Jacksson

If he is not traded, his role with the 2022 team is: DH & Platoon !B with Kirilloff. Kirilloff will man 1B against RHP, serve as a defensive replacement when Sano starts and may see some time in LF, if needed.

Twins want Montas because of the 2023 control. That is why the sweetener of taking Andrus and Piscotty is offered. Andrus has a complicated contract. He costs 14M with the Rangers picking up 7.25 of that. The 2023 team option for 15M becomes a player option if Andrus gets 550 PA in 2022 or 1100 PA in 2021 & 2022. BUT if the plan is to just bide time with Andrus for 2022 at a net cost of 6.75M UNTIL Lewis/Martin/Miranda is ready and then release him prior to reaching the PA threshold of converting the team option into a player option, then the Twins would be off the hook and free of any financial obligation to Andrus for 2023. Piscotty will cost 7.25M for 2022 PLUS a 1M buyout of his 15M option for 2023. So initially, the A's save salaries of Montas, Andrus and Piscotty = 5M+6.75M+8..25M a cool 20M in payroll savings for 2022. A's would prefer to off load Maneaa or Bassitt as they are free agents after 2022 and will command 10M and 9M via arbitration. If it is a make or break condition, Twins could always agree to take one of the two ( Bassitt, if he liked it here may just be open to sign an extension, while Maneaa is a Boras client and would not). Another possible sweetener would be to take on Ramon Laureano who is projected to cost the A's 2+M via arbitration in 2022 and is coming off a 2021 PED suspension BUT would provide outfield depth at all 3 positions. The door is always open for discussion & negociation.

It will cost more for Story than what you forecast. Pohlad will not authorize that kind of expenditure unless Donaldson is unloaded without having to eat some dollars. The season will open with one or all of Beckham, Robinson ,Gordon at SS until one of Lewis, Martin or Miranda is ready.

The ONLY winning a Pohlad owned business is concerned with is at the cash register. In Baseball, winning the World Series is just WAY too expensive. Better to nibble around the edge of success with a restrained payroll and keep the turnstyles moving, the concessions selling, and the merchandise moving. Just the most recent in a string of businesses that the Pohlad family reaped profits off of while "serving" their community with: bus service, banking, and beverages. The family has now moved into: commercial real estate, development financing, senior housing, movie making,, automation and the vehicle business. All their endevors have one, single common thread = make a buck off the public. Carl taught his kids well. I can't help but recall the business advice once given to Barney Rubble by none other than Fred Flintstone. "Barney, you're in the business army now; your only friend's a buck and the more bucks you've got, the more friends you've got." AND the Pohlad Family has MANY, MANY of those kind of FRIENDS !!

The key with ANY deal with Oakland is to "help" them out in their stated goal with lowering their payroll cost. Doing this and taking on payroll from Oakland will LOWER the prospect cost to Minnesota. That means taking on 3-4 Oakland players and viewing the player salaries that are being taken on as sunk costs that are associated with acquiring the player(s) that the Twins REALLY want. With that in mind, what do the A's need now AND what will they be needing down the road after some projected activity? Forecasted to be available due to the desire to shrink the payroll are: Chris Bassit, Sean Maneaa, Frankie Montas, 3B Matt Chapman, 1B Matt Olson, SS Elvis Andrus, OF Stephen Piscotty, OF Ramon Laureano, Util Tony Kemp. In addition to their stated underwhelming catching corps, the A's stand to need replacements for any of the referenced players that end up being moved. What do the Twins need = Starting Pitching, Shortstop, RH Hitting Outfielder (to platoon with Kepler) and a Left Fielder. What do the Twins have that can be dealt? 1B/DH Miguel Sano, INF Luis Arraez, Trevor Larnach, Brent Rooker, OF Jake Cave, 3B Josh Donaldson, C Mitch Garver/Ryan Jeffers/Ben Rortvedt. So what would the A's want from the Twins to "give up" P Frankie Montas IF the Twins also TOOK SS Elvis Andrus, AND OF Stephen Piscotty? If those discussions began with Sano & Arraez, that would provide the A's with ready replacements for Chapman & Olson.

