rv78

Ding Ding Ding! Correct you are!

Walker or Salazar. Nothing to lose. Get er done.

Too bad the Twins didn't make a few more signings like this the last couple of seasons. One could argue they did with Cruz but had this FO signed a few more guys like Donaldson before the 2017, 2018, and 2019 seasons my guess it would have been easier to get a top ACE pitcher to come here this year. You gotta show you are serious about winning to get the best to join you. There's a saying that goes something like this: PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS.

The only sure thing I'd say is Cruz bats 3rd again. I'd like to see Donaldson bat behind him to protect him even more than what Sano could do. The rest of the guys to bat anywhere that helps keep the lefty/righty switch going. Yes, Rosario will be Rosario, Kepler will be good again, Hopefully Garver can continue like he hit last year. Arraez must prove he is what we think he is. Polanco might be the best hitter in the lineup. However I think the biggest intriguing thing that will affect the lineup besides Donaldson is if Buxton finally puts it together and becomes the hitter we have all been waiting for. If that happens, look out, holy moly, and cowabunga all rolled into one.

I've never been tied to the belief that any prospect is a sure thing. Wasn't long ago we were told how great Royce Lewis was going to be and since then we've been told he probably isn't going to stick as a Major league SS and just recently how he has a hitch in his swing that coaches are hoping they can correct. Every player has value, the Crystal Ball is the key. When do you move that player before his value goes down or disappears completely? Acquiring proven major league talent comes with it own risks but dealing with prospects takes that to a completely different level.

Would it suck more if Garritt Cole blew out his knee. HEE HEE, not for us!

Paper and the real world are 2 different things. You need to get out from behind your desk and experience the real thing.

I still cannot call the off-season a success when your major need is starting pitching and your biggest acquisition is a 3rd baseman. If you spend $7M on Bailey, $3M on Hill and $23M on Donaldson wouldn't it have been better to spend the collective amount of those 3 of $33M on an Ace? Pitching wins Championships..... Viola and Morris are the biggest examples. All we can do now is hope for a trade.

The problem with the Twins adding an impact arm on the same level as a Berrios or Odorizzi as you suggest is, not only was that not done but we were expecting an impact arm on a level better than a Berrios and Odorizzi. So far the off-season has been a failure of epic proportions. You don't make a playoff caliber team better by resigning what you have and adding players that aren't any better than what you lost. At this point the only way this team gets better with the moves they have made thus far is if a Graterol or some other AAA prospect Pitcher steps up and becomes an ACE. Yes, there is time for a big trade to upgrade the rotation. Yes there will be the trading deadline come July31 to make a final move. But those are last resort type moves that a contending team shouldn't have to do if they would have taken care of business in the off-season.

I agree that prospects are just that, prospects. No one knows what they will turn into. Even the best prospects. Any positional players in the minors where there is extra depth should be considered for trade. Pitching will never be one of them. But you also have to consider who you are trading for, what they are worth and how long you can keep them. If you want to upgrade 3B Bryant isn't anywhere close to the value of a Arenado. If 1B is really the need then why trade for a 3rd baseman. Again and again and again... Sano will not help at 1B and will probably last there 1 year. DH is where he'll settle once Cruz is gone. This team needs to trade for pitching and if you're going to move a Lewis or Kiriloff or Larnach then get quality pitching in return.

Bryant is a tier 1 type player. The Twins don't acquire tier 1 players. No need to speculate on this one. It won't happen. And he really isn't much of an upgrade defensively over Sano. If 3B is really a concern then Donaldson is the guy. If 3B isn't much of a concern then the Twins will continue to wait on Donaldson until he signs elsewhere instead of giving him what he wants and then saying, well we were in the mix, we tried, he didn't want to play here. Nothing new. Another feeble attempt was made, let's move on. Yippee!

I'll say it again. If the Twins are serious about improving the infield defense moving Sano to 1B isn't going to cut it. I can just envision him running to the fence chasing every errant throw he misses way way way too often. I believe Ortiz was a 1st baseman with the Twins and when he went to Boston he quickly became a DH for the same reason why Sano will never stick at 1B either. So why move him there in the first place? I'm open to trying Arraez at 3B, moving Polanco to 2B, and getting a good defensive SS. But that doesn't solve the 1B issue. I think it is going to take another season to resolve these issues. Nelson Cruz is the log-jam at DH forcing the Twins to play Sano in the field. Cruz is a nice log-jam but he creates a defensive problem.

