RJA

I have decided to be philosophical about this. I cannot influence either side, so as Mercutio noted in Romeo and Juliet, "a pox on both your houses." The long term harm being done to baseball is obvious to all. Young folks no longer have the excitement about baseball as they did during the Ruth, O'Neil, Mays, Mantle, and Puckett eras, and I cannot imagine this will bring any of them back to the game. We all know this will be settled, but at what cost? I fear the good of the game is a forgotten concept. So, as I refuse to get upset about things over which I can exercise no control, I am going to focus on the minors and college baseball until such time as "play ball" is heard again in the majors. I fear I love the game and the Twins too much to walk away despite all this needless rancor. I just pray it is not mid summer before we begin again.

Great story! There is so much richness in the history of baseball to be mined. More than any other sport, baseball's history is interwoven with the history of our country, I really enjoyed this posting. Thank you.

Great job following these negotations, Ted. Let's get the lawyer stuff behind us and "Play Ball!".

Great prospect summaries. Thanks to all the TD gang who worked on them. I can't wait to see how Raya does. I hope you are right on him, Seth.

Great comments all around. You hit a nerve with a lot of us, Cody. I think the FO put themselves between a rock and a hard place with their inactivity last fall. By not signing any legitimate free agent starter, they are left now with having to figure out how to add at least two legitimate starters in order to be competitive. Montas, Castillo and a few others are good trade candidates, but what will it get us if it turns out to be Montas, Ryan, Ober and then the young kids in the rotation? Now if they added Rodon IF he is healthy, and then traded for a Montas or Castillo, and added another starter like Pineda or a similar guy, then they might have the makings of a good rotation. So, my answer to the question is "it depends." IF Montas is it, pass on the trade because you won't be competitive this year and unless the FO changes course and decides to extend their starters, he will walk after 2023 and you will not get necessary value out of him. IF on the other hand, the FO is going to sign a Rodon and a Pineda then a trade may make sense. Finally, it also depends on what the Twins have to give up. It may take more than what has been suggested to get a Montas type, and then you have to weigh losing Martin, or one of the young pitching studs, against two years of a Montas type. I have to say there are so many good comments on both sides of this issue that I could probably click the heart on them all.

In my humble opinion, he was a risky but great pick. I don't think you win championships by drafting cautiously. You know, if Ryan and Petty are in the rotation together in the future, they may become the best pair of interviews on any rotation in the bigs. They are so fresh, open, thoughtful and "quotable." I can't wait.

Ahhh, it must really be spring despite the cold snap in the great north, as Seth is making reports from Fort Myers once again. Thank you, Seth, for bringing a ray of sunshine to all of us as we await the formal start of MLB spring training. One bright spot is that the players there, and many of them are excellent prospects, will receive good looks for the MLB staff, and a great chance to get some additional coaching. Enjoy the warmth.

Boy, I hope the projections are correct. I do believe, however, that the body of work is so small at the MLB level that making any kind of projection is very difficult. It is one thing to project Sano, Polanco, or Buxton where we have a significant history in the bigs, and quite another to do so with two inexperienced pitchers. But, any ray of sunshine at this point is a blessing, and the young man looks like the real deal.

Perfect summary of prospect status, Nick. 5 games he played against Tulsa last summer showed both sides of this profile. In the first 3, he was something like 0 for 12 and he looked really average at the plate, and didn't display any aggressiveness. Then in the next two games he got 6 hits and hit two homeruns, and stung the ball all over the field. He was aggressive and drove the ball with authority. If the Twins can bring that aggressiveness and ability to drive the ball out of him consistently, he will be special. If not, he will be a faster, better Arraez.

Love the article, Cody. It honors his memory. It captures how multi-talented Mudcat was. Like most people my age, what I remember about Mudcat was the 1965 season and how spectacular he was. As mikelink45 noted, it truly was a magical year with a great group of players--Killebrew, Oliva, Versalles, Battey, etc. Mudcat was in the zone all year, and was on the biggest reasons the Twins made the Series. It was actually quite a pitching staff with Kaat, Perry, Grant, Pascual, and Boswell. Grant and Kaat both pitched over 250 innings. Mudcat lived a full and colorful life and gave fans my age some of their best memories of the Twins. May he rest in peace.

