Should the Twins Be In on Cole Hamels?

Maybe an option, but hopefully the Twins can do better than Hamels

As a 4th or 5th option, do not have a problem, if he is 2 or 3 Twins have not done a good job this winter.

Twins need to be in on everyone.

He is no longer a $17M a year pitcher. He most likely ends up with a contender or closer to wherever is home for himself for like 2/25M.

Twins need to be in on everyone.

That's the same thought that's been rattling around in my brain since the end of the World Series. The Twins have the budget and the need and the motive to acquire as much (starting) pitching as possible. There's nothing wrong with an abundance of options.

If we sign Hamels and Bumgarner, we will have an awesome rotation for Fantasy Baseball in 2012!

 

But seriously, Hamels would be a great addition to our staff, probably similar to Odorizzi last year.

Hamels averaged just over 5 innings per start last season. If the Twins bring back Odorizzi, my interest in Hamels would be minimal. Having 2 (relatively) expensive SP who you can't count on to get through 6 innings consistently is not how you build a World Series capable rotation.

 

As with all theoretical signings, it all comes down to dollars. If Hamels is willing to sign for a reasonable price, I wouldn't have any problem with it regardless of Odorizzi's status. 

You have Berrios. Hopefully there is an upside to Berrios and he will continue to improve.

 

Who do you replace Odorizzi with? Someone who can go five innings? Someone not tied into a 3-4 year contract? Imagine there are quite a few possibilities.

 

Who do you repalce Gibson with. ANyone. Here I would consider adding a bigger name free agent, be it Wheeler or Bumgarner. 

 

Who replaces Pineda? My concern with Pineda is - did he get better because of what he was taking? If you can get Gibson and Pineda on rasonable one year ofers, I would sign both and hope Gibson shows up strong in spring training. Gibson still ahs health concerns. Will they come abck? Pineda will miss the first month-and-a-half.

 

Who replaces Perez? Agan, anyone. Heck, I would consider Odorizzi a fine upgrade if he takes the one year deal. But I am afraid of Odorizzi over the longterm.

 

The Twins also need a spot or a way to look at future arms in their organization. Do they have enough worthwhile arms to devote one roster spot to giving them experience. Thorpe, Dobnak, Smeltzer are this year's cropy. Graterol is also a strong consieation. The Twins have 4-5 othre names that could be contributing at the backend of the rotation starting in 2021 and maybe being a futrue major league star.

 

But the question always is...if you BUY rotation arms, then what do you do with the arms in the system. Do you basically let them walk over time (see Stewart, Slegers, Gonsalves) or do you package them when they still have some perceivd worth for offense, or other prospects that you can, in turn, apckage still at another date.

 

Simply by throwing money at the fan the Twins should be able to upgrade over Odorizzi, Gibson, Pineda and Perez. Within their own system they should be able to upgrade over Perez and Gibson 2019. I am not comfortable with Odorizzi longterm. I am not sure how bad the Twins need to be the second-round rehab for Pineda.

 

They have the money to spend. They need a swecond catcher (still cheap). They also need a closer, which should be job one. Spend big on this arm, and the otehr aprts of the bullpen will thrive. You should still have $30-40-50 million to spend on rotation arms.

 

1) If Odo returns and takes the #3 spot, I'd be thrilled with Hamels for the 4 spot, and the Twins payroll should allow as much. If Odo does not return, then I would be borderline frantic to try and end up with Hamels to replace Odo in that #3 spot. 

 

2) FWIW, this management team seems to love veterans that have a good locker room rep, and Hamels fills that bill. He seems like exactly the kind of guy this group would target.

 

I'm confused as to why bringing Odorizzi back is the determining factor of interest in Hamels as the #4.

If Hamels is a good #4, he'll be a good #4 regardless of who is the #3.

 

I like this option, as long as they also acquire two starters on multi year deals. They can't afford to be in this position again next year, only having 1 year deals on 80% of their rotation....

Technically they can afford to be in this position again next year since they wouldn't be hampered with the multi year deals.

