Looking Ahead

[ciaban2.0]

Another thing to consider is that in the post covid era, the days of 30 million dollar 10-year contracts is probably over.

That kind of money simply might not be available in the future.

[USCFOOTBALL]

So Brad Hand was externally cut by the Indians, they're hoping someone picks him up so they don't have to pay the 1 million dollars buy out on his contract, but he has a team option for 10 million, and was really good last year.

So basically anyone can have Brad Hand for 1Y/10M if they want him.

Save the $ for Liam Hendricks, Hand's velocity has declined he's basically Kenley Jansen.

[lamar2006]

Save the $ for Liam Hendricks, Hand's velocity has declined he's basically Kenley Jansen.

Why spend $40+ million on Hendricks when Graterol is more than capable of locking down the closer role.

[USCFOOTBALL]

Why spend $40+ million on Hendricks when Graterol is more than capable of locking down the closer role.

because it's not clear his shoulder could take that many pitches, and he only has 1 pitch. We also need depth in the bullpen.

[lamar2006]

because it's not clear his shoulder could take that many pitches, and he only has 1 pitch. We also need depth in the bullpen.

Did you see him pitch recently. That 1 pitch is all he needs. He got us 3 outs in less than 10 pitches 80%+ of the time. He really can't develop an off-speed pitch because he will still throw it at 90+ mph. His sinker, cutter, fastball should be more than enough. I don't know where ppl are getting he has shoulder problems. If he has shoulder problems we shouldn't have traded for him.

[USCFOOTBALL]

Did you see him pitch recently. That 1 pitch is all he needs. He got us 3 outs in less than 10 pitches 80%+ of the time. He really can't develop an off-speed pitch because he will still throw it at 90+ mph. His sinker, cutter, fastball should be more than enough. I don't know where ppl are getting he has shoulder problems. If he has shoulder problems we shouldn't have traded for him.

We traded for him because it only costed Maeda who didnt want to be a reliever, his injury is already factored into the cost and risk. His shoulder they're being careful with it, we don't know his medical information, the announcers said his shoulder was sore after pitching two games back to back. Which is weird because he threw 29 pitches combined in those games. That is not closer material, we need some arms, the bullpen was the weakest link.

[ciaban2.0]

Did you see him pitch recently. That 1 pitch is all he needs. He got us 3 outs in less than 10 pitches 80%+ of the time. He really can't develop an off-speed pitch because he will still throw it at 90+ mph. His sinker, cutter, fastball should be more than enough. I don't know where ppl are getting he has shoulder problems. If he has shoulder problems we shouldn't have traded for him.

We traded for him because Boston wouldn't accept him for Betts, so it was either we take him and send Jeter Downs or no Betts...this is the best version of that.

[USCFOOTBALL]

We traded for him because Boston wouldn't accept him for Betts, so it was either we take him and send Jeter Downs or no Betts...this is the best version of that.

My recollection of it was that Boston originally wanted him then changed their mind so we completed the trade with a different package. After completing the deal we still made the Graterol trade. We could have pulled out of that, we probably liked Graterol atleast to some extent.

[QQQ]

Graterol actually has 4 pitches but his change up gets MURDERED so he rarely uses it. Seems to me like he can’t control his 4 seamer very well so he doesn’t use that as often either. Then there’s the 2 pitches he uses most. The 101 mph sinker which the average speed for that is tops in the entire MLB and then he also has a nasty slider that breaks hard but isn’t super consistent yet in my opinion.

He’s still very young, just turned 22 a few months ago, so he can definitely still continue to develop the rest of his pitches. I think that sinker/slider combo can already be elite because out of his hand and up until like 15-20 feet away from the batter the pitch looks the same but the break is like a few feet apart from each other.

[QQQ]

Also I kinda think the arm stuff from graterol is a little exaggerated. Those rumors mostly came out when the Red Sox canceled the mookie betts trade because they “didn’t like graterols medical reports”. I think that was a lie or at the very least misleading, they probably didn’t like some previous concerns that the twins had but not necessarily current issues. I think the Red Sox were simply trying to manipulate the situation into getting better trade compensation, and it worked.

And then there was a rumor that Dave didn’t like pitching graterol in back to back games because he was worried about graterols shoulder but I remember when that came out Dave threw graterol out there for the 2nd night in a row so that didn’t make sense.

