Twodogs

I think right now, if the Twins had Castillo, or Syndergaard, would they be looking for packages to trade them for? I mean are the Twins shopping Berrios if the right package of minor Leaguers came along? I just don't see why, before a season starts, that a team would be shopping their frontline starting pitching? I mean I just dont get it. These teams are going to wait until they are mathematically eliminated from contention before looking to off load guys like that.

They need to sign an impact starter, the easiest thing to do is to just do it. Quit diddledadling around and just do it. Then bring back Pineda, and you got something for the stretch run. Use the mixture of arms to fill out the #5 guy, and Pineda's spot for his time off.

How much did he turn down to stay in Washington?

Thankful for family, friends, and another holiday season. It was a great year for the Twins and even though my family and I live in Cali, we made it back to Minnesota this summer. During our stay, my son, a 9 year old, attended one of the Minnesota Twins camps. We went to two Twins games, one against the Mets and the second against the A's, where Eddie hit one out to win the game. My son got a foul ball at both games. But he also won the skills competition at his camp and was invited back for the last home game of the year to do battle with all of the other camp champions. After the last home game of the year was over one in which he got another foul ball, he got to go down onto Target Field and compete with everyone in the skills competition. He took 3rd overall. This will be a season that he, who was born in California, will never forget and I'm pretty sure with all of the choices for teams to follow out here he is now, for sure, a life long Twins fan!!! I'm also thankful for that!

I don't know how rule 5 works, I know that if you take a guy for the rule 5 draft that he needs to remain on the 25 man roster all year. But I don't know who qualifies to be picked in a rule 5 draft and who does not?

In Australia? A spider bite? A snake bite? Hopefully it wasn't similar to the Skaggs incident.

I personally don't usually see teams that have won 101 game trade starters off that team and replace them with unproven Milb ballplayers and then get better? That usually does not happen, I mean we can use TB and the Archer trade, but they got studs back for him, not oil can Boyd. Anyways I really believe that Cole wants to go to the Angels, So-Cal etc... However, I am all in on offering him something crazy like 8/280, because if the Angels can't pony up then you have him! If they do pony up, then it makes it real difficult for them to be any sort of a player on anyone else during the off-season. I mean with giant contracts to Trout, Pujols, and if Cole signs and Ohtani etc... They might be stuck without much more flexibility in the rest of the market essentially erasing them out of the equation for the other free agents? So yeah offer Cole big money, but I wouldn't trade starters for middle of the road pitchers IMO.

Twins need to be in on everyone.

It may have irritated me also had Boone won the award just because I absolutely hate the Yankees so much. But on the flip side, he did a magnificent job holding that team together with all those injuries all season, not to mention they didn't even make a big deadline splash like they usually do. Boone to me actually did a great job, whereas many of the Yankee managers of the past didn't impress me that much just because they had everything, but I really thought Boone did a great job holding that ship together with all those injuries all year.

No one is promised anything, look at the Red Sox coming off winning a world series??

How far is North Carolina from Atlanta in comparison to Minnesota from Atlanta? It would be like a kid who grew up somewhere in South Dakota choosing the Twins over the Braves because he is closer to home.

I think from the reports that I have heard is that madbum is probably going to the Braves, close to where he grew up. So it will probably have to be Wheeler that the Twins pursue?

Hamels has said he'd go to a win now team on a one year type of deal, so that is a good one. If you bring in both Wheeler and Hamels then you still have Berrios and probably a decent shot at Odorizzi. Then you could go with the 5th spot with one of the guys from the system Grateral, Balazovic, Romero, Smeltzer etc... Or go back and try to re-sign Pineda for the 5th spot? If you can't get him and you still don't trust the young guys bring in a guy like Homer Bailey, he should be relatively inexpensive on a 1 year deal and he did pretty well with Oakland? Or just go with one of the younger guys?

Remember a lot of that spending is going to have to be used on their young core also. So really can't go super crazy. Could get a real expensive pitcher but probably can't get like 2 or 3 expensive free agents.

Maybe he is an RP long term, but I feel he has to get a shot at starting first. A guy with his velo if he can handle starting duties it will in the long run potentially give the twins an ace. So that is what I'm saying, give him a legit shot in ST, because Dobnak will most likely never be an ace whereas Grateral has the potential, and if he doesn't hack it, then throw him in the BP.

