PatPfund

I'm glad for Gilberto that he'll get a chance to develop in the minors this year. I'm also glad for myself that I won't have to watch him in a Twins uniform. I get why he was jumped to the majors. I (and everyone else) saw he clearly was in over his head. Last year was disappointing because the Twins essentially did little prep for another Byron injury, and because Celestino was still clearly in over his head. His defense is okay, not great. He still struggles with fundamentals like where to throw the ball, and how to run bases. He gets the least out of his speed of any fast guy I've seen in recent times. And little of that is out of his control; he should have a better grip on the game by 24. Maybe he gets better, and earns his way back. Or maybe players like Martin, Lee, and Lewis, who are all better offensive threats, push Gilberto aside on their march to the majors (they can't all play infield), and he never makes it back to Mpls as his home field. I honestly don't know which it will be, but I'd lean a bit toward the last option. (If Martin has to have Tommy John surgery, that might be Gilberto's biggest break.)

The Twins are not an "ace" away from a title. And an "ace" is no guarantee of success; just look at your list, and see how few titles are held by those pitchers. Burnes is a great pitcher, but he is controllable for 2 years, and then is gone. How about we play the year, and see where we are at mid-season before we throw away assets we may need to actually get good. Maybe we'll find out we already have an ace on staff.

Agree strongly with @mikelink45. RP may be his better stuff, and there have been some flashes, but I'm not convinced Sands is MLB-quality at all, or maybe he is on a lower level team than I'd like the Twins to be. If Sands has a great spring, I'd totally be working the trade circuit for him.

The question you have at the top is really THE question. And we don't know the answer yet, and really won't without gameplay; a 14 inning cherry-picked stretch is a nice but very slender reed of encouragement. I also saw him strike out the side one inning last year, then get pulled after walking the bases full the next, and that wildness won't play long in high-leverage settings. I'm hoping he figured something out (trust him more than Megill and Pagán, but that is a super-low bar), but I'm also not holding my breath, and wouldn't be surprised to see him riding the Green Line a few times this summer.

In theory, I love Winder as a starting pitcher. He looked far better in that role last year than Bundy or Archer, but then the shoulder flared up again, and then again in the off-season. He may have a future as a starter, but right now the Twins are pretty deep in SPs, and Winder should try limited innings to both get and keep himself healthy for a season. He also really needs to be of use soon or the Twins are going to be forced to trade-low/waive/lose Winder before or during the next Rule 5 draft. So for this year, I'd try to build him as an RP, because there are a few iffy pieces in the 'pen (yeah, I'm looking at you Megill, Pagán, and Moran). (Dobnak could be a dark horse to supplant somebody as well.)

I got a big laugh out of the theme song, especially after the mini-cliffhanger 'di- ah- (where is he going?!?!) rees' (phew!). If Martin can field like that at 2nd on a regular basis, I'm very intrigued. I'm not coincidentally concerned about one of my favorite Twins, Polanco. After Buxton last year, I believe pretty much nothing the Twins say about injuries (Byron was clearly hurt all year, and the coverup did nothing but buy him crap from fans, and ended with him having surgery. On the knee that was hurt all year.) Given my decades of experience with balky body parts, if Polanco is still limited by his knee after almost enough time off to recover from ACL surgery, it reeks of an ongoing issue for the coming season. And despite his totally undeserved reputation for not getting hurt, Jorge has repeatedly been hurt (he just stayed off the IL), and the injuries have hobbled his output. We'll need a backup 2B, and Martin looks plausible. Miranda's shoulder is also concerning (especially if he is playing in the WBC), and having Farmer/Solano/Gordon to help might work after all. (Otherwise, it seems like we have one too many "Swiss Army Knives".

I try not to be a hater, but, yeah, I hate the new vague injury language. Larnach has a 'lower body injury' and that might indeed be concerning. A pulled hip flexor, a ruptured hamstring, a torn ACL, a fractured femur, a broken toe, a damaged Achilles, and a dislocated ankle could all be called 'lower body injuries'. So could a hangnail, bunyons, regular sore muscles, or a leg bruise. On the words/video front, I prefer words by far. But getting a few videos that give a little extra taste of Spring Training to my wintry eyes and ears is a nice addition.

