SydneyTwinsFan

How about 63% - the amount of inherited runners that have scored so far. League average is about half that I think.

I don't know that it's that ridiculous. You could make an argument that Eddie Rosario's rookie year was more valuable than his last year (by WAR at least)

Kirilloff not in the Pensacola line up tonight....

Great discussion here. My own takes: Eliminate the DH. I'm a bit torn as I like the point of difference between leagues, but on balance I'd rather see proper batters hit than pitchers flailing away. 26 man roster. OK as long as pitchers are capped at 13. I thought about having a 27/28 man roster of which 24 are active for a given game. On the one hand it would provide flexibility if a position player is a bit dinged up but not needing a DL stint, or provides an active arm to replace the previous day's starter (who is effectively redundant), but I think it would probably just lead to an excess of relief pitchers being rostered and would eliminate or minimise the impact of burning through a whole relief corps in the first game of a series (I like that occasionally the starter is under pressure to go deep because the bullpen is gassed from a blowout the night before). Pitch clock. Seems like a no-brainer, although I do wonder how much time it would really shave off a game. Anti-tanking. Hard to enforce I think and if a single-season salary floor was imposed that would potentially just encourage mediocrity at the expense of a well thought out rebuilding strategy ie force a team to spend an extra $20m to win 72 rather than 66 games, while impacting their ability to spend that $20m to be more competitive the following year. (note - the Twins are an example of teams that DON'T seem to carry forward savings for the benefit of future years, but maybe not all teams act this way?). Maybe enforcing a salary floor (% of revenue?) over a rolling 3-year period would allow for some flexibility and rebuilding.

If you're looking for a top 3, the April 2016 and April 2017 vintages of Byron Buxton would fill out the podium nicely

How come Kerrigan goes from Ft Myers to Rochester? Would have preferred to see Wade to Rochester and Kerrigan to Chattanooga

After a nightmare start, Gibson was pretty solid for the last 4 months of the season: From 1 June - 21 GS; 121.1 IP; 4.23 ERA; 7.1 K/9; 2.9 BB/9 Over the same period: Santana - 22 GS; 134.1 IP; 4.15 ERA; 7.4 K/9; 2.2 BB/9 Berrios - 21 GS; 119.0 IP; 4.16 ERA; 8.5 K/9; 3.0 BB/9 Of course games played in April and May count just of much, and yes the sample size is a bit arbitrary. I don't know whether the last 4 months represents a "turning of the corner" or a sample size fluke, but to argue Gibson wasn't a contributor over a long period of the season is a bit unfair IMO.

Agree with this. Diaz posted a .770 OPS in low A, doesn't walk and has projectable rather than demonstrable power thus far. Personally I'd say there's a 1% chance he gets taken and sticks on a 25-man roster all year. The risk that Burdi gets taken and stashed on the DL is real I think (I would try it on a rebuilding team).

I think the structure put forward by Jeremy and nytwinsfan works but I would have thought it would need to be more like : 2018: $2 million 2019: $5 million (would be first arbitration year) 2020: $8 million 2021: $12 million 2022: $15 million (would be first free agent year) 2023: $18 million or $3 million buyout Total guaranteed: 6yrs/$45 million to get Sano to bite. He still gets to test free agency at age 30 and $40m+ is a lot of money to walk away from as a 23yo with a season-ending elbow surgery already on his cv.

Duh. Of course, silly me. I must have blanked the trauma of Berrios' rookie season from my mind!

MVP - Sano (.900 OPS, 35 HR) POY - Gibson (190 IP, ERA <3.50) Reliever - Kintzler (40 SV) ROY - Berrios (140 IP, ERA <4.00)

Fairly sure I still have my BOOF! T-shirt somewhere. The debate about the HR hitting prowess of Eric "40 jacks" Munson was a personal favourite. Good times, but appreciate the evolution that has happened here over the years too. Well done to all of Brock, Nick, Seth, Parker and John for each bringing something a little different and combining it into a great online community, even for those of us spread around the world.

