Twins haven't met with Darvish

[Doomtints]

 

Maybe we should believe that Falvey might have a little better idea then we do regarding Free Agent targets and the level of interest each has in joining the Twins! 

 

Falvey knows more about free agency than the teams who have signed more free agents than him, and who have spoken with Darvish already? I find this difficult to believe, but I'll be happy to change my opinion when I see Darvish in a Twins uniform. Maybe Falvey is so awesome that he can sign top free agents without talking to them, this would be pretty cool. He can just snap his fingers and free agents sign on the dotted line!

[Riverbrian]

 

I've never really thought we'd sign Darvish. I still want to hope it could happen, though, but not holding my breath. I just wish it were done already, one way or another. All these types of rumors and speculation just remind me that things aren't done yet, it's a slow news time, and makes me antsy for it to be settled.

 

I'm holding my breath

 

[laloesch]

 

 

It's interesting how the Twins built in advantage (Levine's personal relationship with Darvish) is construed as incompetence or whatever else.

 

That quote from LaVelle makes no sense.  He pitched for the Rangers in the past (2012-2017) so he has history with Texas and i'm sure he knew other folks in their front office not just Thad Levine.  His connection with Texas is certainly stronger than Minnesota's and one man.    I don't buy it.  If he was serious about the Twins you'd think he'd have meet with the Twins and Astros before Texas.

[laloesch]

 

 

It's interesting how the Twins built in advantage (Levine's personal relationship with Darvish) is construed as incompetence or whatever else.

 

More like no need to worry they hold the advantage because of one man.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

 

It's interesting how the Twins built in advantage (Levine's personal relationship with Darvish) is construed as incompetence or whatever else.

 

first thing that comes to mind with me was that his agent is hardly going to blow off the Twins, especially with a new front office.

 

I'm really not worried about it... yet.

 

Side note, but the fact that the Twins reporters are getting quick quotes from the FO also says that the FO is making it clear that they are interested.

[Twinfan & Dad]

Falvey knows more about free agency than the teams who have signed more free agents than him, and who have spoken with Darvish already? I find this difficult to believe, but I'll be happy to change my opinion when I see Darvish in a Twins uniform. Maybe Falvey is so awesome that he can sign top free agents without talking to them, this would be pretty cool. He can just snap his fingers and free agents sign on the dotted line!

 

 

 

You keep believing that the glass is half empty and I'll keep my belief that its half full. I think there is a little more to signing free agents than SNAP SNAP. You have to have interest from the player to sign with a given team and if Darvish decides he has no interst in the Twins than I guess were out of luck with him. I guess thats why they call them FREE AGENTS.

[laloesch]

 

You keep believing that the glass is half empty and I'll keep my belief that its half full. I think there is a little more to signing free agents than SNAP SNAP. You have to have interest from the player to sign with a given team and if Darvish decides he has no interst in the Twins than I guess were out of luck with him. I guess thats why they call them FREE AGENTS.

 

Obviously he understands that.  If everything was SNAP SNAP we'd all be a lot happier 

 

[Doomtints]

 

1)  I think there is a little more to signing free agents than SNAP SNAP. 

2)  You have to have interest from the player to sign with a given team

3)  if Darvish decides he has no interst in the Twins than I guess were out of luck with him. 

4)  thats why they call them FREE AGENTS.

 

I agree with all four of your points. If this is what you think, I'm not sure how you would trust Falvey's apparent inaction. Nor do I understand why you think we disagree.

 

If there is an interest, they should be talking.

 

If there is no interest from Darvish, Falvey should know this already, mostly because they should have been talking.....

[Twinfan & Dad]

I agree with all four of your points. If this is what you think, I'm not sure how you would trust Falvey's apparent inaction. Nor do I understand why you think we disagree.

 

If there is an interest, they should be talking.

 

If there is no interest from Darvish, Falvey should know this already, mostly because they should have been talking.....

 

Maybe we don't disagree. My point is we as fans aren't privy to what goes on behind the scenes. I would hope that Falvey has Plans A B AND C AND MAYBE EVEN D as the top pitchers start to sign. We don't even know for sure that Darvish is his main target as it could be a smokescreen. I will reserve judgement until all the offseason moves are complete. Go Twins!

[nicksaviking]

 

That quote from LaVelle makes no sense.  He pitched for the Rangers in the past (2012-2017) so he has history with Texas and i'm sure he knew other folks in their front office not just Thad Levine.  His connection with Texas is certainly stronger than Minnesota's and one man.    I don't buy it.  If he was serious about the Twins you'd think he'd have meet with the Twins and Astros before Texas.

 

In the case of Texas, it was probably pretty easy to get a meeting considering he still likely has(had) a home there.

[mikelink45]

I suspect that if the team really wanted to meet, a little ticket, airplane ride, and persistence could get that done.  I do think that negotiations go better if the two parties can have a little face to face time.

[Guest]

The Twins have a great advantage this year, especially with the slow pace of signings, in that they can invite people to visit during the Super Bowl.

