nicksaviking

I think Plouffe is underrated and could be of good value to other teams, but he'd be a much better fit for a stout offense that could see him bat 7th or so. The Twins still have some work to do to beef up the OBP of the middle of their lineup. Sano can't be the only guy in the heart of the lineup who can get on base.

I don't care about the money, I care about the roster spots and the inflexibility of not being able to ditch these guys. If I thought management would eat two years of sizable contracts I wouldn't be concerned. Not that I don't blame the management as I don't think any team eats more than one year of a large long term deal. So what happens if the Twins don't do well in 2016? These guys can't be sold off to restock, does the team just go right back out there again and sign more vets to take up roster spots?

I'll take any of them on a minor league deal, just so long as Rob Anthony and Ron Gardenhire aren't making the 25-man decisions this spring. I'd really like to find a fit for Span actually on a short term deal, but I don't think there is one, and I think Span still gets a long(ish) term deal. This team could really use a guy at the top of the lineup to get on base as Dozier on-base skills aren't ideal for leadoff and Hicks and Buxton still look pretty questionable. But the Twins need another left handed hitting OF about as much as they need goalie.

Kyle Lohse too is available. Just an observation, don't kill the messenger!

Is that the can of worms about how Torii isn't a good teammate? Or the can of worms about how Morneau was probably in town to hammer out the framework of his new two year deal?

I do want to say that, and it is the pitchers that have put a sour taste in my mouth. I don't like the idea of rolling the dice again in the veteran free agent game since now the odds are really in the house's favor. The risk for Wieters looks higher than it was for Martin and McCann and the reward is lower. I will walk away from the table before I lose everything. I don't want to have to try another rebuild before this one even started. Six vets over 30 signed through at least 2017 is going to make that more likely if the season doesn't go as we hoped, and likely the only one of them tradable would be Perkins, IF he returns to form. I didn't want Shields or Lester, but I'd be a much happier camper if the Twins hadn't signed Nolasco, Hughes and Santana (and Suzuki) but instead had just signed Shields and Martin.

I'd be open to seeing any kind of stats that show otherwise, but statistically and visually, to me it looks like guys are peaking very, very early these days. Even look at last year's All-Star game, something that used to be loaded with veterans getting in based on their past reputations; it is now loaded with kids. Just look at last year's Twins, from the rotation to the lineup, it was almost exclusively carried by the younger guys. I don't disagree that there are still plenty of good contributors over 30, most are solid role players, but why on earth would anyone give a role player more than a two year deal? Guys on 1-2 year deals can be traded if the season goes in the toilet or a young player emerges. Guys on 1-2 year deals can be sent to the bench or DFA'd if they stink, we continue to see the Twins in awkward positions now because they have given too many guys 4-year deals. It hasn't worked, they need to stop digging themselves into a deeper hole. I'd be fine taking a chance on a couple long term deals to vets, but it's got to be quality over quantity. From my perspective, two guys on a 4-year/80M deal are better than four guys on a 4-year/40M deal.

I can't see a free agent ace coming here unless it's unexpected, such as the Cardinals turning around Chris Carpenter or when RA Dickey came out of nowhere for the Mets. I'd certainly be willing to trade for a young one though, say Matt Harvey. I'd even be OK chasing a big money free agent starter, just not until Santana, Hughes and Nolasco are no longer guaranteed roster spots.

I don't want to say about the time PEDs became passe, but only two of the top 20 offensive players in WAR started the year over at an age over 30, and only three of the top 20 pitchers. Of all pitchers and batters in the top 20, only Curtis Granderson was over the age of 32. It sucks, but it's been headed this way for several years and I'm betting there are several GMs who are already planning to take advantage this.

There are plenty of low risk free agents, they come on 1-2 year deals. Those are the only kinds of free agents I'm supportive of at this time as the team already has Mauer, Santana, Hughes and Nolasco guaranteed to take up four of only 25 available roster spots because of their long term contracts. The roster just can't be filled with untradable, unmovable veteran contracts or they'll end up like the Tigers, but with a lower quality group of veterans mucking up the works and fewer division titles to show for the moves.

Yeah but giving a four year deal to a CF wouldn't kill your roster if his defense or offense tanked, a team carries four or five anyway. You should only have two catchers, and there's nowhere to put this guy if the wheels fall off. When Mauer's deal is up, this would make more sense. Four years just isn't a good move for free agents over 30. Two years? Sure, I'll get on board.

