twinsfansd

Yes, I have been promoting Austin as a possible outfield fit all along. That does leave them without a decent defensive replacement OF if they go with a 13 man pitching staff, however. So I guess it depends on what kind of bench Rocco wants. That big right handed bat against left handers would sure look good in the lineup, though.

Rather than a coin flip I see a lot of young players with a chance to break out and a few guys that had either some injury issues or hopefully just a temporary letdown in there production with a chance to be corrected. But I think they need to find out who can step up before they start attempting to plug any holes. And I think we could perhaps see Tyler Austin in the OF if someone such as Cruz is signed to DH. Austin's bat could be a big factor against LHP, and set either Kepler or Rosario early in games. I think there is a lot to be worked out as far as roles on the pitching staff. I don't look to see very many outside arms coming in. I think they are comfortable looking to see what they have.

I am not sure they should extend either one. I will leave it up to the front office to make a decision on if they think that is smart. As far as what would be the better option, keep in mind that Gibson is probably getting a lower arbitration figure THIS year, so he may be more amenable to working a 3 year deal to up his pay this year and add on a couple years. Oddorizzi has a pretty sweet pay rate this year as a guarantee, so he will have less to gain from signing an extention at this point, and trying to sign him to an extension this year would probably have to ever push him into a pay scale that he should not be at. So my thought is that Gibson is the only one that they will be able to sign at a reasonable rate that is acceptable to both sides. Of course, perhaps Michael Pineda can also be signed to an extension during the season if he looks good, so leave that as a possibility as well.

Several things here. First, the Twins added a lot of high end talent to the system over the last year, so eclipsing the top 10 is a major accomplishment for any of them, with Thorpe being the one who probably fit into the class easily. As for Jay, I am not totally convinced that he is healthy yet, despite any evidence to support that claim. And of course Jorge was injured, so that concludes that, other than to say that his build probaby always did leave that as a possibility, probably a bullpen option at best. I think the others presented themselves well, especially Miranda.

Not sure what his issue may have been last season, but I would trust the FO and their scouts and metrics to know more about whether he is worth the risk or not, and at what price. I guess I will just wait to see if the Twins make any moves to acquire him as my answer to that question.

I believe the plan is to include all these guys in the plan eventually (including Stewart) to get them MLB experience before next year and see who might be able to be starters next year when they are needed. We all know that in a long season there will be need for injury replacements and spot starters as the season goes along, so all of these guys, at least the closest ones, will see time during the season. I think the FO likes to have a lot of depth, thus hanging on to guys like Magill and DeJong, as well as not using their depth in trades to maybe bring in an upgrade starter, although this could sure be an option. I look for them to maybe bring in another guy at closer, but not pay much to bring in guys that are questionable upgrades in the bullpen. They will work those other starting options s bullpen pieces to get them experience if they are not starting, especially Slegers, Littell, Romero and Mejia.

I am not an expert at the analytical data, but wouldn't fielding be included in the WAR number already, so this would then sort of doubling up on the fielding end of things, which weren't impressive to start with.

What good player are you going to sign to sit on the bench behind Sano? Nobody. And you don't have roster space unless you eliminate Adrianza. That means it would have to be someone who could also play shortstop. I don't think this is any different than if you lost say Polanco like last year. Last year they were lucky enough to have Escobar as a captive player at that point. If you want a decent player to be the backup, it will have to come via trade. Or move Sano off 3B completely to DH and cripple his value.

Unfortunately, there are only so many roster spots available. You have to commit to a plan of action, and if it doesn't work THEN you have to make adjustments on the fly. The Twins can not afford to give up on what are supposed to be the 2 cornerstones of this team going forward. They have to exhaust all their options before they move on. Remember all the players from teams gone by that it would have been easy to give up on. Remember Aaron Hicks? Torii Hunter was sent back to the minors when he couldn't GET it. Michael Cuddyer had many fits and starts. Kubel was held back by injuries at the beginning of his career. Corey Koskie took a while. I think the outfield will be OK even if Buxton struggles. And if healthy, he brings enough to the table with defense alone to make him playable while we wait for the offense to catch up. I agree at this point that 3B will be a problem if Sano struggles again. It's not like you are only going to give him a month to prove himself, though. Maybe by midseason, someone else will step up and take his place if he doesn't perform. That's how it's supposed to work.