Just insurance. Hope he can still Bend It !! In the event of injury or in case a trade of Arraez is needed for pitching.

it is called HUMOR, CHawk !! Donaldson has an injury history with respect to his CALFs. Baby cows are referred to as calfs. Animal doctors are called veterinarians. Therefore, to ensure both himself and the Twins that he is in the best shape possible for the 2022 season and is able to stay healthy, be injury free, and stay on the field, Donaldson needs to hire someone to keep his calfs in shape. What better person to hire to look after the condition of calves than a VETERINARIAN. TAKES ALL THE FUN OUT OF IT WHEN THE HUMOR HAS TO BE EXPLAINED.....

From the Twins' perspective - They should be looking at trading Donaldson and using those dollars on pitching. From Donaldson's perspective - He needs to engage the services of a veterinarian to keep his CALVES healthy.

Keep Polanco at 2B to keep him healthy and be able to use his bat in the lineup. Look to trade Sano - use Kirilloff at 1B Look to trade Donaldson - possible platoon at first with Kirilloff with Arraez manning 3B on those days Sign Goodrum as a multi-positional capable player and tell him he has a shot at starting SS Use Gordon as either starting SS, back-up SS. occasional CF when Buxton is rested or is on the DL Throw out the "Mr Cheap Pohlad" mentality and spend some money. AGAIN I ASK. What would it take from the Twins to acquire: Andrus, Piscotty, & Montas? A's want to save $$ and by taking on Andrus & Piscotty the Twins soften the bite that Oakland would need for the Twins to get Montas. Meanwhile, the Twins buy some time by filling their short-term needs for a SS as well as either a starting OF or a platoon partner for Kepler, while giving the Twins some additional time for Martin, Miranda, Larnach, Rooker, Kirilloff to further develop WITHOUT having to be RUSHED to MLB too Soon. It also opens the discussion door with Oakland so that AFTER they trade Chapman & Olson, the Twins can discuss Sano and/or a subsidized Donaldson to them for taking Bassitt, Manaea or even Puk off their hands. Seems to make better sense than giving any serious consideration to moving Polanco back to SS.

I would let the Padres choke on Hosmer's contract. For the right pitcher from the Padres, and to hold down what we would have to give, I might be willing to take on the final year of Wil Myers. Otherwise, I focus on dealing with Oakland. They are in a serious salary dump situation. That can be leveraged at the trading table to acquire one or more of their pitchers (Manaea, Bassitt, Montas) with the return cost held down by taking on player salary off Oakland's hands. Why not start the discussion with Oakland sending over: Montas, Andrus and Piscotty? If Andrus will agree to a trade WITHOUT the Twins exercising his 2023 option, just release him in 2022 BEFORE he collects 550 plate appearances and replace him with Lewis or Gordon to finish out the year. Also think about asking for A J Puk (home town boy & LHP) coming from Oakland.....

Here's the deal: Twins need a short term shortstop. Based on last year, if Kirilloff is penciled in at 1B - at least against RHP, the Twins are in need of a right hand hitting OF. And we all know they need pitching, particularly starters. Meanwhile, Oakland is on an economy kick, so much so that they allowed their manager to move on rather than pay him $4 Million. Oakland has 3 pitchers they would like to move for cheaper talent as well as both a RH hitting OF and a bridge SS who are both signed to contracts that the A's want to get out from under. So, what would it take to acquire from Oakland a package of: Montas, Andrus, Piscotty, an additional SP and a bit of cash to ease the contracts being acquired?

Steve71: EXACTLY the problem with the Twins Organization in general. And specifically with: their ownership, their PBO, their General Manager, their Minor League system, their coaching, , their scouting and their drafting.

