Penthang

I was initially surprised when I heard they had picked up a very mediocre reliever and Enlow was the 40 man victim. I understand he struggled after returning from surgery last year but that’s not terribly uncommon. I have to believe that either they know something that’s not obvious to us or that they plan to make him part of a trade package in the next few days.

That was a beautifully written recap of the feelings that a lot of us are likely having right now. For now I still have hope…for next year…and ready to be done with 2020. Pretty sure there are still a few breaking curves left for us this year though. Time to start dreaming on a 2021 season with minor league ball and fans in the stand. It’s a nice dream/hope.

On the record: Buxton will be the teams MVP this year and in the conversation for league MVP…and the Twins are loaded with candidates who could be in play for that title: Donaldson, Garver(if he plays enough games), Palanco, Sano, Kepler, and Berrios.

On the record: Buxton will be the teams MVP this year and in the conversation for league MVP…and the Twins are loaded with candidates who could be in play for that title: Donaldson, Garver(if he plays enough games), Palanco, Sano, Kepler, and Berrios.

This is a good list. The fact that I could make another list with three or four other names tells you just how good this team can be if everyone is going and stays healthy! Sano, Berrios, Arraez, and lets not forget a healthy Donaldson! I’d argue that you have to consider Rogers as already there.

If the season had started on schedule I would have picked Sano to take the belt this year and run with it.

Looking forward to tomorrow’s piece.

Based on last years results and the results so far in spring training it should be Dobnak’s nod to loose and he would be my choice. That being said, due to the fact that they would loose him if they don’t give him the spot, I think it will take very little for Chacín to win the spot. If he does, and Johnson can help him regain his previous form, this would be a steal. I see it as a two way race at this point. The time Thorpe lost will put him at AAA to start the season. Smeltzer, while doing ok so far, is just behind those two. Isn’t it nice to have a battle for the 5th spot between what could have been pitchers 1-4 in the rotation from a few years ago. Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration but not a huge one.

I will be interested to see where Gordon gets playing time once the minor league season starts. My thoughts since Arraez came up have been that Gordon could replace González coming up.

I would think that once he finishes an inning he could be removed at any time following that since he has past one of the qualifiers to be removed and that starting another inning shouldn’t change that.

This front office has done a great job of shedding the dead money and avoiding putting themselves in a position to take on dead money. The team friendly deals they have signed have been with players who have upside and they’ve limited the potential amounts that injuries might cost them by being very selective with the multi year deals that they have been willing to give. That payed off this off season with the Donaldson signing. Does a buyout option also count as dead money…it should? It should also be pointed out that this front office is not totally averse to dead money. The previous front office would have kept Hughs and his contract taking up a spot on the major league roster until that contract expired. Also, it is my belief that between Bailey and Chacín whichever one is performing worse when Pineda returns will probably be released.

Backup in center field has been the one spot that has troubled me. If Buxton is ready at the start of the season and plays 135-140 games that would be awesome, but if he spends any significant time hurt, then they need some help. If Kirilloff, Larnach, or Celestino is ready then that would be ideal but if not then it would be great not to have to play Cave…guessing he’ll start the season in AAA anyway.

Chacín has the potential to slot in as a #2/3 if the coaching staff can help him figure it out. I look for Bailey to be the #5 guy and bumped for Pineda when he returns. That leave IL starts for Dobnak and company unless they push someone out of the rotation…which would be a great problem to have.

I think the front office has given the coaches a great staff to work with in both the regular season and the post season…now it’s on Baldelli, Johnson, and company to get the most out of them. I honestly don’t feel like a mid season addition from outside the organization will be necessary, Hill is that guy.

As Topgunn#22 said, this would be a fun review maybe on opening day and then quarterly through the season…especially since injuries can change a lineup a lot. ETwink, Hicks had Tommy John a couple months ago and probably won’t be much of a factor if he plays at all this season.

I see this as a really solid move. While my preference is that Thorpe, Dobnak, Smeltzer hold down the last two slots in the rotation to start the season the simple fact is that pitchers get hurt. This gives them some insurance, as well as giving Wes an opportunity to show us what he can do.

Perhaps “Blow Pop”

Really nice look into Chalmers. I always enjoy these, Thanks Seth

I am hoping the Twins arb offer you Berrios is just to leverage their pushing for an extension that will happen before the hearing???? Also, while they have enough players to field a competitive team right now they really have to make at least one more move to not loose a LOT of support for the front office and I am really hoping for two…there is still plenty of time for that to happpen.

I found Twins Daily from Gleeman and the Geek which I happened upon shortly after you all began putting that out. As a Twins fan in Texas I was looking for some of the talk radio aspect that you can get as a sports fan in a teams home town and there was this newish podcast thing I heard about. John would mention Twins Daily so I went to check it out. I was happy to find the outside the mainstream articles but it literally took me another year before I kept scrolling down to the GOLD that is the comment section! Having read comment sections on other sites my expectations were finding grumbling complaining and flaming. What I found was intelligent additions to the conversation…sometimes grumbly and complainy, but intelligent. It took me a little longer to register and post my first comment, and this is still the only place I post or read comments with rare exception. I’d like to thank the owners, authors, moderators, and everyone who contribute to keep making this the great community that it is.

I’d be fine with either of these guys or a half dozen others they could trade for. Having a QO option for whoever the role filler is is nice. For 2021 the Twins could be looking at a rotation headed by the B-sty Boyz with Balazovic, Brusdar, and Berrios so the long term concerns in a trade acquisition here could be a moot point. While that has yet to happen they do have a number of good arms coming up to vie for those rotation spots who will be controllable and in the near term cheap. Ideally that will allow them to retain Sano and Buxton AND have a good rotation.

I’d say the difference is that Cron, at his best, is an averagish 1B. This is a position that can fairly easily be filled. On the other hand, Buxton has MVP ability and a platinum glove…The much, much higher ceiling is worth taking the chance.

A bold prediction! I think a full and healthy season of both Sanò and Buxton would have them both vying for this honor and that (fingers crossed) will be a blast to watch.

I like the idea of resigning Pineda and giving that first month to one of the young guys. Odds are that by the time Pineda is ready to play odds are that we will need someone in the rotation. It could be because the young guy needs some tweeking, someone is hurt, something else. Any way you go though you can never have too much pitching, but I’d really like for it to be good pitching.

So do you think the Twins will look in the college ranks for a hitting coach, promote from within, or find someone in another organization??