Loosey

I think each of these options improve upon their previous success if they come to MN. The Twins have recently shown their ability to get the most out their players and I think they can do that with these guys.

Didn’t Duffey get a Win in a similar matter a few weeks ago?

This right here is why the Twins should not shy away from sending Graterol or Balozovic away in a trade if they get the right pieces back. You could be writing the same thing in two years but replacing Romero and Gonsalves with Graterol and Balozovic.

You expect them to play 9 games under .500 the rest of the way?

I think the bullpen needs an arm to push everyone down a level. I also don't think they need to get Kimbrel, he worries me not having pitched in a live game in 7 months. Nick Nelson has mentioned this before, and I agree, I think they should do what Houston did last year and find a guy like Ryan Pressly. Great stuff that can lead a bullpen but maybe hasn't found the right situation to harness it all. That type of guy wouldn't be a massive prospect haul, and wouldn't be $15M a year.

Off subject at the moment, but related to the bullpen. But, honestly how different would this bullpen look right now with Ryan Pressly still sitting at the back end of it? I get they made that deal last year when they were pretty much dead in the water and looking to the future, but they may have looked a little too far ahead. Having Pressly, Hildenberger, Rodgers, May and Parker would be solid main 5 relievers. Then Harper, and 2 of Reed/Mejia/Magill/Romero/Misc 40 man guy as the rest would make this bullpen legitimately good. I think Kimbrel would do the same thing to the pen, but what hurts is they had that type of arm already and gave him away last July for future pieces that may be nice players. If they hadn't we would likely not be having this Kimbrel discussion, or if we were, we would be wondering if Kimbrel would be the final piece to building a "super pen".

If the cost of a Hot Dog is $1 to the Twins, and the price of employing the vendor is fixed. Would $3 hot dogs end up generating more money? I have two kids, and paying $12 for two hot dogs is insane especially since one will likely drop it or only eat half. So we generally skip it all together. If the Hot Dogs were $3, I would easily buy 2, probably even 3 and get one for myself. So, if priced right the Twins will increase my hot dog spending from $0 to $9.

I see this addition as something the Twins can really build on and gives them so many options. He is obviously a super-sub so he can move around and play every day to give guys breaks, cover when someone hits the DL etc. Also, If he hits like many of us hope he can he may be able to take over 2nd base if Schoop under performs, OR if Schoop performs well enough to have other teams ask about him in a trade. Hopefully, the Twins are able to get close to ML ready assets in return to help bolster future rosters without taking anything away from a playoff bound roster this year.

As good as Kiriloff has been in the minors I was at the Twins first spring training game this year and he looked quite overmatched against major league pitching as of 5 days ago. Obviously, no one expects him to come in and be an All-Star major league hitter this year, but I think he and Lewis deserve to get more minor league seasoning in so they don't have "drink from a fire hose" once they are up in Major Leagues. I think both will be excellent major league hitters, lets just not rush them if they aren't ready. That does no one any good. That being said, he is much bigger than I expected. And I could see him having a some big power generated from that frame.

I wonder if non-guaranteed contracts (similar to the NFL) would change the way players and owners approach free agency. Give HUGE money up front in the form of signing bonuses + X amount guaranteed. But a caveat I would add is at least half of the full contract must be guaranteed. An Example for Harper could then be: 10 years $350M. $30M signing bonus, $190M guaranteed money. So in that scenario Harper would get $32M per year (assuming straight-line) + $30M signing bonus. So Harper gets $32M x 5 years = $160M + $30M Bonus = $190M. If Harper is no longer any good going into his age 32 season whoever signs him could cut him. And not owe him the remaining $160M. The best part of this type of contract for baseball is say after year 4 his team is falling apart. They could trade him and the new team would in theory only be on the hook for 1 year + the remainder of the current season if they wanted, or they could keep him through the contract's entirety if he performs well. It helps the original team get out from under than deal and rebuild, I think that also helps teams like the Twins be able to compete for these monster contracts because they would not be hampered by horrible $32M a year contract for a 33 year old guy who no longer is a superstar.

I'm guessing the financial terms are staggering. TC seemed to be on the outs at Twins Fest and was being pursued by the Boston Bruins. Twins must have realized how important he was and ante'd up. Could this be where the Mauer savings went?

If Rortvedt ends up being a major league catcher who is a rock behind the plate and hits .240 with a .700 OPS I think the Twins have a their next 10 years of catcher. That is what I expect out of him as a Major Leaguer.

