bunsen82

Look at it this way, if the season were to occur we have a chance we could trade someone like Rooker to an NL team to either use as a DH bat this year, plus a few days in the field, or to increase the hitters on an NL team for the minor league system as I would guess from here on out the DH will be used. It allows us to replace that strength and give us more options at having elite hitters in the future for DH, 1st Base and Right field. Allows the team to construct the rest of the roster how they see fit. We have taking alot of picks at 3rd base and SS as well. Needless to say we have a lot of hitters in the pipeline.

As much as its age its how long Brees has been in the public light, and actually dealt with this exact issue 4 years ago. But as to age, I think by age 30 you should at least have a decent understanding of your surroundings. I will say I was surprised to see Kepler was 27, I though he was 23.

Adding to this as slightly different, how old is Brees vs Kepler - 41 vs 27. Brees in my opinion has been around the block and should have known better, this was fully intentional on his part (kepler unwittingly walked into it). However his reasoning is different than what all the other players are upset about. His opinion is political beliefs/concerns should be separated from saluting the flag which he sees as honoring A. the flag B. the military. Makes sense right. He made no claims about social injustice yet that is what every one and his brother took it as yesterday and he got crucified and had to apologize today. We are so easily angered, slow to reconcile, and generally unwilling to look at others belief systems. I am not sure I like the whole group think mentality and trying to force everyone's opinions into the same box. However, at the same time that is exactly what Brees tried to do yesterday, he was attempting to force his team to make a decision on this before the season in the way that he saw this issue without considering the implications of how his other teammates would view this.

Ashbury, I think the ultimate issue is this: most of us understand the implications of what is going on around us. However to put the frustration and some point of blame on Kepler just doesn't sit right with many of us. Nick, you and Brock can back track and say no its his right,and that is not our intention, but your post above doesn't match with the other 15 lines in Nicks original post essentially disparaging Max, and Brock has made it very clear as much as he does not want to place blame, he thinks he dropped the ball and essentially "deserved" this thread. This is my last post on the topic, as all of us at some point need a little tap on the shoulder to say as my daughter sings every day "Let it go." It doesn't mean we can't continue to fight for equality and make things better, but in my world that includes building each other up, possibly causing some positive change, but also realizing others have opinions that I don't agree with and that's ok, ultimately I think that is where this thread falls short.

The owners know they have the upper hand in this negotiation, but with the bigger agreement coming down the road they are taking a very short sighted approach. I love how I have heard a couple of announcers state, well they plow all their money back into operations and no one could foresee this and this is fiscal responsibility and they are not hoarding any profit. True but their profit is in the increase of value in their ownership stake. They can take out so short term loans, or defer some payment to make this work, besides fans will likely be in the stands by August. As to the twins in a 60 or 100 game season. I am really curious to be what will be considered the central division, and will a team like Pittsburgh be part of the Central league. If so 3 of the absolute worst teams in the league would be in our division. With then a couple mediocre teams white sox and then the rest of then the Indians, reds cubs, brewers and cardinals being above average, and then the Twins being elite. Odds should be 95% of getting in with a 14 team playoff.

Different situation, different time. Societal issues from the pandemic to uprisings is infringing on baseball. This is a baseball topic, with one of our players. I don't agree with all of the premise, but I understand it. I've always been one, that you aren't forced to read this thread, and obviously you disagreed with the post. That is fine I can understand it, but to dismiss it all together is not improving any situation. If thats not what you come here for, open up the other 99% of posts and everyone will be in a better place once baseball hopefully opens back up again.

I will admit, I haven't read through the entire string, but I've read through the majority of it, and the initial 2 pages of response, that is not the perception that is being relayed in the messages (evidence by the response, and in my opinion it is not as much lack of individuals concern of the issues as has been portrayed). However, trying to clarify after already blasting him, is no better than him having to backtrack, or a cop trying to fix a situation after they fired first without asking questions. Personal interactions need improvement across the board - not just this board but in society.

I don't want to speak for Brock or Nick and other posters, but I don't think its their full point, as to his initial post, they seem to be more upset by has lack of understanding and publicly making a sincere apology. I somewhat understand their stance, I also think Max unwittingly walked into a hornets nest and merely tried to get out of it as quickly as possible. In my opinion he doesn't deserve vitriol or negative response he has received. Intention is more important to me than the actual act. Max had no intention of demeaning african Americans, and to insinuate as such is short sighted. We at all times have to be educated on issues. His lack of awareness is nothing more than lack of awareness. Education on the issue is the number 1 key. Acknowledge issues and create solutions while minimizing destructive forces is our best way to move forward.

Just curious, has anyone here been in the blue eyed, brown eye experiment? Did it in 10th grade. You want enlightenment, have a little taste of prejudice and it opens your eyes really quick. Still stuck with me 20 years later. That singular day in the morning was one of the most awful experiences I have ever had. You learn real quick why individuals who are subjected to racism are jaded, don't excel as well and generally do not achieve their potential and make poor decisions due to the negative feedback loop they receive.