I freakin' love the pitch clock, and really like that it has ended a game already. Don't want to see much of that in the regular season, so work it all out in Spring Training. But either way, it needs to be called for real now, and in the regular season, because the worst case scenario is umpires making up when they'll enforce the rules and when they will not. (I'm also going to laugh hard every time I hear a player getting pissy about the new rules. Absolute total payback for the frustration they've inflicted on all of the fans of the game in the past decade.) Other thoughts... A. It was really fun to watch baseball again, and Miranda looked great. B. Ryan looked fine (and also as if he was working on stuff, which is as it should be). C. Headrick was kinda dominant, and against a lot of starters; keep hearing about the pitching pipeline, and it's a good sign one of our AA pitchers looks this good this early. D. It was fun to see Julien and Lee in Twins' uniforms.

Hopefully this is just signing a professional arm to eat ST innings until either (most likely) the SPs have boosted their pitch counts, and/or (less likely) lightening strikes on the control front and the Twins uncover a hidden gem. Also hopefully they aren't counting on the latter. If mediocre early ST castoffs can walk on to our 26-man roster, our bullpen is officially a mess. (Which it isn't. Megill was bad today, but he's always been that way despite the velocity. Never really considered him or Moran to be the bullpen locks others have talked up, but I also think there are enough arms to push them off the roster if they can't find the plate.)

Baseball is hard. A couple overall #1s never made it to MLB. Prospects stall, and get hurt. We've definitely had our share, but in case this fuels some to think we should trade all prospects for 'sure thing' veterans, remember Kirby. Or Montas. Or Mahle (though I have hopes for this year). Given our budget realities (this just in: big market teams rake huge media coin, while the Twins TV broadcaster is due to declare bankruptcy), we need the core of our team to be younger, salary controllable players, and the best way to get those is to draft them (or be awful, and stock up at the trading deadline). So I'm focusing on the end-article optimism.

I'd say "no" to Lee/Raya for Burnes. Not because Burnes isn't good enough, but because the Twins haven't shown they are good enough yet, and Burnes won't likely fuel "a run" because he'll probably bolt via Free Agency. It's spring, and people are gaga with hope, but this team finished 14 games back in a weak division last year, two presumed starters (Kepler and Gallo) are coming off horrible years, the hoped-for middle order bats at the corners (Miranda and Kirilloff) have maybe a combined season of experience, and several SPs have both injury-recovery questions, and are on expiring contracts. As you say, mid-season is a better assessment time, but getting Burnes there would probably mean outbidding every playoff contender in baseball. I'd rather keep building this year, maybe win the division and a playoff game, and come back even better next year (very possibly with Lee in the lineup).

Nice to hear that Molitor is helping with the base-running. No doubt last year's debacle was magnified by all of the not-quite-ready-for-MLB players who cycled through the roster because of injuries, but their base-running reflected really badly on the organization, and frankly the major league staff (because Sano in his brief time, and Celestino across the season were two major culprits).

I'd assume Polanco backup; I hope for not much more than the minimum, and mostly as an innings eater in camp. But it doesn't do much for me. There are plenty of interesting players to get innings at 2nd in camp (Julien, Gordon, Farmer off the top of my head). The idea of keeping Solano instead of Gordon is pretty revolting. One is a first round pick still exploring his upside, the other is clearly sinking below Gordon's floor, plus Gordon is out of options, and would absolutely be claimed in waivers (he could start in the outfield for several teams such as the Tigers). Keeping him instead of Larnach isn't much better; plus this team needs to stop blocking its developing players with rusty junk from the salvage yard. The only way it makes sense is if they think Polanco might be on the IL at season's start. (Which I guess is possible if he's still gimping on it after 9 months.)

It is a worthy idea, but my guess is that Royce would rather play the season betting on himself, then maybe look into something similar afterward (but if his bet comes in, bigger annual numbers, and maybe no team options at the end, or the proverbial "mutual option" that never gets exercised).

Well... the Twins didn't really sit Buxton "when he was healthy" last year. He injured his knee early, then played hurt until they shut him down and he had knee surgery. To fix the knee he hurt months earlier. It would have been nice if they'd been more honest about it, and frankly it would have been nice if Buxton had gotten the surgery in May, and been recovered for the last 2-3 months of the year. But none of that happened. So, yeah, play him when he is healthy, but he wasn't most of last year. And... outside of getting hit on the hand by a pitch, most of Byron's injuries don't seem fluky. He runs faster than most humans on Earth, so he puts more stress on his joints, and when he hits the ground or walls diving or sliding, he hits a lot harder than other players. I hope he can stay healthy, or at least healthier, but I'm glad the Twins came up with a better backup plan than In-Over-His-Head Celestino.