FWIW, Levine apparently reiterated the "priority" line a few week later than the November article I recalled. Molitor's quote from the same December article is a little more telling, though:

 

https://amp.mlb.com/263716888-twins-serious-about-signing-yu-darvish.amp.html

 

"We want to make sure that the player and his team understand that we want to be part of discussions and we have targeted him as somebody we have tremendous interest in," Molitor said. "Where that's going to go, where the market's going to go, what we're able to do, how far other teams are willing to go, you know, things you can't control."

That doesn't sound too aggressive -- that sounds more like what I say when I hang around bake sales, hoping someone gives me a tray of unsold muffins at the end.

FWIW, Levine apparently reiterated the "priority" line a few week later than the November article I recalled. Molitor's quote from the same December article is a little more telling, though:https://amp.mlb.com/263716888-twins-serious-about-signing-yu-darvish.amp.html

 

That doesn't sound too aggressive -- that sounds more like what I say when I hang around bake sales, hoping someone gives me a tray of unsold muffins at the end.

how often does that work? Don’t need exact numbers, a ballpark estimate is fine.

 

Also...are they usually stale by that point?

 

Edit: asking for a friend

 

It helps the Cardinals when they have pitching prospects that flourish such as Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn, Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez, and Luke Weaver. Plus a lot of thier positional players are home grown with either an aggressive trade or free agent signing every now and then. The real key for the Cardinals though is good pitcher development.

I think the biggest key for the Cardinals was drafting Albert Pujols in the 13th round.  They surrounded him with decent homegrown talent and traded for most of the rest of their all-star type talent (Rolen, Edmonds, Wainwright).  Carpenter was a FA who sat out his first year with an injury, I think.  I guess that Molina guy was a nice draft pick, too.  But Pujols was definitely the tent pole or unicorn or whatever they're calling it nowadays. 

If Buxton or Sano becomes that kind of player, then the Twins will need to open the pocketbook a little more and/or trade some of their prospects.  I always thought Sano had the better chance at that, but Buxton has actually out-WARed him so far (7.2 to 5.4 per baseball-reference) in about 350 fewer at-bats.

Is signing Sanchez a bad break or just a bad signing? jk...sorta

Is signing Sanchez a bad break or just a bad signing? jk...sorta

i was disappointed with the half hearted stab at Darvish. If their best offer is 30% off projection and 11% off the winning bid, they were never serious.

 

Now after a major league deal, even non guaranteed, with Sanchez I’m down right PISSED OFF! Minor league with Sanchez or signing Garcia, or another 3rd tier, fine, but mashing the panic button on Sanchez... ugh