IndianaTwin

Thanks for the Vin Scully clip. I always go back to this one, so I'm not sure I've heard the Scully version. Jack Buck, Vin Scully. To-mate-oh, To-mot-oh. It doesn't get any better than either of those.

Don Williams, 1980: “I Believe in Yu.”

I was one of the "lots of Twins fans there too." I remember it as one of those "center fielder didn't even turn around" shots.

How aBOUT that? The TWIB Notes are being bested by the TWITD'Notes. I'll be attending TwinsFest for the first time this year -- how about a preview particularly orientated to the newbies among us?

Trevor May Resolution: Get healthy enough, stay healthy enough, and pitch effectively enough to get 140 innings as a starter or 50 appearances in the pen.

Maybe I'm misreading your comment, but the Cubs signed Smyly before the Twins signed Pineda.

Ding, ding, ding -- we've got a winner. (And deserving of off-season chicken as a result.)

Hip, hip, huzzah!

Of the 50, 12 are new to the organization since the last ranking (all of them in the top 40, by the way). Two questions: How does 12 compare to other years? Is our perception that the new guys have brought more talent into the organization accurate? What's the status of the 12 from last year?

To recap... The batch of prospects freed up from Atlanta was "only" 12 guys.Based on the apparent weakness of the Angels minor league system, they may not be the best judge of talent. If they spent $2.2 million on Maitan, he may not be worth that.If the "best" prospect is not worth $2.2 million and there were only 12 new guys for 30 teams to go after, it seems reasonable to think that the Twins were going to have a hard time spending the entire $3+ million within the needed timeframeInstead, the Twins got... A "free" 3rd rounder that likely fell (according to one report, apparently, from as high as the low 1st round)A "free" 5th rounder at a position that doesn't have much depthAnd still have a bit of international money to spend on someone from the batch of Braves prospects, if desired. Or to trade to one of the other teams in the Ohtani derby. That sounds like a win to me. The only question is whether they might have gotten even more from the Angels or Mariners, but I'm glad to trust the Falvine wisdom on this. I doubt they only made two calls on this.

Ugh. Sciosia in lingerie is not the image I need stuck in my mind at 8:30 in the morning. Or 8:30 in the evening, for that matter. Or ever. I do like your summary statement, however.

I'm not going to get too worked up about who will be in the opening rotation until we have a chance to see how the dust settles with trades and free agents. But long-term, I'd like to see them give May a chance to start. However, we have to be realistic about his workload for the year. From 2011-13, he threw 149.2+ innings each year. Then he threw 144 innings in 2014, 114.2 in 2015, 46.1 in 2016, and 0 in 2017. So I think you have to approach 2018 with an assumed innings limit. With that decreased workload and coming back from surgery, I don't think there's any way he can be a full-time starter for the entire year. It's hard for me to see him pitching more than perhaps 140 innings. And if he's not going the entire season, it makes more sense to be conservative and back-load the season. What does that look like? Maybe something like about 10 starts of 5 innings and another 15 starts of 6 innings, give or take. So about 25 starts. Look at the Twins schedule. If they keep four starters on regular rotation, they need a No. 5 on April 11, then not again until April 24, 29, and May 4. Then not again until May 22, just over a quarter of the way through the season. From there, they have a number of off days in June, but not enough to skip starts. But effectively, most starts in June will come on 5 days rest, which could be helpful for a guy coming back from injury. So my response to May is to say, "You will not make a start until May 22. On the four times we need a No. 5 guy before that, we will make do, perhaps giving Gonsalves, Romero, or Hughes a spot start if need be. Heck, even Duffey could be lengthened for one of those." (That assumes no pickups via trade/free agent. If so, perhaps it's Mejia or Gibson getting those No. 5-guy starts.)"If your rehab goes well, you will start a game on May 22. If our ML rotation has thrived and remains healthy, you will pitch in Rochester. If the more likely scenario of an injury or two has happened, you will start against the Tigers, which is essentially a AAA game anyway.""Assuming you are effective enough to stay in the rotation, your first 10 games or so will be limited to 70-85 pitches, which will take us essentially to the All-Star Break.""Following the break, if you are still healthy enough and effective enough to stay in the rotation, we will up your pitch count to 80-100 pitches for the rest of the year, maxing out when you get to 140 innings. That will get us through the rest of the year. We may need to move you back to the bullpen for the playoffs, which we plan to take part in." That's looking at May in a vacuum, but in reality, I think that's what you have to do -- figure out the optimal usage for each individual pitcher and then start at the top, working them into the team context. For example... Santana and Berrios (and Darvish, etc.) pitch every fifth day for the entire season, adjusting as needed.Workload-wise Gibson is in the same boat, though effectiveness is the question.Mejia is not yet ready for 180 innings, but if a top 4 starter is picked up, Mejia might be able to take the early season No. 5-starts and then slide into the full rotation, etc. If you haven't picked up a top-4 starter, the team context probably says that you have to start Mejia in the rotation and start thinking about Plan B for if/when he starts to break done.And you've done the same thing with the minor league guys, starting them in Rochester and starting to move them up as openings occur and as they earn it.And then keep Bartolo's number on speed dial, just in case. :-) Just kidding!!!

