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This front office has had a ton of success with building bullpens without making big investments. I think this approach makes sense, but they will need to extend themselves in other areas to have a good offseason. I'd much rather they make a big investment on a starting pitcher or everyday player than a reliever.

It is odd that the best SS's the Twins have ever had (other than Zoilo) have all been acquired via trade (Cardenas, Gagne, Guzman come to mind). It is also true than Polanco was an A.L. All Star due to his bat, not his glove. I want to see the Twins get better "D" up the middle. That's why I'm not against looking at a FA signing (Simmons, Didi) or a trade for someone like Story. However, if a BIG move was made for someone like Story, I want the Twins to work out an extension much like the Mets did with Lindor. I don't want a one-year rental. I have no superior knowledge, I just see Lewis more as an outfielder. I still have hope for Wander Javier but this is pretty much a make or break year for him. He either stays healthy and puts himself back in the serious SS of the future conversation, or I fear he will never turn the corner and drift into the dust bin of forgotten prospects.

One of the greatest baseball movies of all time wasn’t played with men as the lead actors but was with women. In 1992, Penny Marshall directed A League Of Their Own. To this date it is one of the most highly regarded baseball movies of all-time and was set in a time in which there was a chance that baseball was put in the backburner to World War II. At this moment in time, while a lot of the men were out fighting the war there were a lot of the women home taking care of their families. Cub’s owner Walter Harvey (Gary Marshall) decides to talk other owners of the Major League Baseball to create a women’s baseball league to help fill the void. This movie helps capture this moment in time with a story of two competitive sisters, memorable supporting characters, and great acting. The heart of this film rests on sisters Dottie (Geena Davis) and Kit Hinson’s (Lori Petty) competitive nature and love for each other. The movie starts off with the two going back and forth about Kit’s batting while scout Ernie Capadino (Jon Lovitz) looks on and determines that Dottie is the player he wants on his team for this new big-league team. Dottie refuses but it’s Kit that insists this is her chance to get away. Ernie tells Kit that if she talks Dottie into playing than they both can play, and she does. Throughout the movie there is a glaring difference between the two’s talent level and Dottie is a star while Kit is too stuck in playing the game her own way and often does not rise to the challenge. Kit begins to become very resentful of Dottie’s success to the point that she is traded to a new team. The movie makes it apparently clear that if each sister could trade places, that they would, and that Dottie would be just as happy at home waiting on her husband to come back from the war. It’s this moment in the movie that you wish the two could have just made up and kept winning on the Peaches. But what would be the fun it that; there had to be a rivalry with a climax that pays off this rivalry. Both sisters meet up In the World Series and the rivalry is settled. Watching this the first time, I had wished it went the other way but after repeat viewing it is a very satisfying conclusion. The best movies have supporting characters that help carry a movie. Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks), the Peaches manager who is an alcoholic has some of the best moments of the movie. He starts off treating the whole thing as a joke and then begins to warm up to the team. Everything from taking an extended pee in front of the girls to yelling there’s no crying in baseball to one of the girls is some movie magic. There’s also the teammates of the Peaches that include Mae Mordabito (Madonna), Doris Murphy (Rosie O’ Donnell), and Marla Hooch (Megan Cavanagh) who also become the heart of the movie as well. Their all dealing with their own issues on the field and off the field that really help audiences want to rally around them. Mae helps a fellow player how to read, Doris keeps the team engaged, and Marla finally feels comfortable in her own skin and marries a man. The team becomes a sisterhood, and they all keep each other accountable. The acting in this movie is what make this film tick. Before the movie even started filming; all the actors had to spend eight hours a day, six days a week doing baseball drills so that the movie looks realistic. Penny Marshall wanted the film to look very authentic. Geena Davis was a perfect choice as Dottie because she does a good job of coming off as a talented baseball player and you feel like her character is genuine. Tom Hanks is a scene stealer who injects the movie with a sense of sarcasm and charm that it would be hard to imagine anyone else playing the part. Rosie O’Donnell also steals scenes with her comedic timing and her heartwarming scenes of reacting to the huge stage they were playing on. Madonna has some good moments too but at the time this came out may have been more of a distraction based off her popular music career. Even some of the smaller parts like Jon Lovitz and Garry Marshall all do a good job with what they are given. Davis has even said that a lot of the women playing baseball in scenes suffered ripped off skin from sliding home in continuous takes. All the hard work and research done in these characters really shown through the actor’s great work. In the end, this movie packs an emotional punch with the characters returning over 40 years later to open an All-American Girls Professional Baseball League exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988. We than see the characters reminiscing and we see the fates of these characters and they all sing their team’s song one last time together. It’s movie moments like this that we remember why we love the game of baseball and why we love playing baseball and that’s because we loved playing the game with our teammates. A league of their own does a good job of letting us remember the spirit of being young and making the game about our love with it by giving us a good story of two sisters, memorable supporting characters and great acting! Rating: Grand Slam! 5 out of 5 stars.

