awmonahan

I'm excited about this defense. Though, I'm curious what the range numbers will look like now that Carlos can't start a play on the grass and leverage his big arm. Hopefully that doesn't hurt him too much. (Thankfully we're out of the dome, where a shortstop, like Gagne, was best setting up behind the infield line in shallow left-center.)

I was about to say this is the deepest rotation since 1991, but you beat me to it, and with stats. I agree, this team looks good, deep and versatile. If guys remain healthy, they have a lot of ways to beat you, which I find pretty exciting. This team looks set to be a pain for the opposition. And aces should not be able to get away with a simple approach against them. They can hit, run and hit for power, or at least they project that way. Spring is nice that way, but I have high hopes.

We like guys named Morris. Let's see what he can do with some time, patience and coaching.

Some pitchers manage to pitch above the numbers - it can be guts, spotting pitches changing speeds , or a number of other variables. But, Joe seems to fit that better than measurable profile. I really like him, and he seems to relish the intellectual side of pitching, which adds to his upside. The approach reminds me of Radke, who was a good pitcher who became a great big game pitcher. I'm excited to see what Joe can do.

I look at his swing, in the minors, and don't understand where we are supposed to find a valuable MLB player. The bat seems slow. Maybe it has power, but slow and power is negligible. And he doesn't have anything else to offer on the bases or on the field. There was a lot going on, and I didn't judge the pick then, but I don't understand how he was projected to be worth a 1 or valuable in MLB now.

Waiting this long into his rehab to make an offer could also make it look like you'd happily gouge him pay he intends to earn with great play. I get the idea, but it would have come off as closer to mutually beneficial at the outset of the injury, rather than now.

I'd love to see what he can do in the majors, but he really needs a position. Please put him in AAA with a ton of time at both 2B and LF.

There's a lot of swing and miss and plodding in this system now. If he can continue to get on base, hit, run and field adequately, there should be room for him (at 2nd, 3rd or OF corners in the coming years). I'm excited to see what he can do.

That's a generous, though, well-reasoned article. If it does come down to a lack of buy-in, there is a component of that that is on the pitching coaches. Obviously, that group was in flux last year. But they need to be able to convince pitchers to make tweaks and in-season adjustments. Our FO does not buy finished products - they go for guys who need to tweak their approach to have success. If the coaching staff continues to struggle to generate that buy-in (especially after bringing in a veteran catcher), a change to staff may be needed.

This article isn't exactly an endorsement of Lopez as a playoff pitcher...here's hoping a tweak or two to his pitching and a better OF defense help him get where we need him to go.

He seems like one of the better options, internally, to begin replacing Arraez's production. Hope he can put together a solid start to the season.

I'm hoping for Jorge, with a transition to Julien, but I doubt Julien would get a shot until next season.

Great article. He belongs, but will likely be forced to wait to prove some point or other. Lots of ifs with Joe, but he is one of the best hitting catchers ever and a HOFer.

I believe the top two assets have no trade clauses. So, while I am feeling better about the state of this team, I'm hoping things go according to the FO's plans!

MAT was a fan favorite in DC. A good guy, capable fill-in at almost starter level in CF. He's defense is great- not as flashy as Buxton but less likely to kill himself too. His hitting is what held him back, but just barely, on some really good teams. He's also got surprising power.

Yes, I am concerned. In order to win, this approach requires all or the majority of players with injury histories to have a healthy year. That is hard to do. I still think the best, most recent example of this is the Nationals in 2019. It almost took the stars aligning to keep Strasburg, Scherzer, Rendon and others healthy for that run, but they won the World Series. Since then....it's ugly. The good news is that the Twins have started to deal in higher-end players with injury histories, rather than the Sam Dysons of the world. You could conceivably put Buxton and Correa (Paddack and Mahle, not quite as much) in the category of players the Nationals won with, so at least the reward might now be worth the risk. There are still two points in this approach from the Twins that I do not understand: 1) You have to have a very good medical/training staff to take this approach. The Twins just changed theirs due to these concerns. Hopefully that fixes this problem. BUT, in a state that has some of the best quality ratings in healthcare its absurd it took this long (and is still pending results from the new team). I look at the T'Wolves and their partnership with Mayo Clinic and wonder if the Twins are missing something that a team with a pathetic history are doing right (admittedly, the T'Wolves certainly have their injury issues as well). 2) If you are taking big risk/reward swings with your star players, it would be nice to minimize variance with your supporting players and bullpen. The Twins are not doing this. Instead, there's huge reliance on young, unproven players and little to no investment in the bullpen. Skipping or skimping on the above leaves the team open for a huge variance in results. I am tired of first round exits too, but you can't lose in the playoff if you don't make it at all. I get that there are budgets and a million priorities, but I think the overall approach to taking on players with injury histories could be more unified.

Agreed - between Gordon and Gallo, a back-up at CF is covered. We need guys if/when Byron goes down, but we don't need three of them.

I know we have a new training staff. Here's hoping we amp up the investment in them, considering our the MO is to spend on players with injury risk. It's the humane approach, but will also help the team moving forward.

Wow. I don't think it was as planned, but the FO really salvaged this off-season. Adding Correa, moving Farmer to a vs LHP and utility role, and still having Lewis at midseason will be huge. Farmer also makes all the corner outfielders a lot more expendable. I'm excited about Correa but also wondering if we'll see more.

Considering most of the trades are in the rotation, and just a year in advance of contract expiration, they may as well pull the trigger now.

This further illustrates just how stupid the FO's "off-season plan" truly was.

After putting a dent in the farm system and coming in third, I don't see the FO losing a pick signing Eovaldi and trading prospects for Adames in this off-season.

We can argue that the numbers used to be good. Watching them come about, is going to be ugly, especially as he struggles to build back up to his peak. I'd have rather had JD Martinez for that money, but it's hard to beat the Dodgers.

Perfect article. I was generally ok with the FO up until this off-season. Mistakes happen. But this was a bad, underfunded plan, based on a stupid premise, and somehow they didn't adjust. Heading into the last year with any sort of projected rotation, this is the worst time possible to completely butcher an off-season. And that's precisely what they've done.

I hope the FO wasn't really waiting on Correa for any additional moves. Being unwilling to go to $300mil in this market leaves you on the outside looking in.