We can agree agree to disagree. I believe it does. Its not as if he is inherently racist, and he has not gone through history 101 at the high school level or the college level, and has apparently had no negative interactions to make his conscience aware. Its similar to kid, you need to educate. If this is his first awareness, educate, let him have some conversations with his teammates, done. You are taking a moral highground approach, that everyone should be on your level of awareness, and if not should be blasted. That approach does not create change, as I have posted above. Its from honest conversations, relationships and putting the work in to cause change. I am impressed Brock and a few plan to donate. However, that will cause a pittance of change of what any of us can cause by merely getting involved, getting out of our own comfort zones, and becoming good role models, friends, confidants ect. Relationships cause more change than money any day.

If we want a better site, community ect., there are better ways to have dialogue, educate and come to either a common ground. Merely having understanding, allows for a better base, but the messaging has not created a situation in my opinion that has changed anyones opinion. Individuals can have differing opinions based on facts, circumstances and personal experiences. We need to get the vitriol out as whole. I do think those that our way out in left field can be somewhat called out, but also understand their perspective. What does a white business owner have a perception of african americans if his business has been burned down? Likely not very good. As a whole everyone needs to take calm down a bit, listen. Ultimately I home everyone takes more of an approach of Martin Luther King than Malcom X. Ultimately Kings approached caused a lot more change to occur, but we still need more progress.

Boy am I glad I didn't see this post for a couple days. Even still, a lot to unpack. 1. In general many individuals do not understand- the extent of racism, or things or symbols that could be construed as racist. To have an entire post focused on an individual player who is extremely young and not likely fully aware of past historical context is short sighted at best. 2. There are a few bad cops out there, there are a lot of good cops out there. Just like there are a lot of good protestors out there and there are also a few vandals, thieves, and individuals have extremely poor intentions that are merely looking for an excuse to violate the law with potentially getting away with it. 3. If we are looking for tolerance and understanding, there is better ways to try to educate and have conversations that calling out players, posters, admin ect. (This goes for all sides) 4. I have seen seen the posts stating african-american individuals are more prone to be targeted, injured killed ect than white individuals. There is truth to this, but it also doesn't paint the full picture. There is multiple reasons african-americans are only 3% of the population yet 30% of the incarcerated population. Its due to quality of education received, opportunities, generally lower incomes, not as many good role models readily available, and an important distinction- minimal financial resources to afford good attorneys. Watch the movie Just Mercy. Overall a very good summation of some of the issues and racism that is still occurring in this nation. How do you fix this, you invest time, energy and money to help create a better opportunity. It will not solve all the problems but it will allow individuals to be on a more equal footing for opportunities. 5. This is a pet peeve of mine, but I get frustrated with individuals on facebook or even posters hear who appear to feign outrage whether due to true feelings or merely to appear politically correct in the moment than actually doing something that will cause change. This includes putting in time, energy money and generally just being involved with minorities, or lower classed individuals. Then you will gain more appreciation for their circumstances by actually building relationships with those individuals but also allowing for lasting impacts in their lives. Otherwise this post will just be forgotten about in a week or two - just like the nations focus on the issue similar to the 2015 2016 black lives matter protests. What exactly did those protests acheive? From my perspective obviously minimal impact. 6. Lastly the epidemic allowed to create this tinderbox, due to creating more financial uncertainty for many individuals, putting minorities more at risk by dis proportionally putting them at risk by either working in factories that didn't have the resources or plans to protects them, and bringing to the forefront an issue that has continued to be an issue for this country as it has been since essentially this nation was formed.

We will know more after this season. I will admit Cavaco ceiling is high, and he was drafted high last year, but for me he is more like #15 and behind Walner and Canterino.

I think the front office was being risk averse. Graterol is a boom/bust prospect, they would have loved to have the success, but needed a more projectable positive performance and were able to get that from Maeda.

The issue is the Red Sox screwed the pooch on Graterol. I am guessing the Twins made sure everyone was aware that the Red Sox had destroyed his reputation, and also the Twins value merely to improve a deal they got flack on. I think the Dodgers wanting to get the deal through and not burn a bridge with the Twins ( and make the Red Sox look bad) took on Graterol. They have cash to burn which the 10 million is worth more than Raley and the pick. Essentially the Twins got a better deal than was previously reported unless cash was always supposed to be part of the deal. The Twins can buy someone elses comp pick before the draft to get back to whole or use cash to purchase other prospects in trades.