It's weird to have faith in the Twins front office for the first time in my life, but I'd definitely rather they develop some guys they think they can work with rather than spend on a reliever. Or maybe I'm just still scared of a Matt Capps kind of situation

I think it is fair to be patient. We don't spoil the end of the Mandalorian season for them. They don't spoil the end of the Twins' season for us. Besides, if we sign Baby Yoda to a nice long contract, i imagine pitch framing might finally get the respect it deserves...

Your assessment of the Twins' short stops is sound. Adding a player from outside the organization either via trade or free agency is about making the team better. That doesn't always mean simply shoring up weaker areas - the Twins could improve their team by bringing in a SS like Simmons and finding a different regular role for Polanco.

Ted, I always love your posts. I'm not hearing the hints from the Twins, so we all keep hinting for them. I'm hinting Cory Kluber, Trevor Rosenthal, Nelson Cruz, and Ehire Adrianza. I would love to see Simmons come aboard or a trade to bring in Sonny Gray too. Any move that substantially improves the Twins is fine with me. However, the silence from the Twins makes me think they are pretty staunch in their belief of the current roster with 2-3 additions from the vast array of players still out there. My main concern, above all else, is MLB's total incompetence in setting the rules for this coming season. It's total negligence and GM's are waiting to see if they only need to build a team that wins 80 games in a full season because every team qualifies for the playoffs. This is the main hangup in my view.

SS factory? Who could Mike be talking about? It couldn't be our Twins? To my knowledge they haven't produced a bona fide SS since Zoilo Versalles. Prospects usually don't pan out and leave or move to a different position. Polanco became an all star because of his bat not his glove. He's a 2B but was thrust at SS when we traded Escobar. It seems that any good SS we've had, we gotten thru trade. Lewis is a good SS but will he stay there? Why can't we produce our own SS, Mike? It's a question that needs to be asked. Thank you Mike for bringing this to our attention.

You may want to check the numbers again - they are virtually identical with the bat.

I wondered the same a few years ago when some posters here were complaining that we were not signing the most expensive International prospects. It made me wonder what evidence there was that it was a good strategy to sign 16 y/o players to huge bonuses. I wondered if it made more sense to spread it out. So, I took a list of the highest signing bonuses of all time and compiled the results. The success stories were few and far between. Sano is among the most productive top $ signings. The vast majority never made it to MLB baseball or were pedestrian at best. I thought I posted the results here but perhaps my memory is off. At any rate, when we have a $6M pool to work with we can sign a $2.2M guy and have plenty to spread around. However, the failure ratio of these really high bonus guys is so high that we should not be upset if our team does more spreading it around then signing "quality" as some have put it. "Quality" where quality is defined as becoming a well above average MLB player, is just to hard to assess at 16 years of age.

We are good. The White Sox have had a nice offseason but there are still 80% of the FA still needing homes. We have great internal options so throwing money around would be stupid at this point. Lots of options for relief pitching ... we will snag a few ... Starters are a bit more of an issue... I would guess we make a trade for a quality SP or find a nice retread to fill the 4/5 spot. We have 2 top of the rotation type pitchers right around the corner... one will make his debut for sure. Don't panic. We are STILL the team to beat. White Sox are right there but still are on the outside looking in.

