Twins Extension Candidate: Kenta Maeda

Love Maeda but extending a SP turning 35 at the end of their contract is a horrible idea. Maybe if they had Kershaw / Verlander or Scherzer but Maeda does not fit in that group. 

I agree. It’s unlikely Maeda will be among those very few players who succeed after 35 years of age

Maeda deserves more in 2020 than what he got. But I wouldn`t extend his contract, it`d be like extending Perez's contract after the first 60 games being a Twin. Let's see what happens after the league get used to him & even then I'd have to see what he has at 35 before offering him an extension

Certainly not this winter. As good as he was, lets see how he does next year hoping it is a regular 162 games...or close to that. If he is again a top three vote getter for the Cy Young, then consider going out another year or two.

Would prefer going out and signing Odorizzi this winter.

I join the consensus here - why would you do that.  Very few pitchers are really good after 35 and the contracts for a 35 year old free agent are likely to be pretty reasonable.

No, I love Kenta but he is under a long contract..... maybe boost his bonuses for his current contract? Hopefully the Twins learned from the Phil Hughes extension

If you could transfer Maeda's performance to that of an everyday player, maybe. But pitching excellence is notoriously prone to problems even with small injuries. 

Love Maeda, he was the highlight in a bleak season and arguably even bleaker year. Hope he hits all the performance bonuses through 2023! But I wouldn't talk re-signing him this off-season.

Especially with all the present uncertainty.

Would prefer going out and signing Odorizzi this winter.

Amen. You can never have too much quality pitching.

I don't know many IP Maeda threw oversees, but he hit 175 his first season with the Dogers. While his performance and numbers the next 3yrs were good/excellent he was moved to the pen to help their run. As one of our top rotation pieces you want him to pitch 180 innings plus. There's absolutely no reason to believe he can't do that, especially with an occasional break here and there and no over-use, which the Twins seem to be good at preventing with thjs staff. And the guy I watched pitch last season seems to be more than capable of maintaining what we saw. So while he hasn't done it but once thus far, doesn't mean he can't. In fact, the Doger pen moves and the short 2020 season may actually prove beneficial to a 30yr old arm.

But the pragmatic part of me wants to see it first before I talk extension or any bump in his incentive clauses.

And then, as Diesel mentioned, there is the ghost of Hughes lingering. I don't think you extend a guy already under contract...or again bump his incentives...until you see more.

No to any re-work of his deal at this time.

I think Maeda deserves more, but I agree with LA Vikes fan   one of the reasons we gave up Graterol was Maeda's contract.  I think he over-performed what any of us thought he could do last season, but he was always a good pitcher that the Dodgers took advantage of to avoid paying bonuses.  It's not the fault of the Twins that he's so under paid.  And we need that payroll flexibility to add more firepower to a team should be a contender.  

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game.

This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game.

This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game.

This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game.

This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game.

This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game.

This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game.

This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game.

This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game.

This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game.

This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game.

This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game.

This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game.

This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

  I suspect that if there's a pitcher that can age well, it's Maeda.  He isn't a flamethrower and depends on movement and location.  That said, extending any pitcher beyond age 35 is a risk.  With the emphasis Falvey's previous employer placed on developing pitchers from within, I'd guess Maeda gets maybe one more year extended on his contract.  Two tops.

Maeda is already signed long term. Berrios is not signed long term. The Twins are not looking to sign a player to a long term contract who already has one. There are too many other contracts to consider.

Remember Phil Hughes. The extended him long before it was necessary and those dollars could have been invested much more productively elsewhere.