Excellent post. I would give a slight nod to Martin only because of the injury to Lewis. As it was a serious injury and we haven't seen him play for a couple of years, I am a bit hesitant to put him first. If it wasn't for that, I would have him number 1 for sure. From everything I have read, Martin focused on making contact over driving the ball which would explain his .414 OBP. You must have seen the Tulsa series in late August. He as like 0 for 12 for 3 games. But he did follow it up with a 6 for 9 and 2 homeruns the following two games. When he focuses on contact, he looks like another Arraez. When he drives the ball, he looks like a younger Polanco. It will be interesting to see if the Twins can get him to work on driving the ball more. But, I agree with you that if Lewis is healthy he could be real special. Hopefully, they both reach their potential.

Good summary, Ted. It seems like we have been talking about this kid forever. Let's hope the injuries are behind him and he has found his swing. I suspect the Twins will let him get at least half a season of at bats in the minors this summer before even considering moving him to the bigs. If he tears up the league, they might promote him if they trade someone away at the deadline, there is an injury, or somebody on the major league roster really underperforms. But, as he really hasn't had any sustained reps at shortstop for a couple of years, I think they will give him a long look at short in the minors to see whether he really can do the job before moving him up. Big year for him.

Good article, Ted. Lots of fodder for conversation. I am higher on the Twins minor league pitchers than you are as I don't put a lot of stock in top 100 ratings. I have seen a number of them pitch, and the stuff is real, including secondary pitches. Health is a concern but that is a problem throughout baseball, and something you can't control. One thing you can control is filling the pitching pipeline with arms that have potential to pitch in the bigs. On that score, the Twins are doing well in my humble opinion. I agree that that the front office sat on its hands last fall and watched while a number of viable free agent pitchers came off the board. IF they had signed a significant free agent, then trading for a Montas or Castillo would make some sense. Add Pineda to Ryan and Ober and you have a good rotation, But, if you are truly building for the future, I am not sure adding one pitcher through a trade for two years (the Twins didn't extend Berrios so why do we think they would extend Montas or Castillo) makes any sense. You are simply making a terrible rotation into a poor rotation pending the arrival of some of the youngsters. I am not sure what the game plan is for this FO either. If they don't plan to seriously compete this year, I wouldn't make a trade unless it was for a pitcher with at least 3 years of control left. I would see if Ryan and Ober continue to show promise, take a look at the young arms, and fill in with Pineda and others on one year contracts. If I thought Story has 3-4 good years left, I would look at adding him to solve the other significant hole in the roster. Then, if the young pitchers looked like they were the real deal, I would aggressively work the trade market and look for rotation help for next year. The free agent group of pitchers next year is limited, but there are several that would be attractive additions as well. I simply don't understand the inaction this fall. Let's just hope that they have a plan to get us back in the playoffs, if not this year then in 2023.

If the Twins have a problem with too many quality bats for too few positions, great! It is a great problem to have, and these things have a way of working out. I suspect it is a one year problem anyway as Sano is likely gone after this year unless he has a monster year, Donaldson will move to the DH role, Kirilloff will be at first, so both third and left should be available next year, giving Martin, Larnach, Miranda (and maybe Lewis if the Twins sign Story) the opportunity to compete for playing time. I agree with TopGunn#22 that left looks the most likely for this year. And, he could play some third when Donaldson is the DH or when his legs act up. Who knows, maybe with some work he can be average or slightly above average at third. Koskie certainly improved through hard work.

When have the Twins ever had 7 of their top 10 prospects being pitchers with this type of combined potential? And, there are several others that are not far behind these 7. I can remember when we hoping on Stewart, Gonsalves, and Meyer, none of whom had anywhere near the arsenal that most of these kids have. On the whole, all of these prospects have legitimate secondary pitches. It will be fun watching them progress. Let's pray for health!

Interesting take. Great addition to the conversation.

