All Things 2024-25 Minnesota Twins Off-Season Thread

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wasn't there something about Sano with his age? Found it on Wikipedia.

In early 2009, Major League Baseball conducted an age investigation, a prerequisite for every player signed in Latin America, that confirmed Sanó's identity but could not verify his exact age.[6] Sanó claimed to be 16 years old, but there had been rumors in the Dominican Republic that he was older.[7][8]
 

short ornery norwegian said:
wasn't there something about Sano with his age? Found it on Wikipedia.

In early 2009, Major League Baseball conducted an age investigation, a prerequisite for every player signed in Latin America, that confirmed Sanó's identity but could not verify his exact age.[6] Sanó claimed to be 16 years old, but there had been rumors in the Dominican Republic that he was older.[7][8]
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Yeah it's a common thing but it's usually like 2 years difference.
 

Ope3 said:
All Time Election Day Line up.

P Walter Johnson*
C Gary Carter
1B Reggie Jefferson
2B Adam Kennedy
SS Chris Taylor
3B Howard Johnson*
LF Glen Adams
CF Otis Nixon
RF Claudell Washington
DH Randy Bush

2 Johnsons allowed, one for Andrew and another for LBJ.

SS is the only one I had to resort to Google for help, though Taylor just earned a Ring with the Dodgers.
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You know it’s weird. 3 #1 over MLB picks have shared a last name with a President but I don’t think I saw any of them named here.
 




short ornery norwegian said:
various sources reporting that the Twins have out-righted multiple players off the 40-man roster and assigned them to AAA St. Paul.

Randy Dobnak
Josh Winder
Scott Blewett
Yunior Severino
Daniel Duarte.

this leaves the Twins with 35 players currently on the 40-man roster. some minor-leaguers will likely be added to the 40-man to avoid the Rule 5 Draft.

(Severino is a surprise. signed as a free agent for $2.5-million.)

and the Twins have picked up the $1.5-million option on Jorge Alcala.
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Thank for posting.

Aside for Serevino, I’m a little bummed about Winder. I thought he looked much more commanding on the mound in his limited run this year, nine innings, but he’s 27. Good thing, is he should have an opportunity to catch on with another club.

Picking up Alcala’s option was no brainer and I’ll be surprised if we don’t see the mid season version moving forward, vs, the scuffing end of the year iteration.

I think he simply ran out of gas; he chucked 58.1 in 2024 and only 17.1 2023 and 2.1 in 2022.
 
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Maybe (?) they may want to move Lewis to second permanently; Lee looked like a better this sacker to me -

From Dan Hayes’ column-

Meetings notes​

• Falvey wouldn’t commit to Lewis shifting to second base because he’s not certain how the roster will look when spring training opens in just over three months. But the Twins’ top decision-maker did say the club will speak to Lewis about the possibility in case he’s needed there.

“We would just want to make sure he’s as prepped as possible to play,” Falvey said. “He indicated even at the end of the season if he was prepped and planned for what that’s going to look like, it’s really important. Some of that will depend on the personnel that we acquire, don’t acquire — how it all shakes out. But we want him to stay open-minded to that.”
 

Heath updates from the aforementioned Hayes’ column -

The plantar fasciitis in Correa’s right foot is progressing ahead of where the shortstop was with his left foot a year ago, Falvey said. If Correa stays healthy, the Twins intend to keep him as their starting shortstop and not switch him to third base.

“He’s still young,” Falvey said. “He’s a tremendous shortstop. I see no reason why he wouldn’t be as long he manages the plantar issues in a positive direction. … He’s tracking in a positive direction. He’s got good plans for how he’s going to handle it therapeutically and I think he’s in a good place.”

Reports about Joe Ryan’s recovery have been positive as expected, Falvey said.
 

Heath updates from the aforementioned Hayes’ column -

The plantar fasciitis in Correa’s right foot is progressing ahead of where the shortstop was with his left foot a year ago, Falvey said. If Correa stays healthy, the Twins intend to keep him as their starting shortstop and not switch him to third base.

“He’s still young,” Falvey said. “He’s a tremendous shortstop. I see no reason why he wouldn’t be as long he manages the plantar issues in a positive direction. … He’s tracking in a positive direction. He’s got good plans for how he’s going to handle it therapeutically and I think he’s in a good place.”
 



on Lewis -

we are talking about a player who has appeared in 152 MLB games over 3 seasons - an average of 50.6 games per season.

