I had fun with the "Ex-Twins in the Box Scores" post last year. I know, it's too early for any games at this point in the year, but I have noticed some activity in the way of signings during the off-season. This past week I read about the Texas Rangers signing Danny Santana to a minor league contract. Frankly, I had almost forgotten he was still around! I think he was with Atlanta for part of  last season.

Here's the link to ESPN's summary of Rangers transactions:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/team/transactions/_/name/tex

 

Any other ex-Twins changing teams so far this winter?

Probably the most notable is Dozier signing with the Washington Nationals for $9M. 

Texas also signed Tonkin to a minor league deal. His numbers in Japan weren't good.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/01/rangers-sign-michael-tonkin-reliever-japan-npb.html

Chris Herman has bounced around waivers. I can't remember his most recent stop was Houston or if there's another.

 

Chris Herman has bounced around waivers. I can't remember his most recent stop was Houston or if there's another.

Houston non tendered him, Hermann signed with Oakland

 

Chris Herman has bounced around waivers. I can't remember his most recent stop was Houston or if there's another.

 

Houston non tendered him, Hermann signed with Oakland

Everybody gets so chintzy with the consonants - give the man his two r's and two n's.

Shane Robinson to Phillies

Delois Guerra to the Brewers

Tommy Millone to the Mariners

Ryan O'Rourke and Hector Santago to the Mets

 

 

 

Everybody gets so chintzy with the consonants - give the man his two r's and two n's.

I thought I hit rr  oops

 

I thought I hit rr  oops

Erors hapen. Nno wories.

this whole thread is made up of errors.  

 

Our error for letting them go

or

their error for trying to make something out of them

 

 

Erors hapen. Nno wories.

Rsreaceh has been dnoe wichh swhos taht as lnog as the fsirt and lsat ltrtees of a wrod are in peporr pstoioin it is esay to dpcheier waht the wiretr is snyaig.

Chris Gimenez has retired and is now the Game Planning Coach for the Dodgers.

Edited January 13, 20197 yr by djvang

 

Shane Robinson to Phillies

Delois Guerra to the Brewers

Tommy Millone to the Mariners

Ryan O'Rourke and Hector Santago to the Mets

Tommy Milone lives! Who wouldda thunk it? I missed that one, but I read about the Santiago signing last week .... and promptly forgot about it. Which reminds me: Is Ricky Nolasco still kicking around?

This has been a (depressing) trip down memory lane

Still holding out hope that Big Sexy finds a job in 2019...

Who could forget John Ryan Murphy? He signed with the D-Backs for $900k. Let's see....who got the better end of that deal (Aaron Hicks to the Yanks for JR Murphy)? Ugh.

Gregorio Petit to Phillies
Anthony Swarzak to the Mariners
Taylor Featherston to the Royals

Let's not forget Oliver Drake, who can't get out of 40-man/DFA hell. Just moved again 10 days ago to the Rays. He'd been claimed by the Blue Jays after the Twins DFA'd him earlier in the offseason. Played for FIVE teams last year.

 

Who could forget John Ryan Murphy? He signed with the D-Backs for $900k. Let's see....who got the better end of that deal (Aaron Hicks to the Yanks for JR Murphy)? Ugh.

 

It doesn't matter. I don't think Hicks would have turned the corner with the Twins coaches. Do you?

 

Hicks was not good in NY right off the bat, someone worked with him to turn the corner.

 

The Twins got Moya for Murphy, and Moya has at least been average, so it's not the end of the world.

 

I'm still skeptical that Hicks's run will last. I expect he will be up and down like Carlos Gomez (who in all fairness has been mostly down in his career).

Edited January 14, 20197 yr by Doomtints

 

 

 

this whole thread is made up of errors.  

 

Our error for letting them go

or

their error for trying to make something out of them

 

I mean, exactly! It always just amazes me that we can be so dang crappy, then reject the crappiest of our crappy players, and then see all of these crappy players resurface out there on the fringes. Baseball is so weird.

 

Which reminds me: Is Ricky Nolasco still kicking around?

Not in baseball, since Nolasco was released from his minor league deal with the Royals last March.

 

Let's not forget Oliver Drake, who can't get out of 40-man/DFA hell. Just moved again 10 days ago to the Rays. He'd been claimed by the Blue Jays after the Twins DFA'd him earlier in the offseason. Played for FIVE teams last year.

I wouldn't call it "hell". Thanks to claims and trades, Drake racked up another season of MLB service time in 2018 toward his pension, and made $550k salary. He's not getting paid this winter, but he still keep benefits for him and his family as long as he's on a 40-man roster (or even while he's in DFA limbo).

 

For a 43rd round draft pick who didn't debut until age 28, he's done pretty well by grossing over $1 mil in salary the last 2 years, at age 30-31, and racking up over 2 years of service time toward his pension. And he's done so largely because teams can't freely shuttle him to the minors anymore, and instead have to allow him to go elsewhere. I'm sure he'd prefer to stay in one place in MLB, but moving around MLB sure beats getting sent back to the minors.

I noticed Alexi Casilla is batting over .300 in the Dominican League

 

I wouldn't call it "hell". Thanks to claims and trades, Drake racked up another season of MLB service time in 2018 toward his pension, and made $550k salary. He's not getting paid this winter, but he still keep benefits for him and his family as long as he's on a 40-man roster (or even while he's in DFA limbo).

 

For a 43rd round draft pick who didn't debut until age 28, he's done pretty well by grossing over $1 mil in salary the last 2 years, at age 30-31, and racking up over 2 years of service time toward his pension. And he's done so largely because teams can't freely shuttle him to the minors anymore, and instead have to allow him to go elsewhere. I'm sure he'd prefer to stay in one place in MLB, but moving around MLB sure beats getting sent back to the minors.

I wonder how much pension a player can accrue from 2 years of service time. I would like to know more about MLB pensions. Maybe someone can start a thread.

 

Edit -- I found what I was looking for -- https://www.marketwatch.com/story/big-papi-and-other-retired-baseball-players-can-get-a-210000-a-year-pension-2016-10-11

 

I wouldn't call it "hell". Thanks to claims and trades, Drake racked up another season of MLB service time in 2018 toward his pension, and made $550k salary. He's not getting paid this winter, but he still keep benefits for him and his family as long as he's on a 40-man roster (or even while he's in DFA limbo).

 

For a 43rd round draft pick who didn't debut until age 28, he's done pretty well by grossing over $1 mil in salary the last 2 years, at age 30-31, and racking up over 2 years of service time toward his pension. And he's done so largely because teams can't freely shuttle him to the minors anymore, and instead have to allow him to go elsewhere. I'm sure he'd prefer to stay in one place in MLB, but moving around MLB sure beats getting sent back to the minors.

 

Please don't take my choice of words too seriously. Everything you say is 100% correct. His service with 5 teams is a quirk and an MLB record, and just stood out in my mind. The Effectively Wild podcast even had him on as a guest last month because of it. It was super interesting. His girlfriend has had to do all of the apartment renting and cancelling and packing and all of that stuff, so it probably affects her more than him!

 

Director of strategic initiatives for baseball operations? That is yet another fancy job title that leaves me scratching my head. .

 

Twins 1st round pick in 2038! Is that a real year?

Edited January 16, 20197 yr by Vanimal46

Felix Jorge and Buddy Boshers to the Reds.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/01/reds-sign-buddy-boshers-felix-jorge.html

It's amazing that Milone's slow-motion pitches and delivery, and the results of it all, are still kicking it. Good for him.

 

He may just end up playing for Seattle as they have very poor depth. He's probably their #6/#7 guy. One or two injuries and he gets the ball (for a while anyway).