I think reality setting in may be the emphasis behind these moves. The Twins are in a precarious position with what they planned to be the core of the team at this time having for the most part under performed and disappointed, but still probably exhibiting enough talent and potential to be worth waiting for. Unfortunately, I think they believe the coaching staff that had been in place, as well as those in the developmental levels below have failed to bring the best out of these players. So, with little choice but to see if new coaching can bring the talent out of these players, it makes little sense to make long term commitments to free agents that might not be enough to push them over the top. Their preferred choice of using trades to suppliment the existing team probably has been unfruitful as well, given that most of the Twins prospect talent is at lower levels and not going to be at peak demand at this point. Some of the trades I see happening don't make a lot of sense. Carlos Santana was supposed to be a Twins target since Philly was motivated to move him to free up a spot for Hoskins. Given that he was already being overpayed and the expensive end of his contract yet to come, it made sense that Philly would need to eat a lot of money and/or give up prospect capital to get him off their books. But in the end they turned Santana into Segura and Pazos, and only had to chip in Crawford. Any wonder the Twins weren't in on that? I saw a suggestion here that the Twins try to get Santana from Seattle by trading Cave and a couple prospects. Why? Santana is being over paid. He has negative trade value. Why would the Twins do that? I think the FO may be correct to just look for bargain pieces for this year, try to put a team on the field that can be competitive if the players perform, and see how things shake out. There are a lot of pitching pieces that need to be evaluated before they will really know where they are. Would it make sense to start trading any of those pieces away before they had a better idea what they really have? Seems like that would be a bigger gamble than just letting things develop and shake out.

Like I said on another thread, they need to have players that are MLB capable on their roster with options available so they can move them on and off the roster as they need to adjust the size of their bullpen throughout the year. The same thing applies to some of the bottom options in the bullpen.

I like this. He's definitely playable because of the defense and the power. There is room for tremendous upside if he returns to 2017 form, which may be a good bet if he was indeed playing with an injury last season. If it doesn't work, it's only for a year and they move on to Gordon later in the year. If it turns out good he could lead them to the playoffs. And if he has a 2017 season and then walks, he could be a Qualifying offer guy after the season and get the Twins a high draft pick. All the other 2B candidates come with a lot of warts as well, some of them with a lot more than Schoop.

Like I said, the last player on the bench should be a player that can be optioned up and down depending on their pitching needs. I forgot they had Astudillo for that purpose. And now they have torreyes. so they should be in good shape for bench players.

When he is ready, that player may be Nick Gordon, as he gets time here and there at MLB until he is totally ready.

With today's short benches, teams almost need a player on the bench with an option left that can be moved up and down to AAA depending on how many pitchers a team needs to be carrying at the time. Same thing for pitchers, they need guys with options that can be moved up and down when fresh arms are needed.

What about Michael Helman?

Tyler Jay did not have TOS surgery. At one point they believed that was the problem, but further diagnosis determined it wasn't necessary.

I think we are going to see the Twins trade for several pieces and not go the free agent route so much. They have a lot of prospects and can't protect them all, so they need to spend some of that capital. I like the Castro idea, especially since he might come cheaper in prospect capital due to his salary requirements for the Marlins. Sonny Gray might be a target for pitching. I think he just needs out of New York. And don't forget they will need somebody to pair with Austin at 1B in case he needs a platoon. There may be some relief pitchers to target via trade as well. Mychal Givens comes to mind. And some of the young starter candidates may end up in the bullpen as well.

Yes, finally some signs of life in the dugout.

There's no way the Twins should touch this situation. If they commit 30-35 million a year to Machado, what are they going to do when the rest of their supporting cast reaches arbitration or free agency and they can't afford them. Then it wil be Machado and not much else just like it turned in to Mauer and not much else. Just because there are dollars available in this year's budget doesn't mean you can make a 10 year committment like this. If he ends up being a shell of himself like Mauer did, you have your hands tied for another decade. Too much risk. Let the big boys fight it out to take on that risk.

While I am certainly not going to go all in supporting the front office, I must say that an important part of player development is PLAYER. if the player can't perform and refuses to follow instruction to get better, development lags. That seems like it may be a possibility in both cases here. And the success rate of players being promoted to the major leagues is very, very small anyway. And they don't all mature at the same rate. Look at Aaron Hicks.