[KirbyDome89]

 

In the case of Texas, it was probably pretty easy to get a meeting considering he still likely has(had) a home there.

Certainly it could've been easier to meet with Texas first. The order of meetings is meaningless IMO, but the fact he still chose to meet with the Rangers and not the Twins after spending the past 5.5 seasons in TX is odd. Who knows what's actually going on but the twitter reports so far are raising more questions than they're answering. 

[DocBauer]

I swear I just recently read that both sides were planning to meet now that the holidays were done but hasn't matched up dates yet. Could have sworn it was the Trib or Pioneer Press. Maybe I'm just losing my mind.

[diehardtwinsfan]

well, it was emphasized on ESPN today that the Twins are very interested in Darvish. I'm not too concerned about this just yet. I don't quite understand why they need to meet with Darvish. I do understand why Darvish has no intention of flying to the cities right now (even if he was seriously considering MN).

[laloesch]

well, it was emphasized on ESPN today that the Twins are very interested in Darvish. I'm not too concerned about this just yet. I don't quite understand why they need to meet with Darvish. I do understand why Darvish has no intention of flying to the cities right now (even if he was seriously considering MN).

Perhaps. I just hope something happens soon either way so that they can take appropriate action. If Darvish is not interested in signing with the Twins I hope they start talking seriously with other free agents (Lynn, Cobb, etc.).

[prouster]

 

Falvey knows more about free agency than the teams who have signed more free agents than him, and who have spoken with Darvish already? I find this difficult to believe, but I'll be happy to change my opinion when I see Darvish in a Twins uniform. Maybe Falvey is so awesome that he can sign top free agents without talking to them, this would be pretty cool. He can just snap his fingers and free agents sign on the dotted line!

 

They've probably used cell phones and computers to talk to him.

[biggentleben]

 

That quote from LaVelle makes no sense.  He pitched for the Rangers in the past (2012-2017) so he has history with Texas and i'm sure he knew other folks in their front office not just Thad Levine.  His connection with Texas is certainly stronger than Minnesota's and one man.    I don't buy it.  If he was serious about the Twins you'd think he'd have meet with the Twins and Astros before Texas.

 

Except Texas has new pitching brass, so for what he knew there, it is different. Same pitching coach, but the guys under that on the team are different, so it could be something he would want to talk about if that was a point of contention as he left Texas. There's also some discussion around the game that he left on less than great terms with Texas. He may have wanted to give the organization a chance to sway him due to his time there. He could have just met with them because he was feeling nostalgic. Who knows?!

 

However, he has had more than just Levine as a connection to Minnesota. We laugh about Gimenez talking with Darvish about his 2017 with the Twins, but Darvish is a big fan of Gimenez as a person, so that could have some sway as well.

[biggentleben]

 

I suspect that if the team really wanted to meet, a little ticket, airplane ride, and persistence could get that done.  I do think that negotiations go better if the two parties can have a little face to face time.

 

...but you're really not negotiating with Darvish. You're negotiating with Darvish's agent, so his location isn't vital to getting a deal done.

[laloesch]

 

Except Texas has new pitching brass, so for what he knew there, it is different. Same pitching coach, but the guys under that on the team are different, so it could be something he would want to talk about if that was a point of contention as he left Texas. There's also some discussion around the game that he left on less than great terms with Texas. He may have wanted to give the organization a chance to sway him due to his time there. He could have just met with them because he was feeling nostalgic. Who knows?!

 

However, he has had more than just Levine as a connection to Minnesota. We laugh about Gimenez talking with Darvish about his 2017 with the Twins, but Darvish is a big fan of Gimenez as a person, so that could have some sway as well.

 

yeah but Gimenez is not going to sign him to a 7 year 500 million dollar contract or whatever it ends up being.

[USAFChief]

 

...but you're really not negotiating with Darvish. You're negotiating with Darvish's agent, so his location isn't vital to getting a deal done.

That's likely not the case.  You're negotiating with the player.

 

The agent is there to advise, but you're not signing the agent, and it's almost certainly not his/her decision

[drivlikejehu]

 

That's likely not the case.  You're negotiating with the player.

 

The agent is there to advise, but you're not signing the agent, and it's almost certainly not his/her decision

 

Most discussions take place with the agent, in any kind of contract talks. The player might swoop in for a meeting occasionally or something along those lines, but that's pretty much it.

 

The player makes the decision in consultation with the agent, but obviously that's a separate activity from negotiating with clubs.

[The Wise One]

 

 FREE AGENTS.

The problem is they are not free. They cost a lot.

[The Wise One]

 Winning could become the important factor for the top tier pitchers The chance of winning becomes a little better with some of the other teams. Now, if the teams that have the best chance of winning are not offering the years in the contract the Twins stand a chance. The lack of signings so far leaves me with the impression that teams are not wanting to hand out the 6 year contracts, hence there might be a staredown going on between teams and agents. The blink comes when somebody signs with a non elite team for the years they want. Then the dominoes will fall rather quickly. Nobody has set the market.

