Trov

I am not a fan of Cave either, but if the team feels he gives them a better chance to win now, versus someone else then so be it. You advocate for Rooker, which I support, but reports are he cannot field pretty much at all. Which means he will need to hit that much more than what a platoon of Cave and Garlick does because both are reported to be better on defense. Either guy will be hitting near bottom every game. If Rooker could carry the offense and make up for his terrible defense and we would win more games with him, I would be all for him out there. However, we need to win now, not get a guy some time to win for later. If that means sitting a guy that is not ready, then do it. Personally, I think Kirolloff will be making his way over sooner than later.

Garlick over Rooker surprised me a little. I read that it really has to do with defense. Rooker defense is so bad that they do not want to put him in left because his offense is not good enough to make up for it, at least as of now. To me it is also a sign that Kirilloff will be getting a call once his bat starts finding the ball again. I was not surprised with Law not making team off the bat because of 40 man roster situation. I bet Twins just waiting for the flurry of moves and then make a 40 man change when they are ready to bring him in. It is easier to sneak guys through waivers in the early part of season than just before it.

The Dobnak deal may look like a steal for the Twins, and hopefully it will long term, but Randy knows how quickly he could get cut and be back to having a different career. Sure, if he becomes a good starter, not even great, he will have cost him some money long term, but he is one TJ surgery from having to prove he can make a MLB roster at league min as well.

I just have to say good for him. We can talk about the deal in terms of who wins it or not, but the fact is Randy saw a chance to make sure he was going to get paid basically just over 9 mil for 5 years but could be more. Yes, he could be giving up big money if he develops into an Ace, not that I expect that, but he knows where his home will be, he knows he will be paid, and sure he may end up leaving sever millions on the table. On the other hand, he may get injured this year and never come back to MLB form and he will still get paid. If he did sign, then he needs to continue to pitch well, never get injured and continue to fight for money every arbitration year and may face non-tender. He decided this move was right for him. I think it is a good move for Twins because it is very low risk overall for a potential starter for years to come. Sure, it is unlikely that he will be a top end starter but should still help team for years to come. Good job Randy way to secure your bag.

First, Kirilloff will not hit under .200 in St. Paul, if he is even still there when they start up. I refute the argument though that our FO would have sent him over if he was hitting well. Of course we will never know because it did not happen. Only one time has anyone pointed to manipulation of service time under this FO and that was Buxton, but I would argue he did not warrant a call up. He was doing terrible that season at MLB level and he was not tearing it up in AAA when he was down there to end the season. To say he should have been called up because he could or you are manipulating service time is a step too far. Did it work in their favor yes, but at the same time he was not playing at MLB level. I agree the way the FO manages games now is not the same as it used to be. In part that is because they have learned new ways to try and win. I think teams would be happy to work on loyalty if they could expect it in return. Both sides need to take those steps. How often does a top FA stay with their present team? There are a few top guys that have, but they were playing in large market team already. So how often does a top FA, I mean the guys that can break the bank, stay with their home grown team? For some teams they are priced out of the market, and so they feel they need to manipulate service time to get that 1 more year of team control, or 1 more cheap year depending on how it was manipulated. I do not put blame on either the owners or the players. Both side agreed to the rules and both sides use them as best they can. The issue with the current CBA is that the FO started playing by new rules of how they decided to evaluate older players. In the older days, late 90's to around 2010, teams used same type of evaluation and would give 30 year old 7 to 10 year deals. They did this to lock up them for the first few years of the deal knowing it was dead money at end of it. Also, record deals were being reached each year, even when the players were not the best in baseball but the best on the market. Well FO started to say why should we do this? Lets start to limit these to not have bad money going out the door. They learn ways through the rules to get the most of a player for cheap and then not pay them on the back end. They also stopped giving out large contracts to lessor players just because they were the top guy that year. Well this led to players getting upset and now the big blow up is coming. I do not predict the new CBA will look anything like it used too. Before 1 year service time manipulation sucked, but player would still get paid, but now that 1 year manipulation could cost him a couple years on a deal and that much more money. Players want to hit FA when they are 27, not when they are 30. I would love to see a way to make players want to remain with teams, but a good FO needs to assume they cannot keep them all and plan for the future, as well as the present. The Rays are masters at this.

I find that highly unlikely. Could Baddoo bloom with his chance, yes he can. However, to do so he would need to prove just about every scout wrong. Very few guys with years of time in minors can just come out of no where when they make majors to be all-star player. Could he be one of the very few, sure. However, he has never been high on prospect list, never been top OF prospect for Twins or Tigers now. To call him Puckett 2.0 is even further off. Puckett was drafted number 3 overall when Twins drafted him second time around. He was not some out of no where guy that people were shocked to make it big. I do not wish Baddoo any ill will and hope for him he proves me and the Twins wrong. If he does he will be the rare talent that snuck up on people.