I ultimately think Gratoral goes to the Red Sox, I think he is still highly rated by the Red Sox, however as long as a deal gets done between the Red Sox and Dodgers even if it doesn't include us, I think we still get Maeda. The irony of that is we might actual get a better deal for the Twins as we will be trading from a surplus, likely our bats for a pitcher, rather than one of our top 3 or 4 current pitching prospects. The Dodgers currently do not have a starting pitcher spot for Maeda and view him as a surplus if they get Price. They still need to trade Maeda then. I still think the Twins value Maeda more than any other team and are interested in trading for him, and now our hitting prospects now come into play as the Dodgers are loaded on the pitching side. My guess is this all resolved by Tuesday. We will see.

Graterols upside is tempting, possible #1 starter, possible elite closer. We will like get 4 very good years of Maeda of #2 pitching quality. The issue is Graterol has just as much chance at flaming out. If his velocity decreases there is not much left to work with. The trade as previously constructed was fair. Its starts getting a little overdone if we have to add in another top 20 prospect. Although ultimately if its just a thrown in, no harm no foul. My gut feel this was all to put more pressure on the Red Sox to make a decision.

My guess is Duran is rated higher than Graterol in the Twins organization. If we are sending someone else it would be Thorpe if they want a starter now, with another prospect like Nick Gordon or another pitcher like Blake Enlow is my opinion.

Josh Donaldson was a 6.1 WAR last year, with minimal protection behind him. He had the likes of Nick Markakis and Brian McCann hitting behind him. If you say he has slight regression this year, and he has a 5 War. That 1st year he was worth 40 million. He will only need 6.5 War to make the contract worth it although his worth will be slightly front loaded. Here is my guess on WAR value 2020 - 5.8 2021 - 4.5 2022 - 3.9 2023 - 3.2 2024 - 2.5 That is 19.9 WAR. Donaldson's issue I believe will be staying healthy. If he can stay healthy he will put up the numbers. In my simulation he would be worth $160 million. And by the way the last years value would be $20 million. As long as he has gradual regression the contract will be success. If he is continually injured he will fall off a cliff. The advantages are he will be playing on a real field not turf, we can load manage him, we can give days off at DH or just rest days. To me the risk is minimal with Donaldson.

My stance is this, the advantage the Twins have now is they don't have to do anything. They can stand pat. However, I will laud management that they always do look at ways to improve the team. If an opportunity arose for a player they deem to be a top 10 pitcher, whether that has been their history or the analytics say the pitcher can be a top 10 pitcher, they can do that trade. Or they can wait until the deadline to see what is available.

One other note, I can only imagine that Donaldson will likely see better pitches this year or will have better batters behind him that what he saw last year. From a couple lineups I saw it appears he was batting cleanup with either Brian Mccann or Nick Markakis following him in the 5 spot. He will have a much better hitter than either of those two hitting behind him in the twins lineup.

We are paying 21 million a year for an elite 3rd baseman who can hopefully give us a 5 war for each of those two years. If he does that, he has already earned the contract. I think he has the possibility of being a 3rd baseman all 4 years, playing on a regular field rather than the turf in Toronto. The other thing is the twins are likely to use load management with him. We have a great utility player in Gonzalez for this year. I would anticipate 125 to 130 games at 3rd, 10 to 15 DH days and the rest as days off. It should keep him fresher and healthier throughout the year. This type of load management could possibly get him through the entire contract at 3rd base similar to Adrian Beltre. If we can get anywhere close to the WAR production that Beltre had from his 34 to age 38 seasons this contract will be a steal. The question always is, when will father time begin to step in. For Beltre it was age 38, but he still posted a 3 war in year 38 and 1 war at 39.

The only thing the Twins have to consider is if Berrios would want to stay with the Twins long term. He could end up being a trade piece for another pitcher in the next year or two.

Bailey will be better than Perez. The version of Bailey prior to the last two months is much better than Perez was from May to September. The real improvement comes from can the splitter be a true pitch and is it possible Wes Johnson can gain a couple miles per an hour out of his fastball and make that a plus pitch. My gut feel is Bailey will be viewed as the best pitching signing at the end of the year. Ultimately though we will be looking for two more pitchers at minimum next year in free agency.

Unlike some I am not disappointed Yamaguchi didn't sign here. He would likely be an individual that would do well in April and early innings, but once batters became familiar and analytics delved in could be very hittable just like Kikuchi last year. He is very similar to Kikuchi but slightly different pitches, I believe Yamaguchi's best pitch is a splitter. Look at it this way, the Twins felt he was worth 3 million but Yamaguchi's camp wanted 4 million. The Twins were also interested in another pitcher who has similar stuff who the Twins had success with last year in Sergio Romo (both top out at 90 mph fastball), and they know his stuff works in MLB is Sergio Romo. I believe the Twins then said, we would rather put a little extra to get Sergio Romo instead, who I might add the Twins were not linked to until recently. I think this was an either/or situation, not that we would sign both. I think the Twins will pursue one more higher end RP dependent on if we sign a high end pitcher or Donaldson.