Front Page: Twins Front Office Testing Fate in Waiting

[Ted Schwerzler]

 

101 wins.  You saw that all the way?

101 wins is a microcosm of the division, but winning the Central shouldn't have been a shock.

[Steve J]

 

I honestly do not know much about the 2 new pitchers and have heard Donaldson's name over the years but is this just like the dumpster diving we are used to?  Is the new front office better at dumpster diving?  Seems like we are just getting older players near the end of their careers.  

 

Oh....You must not remember the days when the Front Office decided to garbage pick people like Tony Batista, a guy who was not playing particularly well in Japan when the Twins decided to make him their every day 3rd baseman in 2006.  

That was surreal.  

 

 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

 

I honestly do not know much about the 2 new pitchers and have heard Donaldson's name over the years but is this just like the dumpster diving we are used to?  Is the new front office better at dumpster diving?  Seems like we are just getting older players near the end of their careers.  

Like Cruz ?

[tarheeltwinsfan]

 

I hope this extended failure results in another 100 win season.

LOL

[Guest]

You really expected something other than what we're seeing this offseason?

 

http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Charlie-Brown-Lucy-Football.png

[Steve J]

 

 

Not sure what the long term plan is here. 

Probably to commit to short term plans.  In that list you have, I don't see anyone worth tying our boat to except for maybe Odorizzi. 

 

[USAFChief]

101 wins. You saw that all the way?

way more than half of TD predictors had the Twins in contention last March. I'm pretty confident the FO wasnt surprised to contend either.

 

Nobody saw 101, but plenty had them as 90-ish.

[Nine of twelve]

 

The Twins don't have any more chance to land Donaldson than they did Strasburg, Wheeler, Ryu, or Rendon. This team is the Pittsburgh Pirates of the AL. Nobody wants to sign here, despite the nice park.

That's the thing about the free agent market. It's the anti-draft. Instead of the team choosing a player the player chooses a team. If a player doesn't want to play for a team it doesn't matter how much he's offered.

In spite of 101 wins I would guess that many players still view the Twins as perennial non-contenders. I think we're going to have to prove ourselves by putting together a few more years of high-level performance before players consider Minneapolis to be a worthwhile destination.

[rv78]

If the Twins want Donaldson why don't they just give him what he wants? Why make it into a bidding game for dollars or seasons? If they were really serious it should be done already. If the offer of 4 years and $100M is what he wants and he isn't signing then he is basically telling them no, I don't want to play for you. It's not rocket science. Move on, tell him the offer is good until such and such a day and if you don't accept what we are offering you by then, which is what you want, then don't let the door hit you in the A$$. 

They have failed at adding impact pitching so what's one more failure...... piece of cake. Move on, get a 1st baseman and let Sano play 3rd another year. Big deal. Without the Ace pitcher we had hoped for it'll be an early exit in the playoffs again anyway. There's always next year... Twins fans have gotten use to it.... 

[old nurse]

I don't know what to make of the high priced free agents this year. It seems like they are using the Twins' interest and offers to drive up other teams' offers. If you listen to Ray Manzarek's comments, that is the impression I am getting from all this. Please note, I don't think I could post the response so listen at your own risk

 

[howeda7]

They could easily have signed Ryu or Kuchel. Instead we're going into the season with a joke of a rotation and a payroll of $110 million, $20 million less than two years ago and the same as it was 10 freaking years ago. It's embarrassing and unacceptable. Huge failure by Falvey and Levine. Fresh off their huge failure at the trade deadline.

[HawksNest]

 

They could easily have signed Ryu or Kuchel. Instead we're going into the season with a joke of a rotation and a payroll of $110 million, $20 million less than two years ago and the same as it was 10 freaking years ago. It's embarrassing and unacceptable. Huge failure by Falvey and Levine. Fresh off their huge failure at the trade deadline.

 

Don't forget trading away arguably 2 of the very best right handed relievers in the MLB and a guy that would slot in pretty well at 3B right now that hit 35 HRs last season (Eduardo Escobar)....

 

Point being, outside of Cruz and Odo, player acquisitions by this FO have not been their strong suit

[prouster]

way more than half of TD predictors had the Twins in contention last March. I'm pretty confident the FO wasnt surprised to contend either.

 

Nobody saw 101, but plenty had them as 90-ish.

Right. My thoughts going into last year were that they could win as few as 70 and as many as 95, depending on how the young players performed. 101 was a bonus, but not totally out of the blue. As things stand, I don’t think it’s at all inappropriate to expect more than 90 in 2020. It’s easy to lose sight of all the good things about this team when the off-season is quieter than it should be, but I think it would benefit everyone to remember that we’ve got a really good ball club to root for.

[prouster]

They could easily have signed Ryu or Kuchel. Instead we're going into the season with a joke of a rotation and a payroll of $110 million, $20 million less than two years ago and the same as it was 10 freaking years ago. It's embarrassing and unacceptable. Huge failure by Falvey and Levine. Fresh off their huge failure at the trade deadline.

This is not a joke of a rotation.

 

It’s very easy (and therapeutic) to forget about the days when Scott Diamond and Sam Deduno were our aces.

[Doctor Wu]

 

We are fine ... the sky is not falling folks. 