Liam Hendriks is off the board and it appears Brad Hand may sign shortly, but history tells us avoiding the top of the bullpen market will likely be a wise decision by the Twins.At around the same time that Twins fans heard the Hendriks news, MLB Network was releasing their #Top10RightNow relievers which featured him at the top of the list: Naturally, many were concerned with the White Sox bolstering their already solid bullpen and many more were wondering if the Twins would sign Brad Hand, who recently said he would love to play for his hometown team. When I saw this list, the question I posed was what did this look like two years ago ... suggesting that it probably looked very different from the current list. The only names on both lists are Aroldis Chapman and Josh Hader. Want to know what last year's list looked like? See for yourself. Once again, Chapman and Hader are the only two names that are on even two of the three lists, and we now have two decades worth of data in this new era of power pitching bullpens that shows this type of fluctuation in the games top relievers is the norm rather than the exception. Quite literally when reviewing league wide relief pitcher data on Fangraphs you can see that what we now know as the modern day bullpen started forming right around 2000. The last 21 seasons are all in the top 21 of relief innings pitched and 18 of the 21 are in the top 21 of K/9, while the other three are still in the top 26. (Sidenote: the 1875 season is 21st on the list at 7.19 K/9 over just 41.1 innings pitched...bizarre outlier) What has the lifespan of an “elite reliever” looked like over the last 20 years? Although not the end-all and be-all indicator, I used fWAR as my measure while limiting the search to pitchers who had a season where they pitched at least 50 innings so my research wasn’t influenced by guys who didn’t put in a full season of work. This obviously eliminated 2020 from the data set which I think is actually pretty fair given the unique set of circumstances compared to every other season. I then found the standardized score of each player's fWAR and found that the data fit a bell-shaped distribution and was close to being “normal”. Download attachment: Screen Shot 2021-01-12 at 10.55.41 PM.png Using the standard normal table, I defined an elite reliever as someone who finished in the top three-percent of the data set which equated to 1.88 standard deviations above the mean. There are 147 individual seasons and 78 unique pitchers who accomplished this feat, which is evidence in itself that a reliever lifespan as “elite” doesn’t last more than a season or two in a vast majority of cases. Furthermore, it was infrequent that a pitcher even appeared on the list as many as four times. Mariano Rivera (7) -- who we knew would be an outlier on this list -- Kenley Jansen (4), Jonathan Papelbon (4), Joe Nathan (4), Craig Kimbrel (4) and Aroldis Chapman (4) are the only pitchers who appear on the list more than three times, and they account for about 18.4% of the total list. A handful of pitchers accomplished the feat three times of which the most notable might be Eric Gagne who accumulated 83.6% of his career fWAR in those three seasons. He has since admitted to steroid use during his run which could explain his massive three-year peak in an otherwise uninspiring career, but is nonetheless another case of an elite reliever falling off after a few short years. So let's bring this back to the two elite free agent relievers entering the 2021offseason that Twins fans were clamoring for. Per fWAR, Liam Hendriks 2019 season was the second best relief season of the century behind the aforementioned Gagne’s 2003 which we now know was partially thanks to steroids, and he was the best pitcher in 2020 accruing the same fWAR (1.4) as Brewers reliever Devin Williams. If the data above tells us anything it’s that Hendriks, who will be 32 by season's start, will likely be overpaid and no longer elite for at least half of his contract with the White Sox. Both parties definitely benefit from the shortened 2020 season as he saved 50-60 innings on his arm, but on top of history being against him he is also on the older end of when the list of relievers above peaked in their careers. And remember, a vast majority of the pitchers in the data set only appeared once or twice. The former Twin might be a “Twin Killer” in 2021, possibly 2022, but 2023 and 2024 (there is a team option) is a crapshoot that the White Sox went all-in on. On the other hand, heh, Minnesota native Brad Hand hasn’t truly had an elite season in his career. His best season in 2017, where he accrued 1.7 fWAR, would rank as the 259th best season of the century although he had a solid year last year where he finished as the fifth-best reliever in baseball. In 2020, he was on pace for what would likely have been an “elite” season, but if you’ve gathered anything from this article so far it’s that relievers are nearly impossible to predict. Hand is about a year younger than Hendriks and doesn’t have the same umph behind his fastball that some of the names listed above have, which are both factors that could make his lifespan as a top, if not elite, reliever a little longer. The real issues with these two, and other “elite” relievers, isn’t necessarily the unpredictable production that their teams will get out of them, but it’s their cost that has me saying “no, thanks”. Even if Liam Hendriks isn’t an elite closer in a couple years, he’ll likely be serviceable as a 7th/8th inning type, but the problem lies in paying a 7th/8th inning type $15.4MM per year. MLB Trade Rumors has Hand signing for two-years, $14MM which actually wouldn’t be a bad deal, a short term deal paying $7MM AAV for a top end reliever is practically a steal. That said, they also had Hendriks signing for three-years, $30MM and he ended up getting an extra year, although it’s a team option, plus an extra $5.4MM AAV and these two factors will surely drive up Hand’s cost. I’d be willing to give Hand two-years, maybe three if it’s a team option, but no more than $9MM based on the volatility at his position. Let me end with a mea culpa, especially directed towards fellow Twins Daily-er Nick Nelson. You see, I was a BIG Craig Kimbrel bobo, as a certain Twins Cities sports radio station might say, and went back and forth with Nick quite a bit on the topic. Even with damning evidence that Kimbrel was toast, I wanted the Twins to DO SOMETHING ... ANYTHING ... but specifically throw money at Kimbrel. I’m sorry, Nick. The data presented in this article, and Kimbrel’s production since 2019, has shown me the light. We shouldn’t be mad about “losing out” on [insert top reliever here]. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

