Darius

Kirilloff and Rooker can’t play in the majors yet. I’ve been told they’re not ready.

The bullpen, which many of us have been harping on for months. blows a 3 run lead in the first game. Can’t make it up. That’s a wonderful tone setter. That record breaking Donaldson signing is sure going well. No grace period for the wonder boys in the front office seeing their errors on center stage. Game 1.

For some reason, this move reeks of the Terry Ryan era to me.

Has this FO made a single good move in the past two years, other than Maeda? I wonder if they know the games in April and May count towards the team’s regular season record.

Good for Dobnak, locking up some guaranteed life-changing money.

Frankly, because baseball is stupid. In what other major sport do you see teams intentionally holding better players out of games to play inferior players? You see it with the antiquated and awful service time rules. You see situations like this, especially with the Twins, where a veteran earns a spot based on a contract vs. merit. It’s mind boggling sometimes. It’s my favorite sport, I love it, but things like this makes the product worse than it could be. Only a handful of team every year field their best players all year. It’s pretty ridiculous when you take a step back and think about it. Divisions have been won lost by one game. Contending teams like the Twins “punting” early in the year for the sake of service time and sunk costs on veterans drives me nuts. A random game in May means just as much as one in September.

Well, better send Kepler down. That’s what happens when you don’t perform lights-out in a handful of Spring Training ABs.

He was headed there either way. The FO got extremely lucky to have the “slump” to fall back on. It saved them a PR nightmare (despite the numerous pocket protectors attempting to provide cover).

Very optimistic. The assumption that Donaldson and Buxton will be healthy is a big one. But, even if that were true, I don’t think it’s a given that Donaldson is better than Moncada in 2021, and certainly not that Buxton is better than Robert. People overvalue Polanco based off of his inflated 2019 first half, IMO. I think he comes around this year, but I don’t think we’ll ever see 2019 Polanco again. It’s also interesting to me how highly we think of Arraez around here, but then knock on Madrigal for his inability to hit for power. Madrigal hit .340 last year.....that’s incredible. He also played much better defense than Arraez or Polanco. I’m not ready to say Kepler is head and shoulders better than Eaton. Kepler is another guy that gets massively overvalued by Twins fans because of 2019z. His ceiling is higher, sure. But, Eaton has a career OPS+ 10 points higher than Kepler. Maybe I’m the only one, but I’m not expecting Cruz to be as good as he’s been. Vaughn is also a very, very highly thought of prospect. I still would take Cruz for 2021, but I don’t think it’s a slam dunk due to Cruz’s age. I’d love for the Twins to be dominant over the Sox, but I just don’t see it.

As a Twins’ fan, the dumpster diving and cutting back of payroll irritates me. It tells me you’re not serious about taking advantage of this window the win a championship. If you need a trustworthy bullpen arm, go get a freaking trustworthy bullpen arm, not all of these guys off the scrap heap. This is why we’ve lost 18 straight playoff games. Half-assing.

I know Thorpe was granted another option, so it’s a moot point, but the discussion in this article is another example of how awful the current MLB system is. We’re talking about how good Dobnak has been, how he’s developed a nasty new pitch and he’s striking guys out at a high rate.....oh by the way, he might not pitch for the major league club because a guy who has been nothing but terrible in multiple opportunities is out of options. Somebody fix this thing already.

If Duffey crashes back to earth with a dead arm, we’re in some trouble. I was concerned about this bullpen when I thought Duffey was one of the best relievers in the AL. If Duffey is bad, that is a massive swing.

I can’t tell if that’s Bonnes or Blondie (Clint Eastwood) from the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in that screenshot. That’s a hard thousand yard stare.

Well, the questions have to be asked: Who is he now? We know he was phenomenal for many years. But, what if he’s closer to his 2020 metrics? Can he stay healthy? We’ve discussed the theory of Josh Donaldson and how good he is. Facts are, he hasn’t played. We don’t know if he will play. Simmons has missed a significant number of games 3 of the past 5 years (had thumb surgery in 2016 and played 120 games, played 100 games in 2019, and only 30 in 2020). Offensively, he’s OPS’d under 700 3 of the last 5 (sort of, he was at .703 last year). That’s really bad. His most prolific years barely break the .750 mark. OPS+ has him as a below average hitter (below 100) nearly every year if his career. His most prolific years barely scraping over 100. I get the excitement, but there’s a lot can go wrong here. I’m more concerned than I am ready to pop a champagne bottle. There’s a reason we got him for peanuts. FOs like the Yankees (who were reportedly kicking the tires) aren’t stupid, and have unlimited budgets. If they thought they were getting 2017-2018 Simmons, which I think most here just assume to be true, he’d be wearing pinstripes.

