diehardtwinsfan

We're tracking this over at purple pain. It's not quite that wide of a spread 8 at the highest and 13 at the lowest, but you do have a point here.

Not sure it's tanking. It's a question of development. Could Mond benefit from some snaps in a meaningless game? I'm sure he's not ready. I don't trust Zimmer to develop him, but I suspect Zimmer's criticism is not wrong either. I have a tough time believing that getting some PT on Sunday would be bad for him. It's not like they're handing him the job for 2022. On the other side, they have to decide if they're going to keep or move on from Cousins. If they move on, a trade makes a lot of sense, and playing Kirk in a meaningless game could have some pretty big repercussions there too.

Mod Note: Let's all take a deep breath and start approaching this with a bit more respect. The bickering back and forth can stop.

I voted half season. But the "I'm done with baseball" vote is very tempting, especially if they miss significant time. I'm sure at some point someone will blink. That's usually how these things work, but there's a pretty high level of animosity right now on the player's side, and there's some legit concerns on the owners side... and neither presents a solution that solves some of baseball's most pressing needs. For me it's going to depend a lot on what the new CBA will look like. I suspect players and owners can probably come to some agreement. My concern is that the like the other CBAs, the things most needed to be fixed are the things that won't get fixed. There's a massive competitive gap in baseball that doesn't exist elsewhere due to the financials of the sport, and I don't see enough altruistic owners and players (and it's going to require both) to ratify a solution that would do more revenue sharing and limit the earning potentials of the stars. It is getting really really really hard to follow baseball when ultimately the team you're rooting for has a razor thin margin of error while teams like LA and NY can consistently get away with expensive blunders. Likewise, the players union has consistently catered to the bigger names and really left a lot of the little guys out, and they have to fix what effectively amounts to wage control in among minor leaguers where some of the real abuse lies and probably agree to some spending caps. They have legitimate gripes over FA too, and now the front offices are smarter, they aren't making nearly as much on the back end. Something needs to give there, whether that be a raise in minimum salaries for minor leaguers and pre-arb players and/or a much shorter time to FA in order to capitalize. I don't know. Baseball's much different in that unlike other sports such as the NFL or NBA, you're going to be in the minors for a bit. That's a lot of time and earning potential lost compared to the NFL or NBA, not to mention much longer contracts once they make it to the show.

I would like to know how it is he can go from a Ruthian type performance to struggling to hit the Mendoza line. I realize there's an adjustment game and what not, but I would think by now he's seen enough MLB pitching to be more consistent.

Yeah... he's what 25? Way too soon to give up on him. We can all be wrong together on this one. I still think he could have a bright future.

Star Wars vs. Star Trek? That's for Brock. Any thoughts on something about how to fix baseball? That might need to be a bit more than head to head though as I could see a few plans there.

Yeah, terrible look for Manfred here. He needs to go. I don't anticipate him finding a fix for the lockout either... or the competitive situation... or well... anything. I think there need to be a lot of changes at the top with both management and the players union. People like Manfred aren't helping the sport. Rosenthall on the other hand, I'd think someone would take him.

The problem as I see it is that neither side wants to end the competitive imbalance that currently exists. That, to me at least, poses a bigger problem as fans (rightly so) don't want to hear the bickering between either side... My fear is that this quite possibly the end of MLB... even if a new CBA is reached, I don't see how small market teams are going to be given a better shot at competing.

this looks awesome.

I'd be curious what the consensus is for an ace pitcher... I assume top 10 MLB starter in pretty much every metric that counts. I'm not against overpaying for one for the record... That said, I doubt we see baseball in 2022, so it probably doesn't matter.

one cannot not like what Rosario has done... Not a Braves fan by any means, but I do hope he keeps hitting. He really wasn't one of our problems in the playoffs either. Hit hit well for us when no one else did.

The way I see it, as a top 30 pitcher, he's a #1.. If he's on the lower half of top 30, then he's not an ace. Bottom line, he's a pitcher anyone would want and certainly a guy I wouldn't be afraid to hand a playoff start to, no matter what the game number.

that is hilarious great work Brock!

I do not understand why people want to pay him astronomical sums of cash. He's barely on the field. He was having a monster year in 27 games, I'll admit that, but many players can do that in a small sample. Outside of that, he's been a good hitter in that he can maintain an .800 OPS and of course an elite defender when he's on the field... the problem is that he's never on the field. No team is going to throw that kind of cash on him given he's more likely to spend the season on the DL than he is on the field.

Berios was clearly going to test the market and it sounds like Buxton is too. If they cannot sign him, then I tend to agree that he's traded this offseason as waiting until the deadline would be a major gamble given his health issues. The question to me is if they can compete in 2022. If the answer is no, make the call and send anyone packing that won't be contributing beyond 2022.

mixed emotions here. Was hoping to see Berrios here for a while. Though with the looming labor stoppage and baseball not fixing it's competitive issues I'm sure, I'm guessing this is the right move. Better get a haul and hope and prey they hit on all of them.

Buxton is hard to quantify. I don't think the Twins offer was exceptionally low for the simple reason that he's been unable to stay on the field. He's at a point in his career that the label of "brittle" certainly applies. I would be pretty queasy personally guaranteeing that kind of cash as is and think an incentive laden approach is the right answer.

Perhaps I have my Twins colored goggles on, but I think Berrios would be a far more valuable commodity than Stroman. That might be the Met's starting point, but I'm not sure our FO says yes.

My question is whether or not they can compete next season. If so, you keep Berrios and Rodgers. If not, then well, ship them out. But I have to ask how a team with such bright hopes this season failed so miserably. At some point, our front office/owernship needs to take some blame.

well, based on the time frame, I'm guessing that enough passed for people to have some meetings and talk it through. It's certainly not unreasonable given the situation. I'm not sure the consternation... it's not like the game won't be made up.

There's already a thread on this in another forum. I think with only 11 AB, we're still in the "way too soon to tell" stage. I hope the kid does well, but the Twins are in win now and Baddoo was pretty far down on the pecking order. He hasn't spent time in the high minors and had mixed results in the low minors. It was a calculation on the part of the FO in thinking he woudln't be taken. They were wrong. But it is what it is. He was also blocked by several OFs with much higher ceilings and success in the high minors. All we can really do is wish him well.

If this new Buxton is the real Buxton AND healthy, it's probably Byron all the way on that. That said, they should be trying to keep them both as both are gamechangers.

hopefully the illness isn't something highly contagious like the stomach flu... we might end up seeing a lot more of those if that's the case.

There is absolutely nothing confusing about this decision. ST stats may not matter for vets, but they most certainly matter for rookies who are trying to make the team. Had he raked this spring, I'd agree that this is confusing. He didn't. Bottom line is that there was a competition for the job and he lost. Given how little experience he has in the high minors, some seasoning in AAA is certainly warranted.