Twins Sign RHP Anibal Sanchez... No, Really

Maybe we can sign Kevin Correia and Tommy Milone too.

This is our BIG HINT: The Twins are going to use 2018 as a season-long tryout for every plausible pitching prospect in AAA and AA. 

 

If you thought 2017 was musical chairs in the starting rotation, you ain't seen nothing yet. Expect to see half again more candidates try their hand at pitching in the majors. Wouldn't surprise me to see 25 different starters this season. 

And it's stupid, if that's what they are doing.  Wasting a year of their young cost controlled players,  hoping to hit the lotto.

Twins needed a #1 starter and got a #11. Is that twice as good? 

I can only quote what Harry Doyle would have said. "Well, they sign Sanchez to release someone off the 40-man. Falvine must have been thinking . . . I don't know WHAT the hell they're thinking!"

Well, the Twins missed out on bringing back Bartolo Colon, so this is the next best thing...I guess.

Who said good?

 

This just isn't a move to be upset about. Kind of like picking up utility IF or OF that might not even make the team. But yet people get upset about those kind of moves.

That's what I'm hoping for, but if this is the only starting pitching move they make, then that's really bad. If they sign Cobb, then then Sanchez is facing off against guys like Slegers and Duffey for that #5 spot which should only be open for about 5 trips through the rotation and that's far more preferable.

The Twins have been doing this for years -- signing washed up guys before spring training. Sometimes the players make it through spring training, sometimes not. Sometimes they are cut a month or two later, sometimes not. Nothing new to see here.

The Twins are still rolling the dice on has-beens.

The front office change hasn't changed a hell of a lot with how this team is run.

This really isn't any different than the Vogelsong deal of yesteryear other than the 40 spot that will likely just be Pineda or May hitting the 60-day DL. 

Signing Sanchez has zero risk, thus is not bad. 

 

This being their only SP move (i.e not singing a top of the rotation pitcher, yet) is can be bad, if it is still the case by opening day.

 

The two things are unrelated.

Somebody is on a roll this week. We continue to be in agreement.

This really isn't any different than the Vogelsong deal of yesteryear other than the 40 spot that will likely just be Pineda or May hitting the 60-day DL. 

If they don't lose a player from the 40-man, then it's a less painful but still ugly event. I can't help having this nagging suspicion that they don't think Lynn or Cobb are coming down enough on their demands to satisfy them and that they haven't found and probably believe they won't find a trade partner who isn't asking for more than they want to spend in prospects. I don't think it says anything about how they value the organization's prospects in general, but probably says something about the readiness of Gonsalves and Romero in particular.

As much as it would deflate me, I'm preparing myself to expect the worst, which is no acquisition of a front end starter from the outside here in 2018. I hope I'm wrong. Yuck.

Serious question. There is NO WAY ANYONE, ANYWHERE who could see this as a major signing in any way, shape or form. It is the definition of a flier. But with the FO being so much more forward thinking in regards to analytics and the such, is there anything we could be missing here?

Has there been an injury problem I'm not aware of? A mechanical issue not seen? Are there numbers in Detroit that suggest he'd be much better with a change of scenery? Has he been playing winter ball and suddenly looking different?

Not being snarky, I'm honestly asking if we're missing something the FO might be looking at for this flier vs some other flier options that have been out there for an "extra" option that Sanchez appears to have been signed for.

It's difficult for me to say "I smell the playoffs" in the middle of February.