Trov

Not sure why not signing 7 players pre arbitration deadline, which I think they can still come to agreement prior to actually doing the system, is a reason to hate a team. It is built into the agreement. You can not like how the Rays operate and feel they should pony up more money for players, but what if the players number they are asking for is just crazy? We do not know what is being asked right now for those 7, and normally we find out sides are just a few hundred thousand apart, but we do not know the talks prior to the deadline. We also do not know the books of the team, we do know, that despite winning they never draw crowds. Could that be lack of identified long term player? I doubt that as they had Longeria for years and winning but still drew terrible. Is it he stadium, that could be a reason, I know I hated going to the dome for games. The Rays early on tried the big names high offense teams at first, and it did not work. Then someone said lets think outside the box, similar to Oakland, and they started winning. Their are reports they are trying to talk to bigger name FA, but similar to Twins, normally coming up short. Maybe players do not like playing for them, but they also are known for giving guys a shot that have not had a chance in other teams. Many times, the guys they do let go or trade away, do not perform well away from Tampa, save for a few.

Eventually we will get to full robo umps. I think it will start with the challenge system, mainly to ease the change in for both players and fans. The younger fans want the right calls, it is the older fans, generally not all, that will say we need to keep the human error as part of the game. They will point to 94% percent accurate, but ignore that they get 2 inches on the edge of the zone that can go either way as accurate. Meaning, they could have much less than 94% but the grading is only based on way off calls. I read an article years ago, which I cannot find now, but it showed that umps in clear calls, meaning not close to edge of zone, they are almost always right. But when it was on the edge of the zone, within those 2 inches, they were 50/50 according to the data the article used. Further, it showed that if count was 3-0 the strike was called at much higher rate if it was in that 50/50 zone. Hunter use to say automatic call when he was commentating. The reverse was true, if 0-2, the ump would more often than not call it a ball if in that 50/50 zone. Then it looked at that an ump was less likely to call a repeated strike in the same area on back to back pitches, if in the 50/50 zone. Pitchers are trained to pitch to the edges of the zone, but calls on balls or strikes are basically a coin flip when they do. I would love to see the full robo ump sooner than later, but I expect the challenge system first, then the full system a few years after that.

My wife is a Pirates fan, so I follow them as kind of a secondary team, and their ownership and FO is worse than what we have been dealing with in the past. That being said, I know Cutch never wanted to leave Pirates, even if they would have been losing I believe he would have stayed with them. I am not surprised he returned, knowing he will get regular playing time, and will get to return to his team. Good for him, not that he needed a few more million.

I dislike when teams try to change what a player does well, in hopes of getting something a little better, only to then have worse affects. We did this with Buck for years. Kept telling him different ways to do things, to fix problems he really did not have at the time, but expected to have. Martin, the issue is his lack of power, but if he can hit line drives, I am okay if he is not a big power guy. Works for some guys. Twins just assumed it would be a problem down the road so lets try to change what he has done his whole life and what got him drafted 5th overall. Hard to change what you have done your whole life.

Well that may depend on how his eye surgery went. He claims after the Twins traded him he started having some eye issues, that he is hoping surgery this off-season will fix. Will he be an MVP, of course not, but he will DH and be asked to hit some HR's. Could he have finally hit the age cliff, maybe, but for 1 mil that is not a bad risk to take. He is also known to be good leader for younger guys, something some of their guys could maybe use.

We have a RH outfield bat, his name is Buxton. Also, we have guys that could fill that roll if needed, Lewis for one. I would not be upset with bringing in someone, but either they need to crush lefties, or at least be competent on defense.

He better put up the highest career WAR as a SS for Twins, or we made a bad signing.

