentives. Obviously we are resetting our "core". Sano not so much "core" so we wont have to be paying him his FA money. we have Buxton locked up, Polanco is still locked in, we will be having 5-6 years of control on 3B = Miranda, OF = Lewis and/or Martin. 1B = Kirilloff and/or Larnach. We are positioning ourselves to have a god young pitching rotation, with a potential full pre-arb rotation by next year with Ryan, Ober, Balazovich, Winder, Canterino, Woods RIchardson et all, you know the group by now. So if we are actually looking to contend, and we look to teh future and see most near FA contracts gone, and we have the talent to win with at AA & AAA, then lets overspend and get Correa, or for heck sakes overspend in prospects to get BOTH Manea and Montas. Just DO SOMETHING!!!!!!!!

Where do you get your rankings? Are you using someone elses? or are these your evaluations? Lewis seems to be insanely high. The highest I see him ranked was at 55, and most have him at 50. so a current 60 seems high, and a future 70 seems a bit insane. would be nice if Cavaco would ever reach his potential, would be a good trade piece

This one may take a while to understand, and may need another move as well. I can understand moving Donaldson, heck I have even thrown out my own trade scenarios regarding him, but I would have thought we would have returned some pitching for him, not just clearing salary commitments. There MUST be a second (or third if you think the Kiner-Falefa trade was setting this up) shoe to drop here. Trading Donaldson... This could be a hard sell while also trying to claim we are going to contend, but really you cannot fault the FO for wanting to get out from his remaining years. But still you would think we would have targeted pitching for him. Trading Rortveldt... This really is a low impact move, a bit of a throw in in my eyes. but one that is a touch confusing becasue we got back another RH catcher, losing the R/L platoon options. Plus SAnchez isnt much behind the plate. Tradign Kiner-Falefa... This is very confusing, as he was actually a perfect fit for what we needed. This is where the main TBD comes into play. How do we fill SS now? We get... Gio Urshela, This isnt a BAD get as he can play a decent 3B and has a good bat. He can also play some SS as well so there is a bit of flexibility there. Gary Sanchez... Here is the MASSIVE quesion mark. Some reports indicate he is not part of the Twins future, some say he is. If he stays with teh Twins The Twins are looking set up to be a feast or famine offense... Sanchez and Sano are two High power, MEGA high K RH hitters. and Sanchez is a potential liability behind the plate. There HAS to be follow up move/trade or two here right?? If teh follow up is a Trevor Story signing, I will be INCREDIBLY pissed off. If the follow up is another mega deal taking on the contracts of Wil Myers and Eric Hosmer and having Prospect CJ Abrams also come our way for something like Gary Sanchez and Max Kepler then I am all for it!!!! Anyways... thoughts on the trade? or what comes next?? Canyou think of a rationale I cant for this?

This is a heart vs mind trade... my heart HATES IT!!! my mind can justify it. Prospects are suspects until proven otherwise., especially HS pitchers, but still... DANG!!! I would be more of a fan if this was the move that would put us over the top vs just getting a SP when we need 2-3 of them. I would be much more in favor if this was part of a bigger trade that would also get us Luis Castillo.