To me, this sounds like a good time to follow what I think of as the Cardinals approach. Others do it too, but they seem to do it really well. What’s Romero’s innings limit in 2018? Perhaps 150? Give him 130 as a starter in Rochester. If he’s doing well, bring him up and use him judiciously in relief for the final 20, with the assumption that he’s still a starter in 2019.

This is an aside from the question of who will sign him. In terms of him being able to hit, it seems like folks have been suggesting he hit on the days he pitches, plus 1-2 times between starts. Doesn’t it make more sense to have him hit 2-3 times on other days, but still use the DH on days he pitches? Otherwise, they’d need to use a pinch hitter each time the pitcher’s spot comes up after he’s been relieved.

Chili's has endless ribs? If true, that may be the best TD info yet -- now I can convince my wife that all the time I spend here is worth it!

I've never minded a guy leading the league in double plays. It's an opportunity thing -- runners on base and hard contact are both good things, but in combination they're going to lead to GIDPs. They're also going to lead to a lot of 1st and 3rds. The career leaders are Pujols, Ripken, Pudge, Aaron, and Yaz, by the way. That wouldn't be bad company to be in. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/GIDP_career.shtml

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. My response was going to be: 6. TwinsDaily. It's so much more fun to waste time on TwinsDaily than to watch the Ken Burns "Baseball" series on MLB Network for the umpteenth time. Thanks, owners, moderators, writers, readers, commenters...

I think Thome gets in. Santana vs. Koufax is a great comparison. However, Bill James used to point to the problem of comparing to a marginal HOFer -- if "A is in, then so should B" isn't that helpful if A shouldn't be in. Koufax is a great example of the "peak" argument. He had 6 (5 2/3, really, missing time one of those years) great years, but the other six were basically league average. With what seems like a greater emphasis on sustained excellence, I'm not sure that Koufax would get elected if he was on the ballot now. And while I like Santana, if I look closely at their dominant streaks, it seems like Koufax has more "black ink" as a league leader. Different voting mindset, perhaps, but in his best years Koufax was not only Cy Young, but also MVP one year and second twice. That's really dominant, compared to Santana being just dominant. ("Really" is a technical term, by the way. ) So while I WANT Santana to be in, I'm not sure I'd put him in my top 10 of guys on the ballot, and I don't think he'll get anywhere close to election this year. In total War, he's 18th on the ballot, and in his peak 7 years, he's just 6th. In "JAWS," which averages the two, he's only 15th. Even if you're a "No Bonds/Clemens/Sosa/Sheffield/Manny Voter," he's still on the edge of the top 10.

The voters are past players. I’ve always said that any player who ever made a million bucks in his career should feel an obligation to vote for Miller.

Ultimately, without knowing the parameters of contract, it's hard to make a suggestion. So, if you can get any two of the above on good contracts that save money for some bullpen help, sure. But otherwise... For my first signing, I'd like to see either Alex Cobb or Lance Lynn, with probably a slight edge to Cobb because 1) I think he'll be cheaper, 2) he's been in the A.L.; and 3) I think he has the best chance of being a stud as he continues the return from surgery. I do like that Lynn has had one of the quickest and fullest bouncebacks from Tommy John that I can remember. For my second signing, I'll go with... Kyle Gibson. By that, I mean that in July we assumed we'd non-tender him and need to sign two starters. But with the way he pitched the last two months, the logical thing seems to be keep him around. Between Guardado, Castro, and even Molitor, they've been able to see what's been working the second half. In addition, by all accounts, one thing the new regime seems to have done well is hire coaches (Rowson, Pickler, Smith), so I would like to trust the hire of Alston and give him the chance to keep the Gibson progression getting him back to 2015 Gibson or better. Said another way, I'd rather have them building on the known strengths with Gibson vs. having everybody on the staff starting from scratch with a project. (And it's also a bonus that running out Gibson seems to turn all the hitters into Babe Ruth!) Though it doesn't have an ace yet, a rotation that starts the season with Cobb, Santana, and Berrios up front means that Mejia and Gibson are now bringing up the back end, with May and the herd of young guys ready to backfill as they are needed/ready. August/September (or better) Gibson is a pretty good No. 5. In Cobb and Berrios, Alston would have two chances to finish developing a borderline ace. And while, with that list of guys, I'm not keen on dumpster diving, one guy I'd consider is Chris Tillman on a one-year, make-good, incentive-laden contract.

Maybe there are examples, but it seems like young guys don't often open the season as closers and stay there. That's at least in part because they don't often get the chance, sure, but it seems rough to win the job based on the previous year, demonstrate enough in spring training to hold it, and then get off to a hot start. Rather, it seems like a lot of closers earn their way into the job by pitching lights-out and stepping in when the old guy stumbles/gets hurt. So, I like the thought of taking the flyer on the guy with closer experience (like Kintzler or even Rodney). If they keep the job, cool. If not, you've had real-time evaluation of which young guy has the hot hand THIS year.

2017 Minnesota Twins: 10 pitchers in a nine-inning win. 1917 Washington Senators: 8 pitchers in a 153-game season.

Division titles and the second wild card have to play it off, so they would have to play it off in game 163. If the Twins and Yankees tie for the first wild card, there is no playoff -- Yankees host based on head-to-head. For the gory details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_tie-breaking_procedures

Cleveland WAS 41-2 when leading at home after 7. Twins now 6-1 at Jacobs (whatever) Field this year. Bring 'em on.