Richie the Rally Goat

That gets you a very average at best rotation with a good pen but no “Ace” $100m might get you Rodon. We have yet to see the Twins drop that dough on a pitcher, Rodon is a good starter with tons of injury risk, and little upside. If you aren’t willing to risk making an Ace and clearly aren’t willing to buy an Ace, are you going to get an Ace?

Duplicate?

Better pitchers pitching more innings is preferred to worse pitchers pitching more innings, agreed? who are the pitchers that can improve the rotation? Are they better than Duran? Is the FO willing to invest what it takes to get them? are there relievers available better than Lopez? Would the FO risk a $5M or $10M one to two year contract for a very good reliever vs $25M+ Per year for 4-7 years for a starter?

the Twins were very bad for a long time too. Huge swaths of the last 3 decades. yes free agent spending should be a supplement, unfortunately the Twins seem to live off of ramen (or maybe Chef Boyardee, they aren’t the pirates) and never take their vitamins, even when that little extra boost might be enough to win a World Series.

What if Duran could do, what we saw for 60 innings in 2022, for 90 to 100 innings in 2023 and 120 to 140 innings in 2024? it’s happened before, albeit rarely.

You can always put up another blueprint, it’s super easy

Agreed, but this FO is laser-beam focused on incremental moves. It’s not their MO to make big roster moves. Signing Correa to effectively a 1 year deal rocked our world!

I updated my pitching positions, looking at them from most innings pitched in the season, to fewest. The thread about pitching roles inspired.

My challenge with Bassitt (or Rodon) is he fits a very similar mold with the rest of the rotation. Struggles to stay on the field. He’d be an upgrade, but would continue to exacerbate the stress on the bullpen.

Forgot to mention, Kepler and Gio each traded for low level prospects.

C : Ryan Jeffers ($0.70M) 1B: Alex Kirilloff ($.7M) 2B: Jorge Polanco ($7.50M) 3B: Jose Miranda ($.7M) SS: Jose Iglesias ($5.0M) LF: Trevor Larnach ($0.70M) CF: Byron Buxton ($15.00M) RF: Matt Wallner ($.7M) DH: Luis Arraez ($4.5M) 4th OF: Kyle Garlick ($0.70M) Utility: Nick Gordon ($0.70M) Utility: Gilberto Celestino ($0.70M) Backup C : Sandy Leon ($1.0M) SP1: Tyler Mahle ($8.00M) SP2: Joe Ryan ($0.70M) SP3: Sonny Gray ($12.00M) SP4: Kenta Maeda ($9.00M) SP5: Jhoan Duran ($0.70M) RP: Bailey Ober ($0.70M) RP: Josh Winder ($.7M) RP: Griffin Jax ($0.70M) RP: Jorge Lopez ($3.00M) RP: Brad Boxberger ($2.0M) RP: Jovani Moran ($.7M) RP: Jorge Alcala ($1.00M) RP: Caleb Thielbar ($2.00M) Payroll is 38.50% under budget Wanted to think about what a steeper reload/rebuild might look like. What if Kepler were traded, Gio were traded or non-tendered, and the Fo slashed payroll. much less fun

How sure are you that the Twins won’t stretch Duran back out over the next couple seasons? He wants to start, the Rotation is rather thin next year (‘24). Hints at reducing payroll for ‘23…. Seems like ‘23 is a punt year anyways… why not stretch him out?

I have been toying w/ putting together another plan that involves moving on from Gio. He Reminds me a lot of Kepler, good fielder, light stick, in a bat-first position, especially post shift ban.

Sure, players are durable until they’re not. Players are injury-prone until they’re not. I get that and agree to an extent, and Nick Gordon is the prime example of the latter. are you planning on AK, Larnach, and Buxton all suddenly becoming 130 game players? 3 of the 5 primary outfield rotation players haven’t played more than 100 games since 2018 and each of them have only done so once in their careers. Kepler, is a poor hitting RF who plays strong D, I don’t even want him on the team except that he has been a relative iron man compared to the other 4, and Gordon shouldn’t be an every day player. something has to change, and Wallner needs to be an every day player too. How can a lineup with 5 players all needing high quality backups overcome a black hole at SS?

I like what you’re smokin’, just don’t pass me the Dutchee, I’m gettin the DTs

reading between the lines here, I’m prepared for a payroll below 140

Well… pitch framing has a statistically significant sample size. Hundreds of pitches per game. The strike zone definition is pretty decent and the one that would be used for an automated zone. while it would be great if umpires were perfect and weren’t biased and all catchers had to do was catch and throw, but it’s the game. The measurement is as good or better than most all other advanced metrics, but the reason for the metric sucks.

Iglesias is fine, if they do something with the outfield, and get more out of 3rd base than what Gio provided. They aren’t going to get more healthy in 2023. Need a better hitting RF than Kepler and a decent, CF capable league average or better hitting, 4th outfielder.

Their product is the players on the field, their capital expenditure is their portion of the facilities. The literal investment is in the scoreboards and renovations. their figurative investment is more along the lines of the 6 Sigma quality initiative in the auto industry 60s and 70s. the Padres are like Toyota, churning out the 6 sigma learnings from Motorola and enhancing it, making the highest quality cars in the world on intiquated old factories compared to Chevy at the time (The Twins) who look at quality as “meh, good enough, we have a great investment in the brand and world class facilities”. Until the 90s and early aughts when their quality didn’t meet consumers’ expectations anymore and Chevy paid Toyota for consulting and still almost closed their doors in ‘08, well after they improved their quality, in part because they couldn’t shake the reputation. Twins sign Correa, and have the highest payroll ever, and we still don’t believe the quality has improved. Maybe it has, maybe it hasn’t. I’ll buy it, when I see it. 15 years later, I’m kinda thinking about buying a Chevy, still not sure, that ‘88 Oldsmobile lemon is still etched upon my memory. It burns…. will the Twins share the same fate?

My Polanco shirzey is well worn and the lettering is half washed off. I love Polanco and the steady and consistent presence he’s provided over the years. I have no idea, but will jump at the chance yell Hip, Hip! Jorge!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I went with B, but C kinda fits too. I think a few more of his infield hits will drop for singles when they can’t shift him, but he won’t see any more homers and 2019 version of the Manfred ball inflated Kep’s power. Overall I don’t think it’ll be a big boost for him.

San Diego is less than two hours from LA where there are Angels, Dodgers, Kings, Ducks, Clippers, Lakers, Chargers, Rams and LAFC. In San Diego? No…. But 9 other pro sports franchises are close enough to pull San Diegan’s dollars away. I do not buy the “only game in town” bit in the least.

Is it fair to see DSP as an extension of the Pohlad family?