No, the sky isn't falling .. but it's awful cloudy outside. Too many "ifs" and "maybes" and expecting some of the breakout players from last year to play as well again this coming season as they did last year. Doubtful that will happen again. Sure, we could win the division again with the current roster, but we still don't have the arms in the starting rotation that will take us past the first round. And who's on first?

[MABB1959]

Wasn't that last year?  I guess extending would count.   I have to believe they know what they are doing but  I am afraid last year was our year and we didn't have the pitching to go all the way.  I

[MABB1959]

101 wins was great!   Not winning a game in the playoffs not so great.   

[mnfireman]

You cannot force a player to sign where he doesn't want to play. Donaldson seems to be using the Twins interest to jack up the $$ of the offer from the team he really wants to play for. That is his (agents) right to do. Too bad the Twins fell into the trap and we, the fans got excited about the possibility of him playing here (like the other players, I don't think there was ever a chance of him signing here). Time to move on.

[ewen21]

 

They could easily have signed Ryu or Kuchel. Instead we're going into the season with a joke of a rotation and a payroll of $110 million, $20 million less than two years ago and the same as it was 10 freaking years ago. It's embarrassing and unacceptable. Huge failure by Falvey and Levine. Fresh off their huge failure at the trade deadline.

Toronto has a HUGE Asian community so that likely helped them in signing Ryu.  We have no idea how much of an influence that had on him, but they are excited to have him:

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/toronto-s-korean-community-excited-after-blue-jays-sign-star-pitcher-hyun-jin-ryu-1.4745115?cache=yes%3FclipId%3D104056%3FclipId%3D1723871%3FclipId%3D104070

 

You seem to be hung up on WE DIDN'T OFFER HIM ENOUGH MONEY.  What do you think it would have taken?  Also, do you understand he has pitched more than 90 innings twice in the last five seasons?  I am kind of mystified as to how you or anyone could be so up in arms about not giving a pitcher like this 100 million dollars.  Please explain that one.

[FormerMinnasotan]

Waiting won’t sign José Berríos to the type of contract extension he will be seeking. If the FO is going to play this “wait and see” game with Berríos pretty soon he’ll end being too expensive to extend anyway. There’s also the possibility given the tepid nature of the FO that Berríos doesn’t want to sign an extension anyways. If that’s true that would show the FO in a negative light.

[Steer53]

Things will be fine when they do not get Donaldson.   Falvey  and Co. still have options and plans that we are not privy to.   Plenty of bullets to trade if and when they see a need, and plenty of cash.   And it will not be a stretch to say that one of our own prospects will turn up HUGH this year.  And if two of them, deeper in the playoffs we go.

[Doctor Gast]

Donaldson is a family man (which isn`t bad) he wants to be near mom & family. He doesn`t need the $ , he wants it help out his family

[Mr. Brooks]

Donaldson is a family man (which isn`t bad) he wants to be near mom & family. He doesn`t need the $ , he wants it help out his family

Do you have a link for that? Or is this speculation?

[Doctor Gast]

 

Do you have a link for that? Or is this speculation?

 

[Doctor Gast]

I don`t have the link ready but I saw clip where he bought his mom a new expensive car

[Mr. Brooks]

I don`t have the link ready but I saw clip where he bought his mom a new expensive car

That's quite a leap from bought mom a car (like every pro athlete) to doesn't care about money.

[howeda7]

 

Toronto has a HUGE Asian community so that likely helped them in signing Ryu.  We have no idea how much of an influence that had on him, but they are excited to have him:

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/toronto-s-korean-community-excited-after-blue-jays-sign-star-pitcher-hyun-jin-ryu-1.4745115?cache=yes%3FclipId%3D104056%3FclipId%3D1723871%3FclipId%3D104070

 

You seem to be hung up on WE DIDN'T OFFER HIM ENOUGH MONEY.  What do you think it would have taken?  Also, do you understand he has pitched more than 90 innings twice in the last five seasons?  I am kind of mystified as to how you or anyone could be so up in arms about not giving a pitcher like this 100 million dollars.  Please explain that one.

First, the narrative was he wouldn't leave the west coast. Then he goes to Toronto and you're telling us this spin job. He went where he got the most money.

 

What would it have taken? A better offer than Toronto, which we never made. There is no evidence we were the highest bidder on any FA we missed on and got turned down because they didn't want to play in MN. If our offers are less, of course no one will sign here. And if they're equal they probably won't either. If you want to play in FA, you have to overpay. 

[ChiefsKid]

 

What would it have taken? A better offer than Toronto, which we never made.

 

 

This. A million times over, this.

[mshnd06]

Improved AL Central, no juiced balls, plenty of regression candidates, status quo with roster.  I'm beginning to think that without impact player acquisitions, last year may prove to be the outlier.  Sure we can hope for help from the farm, but that's tenuous reassurance.  I like the front office's hiring of Rocco, etc... but on the player acquisition front they're net neutral for me - positives for Cruz and Odo, negatives for losing Pressly and Escobar.  It's difficult for me to see the confidence in the FO in this area as more than mere optimism.  I just think we don't have enough data yet.

[Doctor Gast]

It`s a reasonable opinion, Which I believe is pretty on. I`m a family man & if I had the opportunity of a ton of money w/ a chance to make close to 100 million. The extra millions would not make me choose  a team far from family. I`d love to give tickets away to family to come watch me play on a daily basis. & I`m saying Donaldson is like me for what I`ve see n