Beast

“Throwing” money at things (which is how it’s always characterized by “ball guys”) works far more often than being in the bottom half of spenders. That’s been proven over and over. Look at the historical list of Division and World Series champions across the MLB. Where’s this empirical data that proves it doesn’t work that ball guys always refer to? Tampa Bay and Kansas City combining for 2 championships in the last 100 years? Why is the repeated failure of 99.9999% of “cheap” teams disregarded as a data point? It’s turned into this absurd fallacy that you’re actually more likely to be successful by not signing good, proven players to lucrative deals. Whether they’re putting out a good product is subjective. Very subjective in this case. If you consider not winning a playoff game in two decades, and making the divisional round of the playoffs twice in the last decade, a good product, good for you (and I don’t mean that sarcastically, glad you can enjoy than more than I can). To me, that looks like a crap product.

That would be fun to watch for a while, but nobody will care if they got swept out of the playoffs again.

He’ll turn into a star, because Minnesota Twins.

Cleveland is probably saying, “don’t overhype the Twins, who haven’t won a playoff game in two decades, folded like a cheap tent last year, have the most injury prone roster in the MLB by a mile, and who’s only dominant pitcher throws 4 innings a week.”

It seems there’s a fairly ridiculous semantics battle going on here in which both side are right and wrong, simultaneously. I think it’s more accurate to say they’re relying on health….of some players who haven’t proven they can be healthy. They’re banking on Buxton, Kirilloff, Polanco, and some combo of Mahle, Maeda, Gray, Ober to stay healthy in order to have a successful year. I agree that’s not an ideal situation to put yourself in. But, every team deals with injuries at some point. It’s also largely not those guys creating the issue right now. Gordon, Miranda, Winder, and Henriquez injuries aren’t going to derail the team. I don’t think it’s that surprising or unexpected to see Buxton, Polanco, and Kirilloff limited in exhibits right now. On the flip side, saying “what are they supposed to do about it,” isn’t a valid defense. They can help it. They put themselves in the situation. If you get thrown in jail for drunk driving, and someone criticizes you for being in jail, responding “what am I supposed to do about it, they won’t let me out,” doesn’t absolve you of making the decisions that put you there. Frankly, identifying players that can stay in the field is part of the job. There’s an element of luck there (Royce Lewis). But, when you actively target and trade for a damaged player, you deserve criticism. Also, “they’ve brought in a ton of depth,” doesn’t hold much water. Sorry, but if that depth isn’t that good. If the lineup consists of some utility castoffs from the Reds, Michael Taylor, etc., for significant stretches, the team will stink just like it did last year. People lost their minds over the Gallo signing. They did trade for Lopez, but they also gave up a Silver Slugger and batting champion. I see a lot of issues on both sides of the table here. My take: they do deserve to be criticized if this season once again is derailed by injuries to the usual suspects (Buxton, Polanco, Mahle, Ober, Maeda, etc). I’d even throw Correa in there, they aren’t exempt from criticism if they made a poor evaluation. If those guys start going down, the replacement level depth (Farmer, Taylor, et all), isn’t saving the day. But, we’re nowhere near that point yet. The key guys look on track to start the season.

Gordon has been playing the infield for 99% of his baseball life, and the vast majority of his baseball career. He hasn’t really proven himself to be a capable outfielder. That was an experiment because we literally had nobody else. It started terribly and he eventually got himself to roughly league average over a relatively small sample size. During that time we saw him dive at and miss a ball, potentially costing them a game, and various other gaffes. We also have 4 other gold glove caliber outfielders. He is not a starting outfielder for this team. Everyone wants to get Gordon into the lineup often. I agree he has earned the right to see if he can sustain what he did last year. This is how it would happen. Then everyone complains about it and blames management because he made an out of control play at 2B. What an odd take.