This is a weird (but good) trade in my opinion. Yes I too like Garver, and think he could have helped bring offensive thump to our lineup. and no I do not think Jeffers is necessarily ready for a FT role, and no I do not think we have particularly strong platoon options with Jeffers. So why do I sorta like the deal? HE is a very solid player at multiple positions. He will obviously start at SS for us at the beginning of the year, but he could also play 3B, and maybe a little catcher. Very solid defender at 3B & SS. But what intrigues me the most about this deal is what it says about OTHER positions. #1 we need pitching. We didn't sign anyone of note prior to lock out. We didn't secure Rodon post lock out, and my sources say we didn't even consider making an offer. So we don't make any moves toward a pitcher, and we trade one of our most tradeable assets for infield help (although we needed a SS). This speaks to priorities. You would THINK that pitching would be the priority with us having basically 3 starters as we sit. The fact that the Twins are not acting like pitching is a priority, is because they don't think it is. Why would this be? Obviously the answer... or THEIR answer, is because we have what we need in house with young pitchers. If you don't sign FA pitching, and you use trade chips to acquire non-pitchers, then that screams that you already have at least SOME of the pitching you need in house. #2 OR... you can still address pitching. Combine this trade, with increased CBT and Universal DH, and you have all of the makings of a Josh Donaldson trade. With Kiner-Falefa to play 3B until Miranda is ready. Can you think of an NL team, newly in need of a DH, that has deep pitching, for whom Donaldson has played (and loved his time there) and who is about to lose a big dollar face of the franchise 1B bat to the Dodgers? Here is a hint. it rhymes with Atlanta Braves. There is now a logical move to be made with Donaldson, AND can finally help address pitching. Trade Donaldson to the Braves for Touki Toussaint and Kyle Muller. Neither are really proven MLB pitchers, but Touki has had flashes of brilliance at the MLB level, and Muller would be just another near MLB prospect. but it would at least make a move towards pitching. Overall this was a decent yet curious use of potential trade assets. What other moves do you see this potentially leading to? or what doyou think this says about our pitching situation?

I will absolutely HATE it!! yet at the same time I will not notice a darn thing, Attending a game you will not notice a difference. Watching on TV however, for at least the first half of the year we will be INUNDATED by the TV announcers talking about it CONSTANTLY. we will not be able to avoid it. announcers thin it is their job to over explain EVERYTHING. they will compare this to that, try and come up with statistics fo statistics of statistics to show the impact of the clock both in length of games and how it impacts each and every pitcher and hitter individually. That is my only real fear of the change. just let the game play. there is no need to explain the rule changes.

It is great news to hear that MLB & MLBPA are getting closer to a deal, but the early info on INTL draft and the QO are very confusing. Basically what it means is that NEITHER side actually really care about either of these issues, and as a result were holding up baseball for absolutely no reason. SO what is this grand bargain that was struck between MLB & MLBPA? Well according to Jeff Passan, they have agreed to get this...a new deadline... LOL they have agreed to a July 25th deadline to figure out how an International Draft would work. an agreement on an international draft will be tied to the Qualifying Offer and drat picks associated with that. OK fair enough, but what happens if they are unable to get an agreement?? NOTHING!!!!! not a gosh darn thing... LITTERALLY!!! IF they do not come to an agreement, then they simply go back to what the current QO rules are, and simply go back to what the current international signing rules are. SO the results of one of the bigger sticking points is "MEH, well lets just kick it down the road, and if we dont agree on anything no big deal, we will just do nothing, and go back to what it was, BUT we can still agree to ruin baseball for the fans right?? ok , good" Ridiculous All this being said, my hypocritical self will be happy as heck and positive as heck once baseball is back. LOL