The Twins have Jorge Polanco at SS. In 2019 he was an all star. Now all of Twins fandom wants him at utility and hope for the team to sign another SS. I am not sure why. Our number one prospect remains Royce Lewis who is still listed as a SS who should be ready by the end of the year at least. So why do we want to demote Polanco and block Lewis? This is reasoning that does not work for me. Then we have Wander Javier who came to us in the same international draft that produced Vladimir Guerrero, jr. and Yordan Alvarez. To say that he is behind them on the development level is an understatement. I am still not sure why he is rated so high as a prospect. He has had a hamstring injury during his 2016 debut, a torn labrum costing him all of 2018 and a strained quad keeping him from making his full-season debut in 2019. Then he came in and looked lost for 300 at bats. And MLB.com still has him listed at number nine. Above him on the mlb.com site is Keoni Cavaco who is given great grades for athleticism, which is fine in the Olympics, but batting and fielding count in baseball. I am not sold on him. He was a fast riser in HS according to his notes. Another prospect who does not make my list. At 17 is Nick Gordon. He seems to be on a slippery slope to a forgotten prospect, but I hope he will find a way to get to the majors someday. He just isn’t going to make the team as a starter. Will Holland is next on the prospect list at 19. Notes about him say that he was doing great at Auburn until his Junior year where he bombed and slipped to fifth round. Then he came to rookie ball and still bombed. Not looking good. Today the Twins made an big international signing – Danny De Andrade who is 16. He could be projected to arrive when Lewis runs out of arbitration and signs elsewhere. He is big, potential middle of the order project (typically that means not staying at SS). At 16 he is a project. I know what my grandsons are like at that age – I would not sign them for $2.2 million and I love them. If he makes it he will probably replace Donaldson and not Lewis. Finally the second signing is Fredy LaFlor who is already projected in the mlb.com writeup to shift to second or CF. He said to be a high energy top of the lineup prospect. So there is the Twins SS list. I would like to see us develop one of them into the next great SS rather than sign one who is already down the road of his career and will be overpaid. How do you see these names playing out? The Athletic summary of international signings did not include the Twins - disappointing. https://theathletic.com/2326602/2021/01/16/mlb-international-signing-period-day-1/?source=weeklyemail For those of us who do not know who they are it is important to have outside opinions.

