Jeremy Nygaard

Hypothetical: If Turner has .280/.350/.425 first half in Chattanooga and Suzuki gets injured and needs to miss significant time, is Turner the guy that comes up?

He's a guy that I could seen getting a chance in Cedar Rapids due to injury and never looking back. The only downside with him is how limited he'll be defensively.

Duffey and Reed are overshadowed in this organization. In any other system, these are top 10 guys with huge expectations.

Scouts for other organizations that got a look at him in E-town admitted that a lot of teams missed on him and he should have been a Top 5 round pick. Of course, he was killing it during that stint.

Overheard, but not confirmed, when we walked by Terry Ryan and Brad Steil, "Hey, Seth, we're thinking about making a move. There are some guys we want to ask you about..." (I'm obviously kidding... or am I?)

I don't think that's necessarily true. If they're going to be on the Opening Day roster, that month costs nothing. If they aren't going to be on the Opening Day roster, they spend April and May down anyway. The cost could be in regards to arbitration, but the Twins have said they don't consider that... which they probably should with these guys.

What if Buxton, Sano and Berrios are all September call-ups? Would Seth's head explode? (I get why Berrios wouldn't be a September call-up, I'm just saying.)

Nick Burdi is not impressed.

As much as I hope it's May, I feel like it's going to be Milone out of ST. I think it's more likely that May ends up in AAA than Milone. I don't mind the idea of May and/or Meyer in the bullpen, but I also like the thought of having them stretched out when someone's needed. I also didn't see how Gibson would start the season in the rotation last year and that happened.

Two arb-eligible players to go... I'm pretty happy with my projections thus far.

#Leadership

Not sure how balls would work. I send an 8×10, SASE and marker. Some send it back, some don't.

Shame on me for comparing the autographs of the greatest home run hitter in Twins history and the autograph of the prospect with the most raw power the Twins have had in Twins history. By the way, two players... one was 22 and had 17 home runs in 86 AA games, the other was 20 and 19 home runs in 67 AA games. Any guesses? Not unfair at all to compare their power.

You have 15 signatures on one ball? You're the hound.

I'd stand in line for the Down on the Farm at TwinsFest at the Metrodome, if the wait was reasonable. But there's a big gap between me and the guys that have binders full of stuff to sign.

Not long ago, Baseball America rated Miguel Sano as a Top 3 prospect in all of baseball. Not long ago, Miguel Sano was the star of a documentary about baseball in the Dominican. Not long ago, Miguel Sano was the "Next Big Thing" with power comparable to Harmon Killebrew. But you know what? Miguel Sano ain't Harmon Killebrew.I'm not talking about the light-tower power that Killebrew had. Sano has that. I'm not talking about the ability to be the face of the franchise that Killebrew had. Sano has that too. I'm talking about something that Torii Hunter, Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau have talked about. I'm talking about autographs. Legible autographs. Killebrew's was beautiful. Download attachment: killerauto.jpg Sano's on the other hand... I've never been an "autograph hound", but I've always enjoyed collecting them and displaying them in my basement. My first Sano autograph came as a result of sending an 8x10 to Fort Myers in the spring of 2012. It was a picture of a skinny Sano in his Elizabethton jersey. The signature was such a scribbly mess that he had to label it "SANO" in case I couldn't remember who he was. The signature certainly wasn't going to help. Download attachment: 20141229_125017-1.jpg I also purchased an autographed Sano on eBay around that same time. Another very narrow signature that doesn't resemble his actual name. Download attachment: 20141229_125135-1.jpg When Spring Training 2013 rolled around, I decided to send another 8x10 to Fort Myers, this time Sano was featured in his Snappers jersey. He again responded (very quickly) and this signature was much different but hardly improved. Download attachment: 20141229_125032-1.jpg As TwinsFest approached last January, I decided to bring a Baseball America magazine to have Sano sign. Fourth signature, fourth variation. Download attachment: 20141229_125116.jpg I recently purchased another Sano auto and, shockingly, it looks very similar to the last signature. Of course, it was probably signed at a similar time as the one I got at TwinsFest. Download attachment: 20141229_125146-1.jpg The thing that remains in common with all of these examples - and every other signature that Sano has done? Not a single one looks anything like his name. Harmon would not be impressed. On the bright side, though, at least Hunter is back to teach a lesson or two to the kids. He should start with Sano and fixing his signature. Click here to view the article

The Twins have a formula they use to determine the renewal rate. It's almost like they use a tier system. If you look at all the pre-arb deals over the last handful of seasons, you'd see it. I would guess that almost everyone of my proprojections will be within $5,000 to $7,500 cause that seems to be the value of a tier. I'd have to go back and look, but I believe the highest renewal last year (or possibly the year before) was $520,000. And as far as Trout goes, the Angels gave him more because there was rumblings that if they renewed him at near-minimum, he wasn't going to consider a long-term deal. He had leverage. Nobody on the Twins roster has any leverage. They'll get what their formula tells them.

