EGFTShaw

Ken Linesman was the OG rat for me...I am sure there was someone before him. But he never LICKED anyone as far as I know.

highly dislike: Cowboys: America’s my a$$ NYY: the Cowboys of MLB Any team Brad Marchand is on. BoSox: Yankees with Beards (loved this suggestion) NYM - I like for this season and maybe next ONLY because the flipped off the NYYs and the other owners with their interpretation of the Cohen Tax.

Not wrong 😂😂😂

I agree, and I take nothing away from the Guardians and their team. They have some talent, but I am on record as saying, if the Twins simply regress to the norm for injuries and Games/WAR lost due to injuries, they run away with the division. I think the additions they have made have been quality to top notch. I think the top caliber talent can take steps forward, (especially the pitching staff and the young team members. We will know if I am right come the end of summer. LOL Let's PLAY BALL.

Simply the fact that we are not penciling in Dylan Bundy and Chris Archer as our 3/4 starters tells you a lot about the changes from last season to this season. The up the middle defense should be very good, the outfield should be top 3 at worst and we have two very good hitters and with unknown ful season fielding at the two-infield corner positions. I like the makeup of this team a lot. Sure, there is some uncertainty with Maeda/Mahle/Lopez and yes Pagan as well as some health uncertainty with the position players. I don't care what the prediction sites are saying, this team is winning the Central easily if they regress back to the norm when it comes to WAR lost due to injuries.

Pitching/Location, Pitching/Location, Pitching/Location. 😁

And the Mets don't care how much they spend, and it appears the Friars of San Diego don't care how much they spend. Even if the Twins were seriously interested, as this past off season showed with C4, we cannot compete spending with the Big Bucks teams.

One of the BEST curveballs as well.

Billy has to be the Face of the Excitability Mount Rushmore. They don't make managers like Billy anymore.

Perhaps, Mount Rushmore should be expanded when it comes to talking baseball, (or football for that matter) because of the number of players on the field at one time. I can see limiting hockey or basketball to 4, but baseball, also give its long history, only 4 is extremely limited. I do think lineage counts, so the franchise is the Sens/Twins. Otherwise, can you imagine the LAD leaving off everyone who was great when they were in Brooklyn? Same too of the SFG when then were in NY. But it does get you thinking and remembering the players who have played for our team.

But that pandora of a box was opened up when Killer was listed as playing for the Twins from 1954...they were still the Sens at that time. Big Train...what a great nickname...

to be in the Show, you have to prove it. Sano has to take it upon himself to improve. I can wrap my head around what happened. He was probably confident coming into 2022 and then injuries hit. Unfortunately, he had used up the goodwill to keep him around. I would like to see a Hitting Whisperer take a shot at Sano. I mean he is not even Joey Gallo at the plate and that bar for batting average is below the Mendoza Line. Personally, I would like to see the Twins do this because if he ever can just wrap his head around the whole process of hitting, he could be valuable. But I am not holding my breath on Sano ever making it back to the Show.

The ones that concern me are the Mahle and shoulder soreness. Is this a strength issue? A breakdown of shoulder components issue? Mechanics? AK-47's issues only because of the back-to-back surgeries. Most soft tissue issues, (Gray for example), I'm not as concerned about as the new trainer has the onus on him to prevent/minimize these types of injuries. The last issue that is of concern to me is JP's patellar tendonitis, only because I have had this and it didn't heal quickly. Although I did NOT have an organization with the staff the Twins have, nor the money JP has to get specialized treatment.

Edit: Arraez trade brought in Pablo Lopez.

Very nice piece. It takes an incredible amount of heart to keep at it when you're not given a chance to succeed.