Has anyone in an official capacity spoken in these terms? Being vaccinated doesn't mean you can't still be a carrier.

Good article Matt! While I am not happy with Twins offseason to date(Bowden gave us an F Grade on The Athletic which is still too high), I have to agree that throwing a long term/high $ contract to a reliever makes little sense, if history is any guide. The one time the Twins tried that - Addison Reed - was a disaster. Obviously, if payroll was not an issue, then sure, Hendricks or Hands would be nice, but that is obviously not the case here. Starting from the premise that the Twins need to bolster the bullpen with a shutdown arm, mid price but high reward FAs abound. I would be happy with a Trevor Rosenthal, Kirby Yates, Roberto Osuna, Alex Colome or, yes, even Brandon Kintzler(in that order). Such an addition should be at least #2 on their priority list(an established starter or at least one young, controllable pitcher with a high ceiling should be #1, IMO). And no one on this list should cost more than $5MM/yr - a perfectly reasonable figure for this org. looking for their first playoff win in 19 years. Assuming the Twins have a minimum of $30MM left to spend, this would at least give them enough for resigning Cruz, maybe resign Odo(or some other second tier starter), add a $5MM per yr. reliever and maybe a utility IF. This would up the grade to a C which will would mean going into the playoffs a distinct underdog but still with a decent shot. To increase these odds, they'd need to add another $15MM or so to the budget. Big question of this offseason is : will this organization go for the brass ring or be content to run in place??

Nick Gordon is the forgotten guy. Maybe, just maybe, he will get a utility role shot this year. Royce Lewis to the outfield? Already crowded, even after deep-sixing Rosario (no one had grabbed Eddie yet). Javier, still highly rated, but has already gone thru two Rule 5 drafts. That ahs to be amazing for such a still highly rated prospect. At some point the Twins have to work him onto the 40-man. High school players vs. college players? Discussion on some positions? Yes, MOST prospects don't pan out at all. Others seemed to be packaged more after their first season in a club's system, which can be a smart move...you basically only have money invested.

Can we just establish a rule in here that there be no further mention of "Matt Capps"?! LOL

I think if we'd signed Hendriks and/or Hand the article would have been written. It would have been along the lines of "He's good and makes the bullpen better, but is it the best use of our resources?" Which I think is fair. Would I have wanted Hendriks? Sure, in a vacuum. In a world where the Twins have no financial constraints. Do I want him at what the ChiSox paid him? I don't think so. He's getting a premium as a "proven closer" and it's just so rare that those guys add enough extra value consistently over relievers that can be found/made at much lower prices that it's usually not worth it. (I do think it's ok to pay a bit of an extra premium to retain your own players; continuity can matter, showing loyalty can matter for organizational reputation, etc. but even that has limits)

If I could get Paxton for $6 million I'd do it. We need a LH Starter. He's got tremendous upside. $6 million is not too big a risk. But unless Dobnak is involved in a trade for someone like Ketel Marte he's the #5 until Dhuran or Balazovic show they're ready.

The miss on Kluber makes me think that the Twins budget is closer to $110 million.

When I heard that NYY were interested in Kluber, I figured that was final nail to put to death MN hopes of landing him

I thought this was an excellent article, but then I wondered - what would you have written if in fact the Twins had signed Hendriks and Hand? The slant and take might have been quite different, like the way we justify over paying for Donaldson who we expected would not be worth his final year salary. Baseball has a very strange system for signing veterans who might be sliding down from their peak - like Kimbrel?

I said before last year that some of the people on here were overlooking the White Sox and I was soundly ridiculed - including by someone that said Giolito would barely crack the Twins' rotation. The FO better have a big month or two planned because the Sox young players gained more experience and they've added more solid veterans. When a season - even a short, weird one like 2020 - has a difference of 1 game between 3 teams and one of those teams adds pretty significant talent to its roster while the other two lose pretty big pieces (one, obviously, bigger pieces than the other), the balance of power can shift quickly. The fans were patient for nearly a decade waiting for this window to open and now we're expected to remain patient while other teams are closing the "gap" faster than expected.

