Trov

I expect either almost no trades at the deadline or some really big trades. First, it will be hard to evaluate history of trades for value of these trades. Normally, we look at years of control and cost of control to help decide what return should be. Less time with team getting player less they would give in return. However, as pointed out, the impact could be even bigger this year. In terms of years of return, we do not what next year will bring, the assumption is full season at full pay, but what about fans. We hope life will revert back to some level of normal by next April, but we do not know. So there may be very reduced fans for next year. Owners will be less likely to want to take on big contracts for next year. Also, there is major expectations of work stoping the year after, so even if you have player under control for that year it may be wasted. That means a team may be less likely to give up a prospect if that year was going to be factored into years of control. Conversely, if a team feels that a player this year will get them over the hump in the crazy season that it is, and trading for a hot player for rental may be worth more than any other year. This could lead teams to making trades you would never expect. I bet, most of the trades in that situation will be international signing money and less of prospects as we have no clue how some players will be developing. The last thing to think about is that most teams see a bump in attendance after a WS win, but if that cannot happen, then will teams want to give up future assets for chance at win in a year of a crap shoot that you will not see a boost in revenue that you normally would.

I am not a fan of the 6 games against natural rival. With only 60 games those 3 game difference can be huge. Brew crew I think will be weaker this year than years past but they always have played us tough. Tigers playing Pirates, I assume is the extra games even thought Cleveland is close to Pittsburgh, but the natural inter state rival against reds makes sense. I assume they are not doing direct flight for "rival" That matchup is a who cares, both will not be good this year most likely. The chicago matchup could play big, and the Ohio matchup. Both Cubs and Reds are decent. Cards will be licking their chops to roll over the Royals. If I was an NL central fan other than Cards I would be very upset with the extra three games they will get.

Kepler v. Bauer at Reds, 4HR game? That place is know to be HR friendly.

Read the article, interesting they will be reducing roster size as season goes. Also, it does not explain how movement off the major league 30 to 28 to 26 squad will work. Do they need to have options available like normal to be moved off active roster to bring in someone eles, I would assume so. If they move a player from the 60 to the 40 will a player on the 40 need to be on 45 IL(if you did not read they dropped 60 to 45 for this season, still whole season basically). What if all your CF are in COVID issues can you swap them off 40 without a DFA and clear waivers. I am sure the league is figuring it all out, but these are questions I have. In terms of who I would include. I would make sure I have at least 2 viable defensive replacements at CF and SS. Assuming the possiblity of injury or illness you are going to want to be able to bring in defensive replacements as soon as possible. The chance of signing a FA to bring in will be reduced because of what they would have to do health screening wise and getting up to speed.

Does anyone know how many regular play by play or color commentators that are female in baseball now? It is great that many reports are out there for women, but what about in the booth calling the game. I know Bert will have the job with Twins until he does not want it, but with the rotation of retired players why not have some females in the booth? Why has it always been a man that calls the game, until very recently? I am looking forward to first female coach. The other major sports have some, no head coaches but assistants, and starting to get some in front offices I believe too. So many females get silenced in sports because the too long held belief that men know more about sports. The talk shows are starting to have more female input, time to get more coaches and more in the regular booth calling games.

The depth is the biggest plus the Twins will have. Not only at the MLB level, but with expanded squads and taxi systems the MLB ready hitters will be helpful. There will be positive tests, some teams already reporting that. That means most likely 14 days at least before returning. So not only small injuries having huge impact, missing 14 days, most likely 13 or 14 games is about a quarter of the season. Depth and hot streaks will carry this season. I could see if a guy is hot your ride him out, but second a slump hits you need a change. No room for error.

I liked the drill he talked about. I think maybe Twins should make Buxton do that. I am happy about the quote of the hitting plan. Hit strikes hard and don't worry about walks. Mitch Garver took that and ran with it this past year. There was many stories of Twins swing at first pitches, that also backs up the swing hard at strikes approach. Many times the first pitch is the best one you will see, so why take it just to work the count. Look your spot and let it swing, take anything else. Here is to hoping the kid has the true power. His bat is what will make him a player. In terms of where he falls on lists, who cares about those lists. So many people are wrong on those lists, just like so many of us are wrong at our guesses of who will do what.

There has been very few posts about safety. They have a plan it is a 67 page plan that lays out much of what you bring up and much more. However, nothing about this was fighting over what returning would look like. There were some players expressing concerns, but none of the back and forth was if the plan was safe enough.

There is a 67 page safety manual that was drafted at the beginning of this. The players will have to agree to it before returning to play. Part of that has some rule changes, such as the 30 man squads, taxi squad, universal DH, limited travel, and many other things, that should hopefully address the questions you bring up. Maybe it does not. However, it seems the safety issue was either agreed to, or not all that important as other than opt out options for pay safety was never part of any discussion, at least that were leaked to press.

I fear MLS will top MLB and that will be a sad day for me. Imagine U.S. players going to Japan to get paid more and be in the best league around. It just may happen. People only have so much sports money to spend.

