JD-TWINS

If Correa was/is the hopeful answer at SS, & Farmer’s defense is in the same range, why trade for better defense? We have 3 options at SS in the farm system - one will be ready by sometime in 2024 worst case. Spend $ on SP - Bassitt! Catcher! Relief pitcher!! Keep $ to extend Maeda, Gray, &/or Mahle based on performance during the year…..extend during the year as possible.

Rosenthal &/or some other professional pundit stated they thought it would take $67M total for 3 years……….went a tick higher to make it happen. If we could trade the draft pick & had to pay what some other team signed him for, we would/should do it in a heartbeat.

Sign one of them!!! ………can’t imagine either would cost more than $8-$9M/yr for 3 years. Mets have signed their 5th starter - makes a qualifying offer for Bassitt pretty low priority for them. He was the most consistent starter on a team that win 101 games - he’s aging but don’t understand the Met’s approach with staff? TWINS should offer Bassitt $23/yr. for 3yrs. I read N. Cruz had an eye problem for over a year……relatively recent surgery to correct. MAYBE worth a $3 million (plus $3-$4 million in incentives) contract for a year? Big upside potential for a RH DH & pinch hitter. Him or Garlick, what sounds better? Great glue guy in clubhouse. Sign M. Fulmer for 2 yrs. at $8M/yr. Farmer is an adequate bridge to our youth SS possibilities! We can afford this path - get it done!! Bassitt allows Maeda to start the year and possibly remains in the bullpen……..extend him & Gray if they are pitching well in June!

Louis doesn’t struggle with the shift - he is the epitome of a professional hitter. Since they didn’t shift against him in the past, the Ban will have essentially no effect on Arraez stats.

Farmer at SS is essentially a wash with Urshella offensively. Miranda @ 3rd. Gordon in LF for every right handed starter & spelling Buxton as needed for 40-50 starts in CF. Arraez at 1st until Kirilof is ready to play regularly……..after that, he plays 2B for 30 games - 3B for 15 games - 1B for 60 games - DH for 40 games. That amount of time at DH & 1B should help his knees. In parts of only 2 other MLB seasons Luis Arraez hit .311 & .313…….. .316 this year. Don’t see any reasonable expectation of him “dropping off” at the entry to the prime of his career!!! Polanco & Kepler have one more year with an opportunity as TWINS. I agree with you on Louis: Opening more opportunity for Buxton to DH @ .228 average by moving Arraez to another club with a .316 average isn’t real smart in my opinion. Kepler makes too much money and has performed too poorly for 3 years to get any positive value in trade. Learn to love his defensive add, reduce expectations for power, and hope the shift elimination gets him an extra 4 hits/month and helps raise his confidence to drive the ball. Polanco may be a deadline trade piece with his ability to hit with pop and being a reasonable defender that’s a switch hitter. Sounds like a guy we would want if he was healthy!! If he gets back to career averages he’s a real plus. Trade deadline opportunity to move Polanco for a right handed hitting outfielder OR pitching, comes with Lewis being healthy enough to play there regularly or some other farm system kid earning an opportunity. Doubt we move him in the middle of a successful TEAM season if he’s anywhere near his average performance level.

2019, the year of the juiced ball. Max’s big power year and nothing sense. A guy that hits the ball as hard as he does with his speed , he should hit 32-40 doubles per year, with a normal ball. His approach is mediocre at the plate. Also, Kepler’s NEED in center is non-existent as you point out! Gordon can back-up Buxton. He’s our starting RF in ‘23 unless FO is dumping salary & I don’t think that’s needed. Elimination of shift coupled with his defense in right & the oft injured potential replacements, we need to keep him another season. Would you trade Kepler & expect Sonny Gray level arm with more team control in return? That’s what is being suggested in some of the other comments above - just not realistic!

I like the catcher acquisition move - almost a necessity. I agree on the no Correa signing strategy & use Farmer as long as it takes to get him me if our farm guys ready to play - we have 3 prospects. I like Lewis as well but not sold on his ability to cover ground as a shortstop, everyday, after 2nd knee surgery. Lewis or somebody will be ready by sometime in ‘24, hopefully sooner. I live in Cincinnati - Farmer is fine! Completely agree on the back end need in bullpen!! They need to sign Bassitt for 3 yrs. @ $23 million/yr…….don’t love Maeda as a starter when we have plenty of money to sign an additional #2-#3 guy in Bassitt.? Maeda really puts a shine on our bullpen as well!! $23 on SP - $8 on RP - $6 or so on catcher…….extend Gray & give him 2 more years at an additional $5 million/yr……..extend Maeda as soon as possible (June) if he’s back to near normal & pay him well w/o all the incentives. W/o Correa’s contract we could pay Mahle going forward if he performs as well.

