Article: Twins To Sign Lance Lynn

[laloesch]

The Twins finally bit the bullet, threw out the stultified parts of the "Twins Way" mythos, and (evidently) went out and got the right guys to run the front office (and loosened the pocket books a little in the process). 

 

Enjoy the ride while it lasts, folks. The big money teams' headhunters will likely be coming after Falvey/Levine in the years just ahead.

LOL, why? The team still has a tremendous amount of money coming off the books the next two seasons. Mauer, Lynn, Dozier, Santana, Hughes, etc. Even with these signings they still will have tremendous flexibility in the years ahead and haven't given up any prized prospects in the process. I say high fives all around.

[Mike Sixel]

I applaud the effort this front office had made to improve the team. I have no idea what to expect from any of these pitchers, but I am confident we won't see as many terrible starts as recent years. With luck and health, this team should be in the wild card hunt all year.

[jimmer]

 

I applaud the effort this front office had made to improve the team. I have no idea what to expect from any of these pitchers, but I am confident we won't see as many terrible starts as recent years. With luck and health, this team should be in the wild card hunt all year.

The FO had a very, VERY good offseason.  I mean, yeah, Darvish would have been great and Cobb would have been better than Lynn, but the EFFORT put forth by this FO has to be commended and I think this team got much better.

Edited March 10, 2018 by jimmer

[Thrylos]

 

Hope Berrios still gets Opening Day.

 

Looks like Odorizzi will get the Opening Day with Berrios the home opener in order to be able to pitch in Puerto Rico

[crapforks]

The competitiveness of this team depends so much less on things ‘breaking the right way’ or players ‘taking the next step’ or ‘returning to form’. The floor for this team has risen substantially. That’s freaking exciting!

[luckylager]

Color me impressed!  Falvey and Levine have put together the most solid Twins starting rotation that I can remember. Can't wait til opening day!

[John Bonnes]

Last I saw, Vegas had given the Twins an over/under of 82.5, which would leave them just out of the second Wild Card spot, held by the Angels with an over/under of 84.5. This should close that gap.

 

But the larger point is that the Twins are on the fringes of competitiveness, and that's when it makes sense to bite the bullet and spend a little extra money to help out that postseason appearance. This doesn't guarantee anything, but it helps it along. The Twins chances of another postseason appearance were helped quite a bit today. 

[jokin]

 

LOL, why? The team still has a tremendous amount of money coming off the books the next two seasons. Mauer, Lynn, Dozier, Santana, Hughes, etc. Even with these signings they still will have tremendous flexibility in the years ahead and haven't given up any prized prospects in the process. I say high fives all around.

 

Nothing funny said on my part. I think there is an issue of misunderstanding here. I come here to praise Falvine, not to bury them.

 

In a sense, my post was to emphatically state high fives all around are in order!

 

But... if we're heading for some type of major success as appears to be the case, Falvey and Levine will be near the top of the wish lists when executive openings occur at the high dollar teams.

Edited March 10, 2018 by jokin

[jokin]

 

Last I saw, Vegas had given the Twins an over/under of 82.5, which would leave them just out of the second Wild Card spot, held by the Angels with an over/under of 84.5. This should close that gap.

 

But the larger point is that the Twins are on the fringes of competitiveness, and that's when it makes sense to bite the bullet and spend a little extra money to help out that postseason appearance. This doesn't guarantee anything, but it helps it along. The Twins chances of another postseason appearance were helped quite a bit today. 

 

Perhaps the braintrust is holding off on biting those bullets until June/July player rental season?

[OldManWinter]

One source said #75 Winston S.

[prouster]

Nothing funny said on my part. I think there is a issue of misunderstanding here. I come here to praise Falvine, not to bury them.

 

In a sense, my post was to emphatically state high fives all around are in order!

 

But... if we're heading for some type of major success as appears to be the case, Falvey and Levine will be near the top of the wish lists when executive openings occur at the high dollar teams.

Maybe this is true of Levine, but Falvey is already president of baseball ops. Not saying it's impossible for another team to lure him away, but any move would be lateral. There aren't many of these jobs to begin with.

