nicksaviking

The Twins may not be able to fix Castro, or anybody else for that matter. But considering how terrible Detroit and Toronto have been at developing their own pitchers the last decade, those seem like good places to look for guys who could click somewhere else. As for Bryant, doesn't going on Barstool Sports count as a medical diagnosis for being mentally damaged? I didn't realize that was still a thing.

Sounds like the Reds were asking the Yankees for Gleyber Torres as part of a deal for Castillo. I don't think the Twins have anybody even close to that level of upside, control, position and production, but if they did, they'd surely not want to give him up.

I have no clue if the Twins plan on another Meada caliber kind of move, but if the Twins DID want to improve their floor by signing a couple of vet arms, like they did last year with Hill, Bailey and Chacin, you kind of have to do that first. I don't know that those guys would have all been as excited to sign with the Twins if they knew the team was going to continue to add to the competition for rotation spots.

My cousin broke the news to me while we were all visiting my grandma. I ran into a bedroom and cried. I was devastated. Definitely not a trade that would have happened if anyone had know about any kind of modern statistics. Today, 2nd Basemen who struggle to muster an OPS of .700 are more likely to be DFA'd than to be traded.

He's been a top 40 pitcher over the past five years. He's been better than Odorizzi in four of those five years and most people seem to want him back. In fact Happ is #38 in fWAR since 2016, Berrios is #35. The Yankees had three starters hit free agency this year and I keep seeing people ask for the other two even though Happ was better than Paxton and virtually identical to Tanaka, so it's not like he's washed up. I mean, it's not exciting and the Twins have more work to do, but as far as non-needle-moving moves go, this one was pretty good.

I just don't trust Simmons to hit well enough. I heavily prioritize offense over defense, but even so, Simmons isn't the awesome glove he used to be, he's gone from All-Time-Elite to above average. And I wouldn't look for that to improve from a 31-year-old.

I don't want Ozuna for four years if he's already going to be penciled in as the full time DH; I don't think it's wise to commit to that position for so long, you need some year-to-year flexibility there. Besides, it's likely that Sano and/or Donaldson are going to need that spot shortly. Brantley is interesting because while people talk about him as a DH, he's still been primarily an outfielder and a capable one at that. It would be nice to be able to rotate some big bats through the DH spot regularly or as injury requires throughout the season. I'll take just about any lotto ticket pitcher on a 1-2 year deal. Anyone who wants three or more can take a hike. I'm looking at you Odorizzi. I don't see any pitchers outside of Bauer that don't fall into that lotto ticket category. I'm all for getting a utility infielder, or a full time SS to make Polanco a utility infielder. While conventional wisdom (well last century wisdom) says this spot is for a glove first player, I'm not interested in that. This team has shown it can put together some stout offenses, I'm not looking to take a step back by putting a weak bat into the lineup regularly. So Gregorius would probably be my first choice.

I actually think it's the opposite. I think the Cruz decision probably hinges on what they do with the middle infield help. If they make a move that allows Donaldson and/or Sano to DH regularly, then they may move on from Cruz.

As far as starting pitchers go, this year I'd go quantity of quality. Mostly because I don't see much in the way of quality.

Unless it's Bauer, I don't want to give any of these free agent pitchers more than a two year deal. I'd rather the Twins take the same approach to the starters as last year. Trade for someone who's a lock to be one of the top three rotation pieces if possible, then sign two or three of the bounce back/lotto ticket guys to fill out the last spot or two. Maybe try some of Paxton, Foltynewicz, Hamels, Godley, Lester, Hill, Samardzija or Leake. They're not exciting, but I don't know that if you tried out a few of them you'd find them to have dissimilar results to Odorizzi. We already know if Odorizzi is here, five innings is going to be the max for that spot in the rotation anyway. I'd rather have multiple options and roll with the hot hand than commit three years of starts to someone I'm not confident in. Also Carlos Rodon. I'd probably want to stick him in the bullpen, but I'd like him just to see if we can rub something in Chicago's face.

Cody's article says he's 6'. Even so, I'm not concerned about his height. Ripken was 6'4" and I don't think today's game pigeonholes players to a position due to their size as much as they used to. Plenty of tall guys are fast, quick and agile. I'd bet if they played baseball instead, all of those tall speedy receivers in the NFL would either be playing CF or SS.

I hope they're thinking trades because there's not much on the free agent front I'd be overly excited about. Not that they shouldn't get some of those unexciting guys, but Passan saying things like they're 'a team to watch' I don't see how this boring group of free agents could match the expectations generated by that kind of comment.