FO PLEASE ACT: Catcher: O. Narváez is the LH platoon option with Jeffers……..3 yrs. at @ $7 million/yr……if he’s not available, Vasquez for $4 million/yr. Starter: Chris Bassitt is the innings eater, front end starter, 3 yrs. @ $22 million/yr…….even if we make a run & Mets meet the Qualifying Offer, we’re trying! Relief: M. Fulmer 2 yrs. @ $8 million/yr. as good as there is left & known quantity SS: J. Iglecias 2 yrs. @ $8 million as a placeholder for 1 of our 3 prospects in farm system. $45 million total and we’re offering $35 million to Correa with what we know will be a wasted last 3-4 years. These 4 guys strengthen us all over the diamond & allows for prospects to help in ‘24 & beyond. These signings show a PLAN & would generate Anticipation, Excitement, Wins, & Attendance!! $ back to Team to pay for investment.

Makes sense to make a run for a better TV deal but I can’t imagine that there’s much competition in the TV market nor a lot of available TV $. That said: Omar Narváez - LH - Catcher 3 yrs. @ $9.5/yr. Chris Bassitt - RH - SP 3 yrs. @ $18-$21/yr. Michael Fulmer - RH - RP 2 yrs. @ $8.0/yr. Jose Iglecias - RH - SS 2 yrs. @ 8.0/yr. These guys are available!! Solves left handed catcher issue for platoon. Provides high inning experienced starter. Provides a known quantity, effective reliever. Gives us a solid placeholder for any one of the 3 possibilities in our farm system. This is a guess for Narváez - any surplus in that offer could be applied to the pitchers. TOTAL of $43.5 million with a supposed $60 now left to spend. It’s 4 guys that are solid contributors for $8 million more/yr. than Correa - no BAD MONEY spent on an 8–10 year contract for a SS! This line-up will generate Anticipation, Wins, Excitement, & Attendance……..incoming $!! Let’s get aggressive with signings & out of the Correa bidding war!

Pretty sure, as hard as this is to say, Kepler is a better value. Kepler at $9 million with some potential power upside as well as 25-30 point uptick in BA without shift. Bellinger is making $17.5 million I believe, and has been down for 3 years with only “potential” for that $ number.

Exactly - nothing positive coming back in a Kepler trade. Nobody’s trading for gold glove with 15 doubles & .225 avg. at $9 million!!! Completely agree on our “outfield depth”……Jake Cave, seems like a great guy and super effort guy, not an MLB hitter. He’s Kepler with less power & 30 points less batting average. Gone. Celestino is OK on defense, no power & .230 average and clueless on bases, not a member of a good team. Gone. Garlick looks like Harmon Killebrew playing outfield. Emergency outfielder. No offense Harm! We have Buxton at 100 games in CF - Gordon in LF with Larnach there when Gordon plays CF or 2B. Kirilof seems to be the 1B - DH - LF blend with outfield being last option. Walner is limited. With existing contract, Kepler is a necessary evil with some potential offensive upside with shift change.

White Sox definitely view TWINS as a competitor! No trade of a proven bull pen stud within the Division. If Lopez bounces back to the only good 3.5 months of his career and if Alcala is healthy are 2 big IF’s. They’ll get a chance. Moran is MLB solid & should be given more opportunities this year while Megill has legit top tier stuff. If Megill could develop a cutter or change-up he’d be great. Need a legit pitching coach to get the most out of all 4 of these guys!

Sox aren’t trading Liam Hendricks inside their own Division! Wish they would but it’s a no go. I agree that one guy at $9- $10 million or a couple at $6 million make sense for good BP depth but who are these pieces?? Paying a $2.5 million guy $6 million & getting excited because he’s new doesn’t work! How about hiring a top line pitching coach and working with Trevor Megill on a cutter or a change-up? He’d be devastating!!! Need a back end BP guy to help get to Durhan! I still like Maeda in the pen for first half of year to bridge games from middle of sixth to start of eighth! Let’s make sure he’s healthy AND plug a hole with our club. To get help & depth with Maeda in pen we need to sign a front end starter - to me - that should be our number one focus, ahead of SS & ahead of RP. The guy from Mets is best left, that’s affordable. Name starts with a B? Anyway, Rodon seems to be out of our league relative to $. PLAN: Starter from Mets, internal fix with Megill & Maeda in pen, SS from the Rockies for $8 million (placeholder) & Wilson Contreras for offensive punch for 100 games at catcher & 25 at DH……….Contreras & Rockies SS = Correa & our current catcher’s offensive output & it’s more affordable - leaves more $ for pitching!

W/o the shift his defense in RF is of more importance on some small level. 10-12 hits due to no shift is 25 points or more on 400 AB’s. He needs to hit more doubles & that should be doable with previous power numbers (one year with LIVELY ball) & his speed. He’s an RBI guy by accident/good fortune, not because he’s clutch. Bat him 7th or 8th. 25 -30 points on his average, keep walking at a decent rate, 10 more doubles & his standard defense and the TWINS win! Not too much optimism from the FO to justify this thinking.

