goulik

My word is “Cautiously ”. I am an eternal optimist but also a 53 year old Minnesota sports fan so… I am cautiously hoping for a season that ends with at least one playoff win. I am cautiously optimistic that Archer will rediscover his form and with the help of our pitching gurus reprogram himself back into a number 2-3 starter. I believe in Buxton and cautiously hope for a healthy season and MVP votes. I cautiously believe this team will only get better as the season progresses. I am cautiously excited to see Correa wearing #4 in baby blues. Iam also cautiously excited to see what Kiriloff can do in a full season healthy. I am cautiously optimistic that some of these young starters will push their way up and emerge as a front line starter I am cautiously hopeful that Maeda will return to full health and lead us to the post season promise land! World Series Baby!! ok, now I am losing my Caution… better quit… this is Minnesota Sports still…

Exactly this! I am dumbfounded, confused and upset! What the heck do we want with Sánchez and Urshela?

I did not know this Boat Cruise to Key West was a thing!! I might have to do this some day...

I find it impossible to discuss the full list of drops without knowing the full list of "need to protect from the Rule V" You have the obvious drops and you have the fringe. Well, if you have to add x number of players, you need to drop enough to make room. This is the difference maker for the Garlicks, Astudillos, Gordon's of the world.

Nick Gordon graduated and is no longer a prospect

I really enjoyed this exercise and look forward to seeing how many of these pan out as predicted

I would happily give up Balazovic for Castillo as the center pieces with Castellanos contract reducing the additional pieces. If we still need prospect filler, Larnach, Gordon, Dobnak, Rortvedt, Astudillo, (I could go on) Load them up with second to third tier prospects that we just don't have room for. If we really are looking elsewhere for a potential shortstop, we can also be looking at adding Polanco or Arraez to this mix and possibly gaining one or two of their relievers while were at it. We have the resources to make a blockbuster trade.

I remember when Wade first joined the Twins organization and the report on him was high floor, low ceiling. Does all the little things right but does not have the all star potential. He seems to be fitting that description well and players like that are useful. On this Twins team moving forward, I see Wade as insurance. Cave is coming to the end of his time in Minnesota and will be priced out of the 4th outfielder role soon though maybe he is still affordable next year for his role. After 2021, Cave is not going to be around (might not be here next year) Wade is controllable and provides that depth insurance. Meanwhile Rosario has gotten expensive and Larnach, Rooker, and Kirriloff are clamoring for their turns. There is a good chance Rosario's time is coming to an end but these young guns are going to have learning curves and will likely be up and down a few times.Wade is a better defender than all 3 of them and could be a pinch runner/defensive substitution type as well. If they do not pan out, we need a back up plan on the train back and forth from Rochester (or St. Paul) and a good person for that is Wade. (And there is no rush to start burning Celestino's clock while waiting for him to be truly ready) What if Buxton goes down and we don't have Cave anymore? Kepler moves to Center (we have seen plenty of that already) and Kepler's corner is easily replaced by one of the 3 prospects or Wade. I expect we will see Wade as quite useful over the next 3-4 seasons and then he will likely fade into Twins History as his Arb years run out.

My understanding is the active Roster will be 30 in July, 28 in August and 26 in September. More active players to start to allow more games played but paired down as offseason approaches... I’m open to correction if I’m wrong

First undefeated team in MLB history? Let’s go!!

This list made me realize how much greatness is fromoutside the US. Omitted from the post are Bert Blyleven, Tony Oliva, Rod Carew andJohan Santana Twins bests from Cuba,Panama,Venezuela and Netherlands. Also some of our biggest names ever.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru8tZh6_rTI

I heard that Randy Dobnak brought Gleeman to the hospital. Just a rumor?

I did not mention 3B and SS based on his light usage at those positions in 2019. He only had 18 innings at 3rd and did not appear at SS last season

So today we learned that Riverbrian in the real world is named Kent....

When ranking depth, players in the minors that are close should also be considered more than you did in this piece IMHO. You included Jeffers and several for DH but I see several that could be added at other positions. SS-At the bottom of your list should be Lewis who I would have left off if not for the AFL experience and ST invite and experience. He may be closer than many of us think. OF-Additional depth pieces in the Corner OFs in no particular order are Kirilloff, Larnach and Wiel. None would be any help to CF depth, but Lewis has been given some time there as well lately. 1B-Has lot of potential call ups. In no particular order: Rooker, Kirilloff, Larnach, and Wiel are all close and could be called upon if there was a Sano injury. At DH I would definitely have Sano as depth because of all the 1B options. If Cruz went down I could see Sano splitting time at DH and 1B with a call up just to keep his bat in the lineup while giving the call ups fielding experience. EDIT: And then I missed Blankenhorn as depth at 2nd/Corner OF as well....

I have a Byron Buxton Cedar Rapids Shirsey... The Dilemma, do I wear it and enjoy it (which I do sometimes) or try to keep it pristine by taking it out, looking at it from time to time and putting it back on it's shelf for fear of wearing it out (which I do sometimes)

Win a playoff series and don’t end the season at the hands of the Yankees. I want to say World Series or bust but that is always a tall order and takes a team peaking at the right time.

Randball Strikes again. Fortunately for me I do not have to cancel my streaming provider because I was already on Hulu (knocking on wood as we speak)

Dang it, I spent 3 hours in a car today. I wanted to listen to and I looked for episode 467 and you put it out after I got home!! SMH

Unlike several posters, I am on the Royce Lewis bandwagon. I believe he will have a big year in the minors and force his way up. Same with Kirilloff. Those two studs will not be held down all season.

Missed Max and Cruz

First time I ever printed an article from TD and shared with co workers. In fact,co workers who are not even baseball fans. (yes, lots of Twins Daily advertising was done with credit to Randballs Stu as author) This is so hilarious while being spot on in it's sarcasm. Thank you for writing this

This part of your article nailed it for me. I have lots of cousins whose parents moved to Seattle from Minnesota. One of them has season tickets and we trash talk every Vikings-Seahawks and Twins-Mariners game. That weekend we had a bet (he and his brother, me and an Uncle) to record ourselves if we lost doing the number of push-ups of the winning team and send it to each other. During the 18-4 Debacle, I went from Trash talking to apologizing for making the bet. They did all 36 push ups for the first 3 games and we did our 7 for losing game 4 in the series.

I’m anxious to see how this top 5 plays out... Lewis, Larnach, Kirilloff, Balazovic...who is the 5th guy in the Twins Minor Leagues? AND that guy is in the top 5? WHO is it?!?! THE MYSTERY!!