I would think the Dodgers have bigger things in the works than Kyle Farmer if they’re making a trade. They aren’t hurting that badly for a shortstop without Lux. They already have Miguel Rojas, who was 1.5 wins better than Farmer last year in terms of WAR. They also have Chris Taylor, who is a pretty good ball player. Arguably a better player than Farmer as well. They have no use for Farmer as a starting SS.

It’s just a joke, and a play on the religious dedication to this philosophy by fans/media more than what the FO may actually be doing. I do agree that they have been more aggressive in regards to winning the division now (not a World Series)…Although, I don’t think it’s the FOs decision at all. I think ownership has loosened up a bit in reaction to cratering fan interest. They haven’t committed fully, which is why it seems like the FO is stuck in the middle. They want to invest just enough to tip fan interest back the other direction, but not dip too deeply into the coffers (overall payroll hasn’t exactly ballooned). But, hey, beggars can’t be choosers. They signed a superstar shortstop. They traded a good, but largely overrated player for some quality pitching. Both things I wanted to see. Much better than what I’ve seen for most of my life as a Twins fan. I’ll take it and gladly watch.

We’re never in a win now mode. There’s always some year in the distant future, 3-4-5 years from now that is priority. The prophesies say that’s when all of our prospects will turn into stars. That’s when we can finally take on a contract without anguish over whether that player will be worth slightly less than his AAV in year 8. A new age will dawn, and the Twins will ascend to their rightful seat at the contender’s table of the most high. Only once you understand that will you truly achieve enlightened “ball guy” status, and take your place at the right hand of Lavelle E. Neal.

Baldelli has shown he goes outside of the box with his lineups. So, who really knows. I’d prefer not to see Gallo in that spot. Too much swing and miss. We need to start capitalizing with RISP and moving back to “manufacturing” a few more runs. I’ve seen enough RISP stranded last year, that should’ve been easy runs, to last a lifetime. It felt like we set the league record for stranding guys on third with no outs. The ideal lineup for me: Buxton lead off, Correa second, Polanco third. At that point, in a perfect world, it’s a healthy Kirilloff. But, that may never happen. If Kepler can turn things around, he’d another candidate. But, that may never happen. That basically leaves Miranda. I’m not thrilled with that option. Not sold on him yet. But, that’s about all we have. We just need better players.

Gallo has multiple gold gloves. Someone posted a figure here not long ago showing he is one of the MLB leaders in DRS over the last handful of years. He’s literally one of the best defensive outfielders in the game. Gordon has shown to be terrible in the OF at times. At his best, average. Gordon is probably the 6th best CF on the team (Buxton, Taylor, Gallo, Lewis when healthy, Kepler). Help me understand the reasoning behind preferring Gordon in CF over Gallo.

Will not compete with “Big Bucks” teams. It’s an important distinction to make. They aren’t bound by anything other than the percentage of revenues they choose internally to allocate to payroll to make their baseline profit number. That’s just an inalienable fact. Im not commenting on the strategy’s validity (if you can really call it a strategy - it doesn’t really have anything to do with baseball at all). There’s no more dead horse left to beat there. It’s been thoroughly composted and another Pohlad money tree is flourishing on it. Just want to make it clear that it’s a choice. Whether right or wrong. Can’t implies some sort on externally imposed limitation or actual inability.

Who knows what their magic 8 ball spreadsheet will tell them. It’s currently telling them guys like Pagan and Megill are good pitchers. It’s becoming one of the more flabbergasting things I’ve seen as a Twins fan…and that’s saying something after seeing every 42 year old ball player that can still roll out of bed play for the Twins during the Ryan years.

Not sure we’re in a great spot to be criticizing their minor league pitching approach. We haven’t developed a high quality starter from our system in two decades. I like a couple of the Royals’ young pieces, as you mentioned. It’ll be interesting to see how long until they deal them away. I think it feels futile being a Twins fan most days. They’ve had much more postseason success than we have, but I imagine it feels even worse right now being one of the few remaining Royals fans.