In a 162 game season no team ever uses just 5 starting pitchers. Many times teams will use at least 8 or more. Having depth is important. I have no issue with Dobnak not starting, but if he pitches well out of pen and either Happ or Shoemaker struggle out of the gate, I just hope Dobnak gets a chance. I do not think the team will hesitate to make a move, but in old days Gardy and company would keep running the same guys out there because they were our rotation.

It is true that if you play by the rules the sides laid out you can say who cares. I think for some fans it is a measure of it the team/FO are "good" guys or not. But, why do they need to be good for players? However, I see two issues with manipulating service time. One, it further pushes the teams and players apart leading to even longer strike/lockout which means no baseball to watch. Two, it helps divide the player and the team. Now, if you know you do not think you will sign them, then maybe one extra year of control is worth that. However, if you think you will hope to sign them when they are a FA, not doing something to get them upset with you early on may be a good route to go. At least for me, if a team manipulated my service time, when FA time came there is no way I would sign with them if I had more options. Unless their offer was extremely higher. That is just me, maybe Alex would not care.

I take little stock in what vet pitchers do in ST both good and bad. If you know you are going to make the team many players will just work on things and not care about results. Lets wait and see what the regular season brings before we are ready to release Happ. He is slotted as 4th starter too, not like we are hoping he would step in to be a top guy.

Fully agree. Dobnak is still young and room to grow. Dobnak had great stretch last year then fell off. I would love to see if his new slider can carry over into regular season and pile up some good numbers again. Without Dobnak first half last season we would not have won the central most likely. I am not saying you owe him anything for it, but if it was a true battle for 5th spot Dobnak won that battle.

I think the Twins have much more pitching depth than Sox do. I am not sold as Shoemaker being the 5th starter all year, or even breaking as 5th, but we have much better options when injuries happen as well. Sox top 3 can match up very well with us and many teams, but their last 2 are not proven and to my knowledge they do not have much depth. My guess they will be seeking to buy a starter mid-season.

I do not see how Twins can justify not starting Dobnak over Shoemaker. What in Shoemaker history says he just gets the 5th spot? If Dobnak does not get shot in rotation out the gate it means he never had a chance for one and the rotation was set before spring started. Dobnak will be first starter up when someone misses a start for injury if he is not in rotation. I also cannot get over the story Dobnak had. How many pitchers in his drafts signed, and failed in baseball? It just shows that not every guy can be found right away. Even if he is just an average pen pitcher the rest of his career I still see him spending many years in majors. To go from undrafted and seen on a youtube video to making majors just a couple years later, to even start post-season game. I will be rooting for him no matter where he ends up the rest of his career.

Agree, I am not that high on Smeltzer. He is a nice story, but has not run away with his chances yet. He may actually make it through waivers as well.

Law has been doing very well, but much as many have asked who gets off the 40 man to put him on it? That is another thing the FO will have to think about, who are they willing to lose to waivers when removing from 40 man. I wonder if any trades are being talked about to fix that issue? Not too often is that done. Normally teams will just have a ton of movement and hope their guy makes it through.

In response to the questions, I believe Thorpe will be sent cross river. I also think he will be one of first pitchers brought back should the need arise. We all know he will make it over at some point. Twins work through pitchers like crazy. As for substance on balls, that will be very hard to monitor. I get the intent of more balls in play generally, as that leads to more action. I do not think this is the path to go. It sounds like the league thinks this is being done in the dugouts before the balls get to the umps, as I understand they cycle through balls. This will be easy to stop by having independent person checking the balls that are out of play before it cycles back to the ump. One issue if pine tar is found on the ball will be that bats have that all over it, and on players batting gloves and they may get some on the ball, which could lead to claim it was the pitcher, or catcher who did it. If the substance can add spin rate, then to me, only significant difference in spin rate during a particular game would be evidence that the pitcher did anything. If it was just increased from a game to another that would not be enough for me. I think the league should also find how much a substance can affect pitcher in getting strikes, while balancing what lack of a substance may do with control of the ball. With guys throwing high 90's across the league, at least every team has 1 player with that velo now a days, I am wondering how much the substance may help with control. I know if I was a hitter, if the lack of a substance may lead to more wild pitches and the increased advantage is minimal, I would want the pitcher to be less wild. I have not seen the evidence that substances can really make that big of a difference, but I hope the league has and knows how much of a difference this will make. When you look the rule changes they are doing across minor leagues, the league clearly wants more action in the game, to try and get more fans it would seem.