And Joe Nathan "Shortstop" just means "athlete" at that level.

Wishlist 1. Trade for Trevor Story. 2. Trade for Joe Musgrove. 3. Find 2 or 3 more of cheap Matt Wisler/Ryne Harper types with one unhittable pitch to pad the bullpen till July when a bigger bullpen move can be made.

Yeah, it's still a crap shoot, but that same year Vlad Guerrerro Jr also signed for 3.9M. Vlad was MLB.com's #7 international prospect while Javier was #12. Interestingly Gilbert Celestino was the #11 prospect but he only got 2.5M. Also in the top 30 were Juan Soto at #25 who signed for 1.5m and Fernando Tatis Jr at #30 who signed for 700K. While 2015 was a banner year, and the rankings, money and evaluations are never going to be perfect, it's probably still in the Twins best interest to grab some of the top guys, even if they aren't THE top guys.

Who needs stars or Star Wars when we can pick up players you have never heard of and put them in a trance under Obi Wes Johnson?

"Cruz. Ten mil, one year, no option. I can sign you warm, or I can sign you cold. This is the way. I have spoken."

Thanks for this information, MLR. Just look at the Twins. Their biggest signing by far was Wander Javier at $4M. Yes, he may still work out, but considering how long ago it would not be unrealistic that he would already be with the Twins if he were going to become a superstar. Then there is Luis Arraez, who memory serves was signed for $48K after first being told the Twins didn't have any more money left. Polanco and Kepler have both worked out very well and if memory serves were signed for something close to $800K. Personally, really like to see them getting three or four guys in the $750K-$2M range, then adding another dozen for $25K-$75K.

Can someone just spoil it for Derek so he gets all pissed and starts buying all the free agents he can? Angry shopping is a thing, right?

They're a good team, but the only thing Moncado has on Donaldson is health. Moncado has had exactly one good year as a hitter, and if he doesn't repeat it this year it'll be a classic fluke year. He's not a significant defensive player, either. Tim Anderson has a flashy BA, but Polanco has just as much ability in getting on base, so if he's our starting SS he can compete. in 2019, when Anderson was grabbing praise and a batting title, Polanco was the better player. Yes, on D too. Luis Robert has a great future...but Buxton is still more talented, and despite the injuries last season was more productive. Basically the only thing the ChiSox lineup in the field really has on the Twins as currently constituted is health...and it's really hard to project health.

I really don't know if the aberration that was 2020 projects to anything useful. The differences in any of the composite player indexes for the most part seem rather small