But, have they found the next Michael Tonkin? In all seriousness, do we want another Wisler? Isn’t it telling that, after his 2020 breakout, we wouldn’t bring him back for a measly $1 million? There’s obviously something amiss there.

We’re set up fine for the regular season. I don’t think we have the pitching to be a serious World Series contender. I could be wrong. Maeda could sustain his dominance and Berrios could take “the next step.” I just don’t think either are likely. We don’t even have the best rotation in our division, let alone the AL. When those two do provide very good playoff starts, we’ve seen Baldelli yank them early. If you’re playing that game, you need to stack dominant relievers. Duffey is there, but I’m not sure we have anything else I’d consider dominant. Colome is fine - he was good last year but had a FIP over 4 the year before, and underwhelming performances prior to that. We all know about Rogers recently. Who’s next, Robles? Not inspiring.

That is so incredibly kind and generous of the State.

No chance the Twins will be willing to pony up what it would take for any of these guys. If Baez struggles at the plate he might be discounted a little. If the Twins were ever to break the bank, Story would the player to pay. Planning on getting anything close to this list from Royce Lewis anytime soon (or ever) would be a huge mistake. He’s sporting a career OPS in the minor leagues under .750 and isn’t anywhere near defensively what some of these guys are. Even if he didn’t blow out his knee, if you have a chance to get one of these guys, you find another position for Lewis. He’s earned nothing.

We’ve been taking about Berrios taking “the next step” for years now like it’s a foregone conclusion. Well, he’s now almost 27 years old and approaching 700 major league innings. He’s a really good pitcher. But, I think the “ace” conversations can be put to bed if we don’t see something this year. There are rare cases of guys blossoming late, but that shouldn’t be expected. I’d like to extend him, but if it’s going to be at the expense of pursuing a legit front-line playoff starter in free agency, or locking up a guy like Buxton long-term, I’d have second thoughts.

I’d love a Buxton extension. One of these years he’s going to stay healthy and be an MVP caliber guy, then the price tag goes way up. I’d still be surprised to hear his side is willing to engage at a reasonable price given how unhappy he was about the service time thing. But, I’d love to be wrong.

He’s not cutting the Twins any deals after screwing him and messing with his service time a couple years back. He was very upset, and I’m guessing he’ll never forget that. I wouldn’t be surprised if he just wanted out of here, and will refuse any sort of contract negotiations unless the Twins drastically overpay.

I think he’s in for a good year. I’m not sure we’ll ever see the home run production we did in 2019, but it’s not really needed. He’s a key piece to this offense. If you’re in the bottom of the ninth with runners on and need a base hit, not sure there’s anyone else on the club (other than maybe Arraez) that I’d want at the plate - when he’s healthy.

I don’t think Kepler or Polanco will hit that many. I think 2019 skewed the reality of their power potential. I dont think Garver will hit that many, and I think Jeffers will be on the list somewhere (with around 10). I think you’re a little bullish on Rooker and Kirilloff, I’m not sure they’ll have the plate appearances. I think it’ll be a battle between Donaldson and Sano for team leader, with Donaldson edging him out. Both will hit over 30.

Baldelli’s nickname for Celestino gave me a Gardy flashback. Celly in LF, with Buxton in CF and Kepler in RF would certainly make for a good looking defensive outfield. Combine that with Donaldson and Simmons on the left side of the infield, Jeffers (or Garver) behind the plate. I’ve heard some say they expect Polanco to be good at 2B. Sano can hold his own at 1B. Best defense ever?

I’m an advocate of piling your three best hitters into the top of the lineup to accumulate the most PAs throughout the season. Like many, I don’t believe in old philosophy of #1 gets on base, #2 moves him over, #3-5 are your mashers. As good as he is, it’s hard for me to justify giving the most PAs (lead off spot) to a guy that may not hit a ball over the fence in 2021 (Arraez). That said, if Kepler and Polanco don’t return to form, not sure who else fits. Buxton would be ideal if he can stay healthy. The way he’s been accumulating extra bases - slugging over .500 when on the field the last 2 years, an unreal .577 last year - he’d look great at the top of the lineup.