By voting no to the 60 game agreement, the players said we will file a grievance. This is because they knew MLB would impose 60 games. The grievance will get ugly. There will be work stoppage in 2022, unless the two sides spend a lot of time having meaningful talks over the next year. What is not clear to me is if the players need to agree to expanded playoffs this year, or if MLB can just force it. Also with DH in NL, does there need to be agreement there? Do the players need to agree to the altered alignment that has been discussed? Can MLB impose a "bubble" plan like they discussed before? With no agreement at all, outside of the full prorated pay, do players need to agree to the other details? What some may not be thinking about is fact we do not know what next year will bring. We hope that there is vaccine by next season and COVID will be in rear view, but at this time we do not know what will be allowed. As states are opening up cases are increasing. Will there be limitations to number of fans next year? If there will be we will be right where we are again. Owners will not do a full season with no fans or even 25% Maybe at 50% but if that still limits the high priced seats and would require more low priced seat sales that may not fly either. I would not be surprised if there is possibly 2 full seasons without baseball. This year and next. Hopefully during that time they can work out something for 22 agreement. If this standoff is any sign of the future things do not look good. As has been talked about, the owners these days are not owning the team as the main way to make money. It is a side investment. What that means is if they are not making money they will not invest. That also means they have less of an interest to make sure games happen. Think about it. If are a billionare without the team, why would you need the team? What I am getting at is the owners can out wait the players, should they decide. Most of the players cannot go 2 seasons without pay. Some cannot even go 1 season without pay. Very few people will budget for that, when you are expecting income coming in, plus they are not making the millions that the top players are making. Most are in the first three year pay levels, and when you take out taxes and agent fees, and other people you employ, what a player takes home in first three years is not a ton. Yes, it is better than many who watch, but the point is, they are not able to rest making nothing. In the end, the owners always have the power because they can survive with not making money from the business of baseball, where most of the players do not make money unless they are playing baseball. I hope both sides get heads out of you know where and work together. I doubt it will happen but here is to hoping.

Heard a Doogie rumor that Sabato is in town and as long as physical goes well he is expected to sign above slot value.

First, I am for removal of all statutes that promote people that oppressed others, or backed the oppression of others. To simply say, well it was that time, demesnes what people went through. You can understand why they said what they said, but you do not need to honor them as well. For people that believe we need to have these symbols for history purposes, there are places for them in museums for people to choose to see them, not in public accessed areas where you are forced to see them. It is important to learn from history, and you can use example like Mr. Griffith to learn from. Mainly, that what you say and do can come back to haunt you years later. Some may change their ways over the years and are not the same as the person who said or did what they are being condemned for, but you still cannot take back what you said or did. I personally had never heard of his comments back then, before I was born, and did not know that is what led to Carew being traded. Not that I had high thoughts of Mr. Griffith to being with, but this lowers them even more. Sure, you can say it was a different time and it was accepted to say those things back then so let it slide. But if you let it slide now, then you will continue to let it slide and the message that is sent is that it is okay to say those things and not get any backlash for it. The Twins made a decision to remove a statute because of one of three reasons. Possible a little of all three. One, they did it so prevent any negative press that would look bad in the future and hurt their bottom dollar. Two, they wanted to make it be know they are forward thinking and accepting of social change, in hopes of getting good press to have people come to games in future to help their bottom dollar. Three, they truly feel this is a good message to inform people that they will not tolerate any racists no matter when or by whom. Mr. Griffith's comments were over 40 years ago. However, his words still get echoed by many people to this day. He most likely was not an overt racist, as Rod Carew stated he did not believe Mr. Griffith was. He seemed to be stating it was a business decision and it was a racially biased business decision. It could have been stated they were moved because he believed there would be greater fan support and left it at that. However, he basically called black people violent by stating they go see wrestling in stead of baseball. This shows the ignorant racism that goes on in the country. That is so deep in system that we just accept it. I for one, and wish it did not have to be said as a white man, am glad light is finally being shined on some of these issues and people are finally willing to stand up against the racist white people, overt or covert, that let those words of hate fester and get desensitized to it until we just accept it. I am even more proud today to be a Twins fan than I ever have been. If I had learned of the comments of Mr. Griffin before today even more so when the statute went up, something I barely knew of as well, I would have been ashamed to be a Twins fan. Racism was through baseball for a very long time. There is still very few black people that choose to play baseball compared to other sports. It takes many generations for wounds to heal and to drive out the kind of thinking Mr. Griffin thought. I am glad the Twins, without protest, decided to it. For the fans that are not happy, maybe you should take a good look in the mirror as to how you really feel about black people. I personally hope it will drive you from going to games so I will not have to share the same space with you, and subject my family to your way of thinking.

If we even get there. From what I have read the owners thought there was a deal at 60, then players say no no no, that was just a proposal from your side. We want 10 more games, and some more money too. So some owners, who barely agreed to go to 60 are now not happy. Will they split in the middle at 65? Makes sense, but nothing during this process has made sense. Can 10 games really stand in the way? Can 5 games really stand in the way? The 10 games is about 8.4 million per team. Not a whole lot, but it just seems like both sides want to say yeah we won this one. With the amount of money the owners have it is like fighting over a few bucks to most of us. The thing is, these guys are business people that do deals all the time and want to feel they won the deal. Players have felt like they have been on losing end of deals for past decade now and they are fed up. However, should the owners operate at a loss simply because they can? No business plan calls for losing money. You do not own a business and let it run at a loss for extended periods of time simply because your other businesses make money and you will be fine. You run a business to make money. How many stock holders of a business are okay with their stock prices going down because the business is losing money?