The same folks pounding the table to hand the keys to LF to Nick Gordon don’t think this guy is good enough to bump someone off the roster as a bench player. This guy is Nick Gordon’s ceiling. At his best, he’s a much better player than Gordon. He won a utility Silver Slugger 2 years ago and hasn’t hit below .280 in the last 5-6 years. Gordon hits .270 with a handful of doubles for a couple months, after being awful his entire pro career, and people want a statue built - but can’t find a roster spot for Solano. Makes no sense.

I hate to break it you, but guys like Larnach are fringe players. This guy has a better track record at the plate and has more defensive value/flexibility than some of the chaff we currently have on the roster. Following these guys for years has skewed the actual value of some of them for many fans. There’s plenty of room on this roster. It’s largely the same group of guys that got their butts handed to them in the worst division in baseball last year. Not saying he’ll be great. But, at least he can probably be on the field if needed and you can count on a reasonable baseline of performance.

Why is it so puzzling that they added a depth infielder? When the inevitable injury to an infielder happens, they’ll need another swing man to replace Farmer, who will fill the starting void (no. Nick Gordon isn’t playing anywhere in the infield). It means Joey Gallo is an outfielder. Which, he should be (no, Nick Gordon shouldn’t be handed a starting left field job in the MLB after playing out of his mind to elevate himself to league average for two months, for the first and only time in his 10 year pro career - stop). Im not concerned about Larnach. He’s earned nothing. He’s not been good when on the field. Post-injury Alex K. hasn’t either. I’m not concerned about Nick Gordon. If he regresses even slightly he’s absolutely unplayable at a corner OF spot. Solano has had recent success. I think it’s a worthy flier. There’s room on the roster and this team stacks injuries like cordwood. If he fails, there’s nothing lost. I’ve said it before, if you’re going to curl into the fetal position at the thought of lengthy contracts (which we do here), these are the kind of moves you need to make. If that’s the route you choose, make it a numbers game.

Lol. Manfreds comments. What a joke. I mean, no ****, Manfred. Like this is something they’ve just figured out. Fans have been bitching about it for 30 years. You might as well fold 3/4 of the teams in the league at this point. There is less parity in the MLB right now then any sport in history. You have teams on the high end spending 5x the teams in the low end. That is just absurd. It’s like a top tenured scientist coming out after decades of studies concluding the sky is blue. Dollars to donuts says the reason for finally doing this is because the large market teams he’s carried the water for want it. Sure as heck isn’t for Pirates fans. It’s getting so bad Yankees fans are even tired of it.

If he said/did something and deserved it, good. If he stood up to someone who deserved it, good. Part of the breakdown in civility in today’s society is due to a lack of consequences. A society where you get punched in the face for being an idiot is a more polite society. If you can’t take that heat, don’t enter the kitchen. Don’t go all bro in some bar somewhere. Don’t be in a place you shouldn’t be around people you shouldn’t be around. Simple as that. Either way, hopefully it’s a reality check and the young man learned a valuable lesson. If it turns out he was the victim of some crime walking from his car to apartment something, that’s unfortunate and a very tough break. From a baseball perspective, my expectations were already pretty low. I’m not sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for him to develop into a high quality MLB starter at this point. Not really a huge impact on the Twins as a baseball team.

Correa did not sign here to win championships. Give all the cliche press conference lip service you want. He’d say the same thing if Pittsburgh or Kansas City signed him. We were the only option offering the kind of money he was looking for. That’s it. He literally tried to sign with 2 other teams first. I’ll take it, not going to complain, but it is what it is. I’d like nothing more than this team winning a championship. But, we’re nowhere near that right now. Our payroll is maxed out (by choice). We have no high-end starting pitching, and nothing in the “pipeline” that projects near the top end of a rotation. A bunch of mediocre position player (outside if Correa and Buxton). Half the 40 man has significant injury concerns. According to the Athletic, we don’t have a single prospect in the top 50 (pitcher or hitter). Correa is a stat head. He knows the numbers, odds, etc inside and out. Hes been a champion. He’s not looking at this roster and prospect pool and thinking about Championships. That’s just not happening.

