ppearson50

"Heard Nationals/Kimbrel is “further down the road” than reported" @keithlaw Sounds like Kimbrel is soon to be gone to the Nationals. Any chance that we circle back to sign Gio Gonzalez or Dallas Keuchel since the only sure thing in the starting rotation for next year is Berrios. It still boggles my mind that we have improved the offense a ton this offseason but have basically only added Perez and Parker on small deals for the pitching staff.

Let's give Ryan LaMarre a chance. He's right handed and can play all three outfield positions. Give him a couple of weeks and if he doesn't hit, bring up Granite or Cave.

Who is this guy? He is 10 for 20 with 2 homeruns and 8 rbi this spring. Probably no shot to make roster but he looks like he is our spring training MVP.

If Grossman doesn't do much in Spring Training and Vargas has no position flexibility both are probably gone. Then they go with 13 pitchers again and call up Granite any series they think they need another bat. That probably makes the most sense but it is a super thin bench to start the season. Is Aybar in this conversation as well. Does he play outfield or hit much?

So I assume one of Robbie Grossman, Zach Granite or Kenny Vargas makes this team as a bench player. So far Robbie is struggling to an 0 for 17 spring.Vargas is likely trying to catch on with another team. He is 5 for 17 with three doubles but also has struck out seven times. Granite is 3 for 18 with a double and an RBI. If Grossman doesn't turn it around, I predict Granite because I don't see Vargas playing the outfield and we already have three guys who can also play first. But leaves us pretty thin at AAA if we need to call someone up if someone gets hurt since both Grossman and Vargas are out of options.

So far no meeting with Darvish, though. Looks like Texas is thinking about bringing him back. That's the last steam out there.

Would Grossman be the odd man out? Napoli, Mauer, Vargas, Sano. Lots of guys for first base and DH but we do need a right handed guy. I don't think Grossman did much after the all star break. Sure would be nice to sign Napoli, Darvish and then get Addison Reed to eat up innings in the bullpen.

I guess we can be proud of this. @MikeBerardino With Rodney agreement, #mntwins maintain their remarkable feat of never signing an outside free agent reliever to a multi-year guarantee. EVER.

I would be happy with a Fernando Rodney, Addison Reed, Yu Darvish offseason. The offense was pretty darn good and Nick Gordon is knocking on the door as another hitter for the bench.

Just checking. But if my math is correct for this upcoming year's payroll we have spent $2 million on Pineda and $4.5 million on Rodney. So they should have some money to spend on one of Darvish, Arrietta, Lynn or Cobb. As far as bullpen, Addison Reed is out there. The roster is at 39, so if we sign one starter and one more reliever I would say that Dietrich Ens would probably be the one to go.

Looks like we are going to have to hope Hildenburger and Taylor Rogers can be the closer or 8th inning guy.

I would rather the Twins sign a reliever but they are apparently unwilling to go over a one year deal for a reliever from another team. That is the same strategy that Terry Ryan used.

Hopefully we get Cishek and Kintzler. I hate that the Twins always wait out the market and seem to never be agressive in the first few weeks of free agency.

That would just be so unTwins like to trade for or sign two of the top five or six starting pitchers available in an offseason. That has never happened in the history of the franchise. Did the Twins sign Nolasco and Santana in the same offseason?

Pirates Breakdown‏ @pbcbreakdown Hearing: Teams still poking around on Cole's availability are down to Twins / Yankees / Mariners. Talks labelled as "still in discussion phase."

If we sign Kinzler, Rodney or Nicasio, does that person get named closer automatically?

Well so much for using our international money on the former Atlanta Brave prospect who is rated 38th on MLB.com Prospect Watch. Drats! https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/angels-sign-kevin-maitan-former-braves-prospect.html

Bob Nightengale ✔ @BNightengale Several #MLB GMs now believe that the Seattle #Mariners are the clear-cut front runners for Ohtani's services and the Mariners are cautiously optimistic

So based off everything we have learned this morning, I think it sounds like he is going to Seattle. They have like $1.5 million in bonus money to offer him plus they could trade for more. Seattle has a large Japanese population. And Seattle has a young roster and completed for most of the year last year. I think all the other top 7 teams have less that $500,000 to offer. Here are Seattle top five prospects, including one who comes in the top 100 on MLB.com Kyle Lewis OF (46 on top 100), Nick Neidert P, Evan White 1B, Sam Carlson P, and Braden BIshop OF. Could the Twins trade $3 million in international bonus money for Evan White or Sam Carlson. That sounds like a good deal to me.

I wonder how much say Molitor has in hiring his own staff.

Guess who was a Molitor teammate on the Brewers? Chris Bosio. He was just let go by the Cubs and Molitor looked at getting him on his staff three years ago. Bosio was a Brewer from 86 to 92. http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21101785/chicago-cubs-fire-pitching-coach-chris-bosio

I think they will go with Gibson but I wonder how many options he has remaining if he doesn't do well. .

We need someone to start next Saturday. Who ya got? Adam Wilk (Twins) Justin Haley (Twins) or Kyle Gibson (Red Wings) Alberto Meija (Red Wings) Aaron Slegers (Red Wings) Nick Tepesch (Red Wings)

I would think Santana and O'Rourke would have a good chance of getting claimed. Santana because he is still young and O'Rourke because he got lefties out well last year.

If the Twins add Breslow, Vogelsong, Park and Gimenez - one more person has to be taken off the 40 man. You have one spot with May going on 60 day and two spots with Tonkin and Santana DFAed. Who else gets taken off?