Roster revamp?

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

try to win this year. Stop worrying only about the future. 

Oh definitely, I didn't mean to imply otherwise!

 

But given how he finished 2018, and his extended absence right now, and our current roster, it's not clear that Sano will help us win right away in 2019 anyway.

 

If Sano gets healthy on his rehab assignment, but isn't raking yet, we could option him. At that point, we wouldn't have to wait until July to bring him back -- hopefully he'd heat up a lot sooner. But if it took him awhile to heat up, or if he got hurt again, like Buxton last summer, we'd at least have the fallback benefit of gaining a year of control. And unlike Buxton, it wouldn't require the obvious manipulation of keeping him off the roster in September -- like I said, we could likely secure that extra year of control by July 21 and recall Sano at that point.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Oh definitely, I didn't mean to imply otherwise!

 

But given how he finished 2018, and his extended absence right now, and our current roster, it's not clear that Sano will help us win right away in 2019 anyway.

 

If Sano gets healthy on his rehab assignment, but isn't raking yet, we could option him. At that point, we wouldn't have to wait until July to bring him back -- hopefully he'd heat up a lot sooner. But if it took him awhile to heat up, or if he got hurt again, like Buxton last summer, we'd at least have the fallback benefit of gaining a year of control. And unlike Buxton, it wouldn't require the obvious manipulation of keeping him off the roster in September -- like I said, we could likely secure that extra year of control by July 21 and recall Sano at that point.

 

My point was, don't worry about manipulating service time or other stuff. Try to win this year. If he's ready, he's likely better than any other 3B option they have, and he should be up. If he's not ready, he shouldn't be up.

[Mr. Brooks]

Interesting question.

 

Sano came into the season with 3 years, 66 days service time. By May 1st, he will be up to 100 days. He needs to reach 172 days to hit 4 "full seasons" service time.

 

If you were willing to keep him down from May 1st until July 21st, you could gain an extra year of control (through 2022). If we think he still has work to do, to get ready for 2019 and build upon his 2018 reset, maybe that would be more valuable than keeping an option on him for 2020 but only controlling him through 2021?

If it takes him 3 months in AAA to find his swing and get in playing shape, then I'll have zero interest in the extra year of control.

[Otto von Ballpark]

If it takes him 3 months in AAA to find his swing and get in playing shape, then I'll have zero interest in the extra year of control.

Agreed, but it doesn't have to take him 3 months. It could take a month but sandwiched around another injury, like Buxton last summer.

 

It's not about aiming for the extra year of control, but rather keeping it in play as a "plan B" benefit, if "plan A" doesn't come together as planned.

[Mr. Brooks]

Agreed, but it doesn't have to take him 3 months. It could take a month but sandwiched around another injury, like Buxton last summer.

 

It's not about aiming for the extra year of control, but rather keeping it in play as a "plan B" benefit, if "plan A" doesn't come together as planned.

Fair points.

Will be interesting to see which route the team takes.

[Channing1964]

Austudillo is the best hitter of the three and he is better behind the plate than Garvey. In fact I think he is more athletic than Castro and is his equal with the glove

wow i didnt know Steve Garvey could catch as well! He's got my HOF vote!!

[Doomtints]

I'm not sure the Twins like Sano enough to want an extra year of control. Of the players on the team worth a darn, Sano is probably the first one the Twins would part with. They have to play him to prove to the league he is awesome before they could do that.