nicksaviking

I don’t know that Colome fixed the pen, but honestly, I think the utter disregard of Maeda is probably the most irrational position that continues to be brought up in this thread.

Thorpe, Graterol, Romero, Gonsalves, Jay, Stewart, Jorge, Eades, Meyer, May. It's been a long time since one the team's top starting pitching prospects debuted and actually stuck as a starter. Berrios is getting lonely and he and Gibson were probably the only two since the Baker/Garza/Liriano/Blackburn era. We are way overdue for a homemade starter to click; I think Duran is going to be the one. Or I really want him to be the one anyway.

Congrats to Brian. Sounds like he has lots to keep him occupied in retirement, good for him.

Man, offensively Madrigal and Luis Arraez look like they're going to be the exact same player.

Yes, surely no other fans have ever argued that their pitcher who was runner up in the Cy Young voting was the second best pitcher in the league. Only those most homerish of homers in Minnesota would dare pat such a pitcher on the back.

I don't think Romo and Rogers in the pen were the issue so much as how they were used. I like most of what Baldelli does, but the bullpen was lights out last year EXCEPT for Rogers and Romo, yet Baldelli still went back to his two "closers" in the tight spots time and time again, including the playoffs. I think they need to go with the "hot hand" approach and not defer to veterans or go off of what somebody did for you last year. As blasphemous as it might sound to a manager, if say young guys like Alcala and Stashak are mowing everyone down, those are your high leverage guys. If Duffey has a stretch where he's getting knocked around, bump him down to mop up duty. But really, a team can't go 0-18 in the playoffs because they are fundamentally flawed in some manner, I mean these are teams that have enough talent to make it to the playoffs. It has to be almost entirely mental. So either keep the players away from Minnesota fans and our contagious defeatist attitudes or get them some top of the line sports psychologists?

Scary stuff. I'm glad that it sounds like he has a strong support system.

I'm more than fine if they keep drafting the best bat regardless of position. But when there's a glut of prospects they gotta start moving some. Don't amass the stockpile only for them to organically succeed or fail; swap some out for MLB help now and let another team share in the lottery. Even the best minds in the organization (and fanbase) can't tell which of Kirilloff, Rooker, Larnach, Sabata or Wallner are going to turn out to be the best MLB players. Trade one or two, probably separately but in big packages; by shear number, the odds are in the Twins favor that they'd still end up hanging on to the best one.

I like the move. It seems to open the door for one of the rookies to step in much easier. If Dobnak opened(opens) the season as the #5 and he's pitching fine but not great, the team is going to think long and hard about leaving him in there. If Dobnak starts the season in the bullpen and does fine there, he's probably more likely to stay in relief and allow the already stretched out Balazovic or Duran to grab the vacant rotation spot. Not that Shoemaker might NOT stay healthy, I hope he does and I wish him well.

Presumably the velocity uptick corresponded to some mechanical adjustments. Maybe easing off the quirkiness killed two birds with one stone.

I'm kind of disappointed in the infielder list. The Twins have a long history of having the number two utility IF getting significant at bats and Lin, Refsnyder, Riddle and Maggi can't hit a lick. Unless they're going to have one of the rookies riding pine 4-5 games per week, one of these guys or Astudillo is almost certainly a lock for the 26-man roster as things stand now. Based on past history, that person is still going to be getting Adrianza's 200-300 PAs next season. I didn't really want Marwin back as I like to see a decent turnover in the roster and that seemed like a good spot to find new blood. But he's off the table. Brad Miller, Asdrubal Cabrera, Josh Harrison, Freddie Galvis, Chris Owings and Tim Beckham are gone but would have all been very cheap but better than the other current options. Jed Lowrie, Brock Holt or Jonathan Villar might have been interesting also. Not too late though I guess. Seems like there's a solid spot on the team for Travis Shaw, Zack Cozart, Danny Santana or Jedd Gyrko. Maybe the Twins are just waiting out all the useful infielders planning on getting who's left even cheaper than expected.

Yeah, a trade then James Paxton are my top choices, but if those don't happen, a flyer on a vet for the 5th spot is still my preference to Dobnak or a long term deal with Odorizzi. Shoemaker would fit that bill just fine for me.

Well that's both encouraging and a lesson in double checking one's assumptions prior to posting!

With the one year deal I'm not really worried about Cruz at all. The worst that can happen is that he doesn't perform, he gets moved to the bench or part-time duty and one of the young hitters gets more ABs. But even with the advanced age, he nearly OPS'd 1.000 last year and hasn't OPS'd under .850 in 8 years. Even with significant regression, it's hard not to see him still being a useable player. As for the new ball, I think it will be more important than ever to load up on the moonshot players like Cruz, Donaldson and Sano. It's guys like Buxton and Polanco who will probably be most impacted.

Looks like a right handed Max Muncy. Just kidding, I wouldn't be so bold. Muncy has a better beard.

I'm not surprised about the White Sox rankings. Outside of Madrigal, the entire starting lineup might strike out 150 times each. I'm not a PECOTA expert but I suspect those players tend to get devalued due to the higher unpredictability with high strike out totals. I'm not saying all those strikeouts are going to be a huge problem for Chicago on the actual diamond, but I understand why PECOTA might suspect they will.

I don't get the Benintendi deal at all. He only has two years left so I don't know why the Royals wanted him, do they expect to compete this year? Also, he's been average at best the past two years and really he's only been an ordinary corner OF his entire career outside of one 3 month stretch in 2018. It's not like his 6.6M arbitration figure is a steal either. The Marlins just signed Adam Duvall for 2M and the Cubs signed Jake Marisnick for 1.5M.

Rooker is in the same service time-manipulation boat as Kirilloff, and Rooker was really dang good in his short audition last year. If he ends up getting the opening day spot I don't think there'd be any reason to think anything is amiss. Unless another outfielder of note is added, one of Kirilloff or Rooker absolutely should be on the club, but there's probably only room for one of them.

I don't think anyone wants to see them swing a bat though. I'm holding out hope that Jedd Gyorko, Danny Santana or Brock Holt could be brought into the mix in one fashion or another.

I think they need a long man in the pen. I think Thorpe stays and isn't in trouble unless a 5th starter is signed and Dobnak takes that roll. I'd hate to lose Thorpe though without giving him an extended look in the pen if he's able to regain his velocity. But if he's still throwing 88-89 MPH, he's probably about done and I don't think the FO should have to think too hard about it.

If the Dodgers eat some salary and don't ask for much in return, I'd take Price. He was a guy who definitely needed a year off. My first thought was that Price may prefer to stay with the world champs, but my second thought was that if the Dodgers let it be known that the vet is getting bumped from the rotation for the young guys, well that worked pretty well for the Twins last year.

I really thought there was going to be more of a need for a pinch hitter in situations where you only need to put the ball in play. That just is a less common occurrence that it seems it should be. My enthusiasm sure has faded, but if he's going to be the 3rd catcher than I guess I don't really care. I suppose I'd rather have his unique (even if largely unneeded) skillset than carry a Bobby Wilson or Juan Graterol.

That was excellent! I get a Beach Boys vibe from that one!

I think there’s still going to be a long man in there. Thorpe, or Dobnak if the team grabs another starter. And I think they will. I think they liked the starter depth last year.

I’m sure the Twins corner bats will be attractive, but when trading away quality MLB pitching, the seller tends to want to prioritize quality prospect pitching. It would probably be tough for the Twins to snag one of these guys without including Balazovic or Duran, so I think realistically that’s where you have to start with the hypothetical trade packages.