Whether or not graterol returns to be a starter depends on whether or not he can develop his off speed pitches and not so much on his shoulder health in my opinion.

[USCFOOTBALL]

Also I kinda think the arm stuff from graterol is a little exaggerated. Those rumors mostly came out when the Red Sox canceled the mookie betts trade because they “didn’t like graterols medical reports”. I think that was a lie or at the very least misleading, they probably didn’t like some previous concerns that the twins had but not necessarily current issues. I think the Red Sox were simply trying to manipulate the situation into getting better trade compensation, and it worked.

And then there was a rumor that Dave didn’t like pitching graterol in back to back games because he was worried about graterols shoulder but I remember when that came out Dave threw graterol out there for the 2nd night in a row so that didn’t make sense.

Whether or not graterol returns to be a starter depends on whether or not he can develop his off speed pitches and not so much on his shoulder health in my opinion.

I'm not a Roberts defender but there's a reason why Roberts leaves Graterol in there for a lot of times under 10 pitches and I don't think it's just because Roberts is an idiot.

[QQQ]

I'm not a Roberts defender but there's a reason why Roberts leaves Graterol in there for a lot of times under 10 pitches and I don't think it's just because Roberts is an idiot.

I looked at his game logs and 16 out of 23 regular season appearances he threw more than 10 pitches. 5 out of 10 post season appearances he threw at least 10 pitches. This means 13 total appearances he did not throw at least 10 pitches. Of those 13 appearances that he didn’t throw at least 10 pitches, 8 of those he pitched at least 1 inning and a few of those times more than 1 inning. Of the other 5 times I know 2 of those in the post season he got 2 outs very fast and did what Dave wanted him to do and 2 times in the regular season he was just hit hard so Dave had to yank him.

So seems to me like the real reason he doesn’t throw 10 pitches at times is because he just gets batters out extremely fast and other times because Dave just wanted him to get a few outs in certain situations

[DodgerBlue8188]

I think it's to early to assume Graterol is out future closer. We want to hope it turns into that but I always feel that a team willing to give away a player does so because they feel that player is expendable to a degree. Now granted if you get a huge star in return (i.e Betts) it makes sense. But Maeda is far from a star. He's an arm that the Twins needed to give them a better chance in 2020 but I don't think they would be trading for Maeda with somebody they really felt would be a huge impactful player years from now.

[USCFOOTBALL]

I think it's to early to assume Graterol is out future closer. We want to hope it turns into that but I always feel that a team willing to give away a player does so because they feel that player is expendable to a degree. Now granted if you get a huge star in return (i.e Betts) it makes sense. But Maeda is far from a star. He's an arm that the Twins needed to give them a better chance in 2020 but I don't think they would be trading for Maeda with somebody they really felt would be a huge impactful player years from now.

Agreed, and it's not like we don't need help everywhere on our bullpen, Graterol will play an important role regardless.

[GibbyIsMyHero]

As an alternative to acquiring a bat on the level of Lindor, what would you all think of a short term deal for LaMahieu? He’s not a great defender at 2B, but I think he’d offer more than JT and may be a plus defender at 1B if we’re willing to move Muncy across the diamond.

Alternatively, we could bring back JT and move him to 1B for two years but we all know how he’s struggled to stay healthy. I think DJ - 4 years younger - might be the smarter investment here.

Clearly our defense would be diminished, but...

STARTING LINEUP
Betts - CF
Seager - SS
LaMahieu - 1B/DH
Muncy - 3B/1B
Smith - C
Bellinger - CF
AJ - LF
Lux - 2B
Taylor/Rios - 3B when DH is used

BENCH
Taylor - Super Utility
Rios - 3B/1B
McKinstry - Middle Infield
Barnes - Kershaw’s personal caddy
Last Spot - Open competition (DJ Peters?)

A two year deal for LeMahieu could be a perfect short term solution to replacing JT. In year one they can evaluate what they’ve got in Lux, McKinstry and Rios, providing an opportunity to evaluate whether they want to be players in the FA market for Seager or Lindor while knowing they’ve got at least one more year with Lemahieu

It’d be nice to have a guy that hits like a traditional batting champ.

What do you think?