My feelings towards him accepting an offer are mixed. On the one had it could make sense for both sides, he gets financial security, the Twins hedge against him blowing up and being a $200M+ contract star. On the other hand, him accepting one, could signal that he doesn't believe in himself the way he publicly says he does and may never develop into the long-term piece everyone wants him to be. Or it could be somewhere in between. . . .

I also think a lot of us are making a bit too much of a big deal about Schoop. Even if the Twins signed Joe Morgan to play 2nd base it is not going to matter if Buxton and Sano crash a burn again.

This doesn't look like one of those "bargain basement" deals to me. To me this looks like a deal where the Twins like what they have in the minors and don't want to over pay for someone when the replacement is already in the minors or sitting at SS already. I think Schoop is a good hitter could be a very good signing.

I think Machado makes so much sense for this team and the position it is in right now. Aside from the cost, it seems to be an almost no-brainer. As you mentioned it fills a need this year and essentially stabilizes the infield for the foreseeable future. Imagine in 2020 an infield of: 2nd base: Polanco 3rd base: Machado SS: Lewis 1st base: Sano They have the money to do it and add pitching. Do it Twins!

I obviously don't have the full answer, but one thing I would try for if I was a player or the MLBPA is to eliminate the 172 day cap. If you are up the full year, you get the full 183 days. The cap essentially can give teams 11 days of to tinker with Service time each season which can add up to an extra year if they do it right, ala Buxton.

Count me in on this deal. Makes sense financially for both the Twins and Machado. $60M, even in a relatively low rate environment, can make you ton a of interest with nearly no risk.

I think when the season is over the Twins should let Nick Gordon go home. You have to wonder about confidence levels at this point, and going up to the majors with an already low level of confidence could be devastating. I would hate to see him come up get 10-15 AB's and go 0-15 with 8 K's. Let him reset and come back strong in 2019, then join the Twins early in the summer if things go well.

So Buxton ended last season playing pretty well. Then in the Wild Card game he smashed into the wall and hurt his back. I don't feel like anything was ever mentioned of his back since that game. Did he ever aggravate anything with his back in the off-season that would have affected his swing and developed or made him fall back into awful habits? I'm not trying to make excuses for him, but back injuries seem to linger and with Buck being the type of guy always going all out could he have tried coming back earlier than he should have and tweaked it a bit, swung differently when working on stuff and in general turned an inconsistent swing into a bad approach/swing?

I think if the control is the main objective, bring him up in September to evaluate and get him some Major League at bats before the off-season. Maybe he catches fire and confidence going into the off-season. Then next year start him out in Rochester if he is isn't raking in ST until May to get him warmed up since he is a slow starter.

My goodness! Where would Kiriloff be if he hadn't missed ALL of last season? Would he be in Minnesota right now, AAA? Kid is downright an excellent hitter. I can't wait to see how he continues to develop.

I don't think anything the Twins do at this point should be related to service time and control. If he can't hit MLB pitching service time won't matter. Even if the he develops over the next 3 seasons I can't imagine he will become a player the Twins can't afford. Unfortunately, the more likely outcome will be the Twins will not sign him when he becomes a Free Agent because he isn't good enough. I think of myself as a big Buxton supporter and I hope he rakes at Rochester over the next 10 days or so and gets himself back up to Minnesota to get a solid month of at bats against major league pitching. The Mike Trout comparison days are long-gone. I will take Kenny Lofton-lite.

Probably not much. But does having Escobar and Pressly guarantee this team makes run to the playoffs? I loved Eduardo, he was my favorite player on the team, but now they have added to their minor league system, and they can go ahead and re-sign Eduardo in the off-season of both sides want that. There are no guarantees in baseball, the one guarantee the Twins had is Escobar's contact expired this year and he didn't sign an extension before he was traded. That shows me the Twins like him enough to try to sign him again in the offseason, the question now is will he come back? If not, they at least received a consolation prize of prospects.

As a "millenial" I understand how baseball works as well as odds and statistics. The Twins traded away one of the best players on their team who was having a career year. But what lots of people seem to forget is his contract is up in 2 months and this team is basically out of contention. Yes, they do have mathematical chances to catch Cleveland, but in reality I doubt it happens. So, I am happy they received something for Escobar that could be a future part of this team. On the Pressly front I love that deal. Pressly is good reliever, but with his stuff his numbers should be a lot better. He has not harnessed his talent and converted them lock down results you would expect with a talent like him. The Twins are still set up to succeed in in 2019 and beyond. The front office doesn't play the games, they can only put the players they think are best on the field. The way the system is set up, there are going to be waves of talent coming to Minnnesota over the course of the next 3-4 years. Hopefully, the talent transfer from MiLB to MLB.