bighat

The Mahle trade may go down as one of the worst in history for the Twins. They could have waited until Kenta came back this year and they'd still have had Steer and Encarnacion-Strand. If Mahle doesn't have a Cy Young caliber year for this team, I think the trade is a complete and total bust.

Speaking of Bundy, I can't believe the guy's still unsigned. He went 8-8 with a 4.89 ERA last year, pitched 140 innings and was about as injury-free as pitchers come these days. Sure, he's not a strikeout pitcher but he improved between 2021 and 2022, and you'd think the guy should be someone's 5th starter going into '23.

Agreed, man. My problem with the ghost runner and all the other 'new rules' is that they're doing this to try and attract people who are NOT baseball fans. Adjusting and building the sport for humans who are NOT interested in the game....it just seems counter-intuitive. It would be like Cosmopolitan magazine changing their editorial content to attract 47-55 year-old male demographic: after six months of reading articles like "How to fix a screen door" and "What to expect at your colonoscopy appointment", the core audience would be leaving in droves! I'd rather baseball lean in to some of its traditions, including the stadium experience. Get an organist and throw out the noise-o-meters. Make going to a game affordable, the NBA and NFL can charge a boatload because there aren't that many games, you've gotta come in way, way, way lower. Make it so fans can go on a whim. At the same time, embrace technology that will streamline the game, like robot strike zones. For those watching at home, improve the viewing experience - maybe get a "skycam" type thing that they have in the NFL that hovers over the infield and another one for the outfield. Sure once a year a ball will hit one of 'em, but it would be extremely rare and the pros would outweigh the cons. Finally, start marketing your stars. For whatever reason, baseball hasn't been able to do this properly since the '80s. I see Mike Trout on a Subway advertisement and I'm betting most viewers have no clue who he is. Any advertisement featuring a major leaguer, the scenes come across as stiff and unlikeable. Good lord hire a marketing firm who can figure it out. Soccer has figured it out - a "boring", low-scoring sport that only features a couple big action moments per contest draws a full house at every professional game in most countries. We all know who Mbappe, Messi, Ronaldo, Maradona, and Pele are. It's just head-shaking to watch baseball - of all American sports - just completely fumble every opportunity to promote the game in a positive way. They announce changes and everyone's on the edge of their seat, but they just keep changing the wrong things and have really blown this whole "rebrand" in almost every possible way.

Frankly I think Gordon and Buxton have earned starting spots and the rest of the guys should compete for the 3rd OF spot in Spring Training.

Agreed. Kepler's value is about as low as its ever been, so trading him now just doesn't make any sense.

I know what you mean, and that's not being negative...'dems just the facts. His inability to hit the ball hard or pull the ball were very evident last year. By late summer, it was almost guaranteed that if Celestino made contact, it was going to be a little flare the other way. He definitely has some skills, but I'd say he a significant amount of time re-learning how to turn on a ball and make hard contact. He's still a valuable piece for this team, but there are adjustments that need to be made. "As-is", he's not really MLB caliber.

My first thought upon seeing the Smeltzer news was that he's a perfect example of an AAAA guy. Nice guy to have on a shuttle, especially in July if you're looking to get your aces a day off here and there. Smeltzer was the last surviving piece of the Brian Dozier trade (with Luke Raley and Kevin Forsyth both being long gone). The guy's carved out a nice career for himself. Well done indeed.

Looks like I'm not the only one who is confused: https://triblive.com/sports/mark-madden-scott-rolens-hall-of-fame-inclusion-is-laughable/

Be honest: who had Nick Gordon and Jose Miranda on their bingo cards as the meat & potatoes of the Twins lineup for the 2nd half of the '22 season? Give them credit, when everyone else went down and the team was spiraling, they went out there every day and gave it their all. Both have spent their entire careers within the organization and both are great examples of the talent the Twins can produce from the farm system. Seem like great people as well. Looking forward to seeing a lot of both of them in '23. Bold prediction: Gordon is going to grab that starting RF job in Spring Training.

Agreed. Also, Andruw Jones has over 100 more career homers than Rolen and he was NOT elected. Gary Sheffield has almost 200 more career homers than Rolen and he was NOT elected. I know it's not just one long home run contest, but one has to wonder why Rolen got the call over those two dynamic players who were major difference-makers during the same era.

Are we thinking of the same guy? I'm looking at his stats for 2008, 2009, and 2010 right here. Looks like he had 11 homers in 2008. He had 11 homers for 2 teams in 2009. And in 2010 he had 20 homers. This is a Hall of Fame 3rd baseman? Sure defense is important but a corner infielder who hits 11 homers per season couldn't even find a job today.

I saw this on Twitter and did a double-take. Scott Rolen? Was he ever "The Main Man" on any team he ever played on? One of the more forgettable selections in a long time. And the last 7 years of his career were absolute garbage. Joe Mauer's career and numbers were light years better than Rolen's and I certainly hope the committee doesn't get cute next year with Joe's election. If Rolen's in, then Joe should be a unanimous 1st-ballot HOF. Back to Scott Rolen's career numbers, he was a steady player who put up solid - but not eye-popping - numbers during the steroid era. Honestly I thought he was more of a Cuddyer type, a good-not-great player but certainly not HOF material. Heck, let Hrbek into the HOF if we're letting Rolen in. Let Todd Helton in. And where's Jeff Kent? Guy has 377 homers to Rolen's 316. Rolen was a very good baseball player on some good teams, but HOF material?