He just turned 23 and has been remarkably consistent through all levels - .280/.340/.410 ish throughout his minor league career with a 109 OPS+ in his limited time with the big club. He certainly has trade value; the question is whether he has more value as a young player on a rebuilding team than he would return in a trade. I suppose the supplementary to that question is whether Polanco + the return from a Dozier trade > Dozier + the return from a Polanco trade. It all depends on the trade market, but I would plan to roll with him as the starting SS in 2017 unless the Twins are blown away in the offseason in a trade for Dozier, in which case I'd happily slide him across to 2B. There's a reasonable prospect Dozier gets traded in the next 18 months anyway, if not this offseason, at which point you put Polanco at 2B and hope Gordon is ready at SS.

And of course Boshers gives up the run. Pathetic on Molitor's part

Stoked for James. Can't wait for him to get that first at bat or inning in the field - just a great moment to be able to say that you were a Big League ballplayer after so many years hard work.

The Twins don't seem to have a history of overdoing September call-ups. While I'd like to see a number of players get a chance, I'm not expecting more than: Position players: Vargas, Buxton, one of Murphy or Garver Pitchers: Berrios, Duffey, maybe Baxendale I doubt they will add both catchers. I doubt there will be a "reward" call up for the likes of Beresford. I can't see them finding ABs for Palka or Walker although for entertainment's sake I wish it were otherwise.

Mauer is what he is now: solid OBP and decent glove at 1B but not much more. He is not going to carry a line up but does bring professional ABs to a young and developing team. The Twins need to work out if they're going to carry a player like that for the next 2 years. My guess is they probably are. What are the options? Trade him to the Rays for a PTBNL?

Lots of good contributions to catch up on overnight (the tyranny of time zones). A couple of observations: Nick suggests Molitor has gone out of his way to give Arcia a platoon advantage by ensuring 82% of his at bats were against RHP. Given Mauer (77%), Plouffe (78%), Dozier (81%) and Sano (85%) are all in the same ballpark, it looks more like a normal distribution of L/R opposing pitchers than any supportive plan to make the most of a platoon on Molitor's part. If they had really wanted to make "advantageous" use of Arcia, maybe give him more than back to back games to get his timing right/feel comfortable at the plate and in the field. Only 3 times this season did Arcia get more than 2 games in a row: April 15-20: 6 games .967 OPS 2 HR April 25-29: 4 games .563 OPS 1 HR May 4-10: 5 games .917 OPS 1 HR There looks to be at least some basis for giving the guy a run of games instead of jerking him around. Last season was a strange one for Arcia. He hit OK to begin the season without really impressing, before the injury/rehab stint. And he absolutely sucked for the last two months of the season at AAA. But he had destroyed AAA in 2013 (1.020 OPS) and 2014 (.962 OPS) and maybe felt he had nothing more to prove there. At the All-Star break he had just hit his 7th HR in 11 games and had an OPS of .840. If any other prospect with that AAA track record had gone on a similar run, the call-up noise would have been deafening. I don't know what caused the post all-star break slump for Arcia last year (injury? attitude?) but being disillusioned is somewhat understandable, if not to be condoned. To his credit, he seemed to fix up his approach over the winter and by all accounts dedicated himself well in the offseason. I wouldn't blame him for feeling he has held up his end of the bargain and been let down by management.

The Front Office should have two key skill sets upon which it is judged: talent evaluation and medium/long term asset management. It has consistently failed in these areas over recent seasons. The handling of Arcia is just another example of that. Heads need to roll and a fresh approach employed. The Field Management team's key skill sets upon which it should be judged are short-term asset management/deployment and maximizing player output (whether by coaching, motivation or other means). Molitor and his crew have been abject in this regard all season, with head-scratching decisions made on an almost daily basis. Heads need to roll and a fresh approach employed. The Twins are at risk of flushing away a potentially talented roster and minor league pipeline because of woeful management on and off the field. The rosters are a shambles, the Manager is getting nothing out of the assets at his disposal and the organization is becoming a laughing stock. The Twins' principles of stability and loyalty are laudable, but I think they're being stretched to breaking point.

Agreed. Any word on Sano's hammy? He can't come back quickly enough.

At what point does Plouffe and his putrid .258 OBP get dumped from the clean up spot? Or the line up altogether?

Eat more surfers, fewer tourists. Even in winter the ocean temp is still 17-18C

Great AB Plouffe

It's winter here in Sydney. One night last week got down to 9C (48F). Damn near had to go dig out a scarf!