First, I kind of like the positive feel to what I thought was going to be another bashing article from the headline. Or maybe pre-coffee has me overly cynical this Monday morning. That said, 2nd half they were 4th? Understand that was with Pagan doing Pagan things and Lopez not doing 1st half Lopez things. If Lopez continued his first 1/2 All Star approach they probably would have been higher than 4th. I am not so down on Pagan as others are primarily because I trust the evaluators. I only pretend to know what I am doing here. It appears it is not just the Twins FO that like what Pagan has to potentially offer. You have to be careful of reacting from emotion vs logic. Cutting bait with some "hack" named Ortiz did not turn out well. Flip side argument is that everyone was high on Sano, and he just could not (so far), improve his approach at the plate. I am good with this team as it stands. I sacrificed a Packer Backer to the Baseball Gods for better health this year.

Follow Up: I can envision these Twins have 2-3 FL Starters with Gray, Ryan, Mahle & Lopez in that mix. i like Maeda, Ober, Varland, SWJ and Winder as well in the starters group

ACE - a guy who you can count on to stop your losing streak FL Starter - a guy who would be a number 1 or number 2 pitcher on any team given most baseball teams. (Some teams have an ACE and are loaded with pitching) #1 Starter - top tier of the FL Starters BPOYS - Best Pitcher On Your Staff since Johan the Twins have had BPOYS guys Liriano (before TJ) and Johan that one summer were lights out I miss that kind of pitching

I'm with you on Ryan, I think under 3.00 is the goal. I'm on record as saying he has the mentality to be a #1.

Not quite right about the improved physical aspects where it is lateral movement, arm strength or other increases in muscle mass. First you do need to lose Fat. It does nothing for you other than make you a good grilling options for the vicious Land Sharks. So, losing fat will make you lighter and allow your current muscles do more. This is where you were going. It is the first step. But if you lose the fat and gain muscle, (your mass could remain consistent or even increase), you can improve all aspects. I understand your thought processes on this but would like to see Miranda Rights have a full season at 3B to see how he handles the hot corner and see how his bat plays. As stated, if it turns out bad, we have some very good Plan Bs. I was not on the Keep Urshela(sp?) Bandwagon. I think the bats we have coming up will play out better that Gio.

And there is nothing like the dead of winter MN sarcastic sense of humor... 😁😁 There is a ton of interesting things to see come out of spring training. pitching rotation Bull Pen members Outfield Infield is mostly set (depending on AK-47's health) batting order My special wish list: hitting instructor and calm press scrutiny leads Gallo to hit .225 BA. Buxton's top-notch backup relieves the pressure of playing CF every day and he plays 140 games, generates over 10WAR and leads the MVP voting. Ryan takes another step forward. Miranda proves to be an average to plus 3B and hits 25HRs. Mahle, Gray and Maeda are all healthy and along with Lopez and Ryan we have 5 pitchers with an ERA below 3.50 and 2 below 3.0 Duran spot starts and pitches a no hitter...in the WS. 😁 ok, this last one is full of MN hope and bourbon.

LOL - not wrong, but what else can we do in the dead of winter before Spring Training starts??? 🤷‍♂️😉😁

Ooooohhhhhh, Oooohhhh I forgot about this, no lower than a 3, but most likely a 2 or even a 1.5...and I seriously love we got C4 back...that's how much I hope the new trainer impacts the soft tissue issues many had last year.

First off, a disclaimer, I am not a GM or President of Baseball Operations, I have not played one on TV and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. That said. Can't quibble with these rankings. The only one I find questionable is Gallo. I would still have that above #7 at #6. What I don't understand about Gallo is their thoughts behind it. I said with Kepler/Gallo we had 2 good outfielders and 1 good bat. 😆 I guess if we have been taking flyers on pitchers why not on an outfielder who plays 2 positions for optimal flexibility. Top rated defensive fielder. If his bat comes around, lordy, lordy. I would rank Paddock extension as 7th, push the 7th to 8th. I miss Arraez, but we did it right.

Now you did it @Hunter McCall 😁 With all players, give them a chance. I too do not like the sub–Mendoza Line batting average. I do like the top-notch defense in the outfield. HRs are nice, but if I have a guy on 3rd that I need to get home sub .200 BA is tough to see come to the plate. But the other metrics on Gallo are good. I think our offense will be good this year if we only regress to the norm when it comes to games lost to injuries, so those 32 DRS start to matter. As Hunter points out, give the guy a chance.