If defense was not a thing, Kirilloff would be tops. I have huge expectations for that kid on the offense side. From what I have heard he is average defense, but offense he could be amazing. If he can stay healthy. Not calling him injury prone but he missed a seasons with tommy john not common for a fielder. He has missed several stints last year with different injuries I believe. I am huge on him and think he will be middle of line up hitter for years.

With the hopes that this last offer will get it done or very close to it. I am not sure how much of the past talks about 30 man rosters and taxi squads and how all that will work are in it. I assume they are. If that is the case they could march out a 6 man rotation, provided the starters work well with that. I know some guys in past say that is too much rest than they are used too. The pineda question of how many games he will have to serve is a big question. I believe he was at about 60 left, do not fully recall. If he is asked to serve them all, as the punishment is for the number of games, but that was with expectation of full season. It would make sense that the punishment would be for the percentage of season he was suppose to miss. If he can come back after about 20 games and play rest of season that would be good for playoff. If he needs to miss most of season no way should you just throw him in playoffs, assuming we make it.

I have a feeling Jeffers will be high on lists next year. As long as he can hold up on defensive side he looks like he will hit at a level that will be top end of catchers at MLB level for a few years.

It will be interesting what Twins do with Javier next year. He was available for rule 5 I believe this year and went undrafted, mainly he was still young and no team was willing to put him on Roster for full year, bet if you could go back some teams may have changed mind now. A team may be willing to take him next year just to take a look at him. If he was not so highly touted as a 16 year old he would not be in top 20 lists anywhere.

98's was one of the first seasons I really started to pay attention to the Twins, or most sports generally. I was young passive fan before it, remembering little things here and there. It was not the HR race that brought me in, just my age. I remember Otis Nixon playing and thinking he looks like he is 80. He was 39, but his face looked like he was 80.

I have not looked into the expected quality of the players that have signed. More of a deep dive than I am willing to invest in. However, it is interesting to see which teams have signed the number they have. First, it is small investment to bring someone in so very little risk, even for the, liquid cash strapped teams, a little bit of jest there. I would agree with assessments that teams with not as deep of farm systems would be best, or systems known for developing certain type of players. For some, it may be where would they by playing in minors next year, closer to family ect. Many things would go into a decision when each team has same cash offer.

Maybe a give away is a tear apart doll. I remember there being tear apart ref dolls in football.

One thought that just popped in head. Is there anything to stop a team from signing an undrafted kid to the 20K Then turn around right away and sign them to a long term MLB contract? Of course I assume they need to be on 40 man so that would be an issue, but just thinking outside the box to get around the 20K issue. I could see some teams for juniors that they are high on do something like this. However, it would have been more likely they would have just drafted them too. Just wondering if there is a loop hole that can be exploited.

This years signings will be interesting. With so much up in the air for next year, and an expected high number of players going to college, that being all undrafted high school players. Teams really will not be able to do as much moving money around. Half the rounds really makes that an issue. When you have 10 rounds you can take little from several players to add up to larger for one. When you have 4 players like Twins, cannot move as much money.

Some pretty good players on that list. Kubel if he would not have tore is knee up early in career may have been crazy good. I know he played for years and did very well, one of my favorite for the time. No one I would have preferred with bases loaded. It sure is interesting to think about how so many people got drafted ahead of these guys. It goes to show how crazy hard it is to predict future development of players. So often you draft on potential upside by looking at physical size, and attributes. You see the wholes, and you just hope they will get fixed. Some times you see a guy like Radke, never had great velocity, but he knew how to pitch. I am sure many drafted ahead of him, never made much of an impact. They most likely had higher velocity or taller. He just knew how to pitch. Just looked up his draft too, we had number 3 Dave Mccarty, passed on Man ram, Shawn Green, Demitri Young, to name a few. Got Hawk in same draft though. I bet if you look deeper, many of the guys were from smaller areas or cold weather places that would not get much scouts to. I think these days with show cases, and the ability to have digital tape in high def with use of programs to look at the spin rates, launch angles ect. there will be much less of the late round bloomers. They will still happen, because you can never interview them all to know their heart and desire to be the best. So little separate so many, and the small things like desire will make a big difference.

I believe Twins felt he was best available, he may not have been a position of need with several bat first guys that are likely to be first base or DH in future. However, if the power is legit as it seems, that just adds to the stock of players we can deal from too. Right now in the league first base is not the offensive position it normally is, so a lot of teams may be willing to deal to fill those holes in the near future. Not saying they drafted him just to trade later. Cruz will be gone in a year or two, most likely, unless he the next Julio Franco. So then Sano most likely will be DH and you have Rooker, and now Sabato to fill in first. Kiriloff has got some time there too. If you can hit, they will find a spot for you.