All of this arguing about “no, he’ll get hurt there, he’s got to play here.” The fact that we’re even having that conversation indicates a huge problem. We’re talking about a 21 year old kid playing baseball, here. If you can’t play centerfield or SS without blowing your knee every year, your body is broken and your career is over. Putting him in left or second base isn’t solving anything. It’s irrationally giving into paranoia over a situation you can’t control. Tryng to hide him in a place he doesn’t use his knees isn’t going to work. He’ll blow it running the bases, or jumping down the dug out stairs, or slipping on some ice, or whatever. He’ll still have to run and pivot at second base or left field. He’s either got knees that can handle a semi-athletic (baseball) sport or he doesn’t. There’s only so much bubble wrap and off days until he’s just not a that useful anymore. Not saying his career is over, but that no amount of micromanagement is going to change the outcome. Same with Buxton, and everyone else on this roster that can’t seem to play a game that drunk 40 year old guys play all the time without a debilitating injury. The only possibilities are their body is broken permanently and chronically, it’s a fluke, or the strength/training staff is doing something egregiously wrong. It’s not because they’re playing the wrong position.

This is almost word for word what was said about Kirilloff a few years back. Not saying it’s good or bad, that Kirilloff is cooked, etc. Just an observation.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such an inconsequential player be obsessed over at this level. Jose Miranda isn’t giving way to Gordon at third base, for crying out loud. Why are we trying so hard to shoehorn this guy into the lineup? Miranda was just one of the best hitters in all of minor league baseball before his promotion. A top 100 prospect. He showed great promise at the plate last year. He has a sustained track record of being a good hitter in the high minors. Gordon has struggled to drag his OPS over .750 going back to rookie ball, has shown a little doubles power for about 5 minutes, and is a poor defender. He’s also 28 years old and people talk about him like he’s still a prospect. But…for some reason we’re very concerned about Miranda not cutting it…so maybe we should get NICK GORDON ready for the 3rd base after signing Joey Gallo, trading for Kyle Farmer, have Royce Lewis returning, and Brooks Lee a stones throw from the majors. Hang on, I need to make sure I haven’t gotten reeled in by Randball….Nope, this is serious.

Really cool story. Its hard has hell to get a leg up in any sport when you’re coming from rural Minnesota (Northfield is borderline, but we’ll give it to him). The internet has changed that a bit, but still very difficult to get noticed. Then, tack on a small college in the middle of nowhere, independent leagues, etc. Talk about beating the odds. It takes a set of stones to stick with a dream like that. When you have a family to feed, it’s got to be nearly impossible to turn down the safe road of selling insurance, teaching gym, etc. That’s said without knowing his history. Maybe he was born into a very wealthy family or has a successful spouse that allows some flexibility there. No idea.

It seems a lot of people want to trade him. Unless it’s in a package of a number of other guys for a true front line starter, which is less likely than Kate Upton showing showing up at my door holding the winning Powerball ticket, I’d be inclined to hang onto him. There are so many question marks right now. We don’t know how if Larnach or Kirilloff will amount to anything. Gallo might not turn things around. Gordon my regress back into a borderline useless player. I don’t know if we can confidently say what we have in Miranda at this point. Throw in injury question marks around other guys like Polanco, Lewis, Buxton, etc. Some of those situations are going to turn out poorly. I’m more inclined to believe it’s inevitable that we’ll need him. We had 5 guys with more than 450 plate appearances last year, and only 2 are returning (Correa and Miranda). We’re bringing in Gallo with 410 and Vasquez with 426. We need to replace Sanchez with 471, Urshela with 551, and Arraez with 600+. There is going to be plenty of playing time to go around, and I’d rather give It to a guy like him over guys like Cave, Beckham, Contreras, Billy Hamilton, etc.