It is hard to speculate on what Miami is doing, are they just shopping pitching knowing they have some and would just want to trade away 1 and hope the return makes them possible contender, or they doing Reds/Athletic style tear down fire sale? Miami has been known to do that in past. If they are doing full tear down, only prospects and young controlled guys will get any deal done. If they are floating names for hopefully faster rebuild or compete this year, then MLB ready guys like Arraez could be used. The only issue I have, is unless you are 100% convinced they will be better than our top 2 or 3 guys, what is the point? I mean why trade off assets to just clog up our pitching to not increase the floor of that pitching? I am not opposed to a deal for better pitching, but I am not seeing any of them clearly being better. The one that does interest me the most is Luzardo. I find it interesting how crazy the home road splits are for Luzardo and Cabrera. Both did much better away than home. I wonder what led to that.

I imagine when it comes to majors it will start with the ABS system with the challenges for a period of time, while they shift the minors into full robo umps. The reason, as point out in article, is it would be too dynamic of shift in catching to quickly. Catchers have been coached to how to frame and what not, but then framing will be pointless. Then the most important aspect of being catcher will be throwing out runners, but I still think calling a game and actually setting up targets for pitcher will still have importance. I can see with the challenge system games ending on overturning of call from ump. I also see no way will teams use up challenges early on, unless it is just terrible call, because good challenge retains it. I wonder if dugouts will have chance to look at video before they tell someone to challenge. I also, wonder if a hitter will just call for without the bench tell him to in some cases. I could see some guys so mad they just challenge what they think is bad call. I know one of the biggest things they are working on in minors is how the robo ump is calling the pitches. There was some really odd looking pitches being called strikes that looked way out of the zone to the eye. That is the main reason we will see delay to MLB level is they want to one, let the minor league guys get used to it, similar to pitch clock, and two, get all the bugs out, so fans do not reject it.

I think it will take him putting forth some good PR to find a team willing to take him on. If it was just about the numbers he would be one of the higher free agents, but being he is very toxic right now, so much that the Dodgers are willing to pay him a lot of money to not pitch. If Bauer is willing to put forth a I am a changed man and fall on his sword approach, I think a team will take the risk, but so far he has said the, yeah I did it, but she asked me to do it. Not his exact words, but it is reported that was his defense was it was consent, and that he did not mean to punch her so hard to cause injuries. If he continues to double down on that kind of a defense, I could not see a single team willing to take him on. If he settles his legal stuff, and asks for forgiveness, shows he is willing to educate himself on things, then maybe a team will take him on.

First, Marlins can have Garlick for free, as he has to pass waivers and they could put in a claim, so if they do not do that, why would they trade for him? Second, why would they give up a good trade asset for Kepler, unless they plan to flip Kepler. People keep throwing Kepler name out there for pitching to teams that are most likely rebuilding or looking to load up on prospects, like Marlins would be doing if they are trading away pitching right now. Arraez they may have interest in as he is still young and controllable and could help in next few years, but Kepler is of no help to them in what they would be looking for. Now, if they think they are on the cusp of winning, then maybe they would be willing to take on someone like Kepler, but my guess they do not think they are there. Gordon may have value to them, as he is also young and controllable. Can people stop floating Kepler to every team thinking everyone will want him for some of their pitching?

"With Jose Miranda entrenched at third base, it’s possible Lewis becomes a right-handed outfield option (but that’s where he got hurt!), or he’s traded to help balance the roster." Is Miranda entrenched at third base? I mean he was decent hitting, but he was a rookie, and some times they fizzle. He also was not a good defender overall. Maybe he does better at 3rd this year, but if Lewis can defend 3rd much better and hit better, why would we move him to OF? Put Miranda as DH, or trade him if need be. In terms of Lee, he can play 2nd as well, or move to OF most likely. His bat appears so elite I would not look to trade him. If you can hit elite we can find a spot.