[nicksaviking]

Certainly it could've been easier to meet with Texas first. The order of meetings is meaningless IMO, but the fact he still chose to meet with the Rangers and not the Twins after spending the past 5.5 seasons in TX is odd. Who knows what's actually going on but the twitter reports so far are raising more questions than they're answering.

 

But we have no idea what these "meetings" really are. For all we know Darvish had to retrieve some personal items from Dallas and Jon Daniels just met him

at Braum's for lunch.

 

The more I think about it, the more the article's conclusions ring hallow. The Twins have voiced interest very publicly, even if he didn't want to come to Minnesota, Darvish and his agent would be the league's worst negotiators not to use the Twins and a meeting to leverage his desired team. A meeting of some nature will occur, even if it's for show.

[Squirrel]

But we have no idea what these "meetings" really are. For all we know Darvish had to retrieve some personal items from Dallas and Jon Daniels just met him

at Braum's for lunch.

The more I think about it, the more the article's conclusions ring hallow. The Twins have voiced interest very publicly, even if he didn't want to come to Minnesota, Darvish and his agent would be the league's worst negotiators not to use the Twins and a meeting to leverage his desired team. A meeting of some nature will occur, even if it's for show.

I had read that his lunch (dinner?) with Daniels was more of a ‘good bye’ between GM and former player than an opening for a future re-signing, but that was also speculation from a local writer. Another example of rumor and speculation really saying nothing concrete in the absence of having anything ‘real’ to report.

 

Edit: Here’s one link ... there were others saying basically the same.

https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/texas-rangers/rangers/2017/12/19/jon-daniels-yu-darvish-will-meet-not-negotiate-contract

[Otto von Ballpark]

However, he has had more than just Levine as a connection to Minnesota. We laugh about Gimenez talking with Darvish about his 2017 with the Twins, but Darvish is a big fan of Gimenez as a person, so that could have some sway as well.

For what it's worth, Gimenez is not a Twin currently, so I am not sure how effective his recruiting can be.

 

Also, his experience with Darvish isn't that extensive. They were active teammates for only about 2.5 months back in 2014, resulting in 12 games caught. Gimenez spent the last 2 months of 2015 with Texas too, but Darvish was still sidelined from his surgery at that time. Also, they spent virtually zero spring trainings active together (Gimenez's two springs with Texas, 2015 and 2016, also corresponded with Darvish's surgery/recovery).

 

Not to say there isn't a connection there, but it probably isn't strong enough to mean much compared to the larger factors: years/money and what kind of market he wants to play in. Gimenez can vouch for the clubhouse and come back on a minor league deal, but he can't say or do much about the Twins offer or their mid-market status.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Most discussions take place with the agent, in any kind of contract talks. The player might swoop in for a meeting occasionally or something along those lines, but that's pretty much it.

 

The player makes the decision in consultation with the agent, but obviously that's a separate activity from negotiating with clubs.

Yeah, the agents do the heavy lifting and day to day contract stuff. The player makes the final decision.

[KirbyDome89]

 

But we have no idea what these "meetings" really are. For all we know Darvish had to retrieve some personal items from Dallas and Jon Daniels just met him
at Braum's for lunch.

The more I think about it, the more the article's conclusions ring hallow. The Twins have voiced interest very publicly, even if he didn't want to come to Minnesota, Darvish and his agent would be the league's worst negotiators not to use the Twins and a meeting to leverage his desired team. A meeting of some nature will occur, even if it's for show.

I'm putting zero stock in the Twins acting incompetently as the article suggests, but I do think it's fair to question the interest of both Darvish and the Twins. We can assume the Rangers meeting was nothing more than an exit interview, but that still leaves meetings in TX with both Houston and Chicago a few weeks ago. I understand Levine was with the Rangers when Darvish came over, but he's also with a new organization, a new owner, a new PBO, and in a new city/state. If familiarity was the key as the tweet suggested you would think Houston would also be exempt from meetings as well. I can't help but think these sit downs are more than just meet and greet interactions, but you're right, who knows what is actually taking place. The lack of a meeting to this point isn't great, at least optically. I'm sure they've done more than their due diligence regarding communication with Darvish and his reps and maybe I'm placing too much importance on the in person meeting aspect, but the way it looks right now is that other clubs are approaching the pretty girl while the Twins are content to slide into the DMs. 

 

The leverage is a good point. The only scenario I can see where he doesn't need a meeting with MN is if both the Cubs and Astros are outpacing the Twins preliminary talks in guaranteed years and/or money. Even then you would think he'd feign interest just to keep another team in the race, but that may not be possible if that other team doesn't feel inclined to meet, as the tweets suggest. Hopefully that's not the case and the Twins have their sit down soon enough. 

[Doomtints]

 

I suspect that if the team really wanted to meet, a little ticket, airplane ride, and persistence could get that done.  I do think that negotiations go better if the two parties can have a little face to face time.

 

They can go to him.