I'm sorry, but no matter how much potential he may show when he's healthy, Royce Lewis is not at a point in his career where he can dictate to the Manager or the Front Office when it comes to what position he is going to play.

especially when his level of play dropped off significantly in 2024.

If the Twins tell him "you're playing 2B," his response should be "I'm going to do everything I can to be the best 2B I can be this season."

also - Lewis should spend this off-season working 100% on flexibility. lay off the weights - drop 10 to 15 pounds - and focus on yoga, pilates - whatever it takes to become more flexible and try to avoid all of the soft-tissue injuries.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
on Lewis -

we are talking about a player who has appeared in 152 MLB games over 3 seasons - an average of 50.6 games per season.

I'm sorry, but no matter how much potential he may show when he's healthy, Royce Lewis is not at a point in his career where he can dictate to the Manager or the Front Office when it comes to what position he is going to play.

especially when his level of play dropped off significantly in 2024.

If the Twins tell him "you're playing 2B," his response should be "I'm going to do everything I can to be the best 2B I can be this season."

also - Lewis should spend this off-season working 100% on flexibility. lay off the weights - drop 10 to 15 pounds - and focus on yoga, pilates - whatever it takes to become more flexible and try to avoid all of the soft-tissue injuries.
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I think what ate at Lewis regarding the move to 2nd was that they were doing it last year in the 2nd half of the season, as opposed to having some Spring Training reps, Minor League games and perhaps an offseason of prep time.

While I don't rule out he could still be a diva about it even with advance notice, I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
on Lewis -

we are talking about a player who has appeared in 152 MLB games over 3 seasons - an average of 50.6 games per season.

I'm sorry, but no matter how much potential he may show when he's healthy, Royce Lewis is not at a point in his career where he can dictate to the Manager or the Front Office when it comes to what position he is going to play.

especially when his level of play dropped off significantly in 2024.

If the Twins tell him "you're playing 2B," his response should be "I'm going to do everything I can to be the best 2B I can be this season."

also - Lewis should spend this off-season working 100% on flexibility. lay off the weights - drop 10 to 15 pounds - and focus on yoga, pilates - whatever it takes to become more flexible and try to avoid all of the soft-tissue injuries.
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I understand your point and agree with it in principle, however, we live in a different era now😃, kid 🧤are not optional.

I think they’re allowing him to save some face as well; number one overall pick, who’ll never get to play his original position and us coming to the reckoning that he’s not good enough defensively to play 3B either.

You could see how they treated moving Varland’s to the pen last season as an example.
 




Gopher_In_NYC said:
Thanks for posting😃

Nice shout out on PTI tonight, “500 career decisions and not one Tommy John Surgery!”
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TK's list of HoFers that Kaat faced throughout his career was pretty amazing.

16 Gold Gloves!
 


Ope3 said:
TK's list of HoFers that Kaat faced throughout his career was pretty amazing.

16 Gold Gloves!
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Won his WS as a player at 43 -how 😎
TNGophfan said:
Amazing player. Really good hitter as a pitcher too. Going from memory but know he hit over .200 and quite a few homers.
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Thanks, got posting this, wasn’t aware of his prowess with the 🦇, but it makes sense cause he’s such a good athlete with all those Golden Gloves - like Greg Maddox.


www.baseball-reference.com

Jim Kaat Career Batting Splits | Baseball-Reference.com

Jim Kaat Career Batting splits statistics including season totals, platoon splits, home and away stats, clutch situations and more on Baseball-Reference.com
www.baseball-reference.com www.baseball-reference.com

Some notes from his baseball reference site

AB 1251
Avg. 186
Ks 367
HR 16
OPS .495
OPS+ 100

The Original Ohtani😃
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
Won his WS as a player at 43 -how 😎

Thanks, got posting this, wasn’t aware of his prowess with the 🦇, but it makes sense cause he’s such a good athlete with all those Golden Gloves - like Greg Maddox.


www.baseball-reference.com

Jim Kaat Career Batting Splits | Baseball-Reference.com

Jim Kaat Career Batting splits statistics including season totals, platoon splits, home and away stats, clutch situations and more on Baseball-Reference.com
www.baseball-reference.com www.baseball-reference.com

Some notes from his baseball reference site

AB 1251
Avg. 186
Ks 367
HR 16
OPS .495
OPS+ 100

The Original Ohtani😃
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23 appearances as a Pinch Hitter for Kaat, he went 4 for 20.