 

Hopefully by this time next year we will know if any of Dubnak, Smeltzer, Graterol, etc. are going to be reliable rotation pieces. We could sign 2 one year deals (probably a multi year deal in there too) and reevaluate this issue again next year when guys like Paxton, Bauer, Robbie Ray, Stroman, and Tanaka are set to be available. Maybe grab one multi year deal now and another multi year deal then.

 

It could be a rotation of Berrios, Multi year deal, one year deal, one year deal, Prospects. Something like Berrios, Wheeler (or Odorizzi or Bumgarner), Hamels, Porcello (or Alex Wood), Graterol.

 

You have Berrios. Hopefully there is an upside to Berrios and he will continue to improve.

 

Who do you replace Odorizzi with? Someone who can go five innings? Someone not tied into a 3-4 year contract? Imagine there are quite a few possibilities.

 

Who do you repalce Gibson with. ANyone. Here I would consider adding a bigger name free agent, be it Wheeler or Bumgarner. 

 

Who replaces Pineda? My concern with Pineda is - did he get better because of what he was taking? If you can get Gibson and Pineda on rasonable one year ofers, I would sign both and hope Gibson shows up strong in spring training. Gibson still ahs health concerns. Will they come abck? Pineda will miss the first month-and-a-half.

 

Who replaces Perez? Agan, anyone. Heck, I would consider Odorizzi a fine upgrade if he takes the one year deal. But I am afraid of Odorizzi over the longterm.

 

The Twins also need a spot or a way to look at future arms in their organization. Do they have enough worthwhile arms to devote one roster spot to giving them experience. Thorpe, Dobnak, Smeltzer are this year's cropy. Graterol is also a strong consieation. The Twins have 4-5 othre names that could be contributing at the backend of the rotation starting in 2021 and maybe being a futrue major league star.

 

But the question always is...if you BUY rotation arms, then what do you do with the arms in the system. Do you basically let them walk over time (see Stewart, Slegers, Gonsalves) or do you package them when they still have some perceivd worth for offense, or other prospects that you can, in turn, apckage still at another date.

 

Simply by throwing money at the fan the Twins should be able to upgrade over Odorizzi, Gibson, Pineda and Perez. Within their own system they should be able to upgrade over Perez and Gibson 2019. I am not comfortable with Odorizzi longterm. I am not sure how bad the Twins need to be the second-round rehab for Pineda.

 

They have the money to spend. They need a swecond catcher (still cheap). They also need a closer, which should be job one. Spend big on this arm, and the otehr aprts of the bullpen will thrive. You should still have $30-40-50 million to spend on rotation arms.

He was taking a diuretic.  Diuretics are not a PED.

I'd think the assumption being made is that Hamels + Odorizzi more likely means the Twins don't get Wheeler or Bumgarner.

Hamels and now Odo on 1 year deals better not have any impact on making a legitimate run at Wheeler or Bumgarner, or I'm in for yet another excruciatingly disappointing winter.

"It is rumored that 13 teams are interested".....his agent leaked after reading somewhere that people more often believed made up odd numbers

 

He was taking a diuretic.  Diuretics are not a PED.

It's an effective masking agent, thus why it's banned. Surely you aren't naive enough to think he was only taking the diuretic.

 

It's an effective masking agent, thus why it's banned. Surely you aren't naive enough to think he was only taking the diuretic.

MLB didn't think he was masking anything, because that's why his suspension was reduced to 60 games.

 

MLB didn't think he was masking anything, because that's why his suspension was reduced to 60 games.

You don't know that. That is what Pineda's camp asserted. We just know that his suspension was reduced. So was Ryan Braun's. 

 

You don't know that. That is what Pineda's camp asserted. We just know that his suspension was reduced. So was Ryan Braun's. 

And you have no proof that he was taking PED's. This is from an article about the suspension.

 

"Pineda's suspension was reduced from the standard 80 games to 60 games because he successfully argued he did not take the drug to mask PED use."

He is no longer a $17M a year pitcher. He most likely ends up with a contender or closer to wherever is home for himself for like 2/25M.