Article: Arizona's Cautionary Tale

[Major League Ready]

 

Which is it...paragraph 1 or paragraphs 2 and 3?

Because in 1 you indicate the Twins can't afford it.

Then in 2 and 3 you admit they can, but the timing has to be right.

Well Chief, you do have a point.  In the first paragraph I was simply trying to point out this premise is  unreasonable in that it assumes we can just outbid every other team for premier agents and that they all want to come here.  The 2nd and 3rd paragraphs do not take the extreme example of the first paragraph literally.  Free agency is a tool this team should use.  They just need to be very smart and timing is part of the equation.  

 

The answer is there is no way the twins could afford 3 premier free agents.  However, I do think they could afford a front of the rotation starter plus whatever other hole needs the most attention.  They can do this and still extend a couple of their key young players if they are patient and let this core come together.  That includes all of the SP prospects (Berrios / Gonsalves / Jay / Romeo / Stewart / Meija and perhaps their pick nexct June.  Of course, the reason for this is that would have a large portion of their 25 man roster in their cost controlled years.

 

I say this recognizing that there are only two instances of teams this century with equal or less revenue than the Twins that have landed this type of SP.  The Rookies in 2002 (Hampton) and Grienke last year.  I am not sure we can count Grient given Arizona had just received a billion dollar TV deal.  Plus, while some here advocated for going after Grienke, most posters here would agree that contract was a very bad idea for Arizona.  I would also concede the over pay is indicative of the difficulty of landing these players for a team that is not in a major market.

[Don Walcott]

This thread has become a lot like the threads from last offseason, debating whether the Twins should spend money to improve. Well, they didn't spend money to improve. The results are officially in.

 

AZ still has an ace and a 25-year-old who has had one bad season, but is still a proven starter, going into next season. They are much closer to having a sustainable winning team than the Twins, imo.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Well Chief, you do have a point.  In the first paragraph I was simply trying to point out this premise is  unreasonable in that it assumes we can just outbid every other team for premier agents and that they all want to come here.  The 2nd and 3rd paragraphs do not take the extreme example of the first paragraph literally.  Free agency is a tool this team should use.  They just need to be very smart and timing is part of the equation.  

 

The answer is there is no way the twins could afford 3 premier free agents.  However, I do think they could afford a front of the rotation starter plus whatever other hole needs the most attention.  They can do this and still extend a couple of their key young players if they are patient and let this core come together.  That includes all of the SP prospects (Berrios / Gonsalves / Jay / Romeo / Stewart / Meija and perhaps their pick nexct June.  Of course, the reason for this is that would have a large portion of their 25 man roster in their cost controlled years.

 

I say this recognizing that there are only two instances of teams this century with equal or less revenue than the Twins that have landed this type of SP.  The Rookies in 2002 (Hampton) and Grienke last year.  I am not sure we can count Grient given Arizona had just received a billion dollar TV deal.  Plus, while some here advocated for going after Grienke, most posters here would agree that contract was a very bad idea for Arizona.  I would also concede the over pay is indicative of the difficulty of landing these players for a team that is not in a major market.

 

I have always agreed with you that lower revenue teams don't do this. I have disagreed that they shouldn't ever do it, though in this post, we seem to be agreeing that IF there is a premier FA SP, they should try to sign him (even knowing the last 1-2 years will probably stink relative to the contract).

 

I think AZ has a much bigger tv deal, so I agree, I'm not sure they are like the Twins. 

 

Clearly, rightly or wrongly, lower revenue teams agree with your general stance, that they should not go in for big time FAs (though the Cards have re-signed their own players to big deals, or tried to).