Zulgad: Twins Have A Plan

[ashbury]

Indeed, their actions tend to indicate the exact opposite of a plan. Trading away a young outfielder, but holding onto Willingham?

 

What do you think they were offered for Josh? No doubt less than they were offered for either Span or Revere, exactly because of their relative youth. If the plan was to restock the minors with higher-ceiling pitchers, using their oversupply of young outfielders coming up as the bait, the trades the Twins pulled the trigger on are consistent with that.

 

Actually, keeping Willingham as part of the bridge to 2015 suits me fine - he's more valuable to the Twins than he would be to a contender, since on just about no other team would his 35 home runs be marketed as "the most since [Killebrew] in 1970" or whatever the exact mark of distinction is. The Twins lineup was already overpopulated with table-setters, and trading Willingham instead of Revere or Span would have accentuated it further.

[LoganJones]

Ugh...... This myth that any free agency is a bad idea is so tired. How do you feel about Antoine Winfield, or CC sabbathia. Yea, some guys bust, so do draft picks. There is no one right channel for adding talent. Sano was essentially a free agent....how do you feel about him?

 

Signing free agent pitchers to long deals usually results in overpaying even for pretty good performance, and is usually a terrible deal for the team that does it. Win a world series or two on the strength of the sign and it works out. For every CC there is a Kevin Brown and Carl Pavano.

[jokin]

Signing free agent pitchers to long deals usually results in overpaying even for pretty good performance, and is usually a terrible deal for the team that does it. Win a world series or two on the strength of the sign and it works out. For every CC there is a Kevin Brown and Carl Pavano.

 

I don't think that's what Mike and others are saying. You can help yourself short-term and possibly flip for long-term benefit on 1-2 year deals paying up for legit talent.

 

Out of 34 SP FA signings in 2013 offseason:

 

One or Two year deals: 31

 

Three years or more: 3 (Greinke, Jackson, Guthrie)

[LaBombo]

It seems like a lot of guys making sure they keep a spot in the twins press box buffett line.

 

http://images4.static-bluray.com/reviews/852_1.jpg

 

Farley: "I've...got... a plan".

Spade: "Yikes".

[mcrow]

I like what they've done for the future but hate what they did to this year.

 

I think if they even took a shot at one of the big name FAs this year I'd probably be OK with most of the rest of the offseason. You can't make people come here but you can offer them good contracts, at least then you're trying and if they choose elsewhere then it's not because you were not seriously in the running moneywise.

 

I wouldn't blame someone for not signing with the Twins if they want to win now, but if it's because they didn't try then that's annoying.

[ashbury]

I like what they've done for the future but hate what they did to this year.

 

I'm on board with the re-stocking the minors thing. Completely. What I find annoying is that it didn't have to be Either/Or. No, they could not create a true contender in one off-season by any conceivable means, but (to paraphrase Terry Ryan from another context) the Twins are leaving money on the table for 2013. It's almost as if they see it as invalid to make 2013 better unless it is with players who will also be making 2015-and-onward better, while I would be happy with contracts that expire after 2014 that get us to the promised land.

[Kwak]

I'm on board with the re-stocking the minors thing. Completely. What I find annoying is that it didn't have to be Either/Or. No, they could not create a true contender in one off-season by any conceivable means, but (to paraphrase Terry Ryan from another context) the Twins are leaving money on the table for 2013. It's almost as if they see it as invalid to make 2013 better unless it is with players who will also be making 2015-and-onward better, while I would be happy with contracts that expire after 2014 that get us to the promised land.

 

Especially when this concept was touted as one of the reasons for public contribution for Target Field.

[ashbury]

Especially when this concept was touted as one of the reasons for public contribution for Target Field.

 

I was not in the Twin Cities during the run-up to getting Target Field built, so I am taking everyone's word that this was the message being delivered by the Twins in persuading tax dollars to be expended. But yes, this is behind my expectation for the team. There should be around $100+M budgeted each and every year for the team. I don't want some kind of "we'll spend less this year and then make it up later", not that the Twins are even offering that as an explanation at the moment - if they saved $20M this year and applied it toward 2015 for a $120M budget, then we'd be disappointed when they "cut back" to a mere $100M in a later year. No. $20M saved this year is just going for additional profit, and it's not justified. Budget the $100M, and then in a year like this use it to ease the pain as the other parts of the plan (which I agree with) come to fruition. And I'm not saying "spend for the sake of spending" - use it to acquire free agents that will strengthen the obvious weak spots on this team.

 

The only way I'm mollified is if this supposed flexibility actually gets used later on this season. I am skeptical in the extreme that it will happen, but leave it open as slight benefit of the doubt.

[old nurse]

Gee what i took from the article was, that the Vikings improved once they got a new general manager.....

some thing to think about

If you can name the name of the previous GM to Spielman your point could have some merit for an insinuated Twins comparison.

[old nurse]

Especially when this concept was touted as one of the reasons for public contribution for Target Field.

 

Profit taking occurs when there is nothing in the contract to prevent it.