We may be seeing a lot more of Taylor this year than anyone here is predicting. This is far more than an "emergency outfielder", he's immediately going to be a big part of the OF rotation. Think about it: Larnach gets off to a slow start or aggravates an injury in training camp and begins the year in AAA. Gallo goes into a deep slump. Buxton is relegated to DH 3 games per week, so we're seeing Taylor basically in a timeshare with Buxton out there, and he's giving Gordon a rest in left field once or twice a week as well. Bold prediction: Taylor gets 400 AB this year in a Twins uniform.

Yeah I hear you, it's just that he wasn't lighting the world on fire before COVID either. Compare him to Noah Miller - both high school infielders, but coming out of the gate they've performed much differently. That said, maybe you're right. With the promotion to Cedar Rapids this year and a chance to make AA, 2023 is probably going to be a major lynchpin in Cavaco's career.

What are the odds Cavaco ever puts on an MLB jersey? He was one of those really young guys we were told to "be patient" on, but he's been in the system for 5 years now and has been pretty much below average the whole time. Kind of a sad story, really. Will be very interesting to see how Petty turns out. Hard to tell at this point, I don't really have a guess either way. Lee is the most exciting 1st round pick since Royce Lewis. Speaking of Lewis, if I had to bet on any of them having a great career, he's the one I'd take. Can't wait to see him at Target Field in June. Fingers crossed.

I know WHY they do it, but it produces horrible results for the real fans of the game. It's an embarrassment at best and a dumpster fire at worst. I'm telling you, there will come a day when MLB will be letting fans choose "fastball" or "curveball" for each pitch, via TikTok LIVE voting during playoff games.

Thanks for this article. Like many of a certain age, I was initially against allowing robot umps into the game. But over the past few years I've done a 180 and can't wait to see this technology in action. Personally I can't WAIT to see what guys do when they get called out on a 3rd strike and instinctively turn back to complain to the ump. What are they going to do now? I'd actually like to see more technology in sports. For example, football could get sensors in the ball that would give refs a more accurate idea where the ball should be marked. Refs and umps everywhere should be embracing this technology as opposed to pushing back! I'd also like to see All-Star teams picked by an agreed-upon computer algorithm. The fan voting for the MLB ASG is perhaps the biggest joke in all of professional sports and I hope to be alive when it's banned!

Technically, another way to compete would be to spend like the Mets, Yankees, and Dodgers. While the Twins will always have a disadvantage being located in an undesirable market, they can spend as much $$$ as any other team if they league, if they wanted. So could the Pirates and Royals for that matter.

Anyone know a good recipe for crow? I'll be eating some shortly and I'm looking for some zesty ideas.

Ain't gonna happen folks. Minnesota is flyover country, the team's going nowhere, and players have no desire to play here. The Twins are the proverbial unpopular kid hoping to get asked to the school prom by the star quarterback. Is it theoretically possible? I guess so. But getting your hopes up for something like this will only lead to crushing disappointment. Best to face reality and resign yourself to the fact that Brandon Belt and Michael Wacha are the best we're gonna get.

You're saying it like it's no big deal....uh, that's 34 games where the Yanks were getting the "goldilocks" balls and other teams weren't. That's an incredible advantage. The reason he started pouring them in at the end of the season is that they were desperate for a Yankees playoff run and Judge was pushing for 62 homers. It was just too mouth-watering for MLB execs to pass up. They couldn't let things happen organically, they had to manipulate everything to keep MLB on the front page of ESPN.com.

Wow, what a whirlwind of a night for Mr. Correa! Glad the Twins didn't get back in on that. There was just no way this deal would ever be reasonable. Question: where does Lindor play now? 2B?

Jeffers will be 26 next season. There's no more room for development with this guy, same goes for Larnach and Kirilloff. There are a lot of polished major leaguers at their ages. The pitchers are much better at the game than previous generations, and there are a lot of hitters that are better as well. But insinuating that Ryan Michael Jeffers is light years better than an everyday catcher from the 70s, 80s, or 90s is borderline slander.

You're not wrong. I'm a generation younger than you are and I agree with all of this. The problem is that the fascination with advanced metrics has gone too far. We've got guys who are getting millions based on things like "barrel % rate" or "OPS +" or "WOBA" - meanwhile they are hitting .180 and striking out half the time. The way people talk about Ryan Jeffers on this site, you'd think he was Johnny Bench. Take a look at the guy's stats. If he came along between 1946-2006 he'd have been out of a job by now. He can't even throw out runners! Don't get me wrong: I totally see the value in the advanced metrics and think they are fascinating. It's a great way to find some hidden gems or some players who might be on their way to having breakout seasons. But that doesn't mean we should throw stats like batting average and RBI out the window. Alas, all too often criticism like this is considered "old men yelling at clouds" and dismissed. Oh well. Such is life. As we get older, things change, and we just so happen to be alive to watch baseball go through some bumps in the road as the sport makes a significant strategic adjustment here in the 2020s.

Twins big free agent signing is a Miguel Sano clone who hits left handed - can't make this stuff up. These one year deals for project-types are getting old.