I think this kid will be fine despite the hardships for the reasons many have mentioned. It is a little different now than it was even 25 years ago in that there are so many private facilities available for players to work on their game. While there is no substitute for game at bats, at least they can work on timing, etc. Plus, players work out together so they will see live pitching. Still, I agree that this labor negotiation hurts young players and fans more than anyone else. Settle it for heaven's sake. Let's play ball.

Good summary, Cody. I am optimistic about Ryan not because of his fastball which is uniquely effective, but because of his secondary pitches and his plus control. I did not expect, based on the scouting reports I had read, that his secondary pitches would show as well as they did. I think you are quite right that these pitches are crucial to his success. If he can tweak them a bit and develop a solid pitch selection strategy, he could have long term success. The one cautionary note I would add is that he hasn't been around the league a lot yet, and until he has, we won't know for sure how well he adjusts when hitters are more familiar with him.

The rabbit in the ball in 2019 really skewed the evaluation process for a lot of teams including the Twins. Sano and Kepler both looked like budding stars, so I am not going to fault the Twins for extensions on one hand and then accuse them of being miserly by not extending Berrios. I would rather they extend good young players and err on the side of sometimes making a mistake than letting players simply walk. I would have extended Kepler, Sano, Buxton, Berrios and Polanco. You win some and lose some but you definitely lose whenever a quality player leaves.

It looks to me that the Twins are planning to follow the Rays and Guardians approach and fill their pipeline with young pitchers, keep them until they get too expensive (unless they can get a team friendly early long term contract in place) and then trade them (like Berrios) and replace them with the next guys coming up. So, I would be surprised if they trade for a Montas type as I doubt they would pay them what is necessary to keep them in two years. On the other hand, Odo and Pineda I could see them signing on one year deals with an option, and I could see them signing Rodon IF he is healthy and he would agree to a one year deal. Relying on Bundy makes no sense as he is simply a flyer, and both Ober and Ryan have not been around the league enough for us to see if they are for real, so this year will be big for them. Given all this, I think they will try to field a decent rotation with one year guys, and will try to bring up a couple of the young guys to see what they can do. If they surprise, they might add at the deadline, bu I think they are gearing up for 23 and 24.

Thanks for the summary, Jamie. Like everyone else, I love this kid's stuff. I saw his 10 strikeout game and he was amazing--his control and location were excellent. When he is on, he can be almost unhittable. As for his personality, what has impressed me when I watch Seth's interviews is how many of the Twins prospects are bright and thoughtful young men. Matt is among them. While we understandably focus on skills, having the right makeup can be an important predictor of success as well. While I am frustrated by the FO's inaction in the free agent market, I do really like the stable of young arms that we have. It could really be a fun year watching them progress through the system.

Given that the offseason is still on hold, trying to figure out a roster at this point is an impossible task. The FO must have something up their sleeve, don't they? As it looks like spring training is going to be abbreviated, I am not sure any of the young pitchers will have time to impress before the start of the season, so the starting rotation you listed may be it unless trades are made, and/or they spring for Rodon. It hardly inspires excitement. Oh my, I wish they would have done more in free agency.

Darwin was a good player and followed the opposite script of many players who went from hitters to pitchers--Nathan, DeGrom, Hoffman, Gore, and many others. He did have a great arm. I can remember how people made a big deal about his strikeouts, but as it turned out, he was just ahead of his time ;). Your article also made me think about Bill Rigney and how he liked to yank pitchers quickly. He is another guy who would fit modern baseball with his propensity to pull starters after 5 or 6 innings. When he was managing the Angels his team always led the league in fewest complete games--usually in the 20's as I recall. These days that would be a lot.

Great summary--I think you identified his strengths and weaknesses beautifully. While this kid has the stuff to be a solid starter, last year raises concerns. I too think he should be a little lower on the list. It will be interesting to see where he sits at midseason. Hopefully, I will have to eat crow :).

This interview was a breath of fresh air during these crappy labor negotiations. This kid showed poise, confidence, and maturity. I can't wait to see this young man play, and it sure would be nice if he claimed the shortstop role for the next decade. In any event, he is a kid who makes it easy to pull for him. Now let's settle this labor dispute and start playing baseball.