If you go out and somehow sign a #1, which the Twins won't, but I can hope. But if they sign a #1, and Berrios is the #2, and Odorizzi accepts the QO, now you either get a Hamels or Pineda, or a Gibson type for the #4 and then Grateral can compete for the #5. I like Grateral more than Dobnak, I really don't think Dobnak is for real and Grateral throws 100. I kinda like that in the rotation. It would be possible for him to be the #4 for awhile if Pineda ends up coming back. But I really think he could be the 5. You'd rather have a veteran like Perez as the #5 more than giving Grateral a shot at it?

If you re-read what I said, I believe that I said give him a legit shot in spring training, not just go into the season with him, only if ye earns it in spring training. Give him a shot I think is different than give the spot to him?

IDK, it's a tough call, I mean on one hand Odorizzi does get a lot of swings and misses but he rarely goes past 5 innings and they have had to pull him in the 4th a few times due to pitch counts, even with the lead? So I mean even if he pitches decently he is still a drag on our bullpen. Whereas Chapman has been a lights out closer most of his career. I am assuming he will be once again next year. Not sure beyond that. But I mean even with the same numbers if Odo averaged between 6 and 7 innings per start then yeah he'd be worth a lot. But 5 inning guys, I just don't know.

I think you give him a legit shot at a rotation spot in spring training. I dont think holding him back will help him that much, these guys need to come up and see what it's like at the MLB level in order to be prepared. So if he earns it, let him start the beginning of the year in Pineda's spot if the twins re-sign him. Once he struggles then send him down. Give him a taste, if he earns it, I mean if he gets lit up in SP T. Then you have your answer. If he mows people down give him that shot. They need to be able to at some point trust the guys in their system.

Well the Twins could hamstring teams like the Angels by making a huge offer to Cole. Say they offer 7/240 and the Angles will have to beat that because of who Cole's agent is. Then the Angles will have to go even higher and now they will have a tougher time going after much more. When you look at their obligations as far as Trout and Pujols, etc... They will start to run out of room. So with the Twins spending capability, they could make some crazy offers so as to harm the financial futures of some of these teams. I mean it would help the Twins in the long run if they use their spending capabilities to hamstring some of these teams in the future. If they don't seriously go in and hardly anyone else does either because they know he wants bto go to Cali then Angels could get a decent deal on Cole. I mean it will still be expensive, prob 7/240 or something like that, but if teams like the Twins throw down offers like that then teams like the Angels will have to beat those offers and that could set up system failure for teams like the Angles? I think the Twins need to bid on those guys with the idea that they probably won't get them, but that it will cause the Angels more harm in the future because the prices will get artificially driven up.

At this point he is without a team also. So I'd think if you are on a team you probably have more access to the best recovery possible where as now he is on his own. Where does he throw bullpens, who is overseeing it, etc...

If Cole stays in Houston, I don't believe that Texas has much on an income tax hit? I wonder if players think about that much when they decide who to play for and they are signing big contracts? I know Minnesota is quite high like maybe in the top 5 or 6 heaviest taxed states?

I think that there a quite a few lower tier starting pitchers out there on the market, a la Jake Odorizzi, types. Very good pitchers but usually only go 5 maybe 6 innings. I think these teams like the Yankees etc.... all see that yeah a bullpen can do a lot for you, but if you have pitchers that can consistently go 7 innings or sometimes more without the help of the bullpen then that team has a better chance of winning the big one. You just can't ever be sure what you are going to get out of your bullpen, Chapman gave up a bomb to lose in the playoffs, but if the starter is straight up "dealing" then you just leave him in there such as Strasburg in game 6 pitching into the 9th. I mean almost all relievers are at one point a failed starter, so you really never know when they will implode or not be able to find the strike zone and they are especially vulnerable when they have to pitch 2 - 3 days in a row. So if you can keep your best relievers only pitching once per 3 game series they will be much better too. So I think these pitchers that can go 7 and sometimes 8 innings are going to be worth even more money than in the past. I just feel like there is going to be a huge gap between the Coles and Strasburgs and guys like Odorizzi. Odorizzi looks great when he goes out there but he just doesn't seem to last very long which ends up hamstringing the team he is on. Especially when it comes to a 7 game series. JMO

I feel the lack of parity comes more from the oversea's players. Where it basically becomes a bidding war between the have's and the have not's. If those guys were to have to fall into a draft then there would be parity for sure.

How much is Odorizzi worth? I mean I like him, but he threw only 159 innings this year. I mean who is worth more Odorizzi at 159 innings or Berrios at 200 innings?? I think so many of these 4 - 5 inning guys wrecks the bullpen. I mean if he could throw 7 every time out then shoot yeah 3 - 4 year deal. But big money for 5 innings? IDK.