Jham

Kepler didn't catch it... Asterisk on mayor's cup if we win it.... Looked scary. Hope Gordon is ok. I still like his upside as player. https://www.mlb.com/twins scroll down for video of the play.

What are the chances he develops a wipe out slider or change to go with the FB? He'd be a potential ace at that point...

He's 25. He won't throw 95mph forever. Will his stuff play at 91?

The Twins never really fast track young arms. When they do, they're usually guys that don't care about service time like Dobnak. They usually bring them a step at a time. Which is fine, except some guys have youth and power as their main asset and could benefit from major league coaching and medical staff. I like the move, but wonder what the cost would have been to acquire Gray two plus years ago when he could have helped us then and now. Importantly, the FO seems to have learned that you always look to add and upgrade talent. Contending or not. Otherwise you leave yourself way too much to do in a surprise year, a trade deadline, or off season. If you wait to add until your "window" is open, you usually leave yourself too much to do in a single off season and then make dumb deals or no deals at the trade deadline.

This is a big part of the problem, IMHO. We lump all owners together despite the fact that many do spend money and try to win. We lump all players together despite the fact that some are in much better position to take advantage of the CBA than others. It's easy to say owners are greedy. Because they are. They are competitors or they wouldn't be in the game. But players are greedy competitors too. Baseball economics is driven by the fans, in the end. By and large, the best economic model to generate fan interest is a cap and floor. It's not fair to the top few players at each position, but it's better for the fans. I'm not supporting the owners, per se, but it isn't ownership that refuses to negotiate a cap. #forthefans

I think there's a hidden cost to trading away talent, letting guys walk, and not signing free agents: your roster gets restless and doesn't feel loyal. The Luis Castillo trade away changed the mentality of that core and lead to Terry Ryan retiring. Hunter approached the Twins about an extension. The twins made a big deal about not negotiating contacts in season. Along with their reputation for being cheap... It's not like the Twins made a great case for player loyalty at that time.

Not sure what your point is or why you're so defensive. No one is being skewered. So far Houston won the trade hands down. If Alcala would have stuck as a starter we probably win. Trades are gambles. Not a perfect science. The FO has made some great moves and a few questionable ones. This one to me was a head scratcher due to the fact that they made such a big deal about valuing additional time vs half-season rentals. I'm a big fan of doing some rebuilding at the deadline so you have less to do over the winter. But hey, they tried something unconventional and it hasn't quite worked out. I hope they still try.

It's not baseless just because you disagree. He has ties to Texas. Fair enough. He also had significant ties to the Twins organization. The money was easily in budget. Those are reasonable bases for an opinion as well. No one knows whether we would have been able to extend him. I would have liked the chance.

Wait, suggesting that Presley might have signed the same contract we know he did sign with Houston is pure speculation? There's at least some evidence that he would sign a contract like that. Since he did. I think there's more proof of that than that a playoff series would have played out in the exact same fashion even if the team would have had Presley and perhaps home field advantage, had a different opponent, or been more well-rested. Maybe it would have, but there's no way the organization traded him because they assumed they were going to get swept anyway.

But... the whole premise of the discussion is hind sight. The question: "Looking back, who won the trade?" Presley was our best reliever when traded and his curve was treated as one of the most effective pitches in baseball. The Astros just let him throw it. The articles on the development of that pitch are in the archives for this sight. Given what Presley has actually accomplished, it will take much more for the organization to "win" the trade than break even WAR. Also, for the people who believed in Presley when he was traded, it doesn't feel like hind sight. I also never said anything about needing new management. In my mind, they made a big mistake trading Presley. But that was just 1 move.

Seriously? All star firemen/closers who hold up in world series pressure are super rare and very valuable.

I'm less concerned about the national evaluations than I am about our own organizations ability to evaluate talent. There's a lot of guys they watch for years sometimes since teens... Badoo and Nick Anderson were bad misses. Arraez and Dobnak, on the other hand were fast tracked with success despite few prospect ratings. They seemed to have been right about Hu, and that no contact slugger that went to the Giants as well. So we'll wait and see I think. I've been critical about the organization over valuing it's high picks in particular. There's no doubt Lewis trade value has plummeted.

Craziness. The only chance we had to win this trade was lost when Alcala became a reliever. Effective relievers are a dime a dozen. Back up outfielders are nickel for fifty. Celestino-ish players are always available on waivers. He's not an upgrade from Cave let alone Akil Badoo who was always a better hitter. Alcala will never have a single year as effective as Presley's average over his contract and extension. Dominant relievers are rare and valuable. It's funny. The game has become so analytics based, but we lose sight of some of the most fundamental tenets of statistics such as the bell-shaped normalcy curve and standard deviations from the mean. We could have gotten Alcala's and Celestino's equivalents without trading Presley. End of story.

Blackburn wasn't really a soft soft tosser. He averaged over 90 mph pretty much every season of his career. He'd sit low 90s and hit 94 with the rarely used 4 seamer.

His bat control seems other worldly. But I doubt he can keep it up without developing the power to consistently drive the ball. Which frequently happens at this point in a young career, often as a trade for some average.

I'm actually more concerned that the players aren't getting punished. Steroid use was a more rampant issue than advanced sign stealing. Those players got killed for it.

Uhh, those guys were punished. Big time. like 80 games. How many millions did that cost them?

He's a minor league free agent after this season already?

Also, the deeper/better the team, the more difficult it becomes to upgrade. All opportunities to do so should be taken seriously.

"Despite being in the bottom eighth percentile of hard-hit ball rate, opposing batters couldn’t do much with that hard contact, as Kintzler also posted a low exit velocity (19th percentile) and limited batters to a .265 wOBA that was only slightly lower than his .286 xwOBA." Start cast people, this makes it sound like Kintzler is among the worst in limiting hard contact but very good at limiting exit velocity? Doesn't make sense to me...

Well this is just terribly exciting news! With the lack of 3rd base prospects in the minors, this sures up depth and improves at the top. I admit I was losing faith. I have to think this moves the needle as far as future FA and trade targets go. The narrative has officially changed. Now let's hope it works out.

Sustainable winning isn't a new goal. It's an organizational philosophy that's been the mantra for years. Here's the issue, sustainable winning is hard and probably requires as much luck as winning a World Series. By definition, it requires abandoning the notion of "windows". It certainly means no punting on seasons or fire sales at the deadline. It's great to say that we need to build a rotation from within. Well what if those arms aren't there? Give up and wait? That's not sustainable winning. It's sustainable losing. Dodgers consistently flirt with the luxury tax threshold. Otherwise they probably would be going after the big free agents. The post money ball As have mostly caught a bad division. They're shrewd. The Cardinals play like they're trying to compete every year. They had opportunities to rebuild or hold course and have frequently made the playoffs despite odds saying they should sell or rebuild. The Royals are an awful example of going all in. They fell off because they had their Strasburg, but he died in a car accident. They had a multitude of injuries. Then, and I can't stress this enough, they decided to rebuild instead of retool. Whenever teams intentionally get worse to later get better, they risk setting off a series of chain reactions that gets them further away instead of closer.

Good analysis. I'd add a caveat the statement regarding OBP being lightyears more important. I've read articles suggesting that simply putting your best hitter period in that spot and getting them extra at bats over there course of a season is a better strategy for some teams.

I like Boyd's upside, personally. However, don't think the Tigers would trade him in the division. They're calling up 2018 first overall pick Casey Mize up this spring along with another potential stud. They'll likely hope to compete by the end of Boyds contract.