zwiefz

Not interested at this point. Before we write him in on Cy Young ballots, go back and look at 2019. I am not a stat head, but when I read this article I seemed to remember similar thoughts(OMG, how did we land this guy so cheap???) early in the year before him ending up in the bullpen. A very brief look at his numbers showed that in his first 8 starts for the Twins(after getting inserted in rotation) he gave up 1.5 runs per game started through May 30. After May 30 he had 21 more appearances(some were bullpen I believe) and averaged 3.5 runs per start/appearance with some absolute clunkers in there. So he has had 'hot' stretches early in the year before. If he is still doing this at the trade deadline, then maybe. Way too early to see if he is an upgrade or a mirage. Besides, the entire rotation is such a shambles right now that not sure if even 1 great pitcher would make a difference over the long haul.

Baddoo was optioned to the minors yesterday. A year ago at this time the sky was falling in Twins Territory because they had let another future MVP get away for nothing. No real point to this thread.......just one more in a never ending string of examples of 'small sample size', rushing to judgement(good and bad), players needing different lengths of time to really adjust/counter adjust to the major leagues, etc. At least it gives us all a reminder to 'take a breath' as we evaluate the performances of all these new/young players early in the season.

I think one thing that also influenced the decision to move on from Donaldson has been the emergence of Miranda. Two years ago the Twins had no 'elite' prospects at 3rd base. Now they do. Urshela is insurance at short or 3rd if they can't land someone like Story or Miranda doesn't do well. If they do, then Urshela is a utility guy. It's a huge if, but IF they did use the money saved from Donaldson to sign Story to a long term deal then that would make Lewis(and Martin to a lesser extent in my opinion) and maybe even Arraez(with Urshela/Gordon as utility) trade chips for pitching. Sanchez platoons better(offensively) with Jeffers than Garver and since he can also DH(maybe 1st base) you have the bench space to find a true backup catcher. Long story short-I can see several possible plans. And no, Falvey saying he doesn't "know" what will happen doesn't make him an idiot. It makes him a realist.

I can't see the games being rescheduled. Too many variables go into making schedules, namely stadium usage and other large events in played in cities. If they did rearrange the schedule, I can't imagine the nightmare that would ensue refunding every ticket, hotel room, etc that has already been purchased and then having to resell them again with the new schedule.

Glad he wants to be a starter and has confidence in himself. But what happens when the postseason rotation shrinks to 3? If healthy and pitching as expected Berrios, Odo, Pineda and Hill all could be better than him. So long as they let him make his 30 starts/get his incentives in the regular season will he be happy with going back to the bullpen?

MLBtraderumors has links to two reports that Twins are also sending a low level prospect to Dodgers. One specifies it is an outfielder.

Bunch of random thoughts: 1)Yes, the Twins said they were starting Graterol out in bullpen. But everything I remember seeing said that was because he didn't have anything more to prove in the minors, but also had never had his innings pushed to the point where he could be a year long starter. Don't remember anyone every saying he would NEVER be a starter publicly. The medical records may say it, but the Red Sox would never have known that. Starters are more valuable than relievers, even if it would have taken him a year or two to get stretched out to that point. 2)Of course Boras would say that he is healthy enough to start, Starters get more money than relievers. What else would an agent say? 3)If I were in charge I would still see if the Dodgers wanted to do a straight up swap of their own. Last year they used Maeda primarily as a reliever(for multiple reasons it appears). They clearly don't see him as a starter. But if they trade him they have an opening in the bullpen. So Graterol would be a cheaper, higher ceiling option. Regardless of the Red Sox, a trade between LA and MN still makes sense to me, both are trading from areas of strength to address areas of relative weakness.

Wish I had bought that discounted(still like $90) Joe Vavra jersey at the proshop a couple years ago. Didn't know they made jersey's for the coaches. Full disclosure, I almost did buy it anyway. My wife and I bought the best dog ever from him just as he got hired by the Twins. It always seemed like he(the dog) would recognize him every time he popped up on TV. Second random thought...I remember once Jeff Reboulet wearing a shirt in the locker room that said "Forget Mike, I Want to Be Like Puck". I searched everywhere for that shirt.

