nicksaviking

Not necessarily, I haven't read their manifesto so I couldn't really say. But I would find it disappointing if people think socialism is a worse sin than racial inequality.

Only if you're suggesting that many people believe that George Floyd's death was an acceptable price to pay to maintain the status quo. In which case people need to own that position instead of trying deflect the conversation to property damage. I really don't believe that there is a significant part of the population that thinks this was acceptable, but I am starting to believe there is a significant part of the population that thinks it was unacceptable but are unwilling to make the sacrifices needed to change it.

To everyone trying to blow this out of the water by crying politics, knock it off. Nick clearly spelled out that this was not about politics, it was about apathy toward civil rights equality, specifically what appeared to be apathy from Max Kepler. You can agree or disagree with Nick's take that Kepler was showing apathy, but unless you actually believe equality for all races should not be a priority, this is not a red vs. blue debate.

Great article. Maybe there could be a Part II, as I agree, 1969-70 had so many HOFers and almost HOFers, they could get a write up as well. Heck, just about every healthy Killebrew led club from 1962-70 were really awesome with 1964 being the weird exception. That bats were fantastic that season and the starters were solid at worst, there's probably a separate article there trying to figure out what went wrong that year. 1992 was a downer of a season, most of the bats cooled off as did the young combo of Tapani and Erickson who needed to step up to become the long term rotation staples we were hoping for. I'd add the 2002 or 2004 club instead.

Great education heezy. Anyone else in the mood for some chicken wings now?

I'm excited to see some of these guys. I like how fast Mason is moving. But Stashak went from starter to swingman to full-time bullpen stalwart in the minors. The guys listed here seem to have always been viewed as relievers. I kind of the think to find the guys on a similar track as Stashak, we should look at current starters. I think Bailey Ober, Bryan Sammons and Sean Poppin may make some noise out of the pen someday soon.

Typically yes, but the Mets' payout actually included an 8% interest rate. There was only 6M left on his contract and the original money was actually only deferred through 2011, everything that he's gotten since 2011 is the interest on the original deferment.

They haven't been in a position to trade for MLB players until this year. Minor leaguers aren't going to get you any WAR. Smeltzer does very little for me, but getting him as a throw in player and identifying him as a guy who can pitch in majors seemed to be a mark in the Pro column. But regardless of development or drafting, the decisiveness when it comes to these young guys is absolutely a boon to the club. There's no more wasting roster spots for former prospects; much to our chagrin we lose guys unexpectedly like Gonsalves, Burdi, Chargois or Jay. Sorry Kohl Stewart. I wouldn't feel too comfortable if I was Nick Gordon, Fernando Romero or LaMonte Wade either, if we need a 40-man spot, it's time to sweat. But even more so than not hanging on too long to busted prospects is how decisive they are with the pitching roles. Zack Litell, go to Rochester, you're a reliever now. There has been zero waffling on the roles of Rogers, May and Duffey from the second the new crew got here. To our dismay our high hopes for Romero becoming a front line starter evaporated without warning when they advertised he was moving to the pen last winter. It was going to happen again this winter with Graterol as well, the guy we were probably foolishly pinning our future ace hopes on. The criteria, tools and metrics they use to evaluate how to use these pitchers is vastly improved over the last group. You aren't going to get your full six years of control to show that you can improve the command, off-speed pitch or physical health needed to be a starter or stick with this club, and the roster is better and deeper because of it.

I am anything but a Pohlad defender, but if the Twins continue winning, I think they'll let payroll go a bit higher than we suspect. We've seen Detroit, Cleveland and KC go above their comfort zone in payroll for extended periods of time when they were contending and I don't think the Twins are currently above their comfort zone. Since TF opened, the Twins have typically spent more when they were bottoming out than KC and Cleveland did when they bottomed out. Overall the Twins seem to be higher than those two when it comes to the overall payroll hierarchy, so I really don't think 140M is going to be the ceiling. And again, I would never try to paint the Pohald's in a rosy light. But regardless, these guys seem to be pretty crafty with the payroll. With LA paying 2.5M of Maeda's contract the next four years, the Twins are guaranteeing less money to Maeda and Pineda combined in 2020 than the Mets are to Rick Porcello.

The bullpen looks much more locked down this year than last year, but I could see Bailey Ober, Bryan Sammons or Sean Poppen open some eyes if they get moved to the pen a la Zack Littell.

