baumannmd

I don’t see this even remotely happening. St Louis is only 3.5 games out of first and they’re looking to compete the next few years. Even if they were listening to trade offers, the Twins would have to give up a pretty hefty package. Or, they know something the Twins don’t and would be looking to unload spoiled goods.

On the bright side, it just got a lot more likely that Astudillo will break camp with the big club....? Bad luck or not, even the most ardent Sano supporters have got to be on their last ounce of patience now. It's a shame. We've been waiting for years to see what kind of numbers Sano could put up in a full season. Guess we'll have to wait another season to find out.

I have to think this means the end for Adrianza. Marwin Gonzalez can do everything Ehire can do, but better. While Cave is a serviceable 4th OF, even if he is due for some regression this season.

100% in to this move. Especially at only 2yrs @ $21M. As a switch hitter who can play all over the field, they'll be able to find at-bats for him without disrupting the 25-man roster. My only concern is that this is the risk of MarGo being unhappy with his contract and how long it took to join a club, but I'm hoping that Baldelli, Cruz, and the other personalities on this team can get him feeling welcome and valued. Twins are sneakily putting themselves in a position to win the division. Especially if Cleveland has injury issues. They just need a little more pitching. As a side note, I'm also loving that Chicago missed on Machado and now missed out on their likely Plan B. Go after the Indians while stepping on the White Sox throat.

When I said “consistent” I meant that he tends to be a streaky hitter. He needs to get on base more consistently. I didn’t word that very well. But I agree. He has put up very consistent numbers at the plate every year that he’s been in the big leagues. Those numbers just need to be better. If he never improves his OBP or BABIP, he’ll still be a solid player and this will still be a good extension. If he does improve those numbers, this contract will be a steal for the Twins and fans.

Good, really team-friendly extension. He’s got to get more consistent at the plate, but I’ll be happy to see him in the outfield for the next 5-6 years.

The ranking seems high given Rooker’s defensive liabilities, but I think there’s something here with him at 1B/DH. I’d like to see him in MN in Sept if he continues the trends he started last season. Otherwise, he seems like a player that could be packaged in a trade for someone who could help the big club. With the lineup essentially rotating out 3-5 spots every year now, why not let a guy with some power see what he can do against MLB pitching. Cruz is here for 2019, 2020 if everything goes amazingly.

Anti-Tanking - Of the teams that didn’t make the playoffs, the team with the best record gets first overall pick. Descend through the picks until you get to the worst-record team. The remaining picks in the first round are awarded to the playoff teams in the same order as today. Dissuades tanking. Helps fringe teams get over the hump. 26 man roster - Yes. But limit pitchers to 13 Universal DH - I don’t follow any NL teams closely, so I don’t really care. I kind of like the current system for nostalgia, but I’ve got no dog in this fight. Pace of Play - No warmup pitches on the mound for replacement pitchers. And, when a pitcher is replaced mid-inning, any television commercials should be aired in a split screen with the game. The biggest slow down in the game today are bullpenning and commercial breaks in combination. This helps speed up both. Mound Visits - Such a non-factor. Even a long mound visit adds, what? 35 seconds to a game? Challenges and Reviews take longer and those were just introduced a few seasons ago. Baseball is such a great game as is and if I had it my way, I wouldn’t change much, if anything. But I understand the incentive to make the game more appealing to younger audiences. I think what the league has done to stop discouraging bat flips and celebrations, and hire new, younger announcers who embrace new analytics and statcast overlays do a lot more to engage new audiences than reducing mound visits or pitching changes will. If they really wanted to get new, younger audiences, they’d make it easier for fans to watch games outside of typical cable TV packages. As soon as they can figure out how to make the same or more money doing that as they do with Comcast deals, the younger fans will come. No one under the age of 30 uses regular broadcast television as their main source of entertainment anymore. That’s where the league needs to evolve. I should be able to watch my hometown team on any device I choose, anywhere I choose, at any time I choose. I’m personally not afraid of Baseball going away because of younger audiences. I am a little concerned about what the current commissioner and leadership could do to destroy the game in the hopes of saving it, though.

On Garver and Castro, I’m not convinced that either is 100% in 2019. Castro is aging and recovering from a torn meniscus and plays a position where age and injury ends careers earlier than just about any other. Garver, I think, has a better chance of playing most of the year, but anyone who wants to put money on concussion symptoms going one way or the other is making a bad bet. It’s a completely unpredictable injury. All that said, if neither can handle the work behind the plate this season, I don’t see the Twins making Astudillo a primary or maybe even their backup catcher. For as much as the fans love Astudillo, the front office doesn’t seem to share that sentiment. If either Garver or Castro spend a significant amount on the DL, I see Falvine trading for a catcher. If both go down, that might be the only way Astudillo gets a prolonged shot at backup with this team in 2019.

As much as I’d love to see a Kimbrel 3/$45 deal happen, I’m highly skeptical that he would sign it. And if he did, I don’t think he’d be happy here. He just won the World Series with one of the top 3 most popular teams in the MLB. Even if the Twins offer that’s been reported is the best on the table, I can’t imagine Kimbrel being a happy player on that deal here. His asking price was twice that length in years. I’d be surprised if he takes a deal less than 4/$70-75M. If no one’s offering that, I’d see him taking a 1/$20M just about anywhere hoping to be traded to a contender at the deadline, but then you’re in Lance Lynn/LoMo territory. The Twins would have to win, win early, and win big for Kimbrel to buy in to this team. I’d love to see it, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

I’d argue that the Twins’ injury troubles in 2018 were much worse than the Roster Effect Rating shows. Brian Dozier and Logan Morrison played injured for most of the season and played terribly. Polanco being suspended for half the year hurt too. Not sure if that shows up in the RER. Not having Sano and Buxton was a problem, but having two players in the lineup every day who played bad, low-to-negative WAR baseball was even worse.

