NoCryingInBaseball

Catcher- Acquire Omar Narvaez, who will evenly split time behind the plate. Infield/DH- Biggest question mark is SS, My blueprint has Iglesias…he’s older, but is a place holder for Lewis, Martin or even Brooks Lee. I have Miranda at 1st while having Arreaz DH (but moving him around the infield to rest other players). Gordon on the bench. Outfield- Hopefully, Kirilloff is healthy to begin the season, but Wallner is a nice replacement and may compete for the position. Kepler is traded away for a bag of balls or a lower level minor league prospect. Wallner & Celestino are on the bench. Starting Pitching – Bringing in an upper echelon SP is my 2nd highest question mark, I penciled in Carlos Rodon, but hopefully no less than a Nola or Eovaldi. Ober is penciled in as well, but he competes with Winder & Varland. Bullpen – Getting the starters to make it deeper in a game will address a lot of the bullpen needs, but I still bring in a reunion with lefty Rogers. Maeda returning from TJ gets moved to the pen and Henriquez also moves to the pen. ? Ryan Jeffers ($0.70M) 1B: Jose Miranda ($0.70M) 2B: Jorge Polanco ($7.50M) 3B: Gio Urshela ($9.00M) SS: Jose Iglesias ($5.05M) LF: Alex Kirilloff ($0.70M) CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M) RF: Trevor Larnach ($0.70M) DH: Luis Arraez ($4.50M) 4th OF: Matt Wallner ($0.70M) Utility: Nick Gordon ($0.70M) Utility: Gilberto Celestino ($0.70M) Backup ? Omar Narvaez ($3.10M) SP1: Sonny Gray ($12.00M) SP2: Carlos Rodon ($31.60M) SP3: Tyler Mahle ($8.00M) 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: Taylor Rogers ($13.14M) RP: Ronnie Henriquez ($0.70M) Payroll is 5.51% under budget

My running tally has 8 previous blueprints (now 9 with Stringer's) with Kiriloff, while Greglw3 brought in Abreu and Weitz41 (and my eventual blueprint) has Miranda...

You doubled up Miranda as 3B and DH...

Great story! What wonderful parents...Couldn't ask for any better!

My favorite blueprint this off-season!

I enjoy reading about the top hitters and pitchers, great articles. Little surprised that Kirilloff didn’t make the hitters list.

along the same line as the previous question....Who are your guys on the "bubble" to make the 25 Man Roster? Before and after a full 5-man starter roster.

Now that Spring Training invitees are being sent down, when are assignments made or do they just go to where they ended the 2018 season and promotions happen later?

The Wednesday show of 1500ESPN of Mackey & Judd’s morning show included a segment of the Twins players that are most important to the organization. They both selected their top 10 and each added two honorable mentions, basically a top 12 list. They both agreed that their selections were not a MVP list, but player importance to the organization, which translates to more about the future than current value. That distinction means that prospects that have a high ceiling or are knocking on the door have as much value to the organization as a current roster starter. Judd Zulgad wrote an article about the on-air conversation on the 1500ESPN website on Friday Article and revised his list by moving Sano and dropping him from his top 10 list to 11th. Here are their respective lists: Judd Byron Buxton Fernando Romero Royce Lewis Max Kepler Eddie Rosario B. Dozier J. Berrios Nick Gordon Stephen Gonsalves M. Sano Jake Odorizzi E. Escobar Mackey Royce Lewis J. Berrios Byron Buxton Eddie Rosario Fernando Romero Max Kepler B. Dozier Stephen Gonsalves M. Sano Nick Gordon Brent Rooker Jake Odorizzi Observations Similarity of lists- Both lists include 11 similar names with only Rooker and Escobar on only one list. Youth- Of the 13 players on both lists, 10 are 26 or younger and only three are between 28 and 31 years of age. Distribution- Nine position players and four pitchers. The only overlap of position players is shortstop or second, depending where Gordon plays. Sano- Regardless of how anyone feels about where Sano would be on a list, I think that most would agree that he would be either one or two just a couple of years ago (maybe even midway through the season last year).

My congratulations to Tom!

I think this puts an explanation mark for the new front office's off-season acquisitions!

Oh, by the way, my beer stand is on your way to the picnic area. Almost even with 3rd base and has a sign for Best Damn Root Beer!

I have to work that night..., but I work at the Saints stadium selling beer at a beer stand! Hopefully some of the Twins Daily folk will stop by and buy a beer from me!

I keep thinking that May has a chance to come back as a starter after Tommy John... I also think that Santana could be traded this year or in the off-season for a young SP prospect.

Max Murphy seems to come up a lot lately, is he for real or streaky and in teh middle of a hot streak?

Adrianza didn't help his cause last night, going 0 for 4.

Say it's so...JOE!!!

I may have criticized Sano during Spring Training…but that was a hellava Homer!

OK, Opening Day....Giddy-Up!!!!

A Triple-A LH pitcher with a 2.81 ERA...color me impressed!

I don’t have a list, but I do have an observation. Having just finished listening to the Gleeman & the Geek podcast, the “list” includes most valuable Twins, in light of this week’s trade deadline….not the most valuable players. The biggest take-away from listening to the podcast and reading Seth’s list, is how little the current list of Twins veterans have value, in terms next year’s team. It becomes even more evident when you remove current players that were prospects as recent as of a year ago. Of the veterans on the Twins current squad, Dozier, Duffy and May made the top 10 (May fell out of the Top 10 on Gleeman’s list), while Buxton, Sano and Kepler, were all prospects last year (and in the minors). Other veterans (Santana, Rosario and Gibson) fell short of the top 10 list. Half of everyone’s list -Berrios, Gordon, Jay, Polanco and Gonsalves, fall into the “prospect” list (6 of 10 on Seth’s list), even though this is a most valuable Twin list (in terms of trade value). After reading these lists and thinking about what this means to the team, I now have a clear understanding why so many TD writers and participants have a strong desire to bring up the young prospects and let them play on the major league club.

Didn't expect it now...but I'm not really surprised.

Maybe Erv doesn't want to be traded?

Tied up!!

Thank goodness...finally got out of that inning.