It would seem that the Twins have poorly positioned themselves for an everyday replacement for the departed Eddie Rosario.. They need to "clear the decks" of players in the pipeline that do not profile as holding down a permanent corner outfield position. They also need to clearly define and execute a long range positional plan for Alex Kirilloff. 1B? OF? The team is in a (contractual) good long term place with Max Kepler. Fact is, it is easier to "bury" a less than stellar defensive corner outfielder in RF than in LF. Having a LHSP or two, also takes some of the defensive pressure off of whomever is patrolling RF. Why is it that the Twins continue to play Kepler in RF? I thought I read somewhere that Kepler prefers to play LF? If Kepler played LF, his glove hand would be at the LF line. What direction is Buxton better at moving towards in terms of reading fly balls and breaking off the bat? Although I can understand the reluctance of the Twins to dive into the NPB posting pool after their regrettable prior experience, a foray into the Seiya Suzuki posting pool would seem to be a no-brainer. The Twins already have a fellow countryman on their roster who could provide support to Suzuki and make the transition to MLB that much smoother and perhaps provide and edge in negotiations. Such an addition would provide a contractually stable, long term Outfield alignment of: Kepler - Buxton - Suzuki!!

It's not Rocket Science. He was seeing less FB and more CU & CB so he either slowed his swing or delayed it's start so the FB he did see, he was late for and missed. Gaining recognition of CU & CB may improve with time and coaching.

By the way, what was the FO of the starting pitching poor Twins doing when Al Leiter Jr signed with the Cubs?? His work in Triple-A was particularly sharp, as he totaled 89 innings of 3.34 ERA ball with an outstanding 30.5% strikeout rate, a strong 6.6% walk rate and an above-average 46.9% ground-ball rate through 17 appearances (15 starts). Those numbers fall in line with Leiter’s prior success in Triple-A, where he now has a career 3.60 ERA, 29.1% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate in 147 1/3 innings. (From MLB Trade Rumors)

So what is he Whiffing on? Can it be fixed with the right hitting instruction? Curveballs? Sliders,? Change-ups? Fishing after low & outside? Can't lay off High Heat? Unless you have Larnach penciled in in LF, or Kirilloff; who are you trotting out there ? At the very least he's a warm body for AAA.

Interesting to me as well. Unfortunately the ill-fated Japanese SS contract from a while back may be a deterrent to any such future free agents. Didn't Kepler once say he PREFERRED playing LF? Also that position would have his GLOVE HAND towards the LF line. If we kept him in LF and got him out of RF and didn't bounce him to CF so that he was more comfortable in his fielding, perhaps his offense would then start to come around?

Trade with the Giants for LaMonte Wade and Jaylen Davis !! Those are the kind of OF the Twins need to develop!!

What about the Brewers as a possible destination? The Twins have long neglected involving more than a single team in trades. They also need to be proactive in identifying WHO THEY WANT TO ACQUIRE and then going about finding a way to make that happen as opposed to just sitting back and waiting to see who offers what for what they have got.

The appeal of the Twins is: they are always screaming POVERTY, the team seems to lack a PLAN, "fan" interest is waning AND you get to pitch OUTDOORS in MINNESOTA in April, May, September & October !! (sarcasm intended)

Unbeknownst to most Twins' fans, Josh Donaldson has hired a Veterinarian this current off-season. The Veterinarian is working with Donaldson's CALVES !!

WOW !! The comments and ideas are REALLY ROLLING in. Guess all the REAL Twins fans have replied.....

BEFORE any consideration is given to taking back a bad contract to enable the Twins to add attractive pieces, the trading away of Josh Donaldson and his contract needs to take place. Arraez needs to be retained to play 3B until the next wave of talent arrives so that a MLB ready 3B is not needed in return. So, the question remains, which team(s) would be interested in Donaldson if the price is right?

The Minnesota Twins will soon announce the next round of MLB Coaching additions: Assistant to the Assistant Bench Coach Assistant to the Assistant Pitching Coach Assistant to the Assistant Hitting Coach

THANK GOODNESS !! The Twins Figured it Out !! The Team’s UNDERWHELMING 2021 Performance WAS ENTIRELY DUE TO HAVING The WRONG COACHES in the WRONG COACHING JOBS AND NOT HAVING NEARLY ENOUGH MAJOR LEAGUE COACHES ON STAFF !!