Good list. I really dislike the Friday reds they wear today, though. They look like a cheap knockoff you’d see at Target. The new blues aren’t as bad as they’ve been made out to be, but replacing the cream pinstripes with them is a travesty. The Kasota gold just seems so forced. And it was introduced during a decade of bad Minnesota baseball, so unless they start winning big in them soon, I just don’t see them lasting or catching on. I’d love to see the M caps return, though.

I’d love the Twins to be stronger at catcher, but I’m more interested in Kiriloff’s potential than I am in Realmuto. I’m happy to sacrifice some offense at 2 if I can get a guy who calls a game well and can throw out runners at 2nd. It is an intriguing idea, but at the end of the day, I just think AK is too likely to be a really special player to swap out in 2019 for a great catcher. I might be wrong/stupid, but that’s one of the many reasons I’m not a big league GM.

If I were the Twins GM, Berrios, Buxton, and Sano would be my priorities. I don’t see extensions for Rosario or Gibson. At this point, Gibson has too few good years left. If he’d sign a 2-year deal? Done. For Rosario, too many cheap replacement options. Cave, Kiriloff, etc. Buxton, even if he has a .725 OPS is a huge defender and threat on the bases. Sano is a power bat who just needs to stay healthy and looks good heading in to 2019. He looks exactly like the type of player the Twins of the past would’ve spent 10 years developing, then let wall for nothing, then becomes and all-star/ future HoFer. Berrios threw 202 strikeouts last season in fewer than 200 innings. He’s not Johan Santana, but he’s good. With a chance to be really good. He’s a foundation to build this rotation on. Extend him.

My biggest concern in this rotation, without a pitch being thrown yet, is whether Pineda is healthy and whether he can pitch anything like he did before he got hurt. The cups of coffee that Romero, Gonsalves, and Stewart got last season were intriguing between ups and downs, but I’m confident we’ve got enough talent there to find someone capable of stepping up. With all of that in mind, pitchers get hurt. Pitchers struggle. We need to add to this depth, so I think Nick’s options here make sense. Not as your go-to 5th man, but as an insurance policy on Pineda and the rest of the minor league replacements. Obviously, Bucholz looks like the best option of those proposed with a steep drop off after, but these are depth moves. If one of these guys is willing to come to Fort Myers on a minor league deal next month, it’s worth the investment. Everyone (including myself) laughed at and dismissed Anibal Sanchez’s deal last spring and look what he did.

Trying really hard not to read too much in to the fact that 4 of the Twins acquisitions this offseason have been non-tendered by their 2018 teams. 1. CJ Cron 2. Ronald Torreyes 3. Jonathan Schoop 4. Blake Parker The only player (check my math) signed as a free agent who wasn't non-tendered is Nelson Cruz.

I think I read that Schoop was looking for a single year deal. So, even if the Twins offered a second year or an option, it's possible he wasn't interested. I don't think this is a case of the Twins being cheap.

As far as free agents go, Drew Pomernaz and Gio Gonzales look pretty good to me. I’m sure there are plenty of other decent pitchers who can be acquired through free agency or trade. But that’s less important than whether or not Santana is actually worthy of a middle of the rotation spot. I haven’t seen anything to show me that he is. He’s been injured or ineffective all year and wasn’t great the last 1/4 to 1/3 of last season. I don’t hate Santana in the least; I’m just realistic about his current and future value. Comparing his statements this season to Dozier’s last is misleading. Dozier contributed all last season and was irritated by them trading their closer before the trade deadline in a season where the team had a shot. Santana has contributed nothing this season, essentially said that there were no good players left on the team, and did so while the Twins had no realistic shot at a postseason berth.

Just about anyone could replace Santana on the mound. Pineda, Mejia, or some middle of the rotation offseason FA. I'm not sure what leads you to believe he's still good. As far as mentoring, I can't speak to his clubhouse presence because they don't let me in there, but complaining publicly about the front office when he hasn't done anything himself to help the team this year doesn't seem like the behavior of a veteran mentor.

So far, 40+ comments from people who weren’t there, giving their takes on an event they know nothing about. Keep it coming, Internet.

If you believe that Polanco’s second half was sustainable and indicitave of the future, then it’s a big loss. I don’t believe that, but I’d be glad to be wrong. Plus, there are decent (not great) options to replace him. Given my expected output for Polanco and the options to replace him, I’d rather see him gone for 80 games rather than pretty much all other position players.

Good luck for Aybar, I’d guess. Escobar might see some reps at 6 too? Never good news to lose a player for half a season, but of all the players to lose, Polanco is probably among the most expendable.

So, a headline with a question that the article doesn't even attempt to answer. Was mentioning Morrison in the headline just an attempt to draw clicks? And suggesting that the Twins' offense is their biggest flaw? The Twins were ranked #7 in the MLB in batting in 2017 (3rd in the AL). I appreciate that TwinsDaily doesn't typically use clickbait headlines, but this one is pretty egregious.

I see what Falvey and Levine are doing here. Actually pretty genius. Sign Sanchez for $2.5M, then use the $147.5M you saved on Darvish to buy a time machine and swap out 2018 Anibal Sanchez for 2013 Anibal Sanchez.