kab21

Before signing Melky they had Lind slotted as their DH so this fills a pretty big hole on the team. Johnson is a FA so this gives them Emilio and Izturis at 2B. They also have a potentially loaded lineup with Bautista, E6, Melky, Reyes and Lawrie. Rasmus, Gose, Bonifacio/Izturis and their catcher could be better than they were last year also. I wouldn't be surprised if Rasmus was going somewhere though. I'm not sure they need pitchers either with Johnson, Buehrle, Morrow and Romero. Perhaps they sign a RP'er but I think they are close to done. I think 2/16 is a great deal for Melky and if the Twins weren't overflowing with OF'ers I would have recommended it for them. tbh I'm surprised that the Reds/Braves/Rays weren't in on this. The fallout from all of this is that Yunel Escobar could be available in Miami for very little as they attempt to take payroll below 15M. Some don't like him but he's a solid ballplayer where the Twins have none.

I love it how some can't see any middle ground on this. This isn't a completely blow it up situation nor is it a go for it in 2013 situation. The focus should be on building a team that is peaking in 2015. The rotation is a mess and while it might be possible to completely rebuild it in one offseason through 3+ FA or trades the more realistic path will take a couple of years. They should be able to sign a FA this winter and it's sounds pretty likely that they can match up on a trade with TB/SEA/ATL/CIN/other for a young pitcher/prospect. There's also a chance they pick Appel/Manaea/Stanek/other in the draft in June. I know that a couple of teams have turned it around in one offseason but realistically it's going to take a couple of years (hopefully).

I really don't understand how the Marlins are brilliant. They made several awful moves last year and this year they gutted their team. The only thing that is brilliant is that they could make some serious money this year due to having an incredibly low payroll. Probably <20 if they trade Nolasco.

This salary dump is really ugly from a PR perspective but the backloaded aspect of Buehrle and Reyes salary are pretty good reasons for them to do this deal. And they did pick up some decent prospects. they aren't great but they have 3 prospects with pretty good upside.

My sticking point on Baker's deal isn't the money but rather that it doesn't include any team options. 5.5M for one year is not a big deal for a potentially above average pitcher. I don't expect him to be great this season but I would like to put pieces in place for fixing the rotation for 2014/2015. W/O options then he's gone (or too expensive) if he pitches well.

I hope this isn't a hindsight post.

If the Twins do that then I'll have to read more about 'how the Twins were interested...'

You obviously misread the topic. This was about trading for Trevor Bauer and not Josh Collmenter. If teams are going to compromise then they offer a compromise back instead of a top ten prospect.

0.1% chance he is in the majors in 2014. If he is then he's also getting consideration of being a top 10 overall prospect. The early reports were that he was quite polished for a HS'er so it wasn't surprising that he did well in rk ball. I completely expect him to be in Cedar Rapids by June if not at the beginning of the season. I understand that it's the cool thing to do on here but it's tough to promote aggessively in the low minors when you only have mediocre prospects.

The main takeaway assuming you are talking about the overall dollars due to 6 years. In the best case he'll earn the contract but most likely he'll disappoint.

The DBacks and the Twins simply do not match up with needs/wants. The Twins do match up very well with TB/ATL/SEA/CIN though and I think we'll see a deal (or two?) happen this offseason.

ok. Any evidence to suggest that NL pitchers can be as successful in the AL? I can throw over a slew for the other way. Mater of fact, when I am trying to evaluate NL performance for SPs and try to translate it to AL performance, I start with a factor of about 1.2 for most metrics... Yeah I remember your adjustments. it was something like subtract 1.5 K/9 and add 1 BB/9. There should be an adjustment but these numbers are completely ridiculous. NL pitchers don't become pumpkins when they move over to the AL and AL pitchers don't become aces when they do it.

I think the reverse is true. Some were pointing to his early struggles as a reason that he wouldn't be successful. Both are small sample size. The fact is that he's been good (not great) and he hasn't missed a start in 3.5 yrs. He's also the youngest FA pitcher available this offseason. the only argument that people really have is this AL/NL thing and I think people completely blow that out of proportion.

I think Anibal is going to be the 2nd highest paid pitcher this offseason. I have him pegged at around CJ Wilson's contract last year (5/75) so this isn't surprising. And I had already crossed him off my wishlist.

I think it's silly complaining about Sano's promotions based on a few elite HS #1 overall picks that moved quickly and became stars. He was in full season ball as a teenager and he has some issues. I think the comments that he saw 70% breaking balls is an issue. He still struck out a lot and most pitchers in low A don't have a good breaking ball. I'm hoping he can take the Giancarlo (Michael) Stanton path and get a promotion to AA next season while being on the radar in 2014 for a promotion. Going that fast will probably mean that 3B is not an option though.

This actually isn't true. Teams make other moves in the offseason to fill corner OF spots. Frequently they put in washed up vets (for example RonDL White) and sometimes they put in unproven youngsters (Chris Parmelee). Sometimes they get a rebound or a breakout and sometimes they have an awful hole in their lineup and they are willing to overpay for a good bat. Of course Willingham could get injured...

That's not at all what I said.

It would be great to sell relatively high on Revere for none of the reasons House lists. He's a solid player but I don't see him as a long term piece. If you can land a long term pitcher then it would be great. tbh I'm all for trading any of the pieces that have been discussed if the return is good enough. And I'm encouraged that there are so many rumors.

I know that I'm disappointed that we missed out on the opportunity for another 'Twins were interested but weren't willing to match/outbid the Jays' remark. My criticism last year of the Carroll move was that it happened early which guaranteed them a utililty IF'er as their MI acquisition. Izturis is a little better but I'm hoping the Twins have higher targets this offseason. I would prefer Yunel Escobar, Drew, Johnson and possibly 1-2 others that are/could be available this offseason.

I think there will be several decent options available this year for around 5-7M/yr and that shouldn't take much away from pitching imo. Uggla is a potential choice if Atlanta wanted to dump him for next to nothing and the Twins were prepared to take payroll north of 100M next season. I would however prefer that the team look first for a more defensive minded MI'er since Uggla would make the Twins defense worse.

I doubt Tampa wants to trade 2 pitchers. Wells is terrible even if someone else is paying.

I think this is an overanalyzed point. he has absolutely no choice for 4 yrs. At best you sign an extension and buy out an extra year or two but after that most players go the FA route or sign for 80-90% of what they would have gotten on the open market.

that's a pretty lazy analysis especially since the Twins had a lot of high picks last year. You'll also find that many disagree on where to rank the relief arms. If you look at Seth's list you'll see fewer draftees since he doesn't value RP'ers as highly as Sickels.

The numbers said he was a #1 but the scouting reports differed. IIRC one of the knocks was that he made too many mistakes up in the zone that would get hit hard in the majors. There were also some durability concerns. The initial look at the sabr stats aren't very good, but one encouraging thing if you look further into the sabermetrics is that he had a solid swinging strike rate so the K rate could go up some. I certainly don't believe that he's a 3.00 ERA pitcher but he could be a really good #3. I prefer Shields but 4 yrs of Hellickson would also be a good start to rebuilding the rotation.

I don't think Tampa is looking for a prospect led package. They are ready to compete now and they need offense. Imo the Twins match up better than any team aside from possibly Texas (Andrus).