Agreed - Correa could be a nice luxury but when trying to build a team through farm system, it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to block the guys we have 8 months to 2 years away at SS. I’m not drinking the Cool Aid on Lewis after a 2 week stint but we need to assume he’ll contribute somewhere. Optimism via Farm at SS should be high. There’s 2 more guys behind Lewis to fill SS. If they add Correa and still budget pitching adds - OK. That doesn’t seem likely for the budget! Need a front end starter! Need relief depth in the back end! …….Pagan “turning it around” is recipe for disaster. We could go get the free agent SS from Colorado for $7-$8 million/yr. for 1-2 years. This plugs short-term hole and leaves lots of flexibility for spending on pitching……….maybe room for catcher help that can help on offense as well. 4 contributors (SS $8M - SP $22M - RP $8M - C $15M) vs. $34 million/year for Correa & “not being able to afford others” has to make better sense!!!

Top end defender…..can’t stand his significant drop in driving the ball though! Should hit 30 points higher with elimination of the Shift - 10 more hits through the year. No reason he shouldn’t hit 15-20 HR with some focus to do so. That said, his ability to back up Buxton if needed, his elite ability in right field(taken for granted), his potential upside without the shift makes him a guy we have to keep until we know Larnach &/or Kirilof can stay healthy through the first half. Batting him 7th or 8th is fine. Trying to push him into top 5 slots just adds pressure and overestimates his probable production. Keeping/having 6-7 guys that can hit in front of him is obviously key ……..with that goal in mind, discussion of trading the guy that won the batting title, per the winter meetings, makes no sense to me!!

Can’t release Kepler, he’s part of the crowd…….can only carry 5 guys for OF on big club. Celistino’s defense is no better than Gordon - his bat is mediocre……brutal base runner. Buxton - Larnach - Gordon - Kepler - Wallner - Garlick - Kirriloff constitute OF options. Gordon can play 90% of his starts in OF & still be rostered as IF depth. Arraez is IF depth with Kirriloff at 1st when Arraez isn’t there. Wallner can be DH & OF depth. Need a SS or a 3rd baseman with Farmer filling the other spot. With 2 catchers, this gets us to 12 guys……13 pitchers. Contreras & Celestino are in St. Paul or pieces in a trade.

Exactly!! Gordon “going back to the bench” talk is nuts. In my opinion he plays in left field every day there is a right handed pitcher and spells Buxton whenever he DH’s or rests. 40 plus starts in CF! Roughly 90 starts in LF & 6-8 games at 2nd base. Garlick or some fresh face right handed hitting outfielder in LF 50-60 starts. Celestino needs to add about 10lbs of muscle mass to be considered a real option at the plate. Outfielder that hits like a light hitting infielder. He’s an OK option defensively in CF & the worst baserunner on the roster. I don’t see him making big club.

Completely agreed!! We need depth in the pen to help us get a psyche that our pen will hold leads/opportunities, Maeda can help make that happen, vs. crossing our fingers for Lopez! Maeda can stretch out in June/July if needed. Gotta get a front line starter to go with the 4-5 guys we have coming back. Gray-Mahle-Ryan-Ober are a fairly solid 2-5. Maeda supplementing starters in August, if needed, works.

The guy deserves to be paid & the Twins making him a starter so they don’t feel guilty doesn’t make sense. Gotta settle the finances so he’s not pissed off all year but he should start in the pen to see what that can do for the Team. If they need to stretch him out they could over June/July with Archer approach to pitches. Need him healthy & contributing. Seems a slow path back and filling a need makes sense.

Your roster, massaged a bit: Farmer at SS, cause we need somebody at SS, for $6 million ……Urshella gone (saves $3 million) & Miranda to 3rd……Kirriloff to DH & Gordon to LF. Larnach replaces Celestino. 12 field guys & 13 on Staff: Maeda to Pen with another experienced depth signee for $6-9 million & Megill or Moran fills out the Pen. Add front End starter to get to 13 pitchers and to consume most of the excess payroll $.

35 years old. Gutsy competitor who battled for Cy Young (in a Covid shortened 65 game schedule) in 2020. He has BullPen experience and may not have the durability to start again. We need QUALITY in the Pen & he would be a great add……I’d be psyched to see him pitch twice a week as a solid bridge to our 8th & 9th innings guys! New sign starter a must - Gray - Mahle - Louie - Ryan - Ober………That’s 6 guys w/o Maeda. I say we go with these guys and see how health and effectiveness are going through mid-June and if Maeda is healthy enough to stretch out and is needed in rotation for 2nd half then we have that option. It’s not his choice! He’s getting paid $9 million to help the team wherever needed & I think he would be happy doing just that!!

Agreed - SS isn’t the magic answer. What was Greg Gagne’s OPS?? Nobody cares or cared. I assume Farmer is comparable at the plate. Front End Starter!! Back End depth!! If Gilberto plays on the Twins MLB roster again somebody should get fired for lack of prior upgrade! 5 left handed options ahead of him as well as Buxton as we stand today……plus we resigned Garlick.

AGREED!! Don’t sweat SS like it’s an impossible riddle. Farmer as a bridge or a surprise solution…..use the $ for Front End Starter & Back End depth!!! Simple.