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Yuck.

I'm glad the Twins can take advantage of the extra $$$ before hitting the luxury tax threshold. Oh wait, all that fuss really only impacted a small hand full of teams.

I think the baseball draft has much more variance and is a combination of scouting and luck - maybe looking at a draft as a whole would give a better picture to see if front office changes were necessary. Maybe there's no excuse for Tyler Jay, but extra points should be given for 2012 when the Twins selected Buxton, Berrios, and Taylor Rodgers. The 2013 pick of Kohl Stewart could be said to be redeemed by getting Mitch Garver.

Let's Go!!!

Whether the players get more money or the owners get more money, it doesn't affect me at all because it surely isn't ending up in my pocket. I just want baseball. A pox on both their houses!

I bet Keith Law would have hated Pedro Martinez as a prospect too.

The Mets OF was Fernando Martinez I think. The Mets didn't want to include him as he was being compared to a young Ted Williams.

Really discouraging for fans. From my 30,000-foot perspective it seems the players lose a lot of leverage once they start losing game checks. Especially considering the owners were looking to pay as few game checks as possible coming back from the COVID stoppage in 2020. How does the Saints roster look after removing everyone on the Twins 40-man roster?

I read that article and had the same thoughts. It's obvious the author doesn't think about the Twins needs/payroll as much as anyone on this message board. Rather, I'm guessing the teams listed had more to do with tags to get clicks from larger market readers.

Barring injuries, is there any reason the St. Paul starting rotation shouldn't include Duran, Balazovic, Winder, Strotman and Woods-Richardson? What's the upside of running out someone like Chandler Shepherd for 17 starts?

Seems like you have the options covered. My one question stems from option #3. When have the Twins ever used money "saved" to bolster a roster in the future? If, and it's a BIG if, after moving into Target Field the goal was to have a 50/50 revenue to payroll split, the Twins have been over budget just once. That was in 2011, their 2nd year playing at Target Field - and coincidentally the first year of Joe Mauer's contract. Since then the average savings would be over $17MM per year. (using statista.com for team revenue and Cot's Baseball Contracts for player salaries) In my perception, money "under budget" goes straight into the pockets of ownership (or probably to polish the gold plating on the Gulfstream) never to be seen again. Or, if ownership has been "saving it up for a big splurge," the Twins should have an extra $161MM to spend. Which way do you think we're headed?

I clicked because I thought this was a post about Josh Donaldson taking a family vacation to Cooperstown.

If this is the only FA the front office can get to come to MN it would be more entertaining to just say screw it and watch Ober, Ryan, Balazovic, Duran, Sands, et al. At least I have hope for them to be good.

Getting Woods-Richardson and Martin is great. The $20MM is only an asset if you can sign the players you want. What pitchers have the Twins been able to entice to sign with $20MM? Wheeler, Ryu, Baumgarner, Stroman - nope. What good is the money if you can't get the top players to come here anyway? I'd rather the Twins spent $20MM on Berrios if that was even an option.

In my eyes, trading him is the worst case scenario. If you don't plan on signing him, he either has a great season putting the Twins in contention or raises his mid-season trade value by staying healthy. If he's injured and you still think he could be an asset, maybe a longer-term deal is more reasonable. There's always a caveat though - There's the whole "blown away by an offer" scenario. I just hope it takes more to blow away the current F.O. than it was for Bill Smith when dealing Johan Santana. I hope a new CBA continues to address competitive balance and strengthens the Twins ability to hold on to players such as Buxton. And not just for the Twins, it's a shame Tampa, Miami, Oakland, and other teams are pillaged every year.

I think Galvis is the problem - as well as any of the $3MM options at short. I'm no expert so I don't know what defensive metrics are the most useful, but from what I saw Galvis didn't do very well at SS last year. If Galvis or similar is all you're getting and it's a short term solution anyway, slide Polanco over and let Miranda play 2B. Miranda has earned his shot and I'd trust him to make a contribution more than Royce Lewis to start the season. Lewis has just been out too long and he needs some actual gametime. If he proves he's ready, he comes in to play SS and Polanco slides back over to 2B.

8791 - I mostly agree with you. With extra payroll approved by ownership, Ray/Gausman/Stroman would be my choice but it turns out you don't get them with a $130MM. I didn't know how long they'd have to go for Taylor, but as long as it's 4 years or under, I'd go for it. His utility means there's always a spot for him. Regarding Rooker at DH... In reality, that spot is utilized by Donaldson about 50% of the time and the rest on a rotation with Sano, Polanco, Garver, and whoever else needs a day off. That enables Arraez to move around and be in the lineup the majority of the time. Maybe a better representation would have been to slot Arraez at DH and Rooker (or someone else making the minimum) on the bench. In my dreams Rooker ends up a Pete Alonso clone. Kepler has to go to free up a little payroll and he has the value to get a good SP in return. Manaea is the main target and not a long-term commitment. For 2023 I'd make a play to get Berrios back and hopefully injuries don't sidetrack the development of Ober/Ryan. Balazovic, Duran, Woods-Richardson, Winder, and Strotman should all be pitching in the high minors and hopefully progress as well to fill in when injuries happen. As far as premium bullpen arms - its a luxury a $130MM payroll doesn't afford. One tough call was what to do with Miranda who seems to have earned his shot in the big leagues. Maybe the new CBA makes it worthwhile to get him on the roster to begin the year but I’d have him as the first call-up due to injury or poor performance of someone else. With additions of Chris Taylor and Miranda, they'd have all kinds of overlap in versatility with Polanco, Arraez, and Gordon.

Maybe Buxton will take $17m in 2022 to help me out ?

I'd appreciate your feedback on my plan for a 2022 Twins roster. I utilized the "Even" budget allotment and came out at $131m Biggest moves: Buxton signed for 6years/$108m Chris Taylor signed 2 years/$24m Kepler traded to Oakland for Sean Manaea and A.J. Puk Rodon signed 4 years/$72m Pineda signed 1 year/$8m

I wish they could cash in all those years they spent under the projected payroll. I hate the idea that letting play it out is the least likely scenario for Buxton. Trades can work, but only if you deal from strength, not like what happened with Yohan. Every other team knew the Twins were trading him no matter what, but the prospects they got back were garbage and they would have been far better off with one more year of Santana and then any draft pick compensation. Maybe it depends on if what kind of changes comes in the new CBA.

The SS market is setting up to be very exciting this offseason but the Twins better have the SS of the future in house. I'm afraid the Twins won't allocate the resources to sign a frontline guy. After seeing what Lindor got from the Mets (10yr/$341M) that, or something close, has to be the target for Seager, Story and Correa who all have a higher career OPS. Maybe somebody slips through and wants a one-year deal but then you're in the same predicament next offseason.

I’m worried that Duran’s write up reminded me of Fernando Romero.

Im hoping between Semien, Story, Seager, Correa & Baez that at least one of them isn’t going to get the big payday they’re looking for and will look for a one-year deal to re-enter the market for 2023.

I hope the Twins can find some space on the 40-man to protect Miranda from the Rule 5 draft this year.

Baseball Trade Values pegs this as a pretty big overpay by the Blue Jays but rationalizes it because of the level of competition.