[ashbury]

New CBA...player cannot be QO'd more than once

D'oh! You are quite right.

 

I blame my fact-checker. Yeah, that's the ticket.

[laloesch]

Nothing funny said on my part. I think there is an issue of misunderstanding here. I come here to praise Falvine, not to bury them.

 

In a sense, my post was to emphatically state high fives all around are in order!

 

But... if we're heading for some type of major success as appears to be the case, Falvey and Levine will be near the top of the wish lists when executive openings occur at the high dollar teams.

Yes, i agree. I'm impressed with what they've done so far. It would have been nice to land Darvish but everything else has made up for that in a fairly well rounded team. The key this offseason was to address the pitching staff and they have certainly made significant strides in the right direction even if some of the deals are short (Pineda and Lynn). What i do like about it is there were no albatross multi year costly mistakes made such as the Hughes extension or Nolasco signing. Edited March 10, 2018 by laloesch

[jokin]

 

I applaud the effort this front office had made to improve the team. I have no idea what to expect from any of these pitchers, but I am confident we won't see as many terrible starts as recent years. With luck and health, this team should be in the wild card hunt all year.

 

You nailed it, Mike. For the first time in nearly a decade, we have the prospect of a rotation that gives you a decent shot at winning nearly every single game. Barring a monster season from somebody like Texas, Seattle or Toronto, it looks like this acquisition puts the Twins as a front-runner for a wild-card, at worst.

[jokin]

 

Maybe this is true of Levine, but Falvey is already president of baseball ops. Not saying it's impossible for another team to lure him away, but any move would be lateral. There aren't many of these jobs to begin with.

 

Agreed completely with your analysis. But if one were to open, the prospective position would be far more lucrative than Minnesota.

[TKGuy]

There should be absolutely no bitching about the offseason by the FO

[laloesch]

You nailed it, Mike. For the first time in nearly a decade, we have the prospect of a rotation that gives you a decent shot at winning nearly every single game. Barring a monster season from somebody like Texas, Seattle or Toronto, it looks like this acquisition puts the Twins as a front-runner for a wild-card, at worst.

Like you and Mike said this acquisition along with Odorizzi should help this team avoid crushing strings of consecutive bad starts that kill momentum and knock them out of Division contention early on in the season. We should be able to hang with Cleveland for much of the season (knock on wood) if all goes well. It will also take the pressure off a very young Berrios and Santana who will be jumping into the pool in May. Gibson hopefully will benefit from the extra competition as he's now slid all the way down to #4 and eventually #5. I wonder if Molitor will still go with a 4 man rotation?

Edited March 10, 2018 by laloesch

[Rosterman]

At this point, would say goodbye to HUGHES and Sanchez. Too bad they can't write-off Huges salary under last year's profits.

 

Of course, there is still disabled list possibilities.

 

Or do the Twins cut bait with Vargas now.

 

I would almsot rather see the Twins keep Slegers (and Mejia) as next in line starters than Hughes or Sanchez.

 

Not to mention that we have Jorge, Romero and Gonsalves in the near wings.

[Brock Beauchamp]

The FO had a very, VERY good offseason. I mean, yeah, Darvish would have been great and Cobb would have been better than Lynn, but the EFFORT put forth by this FO has to be commended and I think this team got much better.

At this point, would you trade Darvish at 5-6 years for two years of Odorizzi, one year of Lynn, and two years of Morrison?

 

I’m not sure I would. To get that kind of talent for Darvish money without suffering through the back half of a six year deal is HUGE.

 

As for Lynn vs Cobb, I also lean Cobb but didn’t see enough difference to really get upset about it (not claiming you did either).

[jokin]

 

 Gibson hopefully will benefit from the extra competition as he's now slid all the way down to #4 and eventually #5. I wonder if Molitor will still go with a 4 man rotation?

 

I suspect that the 4 or 5 man rotation speculation is going to be the subject of many threads and articles between now and the end of March. 