Age is probably a factor and you make fair points, but it's about service time when extensions get compared to one another. You are making a comparison on controlable years. Now, if Dozier's side approaches the Twins wanting the Kipnis deal, you've outlined a few great points to negotiate around, maybe making it for less guarantee through the arb years and a smaller buyout on the option year(s).

No say. Contracts are simply renewed.

Guys who have signed deals through their arbitration years aren't harder to trade (if they're good). They're easier. Teams know exactly what guys are going to cost. Span is a perfect example. You have one good year and your contract is very team-friendly and movable.

I had compared raises given over time. For example, Arcia got a bump from minimum to $512,500 last year. Hicks got only a slight bump from minimum last season ($507,500) and I don't see him getting a big one next year based on his season in 2014. The Twins have a formula, but they aren't willing to share with me.

With Span, the Twins had an option on this year (his first free agent year). If they followed that pattern with Dozier, and using Kipnis's deal as an outline, I could see Dozier get 4 years and $23. That would be $2/$4/$6/$9 and a $2m buyout on $12 or $13m for his first FA year. Maybe tack on another option year at the end.

When the Twins opened Target Field in 2010, they did so with a $97 million payroll. This was the highest payroll the Twins have had by a whopping $25M. They broke $100M the next year by spending $113M and fell back to just a shade over $100M in 2012. However, payroll fell to the mid-$80 million range in both 2013 and 2014. Enter 2015.The Twins have spent on free agent outfielder Torii Hunter, extended Phil Hughes and signed free agent pitcher Tim Stauffer. But the biggest addition was the four-year commitment the team made to pitcher Ervin Santana. Now the Twins have gone back over $100M. Let's take a closer look. Multi-year Deals** 1B Joe Mauer: $23M (3 yr/$69M remain for '16-'18) SP Ervin Santana: $13.5M (3 yr./$40.5M remain for '16-'18) SP Ricky Nolasco: $12M (2 yr./$24M remain for ’16-’17) SP Phil Hughes: $9.2M (4 yr./$48.8M remain for for ’16-’19) C Kurt Suzuki: $6M (1 yr./$6M remain for ’16) RP Glen Perkins: $4.65M (2 yr./$12.8M remain for ’16-’17 Commitments: $68.35M in 2015 ($201M in commitments through 2019) Pending Free Agents RF Torii Hunter: $10.5M P Mike Pelfrey: $5.5M P Tim Stauffer: $2.2M Commitments: $18.2M in 2015 Total commitments in 2015 to players with six-plus years of experience: $86.55M Arbitration-eligibles 3B Trevor Plouffe (second of four): $4.75M LRP Brian Duensing (third of three): $2.85M P Tommy Milone (first of four): $2.75M OF Jordan Schafer (second of four): $1.45M RP Casey Fien (first of four): $1.25M INF Eduardo Nunez (first of three): $1.05M Projected total: $14.1M in 2015. Commitments plus arbitration: $100.65M (for the above 15 players) That leaves 10 spots unfilled for the opening day roster. With nine pitchers already penciled in, there are three spots for pitchers: Kyle Gibson ($520,000), Caleb Thielbar ($520,000) and J.R. Graham ($507,500***). The seven fielders that could fill out the opening day roster are Brian Dozier ($580,000), Oswaldo Arcia ($525,000), Eduardo Escobar ($520,000), Danny Santana ($512,500), Kennys Vargas ($512,500), Aaron Hicks ($510,000) and Josmil Pinto ($507,500). These ten pre-arbitration players total $5.215M for a grand projected total of $105.865M, the second-highest total in franchise history. --- Some other things could affect this figure: --The Twins sign Brian Dozier to a contract extension. Jason Kipnis signed an extension as a 2+ player, which Dozier is now, and got $2M for his last pre-arb year and $4M/$6M/$9M to buy out his arbitration years. Signing Dozier to a similar contract would increase payroll by $1.42M. (The Indians also committed $30.5M for his first two free agent years with an option for the third year.) --The Twins don’t roll with those 12 pitchers, which is probably likely. There are many options for the fifth rotation spot and the loser(s) could be pitching successfully for the Pirates next year. --I’m not convinced the Twins break camp with Hicks and Nunez on the roster. If Hicks wins the CF job, Santana plays SS and Escobar is a utility player. Nunez is out. If Hicks doesn't win the job, Santana moves to CF, Escobar is the SS and Nunez is a utility player. Hicks heads to Rochester. Both scenarios leave Schafer as the fourth OF and opens up another bench spot. Chris Herrmann, at the minimum, is where I’d put my money. This decreases payroll, too. Of course, there’s still the possibility the Twins add another veteran or make a trade. **Future commitments don't figure in option years or their buyouts. ***The CBA calls for an increase in the minimum and reports have put that figure at $507,500 for 2015. Click here to view the article