I like many fans am frustrated with MLB & MLBPA. Both sides are equally to blame. I have shared ideas on how to end the stalemate in previous posts. One of the simplest that touches on multiple aspects (tanking, draft, "pre-arb" player pool) Is simply to have a Draft Tournament. With all teams not making the playoffs playing in a single elimination tournament to decide the top draft pick and subsequent draft order. This hits on tanking and the draft, the additional new TV rights to these games could be used to fund the gap in the "pre-arb" player pool. or fund the WHOLE THING!!! A win for MLBPA for getting the compensation they claim they want for young players, and MLB saves by using "new" money to fund it and not costing them any of the current revenues they are offering to fund the pool with. But what I really want to share on this discussion, is how truly disingenuous the MLBPA really is. They SAY they are fighting for the younger players to earn more, they SAY this is not about the big stars but the "average guy" and the 30+yr old veteran. If this is true then they would not be fighting over CBT threshold, but fighting for a salary FLOOR, but that discussion was thrown out almost immediately. Lets ask ourselves. who benefits from a higher CBT threshold? Is it the average team? NO. it is the big market teams, with just a handful of of team willing and/or able to exceed the threshold, or even get CLOSE to it. Most teams have not comeclose to the current threshold because they cannot afford it. SO by raising the CBT threshold, will teams automatically spend more? Of course not!!! That is liek an average person saying... "hmmm, I that car dealer would finance that new 2021 vehicle for me at $50K max sales price, but I just cant afford it. BUT WAIT!!! the 2022 version they will finance me for up to $75K!!! OK ILL BUY IT!!!" Obviosuly raising the CBT threshold only impacts a handful of teams. But since we are focusing on the MLBPA here, ask yourself, "what kind of player is most likely to be impacted by increasing the CBT threshold"? Is it the average payer? is it the pre-arb? NO itis the superstar. MLB teams will go over the cap... ANY CAP, or spend UP TO the cap to sign players like Carlos Correa, Max SCherzer, Corey Seager, Kris Bryant, etc. But would a team go over the cap to sign a player like say, Eddie Rosario, Jorge Soler, heck, even a player like Anthony Rizzo? OF course not. What will happen will be the rich get richer. the superstars instead of signing $30M AAV will get $36M AAV. They will still eat up most of money available, and again leave the average player, especially the 30+yr old veteran to settle for the leftovers. It is either that or teams use the underpaid "pre-arbs". NOW, if there were a $100M salary FLOOR as opposed to top end CBT, NOW players would paid evenly. The top players mentioned above will still get their mega deals, because rich teams will spend regardless. Now that the lower revenue teams MUST spend, they will be forced to spend more on the average player. The team MUST spend the money anyways, whether they are planning to compete or rebuild. so now a rebuilding team can actually OVERPAY the 30+ yr old veteran. Teams would "overspend" on short 1-2 year deals. a player like Rizzo now could easily receive a $20M deal somewhere for 1 yr (or more) because again the money must be spent, and why not spend it on a contract that will be coming off the books by the next year? Also if a team MUST spend the money anyways, and do not want to pay a veteran to take AB's away from younger players, then they would "overpay" or at least increase the pay to their own young players. Take a team like Baltimore. lets say Adley Rutchsman is on the big league roster (and he should). If the Orioles are currently sitting well under the $100M threshold, would it not behoove them to pay Adley $10-20M or more this year if they have to spend the money anyways?? it helps build loyalty from teh players part, so nwo when he reaches Free Agency he may be more willing to give a "hometown discount" to stay. "Overpaying" pre-arb players becasue the money must be spent anyways woudl also then reduce the need of the "pre-arb pool". A salary floor helps ALL, an increase in CBT only helps the superstars. the fact that the union is fighting for the wrong one shows their true colors. The proof is in the pudding. over the last 6 years, with INCREASING CBT thresholds, the average MLB salary has DECREASED!! Just like other sports it has been and always will be a star driven league. and I don't even have an issue with that. but at least have the integrity to either say what you are actually fighting for, or actually fight for the things you say you are for. Interested to hear thoughts

The Minnesota Twins this year are in position to change MLB!! For a team that has claimed a desire to contend in 2022 it has very little in the way of pitching, and has shown little to no interest in the FA agent crop of pitchers. SO how can a team with current starters slotted in as Dylan Bundy, Joe Ryan, and Bailey Ober? Dylan Bundy has only thrown over 162 innings twice in his career and that was 2017-2018. and coming off seasons of 65 (Covid) and 90 innings. He cannot be counted on to take on a bunch of innings. Joe Ryan has never thrown over 123 innings... ZERO in 2020 (covid) and just 92 between AAA & MLB last year. even a 50% increase is still less than 150 innings. Bailey Ober never threw more than 80 innigns in any season prior to last year when he set a highwater mark of 92 innigns between minors and MLB. again another 50% increase get to only 150 innings. So the three pitchers we have on our team assuming 32 starts per year will pitch les than 5 innings on average. Our minor league pitching that is near MLB ready or MLB ready are... Jordan Balazovic... 23... coming off career high 97 innings Jhoan Duran... 24... coming off injury 100IP in 2018 & 115 IP 2019 but 0 2020 and just 16 in 2021. Simeon Woods Richardson... 21... innings max of 106 in 2019 with 0 in 2020 and 53 in 2021 Josh Winder... 25... a respectable 125 IP in 2019 but again 0 in 2020 and 72 in 2021 Matt Canterino... 24... never more than 25 in his 3 seasons including 23 in 2021 Drew Strotman... 25... finally cracked 100 after never throwing more than 50 IP with 112 in 2021. SO... you see most of our prospects are at the age where they should be contributing to a MLB (usualyl 23, 24) this includes. Balazovic, Duran, Winder, Canterino, Strotman. This all begs the question... How do we get these guys to the big leagues before they are "too old" But yet not ONE indiviudally seems fully ready by if nothign else at least pitch/innings count to be a starting pitcher full time? Sure, we can move a couple to the bullpen. BUT on a team like the Twins, who love analytics, and seemingly never let their pitchers face a batter a third time, you will see the Twins go with 1, MAYBE 2 traditional starters (once we resign Pineda) and the rest will be piggy backed pitching "teams" Twins will have 8 starters. with the #3, #4, #5 starters all pitching in the "buddy system" with each one going a max of 4 innings. The theory being that if each starter can go 4 innings, then that leaves just 1 inning for the back of the bullpen to take care of, so as a result you do not need a ton of relievers. You just have your top 3 power arms in the bullpen. So you have a pitching 13 man pitching staff of 8 starters, 3 back end relievers and 2 "wild cards" or specialists. This is a move I HATE!!! but this WILL happen in 2022, and the sad thing as I want the Twins to succeed, then I have to want this to succeed, and if it does then in the copy cat league we have, more teams will do it and we will lose more and more of "traditional" ball.