Manny Margot is envious.
 
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Happy 47th birthday to one of my favorite Twins, two-time MLB Heart and Hustle Award nominee Nick Punto.
IMG_0025.jpeg
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
Do not stone me, I’m just the messenger.
Article in The Athletic on potential bargain bin free agent Twins shopping 🤷‍♂️


www.nytimes.com

Twins free-agent targets: 15 fits for a front office shopping in the discount aisle again

Trying to find the next Carlos Santana-level bargain as ownership's payroll puts the Twins' front office in a difficult spot.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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another Aaron Gleeman offering. I admit I don't like his approach, so consider my bias. But - the article basically IMHO amounts to - "the Twins are too cheap to try and sign good players, so here are some crappy cheap players the Twins could potentially try and sign."

to be clear - I hope the new owners - when and if they arrive - have the resources to put more money into the payroll. But if the new owners do not bump up the payroll, Gleeman's head is going to explode.

FWIW - as it happens, I was reading an article on The Athletic today about the SF Giants. the point of the article was that the Giants will be cutting their payroll this season because their spending was more than their revenue and the owners don't like losing money or paying the luxury tax. and the Giants are one team with a stable local TV situation, so that is not the main reason for scaling back the payroll.
 


gophersfan said:
nypost.com

Yankees, Mets should test Twins’ waters for possible Carlos Correa trade

The Mets and Yankees should do what I strongly suspect they would never consider — ignore his cost (kind of), his injury history (sort of) and ties to the Astros (Yankees issue), and at least call …
nypost.com nypost.com
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Thanks for posting😃

well written article and makes sense to me.

I think the Mets will keep Alonso, as he’s a fan favorite and tough to get rid of him after their epic playoff run. Vientos is a future AS at third and it would be insane to let Alonso go, younger and no injury history, to replace him with Correra.

Yankees showed their lineup can’t hang with the Dodgers - not enough high end sticks.
 
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The Royals released 39-year-old Harmon Killebrew on this date in 1975, ending his 22-year career.

He had to wait until 1984—after four frickin' ballots—to finally be elected to the Hall of Fame, despite trailing only Babe Ruth on the American League home run list.
 

so ran across this on Twins Daily. (note - only part of the article was public - the rest was reserved for paid subscribers). the article shows rankings for the Twins pitching staff based on various advanced metrics and analytics. the point is that the Twins ranked 21st in MLB based on ERA- but they ranked much higher on almost every other pitching metric.

I am not a stats guru. I don't even know what some of these metrics are. I just thought it was interesting that, outside of ERA, all of these metrics put the Twins pitching staff in a different light.


MetricERAFIPxFIPDRASIERAERA-FIP-xFIP-DRA-
Raw4.263.843.834.143.65106949493
Rank21754322644
 

short ornery norwegian said:
another Aaron Gleeman offering. I admit I don't like his approach, so consider my bias.
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Good point and I don’t consider everyone on that list, the next Trevor Richards.

Dave Robertson was the first bone listed and had a 2.92 ERA last season and has been consistently productive in his career.

He’d be a nice addition to the pen and could be an excellent middle innings receiver.

But - the article basically IMHO amounts to - "the Twins are too cheap to try and sign good players, so here are some crappy cheap players the Twins could potentially try and sign."
short ornery norwegian said:
to be clear - I hope the new owners - when and if they arrive - have the resources to put more money into the payroll. But if the new owners do not bump up the payroll, Gleeman's head is going to explode.

FWIW - as it happens, I was reading an article on The Athletic today about the SF Giants. the point of the article was that the Giants will be cutting their payroll this season because their spending was more than their revenue and the owners don't like losing money or paying the luxury tax. and the Giants are one team with a stable local TV situation, so that is not the main reason for scaling back the payroll.
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The Twins have a new GM. Jeremy Zoll has been promoted from Assistant GM to GM, Falvey moves up to President, Dave St. Peter (maybe his choice, maybe nudged aside) moves on to an adivsory role.
 



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