Doomtints

Are the Twins really surprised Darvish would be expensive? Wouldn't backing off now due to this reason be kind of, well, daft?

Interesting that the Twins are "in consideration" yet there has been no news of a contract being offered or even of them ever speaking. Meaningless words. This is getting ridiculous. Screw it. Wake me when it's over.

Gimenez is on a minor league deal. Plus, remember the Cubs cut a catcher last year after he said some critical things. They need depth.

I don't even know how to word this in a way which won't start a war, so let me say right off that I'm not attacking YOU, but these ideas strike me as pretty far out there and worth discussing. You don't know where this will land, saying it will be "significant" is a bit crazy because it's a very thin market. There are two "significant" pitchers available and a handful of number twos/threes. It's also hard to call them masters of anything without seeing championship rings on their fingers. They made the playoffs, but they only needed a .500 record to do so. It was a down year in the AL. They played great in August, but that's also the one month the AL was interesting for many teams.

Doesn't seem like anything else developed with this story, in spite of the rumors that this was just the tip of the iceberg. Barring any new information, his punishment will be minor and won't affect the Twins or whatever team he is on in 2018.

*Cue Granite getting beaned, bulldozed over, etc., in Yankees game next year, with no repercussions from the umpiring crew or the MLB.*

I agree. The Twins still need to set a solid foundation for the pitching staff. Set the foundation. Get an ace at the trade deadline if the Twins are in it, next offseason if not. /fin

Doesn't this go for anyone?

I know. Fox's response is ridiculous. How often have they reported on false things about Democrats? Their reaction to Trump's "5h1th0l3" remark was to say that "It didn't happen. Dick Durbin is a known liar." I challenge anyone to find ANYTHING about Durbin EVER lying.

Kapp was SCREWED by the league. But anyway.... I read something that summed up the QB situation for last year perfectly. Bradford had the highest floor. Bridgewater had the lowest floor of the bunch. Keenum was in the middle, the classic "journeyman" who could get the job done if required. His ceiling may not have been the best of the three, but he wasn't going to be too embarrassing. A lot of people will bring their prejudice to the table, but I was impressed by the way the Vikings moved the ball this year with Keenum under center, esp. with no running game. Look at how the other QBs of the past 8 years struggled. I'm not saying Keenum is the long term answer, but I think going back to Bridgewater and going to someone else would be yet another reboot ... and I say screw that. Bradford is done in MN, of course. If the Vikings can't find a vet, they have to go with Keenum again. But then ... with this team's ability to collapse utterly in the playoffs ... it doesn't matter.

Great person, great player. Can't wait to see him again!

I don't know why the Twins would ever sign a #4 or #5 pitcher, they would overpay for sure. These spots should always go to internal guys.

The Brewers have to beat the Cubs. Darvish makes a lot of sense for them. The Twins should be looking at less risk/less injury-prone pitchers. Darvish has a high ceiling, but he can't help anyone if he's on the bench for a few months a year. The Brewers can absorb something like this, the Twins can't because the Twins don't have enough baseline starters.

Hmmmm....

The existing Astros LOOGY options are worse than Boshers. This is good for them. The Twins have Taylor Rogers, a damn good lefty. But they still could use a competent LOOGY, assuming they would know how to use one.

Baseball keeps blaming the hitters, pitchers, and managers for the fact that games are longer. It's the TELEVISION COMMERCIALS, which are particularly brutal for featured games (e.g., the playoffs). When FoxSports takes over a market, the games instantly get longer. Hm, I wonder why? Baseball will never address the issue the right way because this is how teams (and networks) make their money. The conversation is noise. Baseball will never fix it, baseball will always blame someone else.

I haven't seen a Viking throw like him since Favre. He's got the tools, his issues are with decision making. He really made some dumb throws in the playoffs. Not saying he's the answer, but I will say that if he goes the Vikes are in rebuilding mode yet again. I'm not sold on Bridgewater (are you?)

The OL struggled in both playoff games, no doubt. Still, one wonders what the Vikings could have done with a home game right there ... the Eagles only had home-field due to a tiebreaker.... I'm glad the Vikings knocked out the Saints in a deflating, crushing manner. That right there makes it a successful year.

Right. If Sano + Archer are the primary assets in a trade, it should be the Rays adding secondary assets and not the Twins. Sano's ceiling is miles above Archer's. And if the Twins are considering giving up pitching prospects for Archer ... they need to stop whatever it is they're doing and simply go on sick leave until they get their heads back on straight.

Rodney was promised the closer's job and it's his job to lose. If he is lights out, great. If not, the Twins have Reed. Twins fans are strangely underrating closers even after seeing Joe Nathan's magic (or maybe some of you are too young to really understand what he was bringing to the table...) In any case, I think there is a lot to like about what the Twins did here.

Well ... that ending was a little predictable. If you think about it, the Vikings curse has them always choking in the same game. In the 70s, this was the Superbowl. After another round was added to the playoffs, it's been the conference title game ... one round earlier! As for this game, with the way the defense played Keenum didn't have a chance. Philly was running a new scheme, as evidence by the Vikings secondary often running the opposite direction from who they were defending against. The Vikings had a good year. Great defense (which ran out of gas at the end ... they weren't good in the Chicago game in the last week either) plus a very good, underrated offense. Keenum has a laser arm. It was hard not to like this team. They will no doubt make the playoffs next year, and in the playoffs anything can happen.

Note that I never said their numbers were identical. You can re-read what i actually said.

Nolasco was a highly regarded free agent at the time, and there were VERY few Twins fans ringing the alarm bells. I only know of a couple of us. Archer looks similar to Nolasco to me. A good year in the past with a misleading FIP. In my opinion, the Twins moving assets to land Archer would be nearly as dumb as the Milone trade. The classic con. Hopefully the Twins give up something crappy in return, if this happens, as they did with Milone.

I agree. The Twins are paying him nearly nothing. He would have to drop to Aaron Hicks levels for 'value' questions to even come up. The Twins know what he can do. They should let him do it, and stop dinking around with trying to change him. If this is too hard for the Twins to do, then they need to let him go.

$$$. He is under contract through 2021 for peanuts. And, if he drops off a cliff, the team can walk away from the contract after 2019. I believe he fired his agency after realizing he got screwed. I agree, he is no ace. His career numbers are largely based on a very good 2015 and a decent 2013-2014. With two years of poor performance since he's a high risk in my book, so the Twins should only do this if they want to get rid of somebody like Sano.