27 replies to this topic

[Twodogs]

Who do you guys think is the one who got away? Was a free agent and the Twins let them walk? No not Johan Santana as they traded him, I'm talking Free agent walk year.

My first pick would be Jack Morris. After '91 he went to Toronto and won 21 games and another World Series in '92. I think the Twins picked up John Smiley in 92 also, so pairing those two up with Tapani and Erickson would have been pretty good, no? Anyways that's my pick, Jack Morris. My most disheartening one was Shane Mack, I thought he was going to break out had he stayed with the Twins, but he wasn't the best in my opinion.

[lecroy24fan]

They traded for Smiley because Morris walked. no way they would have had both. 

 

Although they replaced him with Josh Willingham i think Michael Cuddyer should be mentioned.

[nicksaviking]

Rod Carew was pretty good.

 

Calvin Griffith either traded or let walk all his good players instead of paying them back in the day. Larry Hisle and Lyman Bostock also got cut loose for financial reasons.

[Twodogs]

Rod Carew was pretty good.

Calvin Griffith either traded or let walk all his good players instead of paying them back in the day. Larry Hisle and Lyman Bostock also got cut loose for financial reasons.

Did Rod Carew walk or did he get traded? If he walked then he would be better than Morris, I just assumed he was traded. Hisle was another great player, had a few fantastic years with the Brewers. I thought Bostock was traded also, he would have been a great one had tragedy not struck.

[TopGunn#22]

Rod forced a trade after Calvin's infamous comments in Waseca, MN.Based on his career path, David Ortiz comes to mind but I have to agree with Jack Morris.

Hometown Boy, comes home, leads the Twins to a World Series triumph only to leave after one-year and help lead Toronto to the World Series title.There's no guarantee the Twins could have duplicated what they did in 1991 with Morris still on the team in 1992, but they just weren't willing to pay Black Jack what he wanted and we lost him.  

[Vanimal46]

Torii Hunter was productive all 5 years with the Angels, ranging from 2 to 4.7 fWAR. As well as 2 more productive seasons in Detroit before his farewell tour with us in 2015. 

[Major League Ready]

 

They traded for Smiley because Morris walked. no way they would have had both. 

 

Although they replaced him with Josh Willingham i think Michael Cuddyer should be mentioned.

 

If my memory is correct, they got Berrios with the comp pick they got for Cuddy. If so, that was a pretty good result. 

[Dodecahedron]

Joe Nathan. Even if the Twins thought he was cooked (which was a daft thought), getting nothing for him was not smart. Rebuilding would have been a heck of a lot easier with Joe Nathan on the team, and he took a sizeable paycut to play for the Rangers.

[Major League Ready]

 

Joe Nathan. Even if the Twins thought he was cooked (which was a daft thought), getting nothing for him was not smart. Rebuilding would have been a heck of a lot easier with Joe Nathan on the team, and he took a sizeable paycut to play for the Rangers.

 

Nathan was great but they lost over 90 games each of the three seasons after Nathan left so resigning him was pretty irrelevant. It also made no sense for Nathan either given they lost 99 his last season with the team.

[Dodecahedron]

Nathan wasn't with the team anymore and the Twins lost games after he left, so keeping him was irrelevant?Alright...

[miracleb]

Big Papi

[miracleb]

Hmmm

 

Jack Morris38-24 with a 5.0 ERA

 

Big Papi.....probably close to 500 home runs!

[Twodogs]

Yep, I didn't think about Big Papi. I just saw Morris won 21 and a world series the very next year.

[Twodogs]

Prob goes
Ortiz
Morris
Hunter
Nathan
Hisle
Cuddyer

Of the guys that have been listed on this thread.

Shane Mack could make the list too. Did Chili Davis walk or was he traded?

[AlwaysinModeration]

JJ Hardy?

[Nine of twelve]

Much of the time--probably most of the time--teams have no choice other than to "let free agents walk away". The player has earned the right to accept any offer he chooses by putting in his time and playing well. Teams can make a trade (usually getting little in return) or make a QO but that's about it. One must also take into account the value a team has gotten from having that player on the roster, often at below-market salary. Losing a player to free agency should not necessarily be regarded as a failure on the part of the team because many times--probably most times--the team did everything they reasonably could to retain the player.

[lecroy24fan]

 

JJ Hardy?

He was traded.

[Twodogs]

Much of the time--probably most of the time--teams have no choice other than to "let free agents walk away". The player has earned the right to accept any offer he chooses by putting in his time and playing well. Teams can make a trade (usually getting little in return) or make a QO but that's about it. One must also take into account the value a team has gotten from having that player on the roster, often at below-market salary. Losing a player to free agency should not necessarily be regarded as a failure on the part of the team because many times--probably most times--the team did everything they reasonably could to retain the player.

Yeah, the Twins probably did almost everything they could to keep Hunter. But that definitely is not the case with Ortiz. So maybe there is a little give and take with some of them, but sometimes it was just a really bad decision.

[Dodecahedron]

If I recall correctly, Hunter expressed some frustration that the team was not reaching out to talk about signing a new piece of paper.

[Battle ur tail off]

 

Yeah, the Twins probably did almost everything they could to keep Hunter. But that definitely is not the case with Ortiz. So maybe there is a little give and take with some of them, but sometimes it was just a really bad decision.

 

No, in fact they did almost everything they could to show him they didn't want him. The best offer the Twins made for Torii was half of what he got paid. This one was a huge mistake.