[Jordan1212]

Well worth the 3rd round draft pick. Like I have been stating these guys make smart moves, we don't go trade the farm for Chris Archer thanks. We got him cheaper than Santana and Hughes that is because falvey doesn't play. Imagine if Terry Ryan ever did something like that haha yeah right he signed nolasco, Hughes and Santana 1 panned out sort of. Let alone we signed Morrison, plus the bullpen. I cant believe im goimg to say this but Maybe it's time we stop blaming Jim pohlad and actually put the blame on Terry Ryan clearly he never believed in free agents. Why I say this is because look Pohlad trusts his people in management positions as you should as a corporation!!! He trusted Terry Ryan just as he trusts Derek falvey. He said ok you want to spend go ahead. I really am starting to believe Terry Ryan could of spent but chose not to which is why he sits and scouts minor leagues. Enjoy while we go to the wild card again and actually have a shot at winning a game. Thanks Jim pohlad for understanding it was time to fix the bad dream.

[Jordan1212]

Also this signing I believe shows they don't trust Kyle Gibson by any means which in reality I don't either.

[ashbury]

 

Well worth the 3rd round draft pick. Like I have been stating these guys make smart moves, we don't go trade the farm for Chris Archer thanks. We got him cheaper than Santana and Hughes that is because falvey doesn't play. Imagine if Terry Ryan ever did something like that haha yeah right he signed nolasco, Hughes and Santana 1 panned out sort of. Let alone we signed Morrison, plus the bullpen. I cant believe im goimg to say this but Maybe it's time we stop blaming Jim pohlad and actually put the blame on Terry Ryan clearly he never believed in free agents. Why I say this is because look Pohlad trusts his people in management positions as you should as a corporation!!! He trusted Terry Ryan just as he trusts Derek falvey. He said ok you want to spend go ahead. I really am starting to believe Terry Ryan could of spent but chose not to which is why he sits and scouts minor leagues. Enjoy while we go to the wild card again and actually have a shot at winning a game. Thanks Jim pohlad for understanding it was time to fix the bad dream.

Moderator's note: Everyone, this is not a Terry Ryan thread. Start one, if you like.

[Platoon]

Cool!

[jimmer]

Best thing about getting Odo and Lynn, once Santana gets back, Gibson should (hopefully) be out of the rotation.  

 

Santana

Berrios

Odo

Lynn

Mejia/May/Gonsalves

 

Next year

Santana

Berrios

Odo

Pineda

Mejia/May/Gonsalves

 

These are true MLB rotations.

Edited March 11, 2018 by jimmer

[jimmer]

 

Also this signing I believe shows they don't trust Kyle Gibson by any means which in reality I don't either.

Concur.  Should have been traded a couple years ago.

[darin617]

 

I'm not worried about that happening, Lynn still has a few weeks before the season starts. Morales signed in May, when the season was around 33% progress.

 

 

Comparing a pitcher to a hitter are not the same. A pitcher needs to get his work in to get in his work. They also should have had an option for like $15M for 2019.

[wsnydes]

I think I would have preferred Cobb based solely on the AL/NL factor, but I really like what the FO is showing us. No single move is all that exciting, but as a group they've been solid. They've improved the roster while still allowing flexibility for prospects to come up a make their mark. It's an encouraging sign for sure.

[kab21]

 

Also this signing I believe shows they don't trust Kyle Gibson by any means which in reality I don't either.

This signing is about value. They got someone that might be better than anyone in their rotation on a cheap one year deal. I am all aboard the Berrios train but I am quite skeptical about Ervin at his age and coming back from an early season injury. Odorizzi has the same kind of question marks as Lynn but worse.

You just do these kind of moves regardless of what you think about other players.

[Thrylos]

 

Last I saw, Vegas had given the Twins an over/under of 82.5, which would leave them just out of the second Wild Card spot, held by the Angels with an over/under of 84.5. This should close that gap.

 

Yeah.  There is another part of that equation here:  Lots of the Angels' helium is based on Ohtani helium who so far seems unable to get AAAA players out.  Ohtani has been so bad that the Angels had him pitch at the back fields his last start so will not attract attention.  That team will be a circus this season.  Mark my words