Doomtints

Probably a case of nothing to see here ... odds for most teams got worse. Maybe no one is betting ... or maybe even too many people are betting!

This will retire the conversations about whether or not Morris is worthy. This also is a nice sign for Johan, who will probably be voted in by the old timers if he doesn't make it in via the (often clueless and overthinking) writers.

The price drops because they were always worth less. The agents knew it, the player knew it, and the teams knew it. As jimmer aptly put it above, the big dogs eat first. The weaker predators get the scraps.

It's interesting the amount of conversation about the business side of this transaction rather than the player itself. The business side of it has nothing to do with us as fans. Severino looks like a shoo-in to make the majors. This is a pretty cool move!

The embassy location doesn't even really matter ... but by Trump blithering about it he is causing problems pointlessly. But the USA elected this guy, knowing he would be like this, so...

I like the optimism and enthusiasm, but the new team hasn't done much yet. Terry Ryan did more in his first year back (which was not a good thing, mind you).

None of these guys are #1s/#2s, or probably even #3s. They Twins still need to pick someone up. The Santana train could derail, leaving the team with Berrios and....? The minor league depth helps for restocking the #4/#5 guys, but the team doesn't have enough top of the rotation guys who are ready to play ball.

The Player's Union tends to get involved when teams try to do this. Back in the day, A-Rod accepted what the Player's Union called a paycut and the union got the contract thrown out. The union feared it would set a bad precedent. Plus, I don't see the Twins screwing with a player in this way or Mauer agreeing. Contracts in the NFL are not guaranteed so we see this sort of thing happen all the time in the NFL, but we rarely see it in baseball where the player holds all the leverage.

Fix the pitching before extending position players who are not in a contract year. The Twins can probably save $ on Mauer by letting him hit free agency first anyway. I don't see him going anywhere, and if he does go somewhere, so what? The pitching can be addressed in 1 year if the Twins are smart, so it's not like position player contracts will be unresolved forever. Someone is itching to respond with "The Twins can do both" -- and sure, they could -- but so far we have seen nothing to suggest the Twins have changed their tight purse strings policy, and the Twins truly just have one immediate need right now.

Not sure what your point is because you're arguing something that has nothing to do with what I asked. Did the Twins get a good deal? Were these players worth the lost $2M in "opportunity cost" (or whatever term you or anyone else choose to use)? Or should the Twins have used the money to pick up some international free agents? Did the new front office just help other teams more than what the Twins got in return?

No "we" don't. The Twins lost this money. So, are these players collectively worth $2M?

We seem happy that the Twins did something. But are these good values? Are each of these players worth $1M?

I dunno man. I have seen the "Trade Santana" argument ever since he first put on a Twins uniform, and I have seen countless people argue against raising payroll for years. We should: - Want to keep the best players we can, if possible, and - Not worry about the price. Fans don't need to be making these types of tough decisions, or concern ourselves with them! Sure, we should be realistic on what this team can do, but we often cross over into defending the team.

Let's do some comparisons Note that there are only 75 pitchers in the HOF, including Babe Ruth.... Average HOFer / Santana Years played: 18 / 12 All Star Games: 4 / 4 bWAR: 70.0 / 50.4 Wins: 253 / 139 W%: 590 / .641 ERA: 2.98 / 3.20 Shutouts: 41 / 10 Games: 596 / 360 Strikeouts: 2153 / 1988 Let's do some basic extrapolation. Would Santana's WAR go to 70 with another 6 years of play? Doubtful. Would he get 120 more wins? Doubtful. Would his ERA drop to sub-.3.00? Doubtful. Would he get 30 more shutouts? No. Would he appear in another another 240 games? No. BUT... His W% and All Star Appearances show he was the best in his era. His strikeout total is right up against players who pitched careers 33% longer. I would vote FOR Santana to go into the HOF, and this isn't coming from me being a Twins fan. It comes from the dominance he had when he played. All playing longer would do is pad his stats, Santana proved he was the best pitcher in the game for a few years, and that's what the HOF should be about. The point is, even if Santana had played 18 years, he wouldn't be a shoo-in as far as all of these metrics are concerned, either! We have to judge Santana on who he was, not on what might have been, and he WAS the best pitcher in an era and he has a more than adequate sample size to know this wasn't a fluke!

Don't forget that "International Bonus Money" isn't free money. The Pohlads still have to open the wallet. If the Twins don't find a player or players they want, the money won't get spent. It's a limit, not a blank check. They don't have to spend this money if they don't find a player with mutual interest. I'm not saying the Twins won't sign someone (or a couple someones), I'm just saying don't set yourselves up for disappointment if it doesn't happen. I'm getting the vibe that some of us are getting frustrated....

He didn't say it was an obvious outcome, he said they were in the chase. Of the teams you mentioned, the Twins had been the most consistent so there was no reason to expect their luck to run out.

Also unfortunate -- Gen X seems to be mostly comprised of dead air. As a group we've done nothing, our parents are still controlling our experience. It's all up to the Millennials and Centennials now.

I'm not expecting a watershed moment here, but the Twins should be able to get a decent player or two. No immediate superstars, just usual front office business....

All this muscle flexing is making me dizzy!

It's difficult to imagine a modern MLB team or manager allowing a player to both hit and pitch beyond the requirements in the NL. Sure, a team would do that a few times or maybe for the first full year (it's a nice gimmick after all), but in the long (and medium) run, they would try to push him into one role or the other.

Santana was known as the best pitcher in the mid-to-late-00s. I would not be surprised if he gets enough HOF votes from voters who are old enough to remember, regardless of what his stat sheet says.

This gets repeated a lot. Where is it coming from? You can argue the Twins didn't give him enough of a chance (120 innings), but you can't argue he was performing acceptably as a starter (5.61 ERA, .817 OPS against). And don't forget, he was moved to the pen after a 6-run start where he only managed to get 1 out, and then a guy named Tyler Duffey was called up and kept exceeding expectations as a starter. May probably deserves another shot (esp. if it's May v. Duffey), but some of us have a narrative on May that forgets everything that happened in 2015.

I would not be surprised if he surprises us. He might have another year left in his arm, he might fail miserably. It can go either way.

Seems like Hillary, in spite of losing the election, did indeed break the glass ceiling. Women are standing up against the misogynists who abused them in droves, esp. ones in media and politics whose misogyny affected the outcome in the election. This is a good thing. After the idiotic election of 2016 (and everything since), men need to sit out the next few rounds.

Seems like he wants to be close to home -- i.e., the West Coast. Hello, Dodgers.