Yeah, it's still a crap shoot, but that same year Vlad Guerrerro Jr also signed for 3.9M. Vlad was MLB.com's #7 international prospect while Javier was #12. Interestingly Gilbert Celestino was the #11 prospect but he only got 2.5M. Also in the top 30 were Juan Soto at #25 who signed for 1.5m and Fernando Tatis Jr at #30 who signed for 700K. While 2015 was a banner year, and the rankings, money and evaluations are never going to be perfect, it's probably still in the Twins best interest to grab some of the top guys, even if they aren't THE top guys.

I think the Twins should start treating their older, and/or historically injured batters similar to the way they treat the rotation. Just keep on hand plenty of bats and give them regular rest. I'd say re-sign Cruz, but only plan on he, Sano, Buxton and Donaldson playing 100-120 games. Seems like a waste to pay those guys so much money to not play a full season, but I think the scheduled rest will do them good, plus it would open up plenty of opportunity for the young guys to play.

I said at the onset of the off season that this free agent class was so poor, that I really wasn't looking for much of a splash in this year's market. But now I am soooooooo bored. Just give me a Mike Foltynwicz or even a Jon Lester to tide me over for now. Something.

I don't know, the Twins farm is pretty good, but the Padres was a bonanza of top prospects when they started making moves. I don't think the Twins have enough top prospects to develop a young home-grown core AND make giant splashy trades. I think it has to be one or the other, or a just a little bit of both.

I'm all for trading Arraez for a big time player if his value is what people around here (and Ken Rosenthal?) appear to think. He's certainly a good MLB player, but the one dimensional hitters who don't do much in the way of extra base hits almost always end up wearing out their welcome sooner than expected.

Tony La Russa is still the manager of this White Sox team that is apparently "going for it" right? I still like their chances of being a complete if even unexpected train wreck. Interesting that Lance Lynn was a rookie in La Russa's final year in St. Louis. Personality-wise, they do seem to be birds of a feather.

The last two years there are 47 qualified OF, Rosario is 33rd in OPS and 37th in WAR. I'd like to have Rosario around, but mostly for clubhouse or sentimental reasons. He's still a starting level corner outfielder, but he's really an average at best overall player. And based on last year's results against left handed pitching, he's probably getting close to being a platoon player. If Rosario, Kirilloff, Larnach and Rooker were the four options for the third OF spot, I think it's unlikely that Rosario would actually end up being the best of that group next year. Odds are that one if not more of the rookies would be able to match Rosario's output, if not surpass it completely.

Or it could be about finding room for the numerous corner outfield prospects, all of whom have a higher ceiling than Rosario.

I guess I wasn't looking for a guarantee. It would be nice if they found a good free agent, but if the team is going to scale back, this is a good year to do it, the free agent market is ugly.

I really like Eddie and I'd like him to stay if the situation was right, but I don't think the team will be worse without him. If Kirilloff and Larnich are the main options to replace him, what ever losses they will feel with the bat, they'll probably make up for in OBP and defense. And, there's also a good chance they wouldn't show any loss with the bat either. In today's game a .800 OPS for a corner outfielder isn't exactly hard to find. This reminds me of Jacque Jones leaving. Most people loved Jacque, he was a core member of the team's resurgence. He had a really decent but streaky bat, but his OBP and defense were iffy and the Twins didn't bother trying to re-sign him as they had Cuddyer and Kubel in need of outfield spots. And while the team may drop payroll (I suspect most every team will) it's not about saving money, it's about reallocating money. Saving 9M on your LF when his replacement likely isn't to be much if any of a downgrade means you can allocate 9M more into pitching or middle infield upgrades.

Specifically, I wouldn't want someone with such poor personal decision making skills in charge of a large group of young men. How the heck would the team justify suspending or fining a player for any kind of off field offense now?

This offseason looks like it's set up to really infuriate not just the players but the fans as well. If no one wants to give Brad Hand 10M, that sure seems like most teams aren't going to be doing anything in free agency, but these top free agents WILL find a home, so it will almost certainly be with the clubs still willing to spend, even if they don't open up their wallets as wide as normal. I'm not looking forward to the conversations that will take place if every usable free agent ends up in NY, Boston, LA, Chicago and somewhere in Texas.

Totally agree. The Twins should never give up on fringe starter prospects before giving them a season and a half in the pen. Of course Aussie lefty Liam Hendricks comes to mind, but other non Ausie’s like Andrew Miller or Brad Hand or Zach Britton. Or Taylor Rogers.