Let’s forget for a second about WAR, launch angle, and exit velocity. Push your thoughts of FIP, xFIP, and BABIP to the side, and remember why we all got into baseball in the first place. It’s fun. So, I’ve compiled a short list of potential future Twins, and rated how fun they’d be in Minnesota from Boring to Very Fun. Enjoy. Javier Báez – Very Fun The Twins are in the market for a new shortstop and the Cubs seem to be in fire sale mode, so a move that sends Báez to Minnesota might be in both clubs’ best interests. And, simply put, Báez maxes out the fun meter. He’s a still relatively young, swagger-filled middle infielder that does amazing things in the field and sports a good amount of pop in his bat. Forget about his mediocre 2020 stats for a second – watching Báez play is fun because he has the look and the confidence of the best player on the field even if he really isn’t anymore. He’s been on the cover of The Show, something nobody else on this list can claim. And, I’ve kind of buried the lede here – the coolest part about El Mago (cool nickname too) are his tags. Trevor Story – Kinda Fun Trevor Story, another shortstop trade possibility, gets a Kinda Fun designation because, though he may be the best available option at short, he doesn’t boast the star power and flair of Báez and others. Don’t get me wrong – Story is a star; he’s great in the field and at the plate, but looking at his stats on baseball reference is almost more exciting that watching him play. It doesn’t help that he’s been marooned off in Colorado, but Story just doesn’t have that “it factor” or special skill that sets him above the other great shortstops in the league, at least in terms of fun-ness. He does have a pretty mean bat flip, but there’s no crazy tag compilation out there on YouTube, for example. He’ll be a very welcome addition to the Twins if he comes, but a middle-of-the-road rating on the fun meter feels right. Marcus Semien – Boring Marcus Semien is probably the best shortstop available on the free agency market, but there’s a reason a lot of Twins fans would rather give up young talent in a Báez or Story trade than simply sign the former Oakland shortstop. Signing Semien would just give off the feeling that they needed a shortstop and signed a shortstop, not the shortstop that anybody really wants. Semien has been a top-tier player in the past, but a pretty dismal 2020 makes him feel like a more expensive Jorge Polanco rather than a Polanco replacement, and spending on a player that does little to change the status quo is the opposite of fun. Perhaps if I allowed myself to make a joke about his last name, I could bump him up a few levels, but I’m not going to do that so he’s stays at Boring. Nelson Cruz – Fun Perhaps the Twins’ biggest question of the offseason is whether to bring Nelson Cruz back or not and, while our opinions may vary widely on whether it’s wise to spend on a 40-year-old DH, that’s not what I’m here to talk about. Nelson Cruz is fun. With Cruz, there’s no “shiny new car” feeling because he’s been in Minnesota for two years, but there’s a reason he’s been your dad’s favorite Twins player those two years. He’s been a star in the league for the better part of a decade and we love when stars come to Minnesota, especially when they lead the team to an MLB record for home runs. Even better, Cruz’s locker room personality is the driving force behind the “Bomba Squad” moniker and the team identity that’s the Twins last few years on of the most fun teams in the league. Marcell Ozuna – Fun Should the Twins decide against bringing back Cruz, Marcell Ozuna could serve as a long-term high-end option at DH. Though losing Cruz might be sad for many Twins fans, they’d be getting no downgrade in the fun department with Ozuna. He’s a big, muscular dude who wears a bright chartreuse arm sleeve and hits bombs. Massive bombs. In large quantities. Last year, Ozuna led the league in home runs and runs batted in and, though there are certainly more intelligent stats, big homer and RBI guys are very fun to have in the lineup. Advanced stats fans should like him too, as his exit velocity numbers and hard hit percentage were among the best in the league last year. The only thing keeping Ozuna from rising into the Very Fun tier is the possibility of a regression that could make him a Sanó-esque strikeout frustration. Trevor Bauer – Very Fun Now, the Twins odds acquiring the free agent ace and reigning NL Cy Young winner aren’t that great, but he falls into the Very Fun category, so it’s fun to imagine. Bauer is and always has been controversial, so he may not be every Twins fan’s cup of tea, but that’s exactly why I would love to have him so much. The guy who talks the most and angers the most people is exactly the type of guy you want on your team, as long as he’s playing well. And fresh off a Cy Young year, he’s certainly doing that. Above all else though, Bauer has a curious and innovative baseball mind that, as a fan, is fun to see on your favorite team. His appreciation for the craft of pitching is something that every Twins fan ought to be able to appreciate, even if some don’t like his attitude. Also – He’s a fun follow on YouTube. Sonny Gray – Not That Fun Gray, who was Bauer’s teammate last year in Cincinnati, would also be a good addition to the Twins rotation, but he’s not nearly as exciting. With a career ERA in the threes and a WHIP in the 1.2 range, Minnesota fans would probably be happy to have him, but we also managed to make Carl Pavano seem exciting. The fact is that, since he burst into the bigs as a rookie, nobody has ever called you excitedly to say “Hey, did you see what Sonny Gray did last night?!?!” unless they were a Yankees fan complaining about his poor performance in pinstripes. Gray seems like a fun guy to know and have in the locker room, but that doesn’t make him a fun player to watch. If he signs with Minnesota, he’ll be a mid-rotation out-getter more than a jersey-seller. Trevor Rosenthal – Kinda Fun The Twins haven’t had a true flamethrower in the bullpen (other than Brusdar Graterol’s 10 games) in a long while, but that’s what they would get by bringing in free agent reliever Trevor Rosenthal. Rosenthal looked on the brink of exiting the league not too long ago but was dominant down the stretch for the Padres last year, and he regularly touched triple-digit velocity. A dominant hard-throwing reliever is one of most exciting players to watch and have on your team, so Rosenthal, should he sign, would be a very entertaining player to have around. However, he’s only a year removed from being an out of control , and those guys are torturous to watch. I’ll hedge my bets and put him at Kinda Fun.