I thought for just a brief second we may actualyl have an ORIGINAL, UNIQUE article here. you touched on it for just a quick second Cody when you said the Twins FO didnt have a whisper on any FA pitcher. Thsi makes me more happy than if we DID try and get pitchers and failed. this at least tells me that whether I agree with it or not, the Twins FO ACTUALLY HAS A PLAN for once!!! hehe. Sure there were pitchers I wanted like Jon Gray and maybe Stroman, but this at least means the FO has their plan and it never included FA signings. I think they are confident that Pineda will ultimately resgin. This means either the trade option was the way they were going the entire time, or actually I think more likely... I think they fancy themselves the new TB Rays. where they can develop pitching. I said before and I thin i still agree with myself (although not 100%) that with a combination of #1 a large number of quality arms nearing MLB ready, #2 A majority of them being on some sort of innings limit, and #3 the Twins LOVING (and me HATING) analytics and not letting our pitchers go past 5 innings anyways... we will see or #5 starter be actually TWO young propsects piggybacking each other, with each pitchers going 3-4 innings. and I acually wouldnt be too shocked to see us end up with TWO sets of piggy backing starters!!! Now THERE is an article for someone!!! fewer "general relievers" and more "piggy back starters" with 3-4 back end of the rotation power arms.

If the A's include the "perpetualyl injured but really though if he can stay healthy this year" guy in AJ Puk, then I would consider this deal. I love the upside of Duran, but all the TWins will do is make him a releiver anyways. and at least getting back equally powerful arm that is equally injury prone in Puk would help offset that risk. Cavaco still has upside, but he is a diem a dozen upside. we have 6 others exactly like him. Although if I remember correctly wasnt he compared to A-rod after being drafted??? So that leaves Arraez & Strotman. Arraez is a nice bat, but how many innings is he really going to play? with Nick Gordon also here as a potential utility guy I am not sure how yo manage AB's around both Gordon and Arraez (assuming we get a decent SS option). and then there is Strotman. I have no strong opinion, except maybe he is similar to a number of other decent to good pitchign prospects we have, SO if I Do not see Cavaco making it to the bigs with others ahead of him. and I see Duran and his big yet injured arm swapped with Puk and his big yet injured arm, then I ask... woudl I do Arraez and Strotman for Montas? and the answer is an unsexy yes.

