All Things 2022-2023 Minnesota Twins Off-Season Thread

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short ornery norwegian said:
was thinking about this.
before the trade, starting rotation was likely to be: Maeda, Ryan, Gray, Mahle & Ober.

Adding P. Lopez could allow the Twins to put Ober in the bullpen. He is certainly capable of throwing more than 1 inning at a time, and relieving might help him stay healthy.

I would rather have Ober in the pen instead of a guy like Megill.

as it sits now, pen looks like Duran, J. Lopez, Jax, Alcala (if healthy), Thielbar, Moran, Megill and Satan....excuse me, Pagan. Ober IMHO is better than several of those guys.

(side note - FanGraphs has P. Lopez projected as the Twins' best starter.......)
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I think Maeda is more likely to start in the bullpen than Ober. Both because he's coming off of Tommy John and because he's done it before with the Dodgers.
 


They should win more games, but the casual fans are going to find this team to be quite boring.
 







Ope3 said:
Maybe the new rules with restricted defensive alignment will help Kepler out. Give him a 100-150 ABs or so, to see if it makes him an asset either in the Twins line-up or a trade chit. Otherwise, DFA.
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I'm fine either way with Kepler at this point. If they can get a solid reliever or even a good prospect for him, then do it. But part of me wants to see how it goes for a few months first. He's super cheap for a few more years so, just like Polanco, if he can turn it around a bit he'd be a nice asset.
 





I do feel like the signing of Taylor means the end of the Jake Cave and the twins. I know he’s with the Phillies now, but had he been cut I have no doubt Rocco would want Jake “the Ironman” Cave in the system. He was so good they couldn’t keep him out of the batting order in late august and September while they were collapsing.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
My hunch is that since they don't really have a DH, Buxton is going to be in that spot an awful lot to try and keep him healthy.
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GopherWeatherGuy said:
I was just about to write the same thing. I think bringing in Taylor has far more of an effect on Buxton than it does Kepler.
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Agreed. I don't think the move affects Kepler at all. Kirilloff will play 1B most of the time, so you'd have Gallo, Buxton, Kepler, Taylor and Larnach for OF & DH. Gordon sprinkled in as well but he'd also play some IF. The move affects Gordon the most, I wouldn't be surprised if they try to move him now.
 



saw a tweet from someone - don't remember - that supposedly, the Dodgers had expressed some interest in Kepler.

the thing is - by himself, Kepler isn't going to bring back a lot in value. so either you have to combine him with other players/prospects as part of a bigger deal, or you simply give him away for some A-ball prospect just to free up a roster spot.

I'm at the point where I would rather see those at-bats go to Larnach and Wallner to see if either of them can be a legit option. keeping them at St. Paul doesn't tell you anything.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I'm fine either way with Kepler at this point. If they can get a solid reliever or even a good prospect for him, then do it. But part of me wants to see how it goes for a few months first. He's super cheap for a few more years so, just like Polanco, if he can turn it around a bit he'd be a nice asset.
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He's not expensive, but he's not "super cheap". He's making $8 million this year and they have an option for next year at $10 million. Unless he has a massive turnaround, there's no way they exercise the option. But I wouldn't just cut him after 100 AB's either.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
saw a tweet from someone - don't remember - that supposedly, the Dodgers had expressed some interest in Kepler.

the thing is - by himself, Kepler isn't going to bring back a lot in value. so either you have to combine him with other players/prospects as part of a bigger deal, or you simply give him away for some A-ball prospect just to free up a roster spot.

I'm at the point where I would rather see those at-bats go to Larnach and Wallner to see if either of them can be a legit option. keeping them at St. Paul doesn't tell you anything.
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I see no reason to trade him for a lottery ticket until you know how Kiriloff and Larnach look. Sure, right now, Kepler seems unnecessary on this roster. But if one/both of them are out or ineffective that can change fast. Even trading him for a reliever is not really necessary. They could just re-sign Fulmer and the bullpen is pretty well set.
 

howeda7 said:
He's not expensive, but he's not "super cheap". He's making $8 million this year and they have an option for next year at $10 million. Unless he has a massive turnaround, there's no way they exercise the option. But I wouldn't just cut him after 100 AB's either.
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I think relatively speaking that's pretty cheap for a veteran. Kyle Farmer is making over $5.5 M as a backup utility guy. If Kepler turns it around, he'll be super cheap IMO.
 






Ope3 said:
I loved those. I know I begged my dad (successfully) to go "Helmet Day" at the Met to get that 70s version.
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If they do sundaes in a helmet, you can get a little one maybe?
 



It'll be interesting to see how long it takes Mauer to make the big HOF. It seems very likely he'll get in, I just don't know if it'll be first ballot (I'd guess not).
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
It'll be interesting to see how long it takes Mauer to make the big HOF. It seems very likely he'll get in, I just don't know if it'll be first ballot (I'd guess not).
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Reusse said yesterday that there's no way he'll make the first ballot. There's too many old guys who gate keep "first ballot" votes. But he will make it by year 3 or 4. Mariano Rivera is the first and only unanimous vote.
 

howeda7 said:
Reusse said yesterday that there's no way he'll make the first ballot. There's too many old guys who gate keep "first ballot" votes. But he will make it by year 3 or 4. Mariano Rivera is the first and only unanimous vote.
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I doubt it'll be first ballot too.

My wife is from western NY so I'm thinking of trying to go when Mauer is inducted.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
If they do sundaes in a helmet, you can get a little one maybe?
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Child's play. The move is to get a bucket of nachos in a regular sized helmet.

Seriously though, I am not a big fan of soft serve ice cream so I do not know if they still do those sundae/helmet jobbers.
 

Mauer is an interesting case.
for the first part of his career, when he was healthy and playing C full-time, his production during that period is up there with any HOF catcher. 6 all-star games, 5 Silver Sluggers, 3 AL batting titles, 3 Gold Gloves, 1 MVP and 3 other seasons where he was top-10 in MVP voting.

but after the injuries and concussions, he finished out his career as a 1B with very little power. his OBP, Slugging, RBI's all went down and K's went up.

so from 2005 to 2013, Mauer had a HOF career. the last 5 seasons, not even close.

how will the voters judge his career?

I think - given the current standards - that Mauer gets in. But it might take 3 or 4 years.
 

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