With or without Pineda I couldn't see the Twins beating the Astros pitching staff. This could end being blessing in disguise. He feels he owes team and gives them a bit of a discount on a new contract. If they were willing to bring back Big Erv after his, they should bring back Big Mike after his

I like the idea, but with one tweak. I don't think you can just say Pitcher B is going to follow Pitcher A. Starting pitchers are notorious for taking a long time to get warmed up to game speed. What then happens when Pitcher A gets shelled in the 2nd inning like Stewart or Gonsalves just had happen? If the plan had been for Pitcher B to come in after them then you are rushing them to get ready. So my tweak would be to say Pitcher A starts the 1st and Pitcher B will start the 5th. If Pitcher A has to be yanked early then you go with relievers until the 5th so that Pitcher B can go through their normal pregame warm up routine. If you rush them then you are asking them to prepare as a reliever, not a starter. And I think that is setting these young guys up for failure.

1)I agree completely. Arcia is always going to be a liability in the outfield and with Vargas/Sano in the future there is only so much room for so many all bat, little glove players. Arcia could actually net something in trade due to his age/power potential. I just hope if you are right that he doesn't turn into this decades Big Papi. 2)Have the Twins said for sure Arcia will be moved instead of Hunter? I've seen that come from a columnist/beat writer but who knows what Ryan/Molitor have in mind. For all the talk about Molitor being more metrically based its hard to believe he would be oblivious to how bad both of them in the outfield together would be. 3)Would people please stop comparing Hunter to Kubel, Bartlett, and Guerrier. Hunter was healthy and offensively productive last year(and several years prior) as compared to the huge unknown/gamble those three posed last year coming off horrible years(Kubel) or basically being out of baseball with injury(Bartlett, Guerrier) 4)I am all for bringing back guys like Eddie, Molitor, and Torii who can bring the 'Twins Way' back. That used to be a source of pride, of doing all the little things right, of maximizing talent. If this new, talented generation could be taught those things they could be amazing. Just because the 'Twins Way' has turned into a joke in recent years doesn't mean it can't come back to life.

Stringer- let me rephrase my first post, you're right: potential is too strong a word. How about this: hicks looked better in September than earlier in the season( which wasn't hard considering how low the bar was)

I agree that the Twins need to find an outfielder on a stop gap contract(1-2 years) until Buxton(hopefully) arrives. But I disagree with the idea that they need to focus on someone for left field especially. It is assumed that center will be manned by a Hicks/Shafer platoon. But if you can get a guy through free agency or trade who has a bat and a glove(say Rasmus) why couldn't they play center with the Hicks/Shafer platoon shifting to left. They would provide the same offense regardless of where they play, would be above average defensively for left fielders, would provide the center fielder the ability to cheat towards right to help Arcia, and lets be honest-if Hicks has a future with the team(and that is a HUGE if) it is going to be in a corner spot when Buxton comes up. Might as well get him adjusted to it now. So my answer is that I want the Twins to find the best outfielder they can, regardless of whether they have played center or a corner spot in the past. Hicks and Shafer showed potential at the end of the season, but not enough to say that they are entrenched in center field for the next season or two.

I actually think resigning Suzuki is partially intended to help Pinto's catching career. With free agency ahead for Suzuki the Twins HAD to send Pinto to the minors because he HAD to learn to catch adequately by next year. But from all reports him being ready to work with a bunch of young, promosing pitchers by next year wasn't going to happen. Now that Suzuki is around, Pinto can be called back up and we can go back to the way it was at the beginning of the season-with Pinto as a part time DH/part time catcher who can learn from Steinbach and Suzuki on the job in the majors. Pinto gets to learn to walk the tightrope with Suzuki as his safety net.

Some of you guys are quick. Question #1 got answered before I even finished typing it