PatG

Hello TD faithful, hate to comment on the emperor's wardrobe, but... the Twins ARE currently in a full re-build. Just about to get to the other side. A team that finishes with a rookie leading the team in RBIs and a rookie leading the team in Wins is in a full re-build. (by definition?) Remember last year at this time? We had signed D Bundy? We were looking at a 110 Loss team! The FO plan to have a plethora of Major League ready pitchers (AAA, AAAA n MLB) and have them compete for innnings is working (Cleveland model). Pitching isn't the problem. We need a big bopper, think a Sano that can actually hit the ball. Abreu would have been good. ACTIONS: 1) trade Kepler and Polanco; they have trade value and we have plenty of replacements for these dudes, 2) Sign another CF, perhaps A McCutchen or M Brantley (not really a center fielder, but great hitter), 3) Sign another BP dude (T May, T Rogers come to mind) Please temper expectations. MLB is just not fair. Also, during the regular season, the Twins need to play mind games when we play the big boys, at least PRETEND that you are in a playoff series (Cleveland, Dodgers, Y (Sp) ankies obliterated the Twins in certain key series last year. We are almost there TD faithfu!

When was the last time a team made the playoffs having a rookie lead the team in RBIs and Wins? Just doesn't really happen. Miranda was put in the position of batting cleanup much of the time. As a rookie, he probably should have been hitting 7th or possibly 9th (nice segue to 1st hitter). Miranda definitely did a lot of good, but the other team went after him a bunch, he didn't come through sometimes. Ryan looks like he needs to put on some weight in the shoulder area.

If I were the Angels with Trout's back issues, I might really ask for Kepler as he can play center field and can hit pretty well, The Twins might trade Polanco (Arraez/Gordon/Miranda to man 2B). I don't think Buxton or Ryan should be included on this list. (I like these players)

I like both players. The real question: Who to keep or trade between Miranda, Kiriloff and T Larnach. Can we keep all three? (I say yes) At this point, I would ask the Angels about Noah Syndergaard; How about a Kepler and/or Polanco with prospect Steer/Walner. Then work like heck to re-sign Noah Syndergaard Trading Polanco would free up Arraez for full-time duty at 2B (hide his slight defensive liabilities)

I see the FO/Twins doing what was done in Cleveland with pitching: Get a bunch of guys and get them to compete and see who ascends to the next level. All these young pitchers have talent. It is now up to the organization to enable the ascension. I think Rodriguez is like the others but with a bit of experience. I am leery of saying that Ober and Ryan are sure-fire rotation pieces. Both had a decent year last year; neither pitched that many innings. Both Ryan and Ober haven't gone much past 100 innings pitched in any year.

I would trade Polanco because of the Bringback; keep Arraez, Miranda, Martin, Gordon to play 2B; JD, Miranda to play 3B (Sano sometimes); Lewis, Martin to play SS Get a quality SP for Polanco (love the bat, but his trade value is at the highest right now; ie he isn't injured) Then I'd try to trade Kepler I love the "youthful exuberance" of some of these players, Arraez especially

I think he holds the bat too tightly; squeezes the bat handle (way) too hard. Someone needs to get into his head and say: "You are a .300 hitter (vice 60 HR guy)!" To that end, could someone please play "pepper" with Miguel every day for at least an hour.... From the simple dude.....

Larnach reminds me of a left-handed Sano; fast ball in the zone - Smash; breaking ball - Strike 3eeee. Or even an earlier version of Buxton; Byron couldn't put the bat on a breaking ball; but after 2-3 years of futility he is now awesome ($100M awesome). It looks like Byron simplified his swing. I think I'd have Larnach play Pepper for at least 2 hours per day; I think he has plenty of bat speed, but needs to learn control of the bat..... (BTW, Sano should play 2-3 hours of Pepper per day, every day) Just a prediction, I'll bet R Lewis will have to simplify his swing to hit major league pitching. Great analysis from this article, very understandable.

Just a thought: Why not let these kids play? If R Lewis is healthy enough to play/defend at SS, why not let him play say 4 of 7 games, 1-2 of the off games at DH. Would this be better/worse than what Simmons did? Polanco at SS, Gordon? Then, after 40 or so games, evaluate! At that time, the other SS (presumably Martin) would either be able to play/defend at SS or not. If we get a rental player for a year (Iglesias ?), they would need playing time. Bottom line: Is Lewis ready to be a major league Shortstop? Is Martin? If not now, next year? I really don't like that strategy: I say let em play!!

I thought we already had Hosmer (just spelled D-o-n-a-l-d-s-o-n, and a couple ticks younger).........

Newbie here; I googled the Twins record with/without Buxton in lineup. From Gleeman: "Since the beginning of 2019, the #MNTwins have played at a 99-win pace when Byron Buxton is in their starting lineup and an 81-win pace when he isn't. 100-64 record with Buxton. 106-106 record without Buxton. During that time, he's slugged .557 and rated +27 runs defensively. 8:49 AM · Sep 25, 2021·Twitter Web App" I'm not a WAR/analytics person, but this is entirely extraordinary. Twins are +36 wins when he plays and 0 wins when he doesn't. When he first came up, he couldn't put the bat on the ball, now, Crush-er-oma! If he isn't worth the money that they are talking about, then just field the AAA team in Minneapolis (like they used to do).

What do you guys think? Sign Baez to be a long-term SS solution and then bring back his brother-in-law Berrios in '23.