Nope, Nope, and Nope. Kikuchi?? This wouldnt be the WORST move the Twins could make, If I wanted to promote this signing I would say he is a lefty, he averages over 5 innings per start and he is actually improving across the board year over year, BUT he is still a #3-4 starter and we could do better, plus with our Philosophy he will never get a chance to pitch past 5 innings anyways, no pitcher will so who cares that he averages more than 5 innings. One of his main values is moot with this teams pitching philosphy. Rodriguez?? meh. insert any generic name here and would be equal. btu we will en dup having at LEAST one of our young starting prospects converted to a relief role this year, either because of innings limits, or wanting to maximize stuff out of the pen. (my guess is Duran). again not a HORRIBLE move, but also doesnt do much. Story??? RUN WAY!!!!! hsi home/away splits are HORRIBLE!!! Home = .972 OPS, Away = .752 His OPS+ home = 124 (or 24% better than average SS) away = 76 (or 24% WORSE than average SS). at home his K rate is 28% on the road it is 34%. The ONLY reason you sign Story is if it is a 1 year deal and we have plans to trade him at the deadline should one of our prospects prove ready.

WHen it comes to Kirilloff replacing Sano at 1B, the issue isnt so much that Kirilloff is so much better of a 1B than Sano, it is more that Kirilloff is so much WORSE of an OF. Twins WILL find a place for his bat. if Kirilloff could play a lick in the OF there would be ZERO discussion about Sano's defensive liabilities at 1B.

The one thing that should speak the loudest that Falvine's plan is still intact, regardless of what everyone else thinks... Starting pitchers have flown off the board. it would be one thing if they Twins had made offers to pitchers but were outbid. The fact that we never even made an offer on any level of free agent pitcher means that Falvine's plans never included FA signings. IF we had TRIED to sing one and failed then the situation would be different. So with that in mind you have to ask yourself... What is Falvine's plan if ti was never to sign a FA pitcher? Option #1 They favor themselves pitching whisperers, and they plan on going full on youth movement. With prospects such as Balazovic, Duran, Richardson, Winder, Canterino, Strottman etc all getting serious looks in the rotation. to go along with Ober, Ryan, Bundy. (and presumably still potentially Pineda). The fact our only FA signing shows we do not want to be committed to any veteran pitcher past this year. WHY?? Well because we are going to use this year to give all of our young pitchers innings to see what they can do starting in 2023. Since we are more than just one big FA oitching signing or trade away from being realistically competitive, I hope we do not trade away our positional prospects, Even top ranked "can't miss' pitching prospects miss more often than not, I do not want to deal position players for prospect pitching. SO Ultimately regardless of lack of FA activity, whatever Falvine's plans are they are still on track. Curious, what do you think Falvine's plan is?

These discussions are always interesting, I think the one thing that gets lost though, is that most people are making suggestions one way or the other based on the assumptions that Baldelli and the FO have ANY desire to have a standard pitching program. We think we can outsmart the rest of baseball. We are in the "perfect" situation for Baldelli and Falvine. We have a TON of pitching prospects all nearing MLB readiness, yet many coming off of injuries or low innings counts from last year. Balazovic 97 IP Woods Richardson (not super close)53 IP, Duran 16 IP, Ryan 92 (between minors and bigs) Winder 72 IP Canterino 23 IP Strottman 112 IP, Vallimont 94 IP, etc. and of course the Twins will eb using the "well they missed an entire season of development in 2020" until 2032 with regards to building up innings... You combine the number of quality arms that are relatively near being MLB ready, who have very small number of annualized innings, along with the Sabermetric/statcast thinking of our FO and Baldelli, and what you get is a guaranteed "piggy back" approach to our rotation. I absolutely guarantee you what we will see is AT LEAST the #4 & #5 spot in our rotation being used with "piggy back" pitchers. pick any 4 from above and pair them up. Balazovic goes 3 innings and gives way to Winder for 3 innings. Strottman goes 3 innings and gives way to Duran for 3 innings This way they only need 3 true starters, and if they think Bundy is one, and if they think Ober & Ryan can be true starters, then that means we are set... MAYBE resign Pineda. then we have a rotation with Ryan, Ober, Pineda, Bundy, and then have a Piggy back pair of pitchers on the MLB team, and a paired piggy back tandem together at St. Paul. then call up and demote them in pairs as needed. Im "old school", dont not want this, I want pitchers to go 7-8 innings with real shot at CG, but this is what will happen.

