Fangraphs interview with Duensing

[Mike Sixel]

Great article on the less glamorous sides of baseball.....and how a guy copes with being cut and moving on.

[gunnarthor]

Here's the link.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/brian-duensing-ponders-opt-outs-and-home/

 

Hope he saved his money well.  Best of luck to him.

[Mike Sixel]

Dang, I thought I put the link in there! thanks,

 

I can't decide how I feel about the timing of the release call.....

[TheLeviathan]

I'm not sure, given they were expecting a month after the offseason started, that there was a "good" time to call.  

[Rosterman]

Interesting piece. Duensing has made around $8 million in his career. He worked briefly as a starter. He is left-handed. 

 

Does he have a bonifide agent who is marketing him to other teams. Being left-handed alone should make him attractive,

 

He also should be pulling in a decent minor league salary (minus the expense of having to have two homes). It was a smart move to sign with the Royals and having the ability to pitch at a high level yet stay at home.

 

Remember, what are the chances of making veteran minor league money walking into most any otehr job in your mid-30s. Shows the evils of being a ballplayer. You had a modest career, made good money (I'm 62 and am a far cry short of $8 million in my lifetime of work). What is the next thing that you do?

 

Hey, he might end up being a coach with the Royals at Omaha. Could you ask for a better job?

 

It all started with last season. Your fate was in your pitching arm. If you had a brilliant season, people would be calling you on your cell and offering you a multi-year contract. You had a bad year, so bad that the Twins cut you loose and didn't even show interest in resigning you to be a part of the worst staff in 2016 baseball.

 

Teams move forward. You suddenly becomes a minimum-wage baseball arm, and that may be too much when a team can actually find someone comparable cheaper, or they have prospects.

 

Brian did a solid job with the Twins. They could never figure out a spot for him - long-man, short-man, spot starter, getting one guy out. He was all over that place. And as his games/innings work diminished, it only took a bad outing or two to make his whole line look bad. But on the whole, he should have a major league job. He is so consistent. Not overpowering. Solid middle relief. But you can say that about quite a few people, including some toiling in Indy ball.,

[ashbury]

The business side of baseball is always tough. If teams were allowed to pay the marginal guys at the major league minimum, no doubt many would be kept in preference to unknowns from outside the organization. But, that's not how the CBA is written. As he said at the end of the article, he's pretty well set financially for life. So the system has worked well for him. It's just the end of the career that winds up being a little messy, with a lot of moves to new teams and leagues if you aren't ready to hang it up.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

I can't decide how I feel about the timing of the release call.....

It wasn't a release call.  Duensing was already a free agent for a month, the Twins just called him to tell him they weren't interested.

[Mike Sixel]

 

It wasn't a release call.  Duensing was already a free agent for a month, the Twins just called him to tell him they weren't interested.

 

True, but it should be obvious what I meant......

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

The business side of baseball is always tough. If teams were allowed to pay the marginal guys at the major league minimum, no doubt many would be kept in preference to unknowns from outside the organization. But, that's not how the CBA is written.

Not sure I understand.  Teams are allowed to pay free agents the major league minimum, no?  Duensing was a free agent this winter, and again when he opted out of his Royals deal.  In the absence of any reporting to the contrary, I assume he is making the league minimum or thereabouts with the Orioles.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

True, but it should be obvious what I meant......

"Release call" sounds like they were delivering bad news.  It wasn't really, it was just informational, confirming what Duensing probably already knew.  For all we know, Duensing received similar calls confirming non-interest from other teams in the same time period.

 

Do you think we should have called him earlier?  I suspect we weren't confident in finding a better option until Oakland tried to outright Abad on Nov. 30, which he logically was going to decline and elect free agency. At that point, it sounds like the Twins waited to call until a day after the child was born, which seems polite.

[ashbury]

Not sure I understand.  Teams are allowed to pay free agents the major league minimum, no?  Duensing was a free agent this winter, and again when he opted out of his Royals deal.  In the absence of any reporting to the contrary, I assume he is making the league minimum or thereabouts with the Orioles.

I may be mis-remembering, but I think the team has restrictions on how little it can pay a returning player (no more than a 20% cut), until maybe the next May or something?

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

I may be mis-remembering, but I think the team has restrictions on how little it can pay a returning player (no more than a 20% cut), until maybe the next May or something?

Pretty sure that only applies to tendering contracts to pre-free agency players.  Not free agents.  Justin Morneau, for example, signed with Colorado for less than 50% of his previous salary with the Twins a couple years ago.

 

Even pre-free agency players can be non-tendered, if you don't mind making them free agents before you attempt to negotiate a lower salary.  (a.k.a. "what Bill Smith should have done with Craig Monroe")

[gunnarthor]

 

True, but it should be obvious what I meant......

In the article, Duensing has nothing but nice things to say about Ryan and the Twins.  I imagine the call was fine.  

 

Torii Hunter once mentioned that Ryan was the nicest guy he ever met in baseball and that Ryan would text him out of the blue to wish him a happy birthday when he was with the Angels and Tigers.  

[Mike Sixel]

I'm not ripping them at all......how did anyone take that from what I typed?

[theBOMisthebomb]

It's just difficult to muster any sadness or sympathy for a guy who made $8 million in 11 years playing a fun game. If these guys try to hang on and get bounced around at career end at least they had fun doing it. Beats working 9-5 at a 'real job'.

[Otto von Ballpark]

I'm not ripping them at all......how did anyone take that from what I typed?

How do you feel about the timing of the call?

[nicksaviking]

How do you feel about the timing of the call?

Personally, it probably would have been a curtesy to let him know after the season ended that he wasn't going to be part of their blueprint in 2016.

 

However in fairness to the team, it has become quite obvious that there aren't any blueprints for 2016 now, let alone last October.

[Mike Sixel]

How do you feel about the timing of the call?

Like I said, I am not sure

[TheLeviathan]

 

Like I said, I am not sure

 

I guess I'm confused about your question then?

 

A call in early November vs. early December doesn't seem to be all that different in this situation.

[Mike Sixel]

Was it not the day after his kid was born? Did I read that right?

[TheLeviathan]

It was, but if they had called at the start of the off-season it would've been weeks before her due date.  Not sure there was a "good" time.

[Mike Sixel]

 

It was, but if they had called at the start of the off-season it would've been weeks before her due date.  Not sure there was a "good" time.

 

Me neither, hence "i am not sure how I feel"......but whatever, this is boring.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Was it not the day after his kid was born? Did I read that right?

I am guessing a large component of the call was congratulatory, after which they talked shop a bit and confirmed the Twins were pursuing other options.

[ashbury]

I am guessing a large component of the call was congratulatory, after which they talked shop a bit and confirmed the Twins were pursuing other options.

http://quickbase.intuit.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/03/Stop-Using-the-Compliment-Sandwich-and-Give-Better-Feedback.jpg

 

Terry: Now, I'm going to do something I call the 'Compliment Sandwich," where I say something good, talk about where you need improvement, and then end with something good.

Brian (NOTICE I DON'T HAVE TO CHANGE THIS NAME!): Whatever you gotta do...

Terry (flips notepad): Something good... something good... Your wife had a baby and it makes me smile... where you need improvement... you need to improve at making us want to offer you a contract. Something good, something good...

 

[Thrylos]

What is not mentioned in that article is that Ryan decided to offer a minor league contract with a ST invite to Aaron Thompson (since cut and gone) and not Duensing, (not to mention the other dumpster diving heap pile pick ups) which made zero sense.