Of the 5 listed I'd pass on Longoria and Seager. Arenado will never come to Minnesota and if the Twins are serious about improving the defense Bryant isn't really much of an upgrade over Sano. That leaves 1 player listed, Donaldson and 2 things are happening there, either the Twins won't give in and pay him what he wants or he is just using the Twins to leverage the Braves into paying him more which means he really doesn't want to come to Minnesota either. I'm more in favor of keeping Sano at 3B and signing a 1 year guy like Moreland to play 1B. Next year after Cruz departs move Sano to DH, and you'll know by the end of 2020 if a AAA prospect like Kirolloff or Raley or Lewis or Rooker can fill a spot in the infield be it 1B or 3B. There is always the possibility of Garver moving to 1B and a Jeffers or Rortvedt can take over at C.

If he's the real deal he'll land somehere else. If he's a flash in the pan and won't amount to a hill of beans the Twins will get him, ala Nishioki or Byung-Ho.

So the Twins have offered $100M/4 years to Donaldson = $25M a year. They've dished out $7M to Bailey, $3M to Hill, $2.75M to Clippard, $4.25M to Avila for a grand total of $42M when you add what they have offered to Donaldson. Cole went to the Yankees for $36M a year. Yet the Twins couldn't afford him? Pretty sure Cole will outperform Bailey and Hill and would have made Clippard less needed with having to use arms in the pen less often when every 5th day you've got a guy who can potentially pitch into the 8th or 9th inning. Oh, don't forget the added revenue a Cole would have brought to Target Field by exciting the fan base. Instead we should show up with paper bags on our heads.

If the Twins want Donaldson why don't they just give him what he wants? Why make it into a bidding game for dollars or seasons? If they were really serious it should be done already. If the offer of 4 years and $100M is what he wants and he isn't signing then he is basically telling them no, I don't want to play for you. It's not rocket science. Move on, tell him the offer is good until such and such a day and if you don't accept what we are offering you by then, which is what you want, then don't let the door hit you in the A$$. They have failed at adding impact pitching so what's one more failure...... piece of cake. Move on, get a 1st baseman and let Sano play 3rd another year. Big deal. Without the Ace pitcher we had hoped for it'll be an early exit in the playoffs again anyway. There's always next year... Twins fans have gotten use to it....

It all comes down to what we've been told verses what they do and they are 2 different things. 1.Re-signing your own players is not adding. 2.Having opponents, especially in your division, (White Sox), ADD more quality players than you do is going backward. 3.The reason for Target Field was to be competitive in the Free Agent market due to the increase in revenue. If we haven't reached the point yet where we can compete for top Free Agents, we never will. Saying we were in the running or wasn't quite enough or they didn't want to come here only means 1 thing, we failed. 4.Not signing Free Agents means you only have 1 option left to get what you need and that is trading. When you trade it costs other players, usually prospects that you are counting on for your future. Which would you do? 1.Keep loads of cash now and trade away your future for an Ace or 2.Spend cash now for a Free Agent Ace, and keep your future intact. Guess we know what they have decided.

Possible/Probable scenarios: White Sox win the Division Twins win a Wild Card Cole to the Yankees = Twins first round loss in the playoffs Front Office decides it really needs to add some real Impact Pitching this time, they don't want to come here. Minnesota fans go into hibernation and don't come back Target Field becomes a ghost town Twins get sold and move to Las Vegas. New team signs 5 top Free Agent Pitchers the first season and win the World Series

This article suggests the Twins will be able to add an arm that will make the difference at the trade deadline next season. (If they are in contention). The ONLY way to do that is to trade. Seems to me that is a limited option you are putting yourself into. Quality Free Agent pitcher after pitcher has gone off the board and still nothing for the rotation. The WhiteSox have made themselves better in the Free Agent market. Lets take a quick look at some of the players the Twins have acquired so far outside of the organization. Pitchers: Tyler Clippard will help the bullpen. Danny Coulombe didn't even play last year and comes as a minor league invitee. Caleb Thielbar hasn't pitched in the big leagues since 2015. WOW this is a reach! Ryan Garton appeared in 2 games for Seattle last year and didn't pitch in the majors in 2018. Another Hope and a Prayer. Blaine Hardy another arm for the bullpen that isn't really an upgrade over what we already have. Matt Wisler has a career ERA over 5. Hello minor leagues. Hitters: Alex Avila replacement for Castro who has a weaker bat than Castro. Jack Reinheimer, Tom Telis, Wilfredo Tovar, Juan Graterol might as well lump all these guys into 1 catagory, YAWN! And there you have it. It probably isn't the entire list but without a ton of research it's what I could find. Hardly significant moves outside of Clippard anywhere. Is Terry Ryan running this team incognito? Feel free to list the WhiteSox signings. I can tell you they have been vastly more impressive and significant. It looks like the Twins are content to STOCK their minor league teams, and not UPGRADE the major league team.