I would say if we make a move for someone like Bassit, then also add a littel extra to get AJ Puk. Puk is an "older young player" and a history of injuries, but still has potential. Either as a starter or a big arm out of the bullpen

There are relatively few guarantees in baseball, and even less when it comes to what a new CBA will look like. Let's take a look at a few potential additions, and how it can impact the Twins (and other clubs). Today I want to talk about one potentially significant change. Salary Floor Both sides have spoken about a potential salary floor in some form or fashion. When both sides reference the possibility of something then it is only a matter of the details. It WILL be in the new CBA. How will that impact teams? or better yet how can some teams leverage this to their advantage? Lets assume a $100M floor for simplicity sake. This would mean there is a TON of money that will HAVE to be spent. If you MUST spend it, you can do 1 of 3 things. #1 spend big on top tier players. Of course there are relatively few top tier players left to spend money on. #2 overpay average players, which is just silly. #3 take on bad contracts. Lets take a look at a strategy behind #3. First lets identify teams that A) already have very high salaries which could be looking for some relief. B.) Still want to add a big piece or two, and C) have underperforming big salaries they want to dump. D) are in "Win Now" mode. The strategy here is to spend the money you are forced to by taking on bad contracts in exchange for quality prospects. Here are 3 of the top 4 teams in committed salaries for 2021. Each of these teams meet this criteria. Mets, Dodgers, Padres. Mets: The Mets currently sit at $235M and they still want to add more. They have a bad contract in Robinson Cano. $24M for '21 & '22. They also have some decent young players or prospects I would take a flier on. Would the Mets give up both Dom Smith & Thomas Szapucki for a team to take Cano's salary off the books? You have to spend the money anyways. Dom Smith is a Gold Glove 1B who is stuck behind Alonso. We have Sano, and hopefully he has a great offseason and comes into camp down 40 pounds like Vlad Guererro, but if he doesn't, Smith would be a great long term piece at 1B, and Szapucki would be another MLB ready arm with injury history, and we have enough of those, but he could also be a great buy low candidate. Dodgers: Dodgers are currently at $213M and still want to bring back Kershaw, and need to replace Seager at SS. Nobody will touch Bauer, but what about taking on the final year of David Price at $32M. There is not a TON I like in their system, but maybe a Ryan Pepiot, but maybe a young player like Gavin Lux. Padres: Here is the one that excites me the most. Padres at $180M, but they would love to either upgrade some spots or swap out contracts. You take on BOTH Wil Myer, and Eric Hosmer. You help SD clear $40M off the books to free that up for them to go after bigger impact players you have to ask what would they give up? Would they give up CJ Abrams? that is a ton, and we already have plenty of SS, but having Lewis, Martin, Abrams all in the system and nearly ready could allow you to use that depth to then trade for potential ACE pitching prospects. Would they give up Gore? How about a trade along the lines of Max Kepler, and Brent Rooker or Trevor Larnach in exchange for either Gore or Abrams along with taking on the contracts of Myer & Hosmer? What moves would you make if there is a salary floor and the Twins are forced to spend at least another $30M without there being a lot left in FA?

I think this sums up most Twins fans (myself inlcuded hehe)... Twins sign Dylan Bundy to a low risk deal... "Seriously??? THAT is how we fix our rotation???" "Typical Twins SMH" Twins fans see ANOTHER team sign Dylan Bundy... "Seriously??? we wont even go after a pitcher like Bundy???" "Typical Twins SMH"

I WANT to stay patient, and not be negative, definitely has the potential to be a good signing, but I would have liked it mor eif he was the complimentary piece to something like a Stroman signing. and I am not a "they said with a new stadium they would be able to keep and sign FA" kind of a guy, but clearly we have little intention of paying market rate for even a #2 or #3 starter, Yes we paid Buxton, but in an incredibly protected way. Berrios proved he was not looking to break the bank in Free Agency by signing extension with Jays. I find myself torn, I do like the signing, but incredibly underwhelmed if this is the main signign to address the rotation. Even with extending Buxton, we are at a projected $71M after signing Bundy. That is a good $55M from where we were last year. and now the quality FA pitching is dried up. SO now if we do something in trade we will pay $ AND give up prospects.