All Things 2023 Minnesota Twins In-Season Thread

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GophersInIowa said:
Here’s a list. Kepler and Polanco have team options that the Twins should pick up.

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2025 MLB Free Agents

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The money makes sense, but they have plenty of other options in house that could fill those roles. It's at least going to be interesting to see how they play out.
 

kg21 said:
Kepler and Polanco......Meh

Take their money and go after someone a step up from both. They are both, meh
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Who? Look at the free agents at those positions. There wouldn’t be very many better OF or 2B options. There’s a chance they could try to trade Polanco so Lee can take over.

www.spotrac.com

2025 MLB Free Agents

Tracking the status and signings of all MLB free agents.
www.spotrac.com www.spotrac.com

www.spotrac.com

2025 MLB Free Agents

Tracking the status and signings of all MLB free agents.
www.spotrac.com www.spotrac.com
 

scools12 said:
It basically worked but didn’t like the approach.

Ryan hasn’t been good but the guy that is supposed to be your #3 gives up one run and gets pulled after two innings.

The brain trust running this organization is way too analytical driven.

Guess the analytics say a lineup that strikes out at an alarming rate is a good thing. 😐
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You can’t just scream “analytics” every time you don’t like something.
 

Well...Good season. Took some steps forward. While it's sad it even got as far as it did - finally cracking the playoff loss streak was a huge monkey off their back. Hopefully they can improve on everything next year.
 


GophersInIowa said:
Who? Look at the free agents at those positions. There wouldn’t be very many better OF or 2B options. There’s a chance they could try to trade Polanco so Lee can take over.

www.spotrac.com

2025 MLB Free Agents

Tracking the status and signings of all MLB free agents.
www.spotrac.com www.spotrac.com

www.spotrac.com

2025 MLB Free Agents

Tracking the status and signings of all MLB free agents.
www.spotrac.com www.spotrac.com
Click to expand...
So we are going to keep Kepler, buxton, and polanco.........where do we cut down the strikeouts when it counts?
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
The money makes sense, but they have plenty of other options in house that could fill those roles. It's at least going to be interesting to see how they play out.
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OF they really don’t. Unless they want to entertain Lewis out there again. I wouldn’t be against trying him in left field.
 


GophersInIowa said:
I think that has more to do with philosophy than the players.
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kepler struck out 10 times in the playoffs

polanco struck out 8 times in the playoffs.

Buxton would have been blown away, also.

They are all aging or are getting injured

You build around Julien, Correa, Royce, and possibly Wallner. I just feel it's time to move on from some of those that have been here awhile like polanco and Kepler.
 




kg21 said:
kepler struck out 10 times in the playoffs

polanco struck out 8 times in the playoffs.

Buxton would have been blown away, also.

They are all aging or are getting injured

You build around Julien, Correa, Royce, and possibly Wallner. I just feel it's time to move on from some of those that have been here awhile like polanco and Kepler.
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Who are you realistically replacing Kepler with that gives you comparable production for his very reasonable salary?
 

kg21 said:
kepler struck out 10 times in the playoffs

polanco struck out 8 times in the playoffs.

Buxton would have been blown away, also.

They are all aging or are getting injured

You build around Julien, Correa, Royce, and possibly Wallner. I just feel it's time to move on from some of those that have been here awhile like polanco and Kepler.
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You’re not going to have a whole of better options to “build around” those guys with than Kepler. I’d certainly rather have Kepler in RF than most of the other options (Larnach, Kirilloff, or just about any free agent). Kepler’s the surest OF right now.

Polanco I think they could trade. Worst thing they do is not pick up his option. I think plenty of teams would be interested in him for 10.5M.
 





Overall, would like them to find a real 1st baseman and 1 or 2 outfielders that can hit and get on base and 1 starter. Not sure if that is possible but is what they need. Lee may be ready some time next year and Austin improved a lot 2nd half. Not sure he is a major leaguer though. Walker is 1 or 2 years away. Potential 10 time all-star.
 

Ope3 said:
I am starting it. The 2022 thread went 136 pages. Let's beat that by playing meaningful baseball into October (or even November perhaps).

Win Twins!
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Bummer ending but still a fun run as Twins fans found an oasis of postseason success after a desert stretching 18 games which began in 2004.