I think all the fans that attacked the FO for not putting up the money to sign CC when he agree to SF or Mets, should at least admit a little bit the FO had a clue on what they were doing. I say this because we signed him for close to but actually less than what we first offered. We knew about the ankle and were not willing to take on any more risk than 10 years. Both SF and Mets balked at the risk. Did the FO know this was going to happen, most likely not, but they also knew what they would be willing to do. They kept in contact and in the end were willing to offer more guaranteed money than any other team. The contract is actually pretty friendly for the Twins. If CC regresses after year 4 to 6, then can make sure he does not get the PA buy benching him, then cut loose the last 4 years. If CC is playing at elite level still, then we keep brining him back for up to 4 years. The fact each year is an option year is amazing for the Twins. I could not have thought of a better offer.

I was going to post about the difference the dWAR according to baseball reference. I do not know the exact metric on how they go about it, but the have that big of a difference over a career, and Smith was never negative. I get the authors point that not many can stick to a position like CF for full career, and compared CB in football. However, the same can be said for SS, as very few stay at it, or are considered good on defense at it late in career. One of the next closest is Omar Vizquel who had a career 29.5 dWAR. I think the point that not many can do it, should show that the few that do it, are HOF compared to others. Baseball HOF has always compared across eras, but even compared to his counter parts, Hunter was never considered HOF bound. He put up some great defense, and I have not done the research on all CF, but Andruw Jones has dWAR of 24.4. Mike Cameron had career dWAR of 10.3, also played to age 38. Maybe Hunter was not as great of a defender as we thought. He made amazing catches, which always look great, but compared to 2 CF of his era he overall defense was not as good as either.

With limiting the risk really to 6 years, this is a good deal in my opinion. He has been playing with this issue for years, and still putting up the numbers he has. If he has big regression down the road you are only on the hook for a couple of years. This was the exact kind of deal I wanted them to try to get without all the stuff going on. It protects them later into the deal if he has regressed, for any reason health or just production, but will also keep him locked in if he is still producing at a high enough level.

Once the contract is officially signed, reports are we are much closer physical wise than other teams were, there will be domino of trades I am thinking. We will clear up our OF, someone will get dealt I think, and someone on right side of IF will get moved I think as well.

Report I read, Mets offer was to cut their 12 year in half to 6, but the value in half as well, to 157. Then vesting options for the remaining 6 years and value. So in the end, assuming we do not balk too, we offered the most money to CC, and less than what our original offer was. I am will still believe it when pen is to paper, but rumors are the Twins have already looked at the medicals that have been holding up the other deals. Also, taking risk on 6 years is much better than 12 or 13 years. Now I bet we wee a bunch of other moves, possibly prospects getting moved, because SS or 3B, will be locked for 6 years min. That means Lewis, Lee, and Martin will have to fill other spots.

I think it really comes down to are you a big hall or small hall person. Baseball has wanted to be a small hall all along, with having years of no one getting in. I fully agree he could be warranted just based on his defense alone, but I think where he falls for me, is he never was the guy that pushed us over the top. He always put up good numbers, but not great, and was never a guy people were like, we are scared to face him. He did make web gems a thing and was always making great catches, in the dome which is even crazier. He also played during time of Andruw Jones and Jones was considered better during that time overall, but Jones did fall off after age 30, Hunter managed to play at a higher level late into 30's, which to me should be considered. I feel if you are one of the best of your era at a position, you should be considered, but the baseball hall has always wanted to compare across eras and offense counting numbers was always important, unless you are Ozzie Smith as point out.

You point out a few moves that did not work out great, but not any of the moves that did work out, when you say the FO has not had a good knack for evaluating talent. First, please point to a single FO that never misses on trades or signings, my guess you will not find one. Second, the FO has made many trades or signings of players that they were not "burned" on. Yeah, they missed on some, every FO does. Yes, the Dyson trade ended up being terrible, but is that on the FO, as Dyson was pitching up to the trade with no stints on IL to suggest his arm was about to blow, but what did we give up? So far the only player they traded away that has made MLB is Davis, who has played small parts of 4 seasons, is 28 and played less than 40 games. The pitchers still have a shot as they are young, but neither are top prospect guys. The deal with SD last year was not as bad as you always like to make it seem. Rogers did what he always does, has a good stretch, but then did nothing and was below replacement at end of season. Sure, Pagan was just as bad, and Paddock will most likely only give us 1 year of pitching, but not like Rogers would have carried us to the playoffs or anything.