I have said all along that until Twins showed clear intention of manipulating service time I would give benefit of doubt they would not. This move does not show a clear intent to manipulate service time. Kirilloff did not play well enough to force the Twins into that decision. Kirilloff did not put up huge numbers in AA or AAA over his career yet. Everything is about his hype, which I am on that train, but when you are expected to be a big bat and you hit below .200, sure in short sample, but others are competing and hitting well. What will be interesting is to see who breaks with team, and how long will team ride with them if they struggle before Alex takes a train ride from St. Paul to MPLS. We will not have number to compare, unless it is May time. I would ride with Rooker for most games to start. If he hits like he has shown he can then he may make it hard to let Alex get time. If Rooker struggles then you swap the two.

I do not see how people can claim the Kirilloff move is service time related. I said from beginning if Kirilloff played well in spring he would break with team. He has not hit well, and Rooker and Garlick have both hit better. Rooker has shown he should get a chance. I am afraid what his defense will be, but let his bat carry him. I see no issue sending Kirilloff to alternate site. Everyone thinks he should get shot, me included, but when you struggle in spring and the others do not it is hard to push him into lineup. If Rooker does not carry bat into season and struggles, you can bring Alex over, he is only across the river.

I think the biggest thing playing into this is the push back of AAA season to May. If I was running the show, I would start Kirilloff and see how he does when games matter. If he struggles early, you move him to alternate site. That being said, I would not be upset if Rooker gets the start and Kirilloff goes to alternate site. I do not put a lot of stock in ST numbers, but when there is a position battle, you have to use something. If Rooker was not hitting like he is I would go with Kirilloff no doubt, but if Rooker can hit well that can help get some wins early.

It is situational though. First, unless the person practices it, it will be unlikely the player will just do it. But, lets assume the player can do it whenever they want. You would not want them to do it with runner on second and two outs. Why you may ask? Well the run will not score and all you did is put the onus on someone else to get the hit to score the run. How about with 2 outs and down by 1 in 9th and it is a Jim Thome or Big Papi type? Of course you will not want them to bunt for a hit in that spot. You want them to swing for fence like they get paid for. If it is to lead off an inning I have no issue taking a base hit if you can get it. But teams will tend to play the 3b in some to take it away until there are 2 strikes. Now that is where I wish guys would practice bunt more. If you strike out a ton and fall behind say 0-2 or 1-2, why not bunt it. You just have to get past the pitcher and does not really need to be that close to foul line. Point is, pay attention to the situation and react to it, not just bunt for hit because you can.

I have no worries about offense. Spring numbers mean nothing. We have no clue what guys are working on. Even more so for guys that know they have a spot on team they may be working on identifying specific pitches, or trying to do certain things. I have seen many a player crush in spring then be off the team mid april because they strike out half the time and hit below 100.

The only manager in Twins history to win WS title had no "fire". He was about as passive as you can be as a manager. What does "fire" have to do with being a good manager? Gardy had all kinds of "fire", but I felt he was terrible manager based on his in game decisions. Sure, some guys may react well to being yelled at all the time a get a rush when their manager goes out and yells and screams making a scene. Twins right now have different approach, does not mean it is wrong.

Just about every team cut payroll this year. Twins are still in middle of league in spending. We are spending almost 70 mil more than Tampa, and Tampa is expected to be fighting for playoffs, just like us. Spending big does not mean you will win, you need to spend right. If you can find a good arm for cheaper why not do it?

Kirolloff has not played himself into the lineup, and if he starts it is because that was decided coming into spring and there never was a comp. I do not put much stock into spring numbers. I remember many Twins crushing in spring and make the team because of it only to fall flat on their face. If you only look at the numbers you may be missing many things. Like, their hits, what kind of pitches was it on? How were they being pitched too? What kind of defense was out there? So many more things to pay attention too. For example, if the person crushed fastballs over and over, but never could hit off-speed and swung at it over and over, how do you think they will fare in regular season? I am not saying Alex should get the start, I think it can easy be argued Rooker should get time out there to start season and Alex needs to force his way in, or Rooker plays his way out. Personally fine either way. Garlick is not likely. Much like Broxton, he is who he is. Garlick was brought in for injury depth and nothing more.

Relievers are always such a wildcard. Every year this are several that have great years that no one expected and others have terrible years. Only a few guys will year in and year out be able to be counted on. With current trends having strong pen across the board is important, where it used to be a couple of top guys was all you needed. That being said, I never am big on signing FA pen guys. Mainly because the difference between most FA and a guy that comes up from AAA or lower level signing normally is not enough to give up huge money on them. It is also hard to say they will always be better than what you have. Not just for Twins, but many teams will sign a guy only to have them fall out of favor when an unknown pitches better, and the cycle continues over and over.

Interesting that Topps has a card of a guy fielding when he will most likely be known for his bat.