I've been wondering if the Twins are waiting to see if they can extend Berrios before trying to lock up Odorizzi with an extension. I like Jake, but since his innings need to be managed due to his decreased effectiveness with extra exposure, I kind of think Maeda is his replacement going forward. Also, Adrianza has a better glove and last year he was a better hitter than Gonzalez. Even with a repeat of his 2019 season, he's also still going to be pretty cheap. If I was going to worry about keeping a utility guy, he'd probably be the one I'd put the most effort into keeping. I'd extend Cruz, but I don't see the rush to do it anytime before midway though the season, there is nothing he could do short of hitting 60 HR that will increase what you have to pay him now versus what you'd have to pay him after the season. The White Sox just signed Edwin Encarnacion for 12M with an option which is exactly what the Twins are paying Cruz this year. That's almost certainly his salary ceiling going forward.

It's a good problem to have. Whomever is coldest I would suspect, if no one is cold, than things are looking good. It's basically the situation the Dodgers have put themselves into the past half decade. Also, Maeda looks to be similar to Odorizzi; less is more. Fewer innings per start seem to benefit them. Throw in the injury history of Bailey and Hill, Berrios' tendency to fade down the stretch and the other options all being rookies, I wouldn't be surprised to see a few irregular six man rotation stretches.

If I were to rank my non-Cole/Strasburg free agent preferences along with Maeda, it would have been Wheeler Maeda Ryu Bumgarner Zero interest in Keuchel So, I like this trade.

I don't know if I'd call Raley a masher, he's had all of 11 HR since he came to the Twins. It looks like he may develop some good on base skills, but he doesn't look like a power guy. Between Raley, Kirilloff, Larnich, Rooker and Blankenhorn, Raley is the one I give up first, and with all of these guys approaching addition to the 40 man in one way or another, I think there was a very significant chance Raley would have been needed to be bumped from the 40-man if not during the season, than sometime after the conclusion. You can't carry that many corner bats.

Assuming a Graterol would have as much value in July as he does now is what left the Twins empty handed with Romero and Gonsalves.

I doubt Kershaw, Buehler or Urias were available. With their track records, I'd rather have Maeda than Ryu. Oh, and the Twins already got Hill.

Well the Red Sox probably didn't want another outfielder since they were already getting Verdugo. And the Twins already as much as said Graterol wasn't opening the year with the club, so I don't see how he's a "win now" player. After watching the Twins get nothing from and get nothing for Romero and Gonsavles, I'm much, much less hesitant about moving Graterol. I don't see Balazovic and Duran as significantly less (or more) likely to become an ace than Brusdar, and after holding the bag while the last two top pitching prospects fail, I'm no longer inclined to hoard them and cross my fingers.

If you mean Dobnak, Thorpe and Smeltzer, I'm Ok if they're discouraged. If/when fully healthy, the Twins should have Berrios, Maeda, Odorizzi, Pineda, Hill, Bailey and Chacin (iif he's still around) plus the Dobnak/Thorpe/Smeltzer crew. They're missing a Kershaw obviously, but it looks like they are building their staff similar to the Dodgers. They should be able to shuttle any or all of those starters to the pen for a stretch to keep them fresh, and they're a long way from being forced to use a Dobnak in game three of the post season.

Maeda was put in the bullpen because the Dodgers had more starters than than they had spots for and Maeda's wipeout slider will play up in a relief roll. I like Maeda as I'm a big proponent of strikeouts. If others more fancy ERA, I'd ask, would you trade Fernando Romero or Stephen Gonsavles for Maeda?

I have always really liked Graterol, but my red flags about him have been up all off season when Lavine were interviewed by Park discussing the internal options for the #5 rotation spot and the candidates listed were only Dobnak, Thorpe and Smeltzer. Good luck to him, but I had already moved Balazovic ahead of him on my internal pitching rankings as I'd already begun to think the organization doesn't see Graterol in the same light that I had.

I could stretch my definition of the word interesting to include Taijuan Walker, and Danny Salazar may get a solid, "Hmmmm OK". Everyone else I see on the free agent list probably earns an "Eh, let's just hand the job to Thorpe instead" from me.

I kind of get the feeling that my definition of the word "interesting" is going to be different than Dan Hayes'.

I also heard him say on Hot Stove that he does NOT enjoy DH'ing. He said he likes playing in the field as much as he likes hitting and he doesn't feel like he's playing if he's not always moving his legs and running around. So if he doesn't want to DH, that should be a good motivating factor for him to be the best defensive 1B that he's capable of. Also, he was a fantastic interview, you could tell how much effort he's put in to communicating in a second language. Hopefully the effort he's made in that area is indicative of the effort he's been putting into continuing his on field improvements.

Kent Hrbek OPS'd .934 in his age 27 season and he got a World Series ring. I only ask for our new 1B to match that.

Man, his last two full season, Donaldson has walked 100 times. I mean, Polanco, Sano, Kepler and Cruz are excellent at working a count and drawing a free pass, but Donaldson is in a completely different conversation when it comes to that skill. I don't "love" walks, but it always seems like to me, the guys who are able to do it at an elite level are basically slump-proof.