You need to remember that injuries will happen, and not everyone at the MLB level will live up to expectations. For 2b, why is it blocked by Lewis? It is blocked by Polanco, and Arraez right now. Of course Arraez can move to 1b or 3b, but Lewis would be much better defender at 3b than any other current option we have, if he is not SS, but lets not assume CC gets signed at this point. As 3b for Lewis, Miranda is not some mega star there that he could not be pushed off by Lewis. If Julien can put up the offense he has shown in minors, he can force is way into line up over what we have out there. Lee is similar, he would need to either get in for injury or force his way, but if his bat is MLB ready, they will find a spot if needed. Martin, similar is based on injury or regression of other guys in OF. I am pretty sure the article is pointing out when they would likely come up in a normal situation. If there is regression, or others are forcing playing time of course some will not make debuts.

Even without the legal stuff, I still would not want Bauer to come to Twins. He is not good enough to deal with the headaches he gives. He was constantly commenting on political and social issues, and being know as a bad club house guy, by doing things like throw the ball into centerfield stands when he gets pulled from game.

I speculated that with the teams of the Giants and Mets, is it may be their insurance company balking at the deal based on the physical. It is possible, after the medicals came back, they insurance company would not sign off on the deal, basically saying if he gets injured that ends career, team still on the hook. Contracts like these always have insurance purchased by the team. However, if the insurance will not sign off, then team would be on hook. That could be the issue with the Mets. If a team is willing to take that risk, then so be it. Rumors I was reading was Mets wanted an opt out if the leg leads to career affecting injury.

If he really is seeking the most money in his pocket, then going to Mets over Twins is wrong call. Yes, the total in the contract was 30 mil more, but over 2 additional years, and with the taxes and cost of living, he would actually have more money in his pocket with the Twins. Most players do not look at those things though.

One of my main comments it he claim the Twins did not fork over enough money for Correa, well so far no one has. He accepted one deal, only to have the team back out. Then he quickly agree to a significantly less offer for Mets. Those who are saying we were not close at 10 years 285, I would say is not far off the 12 years 315, that is maybe on the table for the Mets. When you look at things like taxes and cost of living, he actually is giving up a ton of money by choosing Mets offer over Twins. If it was just about overall money in his pocket, he chose wrong, so that is not the only thing making his decision. That deal has been on the table now for weeks and yet to be signed. Will the Twins swoop in and go with original off and will CC take it, maybe. I am also getting sick of the articles, we have not signed guys to mega deals, but then at same time attack FO for signing players to long term deals that have not worked either, like Donaldson. I would agree continuing doing 1 year deals to fill team is not best way to go, but you also need to have flexibility of some guys on shorter term controls or for cheaper. If you just sign every guy for multi years and they are not working out, you are locked into a bad team, with having to play bad players, or paying guys for not playing. The Angels have been doing that for years, signing guys to bad deals and being a bad team because they are locked in on old guys not playing well, and not building a farm system that develops. How many big long term deals have they signed in past 15 years? How many playoffs have they made?

I am wondering at this point should we even want to sign him to the 10 year deal offered? Two mega spending teams had basic terms and balked after seeing his physical. The reports I have read are Mets want and injury opt out if his leg does act up down the road. That is one of the main things being discussed. I am also wondering if the insurance companies will not cover the contract if that is the injury that happens. Contracts like these have insurance for the team generally, meaning if the player gets a career ending injury or several seasons, insurance will pay the contract and not the team. However, the physical may raise enough of a red flag for insurance to say we will not take on the risk, and that is why teams are balking, because if the injury does act up, they are fully on the hook for a guy that is not playing.