I would like to see Graterol take that step and become as good as Berrios is now. Not sure that he can given the fact the Twins might move him to the bullpen, which I hope they don't cause in the past whenever they do that they never give that guy the chance to go back to being a starter and I think he's too valuable and too talented to use only in the bullpen. Sano would be the 2nd guy I'd choose. I'm hoping he comes into camp in great shape and ready to rock whether he's at 1B or 3B. Buxton would be my #3. A full healthy season is all I wish for. Add to that and if he'd learn to bunt for base hits and steal a base everytime he's on he'd be the other teams nightmare. We don't need him to hit 30+ homeruns. Become the disrupter. Back off just a little on trying to make spectacular catches and keep yourself on the field for the betterment of the team.

They are obviously out of available cash. Signing the big name top free agents will do that.

After reading through all of these posts it is apparent that no one believes the Twins will ever sign a top Free Agent. EVER!! A Cole or Strasburg or Harper or Rendon or anyone that is considered to be "one of the best" is out of reach. If we can't do it now, why would we be able to do it next year? Or the year after that? or EVER? So with that thought in mind, why should we support this team? If the goal is to only be competitive, we are there and we can be disappointed every year, whether the Twins get into the playoffs or not. If the goal is to win another World Series then the mindset must change. Teams that invest in the best players adding them to their already competitive roster will be the winners, not the teams that play it safe and are satisfied with less than the best. Once you show that you will spend the money and sign the best then other Free Agents will start to come as well. Why, Because you have shown you are willing to try to win it all, not just to get there. Until then, the Twins will always be one of the last place destinations for any top free agent.

So no one wants to come to Minnesota in the summertime. Tell me, what can they do in the big market team cities that they can't do in Minnesota? Find a beach somewhere when it is the The Land of 10,000 Lakes. Play golf? Fish? Is the weather that bad during the summer in Minnesota? Still too cold? Is it hotter than Caifornia or the East Coast? Rain too much? What? No one wants to come to the Twins because there is no committment to winning. If I was a Free Agent, such as Nelson Cruz and we were having the best season in Franchise history ever and the Front Office doesn't go out and acquire a top starting Pitcher before the trade deadline I'd be PO'd. Perfect example of no committment, Right? I'm not saying Cruz is PO'd but it sends a message to other players. Gee. why would I want to go there? They had a great season but they never made a move at the trade deadline to better themselves for a playoff run, even when they knew it would greatly improve their chances. Why put myself into that situation? I'll go someplace that isn't afraid to sign the best available and shows they are willing to do the most they can to win. A real contender, not a pretender. If the Twins cannot compete for top Free Agents such as Cole or Strasburg then MLB and the Twins have a problem. MLB needs a Cap. The luxury system doesn't work. The Twins need new ownership. Like someone said in a previous post. The Vikings and the Wild can get top talent and they play during the winter. It's not the location, it's ownership.

Cole and Strasburg are gone. There isn't anything left.

Exactly. Twins fans have been brainwashed by the Twins FO and the local media that they have to spend responsibly. A new stadium with an increase in revenue and we are fed the same ol song and dance BS that they can't spend like the other teams. Every year the Pohlads make millions off the Twins. Would it really hurt them to lose a couple Million for a few years if it produced a Championship? It's not like the Twins are their only source of income. The window is now. The chance is now. 2020 will be 29 years since the 1991 Championship. Isn't that long enough of being cheap and NOT going for it? 29 years of putting money into the pockets of the owners with nothing to show for it. So no impact pitchers want to come to Minnesota to play. Why? Because they aren't committed to winning. Pure plain and simple.