It's a tough spot for Gardy, he has a rep as an manager from a bygone era. As mentioned a guy can change, but at the same time, it's also not fair to chastise a GM take for not taking that leap of faith. I think Gardy really liked the "old school" rep he had with the Twins, plenty of people wear that like a badge of pride. However that's not what most people who do the hiring want to see these days. Gardy had ample opportunities to change his rep with the Twins. No one was stopping him from shifting or platooning. No one was forcing him to bunt. Perhaps he was better with numbers than everyone thought, but all I can remember is when he sarcastically called them "cybermetrics". I would really like to see Gardy get another shot, but he had to know long ago that a revolution was taking place in baseball. I like the guy a lot, but I have to say, Gardy probably should have considered the idea that the Twins might not be his retirement gig. He really should have done more to put down the league-wide idea that he was resistant to new ideas, especially if he really wasn't.

No illusions here. There's one good well-rounded catcher in the league and the Giants aren't selling. The difference between the rest isn't that big and becomes nearly negligible once you get past the top five or so. Not everyone gets a stud catcher, it sucks. The other 29 teams will have to figure out other ways to win.

Well for one thing, healthy seasons on the wrong side of 30 aren't a given, and four in a row are going to take some luck. My main point was that his defense could be replicated or even better, which seemed to be your sole argument for signing him instead of Pierzynski. My underlying point was that his offense wasn't so far above average that other free agent catchers will have no chance at matching it.

Dioner Navarro is better defensively and Geovany Soto is comparable. Odds are that he'd be better than both offensively, but it's not even close to a sure thing, they've both had seasons as good or better than Wieters offensively. I sure don't think he's 4 years, 60 million and a draft pick better than them.

Wieters has been fine offensively, but not better than Pierzynski and his career offensively is pretty similar to Chris Iannetta. Defensively Dioner Navarro is in the same ballpark and Geovany Soto isn't much of a step back. No argument that Wieters is the best all around catcher available, but there's no way he's 60M and 4 years better than any of the other options. And it's really that 4+ years that most concerns me. And the pick.

I'm OK with that. I'm not typically risk adverse, but the Twins just have too many terrible contracts at the moment. If they can't pawn them off on other teams, they really need to wait until they expire to start handing out more questionable long term deals to vets. I want a good catcher too, but it's not worth hamstringing the future over; offensive catchers are not a necessity.

Even if it was a good move for the Twins, and I don't think it is, is it a good move for Morneau? Both he and Kubel were critical of Target Field for left-handed hitters. Only 20 of his 58 HR during the Target Field years came at home. Whether recent statistics show this as a fluke or not probably isn't relevant if Morneau thinks that high RF wall is a detriment to his line-drive swing.

I'm not doubting Jay can be converted to a starter, I just wonder what kind of starter he could be. If he doesn't miss bets due to reduced velocity, he'll just be another guy. He wasn't the guy I would have picked, but no one in the draft excited me much, even the top 3 SS.

I am a sentimental guy. Still no. Seeing the veteran Hunter on the roster last July and knowing he couldn't be moved was troubling. As much as I like seeing favorites from the past, the smart business decision is to sign free agents that can get you something back if the season goes in the crapper or you're unexpectedly overloaded at a position. No more legacy signings, as much as I might enjoy seeing them again.

Coming into the draft Stewart was touted as having a Texas strong upper 90's fastball. I thought I was hearing this year it was 93-95, but this sounds like it's not even that high.

Slightly off topic, but I wanted to see where Zuke ranked in terms of games caught and not surprisingly he played in 131 games, which ranked him 7th out of all the catchers. Only 8 of those games did he come in as a substitute as well. Yet somehow he only managed 479 PA (471 as a starter) which is still 23 PA from being a qualified batter.

Surely height could be an advantage and just like most athletes who don't ride horses for a living, the rule of thumb is the bigger the better. I can't imagine height could ever trump velocity, movement and control though. I'd have to think that there are plenty of things a shorter pitcher can do to regain the slight disadvantage of losing out on height, like having a longer stride causing a release closer to the plate, having the ability to change arm slots or throwing the ball from an angle that takes longer for the batter to pick up out of the pitchers hand.

I also think the "downward plane" need is overblown. If it was so devastatingly important, would anyone throw from the pretty standard 3/4 delivery? Heck, what about a side-armer.

Awful, they've drafted and developed two in the organization's entire run in Minnesota. It still needs to happen though. To be clear, I'm not against supplementing the homegrown talent with difference makers from the outside, in 1987 they brought back Blyleven and in 1991 they got Morris. However the Twins already did this with this club with Nolasco, Hughes and Santana, unfortunately it doesn't look like it was enough. Can't keep doubling down on these bad contracts, at some point they have to try a different approach.