From Post #1 in this thread starter, job done on both points! The 136 page count last year has been exceeded by a whopping 88 so far. Thanks Twins for having meaningful baseball well into October.

Everyone's participation has been appreciated!

Goals for 2024's thread:

- Advance to further round(s) in the playoffs.

- Reduce the number of posters requiring Moderators to ban/suspend for personal attacks and excessive potty mouths.
 

Kepler has had one good year (juiced ball year) and this year had a good second half.

Wallner, Kirilloff or Larnach (who it seems they don’t like) can provide exactly what Kepler does.

As far as Polanco what do you keep him for? Maybe DH? Lewis is going to play 3rd and Julien needs to improve defensively but he can hold down 2nd.
 

Bye bye Dodgers! One pseudo-championship (Covid mini-season) in the last 35 years. All glitz, no guts.
 

Pitching staff question:

The days of "Jack Morris going 10 innings" are long gone, and every year it seems starters get pulled earlier. Why not just do away with the idea of starting pitchers throwing 80 or so balls every four days, and treat every pitcher the way we treat relief pitchers? So...
  • You'd go into every game knowing you're going to use at least five pitchers.
  • Each pitcher at most sees a batter only once, they'd only pitch to a max of 9 batters. This way, every time a batter comes to the plate they have to adjust to a new pitcher.
  • Since each pitcher is throwing far fewer pitches, they wouldn't need that four-day rest between taking the mound, every pitcher is now basically a bull-pen pitcher.
  • The batters would have a much more difficult time adjusting to the game, both from a prep standpoint (e.g., knowing the four pitches the starter has is currently a nice leg up, and that goes away since you'll never know who's going to pitching).
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
The money makes sense, but they have plenty of other options in house that could fill those roles. It's at least going to be interesting to see how they play out.
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Learn the lesson of Jose Miranda. Assuming Wallner/Julien/Kiriloff will all be good and healthy in 2024 would be a mistake. I keep Kepler and Polanco and figure out the rest of the pieces. If Wallner or Kiriloff starts in AAA that's OK.
 

scools12 said:
Kepler has had one good year (juiced ball year) and this year had a good second half.

Wallner, Kirilloff or Larnach (who it seems they don’t like) can provide exactly what Kepler does.

As far as Polanco what do you keep him for? Maybe DH? Lewis is going to play 3rd and Julien needs to improve defensively but he can hold down 2nd.
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Not really sold on Wallner, Kiriloff or Larnach, though Wallner is youngest with least experience. I was ready to DFA Kepler earlier this year but think he may have found himself, plus he plays great right field. We need less empty at bats from whoever they put in left.
 

howeda7 said:
Learn the lesson of Jose Miranda. Assuming Wallner/Julien/Kiriloff will all be good and healthy in 2024 would be a mistake. I keep Kepler and Polanco and figure out the rest of the pieces. If Wallner or Kiriloff starts in AAA that's OK.
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Miranda coming back to 2022 version would be huge. He could play first or you could put him at 3rd and move Lewis to left possibly.
 

Another good goal for 2024:

- play games on a TV channel not run by jagoffs that fans can actually tune in with modern live TV services.
 


TNGophfan said:
Not really sold on Wallner, Kiriloff or Larnach, though Wallner is youngest with least experience. I was ready to DFA Kepler earlier this year but think he may have found himself, plus he plays great right field. We need less empty at bats from whoever they put in left.
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I have no problem rolling with them at one position but if they get rid of Kepler, then those 3 guys need to play 2 positions. Not ideal.
 

Polanco and Kepler have good value and are both decent enough players to bring back. There aren't better options and you need some veteran leadership on the team besides Correa. They are absolute choke artists in the playoffs and big games which is not ideal but if healthy they can provide very good value for the 162 leading up to that.
 


TNGophfan said:
Miranda coming back to 2022 version would be huge. He could play first or you could put him at 3rd and move Lewis to left possibly.
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It seems more likely that Wallner takes a step forward (improves) vs. Miranda recapturing his form.


I think Wallner is also a better defender, with one of the better outfield arms in the league.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
It seems more likely that Wallner takes a step forward (improves) vs. Miranda recapturing his form.


I think Wallner is also a better defender, with one of the better outfield arms in the league.
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Agreed with your first point, but Wallner needs to get much better defensively.
 


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