La Tortuga’s Dive - Check out Willians Astudillo making a nice catch in left field down in the Venezuelan Winter League. And the turtle did NOT stuck on his back when he rolled over... Well done Willians!

The WAR from their relievers comes 90% from Hendricks. I wrote an article about this yesterday. Yes Hendricks is worth about 1.5 WAR more than Colome but the games are still played. Last year the White Sox were perfect in games that Colome pitched, meaning that Colome never was responsible for a loss. The 3 games they lost when Colome pitched, 2 were in extra innings where Colome pitched a perfect 9th to send it to extras. Hendricks peripherals may give them a higher WAR but it is hard to better than perfect as far as actual wins and losses.

Well, yes, they should operate the team at break-even. That's what I would do. Wouldn't you? You are already a billionaire, you can already live whatever lifestyle you want. You have other ventures making money. Beyond keeping a reserve of funds for the team (which yes should probably be enough to operate the team for at least a full year -- heck, 5 years), why not operate the team as a break-even venture? This would zero out your taxes and be a heck of a lot more fun. In the United States, wages are 100% tax deductible. Isn't sports about having fun? If running a team is a headache, sell the team! If counting beans is what drives you in life, stay in real estate.

Sometimes WAR is such a difficult "measurement" or "projection" to understand. Arraez and Madrigal are very similar players. Arraez has a full season more of "accomplishment" yet he is 1.0 less than Madrigal. Abreau is a year older, yes, but coming off an A.L. MVP season. Sano failed miserably last year to build on his 2019 success, yet Sano is a 2.0 WAR and Abreu is 1.6. I agree, the Twins need to start making some significant moves, and that would somewhat change the projection. But I'm left shaking my head at some of these WAR projections.

We just cannot guess the trade market right now, although it would be sweet to add Sonny Gray and/or Luis Castillo in a blockbuster move. Agree that the free agents are not real inspiring but Kluber may be worth a gamble, especially if he is interested in a host of incentives within a contract that can include a second year. Kluber is intoxicating because he was so much fun to watch.

Kluber's showcase was well attended. If he showed anything talent evaluators would like, basically all the evaluators will like it, and the Twins will be outbid. If he didn't show enough, we don't want him. I have no expectation of seeing him in a Twins uniform at all.

Too early in my life to hit me with that. Check again in a few years.

I understand the offseason isn't even close to over but the White Sox have drastically improved while the Twins have done nothing. Not awesome thus far.

What do you think the Twins should do this winter to prepare for the 2021 season? Do you have all (or at least some) of the answers? Show us by creating your own 2021 Twins team at TwinsPayroll.com.The Twins are facing at least six big decisions this offseason, so we've set up a google sheet at TwinsPayroll.com where you can answer those questions, and many more. At what level would you set the Twins' payroll? Would you bring back Nelson Cruz? How about Eddie Rosario? Or would you want to chase a big name free agent? When you click over, you'll be asked if you want to make your own copy. Say you do, then make your choices and the spreadsheet will add up the salaries and compare it to the whatever payroll level you think the Twins should adopt. Then, share yours by starting a thread in our Twins Talk Forum and other can weigh in on your choices. Download attachment: Twinspayroll share.png You can share your payroll with others by clicking on the "Share" button and copying a link. Then share the link on our forums so others can view your handiwork. It's fun. You'll also get a better sense of the decisions with which Derek Falvey and Thad Levine are wrestling this offseason. Plus, it'll make the rest of the offseason more fun, as you evaluate the team's moves and contrast them with your own. But mostly, it's fun. So click over, take your shot, and let us know what you think in the comments below. TwinsPayroll.com Click here to view the article